Chapter Text
It only took nine words for the cosmic energy in the universe to align and set off a chain reaction that would span decades and forever change the state of the Otherworld. Nine words that would forever haunt the speaker and the one who heard them. Nine words to signify the beginning of the end.
“Hi, I’m Farah. Farah Dowling. I’m your new suitemate.”
The words were whispered by a girl who had not yet grown into the commanding nature of her height, looming over the Princess in only inches; not presence. No, that would come later. Won on the back of bloody battles and titles twisted into a crown of her own making. Not everyone was born royalty. Not that she had ever wanted it anyway.
Hazel eyes flashed between the Princess and the wooden floors of the suite. The tip of her shoe dug into a rug that had known too many owners as she wondered whether a curtsy or a handshake was more appropriate when dealing with a member of the Solarian Royal Family. She settled on neither and it still felt like the wrong answer.
Luna just raised an eyebrow and opened the door to the room they would come to share wider. “The Headmistress told me you were coming.” Her voice betrayed no emotion. No hint of the screaming match she'd had with Rosalind only a few days prior when she had been told that she would have to share a room. Her status as Princess was the only thing that had allowed her to walk out of the Headmistress’ office unscathed - nobody else got to raise their voice at Rosalind and get away with it.
But she didn’t walk out with getting her own way and now she would have to share a room with some girl that nobody had ever heard of. An orphan charity case who showed up three weeks late into the term. Rosalind told Luna that Farah was special, but Rosalind lied all the time. Luna was special; not this girl with sunshine and honey woven in her hair.
Luna was going to be the greatest Queen the Otherworld had ever seen. The Fates had foretold it at her birth and they were never wrong; both a blessing and a curse. Why should she care that she would have to spend the next two years rooming with Farah Dowling when the entire universe was waiting for her once she left the gates of Alfea. Her unfortunate roommate situation would be a mere aside in the legends told of her greatness. If it was even mentioned at all.
Unless the Fates had anything to say about it.
Farah opened the door to her room and was greeted with the stillness of empty space. Luna was out, doing whatever it was that Princesses did in their spare time. Farah couldn’t even hazard a guess as to what those activities might entail. In the past few weeks since their first acquaintance, Luna had deigned to speak to her on perhaps five occasions. Most of those had been requests to do tasks such as drawing the curtains shut or turning out the lights that Farah was almost certain Luna could have just done with her magic.
The Headmistress kept telling Farah that she needed to get better at standing up for herself, but there was an edge to voice that suggested that there were some who standing up to was not an option.
Farah thought allowances negated the point.
The contradictions upon contradictions were weighing Farah down and she threw her bag onto her bed, following it soon after. She twisted and brought a pillow to her chest, resisting the urge to scream into it. Luna may not be in but several of her suitemates were and the last thing she wanted was questions about her deteriorating mental state.
Alfea was exhausting. The shininess of a new experience wore off quickly when it was nothing like the dreamer had anticipated. Farah knew it had been too much to hope that she might become friends with her roommate, but she didn’t think it was too much to wish for something a little friendlier than she got. In a school where the faculty had no qualms about bringing their students to the edge of their breaking point and leaving them there, it was scary to have to face it alone.
A rock clattered against her window.
Mostly alone. She rose from her bed and covered the several paces it took to get to the window, her forehead resting against the glass. Ben and Saul stared back at her. Ben’s hand raised mid-wave. Saul was the culprit then, a mischievous grin spread across his face. Farah held one finger up to them.
Minutes later Farah joined them outside and they settled down on a patch of grass that was only slightly damp from the brief showers earlier in the day. Farah pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of one of them. The days were only getting colder.
“How’s her Royal Highness?” Saul asked, stretched out on his own section of earth. He always did seem immune to the changes in temperature. Or maybe the Specialist uniform was just made of thicker material, interlocking threads of forest green covering his upper half.
“Quiet.” Unsettlingly so. But the boys didn’t need to know that. The silence that followed Luna around was like the eye of the hurricane. The receding waves before the tsunami hit. “It could be worse.”
The clouds suddenly parted as if ordered to do so by some divine force and flooded the space with a light more befitting the summer months. Several gasps echoed around from the other students who had also sought solace in the fresh air. Luna stood tall in the centre, the sunlight her very own spotlight.
Sixteen years old and the girl could control the sun. Maybe the stories whispered in the halls between classes were true. Maybe Luna was the one that they had all been waiting for to save them from this endless war. Farah didn’t know whether she should be awed by or terrified of the raw power that danced like flickering fireflies in Luna’s eyes.
Or if she should just be completely indifferent to the future Queen who struggled to remember her roommate’s five-letter name. If Luna couldn’t be bothered, then why should she?
“Must you be so difficult?”
Farah did not consider herself a particularly violent person, at least in her youth. War changed people. But there was something about the tone that Luna took when speaking to her that made her want to break every rule in Alfea’s guidebook about interacting with fellow students. Not that there was a particularly long list of them - the Headmistress didn’t really care whether they respected each other as long as they didn’t cause each other irreparable bodily harm that would prevent them from becoming perfect little soldiers.
Luna sighed. “I simply asked if you could get the light. From the way you are acting you would think I asked you to defeat a Burned One in hand-to-hand combat.”
“You’re closer.” Farah didn’t rise from her seat at the desk, hard at work studying telekinetic theories for a test she had the following day. “Get it yourself.”
Her words were gasoline and she was suddenly grateful that neither she nor Luna possessed an affinity for fire. For if one of them were to ignite, the entire building would likely explode.
“Excuse me?”
Farah didn’t answer. She knew Luna had heard her, the barely masked anger in her voice her first clue. The sudden stillness was the second. Farah just kept drawing runes in black ink on the tea-stained pages of her notebook.
“You answer when I speak to you.”
That was the final straw. There was only so much haughtiness Farah could reasonably be expected to take before snapping. She whirled in her chair, meeting Luna’s gaze. The Princess was positively livid, jaw clenched tight. “I’ll turn off the light if you can tell me what my name is.”
The corner of Luna’s mouth quirked up before her face returned to its normal indifference. It happened so quickly that Farah was almost certain she had imagined it. But there was a kind of victory alight in Luna’s eyes that opened a pit in Farah’s stomach.
“Farah Dowling.”
Luna had known. The whole time she had been well aware of Farah’s name and had pretended otherwise. Faked ignorance and for what? Did she foresee this very power trip? Did her powers extend that far? Surely not, only the Fates themselves were prophetic. No, it was her own callous intelligence that told her to tuck away that morsel of information for a moment like this.
“You are selfish and cruel.” There was nothing else to say. The words had raced through her mind for weeks. Farah thought when she released them she would feel the relief of freedom, but they only added a new heaviness to her tongue.
Luna rose from her bed and walked over to Farah, her footfalls echoing through the small room. She stuck a perfectly manicured hand out to Farah, and Farah wondered how many coats of pink it took to keep from chipping. Or if it was just another illusion; for even Fairy training had Farah’s own nails in a permanent state of disarray - bitten down, the skin around the cuticles constantly picked at.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Farah. Angry is a much better look on you than demure. Now that we've gotten that out of your system perhaps we can actually live together amicably.”
Farah didn’t take her hand, but she didn’t swat it away either. This extended hand wasn’t an olive branch and both of them knew it. It was a divine invitation to knock the first domino down in the chain that led to the inevitable. But neither of them knew that. And yet Farah still turned away back to her work, bargaining for more time before she would one day beg for it.
The ticking hands of time are finite for everyone.
Farah missed Luna’s smile at the slight. She didn’t understand then that all Luna wanted was something real . Somebody who wouldn’t fake fawn over her in an attempt to get in her good graces or who couldn’t meet her eyes for fear of the unchecked power swirling there. The bite of the jagged blade of hatred felt more real than any of the perfumed whispers of love that Luna had ever been showered with.
Luna snapped her fingers and the room was suddenly smothered in darkness. Farah cursed under her breath as she closed her notebook. That was all the studying she was going to accomplish for the night then.
As she turned to pack her books away she caught a glimpse of Luna walking back to her side of the room from the corner of her eye. The moonlight catching the ivory of her skin and turning her celestial. Luna had always been radiant in the sun, but in the light of the being for which she was named, Farah understood the legends that were spoken of her. She understood how some could believe that the various parts of the cosmos had come together so that Luna might be born. A child crafted from kaleidoscopic constellations.
What a shame she also happened to be absolutely insufferable.
Things got more amicable after that, silences filled with the understanding of mutual dislike. At least that was the word they used with their friends. The truth was something much more difficult to name and neither of them tried particularly hard to do so, recognizing it wouldn’t do them any good even if the vocabulary was nestled in their hands. What they had wasn’t a language problem, but rather all to do with possibility.
For Farah, possibilities had always been just out of reach, and so she didn’t dare to acknowledge the thoughts that would spring to mind when Luna would brush her hair to the side and expose the bare skin of her collarbone. Or when she would sit in the window seat to watch the sunrise and the light would hit her eyes just right, turning them into the siren’s call of a turquoise ocean.
For Luna, the possibility of real positive feelings was as fake as the peach painted smiles she adorned each day. She was born with the weight of a crown in her blood and she carried it with her daily, even when the real thing sat in the Solarian treasury collecting dust between visits. And she had long made her peace with the tension that gathered in Farah’s shoulders whenever she walked into their room; a comfortable quiet disturbed. Luna was no mind fairy and her only cues came from body language.
Luna did the best she could with the signals she received. And told herself she didn’t care regardless. Everybody else lied to her face every single day, why shouldn’t she do the same in the mirror?
And it worked. Until the end of term that was.
The Winter Solstice Ball for the First Years was the only moment of fun and letting loose that the Headmistress offered Alfeans. At least that’s what the students were told, too exhausted by a difficult semester to ask the questions that should have arisen. Too tired to consider why the Second Years weren’t invited, and what the soon to be graduates would do for the grades that would determine their lives after graduation. What would make the difference between an assignment to the Solarian Royal Army versus an outpost somewhere in the wilds of Linphea.
The Headmistress did not believe in fun and games. They really should have known better.
Farah twirled in the mirror in her room, only allowing herself the frivolity because no one was watching. She was certain that her dress would be the plainest of the night, especially in comparison to her roommate’s who had recently received a shipment from the Royal tailors. But it was hers. She ran her fingers over the dark violet velvet that nearly matched the colour of her magic and steeled herself.
This was out of her comfort zone. Farah Dowling didn’t wear pretty dresses and dance around sparkling rooms. She was meant to be a soldier, existing only in the shadows or in the thick of battle. She knew that now. Her eyes traveled over to her bed and thought about the warmth and security it promised. It wasn’t too late to skip the whole event and catch up on the sleep her body so desperately needed.
A rock clattered against her window.
Five minutes later Farah was dragged into the courtyard which had been transformed with a multicoloured motley of streamers and fairy lights. The First Years milled about, drinking from likely spiked punch bowls and occasionally drifting over to the dance floor set up in the centre. It had all the stuffiness of a formal dance put on by a school administration.
Farah watched as Saul’s face fell as he took in the surroundings. “I told you not to get your hopes up too high, Silva.” She jostled into his side playfully.
Ben adjusted his bowtie which he had bought especially for the occasion. “I think it looks rather splendid. It’s nice of the faculty to have set this up for us.”
“It’s okay, Silva,” Farah whispered. “You can throw something better next year.”
“Damn right I can.” Farah could already see the wheels spinning in his head and she didn’t know whether or not to be terrified for whatever plans he might cook up for Second Year. But that was next year’s problem.
Saul was the one who dragged them onto the dance floor. Ben had looked perfectly content to remain at the side but had acquiesced to Farah’s pleading eyes that he join them. None of them were particularly good dancers, but Saul was by the far the worst. He just didn’t know it. All gawky long limbs and false bravado. At least with Ben there, Farah would be better able to shield the rest of the students from witnessing Saul’s moves.
But it was wholly unnecessary, because just then Luna entered the courtyard with her entourage trailing just behind, and soon there was not a single eye in the room that was not attuned to the Princess’ movements. The subtle head tilts that caused the shimmery silver paint on her cheekbones to catch the light. Every step she took shifted the colour of the holographic material of her dress. Luna looked like she was covered in stardust.
Farah swallowed and looked away. Luna may have rivaled the moon but looking at her was as dangerous as casting eyes towards an eclipse. She placed a hand lightly on Ben’s upper arm. “I think I need some air.”
Ben’s eyes flashed between Saul and Farah, before breaking away from the crowd. “Saul can handle himself for a bit.” Ben’s brows furrowed. “At least he shouldn’t get into too much trouble unsupervised.”
Farah’s thoughts were elsewhere and his words fell on deaf ears as she pushed her way through the crowd towards one of the doors to the balcony. Her fingers grasped onto the handle and tugged, but it wouldn’t open. It was sealed fast.
Farah turned back to Ben, but before she could say anything, all of the lights in the room cut out and bathed the room in darkness. If they had been regular teenagers then perhaps there would have been screams or people pushing at each other to get out. But they were not normal, they would never be. And an uneasy silence and stillness settled over the room as they watched and waited.
All of the doors to the courtyard blew open and slammed against the walls with enough force to break the glass. Farah took a slow step backward as shadowed figures approached. She could recognize the silhouette anywhere. A Burned One. It leaped at her, claws outstretched for her throat.
Before Farah could even think to summon her magic, frozen to the spot, a ball of light flew over her shoulder and slammed into the Burned One’s chest knocking it to the side. Farah glanced back, her eyes meeting Luna’s. The magic had come from her.
The creature emitted a wail akin to nails on a chalkboard and the rest of its friends advanced on the students. Ben pulling Farah back was the only thing that kept her from another assault and he shoved her behind him. Vines cracked through the foundation and wove themselves into a temporary shield for the two of them.
Farah’s heart pounded in her ears as she frantically called upon her own magic. But she received no response, whatever power lived within her had gone dormant. And it sure had chosen an inopportune moment to do so. But she wasn’t the only one with stage fright, a couple of glances around the room showed cowering fairies and helpless Specialists without their weapons.
If any of them had thought they were anything but soldiers only in the beginning of their training then they knew better now. A couple of months of learning magic or how to use a sword was nothing close to what they needed to be able to take one of the creatures down. Much less a pack of them.
Then, all of a sudden, the forms of the Burned Ones dematerialized from the air, leaving nothing in their wake. Not a single streak of char residue stained the floor. Farah brought a single hand to her stomach, she thought she was going to be sick.
The Headmistress walked through one of the now open doors and surveyed the First Years. Her eyes were narrowed, hands clasped behind her back. A grim expression darkened her face. She wasn’t happy. A few of the Second Years trailed in after her, they were the ones who had helped to create the illusions just witnessed.
“Let this be a lesson.” Rosalind didn’t raise her voice, she didn’t need to. “That as long as we are at war with the Burned Ones, you never have an off day. You all left frivolity behind when you stepped through these gates and you would do well to remember that. Further, to say that I am disappointed with your performance would be an understatement. If this had not been simply an illusion then everybody in this room would be dead.”
Rosalind’s gaze latched on to Luna. “Everyone but the Princess that is.”
Luna’s face remained impassive but Farah could feel the swirls of pride that she was fighting to keep down. Luna liked to be the best, that was no surprise to anybody.
Rosalind walked down the steps to where the bulk of the students were. “I trust that this failure will be at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the start of next term and you will all prove to me then that you deserve a place here.” As she walked through the crowd, she caught Farah’s eyes. “I expected better of you.”
And with that she was gone, striding back to her office without a care in the world for all of the pain she had just caused. The students were quiet as they all trickled out of the courtyard and back to their own rooms. There was nothing to be said.
When Farah got back to her room, she kicked off her shoes and climbed onto her bed, pressing her back against the wall. She pulled one of the decorative pillows into her lap and traced runes on the top of it. She didn’t activate any, but it was a nice distraction for her brain so she didn’t have to think about the events that just unfolded.
She hadn’t seen a Burned One since the night her parents died.
Farah drew the runes faster now, testing herself. How many could she remember offhand without looking in the book. Her nail dug deeper into the fabric as she pushed herself, trying as hard as she could to focus on that and that alone. Even when other thoughts, dangerous thoughts, tried to call her sanity away.
“What did that pillow ever do to you?” Luna appeared in the doorway, heels in hand. For the first time, Farah thought she saw cracks in the facade. A slight hunch to Luna’s usually perfect posture.
“Why? Want to lock it up for its crimes, Your Majesty?”
Luna laughed and Farah couldn’t help but smile at the noise it made. Clear, cacophonous, and real . “Your Majesty is reserved for the Queen.” Luna stepped towards her own bed before pausing and taking a backward glance at Farah, noticing the messy braid that she hadn’t the energy to fix. The slight streaks of mascara around the eyes. Then, before Farah could blink twice, Luna was climbing up in the bed next to her.
The Princess didn’t ask for invitations.
Luna kept her distance, making sure that their shoulders wouldn’t accidentally touch with any slight movements. “Though I am looking forward to it. Throwing people in prison when I become Queen that is.”
The corner of Farah’s lip quirked upwards. “How very dictatorial of you.” Her tone was light and Luna took it for the joke that it was. Neither of them particularly in the mood to be serious.
“I think I’ll start with that friend of yours. What’s his name? Steve?”
“Saul.”
“Right. Now Steve’s dance moves tonight, those were the real crimes against humanity. There’s a cell in Solaria just waiting for him.”
Farah laughed at the absurdity of it all. A great big laugh right from the soul, that slowly tapered off into silence.
Luna kept her eyes focused on the space in front of her. “Have you ever seen a Burned One before?”
Farah picked at the threads of the cushion. “Yes.” She hated how small her voice sounded.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Farah’s silence was answer enough, and Luna didn’t push it. They sat quietly for several moments, taking comfort in the knowledge that the traumatic experience was at least a shared one. Farah snuck a glance at Luna out of the corner of her eye and realized the Princess was already looking at her. Farah dropped her gaze quickly, she didn’t know what to make of the look in Luna’s eyes.
“I know it was only an illusion,” Farah whispered, “but thank you for saving my life.”
“I just wanted to look like a hero,” Luna whispered back. Both of them knew it was a lie. Luna raised her hand, and for a moment Farah thought she might just set it on top of her own, and her breath caught in her throat. But Luna decided against it and rose from the bed.
“Goodnight Farah.”
“Goodnight.”
Farah watched as Luna climbed into her own bed, a peculiar fluttering stirring in her heart.
Exactly one year later, Luna covered Farah’s eyes with silk and stole her away to the sea to watch the sunrise. It was supposed to be a mission to check for weak spots in the barrier. At least that was how Luna pitched it to the Headmistress to give them permission to leave the school. It just so happened to coincide with the Winter Solstice Ball for the First Years.
Both of them in their roles as Second Years would have been expected to participate in ruining the festivities. Luna with her masterful powers of light illusion was the name put forward to lead the charge. And she truly couldn’t care less about terrorizing the First Years, after all, some of them were particularly difficult to deal with. The boy from Eraklyon who thought far too highly of himself was one she wouldn’t have minded knocking down a peg or two.
But Farah, who was quickly becoming the Headmistress’ favourite protege, would have had no choice in the matter. When Rosalind commanded someone to jump, they were expected to fly. And Farah, with her developing talents of breaking through mental barriers, would have been expected to sneak through the First Years’ and sow the seeds of terror in their minds. To freeze them in place with fear. To do to them what she still had not recovered from.
So, Luna had decided that they needed a reason to be far away from Alfea that night. She knew Farah didn’t have a choice, so she gave her one. And as expected, Farah had gratefully accepted. Even if both of them were still pretending that Luna just really wanted to spend her night checking the barrier.
“Okay careful, there’s a slope coming up,” Luna said.
Farah turned her head in the direction of Luna’s voice. “You know, I would be less likely to fall and break something without the blindfold.”
“But that would ruin the surprise.” Farah could practically hear the pout in Luna’s voice. “Just - give me your hand.”
Before Farah could even offer it, Luna had grabbed her hand. Her touch was soft and gentle as she intertwined their fingers, but it still burned where her skin touched Farah’s. Such was the misery of wanting what you could not have.
The ground underfoot was rocky and sloped, and every time the heel of Farah’s boot caught against a crack, Luna’s other hand came up to her waist to steady her. Even through all the layers Farah had on to block out the cold, Luna’s touch raised goosebumps across her skin.
The sound of waves crashing against rock reached Farah’s ears only seconds before she was hit with the smell of saltwater. Luna stood on her tippy toes to untie the blindfold, taking a moment to adjust Farah’s braid, and Farah was met with the sight of the ocean. The sky was starting to brighten, it wouldn’t be long until it was painted with the pink hues of dawn.
“Beautiful,” Farah whispered.
“That’s not your only surprise,” Luna said, smiling. And then with a snap of her fingers, the invisibility faded to reveal Saul and Ben sitting on a picnic blanket, a circular cake between them with the words HAPPpy BIRTHDay FARAh written in purple icing. Luna grabbed Farah’s hand once again, although this time she had little excuse, and pulled Farah over to them.
“Saul did the icing!”
Saul’s hand flew to his chest. “I thought we agreed to keep that a secret.”
Ben glanced between his friend and the cake. “That was before you kept making the same mistake by starting with big letters over and over again.”
Farah and Luna sat down next to them, taking the remaining space left on the blanket. Farah felt tears prick at her eyes. “You all really didn’t have to do this.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Luna said, pulling some candles from her pocket and arranging them around the letters Saul had iced on. “Eighteen is a big year. You deserve a celebration.” She held out her hand and Saul passed her a lighter; none of the fairies here had a grasp on fire magic yet. Using her other hand to block the sea breeze, Luna lit the candles - a big one and eight - and the flames soon danced to life. “Make a wish!”
Farah met Luna’s eyes. Didn’t she know that she was all Farah ever wished for? With an exaggerated breath, Farah blew out the candles, but she didn’t make a wish. She didn’t believe in all that. It was enough, in this moment, to have the people she cared about around her. They all enveloped her in a group hug, careful not to smush the cake between them, and the strawberries and cream scent of Luna’s shampoo tickled Farah’s nose.
The sun rose as the boys shoveled cake into their mouths. Farah was a bit more refined, lack of cutlery and plates withstanding, and Luna didn’t have any at all. Instead, the Princess walked the shoreline, occasionally skipping rocks across the surface of the water. Farah hated that even after all of this time Luna felt as though she was a mere tacked-on limb to the body that was Farah, Saul and Ben. She didn’t know how to explain that they were Luna’s friends too, that Luna didn’t have to give them space.
Farah joined her by the water, bending down to pick up a stone of her own. A flick of her wrist and the stone was flying through the air, sinking immediately as it hit the water.
“You’re hopeless, Farah.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Their grins were brighter than the sun.
“Was it a good birthday then?”
“It wasn’t bad.” It was the best . Farah wanted to reach for Luna’s hand. She didn’t. “Thank you for doing this, truly.”
“It was nothing.” Luna skipped another stone, it sank with the weight of the lie.
“I hope you know I can’t really return the favour for yours.” Luna’s 18th birthday was in a week. It annoyed the Princess to no end that Farah was older than her - and just by a week. “I just - I couldn’t hope to compare to what I’m sure your family is planning.”
“You don’t need to compare.” Luna turned to look at Farah. “Your presence is all I request. The invitation will arrive when it’s ready. Fates know it’d be impossible to enter the Palace without it.”
“Then I’ll be there.”
Luna glanced at her watch. “Shit. The Headmistress will be expecting us back soon.”
Back to reality it was. They packed up their stuff and started the long trek back to Alfea. Farah threw one last glance back at the beach and sent it a quiet thank you for the momentary peace and happiness it had offered her.
When they returned to the school they went their separate ways, either in search of breakfast or sleep. Farah and Luna made their way to their suite, just to find a letter bearing the Solarian seal waiting for them at the base of the door. Farah felt a sudden wave of tension wash over Luna as she reached down to pick it up.
She broke the golden seal and scanned the letter’s contents, her brows furrowing as she did so. When she finished she tucked it back in the envelope and met Farah’s eyes. “It’s from my mother. She demands my presence urgently at the Palace.”
“Is everything alright?”
Luna shook her head. “She doesn’t say. Just that there will be a car waiting for me upon my return to Alfea.”
Farah unlocked the door to their room and watched as Luna immediately tore the place to shreds trying to pack on such short notice. Once Luna was finished and had used just a touch of magic to make it look like she hadn’t spent the entire night awake, she cleared her throat to catch Farah’s attention.
“I’ll see you soon.”
“Safe travels.”
And with that Luna was gone, door slamming shut behind her.
Farah waited days but the invitation never arrived.