A/N: I can only say that this is in its early developmental stages right now. I'll make a deal with you, though. You're smart people, you know what makes the world go around, so if you like this story (or dislike it for whatever reason), please let me know what you liked or what I can do to improve. I'll have you dilly-dallying on this note no longer. Hope you find it interesting. :)
Chapter One
It wasn't that Susan disliked snow. Really she did like it very much, it seemed to be the only unchanged thing in the world when everything else was a tangled, twisted mess. When bogey men crept into closets, when wizards cast spells, even when she stopped time, snow stayed the same. The freezing cold winds ripped through Ankh-Morpork like scissors through delicate silk, leaving the houses looking almost...frayed. Susan hurried homeward, her two governess children (Gawain and Twyla) tucked into their warm beds and fast asleep. After what was close to half an hour of being pelted with rough gusts of wind and icy flakes, all Susan could think about was the nice, hot bath and hot cocoa that would be waiting within the safe recesses of her house. The thoughts were all swiftly interrupted when she tripped and almost dropped her stolen 'toy' that was pushed neatly into her corset. Susan glanced cautiously toward the alley way beside her, half expecting to see her amiable foe peering back at her. Was 'amiable' even
the right word for Jonthan Teatime? He was anything but 'amiable'...'intelligent' perhaps, maybe even 'respectable'...but not amiable.
She shook her head of thought, restarting her brisk pace for home. Susan figured that sensible thoughts like 'I should go to the market tomorrow, I'm running low on ...everything.' or 'I wonder what will happen next in that one book...' would take her mind off of last Hogswatch's shenanigans. Whatever she was thinking about, she soon forgot when her home came into sight. She ran towards it, anxious to get inside.
Susan tugged off her coat and threw it at the coat rack the moment she entered her small apartment. She stoked the fire as quickly as she could, praying that a hot bath wasn't going to be too much of a chore to throw together. The snow outside the two lonely windows of Susan's living space seemed to slow as the night went on, it's abrasive clouds of ice shards now falling in a gentle, sleepy manner. She cast aside her clothing at an alarming rate, taking care to hide the glass eye in the folds of her dress-just for while she bathed. Susan allowed her thoughts to cease for a few blissful minutes as she enjoyed the hot water,temporarily erasing her mind of all the unsettling thoughts she'd implanted in her head during the day. After dressing in her night gown, she went to work picking up the clothing she'd left lying around, forgetting the object she'd hidden in her skirt, which (naturally) rolled under her bed.
Susan cursed inwardly, shoving the clothes back into her closet and attempting to see how far under her bed the eye had gone. "Oh, bugger." she murmured at seeing that it had gone just far enough to be out of reach. She shrugged, hardly phased, pleased enough that it had ended up on her person and not as Gawain's favorite toy. That thought alone was enough to make Susan skip making hot cocoa or reading, and simply go straight to bed. Unfortunately, her dreams decided to get the best of her, and Susan wasn't in for a night of restful sleep as planned...
I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RULES FOR THIS GAME, ALBERT. Death set down his cards on the table, glancing over at the old man sitting across the table from him. "It's not too bloody hard. All you have to do is ask me if I have a match for one of your cards. If I don't, I'll say 'Go fish.'." Albert rubbed his chin thoughtfully, examining his hand of cards. HUMANS CONFUSE ME MORE OFTEN THAN THEY USED TO. I'M NOT 'FISHING' IF I HAVE NO POLE, POND, NOR FISH TO FISH FOR...Death scartched his head with a bony finger, tapping the fingers of his free hand on the table. "We should probably go check up on that bloke whose hourglass is running low, it must be out by now, poor blighter." Albert gathered up the cards, tucking them into his waistcoat pocket. YOU KNOW, ALBERT, I HAVEN'T BEEN TO VISIT MY GRANDDAUGHTER IN SOMETIME NOW. DO YOU THINK I SHOULD? I'M NOT ONE FOR SENTIMENTAL ATTATCHMENTS, BUT SUSAN CERTAINLY IS EVEN IF SHE DOESN'T APPEAR SO. Death retrieved his scythe and whistled for Binky. "...Well...I don't see why not. Just don't suprise her or frighten her or anything like that. You know how she gets when she's upset."
Death mounted the horse, PERHAPS I'LL DROP BY IN A WEEK OR TWO. LET US HOPE SHE IS NOT IN A BAD SITUATION LIKE LAST HOGSWATCH. Albert nodded as he rolled some tobacco for his cigarette. "Agreed." the wind caught the tobacco at the last second, carrying it away among the ice flakes. "Bloody hell." Albert cursed the wind.
The sky began to lighten, night's spell of silence wearing off. The sun rose, hitting the snow with its golden rays and making the snow glitter like thousands of tiny crystals. Susan opened her eyes, but did not move. The shroud of warmth tight around her was too muh for her to abandon so soon. She stirred slightly, brushing another leg with her foot. She stroked the arm wrapped tightly around her waist,making a sound inbetween a contented sigh and a disgruntled groan at the sun. Susan did not feel worried, not in the slightest. She thought nothing of the figure holding her in bed, not thinking clearly enough to put two and two together yet. That began to bother her. Susan turned quietly and slowly, hoping whoever was with her had not woken up yet.
That's when she saw him. The horror and shock of laying beside Jonathan Teatime was scarring enough to make her scream, but she didn't. Something told her not to. Perhaps it was the way his hair was unruly and his mouth puckered. She, without thinking, reached out and touched his lips fondly. Her mind was infuriated, trying to reason with her and break her of her silly thoughts, mentally calling herself terrible names that would make a sailor blush. His eyes opened sleepily, and he smiled at her. "I knew you'd break out of your hard shell someday." he said, nuzzling his face against her hand. "What's-...How-...Why are you here?" She exclaimed (slowly since her brain didn't seem to be working). "You'll know soon enough." he seemed to become a sharper, clearer image. Rough looking and...sharp. Susan felt something was not right, like reality was trying to tell her something. "You want to know something, Susan?" he asked, his blue eye blazingly icy, his black one empty. "The dark isn't always bad,in fact, it's the light you should be worried about." Susan stared at him and his sudden...strange, frightening countenance, his black eye opening like a void before her...and before she realized, she was falling into darkness, utter darkness.
Then Susan woke up.