Fine Lines
Summary: There was a fine line between fiction and reality. But when your reality gets depressing, you would wish that fictional characters were there for you. Margaret was saved. How? Because that fine line that kept fiction and reality apart bent the rule.
Author's Note: This is a multi-fandom fiction. At least five were included, and are highly unlikely to even get together. Blame my insecurities and inner demons, I've had enough unjustified prejudice and loneliness to last me a lifetime.
Disclaimer: I do not own Plants Vs Zombies, My Little Pony, Harvest Moon, Sonic The Hedgehog, or Hetalia. They belong to their respective owners.
Margaret Bennet's life was complicated. She was a writer, but she was not given any sort of recognition whatsoever. Sure, the occasional pointing out the smallest mistakes reviews were there, but other than that, nothing. Constructive criticism might have been nice.
She had a family that doesn't support her. Hell, when she chose her career she got berated for it. They wanted her to be something big- supermodel, physician, astronaut - ANYTHING other than being a stupid little author.
'You'll get nowhere with that career,' said her aunt.
'You'll destroy your whole life!' mocked her bothers.
'What a disappointment.' Was what her Grandfather made of it.
And the insults went on.
She wasn't sure if her friends were for real or not. They didn't support her either, and they were indifferent when they forgot about her. Sure, because in their circle, they had many more friends. What was one of them when you can have someone better?
'Oops, sorry, I guess I forgot.' Was what they would say when they went without her.
'There's a fun group, why don't you head over there?' They pointed over to the bullies who had even worse in store for her.
'All full!' In the cafeteria, at lunchtime, she was forced to eat in the toiletries.
But all through it, she had a smile on her face; a fake one that could fool many. Showing off her teeth to the world, and her true self brooded behind them.
Actually, she wasn't sure if her smile was that convincing.
Really, it was either she was a professional at it, or no one cared.
No one bothered to ask her if she needed help with the books she carried to the classroom. 'No, I'm alright,' she would say when she clearly wasn't. They left her there, right before one of the higher-ups knocked her books down.
No one noticed that she was starving herself with no food when her parents forgot to give her allowance. 'H-hey, could I have some of that?' she asked, but they told her to get lost- and accused her of already having ate. She refused to let her parents know this for fear of prejudice.
When she drew, she drew magnificently. In her eyes, it was like magic. 'Hey, hey! Want to see?' And then it would look more and more like junk when the other kids were done with it.
In this world, it was terrible. No one liked her, no one gave her the support that she needed, and then she lost confidence in herself.
Her big problem, you ask?
She refused to show it. She didn't let the world know that she was suffering in silence. She was sure the rest of the world wouldn't care.
The only thing that the world knew about was her smiles.
Wrong beliefs. They turned her into a shell of what she was supposed to be.
They turned her into nothing.
All they knew about were her fake smiles, and the masked, unrealistic joy she let out.
But, in a world where the rest of it drove her to the breaking point, her one trace of sanity was placed into the bittersweet hands of fiction.
There was a fine line between fiction and reality, Margaret knew that. She learned to not delve into it too far- she would never find that silver lining of hope ever again if she did.
She found comfort into the games she played, and the TV shows that she watched. Margaret would hide it from her parents that she stayed up late in her retreat, defeating zombies with mutant plants, running a farm, or speeding through the checkered lands of Seaside Hill.
Whenever she came home, and she wanted to cry, she would turn on the television in her room, and watch brightly colored ponies learn about the many secrets of friendship, or see personified countries make bumbling fools of themselves.
Fiction was her one trace of sanity in this judgmental world. Her sweet escapade. The one place where she can truly be happy.
And it really was outstanding how fiction talked her out of suicide countless times.
Even though Margaret had to accept that fiction could never be real. Not in forever. Not in this life.
But sometimes, she would imagine what it would be like it could be real. She knew for sure that they won't be as horrible as the real people in her life.
She could see herself defending her parent's lawn from the zombies with the plants.
She dreamt that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would come and maybe teach a thing or two to her about friendship.
She envisions herself farming along with Claire and pestering their neighbor Gray.
She wondered what it would be like to sit on Sonic's back while he sped through the countless hills and loops of Eggman's base.
She thought that it would be amazing if she ever meet the hamburger-loving hero that was her nation, America.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Throughout surviving her days, she clung onto the childish belief that they would come to life and be with her.
Simply catching a glimpse of her fictional fantasies- maybe that would coerce her to smile a real smile?
At the end of the day, Margaret would shake her head, and remind herself that that fantasy would never be reality. Then she would return to the harshness of the real world.
After all, there was no way that the fine line could be broken…
Author's Note: First multi-chapter about a multi-fandom. Huh. It's amazing how this was built on my insecurities.
I would like to address whatever drove me to write this fiction. First off, my depression. Then, uh, remember 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven'? I meant the parody, you could check it out in my Favorites list, it's awesome. Lastly, Radwimps Order Made. I cannot stop crying at that one, and I stopped crying at the other APH MADs.
I hope you enjoyed, and the next chapter will be up sometime else.