Stay With Me. [[Sequel to The Last Year (Once-ler x OC)]]

Prologue: The Misunderstood Future.

It was a few months before the date set for my wedding. For some stupid reason my fiancé brought his family to help his business. If you knew how they've treated us in the past you'd understand my skepticism about having them here. But that is beside the point. My fiancé was busy lately. He barely even came home anymore. One night I decided to bring him dinner. And maybe, just maybe, I could convince him to come home and get some sleep. The halls of the giant factory were quiet. His family must have already gone home for the night. I checked the time while passing the ostentatious wall clock above the desk right inside the main doors. Seven thirty, no wonder it's so quiet. I must have lost track of time worrying about him again. I started up the stairs to get to the floor his office was on. The dim hallways were kind of creepy at night. I picked up my pace and hurried to his office. When I put my hand on the handle my heart stopped. It sounded like someone else was in there. Was he arguing with his mom, or brothers, again? For a second I considered not going inside, but I figured I could buffer the fight for a little while. With a deep breath I pushed open the door.

"Oncie?" I said flatly.

The food dropped from my hand. It scattered across the floor as I stared ahead. He was in his normal seat, but tonight he wasn't alone. There was a girl with him. She covered herself up and looked back at me.

"Excuse me, we're busy here," she snapped.

"Huh?" Once-ler's voice said. As if taking the scene in for the first time his eyes met with mine, "F-Fleur, this isn't what it looks like."

I closed my eyes tightly and took a deep breath before cleaning the mess off the floor as best as I could. I turned away and hurried out of the room and toward the stairs. Again I dropped the plate spilling food all over the stairs. Part of me tried to stop and clean the mess while the other half urged me to get the hell away from this place. The conflict of interest and opposing motions made one of my feet slip on the now slick rug. There I went, as graceful as ever, tumbling down the long set of stairs contemplating my life choices. Aside from that there was only the thought of "I really hope I don't break anything". Even though Once-ler had become busy and more stressed I never expected him to cheat, especially this close to our wedding day. Eventually I stopped tumbling down the stairs and lay still on the ground staring up at the ceiling.

"How did I get here?" I asked myself quietly, "am I not good enough for him?"

Tears poured down my face as I slowly sat back up. My body felt a little sore, but I just fell down what felt like the world's longest set of stairs. I could hear the girl yelling at Once-ler and he at her in return. It didn't feel right to be here. And I didn't want to see him. I got up and hurried out of the factory. I continued past where we lived and didn't stop running.

My name is Fleur Adelise and I'm engaged to Once-ler, yes, The Once-ler. Creator of the thneed, CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, and complete jerk! I was tired of working for this relationship while he just focused on his business, so that jerk comment is a bit biased. Things were never easy for our relationship. People kind of tried to ruin it, or turn us against each other, when we were in high school. But that was years ago. Things weren't always like this though. It would probably be best to go back to the start. The day we left Linvale. It was an early summer evening if I remember correctly I had just punched his idiot brother in the face. Once-ler and I headed out on his wagon led by his mule, Melvin.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Stop asking," I whined, "do you really want me to leave?"

"No! I mean," he cleared his throat, "no of course not."

"Good recovery, I almost thought you'd be upset if I left."

"I would, Fleur."

"Well, don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

I wrapped my arms around his and rest my head on his shoulder. We headed out of town. Both of us said it felt good to get out of that hellhole. It was like a weight lifted from my shoulders after graduation.

"Where are we staying tonight anyway?" I asked.

"Right here," he patted the wagon.

"You do realize how much stuff is in there, right?"

"You'll see when we get there."

"Get where?"

"I'm not sure yet," he laughed.

"Is it still too late to go back home?"

"Yes, you're stuck with me now!"

"Well, sounds like it'll be fun to travel for awhile anyway."

"It's nice to be away from my family."

"I bet. I'm glad to be away from them honestly. Except your dad, he was nice."

"So where do we stop first?"

"Wherever we want."

We traveled well into the night. It was far outside the city limits. My eyes stared in awe at how many stars filled the night sky this far from the city. I hadn't seen so many at once.

"Hey Once," I said.

"Hm?" he responded.

"Do you think we're stupid for doing this? Like how do you know you don't wanna be with anyone else?"

"Well, because I can't imagine anyone else making me feel the way you do."

I didn't say anything. Sometimes I felt bad about making this choice to go with him. Like I was letting people down or being selfish by choosing to go with him. But I knew there was no one else I wanted to be with.

"Ya know, Fleur, I know you could be getting ready for college. It really does mean a lot that you support my dream."

"Of course. It'd be fun to see you get rich off this. Then I could go to school whenever."

"You think it's really gonna get that big?"

"Of course! I don't see the point of telling you it's gonna fail. Plus think about it we could go on a proper vacation," I laughed.

"I'll buy a private island for us!" he chimed in.

"That's the spirit, but won't it be lonely with just us?"

"I dunno, but we won't have to worry about wearing our swimsuits."

My cheeks turned red as I turned my head away from him. I crossed my arms containing what I could of my smile.

"All that money and that's all you can think about?"

"What's more important than you? I promise you, we're definitely taking a
vacation when we get rich. "

"At least you have your priorities straight. By the way, do you have any idea of what you're looking for on this trip?"

"Well, a fabric. Or something to make the thneed."

"Just yarn isn't good enough?"

"No," he laughed, "when I find the right thing I'll know."

That's all I had to go on. We were looking for unspecified place with an unspecified fabric for his invention. But the journey promises to be fun. The two of us relaxed more into the seat as we both stared up at the night sky. Any worried I had seemingly faded away just being with him. I had hoped things would be like this forever.