"There are no happy endings, because nothing ever ends..."
Those were among the last words she heard from him. They rang with a truth that made the heart jump alive. Too absolute to be true under heavy handed happiness they were boxed into. Years of thinning, vanishing visits from her human companions tore at the certainty that was the unicorn's very fibre.
She would know the yearning of love and the crushing weight of regret forever, when the others had remained unblotted by these things that smeared her inside. With nobody among the porcelain hides to care more than the vapid batting of their eyes, she was wrought with them. Those indifferent, "pure" beings.
Her Lilac Woods were carefully tended under their touch, she was not needed. Where could she go? Anywhere but here. She could start something anew yonder.
She could even hear the promise on the breeze, but there was otherwise no guarantees. Quietly, she ducked from the low hanging arms of trees. Do things all meet an end snubbed by an abrupt stone wall, or do things merely change?
If happiness is really a journey, will it still be waiting there at the end, mocking all who choose to chase it? The unicorn flew across the field swifter than rain can patter on cobblestone roads, stars in her eyes. Even then, it may never be fast enough.
A/N: Just something small. Might become part of a larger fic later. I'm overworked, honestly. Luckily, Ornis is the keeper of my sanity now. And the pic belongs to xir, used with permission. The Last Unicorn is property of Peter Beagle.