Inspired by a wallpaper, of all things.
Really, you've heard it 1000 different times from dozens of different writers. Don't you know by now that TRC doesn't belong to any of us?
She's always been there, just beyond the tips of his fingertips, and as long as he has existed, and she has been there, he's been trying to close that gap. To reach, just a little farther, that small, infinitesimal space that is somehow a greater distance than all of space and time.
When she was first there, that space was small, just the span of years that lay between them and maturity. She was half his already, reaching out just as he did. But then the blackness of death came between, to shadow his every thought. The space, though both still reached, was now impassable, because of the fate he knew she would have.
But still he extended his hand, reaching, reaching out to her with everything he had, hoping against hope that perhaps something could grant his wish. The granting of that wish only pulled him farther away from that which he wanted the most. All the connections they had, fragile bridges across the divide, were severed. Anything he could give, he gave, was gone, unremembered and unmourned, because there was still a chance to save her. Those broken bridges were all that connected him with the world. She became all he could see, and he always reached out for her.
Now she no longer reached, and only he could change the way things will be. Time passed, and he never gave up, and she got closer, until she was as near to him as she was only once, when everything started. Barriers broke, and the blackness of death dimmed, becoming nothing but a fading grey.
For the briefest moment in that struggle, he touched her, he thought he took her hand. The memory of that stays with him, during the struggle for her and the others just like her. He remembers saving her, changing destiny, and believes he can do it again.
But everything twists and now there is more distance. Greed, wanting that which was forbidden, comes between, and she's not close anymore. There is more strength behind him, he can feel it, so he puts everything into one leap after another, miniscule decreases in the distance between. But suddenly the strength fades, and he can get no closer. But she's his, and he just can't give up.
Now she's slipping, slipping away from him forever, and there's nothing he can do, because he's already given everything he has to give. Helpless, he tries one last time, one last brush of their hands, enough to feel her but not to save her. She fades, and still he tries, but then she's gone, and he falls.
Somewhere, somehow, he will come again, and the hand will be taken. He will pull her close, and never let her be taken from him again. She will cling just as hard, and neither will ever let go, always remembering that space, and the reaching. He must believe this, as he falls, for if he doesn't, what is the reason he exists? She is his reason, his everything, and he will never let his princess go.
Please review!! It will help me get better faster! And it will make me very very happy! And it may convince the fates to make CLAMP publish the next chapter faster!! There's no reason not to, so what are you waiting for?