Disclaimer: No I do not own anything of this….maybe the plot…but otherwise don't sue the starving student!

Eerinsowl: Hey….it's been a while….here's a Troy story…will update this, I actually have the rest but I need to reread it again! sorry if it sucks but I'm rusty XP! Enjoy….BTW, the name sucks so I might change it later, kay?

Wedding Bell Blues

It was the night before the ceremony was to take place, and the grounds of the palace were all hushed from excitement. It was late and all the lovers that came out to meet by moonlight had gone inside now to rest. Andromache, Princess of Thebes, sat on a stone bench, grasping her legs in her arms, and resting her head wearily on them. She seemed to glow in the soft moonlight in her white dress, and her skin was pale compared to her dark hair. Her hair ran freely as she had already taken the pins out of her hair, and her gown was just a simple one that she normally wore to sleep. Still the untamed look flattered her, it told of her unrestrained upbringing and she seemed to have a sense of freedom that did not occur to most of royal upbringing.

This was the sight that greeted Hector, Prince of Troy, as he wandered through the palace gardens, unable to rest as well. She looked so young in the moonlight, so defenseless, and utterly unsuitable for him. He looked about the gardens and saw signs of her in the flowers and the arrangements, and thought back on the last few months in which he had gotten to know his bride. Wishing that he didn't have to marry her he sighed softly and went to join her in the clearing. She turned at the sound of his footsteps, her eyes showed pain and a little sorrow that made him defensive. She hid it well though, because before he took another step her eyes showed her usual good humor again-even though her smile was strained. Going to sit down on the remainder of the bench, he spoke, "What are you thinking about Princess?"

"Andromache." She spoke, her low voice slightly frantic, his gaze made her look away. "I think it only fair that my husband should call me by my name."

He studied her, and just shrugged. "Very well then, Andromache, what are you thinking about?"

"The same thing you are." Sighing she looked up at him, and he saw the misery that she had hidden so well all the past months. "Hector, we are to be married tomorrow-and yet I know so little of you. I've tried so hard, and yet you have repulsed my every effort to get near you. I do not want to get married as much as you, but it is our duty and at least I have tried to get to know you."

He did not say anything but looked away, knowing that the words she spoke were true. He knew of her trying to get near him, and knew that he had pushed her away like she was nothing but a dirty worm. She continued when she realized that he would not answer, "If you will not tell me why you are so loathe then at least let me tell you everything. I am an honest person and I want you to know all of my meager dealings in romance as you are to be my husband."

She gripped her knees closer to herself, and looked once more to the water, her voice grew soft, "I have only ever loved one other person, though you may think me too young. I was ten years old, the boy only a few years older. He saved my life, and treated me kindly even though I looked like a peasant-even though he must have thought me slightly crazed from the pain. He carried me all the way home and I know that he struggled with the labor of carrying a person so far, but he refused to let me down. I'd never felt so safe before as then, and he told me his name-though I did forget to give mine."

At the story a faint memory tugged at him, but it eluded him. He looked over and saw a tear rolling down her cheek, and felt the strange yearning of wanting to wipe it off.

"I know it sounds foolish, but I fell in love with him-and I guess created a fantasy that I thought would come true. All I remember are his eyes, the way they looked as he walked, and I found myself in love. I'm still in love with him-or the idea of him right now."

"What was his name?" the words slipped out of his mouth against his will.

She looked up at him at last, her voice turned bitter now as her mouth smiled, "His name was Hector, and still I think that the gods have played a cruel trick on me. I feel as if I am betraying my Hector, though I will never break off this engagement because this is a Princess' duty. And you?"

"I still love no one, and have never loved anyone." He was surprised to find his voice just as bitter as hers had been. "It is not in me to love."

"Yes it is." Her statement took them both by surprise. "Look at how you love your country, your father and brother. When you look at them you have love and pride in your eyes. Briseis sees this as well. What of when you are with your horses? I see the love in your eyes, and sometimes think that it is me who is at fault. Is that it-you just cannot love me?"

"No, that is not it." He spoke quietly, but firmly as he tried to put into words his emotions. "You are so young, Princess, and I am older then you by much more then age. You do not want to be saddled to me. I am old in many ways you could never understand. You have grown up in such an innocent, carefree world and have never had to suffer, have never had to feel pain. Princess, you have been sheltered, you find laughter and good in everything, while I have grown to know nothing but sadness. I am tired in spirit, Princess, in a way that you could never understand."

Swinging her legs over the bench she knelt beside him on the stone bench, and took his hands in hers. She looked at how his tan skin contrasted against her white hand and smiled sadly, "I see that, Hector, I know that you are tired, and yet all I want to do is take the burden away. I look into your eyes and I see that you have been forced to grow old to soon, you are still young-don't let the few cruelties in the world blind you to the beauties. I long to make you smile, I long to make you laugh, I want to be able to take the weariness away from your eyes. I-I just want to help."

He gazed at his hand that she held clasped within hers and for the first time thought that, maybe, just maybe it might be easy to fall in love with this girl-but then it went away and he frowned. Taking his hand from hers he rose, and looked at her. Her face was raised to him, her eyes pleaded with him and he knew that she was begging him silently to let her in, to give them a try. "Don't waste your love on me, Princess, or your happiness. I cannot give any to you, if I have none for myself."

"Don't walk away from me, please, even if the marriage is arranged why can their not be love?" she felt as if her heart had stopped beating, as if everything rested in what he was going to say next. "Why must you make us both suffer, when it is not the fault of either of us?"

"Princess, the world does not work like that. You hope and ask for too much of me. I'm sorry Princess, but I cannot love you, now or ever." He walked away then, feeling as if he had somehow destroyed something that was delicate and as fragile as glass. She called words after him, that he did not answer but they still rang in his ears. "You long for love even though you say that you are incapable of it, and yet it is not because you cannot but because you will not. You are afraid of that one emotion that humbles all, you are afraid of it because it consumes you because it leaves you defenseless; don't offend beautiful Aphrodite, Hector, she is the most dangerous to you."

Before he left the gardens completely he turned back and found that she still knelt on the stone bench, as still as a statue. She was not weeping, and yet she was shivering, he watched then as a single blue butterfly flew down and kissed her gently on her lips and he turned, feeling just as sorrowful as if he had killed a man, though he did not understand why.

In Andromache's heart all hope died as he walked away and she felt her heart give in at last to despair as her heart turned to stone. She rose at last and went to her room where she lay sleepless in her bed, knowing that every moment brought her nearer to an abyss that she had no way of crossing. She watched as the stars outside dimmed, and Apollo started at last to drive his golden chariot across the sky, so she arose and knew that dark circles bruised the pale skin around the eyes. She was just about to think about what she needed to do when the door to her room cracked open, and Briseis popped her dark head in. Softly she whispered as quietly as she could, "Hey, can I come in?"

"Sure." Andromache whispered back, and let her friend in. "You're always welcome."

Closing the door behind her, Briseis walked in and sat down on the bed and stared at the stand which Anthea had arranged the wedding dress on. "You're going to look a beautiful bride."

"I'll have to. I am representing Thebes aren't I?" Andromache smiled, and sat down next to Briseis when the door opened once more and Anthea now walked in. After whispering quiet good mornings, Anthea came and stood in front of Andromache. Gently touching the circles about her eyes with her long white fingers she sighed, "Did you get any sleep, sister?"

Briseis rose then, and gave Andromache's hand a squeeze, "I'll be right back."

Anthea now sat down beside Andromache, and wrapped her arms about her sister, "I wish that you didn't have to go through with this. I would have saved you the pain-but Priam wanted you, and would take no other. Believe me, father tried to change the betrothal but Priam was just as stubborn as you are. Don't lose hope little sister, I have a feeling that the gods planned it out better than we thought."

Andromache leaned her head on Anthea's shoulder and felt the tears welling up in her eyes, "I talked to him last night, and-and he told me that he would never be able to love me. He thinks that he is incapable of love, and I don't think that he will ever try. I don't want to live my life with a man who won't even be my friend. I've tried so hard these last months, I've given everything into trying to get to know him better but he just pushes me away."

Her words were soft, but they carried across the silence, and Briseis had left the door slightly ajar-so that Hector who was standing just at the door could hear her every word. He had come to apologize, but now he stood silently and listened, knowing that only now did she speak her true heart. "I see him with his horses, and I see the love in his eyes, I see the gentle way he treats them and I know that deep down he has a tender heart. I see him with Priam, Briseis and Paris and I know that he would die protecting them, but I…I am always the outsider, he never lets me in. I thought it was possible to love him but now I don't know. I don't think that I can marry him-I don't think that I can willingly spend my life with a man who will never forgive me for being who I am. I talk to him and I feel childish, my innocence becomes ignorance, my joy becomes childish and to him I am nothing but a child. He has not been fair to me or to him, I-I don't think I can do this Anthea. I don't want to lose you and everyone else. We've always been so close, so carefree but here, things are different. Paris and Briseis are wonderful, Priam is so much like father that I love him like father-but Hector makes me just wish to be back home."

He stood outside the door and heard her soft breathing, and knew that she did not cry. In all the time he had known her he had never seen her really cry, except for last night when two tears had slid down her cheeks. Her words shot through him like a spear and he knew them for truth, he turned to leave and found Paris standing before him and knew that he too had heard every word. Hector turned to leave when Paris gripped his wrist and dragged him down the corridor. "What is it Paris? What happened?"

"Andromache is my best friend, and I'm just warning you that if you hurt her I will make you hurt." His tone made Hector refrain from laughing, and so he just stared at Paris. "You have been selfish all these months, and I think that you are just making her suffer for father's arranging of your marriage. You wanted to find love yourself didn't you? You feel like its impossible to love her because you didn't find it yourself-but you know what? You are wrong, she was starting to fall in love with you because she could see deep enough into you-beyond the stuck up ass you've been and see the real you. The way you are to those you love, and you repay her by sealing her off. I think you're afraid to love her, because you will have not been able to prove your point. Think with your heart for once, and put aside the stubbornness and look at her for who she truly is, not as a Princess but as Andromache, just another young girl. She's giving up her life for her family, and what are you giving up? Nothing. You know that men can remarry, you are not leaving your country, your city, your family, she is."

Hector wrenched Paris' grip off of his wrist and just nodded, he turned to leave but Paris spoke, "You are a good man, Hector."

Nodding Hector left to his room with Paris following, to prepare for the ceremony.