𝕿𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗 - ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

Chapter 31: Strangers

[ March 10th, 1978 ]

IT WAS practically law that Theonalia Belmont would love Eve Tucker. An undeniable truth of the universe, like the passing of time and the changing of seasons. Eve used to say that she was the Earth and Theonalia was the sky, existing as opposites, but meeting in the middle. Theonalia had always thought it was an accurate description. They were destined to be together. The Earth commanding her sky to brighten and dull at her every whim. The sky there to protect her Earth from all that lingers in the depths of space, all that wants to hurt her. Their love was a rule bound in nature, an immanent destination at the end of a perilous journey. And yet.

And yet.

Theonalia Belmont had loved Eve Tucker until the day she died. Her heart had beat for her, her soul had yearned, her mind had hummed. That would never change, nor falter. They shared a love that burned so bright it shrivelled into ash as Theonalia took her last breath, staring down the tip of a wand.

The girl who was birthed in her wake did not love Eve Tucker like she was the air in her lungs. She did not beat, yearn, hum for her. Theona stared at who she'd once thought of as the love of her life and she didn't feel the telltale warmth, the fluttering heart, nor the fuzzy brain. She looked at Eve and she saw her past.

Eve looked much the same. Beautiful. Auburn hair brushing her shoulders and flaring out at the ends. Blue eyes crystal clear and sparkling with something mischievous. She moved with purposed, always, never faltering in a single step. She stood and she stood tall, showing her soft curves and wide hips. She was delicate like grass and trees and flowers, and harsh like the sea and the desert and the arctic. She was a whirlwind of all the things that made the world tick. And when she smiled, oh, when she smiled, it was like that ticking stopped, for only a moment. A brief moment that made all the pain and suffering and torment in the world disappear.

Theona felt sick. Her stomach flipping, her knees weakening, her skin frozen—yet glazed with sweat. Her chest felt tight. Was she breathing? Her heart was beating at double pace. She couldn't focus on anything. Anything except for Eve. Because Eve was here, right in front of her. Even was here and—

     Oh.

    Eve was hugging her. Eve was hugging her and she was fifteen again. Why were her hands shaking? Eve was hugging her, why wasn't she hugging back? Her hands were shaking. Her hands never shook with Eve. Where was she? When was she? Because Eve was hugging her and she was fifteen again.

     "'Nalia."

     Eve's face was in front of her. Round and tan and dimpled. Just the same. Except her teeth were straight, no gap in the middle or crooked canine in sight. And her eyes were ringed with black, eyelashes darkened unnaturally. And her eyebrows were thinner, not bushy and untamed. And she wasn't fifteen. And neither was Theona. And they were standing in Dumbledore's office. And Eve was in Hogwarts. They weren't fifteen. Eve wasn't the same. Neither was Theona.

     "Eve," Theona breathed, and it was like giving life to someone long gone.

     Eve's eyes softened, hand coming up to brush at the hair resting on Theona's forehead, "you got bangs."

     "You fixed your teeth," Theona responded, resisting the urge to poke her finger at Eve's teeth. Theonalia would've done that, and then she would've whined when Eve inevitably bit her.