KOTLC One-shots

Within The Background- Platonic Marellinhiana

Word count: ~1000 words

Final request! Platonic Marellinhiana! A friendship I wanted to see really badly. I just don't think there's enough content of the keeper girls. But, here we go!

Also, I looked up writing prompts for friendships, and I am absolutely disappointed by the lack of results. (If yall find any... hit me up). It kinda takes place in flashback and kinda deals with biana and her scars, but yknow, it's them being supportive.

Oh, and just to be clear, this isn't completely linear. Like it starts and then goes back, but after that it's linear.

Biana Vacker was someone who was used to standing out. She'd been doing it all her life, she was a Vacker, born for attention.

But with the whole Neverseen thing going on, she wasn't the one with the attention. It wasn't like she needed it, it was just something she was so used to. And you could call her selfish or self-absorbed, but she kind of missed it. It was a little difficult to see Sophie run off with Fitz and Keefe all the time, while the rest of them were left behind.

She wasn't going to ruin things just because she was jealous though. She knew better than to do something like that. She channeled all that frustration, converting it into something more harmless, something she could use to protect her friends.

During Nightfall, it'd been the first time that those pent up feelings had let loose. She didn't even hesitate before going after Vespera, and she didn't realize what had happened to her until after she'd gotten away.

And at first? She felt ashamed. She wore more simple dresses, hiding away the scars. If she was faster, stronger, better, she wouldn't have been injured and Vespera would have been captured. She distanced herself from the others, and for the first time in her life, she hated the attention. She'd wanted to stand out, but not like this. Not for failing.

It took a while for her to mentally recover. A large portion of it was due to the support of her friends.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"What are you two doing?" Biana asked, stumbling across Linh and Marella in a relatively isolate, open place.

"We're trying to practice our abilities," Linh explained. "I'm finally gaining control over the water, but I don't want it to only work out if I'm being enhanced."

"She's also here for damage control, in case my fires become too wild," Marella added.

"Oh, you can continue," Biana said, sitting down.

She didn't know what exactly they'd been doing, but she was astounded. They'd been practicing separately before, but then they turned to each other. Reds and blues shot from their hands, hot and cold and it was all beautiful. If this was just then experimenting, she couldn't imagine what they were capable of in a real fight.

Her fingers pressed together, and her legs shook with a surprising amount of energy. Maybe she should join them? It was more productive then sitting there, doing nothing.

As if Linh had read her mind, she spoke. "You could join us too, if you want?"

Biana smiled softly at that. "My ability isn't as offensive as the two of yours."

"There's other things we can work on than just power. Precision, timing, you could work with it? Right Marella?"

Marella nodded. "No point shooting flames if it doesn't hit anyone."

So during a lot of their free time, they had gone to the open field and practiced their abilities. Biana worked on moving more gracefully, hoping that in a real fight, she'd have speed and stealth to her advantage.

She reached up to stretch, only to wince at the dress' sleeve falling to uncover her arm.

"You... you don't have to hide it from us," Linh told her. "I don't think it changes you."

Biana closed her eyes and thought it over. It wasn't really about ruining the 'perfect' skin. The existence of the scars themselves wasn't too bad. It was what they represented. She couldn't stand to have people stare at her and be reminded of the way she failed.

"You fought really hard during Nightfall," Marella said, her tone a little heavy. "You went face to face with an actual criminal, who has experience with this type of thing. We're all children with little experience, so we fought out best. It's pretty inspiring."

"Neither of us think you failed. All it means is that we have to practice harder," Linh continued. "To me, the scars meant that you tried, they represent how brave you are."

"Which is something that I would have never expected from 'Princess Prettypants'. You've grown from the spoiled selfish elf you were, and that's what matters to us."

Biana smiled. "Thank you."

A small conversation like that wasn't going to change her opinion so easily, but that evening, she managed to get herself to look in the mirror for once and not feel completely ashamed.

The rest of the progress needed to be made would be done by her. But those words were the push that she'd needed.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Their training kept continuing, even if they didn't have many chances to actually fight. Biana was usually invisible, her goal usually to reach Linh while avoiding the water. When Marella's control got better, her and Lihh would trade places.

When Biana had to evade the fire, it was exhilarating. Getting hit by the water wouldn't hurt that badly, but fire was an active threat, and would actually burn. She had to be light on her feet if she didn't want to be hurt.

It was going to be easier if there was the threat of a fire. There would be no tensing up of freezing, because she was used to it now. She could jump straight into action. And if the fire belonged to Marella, it only made it that much easier to trust it.

"That was tiring," Marella said after they were done, and laid down on the field.

Biana and Linh laid down at her sides, and tried to catch their breath.

"We're doing a lot better," Marella stated. "We're getting stronger."

"We've really come so far together," Linh agreed, and Biana noticed that Marella shifted a little so she could hold Biana's hand. Then she offered the other to Biana. She took the hand.

"When Sophie needs us, we'll be ready to help her. Right?" Biana asked.

"Right."

There's a chance I might not write any more oneshots for a bit (who knows though, inspiration might hit). Gonna plan to focus on my longer fics, especially the new one coming out early-mid March.