Tag, You're It
Summary: It all boils down to the one girl standing on the edge of the world. Catty and DOTM centric, spoilers for book 13.
AN: Well, it's finally over folks. Just a little story about my favorite Daughter. Didn't come out like I wanted it do, but sadly, almost nothing ever does.
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It gave her the creeps. The negative vibes, the garish makeup, the entire populations' penchant for wearing hooded robes, all of it. It made her skin tingle and her stomach squirm, and she had a coldness inside of her that not even the never-rising sun could quench. Creepy, downright creepy, was the only word to describe the land of her inheritance.
Her fingers toy with the emblem on the black hood, and she knows that she has to be strong. There's no reason for her not to be strong. Not to go home and call it quits, not to rush back into the arms of people who saw Catty and not Atertra, not to go back to a life full of pranks, and laughs, and making Vanessa's sense of strict morality absolutely miserable. Those reasons were gone now, and she knew from the start that this was just the way it was meant to be forever. She feels the reasons in her heart now, and she hears their voices carrying throughout her mind. She's just a girl. She's just a savior.
The closer to the light, the longer the shadow. That was just simple physics. And, lo and behold, Catty actually excelled in physics. Mr. Tomlin would be on cloud nine if he knew.
But Mr. Tomlin isn't here. And neither is her mother. Or her friends. Or her Vanessa, who stood above friends and had her own rather large spot in Catty's heart. Even Stanton, the not as big of a jerk as he always seemed to be, wasn't here.
Her eyes stare out the window, watching the fake stars dance like diamonds in the sky, and she hugs her knees to her chest. No one is here. Catty is just a very lonely girl that is stranded in a world that will forever give her the creeps.
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Serena doesn't know where she is, but she knows that she doesn't like the person who has filled her spot. The person with the dull green eyes, the matted dark hair, and the downcast- was that submissive?- features. This isn't her, this is some weak replacement. A weak replacement that holds a very high chance of losing her mind.
They don't bother with the chains in her prison. They know that her fear is already weighing her down, and that there isn't anywhere to run. Serena was built for duality, her very power suggested it, but in a land of extremes, there isn't any room for the middle ground. Conflict makes her throat seize up and her stomach roll around, the darkness is pulling at her, but the light remains anchored enough just to drive her to insanity. She doesn't know herself. She existed as a shade of grey and now there is only black and white.
The door opens, and a Regulator enters with a bowl of soup and a sinister smile. He bows to her, mockingly, before spreading out the meager food- knowing she won't touch it anyway. She's barely touched anything in this land of darkness.
As he exits, Serena's clouded eyes look up at the window, and she exhales slowly. There's one other girl, besides herself, that is still here. The girl on the edge of the world, and Serena isn't sure if she pities Catty or envies her.
The girl on the edge of the world has the option of jumping, after all.
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She feels his presence near her always, and its there as a friend, not as a lover. It makes her smile, as she places on her mask, because even now Chris always knows exactly what she needs. Ghost like fingers play through her hair, and it's so gentle and pure that she wants to tear her scalp away when her father's hands mimic the action.
The words of encouragement echo throughout the silence, and peace comes from knowing that on the edge of the world there's someone there waiting.
"Atertra, are you excited?" Adamantis, not father, no longer father, purrs as he faces the fireplace, back towards her.
Never.
"Of course."
Don't give him anything less than what he wants.
"Come, sit with me."
She goes, she sits. She's his obedient little lapdog and she knows that she can not continue to survive in this way. He pets her like a dog, even. There is no affection, only a subtle amusement lurking underneath the handsome features. She wants to fall, to quit, as she feels layers of her disintegrating and floating away.
But he's there, and even with no arms, he manages to hold her up.
No falling yet.
Catty would much rather listen to him than her father, anyways.
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There's not much she can do, and it's the most frustrating feeling in the world as she stares at the clock like it has committed a personal offence against her. She knows exactly what's going on and she knows exactly what must be done.
She sips at her tea, a drink she started liking ever since Maggie vanished, and stares. She isn't used to feeling powerless, Jimena Castillo is never powerless. But she feels like a spectator in a sport that doesn't play favorites, a sport where there will clearly be a loser and a winner.
She knows she's one of the good guys, and the good guys are always supposed to win, but as the faces flicker behind her closed eyelids, she wonders if the Real World is going to have any of that cliché.
She's a protector by nature, but her role in this game is that of a nurturer, and this second skin feels far too wrong for her. She's not this Pandia they want her to be, but she's trying. She's trying so very, very hard.
And it hurts, trying to force herself to be something that she's not. And it hurts even more, knowing that she can see the girl standing on the edge of the world but that she can't drag her sorry ass back home.
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It's a long way down, and her toes are curling up in fear. What she faces is dark, and the wind and the cold and the hopelessness flies around her, threatening to swallow her whole. She can hear them talking in the background, the demands of her Vanessa and the solemn protests of that not-quite jerk Stanton. But the light they emit does not compare to the abyss in front of her. The disgusting, twirling thing that only she can vanquish.
Catty blinks back tears. She's going to miss them all so very much.
But she feels his presence beside her always, and he's giving her a gentle push in the right, and final, direction. She wants to go home, she wants to cry. He doesn't want her to cry, and so he says the words right along with her. He holds her hand, even though she can't feel it.
The darkness is scary and unknown, but she is made of light and she has a destiny to fulfill goddamn it.
Catty takes a deep breath, and she feels her toes uncurling and stepping forward.
"Nimena!"
Catty jumps.
He would catch her.
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Vanessa doesn't remember the girl that fell off the edge of the world. She just knows that she's gone, and that she isn't coming back anytime soon. She knows that she loved her, she knows that she loved her back. That's enough, even though the girl continues to haunt her memories, a playful laugh that only she can hear.
"What's wrong?" Comes the voice of her husband, and Vanessa turns to face him, a bemused smile on her slightly wrinkled face.
"Nothing." She whispers, grabbing his hand firmly.
"Gramma! Gramma!" She hears her granddaughter, an adorable five year old with curly brown hair, cry happily as she runs across the field from where she was playing with the neighbor's child- a red head with a brooding look to him. "Look what I found!" She beams brilliantly at Gramma Saratoga, her dark eyes lighting up with mischief as she digs in her pockets for a moment.
After a few seconds, Vanessa feels something warm and heavy resting in her hand, dropped by pudgy fingers. Her eyes widen, confused, but not uncomfortably so, as she eyes the pendant that looks heavier than it feels.
"It was in the yard! I found it!" Her granddaughter says with a playful laugh that everyone can hear.
Vanessa feels something tug harshly at her heart, and sees something flicker across her mischievous granddaughter's face. Something older, something familiar. Slowly, she undoes the clasp and sets it around her grandchild's neck.
"I think it suits you, my dear," she says, smiling awkwardly, and running her fingers through her curly brown hair.
The girl smiles back, toothy like a cat's, "I think so too!"
And Vanessa remembers the girl on the edge of the world, and she feels like maybe she's finally come back home.
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