Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The trek back to EAS had been brutal. What should have been a quick conversation with the gnome chief of the southern isles, turned into a full day council discussion. Or, it would have been a full day, if the roaming band of trolls that Rory went there to warn them about hadn’t shown up. Rory’s fight and the subsequent debrief was grueling; and not having Lena and Chase by her side made it especially so.

It really wasn’t fair that her friends had their diplomatic meetings inside EAS proper while Rory hiked around the hidden continents. Though unfair to who was still unclear. God knows her friend’s talks were just as boring as her own.

After all that, Rory was desperately looking forward to shoving a microwave burrito in her face and collapsing into bed. But the world was never that kind to her.

Still, of all the people to ambush her on the way back from Atlantis, Candace is not someone Rory would have bet on.

The doortrek door had barely closed behind her when Candace stepped in to block Rory’s path. Her hair was up in cute bantu knots, and she wore a pink sweater that matched the gum she popped in Rory’s face.

“So are you and Chase like…betrothed now?” The shorter girl said way too loudly for the quiet courtyard.

Rory nearly choked on her protein bar. She sputtered, “No, we’re not betrothed! What are you talking about?” Her blush burned bright, which didn’t help her case, but who in their right mind would think that two fourteen-year-olds (who’d only been dating for four months mind you) had suddenly gotten engaged?

Rory quickly surveyed the courtyard to see if Daisy or some other girl was recording her for a laugh, but the benches were empty. It wasn’t Candace or Daisy’s style anymore anyway since they’d mellowed out after the war. Or at least she thought they did. Rory debated how much trouble she’d be in if she threw Candace into the bushes and ran.

“I mean, you guys are each other’s true love right?” Candace interrupted Rory’s train of thought with a verbal sledgehammer. “And the fey have like, betrothal practices and stuff. So some people assume that you got betrothed and you’re just not gonna have a wedding for another decade.”

“Keep your voice down!” She was barely comfortable calling Chase her boyfriend; calling him her ‘true love’ would probably give her a heart attack. Plus she didn’t even believe in stuff like that! Panic started to build in her chest and Rory knew she had to end the conversation soon before she did something stupid, like agree.

“We’re not betrothed, Candace. Chase doesn’t follow fey courting practices, he decided to follow human ones.” Rory didn’t even know if that was true, but it was the best excuse she could come up with, “And just because we started dating at the end of my tale, doesn’t mean we’re each other’s true love. So don’t spread that around.” Her hands felt disgustingly sweaty.

Candace popped her gum again but finally stepped out of Rory’s path. “Oof, harsh. I asked Chase the same question and he only fought back against the betrothal thing.”

“If you asked him then why–”

“K, byyyye!” Candace giggled and skipped towards a table of characters on the far end of the yard. Rory watched as all heads turned to face her, and if she could have gotten any redder, she knew she would have. So the mean girl schtick wasn’t totally in the past.

Rory threw the hood of her jacket up and sped down the road to her mom’s house. Hopefully she could outrun any further conversations. Candace wasn’t the first person to insinuate that Chase was Rory’s ‘true love’, though she was the first person with the guts to say it to her face. At this point, Rory didn’t know whether to be amused or offended. Who says ‘your boyfriend only likes you because of a magical bond’ to someone else? Well, she could see Chase saying that to one of their friends as a joke. Maybe Chatty too. Maybe she was being too sensitive.

Besides, it wasn’t like they were a PDA type of couple. She and Chase still had their separate training schedules, still went everywhere with Lena, and still bickered all the time. The only difference now was that they went on a date every other week and held hands when they sat next to each other sometimes.

Rory could feel a headache coming on, if she had the time, she’d head to the arena and take it out on a dummy. As it was, she tried focusing on the familiar clang of her new sword against her thigh. It helped calm her mind. Getting distance from her classmates helped as well.

Orange light broke through the leaves of the great tree and illuminated Rory’s scruffy sneakers as she followed the yellow brick path back to the neighborhoods. There were still a few adults trickling in from the wall of doors, alongside adults heading out for their night shifts. Rory spotted quite a few people in scrubs scarfing down a meal at the table of never ending instant refills before sprinting out.

It was inspiring to see so many families that wanted to continue building a life at EAS after the war. The school was beginning to feel less like a community of Characters, and more like a whole new society of people that lived in the grey area between magic and mundane.

If Rory could just blur those lines a little more…definitely not to the extent that Solange wanted, but enough to allow people like the Living Stone Dwarves to emerge from the forgotten corners of the earth. It would go a long way towards atoning for all the damage the Snow Queen caused. And it didn’t have to end with the dwarves, Rory was willing to bet that the fey missed the shores of Ireland pretty badly as well. The more she thought about it, the less possible it seemed, but nothing the triumvirate ever did seemed possible.

Inevitably, Rory’s ambitious daydreaming was cut short as she slammed headfirst into someone’s chest.

“Woah!”

Strong hands grabbed her shoulders before she could tumble into the grass. Hands that Rory knew well.

“Chase!”

“Yeah, that’s me. Your memory never ceases to amaze.” He teased. The light of the setting sun colored his hair golden. Chase was always a sight for sore eyes, even if it was cheesy to admit.

She shoved him. His smile was infectious, but his face reminded Rory of the bizarre chat she’d had with Candace.

He only fought back against the betrothal thing.

“I just came to walk you home so I could hear about your meeting. No need to blush so hard about it.” Chase said, now smirking. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face with a gentleness that Rory still wasn’t used to. When people used to say sappy stuff about being ‘weak in the knees’, Rory always assumed it was a stupid metaphor. Until Chase started doing stuff like that. She swallowed hard.

Rory considered writing the whole conversation off and taking the easy out that Chase had given her; but it was just gonna keep bugging her forever if she didn’t say something.

“Did Candace ask you a weird question earlier today?” Smooth topic change, Landon. Smooth.

Chase buffered for a moment. “Uh. Yeah?” He said suspiciously, “Did she ask you the same one?”

“The one about a rumor of us being betrothed?” She shoved her hands in her pockets to try and make her arms feel less awkward. It didn’t help.

He cleared his throat, “Okay, yeah. She asked and I told her that she was batshit crazy.”

“But did she also mention–I mean did she say anything about…” Rory stuttered.

Chase raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“Did she tell you that some people think we have a ‘true love’ thing going on?” That wasn’t the most stupid way Rory could have asked him, but she was struggling to think of anything worse.

Chase’s shoulders locked up. Okay so the answer is ‘yes’ no matter what he says.

“Candace loves to gossip.” He said dismissively.

“That’s a yes. Just say yes.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “Sure, yes. She mentioned something about that.”

“And you said?” Rory had to stifle the urge to tap her foot.

“I said that people make lots of assumptions.”

Chase turned and began walking down the yellow brick path again. Rory nearly tripped over herself as she hurried to follow.

“Like today, apparently Lena thought that my appetite was because of my flying, like I burned extra calories using a different muscle group or something. I had to give her a pretty vivid reminder of Connor’s eating habits before she’d let me off the hook as her next experiment.” They reached a small alcove in their neighborhood alleyway. It was out of view of the main roads thanks to the thick ivy that draped across the brick, but it was also a tight squeeze.

“Don’t just change the subject.” That hadn’t worked on her in years. “Are you making the same assumptions that Candace is?”

Chase stopped dead in his tracks and Rory nearly slammed into him again.

“Do you really want to know?” Chase asked, his voice impassive.

Rory’s throat squeezed around whatever her next words were, resulting in an unnatural gurgling sound.

Chase huffed, but turned to face her. “Relax.” He ran a hand through his hair the way he did when he was frustrated. “People keep telling me how I should feel about the end of your tale, and how I should act because of it. They think they’re giving me advice.” His face scrunched in annoyance. “I call it being nosy.”

Rory’s shoulders sagged with relief. He was also freaked out by the ‘true love’ allegations. Finally, the frantic butterflies in her stomach calmed to the usual level of fluttering they did when Chase was around. “Okay, same here. I thought the whole point of an unwritten tale was that it was unprecedented. You’d think I was Rory Landon number 46 with the way people assume they know everything about what the ending means.”

They laughed quietly, careful to not let their voices echo.

The ivy along the alley walls reflected the last of the sun’s light. Curfew was closing in. Soon the streetlamps would begin to burn and the adults would start yelling for everyone to head home.

“You know, dating you is exciting.” Chase stepped to Rory’s side so they could walk shoulder to shoulder. “I never know if you’re gonna greet me with a smile, a spontaneous sparring match, or a conversation so cryptic it would make Rapunzel proud.” He nudged her.

Rory always liked being compared to Rapunzel, even if it only seemed to happen when she was doing something weird.

“I didn’t mean to. This stupid true love stuff is just getting to me.” She kicked a rock in her path and watched it break across the edge of a brick. “Eventually people will run out of steam on it though, right?

“Right.” He smiled warily at her.

Poor guy must have been really put off by Candace’s questions. Rory wondered how many other people had bugged Chase about his sleeping beauty curse. No wonder he wasn’t handling the rumor mill well.

She smiled as comfortingly as she could, “Don’t worry, I’m not taking any rumors to heart. Only we get to decide what the end of my tale means, and we can do it at our own pace.” She extended her hand to him.

That at least brought back a bit of his genuine smile. Chase laced their fingers together and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand in a way that sent tingles up Rory’s arm.

“Amy made stir fry and I’m starving. You wanna join?”

“Oh hell yeah, I love stir fry.”

Chapter Text

Laughter from a gaggle of fey girls, sounds distinctly like the twittering of birds. If birds could sound sinister.

Rory grimaced and shook out her leg again, attempting to get rid of a clump of mud that still clung to her pants. Though it only served to make her look more like a wet dog. Fighting sea hags was always a mess, but not being able to return to EAS immediately after, made it much worse. Briefly, Rory considered stripping down to her underwear and becoming one with the forest. Anything would be better than sitting in a fey ranger station listening to noble girls giggle over whatever meeting Chase was in.

“Once I get my magic reserves back I’ll clean you right up, I promise.” Lena patted Rory’s shoulder affectionately, then cringed when a bit of blood came away with her hand. As a ranged fighter, the sorceress had been spared of needing to stomp around in a mud puddle.

“Thanks. I’m this close to taking advantage of the fey’s lack of a nudity taboo.”

“No you’re not.”

“No I am not.”

The triumvirate had been dispatched to the hidden continent after rumor had reached EAS that witches were spotted on the fey coastline. Ultimately, Rory couldn’t blame whatever ranger made the false alarm; it was hard to tell witches and hags apart. She could still be bitter about it though. Trekking through the woods with wet socks should be a punishment reserved for serial killers.

Lena wrung her golden hands, “What is taking Chase so long? You don’t think they’d send him on a quest without us right? Oh, I knew I should have gone in with him! As a canon rep. it was well within my rights.” She said.

Those were great questions. When the noble fey had shown up, the triumvirate prepared themselves for another encounter with Fael, but the delegation had turned out to be representatives of an Unseelie General. Now it had been almost an hour since they’d pulled Chase into a meeting, and Rory was at her wits end.

“I’m sure it’s fine, he’s probably just filling up on the General’s snacks. I’ll call him.” Rory activated her M3, but just as she was about to hit his speed-dial, someone snatched it from her hands. “Hey!”

Chase’s laugh filled the air. “You guys really worry me sometimes with how unobservant you are. What if I’d been another hag?”

Last Rory had seen him, Chase was also caked in dirt. But given his now shiny, golden hair and pristine white shirt, the fey nobles must have magically cleaned him up before their talk. It was becoming painfully obvious to Rory that she was the only gross person in the ranger station. The chorus of “Hi, Chase~” from the group of nearby girls didn’t help her mood either. Though Chase didn’t seem to pay them any mind.

Rory crossed her arms. “I’d be more concerned about why none of the fey rangers saw anything. The hag would deserve that sneak attack.”

He laughed again and landed next to Lena. “At that point, you two would be the only ones I wouldn’t be worried about.”

Rory was annoyed at how such a simple compliment could make her heart flutter.

Lena grabbed the sleeve of Chase’s shirt and whispered, “What was the meeting about? Can we talk here?”

He smiled triumphantly, “It’s actually pretty cool. The Unseelie want to set up a schedule for me and Rory to train more of their fighters in Itari. And I for one, can’t wait to watch her take down a squadron of guards for their first lesson, it’ll teach them not to underestimate humans so much.”

Rory’s smile grew and she clapped him on the back. “That’s awesome!” It felt like her skills had been stagnating the last few months. What does a fighter do when even Iron Hans can no longer beat them? Getting to spar with hoards of (soon to be) Itari fighters, would totally pose a challenge! “It’ll be great practice for us too.” She added.

Chase hooked his fingers into one of the belt loops on Rory’s pants and jostled her gently. It was one of his more obvious signs of affection that Rory was timidly beginning to cherish.

Lena squealed and tugged on his other arm in excitement. “That’s perfect! I’ve been looking for more excuses to explore books on fey magic!”

Chase’s smile turned impish and he leaned in to whisper his plan on how to get their sorceress into the palace library.

Rory could only half pay attention though. The twittering of the fey girls had gotten louder since Chase returned, and Rory was beginning to be able to pick up pieces of their conversation.

“That can’t be her.”

“Human heroes are usually so pretty.”

“Stooop, I feel bad—”

“But look at him, it’s comical—”

“You don’t get to choose true love.”

Rory’s excitement fizzled out. All of the sudden, she was eleven again, looking at a magazine with the words ‘ugly duckling of Hollywood’ right above a picture of her face. Acid bubbled in her stomach and burned the back of her throat. Rory hoped that Lena and Chase were too involved in their scheming to overhear anything, but when she looked up, their grim faces confirmed otherwise. They needed to leave now or the earth needed to swallow her up, whichever was faster.

Chase took a step towards the girls, but stopped when Rory’s hand blocked his chest. Lena grabbed Rory’s arm at the same time; though if it was to hold her back, or to get her to let Chase berate those girls, Rory didn’t know.

The fey noblewomen did the sensible thing when they turned to see Chase’s hostile expression, and flew off towards their stagecoaches.

He glowered. “Move, I need to destroy a carriage.”

“No, no you don’t. Let’s just go.” Rory said and pushed on his chest again. The only thing more embarrassing than having someone call her ugly right in front of her boyfriend, would be said boyfriend drawing more attention to it.

“You saved their whole civilization. They can’t talk about you that way.”

“It doesn’t matter, we—”

“It matters. You’re a hero and they—”

“I’m a hero so this is below me.” Rory growled.

That seemed to give Chase pause and he finally turned his attention away from the opulent caravan and back to Rory.

She continued, “I can’t just go throwing my or your weight around every time someone doesn’t like me. Even if it’s for a stupid reason. Yes, I’m a hero, so gossip is a waste of my time.” She knew she was right, but that didn’t stop their words from hurting.

The angry furrow in Chase’s brow didn’t ease, but he deflated. “Okay, fine. I—fine.”

Rory sighed and let her arm drop. “Thank you. You can take it out on a dummy when we get back.”

“There aren’t enough fucking dummies in the whole training room.” He grumbled.

Chase opened his mouth to say something else but Rory stopped him abruptly. A pair of warm, metal, hands were missing from her forearm. “Where’s Lena?”

Suddenly, shrieks echoed across the ranger station.

“Lena?!” Chase and Rory yelled in tandem. The couple whipped around, hands already on their swords, but both jumped when they were immediately met with Lena’s slight frame.

“What?” She asked innocently.

Lena stood with her back to them, facing the caravan of carriages now alight with frantic activity and…a fowl odor.

Rory and Chase released their swords and stepped up beside their short friend to survey the chaos with her. The fey noblewomen from earlier were coughing, pouring pitchers of water over their heads, and yelling at the coachmen to swing the carriage doors and air out the stench.

“What did you do?” Rory accused.

“Nothing they can prove.” Lena said. “You really shouldn’t leave a box of perfume right next to a box of animal musk.”

“They had animal musk?” Chase asked with barely concealed amusement.

Lena’s façade broke and she giggled, “No.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “You’re an evil genius and I love you.”

“Guys seriously? Now we really have to leave.” Rory ushered both of her friends to the EAS doorTrek door as more and more rangers converged on the carriages. “We’re gonna be in so much trouble.”

“They can’t prove gum-diddly.” Lena assured with pride and skipped through the portal.

Chase grabbed Rory’s arm before she could follow. “You’re really pretty.” He said firmly.

Her head spun.

“Those girls don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s what I was gonna say before Lena stinkbombed the carriages.”

For some reason, his words only served to make the pain in Rory’s chest worse. She wondered how a compliment could feel so sweet one minute, and so sour the next. Before her burning eyes could embarrass her further, Rory shoved Chase through the door.
She regretted it when she caught the flash of bewilderment in his eyes as he disappeared, but how do you tell your partner that you’re fine with being called ugly and that you were actually upset about being called his true love? They said it so matter-of-fact-ly too. The sky is blue, minotaurs can smell blood from up to 45 miles away, and you don’t get to pick your true love. Did Chase not pick her? Was there really some sort of spell on him that forced him to compliment her, carry her books for her, and hold her when she had nightmares?

No, Rory refused to doubt Chase again. Doubt was what kept him under Adelaide’s control for so long. It’s also what nearly tore apart their triumvirate during the war. Doubt was dangerous for Rory. Besides, Lena would have noticed it. As a sorceress she can physically see magic and enchantments…unless she mistook the magic of the spell for Chase’s fey ancestry, or the spell had been on him since before Lena got her powers…

Stupid fey nobility with their stupid big mouths. She looked over her shoulder so the tiny, sadistic, part of her heart could appreciate Lena’s prank one last time. The coachmen had given up on fanning the carriages and were instead passing handkerchief after handkerchief to a heaving noblewoman who’d lost her lunch all over her friend’s skirt. The rangers were corralling the rest of the nauseous ladies and their coaches towards the back of the ranger station where no doubt, people were waiting to hose them down before the stench could disturb the herd of pterippi.

Rory chuckled, then hated herself for it. So much for gossip being ‘below’ her. She stepped through the portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“—ulous. Every single time we send you out, somehow you find some new reason to cause chaos. What was it this time? Uncover a conspiracy to put a troll on the Seelie throne? Discover a new type of magical creature that someone wanted to sell for parts? Did you get bored?”

As Rory stepped free of the portal, she was greeted by the sight of her triumvirate in the middle of a dressing down from Puss-In-Dress. A bad one by the looks of it. Rory wondered how long she’d be in the dog house if she hid in the bushes and let her friends take the beating without her.

“Ah Landon, thank you for finally joining your companions. I assume you have an explanation?”

Damn. Rory stepped into the lineup but her friends spoke up right as she opened her mouth.

“It literally just happened, how did you hear about it so fast?” Lena asked.

Chase added, “And why do you think it was us? Did the fey make an accusation?”

Puss’s tail flicked in irritation. “I was there. You’re not the only canon member in dealings with the fey. And no, they didn’t. Whatever plan you hatched seemed to have worked and the Unseelie are none the wiser. But we aren’t stupid, Turnleaf. Things don’t just happen by coincidence with you three.”

Rory scoffed, “That’s the root of like half our problems.” She mumbled.

Puss’s eyes narrowed to feline slits and her head snapped to face Rory.

“Sorry! Sorry, it’s been a long day.” She held her hands up in surrender.

Lena stepped in, “Look, no one is pointing fingers at EAS, no one got hurt, we accomplished our goal, and I’m the one that handles all the triumvirate paperwork anyway. I’ll fill out an incident report.”

That seemed to settle Puss’s nerves, though she still gave the trio a long suffering sigh. “Just be careful. You represent the best and brightest that EAS has to offer. Try and make us look at least a little bright.” With that final scathing remark, Puss took off into the trees and vanished without so much as a rustle in the leaves.

The triumvirate stood in awkward silence for a moment. Then Lena cleared her throat. “Okay, well…I’m gonna go grab lunch. Uh, join me once you figure out whatever this is.” She waved her hands in the air in front of her two friends then sped off towards the tables.

“Thanks Lena.” Rory called after her weakly. Another awkward pause. She didn’t want to turn and look at Chase, she didn’t know what she’d say if they made eye contact.

He sighed. “Can you not shove me through portals when I’m trying to give you a compliment?”

“It’s not my fault you’re very shovable.” Rory said.

“Dude.”

“Sorry.”

“…It makes it hard to talk when you won’t even look at me.” He said gently.

Rory turned to face him, but only stared at his collarbones. There was a dangerous electricity running through her veins, like if she didn’t run a marathon right that second, she was gonna scream.

Chase raked his fingers through his hair. “Okay it also makes it hard to talk to you when you just turn off.”

“I’m not—There’s nothing to talk about. Some girls were assholes, Lena got revenge, and we didn’t get in trouble. Victory for us.” She said quickly.

“I also tried to tell you they were wrong and you pushed me through a magic door.” Chase added.

“I said I was sorry!”

“No you didn’t?” Chase said.

“Oh…Sorry?”

That at least made him chuckle. “I just wanted to make sure you know they’re wrong.”

“Yep. Can I go shower now?” Her hands were starting to sweat and she could feel every grain of dirt rubbing between her fingers.

“Rory.” Chase said, unimpressed.

“Whaaat?” She whined.

He gently tilted her chin up to look at him, and it took every ounce of self control that Rory had to not close her eyes like a child. Her face burned under his scrutiny.

Chase looked annoyingly patient, like he had all the time in the world for her stupid feelings, when Rory just really wanted this conversation to be over with.

“I’m saying you’re pretty. Can you just believe me?”

“I believe you.” She said robotically.

Chase rolled his eyes. “How are you so infuriating?”

“I guess you really don’t get to choose your “true love” do you?” Rory exaggerated the air quotes.

His face scrunched. “I don’t…what’s that supposed to mean?”

Shit. That sounded way more harsh than it was supposed to. Rory backtracked, “Nonono, not that—it was supposed to—sorry, I probably shouldn’t joke about that huh?”

He raked his fingers through his hair again. “Yeah, I’d prefer you didn’t.”

That was fair. It was kinda like she admitted to being in love with him, but in the shittiest way possible. It also sounded like she was making fun of him for being under another true love enchantment. I’m such a shitty girlfriend.

“I’m sorry.” Rory stepped up beside him and tried to catch his eyes.

He sighed. “It’s okay.”

“No, Chase I’m sorry.” Sorry for being emotionally closed off. Sorry for never picking up on his flirting. Sorry for hurting him. Sorry he might have gotten stuck with her.

“Rory, I know. It’s okay.” He turned back towards her with a small smile but his eyes looked tired.

Chase opened his mouth to speak again, but Rory jumped in before their terrible conversation could be prolonged any further. “Lena’s been waiting for us. You ready for lunch?”

He huffed, “I’m not super hungry.”

Wow. She really upset him. Rory didn’t want to leave it like this. Chase had only tried to comfort her, and she’d been a huge jerk about it. He didn’t deserve that.

“Wanna just grab Lena and have a movie night in the tower then?” She suggested gently.

“Won’t your parents get upset?”

“Eh, we won’t be alone together and I just got out of my last grounding. They wouldn’t want to ground me again, it weakens the punishment.”

Chase chuckled softly. “Yeah okay, let’s do it.”

Rory extended her hand and was relieved when Chase grabbed it.

“But I’m taking a shower first, so help me god.” She gestured to her matted hair.

He laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later:

Chase turned to Lena as they walked. “I’ve been meaning to ask, isn’t it a conflict of interest for you to fill out our quest reports?”

“Are you accusing the canon of granting immortal characters unchecked power and authority? That’s craaazy.” She said flatly and nudged him with her hip.

“We should really do something about that.” Rory mused.

Chase snickered. “Jeez, can you try to keep from destabilizing a system of authority for two seconds? Give us at least a decade before we get started on that one please.”

She placed her fingers on her chin thoughtfully. “I can give you five years, final offer.”

“I give her two years tops.” Lena stage whispered to him.

Rory scoffed and scooped her up in (a gentle rendition of) a grapple and Lena shrieked as she mimed tossing her into sand.

Chase took to the sky and laughed uproariously. “Last one to the tower is giant paste!”

“That’s disgusting!” Lena managed to yell as Rory threw her over her shoulder and began sprinting down the familiar pathway.