A/N: *pokes head out from around the curtain* Oh hai guys!
First off, I just want to answer a couple of questions some of you probably have had:
I am still working on ReDux. It may not seem like it, but I really am – it's just the third chapter (and, well, part 1) has been very slow coming. The creative juices just haven't been flowing very well, so I'm trying to get them going with a little help from my good friend RoloPolo. I highly recommend her work, as she's quite the little genius. :3
Anyways, that story will be updated as soon as I am struck with awe-inspiring inspiration.
A lot of other factors have contributed to my long absence. Graduating from high school, a two-week road trip to California, stacks of art that need finishing and my FAIL skills at prioritizing have also kept me busy. I plan on fixing the latter, which will solve the former, but just so you guys know that when I'm gone, it's for a reason.
On another note, thank you everyone who read and reviewed not just ReDux, but Observation as well. It was a relief to hear people liked it, especially since I've never really written anything for any other fandom besides TMM and some World of Warcraft drabbles, which may or may never be posted.
Anyways, long tedious introduction is done.
I've always, always wanted to write this story. Actually, I plan on turning it into a doujinshi, but thanks to all the art I owe people (including a TRC doujinshi), that won't be for awhile. So this is sort of helping me plot out how I want the eventual comic to go.
Anyways, I shall let the story speak for itself now. Enjoy!
"Even if love is full of thorns, I'd still embrace it for I know that in between those thorns, there is a rose that's worth all the pain."
-Algernon Charles Swinburne
"You have brought this upon yourself. There is no escaping this truth."
As the last few remnants of magic begin to dissipate into the darkness, she sees now exactly what her spell has done to him. The darkest, most powerful spell she has ever cast has done its duty well…perhaps too well. It seems to have taken quite a bit out of him, as he lies on the ground, breathless and unmoving. The windows all around them have been shattered to pieces, crushed under the strength of her spell.
She moves closer to him, her voluminous gown brushing daintily across the broken glass and floor as she stoops down to his level. He opens his eyes, and in them she can see her reflection – as well as terror and hatred. Had thousands of years of living not made her wiser, she would have thought to move away from him, as he now bore lethal-looking claws and teeth as sharp as sword point.
"You…" His voice is as disfigured as his body, choked and raspy. "Why...what did I do to deserve this…?"
"I merely enabled yourself to see what you truly are on the inside," she says simply as she stands upright, towering over him. It's quite pitiful, how he suddenly cowers as she clasps the ornate crystal staff, still glowing from the magic cast. "Had you not been blinded by your arrogance and selfishness, perhaps you would not have made such a grave mistake. Perhaps, if there had been kindness in your heart, your choice would have been wiser.
"Perhaps you would have accepted my humble offering," she says, and suddenly in her hands is the proffered item that started all of this. He had dismissed it earlier as if it were a worthless weed. Now, presented again in her pearly white hands, he regards it differently, with the same mixture of fear and hate as he regards her.
"This rose is indeed enchanted," she spoke, her fingers gently caressing its soft pink petals. "It possesses the ability to survive without food or drink, and its beauty shall never diminish. Simple in appearance, yet its true beauty lies within. Had you any love in your heart, you may have understood that. Now, you must live with the consequences for the rest of your days."
His eyes round in terror at this revelation as he stares at her, her icy expression clear as crystal in their reflection. A moment or two pass, and she finally sees it – the flickering emotions of shame and defeat as he drops his gaze to the floor.
An enchantress never regrets a single spell cast, and this is certainly no exception. This is the only way to reach him. Being omniscient, she knew that when she conjured her spell, when she had seen the ugliness in this boy's heart.
But she knows something else as well…that an enchantress never casts a spell that cannot be undone. As to whether or not this pitiful boy could would be entirely up to fate now.
And, being a kinder immortal than most, she decides to grant him one final piece of wisdom.
"Do you want to know how to break my spell?"
He was not expecting this. He manages to lift his head, some strength having returned to his new body. "You said…you said that I'd remain like this…forever."
"And so you shall," she says as she turns from him and makes her way to a small table in the center of the room, "unless you manage to break it."
She sets the rose upon it, and as she does, it miraculously begins to float by itself, emitting a soft, warm light. "This flower represents the enchantment cast upon you," she continues, turning back towards the pitiful creature struggling to right himself. "Now, instead of blooming eternally, it shall now only bloom until your twenty-first year."
"What…" he starts to speak again, as he struggles to right himself, "what happens then?
"It will die," she answers, not mincing words, "and with it, your humanity. For at that time, my spell will become permanent, and you shall remain as you are now for the rest of your lonely days." With each word she speaks, his eyes widen in fear, his body visibly tensing. "That is, of course, unless…"
"Unless what?" he demands, desperate.
"Unless you find what it means to truly love someone – to love someone with all your heart and soul, to know both love's pains and joys, and to have that feeling returned ten-fold. If you are able to do so, then my spell will be broken, and all will return to what it once was."
He doesn't say anything at first, his expression blank. Then, it is consumed by anger. "That's impossible," he snarls, "and you know it."
"Nothing is impossible. That I know."
"LOOK AT ME!" His roar is deafening as he gestures wildly towards the glass on the floor- all of which bear his hideous reflection. "You...you know it's impossible! Who would ever – who could ever love…love this?" He gestures wildly at his body.
Yet she does not waver. "That is what true love is," she says calmly, "to love someone despite their greatest faults, despite their outer appearance. Just like this rose, true beauty lies within. You must find someone who knows and understands that."
He swears under his breath. "There's no way…"
"Nothing is impossible," she concludes, as a soft pale light surrounds her. "Nothing…"
And then, she is gone, leaving nothing but the faintly glowing rose upon the table and the beast she created in the silent, darkened room.
He stands there, staring blankly ahead at the space she once occupied, breathing heavily. He glares down at the shattered glass, at his monstrous new visage, and with a deafening roar, scatters them with a massive sweep of his paw.
She was merely teasing him, he believes, playing him for the fool he'd been. There was no way to reverse this spell.
"…it's impossible…"
A/N: It just occurred to me that I have a thing for roses in my stories. Huh. :O
Well, that's that. Comments? Reviews? Critiques? Have at them!