Summary: Just as everything must begin, everything must also end. Slight Corline x Other Wybie.
As simple as sewing together a nursery doll, He was born.
The Beldam, with a fervor that only meant a child was within her grasp, took her needle sharp fingertips and sewed together His skin. Poured the life into His mouth, tied on thick, wiry hair, pulled the clothes over Him, and finally secured His shiny, black button eyes. Just as He opened his mouth, she stopped him. He found quite shockingly that He couldn't say a thing.
"You are now Wybourne Lovat," she hissed, "The better Wybie. I made you for Coraline-" she held up a smaller doll, with blue hair, yellow rain jacket, and boots, "Who will come to stay forever soon. Make her happy. Make her stay. Obey my will. And most of all," she finished in a deadly whisper, "Say nothing!"
And so He became the Other Wybie, and began that short life of silence.
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The reason for his silence became apparent once he met the true Coraline. The true Wybie, whom he'd been modeled after, was annoyingly chatty and a constant sore in Coraline's side that way. The Beldam had seen it so. So he obviously met her approval as he did as he was bade, as a silent, cheerful best friend. But he knew how to feel things Coraline could too. As they went to the Other Bobinski's Jumping Mouse Circus, he was delighted to try the cotton candy cannons, and end up covered in the sticky, sugary confection.
"Look at you!" Coraline squealed with laughter when she saw him. Other Wybie simply smiled back and handed her one of the cotton candies. He found that smiling was infectious, both to Coraline...and himself. Doll or not, he was still a child and happiness is something wonderful for children to indulge in.
The circus was a success. Mice bounced rhythmatically to the oompa-oompa of the tubas and drums, rolling and hopping to and fro. The finale was...on the Other Bobinski's insistence, amazing. And the Other Wybie felt so happy to share it with his new playmate, and was doubly delighted to hear the Other Bobinski refer to him as her friend...and for her not to deny it. She'd deny it, of course, if he was the real Wybie. That Wybie was creepy and annoying, while he was perfect the way he was. The Beldam was right to silence him.
And as she drifted away to sleep, the Other Wybie watched. Did most children look so peaceful in sleep? He didn't need it...but he'd only been born last night. Maybe that's how children did things. He took a seat at the trunk on the end of the bed, and tried leaning on the end of the bedpost in an imitation of sleep. He rather liked it. He was sure the bed the way it was, had to be much better still. He looked dimly cheerful at the Beldam, who sat by her bed, watching her sleep almost predatorily. While he couldn't speak, the Beldam could still understand.
Why do you want her here?
The Beldam smiled back, and didn't answer until Coraline had completely melted away....back into her world. Then...his usual smile dropped for the first time.
"Why...to eat of course."
Just as the smile fell off his face, the Beldam pushed it back up again. She was no longer the beautiful mother now. She was the witch who sewed him up and silenced him for life. Her needle fingers stabbed painfully into his cheeks. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered that most children bleed. But all that trickled out was the smallest smattering of dust. With a cold realization he knew he wasn't natural. He couldn't be like Coraline...perfectly normal and natural. He wasn't part of the natural order. He was an abomination.
"Don't" she snarled, "Give yourself away. Coraline will come back again tomorrow night and I expect you to be smiling and happy when she comes here. Don't make her want to leave or you will be sorry. Very sorry indeed."
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This time, when Coraline arrived where he waited in the theater, the Other Wybie forced himself to grin, despite himself. It was so cruel...so inhumane to do this to someone like her. But then again, the Beldam wasn't even human. Maybe she used to...a long time ago, but whatever human had been left was drained away for her greedy desire for the lives of sweet young children like Coraline. How many have there been before her?
He endured himself during the show. He kept the silence and smiles, and some of it was even sincere. Even if Coraline was about to march to her doom, he could at least be friends with her while she was still alive right? But even as the Other Forcible and Spink swung her through the air, the dogs and him watching her whoop and laugh as she flew like an acrobat, the Other Wybie wished she'd just stayed home.
The finale was just as magnificent as last night's. The Other Wybie threw a rose, already prepared for this, to the balancing Coraline. She lit up like a Christmas tree when she caught it, and he continued to jump and cheer in silence with the din of barking dogs. The Other Forcible and Spink, let her down gently as she chattered wildly about the show. Then, hopping off the stage to the Other Wybie, she jerked her head to the door.
"Maybe the other mom's all done," she pointed, "She'll want to see me."
The Other Wybie's face jerked a fraction, before regaining its usual full blown cheeriness. Coraline noticed...but didn't say anything. She was oozing with excitement as they left the theater, the rose already left forgotten in the seat. As the Other Wybie looked back to it...he worried. Would the Beldam forget about him once Coraline was done with? Would Coraline still remember him if she ever came to her senses? Would either of them want to?
"So, how was it?" asked the Beldam, in her usual pretty mother attire. Coraline gushed with the details as they walked up to the house. She wasn't paying attention to him anymore, so he slowly let his face grow long and distressed. Coraline bid him goodnight, walking back into the spider web of the house. The Other Wybie knew what it was by now. He should have always know. The Beldam looked at his upset face as she lingered behind. He looked at her with a silent plea.
Please. Don't do it. Let her go.
But she simply gestured for him to smile, with a reminder of her old threat. Don't make her leave or you'll be sorry. Very sorry.
Slamming the door in his face, the Other Wybie hung his head. Coraline would be given button eyes. She'd become the next meal for the Beldam...and there was nothing the Other Wybie could do or say against it. Even if he wanted to...how could he? He was born that way.
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To his great relief, Coraline was much more opposed to the Beldam's plans than he gave her credit for. She refused the button eye idea, and fled to her room...barring the door and determinedly attempting to go back to her real world. The Other Wybie was so relieved, he was smiling far past what usually would have been acceptable.
But alas, the Beldam was not known for her understanding. That night, as Coraline struggled to sleep, she'd snatched him by the roots of his wiry hair and dragged him to her work room. Pinned on the table...much like a fly in the spider's web, she paced angrily to and fro. The Other Wybie definitely wasn't smiling now. He was terrified. Was this how Coraline felt when confronted with the button eyes? Or perhaps how the other children the Beldam might have trapped here felt? Was it something a child felt? He didn't know. He wasn't a natural child...no child made by the Beldam was natural.
"You filth ridden little brat!" she howled at him, "I have tried to explain your purpose for you but you simply don't listen. You're scaring her away! And don't look at me like that!" she swiped at the horrid look on the Other Wybie's face, but she could scratch it off. To his further horror, the Beldam pulled out an especially thick, wiry spool of thread. "If you won't smile I'll make you smile!"
The Other Wybie couldn't bear the torture that went on the next few hours. During the entire operation, he saw the Other Father begin to falter in form in the doorway. How did he feel about this? Did he want the Beldam to do this? Weren't fathers supposed to protect their daughters? The Other Father might have noticed him watching, for he hobbled, sunken and defeated, away from the work room. Maybe he wants to....thought the Other Wybie, trying to distract himself...He's one of the only good things here...
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Coraline was skittering around nervously the next day. She'd tried to get through the other door, but the doors to the parlor were locked. The Beldam was onto her, and she wasn't about to let her escape now. The Other Wybie had taken one look at himself in a mirror the next day...and vowed not to let Coraline see him. She'd be sickened at what the Beldam did to his face, twisted in a forced grin with roughly sewn thread yanking the corners of his mouth until it almost ripped his face in two. But he had to do something...even if it cost him his existence, at least he'd go out in the best possible way. He'd be protecting his friend.
He tore up the back side of one of the oven mitts and tied it over his face so it wouldn't be visible. Then, he sought Coraline.
The handles to the parlor were broken off...Coraline must have broken in to escape. But the door to her world was open...so the Beldam had obviously interfered. He listened for her footsteps. She was patrolling around upstairs, and hearing the quiet groans of the Other Father, she was obviously trying to repair him. He wasn't made to last long anyways. So he looked and listened for where the Beldam might have hidden Coraline. Knowing her, she'd probably locked the poor girl up somewhere to punish her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd bullied someone to get her way. He looked in the mirror to assure his mask was secure...and he heard her.
Not wasting time pondering the magic of trapping Coraline in a mirror, he swiped his hands through the glass of the mirror, pleased to find her could move through it like water, and clapped his hands around the mouth and shoulders of someone. When he pulled the person out, he was overjoyed to see the blue hair. Coraline!
She didn't come easily though. Panicked, she flailed and fought, slamming the poor Other Wybie against the walls, rattling the picture frames until he fell, shocked and exhausted on the floor. Before he could keep her away from the mask, she ripped it off him, crying out with shock as she saw his artificial smile.
"Wybie?!" she cried out in horror. He futilely covered up his face in humiliation. She knew now. She'd run and never want to see him again. But instead Coraline pulled his hands away from his face and looked pityingly down at him. Oh he didn't deserve it! He'd been helping the Beldam he didn't deserve her sympathy-
"Did she do this to you?" she demanded. The Other Wybie said nothing. He couldn't. But she must have guessed right anyway as she gently untied the strings pulling at his face. He rubbed the aching cheeks in relief at being able to control his expression once more. "There. That should feel bet-"
"Shhhh," he managed to say. It was relieving to at least tell her something. Silence could be as painful as having your face strung up into a smile sometimes. He took her by the hand, quietly darting to the parlor room. They pushed away the beetle wardrobe, but the Other Wybie jumped as it fell with a loud crash. He heard the Beldam call from upstairs. "Coraline! Is that you?" He urged her to the door. "C'mon! We gotta get outta here!" she whispered. But after a moment of shock, her urgently shook his head, pulling off a glove to reveal the dusty hand beneath. With a gentle blow, the hand crumbled away into dust. That's all he was.
"Coraline! How dare you disobey your mother!" thundered the Beldam as she came down the stairs. She'd catch Coraline if she didn't hurry. Looking desperate for forgiveness at his friend, the Other Wybie pushed her through the door, and snapped it shut at her horrified face. He'd never, ever see her again.
"Coraline!" the Beldam shouted, entering the parlor room. But to her rage, she wasn't there...only the Other Wybie cowering like the guilty, treasonous parasite he was. The Beldam screamed with fury, and even as the Other Wybie struggled to escape out the door...nothing could save him now.
"You'll pay for this your traitorous little scum!" she shrieked. She became the full out witch, her many needle legs and arms clicking furiously. The Other Wybie was too quickly reunited with the operation table, and with a swift swipe of needle fingers, his mouth ripped apart. He tried to scream, but all that came out was the dust that occupied his body, pouring out rapidly like sand. His button eyes were ripped out viciously, his hair torn away in thick hunks, his skin, his skin, pierced and leaking in a hundred different holes. And so it went on for hours, feeling his life drain away in a slow, painful way.
To his horror, the Other Wybie discovered Death for the first...and last time.
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It was all white after that.
Strange though it was....maybe it was natural. He saw nothing but white...though his subconscious knew that normal children would see black. But of course...he remembered he wasn't part of the natural order. But-
Even as he floated in that pseudo world between heaven and earth, maybe he was. Would he have a soul if he was unnatural? No. Would he have done what he did for Coraline if he was unnatural. Also no. If he was truly unnatural, he'd be a cheery little zombie for the Beldam, happily accepting his mission and happily departing. He wouldn't even know Death...no, Death was reserved for real souls. He'd just have gone out...gone forever like a blown out candle.
"Evil witch! I'm not scared!"
He heard her! So Coraline had come back after all! He couldn't see anything....but he could guess. Freedom, for everyone. He'd been her friend long enough to know that people like Coraline didn't ignore their friends. She couldn't do anything....but knowing she'd come back...maybe not just for him...meant a lot.
After all...wasn't it natural?