June 9, 2011 - 5:31am — SarieBearie
The place they stood was too perfect.
“Where are we?” asked Aspen, so quietly that it barely carried to Vipin. Xylia, small as ever, stood staring at the flowering of violets at her hooves and seemed terrified. Vipin’s calm blue eyes had become a mess of emotions, and he looked at the trees lining the field and brilliant sun overhead, brighter than lightning.
“Beyond the void, I assume,” said Vipin, just as softly as his sister before him.
Everything breathed.
They stood motionless for many moments, swaying slightly, frightened and amazed and full of boundless love all at once. It was true: the place was absolutely beautiful and seemed too eerily quiet to be there. But, as Vipin moved for the first time, several things happened—the wind picked up, the flowers hummed, and a brilliantly red doe sprinted across the grass, bounding and leaping before them. Flowers sprang from her hooves, and the clouds overhead seemed to rotate to follow her. She glanced at them, with golden eyes, and winked, sprinting away as quickly as she had come, leaving only the whistling of the wind and an elven giggle behind her. The lone stag shouted “wait!” as she disappeared into the far-off trees, but her giggle was replaced with a deep chuckle.
They turned, and faced the Queen, King, and their Unnamed.
“Hello,” said Nevermore, stopping a distance away. Azalea bowed, and Calisto smiled faintly.
“Hello,” said Vipin in reply, his irises shaking. Aspen recoiled, and Xylia disguised a sob.
It occurred to them that Xylia had never seen her father before. Vipin and Aspen backed up politely, and Nevermore and Azalea mirrored them, until the two peacocks remained. Then Calisto’s smile grew and Xylia stared up at him.
“Hola, padre,” she said, tearfully.
“Hola, Xylia.” Calisto kissed her cheek.
Then Azalea and Nevermore were upon them once more, and Azalea’s beauty stupefied them for the umpteenth time. She had a delicate face that was fairly boned, like Calisto’s, and her long eyelashes brushed her cheeks when she looked down. She had a mass of raven-black hair that fell and caressed her shoulders, perfect lips, slender ears, a swan’s neck, and the most enchanting eyes any of them had ever witnessed. They were simple and blue, but hard-pressed like a precious stone and shining with all the wonders of the world. It was no wonder that no doe had ever surpassed her.
It was no wonder that the iron of Nevermore’s mind had melted when he saw her.
“You are beyond the void,” she said, in her lilting, effortless voice. A lovely smile touched her. “We wanted to see you, and Aureia allowed it. You’ve—…you’ve never seen your parents for who they truly are, only manifestations of what they had become…and I’m sorry.” Her gaze drifted to Aspen. “…I’m so sorry you had to murder your own mother…”
“You’re no mother of mine,” said Aspen curtly, and an immediate backlash of pain struck Azalea’s wonderful face. “I have no idea who to believe and what to think any more. Every memory I’ve ever made with you was a lie. You wanted me dead. You jeered at me until I put my antler through your forehead, and you were a coward in death. You ran from everything that ever happened to you.”
“Aspen…” Tears were brimming in Azalea’s eyes, but Aspen did not relent.
“You ran from Vipin and I. You ran from Calisto, and you ran from Xylia. You ran until you could run no more, and you supposed that death would be an easy way out. So I killed you. Because I wanted you to be free.”
“But I didn’t die, Aspen; my body sat there for many days and I—I gave you my body, my grace! I gave Vipin my soul! Xylia has my mind, and your father has my heart! I rotted and writhed in pain until you decided to forgive me! I sacrificed all I had for you, and more. You—just—you need to listen to me, Aspen, don’t be so brash—“
“I never forgave you. I’ll never forgive you, or the King.” The words caught in her throat and burned as they came out. “You made my life miserable. I could have been beautiful.”
But as she turned to leave, her chest heaving, something stopped her, and she stood very still. The trees sighed and the flowers wrapped around her hooves as that brilliant red doe appeared again, but only to her. “Listen,” she said. Her golden gaze soothed her and she felt very calm at once, and then the dam was gone in a rush of wind, leaving a metallic and lovely scent behind. Vipin held his breath. Xylia was trembling, and Calisto was staring at the Queen. Nevermore almost seemed to pity her. Azalea was silently sobbing. But Aspen turned to face her once more, newly placid, her eyes maddeningly blue.
“Start from the beginning,” she whispered, and Azalea nodded.
“I was very beautiful. I have no idea why I was so much more beautiful than the others, and my attitude with it changed every day. Others have warped my story and say that I was cruel and vain and arrogant and that I broke many hearts—perhaps I did, one day out of the many.” She smiled coyly. “But most days, I cried, because I was miserable and lonely. Your father came along on a very dark night with many stars; I saw him in that moment and loved him, and he loved me. I wish to say that it was fate, because the Gods had not foreseen. They had made him deformed and cold and heartless and massive but I loved him. They enjoyed the irony, I believe…their most beautiful creation with their worst.”
Nevermore was chuckling silently. Aspen turned her iron gaze to him.
“Nev—Father.” The word sounded odd. It was the first time she had ever said it. “Why were you created?”
“To bring pain to my parents.” He answered this simply, staring hard at the ground. “They disrespected the Gods, and so I, their only child, was made to torture them. And I did—the Gods gave me a mindset that could not be broken. I killed and—murdered, and abused…” he was shuddering. “…but when I saw Azalea, the shell around my mind shattered at once. I was how I would have been had the Gods not intervened—I was kind, and loving, and compassionate. But they did not foresee us falling in love, and they did not foresee your birth, and they did not foresee my mind reforming itself. So, Azalea had no time to escape before I was—who they had intended me to be, once more. I tried to kill the both of you, and to this day I wish I could have died then and there…”
“So you loved us?” Vipin asked, looking up.
“I did, with all of my heart.”
Calisto was smiling, and so was Azalea, before she continued. “I fled from your father, like a coward. But I had never known what the Gods had forsaken him as, though he had warned me; I stayed and fought him until I had to run. I was bleeding too heavily, and I collapsed in a field of violets to mask the awful smell. Calisto found me then…his English was very rough and he never spoke much, but I loved him as I had loved my King. He became my savior and he helped me heal. I thought about you often. I thought you were dead, and I cried every night. So I vowed to give something else to the world—another child. The child was you, Xylia, and I loved you more than I feared death.”
“But why would you fear death?” asked Xylia, almost smiling. “You were sure to be deified, with your beauty.”
“Oh, everyone fears death. Even the Queen of the Black Era, and her King, and her Consort.” Azalea’s lilting voice did not break. “But…Nevermore found us. He murdered Calisto in the night and left without another word. I was…fated to be alone, and to drown in my own misery, it seemed. My first love could not control his actions, and my second had been so…kind and perfect, and did not deserve to die the way he did. I mourned him until I returned you to the Forest, Xylia, where I knew you would be cared for. You did not need to be so scarred by me. You would never know your father. And that knowledge, alongside learning that my twins—Vipin and Aspen—were still alive, and sure to hate me because of my cowardice, nearly killed me. I am so sorry.”
Calisto gently nuzzled her and Nevermore was looking down in complete shame. Sobbing quietly, Azalea continued, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I stood on the boundaries of the Forest for the rest of my life, watching at a distance. I watched you fall in love and have your heart broken, Vipin, and I watched you fall for Her. I watched you swoon over the Golden One, Aspen, and I watched you have beautiful children. I watched you meet the Dreamwatcher, Xylia, and have beautiful sons, despite your differences. I watched without speaking, and every day my heart turned colder. I was in so much pain that breathing hurt. Your father visited me.”
Her smile suddenly turned affectionate. “He stood there, on the very edge, trying to fight through the barrier that was his mind, because he knew that he loved me. He wanted to be with me. He tried every day, until Pandemonium whisked him away in her mane of fire…they were too alike for him to resist her. I missed him. I missed Calisto. I missed them for years, until I returned to you, and I asked you to kill me. My mind had withered so much that it had affected my body, and all I wanted was death. I had no more to give, no more tears to shed. And you killed me, as I had asked, my beautiful daughter. …The Gods foresaw.”
The scent of burning roses was suddenly very evident. “They let my body die, but made my mind remain. I was in limbo until forgiven by the four I had wronged. And so you came Vipin, and to you I gave my soul, my very being. You received my grace, Aspen, to give you the beauty that you always wanted, and Xylia had my mind, and the name of her father. My heart was given to my King, and I died on the blackest night I had ever seen. I arrived here, and Calisto greeted me. He had been waiting for me ever since he died. He had not moved for years.”
The tears were flowing faster now. Calisto chuckled humbly and flicked his ears as Azalea sighed, breathing quietly.
“I watched you from here, always proud and always waiting. Your father, in his old age, eventually shattered the barrier of his mind for the second and final time, and he realized he still loved me. Pandemonium knew. She was bitter, jealous. But your father let her kill him. He welcomed death in the form of you, Vipin. He realized his immense love for you and Aspen and even Xylia and knew that his death would bring peace, so he died. He didn’t have to. But when he arrived here, he cried and Calisto and I welcomed him, and I hope it will be this way for eternity.”
“It will,” Nevermore assured, closing his eyes, blue as the sky.
A sudden heresy of rain fell from their eyes.
As the wind whistled, they said their goodbyes. Vipin thanked his father and caressed the beauty that was his mother. Aspen bowed curtly, stiff and apparently unfeeling, until she pressed against both of her parents and jolted away, glaring at the ground, in tears. Xylia stood by her father, unknown to her until this day, and grinned, laughing as he brushed his plume against her jaw. Then that brilliant red doe appeared and whisked them away in a crashing wave of white smoke.
She left Xylia.
The little doe stared around in sudden surprise as Nevermore and his Queen trotted away, staring up at her father, who merely smiled. “I asked Aureia to leave you. Perhaps a day of us talking will make up for all the years you never knew me. Vamos?”
Tears stung her cheeks. “Hubo alguna vez una cosa que usted siempre quiso decir a mí?”
Was there ever one thing you always wanted to say to me?
His smile grew to a grin. “Por supuesto. Tú eres mi orgullo y alegría, y te quiero.”
Of course. You are my pride and joy, and I love you.
The red doe, far away, watched the two, alongside her golden love, and smiled.
I was completely absorbed
Ah, lovely. I've always
awww Pega c: that's always a
OCEAN I've always enjoyed your FACE but thank you so much ;_; <3333
Woah. Meant to be studying,
Meant to be studying, reading this instead.
Really glad I did, too.
I felt tears, and was absorbed in your writing.
I love reading about these
aw Ammy, go study! I don't
they're some of my favorites, too. this'll probably be the last, as it is a final explanation, but I do love them. c': <3333333
/die This was SO beautiful,
This was SO beautiful, but soooo sad!!! *sobsob* I love this soooo much ♥
Was the title inspired by this song...
AW OMG I'm...glad THAT IT WAS
♥ I can't--this is too
♥
no, I'm just a nerdy little
I like your writing, it would
I don't strive to be the best, but instead I strive to do my best, and always give it my all every time.
-faunet
aw thanks Eyestrain! sadly it
Sarieee. Your writing is
HRAE-BB MY LOVE ;_; thank you