6. Spirited Away
The music tinkled with the melody of E flat major. The mist swirled about Cassandra, just like the previous times, but the atmosphere felt...different. He didn't know why; it just did...
Jizabel took a deep breath before speaking quietly. "Once upon a time, there was you and I."
A scene played in front of them, with two people, Jizabel and Cassandra, sitting on a bench in a courtyard by a fountain. The two were conversing with each other happily, completely content to be in each other's presence.
"We were deeply in love with each other. You loved stories. I loved music boxes. Eventually we were able to put those two together." Jizabel continued, smiling a little.
The scene changed to Cassandra and Jizabel, conversing as they were either putting together a music box or writing on a piece of paper.
"Do you think it should be in a minor key?" Cassandra asked quietly as he continued to scribble on the paper.
"Well, surely it should. The story is a tragedy, after all." Jizabel replied, looking closely at some tiny parts of the music box. "Right?"
"Yes..."
Jizabel sighed quietly. "Of course, throughout all of this...despite trying to be happy together, there was..." he choked a little bit before speaking. "There was a war. All of us were forced to fight."
The scene transitioned to a battlefield, full of soldiers slashing at each other with swords or shooting cannonballs or volleys of arrows at each other. Jizabel and Cassandra were seen in the crowd, slashing away at soldiers with their swords.
"...And before I knew it, you had pushed me out of the way and you were stabbed."
Cassandra was seen being stabbed by a man in black armor, and Cassandra fell onto the ground. Jizabel let out a scream and wildly attacked the black-armored man, killing him before Jizabel ran back to Cassandra.
"Hold on...hold on, please!" Jizabel cried, burying his head into the dying man's chest.
"It's too late...I'm...going to..." Cassandra started to speak, but Jizabel shushed him with a kiss.
And before the two could say anything more, Cassandra had faded away into the wind.
"You were spirited away by the hands of Death, and all I could do was watch." Jizabel temporarily looked away from Cassandra. "Cassian was there. He comforted me. He and I even fell in love. But you were my first. I never thought...that you would come back somehow...that your reincarnation would finally come back."
The music box stopped. Cassandra put it down on the desk before turning to Jizabel.
"Wait..." Cassandra trailed off. "You mean, I've reincarnated several times before this?"
"Yes." Jizabel whispered quietly. "None of them came here, though...until now." Cassandra felt Jizabel take his hands in his own. "I have longed for you to come back. We could finally be together..." Jizabel let go of Cassandra's hands. "But...I understand if you don't. It must be too much to bear together; the life that you have now and the life you had before." he took a few steps backwards, away from Cassandra. "The sun is rising. The night is vanishing. Leave this place...otherwise your body will turn to ashes and dust. And I understand if you want to leave. Just...just go!"
Indeed, the prince was right. The sunlight was starting to illuminate the windows from above. It wouldn't be long until this whole room was awash with light.
Cassandra slowly turned, and started to leave the room...but he stopped midway. He looked back at Jizabel and said one word.
"No."
And then he ran back towards the prince, tears streaming down his face.
His body faded to ashes and dust as the two embraced each other, as the room was filled with the golden light from above.
No one ever saw Cassandra again.
Some say he left the village during the night and never returned. Some speculate he might have been brave (or foolish, depends on who you were getting the story from) and tried to break into that castle, but he never came back.
If you went back to that castle, no matter what time during the day, maybe you can find the music boxes and listen to a few.
If you're even luckier, maybe you'll find the Cassandra, Jizabel, Cassian, Cain, and Riff, all laughing and conversing with each other. Maybe they might notice you and say a hello.
If if you're really, really lucky...maybe, just maybe, they will offer you an opportunity to help write a story. And if they do, you should accept this opportunity. Because then, one day in the future, someone else will come along and look at the music boxes...and maybe they'll find your story, tucked on the shelf somewhere.
Author note: And with that, 'Music Box Tales' comes to a close. (And also, it's my first finished multi-chapter fic! Yay!) What did you guys think of the fic? Too rushed or short? Needed more description? Tell me what you think in the reviews! (Also, this chapter was written while listening to a music box version of the Spirited Away ending theme, and I don't own the song, obviously.)
I really hope you guys enjoyed this fic, and thanks so much for reading! :) I hope you guys will read some of my other fics, too! Thanks!