February 10, 2017

WHILE MANY LONG, SAD YEARS PASSED FOR THE KING AND QUEEN, THEIR DAUGHTER BLOSSOMED INTO THE PRINCESS THEY ALWAYS KNEW SHE WOULD BE. For everyone's safety, no one knew where the fairies had hidden the girl, and they had no way to reach out and send a message, for fear of Maleficent's chase. So, with all ties severed, the three women lived as non-mutants, raising their charge in an unassuming brownstone hidden amongst the hustle and bustle of the city, only using their powers to make sure that the protective barriers stayed in place to ward off whatever Maleficent tried to use to find them. 

The three women fought tooth and nail to keep the truth hidden, not only from the rest of the world, but from their charge herself, even down to her name. They couldn't trust her true name to keep her safe, so instead of Aurora, they called her Briar Rose.

But to think that they could hide the truth from their little princess forever had been a drastic oversight.

It was the middle of the night, moonlight pouring into the room, the starless sky the only audience to the scene within the room, watching with disinterest as it had for many nights prior, sharing the well-kept secret of the young girl inside.

In the top floor bedroom, the near sixteen-year-old was burrowed under her covers, a slight crease between her eyebrows disrupting her otherwise serene expression, a near perfect example of peaceful sleep.

The cause of the slight tension most likely had something to do with the identical figure currently hunched over the desk across from the foot of the bed, open laptop and schoolwork spread across the surface. The glow from the laptop was all that illuminated the schoolwork on the desk, the lamp far too bright for that time of night, but the figure was doing just fine all things considered, actually able to focus on the work in front of her, rather than merely sitting at the desk, hyperaware of every little breath and movement.

After all, even though her mutation had presented itself some years ago, she still had to handle everything on her own, not wanting to let her aunts know; or, rather, the women she thought were her aunts.

Aurora sighed, pushing away from her desk and her schoolwork, turning around and floating over to watch herself sleep, knowing that she would need to stop projecting soon so she could fully rest; while she had been getting better at energy conservation, she still struggled to stay awake and focused in class if she pushed herself too far.

She hummed softly to herself, floating back towards her desk. With a quick scan to confirm she had actually finished her schoolwork, she started to pack up her bag, turning her attention towards her laptop, as if the map she had labelled had changed in the time she had spent looking away.

She wished she knew what she was doing, or could ask one of her aunts to help her, but, unfortunately, she was left to her own devices, and while she was by no means inept, it wasn't much of a surprise that she would need support from time to time, and this was truly no exception.

The tip of her tongue poked through her lips as she furrowed her brow in concentration, trying to make sense of the series of patterns and times that she had gathered when researching the Spider-Man. From what she could tell, he operated within two distinct windows of time, and he tended to stick around Manhattan and Queens, but he didn't seem to have a particular rhyme or reason to where he specifically went and when.

While clever on his part considering vigilantes weren't the most liked by the authorities, it made Aurora's job much harder, clueless as to how she would be able to contact him, what with his arbitrary schedule that, as far as she could tell, held no real pattern, save for him visiting the same general area nearly every night he went out, but that yielded no information, so there was truly nothing for her to use.

She groaned, doing a backwards flip, floating lightly towards her sleeping form before pausing, feeling herself grow more distraught, looking over towards her closet, where her notebook full of information regarding her past was hidden behind her plastic drawers, out of sight from her aunts. 

She wanted nothing more than to take a running start and throw herself onto her bed to cry, but in her astral projected state, all she could do was take a deep breath and focus, giving up on her work for the night.

She could never fully explain how she returned back to her singular, tangible form, and she never even noticed if she returned while her physical self had fallen asleep, but the last thing she remembered before waking up from her dreamless sleep was the sound of someone crying. 

º º º

"Briar Rose?"

Aurora blinked furiously, feeling her cheeks warm as she smiled sheepishly at her teacher, looking from her textbook to the board, desperately searching for a hint on what they were even  talking about, let alone the question that was asked.

Before the teacher she reprimand her, a notebook slid towards her, and Aurora glanced down, catching sight of a circled answer at the bottom of the page. "Uh, 369.7 grams of carbon dioxide."

Her teachers lips quirked up in wry amusement, tone dry as she turned back to the back. "Thank you, Flash. Briar, please try to pay attention."

Aurora mumbled her apologies, unable to lift her eyes from where they were trained on the notebook, feeling her eyes prick with embarrassment; she always hated not being prepared for class.

Her distress was short lived, fortunately, when she caught sight of a doodle in the margins of the notebook. There were multiple doodles, really, but she focused on the one of Spider-Man's mask, the narrowed eyes and web pattern undeniable. Of course, the added scribbles of Spider-Man's name surrounded by spiderwebs helped to confirm her suspicions.

She wasn't too surprised, it was no secret that Flash Thompson was the most vocal Spider-Man supporter, even more so than many of the other students who were invested in the actions of the various superheroes and vigilantes that roam the streets, and she was idly considering looking deeper into the history of the X-Men when she realized she had just solved her problem.

"Flash—" she began, only to be interrupted by the bell, the teacher shouting the homework over the rush of students eager to be done for the day.

Flash was one of those students, and Aurora had to scramble to shove all her things into her bag, trying to keep him in her line of sight, but he disappeared out the door, and she knew better than to hope that she would be able to see him in the hallway; they were far too short for that sort of thing.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped out into the fray with a deep breath, struggling not to be jostled, making her way to the stairs that led to the sophomore lockers, eventually letting herself be shoved left and right, going with the flow much easier than trying to fight against it; she would get where she needed to eventually.

A particularly hard shove had her tripping over her feet, yelping, and she prepared to catch herself against the hard linoleum, eyes screwed shut. But the fall never came, and, though as shaky and unsure as a fawn's, her legs were still mostly upright, scrambling for purchase, shoes sliding against the floor before finally bracing herself properly.

Her upper half, on the other hand, was still being held up by the one who saved her from the fall in the first place. She was too busy apologizing and finding her balance to look at her savior, instead letting herself ramble until she could safely take a step back, the hands on her elbows falling away with the movement.

"Thank you," she breathed, her face so warm it was a wonder she didn't pass out, "I am so, so sorry."

"It's no problem, it's like a stampede out here after the bell rings. I usually hang back in my class until five after, by then it usually clears up enough," her savior responded, and Aurora couldn't help but raise her head, laughing slightly as she met the eyes of aforementioned savior.

She opened her mouth to speak, introduce herself or joke back, but all ingrained manners and politeness jumped out the window the moment she saw Flash Thompson leaning against a row of lockers, waiting for his companion to finish packing.

"I'm so sorry, I have to ask someone a question, thank you again for saving me, have a nice day," she breathed, flashing an apologetic smile before racing down the hall, leaving a very confused boy in her wake.

"Okay then," Phillip Prince mumbled to himself, nodding once before continuing down the hall, glancing back over his shoulder to where the girl had gone, watching her skid to a stop, nearly crashing into the pair by the lockers.

"I'm so sorry," Aurora breathed, all prior thoughts and experiences forgotten, "But, Flash, I was wondering if you could help me with something? It's related to Spider-Man."

She inwardly cheered when two pairs of eyes turned to her, relieved to have their full attention. Of course, she knew that Flash would be interested in anything related to Spider-Man—and his ego would definitely appreciate being the person she had gone to for help regarding Spider-Man—though she hadn't expected his companion to be as enraptured as well.

"What's this about Spider-Man?" Diana Smith asked, glancing between Aurora and Flash.

Aurora didn't know Diana well—she didn't know anyone well, really, her aunts weren't keen on her spending time away from the house, nor letting anyone in to spend time there—but she knew that her and Flash's relationship was interesting. She had heard multiple explanations: they were cousins, godsiblings, that Diana was adopted, that her parents had died, and that it was all an elaborate ruse and they were nothing more than good friends who lived near each other. Regardless of what they were—she still didn't know—she figured that Flash's interest in Spider-Man had rubbed off on her.

"I know that you know a lot about Spider-Man," she began, suddenly feeling very silly; there was no way to phrase this question without sounding ridiculous. "And I was wondering if you knew where I could go to get ahold of him? I need his help for something. Like, an important something."

Fortunately, they didn't laugh at her. They did look confused, but they seemed to take her seriously enough, which was a surprise. What was more of a surprise, however, was that Diana answered before Flash.

"Type in your address," Diana said, handing Aurora her phone with the notes app open, "He doesn't have a clear pattern, but I've seen him swing past our apartment sometimes, maybe I can get ahold of him."

"Okay," Aurora replied, handing the phone back, chewing on the inside of her cheek, "Do you think you'll see him soon? This is, um, kind of time sensitive. Three days kind of time sensitive..."

"What's going on, are you okay?" Flash asked, sharing a look with Diana who was fiddling with the bangles on her wrists.

"I'm fine, there's just...something I can't reach out to the authorities about, so I figured asking a superhero would be the next best thing, and since I don't live in Hell's Kitchen, he's the only one around," she explained, feeling quite proud of herself by the end.

"Makes sense," Diana said, reaching out to take Flash's arm, "I can't make any promises, but I'll do the best I can. Is there anything you can put on your window or something that's easy to spot so he'll know which place is yours? I'd also suggest keeping an eye out for him just in case."

"Um, I have a tiny balcony off my window sill, I can put a flower there," she offered, wracking her brain for something better, but came up empty, "Sorry, that's all I can come up with for now."

"That's fine, just be prepared to shout in case you see him," Diana said, shushing Flash whenever he opened his mouth to ask another question, already typing away on her phone, "We have to go, bye, Briar."

"Bye..." she called after, confused. 

She pulled out her phone, finding text messages from her aunts, wondering why she wasn't in her usual pick-up spot. She sighed, starting for the doors, typing out a quick response to her aunt; the last things he wanted was for Merryweather to make a scene.

"Sorry, Aunt Marisol, I didn't mean to take so long," she said, climbing into her aunts' shared car, flashing a smile that she hoped would get her out of trouble.

Fortunately, her aunts all had a soft spot for her, and the woman calmed considerably, instead just tutting that she needs to be more aware of the time and to remember to let her know if she'll be late.

"You know how we worry," Merryweather concluded, and Aurora nodded with a polite smile, keeping her thoughts to herself; she knew exactly why the three women worried so much, but she knew better than to let them know.

Instead, she turned to face the window, pretending like she didn't notice the way traffic always seemed to disappear wherever they drove, even though the rest of New York continued to inch forward behind them. It was easy to pretend, especially to pretend to know nothing. She had been that way most of her life, reliant on her aunts, trusting her worries to them, heart as light as a feather.

But she had grown up and grown restless, and the truth could only be hidden for so long, and now there she was, going along with her aunts' charade, if only for a few days longer. 

She looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of figure swinging through the sky, trusting the feeling inside that told her she was on the right track. She had been doing well so far, taking care of everything on her own, but now she just needed a little help.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 02.16.18 ; 03.05.21 )

I hope this was okay! This story is gonna maybe be shorter than it initially was, since I'm following the plot of the Disney movie a lot more than I did before, though there will be AU chapters, such as this one, but I liked the idea of her not actually even being friends with Peter, 'cause she would definitely be sheltered away from everyone as much as possible, only able to be friends while at school, her aunts not trusting anyone who could possibly be in cahoots with Maleficent etc. etc.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!