Disclaimer: I do not own any of the movie characters, sadly. I only own the boring ones that I made up.
The voice held a cat-like smugness as it spoke. "I've found my true mate – and you know it."
"Never," she said, her voice trembling despite her attempts to sound strong.
He continued on as if she hadn't spoken, his velvety voice surrounding her, stripping away her soul. "Was it not your sin trapped the unicorn? Even now, the evil seed of what you have done germinates within you..."
She shuddered. Despite her wishful thinking, the beast was right. If it hadn't been for her, none of this would have happened. The unicorn was dead, and it was all because of her. All her fault.
While her thoughts roiled in turmoil and shame, she continued to put up some semblance of resistance. "No. You lie. You disgust me." Had that affected him? Had he recoiled at that, even slightly? The smug grin had definitely faded a bit, so she continued with a bit more relish. "You're nothing but an... animal!"
Unfortunately, that seemed to please him, as the self-assurance flowed back into his pointed face. "We are all animals, my lady." Suddenly, his eyes shone with visible intensity as he spoke with deliberation. "Some are too scared to see it." Then he started laughing, the sonorous sound rolling though the cavernous rooms and halls that surrounded her, louder and louder until her ears rang with it.
Princess Lily let out a choked gasp and surged upward in her bedclothes. At first, panting frantically, she did not know where she was, thinking she was still with him. Slowly, though, awareness returned and she remembered. She wasn't with him after all. It had been a dream, and he was surely dead. She shuddered, remembering that short time alone with him, remembering the adrenaline that had pumped through her veins, shortening her breath and sharpening her vision. But it was over. Jack had saved her, though she was still not quite sure how.
"My lady!" The voice held alarm. Lily turned her head, clutching the covers to her chest, to find her servant, Clara, standing in the doorway, holding an armful of dresses. "Are you all right?"
"Clara," Lily said weakly, "yes, I am quite well. Thank you for your concern."
Clara's dark eyes beheld her kindly from within a creased, round face. She had been with Lily since the princess was a baby. She had served as wet-nurse, nanny, and now lady-in-waiting. "My lady, you're soaked to the bone. Did you have another nightmare?"
"Y...yes," Lily admitted softly, pulling her sweat-drenched nightgown away from her body. She hated acknowledging weakness, even if it was to Clara. She had been weak before him, and she had wept. She did not allow herself to do that anymore. Let no one see her shame. She shot a sideways glance at Clara, who looked even more concerned than she had before.
No one here knew what she had been through, or even that those two horrible days of snow and death had existed. But for her and Jack, the world of mortals had been frozen in time. When she had returned home, shaking with weariness, no one knew that she had been away for more than a few quiet hours. But ever since then, her nightmares had increased and grown stronger. Every few nights, the castle awoke to the sounds of the young princess screaming in terror, and she could not even tell them what her dreams were about. Lily remembered each and every nightmare, but what could she tell them? "I dreamed that I was kidnapped by the Lord of Darkness, who wished to make me his unholy bride"? No, they would only think she was disturbed and lock her away with the mentally unstable.
"Princess Lily?"
Lily snapped out of her reverie and looked warily at Clara.
"Princess, your father is very worried about you. We... we all are. If you could just tell us something, anything to let us help you..."
"No," Lily said flatly. "Clara, I've told you before, I don't remember anything about my nightmares when I wake. You cannot help me. Not even my father can help me."
"Oh, lamb..."
Lily let herself be enfolded in Clara's warm arms. She hung limply as Clara murmured things meant to be comforting. Her brown eyes stared over Clara's shoulder, her thoughts somewhere else entirely.
Oh, Jack, she thought sadly, I should have just stayed with you. I made a terrible mistake...
She could see the pain in his wild, dark eyes as he looked at her disbelievingly.
"What do you mean, you're leaving?" he said incredulously. "After everything... After all that's happened? How can you just leave?"
Her heart ached. She reached out to lay a slender hand comfortingly against his cheek, but the forest boy just jerked away. Her hand curled helplessly, then returned to her side.
"It's not forever," she said desperately. "It's not as if I'm leaving you forever. But don't you see? I'm a princess, Jack. I can't just leave my father's castle forever, simply because I want to."
"Why not?"
She sighed, frustrated. "How would it go if I were to just... disappear? My father, the king," she emphasized, "would send out his whole army to find me."
"So? We could hide. I know all the secret places in this forest. They'd never find us! Please, Lily, come with me."
Lily closed her eyes. He didn't understand. For all that he had become a warrior for her sake, for all that he'd defeated the Lord of Darkness, he was still just an innocent boy behind that armor.
"I cannot, Jack. We could not hide forever from the thousands of men who would comb the forest – and utterly destroy it."
"Destroy?"
He was beginning to understand. She could see the awareness dawning in his brown eyes, so like her own.
"Yes, Jack. I cannot let your home suffer the marks of war."
"You've changed so much," he said admiringly, even as his face drooped with despair.
She shrugged lightly, her brown ringlets rising and falling. "I'm still myself. I've learned how my actions can affect others, that's all. I love you, Jack, and that's why I have to go home. And – he is my father, Jack. I'm all he has, I cannot leave him like this." She bowed her head. For an instant, running through the forest with Jack as his adventure-found friends waved behind them, freedom had been so close. She had been able to forget who she was, and just imagine that all she was, all she needed to be, was Jack's woman. But then she had remembered and pulled her hand out of his.
"So," he said helplessly, "you will leave me to protect me, and I'll return to just being –"
"—Being Jack, the man I love," she said as firmly as she could muster. "This isn't forever, Jack, I swear it. I will come back and see you as often as I can, and perhaps, one day, I'll be able to convince my father to let me stay here – with you – for good."
This time, he didn't pull away when she placed her hand against his angular cheek. She kissed him softly, promised once more to return, and walked away. Though it was one of the hardest things she'd ever have to do, she didn't turn around for a last glimpse of him. She knew that he'd be staring after her, his eyes filled with sadness, and if she looked back, she would not be able to leave him. So she kept her back proud, her face distant, and walked towards the distant spires of her castle.
She had quickly been absorbed back into palace life, into the luxury to which she was accustomed. Though she wanted to find some way to return to Jack permanently, her father was busy preparing for a war with one of their neighboring countries. She didn't know exactly what the dispute was about – some foolishness over land or cattle, perhaps – but she was keen enough to know that now was not the time to broach the subject to her father.
And so Lily had remained, still trapped in the silks and silvers of palace life, waiting for the right time. She had gone back to see Jack more than once, but they had not been the happy, carefree visits that they used to be. Each time, he asked her to stay with him, and each time, she had to tell him no. It hurt more and more each time he asked, and so her visits had become less frequent.
Then, as war approached and faces around the palace grew ever tighter, she had been forbidden to leave the palace at all – for her own safety, of course.
I ran away from you, Jack, she thought. I thought I had grown up a bit, but I'm still the same spoiled princess I ever was. And now, I cannot see you at all. If only... I know I could tell you about my nightmares, and you'd understand. Oh, I miss you, Jack...
"Princess Lily? Are you listening?"
"I'm sorry, Clara," she said dully, "I got distracted. What were you saying?"
Clara pulled back to look at Lily's face and sighed. "Honestly, child, where is your head these days? King Clarence has summoned you to an audience. I was saying that you should wear your purple velvet dress... the one with the bodice and pleated skirt? It looks so lovely against your skin, hmm?"
"My father? An audience?" Lily frowned. Her father was not normally one to stand upon ceremony. If he wished to see her, they would meet somewhere, as a typical father and daughter would. He would not summon her. "Is everything quite well, Clara?"
"Oh, aye, lamb, all's well. Your father simply has some news that he wishes to share with you."
"I...see," Lily said, though frankly, she did not. "Draw a bath, Clara, and lay out the purple velvet, then."
Lily stood timidly outside of her father's chambers, her hands clasped together. For reasons that she didn't know, her hands were cold and clammy. She looked quite presentable, though, despite her nervousness. The purple gown hugged her slender form, then fell away into numerous folds and pleats, rippling to brush the floor. It was certainly more daring than most of her gowns as well, with a wide neck that displayed, amply, the fact that she was no longer a little girl. Her curly brown hair was pulled away from her face and swept away from her neck.
When Clara had finished dressing her, she had stood back with a sigh of admiration. "You look so like your mother, my princess. Your father will see it too."
Lily had merely stared in the mirror. She did not see a beautiful princess in a regal gown. As she gazed on, the dress in the reflection turned to a clinging black and the neckline plunged to reveal her ribcage and stomach. Veils hung from the arms and a small black jewel nestled comfortably in the hollow of her throat. Her face was the most changed of all. Instead of her normal peaches and cream complexion, her skin was powdered white, her lips were rouged black, and her eyes...Oh, the reflection's eyes shone with such knowing.
A dart of excitement shot through her body. Was that what she had looked like when...? Is that how the beast had seen her? She could almost feel the desire in his eyes as he stared unblinkingly at her.
"I offer you this rose... Princess..." echoed in her ears, the gruff voice surprisingly gentle. "My heart... my soul...my love..."
She reached up in fear and wonderment to touch the face she saw in the mirror, and in that instant, the spell was broken. The mirror cleared. Only her own empty, innocent eyes looked at her now, her face, her purple dress. A quick glance at Clara assured her that the lady-in-waiting had seen nothing out of the ordinary.
In fact, Clara had simply assumed that the princess's shaking hands signaled an excitement to begin the audience with her father, and enthusiastically pulled the unresisting princess through the gray stone halls of the palace to stand uncertainly in front of the mahogany doors to her father's chambers.
The lady-in-waiting was still watching her, Lily realized, just around the bend in the hall. It would not be seemly for Clara to join Lily in entering her father's quarters, but the plump, older woman certainly wanted to know what was going on. With Clara watching intently, Lily knew that she could not just continue to stand still in front of her father's doors, so she knocked timidly.