James's P.O.V.
It's been a week since Thomas and I sent a letter to the Schuyler Sisters saying to come join us here in Base 1776. No response, but that's expected. I'm just waiting for them to show up, and for Peggy to be all like 'Sup.' I sigh and rest my head on the table. Slouching isn't good, I know, but the feeling of having to wait is horrible! I just hope, really really hope, that they get here soon. Especially Peggy. I miss my gay twin. I mean, I love Thomas but Peggy is basically my best friend. I really miss her, and her sisters. Laf, Herc, and the rest are nice but...the Schuyler Sisters will forever be in my platonic heart.
"James? Wassup my dude?" I hear Hercules from behind me.
"Nothing, j-just waiting for someone," I mumble incoherently. Apparently, Hercules heard me because then he sits next to me.
"Yo, it'll be fine. I'm sure Thomas will be back soon from his scouting trip," Hercules says reassuringly. I look up, confused. Oh...he thinks I'm talking about Thomas.
"Oh, no no, I invited some old friends who happen to be medics to this base, but I'm just waiting for them to arrive," I smile, but Hercules seems to be preoccupied with something in the sky.
"Um...like them?" Hercules points upwards, and I look up to see three girls coming towards us, in flashes of pink, blue and yellow. I grin, stand up, and start waving. They're here! They're finally here! Peggy dives down and I climb over the table and run to greet her. She lands on the ground and stumbles for a bit before regaining her balance. Peggy looks up and grins.
"Sup."
Typical Peggy. I chuckle, before hugging her.
"Gosh, Pegster, I've missed you so very much," I say sincerely. Peggy giggles and breaks away from the hug.
"Missed ya too, James. Welp, where are we staying?" Peggy puts her hands on her waist expectantly as Angelica and Eliza land next to her.
"Hi, James!" Eliza beams and Angelica nods in greeting.
"Hey. So glad that you're here," I smile for the tenth time since they arrived. We chat, just some small talk, for a while before I hear some wings flapping behind me.
"Uh, hello? Why wasn't I notified that we have visitors?" I spin around to Lafayette grinning, with Hercules at his side.
"Hello General Lafayette," Angelica says cheerfully. "James sent us a letter saying that Base 1776 needs a medic, so my sisters and I decided to help," She smiles. I start jumping up and down excitedly.
"Wow, well, that's great," Lafayette says. "Here, I'll lead to the medic tent-"
"Ooh, Thomas and I can help you set up!" I interrupt, grabbing Peggy's arm to lead her to the medics tent. I hope Thomas is back by now.
"Jameesss!" Just as our group reaches Theo's old medic tent, I hear a familiar southern accent above me. Thomas crashes into me in a hug.
"Hey Thomas," I laugh. We pull away and he finally notices that the Schuyler sisters are here.
"Oh. Hey!" He smiles. Eliza giggles as Angelica walks into the tent.
"Woah, this space is huge," I hear her mutter. The medic's tent is always bigger than the others since it needs the space to care for multiple patients at a time.
"Well, I'll leave y'all to it," Lafayette announces. He and Hercules leave to go do who knows what.
We spend the next two hours helping the sisters set up their equipment, and at some point, Carl, who had been stabbed a week and a bit ago, came in for his last checkup. After he had been approved to be completely healed.
Peggy yawns, stretching her arms and wings. "Welp, I'm bored. Hey James, wanna take a walk around the forest?" I nod happily.
"Thomas, we'll hang out later, I promise," I say solemnly. "See you later!" I give a quick kiss before bouncing off to hang with Peggy. As we walk past the first wave of trees Peggy raises an eyebrow at me.
"So, you and Thomas seem quite close, huh?" She says teasingly. I roll my eyes as a tint of red appears on my face.
"Y-yeah, I guess, I mean, it's been going pretty well recently, other than a few of my...outbursts," My voice grows quieter as I speak. Peggy knows about my past with the Humans, and was there for me with Thomas a few times where I grew too depressed about it. But now that she's here, it'll be fine now! I'm sure of it. Y-yeah.
"Hey, it's fine James. As long as you move on eventually, I'll be proud," Peggy says reassuringly. I smile and thank her. We continue walking and talking about whatever we want, our conversation moving from mushrooms to pets to food. We talked about food a lot. Eventually, we come across a waterfall that looks really familiar to me...Oh! This must be the waterfall where Thomas lost his Wings all those weeks ago. But we walked from the opposite direction...it must just look very similar.
"Wait...what?" Peggy exclaims, confused. "I thought we walked the other way..."
"I think it just looks really similar," I answer. Peggy's mouth opens like 'Ohhhh...' and we share a laugh. We decide to sit next to the water since we're too lazy to keep walking. At some point in our conversation, Peggy looks far off at the waterfall and looks kind of...sorrowful.
"Peggy? What's up?" I ask, ready to comfort her. All these time where Peggy has had to help me, now's the time to help her. Peggy sighs, the sound of it just pure grief.
"Have I ever told you about Maria?" Peggy faces me. I recall her mentioning that she lost her best friend to Human soldiers, and that's also how she lost her Wings. Perhaps the best friend was Maria? Nevertheless, I shake my head.
"Well, Maria was amazing. She had black hair, uh, her favourite colour was red, and-"
"Were you two dating?" I blurt out. Peggy lets out a breath and moves a curl of hair out of her face to behind her ear.
"Yeah. Maria was my girlfriend. She was the best girlfriend I have ever had," Peggy snorts as if remembering something funny. "Wanna hear a story?"
"Sure," I say, getting comfortable on the grass. Peggy smiles and starts.
Flashback
Peggy's P.O.V.
"Peggy! Wake up!" I hear my girlfriend Maria call. I groan.
"Five more minutes..." I mumble. Maria giggles and shakes me awake. "Okay okay, I'm awake!" I exclaim, sitting up and yawning.
"Peggy we're gonna have a picnic today let's go." Maria grabs my arms and pulls me out of bed. Wait...we're having a picnic today? Why doesn't she tell me things are happening before they actually happen.
"Do we even have any food?" I shake my wings to wake myself up faster.
"Uh, no, but I was hoping your sisters would give us some," Maria says, walking into her bathroom to change. I laugh, AS IF my sisters would part with their precious food. I repeat my thought to Maria.
She walks out of the bathroom with her favourite red dress on and frowns. "Surely they'll give us a little bit..." I shake my head. They wouldn't. I know my sisters like I know my own mind. Us Schuylers would never give up our food.
"We'll have to get our own food," I announce. Maria grins.
"Alright, an adventure. Let's go!" Maria grabs my arm -again- and we fly out of her house.
We land in front of the Rainbow Tavern, the most well-known restaurant in Maria's neighborhood.
"Maria what are you planning-" I'm cut off as Maria struts off towards it confidently. A young man who must work there greets her.
"Hello ma'am, a table for how many exactly?" He asks politely, his light lavender wings shaking in the wind.
"Uh, do you guys have take away?" Maria asks awkwardly. I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop laughing. Rainbow Tavern is super formal and for rich folks! Ahah!
"What? Uhm, n-no?" The young man says, clearly surprised at Maria's question.
"Really? That's awful service, don't you think?" She says back, fluttering her eyebrows. Ohhoho, now Maria's using her looks. Normally I don't like this, but now it's for food. Fair enough, amirite?
"Uh, I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave, ma'am," He replies, starting to sweat. The young man turns away and goes to (probably) hide inside the building. Maria groans and walks back to me.
"Let's go try another restaurant," She says. I roll my eyes.
"Why don't we just buy food from somewhere and make sandwiches?" I suggest. Maria groans and punches me playfully.
"Cus that's boring," She whines. I laugh and let her lead me away.
End of flashback
James's P.O.V.
So, Maria dragged me around and tried to get take away at a TON of restaurants," Peggy giggles as I listen intently. "After the whole afternoon was wasted, I finally convinced her to buy bread and stuff so we could make sandwiches," She finished. I laugh. What a day that must've been.
"How was the actual picnic?" I ask, hoping that there's more to the story. Peggy's smiles drops off her face and is replaced with a nervous expression.
"Well, you see, the next day was actually when I lost my wings," She says carefully. "And also when Maria lost her..." Oh. That was the day where Maria died.
"Oh, Peggy..." I lean over and give her a big ol' hug. "I'm sure Maria is still here today, in your heart," I add. Peggy's sniffs.
"Yeah, I guess," Peggy hugs back before pulling away and glancing at the sky. "We should head back, looks like the sun is gonna start setting any second now," She comments. I nod and we both get up. I look around for a bit.
"Which way is..."
"No problem James, I'll just carry you. Man, I'm still so happy that I got my wings back," Peggy smiles. I grin as well as Peggy picks me up and we make our way back to Base 1776.
Once we get there, Peggy lands us in the barracks and the first thing I hear is Thomas and Alexander arguing. Eh, normal enough. Better go break that up though...
(1669 words)