Chapter Text
“She will make an excellent fighter.”
Words that Larissa Weems heard often throughout her childhood. The young blonde was always found running around in her older brother's helmet that constantly slipped down her face, wooden sword in hand, pretending to protect the princess, which was almost always her cuddly giraffe plush. Her father supported her behaviour wholeheartedly, as did her brother when he would return home from duty for visits.
“I’LL PROTECT YOU, MY LADY.” The usually quiet voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs where Larissa’s father set up a trap for the giraffe teddy. Sword gripped tightly in hand, blonde locks tangled and unruly, and a look of confidence spread across the child's face. In her world, the staircase was a mountain, and a fire-breathing dragon awaited her, princess.
Just as she was about to launch herself up the stairs, an arm wrapped around her waist, stopping her.
“And suddenly a ferocious knight swoops in and steals the young knight off of her feet, for it I shall save the princess.” The voice that she would recognise any day. A voice that she adored.
“JAMIE!” The sword was long gone on the floor, and the young girl kicked herself down from her older brother's grip only to turn around and jump back in his arms. He smelt expensive, a scent Larissa had only smelt in the rich part of town when her father had to do a delivery there. Why did he smell like that?
“Did you miss me that much, squirt?” The man asked, nuzzling into Larissa tightly; he hadn’t seen his little sister in over seven months. Each time he departed, there was a new level of worry about the next time he’d see her.
“I missed you lots and lots and lots and lots,” Larissa giggled, poking Jamie with every ‘lots’ that left her lips, to which he replied by tipping her upside down, causing her to start belly laughing.
Jamie was quite a bit older than Larissa; the age gap of ten years separated them quite a bit, with Larissa only being eight whilst he was eighteen, but still, when they were together the age gap never mattered; she was his breath of fresh air from the duties he had been doing for the last three years.
“Shall we save your princess and go find Dad?” He asked, dropping her down to the floor, pulling off his cloak to wrap around the small blonde. Big blue eyes looked up at him adoringly for a moment before she grabbed her sword from the floor.
The two of them created an epic battle which ended in them both beheading the toy dragon her father created, which could lose its head. With a sense of accomplishment, the two of them made their way to the kitchen, giraffe princess in hand, to sit at the table and talk to their father over tea.
“So son, your letter – you represent the Addams family now. How extraordinary,” their father started, though Larissa was too busy stuffing her face with some apple pie to really pay attention.
Bits of the conversation came into her ears, such as the part about the son of the family, Gomez, who was Larissa's age. She got all excited for a moment before realising he was a part of the royal family and therefore wouldn’t be interested in playing princesses with her.
Jamie's job was to be the personal guard to Eudora Addams, occasionally accompanying Fester, Gomez and Cosimo when required. He said it paid well, and he had more flexibility to visit home, as they were a house that prided themselves on family time.
When the time for Jamie to depart came, Larissa pulled him into a tight hug, tears swelling in her sleepy eyes.
“Don’t forget to bring me back some chocolate.” She whispered in his ear after hearing him talk about the families' arrays of food for the staff. “Only if you promise to be good, fight strong and never give up, even when times are tough, even when the world turns its back on you, even if you ever find yourself alone. You keep going, Larssy, pinkie promise?”
Her brother's hand was twice the size of her own, calloused from wielding a sword and the manual work he does in comparison to her soft, petite hands. So the pinkie promise resulted in her wrapping her entire pinkie around his, sealing it with a kiss.
Time had passed, and Larissa became a familiar name in the Addams family estate, visiting now and again after Gomez had begged his mother and father to allow it. The two of them would sword fight with these sticks that Larissa thought were funny, which Gomez corrected her on every time, but never with criticism; no, never, he always tried to teach the girl things here and there.
“It’s an épée, Lady Weems, one that is about to—” Gomez was cut off mid-sentence as Larissa made a manoeuvre which the now twelve-year-old had been practising, causing him to be poked with the protected tip of the sword. “Snooze, you lose, Sir Addams.” She replied in her accent, which was starting to get more posh as time grew on.
By the time they were both sixteen, Larissa and Gomez had become very good friends; she would argue he was her best friend. He would wind her up and tell her that Fester was his best friend, though they both knew that secretly she was.
Larissa towered over most once she hit puberty and even now was still growing; the only person who was on par with her in any sense was Jamie, who she saw less of as the kingdoms started to fall apart due to the heads of the Addams family needing to do visits. But each time they did see each
Gomez was her rock when her father died and Jamie was out of the country on a royal visit. It was then that the duo shared their first sleepover, Mr Addams allowing it after the teen boy begged his father on the grounds that Larissa would stay in his bed whilst he slept on the floor. Always a gentleman. After that, sleepovers became a somewhat monthly thing between them when Larissa wasn’t working to try and keep the cottage.
It was Christmas, and with both the heads of the Addams household away with Jamie, Larissa was invited over. The group of teens/young adults were sitting around opening presents; Larissa had hand-carved them all a little wooden sign with their name and favourite animal on whilst they all spoilt her.
The evening was going perfectly; games were played, food was devoured, and they had found themselves sitting on the castle roof watching some fireworks. It was… almost too perfect.
The sound of the horse carriage caused the four of them to shoot their heads up and scramble down from the roof, knowing they weren’t meant to be up there. Why were they back so early?
Hushed voices muttered to each other as they rushed down to the foyer; Larissa had a bad feeling about all of this. She instinctively pulled a dagger from her boot to protect the boys, her grip around it so tight that if it were a living, breathing thing, it’d be dead from the lack of circulation. Entering the doorway were the heads of the household, their faces pale, ghost-like.
“Larissa…” Mama Addams, as she had grown to call her, spoke, the woman being the first motherly figure she had in her life. She stepped towards the blonde, a look of sadness on her face that she had never seen the woman possess before. “I’m so sorry…”
Her face screwed up all puzzled; what had she done to need to apologise? That’s when it hit her; oh boy, did it hit her. “Where’s Jamie?” Her voice choked out as she looked around frantically for her brother. “Larissa, your brother was such a brave man… he—” Eudora took a deep, shaky breath in, her hands reaching out to the teenager. “There had been a setup, a planned assassination… Your brother fought them off so courageously; he didn’t see the last one until he went from me, and he jumped in the way. The sword was too deep… I’m so sorry, dear.”
The world fell silent apart from the sound of the dagger clanging to the floor before Larissa dropped to her knees, immediately breaking down into tears. Without hesitation the family all dropped to their knees around her; even Milo Addams, the king, the head of the household, knelt down with Larissa and comforted her. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, holding Larissa, allowing the girl time to grieve for the last standing member of her family and the most important member in her eyes.
When she eventually was able to get up, Eudora had the maids run her a bath, instructing them to make up the guest bedroom nearest Gomez’s room. The whole family made the effort to make the evening as comfortable as possible for her, even offering her a place to live. But she refused at first, not wanting to leech off of the rich family.
“What if Larissa was my guard? My knight, in fact. She could accompany me,, and we could pay her for her duty like her brother.” Gomez chimed in, the suggestion lingering in Larissa's head for a moment; all she wanted was to be a knight like her brother… “I’ll do it.”