*minor mention of suicide read at your own discretion*

Broken, lost, hopeless. She stood on the edge of the cliff, staring at the open ocean. The riptides tearing at the side of the cliff, smoothing and crumbling beneath where she stood. The wind whipped through her hair carrying the smell of salt and a mist of water.

Once beckoned by a stage and an audience. Once pulled towards the music. The crashing eternity of the sea is the only thing that calls her name now.

She turned her back on the water standing at the edge, she limped backwards a step, the wind ripping at her flowing dance skirt, telling her to go back. Spreading her arms wide she closed her eyes taking a deep breath and leaned backwards. Free falling, a tear leaked from her eye as she watched the stars get smaller. Closing her eyes she listened to the wind whistling, feeling her hair and clothing blow wildly around her, pulling and tugging. Then a face flashed across her mind.

She reached up to the stars, "Wait-" she screamed before her back hit the water.

First, it was the pain, like electricity shooting down her spine, from her head to the tips of her toes. The breath being forced out of her lungs bubbling up to the surface. Then, it was the temperature, the cold seeping into her very bones. She could feel her body being pulled downwards, succumbing to the watery hands pulling her down into the depths.

She felt at peace until, that same face flashed across her mind once again, urging her to fight. She fights against the water pulling her down, fights against the burning in her lungs, against the darkness spreading across her vision. She keeps fighting until she hears a heavy sliding noise and a thunk. Before she could turn to see what it was, a strong current pulled her down.

She braced herself for impact with the ocean floor, curling her legs towards her chest and covering her neck with her hands. The current dragged her down, and instead of the impact she felt her lungs relax, the darkness receded from her vision, and her heart stopped racing.

She floated in the water, feeling warm and comfortable in the darkness. She closed her eyes letting her mind go blank, content to just existing. Faintly, in the distance, she could hear sounds. Unable to make out what it was, she began to swim closer to the warbled sounds. The closer she got the clearer the sounds became. She finally got close enough, she knew what it was. Shock coursed through her body as she listened to the sweet, but solemn melody swirling around her. The melody from the ballet performance she was supposed to dance at.

She was the lead role, the star, it was going to be her début, the Cirque du Soleil recruiter was going to be there. It was her chance. She listened to the melody, she felt as if she was crying, but she couldn't feel any tears. She closed her eyes, the accident flashing behind her eyelids. The flames, the smoke, the fear and blood, she could remember everything so clearly, so vividly, it terrified her.

She opened her eyes again to see a stage with twelve gorgeous ballerinas dancing on it. She watched as they danced, something was off about their dance though. She watched for another moment before she realized that there was no lead dancer. They danced like they were trying to tell a story without the main character.

She drifted closer and watched the familiar choreography, once she got close the ballerinas stopped dancing and stared at her. They all looked almost identical, but that didn't faze her. She watched as one of the ballerinas reached her dainty hand down to her. Hesitantly, she placed her hand in the ballerina's. She was pulled onto the stage with an unearthly strength as she was shot above the stage. She slowly sank back down, feeling her bare feet on the wooden stage.

The stage didn't feel slippery, it felt firm, strong, and real. Her ballet skirt was flowing halfway down her shin, it wasn't stuck to her body, it was merely swaying as if a phantom wind was urging her to dance. She took a step on her shattered leg feeling it was as strong as ever. Wonder and hope coated her face as she looked at each of the dancers, which all held the same, beautiful, encouraging smiles. The sweet and solemn melody started again, and she fell into step, feeling the music fill her, telling her where to put her feet when to twirl or dip.

She began to lose herself, the water didn't hold her back, it moulded with her. She became the water, moving even more gracefully as if she were floating and gliding rather than stepping and jumping. The music enveloped her as it reached the climax she twirled and spun, feeling her soul disconnect from her body. Ecstasy coursed through her and she barely felt the presence of the other twelve dancers spinning and floating around her.

This feeling was something out of a story. This kind of beauty was something only experienced through the spoken or written word. Yet there was no string of words she could create that could truly describe the feelings and emotions coursing through her.

The cool water enveloped her soft as silk against her skin. She could vaguely remember a story that someone had told her many years ago, what was the name?

A Dancer's Requiem, a voice whispered in the back of her mind.

That's right, she took a step to the right feeling her foot land in something warm and slick. She opened her eyes to see ruby red liquid covering her feet and parts of the stage.

She kept dancing as she looked at the once beautiful dancers to see twelve dancing corpses. Pale grey skin sagged slightly off their bones, which were barely held together by weak and corroded muscles.

The stunning skirts were ripped, some of them coated in blood. Once graceful movements were now clunky and strained, the sound of grinding and clicking bones faintly mixing with the music.

The music pulled her back into the trance as it climaxed again. Making her think that as long as she could dance, she didn't care about what would happen to her.

Suddenly someone flashed behind her eyelids, yanking her out of her trance. Everything around her began to sink in as she swiftly swam off the stage.

The moment she left the stage the music came to a grinding halt, and so did the dancers. White eyes stared at her, the black pinpoints burning into her. One of the dancers extended a hand to her, smiling, stretching her broken lips over her teeth.

"Come back and dance with us," her voice came out broken and strained, with disuse.

A stone of dread dropped into the pool of fear in her stomach, and she sprung into action. Turning and swimming away as fast as she could.

She swam back into the warm, comfortable darkness only to be consumed by freezing water. She kept swimming until a chorus of ear-piercing, mountain-shattering shrieks echoed after her, causing the water around her to stir violently.

The current flipped her all around disorienting her. As soon as she stopped moving she could hear bone grinding on bone, rattling against each other. The noise was getting closer and her fear turned to panic as she searched the darkness for an exit.

Soon enough, she spotted a square of light in the distance. She swam towards it as fast as possible, the sounds of tearing muscles and grinding bones motivating her.

She wasn't ready to dance her requiem yet!

With a last thrust, she latched one hand onto the outside entrance, feeling cool air hit her fingers. Just as she was about to pull herself out a skeletal hand clamped around her ankle.

She could feel tears swimming in her eyes as the dancer pulled. She was expecting to be pulled down but instead, the dancer propelled itself forward clasping it's hands over her shoulders.

She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain and disgust as the dancers sagging skin and grinding bones rubbed against her.

She could feel it's lips rub against her ear, as she started to fight it off. It began to whisper causing her to stop.

This voice was different from the others, it wasn't raspy or scratchy. The voice was soft and elegant, it was like silk and rose petals.

"Don't ever come back," it whispered before letting go.

She floated there in disbelief until she felt someone grab the hand on the outside, pulling her out of the freezing water.

She was lifted out and she gasped for air as she was lowered to the ground.

She didn't care that her torn dance skirt was clinging to her body, or that the sand was scraping her skin raw, or even that the water was freezing her joints.

All she cared about was the face staring down at her. The person that broke through her walls, the person who made her want to live another day. The one who broke her trance more than once, and pulled her out of the darkness.