THE ARCANE ORDER (KoTLC fanfic)

A home that's not a home it's a house

Sophie had never cried in front of Skrael before. She had showned him many emotions and reactions, such as embarrasment and laugher. But once had she shown him her tears.

That was mainly beacuse whenever she was with him, no sad thoughts ever entered her mind. Whenever she was with him, she felt happy. Like they said in those antidepressant adds on tv. He was her xanny.

That was not the case that day.

That day, she was feeling sad, and he was one of the main factors. The other main factor was her parents, who had grown tired of Canada already and decided that keeping her there was a mistake. She had grown too attached. To what, of course they knew that not. All they knew was that their daughter spent too much time in the woods.

The fact that the first thing Sophie did was run into the woods only strengthened their decision. If only they knew the true reason Sophie loved the woods, then maybe they would have taken her away immediatly, therefor saving what little sanity she had left. But alas, such a thing could not happen. Not anymore.

Which led us to this scene. 

The first thing she did once she saw Skrael's siluette approaching in the distance, was run into him without any second thought. And there she was, crying her heart out while the boy rubbed her back softly with his frozen fingers. 

Sophie calmed down a little, enjoying his touch. Then the thought of never feeling his touch again brought tears back to her eyes. 

Throughtout this whole process, not once did Skrael speak up. Thought the question he wanted to ask was clearly written all over his face; "What happened?"

After almost an hour of consecutive cries, he finally voiced what was on his mind.

"M-My parents... T-They want to go back- hick!", great, now she was having hick-ups.

Sophie continued to cry, while all Skrael did was stare. Unknowingly to Sophie, some frustrated thoughts entered his mind after she had uttered those words.

'If I loose contact with her, Bellroc would most likely have my head...'

Making sure none of his fustration was written on his face or voice, he said, "Shouln't you be happy to go back home?"

"It's not home!"

Skrael blinked, faking innocense, "But is where you originally lived."

"It's a home... but- it's not!", Sophie covered her face with her hands and moved closer to Skrael. She herself didn't understand the words she had just uttered.

"...that's a house."

"eh?"

"A home... that's not a home anymore, that's just a house."

Sophie merely nodded at his comment. One of Skrael's many hobbys was to say things that didn't have much to do with the topic (but also were somehow connected) out of nowhere. 

She smiled, Sophie didn't know how, but those things he said always seemed to lighten up the mood. Now, she was no longer crying. And althought she still felt the aching pain in her heart, tears didn't threathen to spill down her eyes any longer.

"I will miss you.", she said, thinking better to just say her true feelings.

"You don't have to miss me.", was all Skrael said as a response. Sophie raised her gaze, not knowing what to expect, not knowing whether or not he menat it in a good or bad way, "We won't be separated."

She watched in some kind of sick wonder as he bit hard on the tip of his thumb. The sight of blood made her feel kind of faint, but Sophie didn't succumb to her instinc and instead kept herself awake. 

She heard Skrael mumbling under his breath something among the lines of, "Hn, my little bird is stronger than others."

What he meant by that, Sophie didn't know- and she didn't need to. She knew Skrael would tell anything she needed to know, anything. He promised her so, and she trusted him.

She trusted him...

So she kept quiet and merelly continued to watch as he drew a complcated circle around his palm. She kept quiet, even when curiosity was eating alive. Even when he grabbed a handful of snow and closed his bloodied palm around it. She kept quiet, beacause she trusted him. 

Oh, how sick she was.

Skreal opened his palm to reveal the handful of snow that he took to be gone, instead, there was a small cristal, the size of a nail, resting in the middle of his hand. 

He handed it over to her, "When you arrive back to that place, San Diego, was it?", she nodded, and he continued, "You must chant my full name while breaking that thing.", he montioned to crystal, "And I shall appear."

Sophie's smile was so wide, it was a wonder how her skull didn't break.

How much is real and for how long...