kh_drabble | (no subject)

Challenge: [149] Pageant
Title: the sleep of reason stays away from monsters
Wordcount: 485
Notes: The Princesses of Heart dream, and keep dreaming. And look out for italics all over XD;

Jasmine bites her lip. Of course it's just for fun and she won't die if she's not next, but she didn't prepare a losing speech and she's really a real princess who should win a Pure Heart Award.

She shudders and squirms and can't contain her delight when the MC calls up

"Miss 1992! The Princess Jasmine!"

She wasn't even last. She won! She goes to take her spot next to the other five.

Meg is bored and Ariel is sulky and Mulan feels out of place. Jasmine smiles as she passes and she smiles a lot, because the walk is pretty long. Dimly lit, too.

She takes a stair up

How did I get here?

She only cares because she didn't come on a carpet and she didn't come with a caravan and it was odd

I came here with--

--or scary, really, how she can't remember as she takes the next stair.

Miss 1991, the Princess Belle, takes her hand and smiles. Jasmine's feet lock into place and she looks at the audience.

"Congratulations!"

"Oh." There are more important things then contests for a minute. Like her own screaming thoughts. WHO! I KNOW -- THE DARK BOY -- NOT ALADDIN, WHERE IS -- WHERE AM I --

She's standing on the edge of a void, she knows it, the edge is pressing against her feet and if she turns around she will fall and what's left of the pagent will blur and darken into something much more sinister, something sinister and deadly.

Belle's hand is steady and Miss 1959, Princess Aurora, grabs on to her other hand.

"And number seven, and, the final winner, will end our show. Let's hear it for -- Miss 2002 --"

"Isn't the MC in the void? How long has she been there? And where are we?" Jasmine clutches the other two tight. The pit is waking up and reality and if she really got here like that she thinks it's better to sleep in a little longer.

Aurora says "We -- ell, yes. She is. But we're not even close, if we stay asleep. Just dream this place with us, for now, it's nicer, it's safer."

Somewhere nearby, Cinderella, whose eyes are trained to find the smallest bits of dust and dirt, sees a thin dirty spot growing on the wall. She smacks it, and rubs it away with her glove. It doesn't stain. "Got it!" she says, triumphantly.

Then Jasmine gets it, and forgets it. The void closes at her feet.

"Princess Kairi!!"

She smiles at the MC, even though the bright lights are throwing shadows over it's face.

Time passes. Maybe a lot of it.

"Where is Princess Kairi?"

The MC is a bit annoyed, but Jasmine can wait forever. She thinks mostly make-believe things, like: Winning this, in this wonderfully, impossibly long moment -- look at the spotlight securing us in importance and place -- Good! The longer the last winner takes, the longer I can stay safe up here.