#i know im the op but im soft tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors also this had nothing to do with the prompt i was given in english class lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-arg0naut · 5 years

Text

Snowberry

hi okay so @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors i wrote a thing for english class and i actually really like it so ee

quick thing tho it is an AU, where virge was never put under and the boys just Exist

durant doesnt exist bc he doesnt deserve rights

~~~

Everyone in little Wickhills, Ohio, knew about the Sanders’ changeling boy. The whole town had been called on that night. They knew about the fae woman who’d tried to trade her son for theirs, and was then refused either child by Dot, their mother. Most townsfolk didn’t approve, thinking it was “bringing the enemy into our midst.” However, everyone in Wickhills also knew to keep their mouths shut, unless they wanted to find themselves wandering into a fairy circle and never wandering back out.

It was on Halloween night. The Sanders boys were about 16, and were elated to finally be allowed to go trick-or-treating without their parents hovering behind them (well, it was more Thomas who was excited. Logan didn’t much see the appeal in dressing up and asking strangers for candy, but it made his brother happy). Thomas was dressed in his favorite Spiderman costume, and Logan Frankenstein’s monster. Even with the prosthetics and makeup, though, it was still impossible to ignore Logan’s pointy ears and quicksilver eyes. That was the only thing differentiating their appearances; changeling children take the form of the child they replace. Since he was never given back to the fae woman, he just passed off as Thomas’ twin. Closely enough.

They’d left Mrs. Coughenour’s house with the weirdest candies they’d ever seen. Wrapped in bits of parchment paper, they smelled of some strong floral flavor.

“I think it’s lavender. This one is, at least.” “Lavender? Why would there be lavender candies? Who makes those?”

“Mrs. Coughenour, apparently”

Logan popped said lavender candy into his mouth. He would never admit it, even once fully grown, but those were his favorite. They relaxed him. Sometimes it just seemed to serve as yet another reminder that he wasn’t human, but he tried not to think about that.

“Whatever. I just hope Ms. Gage has good candy.”

“It’s Ms. Gage. She’ll either have really good candy that Roman will hijack, or, as you say, ‘old people candy.’”

“Okay, look, it’s always the old people that have those caramels. I’ve never even seen them at the store, so they’ve gotta just appear in their candy bowls once they hit 80.”

“Ms. Gage is seventy.”

“Close enough!”

They continued to bicker back and forth, as brothers do, as they walked down the road to Ms. Gage’s house, unaware of the two bright purple eyes watching them from between the trees.

After they had been walking for a good twenty minutes, Thomas muttered a little suspiciously, “Haven’t we been walking for just a little while longer than it usually takes?”

Logan paused. He was right. Usually, the walk was only ten to fifteen minutes max, and they weren’t by any familiar landmarks.

“Logan, what time is it?”

“12:02 AM”

Thomas shuddered. “Midnight.”

At this Logan rolled his eyes. “Come on now, Thomas, sure it’s late, but even if one of the Good Neighbors is playing a trick on us, it doesn’t make it any worse that it’s midnight. It’s just a time of day, arbitrary to even the fair folk.”

Thomas nodded, unconvinced. “Can we just walk a little faster then? I wanna get to Ms. Gage’s”

“If that’s what would help ease your fear, then of course.”

They quickened the pace, Thomas clinging close to his brother. Five more minutes without anything they recognized, Thomas was beginning to get a little hysterical, spouting off all kinds of things that could happen if the Good Neighbors had decided they had done something to offend them. Logan did his best to dissipate and alleviate those fears, but truth be told, he was starting to feel some of them himself, especially when they turned a corner and found themselves upon the street they had just walked off.

They had just passed under an old street lamp when they saw it; a silhouette. It was impossible to see any physical features in the dim light, but they somehow knew that it was watching them. They blinked and it was gone.

“Well, that was a bit alarming.”

“Yeah, you think?!” Panic was quickly rising in Thomas. “We’re stuck in an endless loop of nothing but,” he glanced at the street sign, “Morningside Drive, and we just saw someone or something staring at us and then, poof, gone. I think we’re well past ‘a bit alarming,’ Lo-”

Logan cut him off, pressing a hand to his mouth. “Quiet for a second. Listen.” Thomas listened. Muttering against his brother’s hand, “I don’t hear anything, Lo. Have you gone completely bonkers?”

Logan muttered something about humans and poor hearing before grabbing his hand and running. “Logan! What’s going on?”

“A hunt, I could hear the horses! Just run!”

Oh god, why tonight, why when we’re just the worst equipped ever- oh gosh I can hear it now oh gosh we are so dead, we can’t outrun horses, what do we look like, fae? Well, only one of us, and even then what the hell am I supposed to-

He tripped over a tree root, sending him sprawling across the ground. Logan pulled at his arm, telling him to get up, but it was no use. The hunt was upon them. Thomas just curled up in a ball and waited for the inevitable. Logan wrapped his arms around him, trying to shield as much of him as possible. The whoops and hollers of the fae were deafening and that was all they could hear and could they please just get it over with-

And then there were screams. But it wasn’t their screams. Logan tilted his head up in confusion. A figure (was it the same one we saw earlier? Logan thought) was standing over them. When Thomas later recounted the story, he said that the shadows themselves seemed to morph and shift, surrounding the hunters, sometimes killing them, sometimes just vanishing them into thin air with the mysterious figure seemingly controlling all of it. Logan could only sit and stare, his arms still wrapped around his brother.

Before long, the whole hunt had either run away or been killed, leaving the shadowy figure standing alone in front of them. It turned, revealing those same purple eyes. It crouched before them, speaking softly so as not to scare them any more than they already were. “Are you two alright?” Logan seemed unable to form words, so Thomas stuttered out a “Y-yeah, we’re good. Who, if you don’t mind me asking… who are you?”

The shadowy figure pulled their hood down, revealing moonlight pale skin and sharp, pointed ears, the same as Logan. Both boys immediately knew they were in the presence of another fae, as if the previous display hasn’t already convinced them enough. The fae boy (Was he really a boy though, Thomas later argued, because fae are immortal. He could’ve been a thousand years old! Logan had rolled his eyes, saying He appeared as an adolescent, even by fae standards.) smiled at them, saying “You can call me V.”

Logan, regaining his ability to speak, said, “Well, thank you V, for saving us. Had you not appeared, I believe we would have been, in the modern vernacular, ‘toast.’” V laughed at this. “Yes, I do believe you two would’ve been ‘toast.’ Come now, I’ll help you get where you’re going, without any more… Rude interruptions.” He held his hand out, standing. The twins shared a look, doing their “mind-reading thing,” as Roman always put it. Then, simultaneously, the reached their hands up at him, Logan’s perhaps imperceptibly shaking a little more than Thomas’. V’s hand closed around theirs (Gosh, he had a big hand -- He was tall, tall people just naturally have larger extremities. Although perhaps his fae nature only assisted in that), and they seemed to melt into the shadow, reappearing behind a tree near Ms. Gage’s house.

V released them, gesturing towards the little cottage. “Go on now, and don’t let me see you running from any more fae.” It would’ve sounded like a threat, but he was smiling, and Logan couldn’t even fathom how he would be scared of him. Thomas laughed a little, a little stumbly from the ‘shadow-melty-transportation,’ as Thomas phrased it, saying “No promises. C’mon, Berry!” He ran (kinda) off towards the cottage, but Logan hung back. “Berry? What a cute name.”

“It’s not my actual name, of course, we’re not that dumb as to give you our real names, and neither are you. Berry is simply a nickname for me, just as Bug is my nickname for him.”

“Good. You two are smart. Use those smarts next time, and bring iron. Or,” and he paused, casting a smug eye on him, “Perhaps not. You are fae, are you not?”

“Couldn’t tell from the pointy ears and silver eyes? My, perhaps it was a good choice to not give you our names.”

“Ah, don’t get too smart with me now. I did save your hides.” “That you did, and I am eternally grateful, your majesty, let me shine your shoes and kiss your hand, blah blah blah, I’m going now.”

“Very funny, very funny.”

Logan turned to go, V silent behind him, before saying

“...Will I see you again, Snowberry?”

He paused at the nickname, turning a little pink. “... I suppose I could not stop you if you visited me. Though hopefully not under such dire circumstances again.” “One can hope.”

Logan smiled a little and nodded in farewell. V waved a little, and Logan turned, walking towards the cottage. V sighed, watching till he was out of sight, before melting into the shadow.

#i know im the op but im soft tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors also this had nothing to do with the prompt i was given in english class lol

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