Visions of an Oracle: Iron and Fluff Part 2

“Soooooo.... I have to admit that I really want to know more about that whole story you were like telling me the other day.”
This was the most timid Ophelia had ever seen her Harvest King act. She found the lack of decorum refreshing, especially compared to King Carroll and his strict physical requirements of La Fontaine’s residents. “What would you like to know?”
“I believe the future you spoke of was not the same future me and the other kings...... have... uh... been shown before.”
Ophelia, in a fit of rare embarrassment, began awkwardly wiping off her undeniably clean wrapped-skirt. “Oh, my King! I hadn’t realised you had other oracles in your command!” The young fateweaver was very much intimidated by the idea of being one of many oracles, and even more bothered by the concept of them seeing a future she wasn’t.
“Oh no no no! You’re fine! Really! You’re the only oracle I know about at La Fontaine!” The Harvest King wanted to comfort and calm the girl, but Ophelia was still thrown off by the fault in her sight.
“What... what did I see wrong?” Even through the wrap around her eyes, Ophelia could not bring herself to give the King eye-contact.
“It’s... it’s not that I, like, think you saw something wrong. It’s more like things may have changed, you know, from us knowing the future and then deviating from it, or whatever...” The King thought about how the unease in the room was palpable.
Ophelia felt better. “What changed? Between the other future you’ve been shown and the one I showed you?” Ophelia sat down at her table, ushering the King to sit as well. She reached out and placed her fingers on the wrists of the King before her to establish the connection she would need to show King Rita the future she was tapping into.
“Well, Remy the Fetch-King always told me he and Mina Sloan only dated for, like, eight months or something. Not that I’m jealous or anything, but it didn’t match up. Also Mojo can’t drive. Well... it’s not that he can’t, he just can’t screw in a lightbulb, so who would trust him to drive a limo? And where’d they get that limo? I guess Rose coulda lent it to them. Dempsey only had, like, fix-me-up classic cars and junk, and...” The Harvest King continued on. Ophelia was taken aback and was having trouble paying attention as her thoughts drifted towards some rather glaring questions about the royalty in front of her. King Rita knew the future in incredibly large detail. She knew intimate details about the people who lived there. How? How and why? If King Rita knew so much of the future, what use could one more oracle serve?
“...so I guess my question is this: who is the Autumn King at Cresthaven in that story, erm, future?”
A familiar wind blew between the two of them as Ophelia began reading the threads of Fate. Visions of things to come fluidly streamed from Ophelia’s eyes to Rita’s.
“What’s wrong, bossman?” The voodoo doll had trounced into the Fetch-Guard’s “headquarters” while the latter was gearing up for a mandatory patrol he was assigned. No one was taking chances with Mother and Father loose in the city. Even Dempsey was seen wandering the Hedge near the locations of their past sightings, his Suzy never further than a held hand’s distance away.
“Wrong? I’m fine, Mojo. I’m more worried about you. Are you going to be ok to go on the patrol Mina assigned to you? I know we’re past the point of asking for volunteers; Summer is stretched thin as it is.” The Fetch-Guard only wanted to act his title. Mojo was the fetch he was closed with, and in many ways was his best friend. He didn’t want anything to happen to him.
“I’ll be aaallllright, big guy! Spider-Captain and Antlerman are going camping with me, and they’ll keep me super safe!” Mojo didn’t realize the gravity of the situation, although it would take someone equally as dense to miss Mojo’s naivety. Mojo’s first patrol was to be the shift following the one Reeves currently prepared for.
“Antler.... Miles and Glenn? Be careful, Mojo, those guys are serious business! And remember you aren’t camping; you’re looking for suspicious activity! If you end up in a fight or in danger of any kind, I want you to run and find help, okay?” The massive voodoo doll shook his head in response, the fire of the candles on his head jostling back and forth.
“But... what’s wrong?”
“Why do you keep asking that?” Reeves motioned for the other man to grab him his old nightstick. It was one of the few things he had from home. Richard had everything else. Reeves was just happy his changeling showed up at the door while Reeves was just getting home from a shift. Reeves had made good use of everything he had been issued as a law enforcer in London, and was grateful it was all still on his person when he ran.
“Your girlfriend told me to ask you!” Mojo was jubilantly rocking back and forth on his feet, his hands behind his back.
“Ugh, tell ‘er I’m fine!” He wasn’t. He couldn’t look at her the same after the night of the car crash. The night the missing fetches reappeared. The night they died in vain.
“She told me you’d say that!” Mojo had a huge grin on his face, looking like a child solving a tough riddle correctly on the first try. Reeves grimaced. Only one thought had pervaded his mind since Mother and Father’s “attack”: he didn’t hear any fetches attack Mina. She claimed it was self-defence, that they had made the first move, and his ears had been ringing from the car crash. Reeves wasn’t used to not being able to hear things, but the thought remained: had Mina shot first? He kept telling himself it shouldn’t matter. She did her best to keep the shots nonlethal; it was clear she had. Mother and Father were to blame for their reprogramming and their deaths.
Still, Reeves’ investigation into the lives of the missing fetches had involved extensive digging through their personal lives. He felt like he knew them. He felt close to them. He had told himself he would get them to join Cresthaven once he saved them. The concept of giving up the search hadn’t occurred to him. He had pushed the concept of failing out of his mind completely. He was the Fetch Guardian, and he had failed to protect the fetches he had sworn to find and rescue. His heart blamed Mina for all of it. Mother and Father had targeted her; they were trying to eliminate key members of the Summer Court to exploit the gap in security. If she hadn’t been there, if she had stayed in the freehold instead of coming out with him, he would at the very least had a longer period of time to find the fetches and get them to safety. They’d be alive. Nancy Crichton would have made it to her call-back for “Les Miz” next week. James Holcombe would have been able to use the paycheck he should have gotten that past Thursday to pay off the engagement ring. He had made reservations to propose to his highschool sweetheart.
Sweetheart? The word made Remy cringe.
“Knock-knock! Yes, I know, it’s me! I had some time so I thought I’d see you off on your patrol!” Sloan was at the door. It bothered Reeves to see her in his doorway. She never came to his room. She never came to his floor. It had always been her unexplained and unspoken policy to avoid this area of the freehold once they started dating, but now that she had redacted it, her presence there caused his Wrath to flare inside of him. His eyes burned when he looked at her. He continued getting ready.
“It was great seeing you Mojo, goodbye!” Sloan was not being subtle about wanting Mojo to leave. Even Mojo noticed.
“I guess I’m leaving now,” he loudly said with a smile, “bye!”
Sloan shut the door behind him. “Hey, things have been off-the-charts crazy lately, and I know you have to go soon, so I just need to get this out there.”
Reeves did his best to hide his bitter mood as Sloan continued.
“I just want you to know how much it meant to me to know you have my back. With you watching my six that night, I realized how safe I feel with you around..... I.... I got you this ring, see, and I’d like the one you bought for me so we could...”
Reeves couldn’t hide his feelings any longer. “No. No, I can’t take this. I don’t love you, Mina. I don’t even love the concept of you. I don’t feel safe with you, and I cannot bring myself to trust you.”
Sloan was blown away. She was not accustomed to Reeves talking this way. He didn’t seem himself. She knew in her heart he had been pulling away. She knew she hadn’t helped. She had been pushing him away for closing in on a year now. Going in she knew this was a desperate attempt to backtrack over the damage she had done. She had been so mad at herself for how she had treated him. Sneaking out with him was supposed to fix things. It had been the perfect opportunity to show him she wanted to go all in. She had even brought the ring she bought him with her that night, just in case the perfect moment happened. She hadn’t realised it had gotten this bad. “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing, Mina. I know it’s all in my head, but it hurts. I need a break. I need a break! Let’s just take a few steps back. I just need some space to breathe and get whatever I’m going through out of my system!”
“Is this about the fetches? I know they meant a lot to you, but there was nothing we could have... You’ll get over this and we’ll be fine. I know we’ll be fine!” The way she was speaking Reeves would expect any other person to have welled up with tears. Not Mina Sloan.
“Please, Mina, I just need some time. Just some time and then we’ll see.” Reeves felt fatigued. He had bottled up this emotion for too long, and it was overwhelming to let it all out in one burst.
Sloan didn’t know what to say. She attempted to bargain with Reeves for a second chance, but he kept reminding her he just wasn’t in the right state of mind to date anyone. After a burst of Wrath, she told him fate had slated them as soulmates. Her mood was roller-coastering, which was fair. Sloan was just as bad about bottling up emotions as Reeves, although she had also squirreled away how much she really cared about him. Reeves saw a single tear drip down her cheek before she left. She swore to herself she would give him the time he wanted. She couldn’t force things. It didn’t make her want him back any less. Reeves cursed himself for talking to her the way he did.
As time passed Remy healed. He grew. Sloan healed as well, but her thoughts would still drift towards the soft caress of the man she felt she had somehow wronged. Her late night patrols of the freehold were lonely. Remy’s hallway guarding was much the same...
The wind in the room subsided as the stream of images faded from view. Ophelia was out of breath.
“I’m sorry, my King, my focus is off. This is all I can give you today. I could only hone in on Remy the Fetch-King’s perspective, and during those events he didn’t encounter any Court politics. I will try again tomorrow if I am able.” Ophelia was tired. The Harvest King understood, checked Ophelia for black veins, of which she found small ones on each forearm, and then went on her way. Ophelia locked her door behind the King and then felt herself fall onto the bed.
Category:Fiction