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Silent footsteps crept along the floor, though whether that was a benefit of the shoes provided or years of tender-footed sneaking to steal was up for debate. It may have been both, partial courtesy of the Collector and partial courtesy of Eda’s nature. She didn’t need to be quiet right now exactly, but it was a force of habit.
Eda had figured out their schedule a long time ago, not that it was easy because she couldn’t exactly leave, but due to King’s frequent visits to check on her and bring food and necessities; but King always visited around the same time, and she knew that thanks to the open windows nearby letting light in, and letting her see the sky. Sunlight was meaningless aside from the collector being gone, but again, she couldn’t exactly leave, so it was just a time to nap comfortably in the shade. Or to continue her machinations- whichever took her fancy first for the day.
Nighttime, however, was special.
Nighttime meant the Collector was done “playing” for the day, and would go to bed. And then King would come to visit, and when Eda figured that out, she’d traded escape attempts without care or planning for carefully watching the position of the moon when he’d arrived, and checking it again when he’d left. Lillith had gone on for a while about how proud she was of her dear sister when she noticed the timed nature of Eda leaving and coming back with only the location of the moon to cite as knowing. Yes, there was probably a clock somewhere, and if nothing else they could make one, but it was pointless to be reminded of minutes passing by while stuck in a glorified giant bird cage.
In short, nighttime meant that she was free to venture about and pretend even a smidgen of normalcy was left in the world- and when waiting or when King came and went, it meant visiting Raine.
Er- the puppet of Raine.
At first she’d been so honored that the Collector thought the owl beast was that much of a threat to a omnipotent god of space and time, but as more time passed she realized that the coven heads set there to protect her (or protect from her, she wasn’t sure,) were nothing more than a mockery.
That didn’t stop her from going out every single night to see Raine once the bars were bent and opened. It was like self-soothing- though she could long for the day that she’d hear back a single word and it wasn’t impossibly lonely to sit outside of the cages and watch the light hit the back of their heads. The light always reflected in an impossible-to-be-witch way. They weren’t alive anymore, and if they were then how must the time have passed before their eyes? Was it fast, or agonizingly slow?
Her answer of her own assumption would’ve only been halfhearted musings and jokes because in no world was this ideal or anything but torture.
But Eda’s arrival at the bars always brought her a glimmer of hope, no matter how hard she’d tried cramming that feeling deep into an abyss. As usual, it was just the limp forms of puppets with the sheen of wood rather than skin. Another night they weren’t technically alive, but that was okay, because they were still here and safe which meant that things one day might work out. Lillith came back, right?
Maybe that meant that Raine would too…someday. Her hand snaked its way between wooden fingers that she knew wouldn’t close on her own, just to hold theirs. A sigh left her lips, and she looked forward at the hall again, wondering what it would be like to just stare.
Many times before she had tried to sit here for hours on end, watching the shadows, imagining the idea that they were actually alive in there and could think, but couldn’t move of their own will. So in silence, she’d just stared with them, trying to pretend like she too was in the puppet gallery.
Not that she’d confess to it, but she had contemplated before just submitting to it, asking only if she could be posed next to them for eternity, hand in hand forever. That was deluded, and she still had King and Lillith to look out for, so she quelled those thoughts and kept them to herself without a word. If not for those two, it would just end with her being a doll during the day for the Collector’s adventures, and she doubted that she’d get to stay with them like she’d want. So at least this allowed her the opportunity to see Raine every night and know they were together.
…
For only a moment had she opened her mouth before defeating herself on the idea of talking. The things she wanted to confess were already said, and there was no point repeating apologies and breathless explanations until she knew that they would actually be heard. Instead, she resigned herself to being quiet for the night and not uttering a word. It wouldn’t help to.
But then if not talking, it left her standing there holding the hand of a puppet and watching the shadows from the moon again. That usually meant that it was simply time to go back to Lillith and start talking about their plans, but she didn’t actually feel like talking at the moment. Not to Lillith, not to Raine, not to anyone who came across her path. At least for a little longer she’d like to simply bask in the silence that let her squeeze her eyes shut and try to imagine the feelings of Raine’s hand wrapping around hers again.
Well… it was technically possible. A nifty trick she’d learned was that the puppets left to guard her didn’t care if they were moved so long as she was behind the tripline, so she carefully brought Raine’s hand up until gravity took hold and their fingers dropped limply onto hers. It wasn’t the same, but it was what she had.
Eda glanced once up out the window, contemplating how long it would be until King realistically came to visit again. Probably another couple of hours, unless the Collector got bored of today’s adventures early. Fortunately their path back didn’t pass by this hall so it didn’t really matter if she was out or not as long as she didn’t cross the line while she was sure they were awake.
With all the time she’d need, she lifted Raine’s hand carefully upwards above their head and turned them to the side as best she could with her arm, trying to nudge them far enough back from the line that it wouldn’t dare to disrupt the moment. She didn’t need them at the bars, but somewhere in between was good enough before she was satisfied. The other puppets were well enough out of the way too she wouldn’t have to think much about bumping into them now either.
She took her time with moving Raine, though, careful with the lingering thought they might somehow feel all of this. That would make her look weird, but it was hard to get any weirder than the situation currently was and it wouldn’t be the first time that she’d messed things up with good intentions. Perhaps these weren’t good intentions- but lonely ones- so it was still justified wasn’t it?
Now admittedly, this would be a lot easier with two hands, but that was a hand she wasn’t dealt. Instead, she moved them methodically. First, pulling their weight on her so they wouldn’t clatter helplessly to the ground; then putting one of their feet over one of her own and attempting to tie it as best as she could with a spare string she’d brought. Eda took one of their arms to drape it over her own shoulder, and finally resumed intertwining their hands together.
Like this, dead eyes were set facing her, and Eda wished there was even a shine to them, but that’s what imagining was for. Raine was light- lighter than they would’ve been if they were actually alive, but they were still a witch-sized person and wood was still kind of heavy.
Oh well, the differences would have to be ignored for now.
Another sigh filled the silence momentarily, debating if this was just pathetic or plain weird or something else; holding still like a statue was being carved with them as reference didn’t help, because now she was left to contemplate if this idea of her’s was a good one. Eda could’ve said sorry, but she’d already since resigned herself to not speaking to them for the night. Just another thing on the list of items she’d take too long to explain for when the time came.
A final sweep of the room ensured that Lillith wasn’t peering from the trees inside of the cage, and King and Collector weren’t out in the hallway.
Too far in to stop now, too far out to know if this was a mistake.
Eda closed her eyes again after standing up properly, allowing for what of Raine’s weight there was to fall onto her, and she nestled her head against the side of theirs. The time spent in this room allowed her to imagine it even with her eyes closed. Everywhere the light would fall, and the emptiness of the room. She could remove the bars of the cage and the other coven heads in the sanctity of the picture she created in her head. There was no line that would cause them to activate and threaten her, there was no god baring down on them. There was no wooden feeling to their hand and cheek.
Instead, it was a dark ballroom, with the same window on the wall allowing the moonlight in. That light only barely illuminating the room, and shining on Raine's hair. It caught on the frame of their glasses, barely obscuring their eyes that gazed at her kindly, and with all the love in the world. Not an unfamiliar look considering it always made its way to their face when they spoke.
There was an unspoken stillness, patiently allowing the other time to get their bearings. Eda was transfixed by writing every single detail on their face to an eidetic collection of only them. The orange hue of the hallway light that clung to their chin and caught on the smile that danced itself to their lips. They tilted their head forward slightly, and brought her hand with theirs up to the side in an invite that she knew the meaning of, and she responded with a nod, nestling her head against their shoulder and letting out the breath she’d been keeping in.
She couldn’t say that she was too big a fan of dancing, but if they wanted to, then she would more than happily oblige. Dancing was like making music, just with yourself as the instrument. And just as similarly as you had to play in time with another person on an instrument, dancing was about finding your mutual rhythm so that two people could become one beautiful creation. Eda only didn’t like it because she felt her rhythm was so out of sync with the world around her that it was alienating, but Raine always had been a skilled musician that could match her every time.
This felt no different, as she moved her foot backwards they matched her with little effort. And the stillness dissolved as they began to move in time, with no music behind them to guide their movements, but knowing somehow where the other would move without missing a single beat. Their foot fell back, and Eda’s took its place soon after. They led her with her hand held high out to the side, proud to be displaying that they were the one to hold it- to hold her.
Softly and delayed, as if waiting for them to find their rhythm with each other first, did the presence of a hum fill the silence. The tune it played wasn’t unfamiliar, no, it was their song alone that Eda always performed for Raine, and Raine felt their heart beat to since. Except it was being sung back to her, and that was their new guide to dance to, following it whether the humming would slow or not. It filled her head, her heart, and the careful movements of dancing together felt completely natural alongside it.
Briefly did her eyes crack open, focused on the floor and the shadow moving on the ground. She watched the specks of dust that got kicked up fall again in the moonlight, only to rise again as they moved back again. Her vision was blurry, obscured by her hair that’d been displaced by being confined to only a shoulder, but there they were reflected in the absence of light. Dancing together in sync, a perfect recording of adoration danced with them on the floor. In the shadows they were intertwined as one, even though she could just barely make the both of them out in it, but the light only recognized their closeness.
Serenity; the peace tugged at her heart strings and the corners of her lips, and she felt comfortable in musing her own feelings of comfort and safety. Her eyes closed again, and she focused on the music they created. Dancing was music, and music was magic. She contemplated if that was what controlled them, or if they were what controlled the magic. It may have been both.
Eda pulled her head up, looking at their face again and being met with the look she always expected. The light surrounding them seemed to glow, almost as if to highlight that Raine was the only person in the room that mattered- the only thing in the room to matter was them. It transferred along her own hand, and as she followed the light to where their hands were together, that seemed like the brightest spot in the room. They’d created the sun, and its warmth and light nearly blinded her.
But the sun didn’t light up all of space, and she stilled again, frozen in place as something else had come to orbit the sun. The room was no longer occupied by only them, in fact, it seemed an audience of puppets had rather gathered around them and…
Since when was the sun so red?
Gradually, the life that had filled the room fell, she watched her vision of it fade. The walls that had been lit up by bright yellow were slowly cascaded again by the lack of light the window of the room could provide, it only serving to show the floor in full view and clash with another shadow presenting itself in the doorway.
“Eda? What… are you doing?”
Too late to have known it was a mistake, too far gone to know when she should’ve stopped.