Europe / London / Northumberland (Stafford Castle): June 2nd, 1817.
It was a beautiful day for the world.The birds were chirping their songs as mankind went about their daily routines with smiles on their faces at beauty of the city, but also sad looks on their faces at the horror of it whether it be financially, emotionally or physically, yet if you were to look closely at a castle. To be more specific, Inside of it in a luxerious bedroom. You can see a very elderly man attending to what appears to be a heavily bandaged and disfigured. Wheezing woman laying atop a king sized bed surrounded by four more figures.
The atmosphere extremely tense.
(Elizabeth Marianne Stafford's POV)
"Doctor is this supposed to be happening. Is she supposed to be breathing with a sound like that." Asked oswald with a serious look on his face as he stared at a woman on the bed with swollen face and a wrapped head.
The doctor looked at oswald and said with a sigh "My lord, this is a very natural after facial reconstruction occurrence when a patient has her current circumstances. She should breathe normally by tomorrow, all I have to do is manage her condition."
The room was silent. Elizabeth's face turned extremely ugly.
"Have you gone mad. I don't dare say I know more about medicine than you but I know for certain that no person should be struggling to breath like that. I'm 105 years old and I have haggard breath by climbing four floors to get to this room." Said elizabeth. Her eyes squinting judgingly.
The doctor's forehead started to sweat as he looked at elizabeth who had a look on her face that awaited a answer and said with another sigh "My lady. Thi…"
"That is dowager marchioness to you." Said elizabeth calmly with a serious look on her face as she looked back at the woman on the bed with creased eyebrows.
The room was silent. The atmosphere heavy.
"Ahem….doctor will my daughter recover from this as you've said." Asked an older looking man with a serious look of doubt on his face. It being a handsome and upright looking man with a diamond shaped face, short dark brown, greying hair, greyish, blue eyes, and a light skin tone with a ripped muscular 6'0 body.
The room was absolutely silent. The doctor's face was ugly.
"She should recover my lord but the swelling is worse than expected. The throat is under pressure and if the breathing worsens further I will have to make a opening in the neck." Said the doctor with a serious look on his face as he adjusted his spectacles with his right hand.
The room was silent. Edith's face Immediately turned pale.
"A opening in the neck…" Said edith softly with a trembling look on her face. It being a mature and beautiful woman with a rectangular shaped face, tired blue eyes, long dark brown hair with grey beginning to show, and a slender elegant 5'10 body in a dark gown.
Oswald's eyes narrowed and asked with a serious look on his face "Why was this not brought to our attention before you cut her face open."
The doctor swallowed a large amount of spit and said with a sigh "Because I believed the chances of it happening would be low my lord. Her injuries were more severe than expected. The cheek, jaw and nose all needed to be reset."
Elizabeth's face darkened and said calmly "So in other words. You gambled with my great - great granddaughter's face and now you wish to gamble with her life."
The room was absolutely silent.
Edward clenched his jaw and said with a serious look on his face "If it comes down to it, you will save her life before anything else. I do not care about scarring. I do not care about appearances. Do you understand."
"Y…yes my lord." Said the doctor stutteringly as he bowed his head.
Edith went over to the bedside and gently touched the back of the bandaged woman's hand and asked softly Will she wake soon."
The doctor rubbed his bearded chin and said "The medicine should wear off within the hour but when she awakens she will be weak, disoriented and agitated. She must not be overwhelmed."
Elizabeth scoffed loudly.
"As if any of us planned to dance around her bed like idiots at a country festival." Said elizabeth dryly while keeping her eyes fixed on the bed.
Oswald adjusted his throat and said with a serious look "The ball hosted by king george III is in three days."
The room was silent. Edith closed her eyes.
Edward rubbed his forehead and said tiredly "That matter can wait."
"No it cannot. Do you think king george III will cancel his own ball just because this family is in distress. No. The Invitation's have already gone out and read, london already knows we are attending and if we suddenly withdraw now they will sniff out weakness and scandal." Said elizabeth Immediately while looking at edward with a serious look on her face.
Edith bit her lip and said softly "Mother…"
Elizabeth looked at edith and said with her eyes squinting "I am not speaking from cruelty. I am speaking from experience. Society does not wait for your grief, your fear or your daughter's ruined face. It feeds on them."
The room was silent. Oswald's face stayed serious.
"We can still attend king george III's ball and simply say mary is still recovering from the carriage accident. That much would be true." Said oswald calmly while folding his hands behind his back.
Edward looked at oswald and asked "And when they ask why she is not seen."
Oswald was silent for a moment and said calmly "Then we say that she is not fit to be seen yet. They will gossip no matter what but it is better than letting them invent something even worse."
Elizabeth nodded slowly and said "Good. Finally. Somebody in this room has a functioning mind."
Edith looked down at the bed and said softly "I do not want her hidden like she is some family embarrassment."
The room was silent.
Elizabeth's eyes softened for the briefest moment and said more quietly than before "Nor do I edith. But there is a difference between preserving dignity and throwing her to wolves before she can even stand and blossom."
Edward let out a low breath and said with a nod "Then the matter is settled. The family will still attend king george III's ball."
The doctor adjusted his throat and said carefully "Strong emotion could worsen the swelling. I advise calmness when she awakens."
Elizabeth glanced at him and said dryly "Then pray she wakes with more sense than you."
Suddenly. The woman on the bed twitched.
The room froze.
Edith's eyes widened and she immediately gripped bandaged hand more tightly and said softly "Mary…"
The bedsheets rustled slightly.
A harsh wheezing inhale sounded.
The doctor's eyes widened and said Immediately "Stand back. Give her air."
(Mary Olive'era Stafford's POV)
There was no light.
Only pain.
Pain in the face.
Pain in the throat.
Pain in the chest.
Pain in the jaw.
Pain everywhere.
The world felt heavy. Wet. Wrong.
Sound started rushing in.
Voices.
A old woman.
A younger woman.
A doctor.
A man.
Another man.
"Mary." Said an unfamiliar voice.
"Careful." Said an unfamiliar voice.
"She's waking." Said an unfamiliar voice.
"Don't move." Said an unfamiliar voice.
"Slowly." Said an unfamiliar voice.
The room was loud. Too loud.
"What…" Thought mary with sluggish confusion as her thoughts felt drowned in mud.
She tried to open her eyes and Immediately regretted it.
Everything was blurred and wet. Her face felt wrong.
Not different. Wrong.
Her throat burned.
A wheezing sound escaped from her mouth.
The room was silent for a moment and then voices started again.
"Don't try to speak yet." Said the doctor calmly as a hand moved near the side of her neck.
Mary's eyes moved slowly. White ceiling. Fabric canopy. Candlelight. Shapes.
"This isn't a hospital, where am I" Thought mary with growing confusion. Her eyes visibly hardening as pain coursed through her body".
A gentle hand squeezed hers.
"Mary honey, can you hear me." Asked a soft trembling woman's voice.
Mary looked toward the voice and seen the blurry silhouette of a woman leaning over her.
"My name isn't mary. It is jerome carter. A failed 44 year old nigerian music artist so who is mary" Thought mary Immediately. Her vision blurred.
The thought froze. A memory flashed.
Rain.
Bright lights.
A horn.
Tires.
Impact.
Glass.
Screaming.
Then blackness.
Another memory suddenly crashed Into it.
A carriage.
A ballroom.
Mirrors.
Corsets.
Perfume.
A name.
Mary olive'era stafford.
The room started spinning.
"What the hell" Thought mary with a grunt as another wheezing breath left her throat.
The doctor said Immediately "Her breathing is worsening. Keep her calm."
Edith's voice broke slightly and said with worry "Mary darling look at me. You are safe."
Safe.
Mary's eyes widened subtly at the word.
Safe was not how this felt.
Her body felt heavier in some places. Softer in some places. Wrong in all of them. The sheets against her skin felt wrong. Her chest rose in a way she didn't recognize. Her throat sounded thinner, rougher and weaker than the voice she remembered from before.
The room was absolutely silent to her. Her own heartbeat deafening.
"I died. Didn't I. I fucking died" Thought mary as her jaw clenched.
Elizabeth stepped forward and asked in a firm voice "Can she understand us doctor."
"Most likely yes. Confusion is expected." Said the doctor with a serious look on his face.
Mary's eyes moved again. More silhouettes.
One stood tall and upright. Another beside him. Another smaller and older.
Family.
Not hers.
Not really.
"These aren't strangers. They know me. No…they knew her" Thought mary with a sick feeling in her stomach.
Edward stepped closer to the bed and said with a steady voice that still held strain beneath it "Mary. It is father. Do not force yourself to speak. Blink once if you understand me."
Mary stared at him.
Father.
The word landed wrong and right at the same time.
A lifetime that wasn't hers stirred underneath the pain.
A strict voice.
Long hallways.
Mirrors.
Pressure in the chest.
Silence at dinner.
Gowns.
Lessons.
Expectation.
Mary blinked once.
Edith let out a shaky breath that almost became a sob.
"Thank god." Said edith softly with tears in her eyes.
Oswald stepped forward and said calmly "Don't crowd her."
Elizabeth nodded once and said "Good. At least one of you still has a working brain."
Mary's breathing steadied slightly.
The doctor looked at her and asked "Can you move your fingers."
Mary moved them.
Slowly.
The doctor nodded and said "Good. Very good."
"What year is it" Thought mary as her eyes moved weakly around the room.
The curtains.
The candlelight.
The bed.
The gowns.
The title.
The castle.
"This is wrong. This is not right. This is not a dream. This is not a fucking dream" Thought mary with a scary look in her eyes underneath the bandage.
Her throat made another terrible wheezing sound.
Edith flinched and Immediately said lNo, no darling don't force yourself."
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed sharply as she studied mary's movements.
LHmm…" Said elizabeth quietly.
The room was silent.
Mary's eyes landed on a mirror at the far side of the room. Covered by a cloth.
Her stomach dropped.
She knew.
She somehow already knew.
A carriage injury.
Surgery.
Bandages.
The doctor.
The panic.
The way no one was looking directly at her for long.
"She was beautiful and then got ruined. That's what happened. They are trying not to say it" Thought mary with slow dawning horror.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that the body on the bed wasn't just injured.
It was female.
And the memories flooding in weren't just fragments.
They were layered.
A childhood in gowns and pressure.
A private discomfort with mirrors.
A strange relief at being mistaken for a boy once from behind when younger.
A body that had never felt fully right.
A identity that had always been strained and unnamed.
And now her own mind was inside it.
A dead man inside mary olive'era stafford.
A transgender woman with a ruined face.
"What kind of joke is this"!Thought mary as her eyes went cold.
Edith's face crumpled and said with a trembling voice "Please don't cry honey. You are alive, that is all that matters."
Elizabeth's eyes flickered slightly.
Not pity.
Recognition.
A old kind of recognition.
The kind that had seen people survive uglier things than this.
Elizabeth went over to the bedside and said calmly "Mary."
Mary's eyes shifted toward the older silhouette.
Elizabeth looked down at her and said with a serious look on her face "Your face may be injured. Your pride may be injured. Your future may look injured. But until I see dirt thrown over your grave I do not allow defeat in this family. Do you understand me."
The room was silent.
Mary stared at her.
That voice was not soft.
Not comforting.
But it was solid.
Real.
Not pity.
Mary blinked once.
Elizabeth nodded and said "Good. Then live first and despair later."
Oswald looked away and covered his mouth for a moment as if stopping some reaction.
Edward let out a low breath and said quietly "Mother."
"What. Would you rather I lied and said the world was kind." Asked elizabeth with a slight scoff.
The room was silent.
Mary's breathing slowly started to even out again.
The doctor looked at the family and said "She needs rest. Only one person should remain with her."
Edith said Immediately "I will stay."
Edward nodded and said "Fine."
Oswald looked at the bed one last time and said softly "I'll have broth sent up once she can swallow."
Elizabeth adjusted her cane and said calmly "And remove the mirror until she asks for it herself."
Mary's eyes widened slightly.
"Finally" Thought mary. The thought surprising even herself.
Edward turned to leave and paused for a moment before saying without looking back "You frightened us."
Then he left.
Oswald and Elizabeth followed after him. The doctor began gathering his instruments with stiff hands.
*Boom*
The room grew quieter.
Edith sat on the edge of the bed and gently brushed nonexistent tears away from mary's temple.
"Rest now, you do not need to be strong this second." Said edith softly.
Mary stared up at the canopy.
"I have no idea who I am supposed to be now" Thought mary as another memory surfaced.
A invitation.
A ball.
Three days.
King george III.
Names whispered by servants.
A possible suitor.
A man named mordred.
The room was silent. Mary's eyes narrowing slightly despite the pain.
"Mordred…what kind of name is that" Thought mary weakly.
A strange feeling moved through her chest.
Not fear.
Not yet.
Curiosity.
Confusion.
And something darker.
Instinct.
"If I'm stuck here, then I need to understand everything before anyone understands me" Thought mary as her heavy eyes started to close.
Edith kept stroking her hand.
The medicine and exhaustion started dragging mary back under.
The last thing mary heard before sleep took her was elizabeth's voice faintly outside the bedroom door saying coldly "Three days or not. She will attend king george III's ball if I have to carry her there myself."
…
THE END…