8. The Pros and Cons of Giving a Damn
An overpowering reek of salt and dead fish wafted from the ankle-deep tidepools that Wallflower Blush slogged through. Even mouth-breathing didn't help; she could taste the rot on her tongue.
Having to lug another girl by the arm behind her didn’t help. Wallflower had a hard enough time moving her own weight on most days. Still, she had nobody but herself to blame for sticking around to help her.
If only Lorelai had stayed behind, too.
Wallflower and Lorelai found the girl near the labyrinth’s entrance, unconscious and floating in a scummy tide pool. The labyrinth had opened in the playground of a downtown elementary school, but the girl looked too old to be a student there, though it was difficult to tell in the dark.
Lorelai didn’t argue when Wallflower said she wanted to look after the girl, but then immediately ditched her, rushing toward the witch's sanctum with speed that put Wallflower to shame.
She’d been like that all day, ever since she’d gotten back from “returning some tapes” (whatever that meant), cutting down familiars and half-grown witches with barely a moment's rest. Wallflower could hardly keep up, but Lorelai refused to slow down, even as their soul gems grew murkier and their supply of Grief Seeds dwindled.
Something had happened to her, Wallflower knew, but she wasn't brave enough to ask what.
The girl slipped a bit in Wallflower's grip. She cinched her arm around the girl's waist, grabbed hold of the arm draped over her shoulders, and hefted her up again.
"How much farther, Kyubey?" she thought.
The cat-thing's voice echoed in her head. "You are no longer heading toward the exit, I'm afraid. The labyrinth's layout has shifted – you are only heading deeper inside."
"What, again?" Wallflower's next step became a stomp of frustration, splashing herself and her charge with icky, witchy water. "When did that happen? Were you ever gonna tell me?"
"It happened just now, and I just did. Something has triggered a change in the environment."
"Lemme guess. The icecaps?" Wallflower rolled her eyes, catching a faint glow of light in the corner of her vision. "If only I'd wished for an end to global warming."
"Climate change is irrelevant in a witch's labyrinth," said Kyubey. "Rather, it is because Lorelai has engaged the witch."
The glow she noticed brightened, and Wallflower turned toward it. Her eyes widened; her face blanched.
Where there had once been nothing but a stark black void, a tower now rose, crowned with a glass lantern that shone, golden. A lighthouse – the only beacon in this cold, dead witch's realm.
It didn’t hold Wallflower’s attention for long. Water sloshed behind her, and she craned her neck around to see a shape rising from the tide pool. Light glittered off the barnacle-encrusted shell of some crustacean, its body draped in the tattered remnants of a naval uniform. The crab-like familiar pointed one of its arms, capped with a pair of cutlass-like scissors, directly at Wallflower.
From all around her, more familiars rose. Crabs and lobsters, anemones and mollusks, all wearing the same raggedy uniforms, all brandishing weapons from whatever limbs or orifices they had. Dozens, hundreds of cudgels and swords and flintlock pistols, all leveled at Wallflower.
It's Jack-Jack's labyrinth all over again.
Wallflower gulped, hoisted the unconscious girl for good measure, and moved. She fought the filthy water around her for every step and every inch, churning her legs and working her way towards the lighthouse. There was nowhere else to go.
A rocky outcrop erupted from the water in front of her. Gritting her teeth, Wallflower slung the girl over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. With one hand free, she scrambled up the outcropping. She felt dull, scraping sensations against her legs where her skin dragged against barnacle-covered crags – no pain, just a rough, sandpapery feeling, like a cat's tongue.
She made it to the top of the outcrop and dropped down the other side into a new pool of stinking water – and face-to-face with a crabby familiar.
Wallflower grabbed her hat; it shimmered in her hand and transformed into Chalk Zone. She swung in time to parry a thrust from a rusty scissor-cutlass, and swung again to sever the claw below the wrist. Then, lifting her leg higher than she ever thought she could, she brought it down hard on the familiar's shell, thrusting the monster below the water.
Wallflower springboarded off the familiar's back, landed behind it, and spun. Her stomp left cracks and fissures in its shell, and as it rose to come after her again, she swung Chalk Zone down. The shell shattered, and the wreath of blades sank deep into the familiar's flesh. It twitched, jerked, and finally slumped over.
Wallflower could see more familiars cresting the ledge she'd just scaled. She sprinted forward again, sloshing and slogging through the pools, every step bringing her closer to the lighthouse in the labyrinth's heart – to the witch, to Lorelai, to some semblance of higher ground.
Before long, the lighthouse door loomed in front of her: A towering thing of splintered wood, banded with steel and haphazardly riveted with seashells and sand dollars. A sign arched over the door's entrance, seven runes whose meaning Wallflower couldn't begin to guess.
Planting her weight on her back foot, she lashed out with her front.
"Wally KICK!"
The doors flung inward with a wet and woody thud. The light inside forced Wallflower to squint, but the clickity-clacks of crab legs on rock told her she didn't have time to let her eyes adjust. She ducked through the doors, kicked them closed behind her, swapped out Chalk Zone for her scarf, and lashed it around the door's rusty handles.
At once, the scarf knotted into a neat, tight little bow. From the other side of the door came more thuds and ominous, angry scratches – blades carving into the wood.
The door didn't budge. The scarf didn't give. Smirking to herself, Wallflower took a step away from the door. She turned to take stock of her new surroundings.
Befitting a labyrinth, the lighthouse's interior defied logic – narrow from the outside, but cavernous on the inside. A spiral staircase circled the walls toward a brilliant golden light at the top – a sun in a glass dome. Stuck in the wall opposite Wallflower was the front end of a wooden sailing ship. Its broken bowsprit jutted upward, casting a shadow that swallowed Wallflower in darkness.
The witch lay in the hull's shadow too: A giant seabird, pinned on its back, skewered with bolts and arrows beyond count. Blood trickled from its wounds, and around its neck was a noose.
Lorelai stood on its chest, and held the other end of the rope. Cords of muscle in her arms rippled and bulged as she pulled it taut, tightening the noose around the witch's neck. The shadow from the boat hid her body, but the glow from her soul gem lit her face, and her eyes caught its sickly glow.
The witch flailed its wounded wings in vain. Its dying cries of protest came out as high, strangled squawks; each one seemed to make Lorelai pull harder, tighten the noose even more.
Lorelai made no expression. Even as the witch flailed its wings and tried to lift its head, and Lorelai ground her heel into its neck. Even when the rope broke, and Lorelai dropped to her knees to let her bare hands finish what the noose started. Even as the witch's movements slowed and its feeble squawks slackened and its body dissolved, skin and flesh and bone and all. Even as the labyrinth melted around them and they were once again in that decrepit schoolyard and Lorelai was left crouched over nothing, her fists clenched around nothing.
Even then, victorious, no emotion crept across her face. She held a Grief Seed in her trembling left hand.
No, Wallflower realized, swallowing back the sudden, nauseous lurch her stomach gave. Lorelai wasn’t holding it. The seed's spike was thrust through her palm.
Wallflower pulled the unconscious girl closer, some stupid, naive part of her seeking comfort in the one-sided embrace.
It took too long for her to breathe again and say, "Your hand..."
A tremor ran through Lorelai. She blinked and flexed her fingers.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it."
Lorelai pulled the Grief Seed from her palm without so much as a wince. With a green flash, her magical girl outfit vanished and her street clothes reappeared. Then, standing, she thrust her hands into her coat pockets and trudged across the blacktop. She paused a foot away from Wallflower.
"You gonna carry that around all day?"
"Huh? Oh, uh..." Wallflower reversed her transformation, hoping the flash of light hid her self-conscious blush. Back in her street clothes, she knelt and laid the girl across her lap.
Now that she could see her clearly, she realized that she knew this girl. A dark purple bruise, splotched here and there with make-up, discolored the right side of her face, but even so, Wallflower recognized her. She was a tenth grader at CHS, wasn't she? What was her name...?
Something metallic in her hair caught the fading sunlight – a silver barrette shaped like a little crown. Rhinestones capped the crown's points, substitutes for priceless gems.
A memory jolted through Wallflower's mind. She'd seen this charm at a PTA meeting, years ago, during a brief period where her mother had time for such things. A jowly woman had screamed at the vice principal in the angry tones of a woman with too much time, wealth, and ego for her own good. This girl was with her, shrinking with every trivial complaint. Wallflower clearly recalled her humiliated expression... and the same barrette in her hair.
"Check it out, Mom," she'd said, tugging on Kudzu's sleeve. "That girl's got diamonds in her hair."
"Wrap it up, Fluffy! It's time to go!"
The command brought Wallflower back to the present, where Lorelai had already walked to the playground's rusty, chain-link gate.
"We can't just leave her here," she said, without looking up from Diamond Tiara. "This isn't like the amusement park – this is a locked playground, at night. Who knows how long it'll be before someone finds her?"
"That's not our problem."
Wallflower gaped at Lorelai, who stood facing away with her hands still in her pockets. A breeze tousled her golden curls, but she otherwise stood as still as solid ice.
Kyubey sat at her heel, looking up at her. He swiveled his head towards Wallflower when he realized she was staring.
"She's right," he said. "You've made good progress tonight. You can't afford to lose momentum now."
If Lorelai was at all uncomfortable sharing an opinion with Kyubey, she didn't let it show. That only unnerved Wallflower more.
"Give us a minute, will you?" said Wallflower to Kyubey.
Kyubey gave a shallow bow, and trotted away into a shadow. Of course, Wallflower had no doubt that he'd be able to hear everything said or unsaid between her and Lorelai. But talking this through would be easier without those beady red eyes burning holes in her.
When she was sure they were 'alone,' Wallflower eased Diamond Tiara to the ground, and stood up.
"Didn't you say that you'd do things my way?" She hated the tremor that crept into her voice, the nerves that underwrote her words. "You gave me your word that you'd put people first."
Lorelai half-turned toward Wallflower, her eyes narrowed. "And did I fight you when you said you wanted to stay with the girl?"
Wallflower fumbled her words before shouting, "You left me all alone with her! That's not much better!"
"The witch needed to die. That's the whole reason we're out here – that's our job."
"We don't just fight witches for the sake of it. We do it to save lives – to help people!" Wallflower spread her arms wide. "Isn't that what it means to be a magical girl?"
Lorelai responded with an ugly sneer, and a bitter, lifeless chuckle.
Wallflower's courage – what little she'd plucked – shriveled. Tears blurred the edges of her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut, willed herself not to break down.
I thought we were past this.
A faint groan from the body at her feet made Wallflower's eyes shoot open again. Diamond Tiara was stirring, one hand numbly pawing at her forehead.
Looking back at Lorelai – Wallflower half-expected her to have vanished – she saw that her sneer had melted into a scowl. She fixed an icy glare on Diamond Tiara, then shot a look toward Wallflower, arching an eyebrow. Telepathy or no, Wallflower felt like she could read her thoughts.
"You gonna do something?"
Wallflower crouched beside Diamond Tiara. She reached toward the younger girl, then froze when she realized she wasn't quite sure what to do. Cup her head? Massage her shoulders? Check her pulse, or... something?
Rather than hover-hand aimlessly, she balled up her hands and pulled her arms closer against her chest. "Are you okay?" she squeaked.
Diamond Tiara gurgled something in reply. She eased her head off the ground, rubbing her brow harder. As she rose, she hissed with pain, and Wallflower frantically half-reached toward her again.
"Don't try to move too much!" She edged her arm behind Diamond Tiara's shoulders and helped her to a sitting position. "You were out cold for a while – are you okay?"
She cursed herself silently for asking that stupid question again.
Diamond Tiara, though, gave a coherent reply this time. "My head... Did I hit my head? Feels like I'm swimming..."
Wallflower's soul gem glinted faintly in the dim light. Could she heal her, the way Lorelai did for Sunset the night they met?
I shouldn't try that without purifying my soul gem first.
She cast a searching look toward Lorelai. Her face was stony, but Wallflower could see her hand moving in her coat pocket, toying with the Grief Seed she'd pulled from the witch.
And I can't do that without Diamond Tiara noticing.
"I know you."
Diamond Tiara's voice, though tinged with pain, seemed a little more coherent this time. The younger girl studied her, eyes traveling up and down Wallflower's figure. It made Wallflower a bit self-conscious – with her dowdy clothes and mussed-up hair, Wallflower doubted she looked much like a savior. If only she'd stayed transformed a little longer.
"I know you," Diamond Tiara repeated, more firmly. "You're that... that chick from the garden club. Whaleblubber... Butt."
A snicker from Lorelai made Wallflower's cheeks burn. She pouted, puffing up her cheeks like a blowfish, before exhaling in a rumbly-lipped sigh.
"Yup. That's me. Whaleblubber Butt. Of the garden club."
"And who's she?" said Diamond, nodding towards Lorelai. She shrugged off Wallflower's arm. "Where are we? What are we doing here?"
Wallflower pulled her hands back and rested them on her knees. "She's, uh, a friend. We were just passing by when we saw you."
"Just passing by? What's that mean?" Anxiety simmered beneath Diamond words. "Were you looking for me?"
"No. No, I swear, we were just—" Wallflower looked helplessly at Lorelai. "We just wanted to see if you were okay, that's all."
"Did you call anyone? Did you call the cops?" Diamond's breathing picked up; her chest started heaving, and the simmering anxiety made her words shake. "Did you call the cops?!"
"I didn't! I—"
"Don't call the cops. Don't call the cops." She grabbed Wallflower by the sweater, her knuckles white around the fabric. "They'll take me home, and I can't go home, I can't go home, I can't go home..."
She released Wallflower, and clutched one hand against her chest. Her other hand went to her face, rubbing and kneading the bruise on her cheek.
"I can't go home I can't go home Ican'tgohomeIcan'tgohomeIcan't... I can't..."
Wallflower felt sick – she didn't need Sunset to read Diamond's mind. To know what waited for her at home. If witches spread curses, and fed on despair, then Diamond Tiara must've been a banquet to this one.
"Nobody is going to make you go home." Wallflower's too-soft voice was smothered beneath Diamond Tiara's panicked mantra. "I didn't call the cops, and I'm not gonna make you go anywhere you don't wanna."
She reached toward Diamond Tiara's shoulder. The younger girl, noticing, cringed away, leaving Wallflower's hand hanging in the air.
Hissing through her teeth, Wallflower pulled her arm back. God, what was she thinking? How many times had she been in Diamond Tiara's position? And when did touching her ever help?
She was out of her element. That was the problem. How funny that this – not the deadly rollercoaster, not the gun-toting lobsters, but helping someone through a panic attack – made her freeze up.
Lorelai was no help. Hell, she wanted to walk away before Diamond even woke up. Now she acted like neither of them were there: Back turned, collar popped, hood up.
I’m amazed she stuck around at all.
That realization hurt even more than her rejection.
And that means... I'm all that Diamond Tiara's got.
But that's not nothing. Right?
She dug deep for every half-remembered therapist appointment and mental health exercise she could. Then, she looked at the hyperventilating girl, whose mantra had devolved into a sustained, raggedy gasp.
Wallflower forced herself to smile bravely.
"Whoever hurt you won't get you again. You're safe now."
Her smile wavered, and threatened to break. She refused to let it.
"You're safe now," she repeated, "and you're going to be okay. Just..."
Wallflower lifted her hand, keeping it close to herself so as not to startle Diamond Tiara again. She inhaled slowly, counting to five off her fingers in time with her breath. Then, counting back down, she released her breath, folding her fingers back into her fist.
By then, Diamond was looking at her. Her gaze flicked between Wallflower's face, and the hand she was using to count.
"Just breathe with me," said Wallflower. "That's all you have to do right now. Just breathe with me."
She inhaled again, and Diamond inhaled with her. She exhaled, and Diamond Tiara exhaled with her. Their eyes stayed locked as they breathed, as the shadows lengthened and the sun vanished and only a pale smear of daytime sky stretched overhead.
Eventually, the school's nighttime lights flickered to life, painting the yard in their sallow glow. Diamond Tiara still shook like a beaten dog, but her breath came steadily, evenly, in time with Wallflower's.
By then, Wallflower's smile didn't feel so fragile anymore.
She let out one last breath. Instead of drawing in another with Diamond Tiara, she spoke.
"You don't want to call the cops, and you don't want to go home. Is there anywhere else that you can go? Anyone else you can call?"
Diamond's gaze flicked away from Wallflower's, and moved rapidly from side-to-side. Her uncertainty made Wallflower's confidence waver again – what would she do if the answer was no? She doubted Lorelai would let her stay at the hotel. Maybe her own apartment?
Not like Mom would be around to object.
The point became moot when Diamond Tiara looked up again.
"I could call someone," she mumbled. "Only I lost my phone, and..."
Wallflower frowned. Whether Diamond lost her phone in the labyrinth, or somewhere else in the concrete jungle of Canterville, it was as good as gone.
"You can borrow my phone. We'll try to find yours later."
"That's not what I mean." Diamond shook her head. "It's gone, okay?"
"Um... if you say so." Not understanding, but not willing to press her further, Wallflower dusted her palms on her knees, and stood. "Either way, we're gonna have to go someplace with reception. Can you move?"
She offered a hand to Diamond Tiara. After a moment's hesitation, Diamond took it, and let Wallflower pull her to her feet.
"Your friend," she said, with a look past Wallflower.
Wallflower craned her neck around to look over her shoulder.
There was nothing – no one – there. Just the two of them, bathed in orange, surrounded by weed-choked blacktop.
Wallflower's heart sank. She sniffed, and squeezed her eyes shut to stifle her tears again.
Then, hand-in-hand with Diamond Tiara, she left the empty schoolyard behind.
Their walk took them away from the rotting heart of Canterville, and into the warmer, friendlier avenues uptown. Shuttered storefronts and decaying apartments, slathered with years of graffiti, gave way to trendy eateries and glossy apartments.
Diamond Tiara's condition improved the longer they walked. She pulled her hand free from Wallflower's after a few blocks, and opened up about her ordeal after a couple more. Naturally, she remembered nothing about the witch, nor could she say exactly how she ended up at the old schoolyard. Everything after she left school that day was fuzzy.
She remembered why she was downtown in the first place, though.
"You were gonna hop on a bus?" said Wallflower. "Just any bus?"
"I wanted to get away," Diamond muttered. "Didn't really care where I ended up, as long as it was somewhere nobody knew me."
She didn't want anyone recognizing her wherever she wound up. She didn't want anyone to send her home. Wallflower could understand that much without her saying so.
She stroked her soul gem with her thumb.
"You know, they wouldn't have let you on a bus," said Wallflower. "An unaccompanied minor with no ID... they would've flagged you as a runaway and called the police."
"I had cash. Just about all my money. I could've paid them to keep quiet." She scoffed. "Mom really thought I'd need to steal her credit card when I had a year's allowance under my bed."
Wallflower looked at Diamond Tiara. "You stole your mom's—"
Diamond Tiara stopped in her tracks and glared at Wallflower, rage twisting her face into a snarl. "I didn't steal anything!"
The fury in her voice caught Wallflower off guard. Placatingly, she raised her hands, fingers spread, and tried to stammer out an apology.
"I'm... I didn't—"
"And even if I did," Diamond continued, her hand cupping her cheek, "that's no reason to—"
Her voice broke before she could finish her thought, and the outburst ended as quickly as it had started. Anger still smoldered on her face, but the rest of her body shook. Abruptly, she turned away from Wallflower, throwing her gaze across the street.
Stupid, Wally, thought Wallflower, amid that choking silence. Stupid.
Here she thought she was doing well, but all it took was one slip of the tongue, one dumb question, to push Diamond Tiara back to the brink. What would Lorelai say?
They stood in silence for a few long moments – Wallflower watching the evening traffic, and Diamond staring past it, at a clean-looking storefront. Above its door was a backlit sign with a steaming coffee cup, drawn in thin, wispy strokes.
"You still okay with me using your phone?" said Diamond, softly. Without looking, she held out a hand towards Wallflower.
Wallflower dug her phone from her pocket. After checking that she had reception, she unlocked it, and handed it to Diamond Tiara.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Diamond muttered. She took the phone and started dialing, her thumb picking and pecking at the keyboard. "You're just trying to help me."
"It's alright. I'm sorry, too." A bit relieved, Wallflower crept closer, peering over Diamond's shoulder at the phone. She'd only punched in an area code and the first four digits. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah... just that I'm not used to, um... dialing this number. Or calling any number, really." Her finger hovered over the keypad. "Who does that anymore?”
Wally does, thought Wallflower glumly. Or she would, if she had anyone to call.
"Would it be easier to just try 911?"
"That won't help," Diamond muttered. She stabbed in another digit, then another, a bit more certainly. "They never help."
You don't know until you try, Wallflower almost said. She immediately realized what a stupid sentiment that would be. How else would Diamond Tiara know that they never helped?
"She's Spoiled Rich," Diamond continued. "And I'm just her brat daughter. Nobody takes my word over hers. Not Daddy. Not the cops."
"I did," said Wallflower. "I do."
Diamond hesitated before hitting the last digit. "I hope you're not the only one."
Then she lifted the phone to her face. A few tense seconds of waiting passed as the phone rang.
"Hey. It's me." She paused – Wallflower could hear indistinct chatter from the phone. "Yeah, sorry. Mine got taken. I'm borrowing, um... someone's."
Wallflower almost took that personally – she was just 'someone,' huh? – before remembering that Diamond didn't actually know her name. A tiny voice in the back of her head urged her to take it personally anyway.
Diamond kept talking, a quiver creeping into her voice. "Listen, um... you know that... that thing we talked about at school today?"
Her voice broke.
"I think I'm ready to try."
There was a pause, then a flurry of muffled audio from the phone.
"Roasty Toasters. On Market." The strain in Diamond's voice relaxed. "See you soon."
She ended the call. Her arm dropped to her side, limp. Turning, she handed Wallflower the phone, though she didn't raise her head.
"Someone's gonna pick me up. It'll be a couple minutes – I'm gonna wait inside there."
"You want me to wait with you?" Wallflower said, sticking her phone back into her pocket.
"I'll be okay," said Diamond, with a slight shake of her head. She fidgeted, toes scraping uncomfortably against the sidewalk. "I'm, um... I'm not really good at gratitude, so..."
She reached inside her windbreaker, retrieved a wet, crumply wad, and held it out toward Wallflower. With a frown, Diamond smoothed it out with her thumb until it regained some of its shape.
A hundred dollars?
Wallflower stammered. "I don't— I can't—"
"I know it's not a lot, but it's all I have left," said Diamond. "Everything else was in my purse, and I don't know where that went."
"That's not what I mean!" said Wallflower, frantically waving her hands. "I can't take your money!"
"Please. You earned it." She shook her hand, insistent. "Please."
Wallflower tried to refuse again, but the words died on her lips. Instead, her eyes lingered on the money. She could do a lot with a hundred dollars. And Diamond Tiara seemed like she really wanted her to have it – it would be rude to refuse. Maybe even unethical.
Any more unethical, she thought, her fingers inches away from the money, than taking money from an abused, teenage runaway?
Ashamed that she'd even consider it, Wallflower wrapped her hand around Diamond's. She pushed the younger girl's fingers closed.
For the first time since they'd stopped on this sidewalk, Diamond Tiara looked into Wallflower's eyes. Some emotion played on her face – she seemed confused, maybe even a little offended.
I should say something, Wallflower thought. Something pithy – something wise.
But she'd done nothing but misspeak tonight, and she didn't want to make things worse again. So, she just smiled, and gave Diamond's hand a gentle squeeze before releasing.
Diamond re-pocketed the soggy money. She kept her eyes on Wallflower, her jaw working.
"There's a hair salon around the corner," she finally declared. "The Mane Thing. Ask for Zephyr – he should be working today – and tell him I sent you. Don't even think about saying no."
By the same principle – and feeling a little insulted, truth be told – Wallflower wanted to decline. But Diamond Tiara's tone brooked no refusal, and her expression seemed tense, so she just nodded.
That made Diamond relax. She turned and stepped toward the curb; the traffic had lulled enough for her to jaywalk safely. She looked back at Wallflower one final time.
"...No offense. Just. You'd look cute with short hair."
She was gone before Wallflower could gather herself enough to reply, scrambling across the street as only a young girl who needed to flee from a bold and embarrassing compliment could.
Wallflower, her face suddenly and unaccountably hot, watched Diamond enter the coffee shop and take a seat by the front window. From her vantage, Wallflower had a clear view of the girl. No one approached her, and no one reacted to her presence; she sat in that clean, well-lighted place, injured and tousled and unnoticed, and waited.
Wallflower hugged herself tightly, and resolved to wait with her.
"I don't see it, personally. Long hair suits you better."
The voice made Wallflower jump. She turned towards its source and found, with a mixture of relief and irritation, Lorelai.
"Plus I wouldn't be able to call you 'Fluffy' anymore if you cut it," Lorelai added. She regarded Wallflower with a guarded smile. "What would you be then? Fuzzy? Stubbly?"
I could still be Fluffy, thought Wallflower. Then she realized how dumb it would be to get hung up on a nickname from someone who'd ditched her earlier.
"Wasn't sure I'd see you again," she grumbled. "When you took off, I didn't think you'd come back."
"You still need to purify your soul gem, don't you? Besides, I wanted to see how you played that out."
Lorelai held up her left hand, the Grief Seed between two fingers. The spike had gone clean through her palm and out the other end, but there wasn't so much as a scar.
Healing magic really was miraculous. She made a note of that as she took the seed from Lorelai.
"Is that what you meant this morning by 'an enterprising spirit?" Wallflower magicked her Soul Gem out from its ring, and held the Grief Seed against it. "You save people, and then you bill them?"
"Not really. It's just common sense. Someone offers to pay you for your work, you don't think twice about it." Lorelai sighed. "If it happens again, just take the money. Trust me."
Maybe it was the relief and energy that came from purifying her Soul Gem, or maybe she just felt confident after helping Diamond Tiara. Either way, something in Wallflower boiled over.
"Being a magical girl isn't 'work' to me. I don't save people for a reward; I do it because there's nobody else who can." She glared at Lorelai. "Maybe you signed up just to get paid, but I—"
"Don't make assumptions." Lorelai's voice was quiet and placid, but her narrow-eyed glare froze Wallflower into silence.
Stupid.
What was the point of standing up to someone if you let yourself get knocked down right away?
Stupid, stupid coward.
Lorelai stared at Diamond Tiara through the Roasty Toasters window. She reached up and wound a curl around her finger.
"Saving people from witches is something only we can do. Where we can do it, in the line of duty, we should. And you’re right, no one but us could've helped her tonight."
She gave a curt nod towards the coffee shop, where a barista swung by Diamond Tiara's table and left a steaming mug that Wallflower didn't think she ordered.
"But," Lorelai continued. "Once the witch died, and the labyrinth collapsed, she stopped being our problem. We didn't – you didn't owe her anything else."
"She was still in trouble," protested Wallflower. "She still needed me."
"Really." Lorelai's voice sharpened. "Only you could've walked her here? Only you could've loaned her a cell phone?"
Wallflower opened her mouth, a dozen protests on her tongue. But in her head, each sounded more pathetic than the last. She mumbled something, trailed off, and looked away, ashamed.
"That's what I thought." The edge in Lorelai's voice softened, though she still sounded stern. "You're not her family. You're not her social worker. You're a puella magi with a job to do, and you can't do that if you're screwing around with her. There are witches out there, right now, hunting, hurting, killing people. They need you. Not her."
"She didn't have anyone else," Wallflower finally managed. "There was nobody there who could've helped her. Who could've stayed with her until she woke up, gotten her away from that part of town, and made sure she was safe. Her mom, the cops—"
"Yeah, I know. I overheard everything. And what I'm saying is that it had nothing to do with you. You can’t save every sad little girl with mommy issues that crosses your path. The sooner you get that through your cute little head, the better off you'll be."
Lorelai's words washed over Wallflower like the stinking tide of the dead witch's labyrinth. She felt a weight descend through her stomach, a weight that threatened to drag her down.
She refused to let it. She was sick of this one-sided exchange, of her own flaccid protests and falling silent after Lorelai's stone-cold ripostes. Plucking her courage, she glared at Lorelai, ready to push back.
But when she saw Lorelai, silent and statuesque, gazing across the street at nothing, she found no words.
"You think I don't know how I sound? Telling you not to give a damn about anyone? It's for your own good. I mean..." Lorelai laughed, sadly. "I wasn't always alone, you know."
"What're you trying to say?" Wallflower frowned. "You had friends? You did?"
"Let's call 'em mentors. Not that the label really matters. No, what does matter is that they..."
The headlights of a rapidly approaching car washed over Lorelai's face. Wallflower caught a good look at her face; her eyes were red, and the make-up around them smudged and uneven.
Lorelai noticed Wallflower staring, and quickly looked away.
"...Left me. Pretty much all at once."
The car sped past, tousling Lorelai's curls and coattails, almost bowling Wallflower over in its wake.
"I'm not looking for pity, Fluffy," said Lorelai, once the car was out of sight. "I'm trying to make a point. Girls like us can't rely on anyone, can't get attached to anyone. You just set yourself up to get hurt down the line when they're gone. 'Cuz they're always gone, in the end. They leave you, or..."
She trailed off. Wallflower tried to digest her words, but they only made her feel sick.
'Don't get attached to me. I'm just gonna leave you in the end.'
She sounded like she meant what she said. But if she didn't want Wallflower getting attached to her, then why bother teaming up in the first place? They'd been in each other's company for almost two days, nonstop. Sure, they spent a lot of that time hunting and fighting, but not all of it.
"You're full of shit," blurted Wallflower, without thinking.
Once upon a time, the shock on Lorelai's face would've made Wallflower wilt and babble apologies. Instead, she doubled down.
"Yeah, I said it." Wallflower planted her hands on her hips. "You take me shopping, you buy me dinner, you let me stay in your fancy hotel, complete with room service and a bathrobe?" Wallflower laughed. "Nobody has ever done that for me! Not my parents, or Sunset, but you? I know you for less than a week, and you—"
Wallflower stopped abruptly. She'd grown, she realized, but not so much that she could rattle off an impassioned speech without stumbling. Her rhetorical prowess hadn't impressed Diamond Tiara, and she doubted it would win over Lorelai.
Rather than risk making things worse, Wallflower clammed up, expecting Lorelai to say something.
Instead, Lorelai looked at the pavement. Something flickered across her face, some hint of emotion that Wallflower hadn't seen on her before. For the first time, Lorelai looked… vulnerable.
Maybe I overdid it.
"Look, I'm sorry for losing my temper," said Wallflower. "I didn't mean to. It's just... You're trying to teach me how to be as hard and cold as you, but if that were true, why are we standing here right now? Why have we done anything that we did together these last couple days? Nobody just... does that stuff for someone they don't care about."
She gave a wide, sweatery shrug, and let her arms drop limply against her sides.
"Who's attached to who?"
Lorelai stared at the pavement in silence as cars rolled by on the street, their rumbling motors and crunching tires and too-heavy bass scoring whatever thoughts ran through her head. She shook her head and pursed her lips, and finally spoke without looking up.
"You're right. When you lay it all out like that, it doesn't make much sense. Go head on home. I'll handle the rest of tonight's patrol myself."
Wallflower chuckled, sweat beading on her forehead. "Hey, c'mon. Don't be like that."
"Be like what?" said Lorelai flatly. "I'm gonna be checking out of the hotel tonight, too. Place is not worth what I'm paying to stay there."
"I wasn't trying to— All I meant was that—"
"Don't sweat it. It's nothing you said – was gonna get out of there anyway." A smile crept onto Lorelai's face, and found its way into her voice. "I had fun these last couple of days. I hope you did too."
The reflex Wallflower felt with Diamond Tiara, to reach out and comfort her, took hold. But Lorelai gave a half-hearted salute, slid her hands back into her pockets, and turned around. Then, without another word, she started down the sidewalk, and into the night.
Wallflower's heart hammered in her chest. Tears sprang in her eyes, and she messily wiped at them with one frayed and baggy sleeve. She never wanted to make Lorelai leave.
She just wanted her to realize that she didn't really want to be alone.
She knew how it felt when people abandoned you. Her father, her relatives, what few friends she had as a kid – none of them stayed around her for long. Her mom was distant – not abusive, like Diamond's, but there was no closing the distance that'd grown between them. Even her friendship with Moondancer fizzled after a while. She took to isolation easily, welcomed the invisibility it brought her, wrapped herself up in it so tight that she convinced herself she liked it, and forgot how to be any other way.
It wasn't until Sunset Shimmer came into her life that she remembered what it meant to love and be loved. All she wanted to do now was share that lesson with Lorelai.
But instead, she drove Lorelai away. And if she tried to make it right now, she'd just make things worse.
With a wet sigh, she buried her regrets. Her eyes wandered around the street, finally alighting on the front window at Roasty Toasters, where Diamond Tiara still waited. She had her hands around the mug that the barista brought her, and her gaze lowered to stare into it.
Are you gonna end up alone tonight, too, Diamond?
She almost crossed the street to sit with her. But before she could take a step, a shiny gray sedan screeched to a stop outside the coffee shop, its rear end jutting diagonally into the lane. A convertible, traveling too close behind for comfort, braked and swerved to maneuver around, narrowly missing a rear-end collision.
The convertible's driver blared his horn as he passed, shouting something unintelligible.
The gray car's driver neither noticed, nor cared, nor bothered to straighten out.
A girl leaped out of the sedan's side door, and ran inside the coffee shop, hastily pulling on a jacket. Her long, silver braid trailed behind her like a comet's tail. She must've said something when she got inside, because Diamond Tiara looked up from her drink, and immediately stood.
Before Diamond could say anything, the new girl caught her in a tight embrace. Diamond clutched the girl like a life preserver, and buried her face in her neck. Her shoulders shook, and the rest of her body shuddered, while the newcomer stroked the back of her head gently.
Despite herself, Wallflower smiled. Tears still streamed down her face, but she wiped them away again, and scrubbed her cheeks with her sleeve for good measure. Diamond wouldn't be alone tonight. Her friend came through after all.
And it wouldn't have happened without me.
Pride swelled inside of her. A reflexive shame grew alongside it – this wasn't her moment, and who was she to take credit for it? But Wallflower ignored the feeling, and let her pride grow.
Seeing them together stirred something in Wallflower, and she turned to look down the path that Lorelai had taken. She was a block away, now – still visible, but not for much longer.
Wallflower took a stutter-step forward, and then another. Soon she was running, flying, down the pavement.
You're wrong, she thought, sprinting down the sidewalk. It's not enough to save people from witches, You gotta be there for them – show them that someone cares.
That's true for everyone. Especially girls like us.
"Lorelai," she called. "Lorelai!"
Her cries were enough to stop Lorelai, for a moment. Then, when she was close enough, she lunged and seized her elbow with both hands.
"Doyouwannahavedinneratmyplace?!"
Lorelai half-turned towards Wallflower, nonplussed. She looked down at her elbow, then at Wallflower.
"What?"
Wallflower panted – magical girl stamina or no, that little sprint left her breathless. "Do... you... wanna come over... tomyplace... for..."
She lost her breath again, and sagged, wheezing. "Just one... just gimme a..."
With her eyes on her feet, and her vision blurry at that, Wallflower couldn't see the look on Lorelai's face. If her voice was anything to go by, though, her expression must've been incredulous.
"You want me to come over to your place for dinner?"
"Uh... uhhhhh, yep, uh-huh... thanks for..."
Wallflower caught her breath enough to straighten out, and look Lorelai in the eye.
Yup. Incredulous.
She let out one last gust of air to stabilize herself. "I'm pretty good with some stuff, you know. Mostly Italian. Pasta. I'm no Olive Garden®, but I could whip—"
"Are you kidding me? I just got through telling you to—" Lorelai's expression hardened into a scowl. "Did you hear a word of what I said?"
Wallflower cringed when Lorelai raised her voice. But then she glared right back.
"I heard all of it. Every word." She gripped Lorelai's arm more firmly, and set her jaw. "Now, do you wanna come over, or not?"
Lorelai blinked, recoiling a bit. Through the coat, Wallflower could feel her shaking.
Then, a quiet little scoff escaped her. A chuckle followed, her lips quirking up with it. Gently, she pulled her arm free from Wallflower's grip, and used that hand to cup her forehead, her laughter ending with a sigh.
She held that pose for a long, tense moment. Then, without looking up, she answered.
"Alright."
Wallflower relaxed her jaw, releasing a heavy breath with it – holding that pose was starting to hurt. "You'll come over? Have dinner with me?"
"If you're offering. And as long as I don't have to bring anything."
"No! No, of course not!" Grinning with relief, Wallflower grabbed Lorelai's other hand, and started backpedaling. "I mean, I have all the ingredients I'd need to make—"
"Hold your horses. It's gonna have to wait a bit." Lorelai pulled herself free from Wallflower a second time, smirking as Wallflower's momentum made her stumble backward. "I still gotta finish this patrol. Shouldn't be more than an hour. I'll meet you at your place when I'm done."
"But... you don't know where I live. How will you find me?"
With an enigmatic smile Lorelai flashed the soul gem on her finger.
"Oh, right. Magic." Wallflower nodded. "So you'll finish patrolling, and then I can feed you?"
"Then you will feed me."
"You promise?"
Lorelai's smile widened, and Wallflower's heart fluttered. "Wouldn't miss it."
With that, Lorelai resumed her walk into the night – with, it seemed to Wallflower, a bounce in her step that hadn't been there before.
Wallflower watched her until she was out of sight, then turned around, and headed back the way she'd come. Before long, she was in front of Roasty Toasters again. A glance across the street confirmed that Diamond Tiara, and the shiny sedan, were gone.
Wallflower smiled again. She still almost couldn't believe it – she'd saved Diamond Tiara. She did that. Pathetic, useless, invisible Wally saved that little girl's life. And it was different from the lady she rescued the day before, too. She didn't do it by playing the part of a shoujo heroine, or by giving some rousing, life-changing speech.
If I've learned anything, it's that I'm really not the best talker.
No, she'd saved Diamond Tiara by being there for her. By doing something to show that she cared, she gave Diamond hope that things could be better.
Maybe that was what it really meant to be a magical girl.
Maybe she could prove Lorelai wrong – by saving her the same way.
And maybe… Wallflower thought, wrapping a tufty green lock around her finger. Maybe I would look cute with short hair.
Special thanks to Hugmuffin and Soup Boy.
Working Title: “The Pros and Cons of Being a Marine Biologist,” “Lone Wolf, Hashtag Girlboss”
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11305666 You forgot the most important part.
The Pros and Cons of Being a #Girlboss
FINALLY MORE MEGUCA WALLY MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED
Ahhh this really takes me back. Wallflower almost failing but still kind of succeeding at ever magical girl trope is what I love from this version of her. It makes her so much genuine.
I wonder if the dinner will be had. Sounds like the set up for some tragedy.
Also, cut Wally's wonderful messy long hair and I'll cut your internet connection. That or be so offended by it I'll need to draw her with a short hair style that is still cute.
11305671
Why are you writing magical girls instead of this
11306096
The world is not ready for it.
Really felt the emotions here. All three girls in this chapter are hurting in different ways, but only Lorelai is hurting herself out of fear.
11306699 The irony that the one hurting herself isn’t Wallflower.
...I mean... knowingly.
11306715
LOL yeah
It's the reason I sprinted over to your lonely ass!
Mad respect for the use of '®' -- anyone who respects '®' in their prose is not to be trifled with.
Yes! Keep adding nice things to embiggen the crash when the rug is pulled out from underneath!
11307262
That would be Dubs’s contribution. He also wrote the goofy Olive Garden® chapter, and added the “®” to keep continuity.
11306219
I disagree
Whoa, new Posh words! Who woulda thunk it?
I really enjoyed the thematic framing of this labyrinth. The Witch's tower being a lighthouse was a particularly ominous and evocative piece of imagery. Fantastic job on all the little details here. I could practically smell the salt and feel barnacles crunching underfoot. It's been too long; I forgot how good of a writer you are.
I snorted.
Also, this is a very nice bit of characterization in just a silly wannabe-catchphrase. Wally is still a complete and total dork, even when she's hauling around an unconscious Diamond Tiara and fighting familiars.
No wonder Sunset's hot for her. Wally got some cake.
More seriously, I love the inclusion of Diamond Tiara in this chapter. I don't think I've seen a story featuring Wally and Diamond together. In hindsight, this seems like an obvious choice for a narrative that explores trauma and the diverse reactions to it. Spoiled Rich is, at the very least, not a good mother; it's not much of a stretch to infer she's just as bad as Wallflower's parents undoubtedly were.
Despite the fact that she stumbles many times while doing so, Wallflower helping Diamond make the right choice shows just how much she's grown. Much more than she gives herself credit for. I would say it's as much a marker of her newfound strength as her standing up to Lorelai (multiple times in this chapter, to boot!). Even though she shook and stumbled all the way, she still did it, and for that, I'm so proud of Wallflower.
Sadly, I get the feeling that their better-than-Olive-Garden® (glad to see you're respecting the rights of our corporate overlords) dinner will either be put on hold, or never come to pass. I hope I'm wrong though.
Even though I'm Team SunFlower (AKA Team Canon) and Team Wally-With-Long-Hair, I think I can forgive your transgressions. Just this once. Don't make me regret this.
I think you need to be insect-themed to pull that off properly.
The question, of course, is progress towards what?
Counterpoint: Only she was there. Other than you, but you certainly weren't going to do anything.
"Fluffy, that's a point in your favor."
Wonderful stuff on all counts from Wallflower. Definite growth in her self-confidence and refutation of Lorelai's philosophy. Still, I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. And that now includes something horrible happening to Diamond...
11313577 Your face is going to be so red when nothing bad happens to Diamond Tiara and she lives happily ever after.
11313099
I’m going to replace your tires’ air with creams.
Uh oh, Wally seems determined to save her meguca girlfriend from despair. Historically that hasn't gone well for other magical girls. Some juicy character growth this chapter, I love it!
Wally is in fact good and precious. She’s not nothing. Poor girl.
With the trailer for the new movie released, I hope this has inspired some creative juices! May we defeat Entropy yet!