Remix Madness ficlets
Title: Dark And Deep (Shadows in Winter Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Virginia/Wolf
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Into The Woods
Original Author: Palis Delon
Summary: During the winter, Wolf rules the woods.
The full moon hung low in the trees, its light reflecting off of the snow. The forest was still fairly dark even so, and the air outside of the cave was positively arctic.
Wolf's eyes were golden as he took in the drifts of snow and the reflected moonlight. He wanted to roam through the woods, wanted to feel the cold beneath the pads of his paws. He wanted to hunt, his teeth closing around the jugular veins of prey. Virginia and the children stayed in the cave during the winter, and he could almost taste fear in Virginia's mouth when he kissed her. She was human and mortal, fragile compared to him in either form. He could push her against the walls, shatter her skull and drink the marrow from her bones.
But he loved her and she was the mother of his children. She wasn't prey. She smelled like prey, but she wasn't. Wolf had to remind himself of that.
So without a word, he leapt from the mouth of the cave, shifting into wolf form as he did so. He knew this place and felt safe here. He could run and hunt in the woods, howling up to the moon. He didn't need the light; he could smell prey in the shadows of the trees, and all things in these woods were prey in winter. Wolf knew it was safe to hunt here, as Virginia and the children stayed inside. There was no chance that he could harm them, since he had laid down the law years ago that she should never interfere with his hunt.
He pretended to be a mere mortal the rest of the year, but he was a predator. He was Wolf.
The wind howled and he howled back in return. It carried the scent of prey - not Virginia, not the children. Their scents were indelibly etched into his very soul. This prey was familiar, though it carried also other scents that bespoke of age and infirmity. Older human male, frail, knowing the dangers of this forest yet walking through it anyway.
Virginia had said something to him before the sun went down, though he had been too restless to hear it. He had been too busy scenting the air, dreaming of blood and prey in the shadows of the woods, the dark and deep and dangerous that he knew so well.
"Wolf!" came a voice on the wind. There were howls out in the forest that weren't his own, and rage built up in his heart. These were his woods. His.
He ravaged the interlopers when he found them. The old man was maimed, babbling about how he knew Wolf would come to save him, that he needed to stay with them for the winter. There was trouble in the kingdoms, and he wanted to stay with his daughter to be safe. It had only been safe for him to leave under cover of night.
Wolf let him think that he had been deliberately saved. He would tell his daughter, and Virginia would think Wolf was a hero. Wolf could let Virginia breathe easier this winter, keeping her illusions of safety and humanity. She could think he was tamed and stop fearing that the shadows held teeth.
Winter was the time when he felt the difference between them the most.
The End
Title: To Commune With The Stars (Stars In Your Eyes Remix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Wash/Zoe
Disclaimer: Joss is boss. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: To Commune With The Stars
Original Author: Emma DeMarais
Summary: They didn't understand that healing was forgetting, and she refused to forget.
The Wash-shaped void inside of Zoe was a hollow thing, devouring every other thought in the middle of the night. Everyone kept saying that time healed all wounds, that she would be whole again if she simply let it happen.
Zoe remained silent and stoic when the others spoke that way. Her silence generally made them turn away uncomfortably, not understanding that she needed to keep the void. They didn't understand that healing was forgetting, and she refused to forget.
It was already hard enough to remember the sound of his voice. She had his goofy smile fixed in her mind, and she could mimic the press of his fingers into her arms. Zoe could close her eyes at night and hold onto one of his shirts and grieve that it no longer smelled like him. The very essence of Wash that she used to love inhaling was long since gone, and she was left with an empty shell of memories.
The cockpit didn't smell like him either, but she could feel his presence there. He liked to think that souls returned to the stars when they died, that it was the reason why he was so at home in the deep black or flying through the skies. "This body can't quite hold my soul, my beauteous Autumn Flower," he had said one night when they talked about it. They had been lying on their stomachs on their bed, not quite tired even though they were sated. Wash had laughed and run his fingers down her bare spine, tickling her. "Yours probably could, though. You're strong enough for the both of us." There hadn't been much talking after that.
Zoe sat in the pilot's chair and looked at the dinosaurs. River carefully dusted them and kept them in their last configuration. She didn't play with them or give them voices the way that Wash had, calling them holy relics.
Sometimes her odd speech made perfect sense. Zoe looked at them and the starlight beyond. "Hey baby," she said to the silent room. "I was thinking about you again today."
She couldn't remember the sound of his voice, but Zoe was sure that he was grinning at her and saying Oh, you were? in a pleased tone of voice. Go on.
This was the only place where Zoe allowed herself to laugh at her memories of Wash, to say their silly private endearments aloud. "Oh, yes. There was a run past Persephone, and Patience actually hired on someone to take a boat into the sky to hunt us down. You'd've laughed at the poor fool. Couldn't fly worth a damn. River damn near channeled your skill..." Zoe trailed off; for all she knew, River could actually do that. "I miss you, baby. I always will."
A star twinkled in the black ahead of her. I miss you, too.
With a sad smile, Zoe stared at the star and held onto the T rex.
The End
Title: The Right Armor for Dungeon Crawling (Knights in Darkness Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Knight In Dented Armor
Original Author: igrockspock
Summary: That did beg the question: what was the right armor for dungeon crawling?
Dungeons always held creatures. Everyone knew that, but Luna could actually see them. Or rather, see the trails and evidence they left behind. She had been taken from the Hogwarts Express on the way home, so she had been dressed only in her school robes. There was no real protection from various dungeon creatures in school robes, though she supposed full plate armor couldn't have protected her, either.
That did beg the question: what was the right armor for dungeon crawling?
Luna thought about asking Draco that, but the boy seemed disturbed enough by recent events. His father did look ill, and he was taking part in the capture and torture of school mates. He was no killer, that much was clear, and Luna was glad that he was the one bringing her food. She had heard the screams when others had come with food, the whispers in the walls and the delighted chitter of the creatures waiting their turn. Draco was no killer, and because of that, the creatures kept a wide berth from her cell. They fed off of pain and fear, and Luna held neither for them. She wasn't as tasty a snack.
"You can come down here again if you need to talk," she had said when he had spoken with her the last time. He hadn't acknowledged it, but there were troubled waters inside of him. Perhaps he was drawing the creatures away from her cell, keeping her safe.
There were footfalls outside of her cell, and Luna stood up. It was the least she could do to indicate that she appreciated the effort. Draco didn't have to do this, after all. They could have let her starve or simply let a house elf give her food. He was bringing her a measure of human companionship and safety from the creatures of the dungeon. "Hello, Draco," Luna said, offering him a smile of thanks.
The shadows under his eyes were dark and gave his gray eyes a hollow cast. He handed her the plate with stale bread, but today there was a wedge of cheese as well. "Oh, this is lovely," she said, nibbling delicately on the cheese after eating the stale bread. "Cheddar, freshly cut from the wheel. I do like it, thank you."
"I didn't," Draco said, appearing discomfited. "Cut it, I mean."
"That's all right. I don't always make my own things, either." Luna nodded at him matter of factly, indicating solidarity with him. "Is your father better?"
"He's the same." Draco seemed transfixed by her eyes, and Luna tried hard not to blink. If there was something there, some sign of a warbling trach or renting garbler, she would want him to be able to see it and let her know. "Yours is, too," Draco told her abruptly. "I thought it would be different, because Harry got away anyway. But he said he put in a good faith effort, and he wasn't punished for it. He lost his home, though. Your home."
Luna finished the cheese. "For many, that's punishment enough. Where do you go if you have no home, nowhere to feel safe? Where do you stay if there's nothing but darkness all around you and no allies?"
If anything, Draco appeared angry. "What would you know about it?"
"Not all ravens are alike in a nest," she said simply, shrugging. It surprised him, so Luna shrugged again. "Knights find their way eventually, you know."
"You don't know what you're talking about," he snarled, turning around and heading back up the stairs. Luna thought she saw something shift in the shadows and curl around his shoulder. That was one less creature to haunt her cell.
He might not think much of himself, but he was the right kind of knight for this kind of darkness in the dungeon.
The End
Title: Butterflies (The Fractal Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Ariadne/Eames
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Butterflies
Original Author: Ysobel
Summary: If there's anything that Eames can't stand, it's being told that something is "good enough."
If there's anything that Eames can't stand, it's being told that something is "good enough." He had a reputation for being the best at this point, and "good enough" too often was shorthand that the entire job fell through and no one wanted to hurt his feelings.
Ariadne was enamored of the dreaming itself, often building for the sake of building now, experimenting with where she could take it. Everyone did that in the beginning, in the absent sort of way that led to learning where limits lay. It was how Eames discovered his talent at forgery in dreams, and sometimes playing around in the edges of what was supposed to be allowed in dream share led to new discoveries. Whatever she might have discovered in her dream she kept to herself. It was maddening, though he couldn't have said exactly why.
They weren't involved in a romantic sense. She trusted him, that much was obvious, but she treated the entire affair as if it was a business transaction. Normally Eames might not have minded that, but he rather liked Ariadne. She was inquisitive and brilliant, beautiful in a more classical sense and had kept up with his drier wit or esoteric comments. Most people he met weren't worth knowing, but Ariadne had been.
And now he couldn't get the taste of her out of his mind, couldn't stop imagining what she would feel like if she responded to his touch. Now he couldn't help but see her as more than a coworker he had teased and joked with, harmlessly flirting to pass the time. Now Eames wanted more than he allowed himself, more than what was possibly safe in his world.
"What did you dream of?" he pressed, following her to her dresser. She picked out ordinary clothes, intending to dress and write off the entire experience as something private. Eames put a hand on her arm, stopping the movement. "What happened?"
"Butterflies," she said, turning to look at him. "It was a garden full of butterflies."
There had to be some kind of meaning for her to see that, though at the moment Eames was paying more attention to the shape of her mouth as she formed the words, the way the corner tilted up into an almost smile. The delight in the dream suffused her, as if lighting her up from the inside out. He was kissing her before he even realized that was his intent, soft and gentle, fingers light on her skin as if that would keep her from fluttering away from him.
"It was like that," she whispered, looking up at him with her large golden eyes. "It was exactly like that."
Eames found himself smiling gently at her. "We can do better than that, can't we?"
Her answering smile of assent was all he needed.
***
The sketch of the butterfly was exquisitely detailed, fractal wings looking poised for flight. "I saw this," Ariadne said, giving him the sheet of paper. "Just before I woke, when I thought everything had shattered around me."
"Is that how you see it, then? A shattering? Or a fluttering?"
Ariadne reached across the bed to put the sketchbook away. "Neither, really. More like the wings, actually." She grinned at his confused look. "Ready to take flight, or the expectation that something amazing is going to happen."
Eames slid his hand along the curve of her hip and watched her shiver slightly at the contact. He put the sketch down on the pillow and leaned in, eyes locked to hers. "And did something amazing happen then? Or was it simply good enough?"
She smirked at him, eyes dancing. "And if it's only good enough?"
"We can do better than that," Eames replied, grinning. "I need to get the details right, you understand. It's important to getting the job done."
Ariadne laughed. "Well then. It was a good enough start."
As far as Eames was concerned, she had just issued a challenge he was only too willing to accept.
The End
Title: Situs Inversus (The Sinister Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Eileen Prince
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Additional warning: Mention of suicide and pregnancy loss.
Original Story: Situs Inversus
Original Author: Delphi
Summary: There once were twins. The simple words belie the emotion involved.
Eileen had known her pregnancy would end in disaster from the start, when the mediwitches told her there were two heartbeats in her womb. Twins. Her family wasn't known for twins and neither was the Snape family. Out of nowhere, unexpectedly, there was going to be two squalling infants to quiet down so that Eileen could avoid being struck for not moving fast enough, not being good enough, not being perfect enough.
Two more lives condemned to a lifetime in hell.
Potions had always been her strong suit, and sometimes that skill managed to save her life. Her husband needed to sleep, but going deep into his cups left him even more belligerent and quick to violence than before. Eileen had no other avenues than to deal with the marriage. She had cut off her ties to her family and she was far too proud to go groveling back now. There was no use even thinking of her husband by name sometimes; that made it easier to distance herself emotionally from what was happening in the marriage.
The mediwitches told her that the pregnancy was progressing well. They kept silent about the bruises and sprains, the lies Eileen had to tell in order to save what little face she had left. It was an open secret, but she couldn't string the words together that would force the mediwitches to do something about it. Is there a place to relax and rest, dear? one of them always asked her, especially when there was bruising on her inner thighs. Any friends to go to?
No. No, there wasn't. That was rather the point when she left home to marry her husband. Eileen had burned all of her bridges long ago.
Her potions skill had often saved her life, so it should be able to take it.
Only somehow, she lived. And so did one child.
The mediwitches clucked and were so sad when they discovered the loss of one heartbeat. The remains were quietly magicked away, no spells used to determine what it had died of. Eileen hadn't asked to know and they probably could guess what had happened.
One child survived.
Dear Merlin, Eileen couldn't handle that knowledge. Another life to be responsible for, another soul she couldn't save in this disaster of a marriage. Tobias could guess what happened, the bastard. He kept closer watch over her, fists heavier than ever. Eileen didn't have another opportunity to try again, and she watched her belly swell day by day with growing dread. He would kill this child sooner or later, just as she had killed the other, just as she wanted to kill herself.
She lied when she said Severus was an old family name, just as she lied when she told him that her doctors thought brandy and gin could be medicinal. He didn't care enough to check. It didn't matter as long as he had a son, as long as there was another focus for his temper.
Eileen looked into the dark eyes of her infant son, her heart shredding in her chest. Merlin, she loved him so fiercely already, and she knew she was a failure. "I'll do what I can," she whispered in his darkened nursery as she rocked him to sleep. "But the world is a dark place, my love. It will crush you and leave you for dead. No one ever gets out alive."
Years later, Severus discovered he had a twin that died. He never asked after the details, never seemed to notice the pain it caused Eileen.
It was just as well he didn't know how easily it could have been him.
The End
Title: Green And Silver (Home Is Where The Heart Is Remix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Ginny Weasley
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Home At Last
Original Author: velvetmouse
Summary: As it turns out, being selfish doesn't mean that you're not brave.
Ginny Weasley had always believed that she was a coward for not fighting the Sorting Hat placing her into Gryffindor. She felt that her first instinct toward self preservation was utter cowardice, and that she had to pretend to be a selfless lioness to stay in keeping with the expectations of others.
Her family didn't understand why she gravitated toward green and silver after graduation. At first her mother tried to say it was merely to offset the color of her hair and her fair complexion. Her brothers thought she was simply trying to wind up her parents, to distract from the losses that her family had suffered.
"This is who I am," she told them. "I was in the wrong house the entire time I was at school."
It was almost insulting to see them invalidate her feelings and point out all of her prior actions during the war, how amazing she had been at Quidditch or her classes. They didn't seem to understand that personal glory had been the driving interest in honing her skills, not bravery for bravery's sake. She wasn't interested in their rationalizations. It was enough that she knew the truth of it.
Things came to a head while visiting George at the shop one day. She was talking while helping him stock goods in the back, and neither heard the two men enter the shop and start stunning all of the patrons present. As soon as George went into the main area from the back room, he was stunned as well. The thieves tried to get into the cash box to seal the money there, shouting at each other all the while when it wouldn't open.
Ginny carefully crept out of the stockroom, keeping low to the ground. It was the coward's way out, but she wasn't about to simply barge in and become stunned herself. Once the thieves' backs were turned and they were occupied with stealing from their stunned victims, Ginny moved. She fired off hex after hex, one after the other without giving them a chance to act. They were frozen in place, tied and marked for Aurors to process within minutes, and then she set about freeing everyone in the store. She couldn't accept the comments about how brave she was, not even from George. "Anyone would've done what I did," she kept repeating, holding onto the green and silver robes she was wearing. It was a lie, just as her entire life to this point had been a lie.
"You think it's cowardly to wait for an opportune moment, don't you?" George asked her afterward, voice soft in the empty store.
"Isn't it? Gryffindors are supposed to charge in ahead and get the job done. What do I do? Wait and watch them stun you and steal from everyone."
"What's more cowardly? Waiting until you can act or turning around and running away."
"Running away," Ginny said instantly, looking at her brother as if he was stupid. "Everyone knows that."
"Yes, it is. And you didn't run away, Ginny. You stayed and fought them."
"It wasn't really a fight."
George waved off the clarification. "You still stayed to help. You didn't run away without looking back."
"That wouldn't be right. I couldn't just leave them to rob the store."
He nodded and took one of her hands in his. "It's not cowardice, Gin. It's being smart. Just because you don't rush headlong into things doesn't mean you're a coward. It means you're smarter than the lot of us." He grinned at his sister and then pulled her into a hug. "You're still brave, sister mine. You're still everything we thought you were."
"And what's that?"
"A Weasley," George replied with a grin. "And a true Gryffindor, not to worry."
Ginny smiled back and nodded. She might not have been comfortable with his definition, but it still made a certain kind of sense. Self preservation didn't preclude fighting for what was right, even if she made sure to stack the fight in her favor. She would defend friends and family with whatever she could reasonably do, and especially if she could be sneaky about it.
She could accept that she had some Gryffindor traits after all, though she still strongly identified with Slytherin. Ginny didn't envy the Sorting Hat and the decisions it had to make for hundreds of children. It couldn't put her in both houses after all.
The End
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Virginia/Wolf
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Into The Woods
Original Author: Palis Delon
Summary: During the winter, Wolf rules the woods.
The full moon hung low in the trees, its light reflecting off of the snow. The forest was still fairly dark even so, and the air outside of the cave was positively arctic.
Wolf's eyes were golden as he took in the drifts of snow and the reflected moonlight. He wanted to roam through the woods, wanted to feel the cold beneath the pads of his paws. He wanted to hunt, his teeth closing around the jugular veins of prey. Virginia and the children stayed in the cave during the winter, and he could almost taste fear in Virginia's mouth when he kissed her. She was human and mortal, fragile compared to him in either form. He could push her against the walls, shatter her skull and drink the marrow from her bones.
But he loved her and she was the mother of his children. She wasn't prey. She smelled like prey, but she wasn't. Wolf had to remind himself of that.
So without a word, he leapt from the mouth of the cave, shifting into wolf form as he did so. He knew this place and felt safe here. He could run and hunt in the woods, howling up to the moon. He didn't need the light; he could smell prey in the shadows of the trees, and all things in these woods were prey in winter. Wolf knew it was safe to hunt here, as Virginia and the children stayed inside. There was no chance that he could harm them, since he had laid down the law years ago that she should never interfere with his hunt.
He pretended to be a mere mortal the rest of the year, but he was a predator. He was Wolf.
The wind howled and he howled back in return. It carried the scent of prey - not Virginia, not the children. Their scents were indelibly etched into his very soul. This prey was familiar, though it carried also other scents that bespoke of age and infirmity. Older human male, frail, knowing the dangers of this forest yet walking through it anyway.
Virginia had said something to him before the sun went down, though he had been too restless to hear it. He had been too busy scenting the air, dreaming of blood and prey in the shadows of the woods, the dark and deep and dangerous that he knew so well.
"Wolf!" came a voice on the wind. There were howls out in the forest that weren't his own, and rage built up in his heart. These were his woods. His.
He ravaged the interlopers when he found them. The old man was maimed, babbling about how he knew Wolf would come to save him, that he needed to stay with them for the winter. There was trouble in the kingdoms, and he wanted to stay with his daughter to be safe. It had only been safe for him to leave under cover of night.
Wolf let him think that he had been deliberately saved. He would tell his daughter, and Virginia would think Wolf was a hero. Wolf could let Virginia breathe easier this winter, keeping her illusions of safety and humanity. She could think he was tamed and stop fearing that the shadows held teeth.
Winter was the time when he felt the difference between them the most.
The End
Title: To Commune With The Stars (Stars In Your Eyes Remix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Wash/Zoe
Disclaimer: Joss is boss. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: To Commune With The Stars
Original Author: Emma DeMarais
Summary: They didn't understand that healing was forgetting, and she refused to forget.
The Wash-shaped void inside of Zoe was a hollow thing, devouring every other thought in the middle of the night. Everyone kept saying that time healed all wounds, that she would be whole again if she simply let it happen.
Zoe remained silent and stoic when the others spoke that way. Her silence generally made them turn away uncomfortably, not understanding that she needed to keep the void. They didn't understand that healing was forgetting, and she refused to forget.
It was already hard enough to remember the sound of his voice. She had his goofy smile fixed in her mind, and she could mimic the press of his fingers into her arms. Zoe could close her eyes at night and hold onto one of his shirts and grieve that it no longer smelled like him. The very essence of Wash that she used to love inhaling was long since gone, and she was left with an empty shell of memories.
The cockpit didn't smell like him either, but she could feel his presence there. He liked to think that souls returned to the stars when they died, that it was the reason why he was so at home in the deep black or flying through the skies. "This body can't quite hold my soul, my beauteous Autumn Flower," he had said one night when they talked about it. They had been lying on their stomachs on their bed, not quite tired even though they were sated. Wash had laughed and run his fingers down her bare spine, tickling her. "Yours probably could, though. You're strong enough for the both of us." There hadn't been much talking after that.
Zoe sat in the pilot's chair and looked at the dinosaurs. River carefully dusted them and kept them in their last configuration. She didn't play with them or give them voices the way that Wash had, calling them holy relics.
Sometimes her odd speech made perfect sense. Zoe looked at them and the starlight beyond. "Hey baby," she said to the silent room. "I was thinking about you again today."
She couldn't remember the sound of his voice, but Zoe was sure that he was grinning at her and saying Oh, you were? in a pleased tone of voice. Go on.
This was the only place where Zoe allowed herself to laugh at her memories of Wash, to say their silly private endearments aloud. "Oh, yes. There was a run past Persephone, and Patience actually hired on someone to take a boat into the sky to hunt us down. You'd've laughed at the poor fool. Couldn't fly worth a damn. River damn near channeled your skill..." Zoe trailed off; for all she knew, River could actually do that. "I miss you, baby. I always will."
A star twinkled in the black ahead of her. I miss you, too.
With a sad smile, Zoe stared at the star and held onto the T rex.
The End
Title: The Right Armor for Dungeon Crawling (Knights in Darkness Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Knight In Dented Armor
Original Author: igrockspock
Summary: That did beg the question: what was the right armor for dungeon crawling?
Dungeons always held creatures. Everyone knew that, but Luna could actually see them. Or rather, see the trails and evidence they left behind. She had been taken from the Hogwarts Express on the way home, so she had been dressed only in her school robes. There was no real protection from various dungeon creatures in school robes, though she supposed full plate armor couldn't have protected her, either.
That did beg the question: what was the right armor for dungeon crawling?
Luna thought about asking Draco that, but the boy seemed disturbed enough by recent events. His father did look ill, and he was taking part in the capture and torture of school mates. He was no killer, that much was clear, and Luna was glad that he was the one bringing her food. She had heard the screams when others had come with food, the whispers in the walls and the delighted chitter of the creatures waiting their turn. Draco was no killer, and because of that, the creatures kept a wide berth from her cell. They fed off of pain and fear, and Luna held neither for them. She wasn't as tasty a snack.
"You can come down here again if you need to talk," she had said when he had spoken with her the last time. He hadn't acknowledged it, but there were troubled waters inside of him. Perhaps he was drawing the creatures away from her cell, keeping her safe.
There were footfalls outside of her cell, and Luna stood up. It was the least she could do to indicate that she appreciated the effort. Draco didn't have to do this, after all. They could have let her starve or simply let a house elf give her food. He was bringing her a measure of human companionship and safety from the creatures of the dungeon. "Hello, Draco," Luna said, offering him a smile of thanks.
The shadows under his eyes were dark and gave his gray eyes a hollow cast. He handed her the plate with stale bread, but today there was a wedge of cheese as well. "Oh, this is lovely," she said, nibbling delicately on the cheese after eating the stale bread. "Cheddar, freshly cut from the wheel. I do like it, thank you."
"I didn't," Draco said, appearing discomfited. "Cut it, I mean."
"That's all right. I don't always make my own things, either." Luna nodded at him matter of factly, indicating solidarity with him. "Is your father better?"
"He's the same." Draco seemed transfixed by her eyes, and Luna tried hard not to blink. If there was something there, some sign of a warbling trach or renting garbler, she would want him to be able to see it and let her know. "Yours is, too," Draco told her abruptly. "I thought it would be different, because Harry got away anyway. But he said he put in a good faith effort, and he wasn't punished for it. He lost his home, though. Your home."
Luna finished the cheese. "For many, that's punishment enough. Where do you go if you have no home, nowhere to feel safe? Where do you stay if there's nothing but darkness all around you and no allies?"
If anything, Draco appeared angry. "What would you know about it?"
"Not all ravens are alike in a nest," she said simply, shrugging. It surprised him, so Luna shrugged again. "Knights find their way eventually, you know."
"You don't know what you're talking about," he snarled, turning around and heading back up the stairs. Luna thought she saw something shift in the shadows and curl around his shoulder. That was one less creature to haunt her cell.
He might not think much of himself, but he was the right kind of knight for this kind of darkness in the dungeon.
The End
Title: Butterflies (The Fractal Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Pairing: Ariadne/Eames
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Butterflies
Original Author: Ysobel
Summary: If there's anything that Eames can't stand, it's being told that something is "good enough."
If there's anything that Eames can't stand, it's being told that something is "good enough." He had a reputation for being the best at this point, and "good enough" too often was shorthand that the entire job fell through and no one wanted to hurt his feelings.
Ariadne was enamored of the dreaming itself, often building for the sake of building now, experimenting with where she could take it. Everyone did that in the beginning, in the absent sort of way that led to learning where limits lay. It was how Eames discovered his talent at forgery in dreams, and sometimes playing around in the edges of what was supposed to be allowed in dream share led to new discoveries. Whatever she might have discovered in her dream she kept to herself. It was maddening, though he couldn't have said exactly why.
They weren't involved in a romantic sense. She trusted him, that much was obvious, but she treated the entire affair as if it was a business transaction. Normally Eames might not have minded that, but he rather liked Ariadne. She was inquisitive and brilliant, beautiful in a more classical sense and had kept up with his drier wit or esoteric comments. Most people he met weren't worth knowing, but Ariadne had been.
And now he couldn't get the taste of her out of his mind, couldn't stop imagining what she would feel like if she responded to his touch. Now he couldn't help but see her as more than a coworker he had teased and joked with, harmlessly flirting to pass the time. Now Eames wanted more than he allowed himself, more than what was possibly safe in his world.
"What did you dream of?" he pressed, following her to her dresser. She picked out ordinary clothes, intending to dress and write off the entire experience as something private. Eames put a hand on her arm, stopping the movement. "What happened?"
"Butterflies," she said, turning to look at him. "It was a garden full of butterflies."
There had to be some kind of meaning for her to see that, though at the moment Eames was paying more attention to the shape of her mouth as she formed the words, the way the corner tilted up into an almost smile. The delight in the dream suffused her, as if lighting her up from the inside out. He was kissing her before he even realized that was his intent, soft and gentle, fingers light on her skin as if that would keep her from fluttering away from him.
"It was like that," she whispered, looking up at him with her large golden eyes. "It was exactly like that."
Eames found himself smiling gently at her. "We can do better than that, can't we?"
Her answering smile of assent was all he needed.
***
The sketch of the butterfly was exquisitely detailed, fractal wings looking poised for flight. "I saw this," Ariadne said, giving him the sheet of paper. "Just before I woke, when I thought everything had shattered around me."
"Is that how you see it, then? A shattering? Or a fluttering?"
Ariadne reached across the bed to put the sketchbook away. "Neither, really. More like the wings, actually." She grinned at his confused look. "Ready to take flight, or the expectation that something amazing is going to happen."
Eames slid his hand along the curve of her hip and watched her shiver slightly at the contact. He put the sketch down on the pillow and leaned in, eyes locked to hers. "And did something amazing happen then? Or was it simply good enough?"
She smirked at him, eyes dancing. "And if it's only good enough?"
"We can do better than that," Eames replied, grinning. "I need to get the details right, you understand. It's important to getting the job done."
Ariadne laughed. "Well then. It was a good enough start."
As far as Eames was concerned, she had just issued a challenge he was only too willing to accept.
The End
Title: Situs Inversus (The Sinister Mix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Eileen Prince
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Additional warning: Mention of suicide and pregnancy loss.
Original Story: Situs Inversus
Original Author: Delphi
Summary: There once were twins. The simple words belie the emotion involved.
Eileen had known her pregnancy would end in disaster from the start, when the mediwitches told her there were two heartbeats in her womb. Twins. Her family wasn't known for twins and neither was the Snape family. Out of nowhere, unexpectedly, there was going to be two squalling infants to quiet down so that Eileen could avoid being struck for not moving fast enough, not being good enough, not being perfect enough.
Two more lives condemned to a lifetime in hell.
Potions had always been her strong suit, and sometimes that skill managed to save her life. Her husband needed to sleep, but going deep into his cups left him even more belligerent and quick to violence than before. Eileen had no other avenues than to deal with the marriage. She had cut off her ties to her family and she was far too proud to go groveling back now. There was no use even thinking of her husband by name sometimes; that made it easier to distance herself emotionally from what was happening in the marriage.
The mediwitches told her that the pregnancy was progressing well. They kept silent about the bruises and sprains, the lies Eileen had to tell in order to save what little face she had left. It was an open secret, but she couldn't string the words together that would force the mediwitches to do something about it. Is there a place to relax and rest, dear? one of them always asked her, especially when there was bruising on her inner thighs. Any friends to go to?
No. No, there wasn't. That was rather the point when she left home to marry her husband. Eileen had burned all of her bridges long ago.
Her potions skill had often saved her life, so it should be able to take it.
Only somehow, she lived. And so did one child.
The mediwitches clucked and were so sad when they discovered the loss of one heartbeat. The remains were quietly magicked away, no spells used to determine what it had died of. Eileen hadn't asked to know and they probably could guess what had happened.
One child survived.
Dear Merlin, Eileen couldn't handle that knowledge. Another life to be responsible for, another soul she couldn't save in this disaster of a marriage. Tobias could guess what happened, the bastard. He kept closer watch over her, fists heavier than ever. Eileen didn't have another opportunity to try again, and she watched her belly swell day by day with growing dread. He would kill this child sooner or later, just as she had killed the other, just as she wanted to kill herself.
She lied when she said Severus was an old family name, just as she lied when she told him that her doctors thought brandy and gin could be medicinal. He didn't care enough to check. It didn't matter as long as he had a son, as long as there was another focus for his temper.
Eileen looked into the dark eyes of her infant son, her heart shredding in her chest. Merlin, she loved him so fiercely already, and she knew she was a failure. "I'll do what I can," she whispered in his darkened nursery as she rocked him to sleep. "But the world is a dark place, my love. It will crush you and leave you for dead. No one ever gets out alive."
Years later, Severus discovered he had a twin that died. He never asked after the details, never seemed to notice the pain it caused Eileen.
It was just as well he didn't know how easily it could have been him.
The End
Title: Green And Silver (Home Is Where The Heart Is Remix)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Rating: G
Characters: Ginny Weasley
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. I borrow and play out of love only for Remix Madness.
Original Story: Home At Last
Original Author: velvetmouse
Summary: As it turns out, being selfish doesn't mean that you're not brave.
Ginny Weasley had always believed that she was a coward for not fighting the Sorting Hat placing her into Gryffindor. She felt that her first instinct toward self preservation was utter cowardice, and that she had to pretend to be a selfless lioness to stay in keeping with the expectations of others.
Her family didn't understand why she gravitated toward green and silver after graduation. At first her mother tried to say it was merely to offset the color of her hair and her fair complexion. Her brothers thought she was simply trying to wind up her parents, to distract from the losses that her family had suffered.
"This is who I am," she told them. "I was in the wrong house the entire time I was at school."
It was almost insulting to see them invalidate her feelings and point out all of her prior actions during the war, how amazing she had been at Quidditch or her classes. They didn't seem to understand that personal glory had been the driving interest in honing her skills, not bravery for bravery's sake. She wasn't interested in their rationalizations. It was enough that she knew the truth of it.
Things came to a head while visiting George at the shop one day. She was talking while helping him stock goods in the back, and neither heard the two men enter the shop and start stunning all of the patrons present. As soon as George went into the main area from the back room, he was stunned as well. The thieves tried to get into the cash box to seal the money there, shouting at each other all the while when it wouldn't open.
Ginny carefully crept out of the stockroom, keeping low to the ground. It was the coward's way out, but she wasn't about to simply barge in and become stunned herself. Once the thieves' backs were turned and they were occupied with stealing from their stunned victims, Ginny moved. She fired off hex after hex, one after the other without giving them a chance to act. They were frozen in place, tied and marked for Aurors to process within minutes, and then she set about freeing everyone in the store. She couldn't accept the comments about how brave she was, not even from George. "Anyone would've done what I did," she kept repeating, holding onto the green and silver robes she was wearing. It was a lie, just as her entire life to this point had been a lie.
"You think it's cowardly to wait for an opportune moment, don't you?" George asked her afterward, voice soft in the empty store.
"Isn't it? Gryffindors are supposed to charge in ahead and get the job done. What do I do? Wait and watch them stun you and steal from everyone."
"What's more cowardly? Waiting until you can act or turning around and running away."
"Running away," Ginny said instantly, looking at her brother as if he was stupid. "Everyone knows that."
"Yes, it is. And you didn't run away, Ginny. You stayed and fought them."
"It wasn't really a fight."
George waved off the clarification. "You still stayed to help. You didn't run away without looking back."
"That wouldn't be right. I couldn't just leave them to rob the store."
He nodded and took one of her hands in his. "It's not cowardice, Gin. It's being smart. Just because you don't rush headlong into things doesn't mean you're a coward. It means you're smarter than the lot of us." He grinned at his sister and then pulled her into a hug. "You're still brave, sister mine. You're still everything we thought you were."
"And what's that?"
"A Weasley," George replied with a grin. "And a true Gryffindor, not to worry."
Ginny smiled back and nodded. She might not have been comfortable with his definition, but it still made a certain kind of sense. Self preservation didn't preclude fighting for what was right, even if she made sure to stack the fight in her favor. She would defend friends and family with whatever she could reasonably do, and especially if she could be sneaky about it.
She could accept that she had some Gryffindor traits after all, though she still strongly identified with Slytherin. Ginny didn't envy the Sorting Hat and the decisions it had to make for hundreds of children. It couldn't put her in both houses after all.
The End