Heartbroken
I do not own Heartless in any way.
Heartless ripped my heart out and now I too am heartless.
Hatta was right.
Cath did not have a monopoly on loving Jest. Cath did not deserve his heart, but one alone did.
And that was the White Queen's daughter, Elsie.
Elsie had known Jest since childhood.
He was the Court Joker and a Rook on the side. As Princess of Chess, Elsie did not venture outside the palace often, so she was bored quite often. He told her jokes to make her laugh and did magic tricks that amazed her.
They spent most of their time together in the gardens.
Jest was her protector and her closest friend.
Elsie's favorite game was hide and seek. She would hide, but Jest would always find her, no matter what. But when it came time for Elsie's turn, she could never find him. Once, she got so upset that she fell to the grass weeping.
"Why are you crying, my little princess?" his voice asked.
Her head shot up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I thought you left me!" she cried.
"Oh, my dearest Elsie. I will never leave you", he told her.
"Do you promise?" she asked, her blue eyes still shimmering with tears and her bottom lip quivering.
"I promise that I will never leave you my little princess", he told her.
Unfortunately, he would leave her, but it wouldn't be of his own accord.
"Mother, you cannot send him on this quest", Elsie said.
"As sovereign of this country, I can do as I please", she said, "This is a noble quest Elsie. Can you not see that?"
"Yes, but…" Elsie said, "Mother, I love him".
"I understand that you love him…" she said.
"No, you do not understand! I want to marry him!"
The White Queen sighed and walked up to her daughter, cupping her cheeks in her hands. "My dear child, you are too young to know of love".
Elsie opened her mouth to speak, but her mother stopped her.
"I understand what you must feel towards Jest, but this is for the best. If he can come back with her heart, the war will be over. Our land will be at peace finally. I thought that that was what you wanted", she said.
No, it's what you wanted, Elsie thought, but she held her tongue. When it came time for her to say goodbye to Jest, Elsie burst into tears like that afternoon in the gardens.
"Don't cry, my little princess. I will return to you", he told her.
"Do you promise?" she asked, looking into his lemon yellow eyes.
"I promise", he said, pressing his lips to her forehead.
Elsie almost wished that he had kissed her lips instead, but that would have made the separation harder.
It wasn't until much later that Elsie would discover that for the first time in her life, Jest lied.
Hatta stepped forward with Jest's hat, now devoid of the silver tinkling bells.
"But…but where's Jest?" Elsie asked.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but Jest…" Hatta didn't have the strength to continue.
Elsie's small hands covered her mouth.
"Where's Raven?" the White Queen asked.
"With the Queen of Hearts", Hatta told her.
"So Jest did not succeed in stealing her heart", the Queen said.
"He did, but unfortunately, she stole his in return", Hatta said.
Elsie had heard enough. She snatched the hat out of Hatta's hand and stormed off to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and wept. Her heart was broken and Elsie doubted that it would ever be whole again. She clutched Jest's hat to her chest. As she did, she heard a crinkle of paper. She looked inside the hat and pulled out a letter addressed to her.
"My dearest little princess, I am so sorry. Hatta told me of your feelings for me and I wish I had realized sooner. I cannot lie to you and tell you that I regret coming to Hearts. I fell in love and that is why I have not returned to you. Alas, we will never be together as she is promised to the king. I want you to know that I did love you, but not in the way you wanted me to. I am sorry for that and I hope that one day you find someone worthy of all your love. Love, your Joker".
More tears fell from Elsie's eyes.
Where Cath was now heartless, Elsie was heartbroken.