A Slip Through Worlds (Part 10)
Silver tries to get back home, away from @idiotwithanipad 's Gore AU.
-
The melody is familiar. But she can't place where.
Twirling beneath the arm of a seven foot tall Elven princess, Silver listens carefully the piece being plaid by the nymphs who make up the orchestral band at the side of the party. Several slow, gentle notes on a piano before the violins joined in. Different, but similar to something...
Her dance partner's long, pointed fingers squeeze her hand as she tugs Silver close against her ebony gown that sparkled like the stars against the vastness of space.
"I hope you're not distracted, sweet Lady." The ethereal creature with razor sharp ears smiles down at her; "We are ever so delighted you have agreed to stay."
Silver returns the smile, her knees turning to jelly a little again at the sight of the gorgeous humanoid woman. Elven girls had been her biggest fantasy crush, ever since her dad first read Fellowship of the Ring with her. Watching them come to life on the big screen two years before she died, Silver didn't think she'd come closer to an Elf princess than that.
She certainly didn't think she'd be dancing with one at a ball, surrounded by Fae and Vampires and other mythological beings, held in her arms beneath a moonlit sky while the band played...
Leading you down into my core
Where I've become so numb
Evanescence. They're playing Evanescence...at this high fantasy ball.
The setting begins to feel a little more solid around her. Before, she'd assumed she'd indulged in a little too much fairy wine, which was why she felt so light and floaty. Simply willing to revel in the dance, drawn blissfully to the most beautiful creature wanting to take her hand.
The Elven Princess towers over her, with hair like waves of spider silk tumbling down her back. Silver could quite easily rest her head back against her chest and enjoy the melody and the warmth of her embrace...
Without a soul,
My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there and lead it back....home
Silver tenses up. There is no vocalist in the band and yet the lyrics ring clear in her head as if Amy Lee were right beside her.
Amy...
Those fingers glide through her hair; "Is something the matter, Lady Silver?"
Many things. She takes a deep breath, gathering her thoughts, what she can be certain of. The pieces of her life that have been brushed aside like defeated chess pieces.
Chess. That was one thing. Chess. Moon. Soft fur. Smell of wet dog.
Bit by bit, the memories began to ground her as she remembered who they belonged to. Anchors. Yes, that's what she needed. Something solid and heavy as a ten ton stone of iron to keep herself focused. Normally, trying such a thing in a dream would cause a normal person to wake. Good thing she was far from normal.
Smiling demurely, she pulled away from the arms of her partner.
"Forgive me, Your Highness. I just...require a visit to the buffet to grab some shrimp. Then I'll be right back." Silver improvises, keeping in character.
Daughter of the Great Witch of the Woods. Princess of the Enchanted Forest.
She might be watching. Her 'mother'.
The Elf maiden's eyes widened in hurt and disappointment, their violet irises glinting; "Oh? But the song has only just begun..."
She holds out her hand, those spindly fingers and that ivory skin... Silver gulped.
"Don't worry, hot stuff. I'll be back before it's finished." She gave her best curtsey before dashing off.
Tall, elegantly dressed figures in long tailcoats, cloaks, gowns and masks all peered at her as she walked briskly, holding up her skirts a little so as not to trip. She excused herself politely and ignored any attempts to grab her attention.
Chess. She takes a deep breath as she remembers her anchor. Chess. Moon. Furs.
Robin. Robin. Robin.
Home.
As she reaches the table, there is a seafood platter laid out with all her favorite morsels, from a prawn cocktail fountain to oysters, muscles and smoked salmon. Further along she spots the largest red velvet cake ever and a whole pile of...Fucking Echo bars, holy Hestia! She really had done her homework.
How long had it been since she'd eaten anything? Twenty years? Nearly thirty?
No...
She picks up a Cadbury Caramel Egg in her hand and peers at it. Only recently had she tasted one of these. Silver closed her eyes, one imaginary hand clinging to her anchor as the rest of her tried to remember the past couple of days with more clarity.
Do nots eat the food of fairyfolk, little'en. You bes bound to them forever.
But she had eaten the food. Well, not really. Because none of it had been real. Just a trick of the mind, no different than this. All just in her head. And yet...it felt so real. More real than anything she'd experienced in her dreams before. What was different here? Other than everything suddenly feeling much...deeper. Like she was on some deep, lower level of reality.
Despite the fact the party was taking place in a garden decorated with fae lights, not a cloud in the night sky, the moon shining...
The moon. She looked up. That's it. The moon was full.
She was asleep. Not just under the witch's magic but in a proper dream, though clearly with some of Not Mary's little bonuses, to keep her content.
Keep her trapped.
"Help me. Help me, Goddess." She whispered up to the silver white orb. "Lead me home."
A rustle of leaves came nearby.
Silver turned her head to see, outside the silk banners that cordoned off the edges of the party, were a row of hedges. Nearly hidden behind a tree, a section of branches and leaves had shriveled outward to form a small opening.
An escape.
Silver smiled, "Thank you!" She grinned up to the moon, before quickly taking her leave.
Don't look back. Don't be tempted to return. Don't think about the sexy Elven girl who could step on her with those amazing legs- No, really Silver, now is the worst time to be horny!
Holding onto her dress, nearly missing her simple leggings and short skirt, Silver ducked beneath the banner and into the gap in the hedge.
A dark tunnel awaited her. Small and cramped. She had to keep her head down, so her hair was not to be caught on any sharp twigs.
Another rustle.
Turning her head, she saw that the hedge had closed itself behind her. Exhaling, she told herself that was for the better. None of the creatures in that dream, probably placed there by Nary herself, could follow her. Once more, she touched her pentacle.
Even in this universe, she could have faith in her gods. They would be on her side. Just believe, Silver.
There was light up ahead. Near blindingly bright.
With every step, Silver shivered at the thought of Not Mary's face suddenly appearing at the end, in all it's burned, skeletal horror. Those glowing ember eyes peering at her. And then collapsing the tunnel as punishment and leaving Silver to suffocate in the dark.
She shook her head. Nope. Don't do that.
Anchor. Keep hold of the anchor.
In her mind, it becomes more like a lifeline thrown from a ship as she clings to it, letting herself be tugged safely back on board. Almost there. The light is getting brighter.
When Silver finally emerges, she straightens up, finding herself standing in what seems to be a wide, endless void of nothing. Heavy beige fog rises in the distance and the ground seems to be solid, swirling clouds. But there is nothing. No sound. No temperature. There is light but without any direct source.
She knew this place. It wasn't the first time she'd been here. But when?
Slowly, she stepped away from the tunnel. The sound of her boots treading upon the floor echoed as if she were walking upon a sound stage. Was she still dreaming? She could never imagine her dreams being as....boring as this.
Part of the space before her seems a tad more grey than the rest of the void. Silver approaches it and begins to notice how, the closer she gets, the fog seems to darken and swirl and, on even closer inspection, tints of color begin to mix in. Then shadows. Images, obscure and blurry, but present.
She keeps walking, hoping it will become even clearer, the closer she gets. And then her face collides with an invisible wall.
"AH! Fucking hell!" She swore, rubbing at her nose.
Silver reaches her hand forward and finds her hand being splayed against what feels like a sheet of glass. As she walks to the side, keeping her palm pressed upon it, there doesn't seem to be an end to it. Or any sort of latch or handle.
An eternal wall.
Was this it? The same one that Not Amy and Not Mary had spoken about?
She glanced around. No sign of the witch. But she said this was where she would come to. This was what she knew her Silver had been lost behind, and needed to be opened to return her. Where was she? The hairs on the back of Silver's neck raised. Not knowing where she was, was far more terrifying than facing the fiery wraith.
Her stomach twisted with the tiniest reaction of guilt.
It hadn't been....fun, deceiving the witch. It seemed like the smartest option. Not Mary had been determined to break her mind and will, either through mental manipulation or just sheer time. Why not make it easier? If Other Silver was like her then Not Mary would know her weaknesses, her insecurities. Why wouldn't Silver's be the same?
And so she'd played the part for as long as she had to. There was nothing she could do about her situation until she was asleep, having no way of astral projecting while wide awake. She only knew how via lucid dreaming first.
It hadn't been too difficult. Just over a day, first simply sitting beside the witch, letting the woman stroke her hair and tell Silver she was making the right choice and she would come to love living there. She let Not Mary cast the illusions into her eyes, changing her clothes (which did look awesome, she wouldn't deny) as well as herself and the forest. Everything except Not Robin, oddly enough, who remained perched upon his rock.
Silver had sat at Not Mary's feet before a roaring stone fireplace, in the middle of the woods, letting the woman brush her hair and tell her stories.
She'd indulged her 'mum' in a stroll by the lake and even found herself gasping at the mermaids who leapt from the waters. She'd sat by the pond and taken her first sip of liquid since before her death.
Cream soda had danced on her tongue and she'd fought the urge to cry.
'Mum' had then summoned a picnic blanket along with a basket of treats. They'd sat in a field of grazing deer and Silver had picked up a....Cadbury Caramel egg. Her favorite at Easter time. So much better than the Creme ones.
She knew not to get distracted. Knew not to get seduced by everything Nary was offering her.
But...fuck, that chocolate tasted even better than she remembered.
"Messy little pup." 'Mum' had tutted as Silver stuffed the last piece into her mouth and smeard some filling on her lip. Mary had reached forward to lovingly wipe it off.
Again, Silver had to fight back tears.
As the sun had begun to set, it had been too soon for her to feel tired, yet she'd been contented to lay her head on Nary's lap and let the other woman sing to her, stroking her hair.
Perhaps...Perhaps it would be fine to pretend this was forever. If just to sell the act.
But her heart had twisted as 'Mum' had whispered to her;
"I dids never imagine I'd open my hearts again after my death. Now there be two spots, for both my little girls." She said; "Oh, Silver. We will be ever so happy together, you'll see."
She'd been tempted to reveal the truth then and there. Despite everything Nary had done to terrify her earlier, she had no desire to break the wraith's heart. Clearly it had suffered enough already.
Then the dragons had appeared, flying in over the treetops and landing nearby, tucking in their wings. Silver had never seen anything so incredible. Even in the dreams where she'd seen her and Amy riding the beasts before...it was another to see them truly corporeal before her eyes.
And to stroke her hand against its warm, shining scales. To climb the ridges on its neck and mount its head. To fly....Oh gods, to fly...!
"This shall be your life now, my sweet girl. Forever and evers." Nary had crooned as she sat behind her, holding her close; "Yous shall has your month long visit to the world of dreams, and when you wake, you shall live those dreams for real in my land. And yous shall laugh each moment with your mummy and darling sister at your side. Yous will never feel alone or unloved again."
It had been so tempting to forget the plan. To just let what 'Mum' said become her new reality. How could anything she have back in her universe compare....?
And then she smelled the burning. And she remembered Mary.
Her Mary. Her mum.
If staying in that world meant ending up in a different AfterAfterlife, meant risking never being reunited with HER mum again, then all the dragons and magic and chocolate eggs could not make up for it.
Not that she said such a thing out loud to the witch. Silver had merely smiled, rested back in Not Mary's arms, and watched the world pass miles beneath the dragon's bronze head.
Her one chance of escape lay in her sleep. Lucid dreaming had been a skill she'd honed well in her many long sleeps since the first time she collapsed beneath the moon in those woods. In her Living days as a newbie witch, she'd been told that lucid dreaming and astral projecting were often linked. There were a few special cases, like Amy, who didn't need the former to do the latter. It was all about crossing through the veil of reality.
She needed to find this great border between universes on her own, without the witch knowing. And she had, with the help of the Goddess.
Now how the fuck to get through?
How had she crossed the first time? She doesn't...
Wait...
Silver could still hear the music coming from the party, travelling through the tunnel to follow her.
Now that I know what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real...
Silver caressed the wall again and closed her eyes.
She'd been playing this song in her room. With Amy. Her Amy. They'd been singing (or screaming, Amy chose those parts) it while on her bed, using Silver's hairbrushes as pretend mics, as the song played on her CD player. She couldn't summon any fantasy when meeting Amy. There were no dragons to playing with. She could only pull what was in her memories, or Amy's from hers. But that was fine.
Her friend was with her. Her friend who she thought was gone, separated for who knows how long until it was Silver's time to be sucked off. Her friend who was happy to be used as a telephone between Silver and Mary. She knew how fucking lucky she was to have met Amy Bone.
When it had been time for their meeting to end for that night, for Amy to go visit her dad and Silver to slowly begin waking up, she'd taken a detour when leaving her room.
Normally, she returned back to wherever she was dreaming before. Her fantasy land that now felt like a cheap D&D meet-up compared to what Mary had shown her.
But something had called to her.
Mary?
No. Before that.
Laughter...Her own laughter...
She'd followed a path away from that which was safe and familiar to her. Far away from her own head. She searched for the source of the laugh. She'd walked and walked and found everything beginning to fade to grey around her, swallowed up by a rising mist that condensed into fog.
And then she'd walked into the wall. The first time.
But that laughter continued...coming from the other side.
Silver had peered into the glass, all the distorted images slowly clearing until she saw....
Black boots. Patterned leggings. A dirty pink skirt.
Her. It was her. Facing the other way.
There were leaves in her hair. That was the first obvious difference from this angle.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" She'd called.
No response at first. The laughter stopped.
Silver then knocked on the glass. Three times.
"Hehehehe!"
She froze, watching her other self slowly turn around. Then the wall became a mirror. A mirror of nightmares.
Her own face stared back at her. Bleeding. Blind.
Smiling. Smiling more than she knew would ever be comfortable.
"What the..."
"Hello! Is someone there, hehehe? Do you want to play?"
Her voice. It was always odd hearing ones own voice, but...That can't be how she sounded. High-pitched and childlike.
She should have turned back then. Turned back and returned to her dreams, ready to wake up. Wake up at home.
But she'd stood frozen to the spot, staring at herself, not knowing what to say. All sorts of questions danced on her tongue but she was afraid to know the answers.
Other Silver had swayed, dreamily, giggling as she came closer.
"Where are you, new friend?" Her other self asked, innocently. "Please don't hide. I don't have the lights on. It's not very fair, hehe."
Silver gulped.
"I'm here. Can you hear me?" She knocked once more on the glass, "I'm right here..."
"Oh! Hehehe! You're at the window! No-one ever comes to the window!"
And then the girl gasped, hands flying to her face, a drop of blood tricking onto her nail.
"I wonder! I wonder if..."
Silver frowned; "W-wonder what...?"
Did the girl have any idea she was facing a clone of herself? Would Silver's voice be too different for it to register?
Other Silver tittered and bounced on the spot.
"We can try playing a game, new friend! Put your hands on the window. Go on!"
What harm would there be? Silver had obeyed, indulging this twisted version of herself.
Other Silver then placed her hands against the glass in the same spot.
"Now...if we just do a little....push....Hehehe."
Silver felt a set of fingers interlock with hers.
She gasped. The glass. It was gone.
Then her double clasped her other hand. And laughed. And laughed. And laughed.
"Dance with me, new friend!"
And Silver had no time to think. No time to pull away. No time to run. In a heartbeat, she was pulled forward, while the other her slid her feet into her spot, spinning them around. And it was Silver who let go then, tumbling forward into the fog...On the other side of the wall.
Everything had been reduced to a blank after that. Next moment, she'd been wandering through the world another Silver's dreams, not even aware they were no longer her own. And then she'd heard the voice calling to her.
Come to me, darling girl. Come to Mummy.
She thought the witch had been to blame. The witch had accidentally taken the wrong child. But, in truth, Silver had been trapped before Not Mary had found her.
Back in the present, Silver just kept staring at the wall.
Her other self had done this. Had she been meaning to? Had she...wanted to escape her own world? Sure, it had its...horror elements, but Silver had assumed she'd been happy in her warped fantasies. Happy with her mother.
And yet there was no Other Silver here this time. No identical hands for hers to meet. No one.
Had she not come because she did not want to return? What if...No, that wouldn't happen...
Unless....
Bile threatened to rise up her throat. She needed her other self to come here. Now. How could she reach her if the wall was sealed again?
Not Amy's words revisited her brain. Her Silver had theorised...that dreams were merely windows to other worlds.
The Pagan pressed her forehead against the glass.
"Focus, Silver. Find her....Find her...."
-
There are usually flowers around her. All the colors of the rainbow and more. Heavy scents better than any essential oils, making her feel ever so relaxed and safe. Petals fall from the trees and they should be burying her, but they never do.
It's a bit different this time. For the first time ever, she didn't fall asleep in her special bed in the forest. Too dangerous, she was told. Maybe next month.
Usually she would have argued. She was supposed to sleep beneath the moon's gaze. How else could she be the moon girl, as her lovely new friend had titled her?
But he was ever so worried. And wanted her to stay with him in the big house. Just this once. Her room at least allowed the moonlight to shine in, or so he told her. Silver had trusted him because....Well, she's not sure why. But she's felt like she could trust him from the moment she woke up without Mummy at her side.
And so she's sleeping on a bed! How strange. In her dreams it grows to fill the room. If she were to stand up and jump on the mattress, it would make a sweet bouncy castle.
But Sweet Robin is beside her. Fast asleep.
She doesn't know what he looks like. Her hands feel fur like Mr. Floof and a similar bumpy, ancient, sad face. Is he like the Prince from Beauty and the Beast? Before he became that ugly, lame dude at the end.
Rolling on her side, she finds him curled around her. Her gentle beast. Her sweet new companion who Mummy apparently sent to protect her in his absense. Never before has any male been so kind to her. Not since her fake dad went to the next world. Giggling, Silver felt as though she could get lost in all his fluff. Like snuggling next to a pack of wolves, a bit like how she imagines when Mr. Floof lays with her.
Is Mummy happy in the stars, she wonders? Is Amy? Oh she hopes so. There better be dragons in the stars or Amy is gonna be pissed off...
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Silver raises her head. Is that noise coming from the window? She tries to visualise it, tries to manifest the room into her mind's eye, so much easier in dreams than reality.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
Faster now. Desperate.
"Someone there?" She asks with a tilt of the head.
Voices. Ever so muffled, as if the glass was soundproof.
"Speak up, hehehe! I can hear, honest, hehehe."
More vibrations. More knocking.
What was that word? 'Come outside'? 'Come to...?'
Silver shook her head.
"No. I can't come out and play. Not this time, hehehe." She says, as resolute as possible; "I promised to be a good girl."
Louder mumbling. Angry. Scared, maybe?
She took a deep breath; "I've got in enough trouble already! I'm not losing anyone else!"
If anyone is looking in through the window, her face will make it hard for them to tell how serious she is about this. She's not playing a game. For once, she's going to do the grown up thing.
Moving back onto the bed, closer to Sweet Robin, she curls back into his furry paws. Grumbling lightly, he instinctively wraps them around her.
The banging continues. The frame threatens to splinter.
"Leave us ALONE! Haha!"
With a wave of her hand, she caused the velvet curtains to close across the window.
The banging stopped. Peace and quiet.
Exhaling, relieved and a little proud of herself, Silver lay her head beneath Robin's mane. Mummy would be proud of her, she tells herself.
-
The image disperses. But Silver continues to hammer her fists against the wall.
"NO! NO, COME BACK! PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO COME BACK! WE HAVE TO SWAP, PLEASE!" She screams until her throat is raw.
After her hand begins to bruise, she slumps, creasing as she hits her head against the glass.
Fuck fuck FUCK!
She'd been so close. She'd managed to find her. Herself. Other Silver.
Asleep in...Had that been Amy's room? In Button House?
Had...Had that bundle of furs curled around her been Robin?
Her heart ached. Did Robin know that wasn't his Silver? Did any of them? Maybe they thought someone terrible had happened to her. Or maybe they...preferred that Silver...?
She gulped at the thought. Her and Robin had fought. She'd stubbornly refused to accept his apology. Perhaps...that Silver was easier to be around...
No. No, she couldn't give up.
Even if none of them missed her, even if Robin didn't want her back, Mary would. Mary was waiting for her to be sucked off and meet her again in the next layer. She had to go back. She'd come this far.
"Let me in! Let me in!" She demanded, punching the wall over and over. "LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN!"
"Be calm, sweet girl."
Silver froze at the voice.
"There be no point hurting thyself to no avail." The scent of burning flesh approached, followed by a billowing cloud of smoke.
Silver trembled as the Not Mary's burned wraith form manifested before her.
She waited for the fiery blows. The scalding. Both figurative and literal.
"You are a better actress than my darling girl. She oft' would pretend to be my willing daughter in those early years, but I could always detect the uncertainty." Not Mary barely sounded angry at all.
Just....sad. Tired.
That was somehow worse.
"Mary, I-."
The witch held up her bony hand. Silver silenced herself.
"I am numb to betrayal at this point, dear child." She said, hollow, "It did little to shock me to hear you bellowing at this wall instead of enjoying your fancy ball with the Elven folk."
"It was...lovely. You are lovely, really, I mean that." She said, honestly, "But I have to go home. I have to go back to my mum."
"And how dost thou plan to do that?"
"By....I dunno. We have to somehow get your Silver to come to the wall. That's how it happened, see? She didn't break down the wall! We were somehow able to pass through by...touching each other." She realised, a little amazed; "It must be some anomaly the wall couldn't account for. Two identical souls meeting...Touching. It's the only explanation. And it's the only way to reverse it."
She turned to look at the witch, flames burning muscle beneath rotten flesh and charred skin, smoke creating a fiersome black aura.
Silver was no longer afraid of it. She stepped forward.
"Call to her, Mary. She'll hear you. She'll come to her mum, I know she will!" Just as she did.
A Silver cannot ignore a call from Mum.
Not Mary looked at the wall, those cooked eyes tinged with yearning and pain. Silver dared to touch her hand.
"Please. You don't want me. You want her. Your Silver. End this. End it now." She begged.
The witch pulled her hand away and reached for the wall.
A pause. Silver waited with baited breath as Mary pressed her head to the glass.
A minute past. Then she pulled back.
"My darling girl has hidden herself too deep. She cannot hear her Mummy's call." She sighs, "Perhaps that beast has turned her against me."
"Robin? No. He wouldn't do that-."
"It matters not. Whoever and whatever stands between me and my darling girl....I shall reign fire upon them all. Until nought but ash remains."
Her voice chilled Silver to the bone without her even having to yell.
"No....Mary, please don't-."
"Silence." She turned her ember eyes on Silver; "T'is time that yous returned to the party I did lovin'ly arrange for thee to enjoy."
She shook her head; "No....Don't send me back there..."
Silver turned to run. Where, she had no idea, as there was literally nothing around her.
The wall. She reached for the wall.
A leathery burned hand wrapped itself firmly around her wrist.
"Oh, do stop your fussing, sweet girl! Anyone woulds think I's about to give thee a good thrashing, instead of spoiling thee with 'hearts desires." The witch clicked her tongue.
She didn't care. Didn't want it.
Home. All she wanted was to go home. If she spent too long trapped in a dream, distracted with illusions of everything she ever wanted...How long until she had no choice but to believe? And forget everything else?
Forget Mum. Forget her friends.
Robin...
Her heart pounding with terror, she stretched out her free hand.
"No...No, please, just let me...."
"THAT BE ENOUGH, SILVER!" The fingers tightened; "Mummy is not messin' around anymore! You wills learn to behave! Yous will be mine and that's Final!"
No! No!
Her index finger grazed against the glass. One little push. That's all Other Silver had said.
Push. Push.
She sent a single word from her heart, down her arm, into her finger and rippling through the glass, into the other world. One word. It was all she could do.
Silver screamed as a black tornado encircled her, billowing tremendously, then dragged her back into sugar-coated shadows.
-
The word sent shockwaves through the astral plane of the next world. All those sensitive to its vibrations found themselves jolting awake in fright. They couldn't understand the word, but the tiny flicker of the grotesque image sent the galaxy to shivers. It wasn't just the Livings or Unlivings who felt it.
Even those who had passed on woke with fright like they hadn't felt since before they ascended. Most forgot what they had seen as most dreams fade upon waking.
Beside a broken waterfall, a black labradoodle with a red muzzle startled awake and whimpered before releasing a mournful howl that no one could decipher.
In Mary and Annie's cottage, the taller woman let out a cry in her sleep and shivered as her wife soothed her. The flowers on their windowsill blackened and shriveled as if smothered by smoke.
But it was when the word reached its true target that it became as clear as could be. Sent to the closest thing to an actual goddess she had on her side, with powers in the land beyond. Casting a vivid picture into her mind, reflected in the glass of the great wall between words, revealing the truth. Revealing the girl with pink and black hair lost where she doesn't belong, trapped in the hands of a desperate, grieving, demonic mother.
One word to wake her. One word.
"AMES!"
