Chapter Text
Weightlessness.
A force so strong, it's impossible to breathe.
The sense of doom.
When Danica opened her eyes, she was upside down, hanging by her seat belt. She groaned in pain, bringing one of her dangling arms to her head. When she touched her skin, she hissed. It felt sticky and wet. Lowering her hand, she saw blood on her fingertips. Looking around, her vision tunneled and blurred. Her parents were hanging in their seats as she was.
Her father, the driver, was covered in blood and wasn't moving. His glasses were cracked and halfway off his face. Danica couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. She couldn't see her mother's face, but she wasn't moving either. To her left, in the backseat next to her, hung her unconscious twin sister, Rhiannon. Rhi's honey colored hair hung like a curtain over her face, her costume dress flowing beneath her in the breeze. Danica immediately reached to unbuckle herself, not considering the drop afterwards. She slammed onto the roof of the car with a groan and a splash. It was disorienting, to be laying down on the roof of a car. The water was cold. And Danica barely considered the fact that there shouldn't be water in the car at all.
Everything was wrong, who cared about water?
Danica rose to her hands and knees, lifting her arms around her sister. She unbuckled her seat belt, bracing against her sisters weight as she dropped. Dani lowered Rhi down to the ground, holding her head. She looked around and saw the rear window under the truck was shattered and pushed outward. Danica moved her sister so she could kick at the rear window. It took seven kicks to get it to move enough.
Curling her arms under her sister's, she started scooting backwards, dragging Rhiannon with her. She rolled out of the car, then laid on her stomach, inch by inch, pulling her twin from the wreckage.
She stood back up once they were both out, and saw the front of the car was on fire. Panic gripped her chest, and she grabbed Rhiannon's arm and hauled her back as far and as fast as she could. After only a few minutes, the twins only getting about fifty feet away, the car exploded. The force of the blast nearly knocked Danica down, her small exhausted body barely keeping herself upright.
She turned and saw the car was completely engulfed. She took a step forward, before collapsing to her knees in shock and grief, holding her sister's head above the shallow water of the river.
She screamed. "Mom! Dad! No!"
Danica wasn't sure how long she screamed into the inferno. But, eventually she stopped, and looked around. They were at the bottom of a bridge, about 30 feet above them. The front half of the car was on the rocky shore of the river, and the back half was in the shallows. This is where Danica and Rhiannon were, cold, wet and completely alone. There were no street lights on the bridge, they were surrounded by forests and darkness of the Alaskan wilderness. Only the light of the full moon, and the blaze of their suburban lit up the night.
Fuck. What do I do? She's not awake, I can barely drag her around as is… I'm too weak to do much more than…
Danica got to her feet, slipping her arms back under her sisters. She began dragging her towards shore, doing her best to keep her twin's head above the water. The sounds of the massive fire, the splashing of the water as she kicked it up were all she could hear.
There was a terrible smell she didn't want to think about.
When Danica got Rhiannon to the shore, she collapsed onto the rocks next to her, breathing hard. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky. The stars were bright tonight, the sky perfectly clear. The moon was hanging low in the sky, the moon looked like a massive white dinner plate hanging above her.
After a while, Danica rolled to her hands and knees before standing. As she raised her head, she froze. There, where the river rocks met the dirt and trees, was a figure.
It was impossibly tall. Its limbs looked far too long to be human. It looked, female looking, with long, bright red hair that flowed over its shoulders and down its waist. Its skin was smooth, and pure white. And its face… looking otherworldly. Just the sight of it, filled Danica with a dense of dread.
Everything about the face was sharp, angular, and ancient. Its eyes were pure black, except for the irises. They looked just like the moon, glowing and white. Those eyes were scanning the scene, taking in the upside-down car that was on fire, and the twins, both covered in blood and soaking wet.
The monster took a slow, cautious step out of the tree line, raising its clawed hand up, the way one would approach a wounded wild animal. "I mean ye no harm, lassie." it said. Its voice was, strange. Female, but deep, raspy and low. It was like a growl, but there was no threat in it. It was wearing a short, white dress, that looked like it had been stained and washed many times over with dirt and blood. It was tattered around the hems, and hung on the things body in a weird way.
Danica shifted, putting one foot behind her, raising her fists up to her face, instinctively taking the fighting stance she'd been perfecting for years now. The thing chuckled softly "Lassie, I say I won't harm ye."
Her accent was also strange. Not exactly Irish, not quite English, and not really Scottish. It was somehow all of them and none of them.
Danica sucked in a breath, suddenly realizing she was shaking. Everything about her felt weak. Except her iron will.
"What are you then? What do you want?" she asked. Her voice was steady, calm and demanding.
She watched the monster blink, like a crocodile. It looked like it had three eyelids that slid across the eyeballs slowly. It smiled then, slowly, and tightly. Danica couldn't tell if it was a malicious smile, or an attempt at being comforting.
"Yer twins? Looks like to me. I was a twin, once. Mine died. I can heal yers, if ye'll let me." it rasped at her softly, crouching down. Danica narrowed her eyes, thinking it over.
I have a feeling, there is no point in lying to me about it. It could kill me and Rhi without much effort I think, if it wanted us dead this is pointless to lie about. Rhi hasn't woken up, I'm exhausted… if she can heal Rhi, then…
Danica lowered her fists to her sides. "Okay then, but… if you hurt my sister, I will find a way to kill you."
The monster chuckled again. "Ye are an amusing lil lassie. I 'cpected more suspicion from ye." it moved closer, slowly. Crouching closer to Rhi.
"I am suspicious. But, I see no reason for you to be lying about wanting to help. I get the feeling, if you wanted to kill us, we'd have been dead before we knew you were there."
The creature snorted a laugh. It sounded so… human, when it laughed. "Aye, girl. Aye. Ye is clever, far too clever fer yer age. How old are ye?" she asked as she carefully slipped her arms underneath Rhi, lifting her off the rocks.
"We're thirteen." Danica said as she turned with the monster and started walking towards the tree line.
"Yer young. Just a young fox pup, alone in the woods with wolves. Ye stay with me, I'll be keeping the worst away. I'll heal yer sister, then take ye back to yer world."
"Our world?" Danica blinked up at the monster, almost tripping over a tree branch as she did.
"Aye. Mortals, or humans have their world, and my kind, have ours. Now yer in mine, girl. But, ye found yerselves lucky, I never harm children. And, ye are twin, like I was." Its mouth moved like a human's, but it's lips didn't match the words it said. Everything about this things appearance looked, wrong.
Danica nodded, and kept her eyes on the ground near where the monster was walking. They walked for a long time, moving through the forest in silence. Well, the monster was silent. Danica was hyper aware of the fact she was making an insane amount of noise, crushing leaves and branches under her feet. She was barely able to see, let alone avoid things. It was all she could do to keep herself from falling over.
But eventually, the ground leveled out and she realized they were on a flat rock. She looked up and saw they were at the mouth of a shallow cave. "Come lassie." the monster commanded softly.
Danica followed the monster into the cave, and watched as it laid Rhiannon down, flat on her back. The monster turned around, and grabbed at something behind a large boulder. She tucked it under Rhi's head. Then moved. Danica could only see outlines of things now, and the monster's glowing white eyes.
"I'll get a fire goin. Just sit down, then I'll get ye food and start fixin yer twin."
Danica nodded, and looked behind her, at another smaller boulder. She rested her back against it, lowering herself to the ground with a thud. She bit back a moan, the general pain of the crash, the adrenaline rush, the exhaustion hitting her all at once.
"Ye is strong fer a girl yer size and kind." it said, moving around in the dark. Danica could hear things moving and rattling around. It sounded like bottles and baskets.
"Yeah, I do MMA, mixed martial arts. I work out a lot for it. Dad always…" she trailed off, suddenly remembering. Like lightning striking her heart, she felt it shatter. Silent tears flowed down her face as she gasped.
"Ah. Aye… Sorry I am, I didn't get there in time to save em." the monster's voice was so soft, Danica barely heard it.
She sniffed, wiping her hand on her wet sleeve. "It's fine." she gasped out. She steeled herself. This was no time to be weak. Whatever this thing was, Danica was absolutely sure of exactly one thing, it could kill her and Rhi easily. She couldn't let her guard down, even if it was being kind for now.
"Ah. I understand, lassie. Alrighty then." it's voice started off soft, then rose to a normal volume as it continued "My name is Seelie. What be yers?"
"Danica. Danica Keane. That's Rhiannon." she pointed to herself, then to Rhi.
"Danica, means morning star." the monster mused, then pointed over her shoulder at Rhi "And that is the name of a night goddess in Cymru, or what ye would call Wales. Morning and night. Ye parents known the meaning of yer names?" it asked as it struck two stones together, causing sparks to fly. In the short moment there was light, Dani saw a pile of sticks in the center of a cave, circled by a ring of stones.
"Yeah. Rhi was born at night on January 7th, and I was born the next morning on January 8th. We're 7 hours apart." Danica explained, leaning her head back against the rock. One arm was draped around her hips as she slumped, legs spread out in front of her.
"My kind, we have a legend about twins. Two of a kind, grown in the same womb at the same time, is rare for us. Very rare, and for good reason. We are more powerful, and live far longer than the other folk."
"Folk?" Danica asked, sitting up straight. Her sister had just played Queen Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, that was where they were driving back from when the accident happened. Her sister had Dani help her with lines, and Rhi was obsessed with the fairies and Celtic lore because of it. She claimed it helped her 'get into character'. But the word 'Folk' had triggered a bunch of pieces of information to suddenly come to Dani's mind, screaming that they were relevant. The fire was finally lit, and Seelie started placing larger logs on the side of it, carefully building it up to a comfortable amount of heat and light for the cave.
She quickly continued "You said your name was Seelie. That's… a fairy thing right? And then, folk, that’s another name for the fae. Are you…" she trailed off as the monster chuckled.
"Aye. Yer kind have called mine that for many years. Called us by other names too, but where I come from, I am known as fae. Mine and my sisters names were known by humans long ago. Over time, it seems they took on much more meaning than they have in truth." Seelie explained, looking at Danica with her weird white eyes. They were so large on her face, and the glow looked unreal. She went on "The thing we are most called, as a whole, are monsters. All yer human legends, about Bigfoot, dragons, vampires, all of it, is based on my kind. Most of yer information is false, mind ye. But there's seeds of truth in em. Mine twin was often called The Morrigan. Because she was a truthsayer and a fearsome warrior, humans turned her into a goddess of war in their myths."
Danica's jaw dropped, then she quickly shut it. "Okay so, monsters, or Faries, and gods, are real? And you're one of them?"
"Aye. And aye again, lassie." it said simply, shrugging its shoulders as it added "But don't be fooled, most of my kind would kill ye on sight. I am kinder than that, and far too old to kill with no cause."
Danica nodded "I believe you."
Seelie nodded, then reached behind her and brought a small basket to her lap. She pulled out a fruit, a peach, and tossed it to Dani. Dani snatched the fruit out of the air and sniffed it. The sweet light scent made her mouth water. She hadn't even noticed how hungry she was.
Biting into the peach, she ate it quickly, not caring about the mess of sticky juices on her hands and face. As soon as she was done, Seelie handed her a wooden plate of nuts, berries, dried fish and meat. Dani started shoving more food into her mouth, stuffing it as much as she could before chewing. She glanced at Rhi, then at the monster.
"Aye. After I rest fer a moment, I'll heal her. Her heart's poundin steady, she's alive so there is no rush." the monster said before taking an entire fish into her mouth. It looked like her jaw unhinged or opened wider than it should.
Danica stared at Seelie, chewing slowly. The monster side-eyed her, then swallowed. She flashed her a grin that was all sharp teeth. "My kind, we do eat yers, ya know. But, I am weaker than most, especially now. So, I couldn't kill ye if I wanted to."
Danica narrowed her eyes, feeling innately that was a lie. "Doesn't seem that way to me. You carried Rhi back, and those teeth and claws of yours look plenty sharp. Why lie?"
The monster threw back its head and laughed loudly. "Aye. I was tryin to comfort ye. Instead, ye call me a liar? Funny girl ye are."
Dani couldn't help but smile, just a little. "I don't like lies. Even if they're said to spare my feelings. You haven't killed us yet, you fed me, so I don't need lies to convince me to believe you. I can't… fully trust you. But, I have no reason to panic yet."
Seelie nodded, looking at the fire with a strange expression. "Ye remind me of mine. Unseelie was iron hearted. A protector. My kind, twins are linked for life. When one dies, the other feels, like half is missing. Tis a painful thing, it surely is."
"I'm sorry, that she's gone. How… did it happen?" Dani dared to ask, her voice a whisper.
"Tis not a thing ye need know." it said firmly. Its tone was not unkind, but made clear Dani shouldn’t press the issue. Then it softened, and said "Lass, come here."
Dani slowly rose to her feet, and took a few steps closer to the fairy. It looked her over, searching her face for something. "Ye is clever, ye is iron-hearted. I want to give ye a gift. No tricks, just a gift to keep ye and yer sister safe from my kind. Will ye allow it?"
Dani frowned, biting her lip. She was torn between offering her trust as a show of gratitude for saving them, and being hyper aware of the fact that this was a monster, who eats humans.
"What is it?" she asked timidly after a moment.
"The true sight. I told ye I was powerful, I did. My species, we heal. We can also bless. The blessing I can gift ye, is the true sight, to let ye know our kind even when they are hidden. This way, no tricks can fool ye. I'll give yer sister the choice when she wakes."
Dani considered it for a moment. I mean, if monsters and fairies really exist, and they eat humans, then… I see no harm in being able to recognize them. If she's lying about everything, then she'll just eat us anyway. This would be an insanely pointless lie.
"Okay." she said finally.
Seelie shifted to fully face Danica. Even sitting, the monster towered over her. Seelie's neck was just a little too long as it curved to look down on Dani. It raised up its hands to its mouth, and bit both its thumbs until they bled. "Close yer eyes, little star."
Seelie's voice had changed, her eyes glowing even brighter now. The tone was like honey, thick, smooth and calming. It was jarring, but Dani felt herself calmed by it regardless. She closed her eyes, and she felt thumbs press onto her eyelids. Not enough pressure to hurt, but more than she expected. She could feel the thick wet feeling of the blood being smeared across her skin as the monster hummed and murmured things in a language that didn't even sound human.
Then suddenly, the fairy switched to English, allowing Dani to understand.
"May the blessing of dawn be on ye, light without and light within. And may the blessing of the light open yer eyes to see what is unseen. What may they be called, what may their intentions be, ye can see."
Then her voice changed again, and sounded much more like what you'd think a monster would sound like, throaty, raspier and deeper "May the blessing of the night be on ye, dark without and dark within. And may the blessing of the night keep yer mind clear in face of fear, let not our kind fool ye."
Danica took a shuddering breath as the thumbs moved away from her eyes, and she cracked one open. Seelie smiled down at her, and nodded once. "Tis done, lassie. Now, while I heal yer sister, look at me. Look through what ye see and tell me."
Seelie moved, creeping along the caved floor to kneel behind Rhi. She placed her thumb back in her mouth, biting down again. More blood poured from the wound, but the monster didn't even flinch. She started rubbing the blood over Rhi's forehead, and across her neck. Dani didn't understand any of it, but slowly sat down where she stood. She looked over the monster, not seeing anything different.
"Look past what ye see, little star." it said softly as it worked on Rhi.
Dani narrowed her eyes, and then, closed them. She inhaled deeply, letting her mind slip into static. Her mind stilled, like she was spacing out. She opened her eyes, and saw what the monster meant.
The monster was still there, she could see her as she always had. But, almost layered over her, was something else. Like a sheer copy, flickering in and out of focus. It almost shimmered, like steam over a pot of boiling water.
"Ye see it? Tis the soul of my kind, I suppose. Only our kind has it, so when ye see it on one, know they can kill ye. Not all my kind is good, just like not all yer kind is good. Difference is, my kind hunt yers. I gift this to ye, so ye can keep yerselves safe. Understand me, lassie?" it said, looking up from where it was sitting. It's hands were pressed to Rhi's forehead and neck.
Danica nodded, not knowing what else to do. Her brain felt, overwhelmed and exhausted.
"I will tell you a tale, little star, as you drift off to the land of dreams. The legend of the first twins born to my kind. Eons ago, the first pair of twins was born. They were born early, and weak. None thought they'd survive. Children are rare to begin with, but two at once had never happened before. But alas, the babes grew fast and strong. They were born with power, as all our kind are, but theirs was unmatched in raw stregth. It is said, they were the first to bring our kind into this world from what was called the Otherworld. Though others of my kind believe we was made of this world before yers was. The point being, twins are revered and respected, me and mine even more so than others."
"Why?" Dani breathed, needing to know more.
Seelie smiled "Ah. We can bless humans with the true sight, and heal both humans and monsters alike. When both of us was alive, we could even bring back the dead. There were limits, the bodies had to be intact, no missing parts, and it had to be within three days of the death. But, under those conditions, me and mine were able to pull back the veil of death, and breathe life back to a body." it looked her over with sympathy, seeing a moment of hope for her parents on Dani's face.
"Nay, lass. They cannot be saved. If my sister were alive, it could be done. But not as I am now. I am weak, dying and without my twin. Think I'll be gone in a year or so." it murmured, leaning down to open Rhi's eye, nodding to itself. "She's going to be alright now. The worst is healed."
Seelie moved to the spot she'd left, settling down next to Danica. It fed another log into the fire. Dani processed all this information slowly, and the monster said nothing more for a while. Until Rhi stirred, whining as she stretched. She moved to sit up, rubbing her eyes before opening them.
Her eyes found Dani first, then she blinked, and looked directly at Seelie.
Rhi screamed so loudly, Dani had to cover her ears with her hands, scrunching up her face in pain. Rhi's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed back onto the cloth that Seelie had tucked under her head before.
Seelie chuckled "Ye is the braver of the two it seems."
Dani barked a short laugh as she lowered her hands, "Yeah. I probably would have fainted seeing you too though, if I wasn't so focused on protecting Rhi."
Seelie nodded, inhaling deeply. Dani inhaled too, noticing the monsters scent for the first time. She smelled like moss, wet dirt and honeysuckles. "Tis a good thing, to keep a level head when facing danger. Ye will need to be the strong one, protect yer twin, little star. Not a one can replace her."
Dani nodded, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I will."
After another long while of silence, Dani slipped into unconsciousness.
When she woke up next, daylight had come. She lifted herself up off the rock she was laying on, noticing a make shift pillow under her head. She looked around for Rhi and Seelie. Rhi was still asleep where she'd been all night, and Seelie was nowhere to be seen. Dani moved to stand, then to kneel by Rhi. She shook her by her shoulder.
"Rhi. Wake up… RHI!" she said shaking her harder and harder until Rhi moaned.
"Five more minutes." she mumbled, smacking at Dani's arm. Dani rolled her eyes. Literally only you could sleep this deeply after everything that happened, idiot.
"Rhiannon Tara Keane! Wake the fuck up before I hit you!" Dani threatened, raising her fist.
Rhi sat up with a jolt "No, don't!" she gasped. Then she blinked and rubbed both eyes with her hands. "Where are we?" she asked, looking around the cave.
Danica inhaled deeply, before explaining what happened last night. It took a while, because the instant she told Rhi their parents were dead, Rhi burst into wailing tears. Dani had to hold her and let her cry for a very long time. Dani didn't cry. She couldn't now, she had to be strong for her sister.
After Rhi's well of tears had run dry, Dani pushed her off her by her shoulders "There is a monster here, a fae monster. Her name is Seelie. I don't know where she is now, but she gave me food to eat and healed you. She's… a little scary to look at. But she's kind. When she comes back, don’t faint again."
Rhi blinked again. Then she raised her hands and started signing to Dani, hands moving rapidly around her in complex gestures only Dani could understand. Wait, that wasn't a dream?
Dani shook her head "No. It was all real." she answered aloud.
"Aye, twas real." Seelie's voice called softly near the edge of the cave, making both girls snap their head to it.
Dani stood, smiling. She kept hold of Rhi's hand as she said "She's awake." then she looked down at Rhi "That's Seelie. She's nice, she healed you."
Rhi gaped up at Seelie as she entered the cave, having to duck a little to get inside. She carried a basket with her, and she knelt down next to the fire and fed another log into it. After she sat down, she reached into the basket, pulling out a large salmon. It looked like it had already been gutted and cleaned. Dani had been camping many times with her father, and fished a lot. Seelie then pushed a stick into the fishes mouth, all the way down the body. She then rested it against the flames to cook the fish. She repeated this process with two more fish as Rhi just watched, shocked.
Dani squeezed Rhi's hand, then sat down to hold her again. Rhi was shaking, but not fainting this time.
"I won't hurt ye. Don't worry little ones. Let me tell ye another story to put yer minds at ease. Back in my home country Ériu, there was a time, long before mine, when humans and my kind interacted more. Tis where most legends and myths come from. Back when there were less of yer kind, ours were-"
Danica and Rhi listened to Seelie talk for hours. They learned more about the history of monsters, and how myths and legends had grains of truth to them. Seelie told them more about Unseelie, and their lives together. By the time they'd eaten, washed themselves in a nearby creek and night fell again, Danica and Rhiannon had completely forgotten they were in the presence of something that could kill them. Seelie felt safe to them. They made each other laugh, Rhi cried more about their parents, and accepted Seelie's gift.
The next morning, Seelie guided them to the nearest town, and left them at the edge of the woods, without saying a single word of goodbye. Dani and Rhi waved to her, but Seelie didn't look back once.
Their parents bodies were never found.