towerofanimus | I was the more deceiv'd

Characters: France [AU2] open to all
Setting: Floor Eleven, night time
Format: Either is fine
Summary: Francisca's just returned from being 'home' for about a month, straight after her shaky recovery from the teddy bear event. Needless to say, she's lost it.
Warnings: potential violence, potential suicide, language.

She felt cold.

On her abrupt return to the tower after weeks of wandering the decimated streets of France alone, after weeks of feeling as if someone had cut her heart out with a rusty knife, after week of nothingness, she broke down. She'd barely had enough time to get to a bathroom to vomit whatever little her stomach had held and proceeded to fall into a state of hysterics, screaming and clawing at her skin in the empty cubicle, her nightgown soaked with sweat and bare feet kicking at the walls.

Now that she'd 'calmed' somewhat, she'd come out of the bathroom and found it was night, the tower lights dimmed and no one in the hallways. Restless, she'd made her way to the eleventh floor, needing the comfort of life after so long without that when she reached it tears had started streaming down her cheeks as she got trembling handfuls of flowers, holding the delicate blossoms to her face and inhaling the scent.

Following the sounds of running water, she stumbled to the lake, mutely staring at the phantoms that seemed to dance under the reversed rainbows in the darkened sky. Strange that she found the sight of such apparitions more comforting that frightening - her people had been dead and not even their ghosts had left whispers behind. The phantoms let her be as she stumbled into the lake, dropping several flowers in the process and letting the little blossoms float around her in the rippling water. Soon the water was to her knees and she felt some relief in the cold she could feel seeping up her legs, contrasting with the warm air around her, but it wasn't enough. She felt numb and soon she was crushing the flowers in her hands, nails digging into her palms as she began to have another panic attack, breath coming faster and louder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The humming stopped and Francisca glanced down at Romeo, expression dazed as she seemed to calm and smile. "Oh hello Romeo. Are you a ghost too?"

Romeo looked scared for a moment, but he had to keep his spirits up! And help miss France keep hers up too! "No miss, I'm not a ghost," he reached out his hand. "You'll get cold if you stay in the water miss."

Francisca kept smiling even as she slowly stepped back deeper into the water, avoiding Romeo's hand. She wasn't too sure she could handle physical contact - the possibility that Romeo might really be an illusion, a spectre, and that once she touched him he'd fade... Or worse, that he'd be solid, but it would just be her mind projecting more realistic illusions.

"I'm fine in here, it's quite warm actually," she lied, stepping back again until she was up to her thighs in water. "If you aren't a ghost you should be in bed, mon cher," she chided, still smiling.

"No miss France... you need to come out..." He bit his lip worried, it was late and the monsters would probably be here soon. "Even adults need to go to bed on time miss!"

"Of course we do, but sometimes we can be a bit naughty and not go to bed." She chuckled, turning slowly in the water and watching her gown float around her. The smile slipped from her face as she murmured, "Or sometimes we can't, we don't want to..."

Shaking her head to clear the thought, she cradled the bundle of flowers at her chest, picking one with her hand and lifting it to her face, spinning it by the stem slowly. A lovely red rose in full bloom, her trademark flower. Yet in that instant the red was too dark, more a black with a suggestion of red. Just like congealed blood.

As soon as the thought entered her mind, her fist closed around the blossom, roughly crushing it and scattering more petals around her.

"Do you have bad dreams too miss?" He asked, scared, not knowing what to do because Miss France was an adult and he couldn't boss her about. But if they didn't go soon they were going to get caught by monsters!

"Come on miss, let's go." Why was she destroying flowers? "Piccolo can stay with you tonight! He will chase your nightmares away!"

She chuckled, dusting the petals from her hands carelessly. "Oh no, mon cher - Piccolo must stay with you and keep you safe."

She could hear Germania's voice whispering in her ear as she echoed the words of her childhood, "A Francisca is only useful when thrown without fear - I can't be afraid, especially not of such a little thing as nightmares."

Shaking her head she kept the mantra as a quiet murmur, "I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid," as she turned on the spot, gazing at the depths of the lake with longing.

"Well I can stay with you, and then Piccolo can keep us both safe. It's okay to be scared miss, sometimes. But we need to remember to keep our spirits up even when we are really scared." He reached out for her hand again, "Come on miss France, let's go somewhere safer..."

She moved away from him before he could catch her hand, and murmured distantly, "Go to bed, Romeo. Children shouldn't be out at this hour."

She waded into the water determinedly, intent on reaching the bottom of the lake.

Romeo frowned, why wouldn't she listen to him!

"Miss you have to come with me! You can't stay here!" He darted after her to grab her hand again.

I was the more deceiv'd

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