Disclaimer: I don't own any of it but the plot and the garden. Creepy thing. . .
This story is going to be written by Chess and Eagle Lord. This chapter is just by Chess, but with much input and help getting started from her Eaglie little friend. Feedback appreciated, and flames handled by Eagle Lord, who won't be as upset by them. Oh, and I blame insomnia at 3:30 in the morning for the strangeness of this chapter. If it doesn't make complete sense, well, it's not exactly supposed to. This story is going to be many chapters long, by the way. This is only the beginning. . .
That was nice and melodramatic. Ok, on with the story.
Evangeline Lashard was beautiful. She had long black hair which flowed to her waist and clear, deep blue eyes, like sapphires. Her skin was so pale that it was almost translucent and it glistened slightly in the thick air that hung heavily as she stood on the balcony.
She was looking out over the land, to a place where she had grown up, a place where she had been free. This dark house, almost a castle, was her prison as well as her home. The memories of a shining white castle to the South were fading, being replaced by fear and darkness.
She considered her position. Although it had never been spoken out loud, she knew that she could not leave this place. She walked down through the dark hallways, reflecting for the sixtieth time on the man who had brought her here.
As she walked out into the back garden, Evangeline's brow furrowed slightly at the gathering darkness there. The garden was not a true one, it was more a collection of dead gray trees and nettled vines. Like something out of a nightmare. . . She walked in a dream-state across the bare earth, looking for the fiftieth time at the thorns and feeling the dry wind cross the yard.
What was Septimius to her? She wondered. Her memory of him only included this place, nothing of how he had brought her here. There might have been something that flickered occasionally in the back of her mind, but it could have just as easily been imagined, something she had made up without realizing it to fill the void.
Evangeline saw one rose, and thought it was strange. There weren't usually roses here, only thorns. The flower was a beautiful pale pink, but as she reached to touch it, it turned pure black, and the baby inside her gave a kick. She started back, surprised, and then began to think again, about the garden now. There was some kind of magic here, something which made her at the same time more comfortable than any other thing here, and more uncomfortable than anything that ever was. Evangeline shook slightly in her dark blue satin robe, and felt an overwhelming sense of evil, stronger than ever before. The garden was pure evil, she knew that with a fierce certainty, and she began to run. She tore through the thorns, trying to escape the boiling presence around her. She ran to the cliff which was only a few yards form the back of the garden and hovered on the edge.
The unmistakable evil pulsed behind her, waiting to catch her if she stepped back into the garden. She felt the dry, cracked earth through her silk slippers and didn't step back. The rain began, a few drops in the wind. The child. . . it was meant to come very soon. . . Without knowing why, Evangeline wanted to throw herself over the cliff, but the child. . . The evil groped around her, she had a chance to throw herself free of it. She knew for an instant that she could not allow the child to be born. . . The thoughts came half-formed, and her dark hair whipped around her face. . . Darkness reared, and worse, not darkness, the calm before a storm was whirling around her. . . She flung herself forward. . .but somehow pulled back, the one moment of clear thought she'd had in many years, gone.
The garden enveloped her, protected her and the child from hurt. She was not at all convinced that this was a good thing.
~~~
The child was delivered by the garden. The garden did not allow any harm to come to him.
Evangeline lay on the ground, weak and exhausted. . . This should have been the end of the story. . . but she was stronger than the windblown dusk and rose petal remains knew. Her dark blue eyes glimmered as she steeled herself, and, determined to drag out the battle, she rose from the ground and took the baby in her hands. . . She ran again to the cliff's edge and made as if to throw the infant to the broken ground below. Something stopped her. One thought. . . This isn't real. This garden is a dream-place, something only for me. . . It hates me. (But it loves the child,) a voice nagged. She couldn't listen, she had to hold on to this one clear thought that made sense. She knew that this child, this boy, would know nothing of this place, that he would grow in the real world. (Grow. . .)
So instead of letting her feeling of terror about this child and this garden rule her, instead of ending it and conquering the garden, she paused with the child raised in the air. She spoke, trying to find the right words that made sense. . . It had to be perfectly right. . .
"This place hates me, but it can't hurt you. Grow, but not in the way that this place wants, Severus Orion Snape!"
This story is going to be written by Chess and Eagle Lord. This chapter is just by Chess, but with much input and help getting started from her Eaglie little friend. Feedback appreciated, and flames handled by Eagle Lord, who won't be as upset by them. Oh, and I blame insomnia at 3:30 in the morning for the strangeness of this chapter. If it doesn't make complete sense, well, it's not exactly supposed to. This story is going to be many chapters long, by the way. This is only the beginning. . .
That was nice and melodramatic. Ok, on with the story.
Evangeline Lashard was beautiful. She had long black hair which flowed to her waist and clear, deep blue eyes, like sapphires. Her skin was so pale that it was almost translucent and it glistened slightly in the thick air that hung heavily as she stood on the balcony.
She was looking out over the land, to a place where she had grown up, a place where she had been free. This dark house, almost a castle, was her prison as well as her home. The memories of a shining white castle to the South were fading, being replaced by fear and darkness.
She considered her position. Although it had never been spoken out loud, she knew that she could not leave this place. She walked down through the dark hallways, reflecting for the sixtieth time on the man who had brought her here.
As she walked out into the back garden, Evangeline's brow furrowed slightly at the gathering darkness there. The garden was not a true one, it was more a collection of dead gray trees and nettled vines. Like something out of a nightmare. . . She walked in a dream-state across the bare earth, looking for the fiftieth time at the thorns and feeling the dry wind cross the yard.
What was Septimius to her? She wondered. Her memory of him only included this place, nothing of how he had brought her here. There might have been something that flickered occasionally in the back of her mind, but it could have just as easily been imagined, something she had made up without realizing it to fill the void.
Evangeline saw one rose, and thought it was strange. There weren't usually roses here, only thorns. The flower was a beautiful pale pink, but as she reached to touch it, it turned pure black, and the baby inside her gave a kick. She started back, surprised, and then began to think again, about the garden now. There was some kind of magic here, something which made her at the same time more comfortable than any other thing here, and more uncomfortable than anything that ever was. Evangeline shook slightly in her dark blue satin robe, and felt an overwhelming sense of evil, stronger than ever before. The garden was pure evil, she knew that with a fierce certainty, and she began to run. She tore through the thorns, trying to escape the boiling presence around her. She ran to the cliff which was only a few yards form the back of the garden and hovered on the edge.
The unmistakable evil pulsed behind her, waiting to catch her if she stepped back into the garden. She felt the dry, cracked earth through her silk slippers and didn't step back. The rain began, a few drops in the wind. The child. . . it was meant to come very soon. . . Without knowing why, Evangeline wanted to throw herself over the cliff, but the child. . . The evil groped around her, she had a chance to throw herself free of it. She knew for an instant that she could not allow the child to be born. . . The thoughts came half-formed, and her dark hair whipped around her face. . . Darkness reared, and worse, not darkness, the calm before a storm was whirling around her. . . She flung herself forward. . .but somehow pulled back, the one moment of clear thought she'd had in many years, gone.
The garden enveloped her, protected her and the child from hurt. She was not at all convinced that this was a good thing.
~~~
The child was delivered by the garden. The garden did not allow any harm to come to him.
Evangeline lay on the ground, weak and exhausted. . . This should have been the end of the story. . . but she was stronger than the windblown dusk and rose petal remains knew. Her dark blue eyes glimmered as she steeled herself, and, determined to drag out the battle, she rose from the ground and took the baby in her hands. . . She ran again to the cliff's edge and made as if to throw the infant to the broken ground below. Something stopped her. One thought. . . This isn't real. This garden is a dream-place, something only for me. . . It hates me. (But it loves the child,) a voice nagged. She couldn't listen, she had to hold on to this one clear thought that made sense. She knew that this child, this boy, would know nothing of this place, that he would grow in the real world. (Grow. . .)
So instead of letting her feeling of terror about this child and this garden rule her, instead of ending it and conquering the garden, she paused with the child raised in the air. She spoke, trying to find the right words that made sense. . . It had to be perfectly right. . .
"This place hates me, but it can't hurt you. Grow, but not in the way that this place wants, Severus Orion Snape!"