"What's worse,
Being wanted but not loved
Or loved but not wanted?"
-Dove Cameron
Dodger knew that Ollie was dead. He was there when the guards sliced through her, and he left her for dead. But, what happens when all clues point to her being ali...
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Olympia's fingers refused to move; her stomach weighed heavily in her stomach. Her mouth didn't listen, soundless and closed. Ollie's muscles don't tense when she starts to panic, no longer a puppeteer to even her own body. Ollie could only feel the softness of a cloud, stretching from where her head rested to her crumbled and scared feet. She could feel as though her back was stretched too tight, ripped, and cut to barely cover her scraggly bones with leftover skin. She could only hear the loud chirping of a bird, quite an annoying sound.
She lay there for hours before she heard shuffling next to her. A loud creak echoed through the room, as what Ollie could only assume to be a door.
"Must she stay here?" A young voice asked, squeaky and loud.
An old and deep voice answered her in a scolding tone. "Fanny, be nice. The poor girl is hurt."
"Yes, well, we can't very well take him with us." a woman's voice echoed, unambiguous and concise.
"She, Mother. She's a girl. Just why can't we take her in? We have plenty of money to sustain her."
The Mother rolled her eyes, "That's not the problem! What would the colony think? Taking in street urchins, Society will not accept it, Belle."
"I seem to recall you saying that we are Society back in the colony, Mother. What we say goes. And having this girl around will make it so much more exciting! Think of it as an experiment, if you must."
The Mother scoffed under her breath. "The colony itself is already an experiment. Must we add more?"
Belle laughed, "No, I suppose, but it would prove quite a form of entertainment, would it not?"
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The family bickered back and forth. Belle was the most viable for taking Ollie in. Meanwhile, the others only seemed concerned about what the 'people' would think. Ollie put together that they were nobles; if not, they held some form of power in Society, the complete opposite of Olympia.
Ollie didn't care either way. Sure, it would be good to get off the streets, but Ollie had already accepted that this was her life, and it was unlikely that it would change. Still, she couldn't help lifting her heart in her chest and the pit in her stomach, a minuscule amount of hope.
The family had left; all that remained in the room was Ollie and her steadily beating heart. Her eyes still refused to open. Her mind tracked back to the last time that she was conscious. Was Mr. Jack okay? Did he escape? Or was he being hanged for entertainment in the London square? Ollie kept coming up with so many different scenarios in her head. But one question lingered in the back of her head. What was going to happen to her? Was she set to be hanged? Ollie highly doubted that; why dress someone's injuries if you're going to just hang them the next day?
Deep down, Ollie was scared. She didn't know if she was going to go live with the family that healed her or if she was going to be hanged as soon as she woke up. She got her answer, however, when Olympia heard the door creak open, and elegant footsteps echoed as they made their way to the semi-sleeping patient.
Ollie felt a warm, soft, and wrinkled hand on her forehead.
"I guess you're coming with us, Firecracker. When you wake up we'll have already set sail back to Australia. Let's hope you make as big of a splash as our darling Belle hopes you will make."
The old voice slowly faded as Ollie fell to sleep, the hand gently stroking her crumpled and thin hair.
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8 Years Later
"Ollie! Do you have any of that Feverwart? I have a horrid headache!" Ollie turned toward her screeching- adopted little sister.
Ollie had been with the Foxes for around four years now. Officially, being adopted when they arrived in Port Victory five months later. Her back had taken many months to heal, and even still, a jagged scar ran through her back, a phantom pain running through her any time she exercised too hard.
Ollie had grown to love the Fox family, and they, in turn. Fanny was the little sister that she had always hoped for. Olympia loved listening to Fanny rant and describe the most random of things; Olympia fell in love with the glint that Fanny got in her eyes when she talked about something that she was passionate about. Something that Ollie hoped Fanny never lost.
Her adopted Mother, however, was the last to accept Olympia into the family. Olympia couldn't pinpoint when Lady Jane Fox truly began to love her. Maybe it was the constant way that Ollie followed the older women as she watched her work. Perhaps it was how Olympia treated Fanny, Belle, and her as nothing lesser than the men who outnumbered them. But, Olympia really felt Lady Jane's love when she had woken up screaming from a nightmare, and Lady Jane sat with her, stroking Ollie's waxy hair and singing to her in an offbeat and out-of-tune voice till she fell asleep. Olympia started calling her Mother that very morning.
However, Belle and her father were the two people she was closest to. Belle because she was the one who wanted to include Olympia in the family in the first place (and the fact that they both abhor the idea of marriage without love) and that they both have a passion for the medical field, with Ollie loving to learn and test different medicinal herbs.
Governor Fox was Olympia's favorite person on the planet. Though he could be oblivious and unintelligent. He had the heart of a child. Every few months, taking Olympia out into the gardens and woods, ranting for hours on end about dirt and its properties. When she went out to gather medicinal herbs, Olympia would often bring back handfuls of different-looking dirt for the Governor to gush about.
A whining voice cut her out of her thinking. "Ollie! My headache!"
"Wha- oh yes. It's Feverfew, by the way. You're lucky I was able to buy some in the market today. Had to trade my Desert Mushrooms for it, and it took me a week to harvest all of them." Olympia held out the daisy-looking plants, her scarred hands encasing the thin stems.
"Thank you!" Fanny grabbed the plants from Ollie's hands and kissed her on her pale mask, covering Ollie's defining features. "I love you!"
Ollie waved her out of the room as she felt her cheeks heat against the cold fabric of her mask. A warm feeling settled in her stomach as she slipped her black gloves over her hands and arms, covering the scars that littered her skin. She left her room/medicinal storage and closed the door softly behind her.
Note: Happy early New Year everyone! I just wanted to say that I'm so glad for all the people that are reading my story, even just one person really influences my desire to write. I'm also sorry for how long this chapter took to write, I even had to split this part into two chapters, so expect the next one soon! Love you guys! (Also I updated the cast, Erin and Ashley should be introduced next chapter)
