Five Things Ficlets
Title: Five Dreams Mina Harker Never Had
Fandom: Dracula
Character/Pairing: Mina, Various
Rating: Mostly PG-13
A/N: Written for jiasachan.
1. She is with Lucy again, as laughing and beautiful and blue eyed as she was in life. "I don't know what I'd do without you," Lucy says, embracing Mina, and her friend's frail arms around her are the most comforting thing she's felt since October 2nd.
But then something changes. Lucy's eyes turn red, and when she opens her mouth to laugh, there are fangs there. Lucy's laughter is cold now, and dead, tinkling like glass in a way that cannot be real. She brings her mouth to Mina's neck, and Mina wants to scream.
2. She has never been inside the Count's castle, but this is how she imagines it must look, all stone and dark wood and blood red velvet. She knows that she is tied to down to this bed that must be the Count's, and that she is gagged as well, though neither of those are sensations she has ever actually experienced. The Count is there, and she knows that he shall do something terrible to her, something that she should not be able to even imagine.
Jonathan walks in then, as though it is perfectly normal for him to be wandering around the Count's castle. She thinks then that surely he will save her, despite the weariness in his eyes (which is now, inexplicably, gone) and the white of his hair (which doesn't seem to be a mark of his suffering any longer). But he doesn't react at all to the sight of her there, and he smiles as he exchanges words with the Count that are too quiet for her to hear.
But then he kisses the Count, and she sees passion between them that she has never felt in her own kisses with Jonathan. As Jonathan begins removing his clothes she shuts her eyes tightly.
3. She lies there, made immobile by the smell of garlic and the weight of a crucifix around her neck, like a burning brand. As Jonathan brings down the stake she can see the tears on his face and the pain evident in the tightness of his mouth.
4. She would like to think that she is no longer herself, but she still is, and that is what makes it most awful. She is surrounded by the others, her sisters, all of them on their knees as she is, crawling like the animals that they all are.
She hears her own voice, plaintive, wheedling, and intended to be seductive, and realizings that she, too, is begging at His feet.
His voice, calm and collected and utterly superior comes from so far above them, and He drops in their midst a human - a child, only a baby, but, in her blood-starved mind, nothing but a meal, and a meager one at that.
The child's cries are the most delicious things she's ever heard and she, with her sisters, sets upon it hungrily. It is only a few minutes until the cries have died down and they are draining the last dregs of life from its body. She feels His long cold fingers in her hair, stroking her as one might a cat, and something within her leaps at this show of affection.
None of it is loathsome.
5. At first she lies with Jonathan in bed. He kisses every inch of her skin and she finds herself sighing with pleasure, half at the physical pleasure of it all and half at his whispered repetitions of his love for her.
Next it is Arthur, gentle and hesitant, who she must direct to give her pleasure; but give her pleasure he does and the glow in his eyes when he finds he has succeeded almost makes up for his sobbing after his fiancee's death.
Then Jack, whose careful professionalism even in such undeniably personal matters she finds unexpectedly arousing, and who appears to have far more experience in such things than his solitary existence as an asylum doctor would lead one to expect.
Quincy is next, and he makes her laugh with delight at bits unexpected ingenuity and the stories of his travels about the world that he whispers in her ear even as his hand is in between her legs.
Last is Lucy, with her clever fingers and her lips that taste of honey and cinnamon. Mina delights in bringing a warm flush to Lucy's cheeks and it is that, of all of it, that seems the most right to her.
Title: Five Promises Morgan le Fay Didn't Keep
Fandom: Arthurian Legend
Character/Pairing: Morgan, Igraine, Merlin, Morvydd, Accolon, Arthur
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Written for eremon-lass
1. Igraine's eyes are red and swollen from long days spent locked in her room and crying, and her hands shake even while folded in her lap, and her fine, expensive new clothes don't convince Morgan of the lie that her mother would like to believe: that everything has changed for the better.
Sitting beside Morgause, she listens to the worn out lies that come from Igraine's mouth like clockwork. Uther is a good man, she tells them, and will make Igraine a Queen and her daughters princesses. Leaning forward a bit, trying desperately to sound like a mother, Igraine asks, "Darlings, will you promise to try to love him and include him in our family?"
Morgan swallows hard, remembering her father's broken body sitting in the courtyard even as Uther was upstairs, taking his pleasure of her mother. Finally she says, "Yes. I promise," and knows that it is a lie.
2. There is concern in Merlin's ancient blue eyes. "You promise to do only good for Britain with the knowledge that I shall give you?"
She bites back a retort of how her definition of good for Britain and Merlin's might differ a bit. She needs him, at least for a little while. And so she smiles reassuringly, her words as hasty as if she could have no hesitation answering such a silly question. "Of course. Of course I promise that."
3. Morvydd is only nine, but already has heard enough of the rumors about her mother to worry. She watches her mother making ready,adding herbs and vials and strange gemstones and even a dagger to a drawstring purse, coiling her dark hair up high on her head and pulling on a cape of rich black velvet. The worry in her brow is all too adult.
She tugs on Morgan's skirt. "Mother? Do you promise not to try to hurt anybody when you go off to Camelot?"
Morgan kneels down next to Morvydd. Another day, she might have explained to her daughter that Uncle Arthur and his knights are very in need of torture and murder and sometimes seduction. But today she must hurry. Such explanations can wait. "Yes, dear, I promise."
Morvydd looks satisfied. Soon, however, such promises won't satisfy her any longer.
4. Accolon lies beside her. Oh, beautiful Accolon, with his skin made dark by long hours in the sun, and his dark hair that he has let grow past his shoulders. He lies beside her in her bed, adoration in his eyes, and asks, "Shall you love me forever, Lady?"
He probably would not detest her if she told him no. But in that moment, she almost believes what she says as she tells him, "Oh, yes, I surely shall. I promise."
5. Long ago, when she was only a girl and Arthur was nothing but a little screaming infant who Igraine held in her arms, Morgan made herself a promise. She was tempted to go to the cliffs of Tintagel and scream it out to the waves, but instead she merely whispered it to herself, "I promise to hate him for all my life," she said, and it was a true promise, one that she had every intention of keeping.
But, years later, as he lay dying in a battle at least partly of her own devising, she was the first to go to him. The others came soon, the only ones who were left, Nimue and quiet Elaine, all the way from her convent, but Morgan, his greatest enemy, came first. It was her duty, somehow, to bring him to Avalon, as all the legends had decreed. And, as she looked at him lying there, his breathing labored, his eyes fluttering with pain, the embodiment of her triumph made flesh, she no longer hated him.
And, remember, you can still ask for more!
Fandom: Dracula
Character/Pairing: Mina, Various
Rating: Mostly PG-13
A/N: Written for jiasachan.
1. She is with Lucy again, as laughing and beautiful and blue eyed as she was in life. "I don't know what I'd do without you," Lucy says, embracing Mina, and her friend's frail arms around her are the most comforting thing she's felt since October 2nd.
But then something changes. Lucy's eyes turn red, and when she opens her mouth to laugh, there are fangs there. Lucy's laughter is cold now, and dead, tinkling like glass in a way that cannot be real. She brings her mouth to Mina's neck, and Mina wants to scream.
2. She has never been inside the Count's castle, but this is how she imagines it must look, all stone and dark wood and blood red velvet. She knows that she is tied to down to this bed that must be the Count's, and that she is gagged as well, though neither of those are sensations she has ever actually experienced. The Count is there, and she knows that he shall do something terrible to her, something that she should not be able to even imagine.
Jonathan walks in then, as though it is perfectly normal for him to be wandering around the Count's castle. She thinks then that surely he will save her, despite the weariness in his eyes (which is now, inexplicably, gone) and the white of his hair (which doesn't seem to be a mark of his suffering any longer). But he doesn't react at all to the sight of her there, and he smiles as he exchanges words with the Count that are too quiet for her to hear.
But then he kisses the Count, and she sees passion between them that she has never felt in her own kisses with Jonathan. As Jonathan begins removing his clothes she shuts her eyes tightly.
3. She lies there, made immobile by the smell of garlic and the weight of a crucifix around her neck, like a burning brand. As Jonathan brings down the stake she can see the tears on his face and the pain evident in the tightness of his mouth.
4. She would like to think that she is no longer herself, but she still is, and that is what makes it most awful. She is surrounded by the others, her sisters, all of them on their knees as she is, crawling like the animals that they all are.
She hears her own voice, plaintive, wheedling, and intended to be seductive, and realizings that she, too, is begging at His feet.
His voice, calm and collected and utterly superior comes from so far above them, and He drops in their midst a human - a child, only a baby, but, in her blood-starved mind, nothing but a meal, and a meager one at that.
The child's cries are the most delicious things she's ever heard and she, with her sisters, sets upon it hungrily. It is only a few minutes until the cries have died down and they are draining the last dregs of life from its body. She feels His long cold fingers in her hair, stroking her as one might a cat, and something within her leaps at this show of affection.
None of it is loathsome.
5. At first she lies with Jonathan in bed. He kisses every inch of her skin and she finds herself sighing with pleasure, half at the physical pleasure of it all and half at his whispered repetitions of his love for her.
Next it is Arthur, gentle and hesitant, who she must direct to give her pleasure; but give her pleasure he does and the glow in his eyes when he finds he has succeeded almost makes up for his sobbing after his fiancee's death.
Then Jack, whose careful professionalism even in such undeniably personal matters she finds unexpectedly arousing, and who appears to have far more experience in such things than his solitary existence as an asylum doctor would lead one to expect.
Quincy is next, and he makes her laugh with delight at bits unexpected ingenuity and the stories of his travels about the world that he whispers in her ear even as his hand is in between her legs.
Last is Lucy, with her clever fingers and her lips that taste of honey and cinnamon. Mina delights in bringing a warm flush to Lucy's cheeks and it is that, of all of it, that seems the most right to her.
Title: Five Promises Morgan le Fay Didn't Keep
Fandom: Arthurian Legend
Character/Pairing: Morgan, Igraine, Merlin, Morvydd, Accolon, Arthur
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Written for eremon-lass
1. Igraine's eyes are red and swollen from long days spent locked in her room and crying, and her hands shake even while folded in her lap, and her fine, expensive new clothes don't convince Morgan of the lie that her mother would like to believe: that everything has changed for the better.
Sitting beside Morgause, she listens to the worn out lies that come from Igraine's mouth like clockwork. Uther is a good man, she tells them, and will make Igraine a Queen and her daughters princesses. Leaning forward a bit, trying desperately to sound like a mother, Igraine asks, "Darlings, will you promise to try to love him and include him in our family?"
Morgan swallows hard, remembering her father's broken body sitting in the courtyard even as Uther was upstairs, taking his pleasure of her mother. Finally she says, "Yes. I promise," and knows that it is a lie.
2. There is concern in Merlin's ancient blue eyes. "You promise to do only good for Britain with the knowledge that I shall give you?"
She bites back a retort of how her definition of good for Britain and Merlin's might differ a bit. She needs him, at least for a little while. And so she smiles reassuringly, her words as hasty as if she could have no hesitation answering such a silly question. "Of course. Of course I promise that."
3. Morvydd is only nine, but already has heard enough of the rumors about her mother to worry. She watches her mother making ready,adding herbs and vials and strange gemstones and even a dagger to a drawstring purse, coiling her dark hair up high on her head and pulling on a cape of rich black velvet. The worry in her brow is all too adult.
She tugs on Morgan's skirt. "Mother? Do you promise not to try to hurt anybody when you go off to Camelot?"
Morgan kneels down next to Morvydd. Another day, she might have explained to her daughter that Uncle Arthur and his knights are very in need of torture and murder and sometimes seduction. But today she must hurry. Such explanations can wait. "Yes, dear, I promise."
Morvydd looks satisfied. Soon, however, such promises won't satisfy her any longer.
4. Accolon lies beside her. Oh, beautiful Accolon, with his skin made dark by long hours in the sun, and his dark hair that he has let grow past his shoulders. He lies beside her in her bed, adoration in his eyes, and asks, "Shall you love me forever, Lady?"
He probably would not detest her if she told him no. But in that moment, she almost believes what she says as she tells him, "Oh, yes, I surely shall. I promise."
5. Long ago, when she was only a girl and Arthur was nothing but a little screaming infant who Igraine held in her arms, Morgan made herself a promise. She was tempted to go to the cliffs of Tintagel and scream it out to the waves, but instead she merely whispered it to herself, "I promise to hate him for all my life," she said, and it was a true promise, one that she had every intention of keeping.
But, years later, as he lay dying in a battle at least partly of her own devising, she was the first to go to him. The others came soon, the only ones who were left, Nimue and quiet Elaine, all the way from her convent, but Morgan, his greatest enemy, came first. It was her duty, somehow, to bring him to Avalon, as all the legends had decreed. And, as she looked at him lying there, his breathing labored, his eyes fluttering with pain, the embodiment of her triumph made flesh, she no longer hated him.
And, remember, you can still ask for more!