The Promentory - cw: suicide, violence, death

[moon_in_her_hair]

[Spam]

[Opera House] (Here is the scene for reference)

[It's a scene that she knows. Even without looking behind her at the sets and the props, she knows where she is. For a moment, the curtains, the audience, everything disappears. She could swear that she is back in the Colonies, lost in the wild and pulled along by Magua and his men.

The actor portraying him looks at her with the same dead eyes, the knife at his side sharp and bloody. His men gathered around him, practicing their war calls. The same ones they used when they scalped her father's unit. Her body freezes, backing away as her heart hammers in her chest. Her eyes become wide and fearful, watching them with the same fear and knowing certainty that she is to die.

Cora is in the background, her black hair long and about her waist. She is next to Hawkeye, both speaking in low whispers. She is unseen by them, just as she was in life. Forgotten and left to her fate.

Uncas appears, his expression towards her loving and kind, as it always was. He sees her now, even as he is attacked and stabbed. His heart seemingly breaking as they both understand that he has failed.

She knows what happens, she knows how it ends. Backing away, Alice retreats into herself, but still unable to look away as her lover fights Magua. There is no escaping fate in the end.]

[The Ballroom]

[Her fear and terror from the Opera House is still with her. The ghosts swelling in each room have nothing compared to the actors she had just seen. But even so, she darts from room to room, seeking to escape her terror and never ending nightmare.

As she steps into the ballroom, she stops in shock, looking around at the figures dancing. She is pushed about, shoved into the corner as the room seems to fill. She is underfoot again, but it is more dangerous than before. She is lost and can't find her way out.]

Comments

[starofdarkness]

Ceres could do nothing but watch, strangely mesmerized by the drama even though she could see that the characters were nothing but ghosts. She can see the love in the man's eyes. From the way the girl seems to shrivel into herself she knows that she loves him too. Her heart aches for the young woman.

She stays respectfully quiet behind Alice until the scenes comes to its end.

[moon_in_her_hair]

She collapses to the floor before the scene ends, before she was supposed to jump. Her body shaking as she tried to rouse and remind herself that none of this was real.

It was over, everything had passed and all of it had happened before.

She cries into her hands, giving true emotion for the losses she suffered and letting out all her fear and pain. Something she should have done long ago.

[heavenlymisandrist]

When the scene is finally over Ceres falls to one knee beside the woman and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. She keeps her voice quiet, so as not to startle the woman more than necessary.

"You are not safe here."

[moon_in_her_hair]

She nods, placing her hand on Ceres' arm. That small touch grounding her and helping her to feel again. Her eyes finally filling with tears as she let her heart well up with pain.

"I want to leave."

[heavenlymisandrist]

Aya doesn't have to say a word. Ceres simply offers her other arm, keeping the first where it is for as long as Alice wants it there.

"Let us go, then. We need not stay in such an ugly place."

[moon_in_her_hair]

She looks behind her, a lingering glance at Uncas. It would be the last she would see of him. It hurt, especially knowing why he sacrificed himself for her.

But she couldn't live through this again. Hesitantly, she took Ceres' arm, following her.

"Where are we?"

[heavenlymisandrist]

"A nightmare," is her answer, because she doesn't have a better one. "Nothing more."

She eyes the ghosts disparagingly as she leads Alice out, but it seems as though they're finished enough with their play to let both girls escape. Just as well. If they hadn't, Ceres would gladly have destroyed every last one of them.