New Day: A One Shot Epilogue to waffles' "Blue Sky"

New Day

Chell took a deep breath and let her hair down. It fell over the back of her neck in a dark clump; straight and flat and thin, and not very appealing.

"Hey, don't worry, honey," Romy said, bouncing over and grabbing a fistful of hair with a jerk that brought a couple of stinging tears into Chell's gray eyes, "You are going to look spec-tac-u-lar once I am finished. Just like a picture postcard." She grinned and giggled and twisted her fistful of Chell's hair up into a knot at the back of her head, letting a handful of strands fall free.

Chell took another breath. Her heart fluttered in her chest, bobbing against her breastbone like a ship tossed by a roaring sea. Her hands were covered in cold sweat, and she couldn't stop it. It wasn't like her. She was usually so calm and collected. But today... Well, today was different, to say the very least. She studied her fingers, which were spread out on top of Romy's vanity. Slender, small, her naturally bronzy skin tanned even darker by long days in the brilliant sun. The ring sparkled on her finger, simple and clean and very, very old. It was a thin, silver band set with a round, sky blue stone, whose color reminded her of so many things.

She couldn't stop the little smile that crept onto her lips.

Romy gave her hair another sharp twist, jerking Chell back into the moment. She felt a dozen little stabs as Romy pinned the knot in place with quick, expert fingers. It really wasn't so different from Chell's regular hairstyle, when you came right down to it. Only most of her hair was up, instead of just pulled back into its regulation ponytail. But it felt... special, somehow.

Romy darted around her, blocking Chell's view of herself in the cloudy vanity mirror. Her friend rearranged the strands of loose hair to frame Chell's ears, and then stepped back, surveying her handiwork with a tight, pleased smile. "You look fabulous, Mi-chelle! Knock 'em dead, won't you?"

The corner of Chell's mouth twitched upwards, but she said nothing.

"Oh, we've almost forgotten the piece-de-résistance!" Romy cried, bustling over to a large, mysterious cardboard box which was sitting coyly on her bed, "Where would you be without this?"

The gown was ivory, growing slightly brownish with age, but still beautiful and, somehow, stately. It had a fitted bodice and just a whisper of sleeves, with a gently curving v-neckline, and a great mass of skirts with a large bow at the waist, all overlaid with lace. It had been taken in and taken up and taken apart multiple times until Romy had finally put it back together so that it would fit Chell's slight frame properly. It had been in a chest in Romy's attic for who knew how long, and had been used by many of Eaden's female citizens over the years.

Chell took the heap of lacy fabric in her hands and slipped down the hall to the bathroom. She came back out only a few moments later, a half-smile on her unusually flushed face, one hand twisted round behind her back.

"Romy, can you get the zipper?"

"Of course, honey!" Romy said, hurrying over and zipping up the back of the dress with a flourish, "There we are! You look like an angel, Mi-chelle! Oh, I'd better get ready at once. I'm in such a state... I've got a couple tubes of lipstick in the vanity drawer, and some powder, if you like." She skipped into her room and came back with a pale blue pile of fabric and a pair of painfully high heeled shoes clutched in her arms. She vanished into the bathroom.

Chell stood in the middle of the hallway, suddenly disoriented. This was all a dream. It had to be. She would wake up any moment now, back in the humming facility, leaning against the scrawl-covered panels, with the portal device beside her and Her cold voice echoing off the walls. Her stomach was twisted up inside her, and her heart was playing a sharp staccato beat in her chest. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be real. She couldn't really be free of that place. Could she?