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Soft, classical music filled Ghostie’s room.
It reminded her of home, alright? Of balls and her family and her town. She listened to it when homesick.
So what if that sometimes meant twirling around the room in the old waltz and dances she still remembered?
It’s not like she was doing it now. No. Not now.
The Academy’s alchemy professor had given Ghostie an additional essay to do, to make up for the fact that she had entered the school year late. Something to do with the averages of term grades? She didn’t know.
Still, Ghostie was absolutely determined to finish the essay tonight, and to the highest quality possible. If she was risking her father’s trust and family’s legacy on coming to the Academy, she certainly wasn’t going to slack off. The Professor would be forced to give Ghostie the highest grade, simply because it was so excellent.
The classical music helped her focus.
The sound of quill and ink on parchment paper was drowned out by the waltz music which bounced around the walls, scratchy as Ghostie scribbled on it.
The music was so loud that she could barely hear a knock on the door.
It came a second time, and the Mage ceased her writing, glancing to the door from her desk, and leaning back just slightly.
The music continued, but she listened out for the knock. Was it just her imagination? Maybe something had been knocked down outside.
No one really… came to Ghostie’s dorm anyways.
Which was fine!
She was a new student, after all. So, of course most students wouldn’t come here! Feles was also commonly empty, so—
There was a knock.
Definitely a knock. It was slightly frantic, the sound of wood being hit coming a few times.
Ghostie sighed and put the quill down, pushing her chair outwards and walking down to the door.
Her room was still mostly empty. A bed, desk, and a couple chests littered around. Compared to her classmates, she may as well be homeless.
She was just a couple steps from the door — about to open it — when more knocks came.
“Okay…” She muttered under her breath. Whoever it was must be—
It swung open, and there was Drift.
“Drift!” Ghostie exclaimed, mostly to herself. Of course, Drift knew Drift was here, since, she, well, was here.
Near the middle of the night, without AJ.
“What are you— doing here? You okay?” Ghostie asked.
Drift stared at her.
The Academy was big and dark, so Ghostie could barely even see Drift’s face. Some light from the candles in her room brightened just enough of her face for Ghostie to recognise her — but that was it.
The Earth Mage was just standing there— lifeless.
Straight and poised, of course, but still unmoving.
“Ghostie, hey! Hey.” The brunette greeted. Her voice was smooth and deeper, like usual, but just seemed slightly… off. On edge, maybe.
It was the same edge Ghostie knew she had when hiding something.
“Um, hey.” She chuckled back awkwardly. “Is something wrong?”
Ghostie couldn’t see Drift’s eyes, nor the quivering of her lips, or even how her hands and fingers fidgeted together.
“No, no. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Are you sure?”
Ghostie frowned — if Drift was here, sounding weird, something was probably wrong, right?
“No.” Drift laughed to herself. “No, I’m not sure. I don’t— I don’t know what’s…” She started rambling off, laughing softly. “I don’t know how it happened. I’m so confused.”
“What happened?”
“AJ and I…” Drift sighed. “I think we’re over.”
What the fuck? Ghostie found herself wondering. How were they over? Drift clearly liked AJ, since she all but threatened Ghostie to not tell her, and AJ rejected Ghostie for Drift.
“Over? What do you—”
“We’re done. We broke up, and I don’t even know— it…” Drift began laughing again, almost sadly.
“Drift, wait, come inside.” Ghostie pulled the door out further, letting more light catch Drift’s face, letting Ghostie finally see the shaking of her pupils and flushed cheeks. “No one will hear you inside.”
The Princess followed quickly. She bit her lip as Ghostie shut the door behind them.
“Why did you guys break up? I mean, you seemed so…”
“Together?”
“Yeah.”
The Mage let out a shaky, heavy breath. “I don’t even know.”
“How do you not know?”
“I don’t know! We just— started fighting. I wanted to know more about her and her powers but she just… I don’t know, shut down.” Drift ran a hand through her hair. “And I like her, of course I do! But how can I trust her when she’s…”
“Hiding so much?” Ghostie whispered.
“Yeah!” She scoffed. “I asked for a break, for space.”
“So you’re not broken up?”
“We’re… on a break.”
“That’s not broken up.”
“It’s broken up enough.”
As they talked, Drift had drifted towards the space in Ghostie’s room, no longer next to the door.
The light on Drift’s body — half shadows, half candlelight — showed off her silhouette. Wide hips and muscular shoulders. Her biceps stretched the sleeves of her top, seeming just that much bigger under the shadows of Ghostie’s room.
Her hair was slightly messy, ran through. A belt and bag over her shoulder.
Drift looked nothing like Princess Rynn.
Absolutely nothing like the girl Ghostie thought was ruler of her country.
Princesses were supposed to be small and thin — certainly no muscles. Tidy hair, usually up in braids or ribbons, with jewelry and fancy dresses.
How did she do it?
How did she erase any part of her past in such a short amount of time? Manage to become this— woman in front of Ghostie?
Ghostie wanted to know. Her body yearned for it, to find the part of Drift that Ghostie didn’t have, which let her leave her past behind so entirely.
Or maybe that was what she was telling herself.
Drift spun around slowly, before standing still in front of Ghostie.
Ghostie stared back.
“Broken up enough for what?” Ghostie echoed Drift’s words.
They continued staring at each other, neither wanting to move quite yet.
“How many secrets can you keep, Ghostie?” The former Princess whispered. It just… happened. One moment, Ghostie was a good two steps away from Drift, and then—
Well, she wasn’t.
Suddenly, Drift was right there. With that mole on her chin, her tan skin, her body that still smelled like a fancy perfume Ghostie had back at the castle.
“You’d be surprised.” She whispered back.
Was Ghostie a good person?
She was a good noble, most of the time.
She volunteered, she helped people. To her father, her people, she was a good person.
The old Ghostie wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t be this close with her ex-girlfriend’s ex, wouldn’t want to get closer.
But Ghostie didn’t want to be the old Ghostie. She was new — reinvented.
And AJ wasn’t here.
They could keep a secret, right?
Hell, they already had one.
What’s the difference between one and two?
What’s the distance between Drift and Ghostie’s lips?
A couple centimeters at first, until—
There is no more distance. Not as Drift’s hands instinctively move to grab the back of Ghostie’s head and bunches up most of her black-and-white hair.
Certainly not as Ghostie wrapped her fingers around the back of Drift’s neck, either.
The two girl’s lips mashed together as their chests touched, so close Ghostie wondered if they were in fact merging together. Would they even be able to pull apart? Were they irrevocably connected forever?
Ghostie did not know, not as her breath halted. There was no room for breath. If she breathed, the moment might just end.
Drift’s hand pulled softly on Ghostie’s hair, yanking her head back just slightly. It let Drift attack Ghostie’s bottom lip, suckling hard on it.
Ghostie tried her best to keep up with the Earth Mage, but it was difficult — Drift was just so into it.
Of course, she had probably come here intending to kiss Ghostie.
Ghostie was just here. Unprepared. Caught off guard.
Drift let out just a small moan as Ghostie fixed her head back, no longer leaning backwards. Her fingers played with the strands at the back of Drift’s neck.
How did this even happen?
Why was this happening?
“Drift—” Ghostie started between kisses, in the short blips of seconds where Drift’s lips were not on hers. Sucking sounds filled the room as her voice broke it. “Are you—”
“I’m sure.” She muttered in reply, holding Ghostie’s head in place. “I hate it. That I yelled at AJ—” Drift moaned again. “Thinking about kissing you.”
Ghostie wanted to push further, but…
Her stomach was fluttering too much. It was as if she were kissing AJ for the first time again, with those wormy, butterfly feelings, and that lightheadedness.
“Princess…” Ghostie managed to get out.
Drift kissed her just a bit harder, and Ghostie knew immediately that Drift didn’t like that. “Don’t.”
“But—”
Suddenly, Drift’s lips severed from Ghostie’s, as the former Princess pulled back.
Ghostie could see her just a bit clearer now.
Pink, swollen lips, blushing cheeks, messy hair, and a heavily breathing chest.
“Ghostie.” Drift panted. “Do you want to kiss me?”
Did she?
What the hell. Yes. Yes, Ghostie did.
“Yes.” She sighed, hands still around Drift’s neck, itching to just pull her closer.
“Then kiss me, Ghostie.” Drift muttered, before pulling her in close again.
Ghostie, with a newfound rush of excitement, pushed Drift a couple steps back, into the wall. Her back was pressed against it as it arched slightly. With each kiss, Ghostie seemed to almost be trying to merge Drift with the wall — exactly how deep could she push into the kiss?
The Ender Mage bit Drift’s top lip as her tongue slipped inside. She felt her own breathing pick up when she felt her tongue hover over Drift’s bottom lip.
Suddenly, Drift’s hands were no longer in her hair, and had moved down to Ghostie’s neck, then upper back, lower, and, finally, waist.
Their pelvises were pressed against each other, and Drift seemed to be keeping Ghostie’s waist in place, not letting the girl pull back or away.
Ghostie tilted her head to the side more, getting more of an opening into Drift’s mouth as she let out a low moan.
AJ always tasted like cigarettes — like smoke and death — but somehow in a good way.
Drift, though?
She tasted like how flowers smelled. Not just any flowers, either, but the ones Ghostie loved in her garden back home. The ones in the royal garden.
Kissing Drift felt like being back there, just only with the best parts of it.
“You taste like flowers.” Ghostie muttered quietly. She had little hope for Drift to actually hear her over the sounds of clothing rubbing against walls, and lips sucking.
“Mm.” Drift laughed and smiled as she kept kissing the black and white haired girl. “You taste like fresh air.”
Thank you? Is what Ghostie would have said, if her lips were not currently being held hostage by her country’s Crown Princess.
They kept at it for God knows how long — it could have been thirty seconds or thirty hours, and neither girl would have known.
Because all they knew was that their lips felt pulled together, touching and sucking one another until neither could tell whose was whose.
At some point, Ghostie had begun grinding on Drift, completely unconsciously, of course.
Drift only held onto her waist tighter, often grinding back in response.
Sounds and time around the two faded away, until a voice they were both dangerously familiar with seemed to float between them.
It cut a space between the two girls, pulling back and turning to the doorway.
“Okay. What the fuck.”
Ghostie turned to stare at AJ in shock, as Drift shut her eyes and leaned her head back. She seemed both annoyed and disappointed at AJ’s presence.
AJ blinked at them, her face still slack with shock, before she grinned.
“Can I join?”