When The World Was Kind

by Xandochu

You swore you would remain by her side, even if the entire world tried to force you apart. Even as war raged on around you, and changed everything and everyone you loved - you would remain constant, for as long as he permitted it. DilandauXReader. Trigger warning: abuse. violence.

1. Remember When

1. "Remember When"

When you were young, and the world was kind – as it would remain forever, in the eyes of a seven year old – you swore you would always remain by Celena's side. There was never a force in the world that could tear you apart. Not fights, nor family, nor war. And in your heart you knew you would

keep this promise to her, to never separate no matter what life threw at you.

When you were young, and the world was kind – as it should have remained forever – there was not a day when you weren't playing out in the forests or fields of Asturia. Celena's playful laughs and your shrieks of joy at whatever new game you had invented that day. That day, when you lay side by side in the green, fresh scented grass, and swore to remain friends until the very end, you remember so clearly. The gentle breeze that ruffled your skirts and hair, the not-to-distant sounds of a bustling city in the background, and then – Celena's cry, as the soldiers in black approached.

They only needed one, but took you both, screaming and crying for your parents and siblings. They placed you both in a dark, damp and cold cell within their flying fortress, and they took Celena first. The Lion-man Jajuka stayed with you as you cried for her. You couldn't understand why this had happened, why they took you, why they took Celena, and you cried and cried into the Lion-man's chest, beating it softly with your too-small hands.

He removed you from the cell that day, and into a large plain bedroom, told you kindly it was yours now. They had what they needed from Celena, and would debate on what to do with you. They let you live, after seeing what effects your presence had on this new boy – this Dilandau that Jajuka told you was Celena, just in a different body. You calmed him, and they needed you to keep control over him.

But Dilandau was not Celena, not in body nor mind. But if that was who Celena was now, then she needed you more than ever. And you promised yourself, just as you had many times before, to remain by his side, no matter what. For if he could not remember the past, then you would.

If only to keep the memory of that sweet girl with the sand coloured hair alive.