Rock

Strong, dependable, enduring, supportive, and steadfast. Those were the words Cora would use to describe rocks. Why was she describing rocks? Well, it was because of what June said to her earlier that day...

"Oh Cora!" she sighed dramatically. "You've been such a loyal, devoted, constant companion of mine! I simply can't thank you enough!"

"Well that's no reason not to try," Cora replied teasingly and June laughed in reply.

"Certainly not, my knight in shining armor, my love and my life!" June kept up the praises and honors.

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Cora was sure she was blushing. "I swear that you're absolutely incorrigible!"

"But it's true!" June protested. "You're my rock!"

"Your rock?" Cora snorted in reply. It was kind of an anticlimactic compliment after all of the other ones June gave her.

"Yes!" June responded, overlooking Cora's dismissive response. "You're my strong, supportive, and protective foundation. You're my whole world!" she threw her arms open happily and Cora found herself even more in love with the blond after that moment.

Initially, Cora didn't believe herself worthy of such a compliment, but as time passed, she realized it was true. She was June's rock. She was June's shoulder to cry on, her friend to tell secrets to, her savior if she ever got in trouble, and her calm advisor if she was stressed or in need of advise. Cora really was June's rock! From that day forward, Cora took this job very seriously. She continued to aid her friend at every beck and call, maintaining that steadfast and unshaking loyalty the blond had complimented her for having. Even after they died and went to Heaven together, Cora stayed as June's best friend and enduring rock. Unfortunately, it was about that time in her life that Cora began to learn what else a rock was and some of those things weren't all that pleasant.

Not long after joining Heaven, June began an affair with God's top man: Agent. Agent was far from a bad person, but he had won June's heart and it was enough to render him poorly in Cora's eyes.

"He's using you!" Cora warned one night as June slid back into the applicant dorm, starry eyed and giggly.

"Oh don't be such a wet blanket, Stein!" June replied, spinning Cora about and completely missing the hurt in her blue eyes. "You should be happy for me!" she added, trying to guilt-trip her friend. It worked and Cora, as hard as it was to say it, agreed.

"You're right. I am. I guess I just..." but she couldn't go on. Not that it mattered though, because the moment June got Cora to say what she wanted, her delight doubled and she skipped off again without bothering to wait for Cora. It was then that Cora learned that rocks, no matter how constant, were never respected. You would never bow or listen to a rock, right? No. And Cora was the same. Always ignored, never respected.

But this wasn't the only lesson Cora received in what being someone's rock might truly entail.

"I can't," Cora muttered after June begged her to go on another mad adventure.

"Why not?" June pouted playfully. "I need you in case you have to come rescue me!" she joked. But Cora just shook her head. Finally, June seemed to somber up. "Well, I guess I'll go by myself then," she muttered, turning from Cora and walking off without ever looking back.

"Wait!" Cora called before June rounded a corner. When June turned to Cora, a huge, knowing grin was on her face. "What can I do?" she asked.

"I'm so glad you asked," June replied with a conspiratorial grin on her face.

The pair didn't get in the least bit of trouble in their adventures, but later on, Cora couldn't help but be mad at June anyways. Who was she to treat Cora like a mere servant and not an equal? She was always pushing Cora around and never asking Cora what she wanted to do! It was only ever about June's whims and desires! Then again, that's what rocks were for. They were always being walked upon or used by somebody else for their own personal gain. Rocks were the foundation, not the castle nor the nobility that lived inside. Rocks never had their own demands met because they were too busy meeting the demands of others. They were always inferior.

Another argument based around Agent cropped up again following these events.

"You're jealous!" June said gleefully. Cora was far too proud to reply, but neither of them needed words to know that Cora was indeed jealous. "Oh, you'll be fine!" June said dismissively as Cora remained silent. Then, for the millionth time, Cora was forced to watch as June sauntered away from her and back to Agent. Lesson three, a rock didn't have feelings or a voice. Or if it did, nobody cared.

Cora's next lesson about rocks came on the night June was expelled from Heaven. June and Cora had gotten into another fight followed by Cora getting lectured by Watchword. Following that, she stormed back to the dorm, yanked on her nightclothes, and launched herself under the covers so nobody would see her cry. In short, it had been a rough evening. But Cora had only been asleep a few hours before a siren went off.

"The library!" the brunette screamed once she realized where the noise was coming from. She knew it was the library because June's bed was totally empty and the girl had expressed, for far too long and with far too much verve, how badly she wanted to read a banned book. That was all it took before she was flying down the halls, hardly aware of the confused girls who'd stumbled after her out of fear. Together as one, Cora and the applicants, female and male both, ran through Heaven's halls and up to the library.

What Cora saw there was her worst fear realized. June was getting beaten by the cops and she was about to be cast down to Hell and far away from Cora, forever. All the while, Cora had to watch. It was horrible, especially when she caught a glance of June's face as the cops dragged her off. The whole right half of her face was bloody and her left eye darted madly with fear before meeting Cora's eyes. Cora had been too scared to do anything even though June was silently begging for help. Yes, Cora remembered a lot about that night, even far into the future after event was long over. But she never remembered moving. No. Only watching. Just watching as her best friend was dragged to Hell. Why? Because rocks were immobile. For all their strength, a rock didn't move. They couldn't save a person from falling. They would only make it worse.

Another lesson learned came a bit later following June's... expulsion. As the girl had come to expect, it was another harsh one. This time, it occurred to her while she was, yet again, crying out for June under the safety of her bed covers. Cora could practically feel herself falling apart because she hadn't just lost June that night. She had lost herself. She always fancied herself as a protector and a good-doer, but what decent person let someone they love get thrown to Hell without so much as a word? So Cora continued to wallow in self-loathing, feeling her mental health deteriorating like a rock being weathered away by time. That was the lesson. Even the strongest and largest of rocks could be worn down.

But the worst lesson Cora ever learned about rocks came to her years after all of this had happened. In addition, unlike the other lessons, this one kind of crept up on her. It didn't strike her, she just kind of realized it. And what was that lesson? Well, it came in the form of a phrase.

"Stone hearted," she whispered. "That's what they used to say about people who could withstand the suffering of others without pity, right?" yes, it was. Stone-hearted. A person whose heart was unmoved by the pain of others. This certainly described Cora. She no longer mourned June. She no longer felt anything for the girl she used to love so ardently. Heck, Cora hardly felt anything anymore. That was when an old saying from life returned to her. She had become stone-hearted. "I am still June's rock," she told herself. "Well, maybe not," she amended later. "But I am a rock through and through," she reaffirmed. "And, like a rock, I can't feel nothing at all."

AN: This was just to show Cora's character descent and characterization through metaphors and I wanted to throw that last line in there so badly that I just had to write out the entire story. So this was more of a chronicling as opposed to one set story. And yes, I know some events are out of order but, in my stories, June was in Heaven for several months before falling, not just one day like in the film.