Author's Note: This is an oldie but I goodie, I think! I published this once on Ushi No Tane, quite some time ago. I hope you like it!

Chapter 1: Black

For so long I was just… asleep. Dreaming, I suppose, but about what slips my mind. That one day, however... Or perhaps it was really an afternoon? Night? My sense of time had deserted me as well in that dark and damp chamber, deep under the surface of the world I once knew. This one day is the first of my real memories.

That day, the large rock blocking my only exit started to rumble, and suddenly it was reduced to a powder. I clutched the quilt that had covered me for what seemed like ages and feared what it could possibly be. I wanted to feign sleep, but my eyes cracked open to see what was there. In the settling dust a human figure was outlined. Could it be the one who put me in here? Could it be someone who would just leave me here? Or… could it be the one who would get me out?

Not knowing whether to be frightened or overjoyed, I cowered-or perhaps shook with excitement? Something in between the two extremes, I hid under the covers. I chanced a peek, and he was there. Him. He was dirty: his hands were coated with grime from the mines, his face was streaked with sweat which he wiped off with a sleeve, and his overalls and boots fared even worse. There was something like a bite mark on his lower right arm which was bleeding lightly. A sword hung from his right hand, and though that seemed to mark him as a prince, a rescuer, a hero, he looked exactly the opposite of any storybook description. He enchanted me, but it only seemed to make a slight ripple in my deadened emotions and sleepiness.

He seemed to realize suddenly that I was there and a look of confusion spread across his face. I squeezed my eyes shut and wondered what he would do now. I heard labored footsteps and the sound of the tip of the sword being dragged along the mine's floor. The steps came right up beside the head of the bed, and I heard a rough little muttered, "What's this?" He was looking at my sign, which asked for a curry dish. How long had it been since I had had curry? What did it taste like? I felt my stomach ache from long emptiness.

The man coughed quietly, and then I felt the hesitant touch of his hand on my shoulder, "Miss?"

I opened my eyes and gazed up at him. He was not classically handsome, but I liked his features. His eyebrows were expressive, at the present moment puzzled, and his eyes were deep brown wells. I wished I could say something, but… I searched for my paper and suddenly felt sleepy. Grabbing it, I scrawled down, "What do you want?"

He looked surprised, "I had no idea someone lived in the mine! And this far down too… What's your name?"

He hadn't answered my question. I furrowed my eyebrows and wrote, "Princess Keira. And you are?" I looked up at him and saw him rub one arm with his other hand.

"A princess! Huh, I never did learn how to act around royalty. The name's Jack, I'm a rancher here in Forget-Me-NotValley," he replied, then suddenly cringed. His hand had landed over the wound and he pulled his fingers away, shiny and red.

I frowned, and then looked around my bed. I pulled up one of the edges of my sheet and tore off a strip of fabric. Turning back to him I tried to communicate for him to come closer. He shuffled up to the bedside and I pulled his arm in front of me, quickly wrapping it. He drew in breath when I made it too tight, and before he could say anything I deftly loosened it. When I finished tying it I looked to Jack's face.

"Wow, thanks! Much better…" he murmured, going over my handiwork. He glanced from it to me and then his face broke out in a good-natured smile, "Well, I'm no prodigy of a miner, but I hope I'll see you again soon. A girl deep in the mine! Who would have guessed? And a princess at that!" He turned and just before leaving the chamber he waved back at me. I lifted my small hand and waved back, and before I knew it I heard the digging of a hoe and steps on stairs. A rock from above my chamber door suddenly slipped down with thunderous reverberations, and I was trapped once more, staring at where I had last seen Jack.