Another familiar fairy tale in Vocaloid version is finally done!
And I would love to thank Nerumi H for the review - really, you can't imagine how encouraging your words are to me : D
#2: The Afterlife.
"Your eyes are mesmerizing," That was what he'd always told her. "I can't help but feel as if I were under the deepest of the sea, you see, whenever I dare myself to look into your eyes."
She couldn't take it anymore; that was why, at the same night, a young maiden on a giant ship decided to drown herself in the sea without any last word or even an explanation. Everything happened in a blink of an eye – and just as quiet as how her life on the mainland had turned out to be. People assumed the inevitably upcoming marriage arranged between the prince and his princess was the reason for the girl's despair in the first place. 'Inevitably' indeed, as the princess was the one he owed his own life to; and the poor little girl would never be accepted anyways in a million years even if the prince did have some feelings for her, because she was mute.
xx-xx
A year had passed since the day he found out that little girl at the sea, puzzled and panic, voiceless and with no clothing whatsoever to cover her body, something like a fish tail in miniature clutched among her sandy fingers. After that fateful encounter, not only was the foreign little girl allowed to have a stay in the castle – and somehow considered as the most beautiful maiden of the kingdom, but she also gained special treatments from the prince as well. Most people adored her, some scrutinized her, and others spread rumors; but nothing could get from her more than half of a glance. The brat must have fallen for her savior, the ladies whispered venomously, sending grudging glares to where the little girl was safely tucked under the prince's protective arms. Who does she think she is, with that lowly background of hers, she is far from qualified to walk in the same pace with us, let alone him.
Facing people's judgement, the girl always appeared passive, responding to baseless accusations with an indifferent expression to show them that she didn't care; while in fact she certainly did. She did notice. She did have concerns, and that hurt her more than anything. If only those rumors were the truth. If only she did fall for her savior exactly like what they had predicted, even just a tiny bit. Whenever Len held her close, tracing her crystal orbs with his eyes, she just wanted to open her mouth and throw in his face the ugly truth.
She did nothing but take advantage of the poor boy the whole time. To satisfy the desire for a human soul, she had casted away even her own parents and sisters, using every mean she could think of to stay by his side at all costs. She just wanted to tell him, hey, since I am not the pure little girl you imagine me to be, please stop spoiling me with your love.
She certainly was not the fragile mermaid in fairy tales, loving the prince too much not to sacrifice everything for him. No, all she ever wanted was an immortal life; but now even that desire was slowly broken, replaced by the awakening of her bad conscience. A smile, a glance, or even a slightest touch from him was more than enough to tear her heart apart.
"Stay with me no matter what happens," His voice once again echoed in her head; its aloofness sounded old, like a long-time buried memory. "You know, the only reason I choose to keep believing in this world is nothing other than your existence."
She might be so selfish that everything other than her own dream was of no importance to her; still, she wasn't a creature born with no heart. How could she smear his purest thoughts with the dirtiest ones of her own? Once realizing her true intentions, would he eventually give up on that belief of his, which, he had said himself, was gained by her existence? Just the mere thought of it made her shiver; and so, as time passed by, the moments she spent with the prince turned into real nightmares. She found no difference at all between his beautiful smiles and the invisible judgement she would occasionally hear whenever choosing to smile back: Destruction of others is what you use to get things you want, Rin Kagamine? That voice, that judgmental voice, had questioned her so in a cold manner.
She didn't think she could ever love Len. However, her conscience didn't allow the unforgivable to be carried on any longer.
And so she jumped down to the sea, her mind finally at peace, on the same day he was engaged with his princess. Their engagement had entirely crushed her dream of an immortal life, along with the chains that had prisoned her during the last two years; instead of disappointment, all she felt was relief. For no dreams could ever last long if they equaled the grief of other people – after all this time, the lesson finally managed to sink into her. Even when the human soul was acquired in the end, she was certain all that purchased her till the end of the world would be nothing other than guilt and sorrow.
Definitely not on the ground of an undying love for the prince – like what all the dumb fairy tales had poured into the children's ears, all she wanted was to simply cut off the bond between herself and the humankind.
Waves on the surface instantly growled out before eating up everything that was left of her.
xx-xx
Once upon a time, there was a prince who was never contented with his marriage arrangement. He spent the better part of his life to long for a certain someone – days turned into months, months into years, and years into decades – until the moment his soul was separated from the human world. There was even a firm claim from a peasant that he had actually seen the prince's bruised lips call her name, right at the moment of his last breath.