lm
in
ljsficfest
apologies for a day of lateness...
title: descent
author: LindaMarie
rating: R
summary: "You are only witnessing here the law of our mortal nature, when we come to die."
assignment: Cassie/Diana, Black John/Cassie, blood, silver, a staircase
notes: Quotes are from Ovid's Metamorphosis. Parts of this fic are small excerpts or paraphrases from the first SC book.
1: "...come to the gifts we have for you...."
Once the three girls had sat down and started talking, Cassie was clearly stuck where she was. They were scary, these girls--glaring, intense, superior. And Faye was one of them. She didn't want them to think she was spying so she just stayed where she was and hoped they'd leave without catching her. She very carefully ate her lunch as quietly as possible, and listened to them chatter about boys they were after, and people they didn't like, and what everyone was wearing
"Have you seen the new girl yet?" Faye looked between her two companions--the proud brunette Cassie had encountered the morning, and a voluptuous blonde she hadn't seen before. When they shook their heads, she continued. "I have. It's pretty pathetic. I couldn't believe her at first. I was like, we gave up Kori for that?"
"Now, Faye, you know that's not exactly what happened..." This was the blonde talking.
"Close enough."
Cassie sat, shocked, paralyzed. What had she done to start things off on such a bad foot? She couldn't think of anything, but she...she couldn't just stay there and listen to them say things about her like that. It was masochistic to even consider it.
So she quickly packed up her lunch and ran away. She didn't hear them call out to her and she didn't look back to see how they'd reacted.
But she knew they'd seen her.
*********
Cassie's mother met her in the hallway when she came home from school that day. "Honey, I've got a surprise for you."
"What?"
"One of the neighbor girls stopped by just a few minutes ago. She wants you to come to a party this weekend at her house! All us parents are going to clear out and go catch up on old times, while you kids have fun. What do you say?"
"Neighbor girl?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? All the families on this street have kids about your age. This is the oldest stretch of road on the whole island, did you know? So we've always been sort of close-knit."
Something clicked in Cassie's head. "You mean like...the Club?"
Her mother laughed. "Oh, is that what they're calling us now?"
"They're the most popular kids in school, Mom!"
"I know. It's going to be great, isn't it?"
Cassie thought about the girl she'd glimpsed through the window: beautiful,immaculate, white as snow. She would be at the party. Maybe she was even the girl who came by with the invitation.
But Faye and her friends would be there too.
"Yeah. Great."
*********
The night before the party, Cassie had a dream--or perhaps it wasn't a dream. Her mother and grandmother came into her bedroom, soundlessly, smoothly, as if floating above the floor. They leaned down above her and spoke in soft tones.
"Little Cassie," her grandmother said with a sigh. "At last. What a pity..."
"Shhh..." her mother said, quietly, tenderly, as if dreaming herself. "She'll wake up, poor thing."
"But you can see it's the only way..."
"Yes," her mother said, her voice empty and resigned. "You can't escape destiny. But at least I gave her time."
"Was it worth it?" her grandmother asked sharply. "Was it worth the cost?"
Cassie's mother looked away into the darkness of the room. "I didn't know about the Henderson girl. If I'd known things were that desperate here, I..."
"I know. The time goes by so quickly."
The shadows of the room deepened, until she lost sight of them, but their voices drifted away toward the door. Cassie caught one last word before she drifted away again.
"...sacrifice...."
*********
Diana Meade's house was just as perfect on the inside as Cassie had imagined. Cassie was shown into the party by several girls talking all at once, shaking her hand, oddly serious as if she were royalty: Laurel and Melanie, and Suzan, Faye's blonde friend, who seemed perfectly happy to pretend that the whole thing had never happened and they were really and truly meeting for the first time.
The girls led her to a large room that was surprisingly full of people for just a neighborhood get-together. There were six more in all: Faye, who when introduced glared and said they'd met; Diana, the hostess, the girl she'd seen and admired; Adam, who seemed oddly familiar though Cassie couldn't quite place him; and the others--Chris, Doug, Deborah, Nick. Cassie thought she'd never seen a more attractive collection of people in her life. And they all wanted to talk to her. It was like a dream come true but also a little overwhelming.
They all decided to watch a movie, some old British film she'd never heard of, with that guy who played Dracula, but before it started Laurel brought out food for all of them, homemade spaghetti and French bread. Cassie settled down in between one of the twins, the nice one, and Diana, and the video began to play.
But after a few minutes the world started to swim around her. The pressure of the bodies on either side of her changed to cold panels of wood, to boxes hidden in the hull of a sinking ship, and the opening song of the film became the moaning and wailing of ocean and splintering boards. She tried to call out, in reflexive protest, in fear, but her mouth was full of water and before her eyes was a blackness so profound and deep that she felt herself drowning deep within...
******************
2. "...a robber for a husband...."
Cassie watched it happen.
"Is she out?" Doug asked, elbowing his brother, who reached over and touched her wrist, unfazed. "Cold."
"All right," Faye said, standing, "Let's get this started. Diana, is everything ready?"
Diana met her gaze, steadily. "Of course. I can start the ceremony as soon as the body is moved."She turned. "Can you boys take care of that?"
"Sure." Adam rose to his feet and lifted Cassie in his arms, carrying her down a dark corridor, and then up some narrow stairs. "She looked so different this summer, I barely recognized her. But it's definitely her. Imagine: the same girl that saves the town, saving the Master Tools as well."
"It's an omen, surely. No reason to doubt now." Diana's hand was on Adam's shoulder, so that as they walked Cassie's limp cheek would bump against it, now and then.
The stairs opened up onto a small flat portion of the roof. Cassie thought it should be cold, but she felt nothing. She watched as the others followed, until the space was crowded, until they lined up shoulder to shoulder along the edges, and one by one spoke words in a language she did not know, nor had ever heard.
Adam placed Cassie in the center, and from the pockets of Nick's pants appeared an array of items: a garter, an armband, a diadem. Out of Melanie's shoulder-bag came a chalice, a book, and a knife.
Cassie wasn't watching what came next. She was numb; she was feeling nothing but a wind that came from nowhere, seeing nothing but a formless shape in her own mind.
A knife. Sacrifice. The body...
She seemed to drift further away from the scene, until she was an eavesdropper on someone else's nightmare. She heard the murmur of words; she saw the knife shining in the moonlight; she watched as Diana, still pure and perfect and pale as the moon, buried it into her sternum.
Cassie felt nothing.
She was closer as Faye took Diana's place, as the knife was drawn downward, to split her stomach, spill her guts like an obscene Caesarian. Suzan's hands were buried in her intestines, cupping them, tugging them gently out and arranging them, examining them. The sound of the wind passed away like a breath, and Suzan's voice replaced it, but it was not the voice Cassie had heard earlier that day, in another life: it was as if it rose from some great depth, as if it called from the bottom of the sea.
"It is done. The storm will pass, the island be spared. The others will remember their place, and keep silent, and bow unto our command. Crowhaven Road shall be glutted with riches and joy. Do not fear. The Girl dwells beneath the earth and awaits her mistress, His companion. It is done."
Then it was as if Cassie's stomach was ripped out of her, and the world torn away with it; she felt herself falling to somewhere she could not name.
*********
Cassie was in a dark place lit by colorless lights that came from unknown places. She was following a path she could not see, pushed and pulled forward to a destination she did not know.
Suddenly, memory.
She was ascending the steps of a palace made of cold stone, entering a banquet hall with an empty table, thirteen places set but only two occupied.
"Come, my daughter." She passed the lines of vacant chairs, coming parallel with the Girl, the Maiden, who watched her with summer-blue eyes and said not a word. She walked a few more steps, and knelt before the Black Man.
"Father," she whispered, and leaned her face into his caress. "I am come home."
"Sit, my queen," he replied, "and feast. We have all the time in the world, now."
author: LindaMarie
rating: R
summary: "You are only witnessing here the law of our mortal nature, when we come to die."
assignment: Cassie/Diana, Black John/Cassie, blood, silver, a staircase
notes: Quotes are from Ovid's Metamorphosis. Parts of this fic are small excerpts or paraphrases from the first SC book.
1: "...come to the gifts we have for you...."
Once the three girls had sat down and started talking, Cassie was clearly stuck where she was. They were scary, these girls--glaring, intense, superior. And Faye was one of them. She didn't want them to think she was spying so she just stayed where she was and hoped they'd leave without catching her. She very carefully ate her lunch as quietly as possible, and listened to them chatter about boys they were after, and people they didn't like, and what everyone was wearing
"Have you seen the new girl yet?" Faye looked between her two companions--the proud brunette Cassie had encountered the morning, and a voluptuous blonde she hadn't seen before. When they shook their heads, she continued. "I have. It's pretty pathetic. I couldn't believe her at first. I was like, we gave up Kori for that?"
"Now, Faye, you know that's not exactly what happened..." This was the blonde talking.
"Close enough."
Cassie sat, shocked, paralyzed. What had she done to start things off on such a bad foot? She couldn't think of anything, but she...she couldn't just stay there and listen to them say things about her like that. It was masochistic to even consider it.
So she quickly packed up her lunch and ran away. She didn't hear them call out to her and she didn't look back to see how they'd reacted.
But she knew they'd seen her.
*********
Cassie's mother met her in the hallway when she came home from school that day. "Honey, I've got a surprise for you."
"What?"
"One of the neighbor girls stopped by just a few minutes ago. She wants you to come to a party this weekend at her house! All us parents are going to clear out and go catch up on old times, while you kids have fun. What do you say?"
"Neighbor girl?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? All the families on this street have kids about your age. This is the oldest stretch of road on the whole island, did you know? So we've always been sort of close-knit."
Something clicked in Cassie's head. "You mean like...the Club?"
Her mother laughed. "Oh, is that what they're calling us now?"
"They're the most popular kids in school, Mom!"
"I know. It's going to be great, isn't it?"
Cassie thought about the girl she'd glimpsed through the window: beautiful,immaculate, white as snow. She would be at the party. Maybe she was even the girl who came by with the invitation.
But Faye and her friends would be there too.
"Yeah. Great."
*********
The night before the party, Cassie had a dream--or perhaps it wasn't a dream. Her mother and grandmother came into her bedroom, soundlessly, smoothly, as if floating above the floor. They leaned down above her and spoke in soft tones.
"Little Cassie," her grandmother said with a sigh. "At last. What a pity..."
"Shhh..." her mother said, quietly, tenderly, as if dreaming herself. "She'll wake up, poor thing."
"But you can see it's the only way..."
"Yes," her mother said, her voice empty and resigned. "You can't escape destiny. But at least I gave her time."
"Was it worth it?" her grandmother asked sharply. "Was it worth the cost?"
Cassie's mother looked away into the darkness of the room. "I didn't know about the Henderson girl. If I'd known things were that desperate here, I..."
"I know. The time goes by so quickly."
The shadows of the room deepened, until she lost sight of them, but their voices drifted away toward the door. Cassie caught one last word before she drifted away again.
"...sacrifice...."
*********
Diana Meade's house was just as perfect on the inside as Cassie had imagined. Cassie was shown into the party by several girls talking all at once, shaking her hand, oddly serious as if she were royalty: Laurel and Melanie, and Suzan, Faye's blonde friend, who seemed perfectly happy to pretend that the whole thing had never happened and they were really and truly meeting for the first time.
The girls led her to a large room that was surprisingly full of people for just a neighborhood get-together. There were six more in all: Faye, who when introduced glared and said they'd met; Diana, the hostess, the girl she'd seen and admired; Adam, who seemed oddly familiar though Cassie couldn't quite place him; and the others--Chris, Doug, Deborah, Nick. Cassie thought she'd never seen a more attractive collection of people in her life. And they all wanted to talk to her. It was like a dream come true but also a little overwhelming.
They all decided to watch a movie, some old British film she'd never heard of, with that guy who played Dracula, but before it started Laurel brought out food for all of them, homemade spaghetti and French bread. Cassie settled down in between one of the twins, the nice one, and Diana, and the video began to play.
But after a few minutes the world started to swim around her. The pressure of the bodies on either side of her changed to cold panels of wood, to boxes hidden in the hull of a sinking ship, and the opening song of the film became the moaning and wailing of ocean and splintering boards. She tried to call out, in reflexive protest, in fear, but her mouth was full of water and before her eyes was a blackness so profound and deep that she felt herself drowning deep within...
******************
2. "...a robber for a husband...."
Cassie watched it happen.
"Is she out?" Doug asked, elbowing his brother, who reached over and touched her wrist, unfazed. "Cold."
"All right," Faye said, standing, "Let's get this started. Diana, is everything ready?"
Diana met her gaze, steadily. "Of course. I can start the ceremony as soon as the body is moved."She turned. "Can you boys take care of that?"
"Sure." Adam rose to his feet and lifted Cassie in his arms, carrying her down a dark corridor, and then up some narrow stairs. "She looked so different this summer, I barely recognized her. But it's definitely her. Imagine: the same girl that saves the town, saving the Master Tools as well."
"It's an omen, surely. No reason to doubt now." Diana's hand was on Adam's shoulder, so that as they walked Cassie's limp cheek would bump against it, now and then.
The stairs opened up onto a small flat portion of the roof. Cassie thought it should be cold, but she felt nothing. She watched as the others followed, until the space was crowded, until they lined up shoulder to shoulder along the edges, and one by one spoke words in a language she did not know, nor had ever heard.
Adam placed Cassie in the center, and from the pockets of Nick's pants appeared an array of items: a garter, an armband, a diadem. Out of Melanie's shoulder-bag came a chalice, a book, and a knife.
Cassie wasn't watching what came next. She was numb; she was feeling nothing but a wind that came from nowhere, seeing nothing but a formless shape in her own mind.
A knife. Sacrifice. The body...
She seemed to drift further away from the scene, until she was an eavesdropper on someone else's nightmare. She heard the murmur of words; she saw the knife shining in the moonlight; she watched as Diana, still pure and perfect and pale as the moon, buried it into her sternum.
Cassie felt nothing.
She was closer as Faye took Diana's place, as the knife was drawn downward, to split her stomach, spill her guts like an obscene Caesarian. Suzan's hands were buried in her intestines, cupping them, tugging them gently out and arranging them, examining them. The sound of the wind passed away like a breath, and Suzan's voice replaced it, but it was not the voice Cassie had heard earlier that day, in another life: it was as if it rose from some great depth, as if it called from the bottom of the sea.
"It is done. The storm will pass, the island be spared. The others will remember their place, and keep silent, and bow unto our command. Crowhaven Road shall be glutted with riches and joy. Do not fear. The Girl dwells beneath the earth and awaits her mistress, His companion. It is done."
Then it was as if Cassie's stomach was ripped out of her, and the world torn away with it; she felt herself falling to somewhere she could not name.
*********
Cassie was in a dark place lit by colorless lights that came from unknown places. She was following a path she could not see, pushed and pulled forward to a destination she did not know.
Suddenly, memory.
She was ascending the steps of a palace made of cold stone, entering a banquet hall with an empty table, thirteen places set but only two occupied.
"Come, my daughter." She passed the lines of vacant chairs, coming parallel with the Girl, the Maiden, who watched her with summer-blue eyes and said not a word. She walked a few more steps, and knelt before the Black Man.
"Father," she whispered, and leaned her face into his caress. "I am come home."
"Sit, my queen," he replied, "and feast. We have all the time in the world, now."