Chapter 37 A Side Quest of Reunification and Apologies #4
“You were trying to help me, and I ignored all your advice. I was so focused on what I wanted, I’d forgotten to even enjoy any of the privileges of being a Main Character.
In my spiral of self-destruction, I dragged you down with me.
I led you on, and I really hurt you,” she said.
“And unfortunately, you’re now bound to this shitty prophecy as much as I am.
To push you away wasn’t fair. I wasn’t thinking about what you wanted, just what I could get out of you. ”
“Yeah.” Gair sniffed.
“I’m really sorry,” Em’s voice cracked. Her tears leaked free and mixed into the icy rain streaking her cheeks. She melted into the swing, curling inward with shame.
“I don’t care about all of this,” Gair motioned to their high school around them. “Originality isn’t important to me, nor is getting my own story someday.” His aquamarine eyes finally met hers, glistening with his own tears. “I just wanted to be with you.”
“But I can’t… be with you, Gair,” Em tightened her grip on the swing chains for support.
“You know that, right? I don’t do the whole romance thing.
I’m not ready to commit or bind myself to anyone or even try to understand what it means to chase after love.
Hell, I can barely fucking keep up with my own self. ”
“If you at least keep me beside you,” Gair offered a hand to her. “Then I will accept that.”
Em hesitated before taking it. His strong, callused fingers folded over hers, warm and steady.
Her heart skipped a beat, but she swallowed down any of the temptation to think too much about the way her body responded to him.
After all, it was likely the damn prophecy messing with her emotions again.
“Just friends?” she asked.
Gair smirked playfully. “For now.”
“Gaaaair,” she groaned, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, maybe after a book or two, you’ll be ready to settle down and try something new,” he said. “And if I get my way, maybe that something new could be… us?”
“But it’s so…” Em’s voice caught.
“Cliché?” Gair cocked his head.
Em’s face warmed with embarrassment. “Yeah.”
“Someday you’ll realize that the only reason something is cliché is because people like it.” He shrugged again. “Stereotypes and tropes exist because they’re generally popular. Which means that’s what’s normal, Em.”
“I don’t want to be normal,” Em said.
“No one does,” Gair replied. “But does that really matter?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
Gair flashed another smirk, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“I love you, Em. In this realm and in the next. In this story and for many more adventures to come. If you never love me back, that’s alright with me.
Just don’t cut me out and let me remain as your Side Character.
At least give me the privilege of experiencing this incredibly weird and exciting life in Novella at your side. ”
Temptation to respond in romantic sentiment swelled in Em’s mouth, but she bit it back and only nodded in response. She couldn’t lie to him again. She truly didn’t love him back, but at least he was willing to still be her best friend.
And that alone was original enough for her.
For a moment longer, they sat with their feet dangling over the puddles and gravel in the school yard. They kept their hands clasped, breathing in the rain, simply enjoying solitude stillness with one another. Just like their childhood days.
One more apology to go, Em thought to herself.
And for once, she was thankful she’d made Sasha scared enough to make the dryad spill her deepest secret to her.
Although the White Rose Valley hid within the endless list of titles the cliché prophecy had given Em, she’d never visited it before. The valley hid on the furthest outskirts of Novella, miles away from untouched wilderness where no genre had yet to develop within its region.
A hushed landscape of rolling hills, twisted beneath a thousand thorny rose bushes, shimmered beneath a creamy sunset. Along the pristine, sweet, scented landscape, a forest clung to the border.
Roden, Gair, Ming, and Polo whispered tensely behind Em, keeping a few paces back to give her space. They gingerly took their time to cut through the forest, careful not to step on any of the dryad trees’ roots or bump into low-hanging branches.
If Em had not met a dryad before that day, she might have considered the Weymouth Woods to be odd.
None of the trees was alike; each was a completely different height, color, shape, and species altogether.
But the way the sunlight caught between the rustling branches matched the amber hue of Sasha’s eyes, and the whispery breezes seemed to carry conversation between the leaves.
Em ran her fingers along the rough bark or reached to poke an occasional leaf as she wandered; each small jagged yet delicate detail reflected tiny aspects about her friend.
It was like seeing someone’s soul exposed to her in full, intimate vulnerability.
Sturdy beauty of the environment twisted about her the further she hiked into the heart of the grove.
Her pulse raced the closer she knew she came to finding Sasha within the woods. Em could only imagine the nasty, harsh, deserving words the dryad would have for her. She’d betrayed Sasha through and through—even to the point of killing her humanoid form.
It would be easier if Em could just finish the quest without Sasha, to never face her shame or need to beg for forgiveness.
But that wouldn’t be fair to the dryad, nor would it finish healing the gaping hole within Em’s heart in her friend’s absence.
She’d started her mission of fighting tropes and clichés with Sasha, so she had to finish it with her too.
The Weymouth Woods seemed to breathe about her. The trees leaned inward, arching about Em, creating a direct path into the heart of the forest. It was like the other dryad souls were guiding her toward their sister.
Ahead, in a mossy clearing, beneath a halo of golden sunbeams, Sasha knelt on the forest floor. The dryad’s upward palms lay flat against her thighs, her solemn eyes shut, the smallest dewy tear trailing her freckled cheek.
Em’s breath hitched. Her knees locked up, and she stared at the other girl from a distance. Without the usual jeweled facade of pristine makeup or glitzy attire, Sasha blended into the woods. Her dark skin, her long braids, her simple linen smock, her long limbs—she belonged with the trees.
Sasha’s eyes flustered open, glassy and defeated. She met Em’s stare. Her tight expression cracked with the slightest, unreadable twitch, the reaction gone in a blink.
Em clung to the leathery strap of her knapsack, cautiously stepping closer.
“Sasha…” she began.
“How did you find me?” Sasha’s demand was sharp as a dagger and quiet as the breeze. An unreadable shadow spread across the dryad’s face.
“I…” Em choked on the words.
“How. Did. You. Find. Me?” Sasha was on her feet; fists balled at her sides. The Weymouth Woods whispered in response to the dryad’s rage, as if the trees were preparing to swallow Em whole if need be.
“You told me,” Em said. “Remember? All those plot points ago? You said you were fighting alongside me because your soul belonged to the White Rose Valley. That this place meant something special to you. I managed to guess this is where you would end up if you…” her voice cracked, “died. Your tree was somewhere here.”
“This is a sacred place.” Sasha craned her neck and surveyed the grove around her in pure admiration. “One full of souls.”
Em took in the diversity of trees, the sheer height and girth of some in contrast to the saplings.
“You should not have come back for me,” Sasha said.
“I had to,” Em replied.
The dryad’s gaze hardened. “I will not allow a heartless author like you harm my people. Not after what you did to the Shelley’s Ghostly Swamps or how you fled to Kriqir.”
“I’m not the author anymore. I gave everything back to Stephanie.” Em held up her empty hands. “I’m just the unfortunate Chosen One again.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Sasha let out a hollow laugh.
“They did.” Em motioned toward her friends, hovering a few yards behind them, watching nervously as the encounter unfolded. “I failed you, Sasha. I hurt you in more ways than any human could’ve endured. If you were like anyone else, you would’ve died when I stabbed you.”
“You were killing yourself, sweetheart,” Sasha sniffed bitterly, squaring her jaw. “I was trying to uphold my oath and protect you from the story… even if that meant from yourself.”
“I know.” Em nodded. “I’m sorry. I really am truly sorry. I hope one day you can eventually forgive me.”
Sasha said nothing, thick silence wedged between them.
Em risked one more step closer. If she reached out with her full arm’s length, she could’ve touched the dryad’s bare shoulder. Her fingers tingled at the thought.
“I wasted so much time trying to ruin this damned plotline that I lost myself,” Em confessed. “And I lost the people who mattered the most to me. I was so ungrateful for what I had in life that I lost track of what Stephanie had already given me.”
“You can’t expect me to suddenly agree with the Great Authors.
” Sasha crossed her arms, shifting a little further back.
Betrayal creased her face. “First, you’re trying to disrupt this cursed system we are subjected to, then one moment you’re gallivanting as an author yourself, the next you’re suddenly letting the author who pissed you off control your life again? ”
“Stephanie isn’t controlling my life,” Em said and shook her head.
“She’s just holding the world together and ensuring the prophecy is fulfilled.
I’m in control of my life… I always have been.
I was just too damn blind by my own selfish desires to recognize it.
Faylorn knew though. He told me in his death note.
I always had the power to make this story what I wanted it to be…
I just wasted the chance by not accepting the opportunities in front of me, fretting over what I wanted instead of developing what I’d been given. ”
Sasha’s lips moved without words until her jaw audibly clamped shut.
“Instead of just being myself, I tried to fit a mold into something else to be likable.” Em cringed at the honesty flowing from her.
“I twisted myself into the definition of original and then expected everyone else to conform to my expectations of what I thought was best for me. I was so fucking blind to my own ambitions, I wasn’t even able to enjoy the privileges I’d been given as a Main Character.
And in the end, it ruined me, hurt you, and broke everyone else. ”
She moved forward until she and Sasha were nearly nose-to-nose. The dryad’s rosy perfume wafted over her senses. Em stared the other girl straight in the eyes, hoping that Sasha could see the truth within her soul.
“I’m done overthinking every choice I make,” Em said.
“I’m done trying to be something or someone I’m not to become more popular.
I just want to finish this quest as it was meant to be completed, to have some fun along the way, to make some memories, and to figure out who I actually am. Not who I think I am.”
Sasha cracked. The tears began to stream down her face, and in response, Em’s own sobs bubbled up the back of her throat. Both girls embraced each other, holding tight and crying.
“I’m so sorry, Sasha,” Em said. “I really am.”
“I know, sweetheart,” the dryad responded. “I know.”
After a moment, they pulled apart, wiping their eyes and managing to laugh past the smoldering emotions.
“Thank Novella, you’re back to being fun again,” Sasha said, smearing the back of her hand across her face. “Because I was really starting to think you were a goner.”
“I’m just glad you aren’t trying to kill me anymore,” Em giggled.
“Not yet,” Sasha clicked her tongue.
Em rolled her eyes.
The others whooped and cheered, rushing to join the girls in the clearing as they slapped Sasha on the back and welcomed her back into the party.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Sasha.” Ming shook her hand. “I wasn’t going to be able to figure out this whole mentoring an overly independent Main Character thing without you.”
“You sure Sasha isn’t just as much trouble as Em?” Gair raised his eyebrows.
The dryad punched his shoulder.
“You did it, Highness!” Polo tugged at Em’s arm, beaming. “You got your friends back together after all. Now we can finally go kick that necromancer’s butt!”
“Well, that settles it!” Roden let out a deep breath. “All we have left to do is storm the tower and complete the prophecy.”
“Are you ready for this, sweetheart?” Sasha asked.
Em nodded. “It’s time.”
I couldn’t agree more.