Between the Lines
by LianFex
Summary: Fairy Tales are not supposed to end like this. After all, it's just a cruel facade.
Author's Pretty Much Useless Note: This what happens when you can't sleep at night and the last time you wrote was about a year ago. Yay for insomnia.
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She gazed outside the sole window in the room---a pensive look painted on her face. Million thoughts raced in her mind in every second; she could hardly keep up. Days spent in the tower turned to weeks and months turned to years until such time that time has lose its essence on her sorry life. It had always been a waiting game that she vaguely wondered if she's meant to wait for all eternity; that the cruel writer of her sorry life had decided to limit her to simply nothing but be a damsel in distress in some cheap fairy tale.
And along with it came the thought---the idea that maybe, just maybe, she doesn't have to wait after all. She doesn't have to follow the Tale; that she could simply follow what her heart desires and violate every rule that was set upon her. That maybe she could be with---she shut the idea from her head before it could form into a complete thought. After all, she'd spent almost all eternity trying not to think of those popular what-ifs.
The door to the tower room opened to reveal a man in black. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was---after all, he's the only person she had ever known in her entire life. He slowly walked towards her, his footsteps inaudible even in the silence of the room.
"Today is your special day," His deep baritone voice hiding the turmoil within him. Seeing that he failed to catch her attention, he continued. "The fairy tale ends today."
She turned her gaze to him---a surprised expression managed to bleed out from the cracks of her calm mask. Today. Everything ends today. The waiting ends today. She could hardly believe it. She looked at him for confirmation, but the expression on his face killed the question on her lips.
He is a beauty to behold, so hauntingly beautiful that words fail to describe such splendour. He is a thousand seasons, sunsets and sunrises combined. And yet, as she stared at the unexplainable look in his eyes, she started to feel the twinge in her heart----something that she never thought that she would feel.
Why must he be her captor? Of all roles and characters he could be, why must he be the villain in this petty little tale? And she, why must she be the princess? There are thousands more maidens who are far more beautiful than she could ever be. Why must she be the one stuck in a story she's not willing to partake in?
"Finally, it has come to this," There was this weariness in his voice that was usually not present. He looked down at her, as if staring down into her soul. A shiver went down her spine. "You know how it will all end."
Suddenly, she felt a surge of panic, fear and anger. Even the mark of waiting could not tame down the fire within her that was absent in a very long time. She opened her mouth to say something, anything to contradict him---to say that it must not end that way. But it died on her lips. After all, they're merely puppets in this game; their will and wants are not at all recognized.
But...but what if? What if they could---?
Instead, tears welled up on her eyes as she desperately tried to fight them back. "We can't play with eternity like this." She could hardly hide the scorn she felt in her tone.
"Nor can we disobey the Tale." He told her, but she knew that he agreed with her as well.
She turned her gaze back at the window. Funny how for years, they made a silent agreement not to talk about this particular topic and yet, a few minutes before the End, they found themselves having a heated discussion about it. How just a few minutes before the End, the dullness in her chest was emptied to contain the angry fire in her heart. And how, in just a few minutes, everything will end.
Everything will end. Even his role.
She felt him place his hand on her shoulder, gripping hard. She turned to look at him, but he was not looking at her. Rather, he was looking---almost glaring---at a galloping figure nearing the tower. Even in such a distance, she could see the figure's golden locks wiping against the wind. This is her prince. He's been the person she's been waiting all her life.
He turned her to face him, an unreadable expression on his face. She searched his face, but the questions on her mind remained unanswered. She wanted to tell him...Oh, how she wanted to tell him. But this is not how the story should end. The princess was not supposed to fall in love with the villain---and him in her.
But this princess is.
"That prince down there was the person you've been waiting all your life." He started. "He's supposed to be the person you'll live with---someone who'll fulfil your happily-ever-after.
And I...I'm just your evil villain. I'm just here to shatter your dreams and happiness with him. I'm supposed to lock you here forever and then kill him. But, well, we all know that I won't succeed." He let out a bitter laugh, but mists already gathered in her eyes. "That is my role."
He placed both of his hands on the side of her head and, to her surprise, kissed her on the forehead. She stared up at him, shock written all over her face. He gave her a faint smile, the first---and his last----that she ever saw. "Play your part well."
And then he was off.
Off to go down and fight, like what evil villains are supposed to do. Act like the mean and cold bastards that they were portrayed. Act like they have no life other than to prey on innocent princesses and lock them on tall towers. It was all too perfect.
She knew. Oh, how much she knew. This is the End after all. The End to all things. Even the End of him. He never get to have the happily-ever -after that the cold writer has bestowed on the prince and her. No, not him. Never him. Only the End. He only gets the End.
After all, this is a fairy tale. The prince must save the princess locked in a tower by a scheming villain. And then the prince and the princess fall in love. And they live happily ever after. But it's not what's happening right now. It's all just a lie---a cruel facade made up to read children to sleep. It's all an act----and no one will know the truth.
And with that, she fell on her knees and cried.
There was never a happily-ever-after. And there never will.