One Last Wish
I saw a picture somewhere and it inspired this little oneshot.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OCs that appear.
Ciel Vongola
Written: August 5, 2016
An old woman laid quietly on her bed and remembered. Remembered the times when she was young and free. When she could move without her arthiritis making it painful and almost impossible. When she was able to run everywhere, because she couldn't wait for it to come. When magic was possible in her eyes. But she was old now. Old and tired. Slowly, as the years passed, the magic had slipped from her grasp. She half-remembered the stories she used to write.
The old woman, with silver-hair and tired green eyes, slowly crawled out of bed. She slowly and painfully made her way to her bedroom window. She looked out onto her grandkids playing in the yard. She had had a good life. Never married but had adopted 3 children. They grew up right and were making their mother proud.
An old fairy tale crossed the old woman's mind. A tale of a young girl and the king of the goblins. A wished away baby and his eventual return. A smile crossed her worn out face. She had never uttered those words though she was sure that her stubborn eldest had… Her family didn't need her any longer. Her children were trying to talk her into hiring a live-in nurse. Her family would be sad when she left but they knew it was only a matter of time. Her age and health made it inevitable
"I wish the goblins would come and take me away, right now!"
Nothing happened. Of course not. A sad little smile crossed the old lady's face and tears welled up. She moved to get back in her fluffy bed when the lights flickered. They didn't go off though. She shrugged. 'Time to change the light bulb?' She crawled back into bed and fell asleep.
A few hours later, the old woman woke with a start. She thought she heard snickers, scuttling, and little laughs. 'Old age is finally catching up to my mind.' Suddenly her windows flew open and in flew a majestic owl accompanied by a rumbling of thunder and swirl of wind. She shielded her eyes from the wind and kept them closed. She heard an amused scoff and felt leather covered hands move her hands away from her face. She looked into the face of the Goblin King himself.
"You are the one who summoned me. Its rude not to greet an invited guest, is it not, Tiffany?" He smirked.
Tiffany's eyes widened. He was real! "Oh, I am very real child. I was dealing with a particularly…loathsome runner when you called. But, you willingly gave yourself to me. And it is time for us to go, my dear." A gloved hand was held out.
The silver-haired old lady took it and smiled. "How did you know my name?" she inquired as she stood up without any pain for the first time in a long while.
"I know all who tell my story. They are the ones that keep the magic alive. They are the ones who add to my labyrinth." He gave her a sardonic smile. "You know," he said softly," you could have asked me a long time ago and saved yourself a lot of pain…"
Tiffany, young and brown-haired, smiled up at him as they moved back the way he came. "I lived a good life, Your Majesty. But I had grown old and stopped believing in magic. I had to know the truth."
The goblin king looked down at the young girl by his side and smirked. She had helped his kingdom expand a lot over the years. It was his turn to repay her now. He grinned and gestured to her window, which now showed a huge castle in the distance that was in the middle of a huge labyrinth. "Shall we, My Lady?"
Tiffany grinned and gave a small curtsy. "Yes, Your Majesty." She gave a sudden giggle and bolted out the window to the world of her dreams. The goblin king simply watched as she skipped towards the labyrinth, humming. It seemed her fae blood was already taking over.
"Her story is over now, for you mortals at least." He gave an evil little smirk and materialized a little red book emblazoned with the words 'The Labyrinth'. He tossed it on her pillow and strolled away. "Now another story is beginning." He walked through the window and disappeared, laughter echoing back into the room.
A room empty except for an old woman's things and her body. A body that was slowly growing cold with a tiny smile on the old lady's face. There was a little red book by her head that appeared to be half read.
A few weeks later.
A mother was reading a story to her children. A story that her mother used to read to her and her sisters. "Once there was a young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby…" Outside the window an owl took wing and inwardly smirked. His kingdom gained another citizen and more people to help expand it. The magic lived on…
The End