Disclaimer: It's difficult to claim something older than one is.
Warning: OC
Author's Note: "Elpis" means "hope" in ancient Greek
Vanity
By Cory
Soft raindrops plunking over the glassy surface of the lake did little to dispel the rising moan of anguish. Elpis frowned as she set her basket of flowers at the edge of the stream, the small yellow buds shuddering at each touch of a raindrop. She clasped her wet hands together to wait patiently.
He came forward with a sob, dry and cracked in a throat that didn't really exist anymore. With a groan, he collapsed to his knees on the river bank. Elpis watched him shrewdly through serene blue eyes. The spirit inched closer to the stream on shaking hands and knees until he caught his reflection. The spirit quivered for a moment before heaving a choked moan and falling back onto the bank. He shrank into a ball, hands pressed over a face that had lost its beauty to the ravaging torments of the afterlife. Tearless sobs could be dimly heard over the rain, past the hands the once beautiful face was crushed into. The shoulders shook weakly, brokenly.
Elpis took a deep breath and crawled over the few feet necessary to place herself next to the suffering spirit. "Narcissus," she told him in a clear, firm voice, "you must calm yourself." She made no move to touch his dim, ghostly form.
Narcissus slammed his hands away from his face to fist in his lap. "Loveless," he whispered hoarsely. "I am without love."
"Then mayhap you have a fraction of understanding of what you put those who loved you through," Elpis sniffed.
"Foolish girl!" Narcissus spat. The once musical voice crumbled in his torn throat. "They were below me, they were nothing. I…I was…" he trailed off, unable to say anything more. Thick curls of hair—ruined in death—hung about his face, hiding it from the naiad.
Elpis frowned again; this time, in thought. "You longed for much more than any human could offer, and that was your downfall. They loved you, Narcissus, very much. Each maiden prayed for your favor. And for what—for you to fall for yourself? Narcissus, understand that you are not the only victim of your foolishness."
"But I—" Narcissus wailed.
"Ambition is always a good thing. However, the amount of ambition is always the cause of discontent." Elpis stared at the curtain of death-spoilt hair that covered the face. With a sigh, she reached one hand out to tuck it behind an ear. It felt like icy mist. Narcissus, times before, had flinched away from her touch as well as the touch of other naiads. This time, however, he seemed so lost in devastation that he sat there limply.
"You are something to be pitied, but not without understanding what brought it upon yourself. You are a unique soul tormented between worlds for boundless vanity. But you are not bad. You are Narcissus, and it is time for you to accept your faults."
Narcissus raised silvery eyes to stare at her hopelessly, laying his shambled soul before her. He looked completely helpless and destroyed as he murmured, "Help me…"
Elpis hushed him and stroked the backs of the fingers of her left hand over his right cheek kindly. "Trust me when I say that I will, Narcissus. You do not have to endure alone. Stay with me."
Narcissus sighed a sigh that seemed to collect all the way from his toes and spill over in a rush. And maybe he could endure this with her. And maybe it was only a little vain that he might—just might—be able to fall for someone who loved him more than he loved himself.