~O~
Lose Yourself
Donna held herself in the shadows of the house, small sobs escaping her.
They had come.
Why couldn't they leave her alone?
She heard the sounds of approaching steps and looked down at the shoes below. She didn't dare look up, but she knew who it was.
"Donna." the voice was hers. "What's the matter? Why are you hiding?"
"She tricked me."
"Of course she did. I told you, didn't I?" Other Donna said, her voice comforting. "They wanted your family's treasure. That's all they cared about. That's why that man is here to take from you. And he will if you don't let me take the reins."
"What?"
She looked up at the Other Self; the one without the Cadou and the hardened eyes. "Give me the reins and have your rest, Donna. Let me take care of this."
Donna shut her eye, letting out a long sigh.
The man was there, aimed his rifle at her. "Where is it?" he demanded. "Show me!"
Donna's back was to him and her voice took on a dark, malicious tone. "Of course. Here it is." she whispered, with a grin in her tone.
He fired the rifle, but Donna was already standing and held one hand up. The bullet struck what looked like several dolls forming a shield in front of her. Through the barrier of dolls, he saw Donna's face; she looked at him, wide-eyed and empty. Her eye was glowing yellow.
The man stared at her, lips parting, eyes filled with shock and confusion.
He was forced viciously back by several ghostly arms and pinned to the wall. He could barely breathe when he saw their faces.
They weren't really there. It wasn't possible.
He could barely see through a haze of yellow.
"What... What are you?" he gasped, horror lighting his features when she stalked slowly toward him.
"Me? I'm just a simple little doll maker, Gavone." Donna told him, with a terrifying grin; there was soft, though nightmarish change to her voice now, "That one is asleep, I am the one who's awake now. And you? You are NOT WELCOME HERE."
The man suddenly stiffened with a wet groan when scissors plunged into his belly, spraying blood across Donna's dress.. He shuddered, mouth going slack and fresh blood pouring from his mouth. He shuddered violently against the invisible bonds, watching Donna grinning up at him with a hoarse laugh.
"Please..."
"Both of you played with her heart." she whispered, severely. "Now I think I'll play with you for a while. I have a theme park of red delights just waiting."
Donna poured another cup of tea.
She sighed with content, inhaling the smell as she held the cup under her nose; lovely scents of lavender and honey. It had been quiet that morning, calming, even as she worked on her newest doll. Angie was sitting near her, watching from her table.
Other Donna had been silent most of that morning, which was new; Donna had remembered when she appeared after the Cadou had been placed. She'd been utterly terrified by her changes. She'd always been there every single day.
"You should be careful." Angie said.
"Hm?" Donna looked up at her, snapped out of her thoughts.
"If you make too many, you'll get weaker." Angie pointed out. "You won't be able to do that stuff you could before."
Donna thought of it. Maybe that was true, in a sense; she was splitting a part of herself to create them, after all. They saw what she saw and felt what she felt. They were one and the same.
(She needs to be careful.)
(She's losing herself.)
(Why does she want to do that?)
"Talk about her."
Donna looked up at the doll who had spoken; a little thing in a red dress who sounded happy. She laughed quietly, shaking her head.
"What? What would I talk about?" she asked, feeling her cheeks warm.
A few giggles from the dolls. They rattled their bodies with delight.
"Oh! Donna's so shy. She doesn't want to talk about how she makes her happy!" one hissed, from the bookshelf.
"Or how she keeps the Others from crowding in her head!" another said, from the shelf of doll parts.
Angie sighed. "Yes, because she doesn't have that problem at all with your constant questions." she said, annoyed, "That other fly face did plenty of that at their supper."
"It was fine, really," Donna replied, evenly. "She was curious."
(Curious.)
(Don't be too curious.)
(You know what curiosity does to the cat, right?)
O
Donna had awoken by the sounds of glass shattering.
She felt her stomach roll at the noise, her hair seize on the back of her neck. She knew what was happening and what had happened before. Someone was there in her home. Someone had come to take what didn't belong to them.
She had dealt with it many times. But it still filled her with a fear she hated.
Immediately standing and vanishing, she passed through the house and found a man there going through her father's desk in his study. She knew the man vividly through flashes of memories that passed her mind from her days as a child.
(It's him!)
(Money man!)
Donna appeared behind him and he whirled, stunned to see her there. Even more, that her face was exposed, revealing the Cadou that wriggled with agitation. She had assumed him to be gone, never to be seen from again. She remembered him when he visited her family's estate. She remembered the looks on their faces and what it meant.
"It's you!" Donna whispered.
"No one was supposed to be here..." he breathed, eyes frantic. He looked as if he'd been running for hours; his hair was greasy and face slicked in sweat, "Your father died. You died."
"I am alive." Donna continued, her tone edged with fear and forced resolve, "Leave my home. If you don't I can't stop what my friends will do to you."
She saw the way he shifted, saw the reach for the scissors that happened faster than she'd seen before. She raised her hand to command doll parts as she had done many times.
But nothing happened.
Donna's eye widened.
Angie had been right.
She heard the scream from Angie somewhere when it had happened, the chorus of hell wails from her dolls when the man had charged for her. The scissors going into her flesh.
She really had to hide those damn things.
Donna...
Donna's eye opened and she found herself kneeling in a room. She looked around, found herself facing Other Donna. She heard the blood dripping, the sound of rope groaning from nearby. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to know what it was.
Other Donna was there now at her side, features pitiless and cold. "Well, I was wondering how long it would take." she said, almost wounded.
"Take for what?"
"You needing me again."
"I...I don't. I - "
"You know I never go away, Donna. You know I'm always going to be here."
"Why?" Donna whispered, anguished.
Other Donna sighed quietly, her voice gentle now. "Don't you know why?" she asked, "Your Gods abandoned you. Everyone abandoned you. I came when you were hurt. I protect you, even though you never appreciate it."
"You want me to abandon Bela. I care for her."
Other Donna watched her with a smile. "And yet, here you are, dying because of your loneliness," she said. "Because you lost yourself. Because you turned your back on me."
"No. I..."
"Your world has collapsed, filled up with blood. Good. Let it fall to you. Toy with them the way they toyed with you. Let me take the reins again so that you never end up hurt again."
"No." Donna let out a sob, shaking her head. "No, I won't lose myself to you again."
"Either you do, or the man who drove your parents to their graves takes more away." Other Donna said. "Will that happen? Will you let it?"
No. She couldn't.
She thought of Bela. Her mind went to the woman who made Them grow silent. Who made her smile for the first time in her life.
Her insufferable laughter. Teasing ways.
She didn't feel the scissors in her shoulder.
"You should have told her."
Donna slowly sat up, the scissors still embedded in her shoulder. Her dolls were gathered around her, whispering and chattering with fear.
Angie was there, her voice screeching at her.
"Hey!" she cried. "Hey, don't die! If you do, we all do!"
Donna said nothing. There was an eerie silence that passed for what felt like an eternity and the dolls were terribly frightened for her.
(She's quiet.)
(Why's she gone quiet?)
(She's dying?)
Angie saw why.
O
He hadn't known how long he'd spent searching that room.
Berengario's Chalice. It had to be here. It belonged to him. He had a right to claim what was his.
Frantic he'd been to find that chalice, frightened that he'd killed someone all for the sake of it. He hadn't wanted to stab Donna with the scissors, but he had to take her out of his way. He just needed the chalice, that was all. He could always go up and check on her once he finished his search. That would be fine, of course.
He heard the sound of a whisper and frowned, staring over toward an old, wooden door. Approaching it, he noticed the markings of a moon and pushed the door open.
It revealed a set of stone stairs and he hesitantly began to descend them. "Hello?" he called, "Anyone there?"
"Help me..."
His eyes widened and he quickly descended the stairs, stunned to see a well at the bottom. He peered down into it, calling for anyone.
"Oh, my God, are you there?" he gasped, peering into the dark, "I can't see you!"
Suddenly, there was a harsh shove at his back and his eyes widened. He screamed as he was pushed into the well by Donna standing behind him. Her eye was glowing bright yellow, her face a wide, cruel smile as she watched him fall.
"You shouldn't have come back." she whispered, severely.
A low groan in the well told her that he still alive. Good. That would be terrible if he'd died so quickly before she had a chance to play.
When he struggled to right himself, he found himself soaked to his waist, surrounded by doll parts floating in the water. His forehead was soaked in blood, and he looked up frantically, finding Donna was gone. There was a ladder there and he reached up to take one of the rails.
Donna appeared behind him. She grabbed him by the back of his neck and shoved him into the stone wall of the well. He struggled against her inhuman strength and she pursed her lips. Angie was watching above the well, laughing wildly at the sight.
Donna leaved forward, speaking as the Other one. "You really, really shouldn't have come here." she whispered. "But none of you can resist it, can you? The urge to hurt her. To break her spirit. She's so lucky to have me."
He choked out a small plea for mercy.
She viciously seized the man's throat and turned him around to look her in the eye. His eyes were wide, he uttered terrified cries when he saw the dark look on her face.
She squeezed harder, shoving him into the wall.
Again.
And again.
Each blow darkened her face, sprayed blood across her pristine cheeks. But she laughed and did it over and over until there was a loud crack and he was still.
Donna's hands opened and he dropped into the water of the well with a loud splash. She watched his corpse with an empty smile.
"Well? Was that what you were looking for?" she whispered, "Because it's all you deserve."
O
Bela drifted through the air toward the estate.
She had many things she'd planned to tell Donna; one of which involved apologizing for Cassandra's stupid questions. She knew the other woman had been embarrassed by it.
"Hmm, Cassandra likes to ruin everything," she muttered to herself.
She descended to the front of the estate and immediately smelled blood. Bela's teeth flashed at the scent and she shut her eyes, searching for familiar smells. Not Donna's thankfully; she knew very well what sort of smell the woman carried. She had assumed something had gone wrong.
"Hey! Hey, you!" Angie's voice screeched from the other side of the door. "Get in here, fly face! I need you! Now!"
Well, that was an interesting thing to hear from that creepy little doll. Bela would have normally laughed it off, but the urgency was there and that made her concerned. When she entered the house, she found Angie there and the smell of blood stronger.
"What's the matter?" Bela asked.
"It's Donna. She's in the well." Angie hissed, almost spiteful, "I need you to snap her out of it. She's never been this far gone before."
Bela's eyes widened. "What?!"
Meanwhile, Donna was standing in the well, soaked in blood and old water. Her voice whispered nonsensical words and she didn't react when Bela and Angie appeared at the edge of the well.
"Donna!" Bela shouted.
No reaction.
She huffed, drifted down into the water and grimaced with disgust. She saw the blood on the stone, then the dead man floating there before she let out a small laugh.
"Oh, someone was bleeding a pig," she said. "What happened?"
Again, no answer and Bela's smile disappeared when she saw the scissors still embedded in Donna's shoulder. She saw the wide, unseeing glow of her eye; the way her iris had nearly engulfed her entire eye. She wasn't moving. She looked like a statue.
"Donna." Bela winced, turning the woman to face her. "Donna, you're hurt. Your blood, it's..."
Her eyes closed, her nose catching the sharp, heady scent of her blood and the sweetness of it. Donna had begun chuckling, a low sinister laugh.
"Such an outrageous lie," she whispered, in Other Donna's snarling voice, "You never cared, did you? You want her only for her precious blood. She's food, isn't she?"
Bela watched as Donna lifted her head, saw the change come over her expression. There was a haughty glare, a cold show of teeth. She'd seen it on her mother's face when she was close to killing some poor, unfortunate intruder.
Angie had been watching them from the well before she too drifted down to join them.
"You're just that thing that lives in her head!" Angie spat.
"Thing? Please," Donna hissed, "I am more of a savior than you. You're just some little toy she filled with herself."
"Toy?!" Angie spat. "Just...let her go, you idiot!"
"No, not this time," Donna whispered, looking up at Bela. "Because you...all of you will hurt her. You always do. And I - "
She was cut off the moment Bela cupped her cheeks, silencing the rant completely. That single eye widened and her hands shot up to grasp Bela's on her face. But she didn't pull them away, she only stared at her, features twisting.
"Don't be ridiculous." Bela said, with an intense frown. "Donna? I like her. All of her. And that includes you idiots who won't leave her alone."
"Mm..." A distrusting frown.
She looked down at the man floating in the well. "Looks like you had a pig who needed gutting. A shame I wasn't here sooner. I would have torn out his heart and given it to you."
What a touching thing, really.
Angie draped herself over Donna's shoulders and Bela embraced her as well. After a few hesitating moments, Donna's eye filled and her lips parted, breathless sounds escaping her. She shakily reached up with two hands, hovered them above Bela's shoulders before she returned the embrace.
"I am mad at you for having me ruin my shoes in this stinking well." Bela quipped.
A strained laugh from Donna.
Bela looked at her, read the look on her face and realized it was her and not the Other One. She smiled, cupped her cheeks and her eyes questioned.
Donna smiled at her, cheeks warming. She welcomed the kiss between her and Bela; soft, gentle and yet, finishing with a little lick at the corner of her mouth to remove the blood. It felt like ice and fire all at once and earned a smoldering look from the Dimitrescu woman.
"Mmm, yummy." Bela crooned, voice smoky. "I could lick that all off of you."
Her pale cheeks looked lovely shaded with red; Donna enjoyed the sight of it, especially since it was for her and her alone.
"But not now. You smell awful." Bela quipped. "Let's get you cleaned up then, yes?"
"Yes, of course."
"And those awful scissors. Do you even feel it?"
"No. Not really. I felt your kiss more."
Bela crowed with laughter. "And here I thought Miss Beneviento couldn't be a romantic!" She paused, frowned with concern. "But really, those scissors need to come out."
O
Note - Part of this chapter was inspired by the OST "For Whom the Bell Tolls" from Donnie Darko.
