Fics Prompted by the Playlist Meme (#6-10)
Prompt: Edgar/Rachel, 6, Lily of the Valley (You've made my life complete)
Song: The One That Got Away- Katy Perry
Rachel is eight and muddy when Andrew introduces her to Edgar after she spent the day catching tadpoles. Edgar takes one look at her drenched and goopy self and says, "Not much of a girl, are you?"
Rachel tries to punch him in an admittedly very girly manner and Edgar, unharmed same for a slightly red spot on the nose, laughs and tells her that if she promises not to use it against him, he'd teach her how to punch properly.
That was how they began.
[in another life, i would be your girl]
Rachel is thirteen and grieving when Uncle Robert tries to stop Andrew from seeing her, so it's Edgar who coerces her out of the spare room she'd been endlessly training in and it's Edgar who takes her out to think in the park in town. The sight of a lily of the valley (her mother's favorite flower) makes her break at last, and when she collapses to her knees it is Edgar who catches her, wraps his arms around her, and doesn't let go until her sobs quiet.
That was how they blossomed.
[we'd keep all our promises]
Rachel is sixteen and happy when Andrew and Argine finally stop dancing around each other and they go out on a double date with Edgar and herself. The night air is clear and perfect for their midnight picnic, and when they're discovered and kicked out by the park officials at two o'clock in the morning because they laughed too loudly, Edgar slings an arm around her shoulder as they go home and she wishes she could stay in that moment for an eternity.
That was how they lived.
[be us against the world]
Rachel is eighteen and determined when Andrew's final pleas and Argine's tears fail to convince her not to change Suits. Edgar comes up to her furious the night before she asks the King and Queen for transfer papers and his hissed arguments and her calm replies quickly devolve into a shouting match. When the dust settles they are broken up for the last (and most real) time and she doesn't let herself cry until he walks away with a final, cutting goodbye.
That was how they withered.
[in another life, i would make you stay]
Rachel is thirty-one and a proud Ace when Andrew comes to tell her news of Edgar's accident and subsequent death. She goes to the funeral numb with shock and barely even registers the mourning Argine clutching Eileen and Andrew's hands as though she's never going to let go. At the end of the funeral she goes back to the Diamonds Castle so pale she looks as though she's about to faint, but when Ophelia asks if she wants compassionate leave Rachel shakes her head and uses her grief the way she learned to when her mother died-- incentive to make herself better.
Not much later Ophelia herself passes on and Lindsey asks her to become Queen, so Rachel hardens her heart against anything else but making her Suit perfect as a Diamond, including everything she had ever felt about Edgar.
That was how he died.
[so i don't have to say you were the one that got away]
Rachel is thirty-eight and a Queen when Andrew is murdered and everything starts to fall apart. Argine draws away from friends and family alike, Athena draws away from the entire Deck when she runs off with the Heart's Ace, and Rachel had drawn away from the both of them and the few others she kept as friends in her childhood, and so she is, in some ways, alone in her grief. One sleepless night out of many she finds herself making her way to the cemetery and kneeling before the grave of the one she had loved so long ago. Words that are neither prayer nor apology but something of both fall from her lips unconsciously and when they finally run out, she pretends that he answers her back.
And that was how she remembered.
~*~
Prompt: Rachel @ Eileen, 10, Rose leaf (You may hope)
Song: Cry on My Shoulder- Overflow
The night Andrew died, Eileen, Argine and Rachel gathered together in a secure room to grieve, the final remnants of a shattered family seeking each other in the hardest of moments. Some time in that sleepless night, Eileen twisted her weary, broken face in Rachel's direction.
"Will it... will it really ever get better, Auntie?" she asked, questioning the half-hearted promises others of the Deck had offered her.
Rachel pulled the girl closer and she and Argine's haunted eyes met over her head. It took a moment of working through memories of her mother's death, of Edgar's, of Andrew's, before she finally found the voice to reply.
"We can only hope so, little one." Her voice was raspy with unshed tears as she said it, "But I promise that no matter what, I will do my utmost to get you through it."
And at those words, Argine reached out to Rachel, and the three of them greeted the dawn in each other's embrace.
~*~
Prompt: The Quartet, 39, White Dried Rose (Death is preferable to loss of virtue)
Song: Where Are You Now? - Honor Society
They were taught that the four cardinal virtues were Courage, Prudence, Temperance and Justice and for years after that particular lesson in class, Rachel couldn't stop thinking of herself or her three dearest friends when one of the four words were mentioned in conversation. It was just the way they were. (it would always be the four of them rachel andrew argine and
Edgar) was Courage, had always been the one to rush headlong into a potentially dangerous situation or stand his ground when he got into a disagreement with someone over something he believed in. He was the born leader in their group and they all gravitated around him like satellites around a planet. (everyone around them swore that he would make king someday. some days when she's feeling deliberately masochistic she ponders on the irony of the fact that it wasn't edgar who became the clubs king. it was
Andrew) was Prudence, had always been the one to try to slow Edgar down, make him think things through. He was the one who considered the effects their actions would have and the one most likely to get the four of them out of trouble by saying the right word or doing just the right thing. (he had always been one to prescribe caution and moderation. so it only made sense that he and her best female friend would get on so well since
Argine) was Temperance, had always been the one to take things at an easy pace and smile in part-amusement, part-worry when Edgar had gotten his way over Andrew's words of caution and they were off doing yet another reckless stunt. She was the sweetheart of the four of them, the most modest, the most merciful, the most loving. (so really it was for the best and truly fitting of her character that she was the one that became the queen of clubs instead of
Rachel) was Justice, had always been the one that could see past her own personal feelings and do what was best for everyone involved when something went wrong and all of Edgar's bravery, Andrew's thoughtfulness and Argine's kindness couldn't fix it. She was the one who gave everyone their due in good times and bad and the one of them who, despite her professed preferral for pacifism, would most often get into the fights over honor. (and so really it shouldn't have been such a surprise that she was the one of them that chose to leave the clubs. it was clear to her that too much of their combined brilliance in one court would result in none of them shining out and so she left both to let them shine and to let herself shine. moderation between selfishness and selflessness. it was
justice temperance prudence courage. it would always be the four of them and on her weaker days she hates that she feels like she possesses none of them.)
~*~
Prompt: Rachel, 8, Sweet William (Grant me one smile)
Song: Astonishing- Little Women OST
Carrying two suitcases and a small stack of papers as she moves towards the Castle, Rachel knows she should feel exhausted. It's almost six in the evening and she only got something like two hours of sleep the night before and the entire day has been spent preparing things for this move, this simple walk down the path of one Castle, across some greenery, up the path of another. She should feel exhausted, and yet, she wasn't tired at all.
She should also feel mournful. She's turned her back on eighteen years of friendship, love, and life. She's sworn off loyalty to the Suit with the most loyal. She is a traitor in many of the Clubs' eyes, she knows, though they may never see it. She should feel mournful, and yet, her eyes are dry.
She does feel nervous. Part of leaving one's Suit is the anxiousness that the one you left it for won't accept you. It's almost like a married woman leaving her husband for the man she's having an affair with. Always the uncertainty that the whole thing was a sham. While she's no married woman and the Diamonds are certainly not ones to lead people on, the principle is the same. She does feel nervous.
But more than anything, she feels astonishing. She has done what few Clubs and even fewer of her family choose to do. She has picked a path that will let her shine, will let her live out the fullness of her ambition and offer her a happiness she could not have found in Edgar's arms or Andrew's eyes or Argine's words.
The years that pass from this moment will replace the laugh lines with worried wrinkles, will steal the youthful grin and excitement and return only sedate smirks and regalness. But for now she grants the guard at the door a real smile and prepares herself to be astonishing.
~*~
Prompt: Rachel, 40, all the pretty horses
Song: Miss Independent- Kelly Clarkson
Rachel's horse's name is Hippolyta, Lyta for short. It suits.
The mare is strawberry roan and supposedly the descendant of mustangs. Such a claim would explain the inner fire that burns within her, detectable only when one is riding her and feels the strength and power in her rippling muscles. It would offer understanding as to why her deep brown eyes hold such an intelligence, why the Queen finds it comforting to at times go into the stables and speak with her of the latest troubles. In short, the horse is regal in a way that only mustangs can be, and the way a horse that bears the name of the Queen of the Amazons should.
Hippolyta the horse is also very much like Hippolyta the woman. Hippolyta the woman was the daughter of Ares, god of war, and Hippolyta the horse's build suggests that one of her parents was used as a warhorse, though no one really knows the mare's origins except Mel and perhaps Rachel herself. In any case, Hippolyta, woman and horse, is striking, refusing to remain silent and submissive almost constantly.
So really, it comes as no surprise that Hippolyta (horse) is the Queen's horse.
Rachel is fiery and strong, although the fire is buried beneath a cool demeanor and the strength muted by the dresses she chooses to wear. Rachel is intelligent, as her grades in school showed and her capability as an Ace proved. Rachel is regal-- she is a Queen, after all-- and, when necessary, Rachel is a warrior. There's simply very few left alive who have ever truly seen it. Finally, like Hippolyta-- woman and horse-- Rachel is striking, carries herself with an authority all recognize. She remains silent only when thoughtful and never during conversations about things she is passionate about. She believes in the dominance of the female spirit.
So really, it comes as no surprise that Rachel is Hippolyta (horse)'s Queen.
There is a legend that the Amazon women were soul-sisters to the horses they rode. And never does it seem so true as when one watches the two Queens-- one woman, one horse, both Amazon-- on the trails of the Diamonds land.