Chrysanthemums For You [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 5

Persephone sat at the edge of the fountain, the ends of her dress floating on the surface as she wiggled her toes beneath. She smiled as she stared down into the water, her fingers tapping the pale beige stone at her sides. Idia had shown her the fountain after they left the garden. He had suggested that she wait there for him while he went to go and get some food for the two of them.

Feeling restless from simply sitting on the edge of the pale beige stone, Persephone pulled her feet from the water and spun her body around. She set her feet on the stone and pushed herself up, starting to walk along the edge of the fountain. She held her arms out to the side, smiling blissfully as she carefully placed one foot in front of the other. She did not fear falling into the fountain, but there was a strange magic that filled her body as she walked around the fountain, her arms stretched out to the sides. It felt as though she was a child once again, walking along the stones in Nisi's forests, hopping from flat stones to the smooth bark of the trees. 

Persephone did not dwell on the thought of Nisi for long and continued walking around the edge of the fountain. She twirled once, then twice, her feet sure and steady on the stones. She had always been sure of her footing. Never once has a plant allowed her to stumble. They caught her when she misstepped, and formed temporary steps for their princess, creating a path of their own for Persephone. 

As she spun, her bare feet dancing across the surface of the stones, she dreamt that she was back with Nisi. Back with her brothers. Back with her mother. Back with her father. Back with Moon and Sun and Sea and Storm. Back with the ones she had known all her life, and back with the ones that she knew kept her safe. As she twirled, she imagined the feel of the sand of the shores between her toes, and the gentle kiss of South Wind on her nose. She imagined that she could hear the crash of Sea's waves on the beach, drawing shells from the depths of the ocean and giving them to her as a gift. 

Persephone stopped dancing, her arms slowly lowering to her sides as she stared into the crystal water of the fountain. Sea had not brought her shells in a year. Even before his waves had stolen her away from Nisi, he had not brought her the nautilus shells of the sea, nor the conch or the mollusc. She had not seen a new shell in quite some time, and as she stared into the water of the fountain, she felt her heart grow cold. She missed the shells. She missed the way that they looked as they lay upon the sand, like the flowers of the ocean bidding her hello.

"Flower," she whispered as she stared at her reflection. She crouched on the stone of the fountain and drew a hand across her cheek, watching as her fingers painted an invisible line over her skin. "Flower." A tear pooled in the corner of her eye and she sniffed. She missed being called Flower. She missed being called Sister. She missed being called Spring. Idia knew her as nothing more than Persephone, a name that he had chosen from his mother's tales. 

Her hand drifted from her cheek and she dipped her finger into the water of the fountain, a woeful smile adorning her lips as she felt the kiss of the water. It was nothing like the water of Nisi, nor Sea's powerful currents, and yet, it calmed her just the same. It calmed her like it did her flowers as they blossomed beneath her touch. It calmed her like the gentle rain of Storm as it drummed on the roof of her little house beneath the mountain. It calmed her like water calmed the earth, washing away sorrow, sickness, and strain.