A young girl sat alone in an abandoned room. It was dark, faint streams of moonlight pouring in through the windows being the room's only illumination. The girl had her blonde hair tied into a bun, and was wearing a torn up grey gown that would've looked ragged at the best of times. Upon her head was a wooden mask carved to look like a realistic face, its mouth curved into a huge smile. In one hand was a small wooden marionette, and in the other was a knife she was using to carve it. Sitting next to her was a music box, playing the same simple tune on repeat, which she was quietly singing along to. [i]"Poor little Envy, all alone. Poor little Envy lost her home. Poor little Envy cried, cried, cried, When poor little Envy's parents died, died died. Poor little Envy came all the way here, A brand new home for her to hold dear. But they didn't like her here, no, no, no, And they locked little Envy up all alone. 'Wretched little Envy why must you frown? Why you must you bring all the other kids down?' Said the old woman to the sad little girl, Before shutting her away from the whole wide world. Envy made herself a mask with a great big smile, Just so she could be happy for a while. But all of the other kids ran away, When poor little Envy only wanted to play. Oh poor little Envy, don't you know? That doesn't work, that mask is just for show. Yes, little Envy, you know it's all a lie, That mask doesn't change the way you feel inside. 'Little liar Envy, go away. We didn't want you here, anyway.' Oh, little Envy, what are you to do? Oh, little Envy just wants to be like you. So now little liar Envy is all alone, Locked in this quiet room in her new home. And little liar Envy is oh so sad, They say little liar Envy has been so, so bad.. But little liar Envy doesn't know what she's done, Little liar Envy just wished she could run. 'I hate you' says little Envy to the mean old hag, 'Then go on and die here' the woman says back. 'I hate you' says little Envy all alone. 'I hate you down to the very core of my bones. I hate you so much, I wish I could scream! I hate you so much, even in my dreams!'"[/i] One particularly aggressive slash of the knife, and the blade misses its target, slicing off the face she'd carved into the puppet's head. She held the doll in her hands for a moment, with a whimper in her breath and tears in her eyes. The room was silent, save for the music box, and its melody was all that kept her from falling to tears. She took the cross attached to the puppet's strings, and began moving it around to make it look as though it was singing to her. [i]"'Wretched little girl, look at what you've done. Now this little puppet won't be any fun.' Oh broken little puppet, don't you see? Poor little Envy is just like-"[/i] One more slash of her knife, and the puppet was severed from its strings, falling lifelessly to the floor. She picked it up in her hands, and chucked it as hard as she could against the far wall. Several other puppets that were similarly disfigured made up a small pile on the far side of the room. Then the girl was silent again. A few tears fell from her eyes, but she couldn't wipe them away behind her mask. This time, the music box only sputtered out a few slow notes, before falling silent. She reached over to wind it back up again, only to find it start playing on its own. She let out a gasp of surprise, and then a voice rang out from the darkness. [i]"Oh sad little girl, don't you cry. I have made you a big surprise!"[/i] "Who's there!?" The girl shouted, looking around the empty room. [i]"Tell me little girl, what would you do? If poor little Envy was just.. Like.. [b]YOU![/b]"[/i] Suddenly shadows sprung from the music box, and lunged towards the girl. She screamed, and then silence fell back over the room. At the sound of the scream, an old woman marched up the stairs, grumbling to herself, flipping through a ring of keys. She reached the door at the top of the steps, and threw it open. "What's with all that racket you little-" The room was empty. The little girl and the music box were gone, and all that remained was a pile of broken puppets on the far wall, her smiling wooden mask on the ground, and her knife sitting next to it. The woman scoffed, and walked over to the mask. "The little brat must've snuck out through the window. I'll have to board those up next time." [i]"There won't BE a next time!"[/i] The girl's voice rang out from the mask. Shadows crept out from its back, and grabbed at the woman's arm. "What-!? What is this!? What's going on!?" The woman panicked, as the mask crawled up her body, and leapt onto her face. She struggled with it for a moment, before collapsing to the ground. A few minutes later, she slowly pulled herself up. "It worked..? It worked!" She muttered to herself. She made her way over to the pile of puppets, grabbing the knife along the way. There, she sat down, and laid her arm against the floor. Raising the knife into the air, she brought it down as hard as she could, stabbing through the sleeve of her shirt. Then she grabbed one of the puppets, and used it to hammer the knife into the floorboards as hard as she could, tugging at her sleeve a few times to make sure it held firm. Once the blade was buried in the wood, she reached for her keys, and tossed them across the floor, before reaching up, and taking off the mask. She collapsed again, and once again shadows crept out from behind the mask's face. This time, however, the shadows took the form of the little girl, and she walked over and picked up the keys, flipping through them until she recognized the one that had locked her away so many times. The old woman woke up, and saw the girl standing in front of her. "You? What horrid little trick are you pulling no-" She went to get up, only to find her sleeve stuck to the ground. She tried to pull it free to no avail. "Did you do this!? Wretched little brat, when I get out of here." "You aren't going to get out." The little girl said, turning back towards her. There was something different about her--underneath her mask, her eyes had turned pitch black. "You don't get to lock me up anymore. [i]I[/i] have the keys now. [i]I[/i] get to lock [i]you[/i] up now!" "What are you on about!? You horrible little thing, I always knew you were up to no good. Just wait until-" "You don't like me?" The girl turned away, and walked towards the door. "Then go on and die here." The door slammed shut, and the little girl turned the lock tight. She made her way downstairs, as the woman screamed at her to let her out. She didn't listen. The old woman never listened when she screamed. She reached the lobby at the base of the stars, and tried every key on the front door until she got it unlocked. Throwing it open, she stepped outside, and eyed the well in the front yard. She walked over, and tossed the keys down. Then she looked up, and saw a city street not far away from the orphanage. Shadows flickered around her hands, taking the shape of a small music box. She turned the key, and it started playing a quiet little melody, which she sang along to as she walked towards the City. For the first time in a long time, she sang the song's actual words. [i]"Hush my little darling, don't you cry. Mama's gonna sing you a lullaby. Hush my little darling, go to sleep. Mama's gonna be here, she'll never leave. My perfect little darling, I love you so. Mama won't never ever let you go. My sweet little girl, just wait and see. You'll be the whole wide world's envy."[/i] [spoiler]I got permission from the two remaining Four Horsemen to be the new Envy in the Offtopic RP, so I'm happy to introduce Natalie Victoria, the new Envy! Since RP is dead, this is mostly just for funsies rather than building towards any actual RP events, but maybe I might continue it a bit if y'all want me to, and I have time. For now, though, that's all folks! Jambuhbye![/spoiler]