Okay, so Orin drew my Alabaster and in return she wanted a short story of Aria's birth. Since she had already somewhat explained that, I decided to spice it up a bit by adding my demon turned angel Jester into the mix. She wasn't there(at least, recorded anyway) for Aria's birth, but since Jester is such an aloof character I thought that of any of my characters, Jester would have been the one who would have been there. So, in reality, Jester wasn't there. But if she was, given her current state this is probably what she would have done.



I drew a picture to go along. Orin didn't ask for one, but I've always wanted to draw Jester, just to challenge myself and I think I did a decent job on both of them(if you can even see Aria). Sorry, I have no energy to color over the white-blame my inability to realize that white on an offwhite character is stupid-. I was going to do a background, but the thought was making me cry on the inside, so I decided against it. Maybe when I get better at this. Oh and Orin, I'll make this better if I can. I figured what I did was okay, since Aria has never met Jester. And sorry it's so short. It's more of a scene than a short story.../cringe/




It was just another day, another night. One more shift in the cycle of the dance. The clouds masked the sky, trapping the light, cornering it in the lengthening shadows of Despair. If the doe tried hard enough, she could almost hear the shrieks of the dying light. She could almost see how they bunched together, fleeing in and out of trees, out in the open, anywhere they could. But, of course, their plight was in vain.

Nothing could flee from those assassins, the tendrils of night.

A pair of deer was in the middle of the clearing, so absorbed in the body of their little fawn they didn’t notice the age old battle around them. Then again, few ever did. The doe stood in the shadows, watching, waiting, just as she always did. Few ever noticed her; fewer still could sense her presence. She was a finicky as a shadow when she wished to be. She had witnessed thousands of births, deaths even more so. Yet, there was something about this pair, with their older fawn and a newborn, which intrigued her. She didn’t recognize them. She had seen deer come and go over the centuries, had been through the recesses of the forest, anywhere she could be, yet she hadn’t come across this pair. The older fawn was not there. She had been sent away, or something of the sort during her mother’s labor. She seemed all right with it, the demon noticed how she had darted off with a smile on her face and her little legs kicking up the shadows as they chased their prey.

That was well over an hour ago now. The pair, the mother resting and the stag remaining on his feet, standing over them like a sentry, or a stoic tree, was watching the fawn. It was after several moments of this that something snapped, the stag turned away with a gentle nod of his head for his mate to follow. That was it. This baby was no more, not worth the effort of keeping alive. Or…did they not hear it? The demon could feel it, the tiny pulse rolling through the land, produced from an equally small heart. It was there, strong enough to have a will to keep going, but not strong enough to break away from its cycle.

Not strong enough to make itself heard.

The demon watched the doe slowly get to her feet, lingering over her young one with tears trailing down her face. The rain started then, the clouds finally tossing themselves into the fray, though their missiles were aimed at all.

Since when could a cloud aim its misery?

Since when could a mother stop loving her child?

The hart spoke then, his voice low and gentle with an edge of sadness that he tried so hard to force away. After all, he still had one child; he had to be strong for her, didn’t he? Whatever he said convinced the doe to follow him. She gave one last look at her baby, her second born, before trudging after her mate.

The rain picked up as they left, the arrows of water becoming denser, heavier. Almost like the clouds were crying for the fawn, or may have actually taken a side after all in their never ending war. The demon stepped away from her hiding place, moving for the first time since she had paused to watch them and calmly started toward the little one. Her hooves made no sound as she daintily stepped around the pleading fingers of the trees, barely leaving a trace in the dampening earth. She circled the fawn, barely feeling the raindrops trailing down her pelt.
Something stirred inside her, the place where her heart was supposed to be. It felt even stronger, provoked out of hiding by the sight of the newborn, lying in the earth weakened and abandoned.
Left for dead.

Stay with me little one, she barely realized she was thinking until the thought left her, falling off the edge of her conscious, I may not have much magic left in these old bones, but I can still pick and choose who I keep safe. She paused in her circling, feeling the rain against the bare bone of her skull, watching the water drip off her roses and down onto the fawn.

She lowered her head, I will keep you safe, little one. You may never see me, but I will be here to help should you ever need it. I will protect you…
The demon’s gaze snapped up, watching a figure slowly start to materialize out of the rain. She felt a sense of urgency, though she had no need to. She had plenty of time. Her attention went back to the fawn, snatching at the remainder of her thoughts.

I will protect you, little one, until my magic fades and my soul becomes consumed by the very shadows in which I come from.
With one last look, the doe stepped away from the delicate little form lying in the grass, glancing one more time at the creature casually approaching, before the demon vanished without a second look.

Until the shadows consume me, little one…