Chapter Text
Coco couldn't see.Not with the pile of laundry in her arms. She slowly began to drop it into the basket next to the washing line and began to hang each item on the line, lost in her thoughts.When she had been eight and things had been way simpler. Back when she didn't even know what a witch was. And now she …….
“Coco!” She looked up to see one of the few other people her age in her village. Custas. A dark haired guy who was one of her only friends. Well her only friend now.
“Oh Hi,” She replied, more focused on her task than her friend knowing the scolding she would get from her mother if she left her tasks in order to just gossip. Custas’s sealchair finished walking up the hill where Coco's house was and he opened his mouth to gossip. Something had happened.
“Some girl was going around asking where you lived. She says she knows you from the nearby town. I didn't think you went there that often. Anyways I showed her your house,” .He finished with a satisfied smile, not knowing what he had done. But Coco froze.
It had been a year since she had seen her. A year since their fight. But she was the only one who fit the description.
Coco forced a smile on her face and waited for Custas to end his conversation and begin to push his wheelchair down the hill and only when he had disappeared from sight did Coco turn and run to her house's front door.Her mother was there and just her mother there, watering plants peacefully.
“Mom, did a girl come over here asking for me?” She asked slightly out of breath pushing strands of her away from her face.
Her mother looked at her confused smile dropping .
“No…... .why Coco, is something wrong ? And did you hang those clothes on the washing line as I told you to do because I have another pile of them to dry as well and-”Coco shook her head though to which question she didn't know. She wouldn't know till she checked.
“Mom, I’ll finish them in a second. There's just something else I need to check first,” She mumbled stumbling inside the entry of the shop her mother did her tailor work and running up the stairs to the part that was her house.She did feel slightly bad for interrupting her mom but this was really urgent.
She looked around her house but with each rushed breath she felt less worried. Maybe she had misunderstood Custas somehow or maybe he had been mistaken. After all there would have been all sorts of chaos if a witch had been seen in their village and Custas wouldn't have described the girl as such.As well as that Coco couldn't ever imagine her here. Never had she ever stepped so much as stepped a foot in Coco village. It didn't make sense.
Finally, now all out of adrenaline she turned in the direction of her own room.Of course now she felt a bit silly. It was clear she wasn't here.
What? Did Coco expect her to be hiding in Coco's room of all places? What was this some extremely stressful game of hide and seek?
By the time Coco reached the door to her room she felt almost at peace of mind so much that she nearly turned around just to prove that she wouldn't be there, that it wasn't even worth checking.But something nagged at her too which led her to resting her hand on the brass knob and slowly turning it till she heard the click and watched the door swing open.
And there she was.
But she didn't look the way Coco remembered.Because the girl Coco knew had wavy dark hair long that Coco loved braiding and had a face that took ages to coax out an emotion or a laugh and most importantly the girl Coco knew never cried.But this one in front of her had red eyes and tear marks on her cheeks.Her witch's robes and hat were nowhere to be seen, instead she was dressed more similarly to Coco which was jarring to see. And her hair was so much shorter barely reaching her chin though somehow she looked even more striking this way.
For a second Coco was frozen in place, processing all of this.And she looked surprised to see Coco as well as if she hadn't really expected this to be Coco's room.
“What are you doing here’” Coco whispered, finally finding her voice surprised by how calm she sounded. It made sense though considering how dreamlike this moment felt to her.The silence seemed to stretch between them for an eternity before she answered.
“I….I can't go back. This was the only place I could even think of.”
After a year? After all that happened between them?
Coco had many questions.And even more she was angry, angry at herself, angry at this girl who had barged back into her life after Coco had just managed to move on. And concerned.
Why was she here? What desperation had led her here?
But something in the eyes of her once friend stopped her. She looked empty of hope.She had always been the one who knew where she was going, who had been confident about her future, hopeful. And while Coco had shared the enthusiasm, she didn't know what she was going to do in her future. She couldn't imagine working in her mothers tailor shop or in a farm and she wasn't any good at performing like Custas. There had been one thing that she had always wanted but now it was more out of reach than ever.But now all that hope was gone from her old friend's eyes and that dried all the questions on Coco’s tongue.
“It's fine I’ll just go” And she was already turning away after tearing the wound in Coco again and before Coco could stop herself she was grabbing her arm and she was saying “No its okay you can stay here for a little while…..Agott”.
She let go off Agott as she ended the sentence, not even entirely sure why she had grabbed her in the first place.And Agott looked up to meet Coco’s eyes and Coco couldn't help but wonder if this was a kind of truce between them.As well as her thinking of the first time they met.
Six years ago.
When they first met, friends weren't on Coco's mind. Magic was.
She had dropped her mothers hand so she could kneel down and touch the glowing cobblestones laid into the path. The ones that interested her little eight year old self so much.For some reason she expected something new to happen when she placed her small hands on the shining stones.
And waiting for that was how she saw the hat.It was a delicate and pointed thing and even back then Coco knew there was a significance behind it. There was something otherworldly about it.She slowly stood up and walked over to the strange hat. She was curious so she picked it up, turning the hat around in her hands looking at its small intricate details.
This made her realize how dark it had become so she turned to her mother only to realize her mom was missing.She stared at the glowing cobblestones, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Magic’”Her mother had called them but what use were they if she didn't know the way back home to her village.Her fingers tightened their grip on the hat as she tried not to cry.
Then she heard the girl.“Is that my hat?”
Coco blinked back tears and looked up to see the girl. She looked about Coco’s age with long curly dark hair and dark piercing eyes.
Coco didn't have any friends due to the fact that the other kids in her village found her annoying and weird so this new girl did distract Coco from her predicament.
The girl frowned though.“Why do you have my hat?” Oh yeah, Coco thought this must be that girl's hat. She held it out to the girl, cheeks flushed fumbling for an excuse, then realized she didn't need one.
“I’m sorry. I found it. On the path.”
The harsh lines on the girl's face from frowning softened as she took a few steps closer to Coco and reached out, taking the hat from her.
“Thanks,” the girl muttered looking relieved. “It's not really mine, it's my mothers spare and she's going to be really mad if it's not there by the time she gets back.”
Coco nodded only kind of understanding and held out her hand once again. “I'm Coco,”.The girl gave her a proper smile that made Coco smile as well. “Im Agott,” She said, taking Coco’s hand and adding “And I have a secret. I’m not supposed to tell anyone but I might tell you since you helped find my mom’s hat.”
Now Coco was even more excited. She had never been so close friends with someone that they told her their secrets.“I won't tell anyone I swear,” She pleaded excitedly.Agott seemed to consider it for a little while before eventually telling Coco. “I’m training to become a witch.”
A witch! Coco was in amazement.
“It's magic,” Her mother had said to explain away the cobblestones.And Coco had asked “How can I use magic?” only for her mother to laugh, “Coco, only witches can do magic,”. Her mother had replied leaving Coco distraught. She thought even seeing magic done would be a dream. But now……..
“You can do magic?!” Coco exclaimed.And that's why that hat had been so unique. Agott's mom must be a witch too.
Agott's smile grew as she shrugged. “Basically. Though I still have lots to learn.”Coco was even more excited now.
“Can you show me some magic!” Coco said only to watch as the girl's smile faded.
Of course this always happened. Coco would meet someone, they would become friends and then Coco would come off too eager or too clingy or just too much and they wouldn't want to be her friend anymore.
She watched as Agott took a step back from Coco.This actually resolved Coco's determination though. After all she still wanted this girl as her friend as just because Agott wouldn't show her magic didn't mean they couldn't be friends. Meeting a witch was still really cool. Of course this was all if she hadn't scared Agott off with her too muchness.
“It's okay, we can talk about something else,” Coco said. And the girl gave her a half smile. So she did still want to be friends.
Agott opened her mouth, about to say something when Coco's mothers voice called out “Coco! Coco! Where are you?!”.Coco turned around scanning her surroundings for her mother and saw her at the far end of the street, facing away from Coco, looking anxious.Coco realized that she had probably been missing for a while and even though she was having fun she should go back to her mother, because there was no doubt that her mother was really worried right now.
She turned back around the Agott to tell her all that ,and say goodbye, but Agott wasn't there anymore. It was like the shadows had swallowed her up. Coco even glared suspiciously at the shadows but they didn't give her, her new friend back.
“There you are Coco! You scared me! Don't you ever let go of my hand again, especially at night time!”Coco faced her mother and hugged her mother. Her mother hugged her back and Coco felt safe, the fear from being lost and alone from earlier was long gone but her mothers presence was still comforting.She reached up and took her mothers hand and they began walking but Coco still craned her head around searching one last time for Agott in the dark. Nothing.
Then her mother led her out of the dimly lit streets and they went in their cart back to their house and the whole time, Coco was still fixated on the girl she had met.The one who could do magic. And her mom was a witch!
“Coco, what are you smiling at?” her mother asked.
“Nothing.”Her mother looked a bit startled at that but Coco wasn't really paying attention. Her mind was filled with questions.Why hadn’t Agott shown her her magic? Maybe it was too personal? Or maybe she was scared to mess up in front of Coco?Sometimes Coco did something perfectly in front of her mother but when she wanted to show other kids her age she fumbled and it didn't turn out quite right.
Coco was lost in her thoughts all evening and even as she lay in bed for the night. She couldn't sleep her thoughts keeping her awake as moonlight leaked into her room through her window.And when she did fall asleep, she dreamed of her new friend Agott and her piercing purple eyes. And she thought she better hurry to town soon so she could see Agott again.