I Dreamed a Dream

By Katia-chan

A/N: Ren was feeling unloved, and, inspired by Windswift's "Shinjitsu" I set out to finally put this latent plot bunny to good use.

It's a little random, and I'm really not sure how it turned out, but I hope it's passable.

Disclaimer: Not the series, not the lyrics, nada.

Enjoy

XXX

I dreamed a dream in times gone by,

When hope was high and life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted.

Fantine – Les Miserables

It was a perfect day, and there wasn't a single person in the world who could spoil her happiness. She had often heard it said when she was younger, that there was nothing more beautiful than a woman in love, and she truly believed that now.

She had never felt more beautiful in her entire life.

Her fellow maids scowled at her, they gave her disapproving looks, but they bustled around her and helped get her prepared for the big event.

It was the best revenge she could have ever dreamed.

Everything had to be perfect, because it was the marriage of the head of the family. Even if it was to a seductive whore. Circumstances didn't matter; all that was important was that the Souma tradition of grandeur was upheld.

She knew what they were saying about her, knew how they viewed this day, and that made her even happier, because she was no longer required to care. She had found the love of her life in Akira-san, and that was something they couldn't take away from her. No one could.

She was left alone while the maids left to make sure everything was in order. In that silent room she moved to the mirror and gazed at herself. Long hair had been brushed and woven, her face had been done up perfectly and even she could see how her eyes shown. She stood and, in a private moment of joy, spun. She was certain this would last forever. Nothing could spoil it.

Nothing.

She had so many dreams floating around her. They would live together for a long time; Akira-san's health would improve now that she was with him. He had been so alone and so sad before, but she would change that; she would make him happy and well. That was the duty of a wife after all.

After years of both of them serving others they would finally do something for themselves. Their life would be perfect, because that was just how it was meant to be, and she would stand to have it no other way. There were so many possibilities, so many wonderful things waiting for them, and imagining it, it was all she could do to stop herself from laughing aloud with joy.

How could she be so lucky?

- - -

Soon after that, she gave birth to a child she couldn't love.

And buried her husband, the love of her life.

And watched the joyful face of a bride turn into the hard face of a widow.

Her dreams floated away from her on the wind, leaving only bitterness and pain behind them.

And they told her she was lucky.

- - -

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder,

As they tear your hope apart.

As they turn your dream to shame.

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living.

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

XXX

TTFN

Katia-chan