Stained Glass

Once upon a time there was a kingdom. At the center of that kingdom was a castle built of stone as well as the blood sweat and tears of the surrounding village's citizens. Its turrets touched the sky. Its flag waved beyond the reach of intruders prepared to stake claim to the land and call it their own. Its towers majestically pierced through the foggiest barriers of clouds. The structure withstood years of weathering and erosion yet still stood taller than any sight for miles.

In this castle lived the royal court—a king, his loyal queen, and their son: Prince Len. The king and queen were always fantastically dressed. They forever wore pounds of gold, silk, and furs from the fluffiest animals. Prince Len, on the other hand, was as low-maintenance as they came: he stayed outside the palace the bulk of the time, he dressed as a peasant would, and he associated with servants and villagers alike. The only people he tried to avoid contact with were his parents. He would stay away from them as much as possible for he would rather not get involved in any of the worldly affairs they had managed to get tangled up in. He was a well-rounded boy. Part of being well-rounded meant he refused to alienate others like his parents did.

There were of course some perks to being the prince, Len had decided. He enjoyed wandering the castle and looking at the artwork. He enjoyed sitting around and listening to music. He enjoyed reading fanciful tales of peasantry and 'normal' life. (His life, to his disappointment, was not qualified as 'normal'. Normal people didn't live in large castles. Normal people didn't get shoved in the direction of arranged marriages to princesses of other lands. Normal people weren't princes.

Ah, yes, the point of the arranged marriage. There was a time when Prince Len was fearful about that. He worried that his parents would force him into an engagement and unfairly judge the bride without allowing him to give his opinion of her. They had already chosen a bride. Her name was Miss Miku and she was of another kingdom that he would have preferred to stay uninvolved with. He would have to like her for them to wed, but did that thought ever cross his mother or father's mind?

Not particularly. The larger issue was that Len had already chosen a lady to be his princess. She was beautiful, witty, and lively. The only problem was that she didn't exactly exist… yet. She was currently a mirror in his bedroom.

In his quarters there was a large, rusty standing mirror. The only purpose he had for it was for evenings when he could spend time with the girl on the other side of it. Her name, he learned after a while, was Rin.

One day, the boy approached the mirror excitedly after a day away from his parents; a day spent hidden among peasants where they had no idea of his true identity. "Good evening, Lady Rin," he enthusiastically entered his room and shut the door cautiously behind him. If anyone found out about his secret 'affair' he would be in grave trouble.

A girl his age with short tangerine locks and olive green eyes matching his own appeared as his reflection. She planted her open hand against the surface of the mirror. Len held up his hand to hers. As he did so a forlorn, distant gaze became of her eyes.

"Rin… Are you alright..?" he asked, voiced weighted with concern.

She mildly shook her head and stared back at her prince. Alas, he was not her prince; he lately spoke of marriages and courtships to mistresses of different lands. Unbeknownst to the prince, he constantly reminded her that they could not be together. He was a handsome, wealthy, well-loved prince and she was just a reflection—albeit a beautiful reflection that would fetch a hefty price as a geisha, but a reflection nonetheless. She was bound to the cursed glass cage since she was a mere child.

This reflection knew her place well- it was not within this cursed cell. She also knew her counterpart very well. On rainy days or slow afternoons he would tell her stories about his past and present, never mind the future. Many a day he spoke of a friend he had when he was four years old. Perhaps you could call the prince and his friend a 'fated' couple. They were certainly destined to be together. The two were yin and yang, consistently swirling around in waltzes and completing one another wholly, in all ways. They would play together, share food and secrets, create mayhem with mischief and spend countless hours with each other.

His friend unexpectedly left at one point when they were five. To this day he had a hard time remembering the name or the face, but the things he knew for sure were that his friend existed and that she was a girl. Little did he know she had always been with him; he just had to look in the mirror.

"Rin…" he whispered, staring helplessly into her glassy eyes. I will get you out of here, he swore in his mind. I don't know how but I will.

She shook her head. "You needn't concern yourself with me," she insisted.

"Don't say such things!" he ordered. She blinked. "I've told you before I'm always concerned about you."

The girl blushed and looked away. "I'm in a mirror. Not much requiring concern could happen to me unless the mirror broke."

Ah, of course. If the mirror broke Rin would disappear into dark abysses and her only hope to be freed would be someone putting the mirror back together- like a puzzle. If the pieces were all returned they would fuse back together and Rin would have the chance to find a new mirror to reside in until somebody finally set her free. But that wouldn't happen because no one but Len knew she existed. No one could care for her. Shattering the mirror would be essentially shattering her. And how did all this occur? No one knew for sure but the only confirmed fact was the need of a witch.

"No one's going to break it if I have anything to say about it," Len grumbled. Anyone who attempted that would be executed by me personally… He ran the hand at his side through his hair, pushing strawberry blond bangs away from his face.

"I want to get out of here, Len. I don't want to stay here anymore," Rin cried. She leaned her head against the cold, unforgiving glass; her hair fanning out as she did so. "Ten years," she squeaked out. "I have been in this castle, this mirror for ten years."

Len nodded in understanding. He pitied her. He urged to lace his fingers within her own, but a layer of glass- a painful, harsh reality as it was –separated them. He would release her. He would get her out of that condemned mirror. Given, there was a possible price to pay if he did so: he would no longer have a reflection. Every time he looked in that mirror he saw Rin. Not himself. Not his own body. He saw Rin. He saw Rin's body. She was his reflection. But that was not all she was. She was far more than that. She was the single woman he ever loved and she could not be his with the way things were. He wanted her to be his princess—correction, his queen if they ever were to wed.

His queen…

A half-inch thick plate of sad realism ruined that dream.

"You don't deserve this…"

Rin shook her head and shrugged her slim shoulders. She already knew this fact. She also knew who trapped her here and why, but she could never tell the prince. It would break his heart to hear that his own family excommunicated her from the kingdom. Or at least that's what they tried to do.

"I was only five. I hadn't enough time to do anything wrong enough to earn this. I was a good child… I never hurt a fly. I never hurt my friend. I never hurt him yet…" She sighed. It was so difficult to dance around the truth the way she did. For his sake she would do it. For the sake of her friend.

Len's hand slid down the glass as he sat cross-legged on the floor. As a reflection should, Rin did the same thing. They still sat across from each other, so close yet worlds apart. "Tell me about him," he requested. He closed his eyes and hung his head, hoping it would help focus in on her soft voice.

"He was a goof. And he liked music. Singing was one of his favorite things. He took ballroom dance when he was three. He was lazy. He was improper and crude. He was sweet though; that kind of guy that made all the other girls jealous of me and my friendship with him." Rin smiled fondly and found herself giggling at the silly memories she had of herself and her friend- of Len.

She was trying her best not to burst out laughing at all the stupid jokes he ever told her, at all the stupid things he did for her… There were numerous occasions of his childishness that she could recall. After all these years he hadn't changed much. Mentally he was still the same. Physical attributes on the other hand were a different story.

Len chuckled at Rin's description of her childhood friend. "He sounds like an interesting fellow," he admitted, unknowingly 'complimenting' himself.

Rin agreed. "Yes, he's pretty interesting alright. He's definitely something. What about you?" She asked, "Did you have a childhood friend like that?"

Len frowned. He was glad his long hair could hide his face from her. It might have unnerved him if she saw him upset over the loss of his juvenile former friend. He could never remember her appearance, but he had a vague idea of what she was like. He had an ambiguous vision of her personality. It pained him to think about it. They had been inseparable then one day… Poof! She disappeared from his life (or so he thought), never to return again.

"She had a warm smile and she was like no other girl within nautical miles of here. She was adventurous and explorative. She liked to discover new things. She was polite and well-mannered. And she loved butterflies. She loved their wings and envied them." He peeked up at Rin to see her head hung as well. Tears were dripping from her unseen eyes. When he noticed that he realized that he too was crying.

"You make a good friend," Rin mumbled. Len's head shot up, hers following instantly. "She was very lucky to have a friend like you." The tears from her eyes continued to escape.

Len wanted nothing more than to wipe them away. But he just wasn't that fortunate. "Whoever yours was… he was lucky too. It must have been amusing seeing you as a little kid. You were probably cuter back then," he teased.

She stifled a giggle by pressing her lips firmly together. Her crying stopped and her eyes twinkled brightly. In a moment of forgetfulness she mentioned that he should know what she looked like. She was the friend he was speaking of. And in a lapse of judgment she brought it up. Len immediately stiffened and stared at her curiously, one eyebrow raised.

"What are you talking about?" he voiced his concern.

Rin wanted to hit herself in the head but she was bound by Len's movements. That was another downside to being trapped in a mirror; she had to genuinely be the person's reflection. She had to mimic and mock, trying to keep up with every subtle twitch and twinge.

"That friend you were talking about… Only you could forget who that was. You're the only person I've ever known who doesn't know where the last piece of a puzzle goes."

Len upturned a brow. Awareness crushed him like two tons of rocks. He could have sworn someone just piled up said rocks on top of him and buried him with them. He pressed his forehead against the glass; Rin's leaning against his on the other side of the truth. Why did things have to be so difficult? Why couldn't things be… simple?

Him as royalty and her as a mere reflection of his past and a dream for his future; there had to be some way.

Some way, Rin- some way, one day, I will save you. And I will no longer be just another prince; I will be your prince.

AN: Can you hear it..? Can you hear it going nagnagnagnagnag? This idea nagged at me for ages before I started it.
I didn't think it'd become multi-chaptered but apparently it did. Not that I mind or anything. It'll still be relatively short. (And I mean it this time!)
Could you please tell me what you think? :( I'm very insecure about this idea.

Please review!