Applause ripped through the crowd one last time- God, it felt like if she had one more reason to start clapping, her hands would just explode. YV had somehow managed to bag the two of them seats near the front of the stage thanks to his quick wit and… Admirably passionate determination, so to say. It'd been so long since Rubie had last heard that story. Of course, now that she was older she'd quickly come to realise the tale they told here was just an old legend, but the story of the lost soldiers who'd accidentally broken off their troop and found themselves new land to seek refuge in the magical mystical wonders of the Great Weeping Willow Tree never failed to strike a nostalgic chord within her, the heartwarmed smile on her face was only natural!
She looked to her side, YV was still going on with clapping and cheering, shouting for Jumpy's attention like a crazed fanboy right up until he slipped behind the curtains to bid the stage lights goodbye… he'd always been a huge Jumpy the Jester fan, probably the biggest fan in town actually– She couldn't help but laugh as the sulking for his role model to come back to him outlived the lingering crowds still hanging about the stage. YV was still at it by time everyone started to slowly fizzle out back to their parked cars out front to drive back home after a long day at the fair, Rubie practically had to drag him away from the stage to follow suit.
The two of them walked through the steadily emptying streets, vendors were still packing up their stalls, volunteering staff were still directing visitors to the gates, and the last of prizes were still being given away to lingering challengers. The walk was silent in the comfortably warm way it'd slowly become over the course of their little date that night, not only because a night full of running around like kids on a playground tired them out both physically and mentally, but it was breaching 10:30 when Rubie flipped her phone out to check what time it was. YV yawned from beside her, going to talk about something that probably just popped up in his mind before the two of them were snapped out of their sleepy stupors by vulgar shouts and senseless arguing from a nearby alley.
He frowned, visibly disappointed. "Ugh… seriously…? Who's starting fights on the first of Lunaris?" YV peered over to look over at them curiosity getting the best of him, and her, as Rubie followed to check it out for herself. There seemed to be 2 figures standing pretty deep in the alley, their voices loud enough to be heard by passersby out on main street, talk about pooping a great night..
But… something caught Rubie's eye. There was someone out of the pair, the shorter one, who was wearing something that looked awfully like the light blue babydoll dress Mitzi had worn out just before they split ways for Lunaris, and- oh... The person she was with was dressed in a distinct style, wearing dark and muddled colours making them blend into the dank scenery of a dark alley, their only defining feature sticking out in the dark like a sore thumb, their head of electric pink hair…
She looked to her right, peering at YV in hopes to see if he was thinking the same exact thing. The moment she looked dead into his angular eyes made it clear to her that what she thought was the case, Dawn and Mitzi were… fighting in the alley– there was no doubt about it. But it just begged the question of why in her mind, sure, they weren't on the best of terms when Rubie had left for another town but today they just…
Dawn had changed, he'd changed a lot– but even if her memory of him had completely been wiped and replaced with a total stranger he'd still treated her with that baseline kindness and respect the little boy from her past was known for, and Mitzi had barely changed from the sweet girl she used to know, it was just like her mind had stayed fully intact with the loving spirit she embodied. It didn't look like either of them had any reason to fight anyways…unless this was about something that happened when she was gone…?
She caught herself before she slipped even further into thought. No, no, there wasn't time for that. Not only was it just bad etiquette to fight on the streets, it was even worse to do so as high schoolers who lived on a campus with a curfew.. Without so much as a second thought, Rubie rushed over to try and sort it all out. She'd played mediator before, it was one of the only things she knew how to do well, especially when it came to these people…
• •
"So what? What are you going to do with it??"
"You know the answer to that question already. Do you think I'm gonna try to end up like you? Don't make me laugh."
Dawn scoffed, even in the dim lighting his eyes seemed to grow darker, this was a joke, it was all just a joke to him. "You talk big for someone so weak you know"
"Weak?" she spat bck. Dawn's tone set a challenge in her soul. Saying something so demeaning and belittling right to her face was a sure fire way to piss Mitzi off.
"You don't stand a chance, Mitzi. You might have before– I'll give you that, but not now."
"Is that a threat? You want your damn cigarettes back so badly? Hit me. Come on, hit me!"
There was a second where Rubie thought Dawn was about to do it, she'd heard their argument from up the alley and thankfully cut in just in time to force the fight out of their hands. At the sudden arrival of a 3rd person to their deathmatch, Dawn and Mitzi froze up in complete shock. YV bound up a second later, calling after Rubie before falling deathly silent at the sight of the other two. It felt off, it felt so, so wrong.
This was the first time in 6 years the four of them had ever been in the same room, Rubie remembered how they used to be: close, inseparable, attached to each other at the hip- it was a struggle going just a day without seeing one of them.
But now? It was all different. Hostility, that was what filled the air. Her friends…they were different.This was practically like watching dogs snarl and bark at each other, stuck in a deadlock until one of them made a lethal move first. Time had stood still in the alley the four of them found themselves in, and with each second that passed, the more it seemed like there was nothing that could be done to stop the fight that'd ensue. YV sighed, deep and burdened and heavy as if this was a scene he'd been subjected to over and over and over again.
"Guys. Come on– Can you not do this now? It's just a cigarette Dawn- let it go…"
Dawn snapped to look at him, dark eyes blazing with what she could've sworn to be pure coursing anger. There was a tinge of a smile on his face, not one that was lighthearted and happy, but one that you'd expect out of someone gone mad.
"Just a cigarette? Spliffs. "S" indicating a plural, YV, do you even know how much those cost? What're you even going to do with that? Just-"
Dawn lunged forward before finding the words to finish his sentence, gashing the air with his fist trying to snatch the bag of joints that Mitzi clutched tight in her hand as she quickly yanked them out of his reach, he looked bad, so bad. There was a strange desperation in every move he made that got him looking like a psychopath at their breaking point more than it did the teenager he actually was.
"Maybe you'd care less about it if you didn't blow all your cash on this much weed, think about that next time will you?"
She narrowed her ice blue eyes at him, practically hissing back a cold reply. Rubie had never heard Mitzi speak that way, the sweet bubbly tone in her voice she'd been so used to had completely dropped, her pitch was dark and serious, the look on her face just as severe. She clicked her tongue.
"Tch. wonder how your parents would feel about this.."
As Mitzi's words muttered from under her breath, you could truly hear just how silent it was. The air was choking, squeezing their lungs, sticking their throats shut, suffocating them. The only thing filling the void of empty noise being Dawn's heavy breathing, and eventual pitiful laughter. Laughter- that was insane, why was he laughing at all this?
YV looked between the two, jade grey eyes flickering like a candle blowing in the wind, all of a sudden he didn't look so smooth and charismatic anymore, panic settled on his face as he watched Dawn grow worse and worse. Mitzi, on the other hand, looked as if she didn't regret a single thing she just said. A steel gaze rested on her face, focused solely on the keeling crazed figure in front of her.
"Parents? You really want to get them involved?" Dawn could barely get his words out straight. "Well let's talk about it! I'm one good for nothing, shit piece of a kid but at least my parents still careenough to talk to me! Does Captain Brynjarsson spare some time for that, Miss Perfect?"
There was a stifled silence in the air, before it burned hot again with spitting rage-filled embers. "You…" Rubie could see Mitzi flare up, her knuckles turned white as her entire posture stood still as a board. Rage shook her at her sides, whispering for her to let loose but even through the chaos she tried hard to never lose her composure. "You bastard-"
YV hung his head in his hands, breathing a winding breath and muttering complaints under his breath as he quickly stepped in before anything could get worse.
"You don't have time for this, guys- come on! don't get mad out here. You have all the time in the world for that back on campus but we're,like, way past–"
"Don't get mad?" Mitzi's voice was breaking, cusping on the edges of rage, of tears, of trying to sound normal. "Don't get mad??You of all people shouldn't be able to say that-"
"Mitzi."
YV's tone was harsh and deep, if his usual way of speaking was light and airy, his voice now bore the weight of molten magma beneath the earth's crust. "That wasn't my point. That's enough, isn't it? Lets just-"
Dawn cut him off this time, yelling something Rubie couldn't bother to listen in on right in his face, reeling YV back into an argument that had become his just as much as it was theirs. Screams and shouts entailed, growing louder and louder as the 3 of them threw away all sensibility for the wretched fight they were just getting into. Rubie couldn't even distinguish noise from noise or voice from voice- it all ended up sounding like incomprehensible mush to her. Just sounds. Really, really loud sounds.
Screw this. They really could not be getting back to campus late. Gates closed at 11 tonight because of Opening Night. Wanna take a wild guess at how late it was right now? Wanna take a wild guess at how late it was right now? 10:48. Curfew ended at 11. 12 minutes until they were literally locked out of their own homes. Her eyes flit to everyone around her, to the unrecognisable messes her old friends had become, to the rage and fury burned through the air, and to the mid fall breeze that they'd scrapped for a scorching heat. Everyone was shouting at each other, how long was this even going to go on for? Enough. That was enough. If they didn't have the brain to think for themselves, she'd just have to do so for them.
Rubie pulled YV back from the crossfire to let herself both physically and metaphorically into their argument. She wasn't the confrontational type, being assertive wasn't something she prided herself on, but when things came to worst she wasn't against diving head first into a situation, and with the way things were now? It was like there was no other choice.
"Guys-"
YV had stopped yelling so much, probably snapping back to the gravity of the situation the moment Rubie had literally shook him out of it. Dawn and Mitzi hadn't heard her yet, their angered voices carrying on. On and on and on as if they were deaf to the world around them.
"Guys!"
She waved an arm in front of them, the uncharacteristic loud stern tone in her voice taking precedence over whatever dumb fight had landed them there in the first place, silence dropped into the air again, but it wasn't so tense anymore. The distant chirps of crickets echoed throughout the bushes out on main street.
"God- you're all so immature!" Rubie was the loudest in the alley now, her voice raised louder than any of theirs, louder than the dripping of leaky pipes, louder than the crickets. "I don't know what's gotten into all of you but frankly I don't care! 10 minutes. We have 10 minutes to get the hell out of here."
Silence, again. Who knew that the world could be so silent with four of them huddled together.
…
Mitzi sighed. Dropping the bag to the floor and yanking a light brown teddy bear off the filthy ground, turning to walk out of the alley as she spoke.
"Fine." she scoffed, uncharacteristic for her. "We'll end up back there past curfew anyways, but whatever."
YV followed after her, apprehensively looking back at the other two while keeping a fair distance behind Mitzi. Dawn clicked his tongue in frustration, grabbing the bag from off the ground and stuffing it into his pocket before going to join the rest.