A Strange Reflection
"Looked in the mirror,
I don't know who I am, anymore.
The face is familiar.
But the eyes...the eyes give it all away."
-James
Prelude - "Lovers' Leap"
The cliff rose high over the stony ground. From above, a layer of cloud hid this fact well, making it seem almost as if one could walk from the edge into the sky itself instead of plummeting to a sure death on the rocks below. The story was often told in younger circles that it was from this very cliff that the mourning Roderigo had leapt in order to join his lost love, Christanya. It was a popular Arusian legend at which adults scoffed. There was no proof that such a thing had ever happened, though that mattered little to the more passionate youth. It was a beautiful, tragic, romantic story, the stuff of which young girls' dreams are made.
Allura could not help but remember the tale herself as she stood there above
the clouds. 'Roderigo stood at the cliff's edge, gazing into the sea of clouds,
the moon glistening in his tears. "We will be together, my love." he whispered.
"I shall walk into heaven and hold you in my arms once again." And with that,
he stepped from the cliff and into the heavens themselves...' Such a great
love had been here. How ironic that it would be here where she waited to meet
Lotor, her greatest enemy.
She had little choice in the matter. He had made that more than clear. After
so many battles, so many tricks, so many schemes, it seemed that Lotor actually
had the upper hand. And it was not a hand that could be as easily shaken of
as in the past. The planet was practically the property of Doom already. The
prince had requested to meet Allura here because he had something he wished
to discuss with her. She felt fairly sure she knew what he was going to say.
It had been awhile since his last proposal, but this was the perfect time for
another one. He knew she could not say 'no' now, not if he offered her any kind
of protection for her planet and her people.
One moment she was alone, looking absently out into the sky, and the next,
he was with her. Out of all the times he had come to see her, whether in her
gardens or in the forest, she had never heard him coming. Lotor always seemed
to simply appear. For once, he did not announce his presence by sneaking
up behind her and pulling her into his arms. Instead, he offered an unusually
courteous greeting.
"Princess Allura. How kind of you to agree to this meeting."
She spun around, startled to hear him when she had not known he had arrived.
He was only a few feet away from her and there was no sign of an escort or ship.
Her expression hardened at his show of 'manners' and she said in a tone tight
with anger, "Skip the gentleman act, Lotor. We both know it's a lie. Just get
to the point or...let me get to it for you. If you're going to ask me to marry
you..."
"No, no, my dear." Lotor interrupted, holding up a gloved hand as if to halt
the words in midair. "No such thing even crossed my mind."
Allura opened her mouth, then shut it again, struck momentarily dumb in surprise. He...wasn't going to ask her to marry him? Then, why on Arus was he here?
In answer to her unspoken question, Lotor smiled slightly. "I've actually come
to tell you that you won't have to worry about that anymore. I will no longer
be trying to force your favors towards me."
The princess stared at him in confusion. Was this some kind of trick? Was he
trying to get her to trust him? "Give it up, Lotor. It's not going to work."
she said uncertainly.
He took a step towards her, still smiling. "But, Allura, you don't seem to
understand. I'm quite serious about this. My days of wanting you as my bride
are over. Love is funny that way...do you know that?"
"What way?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from revealing her nervousness.
Something didn't feel right here.
Lotor took another step forward, making Allura take a step back. "Why, how love can change of course. Love and hate, Allura. They are one in the same, you know. Both the same emotion, simply on two different sides. How easy it is to slide from one to the other."
Allura stepped back again. She didn't like the way this was sounding. She thought
for a moment that perhaps Lotor had finally snapped. He always seemed dangerously
on the edge of insanity. Maybe he had finally crossed it. She looked into his
saffron eyes. They were so calm, so sure of what was going on. They did not
look like the eyes of a madman. And, for some reason, they did not look like
the eyes of Lotor, either. They were the same strange color, the same strange
shape with the alien felinoid pupils, but they were lacking...something.
She knew suddenly what it was. In these eyes, she saw none of the passion...the
anger...the desperation that had always churned below the prince's arrogant
surface. So often Allura had looked into his eyes and been overcome by the tumultuous
emotion behind them. Now, there was only a calculated calm, a distance from
the entire matter, as if he was viewing this as business and nothing more. Perhaps
he had gone insane, after all. Perhaps madness had given him a clarity
he could reach no other way. She looked at his detached smile and wondered.
"What does this mean, Lotor?" she asked quietly.
He stepped close to her and, though she wanted to put distance between them, she had already reached the cliff's edge. There was no where to go but down. He put his hand gently under her chin and tipped her head up so she would look at him. "It means, my dear Allura, that I have had enough of you. Enough of your refusals and your rebukes. Enough of your slaps and insults. You will never love me and so I will not love you." His tone was matter-of-fact, though the words would seem those meant to be said in anger. It gave Allura a chill to hear them said so.
He ran a finger softly along her jaw line. "You are beautiful, princess, but
you are also cruel...to deny a man a second chance. To judge him solely on past
deeds and of the deeds of his father, without considering why he did
them. I dreamed of you since first I saw you...lusted after you, worshiped you,
agonized over you. But, no more."
At once, his hand tightened on her jaw, clamping it painfully in a vice-like
grip. Even if she had not been frozen in place by fear and confusion, she knew
there was little chance of escape. Her feet were at the cliff's edge, the ground
crumbling away loosely under her heels. Lotor brought his face close to hers,
his still perfectly relaxed yellow eyes looking straight into her frightened
blue ones. "What does it mean, you ask?" he murmured softly. "It means simply
this, princess...I have decided to put you out of my misery."
And with that, he calmly pushed her from the cliff.