Notes: ALRIGHT I couldn’t stop myself and whoops I made a fanfic based off of @askaphmaine ‘s magic kingdom au, so read about that if you want to learn more! The thing that really stuck out to me when I was reading the event timeline was Maryland and Annapolis going over to Azrail to learn magic at the very end, and I thought, wow, Delaware ain’t gonna like that. So this popped into my brain and I had to write it down. so here’s a fic about Mechanic!Delaware and Magician!Mayland just having all the problems. Delaware’s name is Warren, and Maryland’s name is, well, Mary.
Summary: Mary is about to leave for Azrail, a beautiful ice kingdom of magic and mystery, and even better, she was invited by Queen Mackenzie herself to come study magic out of the mechanical magicless wasteland that was her home kingdom, Sacch. However, this was, is her home, and she has to leave someone behind. Her adopted brother Warren had been avoiding her all week, and she decides to pay the mechanic and fellow Royal Advisor a visit just an hour before she was supposed to leave.
Happy Reading!
___
Warren was trying to make sure the Chesapeake didn’t blow up when Mary walked through the door. The Chesapeake, the lumbering machine he had been adding random things to that had no real purpose, had been creaking and groaning all morning, the pipes whistling and the metal holes almost heaving out smoke whenever the chance showed itself. Warren, of course, like any good mechanic, had taken time off his actual assigned royal-paying job to fix the old, worn thing, climbing the 6 foot structure that resembles a sphere if it had blocks and windows poking out at odd angles, and Warren had intended to stay on his old love for the entire afternoon; that machine had been the one thing that stayed with him through everything, and even though it served no more purpose other than having a small oven, whistling drinking songs, and producing pictures, he would be damned if he ever let the Chesapeake break.
So Warren had been sitting on it, screwdriver in one hand and blowtorch in another, head deep in one of the bigger pipes when the last person in the world that he wanted to see (well, hear in this case, his head was a bit stuck) snuck into his workshop.
“Warren? Is that you?” Mary asked hesitantly, looking at the very short young man sitting on the huge machine in the corner, covered in grease and somehow not having a head.
“Mary? What are you- ARGH OIL IN MY NOSE!” Warren screeched, clawing at the side of the pipe and popping his head out before panting and rubbing his nose with a vengeance. “Why don’t you want to get fixed, you STUPID-” The Chesapeake shuddered again, interrupting his rant and almost throwing him off, and he blurted, “Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean it sweetheart, I swear.” The shuddering then stopped, and Mary found herself thinking once again that that machine must have been magical in some way.
“Um, Warren-”
“Ugh, Mary Larry, it’s kind of a bad time. I’m trying to fix this chunk of metal- I MEAN the most beautiful machine of all time,” the blob of pipes, metal plates, and windows whistled happily at that, “And I really can’t afford any distractions. So, with the greatest possible respect, please scram off and let me- STOP MOVING!”
Mary raised an eyebrow as Warren banged a copper part of the machine with his screwdriver and it stopped moving in shame, sulkily puffing out smoke into Warren’s face unnoticed. “Listen, Warren-”
“Can you not hear me, Ms. Water Breath? I said beat it!”
“Stop interrupting me!” Mary scowled, and his mouth snapped shut and he looked down at the machine to avoid Mary’s increasingly furious eyes. “Can’t you let me speak for one moment?! It won’t kill you!”
Warren grumbled something underneath his breath, wiping the black grease on his hands onto his filthy overalls and turning his back to the magician by the door.
“Don’t turn your back on me!”
“Oh, sorry Ms. Magician Face, I didn’t know you cared what someone like me thought!” the teenager spat, letting a quick glare peek through before he scowled as well and looked back at the machine, though he did turn around to face her.
“What? What are you talking about?! Just because I’m a magician now doesn't mean I don’t care about you! You’re like my brother!”
Warren seemed to scowl even more at that, grabbing the screwdriver and perhaps pushing the screw harder into the metal then was really necessary as evident by the squeaks of protest that erupted from the side of his beloved machine. He continued to not meet her eyes, trying to wish her away with the sheer power of thought and the growing resentment that was stalking his brain, when Mary spoke again, only for her pleas to land on seemingly deaf ears.
“Warren, come on, you know I care about you! Just because I’m going to Azrail doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly going to think I’m better than you or, or just ignore you! I do care, Warren, I do, and just because you’ve been avoiding me even though you KNOW I’m going to leave in about,” Mary checked her watch, “One hour! So just talk to me! What did I do?!”
“Maybe,” Warren said through gritted teeth, glaring at the metal and the stupid bolts that never seemed to stay in place, “Maybe you should have taken a hint and left me alone to go play with Mack or her brothers or some shit cause you’re leaving and you’re not coming back for a long time but you’re still going even though this place is your home and everyone you know is here and if you really cared you would-” Warren stopped short and snapped his jaw shut again. Shit, he almost said it. The whole reason he was mad in the first place at his stupid sister who wanted to move even though this was the place everyone she loved was and they would have to live without her and-
“Warren, are you say that you don’t want me to go to Azrail?” Mary whispered, eyes wide as she stared at the silent mechanic in front of her, hands closing into fists and mind already turning with a million different emotions. “You do know that this is my one chance to LEARN real magic, to actually become a master and maybe even learn more about my MOM, of all people. You know how much this move means to me and my sister, so why are you acting like, like you want me to stay?
Warren’s cheeks turned pink with shame as his reflection stared back at him, blond hair greasy with motor oil and face smudged with dirt, and his blue eyes looking misty in the copper metal before him. He gritted his teeth, trying to shove down the feelings of hurt and selfishness that had slithered into existence ever since he heard that Mary was leaving to go to Azrail. It wasn’t like he was surprised, really. Mary had shown incredible feats of magic during the final battle with the Monster, standing side by side with the kings and queens of the realms and almost matching them in magical power, all without being trained. It wasn’t her fault Queen Mackenzie invited her to her palace to be taught magic by the best magicians in her kingdom, and it wasn't really her fault either that she chose to move to an actual magic kingdom instead of staying in the dark, dirty, metal filled and magicless kingdom of Sacch, with it’s brooding smokestacks and muddy red bricks that were always placed with calloused hands and never with the floating power of magic. It wasn’t her fault that she wanted to become better, leaving here to go to a brilliant ice kingdom with a kind queen that didn’t treat her like a zoo animal by the almost magicless royal family, and no one could hold it against her that she wanted to leave. It was a royal invitation, after all. Why in the world would she ever want to stay here, of all places?
“Warren?” Mary said hesitantly, waiting for an answer from the usually loud and cheerful mechanic, and stepping closer when his mop of dirty blond hair blocked the view from his turned down face. “Are you okay?” Mary stepped closer, about to call out again when she heard a muffled sob come out from underneath the mask that her adopted brother had tried to put on, eyes widening when he lifted up his head to show a crying boy, furiously trying to wipe away his tears and stopping when they came down too fast for him to try and hide them away any longer. Warren crossed his legs and put his head in his hands, trying to muffle his tears that way, hiding his face in shame from Mary and only croaking out, “I don’t want you to go.”
Mary’s jaw dropped, and her eyes widened again, this time in understanding before she was flooded over by feelings of her own, and soon enough she had to wipe away the traces of regret in her eyes as well. Warren jumped off the machine and curled up against it, head against his knees and trying to block his tears of shame, selfishness, hurt, and something else he couldn’t name but tasted bittersweet.
Mary walked slowly up to him, before sitting down, crossing her legs and rubbing Warren’s back in a calm, machine-like pattern until all of the emotions Warren had shoved deep down had emptied out, and he finally lifted up his head and sniffled. He spared a glance at Mary, at her kind, understanding face, at the way she had stayed to comfort him instead of walking away and leaving him alone, and he felt more tears bite his eyes, but this time he was able to wipe them away.
“S-sorry, smoke in my eye,” Warren sniffled, and this time Mary chuckled before that chuckle broke into muffled laughter, and the room broke into sounds of giggles and snorts of laughter and mirth as Mary practically lost her mind. The laughter died off, and the sound of her own tears filled in the gaps, vainly wiping her eyes as she sobbed and leaning against Warren’s shoulder for comfort. It was over in a moment, and afterward, Mary shot a brief, bittersweet smile at the mechanic besides her.
“I do want to go to Azrail. I do. But I don’t want to leave you either. Or the king, or the princes, or the other advisors, or Dory, but I don’t want to leave you especially. You’re my little brother, you nerd. And I’ll always love your stupid goofball face. Even if you hate me.”
Warren was quiet, looking down at the ground and poking at the dirty tile wooden shop floor beneath them. “I don’t hate you, Mary,” he mumbled, sighing and looking at the sunken roof of his corner of the palace instead. “I know you have to go. I do. I get that, I swear. I still don’t like it though. I know it makes me sound like a jackass, but I still want you to stay.”
“Aw, you’re going to miss me?” Mary smiled even brighter at Warren, who turned pink and stuttered as she punched his shoulder and said, “That’s sweet of you, you dirty sewer dog.”
“Yeah, and you better appreciate it Mary Mary Quite Contrary, because you’re never gonna see this cute face in tears ever again,” Warren laughed, a smile breaking over his face for the first time since he heard that his adopted sister was going to leave. He punched her in the shoulder as well and ruffled her carefully curled hair a bit just to rile her up like he used to. And just like that, the normal, carefree, joking air swept back in between them and Maryland smacked his head speaking in a pompous voice and gesturing like she seen the old court ladies do in their languished tantrums.
“Oh you ruffled my hair, you terrible fellow, how will I EVER go on?!”
“I’m sorry my lady,” Warren snickered back, “I didn’t mean to cause such grave harm to your luxurious and perfect hair!”
Both of them broke out into giggles before laughter took over the squat room once again, cracking more pompous jokes and slinging well-meaning insults at one another as they sat there snickering and relishing in the old feeling that this was all normal, and it was never going to end.
However, soon enough, Mary’s clock rang, and just like Warren designed it, a metal crab popped out of the frame and started snapping its claws in alarm, squeaking and waiting for her to turn it off. She quickly slapped it down, fixing it back into place and smiling over at Warren one final time.
“Looks like I gotta go.”
“Yeah.” He looked down at the ground again.
“Anna’s probably waiting for me in the carriage.”
“Undoubtedly,” he grunted, standing up and wiping his pants from the dirt it had inevitably picked up from his filthy floor, not looking her in the eyes.
“Promise to write?” Mary smiled over at Warren, inwardly begging for her old friend to say yes, to not let all those moments and years together die once she closed the carriage door, but Warren turned his back to her again and walked over to his desk.
“Yeah, I’ll write,” he finally said as he fiddled with a random trinket lying on his counter, probably one of the things he made for the king’s amusement back in the day. He continued to ponder the toy, avoiding her pleading brown eyes, before he sighed and gave up, tossing the small, bitter part of him who wanted her to stay forever out the window, and he let a grin break out over his face. “Don’t be surprised if I send a machine or a bomb with it though, because someone has to tell me when my random ideas are stupid.”
Mary almost cried in relief, running over to Warren and giving him a surprise hug, squeezing tight and letting go with a mirror of his grin on her face. “Promise?”
In all honesty, I was never really good at choosing colors that didn’t completely throw off a drawing I did. With that being said, I’m proud with what I’ve done with this.
Making this look lineless has really sharpened my skills in the program. I can’t wait to finish it up.
