Chapter Text
It was a clear night, the full moon big and bright as it watched over a small village in the middle of the woods. In this village resided over a hundred loyal worshippers of a false God; children who were born and raised into this fundamentalist, isolated lifestyle were split into three different cabins where they would sleep in the night after a long day of reading scriptures, gardening plants, singing songs, among other things.
One of these cabins - labelled the Iris Cabin - seemed just like the other two, but there was one small difference. While the other two - the Tulip Cabin and Magnolia Cabin, respectively - contained only three bedrooms for a maximum of five Children and one Mentor to share in each, this one in particular had a fourth bedroom. The fourth room was significantly smaller than the regular three; so small in fact that if one were to stretch their arms all the way out, the tips of their fingers would be able to touch each wall. Not only that, but the only piece of furniture in this room was a mattress, and only one average-sized window (without any curtains or blinds) and door as the closest things to decorations.
What child would be kept in such a poor excuse of a bedroom? While one person had given them the goofy but endearing nickname “Two Time”, they were known by the rest of the village as Hyacinth. Purple hyacinth flowers are known for symbolizing deep regret and sorrow, which perfectly described the emotions that the other villagers wanted to make sure this child would always feel.
Hyacinth paced on all-fours around what little space they had in their bedroom; they couldn’t sleep, could barely even think straight. It was just a little over a month ago that the curse had been put on them as punishment for simply being a curious kid. The memories of that night circled in their head as their uncanny, misshapen body circled around their room; the feeling of eyes spectating every angle of them, the sounds of their own Mentor, Amarah, chanting as they could feel their own body stretching and contorting into that of an unrecognizable beast, the unnatural shrieks of pain and fear that were the only noises they could let out as the chanting and spectating and pain kept going and going and going and-
.
A tapping sound was suddenly heard.
Hyacinth’s ears perked up as they turned their head around to see where this sound had come from. A familiar face was right outside their window.
It was Azure. The kid, a year younger than Hyacinth, who had given them the nickname of Two Time after their second time meeting each other in the woods. That second meeting of theirs was what had eventually led to Hyacinth getting caught attempting to escape the village, and therefore what led to them being punished by their Mentor.
Before this event had occurred, Hyacinth was an outgoing but thrill-seeking trouble maker, while Azure was much more cautious and fearful of getting in trouble. After the event, though, it seemed as if the two children had exact opposite changes in their personalities:
Hyacinth had become an anxious, guilt-ridden shell of their former self; whereas Azure had decided she had seen enough, and so spent several weeks secretly planning a way for her and Two Time to escape the village once and for all.
Tonight was the night that this plan would finally be acted out.
Hyacinth crawled closer to the window before attempting to open it with their paws; they managed to open it a crack despite their lack of opposable thumbs, and Azure helped open it the rest of the way from the other side of it.
“Do you think you can fit through here?” Azure whispered after darting her head from side to side to make sure no one was watching,
Two Time analysed the size of the window. Hesitantly, they nodded.
“Okay - here: grab my hands” Azure stuck her arms through the window and gestured with her hands for Two Time to place their paws onto them.
Azure slowly and carefully pulled Two Time out of the window as Two Time tried to keep their balance while climbing out. Phrases like “shh, not too loud” and “you’re okay, I’ve got you” quietly repeated out of Azure’s mouth until Two Time had successfully climbed out from the window and landed on the ground underneath. Azure closed the window as much as she could from the outside of it.
Two Time gave their friend a look of confusion and worry. While they couldn’t speak in their current state, Azure could easily infer what Two Time wanted to say:
“What are we doing?” they pleaded with just their eyes alone, “We’re going to get in trouble!”
“Just trust me, Two Time,” Azure whispered, “We’re going to be okay. We just need to be quick and silent.”
Azure then gestured for Two Time to follow her as she slowly started to walk away, Two Time immediately started to follow.
In just a few seconds the careful tip-toeing turned to running. Running as fast as the two possibly could. The adrenaline of the situation was enough to bring Azure to tears of joy as she could feel the village behind her getting smaller and smaller.
It wasn’t long before the two reached the large rose bushes. The bushes acted as a giant wall between the two children and their freedom from the fundamentalist regime they were born into, being covered in small but jagged thorns.
Azure and Two Time exchanged looks at each other, before Azure impulsively ran through the wall of rose bushes. Two Time watched in shock as their friend seemed to completely disregard the thousands upon millions of thorns that pricked onto her skin as she ran past them. Without much time to think about it, Two Time ran after Azure into the bushes.
The two eventually made it out, covered in leaves and tiny, sharp thorns as the adrenaline finally faded away and they both collapsed onto the ground.
Azure and Two Time looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, beginning to finally process what they had just done in the span of three minutes. Azure’s facial expression abruptly morphed from one of awed silence to that of pure ecstasy as she began to laugh uncontrollably. Two Time sat and watched as Azure rolled around the grass and continued to laugh, wondering if something was wrong with their friend. Her laughter turned to joyful sobbing as Azure wrapped her arms around Two Time.
“We did it, Two Time!” Azure exclaimed in between sniffles, “We’re free!”
The two didn’t even care that they were still covered in thorns, they just sat there and hugged each other as they experienced freedom for the first time. Two Time began to cry as well, both from the excitement of their current situation and the fear that this beautiful moment could be taken away any second now.
Two Time shuffled out of Azure’s arms as they gestured with their head that the two needed to keep going.
“Oh. You’re right.” Azure remarked before standing up and walking alongside Two Time.
Neither of them bothered to look back. They had only one goal now: to get as far away from the village as they possibly could.