With Tragedy

It was a delusion, an illusion, an obsession. It was doubtful that these feelings would exist had the object of infatuation never left, had he had her by her side. He'd tried to imagine what it would have been like had she stayed in his world. He succeed more times, usually letting the fanciful thoughts of their happy life lull him to sleep. In his dreams she was perfect and they lived happy normal lives. In reality they weren't normal at all; in reality nothing was normal nor was she. It had been so long that he honestly couldn't remember her fault, besides the very fault that drew her to him, her desire to put other before herself.

However, she was all he had to cling to as he was once again left alone. His friends and allies had their own problems to fix, nations to control and suddenly his earlier isolation didn't seem too bad. Now straddled with the burdens of building a kingdom from the ground up and ruling the thousands of people who flocked back to their home country, he spent much time thinking of the adventures of his past.

Not that he was unhappy with his new role in life. Being King seemed to be the only thing he took joy in anymore and he threw himself whole heartedly into his work, but this didn't keep away the loneliness that seemed to seem from his very soul when all went quiet. No, that was when he turned to her.

That was where he went wrong. By chasing a ghost and imagining perfection he found himself uninterested in the females of his world, on the rare occasion in which he would come across one these busy days. He was getting old; though still fit it was traditional for a prince to marry young, long before he was king. Even as his people lived longer and longer, the rules never changed, and it was not wise to make too many alterations to a nation just finding its' self once again.

There came the age old problem, having an heir. He had never liked children much and didn't currently desire to have one of his own. Nor did he want to marry simply to marry, though he had already decided that should he reach a certain age, and should he find an intelligent, fair, woman he would bite his tongue, for that would only make life more stressful and unfulfilling.

He felt selfish for wanting more when he already had so much, when he had come so far. In the past six years he had reestablished most of the farms, rebuilt the walls around the main city, made repairs to the main part of the castle, and rebuilt the inner half of the city, and established treaties and trade routes with the surrounding countries. He had everything, yet at times he had the odd feeling that he had nothing.

…

She stared blankly at the face of her close friend, her mind far off; past the clouds, through the sky, to the only place she felt she belonged. She longed to go back there, long since tired of the humdrum, polluted life she lived on Earth. She missed the adventure, the fresh air, beautiful landscape, friends and, of course, him.

She wanted out of this world, one way or another. The constricted, trapped, feeling in her chest felt so familiar. She had been there before, over six years ago when she had gone up to the roof of her high school, taking off her shoes out of respect before she back away, chose not to take that jump.

She had been confused when whisked away, yet found peace. It was a peace that followed her home and got her through high school and into college where she chose to major in literature and minor mythology, reveling the tale of others. However as time went on and she was reminded of the evil of her world, of the trap that was life here the novelty began to where off and left her where she was today.

Her great friend was the only one keeping her here. Second year they had met and it was her calm outlook and her ability to adapt that drew her to her, but it was her imagination and underlying restlessness that kept the connection.

Now she was the only person who knew her tale and only one who seemed to understand where she was coming from. Staring at her friend, who waited patiently for her to talk, she knew that no matter how break ups she had, no matter how many things went wrong, or how boring and pointless life seemed to become, she wasn't alone. The question was, was it enough?

….

Nights later the question occurred to her again and she found herself staring at the sky, leaning on the wall, pondering the answer. The night looked bleak to her, the stars only faint smudges in the sky. It was so bright on campus that it drowned everything out and she hated it. She hated the small of dirt and fumes that filled her lungs when she breathed in, wafting from the every present construction destroying the nature around them.

She hated the man she'd went out on a date with, not because he was mean, but because he wasn't right, no one was right. She hated that the only time she could break habit was to go out with friends, which was so tiring, or to go on a hike with her dear friend. She hated that they always went to the same places, that there was only one place to hike in the area. She hated that no matter what she did, she couldn't get out. She hated that she didn't matter.

They'd gotten an e-mail about an attack today; some girl had been assaulted on campus. It was a sad fact, but that was just it, a fact in an e-mail, a person to feel bad for and then forget. That's what she would be, some random person to feel bad for and then forget. But she wasn't that type of person, even if she wanted to be, there was an inkling of optimism that lived in her dreams.

She turned around and hopped up onto the ledge, assessing the person in front of her. There was the person she depended on most staring at her devoid of any emotion but exhausted concern. She was so tired, always so tired. She had trouble sleeping. However, it was more than that, she was emotionally tired.

Here she was worrying about herself, not caring about her roommate, making life harder. She could be so selfish sometimes. With a sigh she smiled sadly and made to lean back on her palms, a habit she had acquired in college; after spending so much time hunched forward studying she found it comfortable.

Pain erupted in her palms as they connected with the corners of the cement behind her but it was incomparable to the fear that split her rib as she realized she was falling backwards. She tried to grab the ledge to catch herself but as she had already slipped up to her elbows, her arms were trapped behind her back.

Her breath lost her longs as the same moment the view of her darting friend disappeared and for a split second she thought she was safe. However, the momentum snapped her head back, cracking her skull and in her surprise her knees had not left their bent position and added the weight swaying her over the edge. She rolled, folding over herself, her feet making the first plunge over the edge.

A hand snagged the back of her shirt, but it did nothing but pull it up and over her back. For a moment it snagged on her shoulders, and her limp body jerked before it slipped over her head and she finished her decent.

…

A/N: Don't hate me! This may be a one shot, or this may be a Van/OC just for the fun of it. Personally, I hate reading OC stories so I understand the horror, this is more for me. Either way, it's horribly depressing. Well, for now it is. It's not going to be angsty, I promise.