𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 ─── 𝘩. 𝘥. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

18. the chess king

act one chapter eighteen
﹝THE CHESS KING﹞
season one episode four
❝ i suppose it's just a coincidence. ❞

────── · ✦ · ──────

"checkmate."

marie moves her rook up the chessboard three spaces, trapping will's king so he couldn't move it anywhere without her bishop getting to it. william sighs and lays his king down to end the game.

"you always win," he complains, handing his sister yet another piece of candy from the jar next to the chessboard. marie grins and unwraps the pink sweet before popping it in her mouth.

"not everyone can be naturally good at this, will," she teases after swallowing. the two start rearranging the board, switching piece colours to mark the new match.

"where'd you even learn to play?" he inquires. "i learnt from a book."

marie pauses and stares down at the chessboard, trying to remember who or what taught her to play. "i don't know," she eventually answers. "i can't remember."

━━━

"sorry. i can never remember which one is the rook and which one is the bishop," david nolan apologises with a chuckle, shifting in his seat at the edge of his hospital bed.

"it's alright, mr. nolan," marie replies, offering the man a reassuring smile as she picks up his white rook.

"this is the rook. it can move up and down any amount of space until something blocks its way." she sets the piece back down. "this one's the bishop. it can do the same thing but it moves diagonally instead."

"got it." david makes the first move with one of his pawns, moving it two spaces away from the bishop next to his king. marie smiles and moves the pawn in front of her king down one space.

her opponent moves the pawn in front of his horse next to his other pawn, leaving marie to move her queen down the board diagonally and put him in checkmate.

"wow," david mutters once he realises he lost a game of chess to a middle schooler in less than five moves. "you're really good at this," he praises, shaking his head as he starts to pull his pawns back.

"it just helps to know different openings."

david smiles at the girl and leans back in his chair after making his first move with a different pawn. "who taught you those?"

while marie contemplates her next move, she racks her brain trying to remember who taught her to play. it wasn't her father nor her mother and she didn't know if she had any extended family. will certainly didn't teach her. it wasn't her friends or teachers either.

"i... i don't recall."

david gives her an apologetic smile. "i know how that feels."

marie decides to move one of her pawns as well. "it feels weird," she admits. "this is such a simple thing to remember and yet... i can't." she touches the top of her king and furrows her eyebrows, trying to sort through her memories of this game. "it's all a blur, but... i think... i think it was a... it was a-"

"hey," david interrupts, leaning forward and placing his hand on her shoulder. "it's okay. don't worry; i'm sure you'll remember soon enough. it's just chess."

"well, yes, but it's always been more than just a game to me," marie expresses with a sigh. "i just don't know why."

"it'll come back," david assures, retracting his hand. "i know it will."

"thank you, mr. nolan. i'm sure your memories will come back too."

he slowly lets out a long exhale and runs a hand through his hair. "i'm not so sure about that," he responds, using his other hand to move another pawn of his.

"well, i am." before the younger brunette can move one of her pieces, sean enters the hospital room with a large smile on his face. "there you are, m," he starts, waiting in the doorframe. "i've looked everywhere for you. dr. whale asked me to bring you home before your dad starts to worry."

"oh, thank you, sean." marie stands up and gently moves the rolling table away to get out. she makes her way over to the new father and turns around to look at david. "i'll visit you again, mr. nolan. perhaps i could bring my brother with me next time to play monopoly."

david gives her a warm smile and a nod. "i'd like that."

marie smiles back and turns back around. sean bids the other male good evening before placing a hand on marie's shoulder to lead her out, using his free hand to shut the door behind them.

once they are out of sight, david picks up the king marie was absentmindedly rocking back and forth earlier and examines it. either she just chose a random piece to fidget with or there was something about the king piece she liked but couldn't remember why.

if he had asked, she would've told him it was the latter.

━━━

"earth to m!" william yells, causing his sister to snap out of her thoughts and drop the king she was holding and rubbing her manicured thumb against.

"what?" she asks. "were you saying something, will?"

"uh, yeah, i've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

"oh. i'm sorry. uh, here." she places her king back down and starts the next match by moving the pawn in front of the bishop next to her queen up two spaces.

"what were you thinking about?" will asks, deciding to move his knight as a first move.

"it's nothing."

"if you say so. anyways, i was talking about how i think you learnt from a book as well when you suddenly picked up your king and started messing around with it. you've always done that when you space out during chess. i mean, you rarely do, but when it does happen, you always fidget with the king, never any other pieces."

"i suppose it's just a coincidence."

that convinces neither of them.

"maybe it has something to do with the curse. if you can't remember something as simple as who taught you to play chess or why you always choose the king when you spaced out, it definitely means your memories got wiped when we were brought here."

"or it just means i have too many memories and the king is the biggest piece on the board, making it a good piece to fidget with."

"but chess is special to you. it's almost as important to you as ballet. you have to remember who taught you."

"i'm sure i will and this is just temporary," marie assures, trying to get rid of the headache she had gotten from trying way too hard to remember something this simple. "as soon as i remember, i'll tell you. maybe you can do what i did to get better," she teases, resulting in will tossing a piece of candy at her.

as the two start throwing candy, candy wrappers, and chess pieces at each other, marie forgets about trying to get back the memory william was so sure had something to do with her fairytale life. she was making new memories just fine.