Needle and Thread

The Sorcerer's Stone

Thank you to Obsidian_Wolf1202 for the title suggestion!

[Fandom+ (1)]

"Is it impressive?" Andesine asked. "All I see is a small golden blur."

"It looks like a house key," Lyra replied, looking at the key in her palm. The two sat just outside the Starlight Temple, waiting for Sun to show up again. They'd left them outside the Temple, saying that nobody was allowed in except the Gatekeeper. The walls behind them sparked green and blue, forcing them to move away.

"Jeez, that smarts," Lyra said, rubbing a spot on her wrist where one of the sparks had struck her. "You'd think that this whole forest would go up by now. I mean, I know there isn't a green thing within a hundred feet, but still."

"Eh. Impossible stuff happens. Kind of like opening up magical portals to summon people from other dimensions to fight for you."

In the distance, a roar echoed through the forest, and a beam of light shot up into the darkening sky.

"You wanna see if any of your new keys have some sort of long-range ability?" Andesine asked.

"Good idea," Lyra said, watching Ray move through the forest. She stood up and looked at the key from the Gravity Temple. "Oh! Right," she said. "I already know who's going to come out of that one. Nah, won't work." She looked all up and down the new key. "I can't see the symbol on this one. Let's see..." She moved her thumb over the head of the key. "Hey! I feel something." She rubbed it for a couple of minutes, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. "Huh. I... don't know what I'll get out of this one." She stood up and said, "Come forth, inhabitant of the Hussie Dimension! My patron Hero, John Egbert!" As she said the words, she looked surprised. And from the portal stepped a boy with peachy skin, blonde hair, and a pink lollipop stuck in his hair.

"What is that?" Andesine asked. "What the schist are those blotches on his cheeks?"

"Run!" Lyra shouted. "Just run, oh my god--"

Andesine ran, leaving Lyra behind to get tackled by the strange boy. When he glanced back, the John kid was gone. Lyra was after him, but she looked... odd. Her hair was pink. When had it gotten pink? And her skin was the same peachy tone as John's had been. Even her clothes were different... every color seemed to have inverted.

"Andy!" She yelled gleefully. "C'mon, I was just kidding when I said run!"

Andesine kept running. He turned sharply to keep from going into the forest, where he wouldn't be able to see, keeping as close as possible to the fiery walls of the Temple.

Behind him, Lyra took bigger and bigger strides until she wasn't just running anymore. She soared through the air, following Andesine until she was almost close enough to touch him.

Andesine shivered as Lyra reached out to grab him. Some animal instinct took over, and he tried to leap into the Temple--

--but he was too late. Lyra grabbed him and with surprising strength, pulled him away from the wall, sending him flying through the air. Almost as soon as he landed, she had picked him up again, holding him up to her face. She smelled like old candy, and her eyes were bloodshot and red rather than their usual bottle green.

"Andy," she said softly, as he struggled to escape. "C'mon, dude, I'm Lyra. Your friend, your pal. Andy, look at me."

He looked up nervously. "What?" He asked.

Lyra sighed happily, releasing another wave of day-old candy smell. "Did you know, when I first met you, I thought you were a grade-A prick?"

"I had no idea," Andesine said sarcastically, as he tried to do something, anything- punch her, or knee her in the belly. But she had her arms wrapped around his torso, restricting pretty much any movement.

"Yeah, I really hated you," she said. "But hey! Then you turned out to be kind of useful. And then you saved my life, over and over, and I saved yours..." She smiled and put her chin on his shoulder, narrowly dodging a head butt. "It was nice, you know? But then I started getting a crush on you, and everything suddenly became very inconvenient."

Andesine stopped squirming. "You... you what?"

"Yes," she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. "And I kind of hated myself for it, because, I mean, can't I have just one close friend who I didn't crush on at some point? So I ignored it. And kept ignoring it..." She squeezed Andesine suddenly, so tight that he almost couldn't breathe. "Until now." She pulled her head back, facing him. She smiled stunningly. "And now I've realized how stupid not telling you was! I never lie about anything, so why lie about this?" Lyra trailed off into a giggling fit. "Ah... feels so good to get that off my chest." Without any warning, she dropped Andesine, letting him hit the ground.

"Ow," he muttered. "So... that's it? Weird love confession? Have you got anything else to say while you're in Crazy Mode?"

Lyra giggled. "Oh that's right! Silly me." Before he could react, she dipped down and kissed him full on the lips. Then she sat back and watched as he changed.

The first thing to go was his dark skin. It bleached out until it was completely white, revealing two orange swirls just beneath his now-yellow-green eyes. His sweater turned emerald green, and finally his hair faded to a sickly yellow.

Lyra grinned as his horns turned into small candy corns. "How do you feel?" She asked. "Don't answer that. You feel awesome, of course! Why wouldn't you?!"

"Good question!" Andesine replied cheerfully. He stood up. "Rock Boss, it's been a while since I actually felt happy! I was so caught up in trying to deny pretty much everything except the missions that I forgot what it felt like!"

"Silly you!"

"Absolutely! And you know how you were talking about liking me earlier?"

"Let me guess. You like me too?"

"Yeah!"

Lyra was practically glowing with happiness. "Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's get married! What do you want to call our first child?"

"Let's name her after you!"

"Oh, you're too kind," Lyra giggled. Then, she realized something, and her face came as close to frowning as it could given her current state. She grabbed Andesine's hand. "Oh, no! Andy, I forgot. If we're getting married, I'd better invite my friends!"

"Good idea! Who should we visit first?!"