A/N Well, this came to mind randomly, just popped in there at a random time, and I made up most of the story while writing it. It is rather... Angsty? Not sure if that is the right word, but I found it touching and almost cried wile writing it. Well, here is my next one-shot! I hope you enjoy!
Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
I do not own Twilight,
So Please don't Sue!
Description: A Prince that lost everything soon finds out that none of it was true, and the love of his live is in fact alive, but why? AH AU ExB
100 Lives
She was like a silhouette in the midnight air; no one would or could see her and her mount as she traveled the path that she always did. One who would see the hoof-marks on the ground in the morning would know her story, know the sorrow that caused her to become this. At night the town would sit quietly, hearing the hoof-beats of the guardian that the town felt it didn't deserve. Some would say that they saw a flash of the hair that resembled that of the richest of tree trunks, but in reality they hadn't seen anything. It was how she lived now, seen by none and following the same path that decided her rest of eternity.
No one knew how to comfort the women, some believed her to be a cursed spirit, roaming in between the realms of Life and Death. Everyone knew her tale, the bravery the normal farm girl had shown in order to protect the land she loved. But none knew how it ended. Some suggest that it is her spirit that haunts the town, protecting it from plague and the cruel punishment that the king had unrightfully established.
Her tale was a sad one, morphed and picked at until it sounded like any old story that the mothers' would tell their children at night. The heroic act of a man, a prince, favoring her side of the fight against the King, how they fell in love while planning the battle, how she had carried his child until the people were all slaughtered that fateful day when they were both caught.
The story had been told that they made him watch while they terminated the child, torturing his love to the point of unjust pain. It wasn't right! He'd begged for them to stop, but the King simply laughed and said "But the price of treason, my son."
She was broken when they had cast her out on the streets, like all of the other peasants that had stood and fought with her, another body littering the streets of the city, discouraging the people from ever breaking the King's law.
Although that had been right, the story had been wrapped up in sweet tellings of how the townspeople had been motivated by the unfairness, and had overthrown the kind and his royals. This had all been after word had reached the people of Winterheight that the Prince, their one last true hope, had committed suicide over the death of his love.
The people of Her hometown had had a death service for all the lost loved ones, and had sent an empty boat down the river with all the notes of gratitude to Her. They wept, they joyed in their new freedom, they danced to a new tune inspired by Her.
A newcomer had came to the town not half a year later. None of them recognized the face of one man who came, his old white mare tired from the long travel, they thought of him as it he were one of them, but in truth? It was Him.
Prince Edward, the man who had lost more than just his love.
He had lived peacefully in the town, building his reputation as Edward Mason, the musician and blacksmith. His first night had been a restless one. The 'spirit' of his love rode through the town having heard of the arrival of her love. He was the only one who saw her clearly as if she was still there and alive in his arms. Though others claimed to see her shadow; the faint outline when the fire from the middle of the town flickered that way and lit up a silhouette on the wood behind her, showing that there was something there reflecting back the light cast from it's warmth. He'd rushed out of his house to see her faster than he'd thought his almost healed battle wounds would let him.
She'd looked tired, beaten, and the horse she was riding was also tired, he recognized the horse as Leafellow(Leaf-Fellow), the horse she'd always ridden in battle. The big black horse was calmer than he'd remembered, as if excepting the events and honoring his rider in her rides. He knew when he looked back at her, by the way that her stomach had been bigger than when she had been tortured, that she had been blessed by the Woods of The Lady, the growth of their child continued through all the time they had been parted.
"It's no way for him to live," she said softly when she'd noticed her love's glance. "When he is born, I want you to take care of him, he can't live the way I am."
"Come back," Edward choked out, standing by the shoulder of her horse and touching her giant, rounded stomach. "Come back, don't leave me again. We can raise him together." He pleaded.
She looked on him in sadness, her eyes blurring with the start of tears as she cursed the pregnancy hormones in her head. "You know I can't." she chasted him. "I still have to recover my debt for our lives-" she rubbed her stomach fondly "- The Lady says it won't be long, 'You've done many good deeds,' she says, 'so you only have one hundred lives to save before you can return to your regular life.'
"Edward," she sighed, reaching down to run her hand through his thick bronze hair. "She is helping me, I'm lucky that she could do this much for me, I will be back, but not soon enough to raise him myself."
The former Prince nodded slowly, reassured that he would live with his love like he had always wanted. He felt hope building in the darkest parts of his life, brightening his spirit. His smile was lopsided when he looked back at her face. "I will wait for your return, but can't you live here until he is born?" he knew the answer to his question before he spoke it, but he'd wanted to be sure.
"No, Edward." She sighed, but a small, weak smile reassured him.
"How long until I see you?" he asked desperately.
"I will be unable to give him to you myself." Her eyes rested on her hands digging into the black horse's mane. "The Lady says around five, six years." She gave a little laughed at his expressing "The lives I have to save are very specific."
She had then leaned down, their parting kiss sweet and meaningful before she took one last glance at him and rode into the dark forest.
The townsfolk had all watched the interaction. They knew who Edward was, and had heard her sweet voice just as clearly as his. They watched as the two lovers parted for the last time, not saying a thing. They all knew that Goodbye wouldn't have been true.
~*~tHe-_-LaDy~*~
It had only been two months later when the town saw two woodland characters walking out of the forest. A bundle of white silk softer than any royal cloth could ever be being carried elegantly down the hill and into the town. They acknowledged the townspeople with a nod before walking strait towards the blacksmith's shop. An aura of Happiness, Birth, and Light followed them all the way there.
Edward had taken his child with a look of longing, and anyone could tell that if he could be given one wish, it would be that his love would be there to share this moment. He stroked the little cheek of the boy in his arms, smiling at the eyes that had already started to turn green. This was his child. His and Bella's.
"She has named him Anthony." The creature on the right informed him. The creature on the left nodded. They were both smiling at the new life.
"Thank you," Edward smiled down at the bundle at his arms, and hoped that the next five years would move quickly.
~*~ Five and a half years later ~*~
Anthony sat next to his father that night, his heart wasn't letting him sleep. The adrenaline running through his veins has increased, and Edward had noticed. The five-year-old knew, just like his father, that this was the night.
They both sat on the step of the improved house, silently waiting for Her.
It was dark, around mid-night by the time they saw her. The town's night shift 'guards' swung around to look at the black horse descending down the hill. None of them moved, it was Her.
Edward and Anthony both sat strainer as they watched the women with hair that had grown past her hip approach. Some people must have felt the new presence in the town, because a couple of houses had their windows flown open, but that did not distract Bella.
She was looking right at her love and son, feeling as if she could die the happiest women at the moment when she rode to a stop in front of them, tears in her eyes as she slowly started to dismount.
Everybody watched closely as the two lovers embraced, pulling their son with them in the hug, and they could all hear the sigh that Edward made, and his quiet voice,
"Welcome home, my Bella."
Oh! Touching, right? Kinda, not really? Please tell me! I wrote it in like half an hour because I just couldn' stop, it's short, but I liked it!
Tell me if you did, too! Or even if you didn't, Review!