Welcome to the Burton Orphanage. Welcome to the place of bleak disenchantment, where the motto is "Hardships make one strong and one must be strong to survive." Welcome to our home.
The orphanage is a large building. It was the largest in the area. The only other buildings even close to it are the church, down the road a few miles into town, and City Hall, where the adoption papers were decided when we got to leave this hideous place.
We weren't stupid, though. We knew that no one wanted to adopt an older child, except for free work. But we still wanted to hope that we had parents out there that were looking for us, even though it was hard to miss us, out in the middle of nowhere like this. We clung to hope with every fiber of our consciousness. Hope that maybe our Edward would come for us.
Oh! Forgive me! I'm talking about an old story that's one of our favorites. See, it's about this orphan girl, Veilia. She was said to have lived here once. She grew up in this orphanage until she was 16 with her sister Ravanna, who was quite different from Veila. We had heard from older children that Ravanna was one of the prettiest, raven haired girls to ever have lived in the orphanage and she insisted that she was what every parent was looking for, so she started what we call the Seasonal Show. Every season we would have a large play and everyone from town would attend. We would all look spectacular in our costumes and present ourselves to try to convince someone to adopt us. And of course, Ravanna would have several parents look into adopting her, but Ravanna refused to leave without her sister, and, unfortunately, no one wanted Veilia.
She was very strange, the stories say. She liked to be alone, and in the orphanage, this was extremely difficult. So she would hang out in the tower. The tower is the tallest part of the building. The clock and bell are up there. Ever since the toll was put on gears, no one has much reason to go up there except for cleaning. That was why Veilia loved being up there so much. She was black headed, like her sister, but that was the only thing they had in common. Ravanna's hair was curly and stood up over wide and expressive eyes. Veilia's hair was straight and limp and usually hung over her expressionless looking face.
But where the parents chose in favor of Ravanna, the other children, if ever asked, would differ without a doubt. They saw Ravanna as a bossy, arrogant, self-promoting brat. She made many enemies when she cuddled up to the teachers in the school and created the tradition of the shows. Everyone knew that Ravanna had just come up with it because it made her look good.
When they talked to Veilia, though, they found someone who was as much a devoted and supporting listener, as Ravanna was a talker. Even as Veilia loved her privacy and being alone, the children loved being near her, because, even though she didn't say much, with just a few words, she could make the worst day possible into a bright and shining star, if you'd let her. She was the second best thing to a loving mother, and the orphans were sort of glad that no parent wanted her. And when Ravanna was having one of her days and would chase Veilia, trying to convince her to be more outgoing so that she could convince someone to get them out of the orphanage, the others would hideVeilia and send Ravanna on a wild goose chase for hours on end. ThenRavanna would give up and get another group together to work on the Seasonal Show.
Ravanna had their efforts, but Veilia had their hearts.
Then, one day, Veilia decided to be a part of the show. Actively. Alongside Ravanna. It was a shock to all the teachers, but even more of one to the orphans. What had made her change? Why had she decided to try harder this time?
Ravanna was overjoyed. She had thought of the perfect play to do. Snow White and Rose Red. Ravanna took the old fairy tale and made several changes to it, as she usually did when she was "directing." The story went that Snow White, Ravanna, and Rose Red, Veilia, lived together in a little cottage. Then two injured bears show up on their doorstep, one black and one brown. They take them in and care for them. The next day, they were gone. After a few days had passed, a little elfin man shows up and tells them he is looking for two bears that stole his gold. The sisters feel badly that they helped the bears escape and offer to help the old elf man find them. When they do, the bears turn into princes and the girls find out the elf was lying, and the elf was trying to steal the crowns from the princes. The princes and the elf have a great sword fight; the princes win and offer to marry Snow White and Rose Red for their gentle and kind souls.
None of the children in the orphanage really cared for this story, but they knew that if they tried to disagree that Ravanna would tell the teachers they weren't cooperating and they would be stuck with kitchen duty that night and every night until they complied
After Ravanna had told Veilia the story, Veilia asked for the journal in Ravanna's hands, where she had written out the changes. When Ravanna handed it over, Veilia began making changes. Ravanna was so shocked that Veilia was acting against her, she just let it happen. As she watched, she started agreeing with Veilia's changes.
"…I know a pretty song the younger kids' choir could sing here… and this line should be more dynamic…" as she spoke, she became less and less shy and quiet, and more and more passionate until she seemed very confident when she made the last few changes.
When she was done, Ravanna hugged her. "You don't know how long I've waited for this day!"
She immediately began passing out the new scripts, which had a much better greeting from the childrenthan the old ones.
Then, on the night of the show, Veilia had disappeared and no one could find her. Ravanna became very angry with her sister and climbed up the tower looking for her. When she found out Veilia wasn't in the tower, she looked out over the grounds. Three hills to the west, was an old, dead tree with a swing hanging from it. Veilia was swinging to and fro watching out over the ravine just in front of her, her back to Ravanna.
Ravanna stormed out to the swing, tripping on old roots and getting her hair snagged on branches as she made her way through the old forest in the valley between the last two hills, and began yelling that Veilia needed to hurry or the curtain would go up and there would be no Rose Red or Snow White to greet the bears. Veilia never turned around.
Ravanna got close enough to touch her when she saw it. Across the deep ravine, bathed in pale moonlight, was a town. It was lit up and glowing. But Ravanna hadn't seen it from the Orphanage.
Veilia turned around. "I wanted to do the play as a goodbye. To do something that I'd always wanted to, but it's too late. It's time.I have to gotonight. And if you don't leave, he'll take you too." Her voice was monotone and quiet again. She wanted Ravanna to leave before any of the ghosts saw her.
Ravanna thought her sister was trying to get out of going up in front of an audience. "Come on, Veilia! I don't have time for this! And neither do you! We have to get you into the make-up!"
Suddenly, the streets in the town on the other side began to fill with a glowing, moving fog.
"Run, Ravanna!" Veilia pushed her sister away. Ravanna landed on the ground with a thump and watched, wide-eyed as her sister stood up, staring at the town.
Suddenly, the fog began running down the other side of the ravine, like a waterfall. Ravanna scrambled to her feet and grabbed Veilia's hand, dragging her down the hill towards the Orphanage. "Come on! Hurry!" The fog rose up out of the ravine and seemed to chase them.
They ran through the forest together, the branches of the trees even more of a hindrance than they had been before.
Suddenly, Veilia stopped. They were almost to the hill that was the halfway point. Ravanna turned to grab Veilia again, when she saw her sister's face.
Veilia looked angry. "I told you to go! Run, Ravanna! I'll slow them down! Run!"
Ravanna just stood there, rooted to the spot and shrieked as a black shadow emerged from the trees, beckoning to Veilia. When he finally came into the pale light of the full moon, Ravanna found the will to run. She ran all the way back to the orphanage.
"Edward." Veilia addressed. The shadow bowed his head slightly. "I can't come now. You know that don't you. Ravanna will tell everyone what she saw. The next full moon will come and you're town will be discovered."
"Well, you shouldn't have offered to star in the play." Edward replied irritably as the shadow guise evaporated to leave a young man of 20 with a tall slender build. He was wearing a long, black cape that flared up off of the ground when he walked, a maroon poet shirt and black and white striped pants that stuck well to his long legs. His hair was as white as Veilia's was black, and his face was very gaunt and angular, almost gruesomely handsome. "You knew you would be needed. Time isn't something we have a lot of, here."
Veilia let out a humorless laugh. "I thought the dead had nothing but time."
"Well, now you know." he stated stubbornly. "In order to move them all, I need the Queen of Ghosts anyway. You have to accept your role. You know that."
Veilia turned. "Edward, I'll make you a deal." She whispered, as if expecting the trees to hear.
Edward groaned and put his hand to his forehead as if experiencing a headache. "This is your last one! Don't waste it!"
"I don't intend to." Veilia answered. "In accordance with your laws, in exchange for helping the King of the Ghosts, I get to make three contracts with him. My first was for you to leave Ravanna out of this, because she was my twin and you would have brought her back to Ghost Village as well. In exchange, I promised my hand in marriage, which you gladly accepted and we are engaged. My second was that you wait until I was of age before going through with your plans. In exchange, I promised to visit Ghost Village every night of the full moon until then, which I have done, and will continue to do for the final two years of our agreement."
Edward winced inwardly as she completed her verse. She remembered very well that he didn't have to make the deal if she wasn't specific in every detail. So what ever she's doing, she wants the two previous deals included and unchanged.
He stared at her with an emotionless mask as he spoke his rehearsed line from over and over again.
"You have kept with your promises. What is it you require?"
"I wish to remain human." She watched his eyes grow large in shock then narrow in anger.
"Such a wish goes against your first promise." His face was nothing short of black rage incarnate, the even tone in his voice deep and menacing.
"Such a wish doesn't if we get married anyway. What does it matter if I am alive or not? We'll be together in the end. I promised."
"Veilia, you know as well as I do that there's a loophole in the vows if one party is already dead."
"'Till death do you PART.' Even though you're dead, even if I died, we'd still not be parted, so it really has no effect on us."
Edward sighed and thought about it. He could easily conceal himself in a human guise. But would it be worth it? Could he manage a human wife and home and still see over his Kingdom? Maybe if he didn't have so many rivals right now… He'd only done this because he needed the Ghost Queen's daughter to give him an heir and solidify his rule. This was another setback… If she remained human, it would be decades until she could even think of giving him a Ghost Prince or Princess… she was turning out to be more trouble than she was worth…
"In exchange, I'll give, freely and of my own will, an heir." She finished quietly. "An heir to the thrown of the Ghost Kingdom." He turned so quickly; a human would have fallen over.
"What? Do you even hear yourself, Veilia?"
"An heir. If I can remain human for until 5 years after I am of age, I'll give you an heir."
"What makes you think you won't give me one anyway?" He crossed his arms arrogantly.
"Edward… Believe it or not, I have been reading the books and scrolls you've given me. Ghost pregnancy happens only once every hundred thousand chances, and even then there's no guaranteed success of birth. As a human, I can promise one far earlier than… what… maybe a thousand years from now, if luck held out."
He thought about this for a moment. It was a good plan… but what of the heir? He couldn't just bring it back home if it was a human… there was a long list of problems, but none of them would take terribly long to fix… at least, not thousands of years.
"Lady Veilia, you are truly dedicated to your cause, aren't you?" Edward smiled and pulled the 16-year-old future Queen into his arms, which were solid and strong despite lack of actual flesh. "My Queen? I have but one question before I grant your request."
"Hmm?" her eyes looked up at him with a small, happy light reflecting deeply within them.
"Why do you want to stay here?" His question held innocence, sincerity and curiosity more than any adult should have been able to pull off.
"…I'm not sure… I think… it's for my sister. I guess I just want to stick around until she gets off on her own two feet and isn't pining away for someone to rescue her. I want to see if she'll ever try to stand on her own."
Edward took a deep breath. "It'll take some wrangling, and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to be human, but… Wish granted."
She smiled quietly, but it was a smile that, to him, meant she would put the world at his feet if she could.
Hey, guys! I've never done this sort of ficcy before!
Depending on the reviews I get, number and nature, I might continue. Or this might remain a one-shotter.
P.S. If you don't want to review, and you like it, please put me on your favs so I'll know how many people like it. I want to do an original similar to this, but I need feedback! I plan to cross this with Nightmare Before Christmas and a little Corpse Bride… heck if I think of any more that would fit, I might do cameos.
I don't own either, so sorry. Lucky Tim Burton..lil' brat…
The Next Chapter takes place in Ghost Village. Keep in mind someone else is telling this. It might be a while before we get to who that is, but be patient! It might even be cause for a sequel! W00t! RNR, please?