There’s nothing here worth being around for anymore. Go AU where Mel left after the flora store fallout and no one could find her but after some troubling news she comes back after 10 years (bonus point for myself: a curly haired almost 9 year old kid) - inspired by x

10 years ago

She found out only a month after and the guilt set in. And the fear. Mel had drunk heavily and she felt that her sickness was due to that. She was all alone, living in a raggedy motel across the diner she worked. How was she going to deal with this? She had never felt more scared in her entire life. She wanted to go back. She should go back. It’s too late, she told herself. She had severed ties, it was her fault and for the first time in her life she should own up to the consequences of her actions. She told Betsy first. Perhaps the older woman would have been more excited if the news weren’t followed by a loud sob from Melody. Betsy promised to help, to mel’s surprise the whole diner and the community helped her in every way they could. It didn’t heal Mel’s brokenness, but it put a little band-aid on it.

When the time came she was alone, Mel didn’t want to burden anyone else with her choices, she had done enough. She screamed, she cursed. When they placed him in her chest she felt like she couldn’t breathe. All she could see was him mirrored in this small being who was holding on to her thumb with such strength. She cried the whole night, wishing she could have her mother to help her. Or her friends. Or the love of her life. Melody wanted him here, she hoped that simply by sheer willpower he would appear and they would be happy.She wished she hadn’t been so stupid and selfish. But between all her regrets and fears, she made a promise. After all her wrongs, she would do right by him.

now

Her phone rang obnoxiously loud at 3 AM. She opened one eye to peer at the screen to see the caller. The number wasn’t saved in her contacts and she didn’t recognize the numbers. She muted the noise and turned to the other side. It rang again. And at the fourth time Melody decided she had enough and picked it up. “What?” she barked, softly enough to not wake him up in the other room. “Am I speaking to Melody Hall?” a woman with a firm voice on the other side asked. “Yes, this is she” Suddenly a feeling of dread washed over her. “You are listed as an emergency contact for Tip Doren, do you know this person?”. At this Mel sat up straight “Yes”. “I am sorry to inform you but he was involved in an accident with his daughter”. Mel took a sharp intake of air “oh my god”. “Tip is in very critical situation that is why we were asked to come in contact with you, which hasn’t been easy”. Before Melody could even formulate a sentence, the  lady continued “They are at the St. John’s hospital since Thursday.” Melody tried to swallow the knot in her throat “I will be there as soon as possible.” She paused, she noticed a small figure by her bedroom door clutching a teddy bear tight “If there’s a way, please let them know I’m on my way. Thank you.”. The lady on the other line bid her goodnight and hung up. Melody wiped away her tear and opened her arms asking for him to join. The boy quickly climbed on the bed and hugged Mel at the neck with as much strength his little arms could. “Why are you crying, mom?” he looked at her with worried eyes. Mel pushed a dark curl away from his face and inhaled to steady herself “You know your uncle Tip that mommy tells you stories of?”. The boy nodded. “Well, he was in an accident, and the people at the hospital asked me to go.” His eyes widened with worry. “So I think we have to go on a little trip. Do you mind missing a couple of classes?” He shook his head firmly “No, I think I can catch up”. Mel managed to smile despite everything. “Okay, now go sleep, pumpkin. I’ll email your teacher and we’ll catch a flight first thing in the morning”. He didn’t even bother to leave to his own room, he simply got under the covers and turned to the other side.

As soon as they landed dread sunk in her stomach, she felt dizzy but she needed to push through. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply trying to calm herself, hopelessly. Luckily she had managed to have some good sense to rent a car instead of the 2 hour bus trip to the town. Her son sat in the passenger seat happily doodling, nodding his head to the music. Familiar guitar notes started playing from the radio and Melody quickly reached over to turn off the radio. Her son looked back at her confused by her reaction. It scared her how much he looked like him. At days it hurt her to even look at him because the simple sight of him brought back memories that she fought hard to forget. He truly is the representation of her disappearance, every birthday party meant one more year away from it all. Mel started to recognize the streets and felt like she couldn’t breathe. She stopped the car violently as soon as she realized in which road she was in. Melody looked to her left and found her old school, abandoned with weeds on the ground that could reach her knees and with ivy covering the walls, broken windows and graffiti. She sat there, with her car in the middle of the street, breathing rapidly but feeling like no air was coming in at all. “Mom, are you okay?” he asked carefully. But before Melody could answer, a police car flashed its lights at them and pulled right next to Melody. “You know you can’t stop in the middle of the road?” The police officer warned and Mel watched as recognition painted his face. “Melody.” It wasn’t a question. Then his face turned into a scowl “Why did you come back?” A pause, Ouch. “Haven’t the people who love you suffered enough?”. His words felt like a punch in the stomach. “That’s rude.” Her son quipped beside her, frowning at the officer who had his mouth open at the sight of the boy. “Probably” Mel replied before driving away.

Melody has always wanted to have a business of her own, she felt it would be the ultimate slap in the face to all those people who told her she could never achieve anything. Even though, her time at the school made her unsure about her abilities. Being sent to a school for delinquents isn’t exactly an ego boost. But she persisted and found her motivation again: to prove she was more than people thought. She dreamt of opening a bakery since she discovered the wonders a bit of sugar, flour and eggs could do. And when she started working at Fauna’s bakery she has never felt more at home. But she couldn’t simply open a bakery in the same town, it would rival Fauna’s and Mel didn’t like that idea. That’s how one day, looking through some old photographs her step-father sent her that she realized what she was going to open: a diner. Looking at the old photograph of her, about 6 years old, with her grandmother, enjoying a strawberry milkshake, Melody felt it was the right thing to do. Diners were a constant in her life. When she was little, her grandmother would take her for milkshakes and pancakes whenever Mel would be upset. As a teenager, she used to hang with Dash and Tip at a diner, laughing for hours with munching on some fries. And more recently, her short time working as waitress in a diner after she ran away and where she and Barrel reconciled. It was decided, she was going to open a diner.

* * *

After saving up for nearly 3 years Mel finally has bought the land where she was going to start building her diner. Her diner. She liked the sound of that. She was never a very possessive person (except with her friends) but being able to say that something was hers, through her hard work and determination was the best feeling in the world.

* * *

One year later, it was opening night. There were a few bumps in the road that extended the opening of the diner. Especially the bump on Melody’s belly. As she wandered (more like waddled) around the room, she saw mostly familiar faces but a lot of strangers which made her feel a warmth in her chest, giving her hope that this diner was going to be a success. She stared at the picture of her and her grandmother, the one that gave her the idea “maybe one day I’ll put up a picture of you in here, little one” she thought, rubbing gently her stomach. The place had turned out exactly has she imagined, the furnishings were pastel pink and blue, while the floor was black and white, there was a bar with stools lining it, some neon signs on the wall and some of Barrel’s art that she managed to convince him to let her display it. She walked outside to admire the big neon sign with her name glowing brightly in the night, she felt tears at the corners of her eyes “One day, Simba. All of this will be yours.” she whispered, smiling at her own joke.

* * *

Melody had managed to convince Barrel to come on a little retreat with her for Valentine’s Day. She never was interested in doing something grand and romantic simply for the sake of Valentine’s Day, but this year she felt like needed a little vacation, so she decided to merge the two together. She rented a very nice AirBnB just outside of New Hampshire, deep in the forest overlooking the lake. The cabin was small, but it had a spectacular view to the lake that Mel, seeing the advertisement on her computer could just imagine herself sipping coffee enjoying the view as the first rays of sunshine appeared.

Mel woke up at the early hours in the morning, too early for someone on vacation to wake up to, but her body was already too accustomed to the early schedule of the bakery. Barrel still slept peacefully next to her, she shifted slightly to be able to look at him better. She watched as he breathed peacefully in his sleep, Mel reached out and pushed a curl away from his face. Even after all these years she still couldn’t believe that he was with her. There was always a tiny voice in her head that said that maybe today was the day that he had realized what a waste she was and leave her and every day it would surprise her when she would wake up and find him next to her. Melody took a curl in between her fingers and twirled it around both fingers before pulling it slightly and watching it bounce back into its natural shape.

Images of their time back at the school started flooding in, like when they first met, he had just arrived and oddly Mel just felt a strange pull to the new kid besides empathy for being new in a strange school. Before she knew she was starting to develop feelings for him, although she tried to deny it her friends were too smart and observant to let her get away with it. It took them two kisses to reveal to each other how they really felt towards one another. Melody smiled at the memory of the two of them by the sea, finally being truthful to each other. “How stubborn we were.” she thought “Well, we are”. She tried her best to stifle a giggle as a memory of when she convinced him to let her paint his face came to mind. She had always managed to convince him to do stuff with her, prank people, paint his face, or break into a store and get caught by the police. She pushed the last memory away from her, she wasn’t going to let bad memories spoil her time.

Melody often felt like a bad girlfriend, finding herself too caught up in whatever insecurity was overwhelming her at the moment leaving her oblivious to his problems. Their argument after the last time she left without a warning still pained her, mostly because how unaware she was to his troubles and the pain she has caused him by leaving. She always did that, she always found a way to fuck everything up, like when she decided it was a good idea to jump from a building into a storm, her heart was in the right place but she needed to think it through, which she never did. Mel remembered how he sat with her after the storm passed and they finally said that they loved each other, even though Mel had felt that way since their first (quick) kiss. But in a weird way, it brought them closer together, no more skeletons in the closet to hide, they were metaphorically (though sometimes literally) naked to each other with no secrets.

Ever since he entered her life, every time she tried to imagine her future she could only see him. Everything else changed each fantasy but he remained there. Whether the fantasy was a curly haired little boy puttering around drawing on the walls, or traveling the world trying delicacies from foreign countries, or simply growing old in each others company with an odd number of pets. He was her future and she was sure of it, more than anything else. After all that they went through it would be very difficult to tear them apart, they’d be together in sickness and in health. That thought reminded her of the little skimpy nurse outfit that she gifted him, the memory of him in that costume made her let out a soft snort. One time she told him he was a bad influence, maybe she was the bad influence always getting him into trouble and skimpy outfits.

Mel had been on the road for about three hours now, so stops. She didn’t felt tired, or hungry, or in need of a bathroom, she just wanted to get away, quick before they came after her. She reached over and pressed the radio button, three cords of a guitar started playing and Melody quickly changed the channel “nope.” Soon a nonsensical pop song of the moment filled her car, she had to admit it, the song was pretty catchy as soon enough Mel was tapping her hands on the steering wheel to the rhythm. She saw a sign of a gas station a few miles ahead, she decided it was time to stop and fill up her gas since she still had a long road ahead. She stopped at the gas station and after she filled her tank she walked in the convenience store and decided to buy some food. She was wondering around the aisles when a hair dye caught her attention, not thinking much about it, she grabbed it.

She made her way back into the road and continued to drive to the sound of the current pop songs. She started to notice that it was getting dark, she hadn’t reach her destination yet, but she was close enough and she felt she needed to rest for a while. She entered a small town, near a river, it seemed pleasant. When she spotted a motel she decided it was time to stop and she would carry on when she felt better. She pulled over at the motel and made her way to the reception. Lucky her most of the rooms were vacant, she made her way to her room, 198. She settled her bags on the floor The hair dyes were just there on the bed looking at her and she couldn’t resist them. Unfortunately, she left it on for a bit too long and the red instead of turning into a rich dark red, turned bright. After she dried her hair she made her way back to the reception.  “Hi. Sorry to bother you. But do you know if any places around here are hiring? Money isn’t infinite.” She joked. Lucky for her again, the local diner was needing a waitress since the last one killed herself. Mel thanked the lady and made her way to the diner.

The festival was as exciting as Jinhwan had imagined, even after being there for several days. However, it was also more expensive than he had expected. He’d stolen enough funds to treat himself to a small meal and a few snacks each day, but he didn’t have quite enough for what he was really looking forward to: a treat for the kids.

Before leaving the Slums, Jinhwan had gone around and said goodbye to the children he had befriended, promising to bring them back a treat. He wanted to get them something rich and sweet, considering how infrequently they could eat such a food, but cakes were far more expensive than he had anticipated. Technically he could afford one, but that would leave him too poor to pay for his own meals.

There was always the option of simply picking yet another pocket, but he was in the mood for something different. It’d been a while since he conned someone out of a few dollars or a meal, and what better place to do it than at a festival where no one even knew his name?

Jinhwan scanned the busy area for someone who looked like they could be tricked into buying him a treat. When he saw a girl with well-groomed hair and bright clothing staring giddily at a painting of a monkey, he figured he’d found the right person.

He ran his fingers through his hair to make it slightly more disheveled and adjusted his (stolen) tunic. After determining that he was at the perfect balance between disheveled and charming, he made his way to the young woman.

[ rgsoojung ]

It’s a warm night during the season of green trees and hot sunshine when Jinhwan decides to take a walk in the upper class neighborhoods of Elv. He only does this occasionally, as it’s a dangerous trip to take for a Cuspian like himself, but he just can’t help his wish to roam where the air is cleaner.

Luckily people are hardly ever awake in the middle of the night. (And if they are, they're often too drunk to even notice him.) All he needs to worry about is hiding from guards, and he’s gotten pretty good at that.

He turns a corner as he strolls through the shadows of the night, when he sees a person standing in the street. Speaking of hiding from guards...

Wait, no. That’s just a regular girl.

[ rgjayu ]

Jinhwan liked to follow people. Not always for a particular reason; not to help them, or hurt them, or pick their pockets. He would just see a person who looked interesting, a woman ranting about her partner or a man on a mission, and decide that he wants to see where they go.

This day in particular, he decided to follow a young man who didn’t quite look like he belonged in the Slums. He wasn’t wearing fancy clothes or anything, he just looked a bit too clean.

It only took a half hour of tailing him to know that this man was definitely looking for something. The stranger was peaking into alleys and buildings, and would occasionally ask someone who looked somewhat approachable if they had seen... something. Someone? Jinhwan was too far to make out what was being said.

It took another hour to know that the man had no clue where he was going. He had gone in a complete circle once. At one point, he walked into the marketplace, realized where he was, then walked right back out. The guy was definitely lost.

After a fair amount of time spent wandering and searching for who knows what, the man was getting dangerously close to gang territory. Jinhwan could see that they were growing ever nearer to the heavily dented trashcan on it’s side, a subtle notice of the boundary.

Okay, he thought to himself, if he doesn’t stop walking soon, I’ll do him a favor and get him out of here.

The man continued walking, despite Jinhwan silently willing him to turn around, turn around, just turn around already. He was too close for comfort.

Seeing as he was a bit too far to catch him in time, Jinhwan summoned up a small gust of wind, enough to make the stranger stumble so he could catch up, grab him by the arm, and drag him off.

Jinhwan rolls his head, neck making a satisfying crack in the silence of the small abandoned building. He’s been taking shelter here for nearly a week now, and he’s beginning to get bored of it in all honesty. He just needs a bit of a change of scenery. Or maybe a big change of scenery...

He attempts to suppress a small smile as an idea forms. It's dangerous, yeah, and he’s only actually done it a few times, but he managed to pull of each attempt. Besides, he can only take this sad and dreary place for so long! Yeah, it’s definitely time for Jinhwan to sneak out of the Slums for a bit.

It’s late, and Jinhwan is grateful for the cover the night is giving him. It makes it far easier to avoid anyone who might want to cause trouble. He slinks through the tight alleyways and the shadows that blanket sections of the streets. It doesn’t take too horribly long to find the opening in the ground that leads to the sewer, and, in turn, his temporary freedom.

He rushes through the sewers, climbs an old rusted ladder, and finds himself standing in some obscure street in some unimportant neighborhood.

The exact location doesn’t matter. What matters is that it isn’t the Slums.

The other thing that matters is that he should really get out of the middle of the road and stay hidden. After all, his somewhat ratty clothes make his place of origin pretty obvious. Stay hidden, stay out of sight, stay out of trouble, then get back to his current place of living.

Of course, at that exact moment, someone (a young woman, from the looks of it?) rounds the corner to stop directly in front of Jinhwan.