Wow. Chapter 24. I never thought this story would be so long. Anyways, this is a short chapter, but it's something I think you've been waiting for. Sorry it's so fluffy. I was feeling loved and loving when I was writing, and it all spilled out through my fingers. Enjoy!
Chapter 24 - Waves of Joy
Mimi wasn't giving up so easily. Not with so much at stake. As a princess she had been taught to fight for her town, and to never bow to opposition. Now she was fighting for herself. She was breathing shallowly and her torn fingernails dug into her palm, but her voice remained level.
"Look into my eyes and tell me that. If you can honestly say that I am nowhere in your heart, I shall remount my horse and ride out of your life forever. That is my word, and I shall hold to it."
Matt sucked in a breath and steeled himself for what was to come. However much this hurt her, it was going to hurt him ten times more. Her heart would mend with time. He knew he was utterly forgettable. His own heart would be torn and bleeding for all eternity. But he had to set her free. Any relationship they had could only end in tears. Even though he was a prince now, he was not the kind of prince any king or queen would want as a son-in-law. He hadn't learnt all the royal etiquette that Mimi knew. He wasn't stupid, and he knew he would be seen as crude and unrefined. And if that wasn't bad enough, his kingdom was a wasteland with little to no chance of ever returning to its former glory. Nobody with any common sense at all would want an alliance with Altair. It was inhabited by miscreants and criminals. They followed no law and were every bit as bad as wild animals. The civilised residents of Celestria would be horrified.
So he had to lie. Look her straight in the eye and tell the biggest lie he had ever told, and probably would ever tell. He slowly turned to her, drinking her in. If this was going to be the last time he'd see her, he wanted to keep an image of her inside him forever. A perfect model of beauty to agonise over until the day he died. He took in her fragile frame, which looked like it might break under this stress. She seemed to be vibrating with terrified anticipation. He took in her pale hands, the ones he'd held and felt whole. He took in the pale pink scar on her arm from that day on the mountain. He'd completely unwittingly put her life before his own. Raising his gaze, he stared at her full, dark lips. The lips he had kissed under the stars and the world had sparkled.
He finally managed to look into her eyes. Straight into the deep pools of caramel. He saw such sorrow that it shot straight to his soul. He saw fear of rejection, but also the faintest twinkle of hope. And a love that paralleled the love that kept his own heart beating.
He felt himself soften, and his pretences slide away. And with something so simple, their old connection was back. There was no anger, no fear and no hate. There was just the shining silvery current that joined their very beings. It made even Altair seem to shine again. Now that they were reunited, light seemed to have finally returned to the world of dismal darkness that they had both been living in.
Matt crossed to Mimi in a split second. Wrapping his arms around her and squeezing tightly, he kissed the top of her head before speaking.
"I can't lie to you. I love you more than life itself. I've never told you; maybe I could never find the words, but you are my reason for breathing at all."
Mimi clung to him, her knees wobbling weakly as she sobbed with relief into his expansive chest. When she had finally dried up her well of tears, she hiccuped, wiped her cheeks with the heel of her hand and asked, "So… what do we do now?"
"Well…" started Matt hesitantly, taking her hand in both of his. Not even his worst enemy could accuse him of being a coward, but it took a lot of courage to say what he was about to. He mentally counted backwards from ten, and then spoke. "Would… do you think that Celestria would like an… an alliance with Altair? I completely understand if you don't, but…"
Mimi cut him off. "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"
Matt gave a small, embarrassed smile. Mimi felt a burning warmth start in the pit of her stomach, and slowly move out to tingle in her extremities. Her face flushed deep crimson as he lowered himself into one knee.
"Mimi, my life would be incomplete without you. Please say you'll marry me. I realise I'll have to see your parents first, and clear everything with the higher powers, and probably do a whole lot of other complex stuff that I don't know anything about yet, but please… I'm so in love with you."
Mimi's smile illuminated her whole face. "I am so in love with you, too. You make me the best person I can be. Of course I shall marry you. I do not care if mother and father do not give their blessing. I just want to be close to you always."
Matt stood again and brushed soil off his knees. "You may not care, Mimi, but I do. Please try to understand. If I'm going to be a prince and marry a princess and become a king and rule a whole kingdom, I need to learn some responsibility. And some respect for authority. I want to do this right. For it to be official. And you cannot stay estranged from your family forever."
Mimi sighed, nodding. "If it means so very much to you, I would not have things any other way. I shall take you to Celestria, you may meet my parents, and we shall organise everything the way my mother believes it should be organised."
Matt's face burst out into the biggest smile Mimi had ever seen. The cares he carried seemed to slip away, and Mimi saw him as the child he must have been, before the world had cast off its troubles on him. A boy who was a complete stranger, and yet so very familiar.
His arm took its rightful place around her waist, and they both moved to leave the forsaken city. Even as Mimi leant against Matt's strong form, she thought that there was still something else; something deeper, that had to be discovered.
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Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match
