Chapter Text
“How adorable! But maybe just a bit much...”
“What a bright kid! Isn’t she a little too wild though?”
“She’s literally covered in dirt.”
Amelia huffed at another rejection from a potential family. She was outside in the yard of the orphanage, listening to some jerks talk in the office, completely unaware that she was able to hear them through the window.
In a fit of rage, she balls up some mud in her hands. The rain makes it easy.
The door squeaks open, umbrellas peak out, and Amelia winds her arm up.
“Well, thank you for visiting anyways-”
The adults scream as mud launches towards them, landing in one of the lady’s faces in particular. She gasps with horror, the adults frozen in shock before rushing to try and help clean up.
“Amelia!” The director calls, but Amelia sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry.
“You probably would’ve sucked anyways!” She yells before running off.
She can hear some yelling and arguing behind her, but it doesn’t matter. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up anyways.
Amelia grits her teeth as she runs towards a familiar spot in the fence: the weak link. She’d already escaped through it a few times, managing to not be seen by anyone each time, but this would be a little different.
The rain had managed to pool some mud into the hole she dug to make it easier, making it a bit of a tight squeeze. Nevertheless, she gets her head through, and if her head can fit through, so can the rest of her body!
Or so, she thinks until her skirt gets stuck, causing just her leg to still be under the fence.
“What the- Come on!” She grunts as she tries to pull the fabric free.
Eventually, she does, but when she rolls back a bit from the force, a stinging sensation rips through her leg.
She hisses as she grabs it, and when she looks at the blood starting to pool, tears begin to well up in her eyes. She’s cut her leg, and the rain pelting it doesn’t help with the pain.
She tries not to touch it, scared to get an infection. She’s not exactly sure what that means, but she knows that it's bad, and she knows that it's scary. What she does know is that she’s on the other side.
More shouting can be heard of her name, and Amelia perks up, realizing she’s not too far away from the entrance. So, she does what she knows , and that’s to run.
The stinging pain shoots up through her leg as she does so, and she bites her lip as she sniffles. It’s hard to see through tears, so she brings up her sleeve to wipe her face, smearing more mud onto it.
Her little legs can only take her so far, so she goes to the only other place that’s most familiar to her.
“Fauna!” Kronii laughs as she chases her wife down with an umbrella. “Come back here, you’ll get sick!”
Fauna sticks her tongue out in mockery as she looks over her shoulder. “Catch me first!”
“Wh- that’s it!” Kronii lets the umbrella drop out of her hands so she can speed up without it slowing her down. It’s a mere few strides until she catches Fauna by the waist, picking her up and spinning her around.
“Ah!” Fauna yelps between her laughs as she holds onto Kronii for stability.
“Not so sly now, are you?” The taller one teases, grinning as she catches her breath, still holding Fauna up.
The two stay there for a moment, taking deep breaths as they stare at each other until they close their eyes, Fauna leaning down to close the distance.
When they break apart, it’s another small laugh that escapes.
“I love you,” Kronii speaks first in a quiet voice that echoes over the rain.
“I love you, too.” Fauna brushes wet bangs off of Kronii’s forehead with a small scoff. “We should probably go back home now and dry off.”
“Right.”
Fauna presses another kiss to Kronii’s cheek as she’s let down, laughing at the way Kronii still blushes from little acts of affection as the taller one rushes off to go grab the umbrella she had dropped so long ago.
Fauna follows behind, not in too much of a rush. She turns her head, admiring the scenery of the street with rainfall. Her eyes land on a park in particular, one that she used to play on when she was little.
“What’s up?” Kronii asks, following her gaze as she shields Fauna from the rain with an umbrella. “Wanna go play on the swings or something?”
“Kronii,” Fauna laughs as she pushes the umbrella back slightly so it would cover Kronii, too. “We’re full grown adults.”
“And?” Kronii grins. “Literally no one else is out here in the rain. We can do whatever we want!”
“You want to go on the swings don’t you-”
“I wanna go on the swings.”
Fauna laughs again, completely head over heels for her wife. She grabs Kronii’s hand, pulling the taller girl down for another kiss before setting off.
Amelia sniffles from where she was hiding in one of the plastic tunnels. Her head perks up at the sound of people approaching, and she freezes, terrified that they’ve found her already.
She doesn’t want to go back, she hates being there, watching everyone else get adopted while she’s left behind. She’s tried to be good, she really has, but it never works, and no one ever stays.
But, it’s not the usual sharp voices she’s used to yelling at her. Instead, she hears cheerful banter, the stepping of puddles as laughter manages through the pouring rain.
“So what?” A gentle voice giggles. “You want me to push you or something?”
Amelia tilts her head as she looks through the holes of the tube, trying to take a peak.
“What if we see who can swing the highest?” A deeper one responds.
“I’ll have you know I held the record back in elementary school!” The voices near.
“Well I was the queen of the playground!”
Amelia moves closer, trying to get a better look. Colors are dim through the ambiance of rain and the pool of her dissipating tears, but she can see shapes. The most prominent one being an umbrella, twirling around as two adults stand under it.
“If you’re the queen, then what does that make me?”
“Hey, we can both be queens!”
The lighter voice laughs. “We’d be really good at chess then.”
“Yeah! We’d- ah!” The umbrella suddenly twirls away from the two, towards the tunnel Amelia was sitting in.. “Sorry, I’ll get it.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like it was doing much since we’re already drenched.”
The one with the deeper voice approaches, and Amelia holds her breath as she watches a head move under the tunnel, assumingly picking up the umbrella she had accidentally tossed.
“Ah!” Both of them exclaim when the adult stands up, accidentally hitting her head on the tube.
“What the…” The adult murmurs, and Amelia covers her mouth with her hands, starting to tremble in fear over being found.
“Are you alright?” The other asks, footsteps splashing in puddles as she approaches.
“Yeah but… did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“I thought I…”
“You thought…?”
She leans in through the hole Amelia was peaking through earlier, and as if she was destined to be found, their eyes meet.
The umbrella falls. “Oh my god-!”
“What? What’s wrong? What happened??” Fauna asks, tugging on Kronii’s arm as she’s not exactly able to reach the hole with her own height.
Kronii looks at her in horror. “There’s a kid in there!” She shouts as she goes to climb up one of the stairs to kneel at the entrance of the tube.
“What???” Fauna exclaims, going up a ladder to the other side.
The two near the exits of the tunnel at the same time, eyes widening as they look at the kid, whipping her head back and forth to try and look at them at the same time.
“Crap,” Kronii mutters under her breath. “What do we do?”
The child stares at Kronii with wide eyes, filled with fear. Her head whips to Fauna as she speaks.
“Uuu,” Fauna panics, looking around the playground to try and find an adult. “Are her parents near?”
“Kid,” Kronii talks, and blue eyes meet hers again. “Where’s your family? Do they know you’re in here?”
The child stares at her, and after a moment, she shakes her head no.
“Okay,” Kronii whispers. “Can you uh, can you come out here? My knees are killing me…”
Nothing but the sound of rain falling passes, until finally: movement. Kronii slowly moves back as the child makes way towards her, but her breath halts when she realizes something wrong with the way the kid was moving, oddly scooching on her butt instead of crawling.
Her suspicions are confirmed when her legs emerge from the tube first, and Kronii sees the dirty red covering her leg.
“Fuck-!” Kronii cusses, as Fauna hops down from the other side to come around.
“Kronii!” She hisses. “No cursing!”
“She’s bleeding!”
“What?!”
Kronii – as the other adult called her – looks at Amelia with concern, but Amelia doesn’t really recognize the face of worry. Instead, her heart spikes at the idea of another adult being mad at her, but she’s too scared to fight back- too hurt to try.
“Sorry…” Her voice shakes as she speaks.
“What?” Kronii looks almost offended. “Why are you sorry? I- okay, Fauna-” She turns her head to the supposed Fauna . “What do we do??”
“Okay, um,” Fauna looks around. “Can you bring her over to the tables over there? It should be dry thanks to the roof. I’ll- I’ll run home real quick and get my first aid kit.”
“Okay,” Kronii repeats in a panic. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go instead? I’m faster- Aaand she’s gone.”
Amelia’s eyes stare at Kronii, who offers her a weak smile. She doesn’t understand why Kronii is smiling though, but it makes her feel a little safer.
“Do you think you can stand?” Kronii asks her, and Amelia wants to try. Her leg’s been feeling numb, but still, she presses her palms against the ground and stands up. She wasn’t a baby anymore!
But, with the way she stumbles, and the way Kronii has to catch her, she feels a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry,” She says again, in a voice quieter than she meant to. Her throat feels a bit weak from crying earlier, but Kronii only gives her another smile. It hurts a little less.
“It’s okay, don’t worry, alright?”
Amelia nods.
“Okay, are you alright with me carrying you then?”
Amelia nods again.
“Okay,” Kronii mumbles, taking Amelia’s tiny and dirty hands and putting them on her shoulders. “You hold on to me here, yeah?”
Amelia nods. A hand goes behind her back and another one goes to the back of the knees. She feels her feet leave the ground, and her body is pressed close to Kronii’s.
Instinctively, she leans in closer, falling into the body heat that she didn’t realize she was lacking.
Comfy…
“Hey, kid,” Kronii speaks up, and Amelia can feel the rumble of her chest when she speaks. It’s nice. “Do you have a name or should I just keep calling you kid?”
Amelia swallows. She knows she shouldn’t be talking to strangers, but at this point, she feels like it’s okay to trust her.
“Amelia.” She mumbles.
“Well, Amelia,” Kronii smiles, and Amelia feels safe. “I’m Kronii.”
“I know.” She plays with the fabrics of Kronii’s shirt as the adult walks towards the tables.
“You kn- how do you know?” Kronii laughs, almost impressed.
“You and Fauna said each other’s names earlier.”
Kronii whistles. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a smart kid, Amelia?”
“Yeah,” Amelia smiles, feeling proud of it for once. “It’s called a kiss-up.”
“A- a what?” Kronii sputters.
“A kiss-up.” Amelia mumbles. “That’s what the other kids call me.”
“Ah,” Kronii nods. “Well, uh… That’s not exactly… a nice name?”
“Oh,” Amelia hums, looking up at where the rain was stopped by the roof. “That makes sense. They never call me nice names.”
“What? Who are these kids??”
“The other orphans.”
Kronii stops, and Amelia takes her head off her shoulder to look up.
“Kronii?”
“Amelia,” Kronii asks in a quiet voice. “Are you an orphan?”
“No,” Amelia huffs. “I ran away. I don’t need them.”
“Sorry to break it to you kid, but that’s not how it works.” Kronii sighs as she approaches the table, trying to set Amelia down on it.
“No, wait!” Amelia holds on tighter.
Kronii stumbles a bit as she goes back to supporting Amelia, holding her tightly so she doesn’t fall. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t send me back!”
“What? Send you- huh??”
Amelia hides her face in Kronii’s shoulder as she sobs. “No one likes me there! No one even wants me there but no one will even take me!”
“Okay, okay,” Kronii holds Amelia tighter, making sure to be aware of not pressing Amelia’s leg against anything. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
Amelia continues to sob into Kronii, holding her tight as tears come rushing back. She feels weak again, like a little kid, but she can’t help herself because she is a little kid.
“Kronii!” Fauna calls out, and Kronii turns around, with Amelia still buried into her shoulder.
“Fauna!” Kronii responds in relief, walking over to the edge of the roofed area to greet her. “Thank goodness…”
“What happened?” Fauna asks, ushering Kronii over to one of the tables, but when Amelia doesn’t let go, Kronii sits onto the table itself, using the seat as a footrest so Amelia could rest in her lap.
“No-” Amelia whines when she feels Kronii loosen up her arms a bit, but when Kronii sets her legs down to hang off the side of her lap, her other arm returns to properly hug Amelia back.
“It’s okay,” Kronii hushes. “I’m not letting go, see? Fauna’s just gonna fix your leg up, alright?”
“Uuu,” Fauna coos as she takes a wet wipe out of her bag to clean mud off the dirty leg.. “This might sting a little bit…”
Kronii nods, brushing a hand through Amelia’s hair. “You hear that? Is that gonna be okay?”
Amelia murmurs and nods, clenching her hands on Kronii’s shirt as she hisses, recoiling her leg back.
“Oh, no no, sweetheart, it’s okay…” Fauna reassures, trying to gently bring Amelia’s leg back towards her. “I’m just cleaning the wound so it doesn’t get infected, okay?”
Infected…
Amelia nods, still not entirely understanding, but knowing that Fauna was trying to help.
“We’ll clean this up and wrap it,” Fauna explains, and her talking Amelia through it helps a bit. “And then we’ll take you back to your parents okay?”
“Fauna.” Kronii whispers.
“What?”
Fauna looks up to see Kronii with wide eyes, trying to tell her something. Amelia doesn’t get how they’re talking without talking. Maybe they’re magic communicating, like telephone-pathy or something.
“Okay,” Fauna bites her lip. “What about going to the hospital then? They’ll be able to treat this better than me…”
“Are they gonna make me go back?” Amelia asks quietly, and Fauna gives her a smile, just like Kronii would do. She loosens her grip on Kronii, letting herself turn towards Fauna a little bit more.
“Go back…?” Fauna looks to Kronii again for help.
“She’s from the orphanage.” Kronii states.
“Yeah,” Amelia huffs. “Not anymore though. I’m not going back!”
“Amelia, sweetheart,” Fauna gets up from the seat to sit on the table next to Kronii, putting Amelia’s legs on her lap as she starts bandaging the cut one. “You have to go back. That’s where you need to be right now.”
“Need to be…?”
“Mhm,” Kronii hums, and Amelia leans her head on her shoulder again to feel the vibrations. “You gotta be there so you can find a nice family. You’re a good kid, Amelia. You’re gonna be loved.”
“That doesn’t work.” Amelia rolls her eyes, eyes watching as Fauna maneuvers around her leg, wrapping a bandage around it. “No one ever wants me. They all reject me.”
“Well,” Fauna smiles as she leans in, all done with her part. “They probably all sucked anyways.”
“Yeah,” Kronii laughs. “Someone who doesn’t see how great of a kid you are is probably too dumb to realize it. You wouldn’t want someone like that taking care of you. They’re stupid!”
Amelia giggles, and it’s like sunshine pierces through rain clouds.
“Well, would you look at that,” Kronii chuckles, staring at Amelia’s bright grin. “Looks like the storm is clearing up.”
“Mn,” Fauna hums, taking her hand and hooking it onto Kronii’s arm as she scooches closer. “It’s a lovely rainbow.” She murmurs, turning her head to kiss Kronii’s cheek.
“Hey,” Amelia speaks up from where she sat on the hospital bed, swinging her legs. “I have an idea.”
“Go for it,” Kronii responds, leaning forward in interest.
“What if… you two adopt me!”
“What?” Kronii and Fauna say in unison, sitting up.
“Yeah!” Amelia grins, full of pure hope. “I’ve been thinking about it this whole time! You guys seem great, and um, well, you like me … You- you like me, right?”
“Yeah!” Kronii responds immediately, but she looks at Fauna for a second before back at Amelia. “But, um…”
Amelia’s smile fades. “But…?”
“But,” Fauna answers. “We need to think about it.”
“Oh.” Amelia pouts before perking up again. “Okay! How long do you need? We probably have a few minutes before the doctor comes back, so…”
“Amelia.” Kronii calls her name sternly, and Amelia stops swinging her legs. “We’d need more than a few minutes.”
“What?” She slouches. “Why? I- you said you liked me!”
“We do!” Kronii reassures her. “But, we’ve never really considered having kids, and this is really short notice…”
“Huh?” The kid tilts her head. “So it’s because I’m short? I’ll- I’ll grow! I could probably be as tall as you!”
“No,” Fauna gives a weak laugh. “Short notice means we have to do something we didn’t expect. Right now, it means thinking about taking care of you.”
“Oh, well I’m easy!” Amelia waves it off, leaning back and using her hands as support. “Kronii even called me smart!”
Fauna looks at Kronii, who shrugs. “What? Can you blame me? She’s literally making a case for herself right now- I feel like I’m at court or something!”
Fauna rolls her eyes. “It’s more than that, sweetheart.” Fauna stands up, going to sit next to Amelia instead. “All of our lives would be changing, and if we’re not careful, it could be bad for you.”
“No, it wouldn’t be!” Amelia tries to argue back. “You guys are different!”
“Different?” Kronii echoes, bringing her chair closer so she can sit in front of Amelia.
“Yeah! You haven’t-” She sniffles. “You haven’t complained about me… You said you liked me…”
“We do,” Kronii reaches out to grab Amelia’s hands, leaning forward. “We do like you, Amelia. That’s why we wouldn’t want to ruin things for you, okay?”
“I don’t get it…” Amelia takes a hand back to wipe her tears, until she lets her face be turned towards Fauna so they can be wiped off with a tissue instead. “How would it be bad for me?”
“What if we don’t know how to take care of you?” Fauna tells her. “What if we give you something to eat but it makes you feel bad?”
Amelia sniffles. “Bread makes my tummy hurt…”
“See?” Fauna cups her cheeks. “We wouldn’t know that at first unless we talked about it.”
“Okay…”
“Okay?”
“I think I get it…”
“See?” Kronii smiles as she stands up, ruffling Amelia’s hair. “I told you, you’re smart!”
Amelia replicates the smile, albeit softer and weaker. Still, she leans into the touch, before grabbing Kronii’s hand.
“How long will it take for you to decide?”
“Well,” Kronii smiles, letting Amelia play with her fingers. “First, we need to think about it. Then, if it is a yes-” Amelia looks up with a grin. “- But we can’t promise it will be!” Amelia looks back down, pouting as she returns to compare their hand sizes. “Then we’d probably need to go through a process.”
“Yeah,” Fauna nods. “We haven’t ever looked into having a kid before, let alone adopting one.”
“But when the time comes,” Kronii takes her hand out of Amelia’s to tilt her chin up to look at her. “We promise, you’re going to have a family.”
“Even if it’s not with you?”
“Even if it’s not with us. That okay?”
Amelia grumbles, looking back down. “I guess…”
“There you are!” Amelia flinches as the door swings open, revealing the director of the orphanage and the doctor.
“Good news,” The doctor says. “The emergency contact has come.”
Amelia grabs Kronii’s hand again, whispering, “Bad news…”
Kronii looks back at Fauna, and they both share a quick glance at Amelia before nodding at each other. Amelia stares at them again, not understanding what it means when they don’t talk. However, before she can think of questioning them, she gets yanked by the arm.
She stumbles onto her feet as the director pulls her aside, shouting at her.
“You are in so much trouble young lady!” She yells straight in the kid’s face, and the other three adults stare, distraught.
“Ma’am,” The doctor tries to diffuse. “You need to be quieter-”
“She’s not gonna get it if I don’t yell at her!” The director responds.
Fauna gets up from the chair, standing next to Kronii as she intertwines their hands, tugging her wife down a little to whisper into her ear.
Amelia stares at them, but her gaze is forced back as she’s yanked by the arm.
“Wait!” She shouts, trying to wiggle free. “I wanna say goodbye!”
“Too bad!” She’s essentially picked up by her wrist as she’s pulled into the lobby towards the exit. “You’ve bothered them enough.”
“Bothered…?” Amelia echoes, the word bouncing around in her head. Tears start to well up again until a voice brings her out of it.
“Wait!” Kronii catches up to them, Fauna close behind. “I’d like to talk to you, actually.”
The director pauses and lets go of Amelia’s hand, who looks up at Kronii. With a quick nod of her head, she glances at Fauna, but Amelia continues to stare at Kronii, not understanding.
Kronii smiles though, and Amelia feels a bit relieved. “Go to Fauna, sweetheart.”
Amelia does not hesitate to run off into Fauna, who opens her arms for her to get picked up. As her feet leave the ground, Amelia takes another look at Kronii, confused.
Despite her hopes, Amelia is back in the orphanage, this time inside the bath as she’s cleaned up, mud getting scrubbed off. She hadn’t seen Kronii and Fauna since she wound up back in the building, and when she sees the director again, she’s just given a look.
She wouldn’t see Kronii and Fauna again for a long time.
She’ll never understand adults.
It rains again, but this time Amelia stays indoors. Her leg hurts a bit.
Today, they’re served sandwiches. Amelia takes the meat out of the sandwich and just eats that, not wanting to risk another stomach ache. She’s yelled at for being picky.
Whenever she goes outside, she has to be supervised. There’s no one to eavesdrop on anyways, since no parents have brought up an interest in her.
“Hey, kiss-up!” An older kid yells at her, and Amelia looks up from where she was playing in the sand box. Immediately, she’s blinded by the shirt that was suddenly thrown in her face before it falls into the sand. When she looks down, she recognizes it as her own shirt, and she feels a bit disappointed in it becoming dirtied.
“Why’d you do that?” Amelia asks, standing up as she grabs the shirt, trying to brush off the sand.
“Finally worked, you’re leaving this damn place.”
“Huh?”
Instead of getting an answer, the older kid ends up leaving. Amelia looks back down at her shirt, pouting at the sand that still covered it. She decides to go back inside.
Everyone looks at her differently. She doesn’t understand it.
“She’s finally leaving?”
“There’s no way, I didn’t think anyone would ever want her.”
“Good riddance, she drives all the parents away.”
She doesn’t understand anything at all.
She’s given a backpack with her clothes and other personal belongings. She doesn’t have much of it anyways, and most of what she wore was provided by the building.
“What’s this for?”
“It’s your stuff.” The director scoffs as she drops it into Amelia’s hands.
She knows that. She’s not stupid, she’s smart.
“What’s happening?”
A hand on her back pushes her towards the exit. “You haven’t figured it out by now?”
Amelia shakes her head no.
The director laughs, but it’s not as necessarily cruel as Amelia remembers it. The door opens, and Amelia squints her eyes at first at the sudden brightness of the sun.
“Go home, Amelia.”
Amelia gasps as she drops the bag, hopping off the front step and running into Kronii’s arms.
She holds on tightly, tears welling up again. This time, though, she isn’t hurt, and she isn’t sad, but she clings on tightly anyways.
“Hey, kiddo,” Kronii chuckles as she hugs Amelia back. “Bet you didn’t think you’d see us so soon.”
“Sorry it took us so long,” Fauna laughs, rubbing Amelia’s back. “We had to go through a few checks and some paperwork.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Amelia mumbles into Kronii’s shoulder, burying her face in the warmth. “You still came back for me.”
“Well,” Kronii hums, watching Fauna walk away to grab the dropped backpack and to have one last conversation with the director. “Still, we’re sorry we couldn’t promise anything.”
“It’s okay,” Amelia leans back with a little sniffle, grinning at Kronii. “You didn’t need to promise. I still believed you.”
Kronii smiles and Amelia mirrors it, completely light in Kronii’s arms. “Good.” Kronii rubs her back before her hand drops. “Because you’re stuck with us now.”
Fauna giggles as she reaches out to grab Kronii’s free hand to intertwine them. “Come on, we should get home so Ame can meet the dog.”
The nickname echoes in her head, already perfectly fitting to her. She thinks about it over and over until she realizes.
“Wait-” She gasps, bouncing with excitement. “You have a dog?!”