After the reveal, there were many things the elves did to help humans.
They helped them obtain cleaner air, by planting millions of the pures. They helped with struggling cities, by arriving and providing clean water, helping build up communities, but most importantly, all across the planet, elven physicians set out to heal everyone and everything.
In many cases, human doctors and elven physicians did not speak a common language. But their jobs and understanding went beyond languages, and the elven physicians managed to be helpful.
They taught the humans what they knew, sharing the knowledge that came from ancient beings and thousands of years of refinement, research, and small tweaks.
They helped cancer patients, diabetics, and most heartwarming- HIV and AIDS patients. The first person they cured, the third person ever, was so grateful that he got a dog, and named it after the elf who had healed them.
Many other humans did that. Cats, dogs, horses, fish, snakes, some children, even a cow, were named after the elves who had lent their help, extended their arm.
A few years later, a building would be built, in New York. Inside a mural was painted of an androgynous elf physician, shaking hands with an androgynous human doctor. The walls were carved with the names of the 33 million people who had died of the disease.
Every single one.
From the famous, like Freddie Mercury, to the unknowns. On the day of the opening, the surviving members of Queen were invited to attend.
It was a place of solace and quiet, with the names of 33 million people who died before they could get help. Flags hung from the ceiling, pride flags, and at the centre of them all, was a flag that said something simple-
Kindness brought a cure. These people never got the cure. We remember them forever.
And when, hundreds of years later, a fire went up in New York, the people of New York flocked around the building, keeping the flames and fire away from the memorial.
And soon after its opening, a new thing was added, a place to put candles, flowers, gifts, to respect the dead. Someone even put their original copy of the first Queen album there.
Biana Vacker had a hood over her hair and Kelani by her side.
They walked inside the memorial quietly, hands intertwined, and took in the scene. Kelani walked to the walls and traced her hand over the letters of a name, a person who had only been 19 at the time of their death.
Biana stood by her side as they took in the memorial, and Kelani whispered to her, "I wish we had done more. 33 million people, all dead. I know why we didn't intervene, we didn't do that anymore, but some of these people were children."
Biana solemnly nodded along, as Kelani continued. "Whole lives in front of them. They had so much they could have done, but no." Biana slung her arm around her and smiled.
They continued walking through the streets of the city, heads down and hoods over their hair until they passed a brick building, with a rainbow flag. In the window, there were Neon Lights-
The Stonewall Inn, they said.
Kelani and Biana stopped, and Biana whispered the history she knew around the place. She told her about what had happened:
The police had raided the Bar in the early hours of June 28, 1969, triggering riots from the employees and patrons as the police brutally pulled people out of the bar. A woman by the name of Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick.
She would be found floating in the Hudson River soon after. It was labelled a suicide.
The riots went on for six days.
The two girls would walk away, hand in hand, solemnly remembering what had happened. The elven world had never had much of an issue when it came to any of that, but the two women would still stand with their human brothers and sisters as they fought for their rights and would respect everything they had done to get them.
Hello readers. This was a chapter that didn't really go where I expected. I mentioned HIV and AIDS, that went to Freddie Mercury, which somehow went to New York, which went to Stonewall, which went to Marsha P. Johnson, which translated into a mini history lesson.
I recommend reading the wikepida article about the riots to get more info. Mine was very sparse.
And on an additional note: Marsha P. Johnson, at least to me, was absolutely murdered. She had a wind on the back of her head. She was conveniently one of the leaders of the riots, a trans woman, black, and was found dead not to long after. But of course the police didn't care so its obviously a suicide. :)
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