Living Armor Boyfriend: Morrow (complete)

Female Main Character (cis) x Male Monster (nonbinary)

Sometimes it’s hard for me to sit still and think straight. I struggle to get my words out properly when I speak. So when I feel like I can get my words out in a way that’s coherent for other people, I tend to blurt them. It’s easy to believe I don’t think like everyone else, especially not my sisters. Winifred is so responsible, and Edith is so smart, I don’t know exactly how I’m supposed to line up with them.

At least I can read, or so I tell myself. Even if it does take time for me to focus on it, I can read things others can’t. In books, the words all make sense to me, and I can see sheet music and play it instantly. If I try really hard, I can sometimes read around a person. So far, all I can read about people is whether they are acting nice or mean. My mind won’t let me focus enough to read much else into a person. I’ve been told this is a blessing from Father Klaus, but I would give it away in an instant to be able to think normal.

I rely heavily on my sisters to help me plan and think ahead, but even then it’s hard. Edith always has good ideas, like giving me something soft to touch, or a toy to occupy my hands while I read. I was told I was hard to hold as a baby, which frustrated my mother. My dad said he thought it was best I leave the keep because it would be easier for me. I never knew my mother like Winifred and Edith did. I want to know her, even though Edith is really angry with her.

I suppose that’s why I wanted to help Edith, because maybe I can meet my mother, even for a little bit. Maybe then I could put into perspective why my head is the way it is. Why am I so scrambled when my sisters are so focused? So when we found books they couldn’t read, but I could, I grew really excited to be useful for something. I did find a spell to summon an entity that could help us with Edith’s plan. But I sort of twisted things.

The spell said the spirits would mend hearts for the better, and I thought it would help Edith and Winifred, since they seemed so upset at our mom. But I don’t think clearly all the time, so maybe I did something wrong.

Because the suit of armor that stands before me is kind of scary. Okay, he’s super fucking scary. Black armor has never been good, right? I mean, in all the fairy tales, that’s the symbol of the villain. So this suit of armor, black, sharp, and menacing, doesn’t exactly portend happiness. It looks like the peal of doom, and I hear alarm bells ringing.

“Wait,” I gasp out loud and turn. “Those are church bells!” I’m standing on top of a hill, but I had been in the pavilion with my sisters just a second ago. The area is dark and grey. Even the sky is shrouded with thick, dark clouds. When I breathe, I smell smoke rather than the cold scent of fresh snow in the air. It feels like everything is still; no birds, no animals. Only silent pine trees stand around me.

“Wait, where the fuck are we?” I snap at the suit of armor. “What’s going on? Where are my sisters? What the fuck is this?”

The suit is silent for a moment, only moving to lift his hand and point along a winding path behind us. I follow his pointing finger, then look back at him. “Fuck that. I’m not going anywhere near there,” I protest.

He growls deeply, rattling his metal surface. “Shit,” I gulp and hold my tongue. Maybe it’s not the best thing to talk to this one too much. But I never could sit still long enough to really hold anything. “I’m Lydia,” I say while pointing directly at myself. “I summoned you. So I command you to take me home.”

The suit snarls audibly and shakes his head.

“What do you mean no? Are you even allowed to do that?” I look around for the spellbook. “I know there are rules for these sorts of things. This is magic, and magic isn’t just a lot of surprising things. It’s real, you know? It has rules just like everything else in life, so you can’t...”

The suit of armor roars at me, throwing back his shoulders, craning his neck, and putting his all into it.

“Don’t talk to me like that! I can’t help this! My head isn’t put on right!” I knock my fist against my temple. “I’m also scared, so it’s making all my talking worse! The roaring and the spooky way you’re standing isn’t helping!”

He stands erect and lifts his hand, moving it in a strange fashion. For some reason, I can understand the way his hands move, almost as if he’s talking with them.

“Oh,” I murmur. “So your neck isn’t put on right either?”

He moves his hands again to speak to me.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to listen, but I have a hard time doing that.” I give him an apologetic smile. “I’m glad I can understand you though. What's your name then, sir?”

His hands move elegantly, even in the jagged, spooky armor he is wearing.

“Morrow,” I murmur. “That’s really pretty, actually. Sounds like the name of a prince. You don’t look like a prince, though. Your armor makes you look like a...”

He points down the path again.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. Damn.” I walk ahead, but before I can make heads or tails of where I’m going, I step off the path to look at some stones piled along the side. “These look funny.” I say as I crouch down before them. “They’re stacked weird, almost like...” I realize they’re the foundation of a house. I’m not looking at any sort of stack, but at ruins.

Morrow comes up behind me, motioning back towards the path.

“Where are we?” I ask. “What is this place? Everything smells old and earthy.”

Morrow grumbles deep in his chest, letting his shoulders sag. He points back to the path, then signs again. “Just follow me.”

“I’d like to know where we are going, at least.” I stand up and look back at the ruins as I leave. Morrow keeps behind me, if only to make sure I keep going. Once we crest over a hill, I can see the horizon before me. Everything looks strange, almost familiar, but there’s something that isn’t quite right about what I am seeing.

“You know, I was really thinking it was my sisters who needed this mending-of-hearts sort of thing. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it aside from my...” I stop when it finally clicks. After rolling around in my mind, the marble has finally fallen. “Where are the Kringle Peaks?” I ask breathlessly. “They’re… sort of there, but they’re not all there.” I look back at Morrow. “What happened?”

Morrow nods his head.

“What does that mean?” I huff at him. “I don’t have a train of thought like most people! I need you to be direct with me.”

Morrow opens the visor of his helmet, letting lava and spewing hot ash pour from inside. I scream until, in a blink, it all just vanishes. Instead I only see one pale blue eye inside the helmet. He closes it, and I gasp. My jaw drops and my lungs constrict in my chest. “The Peaks erupted? But how?”

Morrow takes my hand and leads me along the path again. I understand that the ruins around us were once the town. Pine trees have spread inward, creating a sparse forest where the town used to be. But due to the ash in the snow, the trees, too, look like stone. There’s no life here, just greyness and doom.

We stop in a place that is familiar, or at least it feels that way. I kneel on the ground, digging away snow and dirt to find the street. There, on the stone path, I see the rock with veins of amethyst that my dads had put in front of our house. I look up and no longer see the brick house where I grew up, or the windows trimmed in white, or the little windchime I hung over the front door. I turn back to Morrow, my thoughts spinning and colliding. There is so much that could have happened here, it’s making my head loud and angry.

“Please tell me this isn’t real.” I begin to cry. My head aches from so much effort, and I have to clasp my hands over my ears. “Tell me this isn’t even a possibility.”

Morrow’s hands move. ‘This is a possibility, but only a possibility.’

I have to give myself a moment to let my thoughts calm down. “If it is only a possibility, then why show me this?”

Morrow tilts his head down, then turns and points again.

I grimace. “You can just tell me! I can read your hands. You don’t always have to point. That’s rude, you know?”

Morrow starts talking with his hands again. I raise my hand. “You’re talking too fast, hold on!”

He starts over, and I have a better time reading him. “Futures are not a permanent fixture on the horizon. They are points of direction we can go. Always changing, sometimes even with our breath. I need you to see this so you will know how to lead your family.”

“Lead my family?” I balk at him. “I can’t even lead a horse to water!”

“Your powers are more advanced than theirs. Your perception is needed to ensure your sister does not cause great harm.”

“Which one?” I murmur.

His hands go still.

I frown at him. “I need my sisters. I can’t tell them what to do.” I start pacing and rubbing my hands up and down my arms. “I need them to tell me what to do.”

Morrow just watches me pace back and forth in the ash.

“I’m not a future person!” I insist. “I can only think in terms of here, of now. If I try to think too far ahead, my mind gets all...” I stop and close my eyes as I begin to cry.

Morrow touches my shoulder, and I look back at him to see him speak. “It’s not about time,” he says. “It’s about knowing what is right and what is wrong.”

Tears slip down my cheeks. “What do you mean?”

He continues to move his hands to talk. “You knew it was wrong to summon the creature your sister, Edith, wanted. So you chose something else. You say you can’t plan for the future, but in that moment, you did.”

“Then this…” I look around and blink more tears free. “This could have been what happened had I not changed the spell?”

Morrow nods. “You changed the future because of the perception you possess. You knew it would be wrong, so you chose something that you felt was right.”

I sniffle and wipe my nose with my sleeve. “You could have just said so instead of scaring me.” I laugh despite the fact I’m crying. “Shit!”

Morrow offers his hand to me, and when I take it I find it magically warm. I place my other hand around it, and his surface feels smooth to the touch. I smile shyly at him and shake his hand. Morrow’s chest rumbles with a deep sound, and I have the sudden urge to hug him. I put my arms around him, squeezing tight despite the hardness. He holds his arms awkwardly, not exactly sure what to do in the moment.

“Thanks!” I say as I step back. “I’ve always felt I could never make the right choice without my sisters helping me. But after seeing this, maybe they’re the ones who need me.”

Morrow lowers his head slightly and signs again. “Just because you feel your train of thought is strange doesn’t mean it’s not good. Be patient with yourself. Not everyone has to think or feel the same at all times. If that were the case, in times of crisis, we’d all react the same way.”

I smile at him again. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“I can tell you from now on when you need it. Because from here on out, I will be your familiar.” He holds his hand out to me again.

I’m fit to burst. I’ve never had a friend outside of my sisters. I’ve always been too much for others to handle for too long. I grin uncontrollably, thinking about how Morrow and I will be friends from now on. “Are you sure you want me?”

“It’s not about wanting this,” he replies with his hands. “We were placed together because the two of us needed one another.”

I never expected to hear those words from someone, at least not directed to me. “My, my. If this was a different situation, I think those words would have earned you a kiss.”

The blue glow of Morrow’s eye grows bright behind his visor. Rather than take his offered hand, I slip my arm around his waist and stand by his side so he can use both his hands to speak. But I can feel something emanating from him. Not just warmth, but something a little more, something a little deeper. Perhaps this is the bond that has formed between us, the one we need. I think I could grow to like that word a lot more. Need. It sounds so strong yet so weak. I wonder how long we will need each other. Days? Years? Is this for life? I hope it is. I would like for Morrow to be around for a long time, even if he is some spooky spirit from another realm.

Morrow puts his hand before my eyes and shuts off my train of thought. “Thinking?” he signs with his hands.

I smile up at him. “You could tell?”

“You got this look on your face. It was weird so I thought I’d intervene. It’s time we go back.”

I suddenly grow very worried. “Will my sisters be mad at me for what I did? Or did they see the same thing I did?”

“Your sisters saw what they needed, just like you.” He extends his arm, and the ash turns back into snow. The ruins grow back into houses and buildings. Between the snowflakes I can see my sisters appearing.

I look up at Morrow. “Thank you.”

His eye flashes blue behind his visor again, and the normal world returns. I feel life around me again, and I smell cold snow. My sisters look the same, but there is something changed in their eyes. We look at one another, smiling, before the three suits of armor gather together and kneel before us. “We are yours to command until the Eve you will want us no more,” they speak in unison.

I look at my sisters. I break a smile and hold my arms out. “Well? Are we still going?”

“Uh,” Edith starts. “I’m not sure anymore.”

“We should go,” Winifred says decisively. “Not in war, mind you. But I do think we should talk directly to our mother.”

Edith and I look at Winifred in surprise. “Yeah, me too!” I agree. “I’ve thought that the whole time!”

“Really?” Edith asks quietly.

I nod. “Yeah! You’ve been too harsh. I don’t even know our mom, and yet you think I can’t stand her either?”

“I’m sorry,” Edith says softly. She nods. “You’re both right. I should have listened to you two, or at least, given you both a chance to speak. I’m so sorry.”

It’s a strange moment. Winifred and I are used to Edith being loud and pushy. “We can forgive, Edith,” Winifred replies.

I have so much going on in my mind. What happened between my sisters and their escorts? They feel changed. Do I seem different to them too?

Morrow waves at me, catching my attention and diverting it. I smile at him and wave back before looking at my sisters. “Let’s go,” I hold my hand out to Edith and look back at the three suits of armor. “We have backup now, after all. We can do this together.”