Chapter Text
Over the past few years, Coco has noticed her mom become a little more lenient about magic. Instead of just buying essential magic materials, she sometimes bought fun magical trinkets for Coco.
She learned that every few months or so, she was able to beg her mom for stuff she wanted that was related to magic. If she begged hard enough, her mom would inevitably cave in!
On a less happy note, Coco could feel her vision becoming more sensitive. Sure her glasses helped keep everything from looking like huge blurry blobs, but they didn't protect her from lights!
She knows that she can technically tell her mom about her struggle, but they really don't have the money for fancy glasses like that. With her still scaring away the customer and whatnot, they're barely scraping by.
Besides, she doesn't really need better glasses for her job anymore. After working for so long as a tailor, she has all of the motions required for her work memorized. Choosing the right fabric isn't hard either since she can still feel textures and see colors.
Coco felt happy enough with her life. She knew that this was probably the best outcome for someone like her. She should feel lucky that her mom hasn't thrown her out yet for being such a disgrace.
Coco really loves her mom. Her mom never tries to hurt Coco in the way that everyone else does. Her mom doesn't drag her around and treat her like a doll. Her mom has never threatened to call the knights on her just because of apart of her body that she can't control.
Coco wishes she could express to her mom how much she actually loves her, but she knows that if she does that...she'll die.
So for now, this semi-peaceful life is good enough for her. As long as she has her mom by her side, she knows that everything will be ok!
...
As soon as Coco gains consciousness and opens her eye, she feels the rays of the sun from her window practically burn through her eyelids.
Yup, that's just a typical morning for her now. She sighs as she drags her body out of bed and reaches for her glasses.
She always feels lonely in the mornings. She wakes up before her mom every day, so she uses that time to prepare for the average day ahead of her.
As she makes her way to the bathroom, she can't help but look at herself in the mirror. Every time she sees her appearance, she's able to disregard her feeling about how people treat her. Instead she looks at herself from the perspective of someone else.
Across from Coco was not her reflection, but a pitiful girl. She was sure that if she saw this person in public, she'd hate her too. Her hair was still tangled after a long night of tossing and turning. The child's stance seemed tired, like she was forcing herself to stand up and interact with society.
She did have one pretty eye, it was this beautiful greenish gold color. It would really be a sight to behold if that tree didn't mess it all up.
It is always there. Just sticking out of her eye, like a filthy parasite mocking its host. She wonders if she should just grab a knife and carve it out of the creature's eye, but of course she knows it's too selfish to let that happen. The thing in front of her really dislikes pain, even if it knows that it deserves the worst torment the world has to offer.
Coco turns away from the mirror at such a thought. She really shouldn't think about harming herself, "If I went through with something like that, I'd make mom sad." Coco said to herself.
"I don't want anyone to waste their energy on worrying about me."
...
Coco and her mom open shop for the morning. They didn't really have any customers yet, so Coco and her were just talking for the moment. At least that's what Coco thought was happening.
She didn't notice, but she wasn't talking enthusiastically about magic like normal, she forgot to put up the act that morning. But even if she did perform as always, her mom probably would've figured out something was wrong anyways. The tree in her eye was barely visible.
"Coco, sweetie, are you alright?" her mom asks abruptly. Coco can't help but fidget as she tries to respond.
"Yeah I'm fine! Why do you ask?" Coco knows she's a bad liar, so all she can really do at the moment is hope her mom drops this whole issue. There was no point to it anyways.
"You're just...acting more down than you have to." They stare at each other for a good minute. What else could they even say to each other? It's not like Coco was allowed any comfort, for the sake of her health of course. No other reason.
"We aren't exactly busy right now." Coco heard her mom mutter under her breath before facing Coco again. "Say, how about you go to the spring you like! We have a few sheets that need to be washed, if you're up for the task." Coco's mom smiles warmly at her; it was a way of letting her know she understood what she was really thinking.
Coco nearly jumped at the opportunity to get away from this conversation. "Sure! Sounds great! I'll go now!" Coco responded while sprinting up the stairs to reach her mom's room.
After collecting all the sheets that were set out on her mom's bed and the soap she needs—she dashes even faster out of the house. She is greeted by the soft wind blowing against her, carrying the smell of nature.
She is also immediately blinded by the sun. At least she is used this kind of life by now. She walks down the same path she goes down every week to the spring.
The magical area is a much shadier place with all of the trees surrounding the water. She even sees a few animals around, one of them quenching its thirst.
Minding her own business, she begins to pour soap into the shining water to begin cleaning. It seems as though the animal doesn't understand that the spring is magic though, giving Coco an offended look.
She guesses that's fair enough, after all she was technically dirtying the pool just by being near it. Look at her, just creating more problems for everyone, even animals! Once again, the responsibility falls on her to fix her mess.
Coco looks up at the insulted deer from her spot in the pond. "Don't you worry about me. I wouldn't filthy your drinking source without a valid reason. Besides, I'm almost done!"
Coco speaks to the creature as if it can understand her. Well, there is always the possibility that it was once a person that was turned into an animal through magic..! If that's even possible.
"You see, this spring is special! It has been touched by magic! Isn't that wonderful!" Coco, understanding that she won't get a response from the organism, steps out of the spring with her washed clothes.
As soon as her feet touch the dry ground, the spring glows with such a perfectly painful light that she's forced to squint, but not close her eye; she would never close her eye when faced with the wonder of magic.
"I'll never get tired of it. Magic is...amazing." Coco sighs contently, and with that comes the feeling of small roots all throughout her body, not too many of course.
When the spring completely returns to its original, pure form, Coco looks back at the animal in anticipation.
This time, the creature refused to drink.
...
She made it back home a few minutes ago. Before going to the roof to dry her clothes, she wanted to change out of her night dress to look more presentable for work.
In her closet she finds a blue dress that had a white rim at the bottom and an off-white robe to go over it. While changing Coco thinks even more about magic and witches.
Even though she was cursed by one, she never held any resentment towards magic and other witches. In fact, she could say her missing eye is what inspired her to get into magic in the first place!
If one spell could make her so miserable, surely there are many more that could make people happier!
This whole thought process reminds her of her favorite picture book. Honestly it would be nice to look through it while hanging up her clothes. After thinking about it a little more and deciding it was a fun plan, she walks towards her desk to grab her book. She figures she can just leave the fake wand on her desk for now, it wasn't really useful anyways.
...
On the roof the wind blows stronger, reminding Coco of how high up she is. This doesn't bother her that much though. Heights have never been a fear of hers, in fact she liked being higher up. She places her book down and hangs up the sheets she washed.
After completing the task at hand, she finally settles down to glance through her book. Skimming through the pages she thinks about the existence of magic.
It's kind of sad how it's something only witches are capable of doing. If everyone had access to it there would be so many more spells for everyone to enjoy, maybe even one that could give her her eye back.
She likes imagining such a reality, but she knows that people who aren't witches can only enjoy the results that they leave behind for them.
Coco unknowingly pouts at the thought, "I wish I had been born a witch..." She whispers dreamily to herself.
Coco, with this idea in mind, jumps up and approaches the hanging fabric. With a newfound resolve she grabs two of them to cover her face. "Oh sheets of white, become now...cloaks of flight!" she hops away from the sheets that were just being held in a tight grasp while simultaneously pushing them away from her to give them a boost.
As she expected, nothing happened. She was about to turn away when the sheets did in fact become cloaks of flight due to the harsh breeze. Perhaps nature is a witch itself. Coco chases after her now wildly flying fabrics. "Wait! Come back, this isn't the flight I meant!" She succeeds in catching them, but she does jokingly add, "I know that living people don't really like me, but now even inanimate object are trying to get away from me!" Sounds kind of bad when said out loud...
With her view clear she gasps. Covering her view of the sun, was a pegasus carriage flying through the sky! She gawks at the sight, running after it as it flew around their house to land. "A pegasus carriage!" Coco thinks out loud. Wait, their house? They must be customers!
Coco can already feel the roots growing, and feeding on her delight. She hangs the free fabric back on the hanging line and runs down the ladder, making a small remark about how she'd never seen one land before.
She placed her book down on the ground before excitedly yelling across the house, "Mom look! There's a pegasus carriage! Mom where are you?" Coco runs up to the door that leads to her mom's workshop, and opens it.
"Mom?" Coco asks in a slightly softer tone than before. To her surprise, the door bumps into something. Peeking through the doorway she sees a figure one could only describe as embodiment of the word elegant!
"Sorry!" Coco instinctively says.
He is tall, like extremely tall! She'd usually feel intimidated by that, but this man has a more gentle aura to him. He seemed...kind? Coco has never seen anyone other than old people with white hair before, was he secretly millions of years old..? No, that's dumb.
His outfit was...impressive. The clothes on him are tailored exactly to fit his body type. Not to mention the craftsmenship that went into the accessories is spectacular! He must be very rich. A noble maybe? What's someone like him doing here?
She has to squint to observe his facial features better. He's wearing strange glasses, she probably shouldn't question a stranger though. As she focuses harder on his face she notices his visible blue eye widening at the sight of her.
Oh.
For some odd reason, she feels...disappointed. Did she really think he wouldn't be scared of her eye? What's gotten into her? Does she need more sleep or something?
She just made this so much more awkward than it had to be! With this realization she can feel her roots fade away throughout her body; her tree sprout falls back into her eye socket.
How can she fix this when she's been blankly staring at his face for fifteen seconds straight!? Oh wait! He's going to comment about her eye soon! She just has to say something before him!
Coco lets out a half-chuckle as she stammers, "My eye is kind of ugly, I know, so it isn't unusual to be uncomfortable about it or anything!" Somehow those validating words made him look even more uneasy!
She didn't think she said anything wrong that time! Was it her delivery? Does he need a good pat on the back!? If that's the case he's going to get one!...Obviously he doesn't want to be touched by her. He's clearly grossed out. Maybe she should just jump out the window and hide until he leaves!—
The man suddenly shakes his head, "No no no! I wasn't thinking that at all." He kneels down to meet her gaze. "In fact, I believe that branch in your eye is an exquisite and unique part of you." He smiles warmly at her. "Oh, and while I'm at it, I should be the one apologizing. I should've found a better place to stand."
Huh?
That was...nice. Suspiciously nice. She really wants to take his word for this. She wishes she could, but...there's no way he's being honest. Sure, his smile seems genuine, but he's clearly masking his fear with politeness.
Coco shyly breaks eye contact with him, she knows he's acting, but she doesn't receive compliments often. It's a weird feeling. "Thanks, I um...appreciate that."
She didn't look back at him to see his reaction, but in the corner of her eye she saw him get back up on his feet. Instead she looks towards the fancy ladies having a conversation about the embroidery on the fabrics. Coco tilts her hea, just like the weird man behind her.
The main thing that stood out to Coco from that back and forth was when one of the women mentioned that the harrian lace they had on the shelf sold out in castle town almost immediately. "That must mean they're the ones that came in the pegasus carriage!"
She turns to face the man, thinking he came in the pegasus carriage with the group of ladies.
"Hm? Oh, I'm not with them." He let her down gently, without any mocking tone in his voice. He must be a great actor.
She hears one of the women speak, "Pardon me, but do you perhaps have any more lace like this?"
"Oh of course ma'am, I'll be right with you." Coco hears her mom in the next room. And soon, she's noticed too. "Coco! I could use your help!"
When the group of pretty ladies see her, their faces all morph into very different expressions from the pleasant ones they had a second ago. Coco could guess that the new emotions were a mix of disgust, horror, and revulsion. She catches them communicating with those faces alone. All of them silently judging her.
Coco knows she can't do anything about it. Her and her mom really need the money right now, so they can't be picky with who they choose to sell to. She wonders why these kinds of things still make her sad, shouldn't she just expect this by now?
Out of the blue, the man speaks directly to the women, "You all must have a lot of nerve to taunt an innocent child for something they can't control." What the man said is very simple, blatant even. It is an effective argument though.
The ladies wipe those expressions off of their faces, replacing them with a look of shame. They don't apologize though. Meanwhile, Coco's mom looks elated to the point where it seems like she's going to crush the box she's carrying by squeezing it too hard!
"What can we do for you sir?" Her mom inquires while holding back her applause for someone doing the bare minimum, which seems to be incredibly rare nowadays.
"I was looking for some smoke covered fabric, but I can come again if you have too much on your plate right now." The seemingly friendly man responded.
He did defend Coco, so maybe she's over reacting? "I could cut for you! If you'd like." After that, she can't just let his trip be a waste.
"Will you now?" He sounds surprised at that. Did he not expect her to be able to do her job? Well...it does make sense, she seems like more of a clumsy girl than a hard working tailor in training.
Her mom chimes in. "Don't underestimate Coco. You're in good hands with her!"
"Hm, I see." The man replies.
Coco faces her mom and decides to use her, once every few months you can see/buy something magic related if you beg hard enough card.
Coco cheerfully approaches her mom. "Hey mom? When I'm done can I go see the pegasus carriage?"
"Go see the what?" Coco's mom places down the box and faces her.
"There's a pegasus carriage outside!" Coco repeats what she said with just as much enthusiasm.
Her mom sighs, trying to ease her discomfort. "Oh goodness, Coco, you can't meddle with the customers property. And, besides...you know how I feel about...that kind of stuff."
"Mom, please..? That was years ago. I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to me!" Her mom still didn't seem convinced. "Uh...I'll stop talking about how much I want to be a witch for a month, pretty please?"
Her mom sighs once again, a sigh of defeat. "Alright fine, but only after you've finished your work!"
"Yay! Thank you mom!" Coco leaps into the air before remembering she is still at work. She skitters over to the tall man. "Sorry to keep you waiting! What measurements do you need?"
The man hands Coco a piece of paper. "They're all written down here."
Coco nods, "I'll be right back!" Coco went to the shelf to get the fabric she needed. It's tough for Coco to read with such bad eye sight, but she's used to it. At least this guy doesn't try to shrink their writing as much as possible.
She lays the smoke covered fabric on the table with the measurements and gets to to work. She barely has to use her eye to know what she's doing. Her body just moves with certainty to perform motions she's repeated many times before—
Her process is interrupted when she sees the man hunched over the table, observing her as she cut the fabric. She can't help but blush because of his intense unexpected attention.
The man picks up the cut fabric and runs it through his hands. "Oh my, you have excellent focus, and steady hands. No hesitantion in the line, clean cut, and to finish there is evident precision and care." Coco, still not used to compliments, can barely process getting so many at once. That just feels wrong.
"But I do have to wonder something. I can see that you wear glasses, clearly your vision is bad, but...I'd say that tree in your eye obscures even more of your sight in a different way. Do you have any other issues with your eye, other than blurriness?" Although he spoke softly, it felt like he was piercing through Coco's head with his gaze.
How could he figure out so much through just one simple observation!? It didn't make any sense. Who would know about the detrimental effects of a tree being in your eye!? Who is he anyway?
Coco figures that if she stays quiet any longer, than she'll appear suspicious. "Well, I suppose I do have some issues with eye sensitivity. Whenever I'm faced with a harsh light I basically go completely blind. There isn't much I can do about that though, so I just figured out how to live with it."
The man paused for a split second, "Hm. Why...I had no idea this village possessed such a skilled artisan! This is real magic."
Did he just say...real magic!? "No! Nothing I do here I anything like magic!" Coco jolted back and made an X with her arms to further prove her point. "Magic is mysterious, and shiny, and sparkly, and priceless, and undeniably beautiful! It's just so...precious. More precious than I could say" Coco becomes starry eyed while daydreaming, a few leaves popping up In her eye.
Coco, remembering the man is still here, buries her head in her hands. "Actually, now that I think about it, what am I saying?"
"I'm getting the sense you truly love magic?" Once again, the man sounds confused at this new discovery. "Why is that? Tell me."
Coco debates her options and decides that there's no harm in telling him, seeing as though she's already revealed a lot of information about herself to him, for some reason.
"When I was little, my mom took me to a festival at the castle. I don't really remember any of it. My mom found me passed out on the ground, that was when my eye was taken from me. When I woke up I saw I had this picture book with images of witches inside! That's when I first got interested in magic, but when I stepped outside the stones that were below my feet glowed with each step, it was amazing. That's when I started to love magic!" Coco could feel some of her roots growing back.
She didn't notice the subtle smile on the man's face when she mentioned the glowing stones. When she looks back up at the man, his expression has already returned to a neutral one.
"But ever since then, I can't seem to let go of my dream to become a witch!" Coco frowns after coming back to reality, her roots shrinking back once again.
The man looks up thoughtfully for a second before looking back at her. "Well, I'd be more interested in hearing about—" He was interrupted by a loud crash.
Coco, ignoring everyone else, pushes open the front door to inspect the noise. The scene she was greeted with was an older man trying to calm down the pegasi. Near them was the carriage flipped over, the bottom of it is detached on the ground, the pattern on it partially faded. The perpetrators seem to be two young boys arguing next to the broken property. Oh gosh, Coco knows those kids doesn't she? As she gets closer she hears them arguing with each other.
"Ugh, now look at what you did.." The boy with blonde hair mutters.
The boy with black hair spat out a quick, "Shut up!"
"Are you two alright?" Coco grabs their attention. They were about to respond before seeing her eye. It seems like no matter how many times someone sees her eye in their life, they'll never stop feeling disturbed at the sight.
The black haired boy shook off his dislike for Coco's appearance in an attempt to prove their innocence. "We didn't do anything. It just suddenly fell apart!"
His friend aggressively points at him. "No it didn't, you liar! It fell because you were stupid enough to crawl under it!"
"You shithead— I mean, you snitch!" The guilty boy scoffs back.
"He hit his head while he was down there, that's why the carriage fell over!" The blondie speaks to someone behind her. Coco looks back. She didn't realize everyone in the shop followed her outside.
The rich trio whine when they see their destroyed carriage. "Our pegasus carriage!"
"It belongs to my father!" Coco doesn't understand the point of adding that fact at all. Why does it matter whose property it belongs to? It's broken now, it'd be deemed useless no matter who it belonged to before.
Coco's mom forcefully bows the boys heads, "I'm sure that these boys feel awful for troubling you!"
One of the women snap back, "How does your insignificant apology help us!? Now we have no way to return home thanks to you!" She seems to be acting overly rude with her wording. She must be getting revenge for being held accountable back at the shop...
"Well what can we do?" Her mom asks through gritted teeth. Coco was sure that if her mom wasn't working right now, she'd curse them out.
"Pardon me, but perhaps I could be of service?" We all look towards the man that's gracefully assessing the damage. Is this unusual man just always refined? "I took a look, and the damage doesn't appear to be serious."
"Oh really? And who exactly are you supposed to be?" One of the snooty women sassily questions him.
"Apologies, allow me to cap off my attire." The man reaches inside of his cloak.
Coco gasps as she indetifies what the man pulled out as a pointed cap. She can even feel leaves sprouting in her eye!
"Qifrey the witch, at your service madam." He flips the long ribbon on his hat back once it settles on his head.
Coco looks around at everyone else, they all seem shocked, but her mom appears distrustful. When she glances back at the witch, she recognizes that his gaze is focused on her.
Why was he looking at her!? Did she do something wrong? Well, maybe she ranted too much about how she loves witches and magic to a real life witch!
"A pointed hat. You can fix it then!" The haughty women's attitudes disappeared in an instant.
Mister Qifrey shifts in their direction, away from her. That at least takes some pressure off of Coco.
"Indeed." Mister Qifrey pushes the circular stone of the carriage to be vertical rather than horizontal.
"You certainly are a life saver sir witch." The old man, who had finally tamed the pegasi, said to Mister Qifrey.
"It's nothing, at all. Why, I'll simply need to reapply the spell to the floorboard of the carriage." Mister Qifrey is very humble! Coco feels kinda bad for judging him so early on. Now that she knows he's a witch, she can only feel admiration for him.
"Your help is greatly appreciated!" The rich women are still acting like different people...
"And happily given, however..." Mister Qifrey turns back to Coco. "This work environment is—"
Coco impulsively jumps forward. "You can use our workshop we would be so happy and delighted!"
"Coco!" Her mom responds in a scolding tone. Right, magic trinket are one things...but letting a witch inside of our house is a lot.
Coco already said yes though. Maybe she can just act dumb! "Oh, sorry mom! I mean a perfectly healthy level of happiness." Coco doesn't want to see her mom's reaction. She just did something really self-centered. Why did she do that?
Well, he's a witch. A kind, humble, and honest witch. Why wouldn't she want to help him.
Deep down, Coco knows that's not the real reason. If she's able to see how he casts spells, she might be able to get her eye back.
Then, mom would be—
...
Coco was left outside to guard the door. Coco buries her head in her knees to protect her eye from the brightness.
When she heard that Mister Qifrey needed assistance, he told her to keep watch to the best of her abilities. He emphasized that no one is allowed to enter.
What was she even thinking? Why did she think he would let her watch? Her of all people! She isn't special. So she should stop acting like she is.
But still, she wonders why they aren't allowed to see how magic is cast. It's practiced all over the world. It's also a known fact that only people who are born as witches are the only ones who can cast spells. So why is it such a big deal for spells to be cast in private?
...Coco's asking too many questions. She picks her head up she can slightly make out two small figures. When squinting, she sees the two troublesome boys.
Coco follows after them, but they vanished? That's when Coco hears a noise from above her. Just as she thought, she sees the duo on her roof, trying to look through the window.
"What do you two think you're doing!?" Coco yells up at them.
"Shit, she caught us."
"Just don't worry about it."
They are now acting ignorant to Coco's existence. Coco then decides that, even if it's wrong, if she can't beat them, join them.
"Wait for me!" Coco climbs up the roof.
"Fine, just...shut up."
Coco pushes between them, her hands on the window covers. She hesitates to open it. Mister Qifrey placed his trust in someone like her...Should she really betray him like this? Despite that, Coco's greed takes over her. She pulls the covers open!
Mister Qifrey is smart. He closed the curtains. Well, it was worth a shot.
"Man, that's so disappointing."
"Major let down."
The boys start solemnly sliding down the roof before coming to an abrupt stop. They share a glance before spinning back around to face her.
"Hey, um...Coco?" The blonde haired boy starts off nervously.
"Is something wrong?" Coco tilts her head.
"No nothing's wrong! We just have a question that we've been wanting to ask for a while." the black haired boy states much more confidently.
Coco feels a sense of dread. "Ask away..!" She forces a smile.
"We were thinking, since you sometimes grow into a tree, if one day you fully become one with nature can we use you as a tree house?" The black haired boy inquires with a concerning amount of normalcy.
"...I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Maybe she just heard him wrong.
"He asked if we could use you as a tree house." The blonde replies.
That might be one of the worst comments she's ever gotten...Well, at least it was creative? Coco sighs, "Please, just go home."
The blonde boy drags his friend away before he can say anything else.
"Did I really just come up here for nothing?" Coco thinks out loud. Before she can climb back down, she is hit with one of the sheets she hung up, a strong wind threatening to blow her away. "W-what is this?"
Coco doesn't feel safe enough to descend the roof with this change in the weather. Maybe it would be best for her to go inside without Mister Qifrey noticing. Just, so that she can grab her book.
Coco quietly sneaks into her house from the roof, making sure the ladder and stairs don't creak too much. She finds her book right where she left it. Picking it back up, she walks towards a wall with slits that look into the workshop.
She kneels in front of it, but pulls back. She shouldn't be doing this. It's not too late to turn back. He trusts her. But, she really wants to see. It's wrong though!
But if she could fix herself...her mom would be happy.
Coco peeks inside. In the workshop, she sees the floorboard of the carriage and Mister Qifrey holding a wand...no. A pen. He's drawing. Drawing magic with a pen.
"Was the wand I got that day...actually?" Coco talks to herself in a breathless voice.
After so many years of endless curiosity, Coco finally understands. Witches don't cast spells, they draw them!
Mister Qifrey closes the circle, and the blue glow stung her eye. "That's that." He stretches his arm, "Coco! All finished up!" Coco takes that as her cue to run back to the front door as fast as possible.
She makes it just in time, but she does look much messier than when he left her. It doesn't help that she's panting...
"You done?" Coco breathes out.
Qifrey nods, staring at her in confusion. "Did something happen while I was gone?"
Shoot! She really didn't come up with a story for this. Why does he care anyways?
"Um, well, a few minutes ago those two boys from earlier—you know, the ones that knocked over the carriage. They were trying to sneak a peek through the window to find out how witches cast spells. So I had to wrestle them off of the roof and ended up getting a lot of dirt on me in the process!" Coco flexes her arms to further solidify her half-lie.
Mister Qifrey doesn't say anything for a few seconds, making Coco feel insecure about her story. She puts her arms down and fidgets with her hands.
She thought she was going to be questioned more, but Mister Qifrey simply pats her on the head.
"You're a good kid Coco."
...
The sun was setting as they saw off Mister Qifrey. Coco's mom sighs.
"You know, I was starting to worry there for a moment." Her mom chuckled.
Coco looks up at her, perplexed.
"For some incomprehensible reason, you're in love with magic. You have been ever since...well, you know." Coco's mom grins sadly. "I was worried you might've gotten yourself hurt." She pauses, "But really, I thought you were going to ask to leave home and go off with that witch."
Coco turns her head to face her mom. She doesn't get to process these overwhelming feelings, her mom continues her speech. "I already lost your father to illness. I've almost lost you many times as well. If the day came when I would have to face losing you for real, I don't know what I'd do."
"You never will lose me! I promise that I'll never leave you all alone!" Coco responds in a very panicked way. She wants to comfort her mom, but she probably would be better off without her.
Coco and her mom share a tight, comforting embrace, as if this was the last time they'd be able to.
"Well thank goodness. Aren't you the sweetest girl." Coco's mom endearingly rubbed her head.
...
"Goodnight mom."
"Goodnight dear."
Coco was going to stroll into her room, but her mom calls out to her.
"Oh Coco!" Coco halts. She would try to observe her face, but the candle she is holding is slightly blinding her. "...Nevermind, sweet dreams Coco."
"Goodnight to you."
Coco closes her bedroom door behind her. What was that about..? No, it probably didn't matter that much anyways. If she was still curious about it she could just ask her mom tomorrow.
She has something much more important to do right now. If she's correct, than this could very well change her life.
Coco picks up her picture book and places it on her desk. She grabs the wand and pulls the cap off, revealing a pen tip. On the other side is a purple ball filled with ink liquid that she hadn't been able to identify as ink, until now.
She opens the picture book to a random page and confirms her theory. Thos circles must be spells. She rips out a sheet of loose paper to sketch on.
She yanks the purple ink ball off of the pen and blows out her candle; she works better in a dark environment. With that, she is ready to draw. Coco offers her apologies to her mom telepathically, but she has to do this.
She acknowledges what she sees in her book and transfers it to the paper. Each straight line is much easier to draw than whatever that star symbol is and the circle.
Once she has copied down the spell fully, she stares intently at the paper.
Nothing is happening.
Why is nothing happening?
Was she really not mean for magic after all? Coco sighs as she dangles her pen over the paper. She has yet another thing to add to her long list of failures...
She hears a droplet of ink spill onto the page, completing the circle.
The paper lights up. Coco lets go of the paper, startled. The spell flies up and materializes into fireworks in front of her. It makes her eye ache, but that's ok!
All joy comes at a cost.
____________________________________
Qifrey is trying to sleep. Truly he is. He knows Orluggio's advice very well but, his mind just keeps wandering back to that sweet girl, Coco.
When he first saw her, he was taken aback. It's not a daily occurrence that he sees someone with the same struggle as him.
It is quite curious though. He never knew someone could be so happy with such a problem.
Not only that, but not many people seem to like her. It unreasonably irritated him when he saw someone mock her.
It feels like he's forgetting something. He wanted to ask Coco about something, but what?
...Oh right! The magic picture book. It was strange that she lost her eye and memories on the day she got that book isn't it. Why does it nag at him so much?
He swiftly pushes himself up. "Could it be?"
...
Breaking into someone's house isn't ideal, but he needs to do this, for his own sake.
He enters through the window of the girl's room. He fears that he was right. There are forbidden spells scattered all over the floor, many of them having to do with light magic. That's not good for her eye.
He glances over to Coco, and feels his heart drop.
He has to get her away from that paper!
Qifrey takes action when the spells radiates dangerously. He snatches the oblivious girl and shoots out the window.
He uses his sylph shoes to further propel them into the air. Once they are far enough he adjusts Coco to see her properly.
"What did you draw? TELL ME COCO! WHAT SPELL DID YOU DRAW!?" He shouted at her with his own pent up anger. This was his chance.
Coco shook in his tight grip, "I—I don't know! I just traced a pattern from the book and then!—"
"Coco!?" Both of their attentions went to the voice of the girl's mother, calling out to her in distress.
Qifrey sharply breathes in as he witnesses the house being torn to spread by illuminating blue shards. When he gives a brief look to Coco, he can tell how much this light was hurting her eyes.
"MOM RUN!" Coco cried out to her mother.
It was too late. Her mom screamed as she was consumed by the shards. Coco and Qifrey hopelessly take in all that has happened.
"No, this is my fault..." Coco mutters.
It hurts, hearing a child lose all hope for their future. This is the work of forbidden magic.
Coco suddenly hit him in the face, trying to create distance between them. "Let go! I have to save my mom!" Coco seems to be in denial of the fact that her mother is...no longer with us.
"No! Coco that spell is evil you mustn't!— No!" Coco successfully escapes Qifrey's grasp. She'll die from the fall alone!
Qifrey swoops in beneath Coco to soften her landing, but all that she cares about is reaching the one person that matters to her most.
"Coco!" Qifrey grabs Coco's hand and pulls her away.
"I'M HERE MOM! NO!" Coco releases a bone rattling scream of terror as she's torn away from, what Qifrey can only assume, is the only person that mattered to her.
Qifrey flies them back into the skies.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" Coco wipes her tears away with her arms. He feels bad for yelling at her so intensely just a few moments ago.
In a much quieter, but intimidating tone, he speaks again. "Of course you didn't know. Magic is kept a secret to prevent tragedies such as your eye, and this. A special ink and a set of casting seals. That's all one needs for magic to be used. Concealing that is our one great rule. Now that you know the truth, you must have your memories erased."
"Please! You can't do that! If I forgot everything, than who would save my mom!?" Coco trembles even more as her sobbing gets worse.
"I'm afraid I couldn't say." Qifrey doesn't even know if it's possible to save her at this point.
In response, Coco gives him this horrible, traumatized expression of helplessness that reminds him so much of how he used to be. With that look alone, he wishes he could just take everything he said back. Replace it with delusional words. It was too late for that though.
"I don't know what kind of magic it was! But even if you erase my memories, I'll still remember each of those drawing in my heart! Please! I know I don't deserve to ask this but please don't take the one thing that matters to me!" She desperately buried her head in his chest.
He can't do this.
Not to someone like her.
Then it hits him. The picture book. This girl could finally give him the hint he's been looking for all of this time. Her memories are his only chance.
"Did you say you have the book memorized by heart?"
Coco nods.
"And you recall the page you copied?"
She nods again.
"If we had the book I could show you which page I drew...but, I don't know where I got it from." Coco rambles. "If we found it, would I be able to save my mom?"
Coco's one eye sparkles with a new found hope.
It's wrong to lie to a child about topics such as these, but she's counting on him to not let her down.
"There is...a chance." Qifrey settles on something more vague.
"Mister Qifrey, please don't erase my memories! I'll do anything it takes to save my mother!" She clutches his cloak even tighter in her hands.
"Will you keep our secret?"
"I promise!"
If that's the case...
"Are you willing to learn?"
Coco perks her head back up. Her eyes evidently puffy. "Learn?"
"Once you know the truth it can not be undone. And so, you must join those most trusted with the secret. That is your way forward."
...More stress is healthier for him, so what's the harm in one more kid?
"From now on, Coco, you will be a witch."