Work Text:
a young woman waiting in a field. her hair in an elaborate style, once beautiful, now tangled. a dress once belonging to her mother, begins shredding at the bottom. her makeup, once done with care, by a loving hand, now stains her cheeks and collar. her bouquet, once freshly picked from the garden of her home, now dried and tear laden. her eyes, once full of youth and love, full of pain.
another gown, handed down. worn as a young maiden prays her beloved returns. her mother chides her gently. "he must not love you, foolish girl." shes wrong. he would never leave her. never. never. never. he can't he couldn't he did hes gone dead why did you let him leave foolish girl idiot woman bring him back bring him back.
an invitation, familiar to the eyes. a red seal, a large o. the one that took her dearest away from him. a letter that would look better as ashes, as pigment for her dress, for her next stage of mourning. a letter that soon finds itself in the hands of a maiden seeking vengeance. a letter in a carriage with a woman and her bouquet. a letter tossed out the window. the manor is on the horizon.
her beloved is in her first match. she cant bring herself to hurt him. her bouquet falls, and he sends his owl away. "eli dearest. come home." a man in a mask with shocked eyes. a man in a mask with a pale white face. a man in a mask who begs, who pleads, who screams, as the fireworks in his chair ignite. a man in a mask is sent back to the manor and sewn back together and somewhere else, a woman in a veil is crying into the arms of a nun.
a woman in a veil learns that love is fake and hearts aren't pure. a woman in a veil learns what her fiancee has been up to for all these years. a woman in a veil learns the name aesop, and learns how the man in a mask is her fiancee's new world. a woman in a veil meets so many new women, and so many new men, and so very few of anyone she cares about. a woman in a veil is cold. a woman in a veil no longer hesitates to strike the owl she once stroked so carefully. a woman in a veil sneaks out of her room, and in through a window, and sees him there. a woman in a veil offers one more treat to a friend, and vows never to trust again.