fic: as long as trees are skying. multifandom, multipairing.

[marginalia]

title: as long as trees are skying
author: marginalia
fandoms: anne of green gables, firefly, harry potter, and btvs/ats. but not all at once.
pairing: anne/diana, kaylee/inara, hermione/minerva, tara/fred.
archive: .: marginalia :.
notes: for wisdomeagle and femslash05. sincere apologies for the delay. i was writing a completely different story until 10pm on wednesday night when i realized it would never work. at least, not in a timely manner. so i wrote this instead. each season is exactly 250 words. title from peter mulvey. thanks to sophia_helix for organizing and for being so good about all of my "i'm working on it! really!" emails.


.: spring :: anne/diana :.

It seemed as if Diana had been waiting forever for Anne. She had slipped out of Orchard Slope early with a perfectly thrilling book to read under the trees near the Lake of Shining Waters, but it wasn't holding her attention. Soon enough it had tumbled forgotten into her lap as she looked out across the water.

It was early enough in the season that everything was still a bit damp, but it was one of the first days warm enough that her old wrap could be used for sitting upon only. She daydreamed for a while, trying to invent a sweet little story like Anne might have done. Anne had a knack for making things Diana had passed by every blessed day turn into something new and magical, and though Diana tried imagining herself sometimes, it was never the same as when she dreamed with Anne.

When she caught sight of Anne, finally let loose by Marilla, her heart gave a queer little thump. She beckoned her over quietly, a finger across her lips as Anne settled in next to her, smoothing out her skirts. "See?" Diana whispered, pointing to delicate, light green shoots around the base of the tree. "The bulbs Matthew gave us, remember?

"They make me want to be still," Anne said low in Diana's ear. "Each one has a fairy singing to it to grow, but one has to be awfully quiet to hear them."

Flushed and daring, Diana took Anne's hand. "Let's try, then."


.: summer :: kaylee/inara :.

Wash passed word that they would be breaking atmo soon. "Looks to be mid-afternoon on a lovely summer day."

"It's nice that it's summer down there," Kaylee said, sitting on the floor in Inara's shuttle. "After all the time up here in the black, it'll be good to have sunshine again. Just lookin' out there makes me cold sometimes."

They were ready and waiting to disembark as soon as Wash gave the go-ahead. Mal reminded them of the departure time and suggested they be careful. "All right, Cap'n," Kaylee said. "Thanks for the warning. That tree over there was lookin' shifty." Inara laughed and took her hand, and together they ran off of Serenity like schoolgirls at the bell.

Days earlier they had agreed on the strategy, which largely consisted of avoiding the town in general and locals in particular, and getting as much fresh air as they could stand. And for the first time in the history of them everything had gone according to plan. The day was beautiful and warm, Kaylee's cheeks went pink with it and wisps of hair escaped her braided crown. They talked only when they had something worth saying, and when they found the perfect cool bit of grass under a cluster of trees, they stopped for a time, for an escape.

When Inara kissed Kaylee she tasted strawberries, and she was surprised at herself, at the cliché, at the impossibility. But, after all, strawberries taste like sunshine, and Kaylee was made of summer.


.: autumn :: hermione/minerva :.

The sky was flashing red and orange, but the world was strangely quiet. Hermione had thought war would be loud always, like the snippets she saw on television when she visited her parents. Wars of the past flickered grey, wars of the present in black and green, but all were grainy and out of focus, the waiting eliminated.

Hermione sat cross-legged outside of her tent, watching the sky and toying with the toes of her boots. When Minerva sat next to her she didn't think of the strangeness of calling her former Head of House by her first name or of how Minerva's brow had smoothed in the years since she had taught Hermione's class, she only thought of their breath on the cool air and of not being alone.

Order members patrolled the perimeter, though there was little still to defend. Dust and shadows hid where bodies used to be. Hermione thought suddenly of her mother's kitchen, of sunshine and the smell of washing-up liquid, of clean things taken for granted.

She jumped when Minerva spoke. "Do you ever think of going back?"

"It's been so long, I don't even know if I could live there after this."

"You could. You're young, still, though I know you don't feel that way today. And that's what people do, they keep on living."

"And wizards longer than most." She couldn't see Minerva's smile, but she knew it was there. Hermione reached over, took her hand, and together they watched the sky.


.: winter :: tara/fred :.

"You're here!" the girl says. "I've been waiting for you." She frowns, ducks her head, hair slipping from behind her ears. "That sounds creepy. I'm not creepy, really. I'm just lonely. I don't usually talk so much." Then she laughs. "Sorry. I'm Tara."

Fred stays at a distance, watches her carefully, and selects a question. "How did you know I was coming?"

"Oh, we know. We can't see, but we know. They tell us when it's time to show people." She puts one hand out towards Fred, then pulls back, hugs her torso. "When I first came, I didn't want hands. You will later. If you're at all like me."

It's a half-smile, shy and golden, warm around Fred. She tugs at the scarf around her neck, tiny hands fluttering like birds. There are questions of who and where and how, and it's a surprise when she settles on: "Why you?"

"I don't know. We must be connected somehow, though, that's how it works. But," Tara hesitates, "I think if we figure it out then it ends." She twists the toe of her right foot into the ground. "I think that's why she left again. After we had waited so long."

The sky slides below Fred's feet, and it's so blue she feels dizzy. She thinks she should be remembering and then she thinks she shouldn't. There's a ghost of pain hovering around her but Tara pushes it away.

Tara's soft and sweet and safe, and so Fred follows her.

(originally posted here.)