Subject: [Mindgames] Happily Never After [1/1][Emma] Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 21:02:52 +0100 (BST) From: Sparks Disclaimer: Emma's property Marvel Comics, no money, etc. Notes: Yet another little too-short Young Emma story (because they're What I Do), again in the asylum, told from her roommate's POV. Feedback welcome, makes for happy Sparks. Archiving where already archived good. Ta to Pearl, as always, for playing lab rat. ;) Happily Never After by Sparks * * * "Emma?" the weak, innocent voice spoke up meekly from its origin point across the room-- a body that was equally as small, cocooned tightly in a blanket. "Emma, are you awake?" Emma Frost, age ten plus five, and that minus thirteen was how long she'd been there. "Yes, moth?" A moth was a butterfly not allowed out in the sun. Moth, ten and two, had yet to come out of her shell. "Tell me a story." A quiet plea, a quiet answer-- "Okay. What kind of story?" "A fairy tale." Emma told the best fairy tales. She would always make them up as she went along, and said that one shouldn't recount the old, more famous ones. She said that it was time to make a new generation of legends. It was to be her life's work, she said. Moth heard Emma turn in bed-- she liked to look at the ceiling when she told her stories. Said she heard words leak from the cracks. "Twice upon a time--" Emma always began with twice upon a time; it was terribly arrogant to presume that situations happened only once, and if that were the case, then there would be only one fairy tale. "--twice upon a time, there lived a king and a queen. They weren't the best king and queen, but they tried. Perhaps they would have faired better if the queen wasn't always distracted by jewels, and the king distracted by the queen and her distraction, I digress. One day, the king and queen tore themselves away from their distractions long enough to have a baby, a princess, whom they named..." Emma paused to smile at the widened eyes a two-step away, "...Moth." Emma told the best fairy tales. "But as Moth grew older, the king and queen noticed that their little girl wasn't like the other little girls in the kingdom. She had never smiled, and she had never cried. She had never laughed, or screamed, or yelled." Emma said the best fairy tales were the ones from the Brothers Grimm, because they didn't lie, and she hated liars, because she could see right through them, she said. Right past their eyes. "What's wrong with her?! the queen cried, thrashing herself on her bed. Why doesn't she feel? "The little princess overheard her mother's tantrum, and, being an assertive little princess, took it upon herself to right the problem. She entered her parents' room and sat down next to the disheveled queen on the bed. Can I make it better? she asked, because it's always polite to check assumptions before acting on them. And her mother asked again, Why don't you feel? To which Moth replied simply, Because you haven't asked me to. "Now, this confused the king and queen very much. What do you mean? they asked, Why won't you feel on your own? "Because, the princess replied again as this was all very uncomplicated to her, it's impolite. Impolite? the king asked in disbelief. Yes, Moth answered. The entire conversation seemed rather silly to Moth. She was Moth, the princess, daughter of the king and queen. That there was meant to be more was new to her. "All right, then, the king knelt down to Moth's level, feel happy. So Moth stretched her mind, and found another one. Two Moths now, one happy, one numb. "Now feel sad, the queen said. Moth stretched her mind, and found yet another one. Three Moths now, one happy, one numb, one sad. They chittered at her in her head. "Now, feel angry. "Moth stretched her mind again, and found anger. Four Moths now, one happy, one numb, one sad, one enraged. Be sweet and good, the happy Moth said. No, be melancholy and morose, said the sad Moth. No, you're both wrong, growled the angry Moth, be...artistic. See their blood spattered on the wall, like a painting. Red red red blood makes Moth mad mad mad." Emma told the best fairy truths. "The voice grew louder, and Moth found fear. No! No! Help! It burns! scared Moth cried, and she ran away, splitting the numb Moth's mind in half. Be giddy and gay, run and play! happy Moth exclaimed, and did so, splittling numb Moth's mind in three. By myself, I belong by myself, murmured sad Moth, and she slinked away, splitting numb Moth's mind in four. "But we'll stay here together, forever, hissed angry Moth to the numb. I'll never leave you. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never." Emma told the best nightmares. Moth heard her shudder from across the room. Emma had the most beautiful scream. "Never! Never! Never! Never! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!!!" Moth curled in a tighter ball inside her cocoon of blanket when she heard the rattling of keys. Emma told the best fairy tales, she thought as the men came into the room with her white coat. Emma always got cold after telling one of her stories, and the men would bring her the white coat. Emma had been here longer than Moth. Emma had reputation and status. Emma had servants to bring her the white coat she loved so much-- loved so much that she would wrap her arms around herself and hug it tight and not let it go until the men came in to take it again, after she was warm. Emma told the best fairy tales, Moth decided, because she always left room for imagination. Always left the ending open, never finished, so that more could be added later on. It was how lasting legends were made, even in a Hell such as this or any other. Emma's legends lasted forever.