Hello and welcome to my story! I was very much inspired by Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, so here's my take on what happens after the movie ends. More truthfully, this plot bunny gnawed my ankles and insisted on being written, so I gave in.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the movie or the characters. I am just playing in someone else's sandbox here. The story contains spoilers for the movie. Finally, be prepared for fairly explicit femslash (Lily/Nina, eventually) and some potentially triggery stuff in someone's past.

I'm going to try to update as often as possible, so put me on Story Alert so you don't miss anything. Reviews are very much appreciated!

ETA: I forgot a disclaimer, and I realized the copy of the story I'd used to post this didn't have the most up-to-date editing changes. Only a word or two has been altered.

…

To Nina's disappointment, she lives. The story was supposed to end with her final leap, perfection attained, her swan song the pinnacle of achievement. She'd found her freedom at last in the acceptance of her death, her suicide, and she'd danced like never before even while knowing that each move opened the wound a little wider. As the lights swam above her, bathing her in brilliance, she drifted away content and at peace.

And then she woke up again, in the hospital. Alive, and having to face herself and everything she'd done or imagined. She sank into depression, willed herself to die, trying to let go of life so it could slip through her hands and set her free again. The nurses wouldn't let her, badgering her awake, making her eat and take medicines. Apathy wasn't sufficient for suicide, but she let herself live a half-life, lost in dreams of a white swan soaring.

One day Beth wheeled herself into the room, dark eyes fierce and bitter. "Isn't it a little early for you to be cracking up?" She went on in that vein for a while, but Nina just stared at her. Her cheeks were unmarked, no sign of the stab wounds Nina had half-convinced herself were her fault. Had that all been a hallucination too? No, Beth was wearing the diamond earrings, so Nina had returned the things she'd stolen. Maybe just the part where Beth woke up had been illusion.

People talk to her about stress, about anxiety, but Nina knows the truth: she's gone crazy. Her mind is fractured, different parts of her embodied by different people. For a while she wonders if there even is a new dancer called Lily, but then she realizes Lily must be real. The others reacted to her presence the way her mother didn't the night she imagined she brought Lily home.

She begins to try to piece together what's real, and what isn't. Thomas comes to visit and, in a voice full of concern, tells her he wants her to see a specialist in the treatment of nervous disorders. Nina laughs after he leaves. She may be naïve, but she knows he's sending her to a shrink. She doesn't fight; she knows she's out of her mind. Maybe this 'specialist' can help her find her way back in.