Part 12: A Trip Down Memory Lane

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There won't be another part after this, but I thought I might as well post an early draft for the chapter I had been working on before I stopped. Enjoy!

Also Heather and Astrid totally went from a romantic power couple to a platonic power couple and I'm here for it.

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Astrid's POV:

As cliché as it sounds, being reunited with Heather felt like heaven. I'd forgotten how much I had missed her in the time we'd been apart, and it was like the whole world had gotten brighter after that evening we had spent together.

Fuck me I'm turning into a sap.

"Ash? You still with me?"

I turned my head towards where Heather sat, a cocky half-smirk stretched across her face.

"You about ready to conk out? Cos' you certainly look like you are."

Huffing out a laugh, I turned to face her.

"Just about, I'm pretty wrecked after everything." I smiled, but there was no mirth behind it. Now that I was free from Yohan, I had begun to realize there was still years of trauma and abuse I needed to work through. I'd given Heather the gist of it, I think, but I had left out some of the more... Horrific aspects of my experience.
A sad sigh escaped Heather, and she reached over to grab my shoulder supportively.

"You know I can tell when you're not telling me something right? I know you Asty, and I promise I won't tell anyone about what you've been through."

"... Yeah. Yeah I know you won't. It's just hard to talk about it y'know? It feels like I have so much to say but I just can't say it. I don't even know if I want to say it? It's... complicated. Scary, even?... Does that make sense?"

Heather thought for a moment, her gaze growing distant. After a moment, she let out another sigh, and then:

"I think I can understand you. There's obviously a lot of depth to what you've experienced, and it'll definitely take a while to break down the walls you've built for yourself. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try y'know? It's hard, and it's scary, and you feel like you can't say anything, because you don't want to burden anyone with your feelings."

I nodded solemnly, mulling over what she said.

We sat in comfortable silence for a moment longer before I spoke once more.

"Did... Did you have to go through something like me? When I was... gone."

"Me?" Heather asked.

"Yeah. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, no it's okay. I trust you Ash." Heather said. She thought for a second before continuing, "I suppose I did in a way. I made a few deals with some... bad people, to say the least."

"Bad people like the Grimborn brothers?"

"Yup," Heather said, popping the P, "Bad people like the Grimborn brothers."

We were silent for a moment.

"...Anyways, I ended up getting hurt pretty bad on multiple occasions. Nothing I couldn't survive of course, just... shit that would take a while to work off. Physically and emotionally." Heather said, her voice contemplative. Leaning down, she tugged up the leg of one of her jeans, revealing a nasty looking acid burn. I winced at the sight, thinking of my own scars.

"Pretty bad huh? Got it when a not-so-happy customer of mine let his changewing loose on me."

"A changewing? I thought they were extinct?"

"This one wasn't."

I sat forward in my seat, my eyes wide with disbelief.

"You're not serious, are you?"

Heather smirked at me, a mischievous spark glinted in her eyes.

"Y'know, they say there's rumours of a hidden world in the Bermuda Triangle right? And that it's obscured by some of the most ancient and powerful magyk ever recorded in human history?"

"Well- yeah I've heard about it," I paused, my mind racing, "But I've always thought that they were just that; rumours."

"Then you thought wrong Ash, because it's real and it's moving."

"It's what?"

"You heard me. Historians say they have only ever heard of such an event in the ancient magyk archives, the last time anything like this had happened was, well, centuries ago."

"You're kidding."

"I swear I'm not. There have been reports of unnatural heat signatures moving around the Everstorm, we think they are some kind of ancient beings, returned to Earth from an alternative reality."

"That... sounds really far-fetched."

"I know it does, and I wouldn't believe it either... if I hadn't have seen it for myself."

I sat in silence, my eyes locked onto Heather, waiting for a response.

"Yeah, that's right. I've seen it." Heather paused for dramatic effect. "And I want you to see it too. Our next expedition is in a few months- I'm sure I can convince the others to let me bring you along. It could be fun. You an' me on the road again, just like old times!"

"... Me?" I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief. "You want me, a girl you haven't seen or heard from in years, to join you on some- some quest to a place that there's only rumours of?"

An exasperated huff escaped Heather;

"I told you, I've seen it Ash. With my own two eyes. And I don't care that it's been years. I'm just happy you're here again, with me."

"Well- sure, yeah. But how do I know that I can trust you? How do I know you won't just do to me what Johann did?"

Hurt burned behind emerald eyes.

"... Do- do you really think I'd do that to you?"

"... I-I don't know. I don't think so. But still.." I hesitated, unable to find the right words.

"You're afraid."

"... Yeah."

The next silence that washed over us was uncomfortable, and I was quite suddenly reminded that the woman sat across from me was not the woman I knew so long ago.

And yet...

I sighed, and tapped my foot to Heather's knee.

"I'll think about it, 'Kay?"

A brilliant smile broke out over her face, and an old warmth stirred in my belly.

"That's good enough for me."

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