Author's Note: Hmm, this might actually progress in order! Perhaps this will turn out to be a story told in drabbles, hm? I am certainly in love with the Carter/Keria pairing, if only for the pure angst potential therein. You know how I love my angst :3
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[ 45 - Illusion ]
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She stands before him and he swears he's gone crazy.
Ten years, he's awaited this very moment and yet, now that it has arrived, he finds himself paralyzed. Despite the yearnings of his heart, his muscles had locked and his bones could do little more than quiver before the sight before him. His lips go numb and all he can focus on is the mystery presenting itself to him.
His princess, whom he had discovered, cared for and held each and every night since that fateful day an entire decade ago, stood before him in all her regality and elegance. Despite the faith he had clung to so desperately that her spirit would return to this earth, he found himself having difficulty believing that this moment was real. Logic and love battled for dominance within his heart and mind.
Light surrounds her like unearthly mist, coiling itself round the gentle hand she extends to him. Hesitantly, he uses every ounce of willpower remaining in his shellshocked corpse to reach out and, for the first time, feel the true warmth of her silken skin. But as he traces the edge of her palm, the woman before him has vanished.
For an instant, he can only stand and blink, wondering if what he had seen was nothing more than a dream. But then, the soft sound of lady's laughter echoed throughout the chamber and he knew what he saw was no illusion. Desperate for another glimpse of ebony locks against ivory flesh, he sprints down the staircase, pressing deeper into the hollow mines.
As his foot makes contact with the rubble of the mine floor, the mist falls upon him once more, wrapping around his body. From the fog glides his lover. She taunts him, twirling round and round in her royal dress. The edge flies up just enough to let him glimpse ruby slippers before the cloud swallows her whole once more.
He lunges at where she once was, throwing himself upon the hard stone of the ground, before hearing her laughter once more and turning to find her imposing image leaning over him. She bends down, resting her hand against his cheek. He dares to stare into the eyes that for so long he'd craved to gaze into. Those eyes, once believed to hold the stars, held nothing but clouded darkness, revealing an empty expanse of a soulless body. Was this his princess?
She leans in closer to him, cold breath ghosting across his skin as she inches closer. Laughter fills the room once more and he feels frozen lips press against his own. The breath leaves his body and his heart stops beating altogether as both agony and ecstasy overthrow his senses all at once. His shadowed lover had come to return his love, yet the visage before him hardly seemed to be the woman he'd imagined.
As quickly as it comes, it ends, with the mist dissipating and his maiden vanishing before he regains conscious control of his body. His heart begins beating once more and, one by one, his senses return as well.
Like lightning, he rushes to her chamber. Yet, as soon as he enters the bedroom, he finds her sound asleep, still in the same position he'd left her in the night before. He feels his heart sink and resumes his routine.
Silently, he takes his seat upon the edge of her bed. Shakily, he brushes back her bangs. Hoarsely, he tells her she's beautiful. Without looking back, he leaves her room and seals the door behind him.
"It is for the best.
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Author's Note: Although I am aware of the scene between Keria and the Witch Princess on how she is truly sealed in the mine, I like to give my own spin to her origins. Any objections?