Author's Note: This story does not have a happy ending, and it has a sadder tone compared to my other ones. Just as a warning. Enjoy!

Credit: Credit to kethavel-art (on Tumblr) for the cover image art.

He wore a crown that he hated.

It was a crown that never belonged to him, but it had always been a crown that he longed for. He craved the respect it brought, the command it held, but in the end, it was just a worthless crown, as thorny as any of the others. He had been too ignorant to think about the price it paid. He had been too careless. He would never forget the day he finally had the precious necklace in his hands. She had been ten years old at the time, realizing everything, realizing that he truly was as malicious as they all said. Her face had looked so heartbroken, so honest, so open.

He could never forget.

Why did you do that, Mr. Cedric? Were you ever my friend? Or did you just want my amulet after all?

He swore he saw a shadow cross her eyes, just like the shadow that fell over her kingdom shortly afterwards. He couldn't bear it. It was his crown, his right, but it had been her amulet. He sent her and her family away, far away from him. This was his kingdom now, his Enchancia, yet the thought of it tasted sour and bitter in his mouth. He had finally done it.

He hated himself for it.

"King Cedric, a woman has arrived and has requested to see you—" one of his servants started, but Cedric nonchalantly waved at him.

"Send her away."

"She has demanded entrance, your highness. She...is a sorceress," the servant replied meekly.

Oh? A sorceress?

Cedric's amber eyes flashed with slight interest. He hadn't seen any other magic-users around the castle besides him since he had taken the kingdom. It would be interesting to meet another one again. It had been...how many years now? Nine years. Nine years ago, when the skies were bright with joy, the same color as Sofia's eyes, before he had sent her away. Before, when it was just them conversing together and him failing to steal her amulet. He wished he could have failed just one more time. He wished he could have failed indefinitely.

"Alright, let her in," Cedric replied, appearing to be uninterested, but his interest immediately grew when he saw the robed figure walk in. The woman's face was shadowed by her hood, and her cloak was a deep, royal purple color, almost identical in color to his. Golden insignias spiraled across her sleeves and were also embroidered along the edges of her robe. She walked in silently, with a quiet confidence that he envied.

When she arrived before his throne, he and all of the other servants in the room expected her to bow. But she didn't.

"Aren't you going to bow to the King, sorceress?" one of his servants asked, sneering at her.

She looked up in response, her bright, blue eyes piercing Cedric's gaze. He jolted back. Her eyes looked oddly familiar.

"I would never bow to a false King, nor a King who stole his own throne," she said coldly, and her words stung. Cedric flinched in response as the guards pressed forward.

"Blasphemy!"

"King Cedric is the greatest!"

"Stop," Cedric commanded, and his voice rang throughout the room. Continuing, he said, "Let her speak."

"Oh, how kind of you. You always did let your Princess speak, didn't you?" the sorceress replied mockingly, pulling her hood back.

Confusion and realization flooded Cedric's face when he saw who she truly was. All of those years...had changed her. Her auburn curls cascaded past her shoulders, a wild mess of fire that surrounded her, and her high cheekbones were flushed with fury. She was now the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but her eyes were tired, world-weary, and she looked at him, the emotion in her eyes, once being admiration —in a sweet, distant memory—, was gone, replaced with merely sadness and anger.

"P-Princess Sofia," he stuttered, and he stood. It was the least he could do to show her his respect.

"I am no longer a Princess anymore, Cedric. You stripped me of my title long ago. But I don't care about that. What I do care about is the stolen throne that you are sitting on, along with that stolen amulet. I have waited many, many years, for this, Cedric," Sofia began, and Cedric walked forward, awed by her presence. She was here. She could take both the crown and the amulet away from him, the burdens that he wanted off of his shoulders.

She watched him as he drew closer, and then he stopped, standing only a foot away from her.

"Cedric. I now ask you to spar with me. If you lose, you will give me your crown, along with my amulet, and promise to leave this kingdom forever. I want you gone, and I want you off this throne," Sofia said, her eyes suddenly burning with a fire that Cedric couldn't describe. His heart pounded in fear and adrenaline; it was an energy high that he couldn't fathom at all. He suddenly felt an urge to touch her, to kiss her. He couldn't believe that she was here, standing in front of him, real. She had changed so much.

What am I doing? What am I thinking?

"Sofia—"

"I will have no mercy."

"Sofia, please—"

"I will have no mercy."

Her eyes, they held so much hatred within them. It broke his heart. Sofia, with her beautiful, blue eyes, should never have the capability of holding so much hatred in them. It was all his fault. He had taken her kingdom, her everything, and he had hurt the only friend that he had.

"I'm not that fragile little girl you knew nine years ago. I may have been broken once, but I will never break again. Spar with me, Mr. Ceedric. Show me how much of a King you really are."

His servants waited, holding their breaths. Who was this woman? They couldn't help but wonder. Some sort of girl from the past, it looked like. A lover? Their eyes sparked with intrigue as they pondered this. He was looking at her as if they had been, once upon a time, though she was not reciprocating at all.

"No."

Sofia looked taken aback for a second, her eyes wide with confusion, but then the loathing burned even brighter in her eyes as she registered the enormity of the single word that he had just said. She leaped forward, violently clutching Cedric by the bow tied around his neck. She pulled him closely enough so that their faces were merely inches apart, her violet amulet dangling precariously from his neck.

"What do you mean, no? I've spent so much time training for this! Goddamnit, Cedric! Why did you even have to do this!? Why did you have to—" and she began to cry, pearl tears streaming down her cheeks. He watched her silently, resisting the urge to comfort her or touch her at all, his hands obediently clasped behind his back.

"Damnit, I'm so weak, always so weak," she muttered, still clenching at his bow. She cried, then, for everything she had lost, as Cedric stood there, his heart trembling in pain. He didn't notice that his left eye was arcing a sharp cut of liquid against his cheek, but the other servants in the room did. Here she was, crying because of him, and he felt as if half of his heart died right there, crumbling into ashes. The other half of his heart would die on its own.

"I don't know why I did it, Sofia. It's because I wanted respect, but I never even realized that I already had it until I took it all away. I never realized. But I couldn't take off this crown, not once I had it. It would be so humiliating. I sent you and your family away, because I couldn't bear seeing you all again. Especially you. Oh, it's terrible. This is all so terrible.

"So, please, take this crown. And the amulet. Take them both away from me," Cedric said, and he took the items off, offering them up to her as a sign of peace. It wasn't a treaty, but it would do. She looked at them, red-eyed, and then looked at him. She placed one hand across the crown as the other clasped the amulet, her face suddenly still. Having regained her composure, she looked at peace once again, and he looked at her. He just couldn't stop looking at her. Her beauty, her elegance, everything about her was extraordinary. And here he was, some sort of pathetic creature who had hurt her. He knew that she couldn't bear to even look at him. He couldn't bear to be Cedric anymore. At one point in time, he would've been happy to be just Cedric, her sorcerer. But now, he was her nothing. She wasn't affiliated with him any longer.

He cried even more, though his pain was silent. It hurt him so terribly, knowing that it was all his fault. It would haunt him forever. As the tears dabbled along his face, he leaned forward, brushing his gloved hand across her cheek. With one, shuddering breath, he kissed her.

It was heart-wrenching bliss, if only for just a moment, but he knew that it was pathetic. He was pathetic. She kissed him back, ever so softly, then, realizing what she had done, leaped backwards, slapping him across the face, the hissing crack of contact echoing across the room in the hushed silence. His cheek stung as he numbly put his hand to it, pained at how she looked at him now, as if he had betrayed her all over again.

"I want you to leave, Cedric. Now. Please, go," she whispered hoarsely, and, upon realizing his actions, stepped away from her. What had he done? He was making everything worse.

He crossed over to the doors, watching as she turned towards him, placing the crown upon her head. She inhaled deeply, her feathery eyelashes fluttering as she closed her eyes for just a moment. She would be a good queen. A better ruler than he ever was. He only wished that he could have ruled beside her instead. He wished that she could have been his queen.

"I—I love you," he whispered as he left the room, ever so quietly, and the minute he uttered those terrifying words, he knew that the other half of his heart crumbled away, shriveling gratefully into death's sweet embrace. He knew that she had heard, but she looked away. She didn't respond. She didn't have to, because he already knew her answer.

He walked outside and past the doors, and she watched his departing back. Her heart...it was hurting. Seeing him leave invoked a deep sense of sadness within her, a sadness that was old, far too old to be lingering. A sadness that had lived for nine years and would live for far longer than that. The room was silent as she cleared the final remnants of her tears, approaching the throne. Turning, she sat upon the cursed thing, watching as the servants bowed to her.

"All hail Queen Sofia," they murmured, but she didn't hear them. Their words bubbled around her as she stared ahead, unmoving. The image of Cedric leaving the palace would haunt her forever. She would never forget the ghostly imprints that he had left on her heart, the happiness that they had felt all those years ago. It had been so harmless back then. She felt as if her heart had died then, watching him leave, but she could never forgive him for what he had done.

She loved him, but she also hated him for marking her heart as his. It should have never belonged to him. But it did anyway.

In a sense, they both died a little bit that day. They were now hollowed bodies of who they used to be when they were together, laughing blissfully in the sunlight. That image was long gone, faded into nothingness.

Such beautiful things never do last, after all.