prince ♛ cole mackenzie

18 | annual christmas pantomime

Silas met Cole outside the town hall for the annual Christmas Pantomime. Although his arm was still tied in a sling, Cole was looking more radiant than ever.

"Hi," said Silas.

Cole smiled, unable to contain the happiness in his voice, "Hello. Do you want to go in?"

They took their seats on the row three from the front, a good place for Cole to say his one promised line —he lost a bet to Silas and this was his penalty—.

A heavy buzz filled the bustling room. The audience seemed eager for the show to start.

"I hear Billy's an eagle. He's doing the prologue and epilogue," Cole whispered.

"That's a shame. I always liked those birds."

The curtains opened and true enough, there stood Billy in a knitted white eagle costume.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, one and all, to The Tale of The Magical Island. Hoot!" announced Billy. He lifted his arms to display the wings of his cloak. "Hoot, hoot!"

The crowd laughed; Silas and Cole gave each other an amused-yet-unimpressed look.

"There once was a magical island. A magic, fantastical island— where a fairy queen did rule," Billy began the song.

Diana entered the stage in an elegant royal blue dress with a thin chiffon shawl and a sparkling wand.

She continued. "The people worked hard in farm, orchard and yard. They harvest and sow, they garden and grow."

The rest of the ensemble joined in the lyrics and performed the movements and acting.

"They harvest!" chanted Diana.

"We harvest!" repeated the students.

"They sow!"

"We sow!"

"They garden!"

"We garden!"

"They grow!"

"We grow!"

"We harvest, we sow; we garden, we grow. All manner of things, the bounty of kings."

The song continued onto the starring role, Josie Pye's scenes, though it wasn't Josie on the stage in a farmboy's outfit. It was a certain redhead.

Anne was a brilliant actress. She passionately expressed her parts without overdoing it and reacted correctly to other characters' lines.

"Because you have been hardworking and good, I bestow upon you this golden apple tree."

Moody, Charlie, Henry and another boy hurried onstage to form a tree with their arms. Moody was late, as expected.

"Like the one you painted," Silas murmured to Cole.

"I'm not sure mine had as much character," Cole whispered back.

"It was exquisite."

Silas tilted slightly to lean against Cole's shoulder through the rest of the play. His eyes slowly began to feel heavy, feeling safe and content beside the one who mattered most to him in the world. Until, of course, Billy was concussed when a lightning bolt fell onto his head.

"He deserved that," Cole told him, realising Silas had returned to the land of the living.

"Maybe he won't wake up."

"It's not Christmas yet, Si."

Silas grinned at him. "Still. It doesn't hurt to hope."

A man was pushed onto the stage suddenly, to scattered laughter. Silas recognised him as Matthew Cuthbert, Anne's adopted father. He was Anne's adopted father, though, wasn't he?

if marilla's her mother and he's marilla's brother, that counts, right? or maybe he's just a fatherly uncle.

Matthew stood on the stage blankly for a while. He seemed to be remembering something sad, for his eyes shone like he was on the verge of tears.

"And they all lived happily, ever after!" Matthew exclaimed at last.

The audience clapped and whistled, and then again when the cast of the pantomime reappeared to bow and sing carols.

Cole and Silas congratulated their friends afterwards. Jane was most embarrassed and refused to speak to Silas after he told her she'd not make the best Odette if she ever performed Swan Lake.

He enjoyed the show very much; Jane had done her swan actions timidly, while Ruby was late for almost every movement. Tillie seemed to have talent in acting. She gave the dancing her all and made relevant facial expressions to every line spoken.

Silas voiced his opinions to Cole, who listened quietly as they exited the hall.

"Your scenery did look great up there. Wasn't Anne the perfect Boy?"

"Thanks, yeah, she did do well. Maybe she'll add actress to the long list of other things she'd like to be," Cole replied.

"It's probably already on there."

The pair laughed. They stopped walking at a blackberry bush to say goodbye.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" said Silas.

Cole nodded. "Yeah. Tonight was great."

"Perfect."

"Perfect."

"Merry Christmas, Cole," he smiled.

♛ ✧ *✭˚･ﾟ✧*.

𝓥: in chapter 3 anne mentions jane and ruby's dancing when she talks to silas, which is just a detail i added to give jane interests and more personality etc so that's what the odette thing is about + any short paragraphs/lines in italic are silas's thoughts❣️❣️