The Prince

Dreams do come true, but only when
They make it through despair,
Limping into everyday
Transformed beyond repair.

No dream would be a dream if it
Could pass for something real,
Nor would we sail for paradise
Would it its shoals conceal.

So it is with love: the dream
Long longed for, now possessed,
Must be a dream no longer, but
An emperor undressed.

Stark naked it must come to us
In unaccustomed shame,
And we must take it in our arms
And love it all the same.

And we must love love as it is
That dreams might still come true,
Mangled into miracles
To make our lives anew.

"Serena awoke to the sun shinning on her face." It took only a few moments to remember what had transpired the night before. She looked at her hand, which was practically caked in now dry mud and forced the diamond ring off her finger before she threw it. She wanted nothing to remind her of the bastard and she was happy that if she ever found her way home there was nothing there to remind her of him. At least nothing she couldn't get rid of. She stood up awkwardly before bending down taking off her heel.

She was only wearing one and she couldn't imagine where the other had gotten off too. She looked around her and found that she was lost, she had no idea from which direction she had come or how far she had come. She couldn't have gone far, could she? Serena didn't know so she picked a direction and began to walk, but found the trees too thick to pass through. Not once, but three times until she headed in apparently the right direction for she walked uninhabited except for the pain in her ankle. Four hours later she was sure she was walking in circles. She sat down on a rock and cried in despair especially when she began to think of Sammy. She was alone now.

"What am I going to do now?" Serena asked herself. She sniffed as more tears spilled down her cheeks. Than the sound of a guitar reached her hears and she followed it thinking perhaps the person knew their way out. As she got closer she heard the most beautiful voice in the world reciting one of her favorite Love Poems: Dreams do come true.

"Mangled into miracles. To make our lives anew," he recited. He continued to play his guitar, as the sound would have even trapped angels. Serena burst through the trees as he closed his eyes playing with his heart and hands. Serena took in his smooth and beautiful skin. What caught her eye was his jet-black hair, she had never seen hair so black that framed his face so well. The man was beautiful and yet she could not trust him. He was a man after all. While she was thinking he had stopped playing and opened his eyes, which made her gasp. His eyes were a midnight blue, so rare that they could not have been real.

"Ah I see my fallen angel has finally arrived."

"Angel?" Serena whispered. "I am no angel. Angels are happy, I am not."

"Whomever says a angel must be happy all the time is informed. Angels get sad all the time, they must look upon their family and never talk to them or watch them fall into the depths of hell. That must sadden them."

"Maybe, but in heaven there is everlasting happiness. You should know that."

"I should, shouldn't I," He replied thoughtfully as he stared into her beautiful eyes. Serena blushed under his gaze and was grateful for the mud on her face. "Now I believe you are lost."

"How did you know?"

"How could I not know my angel was in trouble?" Serena eyed him suspiciously. She would have turned around and left, but he was the only person for miles it seemed.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" Serena asked.

"Yes." Darien began to fiddle with his guitar.

"Please don't play." He paused.

"Do you hate my music?" Darien asked. Serena shook her head.

"No, its just I can't think straight, now where is here exactly?"

"You're in the forests surrounding Mt. Fuji." He pointed and she could see that not far away there was snow, but she could not see the very top.

"But I was in Tokyo at six o'clock that night, I can not be this far up a mountain that is fifty miles away from my original position by twelve noon the next day!" Darien stood up his big black boots hitting the ground hard it seemed, but he made no noise.

"Hysteria often makes one loose all sense of time."

"This is crazy I must be dead."

"You are not dead, I saw to that, come now I have a cabin just behind those trees." He walked off leaving her to follow at her own will. Serena looked around and seeing that there was nothing indicating a safe way down, so she followed. When she came through the trees she was aware that they were no longer in Japan. She turned around, but found the forest quite different. It was greener, more beautiful, and so much more peaceful.

"What did you do?" Serena asked terrified.

"Well you wanted to get away from Tokyo and Japan all together so I brought you here. Come, you're still wet and you have mud all over you."

"How, why?" He did not answer as he continued to walk and she could do nothing except follow. Soon they arrived at his cabin it looked small and cramped, but inside it was huge. She could not believe it.

"You can use this room, you'll find clothes inside for you." She went inside careful not to touch anything. She wanted nothing to get dirty, she couldn't afford to make him mad, but he didn't really seem to notice it as much as she did. The front room was not decorated with anyone's style, it merely contained the necessities. In passing she was his room was no better it was bare of everything except a bed and his clothes were probably tucked away in the drawer neatly folded. She expected the room he gave her to be no better, but she was greatly mistaken.

"Wow," She breathed as she looked at the powder blue walls and the oak four poster bed with white lace hangings and white covers with a panda bear skin on the floor in front of a roaring fire. All the furniture was hand carved including the rocking chair in the corner by a window. Even the window, which was bordered by violets with lace to cover them and even heavier white drapes to keep the cold out at night. What surprised her most of all was the mannequin in the corner that modeled one of her dresses. It looked exactly like her sketch. She went over to it and almost touched the silk, but she didn't.

"Wow," She breathed. She turned to the man to ask him where did he get the dress, but he was gone. The door to a bathroom open and a hot bath had already been drawn.

"Can things get any weirder?" Serena asked herself. She washed and soon she was nice and clean. She looked in the closet and found more of her designs. There were only three all together. The dress, an outfit complete with jeans and beautiful blouse she had designed, and matching shoes. Lastly an outfit perfect for rainy days and snow. That is what she chose to wear as rain began to pour even here in this green place.

"Ah I knew that would look beautiful on you."

"I don't understand, how did you get these, I drew this outfit when I was fifteen."

"Serena, would you care for some hot chocolate?" He asked.

"No thank you I can't eat after what happen."

"Ah yes William." He shook his head as he came out of the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate anyway and handed it to her while leading her over to a comfortable chair.

"How did you know about William?" Serena asked.

"How could I not know about William, I daresay he'll be joining…" He stopped his words. "Well that's not important, now I have taken you in and you have yet to ask me my name."

"Oh I'm so sorry, but you have to admit it was more like kidnap."

"Kidnap?" He asked slightly outraged. "You followed me at your own will, I did not kidnap you." Serena started to argue, but she knew he was right.

"All right fine, but who are you?"

"Me I am the Prince of…" He started and than he stopped. "Darien."

"Darien what a beautiful name, what's your last name?" She asked. "And what are you the prince of?"

"So many questions," He sighed shaking his head. "My last name is not important, all that matters is my reason for being here, right?" Serena was confused.

"I suppose."

"Drink," He urged. She drank and the hot chocolate ignited her dormant hunger and warmed her considerably. She drank deeply from the cup and when she put her mug down it was still full and hot buns were on the table in front of her. She hadn't even smelled them until now. "Eat." She nodded and took a bun. He grinned.

"Why are you grinning?"

"No reason, my dear, just content yourself and than we will talk business."

"Business?" Serena asked with her mouth full.

"Eat." She ate and when she had sated her nearly insatiable thirst and hunger he removed the cut and play of buns.

"So what was that earlier about business."

"I am here to make your dreams come true, you have six wishes so make them good."

"Six wishes?"

"Yes, six wishes with the right to conserve the others for a later date or add to the successful first wish, and those six wishes come with an unbreakable contract. There will be no turning back and no loop holes." His eyes were a light with merriment now. Everything about the handsome rogue in front of her in his jeans and white shirt with the top unbuttoned completed with a black suit jacket. He look fabulous.

"I think you're crazy and need to take me home this instant."

"I am not crazy. Look I shall give you one free small wish that will prove to you that what I offer you is true."

"No, perhaps I do believe you I suppose, I'm more afraid of what you want in return." Darien grinned more this time.

"Oh not much, just your soul and most importantly for you to bare my child."

"Oh no you're Satan aren't you?"

"Darien Satan to be exact, the Prince of Darkness and ruler of Hell."

"I thought your first name was Lucifer."

"Ah Lucifer my name before the death of my parents, before the orphanage, and my untimely death in my early twenties. Yes, Darien Lucifer Satan, the fallen angel that God cast down to hell."

"Well I don't want your services." The fire in the fireplace seemed to blaze a little higher and were fierce at her rejection. Darien calmed down and so did the fire.

"Please, you cannot be so loyal to him now after all he's done to you."

"God has his reasons for wanting me alone in this life."

"Does, he does he really?" Darien asked. "What have you done to suffer so much?" Serena was silent.

"Nothing, but there…"

"Was no need for your family to die they did or your brother just when William the one boyfriend you put all your trust into and agreed to marry slept with his secretary and planned to marry her on your wedding day." Serena began to cry. "Remember the woman from the orphanage and how she use to beat you and Sammy, or how about your first boyfriend. The one who was as abusive as the woman who raised you was? Wasn't he the one that crushed your dreams until you ran away with Sammy to Tokyo. Even now he still haunts you in your sleep, doesn't he?"

"No please stop, stop!" Serena screamed as all her pain came back to her worse than ever. The wounds Sammy and William had left hurt the most because they were the freshest. "Please stop."

"No, I can't Serena only you can by signing the contract and making your wishes."

"Okay, okay please stop I'll do it," She cried. The pain lessened almost immediately. He held out a fountain pen and she signed her soul away and the use of her reproductive organs, so the child of Satan could be created, in blood.

"Now before you wish, we must take care of the first half of our deal, my child." Serena nodded. Before she could finish blinking he was romancing her like no man had ever done in Paris of all places.

"I am not a cruel man," He told her. She was wearing the red silk dress she had designed. For three days he wooed her and she felt herself falling, but William had numbed her heart and not even Satan could break the ice with his delusions of romancing her before he filled her womb with his seed. She was sure he would fill it with more than enough to ensure pregnancy.

"I love you," He whispered in her ear as they danced. His voice so full of love that for a moment she actually believed him and whispered it back before she could stop herself. She did not love, she did not, she was only fulfilling her end of the deal and that was all. He was kissing her with hot fiery passionate kisses and she returned them.

"Darien," She whispered he ran his hands over her naked body, leaving a shiver to take its place.

"Yes, my angel," He breathed kissing her face.

"I'm a virgin."

"I know, and that makes it all the more sweeter." There was pain throughout the whole ordeal and when he had done what he had accomplished he waited a few moments.

"It is done," He whispered as he kissed her belly. "Your first wish?"

"I wish that I was married."

"Your wish is my command." He waved his hand and she was asleep.