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“Are you sure?” Elsie asks, for the twentieth time in the past ten minutes.
“Yes.” I reply. After one year of being quiet, Dylan suddenly resurfaced. With a note, saying he wants to negotiate. I normally wouldn’t spare him a second thought, but he did give me back Quinton. Also, you know, he might be offering to possibly stop the bloodshed.
“I love you, Amari. Come back in one piece.” Elsie says.
“Love you too, Els.” I reply. It is time to go. I use the provided transporter, and am whisked away into a valley.
I am surrounded by green grass, far as the eye can see. Then, Dylan appeared. "Amari," He said, "You look-"
"Whatever." I interrupted. “Negotiations?”
“Right. Yes. I will give you command of the League, while I rescue Maria. In return, I need a memory.”
I blinked. “A… memory.”
“Yeah. Um, so I can keep a piece of you with me.”
Ok. Was Dylan Van Helsing being sweet? “I, um, kinda don’t want to give you any of my happiest memories.”
“Um, I have a specific one in mind.”
“Can you… tell me which one?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Oh… kay?” It seems like a small price to pay for control of the League, and Maria back.
“Hold still.” He walked toward me, hands up in a placating gesture. He walked up, so there was but an inch of space between us. Dylan placed his hands on either side of my head, and told me, “Close your eyes.” I let my eyes flutter close. I bring a positive memory to my mind. A day at the beach with my brother. I was young, maybe seven or eight. Then, Dylan changes his stance. Now, rather than roughly pressing his middle and index fingers against my temples, he is softly cupping my face. Before I have time to react to this sudden change, Dylan's lips are pressed against mine. My eyes snap open, and I want to push him away, but I also kind of want him to kiss me? Oh what the heck, I tell myself. It's not like anyone else is here. So, I slowly melt into the kiss, and close my eyes. It ends all too quickly. He pulls away, hands still cupping my face, and says, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
“I think I have an idea of how long,” I say breathlessly. “I wish you didn’t have to take that memory.”
He smiles sadly. “I know. I want you to remember it. But, I really need a small piece of you, because, Amari, I really like you, and I want you with me always.”
“That’s sweet.” I say.
“One more thing.” Dylan says, “Once you have the Crown on your head, it will return your magic. Permanently. Now,” He shifts his stance again, so he is pressing two fingers against my temples again. He touches our foreheads together, and mutters some words. I feel the memory of our kiss being pulled out of my mind, and into his. But, just before it’s gone, I swear Dylan whispers “I love you.”
I pull my forehead back, and ask, “Did it work?”
Dylan nods. “Yeah. It worked. Come with me.” He opens a portal, and I follow him through.
We walk through into the League’s headquarters. Dylan grabs my hand, interlacing our fingers together, and pulls me toward the throne. Just as we get to the throne, he wraps me into a tight hug. “Thank you.” He whispers in my ear. Then Dylan whirls us around, and deposits me on the throne. “Bye, Amari. Never forget, you’re amazing.” Dylan puts the Crown on my head. He then creates a portal, and he’s gone. I smile a little bit. My brother Quinton’s password was “Amari Amazing”, and Dylan used it as his password too.
I take a deep breath, and warmth explodes in my chest. A storm hovers over the center of the room. I start grinning like an idiot.
Cozmo enters the room. "Well, Queen Amari? What do you want to do?"
I look him in the eye. Queen Amari. That's going to take some getting used to. "What has Dylan been planning?"
Cozmo nods, and says, "Come with me, my Queen."
I rise from my throne, and cross the room, carefully avoiding the wet spot my dissipated storm created. We walk down corridors, until we reach a room with large, emerald doors. Cozmo unlocks the room, and we step inside. I see now, it is a war room. Cozmo crosses to the large table, and says, "King Dylan's plan is to move most of our troops to Harlowe's headquarters. We are to neutralize all Agents, but not to use lethal force. If necessary, we are permitted to kill Harlowe, but only as a last resort. The remaining troops are to go to your apartment, and keep you, your mother, and your siblings safe at all costs. Those troops are not permitted to let you all join the fight. They are responsible for making sure you all remain unharmed." Cozmo explains. At my look of confusion, he just says, "King's orders."
Dylan's orders. I say to myself. He wants you safe. Protected. Normally, I would not like the thought of someone protecting me, but from him, it's sweet. I look at him and say, "It's a good plan. I would like to keep it. Now. I want five guards at my apartment, keeping my mother, brother, Elsie, and Jayden safe. The rest of the troops should move in on Harlowe."
We continue working out the plan for a while, but I must return home. I make myself a portal, and step through.
I walk into the apartment, only to immediately be bombarded by Hurricane Elsie. Question after question comes flying at me. "Where did you meet? Are you hurt? What happened?" So on, and so forth.
"Slow down, Els. We meet on a plane of grass somewhere. He gave me the Crown, temporarily, at least. We're going to revisit that. In return, he took one memory. I don't know, he said something about wanting to keep a part of me with him always, so he can go rescue Maria." I want you with me always. His words echo through my head.
"So." Elsie said, "Let me get this straight. He took a memory, and is rescuing Maria Van Helsing, and you are now leading the League, and have your magic back."
"Yup. Also, his plan for going against the Bureau was really good. No lethal force, except on Harlowe, as a last resort." I decided on keeping the part about the league protecting my family. If Elsie knew, she’d try to escape.
I eat dinner, and go to bed. just as I drift off to sleep, I hear Dylan's voice murmuring I love you. I dream of Dylan's lips pressed against mine in a valley of grass.
In the morning, I rub my eyes to get the sleep out of them. What a weird dream. I think. It was almost... real.
I get out of bed, and throw on a nice-ish outfit. After a breakfast consisting of cereal, I go to find Quinton, to tell him my magic's back. That's when I realize. There's no one here. I start walking slowly, picking up a kitchen knife. "Amari," A voice comes from behind me. I whirl around, and come face to face with Dylan. "Amari." He says again.
"What do you want, Dylan?" I don't bother removing the hostility in my voice.
"Amari," It's almost like he's on a loop. "I wanted to see you. And give you an update on Maria. I've found her. Now, I just have to figure out how to get her out."
"Good. I know your plan for going against Harlowe."
Dylan rubs the back of his neck nervously "Yeah, I uh-"
I cut him off. "Relax. I'm keeping it. Five guards on my family, rest focusing on Harlowe. I've set it up as a fork operation. One team draws the fire, and another sneaks up the back, while the last two come in from the sides."
"That's a lot better off a plan than what I had."
"I know." I laugh, "Yours was 'small team protect Amari's family and rest attack somehow.'"
"And you."
"Huh?"
"And you. You said 'protect Amari's family.' My orders were 'Protect Amari and her family.' At all costs."
I want to ask if he meant it, but the hardness in his blue eyes suggests he definitely did. Before I can say anything else, a crash comes from behind me. I spin around, knife in front of me like a Stun Stick. Dylan comes up beside me, making me jump slightly when he lightly wraps a protective arm around my waist.
I didn't have time to question it, so I just walked forward. Dylan's arm drew me closer to him. He picked up a kitchen knife too, using the arm that was around me to put him slightly ahead. We approached where the sound was coming from. Quickly, I pressed us both against the wall next to the room. Dylan and I had a silent conversation. Last place for cover. I told him. Just stay behind me. I don't want anything to happen to you. He replied. On three? I asked. One, he said, getting in position. Two, we pushed slightly off the wall. Three! We burst around the wall, Dylan's arm still around me. Nothing, except pots and pans on the floor. "Oh," I said, understanding now what the crash was.
"What?" He asked me.
"This place mimics my house. That's why I was so surprised to see you. I was looking for Quinton. Last night, my mom had those pots stacked on that counter. I remember everyone telling her they were gonna fall."
"That must be it." Dylan said to me. "Let's go back to the kitchen."
We walked back to the kitchen, but we kept our knives, just in case. "You know, I don't need protecting. I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself."
"I know." Yet his arm is still around me. "But I'm scared of the chance you can't."
The edges of the room started to fade to white, and Dylan pulled me into a tight hug. "You're waking up." He whispered. "See you in our dreams."
Quinton is shaking me awake. I glare at him, bleary-eyed. A storm appears over Quinton's head. "Whoa!" He exclaims, suddenly drenched. "How'd you do that?"
"Lemme go back to sleep and I might tell you."
"Not a chance, Amari."
Then, the full force of my dream hits me. I lurch out of bed, and say "Where's Elsie?"
"Um, in the kitchen...?"
"Goodmorningloveyoubye!" I say, running out of my room, and into the kitchen. "Elsie!"
"What?" She asks, face full of cereal.
"Dylan knows where Maria is, and now, it's just a matter of planning."
“What?”
I detail my dream to Elsie, everything up to the crash, and all of the ‘Protect Amari and her family’ thing Dylan had going.
“I feel like you’re not telling me some stuff.”
I look around the room discreetly, and say, “Meet me on the roof in ten. Bring no one."
I walked up to the roof, and waited. Ten minutes felt like an eternity, leaving me to my thoughts. Though, my thoughts mainly consisted of Dylan Dylan Dylan, so on and so forth. When Elsie finally came up, I shut off my stream of Dylan related thoughts.
"So... what is it?"
"So, um, this cannot leave this roof. It's a little... weird." I wait until Elsie nods to continue. "So, last night, I had a dream. Before I met up with Dylan. I was on the plane of grass we did the memory spell on. Dylan, um," I was at a loss. I kind of just touched my lips and blushed.
"Oohhhh," Elsie said, understanding what I meant.
"Um, yeah. Anyways, I thought about it, and realized the only real gap in my memory that he could have stolen was before he did the spell. And, I was in a strategy meeting, I didn't tell you all of it. He had made sure a small team was guarding our apartment, making sure none of us get hurt. When we were talking about it, I said that his plan was 'Attack Harlowe and protect Amari's family', and he said his plan was to 'Protect Amari and her family'. We were meeting in a dreamscape of the apartment, and we heard a crash, and we were going to investigate, and he put his arm around my waist, and when we saw it was just those pots mom balanced on the counter, he still didn't move his arm, even when we went back to the kitchen. I told him that I could protect myself, and he told me 'I know. I'm just scared of the chance you can't.' then the edges of the dream started to fade, and he hugged me, until I woke up."
Elsie took a moment to process all that I had had said. "So..." she spoke slowly, "Dylan ordered that you be protected, but like, how loosely?"
"He said 'At all costs', so I'm assuming not that loose."
"Okay. He ordered all of us be protected, you dreamed he kissed you, he wanted to protect you from the chance there was a danger, and when you determined it was nothing, he still had an arm around you, then hugged you. Am I missing anything?"
"Oh, when I went to take the Crown, he hugged me and put the Crown on my head. Then, as he left, he told me, 'Never forget you're amazing'. But that's it."
"Got it. So, from my perspective, I shipped you, then he betrayed us and I didn't ship you, now this happened and I ship you again."
"Um. What?"
"Shipping is when-"
"I know what shipping is. But why did you ship us?"
"I liked your dynamic."
I opened my mouth, then close it, then do it a few more times. Eventually, I just walked back inside. Quinton wasted no time bombarding me with questions about my magic. "I made a deal with Dylan. I get temporary control of the League, along with my magic. In return, Dylan got one happy memory of mine, while he goes and gets Maria."
"That is a bad deal on Dylan's part."
I merely lifted a shoulder. "Maybe he regretted taking my magic. Either way, I'm keeping his plan for going against Harlowe. It's good, and I refined it, so it's even better."
"I don't like this, Amari."
"I know. But either way, it's done. Besides. I have to go into the League, and run it. Tell mom?"
"Fine. Hurry back."
I nod, and go to the mirror. I press my card against it, and I an immediately whisked into the War Room. Cozmo bows to me, and I say, "Please, no need for that."
He rises, and says, "We have briefed the troops on the plan, and are ready to carry it out whenever you wish."
"Dylan will be handling that."
"It's there anything else you wish us to be working on, my Queen?"
"In fact, I believe there is. Do you know of a way to end the time freeze?”
“Unfortunately, no. Not permanently, at least.”
“Oh.”
“Queen Amari, if I may, go home. Spend time with your family. I’ll contact you if we need you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Now, go.”
“Alright. But you call me the second you get any word on Dylan and Maria, or the time freeze.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
I use my portal, and leave.
When I get back to my family, I fill Elsie, Jayden, and Quinton in. “Okay. I think we need to talk this out over some sandwiches.” Quinton, ever the sensible one. Quinton and Elsie leave, and I am about to follow, when Jayden grabs my elbow.
“Hey, Amari?”
“Yeah?”
“Um, do you want to go out?” He asks me.
“Like…”
“On a date.”
“Oh! Um, sure.” I’m not sure how else to react. I don’t, can’t have any feelings for Dylan. I like Jayden, and maybe, just maybe, it could turn into something more.
“Cool! Do, uh, do you want to spend the afternoon out?”
“Um, yeah. That sounds great.” I offer my elbow to him. “Shall we?” I say in a mock-posh voice.
“We shall.” He replies in an equally posh voice. We tell everyone that we’re heading out for the afternoon, and leave before they can offer to come.
We go around town, laughing with each other at old jokes. We grab a bite for dinner later, and I am honestly surprised we’re still standing. Before we head home, he takes me to a bridge. “Amari. I had a great time today.”
“Me too.” I say.
“I, um, can, uh, can I kiss you?”
“Oh! Um, yes. Yes, you can kiss me.” I reply, honestly nervous. It’s my first kiss, and I’m glad it’s Jayden. He cups my face softly, and presses his lips to mine. I close my eyes, and images flash behind my eyelids. Dylan, telling me to hold still, and close my eyes, as he quickly changes his stance to cup my face. Dylan pressing his lips against mine. But this time, I’m not seeing it through my eyes, like my dream. It’s like I am Dylan, and looking at myself through his eyes, I don’t see any of the flaws of my face. I feel what he felt, and he just felt love. For me. Through his eyes, I am perfect. I pull away from Jayden, and we look at each other sadly. “Jayden…” I can’t finish.
“There wasn’t anything there.” He fills in.
I shake my head. “But, today was still amazing. Friends?”
He smiles. “Completely un-awkward friends.”
We walk back home, and I flop back into my bed. The exhaustion of my day takes its toll on me, and I am asleep before my head even touches the pillow.
This time, I am prepared for the dreamscape, so I waste no time going to the kitchen. Dylan appears behind me, silently. I don’t even know he’s there, until he catches me lightly around the waist. I jump a mile high, and his arm tightens around me, just a little bit, a reflex. I turn toward him, and his other arm wraps around me, too. “Dylan.”
He smiles a little bit. “Hey, Amari.”
“Geez,” I say, “Last time, we at least talked before you hugged me.”
“Well, I missed you. So,” Dylan’s arms tightened around my middle, effectively hugging me. He releases me, but, one arm is still wrapped protectively around me.
“Dylan,” I start, “I, um, well. I saw the memory. Through your eyes.”
His eyes widened. “Oh! Um, which, uh, which memory?”
“Close your eyes.” I tell him, making up my mind. When he does so, I lean forward, and press my lips against his. Dylan’s other arm comes to my waist, and pulls me closer to him. It’s perfect. Like a dream. In a dream. The kiss breaks, but his arms don’t budge. He presses his forehead against mine, and our breaths mingle. We catch our breaths for a moment.
“You know, now that you mention it, I think I do remember this.” He presses his lips to mine once more, and this time, when we pull back, I’m laughing.
“Really?” I ask him.
“Yeah.”
His arms are still around me, but I take a step back. He lets one of his arms drop, but I grab it, and put it back around my waist. I guide us to the couch in the other room. It’s the only place I can think of that will fit us both comfortably. We sit, and I say, “We can’t stop the time freeze permanently, not yet. I have Cozmo and some others working on it. How’s it coming on your front?”
“I’ve figured it out, and I’m getting her tomorrow.”
“When you're done, come here. In the real world. Just be careful, okay?”
He smiles lightly. “When am I not?”
“Um, do you want that in chronological or alphabetical order?”
We laugh a little at that. “Well, you’re one to talk.”
I tilt my head from side to side, “Fair.”
“Well. Is that everything?”
“Business-wise, yeah.” I shift my position, so I am laying on my side, my head on his chest.
He lowers his head to kiss me, once, softly. "I, for one, would not mind spending our dream time with you."
"And I would love to spend it with you."
We sit like that, my head in his lap, him sitting up, arms around me, for a while, kissing. When the dreamscape starts to slowly fade, I stand up, pulling him up with me. "I'm waking up." I say sorrowfully. I kiss him once more, and wait for the dream to fade completely.
When I come to, Elsie is standing over me. "Els?" I ask.
"Hey, Amari. Any news?"
"Dylan's planning to get Maria today."
"And now the stuff you're holding out on?"
"We.. may... have, um. Well. Kissed? A lot?"
Elsie squeals. I immediately clap my hands over my ears. "Elsie! Keep it down!"
"Sorry. Like I said. I ship you. A lot."
"Well keep it under control, please. The last thing I need is for Quinton to find out. Or mom."
"Okay. So like, one, two more days before you see him in person."
"Yeah. He's coming here once Maria's out."
I spent the day at the League, refining the plan, making it more efficient, and getting the guards for my family. By the end, I could use a cup of coffee.
I walk back into bed, and wait for the dreamscape to take me.
When I finally appear in the dreamscape, I wait in the kitchen. Dylan appears, just as the other two times. Silently, and behind me. He creeps up behind me, and spins me around in his arms, and kisses me. When we break away, Dylan says "We're waiting out the night. Should be there tomorrow."
"Good." I tell him.
"Amari, I think we need to talk about the Crown." At my nod, he continues, "I don't want to give it up, but I also don't want you to not have it."
"How about we share?"
"You read my mind."
"Queen Amari, and King Dylan. Has a nice ring to it."
"I couldn't agree more."
We walk over to the couch, but this time, I lay out comfortably. Dylan scoots onto the couch next to me, positioned so I am on my side, my back is pressed against the couch cushions, and I am facing him. We start to kiss, his arms already around my waist. We spend the rest of the dream like this, wrapped in each other's arms.
When I wake up in the morning, I get up, and out on some clothes. I go out, and eat the cereal as fast as I possibly can. I spend a while in the kitchen, determined to be there when Dylan comes. I've notified Cozmo about my stay-at-home day, and Dylan and I's plan to run the League together.
I read my book, and before long, It's one o'clock in the afternoon. I stand up, and stretch. While I'm doing that, Dylan's silent portal opens behind me. Like in the dreamscape, Dylan silently pads up to me, and gives me a hug. He steps aside, and I hug Maria.
"Missed you." She says.
"Not as much as I missed you, Maria."
Quinton walks into the kitchen at that moment, me pulling away from Maria, and Dylan's arm around my waist. "Step away from my baby sister." Quinton snarls.
"Stop!" Maria and I both say in unison. "Quinton. Do not kill Dylan." I tell him.
Maria walks up to him, and hugs him, whispering something in his ear. He relaxes a little, at whatever she's saying.
I lean into Dylan, whispering, "Just a heads up, apparently, Elsie ships us, so..."
"Be careful?" He supplies.
"Yeah." He presses a kiss to the top of my head. I rest my head on his shoulder, and Quinton expression darkens.
"Roof?" I ask Dylan.
"Does it have your angry brother on it?"
"No." I laugh.
"Well then, let's go."
I quickly pull him up to the roof, and we sit on the long chair. I lean against Dylan, my head on his shoulder. We kiss, once, briefly. I'm just settling my hand on his shoulder, when Elsie comes up. "Cover your ears." I whisper to him urgently.
Elsie squeals very loudly, and I'm sure Dylan is glad he heeded my warning. Sure enough, he whispers "Thanks," in my ear.
Elsie says, "You two stay here. I'll run interference without Maria, to keep Quinton out. I must warn you, we might not be able to keep him long."
"Good luck," I tell her. Elsie exits the roof, and Dylan and I kiss once more. This time, slowly. Unfortunately, that was our downfall. Quinton burst through the door, just before we pull apart.
We break away hastily, but Dylan's arm never leaves my side. I'm thankful for it.
"Get. Away. From. My sister." Quinton's voice is quivering with rage.
I instinctively borrow closer into Dylan's side, and his hand rubs up and down my arm. I look at Dylan. Stay? I ask him. Wherever you go, I am bound to follow. he replies.
"Amari," Quinton says, "Come here."
Dylan and I get up, Dylan's arm still wrapped lightly around my waist. We both walk over to Quinton. "No, just Amari. Dylan, you stay back." Quinton hostess at Dylan. Dylan slows to a stop, and I do too.
Dylan and I have another silent conversation. You should probably go over there. He tells me. You sure? I ask him. He nods. I walk over to my brother, channeling the past few days as Queen. I walk tall, with my shoulders slightly back, and my gaze never wavering from Quinton. I stop a few feet away from him. “Well?” I ask him impatiently.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Quinton said.
“Well, I’m fine.” I told him, and spun on my heel, and walked back to Dylan.
“You sure you don’t want to talk to him some more?” Dylan asked, his arm already around my waist.
“Yes. I haven’t really seen you outside of the dreamscape, and I missed you.” We walk back inside, hurrying downstairs to the street.
“How’s the League?”
“It’s good. Cozmo is going to contact me the millisecond he figures anything out about the time freeze.” “Cozmo know about the ‘Sharing the Crown’ thing?”
“Yeah. I told him.”
“Good.”
“You know,” I tell him, “This is the first summer in two years I haven’t been at the Bureau. It’s not like Harlowe invited me back. Not after I worked so hard to stop her. Plus, you know, she tried to kill me. And it’s not like all of that could be water under the bridge.”
“Wait, back up. She tried to kill you?”
“Uh, yeah. You didn’t know that?” Honestly, now that I looked back on it, I hadn’t told him. I had just assumed everyone knew. But Harlowe probably would have wanted that on the DL.
“No!” He said, “Nobody told me."
"Well, now you know. Harlowe controlled Bane, and once we figured it out, she didn't want us to spread the word of everyone being mind controlled."
Dylan nodded. "We should get back to the League. Cozmo'll wanna know about this."
I nod, and we head back to the apartment. I tell my family we have to brief the League in some stuff, and step through the mirror. When we arrive, we are deposited in the throne room.
Cozmo enters just a moment later. "Well?" he says. "What do you want to do, Queen Amari, and King Dylan?"