Breaking Up For the Last Time

"I wonder where Ginny is. Did Azure tell you what the mission was while you were there?"

Abbie tried to wheedle information out of Francine about Ginny's ongoing mission. Unfortunately, Frannie was entirely in the dark; she had been busy wheedling information out of Lance in the Tower for their mission.

"No, for the last time, I don't know anything. Come on, we have to be quick and quiet."

"What do you think we are going to find anyway?"

Abbie and Frannie darted into Matt and Lance's bunk and quietly shut the door behind them. Frannie started searching; between the mattresses, she got down on her hands and knees to look under the bed, and she even started knocking on floorboards, looking for loose ones.

"I don't know. Letters from his mother about breaking up with me, or maybe a secret girlfriend. He constantly acts like I am cheating on him, no matter how innocent the activity. After yesterday, I'm convinced it's because he spent the entire Unpleasantness here living it up with some girl and lying about it."

"Okay, now we're talking. But, do you think he would keep a secret girlfriend squirreled away under the floor?"

"Ughh! No! Who knows what he would have around here? Whatever it is, I'm sure he wouldn't want Lance playing with it."

Frannie looked up to see Abbie grinning wryly and waved her off. Abbie started looking through the things on the top of Matt and Lance's desk, then started on the chest of drawers.

"Right, because that would defeat the purpose of hiding it. Ugh, why does everything in here have a musty odor? The closer I get to Lance's-- things, the worse it gets. Never mind."

Abbie started with the top drawer of Matt's dresser, picking up clothes and moving things as she went through it. Francine had finished her gremlin sweep of the carpentry and threw herself at the bottom drawer in a near frenzy; she spied the corner of what she thought could be a towel from Castle Netherby.

"Whoa, what is that? Is that one of my towels?"

In her haste to get to the hidden contents, she yanked the drawer open, slamming it into Abbie's shins in the process.

"Owww, hey, stay calm. I'm not the one you're mad at.

Nestled in the left corner, under the typical trinkets they'd all collected from fairs and carnivals, was one of the black towels with the mountain skyline embroidered on the corner; it was unmistakable. Frannie grabbed it and stood up.

"What the… It smells like… Azure?!"

"Really? Are you sure? Maybe it's Matt's cologne."

"I'm sure. Smell!"

The unmistakable scent of Azure's perfume, Rosewood, amber, and clove, along with burnt cigar tobacco, wafted; it permeated the fabric. As she held it out for Abbie to smell, a sky-blue undershirt and a pile of wear-beaten papers fell out of the folds. She unrolled it all the way to find it also held a napkin from their house in Shadowmirre. Inside, she found the burnt end of a cigar.

"What is all of that?"

"Gods!"

Frannie handed Abbie the towel and napkin and knelt to pick up the fallen pages, when the realization hit her.

"Gods, this must be what Matt was really after at the Arsenaults' house. When Cobalt Coda met at the Arsenaults' house, I found him skulking around Azure's old room."

Abbie was horrified, but still wondered about the burnt cigar, holding it up.

"What about this? It's disgusting but in an entirely different way."

"I think the cigar stump might have been from dinner. Remember when Matt made himself sick smoking off of Azure's cigar? Though I'm sure there's no way to prove that."

Frannie started shuffling through the papers. Each page was worse than the last. First was one of the labels off of Azure's whisky bottles, the one Francine modeled for, but you couldn't tell it wasn't Azure. There were news sheet clippings featuring Azure's likeness and summations of her exploits, and her newly entered peerage entry was torn from a book.

Then there was the drawing Matt had done of Francine, in a special and intimate moment. Only he'd colored her hair blue, the same color as Azure's. She wasn't sure which was worse, that or the nude pinup card with Azure's face pasted over it. It made her sick to look at. Azure's class painting had even been unframed and was still lying at the bottom of the drawer.

All of the odd comments people had made over the last few months came rushing back; all of the times Matt had insisted they go to her house, or gotten worked up over some interaction with Azure, or compared them. All the fighting with Tristan. It was because of this. She dropped the pages and fell back onto the bed, crying.

They heard someone walking in the common room, so Abbie picked it all up, gave the rest of the drawers a quick once-over, and grabbed Frannie. Matt opened the door just as they disappeared, his eyes locking on Francine's in horror, then down to the rifled drawers. He opened his mouth to try to explain, but they were gone. Abbie used her key to shift them into the Sandcastle.

When Ginny popped into the Sandcastle, she identified the melodious sounds of Abbie trying to soothe Francine that floated down from the bedroom. She wasn't surprised Abbie was there; she was only surprised that Francine was with her and was crying.

"Hey, what is going on? You two sound upset. Are we planning a girls' night?"

"Ginny? Is that you?"

"Yes, is everything okay?"

Ginny teleported into the bedroom, though that made her head hurt a little. She'd had a number of drinks in honor of a mission accomplished.

"No, everything is not okay. Matt is in Love with Azure!"

The mission went well, and Ginny had been celebrating. She was okay at pulling a poker face when it was required, but this was out of left field, and she was tipsy.

"That much is obvious. I thought that was why you were going at it so hard with the gun, and the hair, and Cobalt Coda."

Ginny flopped down on the bed next to them and sighed. Abbie just slapped her forehead with her palm, tipping Francine off to the fact that she had seen the same thing. At that revelation, Frannie sat up in bed, now upset that everyone seemed to know this key, relationship-ending fact and had never told her.

"What! Does everyone know this, or think this, because you can't all possibly have known for sure?"

Ginny's eyes opened, and she covered her mouth, trying not to laugh like a jerk. And Francine angrily started poking at her ribs in a vicious tickle attack.

"What else, what else do you know? What could it possibly hurt to tell me now? My life has already been ruined!"

“Bahhh, ha, ha, stop that. I guess not. Lady Trellingbill had already decided to break your betrothal, you know, because of your dad, but it wasn't just because of the political stuff. Here, just give me a second, I need to clear my head."

Ginny held up a finger, sat back up, and shook her head. It cleared a bit, so she telekinetically grabbed a potion off the shelf.

"Sorry, I was not expecting such a serious conversation. Matt was supposed to become the Caretaker of The Nethervale when you married, and your heir would have become the future Duke. So it took Azure making a similar offer for her to reestablish the contract.

That was when Lady Trellingbill told her that Matt had a crush on her as a fair warning. He had heard about our exploits; the boys here had nothing better to do than snag information from their teachers about what was going on. I don't think it helps he's living in her old room in the barracks."

"She has known that all along, too!"

Francine was dizzy; she wanted to get up and run away, but all she could manage was to swing her legs over the side of the bed and blankly stare down at the floor.

"What? Of course, Azure is very perceptive; she would not have needed Lady Trellingbill's advice on the subject. They just thought he would get over it, especially once she started seeing someone, and you two were reunited."

Even revitalized, Ginny initially had trouble seeing the seriousness of the situation; she understood why Francine would want to break up with him, but it wasn't the end of the world.

"That's why he has been such an unreasonable jerk to Sam, and Sam must have known all along, too. At least he has dealt with it like a rational man, not beating Matt up like an idiot. Could you imagine if he behaved in kind? Matt would have been beaten to a pulp, and according to his own delusions, he would have deserved it."

Abbie hoped the fact that this was just a crush would make it easier to get over.

"Look, Frannie, I don't want to be mean, but I can't see how you missed it either. He tried to convince you to join the military academy. Ah, ha, where did you think that came from? "

Abbie laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but it only made Frannie angrier.

"If you had known this for so long, why didn't you ever say anything?"

Abbie wore a shocked and hurt expression, though it was mostly self-annoyance that she had managed to get Francine upset with her so quickly.

"I just thought it was something we weren't talking about since it is kind of gross of him."

"Kind of gross of him! Kind of gross? He only wants me because I'm getting, quote, more Azure every day."

"Can you really count it as a quote if you're repeating something Lance said?"

Frannie grabbed the pillow and whacked Abbie with it.

"Aghhh, are you siding with him? How can you do this to me? Why are you even here? Maybe you should go comfort Matt, he's probably freaking out right about now."

Abbie wasn't afraid, but feigned worry that Frannie would get so mad she would leave. Putting her arms up and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"No, no. I'm on your side all the way. I'm just trying to ensure you don't do or say something you will regret later. Please."

"He's not even here. And I could break up with him right now and never see him again, and I know I wouldn't regret it one little bit. There's no discussion of if; it's a discussion of when and how."

"Ok, Ok, I hear you. Just sleep on it, is all I'm saying. You two have had fights before, and it always looks different in the morning. The two of you love each other. Azure is just pretty, that's all; the Unpleasantness was long, and it messed with his brain."

Frannie jumped off the bed, grabbing a pile of papers and fabric from the desk. Prompting Ginny to get up and see what was being grappled in Francine's grief.

"He's never been in love. No, not in love; obsessed with my MOM before! I never even had a mom, and he fell in love with her as soon as I got something remotely like one! I don't know what you're talking about anymore, Abbie, because he doesn't love me, or else he wouldn't have done this! He wouldn't have tried to turn me into her! This isn't a fight, this is a war. And this battle is O-Ver! Everybody lost!"

Francine just collapsed back on the bed, sobbing, the pages all crumpled in her hands. Ginny hadn't seen them until Frannie grabbed them off the desk. When she took them from Frannie to smooth them out, she had to admit this seemed like a little more than a crush. Ginny and Abbie went downstairs, and Ginny alerted her mother that she would be missing dinner because something had come up.

"The drawing is especially disturbing. I can understand why she is so upset. Eww, and what is this, an old cigar?"

"Yeah, we think it's from dinner a week or two ago."

"Ohhh, I bet she is right, I remember that."

"I can't believe she just ignored this for so long, though, until it's turned into this, this crisis! If they had talked about it months ago, maybe things wouldn't be so bad."

"Do you really think that's fair, though? I can see how she would miss it. It's not like he asked her to dye her hair to begin with; she got it dyed before he ever saw her. It should have been Matt who brought it up, but dating Frannie keeps him close to Azure. "

"Yeah, I guess that's all true. Who doesn't like hearing their hair looks nice? I wouldn't assume anyone who said it had something to hide. And I suppose I could have said something, I just figured it was an unspoken issue, like us, before."

Abbie flopped onto the sofa, and as she worked on her plans, it began to feel like the end for Matt and Frannie. She would always choose Frannie, but they couldn't lose Matt. It was like her two best friends, her real family was breaking apart. She understood logically why Frannie wouldn't want to be with a man in love with her "mother," but Azure wasn't her biological mother, and they had known Matt far longer.

"Gods, Ginny, what am I supposed to do? It's not like I can just go back to hanging out with Tristan and Aisley."

Ginny went to her and took the book from her lap, setting it on the table.

"You are partially right. He has seemed somewhat unstable, and to hear you all tell it, that was a recent development. So maybe once Frannie gets over the hurt of this, you all can be friends again."

"So what is Francine supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? Wait and See. I hate waiting, I much prefer doing."

"I know, but that's the only option sometimes."

Francine walked around the corner. Her eyes were red and her face splotchy from crying. Ginny heard her walking down the stairs, but Abbie hadn't, and she jumped when she walked around.

"What do you think I should do with all that stuff? Should I show it to Azure, or take it to his mom? I don't know what to do. I'm just so angry. He's been running me around, treating me like I'm in the wrong when he's the one who's trying to engineer a life with someone else.

I'm no one's second choice. I was supposed to be number one. He was number one for me. The only one. Not anymore."

Frannie walked over and squeezed in between Ginny and Abbie. Snuggling in.

"Maybe you should try writing out all of your concerns and tell him how you feel in a letter instead of trying to talk to him about it in person. Matt can be reactive, and you have both been through so much in the past few months. It might not be as satisfying if you are unable to tell him everything you need to say.”

"Yeah, then he won't be able to stop me from speaking my mind and breaking up with him. You can even look it over, and I can show it to Azure. She can approve it, so she won't be mad at me later. That was a great idea. Thanks, Ginny."

"And yes, you should show that stuff to Azure. It would not matter if it were not her likeness or her property, but he is crossing lines that should not be crossed. Drawing personal art would be one thing, even if disrespectful; but stealing her clothes and defacing books is another."

Frannie slumped over, suddenly in tears again.

"Ohhhhh, gods! What Am I going to do? He saw me, he knows I know, but I can't write that letter now.

"You said you're getting to fight him in the mornings at Cobalt Coda training. Take your anger out then, and I don't know, give him the silent treatment otherwise."

"No! I don't want to hit him with stupid training weapons, I want to hit him where it really hurts, in his heart."

"Ha, yeah, you mean his dick."

"No, I want him to know that I know he's a creepy stalker no one will ever look at twice, ever again!"

Francine was getting worked up again and leaped off the couch, pounding her fist.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Either break up with him tomorrow morning, or avoid him until you get your letter worked out, and you've talked to Azure. He might even get you a gift, thinking he can fix this."

Frannie slowly sat back down, thinking it over.

"I guess you're right, and he does deserve to waste a little money on me. *sniff* Just a little."

She leaned over into Abbie, who put her arm around Frannie.

"Yeah, he does. All he's bought you are some pants, I now have to assume were to dress you up like Azure, and some flowers. Not even flowers, weeds. I know you like them, Francine, but they were so cheap.

I can definitely agree that he has been a generally terrible boyfriend; if it were me, he would be in the red, and long before this. Why not let him catch up a little?"

" Oh no, what time is it? I was supposed to go to Lila's and sit for the stupid Cobalt Coda Posters. They definitely noticed I was missing by now. Argento is probably running around searching for me."

"Let Matt tell them why you are missing. He knows."

K.B. Silver

Events and Characters from: