I Can Help You | Red Queen Fanfic |

4 - My Dear Maven

Third Person POV:

Mare opens her eyes, blinking as she looks around. Her hand was gripping Cal's and they were both standing on a huge cloud.

"Cal?" Mare says, her voice strained.

The former prince opens his eyes, blinking in confusion. All of a sudden, his stubble fades away and his wrinkles fade, he grows and shifts a bit before he looks exactly like his teenage body.

"What the.." He says, looking down at his hands. He looks at her, and his eyes widen. "Mare."

She looks down at herself and gasps. She was back to her teenage body as well. "What is going on?" She questions.

"Mare Barrow, Tiberias Calore the Seventh," The angel creature appears in front of them, shocking them still. Cal notices he's not holding his flame bracelet and Mare can't call up her lightning. "Both of you will go to the House of the Lost, and reunite with your kin."

Suddenly they teleport, to the same area Maven appeared in.

"What is this?" Mare questions. "Did we die?"

Cal frowns, but then he slowly nods. "That seems like the most reasonable answer," He grumbles.

"Cal! My boy!" Both Mare and Cal's eyes widen at the sound of the former king Tiberias the six, turning around to see him approaching them with Coriane walking next to him, holding hands.

"Father?" Cal sputters out.

Tiberias smiles. "Yes son, and this.." He gives a small gesture to Coriane, and Cal's eyes widen even more. Coriane gives him her signature kind smile.

"Mom," Cal says, his tongue sticking to the top of his mouth.

The two embrace, Cal crying into Coriane's shoulder while Coriane murmurs comforting words into his ear.

"Hey Mare," The lightning girl turns and gasps when she sees Shade and Farley standing together. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Shade says, tilting his head in a smile.

The two families reunite and talk for about an hour, both sides explaining many things.

Then Coriane elbows Tiberias in the side. "Ah, yes," Tiberias mutters. "You two, I think you should talk with Maven."

That blows both of their eyes wide. "Maven's here?" Mare exclaims.

Tiberias nods. "Yes, he's a few houses down that way," He explains, pointing down the pathway. "There should be a name on the door of his."

"It's painting hour, though, so you might interrupt him," Coriane says.

Cal and Mare exchange glances. "Go, you all need to talk," Tiberias says, nodding. After a moment, Mare nods back, saying goodbye to Shade and Farley before walking down the path with Cal.

After just a few moments of walking, Mare silently points at a house.

Maven and Thomas

"Thomas?" Cal questions.

Mare nods. "Thomas.. That's Maven's old.." She struggles to find a word. "His lover from the war front." Cal's eyebrows raise in shock, but follow Mare as she knocks on the door.

The door opens, revealing a boy with mixed skin and chocolate hair and eyes. "Hello?" He asks, confused. He looks at them. "If you're looking for a house to take, sorry but this one's taken." He says, before trying to the door. Mare puts her hand in the way, and Thomas stares at her.

"We're here to see Maven," Cal says. "I'm Cal, his brother."

"Oh," Thomas says. He blinks again. "Ohhhhhhhh.." He nods. "Yeah, come in, I'll bring you to him." The two follow Thomas inside.

The house was beautiful, with many windows and dozens of paintings hanging on the wall. Some were abstract, some were hyper realistic. The most eye-catching ones were the landscapes. Some Mare and Cal could tell where it was, like Whitefire palace or Montfort.

Cal points at one. "Who painted that?" He asks.

Thomas smiles. "Maven did," He explains. "I told him to get a hobby a few years ago and he picked painting just to shut me up, but he ended up really enjoying it, so now he does it almost like therapy."

Cal nods thoughtfully, and Thomas leads them into a room with windows for walls and the ceiling.

And there he was. Maven. His back was turned to them. He was holding a palette and was staring at a half painted canvas leaning on an easel. There were smudges of paint all over his fingers and face. Mare glanced around the room and her eyebrows went up. There were even more paintings in here, practically covering every inch of the glass walls aside from a bit.

There was one painting that was larger than all of them, and it was a hyper realistic landscape of the war front in the morning, when it was dawn. The sun was rising, giving everything a red glow.

Rise, red as the dawn. Mare thought.

"Maven, have you had breakfast yet?" Thomas says, walking over to the younger boy and hugging him from behind.

The former prince just hums a response, not looking at Thomas. He bites on the end of the paint brush.

"You have visitors," Thomas says, pulling away from the hug.

Maven sighs, and turns around. "I want to finish-" His eyes land on the two at the doorway, and he freezes. The palette drops from his grasp and splatters on the floor. There was a moment of shocked silence.

"Hi Maven.." Cal says, giving his brother a small wave. Mare nods.

Maven glances at Thomas before looking back at them, panic evident in his eyes. "How- What are you doing here?" He questions, his voice ever so slightly trembling.

"We wanted to see you," Mare says.

There was a long pause of awkward silence.

"What are you painting right now?" Cal asks, trying to avoid the silence as best as he could. Maven glances at his painting and sighs. Thomas pats his shoulder.

"Well, Dad and Mom wanted me to paint a picture of them," Maven explains.

Mare's eyes widened, as did Cal's. "Elara's here?" Mare hisses, her face shifting in anger.

Maven blinks. "What? No," he says, before his cheeks went slightly whiter. "I meant Coriane. She said I could call her that if I wanted."

Cal's mouth opens and closes multiple times as he tries to decide what to say.

"I need to go wash up," Maven says, quickly picking his palette up again and leaving the room via a glass door that leads outside.

Thomas sighs, putting a hand on his hip. "Well, can I get a snack for you guys?" He asks.

<^> To Be Continued

(1k words)

:D