Ascension: A PL&DE Novel (SVTFOE Fan Fic)

Origins

Ah, yes. The chapter that took me 23 years to finally write and publish. Sorry for the hiatus and I know it's been too long. I've been busy with graduating high school, moving to a new apartment, working full time, yada yada ya. All that fun stuff. But, without further delay, I'm excited to finally publish this chapter! Enjoy, you lovely nerds and noodles!

...

MARCO

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...

I was awakened by a touch on my forehead and a woman's voice softly speaking, soothing me.

"Marco, wake up."

"Star... please...no." As I came back to my senses, I began to realize my mumbling was only part of a different reality, a dream.

"Shhh. Hey, wake up, dear."

"Mom?" My eyes fluttered open finally and I was greeted by a vision of Comet, hushing my incoherent mumbles. I was still in a weary haze.

"No, honey. It's me, Comet."

I woke up in a sweat and to Comet wiping my damp face, from both sweat and tears I was unaware of until I heard my own sobs. After she dried my forehead from the sweat, her hand had flicked the handkerchief with one, single motion and she continued to wipe the tears away.

...

"I... I don't really wanna talk about it. It was just a nightmare. Besides, I'm used to them." As I talked, Comet parted her tea cup away from her mouth as she took the first sip. She placed it carefully back on the tiny porcelain plate that she had in her other hand and as she did so, she did it with such poise and grace, like the true, proper royal she was. It met the plate with a clink.

"There is no shame in talking about it. Sometimes, it helps to get it off your chest."

She brushed the skirt of her long emerald dress with the palms of her hands as if she had just noticed the imaginary wrinkles or dirt that laid on it as she was sitting there. She and I were sitting on opposite sides of the cell, the bars of my prison between us both.

It was the first time that Comet had witnessed my constant nightmares.

I shook my head sluggishly, tracing the rim of my porcelain teacup of hot chocolate and was fixated on how the steam rose steadily as I was lost in deep thought.

It bewildered me how selfless Comet was to me and how she could listen about my problems without ever seeming to get bored or care less. When I talked and told her things, it was always strangely easy and when I talked, I knew she was listening by how she nodded slowly and never really interjected.

But I failed to understand why. However, before I could wonder more on it, Comet spoke again, protruding through my train of thought.

"You know, Star used to get the same night terrors as you did, dear. Poor thing. She always woke up in a panic. She cried too, you know? I never really did know what happened that night... when she... "

"Wait," I said, interjecting her. "So, you don't know what happened?"

"Oh, goodness, dear. Of course not! I couldn't ever bring myself to ask her. She was just so... traumatised, I just couldn't. I didn't want to..." Then she halted, as if a new thought had come to her. "Marco," I didn't know what I expected her to say but I felt anxiety creep in and my heart began to pound.

She knew.

She had to know.

"Were you there when my granddaughter... Do you know what happened that night?"

"I..." A bolder in my throat caused me to restart until I had to force the words out. "I didn't mean to... I-I wouldn't hurt Star. She - she's my best friend. You gotta believe me. I didn't-"

"Woah, slow down, dear. What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Nevermind. It's... whatever."

"You appear to assume that I was accusing you of what happened to Star."

"No. Comet, I didn't. I don't know. I-I'm confused, okay. I don't know what happened and for the last time, I don't wanna talk about it."

"I am here to help you. I'm your lawyer, Marco. You can tell me anything. But in order for me to help you, you have to trust me."

"Okay. I'm... sorry. I'm fine. I promise."

To this, Comet chuckled softly. "You cannot fool me that easily, my dear. I've witnessed a lot of liars in my days as a member of the High Commision and being Queen." She said matter of factly.

"How's Star?" I asked without thinking too much on it. The question must've sounded too rushed and forced.

Comet was caught right in her tracks until she had to cease her current thoughts and think again for only a moment. She chortled again.

"She's doing well, just like the last twelve times you've asked." Then, she stared above her at the ceiling as if to give the question another thought, a more accurate answer. "Although... she did seem a bit out of her sorts this past week. More... distant and quiet. I tried to get her to talk to me but I could tell something was definitely weighing on her mind lately. I'm sure she will be back to her normal self after she tries my homemade scones." She let another giggle slip her throat. "Her mother always loved my scones as a small thing."

I felt the corner of my mouth tug upwards into a half-smile and I chortled. Then my smile drooped again and I was finally able to recall my nightmare.

"My mother. I... I dreamt of her. I think I remember her."

"That is great, dear!" She perked up and the smile on her face was unmistakable. She must have expected me to match her excitement but I was too busy caught up in my own thoughts to react at all. I hugged my legs into me and rested my chin on my knees. This must've upset her as I saw her smile fade and she began to wonder.

"What is it, Marco?" Her voice had softened now, almost as if she could sense my silence as a giveaway sign that something was wrong.

"Nothing. I..." I shook my head before restarting. A steady sigh escaped my lungs from between me and Comet. "A hundred and fourteen years. For a hundred and fourteen years, I've been thinking I was a demon - that I was always going to be a demon. But... I was the only one living in that. While my parents worried, while Star was... dead, while Tom knew what happened. I was the one that lived the ignorant bliss of a lie while everyone else suffered. And in my own mind... I guess... I don't know. It was just fine. I didn't mind playing pretend and being a demon. It just sounds so... hard to believe. When I found out about everything, I... " I laughed to myself. "I thought it was all just some kinda prank."

"Wait, you told me that you hated being a demon, dear. You said that you always felt at competition with your brother, Tom and how you felt as if you did not belong somehow. Your demonic markings and rampages - is that not what you sought?"

"Well, yeah. But... now that memories are coming back to me and I'm... remembering things I shouldn't if I was really a demon - It's just scaring me how everything makes more sense now than it did before."

"I beg your pardon, your Majesty," A voice broke through a few seconds later. It was the angel I had met that night with Noah after Star and I had snuck out to the lake.

"It is time for the boy's questioning." He said before leaving once again.

"Thank you, James."

Comet stood up now as I did too. "You ready, dear?" She asked, reaching to the hook for the key to unlock my prison's cell.