Originally shared on Sims Amino on October, 2016
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For the first half of this part, we will be following Ronan as he goes on an excursion to the Ruins. We will also be meeting a few new characters that will be important to the story, so I hope you’re paying attention~
One last thing! This part (chapter?) is probably the longest one I’ve written so far, so grab a comfy chair, a blanket, and a bowl of your favorite candy, because you’re likely gonna be here a while.
Enjoy~
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Ronan’s P.O.V.
I make my way up the sloping walkway to the locked gate in front of me. The gate is framed on either side by large maple trees, their leaves already painted a deep crimson. A light breeze brushes against my cheek, carrying the warm scent of fresh coffee grounds from the square below, where people are yawning and slowly trickling into the cafe for their morning caffeine fix.
It isn’t yet eight, but I received the strong urge when I woke up this morning to take a blanket, book, and visit the Ruins. I haven’t visited in a few weeks, and today looks to be a great day to go.
I step up to the gate and examine it. I curl my fingers around the lock and pull. The lock snaps open with a sharp click and the chain hangs loosely off the gate.
“Looks like they still haven’t replaced this rusty old thing,” I mutter, smiling to myself and pushing the gate open. It swings forward slightly, the old hinges groaning, before it stops against some of the raised cobblestones on the other side. I push against it with my hand, but it won’t budge. Switching my book and blanket to my other hand, I squeeze through the narrow gap and into the tunnel beyond the gate.
I push the gate shut behind me, the hinges protesting loudly. A cool breeze blows past me from the opposite end of the tunnel, and I begin walking. I pick my way carefully through the shadows, avoiding broken cobblestones and holes in the path.
I come to another gate at the end and push it open, emerging to the sight of the Ruins. The Ruins are a collection of dilapidated stone buildings, spread out across a section of the river and surrounded by a stone wall that towers several stories above my head.
No one knows exactly what the Ruins were originally, but most believe they are the remnants of early Windenburg, the buildings left behind by the people as the town slowly became bigger.
A few say that they were once a magnificent castle, home to long forgotten royalty.
And some even theorize the Ruins were once home to a clan of vampires.
While the first theory is the most widely accepted explanation, I am much more intrigued by the other two about forgotten royalty and vampires. I’ve always been fascinated by the supernatural and fantastical, and the idea that the Ruins are a place within that category pulls me like a moth to a flame.
I step off the path to my left and make my way past the largest of the broken buildings. About half of the outer wall is still standing, and I can just make out the charred remains of a bonfire from one of the many parties that are held here each weekend. I round the corner of the building and spy a small tree growing in the remains of a much smaller building, its leaves already a flaming orange.
I saunter across the grass toward it and step over the low wall of the old building. I kneel against the old flagstones beneath the tree and spread out my blanket before sitting down.
I open my book, A Field Guide to Creatures of Lore, to the page marked with my bookmark and continue reading. The cool breeze seems to dance around me, playing with the tips of my hair and trying to flip the pages of my book. I frown and push the pages back down, searching for the paragraph I was trying to read. I hear what sounds like giggling on the wind, so I lift my head up and look around me, searching for the source of the sound. I expect to see some girls sneaking through the gate like me, but there is no one.
I shake my head, thinking I imagined it, and continue reading.
The giggling starts up again, and I once again search around me. Still no one.
When I turn back to my book, I spy something by the tree out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head to face it, but it disappears. Turning back to my book, I glance in the tree’s direction and see it again.
A young girl stares back at me. But she isn’t like any girl I’ve seen.
She is ghostly pale and her white gown is tattered at the skirt hem. Blue, vine-like tattoos curl along the length of her body. Her long hair is almost as white as snow and she is barefoot, the soles of her feet strangely clean of any dirt.
“A ghost…?” I wonder aloud.
Her lips curl into an impish smile and she points at her ears. They’re pointed at the tips and I can just make out the outline of large butterfly wings on her back.
I glance down at my book and see that the breeze has managed to flip the pages to an earlier entry. The book now sits open on the beginning of the section about the Fae. I scan the page, trailing over illustrations of people with different wings on their backs and descriptions accompanying them. My finger stops on one that reminds me of the girl.
“You’re a sylph,” I say, looking up from the book, only to discover that she’d disappeared while I was looking down. I briefly feel frustrated with myself, but then I hear the giggling again, slightly louder than before, and the light breeze picks up to a gust. I snap the book closed and hunch over it before the wind can snatch it from my hands.
“So now that I saw you, you’re gonna mess with me?” I ask the sylph. As if summoned, she appears before me, her hands clasped behind her back and that impish smile curling across her lips. The giggles echo around her, her sister sylphs continuing to fly invisibly through the air. They fly through the tree, sending golden leaves raining down around me.
The sylph in front of me continues to smile and points up before disappearing to join her sisters on the wind. Utterly confused, I look up into the tree above me where she pointed. All I see are more leaves falling. Beginning to believe she really was just messing with me, I start to turn away when some bark hits me on the head. Startled, I look back up into the tree as more bark comes raining down.
Then, something larger than a piece of bark plunges down from the branches.
A shoe?
I barely register that the shoe looks exactly like mine before it smacks me square in the face.
A string of curses escapes my lips as the shoe tumbles to the blanket next to me and I cradle my bruised nose. I’m momentarily relieved that my glasses are undamaged, when I hear a surprised shout from above me.
“Look out!”
I glance up just as something even larger than the shoe plummets out of the tree.
The owner of the shoe.
They hit me like a ton of bricks and the force knocks me out cold.
~•*°*•*°*•~
My face is pressed against something soft. My arms must be wrapped around the large teddy bear Demi gave me for Christmas one year. I’m not big on stuffed animals, but I didn’t wanna disappoint Demi by saying I didn’t want it, so I accepted it and now I’ve grown pretty attached to it.
A light breeze caresses my cheek, likely from the window I’d left open in my bedroom last night. I squeeze the teddy bear a little tighter, trying to shift away from the breeze.
A hand strokes my hair gently. I relax, the sensation warm and pleasant.
Then I hear the giggling.
My eyes slowly open.
I’m definitely not in my room. I am still beneath the tree in the Ruins. The sylph from earlier sits in front of me, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. When she sees me staring at her, she grins and flutters her wings. She stands up and skips away, her transparent form completely disappearing.
I watch the spot she disappeared for a few seconds longer, waiting to see if she would reappear, but she’s joined her sisters on the wind once again. I curl my fingers in the soft thing my arms are wrapped around and realize that what I thought was the stuffed bear is actually someone’s sweater. My fingers barely brush against the back beneath the sweater, and the person shivers.
The hand stops stroking my hair.
“Are you awake?” His voice is soft and gentle.
I consider pretending to still be asleep. For some reason I feel at ease just lying here with him. I don’t know when my arms wrapped around his lithe frame, but I’m feeling extremely reluctant to let go.
“...Yes,” I finally say.
“How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?” His voice sounds worried.
I shift, flexing my arms and legs. I tilt my neck slightly, but feel no pain.
“Not that I can tell,” I say. He sighs in relief.
Drawing my arms back from around his waist, I roll onto my back and lay my head in his lap so that I can look up at him.
“I’m so sorry about falling on you,” he says, averting his red eyes in embarrassment. “I was up in that tree there. For some reason the winds just picked up out of nowhere and I lost my footing. Unfortunately, you were the one to break my fall.”
“Sylphs,” I say, glancing past his head to where the one from earlier floats upside down behind him. She bats her eyes at me innocently.
He glances above his head right before she disappears into another breeze. He turns back to me in wonder.
“You can see the sylphs?” he asks.
“Can you?”
“Yeah. They’ve been around here for as long as I can remember. They’ve always been pretty mischievous, but today is the first time they’ve knocked me out of a tree. I wonder what got them so riled up...”
I can just barely hear them giggling on the wind again. Apparently giggling and knocking people out of trees is the only things they know how to do.
He goes quiet, seemingly lost in thought. I gaze at his face for awhile, curious to learn more about this boy that seemed to fall from the sky.
“What’s your name?” I ask suddenly, unconsciously reaching up and placing my hand on the back of his head.
He jerks in surprise, and looks down at me.
“H-Huh? I’m sorry, what did you say?” he stutters, his cheeks tinted a slight pink of embarrassment.
God, he’s cute.
Wait.
What did I just think?
I smile. “Your name. I want to know what it is.”
“O-Oh.” He smiles sheepishly at me.
Help me, even his smile is cute.
“My name is Amari,” he says, peeking from behind his eyelashes at me.
Stop it. Why is everything you do cute?
I feel like I’m quickly turning into Haru. I don’t normally think these kinds of things within five minutes of meeting someone.
“And you?”
“Huh?” I ask stupidly.
“Your name?” he offers patiently.
“Oh. Right. My name.”
He smiles at me sweetly, waiting for me to respond.
“Uh...I’m your soulm--RONAN. My name is Ronan.” I’m horrified at my own slip-up. I mentally berate myself.
Damn it, this is all because of what Haru said yesterday.
It was lunch time at school. Everyone was joking around and somehow, my love life was brought up. Or rather, my lack of a love life.
~•*°*•*°*•~
We were talking about how Yusuke and Kerri had spontaneously started dating. Yusuke told us every last excruciating detail about how they met. It felt too similar to one of those romance manga Demi loves to read so much, so I didn’t believe him until Licht confirmed that he’d been there and witnessed everything.
“I swear, I could see love hearts and sparkles in the air like we were in some sort of shoujo manga,” Licht said. “It made me uncomfortable.”
Yusuke frowned. “Maybe you should try dating someone properly again. Then it might not make you so uncomfortable.”
I caught Licht stealing a glance across the table at Lilliana before he quickly looked away. He swirled the straw in his soda, staring down at the fizzy brown liquid.
“Yu, I-I can’t. You know that.” His voice sounded so broken and his words were so soft, I almost thought he hadn’t said them at all. Apparently, no one else had heard him, because the conversation and laughter continued it’s rounds of the table.
Haru clapped Licht on the back. “C’mon, Yusuke. It’s alright to be single!”
Eve threw an ice cube at him and Lilliana glared at him with a pouty expression on her face.
“Hey! You shut up, bro! You’ve pretty much never been single, so you have no right to talk!” She flicked her straw wrapper at him.
Haru placed his hand over his heart, mock indignation spreading across his face. “Excuse me? Why, I’ll have you know, I was most definitely single for over half my life and I had to struggle to win Alex’s affections.”
“You really didn’t,” Alex said, rubbing the back of his neck as his face turned red in embarrassment.
Haru turned to him. “What?”
Alex looked down at his pizza, avoiding his gaze. “When we first met as kids. Do you remember?”
Haru tilted his head as he thought about it, the group leaned in, eager to hear how they’d met. I placed my elbow on the table and rested my chin in my hand, grinning, as I’d heard this story numerous times in the past.
“Your parents and mine had been friends for a couple years, and they thought it would be cool if we could become friends,” Alex said, tugging at his shirt sleeves. “So, they brought you to my house so we could meet.”
Haru nodded. “We were about four years old. You wore white shorts and a blue hoodie, with only gray socks on your feet. One was around your ankle.”
“And you wore a tux.” At that point, Alex seemed to be making a conscious effort not to look at his boyfriend.
“You were wearing a tux?” Demi asked, sharing a grin with me. “Just to meet someone you wanted to be friends with?”
“Hey, I wanted to look professional!”
Elliot rolled his eyes. “You were going to meet someone your own age, not going for a job interview, you dork.”
Alex coughed. “And you’d missed a button, so the tux looked really lopsided.”
I heard Demetrius snickering into his hand down the table.
“Do you remember what you did when we first came face to face?”
A look of understanding swept over Haru’s face, and it was his turn to turn completely red and look away.
“What?” Yusuke exclaimed. “What did he do?”
“As soon as he saw Alex, Haru stomped straight up to him,” I said, and everyone at the table turned to me. “He immediately dropped to one knee, and right there in front of both of their parents, asked, ‘Pretty boy, will you be my bride?’ And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the exact moment that Haru won Alex’s heart.”
Alex buried his red face in his hands.
Elliot choked on his soda.
Demetrius attempted to smother his laughter behind his hand.
Yusuke and Lilliana both 'WHOOPED!' and pumped their fists in the air.
The tips of Haru’s ears were scarlet as he folded his arms.
“S-So I courted him at a young age! I was just ahead of my time!” He pointed at me. “I’m sure Licht has his reasons for being single, but you have none. You’ve never once had a girlfriend in all the time I’ve known you, which is pretty much our whole lives. What gives? Never found the right one?”
Demi snickered. “Of course he’s never had a girlfriend. He doesn’t swing that way.”
The group went silent as everyone but my sister, Alex, and Haru turned wide eyes on me.
Haru’s expression didn’t change. “Okay, let me rephrase what I said earlier: How come you’ve never had a boyfriend?”
I shrugged. “I guess I never found anyone, but I’ve been pretty preoccupied with school. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’ve been attracted to some people, but they didn’t really work out.”
“Yeah, because when you meet someone your type, you forget how to talk like a normal person,” Demi muttered. Haru looked over at her and grinned.
“Is it bad that I just imagined Ronan trying to introduce himself to a guy, but instead of his name, he says, ‘Nice to meet you. I am your soulmate.’”
~•*°*•*°*•~
Embarrassed, I sit up and shift away from Amari. I rest my elbow on my knee and hide my face behind my hand, not wanting him to see the blush creeping across my cheeks.
“Yeah...My name is Ronan,” I repeat.
Oh my god, just shut up before you say something even more stupid, idiot!
He’s quiet for awhile. Despite my embarrassment, my curiosity wins and I peek at him from between my fingers.
He’s smiling to himself and looking at our feet. “Hey, we match,” he says.
I glance down at our feet and remember that we’re wearing the exact same shoes. “So we do,” I answer, allowing myself a small smile.
“My twin sister always gives me grief over these shoes,” Amari continues. “She always says that they’re way out of style. Funny coming from her, considering she never dresses with the current style.”
He laughs. I peek back at him through my fingers and find him beaming at me.
“But I must be somewhat stylish, if you wear the same shoes,” he says, leaning forward, probably trying to peer around my hand to see my face. “In fact, you might be right.”
I frown. “Right about what?”
He smiles shyly. “You might actually be my soulmate.”
I rapidly turn my head away, my face feeling uncomfortably hot.
Oh. My. God.
~•*°*•*°*•~
She looks down at them, holding tight to the broom she sits on. She can’t hear what they’re saying, but she can guess by the look on the blue-haired one’s face. The sylphs giggle on the breeze that drifts past her and she shakes her head, grinning.
“Decided to become matchmakers, have you?” she asks, not expecting an answer. She glances at the shadows. “Ah, it’s almost noon. I’d better get going before Gran gets angry.”
She lifts her leg over the other side of the broom and grips the handle in front of her. The broom tilts slightly and she’s flying up and over the treetops. A few more feet and she’s over the stone wall surrounding the Ruins. Tudor style buildings blanket the town of Windenburg as far as she can see. She zooms past chimneys puffing little plumes of smoke and sheep grazing in the countryside.
She takes a brief detour over the bay, wanting to sneak another peek at the gothic mansion nestled on the island. As she passes nearby, a chill goes down her spine. She stops and looks below her, scanning the trees.
Standing by the front entrance to the mansion is a girl with long white hair. Her red eyes are fixed right on the passing witch. However, her gaze isn’t what gives the young witch chills. This girl seems more annoyed of her passing.
No, these chills come from another gaze, a much more malicious one, hidden in the trees somewhere. The young witch feels danger approaching quickly, goosebumps rising on her arms. She quickly urges her broom higher into the air and zooms off, away from the island, the mansion, the white-haired girl, and whatever dark presence was there.
~•*°*•*°*•~
Soon she reaches Magnolia Promenade. She flies lower and hops off her broom to the sidewalk. She stretches her arms above her head and readjusts the skirt of her dress. The broom floats horizontally beside her, waiting. She grabs it and strides towards the store in front of her, The Black Cat’s Tail.
The front gate hangs open to reveal a small shop behind folded glass doors. She steps over the threshold and places her hands on her hips.
“I have returned!” she announces. “Did you miss me, Seren?”
The girl behind the counter stares at her with a bored expression on her face. “Was I supposed to?”
“So cold!” The young witch places her hand over her heart. “What if something had happened to your precious cousin?”
Her cousin just shrugs. “I knew you’d be fine.” She gestures to a small crystal ball hidden just behind the register.
She peeks over at it, but the surface of the crystal remains foggy to her. She shakes her head. “Still can’t see anything. I’m still amazed you can already see visions of the future when we’re only in high school. Gran said she wasn’t able to see anything until she was almost 30. You’re so talented, Seren.”
“You could probably see something too if you tried harder, Elise.”
She shakes her head, grinning. “Nope. I’ve tried my hardest. I’ll just tough it out and wait for the time to be right. For now, I’ll stick to potion making and flying. Flying is one thing I’m better at than you.”
Her cousin frowns and opens her mouth to speak, but another voice cuts in.
“Yes, but that’s all you’re better at than her, Elisabeth. Just as you’re a better flier, Serenity has better foresight than you. Most everything else, the two of you are equals.”
The cousins both turn to find their grandmother standing by the other door.
“Ah, Gran! I have the stuff you needed.” Elisabeth hurries forward with a cloth satchel. Her grandmother leans forward to peer inside as Elisabeth opens it. Inside are an assortment of herbs.
She inspects the contents. Deciding everything is there, she nods. “Good job. Take them in the back and clean them up.”
Elisabeth beams at her grandmother before disappearing through the curtains to the back. Serenity averts her gaze and stares down into the little crystal ball sitting next to her. Gran watches her silently for awhile before deciding to ask.
“You saw something in the crystal ball, didn’t you?”
Serenity jumps, but continues to avoid her grandmother’s gaze.
Gran sighs. “What did you see?”
She hesitates.
“Tell me.”
“I-It was dark,” Serenity says, shivering. “So dark. I saw two girls--twins, I think, though I couldn’t see their faces--involved in something larger than they realize. One of them, I’m not sure what happens, but…” She chokes.
Gran pats her on the back. “You’re feeling the emotions of these events yet to come. Come on, tell me. Telling will help you through these feelings.”
Serenity swallows before continuing. “She...She’s not moving. Th-There’s a boy, holding her. He’s crying. He keeps saying ‘If only I’d been here,’ and ‘I should’ve gotten here sooner.’ H-He loves her, more than anything, but now she’s--” Tears are falling from her own eyes now.
Her grandmother kneels in front of her and takes her hands. “Hey, it’s okay, little chickadee. You said you couldn’t see their faces, right?”
Serenity nods, her lower lip trembling.
Gran smiles at her. “Then this future is not set in stone. It is still changeable. The fact that you couldn’t see their faces, means this possible future is still a little ways off. It can be changed.”
Serenity’s eyes light up. “You really think so?”
Gran wipes away the tears trailing down her granddaughter’s face. “I know so. While the past cannot be changed, the future can. So don’t you fret.”
Serenity sniffs and smiles at her grandmother. “...Thanks, Gran.”
“Anytime, chickadee.” She pats her granddaughter’s hands. “Now, go help your cousin. Cleaning those herbs will go a lot faster with two pairs of hands instead of one.”
Serenity raises to her feet and strides across the room. Before going through the door to the back, she turns to look at her grandmother.
“Oh and Gran?” Her grandmother turns to her. “I saw something else.”
“Yes?”
“The Exiled Witch. The one everyone tries to avoid speaking of. She appeared in the crystal ball right after the vision of the twins.”
Gran is quiet for a moment before turning away. “Thank you for letting me know.”
She waits until Serenity’s footsteps fade to the other side of the house before she steps around the shelf to look out the front window.
“The Exiled Witch, eh…?” she says aloud. “So you’re finally showing up in visions again. What are you after this time, Ophelia?”
~•*°*•*°*•~
Welcome back to the Land of the Living! I hope I didn’t lose you guys at some point during this chapter.
I really hope I didn’t.
Please let me know what you guys thought of this part! It took me sooooo long to write this and get screenshots (Ronan wouldn’t stop complaining about how much he had to pee. Ronan, wait until I’m done getting photos. Geez, so inconsiderate.), so I would appreciate your feedback.
~•*°*•*°*•~
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