Amalthea
By Michelle
Disclaimer- I do not own "The Last Unicorn", the story was created by Peter S. Beagle and belongs to him and probably a bunch of other people. I am not making any money off this story, so please do not sue me.
Author's Notes- Alright, this is a fanfic inspired by me reading "The Last Unicorn" today and then, of course, watching the movie. Ever since I was a child, I've always wondered what would have happened if she had stayed human, so this is what this is about. It doesn't go into a lot of depth, mostly it's just a reflective piece about Amalthea, but maybe I'll write something with more depth later. I don't know. This is happy or sad, maybe a little of both, it just depends on how you look at it. Well, I hope you like it.
Queen Amalthea stared out at the sea, still trying to see what her husband's father had.
King Haggard had died years before, soon after she had arrived at the castle on her strange quest.
Why had she come here? She could no longer remember.
She could remember nothing before she came here, before L'r. She loved him, as she had never loved anyone else, and it seemed like her life had begun and ended with him.
Still, there were times when she searched for what Haggard had seen when he looked into the sea.
But she never saw it, never saw anything except the sea. She had been here for many years and never saw anything except waves.
But she still searched, somewhere buried deep inside of her, she wondered if what Haggard had seen there had been connected with her long-forgotten quest. But the question did not bother her often, in fact it was very rare for her to look into the sea and wonder what mysteries lay there.
She wondered about that no more than she wondered about the red bull. He was still there, deep in the castle, but he no longer came out. He just stayed there, as if guarding some hidden treasure that no one else could ever know about. Haggard's treasure, the one thing in the world that had brought him joy, whatever it may be.
"Amalthea?"
Queen Amalthea turned at the sound of her husband's voice and smiled at L'r as she walked towards him and put her hand in his. Her fear of being touched had disappeared long ago, she no longer even remembered why she had not liked to be touched. It no longer mattered.
"What were you looking at?" L'r asked quietly as he led his wife away from the window and towards the dining room.
"Just the sea, it relaxes me." Amalthea said quietly, knowing that she could never explain to L'r was she was looking for. He would not understand it, how could he when she did not?
She did not even understand why she still looked for it. She was not unhappy, her life was a good one. She had a good husband, children she loved, and a happy life with them. Yet, sometimes her lost quest haunted her and she wondered what it had been, but then she dismissed the thought.
As she did now. She and L'r entered the dining room where there children were already waiting for them and she pushed aside all thoughts of lost journeys and forgotten quests and concentrated only on her family.
She laughed and smiled with her family, listening to her childrens' tales, sharing tender looks with L'r, talking with Molly Grue, and watching as Schmendrick did small tricks to amuse her children.
Schmendrick, sometimes she had the feeling that he was disappointed in her somehow, that she had failed him. But she did not understand why, unless it was connected to the days before she had come to the castle. The days that she no longer remembered.
But even then the question puzzled her, for what role could Schmendrick, an incapable magician, have played in her quest?
If there had ever been a quest, she wasn't sure any longer.
"Mama?" She heard her youngest daughter calling her and she came back to reality, her quest forgotten once more.
She listened as her child told a story and as the other children added their opinions to it and after dinner she tucked them all in bed and told them stories before they fell asleep. Then she stood and watched them for a moment before going into her own rooms where her husband awaited her.
Later as he slept, she wondered at the dreams she used to have, the nightmares that she could no longer remember. She had not had once since she had begun to love L'r and she wondered now if there had ever been such a time.
"I've always loved him." She whispered. "Whatever I was before, it no longer matters. I am L'r's wife, I love him, nothing matters besides that."
With that she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her and her dreams were the same as they had been for many years with no sign of her previous life haunting her, for she had blocked it completely from her mind, even in her dream state, and there was no turning back.
Whoever she was before, she was no longer, now she was simply Amalthea.
The End