Chapter Text
I was a young Chav British woman leaning against the wooden railing of a bridge, twirling a lit cigarette in my left hand as i stared down at the ocean waves. Embers of my cigarette broke off and fell to the sand, becoming part of it. Splashing against the sand below was the ocean waves, the scent of salt water and smoke filling my lungs. The ocean waves never failed to fascinated me; the way the moonlight shines on them was always so tantalizing. I kicked my boot against the wooden railing causing it to break my gaze, hacking up smoke and spitting out some mucus before a groan left my lips. "I really need to quit smoking, don't I?" As I went for another puff I heard my being name being called from a familiar voice behind me, "Rosalie Bain! You aren't smoking, are you?" I quickly threw her cigarette to the ocean and turned around to plead innocence. "What? No, don't be silly; I told you a month ago I've stopped, Audrey." Audrey raise a brow. "You sure? I could've sworn I saw smoke." I averted her gaze, looking to the side. i knew it's useless to lie; Audrey is smarter than that.
"Well... It's just a cigarette; it cannot be that bad." That only made Audrey roll her eyes. "Rosalie, just give me your cigarette pack before I tell your father." Great, another thing for my dad to complain about, groaning in annoyance, I pulled out the box I kept all my cigarettes in and reluctantly giving her it. "Fine, only because I don't want dad to yell at me again." I leaned back against the railing as Audrey pocketed the pack in her sock, me watching boredly before walking away only to be stopped by Audrey snatching my shoulder. "Where are you going?" I looked over my shoulder to look at Audrey who has a concerned look etched on her face. "Well, yeah, you just took my cigarettes how else can I look mysterious now?" Facetiously I chimed with a tiny giggle, but Audrey wasn't as assumed. "You're such a child... You know that you might get stabbed walking home alone, right?" Oh right, it's Britain, the home place of stabbings and pickpocketing. "So what you're saying is that you want to walk home with me like we're boyfriend and girlfriend? Isn't that kinda... Queer?" I said with a wink, Audrey blinked a few times and stared at me like I had grown three heads. "... Rosalie, we're dating... Did you forget that...?"
"Eh, still funny though." I just shrugged, staring at Audrey's face and grumbled out. "And wipe that gross make-up off your face, you look like a clown with it." I pursed my lips in a pout and stood on my tip-toes, wiping away the venetian ceruse off her face, revealing her dark skin underneath.
"... Audrey, I don't get it; why do you always use that makeup? You look so much more pretty without it." Audrey silently stared at me before bluntly answering with, "Well, people just don't like it." That made me freeze up and look at her confused. "Huh? What do you mean? It's so pretty how couldn't anyone like it?" Audrey sighed, "Are you dumb or just unaware?" That shut me up; I wanted to argue that Audrey is gorgeous and she should stop wearing make-up to hide it, but i felt like staying silent is for the better. "Now, let's go." Audrey began walking away, I followed behind like a lost dog, deep in thought of trying to find out why Audrey is so keen on hiding her skin. I've heard of Audrey's past before but only in vague words, all I ever knew was that Audrey is a runaway slave and hiding, could it be related? "... Sorry..." I murmured, trying to break the silence but also to see if Audrey is mad. Audrey looks up, staring at the sky. "... It's okay." We both slowed down, looking at the sky, the silence was louder than the ocean waves, As Audrey stares up at the sky, I kept staring at her longingly, it felt like a moment out of some romance novel. "So... How's your day?" I mumbled, trying to make it less awkward, hoping it'd magically make her forget about earlier, "It's fine... I guess." I nod along, "Okay... Good."
As we walked, I kept looking down, I knew I was making things worst. While deep in thought, Audrey's voice broke me out of my daze. "So, you said you like my dark skin?" That made me freeze in place, "Um... Yes, yes I do." I looked back at her, sweating bullets. "And what about it do you like?" Audrey asks, her expression unreadable. "Well... I don't know, I just think it looks beautiful... There isn't a reason to it, it's just very pretty." Audrey rubs her chin before suddenly saying, "Really? Then I think the stretch marks on your hips are beautiful." ... "Wha... WAIT! HOW DID YOU SEE THEM?!" Audrey then just walked away, "NO! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE WITHOUT EXPLAINING! HOW DID YOU SEE THEM?! I ONLY WEAR LONG SKIRTS!!" I began chasing her from behind, Audrey dashes past an alleyway as I followed along. Blinded by embarrassment, I caught up and tackled Audrey to the ground.
"Oof-" Audrey grunts, her chin hitting the ground first, "How did you see them?! How!" I shout, my face red as a cherry, "Ugh... You literally showed me them yesterday..." Audrey groans. Oh yeah, I did do that to ask if I were gaining weight. I slowly got off Audrey's back and looked away embarrassed as Audrey stood up, putting her right hand over her cut that was leaking a bit of blood, seemingly she cut it on a splinter from the shabby wooden bridge. Only now noticing the blood, I pulled Audrey's hand away, looking at the cut. "Oh shi... My bad... Here, how about this? I take you to the bakery near here and buy you a cherry cake?" I said with a smile. Audrey raised a brow and folded her arms, "Is that so? So you can last minute just conveniently ''forget'' your coin purse again?" She chuckles, "No, because this time I did bring my coin purse." I proudly gleamed as if it was revolutionary, Audrey just sighs with a small chuckle, "Alright, well, let's go."
We both walked to the bakery, the night was still young so there were still people wandering in the streets and carriages trotting. The walk was fast since the bakery was only a block away, we walked inside and there was an elderly woman, Mary Sinclair, and her young son, Sidney Sinclair. "Hello, Ms. Sinclair." Audrey greets, Mary quickly notices us and hurries her son to seat us both in a booth to the back corner of the bakery.
"Hm... Quite comfortable..." Audrey murmurs, I sitting across from her as the child walked over, handing over the menus. Audrey boredly flipped through a few pages, not even bothering to read it, "... I'll take a cup of tea and that cherry cake." Audrey slid the menu over, "Oh, um, me too." I quickly said without a thought, Sideny then walked away. I was leaning against the bench, fidgeting with my fingers. Audrey was staring at me for a beat before saying, "Are you just going to sit there? C'mon, annoy me, entertain me, you're boring me over here." I turned my head over, my eyes tilted in before i smirked, "Alright, i'll tell a joke then. Mh... What do you call a octopus with no tentacles?" Audrey leans back, "I don't know, what would you call it?" I chuckled, "I don't know either!"
Audrey's smile falls off her face, "That joke sucks harder than a harlot." Before she could complain more about my poor attempt at a joke, Sideny brought over a plate of a old cherry cake and a kettle of tea with 2 chipped tea cups, placing them In front of us. The cake placed in the middle with the kettle and two teacups put one of each next to Audrey and I. "Enjoy." Then he walks off "Well, let's dig in." I gleamed as i already went for the first slice, "Nope, not yet, don't you remember? Today is my birthday, it's 12:01 AM so it's now February 14th." Audrey slaps away my hand and chuckles, "Wha?... Oh, happy birthday of whatever age you are, I don't know, maybe 29?? Now let me have a slice.'' I whined, yearning for the old piece of cake.
"No, the birthday girl gets the first slice, it's the rule." I just rolled my eyes, "Fine, sorry, your highness, want me to kiss your feet too?'' Audrey cuts her slice of the cake and places it on her plate, "No thank you, I am not into that." I cut my slice of cake next and placed it on my plate, the old slice of cherry cake making a thump noise, bordering on the sound of brick. "So... Do I need to sing you happy birth-?" "No, no thank you, I would rather be burnt on a stick." Audrey interrupts with a smile. "Alright, good for me." We both ate our chewy cherry cake and drank our tea, just as Marie Antoinette would've wanted. Though not as much since I didn't enjoy tea without sugar. After we finished, we ended up eating 4 slices of the cake and half of the tea kettle, "Ugh... I have a stomach ache... I hate it..." I groans, "Eh, I'm still hungry, but this cake is too hard I bet I could build a house with it." Audrey shoves the plate of half eaten cake over to me.
"Well, do you have the money?" Audrey asks as I dug through my Victorian women pocket, being my cleavage. "Yeah, right here." I pulled out two coins and put them on the table before standing up and walking out the door as Audrey follows behind. As we walked, I decided to test something out, since the streets were empty, I decided it'd be safe to hold her hand in public. My hand found it's way to Audrey's and instead of slapping it away, Audrey let me, still smiling. "Nice to see you stop acting all bratty." I teased, Audrey rolling her eyes, "Oh shut your trap." We walked back to Rosalie's home, Audrey is my roommate and has been for the past decade, Audrey has her own room but tends to enjoy sleeping with me more. We arrived to Rosalie's house and quietly open the door to not wake up my father, I took off her boots and Audrey took off her heels to walk in quieter to the room upstairs. I stretched my arms and yawned, "Mh... Finally we're back, I'm tired..." Already began stripping out of my clothing. Audrey was just looking away as she took off the 50 layers of that Victorian dress.
"Does this nightgown make me look fat?" I asked while at the other side of the room, "I don't really care, I'm more worried if you're human or not." Audrey bluntly said, now just in a usual nightgown. "If you say so." I sat on the right side of the bed and Audrey sat on the left, I watched as Audrey was busy taking her bun down. Her curly dyed blond hair draping down her back, when out of nowhere I decided to hug her from behind, my arms over her shoulders and loosely around her neck to not hurt her, "... Are you trying to strangle me?" Audrey asked as I giggled.
"No, it's called a hug, I gave you these before." Audrey grabs Rosalie's arm gently and hums, "Feels nice...'' Audrey leans back against me, resting the back of her head against my chest, letting me hold her. I happily cuddled and held onto Audrey, my cigarette box was on the nightstand but I didn't bother to go for a smoke, this was much better. As the time passed, we found ourselves spooning in the middle on the king-size bed, Audrey has already fallen asleep but I was awake, staring at Audrey. Suddenly, there was a loud bang outside, like a gunshot. I sat up and looked at the window confused and concerned, "Huh?... Is the British here?" Audrey asked, half-awake. "What? No! We're the British- Just let me go check, stay here." I quickly got out of bed and put on my boots, i hurried out the door, "Okay... Just please come back safe..." Audrey sleepily said as I exit the room.
I hurried down stairs and poke my head out the front door, the streets were empty without a person insight. No smell of gun powder either, I decided to walk down the street looking left and right. Still, no sign of life, but what was that until I heard another loud bang from the area around my home, I span around to be greeted to someone. It was a women with purple hair tied in a bun with paper-white skin with stitches neatly across her face, she has a dark red and black layered dress, the dress seemingly worth an arm and leg. But the weirdest of all of this women was her bright sun-like yellow eyes, burning into my retina, "W-What?... W-Who are you?" I stutters and backed away as the women smiles with her eyes hooded, "I am Jane Dain, I know who you are." Before I could get out one more word out, I felt a piercing sharp hot sting pass through my brain and head.
"Is she awake?? Hello! Are you hearing us right now?" I heard an unfamiliar women ask, "Nah, she's coughin', she's definitely dead. Give her to the town's butcher." A sarcastic man said, "Give her CPR!" I quickly sat up and pushed the man away right before he got close to my face, I awoke on the ocean shore, covered in seafoam and coughing up sea water. When I finally stopped I was greeted to two strangers. An unconventional pink haired girl with a fancy looking gold kaleidoscope out her right eyes, and a hoodish man with dog ears and a tail. "Where am I?... Where's Audrey? W-Who was that women?... Wasn't I just outside my house?..." In shock, I tried standing up just to trip over my own hair that is now to the floor, my hair is longer than my whole body, my night gown from that night was deteriorating like wet paper, and i've had a throbbing headache. The two strangers helped me up, the dog boy hoisting me up and the pink hair girl letting lean against her, "So i'm guessing you're not from this time?" The pink haired girl said nonchalantly. I was in shock as she looking around, the water is a rotten reddish green, like a rotten corpse, the sand felt hot like a burning fire under my feet, and the sky was violet and the clouds are green.
"N-No?... This doesn't look like the Britain I know... Is Audrey here?" Both of them stopped and looked at me with wide eyes, "Britain That's long gone, this is Rêvasser Harbor, what century are you from??" The dog boy said, looking at me confused, "She's probably from the Victorian era from the way she's dressed, let her go. Oh, and you're Audrey friend is most definitely dead." The pink girl calmly said, that made me snap and push both of them away as she felled back on the sand, "No! She can't be dead! I just saw her! She was in my bed and I promised her i'd come back! She can't be dead! She isn't! I know it!" The two strangers stared at her half-heartily manner, the dog boy looking less forgiving, slightly more annoyed. He sighed, "Look, face it, she's dead, it's 2121, she's dead."
I went silent and looks down, trying to process everything around me, but it's all too much. "She can't be..." The two strangers picked me back up and dragged me away to a small shack under a bridge, as the dog boy typed in a password, the pink haired girl began trying to help me, cutting my hair with a knife and draping a towel over my shoulders, "Look, I understand you, everything is confusing right now but you have to get through it. And hey, you have new friends, me, Jinxs. And my brother Matthew here." Jinx's said, pointing and the dog boy, Matthew. I silently stared, my eyes being cloudy as we walked in, there was a huge flight of stairs straight down to wherever.
"This is the safehouse, everyone in Baiser takes safety here if there are any dangers, like if there's any shadow walkers, HPEs, or Tragedy Sisters." Jinx said, "I don't know any of those things..." I murmured, "Don't worry, you'd learn soon." Matthew morbidly said and chuckled as we reached an iron door, Matthew turns the hatch and it pops open, inside was full of bunk beds, caned food, and a radio set in the middle. "Since you're new here, you'll have to stay here for a few days before we know it's fine for you to come into the town." Jinx mumbles as she dug through a box full of clothes. "Jinx is gonna run a few tests on you and if you pass them, you're good, if not, you're going to be probably executed or whatever, I dunno." I barely reacted and just nods, sitting on the bed before Jinx handed me a red sweater and black leggings. "Here you go, we'll come back soon with food, just stay put." They then both left the shelter, leaving me alone in the dark with my own confusion. I looked down at the articles of clothing and placed them aside, laying down on the bed and looking at the bunk above me.
"... God, if you hear me, please have mercy on my soul and kill me already..."