Disclaimer: Don't own it, Disney and Co. does. I'm just borrowing it for a short while to play with for the amusement of others.
Summary: What if there was another character that you didn't see in the movie? And she was the only one who truly saw the real "Unhappily Ever After" of the main participants of the Corpse Bride fiasco. Secrets revealed and surprise twists abound, as she tries to put things back the way they should have been in the first place.
Journal Entry: April 28th, 18XX
It was a night like this when I first walked onto that bridge, outside of that town.
It was a quaint, picturesque little Victorian Village. One of those diamonds in the ruff, out of the mainstream and city rabble, or the kind you would only normally see on postcards at the corner store.
I had liked it immediately.
But then again, I had seen it in full daylight then. Soon, I came to know every inhabitant weither by something as mundane as seeing a face, or extraordinary as hearing the rustle of clothing they wore. Then tell you their their personal stories and family stories going back at least several generations. (What can I say, I've been here a while. A really long while.)
Anyway, it's basically one of those few remaining, unspoiled places left in the world where 'time stands still'. Where true magic still lingers in one form or another, and the Veil between the worlds is a bit thinner than in most places.
But not so very long ago, rather than the tranquil scene of quiet, prosperous domesticity, I'd become contently accustomed to. I found myself holding a powder keg that pretty much erupted in my face!!!! With a VENGENCE!!! And almost ripped apart two worlds in the process, not something a girl exactly wants to come home to.
I mean, I go to London and leave the 'Old Fart' in charge for a scant two days and I come back to find the very foundations of all created order pretty much upheaved. Well, what did I expect trusting a guy with no descernable brain? I'd be better off trusting that stupid overgrown worm of Emmy's.
Needless to say, it's put me off taking an outside vacation for a really, really, really long time. Why am I getting in such a huff, you might ask?
This is my town, so to speak. I've been watching over it for quite a while now.
Who am I?
Well, that's not a standard question for me, you see. Despite what you see, I'm not all I appear to be. But let's start with something simple, my name.
I am Raven Nightwing, Mistress of the Dark.
Emily walked up behind Raven, letting loose a soft chuckle at the look of intense concentration on her companion's face. The Corpse Bride hadn't seen the Mistress of the Dark in quite a while. With the majority of New Arrivals coming so rapidly lately, she'd been busy helping Elder Gutkneckt process them all.
Taking to yourself again, Rave?" She said, hoping to raze her out of her current stupor.
Because even thought she couldn't really feel anything physical anymore. Emily was positive that the scrunched up look on the living woman's face couldn't possibly be comfortable. That is, if she didn't already have a headache from it.
She approached the the Wizard from behind, her long veil still trailing behind her.
Raven hopped off the bridge and closed the ancient looking book that had been previously propped upon her lap. Giving her own smile at the Corpse Bride as she pocketed her pen.
"No, thinking outloud. And you know I prefer my nickname, Emily. It's Small Lady. Please use it. But anyway with all the new arrivals, I've been slacking on some thing lately. Mainly, this."
"What is it?" Emily asked curiously at the book she offered.
"Even before I first came here, I was a very powerful Master Wizard. Legendary, some even said, which was astounding for my age, and dangerous. So, I've always kept this," Raven held up the book. " A personal journal to leave behind in my own words what my life was truly like. Because I hate the way things get distorted through the system."
"Sounds interesting. Am I in it?" Emily asked fingering her Veil sheepishly.
"You know you are, silly. I'll let you in on a little secret." Raven leaned into the Corpse Bride's ear. "Oh no, you don't..." With a lightening quick motion she drew a maggot out of Emily's ear, giving the offending insect a dirty look.
"What?" He interjected, using his big eyes to their full advantage. In giving what was the equivelent to the Queen of the Dead. A puppy dog pout worthy of a cherub on a cheap Valentine card. "If you're gonna listen, you should at least be stealthy about it." Raven huffed.
"No, I wasn't. I was minding my own business until..."
"I almost inhaled you, stupid!!! Be more careful. I'm not dead yet, nor have a desire to be for a very long time to come."
"Sorry," Maggot rolled his eyes sarcastically. As Raven put him down on the Bridge's stone side. She decided to let it slide, just this once. "Don't worry about it. You can hear it from me. You are in it too."
His eyes if possible, got wider in his intrest. "Seriously?!"
Raven smirked. "Seriously. Though if you do it again, I'll use you for a new book mark, got it?" He gulped and nodded.
Raven once again flourished the book which sported a crest like the one she wore on a silver bead choker about her own neck. "I've kept a record of everyday of my life, Upstarirs and Down. How I became Mistress of the Dark, met the people in the Land of the Dead, including you both..."
Looking out on the small town she had watched over for so long. Raven's now sad gaze traveled past Emily up to the little church on the hill and the graveyard beyond. It sported many new additions from the past winter.
"I still can't believe that that sickness came upon this place so quickly. If only that meat-headed moron of a town doctor had listened to me, none of this would have happened." Raven's fists clinched almost white in anger, as she remembered that incident. "But no, I'm just a woman. So, that automatically classifies me as brainless! Nevermind, I've been here since before his great-grandfather was even born! Ya know, he doesn't even realise how lucky he is. Most wizards are the, 'I'm only a Watcher, I can't interfere' type, basically lazy and useless. I actually jumped in and took care of those people, it just makes me SO mad!!!"
She kicked he stone of the bridge, her unusual strength breaking a large chunk of the weathered mortar off splashing into the small brook below.
Emily nodded with a solemn smile. She knew what times had been like for her friend. She'd been busy these past weeks. Far more busy than they had been in a long while. Frankly Emily admired the job Raven did keeping everything in line, with the Elder's help shed definately gone the distance and then some.
"Why don't you come back to the Pub with me, Rave? I'm sure BJ and the Boys are dying to see you. No pun intended." She giggled at the look her companions responded with, as she took the lapse in stride and scooped Maggot back up and replaced him on her sholder.
Raven grimaced. "It's Small Lady, Emily." The Wizard warned againest the Corpse's playful teasing. "We've talked about this. I don't call you Milly and you don't call me Rave. It makes me sound like a bad dance move the Bone Boys might cook up when they get hammered."
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, won't happen again, promise." The corpse assured putting her good hand over her long-stilled heart. "BFF's Honor."
Apparently satisfied, with a casual snap of her fingers. Raven's clothes transformed themselves from her 'living attire', a fine bustled walking dress and matching tophat to her, 'wizardly garments'. A simple black leotard with a twilight blue sapphire and white gold belt that matched her jeweled handguards and cloak clasp. Her knee-high boots and cloak matched the blue highlights in her high ponytail, lit up by the full hazy moon above them. As she turned full toward it, it reflected it's magnifigance in her pastel eyes. (Think Raven from the Teen Titans only no chakra jewel.)
"Now," Raven said theatrically. "We need somewhere filled with good food, good times and even better friends. Where should we go?" She glanced over at Emily who was grinning wildly as Corpse and Wizard, linked arms.
"To the Ball and Socket!!!" They cried happily.
"Hopscotch!!!"
They disappeared but not before Raven had cast, unnoticed by Emily. A backward forlorn glance to the little town she liked to call her own.
Later at the Pub...
"Paul, a Tartarus Straight-Up, please and thank you!" Raven called over the long counter to the roach bearers, who carried Paul, the quite litteral head-waiter of the Ball and Socket Pub.
"Right away, Miz Lady!" His cheerful, yet heavy french accent managed to barely waft over the catchy jazz music.
Suddenly Emily sild in,"Make that a double, please!" She turned to Raven smiling brilliantly. "Now aren't you glad you came? Everyone's missed you, terribly." To emphsize her point several skeletons and a pair of corpses passing by called cheerful greetings and inquiries to the Mistress of he Dark. She in turn, waved back.
"I have too, very much. But I'm a working girl. I have my own slices of two worlds to take care of. Incoming!" Two bubbling green drinks came skidding down the weathered bar to rest with pinpoint accuracy in front of the two women.
"Thanks, Louie!" She called down to the skeleton bartender. He looked up from the cup her was wiping and merely nodded. He tended to be the quiet type.
Raven turned to the stage and saw BJ and the Bone Boys finishing up their set. It was a pity because they were on fire tonight. Raven and Emily had spent the last few hours totally 'living it up' for lack of a better term. After checking their Cloak and Veil in at the door they had immediately taken to the dance floor. Which BJ and the Boys had taken as an unspoken que to cut loose and and now the drinks were flowing like water., which made Paul happy (more tips that way).
The food orders were up as more s were attracted to the pub, that in turn made Mrs. Plum happy. After all, it was her bar. It was an impromptu party long overdue in the minds of some people. Too much misery and sadness had been leaking down from Upsatairs lately. It put a damper on everyone's spirits, no pun intended.
And now that their beloved Mistress of the Dark was finally free for a while, the litteral life of the party was back!!! If that wasn't a cause to celebrate, what was?!
As Raven led Emily by the skeletal hand back onto the floor their half-finished drinks abandoned. She thought Life or Death couldn't possibly get any better than this.