A/N: I loved this movie. Natalie Portman is amazing and Mila is amazing too. I wanted them to be a couple... so this story will take place assuming the ending isn't really the end. :) Lily and Nina pairing, but with Thomas drama but of course.

This is the prologue...

Prologue: F(r)iend

Pink tutus…

And those damn cute shoes.

Like the millions of baby flaunting moms in the world, that's the image that got me into this whole ballet thing.

I still remember the early days of my babyhood. Struggling to get those slippers on my petite nubs for feet. Leaping around with mock pirouettes like a kid jacked up on Pepsi and Snickers. Getting dressed up cute for all to see - Especially so mommy could tell me how great and pretty I was.

Sometimes I wonder how much I realized back even then what this whole ballet thing meant to me. Only now in my 'babelyhood' can I sit and reflect on this shit. In fact... I wonder if you ever think of this stuff too. We're not too far off from each other I don't think.

The honesty of expressing yourself with only your body is a ravenous drug isn't it? Getting in front of everyone and having the opportunity to show you in your element is always the guilty pleasure right? To demonstrate complete control over who you are at that given moment is a narcissistic rush. For sure it was my life saver. I don't kid myself. It was the kind of rush I needed even when I was a little teeny girl. Yours too I bet...

It's really kind of funny now that I'm thinking about it. I'm definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But even then, I'm shaking my head like a disappointed parent would. It took a God damn change of scenery of about three thousand miles. One heck of a blunt. And all this reflecting beside you... But only now do I realize that time changes so quickly… yet doesn't.

Childhood is so far away yet so close for me. I'm a ripe twenty four but still a closet kid. Still chasing the boys. Still getting dressed in them tutus. And I'm still an attention whore to no end. Heck, I'm proud of all of these things. Don't you confuse this for shame...

But then again… Ballet is my career now like it's yours. Before it was just for kicks and giggles but what's really changed?

Now I guess it's still the same thing I… guess. Well, maybe with just a bit more attention towards the male cast than any person healthily should. And well, maybe those tutus are there more to show off my body than look cute… Hey, I never promised the ideal life and I don't expect it… it seems. Or maybe… I did but…

Ugh.

What's happen to me? I used to be as hard as a rock. None of this sentimental crap and doubt.

... Lying to myself again.

... I guess the toughness of New York City happened to me. I guess this Swan Lake Production happened to me. And I guess... you... happened to me.

Ms. Nina Sayers our White… and Black Swan.

God, why'd you do that to yourself? Why'd you push yourself to such extremes? It's just ballet isn't it? It's just make believe on a stage for us to forget our problems in the real world for awhile. It was just a frickin' show put on for the most pretentious of the pretentious. Why'd you stab yourself like that for just this? Was it the pressure? Was it only the pressure? Was it your psycho mom? Was it our hot teacher? Was it me?

I was trying to be friendly but I always got the feeling you saw me as some enemy. As someone that was in competition with you.

Honestly girl? I never wanted any of it. Where I come from this was a competitive business, sure. But most of all, it was mostly for fun. Back where I come from? We were all the little cute flowers prancing on stage like it was meant to be. Here? In this place? On the big Broadway lights everyone seems to want to get to? It's like a fight club of squabbling bitches.

Beautiful Swans? Don't fucking kid our selves ladies. We're all acting more like a pack of snarling wolves, ready to grab any piece of bloody meat we can get rather than graceful birds.

But I guess that's maybe why I was drawn to you so much Nina. You were the softest one of the rabid bunch. You reminded me of time in my life that's been gone for so long. You were the most pleasant to be around and the only person I thought who was real enough to be straight with me. And even then… this place? This career? These people? Look what it turned you into! Heck, what it will turn us all into right?

First exhibit... Beth.

Well fuck that. I'm not crazy. I'm not desperate. I'm here to stay who I am regardless of how many of these broads are taking it way too damn seriously. I won't back down from this opportunity but I'm no slave to it either.

The last things you said on stage were "It was perfect…"

Was that what drove you to this? Perfection? … As if there is such a thing?

You poor girl...

… Nina. You still haven't woken up yet so I've come here to tell you something...

I'm the new White Swan and Black Swan...the new lead...

I know this part meant the world to you but what else can happen?

... Hell, I do know what won't happen though.

I won't let this part do to me what it did to you. I promise for the both of us. I'm sorry for taking your part but… please... get better.

All of us wish you the best...

~ Lily

- B – B – B -

(Saint Augustine Hospital | Downtown New York City)

Nina did it.

She finally let go.

All ogling eyes were on her including Thomas and she didn't falter in the least bit. The dark Swan's body moved against the wills of her inhibition and doubts, her womanly sways and curves speaking to every single person in the theater in the most primal way possible. This sexual beast inside was ready to unleash herself, and no one was going to stand in her way.

Nina's lips breathed scorching heat like devil's fire, preparing for the dance of her life. Her beady eyes pierced through the coldest of men and women, that red lustful glare was one of an awoken succubus. Her black feathery outfit hugging her stick-like figure was as dark as the most eerie night. In stark contrast her smooth skin was as pale as the most ghoulish ghost, any fear of repercussions lost like one in her torn mind as well.

Slightly awoken now, Nina remembered it all so clearly. It was like that dream again months ago, like the first time of Swan Lake. Only this time she was dancing the part of the sultry Black Swan. Not of the innocent White Swan that she used to in-vision herself as.

She knew it. The reality was that opening night was over and done with. Fittingly though, the residual images were stuck in Nina's mind like a tape playing itself over and over, letting her bask in the glory of her work. The audience's rousing applause was riding her ears still to the highest peaks even now. The standing ovation's deafening decibels were the final confirmation - the most clear celebration of her breakthrough.

Perfection.

Nina had achieved the perfection she strove out for.

... The White Swan has died...

The blood she had on her hands made her remember at what cost.

The smell was fresh for Nina even though it had been days since that fateful night. The iron scent mixed with the most intoxicating of perfumes couldn't hide the pungent smell. Warmth. The blood on her hands still felt warm. In fact, it was so warm that it was hypnotizing. So overwhelming to the point that Nina forgot about all the pain she was in because of it.

The last images of her night faded away like smoke on a stage as her body was pulling her away from her memories. The final thing she could clearly see was seared into her retinas, blinding those precious eyes of the Swan queen. Those bright stage lights shining down upon her, the spotlight all on this Swan queen, completing the events of the night she would never forget.

It's finally over...

Unlike that show night, a physically and mentally battered Nina was now greeted to the most dimmest of lights, sitting above her like a stalking eye, the room that surrounded her as cold and lifeless as any hospital quarter would be. How many people had died where she lay now? A freezing tingle was about her. It was a coldness she was feeling, if not purely from the atmosphere of the sick rather than the temperature itself. It was so numb it was frightening.

Slowly but surely the feelings came back to the norm, though Nina almost wished it hadn't. The chronically aching body of a ballet prodigy aside, the first thing Nina noticed was that the cushioning of the stage bump pillow that broke her fall was much more inviting than the bed under her now. But there wasn't any real complaints.

She survived...

She could move again...

Hopefully dance again...

"Nurse she's awake! She's awake!" Nina heard an excited voice yell out in desperation. "For God's sake is anyone around? Hello!"

Nina's eyes focused quickly in to see a concerned face rushing up towards her smiling the largest of smiles, jolting from the hospital hallway and now at her bedside in a split second. A lot of mascara and eye liner was not the image she was expecting to see, but it was welcoming to see someone recognizable nonetheless.

Even if it was... her.

"Lily…?" Nina's voice broke as softly as usual, a bit stiff and broken from a dried throat.

"Shit, you scared the bejeezus out of us!" Lily touched that cold head with aff calming stroke of relief, her warmness caressing a soft breath from Nina. "What the hell took you so long to come back!"

I'm back...

But where did I go?

Nina groaned as the pain in her stomach rushed out at first realization, making her grimace with a knotted face. It was like that piece of glass, that bladed weapon she used on herself was never even taken out, still driven into her like a wound that would never heal.

"Hey, just relax." Lily pleaded calmly as she could, doing so in that impossibly deviant yet innocent way she always did. "You're going to be okay. Yes... you're going to be... okay."

Nina watched her rival with a painful sigh but listened, relaxing those strained muscles. Lily's last words were so breathy and genuine she had no choice but to do so. It was obvious that Lily was saying these words as if it was the first time in a long time that there was any sense of confidence behind it. With that, Nina could now concentrate on the here and now. Lily's worry for her was halfly expected honestly.

But it was the tears that followed made the hospitalized one puzzled.

Lily, why is she crying…?

She wants me to fail... doesn't she?

That smile seemed to draw a bit of watery eyes from those dark orbs of Lily's, sprinkling her cheek with the moisture of happiness. The relief was a deep one and obviously Lily cared at a some significant level. As quickly as one of her spins to first position, Nina's pain was an afterthought yet again, staring into that mysterious and inviting glare, the pair that walked into her life those integral months ago. It was this same smile that drew Nina into this vixen's presence in the first place. This girl's free yet dark mysterious spirit that made Nina drive herself to paranoiac madness but made it possible for her to achieve perfection.

Is she out to get me?

I was wrong... wasn't I?

At the show, it was Lily that complimented her on her Black Swan performance in person, making her realize how much she had changed to do so. In preparation it was Lily that tried to ease her burden with Thomas, the other fellow dancers only speaking behind her back, ready to back stab her at any given moment. In her broken home it was Lily that was there for her when she needed to finally tear away from her mother's oppressive nature, letting this girl finally grow up a bit.

Now, in a hospital bed when she thought she died… again Lily was here for her.

She's not my enemy…

The tears seemed to have spread across other eyes now like a contagious mood.

"Hey, w-what's wrong Nina?" Lily tried to lighten up the mood on cue as she saw tears run down the young dancer's cheeks as well. The girls sniffled but Lily tried to keep her cool. "It'll be okay now. Come on. Don't be afraid. You'll be up and going soon... I promise."

She promises..?

Its easy for her to say... she's taken away what's mine.

"You're... going to be... the new lead... aren't you?" Nina could only gasp those words weakly, that sinking feeling coming over her again that had haunted her the past month or so. There was a hesitation there but she had to bring this up... now. She didn't know why.

Their tearful glares didn't let up a bit, now the room was so silent their heart beats sounded like heavy drums pounding. Lily didn't say a word just nodding at the statement, crossing her arms and looking downward almost in a speechless shameful manner. The mood shifted from peace to tension in such a turn. Nina felt the darkness in her rumble with excitement.

My spots been taken... and I feel... like...

Stop!

N-no! Not anymore! Lily... I can't hate you for that... I can only... hate myself...

The darkness in her caressed her face like a demon's finger but she would have none of it. Nina remembered the murderous imagery in a haunting flash. The savage hands of the Black Swan clenched around Lily's neck like a choking vice, a glass blade driven into her midsection with no mercy, Nina waiting for the dying girl's last breath as blood spilled to the floor in a gushing river. The blood stains from the dragging? The pool of blood drained down the shower? The blood on her hands? They might as well had been drenched all over her. The guilt was real even if the images were not.

"I'm… s-sorry… Lily… so… sorry…" Were the only weak words Nina had for her, the girl sobbing her eyes out at an instant breakdown. Nina's face was buried into her own hands and arms, covered with life support tubes. She was shivering. She was drained. She was tired of being so obsessed.

Pathetic... that's what she felt like.

"Sorry?" Lily blinked in surprise, the sudden emotional surge taking her back. She quickly pushed forward trying to calm Nina by holding her head up. "W-what for? You didn't do-"

"Thank heavens for some good news around here finally!" An older lady interrupted quite timely, decked in the usual Nurse uniform, instantly checking on the revived dancer with ginger care yet stern grips to her chin. She turned to Lily. "Okay please stand back Miss as the doctor is coming in shortly. We're gonna get this girl up and running in no time!"

"Uh sure thing…" Lily took those necessary steps back reluctantly. "Just please be careful with her..." she pauses with a sigh. "She's... fragile."

"Hah, all you ballerina types are now aren't you?" The nurse winked the misguided stereotype.

Even with all that was going on both Lily and Nina huffed out of pure annoyed reaction.

Those fellow nurses began to rush into the room in waves, pulling Lily away from Nina by those thin dancer limbs of hers. The dark haired girl's eyes weren't leaving nor blinking, Nina wiping her soaked cheeks in shame but seeping vulnerability that was effecting Lily in ways she had never felt. A checkup and health monitoring initiative took place in the scrambled chaos but the two girls' eyes were still locked on, piercing into each other as deep as could be even through all the pandemonium.

In the cluster of tears and emotion it was clear to the both of them. Their soaked eyes spoke louder than any words that could be exchanged anyway.

They were Friends.

Not Enemies…

A/N: Next chapter, Nina will catch up with everyone post opening night... and Lily's dealings with now being the lead.