#too short for ao3 but hopefully I'll work this into a longer fic someday

[bagelrites]

Her Ghost

Role-swapped Fem C!DNF: a continuation of this AU / a brief look into the effect George's betrayal has on Dream.

(Written for day two of Dreblr Spooky Week, based on the prompt "Echoes.")

She always comes in the night.

Something about the dark makes it easier for shapes to form in Dream’s eyes, for the real to swirl into the unreal. Her mind is untethered in the day, sunlight burning a headache into her temples, Sapnap’s worry fluttering over her like the tickle of wings against the snow when a hawk snatches up a rabbit. But at night—those long, sleepless nights—her exhaustion cements into insanity and the specters take shape.

She knows they are not real. She knows she is not real. Merely a hallucination. And yet, her heart aches for the figure to take on shape, take on weight and warmth, become something solid Dream can touch.

Become someone real Dream can love.

Tonight is no different. The sheets are too warm, tossed about Dream in her restlessness, tied in knots at the foot of the bed. A thin nightgown sticks to her sweating skin, lace curls around her thighs. Her hair, matted in the back, an orange cloud of yarn pressed into the pillow.

And the tapestry stares at her. Sapnap wants her to throw it away, says it’s not good for her, to sleep with her image at the end of her bed. But it is all Dream has left of the castle, of the days she wore the crown.

It is all the queen has left of her knight—save, of course, for the specters.

The embroidered knight blinks at her. The silver of her armor, shining threads pulled into tight angles, hands resting on a blue-tinged sword. Her helmet, resting on a stone in the foreground. A field of sunflowers behind her.

That was George’s idea. Subtle symbolism. Now, the yellow heads swirl, bobbing like froth on the waves. The white pattern of clouds in the sky above them, thick strands of wool woven into the cyan thread, snakes back and forth, hypnotizing. And the knight tilts her head, brown hair kissing her sharp chin.

“I’ve missed you, Dream,” she says.

“No. You’re not real.” Dream hides her face, draws her legs up, covering her stomach.

“I am real,” the knight says. She steps out of the tapestry, onto the wooden floor of Dream’s new bedroom. The curtains billow in a breeze that shouldn’t be there. It’s too cold in Kinoko Kingdom to sleep with the window open this time of year.

Dream parts her hands, sees the specter push the fabric aside, the curtains painting her body in new clothes. Armor is exchanged for a short, thin dress, the sweet, small curves of her swaying as he walks towards the bed, her body sensual, smooth, like the bulb of a tulip bud before it opens.

“I’m here, Dream. I’m always here. In you.” George reaches out and touches her. It’s a phantom feeling, a cold on her skin, pushing her legs away from her stomach, unraveling her. 

“You’re not,” Dream tells her. The cold hand is on her cheek, touch ghostly. “You’re far away. You’re gone. You left me.”

“How could I leave, when I’m always a part of you?” George leans down to kiss her. Dream shudders, breathing the specter in. Her lungs burn from the cold, her lips ache for warmth. George folds into her, becomes one with her, melts the chill into her bones. 

Dream shivers and cries out. There are tears on her cheeks and ice in her core. Her heart feels weak, like a thin tent blowing in the wind, stakes about to fail, fabric about to billow away and leave its inhabitants exposed to the blistering cold.

Her head is pounding. She cannot remember how many days, how many weeks, how many months it has been since George betrayed her. All she knows is she cannot sleep with her gone.

Nights are not for sleeping anymore. They are for ghosts. For echoes. For yearning, unyielded. 

…

Sapnap stops George in the hall with a tight hand on her wrist. George whirls around, her hair freshly cut, the edge sharp where it flares around her cheekbones.

“Why do you come?” Sapnap asks. “You’re torturing her.”

“It’s none of your business.” George wrenches her hand free.

“Yes it fucking is,” Sapnap growls. “You left her in my care. Kicking you the fuck out is taking care of her.”

“Oh, she doesn’t seem very well taken care of—”

A crack reverberates through the hall. George’s cheek burns and so does Sapnap’s palm, but neither moves to acknowledge it. George didn’t even turn her head.

“She’s still having visions. She can’t tell the difference between them and you,” Sapnap says. “And she can’t sleep. She never fucking sleeps.”

George is silent. If she regrets what she’s done, the state she’s put Dream in, she never says, but Sapnap knows. She knows her friend is too stubborn to admit the mistake she’s made. And worse, she knows Dream is too helplessly in love to ever blame her.

“I have to go,” George says. “We’re getting somewhere, with the egg. I think we have a way to kill it.”

Sapnap nods. It’s good news. This torture will only go on so much longer.

“This will be my last visit, until it’s over, I think.” George puts her hand on Sapnap’s shoulder, and her fingers are cold as ice. “Keep her safe, until I return.”

“I will,” Sapnap agrees through gritted teeth. “I promised.”

[vampcoffeegyrl23]

Fic Writer Asks

tagged by the oh-so-sweet @takeunknownroadnow 🙂🙂

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

67 I guess? Geez... I have 87 on fanfiction.net, so a few that I haven't even transferred over to AO3 yet. (and honestly 85% of all of them are WIP's #oops).

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

760813 🤯

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I have 10 different fandoms I've published for: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Once Upon a Time, Arrow, the Flash. And more that I've written some for but just haven't published anything for them yet: Fringe, Grey's Anatomy, Agents of Shield, a movie called Arena, various MCU, and a couple others. Plus some I've wanted to attempt, but I just already have way too many other fics started for other fandoms.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Caught In the Riptide (Arrow - Oliver/Felicity)

Darkness I Became (The Originals - Klaus/Hayley)

In This Grief (Arrow - Oliver/Felicity)

Our Souls They Blend (Flash - Caitlin/Barry)

Sat by the River and It Made Me Complete (Flash - Barry/Caitlin)

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmm...I don't have many that are finished on AO3, but of the ones I do... "In This Grief" for Arrow is probably the angstiest I suppose. I love me some angst, drama, and whump throughout the fic though.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I usually try to end the shorter ones with happier endings, just cuz I'm also a sucker for a happy ending. Of my most recent ones, the concluding chapter for my Harry/Caitlin (Flash) "Open Mind For a Different View" is very sappy and 'happily ever after' in the end, which was fun to write.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't attempted many, but I do have an idea for a really cute/angsty Once Upon A Time/MCU crossover story that I never really got around to writing. I have a couple published on fanfiction.net that are pretty crazy, a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer/One Tree Hill ones that are fun, and a Grey's Anatomy/Buffy the Vampire Slayer one too.

8. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Um . . . I've barely attempted writing even anything smutty. I'd like to attempt more in the future, but it's definitely not something that comes naturally to me at all.

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I occasionally do, but along with leaving comments on fics i read it's one of those 'goes against my introverted nature' things that isn't always easy to win over. I really need to do more of both though.

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Who hasn't at some point? I mean, I'll never understand why people would not only click on a fic for either a ship they don't support or a show they don't watch...but take the time to comment negative things on it too? So weird...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes - it brought me one of my closest friends. A Once Upon A Time slow-burn Robin/Regina (but also gen-family) fic that's way too many chapters long. We haven't really worked much on it the last couple of years, but hopefully we'll be able to finish it someday.

I'd definitely be open to co-writing with other people too, for that fandom or others. It's so much fun to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other, and share an interest in the same shows/characters/couples.

There's a multi-chapter Barry/Caitlin (Flash) series-long one that I've been working on for a while (mostly notes/random drabbles at this point) that would probably be better as a two-person project but I just haven't really found anyone interested yet. I have posted pieces of it, short one-shots within the longer story for different Snowbarry-themed writing events, but the story itself really doesn't have much form yet.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

That's, like, not even a fair question. That's like asking a parent their favorite child! Not to mention I'm a sucker for multishipping...

I've never really understood the superior-ship-elitism thing. I've multishipped in a lot of different fandoms, and sure there are always ships I don't really enjoy but I don't judge people for supporting those or not supporting mine either. I do my thing in my space, and they can do their thing in theirs, simple as that. No hate, no judgment.

Ok...here's my top few-ish by show: 1) Piper/Leo (Charmed) 2) Nathan/Haley & Brooke/Julian & Lucas/Peyton (One Tree Hill) 3) Olivia/Peter (Fringe) 4) Damon/Elena & Stefan/Caroline (Vampire Diaries) 5) Lorelai/Luke & Rory/Logan & Rory/Jess (Gilmore Girls) 6) Oliver/Felicity (Arrow) 7) Kara/Mon-El (Super Girl) 8) Max/Lix (Roswell, New Mexico) 9) Daisy/Sousa & Fitz/Simmons & Melinda/Phil & Bobbie/Hunter (Agents of Sheild). Lots of different ships from the Buffy and Angel shows. And then of course there's the Flash, where I ship so many different ships: Joe/Cecile, Snowbarry (and all the different variations), Snowells (also lots of the different variations), Killervibe, Caitlin/Julian....some Caitlin/Hunter occasionally.

...yeah I have too many ships. And that's not even close to all of them. 🤓

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

....how much time do you have?

There's a few, but the main one is the Once Upon A Time one I'm co-writing with a friend. We've both put so much into it already, and the end is pretty much planned out it's just getting there that hasn't been the easy part. Also, I have a cute Cisco/Caitlin (Flash) Christmas one I started last winter that I really want to finish but got kinda stuck on.

At the moment, the one eating at me the most is a combo Flash Savitar/Frost & Barry/Caitlin guardian angels AU fic that I can see perfectly in my head but just isn't translating to words very well.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have a lot of great ideas, and I can write out dialogue pretty quickly? 🤷‍♀️

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well . . . some grammar I guess? Commas, run-ons....yeah that kind of stuff. Probably descriptions too. By far the worst though is I'm really bad at finishing stories....way too many WIP's...

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Definitely not for me - I took three years of Spanish in high school (a decade ago) and just did not absorb much of it at all. No one wants to read my butchered attempt at another language, seriously. A word or two here and then, maybe, I guess. But that's it.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

lol - One Tree Hill, though I started Gilmore Girls and Buffy and Angel ones around the same time too.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Savages - just like ships, how do I choose just one? There are bits of all of them that I love - even the rough early ones, the ones I can't stop thinking about but haven't written yet, and the ones I haven't updated in sooo long that sometimes thinking of them is frustrating enough....

Hmm...who to tag?...entirely optional of course...plus anyone else who sees this and wants to do it 🙂

@president-zebra @ageless-aislynn @jessequicksters @helplessdreamersworld @tomskonna @painted-in-ink @keep-it-i-resign @nutella-28m