I do not have beta reader. I am not a
native speaker. I am so sorry in advance for any mistakes and horrible
blasphemies committed against this language. I am truly really sorry.
Send help if you want.
(I am in a need of a beta reader, who knows english and MCL universe well).
And last but not the least: BIG THANKS to @centralsaints for giving me some headcanon ideas.
If you want to see how the magic happens you can join my discord server Unlimited Works In Progress
CHAPTER I
PART I
COMING BACK TO TOWN WITH A BLAST!
Azmarie was currently standing in front of the building of her previous school - Sweet Amoris high school - in a city, which she had to abruptly leave behind without being able to even properly say goodbye to everybody she befriended. And now she was here again - in this old life as if she never left. The problem was that she did and knew that after everything what she had done, regaining what was lost won’t come as easily as she sometimes dared to dream.
Especially the friendships and relationships which she shut down all of a sudden without any explanation. It would be also probably the only reason why Rosalya wanted to see her ever again - to get all those answers from her and tell her how much she hurt her, Leigh and… Lysander. As well as their other friends, whom she firstly promised to write with, but then either lied, told them to not bother her ever again or just gave a vague excuse before she cut them out of her life by changing the number. So she really did deserve anything which Rosalya will definitely throw at her after all this time.
It was Azmarie’s fault after all. Only her and nobody else’s.
And that was true, no matter how hard anybody would want to preach it wasn’t. She got scared all on her own without even giving anybody a chance to show her that she may be wrong. She created this canyon-wide abyss between herself and them, and now she is the one who should leap across it.
And she will be damned if she doesn’t do it with a blast.
Scared Azmarie was no longer here, she was left in the past. Now there is only Azmarie determined to get her friends back as long as those very friends want the same. She won’t impose on them if they don’t. She won’t make scenes to make them come back no matter what. If they really say that they do not want to have anything to do with her anymore, she will just move on and leave them be, so they could live their lives peacefully. But firstly she will explain everything and apologize, and let them scream and yell at her as long as they wish to make everything even. She will let them do it as long as they need to put it all in the past, this time for sure. Then and only then Azmarie will be able to back off without any regrets and leave it be, regardless of the outcome.
No matter what happens… she will be fine.
And will even start everything over again in this town if she must.
"Azuni!"
Azmarie jumped like a scaredy-cat and nearly tripped over an invisible rock, before she looked at her enthusiastically waving cousin as if she just done the most unfunny joke ever.
"What's with the face?" she asked when she was already close enough to see that her cousin was displeased.
"You scared me to death, Ivonne!"
The girl chucked and shook her pink-haired head in amusement.
"I just called to you, when you were daydreaming. It's not my fault that you got startled all on your own" she said, smiling mischievously as if it was indeed part of her evil plan all along, even though both of them knew it truly wasn't. She will never change, won't she?
This time it was Azmarie who shook her head.
“You are impossible” she said, but with this tone of voice, which to Vonne sounded more as endearment than disappointment.
“Anyway, I am so glad to see you again!” Vonne smiled and hugged her cousin as hard as she could, apparently not able to contain herself any longer. “How was your trip back here?” The question was quickly followed by a deadly glance at the bus driver who shivered slightly when he felt the judging eyes on his back. Vonne apparently was assuming that he did something unpleasant, which made Azmarie sigh with exasperation.
“It was fine” she said. “Especially after this nice bus driver, whom you just started killing with your gorgon eyes, patiently waited for me to leave the bus without complaining”.
“What an accomplishment indeed” said Vonne unimpressed, but ultimately stopped throwing eye-daggers at the poor soul, so Azmarie considered it a win.
“Be careful. Someone would even start to think that you are the one who has to deal with this on daily basis instead of me” she quipped in response, trying to vaguely bring to Vonne’s attention the fact that she was close to crossing the line.
“Oh, I am sorry!” Vonne instantly flushed and then proceed to explain, while also wildly gesticulating. “It just… after I started being more aware of those issues I’ve become really harsh on myself and others. I didn’t mean to be a bother”.
Azmarie just waved her hand at that.
“It would be truly a blessing if there were more people like you - who care, but also respect the people they protect, but let’s leave that be already, and go on the walk around the town as you promised”.
After hearing that Vonne made this particular kind of weird face, which usually meant that something was or gone wrong.
“Or not?”
“Actually… it looks like there is far more people whom you used to know around here today than usual, so I don’t think it is a good idea to-…”
“Perfect!” Azmarie interjected. “Finally some confrontation. Let’s go!”
And there she went straight into the direction of the university campus, as if she wasn’t at all stressed about this first-second impression she is going to make on the people, who used to be her friends, just a few seconds ago.
Was it the adrenaline or the pure desire to get it all over with already which was driving her?
Vonne wasn’t really sure if she wanted to know.
~***~
It was supposed to be a day like any other. The same as every other year. Rosalya, like usual, was about to participate in the opening ceremony at the campus and then head up to meet with Alexy, who because of the lack of time to see his friends was organizing a small party for them all. It was already a usual occurrence for him as he was really busy over the past few years, trying to reconcile volunteer work with studying to get his social worker diploma. The ceremony at Fashion Design department thought already ended, so Rosalya decided to stand near the entrance to the campus in hope to catch her friend. With Alexy and his lack of organizing skills it was very much possible that they would never meet otherwise, as they would both surely be walking around missing each other every time. Staying here had then the highest chance of success if Rosalya really wanted to see him at all today.
The problem was that even now he was nowhere to be seen and it was getting on her nerves.
“I swear, if it turns out that he is late, because he got all lovey-dovey with a certain someone again, I am going to tear his ears out!” she muttered angrily to herself, while checking phone for any new messages from Alexy.
She didn’t really pay attention to the people around and that was also a reason why she didn’t notice at first that someone new entered the campus. It probably wasn’t wise if she really wanted to spot Alexy in the crowd, but she was too frustrated at the moment to actually care about that. Not to mention that he would definitely see her when he arrived even if he didn’t want to as Rosalya was the only person on the campus who was wearing a distinctly vintage Victorian inspired clothes. That’s why she really didn’t have to worry, but still decided to look up from the phone just in case if Alexy was too distracted and passed her blindly.
She definitely didn’t expect to see a familiar flock of brown hairs in the crowd.
She couldn’t believe her own eyes when she finally managed to catch the full image of the person with that very same dark skin, strikingly familiar face, and cute glasses on nicely shaped nose of her long-lost best friend, who was strutting confidently across the campus.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if we said that Rosalya was seeing it all in some kind of slow motion. Azmarie in the meantime walked gracefully somewhere ahead of herself with a highly raised chin as if her very intention was to face the whole world here and now. She didn’t change much, apart from gaining a few centimeters in height, cutting her hair a little here and there, getting a new pair of stylish glasses and a crutch…
“Wait, a crutch?”
It shocked Rosalya even more than a sudden return of her friend.
“What happened? Is she feeling alright? Does she need any help? Should I offer her my help even after all what happened between us?” thoughts of those kind in large numbers flooded Rosalya’s mind, while she was watching as Azmarie walked through the crowd with the same glint of determination in her eyes as when she was planning to end someone’s suffering. Just like in the good old days when she was helping their classmates face their problems and deal with them head on during their high school years together at Sweet Amoris.
It was unusual to see her like that out of that specific context, but Rosalya would recognize that gaze everywhere. Even if she looked completely different, it was something which Rosalya would never associate with anybody else in her whole life. That was indeed her Azmarie, her best friend, confidante and sister in arms. The same one who always offered a hand to someone in need. And yet… even though not much changed about her after all those years, she seemed so much different. So much colder and harder to approach than she used to be, or was it just Roza's imagination?
Rosalya suddenly felt as if the distance between them was greater than the space, which barely covered a square meter of a medium-sized room. Why was that? Why does she feel as if she was looking at her best friend from behind a thick wall of glass?
“I cannot talk to you about this… I am sorry. Please, don’t contact me again…” ringed in Rosalya’s ears so suddenly and loud as if someone just said it straight to her face.
Ah, yes… that was the reason.
They stopped talking and the one who cut the line was Azmarie - her best friend, who used to rely on her when she had problems before, one day suddenly decided to reject Rosalya’s kind soothing words, and chose to wallow in whatever pain she was feeling.
The line was cut once and for all as if with the intention of making it last forever, so when Rosalya tried to reach Azmarie again, there was nothing there to be found anymore. Only an empty signal and disconnected voice relaying the message:
“The number you’ve dialed does not exist, please check the number and dial again”.
When Rosalya was finally about to snap out of her stupor and move - try to reach to her again, ask what happened, grasp this last chance to get her back - another familiar face appeared next to Azmarie and obscured her vision as if wanting to make the woman in question unaware of Rosalya’s presence on purpose.
“How could she do that?” flew through Rosalya’s head when she watched Vonne and Azmarie walk away in the direction of Art Department.
It was too much. She couldn’t bear it anymore. Her body started shacking, so she hugged herself to make it stop… or maybe to comfort herself, Rosalya wasn’t really sure which. And it was also how Alexy found her a few minutes later - shocked, upset, angry, but also so, so sad as if whole world has turned upside down and died just a few seconds ago.
When she finally spoke though, there was not even a single trace of those emotions. Her voice was calm and stern.
“Ask your brother if he knew about any of this” she said without giving any context or explanation with her gestures or eye movements, looking at him as if he betrayed her as well.
“About what exactly? What happened?” asked Alexy, no less confused now than a second ago when he found her crouching on the ground and shacking like a leaf.
“If he knew, he will know what I am talking about” she said before pressing her lips together in a thin line and going after the women who caused her so much pain. Friends, who she was angry at, but couldn’t just leave alone and act as if nothing happened.
Rosalya
wanted an explanation, and she will get one even if she has to shake it
out of both of them by force. And once she does, she is then going to
decide how to appropriately punish them for this drama.
~***~
Just to be sure:
Azmarie = nickname: Azuni
Ivonne = nickname: Vonne
blah blah blah = thoughts or things said in the memories
blah blah blah = highlighting something important or impactful
Also
don't worry about the length of this chapter. I used to write 12 pages
long chapters before, so... I just gotta get used to writing in english.
Or more like get used to writing again at all. I had/have 10 years long
writers block after all.
... isn't there too many "she said" in the first part of the chapter? It gets confusing. I gotta work on that.
Also,
do you think I exaggerated Rosalya's reaction a bit? I wanted it to be
intense, but maybe I made it too intense and unrealistic for her as a
character? I made her react like that mostly because I see her as a
person who never had such good best friend as Candy before, so losing
her in such a manner was probably very painful for Rosalya, who doesn't
really get along much with others on daily basis. I cannot like say from
memory alone if she was good friends with other girls in Sweet Amoris
before Candy appeared and somehow made it possible. So that's from me. I
see her as this kind of person.
Speaking of which, if any
disabled person reads this, please tell me if I am too obnoxious with
disability talk. I am not disabled myself, but I am trying my best to
portray Candy properly, but also because I try so much I think I can
come off as trying a little too much at times. I do not want it to look
fake or unnecessary, so please speak up and scold me if you see me going
into "oh, she is an able-bodied person trying to write disabled
character and failing" zone too much.
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