InsaneJournal

Who: Izzy and Cel
What: Dreams coming to life
Where: Celaena’s house
When: After this
Rating: Moderate
Status: Complete


Celaena couldn’t believe it. This sort of thing only happened to other people and people in the movies, surely! She’d had Dreams for a while now, but none of them had ever bled over before apart from giving her some degree of weapons handling skills and fighting technique. She’d sequestered herself in her room this morning when she’d woken up crying in the middle of the night. The pain on her back had been excruciating, it was still bad and she’d barely touched the food that Mr Thomas had brought up for her and left outside her door. She’d claimed she wasn’t feeling well and her parents had pretty much left her alone, too busy with their work.

As she waited for Izzy to arrive, she sat on the end of her bed with her arms wrapped around herself and legs curled underneath her, a mantra from her Dreams repeating in her head: My name is Celaena Sardothian, and I will not be afraid.

Izzy had made her way over to Celaena’s house as soon as she could after she’d received her friends message. She’d sounded panicked and worried which wasn’t like her at all. Izzy knew how hard the dreams could be, a number of times she’d woken with bruises and sore ribs thanks to fights she’d had in them that had bled over.

Cel didn’t talk too much about her dreams though Izzy knew she had trained with Will at the Institute and done well. Being greeted by the family staff she headed straight up to her room and knocked before opening the door. Closing it behind her she moved to crouch in front of her friend, “Cel? Hey, you okay?”

Celaena looked up at her friend’s face as she knelt in front of her. “Hey, um...thanks for coming,” she scrapped her fingers through her hair, pushing back the long locks from her face. She’d not really cried, just been upset, struggling to keep the tears at bay. Standing up from the bed, she wiped at her eyes using the long sleeves of her jumper that she’d pulled over the end of her hands and moved away. “So uh...I thought weird shit only happened to other people, but apparently not,” she tried to joke.

“Of course I came” Izzy said, “I wasn’t about to leave you panicking.Weird shit happens to us all” she replied with a slight frown, “Come on Cel, it’s just me. What’s happened?”

Celaena sighed again and looked at Iz. She knew that in their Dreams they were both fighters with their scars, but so far in the real world, none had manifested themselves on Celaena. It was important that it stay that way. How could she be a beautiful ballerina with scars marring her body? How could she face Damian again knowing she wasn’t beautiful anymore? Turning her back to Izzy, she swept her long blonde hair over one shoulder, crossed her arms over her front and gingerly lifted the back of her sweater to her shoulders, exposing the three long scars across her back to Izzy. The skin still felt tight and slightly tender as she moved, so her movements were much more careful than they would be normally.

“Oh Celaena” Izzy breathed as she saw the scars on her friends back, “I’m so sorry, do they hurt?” She asked stepping closer slowly and resting her hand gently on Celaena’s hip while the other one held the jumper up so she could see them. “Once they calm down a little we could try using make up to cover them” she mused.

Celaena jumped as she felt Izzy touch her, holding back a little wince as she did. “They're sore. They hurt like hell when I woke up,” she admitted in a small voice. She didn't want to admit that she'd screamed or that she thanked the gods she wasn't in a room near her parents. Swallowing thickly, she shook her head. “My careers over. Damian won't ever want me again. I don't know what I'm going to do Iz,” she told her miserably. She'd only ever been good at one thing, and if she didn't have that, what else did she have?

“They should heal quickly, maybe even faster if you dream more” Izzy tried to reassure her, reaching around she took Cel’s hand, “You can still dance it just might take a little time to get used to this” she said, “And Damian will most definitely want you. This doesn’t affect how beautiful you are, you are still gorgeous Celaena, you always will be no matter what happens”

“You don't understand, if I'm not perfect for the Company I'll never get a lead role again, they might try and retire me early. I'll have to work twice as hard now for half the results the other girls get,” Celaena explained as Izzy turned her round. She wasn't often one to feel sorry for herself, but she felt utterly miserable right now. “I don't know what I'll do if they won't let me dance,” she told her honestly. “And what if Damian looks at these...scars and just leaves?” she shrugged. “I don't want him to leave me. At least not because of this, I always thought if he left me it would be because I said or did something stupid,” she quirked a smile at the thought.

“Now you listen here, if Damian leaves you because of these scars then he wasn’t worth your time anyway” Izzy said laying her hand on her friend’s cheek to make her look at her, “You are worth far more than that, scars or no scars” She took a breath, “Now, I know it might be tricky for the Company to understand that so what we can do is ask Magnus for a glamour. It won’t get rid of the scars but it will hide them for your rehearsals and performances. I’m not saying this isn’t awful of the dreams because it is but you are one of the strongest people I know and you will not let this beat you”

Celaena smiled gratefully at her friend and pulled her into an embrace. “Thank you Iz, you always know just what to say,” she told her, relieved she had been able to share her secret with her best friend and her best friend had understood. “A glamour? What’s that?” Celaena asked, pulling back and frowning at her. She pushed her hair back from her face again.

“Anytime, that’s what I’m here for right?” Izzy said returning the hug tightly but being careful not to touch her wounds in case she hurt her more. “Like a concealment spell” she explained, “Everybody who sees you they won’t be able to see the scars, I’m sure Magnus could tie a spell to a necklace or ring or something so whenever you wore it you’d appear unmarked”

Celaena nodded at that. “That sounds like a great idea, it would certainly take a weight off my mind,” she smiled at her. “So Magnus is a wizard then?” She asked curiously, sitting down on the bed.

“Then we’ll talk to him, I’m sure between him and Merlin they will be able to do something” Izzy assured her, “Magnus is a warlock” she said, sitting down too, “Which is basically a cooler name for a wizard” she winked.

Letting out a breath of relief, Celaena looked to her best friend and rested her head on her shoulder, glad they had a plan to work with. She was immeasurably grateful to have a friend like Izzy by her side. “I guess I should set up a meeting with Damian, huh?”

Izzy lifted her hand to stroke through her best friends hair, “I think you should. It’ll be fine you know, he’ll still love you. How could he not? You are awesome” she said reminding her that she was no matter whether she had scars or not.

Celaena sighed, trying to soak up her best friend’s quiet confidence in her. She was Celaena Sardothian and she would not be afraid.