Shine
By ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I making any profit from Fire Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones or the song "Shine" by Mr. Big, which I removed the lyrics of because of the ban on FF. They are in my profile though.
A/N: I'm trying to get a feel for Fire Hemlock fanfiction, and this is the result thus far.
Summary:
Fire Hemlock fic. She was the proverbial knight in shining armor, and I was the princess waiting in the tower guarded by the dragon. Dragon Laurel had fire as her weapon and would never give in. Tom reflects.
Things change, I know that much. What went from just a meeting between a young man and a little girl, two outcasts at a funeral, turned into something entirely different.
Dear Mr. Lynn…
That was what she used to write and finish it off with a sloppy, childish "Polly" that I loved. She called me Mr. Lynn for the longest time. It bothered me after a while though because I felt old, but was really still young inside. Or, at least what Laurel hadn't dried up was still young. It made me realize how far gone I was.
Dear Tom…
That was a better start to her letters. It helped me to ignore what I had become. Although, my name had been tainted by Laurel from the start.
Love…
Love?
Love, Polly
She started to sign them in that way that made me guilty. It was the first time I realized what I was doing. I hadn't thought of her as a way out of all this at first. She was just a little girl to me that I felt strangely in need of helping. Maybe she reminded me of what I had been forced to give up.
I soon realized she was the miracle I needed though. I felt at fault, especially when things started to happen to her. I wanted to be alive again. I couldn't be with Laurel's noose tightened around my neck.
Polly was so free though – freer than me anyway. I knew she had her own problems. Her mother was a poor parent at best and her father was beyond words when it came to what he did to her that day she wandered to the help of Sam, Ann, Ed, and I. It was the only time I felt as if I were her miracle.
She proved she could survive on her own though when I discovered how many times that Morton and Seb had threatened her. She was loyal to a fault.
I attempted to redirect her loyalty into a safer form by using Mary. In the end, I used both of them. One was my salvation and the other was my safeguard. I was no knight valiantly standing with sword and armor and shield though. When my salvation was snapped off the vines I had wrapped around her, I realized there was nothing left for me to do.
I was so tired that day we parted. Weary from emotions running high (I kept thinking of Mary commenting, "Tom! You should see yourself! You look like father and daughter!") and my shame. It became a choice between dying without Polly and dying with her. I couldn't do that to her. When she left with my sloppy kiss, I resolved that this was better. My miracle needed to shine without me dimming her light.
"Tom," Laurel purred afterwards. "Come now, it is time to put all that behind you.
"All there is now is you and I," she added. It was rather like a horror film with a bad ending – all the main characters dying and all that. I died that day.
She came back though – my shining miracle. I denied it and tried to give into Laurel's spell even more so that my miracle wouldn't dim.
And then she just grimly smiled and carried on as if I were doing her a favor, instead of denying her existence in my horrid world of nightmares and half-truths. She was the proverbial knight in shining armor and I was the princess waiting in the tower guarded by the dragon. Dragon Laurel had fire as her weapon and would never give in.
Against all odds though, with one word, she managed to break the spell that kept me slumbering in the tower. Sentimental drivel really, but true.
"And, of course, my name isn't Polly, as you also know," she said with that knowing smile she only used when she was spinning one of our bizarre stories. "It's Hero."
Hero… My hero, if only she knew how much of my hero she was.
I still doubted her though. I still didn't think it was possible to slay the dragon or even subdue her. But, heroes always know the answers in the end, don't they?
Dear Hero,
What were you tihk-sorry-thinking with that rubbish? I don't mean that (this time anyway), but must you always stick your neck out for me? Can't there be life without that?
Tom
Dear Tan Coul,
Now, where would anything be without risks, True Thomas? What about the quartet? How would you four have become what you all are today without risks?
In any case, are we meeting at that mess you call amazingly clean again to chat about the book? I'll bring my grandmother's broom.
Love, Polly
P.S. Joking. You know I would rather use a shovel.
Dear Hero,
Cruel as you are, I still need you around.
Tom
Dear Tan Coul,
You more than need me.
Fiona just read that over my shoulder and snorted. Does that mean she agrees?
Oh wait. She says, "Oh, it's another one of his letters. You two have such strange arguments." I suppose she has a point.
Love, Polly
P.S. The usual time on Saturday over tea?
A/N: Well, what did you think? This is probably the second FH fanfic ever, so hopefully I did a somewhat okay job living up to the title. Please review.