A/N: So here it is, the fic I (and probably all of you) never thought would actually get written! I'll save further comments for after the first chapter, because I'm sure most readers of A Whisper in the Night will just want to get on with it after waiting - what - four years?

Enjoy.


A Shadow in the Darkness


Prologue


Love is an entity unknown.

For how can one place a definition on love? How can one place on it a value? How can one tally the cost?

But there is indeed a variable known.

Love is different for everyone who experiences it.

For some, it is something to be embraced.

For some, it is something beautiful and sacred.

For some, it is a comfortable alliance.

For some, it is an all-consuming fire.

And for some,

It is something to be feared.

Something unwelcome.

Fantastical.

Illogical.

Unnecessary.

Dangerous.

Never is a heart so vulnerable as when it belongs to someone else.

When it is no longer ours to possess, it is no longer ours to protect.

No longer ours.

Suddenly

It is though our free will has been taken from us;

Stolen along with the ability to think clearly.

All rationality disappears.

All that is left is a strange desperation.

An intense longing.

But there is nothing to be done.

Our heart is no longer in our care, after all.

We can only hope that it won't be mistreated.

Mistreated.

And what happens when any object is mistreated?

It gets hurt.

Broken.

Sometimes it is a mere fracture.

Nothing too serious.

Nothing permanent.

But sometimes it is shattered into a million pieces.

Never to be repaired.

Never to be whole.

Or is it?

The beauty of love, no matter what risk, is:

Hope.

For though a heart may be battered

And bruised

And cut

And bleeding

And broken from being mistreated

There is still hope.

It is easy to underestimate the strength of love.

Easy to brush it aside and say,

Say it no longer remains.

But the thing about love is:

We rarely get a choice in the matter.

So, yes.

Love may be every joy

Or every evil

One may spend the rest of their days in eternal happiness

Or eternal pain

But no matter what the circumstances

Love will remain.

But there is a choice.

There is always a choice.

Not whether to love or not.

Unfortunately, there is no choice in that matter.

But a choice

To embrace it.

or

To deny it.

This is a story of dangerous love.

Of beautiful love.

Unwelcome love.

Sacred love.

Illogical love.

Feared love.

Of an all-consuming fire.

It is a story of pain

Heartache.

Tears.

Loss.

Hope.

And love.

Always love.

But love denied?

Or love embraced?