"Whatever we are, I still remember the way we were."

le pauvre, la princesse et la sorcière

- part ii -

His fourth life happened to be like this, the worst scenario that could ever happen to him or to anyone at all. Long, dirty fingers reached up and swept his equally dirty blond fringe aside, making a bit of his clean, pale forehead show off. Perhaps his forehead was the only clean part of his face. No matter how he looked at it, his visage was covered with smudges of dirt here and there, typical for any beggar.

His hands slid down to his neck, fingers gripping the grayish scarf to tighten it around his neck. It was not particularly cold outside, but he was starting to feel the building coldness of the air. It was late September now, autumn and its deathly, unseen tentacles were slowly painting the surroundings brown, gold, orange and red. Some trees began to shed leaves by now and in no time, the trees would look like bony hands planted in the ground.

The young man heaved a sigh, his exhaled breath was almost a visible white puff which instantly vanished. The temperature was going down rather quickly this time of the year, so soon enough he might take refuge in a social welfare shelter or something. It was never a habit of his to stay in some place longer than a week or two, for people get tired easily of seeing the same beggar hogging the streets for a long time. However, he found it hard to move away, really, when the hazy memories that kept flashing in his mind - whenever it pleased to - finally cleared up like the sky after a thunderstorm. This happened a month ago, and this, too, was the reason why he seemed suspended, stuck, in this place. As a resident beggar. What the freaking hell.

The beggar took the baseball cap resting on his lap and put it on. The shadow it cast on his face somewhat concealed his aristocratic blue eyes, the brightest and prettiest shade of blue that could ever existed - or that was just his mum's belief. She liked exaggerating things when he was still with her. It was just a shame he was separated with her during a family outing, and after that he never found his home. He lived as an orphan and was set free when he was eighteen, alone and clueless how to survive the world. He had been a wanderer-slash-beggar for two years now. During those two years, he managed to get a real job for a month-long, had that car repair shop hadn't closed.

"Len!" yelled someone to the beggar's ears, his body was suddenly pushed forward. A guy with flaming red hair peered down at him, his curly hair sticking out of his berret. "Wow, you looked so dingy. What happened? I found a good ol' man at the third block, down the Estelle Street. He said he was in need of helpers. You're quite knowledgeable with gears and engines, aren't you?"

The dirty beggar who was dubbed Len nodded, a proud smile lit up his grayish face. "You found the right person, Fukase. I know a thing or two since I used to work for a mechanic back in the next city before I came here."

The redhead grabbed the beggar's collar and pulled him up from the ground, then proceeded to dust off Len's coat as if it could really make him at least presentable. "Good, good. Now we have to meet the granny and love with 'im. We'll be apprentices, mate. Finally, God has shown us some mercy."

The two were bickering away from the street where Len used to spend his afternoons to kill time, his palm stretched to ask for spare change. Some part of him was hesitant to leave the place, knowing that he was here for only one purpose. When he was younger, he believed that there was one face he need to find in the sea of people. He was always searching wherever he went to, and here he found that face. It was during the rainy evening of August 30th; Fukase, a homeless fellow who showed him around this town, had left him in that place near the park. It was during that stormy night when he found the face he was looking for in every crowds. Although it was the first time he ever saw that face, in this life at least, all of his hazy flashbacks were now shed with light. The long, slack, teal hair and forest-green eyes and the rosy tanned cheeks, they all belonged to a certain woman. He knew; Len knew it well enough for he had been watching over her for all his lives.

All his past lives came back to him, the memories pushed far deep in his subconscious. The first one, where the two of them lived as royalties. It was a time where everyone was uncivilized, where monsters and mages were real. The earth was filled with thick forests and dangerous waters, and one could find refuge within the stone walls of kingdoms. He was a son of a king, and she, a princess from an ally kingdom. Their first meeting happened to be in a gathering hosted by his kingdom, to celebrate the monster who had been feeding from the herd of the palace. She was a very attractive woman, like a fairy from the heart of the forest, and her very presence had an aura which compelled everyone to curtsy and treat her with kindness. He was smitten - 'twas the greatest understatement of that era. The prince he was, made his way and charmed her with all his guts. She fell for him, and they spent nights talking about their lives. It was on the last night of the banquet when he stole her from the dancing crowd, when she had given all herself to him the night before she went back to their kingdom. He was brought to the peak of his bliss that night, and he knew deep inside him that to part with this lady was the greatest mistake of his life.

Their goodbyes were temporary. He was sure of it. Soon enough, his King Father sent him to their kingdom to aid a mission. Monsters again, destroying the king's army over the sea. Without any second thoughts, he journeyed with his soldiers as what the king willed. Defeating the monsters was his second priority, since his lady would always come first. The princess had a special place in his heart and mind, so months of exchanging letters with her never pacified his desire to be with her again. However, when he was received in that kingdom, the princess was avoiding him.

His fleet defeated the monsters on the kingdom's coastal borders. That was the time when the soldiers called him the ruthless prince, the one royalty who would kill with cold eyes. No one realised that he was actually angry and disappointed with the princess' conduct towards him. Bringing the peace back to the Celts, the king offered him any gift in return for his help. The stubbord, smitten prince he was, asked for the princess' hand. He wanted her as his bride. This wish though was something the king couldn't grant. There was no explanation, no apologies either. The prince was asked for another wish.

"I demand to stay for a while and think over that," he said. Later that evening, he received a message from the princess' manservant. She wished to meet him later evening in the rose garden. No one should know about their meeting, the manservant reminded. When the prince questioned the man's silence, he brought the message after all, his ruby eyes and scarred face brightened with a smile. The redhead had sworn loyalty to Her Highness, and if the princess devoted herself to the prince, so should he.

Prince Loch Lèin and Princess Michaela's love was a bond that had gone deeper than mere physical attraction. Their meeting proved that so. The princess explained why her father denied the prince's wish to marry her, and it was all because of a prophecy upon her birth that her marriage would be the downfall of the kingdom. The princess assured the prince that only he could own her heart, that despite the restraints the king had put on her, she would continue to love him. The prophecy spoke of marriage, never of love.

Night after night, they would rendezvous at the rose garden when the castle was put to sleep. Her ginger-haired manservant, Fennett, was always guarding the two to make sure that no one could find out their secret meetings. However, it all ended when the royal wizard found them out, one stormy evening. She cursed the lovers, claiming that if ever they fell in love with each other once more, both of them should die. The princess did not understand to what purpose that curse stand for, but the royal wizard told her in a frenzied manner that it was always the foolish love which would burn down kingdoms. 'None of you should tear down the kingdom I worked for,' said the mage, 'for I am the very first queen, and I shall prove to you that love is a mere curse that assures downfall and nothing but that.'

The next morning came, bright and lively. In the middle of the rose garden, there lie the bodies of Prince Loch Lèin and Princess Michaela, cold and drenched with the rain from last night's. The roses that had fallen from the branches scattered around them were all black and wilted.

Their second meeting happened around Elizabethan era, where he was known as Baron Lenus, an aristocrat far from being powerful when it comes to anything. She was the princess of Russia this time, Her Highness, Princess Mikhail. They met during the visit of princess in Great Britain. She was the moon, the beautiful thing so out of his reach; and he was a star. Well, many stars were actually tailing her that time, and Lenus was the farthest. The next thing he knew, she was betrothed to the Queen's nephew.

Such news, however, did not stop their fate from drawing close to a realization. They met unexpectedly in some public place, this was when the princess escaped from her maids, and she was in trouble that time. Some ruffians has tried to take her to some brothel, but she managed to escape them. He took her in, let her rest before sending out a boy to inform her attendants that she was found. Lenus talked to her, both her English and French was poor, but they managed to understand each other. Whilst conversing, his mind kept flashing memories he was sure not his. They were vivid images of them, he and the princess, somewhere in a different time and place.

"I'm having a weird headache, Your Highness. You keep showing up on my mind." He meant it as a joke, but the princess smiled and agreed with him.

"Вы тоже," she replied. "Just now, your face - I...I saw it. In my head, Baron."

Before he could react or interpret the way she smiled at him, before he could ask what she saw just now, the doors opened and tall, brusque guards of the royal palace bolted inside his house. He was picked up by his collar and arms and was dragged away from the princess. He didn't see the princess afterwards because he was accused of a crime he was unlikely to do, abduction of the Russian princess.

Their third life happened to be the most unbearable for him. He was born as a son of a farmer, who was soon taken in by the military to send for war. Lendl Hemsworth was the name he lived by then. A poor farmer sent out to war, to hold a gun and shoot people dead. During their raid, he found her trapped under the debris of her house. She was blind, but because of the war, she was crippled too. He didn't remember who she was or who she used to be, upon their meeting. When he was not out there with the troop, he would spend time with her in the shelter where all victims of the war stayed for a while. The girl told him about her dreams, about a boy with a dead rose in his hand. Lendl came to realize that perhaps she wasn't born blind. He thought it was the war which took away her sight, like how it took her legs. He never knew that she was really born blind and it was her vivid dreams that made her feel like she was never blind.

Lendl left her and travelled into places as a soldier. Soon, he married and had children. It was only in his late forty's that the memories of his past lives came back flooding at him. Albeit being thankful was the last thing he would be after the memories returned, he was grateful that she didn't fall in love with him in this era. Probably because she was blind and crippled, that she mistook his love and concern with pity and kindness. Lendl wanted to meet her though, so he visited the place where she used to live. Sadly, there were no traces of her whereabouts.

Len didn't want any of these lives to repeat anymore. He wanted to break that history-repeats-itself adage so he could prove to the Fates that his love would stand the test of time. It didn't matter if she wouldn't recognize him; he certainly wanted both of them alive in this timeline. Memories of their past lives may not come to her, he wouldn't know, but perhaps that would be nicer. She seemed to manage fine as she was now, and so far as he observed, she was single...which was good. For him, at least. He wanted to remain as an unmarried free man in this life, so as not to bear the same guilt he had the last time when he was a soldier. Len would watch over her, like an angel - a beggar angel - for as long as he could; he wouldn't dare test the fate and the pathetic curse, especially when the woman she was always with, the tall, blond woman who reeked of green tea, looked a lot like the crazy royal wizard from the time of Grendel.

request: reincarnation and forbidden romance au. tragedy and angst everywhere. len is trying to save miku from a curse cast on them by a mistake of his in the past(...)

a/n. request completed. not as angsty as you wished it to be, dear. i've been thinking a lot 'bout this prompt, and i thought making no progress between these two dorks is the best TRAGEDY for me. btw, NONE of the mentioned timelines are accurate, esp. their second life in Elizabethan England. Idk if there's a princess of russia 'round that time; and tbh I got the name Mikhail from one of the Russian tsars (coz im so hooked with the last romanov royalties)