The Snapdragon

Hints Of Lavender

The long awaited third instalment of The Snapdragon. So sorry for the long wait! 😓

------------------------------------

Third Person's P.O.V.

Jimmy paced back and forth in his bedroom. His arms wrapped around tightly around himself to mimic a comforting hug. Unease was evident on the codfather's partially scaled face. His entire body tingled as nervousness rolled off of him in waves. Today was the day.

"Calm down," Jimmy said aloud, stopping in front of a mirror to see his reflection as he psyched himself up, "It's too late to back out of this now. Everyone is already on their way for this emergency meeting. If you back out now because of a little nerves, all the work you've done over the past month will go to waste. You can't mess up today! Scott..."

Jimmy trailed off after he mentioned the cyan haired elf he was so lucky to call his lover. Albeit a semi-secret one. He sighed and twiddled with his webbed fingers. His head fell forward a bit and his shoulders slumped. A frown he had been using all too often in the privacy of his home formed on his face. The feelings of nervousness and unease Jimmy had been trying to stave off was quickly replaced with that of sadness and longing. His heart ached terribly as he thought about how much he missed Scott. His Scott. Not the person who had been parading themself as the cod hybrid's partner.

"Scott is counting on you," Jimmy said after a few beats of silence. Raising his head as a newfound determination bubbled within him. "Wherever he may be, he needs you to do this right. Scott needs you to use the evidence you've gathered to convince his allies, as well as your own, that he's been replaced. He needs you to join together and expose the doppelganger sitting upon his throne. Oust them from Rivendell and ensure something like this never happens again! Scott needs you more than he ever has before!"

Jimmy paused to suck in a deep breath and to truly look at himself in the mirror. A fire he's never seen before raged behind his murky brown eyes.

"Scott needs... me."

"After all these centuries, you still give yourself pep talks when you're nervous? I guess old habits really do die hard."

Jimmy jumped as his older sister suddenly spoke. The Ocean Queen laughed at her seabling's reaction. How she managed to sneak up on Jimmy while standing at ten feet tall was still a wonder after all their years of living. It both amazed and terrified the Codfather.

"Sorry," Lizzie apologized still giggling, "you gave me the perfect opportunity so I had to take it."

"I'll let the near heart attack slide this time," Jimmy said before sheepishly grabbing the back of his neck, "H-how much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you're ready to rally your esteemed guests," Lizzie answered with a small smile.

"Let's not keep them waiting any longer then."

-page break-

"So you're telling me," fWhip began after a few moments of silence had passed, "that the Scott we've been interacting with for the past month isn't Scott, but someone disguised as him?"

"Yes, exactly!" Jimmy replied, an optimistic smile beginning to form on his lips. He was worried for a minute that the silence was one of disbelief rather than one of consideration. But, seeing as it was Count fWhip who spoke first, there was hope for Jimmy yet. If fWhip, his salmon loving enemy, believed him then there was no doubt that the others would too.

"Do you really expect us to believe that?"

Jimmy visibly deflated at those words.  Almost all of the confidence he had instilled in himself from his earlier pep talk seeped out of him. There was no way fWhip could deny the obvious. Scott isn't Scott! It's as simple as that. Anyone with half a brain could see that the elf who returned is not the elf that they all know.

"I believe him," Katherine piped up.

"You cannot be serious," fWhip deadpanned.

"I am," Katherine replied, her tone the most serious Jimmy has heard from her, "We may not be as close to Scott as Jimmy is but you have to admit that he has been acting odd."

"She's right," Shrub said, jumping to Katherine's defense, "I know elves always carry themselves with grace and poise, but Scott seems too uptight. Almost rigid. And whenever he's standing close to me, I swear the air around us feels hotter. Which, considering he has ice magic, it should be colder."

"Oh please," fWhip said with a roll of his eyes, "You all are looking way too deep into this. Remember the previous time Scott disappeared and came back? He acted different afterwards too but we didn't go around nitpicking his every move and assuming he'd been swapped with someone else entirely."

Jimmy was about to open his mouth to retort when he was cut off by Gem.

"Is your ego bruised so badly that it's affected the inner workings of your brain?" the wizard asked, leveling her twin brother with a stern look, "Jimmy has presented more than enough evidence to reveal that his partner is not who they say they are. You would have to be a fool to deny it and yet, you still do. Why?"

A deafening silence fell over the rulers sitting in Jimmy's meeting room. Every last one of the seven rulers gathered were stunned. Absolute shock in full display on their faces. Did Gem really just say that? To her own brother no less! Who, without a doubt, was the most flabbergasted of them all.

"Well?" Gem asked, "I'm waiting for you to scrounge up an excuse for your willful ignorance."

The silence dredged on for a few more seconds before fWhip started to stutter out an excuse. Or at least attempted to do so. The Count never managed to get out more than a few I's and well's each time he tried to speak.

"Just as I thought," Gem spoke, sparing her twin from making a further fool out of himself, "You can't even form a half-decent excuse."

"Yes I ca-"

"Do not interrupt me!"  

fWhip abruptly clamped his mouth shut at Gem's outburst. Barely contained giggles erupted from Joel and Lizzie at the uncharacteristic action of the Count. The married couple quickly silenced themselves as Gem sent an annoyed look their way.

"Sorry," Lizzie muttered in apology.

"As I was saying," Gem continued, "it's clear that you have no reason to doubt Jimmy's claim aside from the foolish conflict the two of you have going on."

"Foolish?!" Jimmy and fWhip said in unison, exchanging flabbergasted looks with each other.

"Yes," Gem answered, "the whole salmon versus cod thing has been dragging out for way too long now. However, you two can hopefully deal with it later. For now though, we all need to confront whoever's parading around as Scott."

At her final sentence, the gathered emperors turned their heads in Jimmy's direction. A beat of silence passed before the Codfather spoke up.

"Wait," he said as he fought back a smile, "everyone's on board? Everyone believes me?"

"I'm going to be honest with you," Joel piped up, "I had my doubts in the beginning but you've convinced me. Even if you and Scott weren't an item, I would believe you based on the evidence you've presented."

Jimmy let himself smile at that. He rose out of his seat at the head of the table and stood tall. A fresh wave of determination washing over him. The Codfather let his gaze wander over each of the six rulers before him in turn. His eyes lingered a little bit longer on fWhip who just crossed his arms and grumbled something inaudibly. Jimmy smirked at his reaction before speaking once more.

"So, here's the plan."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, so sorry to keep y'all waiting for five months. School decided to dump every major assignment on me after Christmas break and I haven't had much time to write. In my effort to make up for that, I went overboard on details once again and now what was supposed to be a six part story has expanded to a seven part story. 😅

Hopefully, I can get the fourth part of this out soon. No promises but my fingers are crossed!

Have a good rest of your day/night!