Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Professor Liturerea (a strange name for a professor, but we are not going to go into that) told them that they had to write a story for the next class, not very long, on some topic that they liked to improve grammar, obviously, a stupid rumor was formed that there was going to be a stella as compensation for whoever comes up with the best idea.

Damian already had enough stellas, he was already an imperial, but with a single look between him and Anya (who was also an imperial), they both started writing as quickly as possible in class and were the first to hand in, only to be scolded because they didn't understand at all what they wanted to write.



Becky took her time, if she was going to do it, she would do it quietly at home, with something warm in her left hand, and her pencil in the other. 

By the time afternoon came, she sat down in her chair, cracked her fingers, and began.

Becky started to think about what she was going to write. At that moment, her mind wandered, starting to walk around her room from one side to the other, finally seeing the photo of Anya, which she had kept to annoy the poor girl.

Loid Forger was still attractive to her young twelve-year-old eyes... Yes, he was starting to have more gray hair, and yes, he was her friend's father, but he wasn't ugly at all.

"Loid Forger..." She muttered under her breath, looking at her image. "Oh Loid..." 

In her head she once again resorted to the absurd fantasy of finding him in the hospital where he worked, and with the patient-doctor friction, the situation escalated as it happens in "Berlint In Love: Emergency Response" in the dark closet of a hospital, with the noise of the metal cabinets making noise against the wall and the passionate kisses they gave each other.

It was public knowledge that things like this happened in hospitals, right? Residents with too many hours, pressured by their evil superiors to continue working, with those nurses and their short skirts-

Becky stopped, slightly blushing and perhaps confused for having thought about that last thing. 

"I'm sounding like a dirty old man!" She shook her head to avoid that thought, returning to her chair and taking her literature notebook to begin writing down the ideas she had again.




Loid Forger ---> Roid Forjjer 

Love interest: Nurse??? Coworker. (Judy sounds like a good name)

Hospital --> Improper love trio ---> Bad Boy Marcos Castelli ---> Broken-hearts that Judy ends up changing

Becky tapped the pencil against her chin. Who was Marcus' voice in her head? She was evidently the protagonist, Loid Forger the co-star, what about Marcus? At that moment she thought of Demetrius Desmond.

"Ugh." She blurted out with disgust, as much as she hated the idea because Demetrius wasn't her type, she had to admit that his deep voice was ideal for that character.

Demetrius' deep voice made anyone tremble, she had only heard him speak twice, and on only those two occasions she could hear how the women around him sighed in love when in reality he was neither very pretty nor very kind.

Surprisingly, he had gotten married, and according to Damian's testimony, he seemed happy.


Becky continued thinking about her romantic world, adding data as he went in her notebook. His hand was moving wide, with a smile on his face so big that it could overshadow the sun, and his cheeks were blushing when he thought about the inappropriate things that happened at Berlint In Love. 

She stopped. 

"I can't take this to class." Becky mutter for herself, looking at her notebook full of ideas, ideas that only seemed to go from bad to worse for some reason.

She banged her head on the table, complaining about the crossroads she found herself in. She raised her head again, looking carefully at the notebook. She would be forced to restrict herself and just do something mild to begin with, and if her teacher gave the go-ahead, start adding the rest of the story. 

After that, she cracked her knuckles and went back to writing on her typewriter, already deciding what she was really going to do, what she was going to show Mr. Liturerea.

Two weeks later.

"Just this, please." Henderson said as he placed the books for the next class in front of the librarian. At that moment, his eyes fell on two girls at the table, two of his students from Ceville Hall, both of them giggling very quietly out of respect for being in a library and blushing. "What are they reading?" 

"Hmm?" The librarian raised her head, watching the girls carefully. "Well... It doesn't look like a book, it's more like something they brought from outside..." 

The man nodded, finally approaching the table. He caught their attention, seeing how they seemed to have seen a ghost. 

"What are you reading, ladies?" Henderson smiled kindly.

"Uhm... Well, sir, it's just something we found in the romance section..." The girl tried to put it away, but Henderson quickly took it.

"How funny it must be if they're laughing in a library." The teacher said, carefully looking at ten sheets stuck with a hook. She listened as her students tried to stop them from reading it, but she delicately (and elegantly) turned the first page over.

He stopped to read, seeing the first words. Little by little, that kind smile slowly faded the more he read, finally stopping halfway through the text and rolling up the paper to keep it under his arm. He started walking again, only to stop and return, coming face to face with the girls again. 

"A tornitrus for both of you, for inappropriate conduct." 

And then proceeded to leave.

The talk about pornography, Eden's regulations, and the production of Fanzines at the institute lasted about an hour before the actual class even started. Becky could not be more embarrassed by the situation, since that afternoon she had left her writing on the shelf so that Clara, a classmate who agreed to be her "Beta Reader" (a term that she did not understand) and, if the text was good, could take it to the literature club.

Anya was asleep, behind a history book. She had returned late from a mission with her father, a mission she did NOT have to help, but if she didn't it could be the end of the Forger family. When she woke up, it was to Mr. Henderson's voice shouting at her, making her sit back in her seat.

"I need to see her after school at the rectory." He said seriously hearing an 'uuhhh' after that. "Quiet, please." 

She nodded, wiping the saliva from her mouth and glaring at Damian who was mocking her. After that, as soon as recess started, Anya headed directly to where she was called. 

She heard Henderson's voice behind the door and entered, seeing him sitting in an armchair near the coffee table with his hands joined and staring into space. 

"Mr.Henderson, you want me to see me?" 

"Have a sit, Forger." Henderson settled down and motioned for her to take a seat. "I need to ask you something..."

"What's wrong, sir? Is someone giving you trouble?"

"No, it's not that... It's just... Look, I'll get right to the point." Henderson took the story he confiscated from his briefcase and brought it to Forger. "I confiscated this from a student this morning, and, as you can see... It's pretty explicit at certain points." 

Anya read it very skim, VERY skim, she only got to the parts marked in red highlighter and wrapped in circles. Her face went from concentration to a grimace of disgust because she find the explicit parts really unconfortables, and to make matters worse, his father's name looked like the protagonist's.

But that would be stupid, it was surely a coincidence.

"Yeah." Henderson looked at her just as tired. "I'm sorry you had to read this, but I need to understand why a girl would read or even write that." 

"Sir, I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm sure... Sexual relations don't work like that." Anya left the text on the table, looking at her teacher. "And believe me, if I knew why they would do that, I would give you an explanation."

"I'm not sure what to think... I mean, I can understand that boys have a taste for pornography, they are boys after all, but ladies?! And during school hours! First thing in the morning!"


"I have to ask, Professor... What are you going to do now? Are you going to send this to the other teachers and the administration?"

"There's the problem, Forger..." Henderson sat on the edge of the chair, looking at his student. "If I do that, not only will they close the library to the students, but they will also do a full backpack search on all students."

Anya thought about it, that sounded bad for everyone, including her if they discovered that she had pepper spray in her bag for self-defense. Everyone had a lot to lose but mainly she, she no longer wanted to have any more tornitrus personally. Why did he have pepper spray? Yor thought it was the least dangerous thing she could give her if they tried to do something to her, like tried to kidnap her like what happened a few years ago. But that's not the point.

"I just talk to Professor Belanidez and the literature teacher, Mr. Liturerea." Henderson sighed, looking at Anya. "I shouldn't ask this, but none of the three of us can monitor the library 24/7, but I would like to ask you if for the next week you could see during breaks if someone puts this 'literature' in the library bookcases. That way, at least we can rule out some students, because if it happens outside of normal hours it means that it is a person who goes to extracurricular clubs."

"Sir, you can trust me..." Anya put a hand on his chest and stood up. "For the sake of peace between Eden and her students, I will take it upon myself to find this person."

"I appreciate your help, Miss Forger, I will see to it that your efforts are recognized in some way."

Anya spent every day pretending to read books near the romance section for a week. He felt bad about having to give the bad news to Mr. Henderson that he had nothing, but in a moment, he saw someone approach with the hood of his cloak up. 

"What is Anya doing here?" Becky thought, feeling Anya's eyes fall on her when she realized who she was. "It doesn't matter, I have to put the chapter here." 

Said and done, the girl did it, in exactly the same place and in the same way as Henderson said it would happen. Anya could only feel bad, she would have to hand over her own friend, and they would probably expel her from the institution, but there was no other option, it was for the common good. When she saw Anya trying to get closer, Becky took the manuscript and ran away.


The girl was not far behind, beginning to follow Becky with a firm step while jumping over the books she had thrown to slow her down. It was a short race, Anya was faster thanks to what her parents taught her, and they both fell to the ground when Anya grabbed her by the cape.

"Stop running..." Anya said trying to catch her breath, getting closer and trying to keep her on the ground. "What was all that?! What did you put in the bookshelf?!"

"Let me go!" Becky fought, shaking and trying to push Anya away.

"Dammit..."

Luckily, no teacher saw them, the librarian thought it would be a game and let them go without leaving her workplace, but it took a lot for Becky to calm down. They both ended up behind the school, sitting on a bench in the shade with no one near them.

"...How about we go in parts?"

"Eat shit and die." 

"Okay, I'm going to talk to Henderson then." Anya said as she stood up.

"NONONO, WAIT." Becky grabbed her sleeve, stopping her in her tracks. "Please don't talk to Henderson..."

"Then explain to me what I'm supposed to tell her..." Anya said as she sat down next to her again and looked at her. "Why did you do this?!"

"For God's sake, Anya, calm down! You treat me like I planted a bomb on the elementary school bus!" 

"Becky, you don't understand the situation... You did it three weeks in a row, I don't know whether to call you brave or stupid, but if you continue like this, they are going to expel you if they find you, OR WORSE, they are going to close the library to the public and that can only fuel the fire between the students and the teachers... We already have enough with the Thompson and Clarisse problem." Anya gripped her shoulder tightly, watching the girl carefully. "The student center is on a war footing, and the teachers are with the tornitrus ready to distribute indiscriminately."

"How do you know all this? Don't tell me that..."

"...I am Henderson's eyes among the students, I know there are more, but I am the only one who does not serve him faithfully." Anya murmured. "I need you to trust me and tell me the truth... Only then can I prevent the situation from escalating." 

"Jeez, Anya." The girl looked at her, somewhat annoyed even. "Are you a spy? In a situation as delicate as this?" 

"You don't understand, I'm tied hand-and-foot in this, I have many tornitrus, if for some reason the peace is sabotaged I'm going to be the first one they're going to use as a scapegoat." Becky's gaze softened upon hearing that. She knew the various tornitrus that the girl had, causing her to be two of them away from being expelled. "Please Becky, I need you to tell me the truth..."

The girl sighed, looking at her writing. 

"I'm writing a story..." She murmured, turning to face her. "I know it's wrong, I know that maybe I go a little overboard with the erotic, I see your face when I mention it."

"It's not my literary style, that's all... Go on."

"The point is... I have a lot of fun doing it." A smile appeared on her face. "It's very fun for me, I have a good time seeing the faces of the girls who read it, how they read it out loud and what they say about them, but what I like most is creating worlds and characters... But at the same time, I don't have a place to show it." Becky tapped the manuscript lightly. "That's why I leave them in the library, that way the girls from the club can find them and we read them during the week."



"You mean there's a literature club?" Anya raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes! It's so much fun! We read poems, my stories, all kinds of things!"

"What about comics? Do you read comics?" 

"It's an ongoing debate... We don't know whether to consider it literature or not, they have a lot of images."

"...I'll go accuse them to Henderson-"

"Sit back." Becky said as she sat her back down grabbin her sleeve again. "I know it's not appropriate, okay? But we're not hurting anyone either... It's just some bawdy literature."

"The problem is that the teachers don't see it that way... But I can see that you're not hurting anyone." Anya nodded, turning to her. "But I need a favor from you."

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to hand me over?"

"Of course not, you're my best friend... School will be a pain in the ass without you." Anya smiled, taking his shoulder. "But I need us to find a way to hand over your writings... Because I know you want to keep it a secret, don't you, Judy?"



"Shut up..." The girl laughed, a little embarrassed by that. "Do you have any ideas?"

"I could deliver them... Like a messenger." Anya stood up, stretching a little. "We could also send them by mail..."

"The club is outdoors, we have no way to do it, and if I ask for directions, they will most likely suspect me." Becky got up too.

"And what if Judy sends them to Becky Blackbell?" She smiled, looking at her friend. 

"...Actually, that sounds like a good idea, although it would need a justification." Becky put a hand to her chin, thinking carefully. 

"You'll think of something." Anya said as she reached over her shoulder and shook her a little. "You're a good writer, so you don't have to worry about finding an excuse." 

"I appreciate the support, Anya... And also that you don't turn me in."

"The reason why I don't do it is still missing..."

"Hmm?"

When Henderson saw her come in, with the bump on her face and her split lip, he couldn't help but feel guilty for seeing that. 

"What happened to you?"

"...You should have seen the other guy, sir." Anya threw a manuscript, with dirt on it. "I gave her a warning to stop the rotatives, you doesn't have to worry, those stories will stop reaching the young eyes of the students."

"Who was the student?" Henderson looked at her student, completely serious.

"Sir, I know you need a scapegoat in this situation, but if you give the girl a tornitrus, it will only develop problems among the students... The situation is tense, I suggest you abandon the search for the moment." Anya said calmly, looking at the professor. "She won't do it again... I promise."

"...Very well, for the moment I'll let it pass." Henderson sighed, returning to the test he was looking at. "Close the door when you leave."

"Yes sir, thank you." Anya nodded, leaving the room and closing the door as instructed. 

Becky turned to her friend when she saw her leave, getting closer as she walked down the hall towards the exit.

"Did he believe it?" 

"Probably, you don't need to worry." Anya ran her finger over the wound, feeling like her lip was split. "I need to go to the infirmary... Will you come with me? Then we could go eat something."

"Yes, it's the least I can do for that last blow..." 

Anya nodded, turning her direction and heading towards the school infirmary with her best friend, who was now seriously thinking about how to make her friend not realize that she had used her father as inspiration for that 'scandinavian doctor with blonde hair and blue eyes like the sea itself'

Anya would be truly angry when she realized it.

Chapter Text

At least once a week, Martha and Henry sent each other letters in order to keep up to date. Since the time Martha was missing in action on the war, they began this way of keeping in touch with the goal that something like that would never happen again.

Normally, Henry tried to leave out Eden matters, but sometimes he slipped out.

"You should have seen my expression when I read the most embarrassing and indecent things ever written by a student. More than likely you would have burst into tears like you did in our younger years." 



It was a simple detail, but in Martha's next letter, everything ended up falling into place.

"Dear Henry,"


"Thank you again for the tea leaves, I'll take the opportunity to have a snack with Miss Blackbell, and well, talk about the topic of erotic literature that you mentioned before. Yesterday, when I was waking her up to take her to class, I saw her typewriter on her desk, with the paper still on."

"She had a hard time getting out of bed lately, so it gave me time to read one or two things. Great was my surprise when I found what she was really writing, something about a nurse or something like that, with a resident of the Berlint general hospital. Her expression when she discovered me was worth gold! We were so embarrassed that the whole way to Eden was silent, and since then, I am no longer allowed to enter her room -In the same way, unless she changes the lock I still have the key, but I will start to respect her privacy more-"


"I'm happy about her new hobby, because, at the same time, she stopped being infront of the TV all the time. But, of course, I will make her know about the danger behind erotism and gonna give her the talk™ since her parents are avoid it." 


"Youth is changing, Henry, you are seeing it yourself. Every time you tell me that the students are more agitated since the incident with those students of yours for a simple kiss, the more I think that gone are the years where relationships had to be behind closed doors."

"Sorry, I'm not in a position to talk about that, I'm just a stranger, and you're the teacher who's experiencing all of that."

"Take good care of yourself Henderson, and try not to be so harsh, but without ceasing to be elegant."

"Your friend, Martha."

Henderson put the letter back on his table, looking down at the envelope with a frown. He ran his hand over his face and turned his eyes to the window, debating what he should do now.

Part of him -His elegant and professional part- asked him to talk to Becky Blackbell about the stories he found, however, his other part -the human part, the one who was once in love, and who seemed to agree that not only the students, but society was changing- asked him to turn a blind eye, to just this once, let things flow. How long could it prevent someone from discovering that they were leaving pornography in the library? If Schlag discovered the same thing as him, the situation would be triggering, and that would generate even more conflict between teachers and students.



Just like happen to Thompson and Clarisse. 



He sighed again, closing his eyes for a moment. I should take a long vacations outside of Eden. That place, sooner or later, would be his tomb.



"I better start with those exams..." Mutter for himself, opening his eyes and feeling the light. "After that, I would answer to Martha... So you better get going, Henderson."

He stood up straight, stretching a little and feeling how the years were beginning to weigh on his back. After hearing a "crack", he got to work and took the first exam, Mr. Desmond's.

The noise of the door distracted him. And after saying "it's open" he saw Anya Forger enter with a split lip...