Author's Note: Wowee! PI's updated! It's a miracle! Well, starting college is kind of a major life style change…I was busy. And stuff. Yeah.
Anyway, I've been planning this for a while. And I'm basically completely redoing the format of this story (I also learned how to use HTML, how exciting is that?) so that it reads more the way I imagined it. But there is a new chapter or two in there somewhere, and I've written more…I'm back on track. I also have big plans for The Queen's Treasure, and I have a finished shortie and an almost-finished one, and…oh, just so much Arnold everywhere! (It's midnight, and I'm giddy.) Also, I'm working on a website. * does happy dance * Okay, enough babbling. Here (again) is Always.
Disclaimer: It's a confusing story, but if you think you recognize a character, chances are, it ain't mine. Oh, and quotes beginning chapters are dutifully attributed to their owners. You know the drill by now. (New idea—not repeating the disclaimer every chapter. What a concept.)
1. A GreetingIf you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
"Unfortunately, little darlings, there is no such thing as a simple love story." –Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
This, children, is a love story. Before I begin, I want to remind you, dear ones, that a love story is not a fairy story. Fairy stories end with "happily ever after." Most love stories, on the other hand, end with "hopefully ever after."
This is one of those stories.
This story begins long ago, long before you or I, before the Christ, before even the great Caesars of Rome, when men in Greece still bowed down to statues of Zeus and kept vigil in Athena's temple; when virgins were pledged to Artemis and pilgrims sought the wisdom of Apollo at the Oracle at Delphi. All that remains of that time now are crumbling relics, swirling eddies of dust…and two lost and lonely souls, seeking what was torn away from them, time and time again…
But I see that you are confused. Very well. I shall begin, then, with familiar faces, ones you know and love…though what you love is not what is familiar to you, but what confuses you…
Again, I see that look on your face. Take no heed. These are mysteries, and not for the uninitiated. But you are young yet, and you may still learn. Till then, we begin with two children, younger than yourself, still innocently ignorant of the pain that had been bestowed upon them once, and many times…and perhaps again…
But enough. Time for the tale.