South of SomeWhere (-Editing-)

|Blackmail|

*Flashback*

When my eyesight adjusts, I see that I'm standing one of the many rooms in the castle. A tinkle, and drip of water catch my attention, and I focus on a little girl pouring herself a steaming cup of tea. Peppermint assuages my nose, and my I find myself feel calm. Then, I realize who the girl is. It's me. I stare at myself sitting at a small table etched with flowers and painted pale pink, in front of a dark oak window seat. The room looks like the library, but I can't be. The curtains are a warm shade of red with little blue and white flowers sewn sparatically on the draping cloth. I'm smaller,... childlike.

'Maybe I am a child...'

"Where is she Lizbeth?" I hear a voice talking to someone else. It's John's.

"In her playroom," I hear the response. It's her voice. The mystery girl from the book.

The door creaks open, and mini me keeps on playing tea party. I feel frozen and almost intruding.

'But if you were intruding,' my mind tells me,' this wouldn't be about you.'

I stare at mini me, who obliviously ignores his entrance. "Ayvee." His voice is soft, and I swing my head around only to catch my breath at the piercing blue of his eyes. They almost look photo shopped.

"I heard you with sissy." This voice must have put the fear of the gods in him for I see his back and the muscles in his forearms squeeze. He shuts the door and doesn't turn.

"Father wants to talk..." He begins, but she cuts him off.

"I saw you kiss her."

"What are you talking about?" His voice is suddenly paniced, and all I can think is, 'I have a sister? When did that happen?'

"Sit." She gestures toward the table. In my addled way, I try as well, but I find myself glued to the spot I'm standing on. With slow calculated steps, he makes his way to the and table and sits on the floor.

Young me leans forward. She doesn't look at him. "You want some tea."

"No," he growls, and it sends a shiver up my spine. His voice. It's still the same as it was today, yesterday, and in the past.

She smiles calculatingly, and sips her tea. "Then let's make a deal."

"I'm not making deals with a thirteen-year-old," he responds in an offended tone of voice.

"Then, I'll call mummy and tell her what you've been up to." Thirteen- year-old me smiles wider.

"Are you blackmailing me?" She grins. A low snarl sounds in the back of his throat. "Forget it." He makes a move to stand up, and she opens her mouth. "ISABELL!!"

He drops back the ground with a thud. "What the hell are you doing?" he swears.

"Calling reinforcements," she answers proudly. Footsteps sound outside in the hallway. A second passes of nothing, but staring. Joshua sizing younger me up, seeing what I'm capable of, and younger me seeing if he'll give in... no wait, knowing he will. After what feels like an eternity, he yields.

"What do you want?" A pause follows accompanied by the sound of slowly approaching footsteps.

Without so much as a spec of hestation, young me brazenly commands,"Kiss me."

I think John's...erhm...I mean Joshua's mouth drops two stories.

"You have to be bloody kidding me." His face is stunned and livid at the same time. What does that make it? Ltunnid? I'm surprised that a face can hold two such warring emotions at once.

"Nope," she responds popping the P with relish.

"An' why wouldna do tha'?" That endearing accent is back. I realize it comes when he's let down his guard.

"Becuase we're betrothed," she starts and he gives a disgusted look," and you don't want my daddy to know you like sissy. For one kiss I'll make all your problems go away, and I wont tell anyone. Not a soul." Young me giggles childishly.

Balancing his forearms on the table, he leans forward slightly, and she eagerly does as well. "One kiss?" Her eyes turn to slits.

"What are you afraid of Joshua?" she asks, and the question sounds so familiar. Now I know why it seemed the right thing to say the moment I met him. It's because I've been asking him it for years.

I find myself whispering two words,"Give in." But he doesn't.

"Not doing it." Is his blunt reply.

"Fine then," she says grumply, leaning backwards in her chair.

'So, this is over then?'

She whirls around, and his eyes widen in recognition. "ISABELL HUR...!" The footsetps quicken.

"No, hush!" he hisses, and in one jerk grabs her... I mean my dress front, and pulls me toward him.

The steps are so close. "I'm going to rot in hell for this," he growls under his breath, and their noses touch. For an instant she looks scared, and then, his mouth meets young me's, and I'm swirling, feeling the emotion of that first kiss, zinging my lips. His tongue in my mouth and the taste of him, and his hair between my fingers. Then, I'm dragged back to reality, and John pulls back, as if feeling the desperation which I'm putting into kissing him.

I reach for him. Hot white pain grips my head in its vise and I'm unable to support my own weight. I feel myself falling. Everything is blurry, and I can hear people screaming. Joshua stands staring down at me, his face covered in realization. "You're not her," he whispers. With one fluid movement, he bends and I reach for him like a child, and his hand clutches mine. For the second time in the evening I find myself blacking out, but before I do I hear a voice in my mind.

"It's John princess. My name is John."

A/N AH! Looking at this chapter, I see that it is really short and kinda lacking details, but I'm sick and want to continue, so that I get to have fun writing things I haven't already written. Thanks for reading and please comment if you like this. Btdubs, can we officially say that Ayvee Ann as a young thing is a little off her rocker? Lmao.