She can hear him call her name, frantically desperate, and she's about to run out after him with his jacket (because what would she do with it, anyway?). But the picture catches her eye and when she sees her own face, her birthmark burns and memories slam into her like a freight train.
"I wish Rose had never been taken by the Huntsclan."
The words pound in her head as she studies the picture: his suit, her dress, his cocky smile, the happiness in her eyes, the fraying around the edges and the little hole in the center where the folds meet, as if he's held and folded and refolded and unfolded day after day after day.
"He was telling the truth."
...
Her parents don't have time to say anything. Her feet pound the stairs as she races to her closet and finds something, anything that feels like her old second skin. They don't have time to ask her where she's going as she bolts out the door, and she almost entirely forgets they might want to know. The Huntsman never cared where she was, so long as it wasn't consorting with dragons.
Her heart is blasting through her chest and she lands hard on one knee. It's clear she never physically trained for this, but she is Huntsgirl, apprentice to the Huntsman, born to hunt and slay dragons. Dragons. Without them her life was normal, without them she'd never be a murderer. No, don't think like that. This dragon is evil, this dragon is evil, this dragon is evil, not the rest, just this one-
Her name cuts through the noise. She ignores it. Everyone is outside. They've abandoned her here-dragons are liars-no, don't think like that. Then, everything is dark.
She wakes to a red dragon struggling to lift a massive pillar off her leg-This one isn't evil, calm down, Huntsgirl, none of them are evil-and he's beautiful. It's no wonder the Huntsman wanted his skin. No, quiet, quiet.
Rose kisses him, and Jake kisses her back under the moon. She remembers how intensely she loved (loves?) him. His black eyes bore into her soul and see everything good, and only good, and his touch tells her how deeply he loves her. There's a soft smile on his face and the moon lights his face, and he's so good and selfless and wonderful but she's a murderer. He pulls her back for another kiss as the others leave them, and she lets him. Monster. You don't deserve him. Unless he's the monster. No, no, he's beautiful, he loves you.
But she is Huntsgirl. Evil. Not evil. You never killed anyone. She'll never be what he wants her to be, never live up to his vision of her. Still, she loves him, and she has to try, so she climbs up on the pedestal he's built for her, and she prays that she never falls off.
It's a long way down.
Her parents demand an explanation before she goes to bed. The morning after, she's changed. Two pasts fight each other in her head, and she's wracked with guilt for something she never did. By the time she's dragged herself out of bed, nursing her aching muscles and throbbing headache, it's nearly noon. There's a giant red lizard in her living room posing awkwardly for her sister.
He perks up when he sees her. "Ready for lunch?"
In truth, she'd forgotten they had plans, but she smiles and nods anyway.
Remy, her sister, protests that he can't leave, she was just getting the texture of the scales right, and couldn't she just finish the painting before he goes? The dragon-Jake- dissolves into human form and grins. "Yo, just take a picture."
And Rose feels familiarity wash over her that numbs the burning confusion, just a little. She can make it through lunch.
She makes it through the rest of the week. Jake is so wonderful, so kind, so forgiving. He saved her life when she gave it up, so selflessly. Rose has her real (fake?) life, and it's perfect.
Jake doesn't think so, he couldn't, but Rose can't help but feel she owes him. All he wants is the love of his dream girl, but he was willing to let her go. And he did let her go. Maybe it's his turn to be happy, even if the price is hers to pay this time. She can live with that.
It's tricky, balancing on this pedestal, but he loves her and for now that's enough because she loves him too.
...
It's quiet at home when he's gone. Her parents are unsettled but not all that tense, considering the circumstances. Remy paints more realistic dragons than she used to, but everything else is much the same.
Except her.
Rose has changed.
Because Jake's last words in her other life boom in her head, but even larger, even louder, are her own last words.
"I wish for the destruction of all Huntsclan."
That echoes deep in her soul. She hears it when she's alone, sees the ring of skulls and the Huntsman's face and the dragon's face in her dreams. She feels the cold crystal on her fingertips with everything she touches, sees the green eyes in the faces of everyone around her.
She's surrounded by people. Real, imagined, villains who never existed, loving family. But she's alone, the bad guys are defeated and the good guys have gone home.
So where does that leave her?
...
A/N: Look guys, I finally did it! Here's the first real chapter of Tinted Windows. It took me a really long time to figure out where I wanted to go with this since it was just designed to be a cute little oneshot songfic, but I've made a plan and brainstormed quite a bit. I think it'll be fun, and I hope y'all come along for the ride. Let me know what you think of this chapter! The next ones should be longer, but I wanted to build Rose's mind and feelings and whatnot before this gets going.