Dollhouse fic: Storyteller; pg-13
Title: Storyteller
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Topher, T, Adelle, Priya; hints of DeWitt/Dominic, Victor/Sierra
Words: 2,730
Summary: Topher tells T a story
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever.
Notes: Written for juliet316's Sweet Drabblethon's prompt, "ever after"
Thank you to just_drifting_6 for beta-reading XD
Today is a good day. Today, he doesn’t feel afraid or worried. He likes today. His mind is free. Maybe, just maybe, Adelle will allow him to go out and explore the dinosaur cave with T.
But right now, he’s watching her fold his beddings and smooth out the mattress - once, twice - with her hands. She looks so tired and weary. She still has the air of a queen, but more of a tired queen. And right now, he knows that it’s partly because of him.
“Will you leave me?” he asks, out of the blue.
He sees her head snap up to look at him. “No,” she says, her British accent just bouncing off the walls of this very small room, “Of course not, sweetheart,” she adds, “Why would you think that?”
He shrugs, the way the old Topher would shrug. “Nothing.”
She stares at him for a few seconds, trying to determine if he’s well enough for her to ask him (nicely) to pick up his toys. He likes helping her, but only when she asks.
“What if Dominic comes back and asks you to come with him, away from here? Will you leave me?”
He sees her stiffen. Did he miss something? Are they still not okay? He’d always thought they were okay.
Her brows furrow and a slightly amused (or is it hurt?) smile flashes across her face, “Mr. Dominic won’t be able to say anything that can make me leave you,” she says firmly. She then finds the thing she’s looking for in the bed. “I found your T-Rex.”
His face lights up and is reaching for it when suddenly a loud ringing sound blares throughout the house. He’s forgotten what the loud ringing means, but he knows it’s a really bad thing.
What comes after that happens so fast that the next thing he knows, he’s in the basement, huddled in one corner with T.
He looks at the little boy. He’s thinking clearly enough to see that he’s frightened.
“Are you scared?” he whispers, rather loudly.
The five-year-old (or is he four? Maybe?) nods and he reaches out to motion him to come closer, which the boy does.
Adelle tells him stories to calm him down. Maybe he should tell stories to T, to stop him from being scared.
“Do you want to hear a story?”
T looks at him doubtfully. “You know how to tell stories?”
“I can. Sometimes.” He’s not going to tell him Star Wars, because that’s George Lucas’ story; nor will he tell the story of Christopher the Mighty Robot because that’s Adelle’s story… his story would be his own, with borrowed elements from Star Wars, Christopher the Mighty Robot and, maybe, Star Trek. And Battlestar Galactica.
“What’s your story about, Topher?” T asks.
He glances at the five (four? Six?)-year-old and starts with, “Once upon a time…
In a kingdom far, far away, there was a beautiful queen whose eyes were green like emeralds, with pale skin and dark hair. She was just and she was kind, and everybody in the kingdom loved her, but she hadn’t smiled or laughed for the longest time. No one knew exactly why, but everybody assumed that it was because she was betrayed by the man she had trusted, and probably loved, among several others.
“-what’s her name?”
He stops with his narration, “Bzuh?”
“The queen.” T asks in a curious tone, “What’s her name?”
He frowns and taps his finger on his chin, “Her name is…
Queen Adelaide hadn’t smiled or laughed but she also hadn’t cried either. It was as if she was a cylon robot. Little did everybody know that their queen had lost her heart and she had no idea know how to get it back.
Then one day, a fierce red dragon came to the kingdom and started terrorizing the people by spewing out fire from his mouth. He kidnapped those who were out of hope and he would bring them to his lair up in the mountains. He would eat them - not immediately - though they were good as dead.
Queen Adelaide, though heartless, tried to protect her people. Her loyal knights tried to defeat the dragon, but they all failed. The dragon said that the only way she could protect them was if she left the kingdom with him.
So she did. She left her most trusted confidante, Julia the handmaiden, in the throne. The evil dragon, Boydan, forced the queen to stay in his lair, to watch over the humans he was going to eat… in the future. The queen was terrified of the dragon because, well, he was a dragon who was also evil.
She met a lot of people in the dragon’s lair, which was also filled with treasures aside from people. Most of these people truly were hopeless, but she was the only one who didn’t have a heart.
But there were some who managed to make her feel something. These were Sierra and Victor, who were two of the very few who were full of hope, and Christopher the Mighty Robot who helped her a lot. Echoline, another human, wasn’t taken by the dragon, but someone who had scaled the mountains to rescue the hopeless. Unfortunately for her, she got stuck and couldn’t rescue anyone.
He takes a deep breath. He had no idea telling stories were difficult; this difficult. T is watching him, waiting for him to continue.
“Don’t stop!” T excitedly says. The boy obviously knows that there’s going to be action involved. He did put a dragon in the story.
He scratches the side of his face and frowns. He’s telling it how his brain sees it. He doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, or if it makes sense, although he’s sure T’s going to ask questions if he makes any mistakes.
He can still hear heavy footsteps running about above them. Uncertainty starts to creep in. What ifs, probabilities, numbers begin running in his head and if he doesn’t stop, if it doesn’t stop, he’ll-
“Topher?”
He blinks and looks at his audience of one.
“What happens next?” he asks.
He loosens up, “So. Uh, yeah…”
So, remember that guy who betrayed Queen Adelaide? He was Prince Lars, a renowned knight in the Queen’s service. He had yellow hair and blue eyes and he was dashing, but kind of rude. But the queen liked him, liked him a lot, so… yeah.
He was banished from the kingdom after his unspeakable deed, but he was summoned by Julia the handmaiden when Boydan the evil dragon kidnapped the queen. Julia the handmaiden wanted Prince Lars to rescue the queen and slay the dragon.
Prince Lars was hesitant at first. He knew the queen very well and he knew that if he showed his face in that lair, she’d stubbornly refuse rescue and would order him to take the people instead while she would stay and slay the dragon by herself. He thought it would be a nice plan, except for the fact that the queen might die and it would be his fault. He was very sure this was going to happen.
But he went to the mountains anyway. He trekked, up and up, cutting down annoying foliages with his handy dandy light saber while he ate flat bread and took naps during his pit stops. He would hide from sight when the evil Boydan flew in and out of his lair to terrorize neighboring kingdoms.
When he finally reached the place where the people were being held, he was met by empty, zombie-like creatures. They didn’t try to eat him-they weren’t like the zombies we know-but they were soulless. You see, once there isn’t any hope left inside of you, your soul flies away. Anyway, the evil dragon wasn’t there because he was out busy scouting for hopeless people, so Prince Lars had an easier time navigating the cave.
He found Queen Adelaide arguing with Echoline, Victor and Sierra. Christopher the Mighty Robot wasn’t arguing with anyone and was just behind the queen, making faces. They were arguing on how to slay the dragon. The queen’s plan was to use their wits, while Echoline wanted to use force. Victor and Sierra were split on what to do and the Mighty Robot, though helpful with many things, didn’t know what to do.
When the queen saw Prince Lars, she suddenly became silent and refused to speak or acknowledge him.
Prince Lars was a proud man. He didn’t see the need to plead or to apologize, but after that long trek from the kingdom, he realized that the only way he could make the queen listen was if he did just that.
So he got to his knees and pleaded that she listen to his apologies. He knew, however, that it wouldn’t be enough which is why he had plan B- he was going to kidnap the queen and bring her back to the kingdom before slaying the dragon and rescuing the rest of the people.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Boydan the evil dragon swooped in the lair and let out a screech. The dragon let out a huge flame before flying upwards and pounced on the group, eating Victor, Sierra, Echoline and Prince Lars in one large gulp.
T stares at him with wide eyes, his mouth agape.
“Don’t worry. Prince Lars is a Jedi Knight and Echoline has a lot of ninja skills,” Topher says.
“But they were eaten by the Boydan!” the boy exclaims. “And what’s a Jedi Knight?”
“A Jedi Knight is a badass knight that has the Force by their side and is a force of good,” he answers, “Anyway…
Boydan eating Prince Lars and three of her friends stunned Queen Adelaide. Christopher the Mighty Robot pulled her out harm’s way and hid her in one of the gaps in the cave.
Queen Adelaide was shaken to the core. And for the first time in many years, tears started to prickle in her eyes. They then began to fall until she started weeping. Christopher the Mighty Robot took out a tissue box from one of his hidden compartments and gave them to her, not realizing the significance of this event.
And then a part of her chest started to hurt. Because even though she had tried not to listen to Prince Lars, there was still part of her that had already forgiven him. And the heart she thought she had lost had started beating again.
‘They can still probably get out,’ Christopher the Mighty Robot said. ‘Boydan has a slow digestion; they can still escape, my human friend,’ he stressed.
But Queen Adelaide wouldn’t wait for that to happen. She wiped away her tears and stood up to show herself to Boydan. She grabbed a sword, one of the thousands of treasure in the cave, and attacked the evil dragon.
Boydan, who was now slower because of the four people inside his stomach, managed to avoid the queen’s first swing, but he wasn’t too lucky the second time. Queen Adelaide cleanly sliced off the dragon’s arm, and Boydan’s anguished cry filled the cave.
Steam came out of the dragon’s nose and he began to look around, seeking the woman who had harmed him. Boydan started to fly, trying to look for the queen. Queen Adelaide hid behind the mountainous pile of gold, waiting for a chance to strike again.
But the evil dragon was sneaky. He fooled the robot into revealing where Queen Adelaide was and was about to wallop from behind her when Christopher the Mighty Robot used his glider (found in one of his compartments) and flew directly towards dragon. But he got swatted away like a fly.
However after that itty bitty moment, something strange began to happen. Boydan froze up for a split second before he started screaming, flames spewing out of his dragon-y mouth. And then, his stomach burst open and out came falling Prince Lars, Echoline, Sierra, Victor and several other people from the past few days. Prince Lars, after Echoline’s advice, had used his light saber to cut open Boydan.
They were all gooey from head to foot, purple too, but still alive.
Queen Adelaide, filled with joy, rushed towards Prince Lars and with the tissue box the Mighty Robot gave her, wiped away the gooey stuff from his face before kissing him.
“What happened to Christopher the Mighty Robot?” T asks, “Is the evil dragon really dead?”
“You really want to know about Christopher the Mighty Robot, T-man?” he asks back.
“Uh-huh.”
Queen Adelaide’s happiness was dashed when she heard a mechanical groan. She looked around and realized that the Mighty Robot wasn’t in sight. Quickly, they started searching for him, calling out for him.
The queen found the robot in by a large stone, almost split in half. She knelt down beside him and told him that they’d have the best mechanics and the best engineers in her kingdom and that they would be able to fix him. Christopher the Mighty Robot had been her friend, her constant companion all throughout her stay in this lair.
Christopher told her that he couldn’t be fixed. No one would be able to fix him.
‘No,’ Queen Adelaide said, ‘they can fix him.’ Victor suggested that instead of Christopher going to the mechanics, they should let the mechanics go to him. He added that Christopher wouldn’t survive their journey back to the kingdom.
The queen vowed never to leave his side until the mechanics and engineers arrived. Everybody looked at Prince Lars. The knight shook his head, knowing that it would be very difficult to convince her to go back to the kingdom.
Christopher told her that she could leave him. But Queen Adelaide insisted on staying.
The robot then looked at Prince Lars and told him to take the queen back to her home and leave him be in the cave. ‘Boydan the evil dragon who was evil is dead,’ he said. ‘I’ve been here long enough.’ He was broken and it was time to go.
The queen knew that she was going to lose the argument and finally relented. Prince Lars told all the remaining humans in the dragon’s lair that they were going to leave. And leave they did.
“… Queen Adelaide then said that she would always remember Christopher the Mighty Robot, because without him, she would be dead. Then she and Prince Lars went back to the kingdom, got married and ruled justly and fairly and beautifully and everybody lived happily ever after.”
A smile breaks on T’s face and he starts clapping, “I like it, Topher!” he says, in what he can describe as a fanboy squee. “Can you make more stories about Queen Adelaide and Prince Lars? And Victor and Sierra?”
He notices people standing by the staircase and when he looks up, he sees Adelle and Priya watching them. They look… emotional, he thinks.
“I think your mom can tell you about Victor and Sierra,” he says and motions to T the two women behind him.
“Mom!” T greets and races towards the stairs, “Topher told me a great story.”
“Yes, he did, sweetie,” Priya says. The woman looks at him and smiles. He can’t remember the last time Priya smiled at him.
He stands up from the corner and shuffles towards Adelle.
“That was a lovely story, sweetheart.” Adelle says and kisses him in the forehead. He notices smudges of dirt in her sleeves and a large bruise in her arm. He doesn’t say anything about it.
“You liked the ending?” he asks. “Queen Adelaide and Prince Lars lived happily ever after.”
She brushes his hair away from his eyes. He can’t read the expression on her face, “I did. I would have liked it better if Christopher the Mighty Robot lived, though.”
He shakes his head, “Never going to happen. Everybody knows that,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone, “The same way that we all know Han Solo shot first.”
“Some people will argue that Greedo shot first, wouldn’t you agree?” she asks, quirking a brow.
“Well…” he moves his head slightly to the side, “Let’s go up?” he says, “I dropped my T-Rex.”
Adelle smiles at him (tiredly, amusedly, he doesn’t really know the difference anymore. Sometimes, he just wants her to smile).
“Okay.”
FIN
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Topher, T, Adelle, Priya; hints of DeWitt/Dominic, Victor/Sierra
Words: 2,730
Summary: Topher tells T a story
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever.
Notes: Written for juliet316's Sweet Drabblethon's prompt, "ever after"
Thank you to just_drifting_6 for beta-reading XD
Today is a good day. Today, he doesn’t feel afraid or worried. He likes today. His mind is free. Maybe, just maybe, Adelle will allow him to go out and explore the dinosaur cave with T.
But right now, he’s watching her fold his beddings and smooth out the mattress - once, twice - with her hands. She looks so tired and weary. She still has the air of a queen, but more of a tired queen. And right now, he knows that it’s partly because of him.
“Will you leave me?” he asks, out of the blue.
He sees her head snap up to look at him. “No,” she says, her British accent just bouncing off the walls of this very small room, “Of course not, sweetheart,” she adds, “Why would you think that?”
He shrugs, the way the old Topher would shrug. “Nothing.”
She stares at him for a few seconds, trying to determine if he’s well enough for her to ask him (nicely) to pick up his toys. He likes helping her, but only when she asks.
“What if Dominic comes back and asks you to come with him, away from here? Will you leave me?”
He sees her stiffen. Did he miss something? Are they still not okay? He’d always thought they were okay.
Her brows furrow and a slightly amused (or is it hurt?) smile flashes across her face, “Mr. Dominic won’t be able to say anything that can make me leave you,” she says firmly. She then finds the thing she’s looking for in the bed. “I found your T-Rex.”
His face lights up and is reaching for it when suddenly a loud ringing sound blares throughout the house. He’s forgotten what the loud ringing means, but he knows it’s a really bad thing.
What comes after that happens so fast that the next thing he knows, he’s in the basement, huddled in one corner with T.
He looks at the little boy. He’s thinking clearly enough to see that he’s frightened.
“Are you scared?” he whispers, rather loudly.
The five-year-old (or is he four? Maybe?) nods and he reaches out to motion him to come closer, which the boy does.
Adelle tells him stories to calm him down. Maybe he should tell stories to T, to stop him from being scared.
“Do you want to hear a story?”
T looks at him doubtfully. “You know how to tell stories?”
“I can. Sometimes.” He’s not going to tell him Star Wars, because that’s George Lucas’ story; nor will he tell the story of Christopher the Mighty Robot because that’s Adelle’s story… his story would be his own, with borrowed elements from Star Wars, Christopher the Mighty Robot and, maybe, Star Trek. And Battlestar Galactica.
“What’s your story about, Topher?” T asks.
He glances at the five (four? Six?)-year-old and starts with, “Once upon a time…
In a kingdom far, far away, there was a beautiful queen whose eyes were green like emeralds, with pale skin and dark hair. She was just and she was kind, and everybody in the kingdom loved her, but she hadn’t smiled or laughed for the longest time. No one knew exactly why, but everybody assumed that it was because she was betrayed by the man she had trusted, and probably loved, among several others.
“-what’s her name?”
He stops with his narration, “Bzuh?”
“The queen.” T asks in a curious tone, “What’s her name?”
He frowns and taps his finger on his chin, “Her name is…
Queen Adelaide hadn’t smiled or laughed but she also hadn’t cried either. It was as if she was a cylon robot. Little did everybody know that their queen had lost her heart and she had no idea know how to get it back.
Then one day, a fierce red dragon came to the kingdom and started terrorizing the people by spewing out fire from his mouth. He kidnapped those who were out of hope and he would bring them to his lair up in the mountains. He would eat them - not immediately - though they were good as dead.
Queen Adelaide, though heartless, tried to protect her people. Her loyal knights tried to defeat the dragon, but they all failed. The dragon said that the only way she could protect them was if she left the kingdom with him.
So she did. She left her most trusted confidante, Julia the handmaiden, in the throne. The evil dragon, Boydan, forced the queen to stay in his lair, to watch over the humans he was going to eat… in the future. The queen was terrified of the dragon because, well, he was a dragon who was also evil.
She met a lot of people in the dragon’s lair, which was also filled with treasures aside from people. Most of these people truly were hopeless, but she was the only one who didn’t have a heart.
But there were some who managed to make her feel something. These were Sierra and Victor, who were two of the very few who were full of hope, and Christopher the Mighty Robot who helped her a lot. Echoline, another human, wasn’t taken by the dragon, but someone who had scaled the mountains to rescue the hopeless. Unfortunately for her, she got stuck and couldn’t rescue anyone.
He takes a deep breath. He had no idea telling stories were difficult; this difficult. T is watching him, waiting for him to continue.
“Don’t stop!” T excitedly says. The boy obviously knows that there’s going to be action involved. He did put a dragon in the story.
He scratches the side of his face and frowns. He’s telling it how his brain sees it. He doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, or if it makes sense, although he’s sure T’s going to ask questions if he makes any mistakes.
He can still hear heavy footsteps running about above them. Uncertainty starts to creep in. What ifs, probabilities, numbers begin running in his head and if he doesn’t stop, if it doesn’t stop, he’ll-
“Topher?”
He blinks and looks at his audience of one.
“What happens next?” he asks.
He loosens up, “So. Uh, yeah…”
So, remember that guy who betrayed Queen Adelaide? He was Prince Lars, a renowned knight in the Queen’s service. He had yellow hair and blue eyes and he was dashing, but kind of rude. But the queen liked him, liked him a lot, so… yeah.
He was banished from the kingdom after his unspeakable deed, but he was summoned by Julia the handmaiden when Boydan the evil dragon kidnapped the queen. Julia the handmaiden wanted Prince Lars to rescue the queen and slay the dragon.
Prince Lars was hesitant at first. He knew the queen very well and he knew that if he showed his face in that lair, she’d stubbornly refuse rescue and would order him to take the people instead while she would stay and slay the dragon by herself. He thought it would be a nice plan, except for the fact that the queen might die and it would be his fault. He was very sure this was going to happen.
But he went to the mountains anyway. He trekked, up and up, cutting down annoying foliages with his handy dandy light saber while he ate flat bread and took naps during his pit stops. He would hide from sight when the evil Boydan flew in and out of his lair to terrorize neighboring kingdoms.
When he finally reached the place where the people were being held, he was met by empty, zombie-like creatures. They didn’t try to eat him-they weren’t like the zombies we know-but they were soulless. You see, once there isn’t any hope left inside of you, your soul flies away. Anyway, the evil dragon wasn’t there because he was out busy scouting for hopeless people, so Prince Lars had an easier time navigating the cave.
He found Queen Adelaide arguing with Echoline, Victor and Sierra. Christopher the Mighty Robot wasn’t arguing with anyone and was just behind the queen, making faces. They were arguing on how to slay the dragon. The queen’s plan was to use their wits, while Echoline wanted to use force. Victor and Sierra were split on what to do and the Mighty Robot, though helpful with many things, didn’t know what to do.
When the queen saw Prince Lars, she suddenly became silent and refused to speak or acknowledge him.
Prince Lars was a proud man. He didn’t see the need to plead or to apologize, but after that long trek from the kingdom, he realized that the only way he could make the queen listen was if he did just that.
So he got to his knees and pleaded that she listen to his apologies. He knew, however, that it wouldn’t be enough which is why he had plan B- he was going to kidnap the queen and bring her back to the kingdom before slaying the dragon and rescuing the rest of the people.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Boydan the evil dragon swooped in the lair and let out a screech. The dragon let out a huge flame before flying upwards and pounced on the group, eating Victor, Sierra, Echoline and Prince Lars in one large gulp.
T stares at him with wide eyes, his mouth agape.
“Don’t worry. Prince Lars is a Jedi Knight and Echoline has a lot of ninja skills,” Topher says.
“But they were eaten by the Boydan!” the boy exclaims. “And what’s a Jedi Knight?”
“A Jedi Knight is a badass knight that has the Force by their side and is a force of good,” he answers, “Anyway…
Boydan eating Prince Lars and three of her friends stunned Queen Adelaide. Christopher the Mighty Robot pulled her out harm’s way and hid her in one of the gaps in the cave.
Queen Adelaide was shaken to the core. And for the first time in many years, tears started to prickle in her eyes. They then began to fall until she started weeping. Christopher the Mighty Robot took out a tissue box from one of his hidden compartments and gave them to her, not realizing the significance of this event.
And then a part of her chest started to hurt. Because even though she had tried not to listen to Prince Lars, there was still part of her that had already forgiven him. And the heart she thought she had lost had started beating again.
‘They can still probably get out,’ Christopher the Mighty Robot said. ‘Boydan has a slow digestion; they can still escape, my human friend,’ he stressed.
But Queen Adelaide wouldn’t wait for that to happen. She wiped away her tears and stood up to show herself to Boydan. She grabbed a sword, one of the thousands of treasure in the cave, and attacked the evil dragon.
Boydan, who was now slower because of the four people inside his stomach, managed to avoid the queen’s first swing, but he wasn’t too lucky the second time. Queen Adelaide cleanly sliced off the dragon’s arm, and Boydan’s anguished cry filled the cave.
Steam came out of the dragon’s nose and he began to look around, seeking the woman who had harmed him. Boydan started to fly, trying to look for the queen. Queen Adelaide hid behind the mountainous pile of gold, waiting for a chance to strike again.
But the evil dragon was sneaky. He fooled the robot into revealing where Queen Adelaide was and was about to wallop from behind her when Christopher the Mighty Robot used his glider (found in one of his compartments) and flew directly towards dragon. But he got swatted away like a fly.
However after that itty bitty moment, something strange began to happen. Boydan froze up for a split second before he started screaming, flames spewing out of his dragon-y mouth. And then, his stomach burst open and out came falling Prince Lars, Echoline, Sierra, Victor and several other people from the past few days. Prince Lars, after Echoline’s advice, had used his light saber to cut open Boydan.
They were all gooey from head to foot, purple too, but still alive.
Queen Adelaide, filled with joy, rushed towards Prince Lars and with the tissue box the Mighty Robot gave her, wiped away the gooey stuff from his face before kissing him.
“What happened to Christopher the Mighty Robot?” T asks, “Is the evil dragon really dead?”
“You really want to know about Christopher the Mighty Robot, T-man?” he asks back.
“Uh-huh.”
Queen Adelaide’s happiness was dashed when she heard a mechanical groan. She looked around and realized that the Mighty Robot wasn’t in sight. Quickly, they started searching for him, calling out for him.
The queen found the robot in by a large stone, almost split in half. She knelt down beside him and told him that they’d have the best mechanics and the best engineers in her kingdom and that they would be able to fix him. Christopher the Mighty Robot had been her friend, her constant companion all throughout her stay in this lair.
Christopher told her that he couldn’t be fixed. No one would be able to fix him.
‘No,’ Queen Adelaide said, ‘they can fix him.’ Victor suggested that instead of Christopher going to the mechanics, they should let the mechanics go to him. He added that Christopher wouldn’t survive their journey back to the kingdom.
The queen vowed never to leave his side until the mechanics and engineers arrived. Everybody looked at Prince Lars. The knight shook his head, knowing that it would be very difficult to convince her to go back to the kingdom.
Christopher told her that she could leave him. But Queen Adelaide insisted on staying.
The robot then looked at Prince Lars and told him to take the queen back to her home and leave him be in the cave. ‘Boydan the evil dragon who was evil is dead,’ he said. ‘I’ve been here long enough.’ He was broken and it was time to go.
The queen knew that she was going to lose the argument and finally relented. Prince Lars told all the remaining humans in the dragon’s lair that they were going to leave. And leave they did.
“… Queen Adelaide then said that she would always remember Christopher the Mighty Robot, because without him, she would be dead. Then she and Prince Lars went back to the kingdom, got married and ruled justly and fairly and beautifully and everybody lived happily ever after.”
A smile breaks on T’s face and he starts clapping, “I like it, Topher!” he says, in what he can describe as a fanboy squee. “Can you make more stories about Queen Adelaide and Prince Lars? And Victor and Sierra?”
He notices people standing by the staircase and when he looks up, he sees Adelle and Priya watching them. They look… emotional, he thinks.
“I think your mom can tell you about Victor and Sierra,” he says and motions to T the two women behind him.
“Mom!” T greets and races towards the stairs, “Topher told me a great story.”
“Yes, he did, sweetie,” Priya says. The woman looks at him and smiles. He can’t remember the last time Priya smiled at him.
He stands up from the corner and shuffles towards Adelle.
“That was a lovely story, sweetheart.” Adelle says and kisses him in the forehead. He notices smudges of dirt in her sleeves and a large bruise in her arm. He doesn’t say anything about it.
“You liked the ending?” he asks. “Queen Adelaide and Prince Lars lived happily ever after.”
She brushes his hair away from his eyes. He can’t read the expression on her face, “I did. I would have liked it better if Christopher the Mighty Robot lived, though.”
He shakes his head, “Never going to happen. Everybody knows that,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone, “The same way that we all know Han Solo shot first.”
“Some people will argue that Greedo shot first, wouldn’t you agree?” she asks, quirking a brow.
“Well…” he moves his head slightly to the side, “Let’s go up?” he says, “I dropped my T-Rex.”
Adelle smiles at him (tiredly, amusedly, he doesn’t really know the difference anymore. Sometimes, he just wants her to smile).
“Okay.”
FIN