Pan's Labyrinth ficlet: Clean Up This Mess

[sophinisba]

I wrote a set of three drabbles for Pan's Labyrinth, which I saw this afternoon! Friends, please do not read these if you haven't seen the movie! They have big SPOILERS and won't make sense to you if you haven't seen it anyway. (They might also have errors, which you should tell me about. I have only seen the movie the one time.)

Go see the movie though and then come back! :D

[ETA: read the remix drabbles!
of part 2: The Mandrake's Tale by lady_smith
of part 3: Invictus. by tinheart]


Clean Up This Mess

1.

Carmen told her to burn the dress. The stains on the slip are actually worse – not just mud but a sticky slime Mercedes doesn't even recognize – but it's salvageable. Ofelia will have a new dress, if not as fancy as the one she's ruined, and no one will be able to tell she's not quite clean underneath.

Mercedes scrubs at the rough cloth and thinks what her mother would have done if she'd ruined such a fine dress at that age. But then, Mercedes never had a dress like that one. She never had dreams of escaping like some fairy princess either.

2.

The Captain told her to clean up the mess, after he had his soldiers take away the body. Mercedes kneels to light a fire in the empty room, but something catches her eye among the dead grey cinders.

"That's mandragora," Jacinta says later when Mercedes carries it downstairs, wrapped in the bloody sheets. "Selfish, stubborn thing. It saves itself and lets everything else burn... and lets you and me clean up after. It has its uses though. Grind it up, and take the powder with you when you go. And go soon, child. It's not safe for you here anymore."

3.

Pedro told her to take the baby and follow Javier, and reach the border before sunrise. But Mercedes won't leave until they've buried the girl. He helps her dig to make it go faster.

He calls it a victory for the Republic.

"There is no Republic anymore," says Mercedes. "There's just bodies and blood."

"And you never liked blood..."

"I don't mind getting my hands dirty if I know there's a good reason for it."

The grave is deep enough now and the baby is crying, but once Mercedes picks Ofelia up again she can't stand to let her go.

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Oh, very very very good! I like these very much! Mercedes was such a very powerful character, wasn't she?... *loves*

[sophinisba]

Mercedes and Ofelia were both awesome!

Thank you for coming: this is now a successful ficlet!

[notabluemaia.livejournal.com]

Mercedes is so strong a character, and her struggles seemed to parallel Ofelia's, though her strength in the real world saved her (and grace), where Ofelia's strength was of imagination, or ability to perceive another world. I like hearing more about this tale, and it's wonderful to see Mercedes again. Like her, I can't quite stand to let Ofelia go. Thank you.

[sophinisba]

I haven't run into any fanfic for this movie yet but I hope there will be some. It felt full of possibilities while I was watching. (And I want there to be a Spanish-language fandom that I can get involved in.) Thank you very much for reading.

[gamerchick.livejournal.com]

That movie kicked so much ass. How awesome was the faun's archaic Spanish?! I had the biggest squee/geekout about that.

[sophinisba]

It took me a minute to figure out it was archaic Spanish because his first sentence was something like, "Sos vos?" I was all "OMGWTF the faun is from ARGENTINA!!" *g* I geeked out through the whole thing though, it was awesome.

[honeyandvinegar.livejournal.com]

claudia603 rec'ced this, and it's good. The movie put me in a troubled headspace, but it WAS beautiful. And so are these small, introspective scenes. :)

[sophinisba]

Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to see it in the theater again because some of the scenes were just too much for me, but I thought it was an awesome movie and I'm really glad I went. Thank you.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

*does not read omg*

As far as I can tell, I would have to go to Orlando or Brandon or, ha, Jacksonville in order to see this movie, so I do not think I will be seeing this movie. But it is bound to come out on DVD, right?

*tries to talk mother into driving down to Brandon, ha ha* Wish me luck!

[sophinisba]

*hugs and hugs* (And good luck! I think you will like the movie!)

[trascendenza]

Hey there--wandered over here from remixthedrabble because I was checking to make sure people's links worked, and when I saw Pan's Labyrinth listed in your fics I had a total squee out moment! I haven't found anyone who's written fic for this movie so I'm ridiculously happy that I found this ^_^

He calls it a victory for the Republic.

"There is no Republic anymore," says Mercedes. "There's just bodies and blood."
Oh, I just love the way you write Mercedes, and this line especially. You could really see this feeling on her face at the end.

...but once Mercedes picks Ofelia up again she can't stand to let her go.
*sob* So sad, but so lovely.

Just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing :)

[sophinisba]

Ah, thank you so much! You made my night!

I still have not run into any Pan's Labyrinth fanfic -- if I'd found a fic community I'd have posted there, since most of my friends couldn't read this for the spoilers. It really is lovely to have you come back to it.

I'm excited about the remixthedrabble challenge!

[trascendenza]

Well, I ended up posting links for my three Pan's Labyrinth fics to moviefanfiction, but as far as I can tell, only people on my friendslist read them anyway, lol.

I kind of wish there was a community, too. *resists urge to start one* I really loved the film and there are so many scenes I would love to see as written from a fanfiction perspective.

And glad to hear it! I'm hoping it shall be fun for all involved ^_^