Disclaimer: Nope. I *wish* I owned Utena. ^_^;;
AN: I always thought it was pretty scary how, throughout the Apocalypse Saga, Utena was so... princess-ish. Ranks right up there with the ending animation for 'Truth' as one of the creepiest parts of the show. Probably just me, though. ^_^;; Anyway, this is just a bit of prose-ish stuff about that change. The ending just keeps it on a bitter note, I'm very glad the actual series didn't keep her like this in the very end. So... yeah.

DEFLOWERED

Once apon a time, there was a little girl who had decided she wanted to become a prince. And she was close, so close...

"I wonder why. For some reason, she looks like a girl to me now."

"Well, of course Tenjou-sempai's a girl."

"I know that. But..."

"Actually, she looks that way to me too."

"Really."

"But, isn't that something wonderful?"

"Do you *really* think that?"

The girl-prince is a prince no longer. She smiles, but it is the smile of a newly-rescued damsel; she wears her princely garments only because he likes them. She has cast away the sword in favour of his smiles and his wamth at night.

No longer a koi, she is only one of many fish in a vast sea. Lost her shine. Lost her miracle power. Lost what made her special. And nobody even sees. Only if they looked closely would they turn away and shudder, for the hero has become a pretty little thing on a delicate pedastal. She has become one princess in millions.

"The stars are beautiful tonight. You didn't have to look at the planetarium."

"I didn't want to see the real stars."

Her princess has been cast aside. The bride's champion has left her in favour of earings and horseback rides and cheap hotels. And though the princess tries, she knows that in the end she has always been fighting a losing battle. She must stay in her upside-down palace, must stay chained to her former crime. Her girl-prince is a prince no longer, and cannot rescue her now.

And it has happened before. But then it was wrenched from her, screaming and fighting, then she knew exactly how to become a prince again.

This time her rose has been taken from her without malice or spite. It has been plucked off her breast gently, as gentle as a kiss, and ground into dust so softly that she did not notice it was gone.

"Swords no longer suit you."

She was close, she was close. But in the end, all girls are princesses.

FIN