What Curiosity Killed

(A Legend 1985 AU fanfic)

"The true nature of innocence is not goodness, it is curiosity."

Lili had not thought much about why she touched the unicorn. It simply seemed like the natural thing to do before she was told that it was a grave offense. She did not give much thought to exploring the treasures of an enemy's lair, or dancing with a gown of shadow. She opened her eyes feeling peaceful, but the tranquility quickly gave way to fear, tightening the sides of her lungs as she peered up at the towering demon before her. She shakily pushed herself to her feet, reluctant to betray any of the weakness she felt as she faced the crimson beast.

"Eat!" he billowed, gesturing to a table set with food and wine

"I'm not hungry," she said, shaking, trying and failing to formulate a coherent plan.

"You lie," he laughed, "Just to please me."

"I do nothing for your pleasure," she snapped. "And furthermore, I am a princess. I will not sit. You will kneel." The words coming out of her mouth were natural. As natural as reaching out toward the unicorn. It would have surprised her to hear them, had she been watching herself, but though there was no conscious thought behind her words, it was gratifying to say them.

Though her words were natural to the Princess, Darkness certainly had not expected them.

"What?" His expression grew harsh for a moment, and then melted back into a putrid, syrupy grin. "What... I mean to say is... Would it not be more comfortable, princess, to sit with me and talk?"

"You defy me, and expect my cooperation?" she shouted at the glistening ruby form that loomed over her, "If you do not do as I say, you shall have no audience with me. Whatever you have to say can be said at my feet."

Darkness gawked at her in wonder. Was this truly an innocent? One with a pure spirit? He had imagined such a girl as meek and naive. The true nature of innocence was unknown to him, who was corrupted from his nascence by his Ruined Master. He knew it was unknown to him, but he had imagined it many times as something that would give him great pleasure to obliterate/crush/destroy. He grunted, wrinkling his nose as if smelling something unpleasant, and bent to one knee, "As you command... princess."

The cloud of fear choking Princess Lili dissolved as the demon prostrated himself. She was emboldened by her small success, and looked down upon his twisted ebony horns more with measured caution than fright. She approached him, eyes traveling from his horns to his tiny coal-black eyes, sunken in deep pockets of skin, looking up at her with a longing expression she did not understand. As she had reached out to touch the unicorn, the jewels, the dress, she found herself reaching for the base of the creature's terrible horns.

He closed his eyes, breathing out, and she wondered why he said nothing. She paused, touching his forehead, and then said quietly, "You may speak."

"I offer your highness... a gift. My gift is of eternity. I offer you this rose, princess, my heart, my soul, my love."

Lili removed her hand from the head of Darkness. She looked at him harshly, as an older sibling would look at a younger one who broke a rule. She saw so much that she did not understand in the red form before her. She heard so many foreign tones and novel inflections in his voice, and felt strange emotions surging from those tiny black eyes.

Princess Lili did not quite understand all that she understood, but a part of her knew it like an unspoken language. The way he bent his neck to look up at her and dug the tips of his claws into his knee, she knew somehow that he had no power over her, and that she had every sort of power over him. Her hand returned, this time to his cheek, and her fingers traveled down to his chin, cupping it in her gentle grip. "Release the unicorn, and I shall consider your proposal. Kill it, and I never shall."

His loud, malicious laugh echoed through the caverns as he stood and stepped away from the princess. He could not entirely mask the nervous emptiness in his voice, "You shall consider it soon enough, when night embraces the world and I am all that's left for your company."

"I would sooner consider the moss upon the walls," she scoffed.

"YOU WILL BE MINE!" He billowed, abandoning his pretense, "One way or another!"

She raised an eyebrow, moving swiftly, yet without faltering, "But something tells me you'd much prefer my company alive ..." she said, grasping a large goblet of wine from the table and stepping quickly nearer the fire, "to that of a charred corpse. Do not believe for a moment that you could ever, ever set yourself upon me, force yourself over me, or harm me in any way without a certainty that your carefully planned out eternity WILL NOT go as planned!"

He raised his fists, and lowered them in frustration, crying out, "Insufferable woman! The sunlight is my enemy! It must be..."

"Then stay indoors during daylight. Cover yourself with an umbrella. For goodness sakes, wear a heavy cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, but don't kill a creature that's done nothing to harm you. It is the sun that offends you, not the unicorn. I order you to leave it in its peace."

Darkness tightened his mouth in thought, and silence wound through the cracks in the room like a venomous snake. What was one unicorn's life, when compared to the beauty of an eternal night? Darkness had never seen the sun, for he knew that a single ray of its light would destroy him forever, but he had always loathed the thought of it for cutting off his reach. Curse it! … But, the touch of a young woman, the thought of her smiling in his arms as they sat upon his infernal throne... touching him... the thought of it was too much to deny. Curse her! The little siren was tempting him... and it was working!

"I must... have a moment. Alone." He bowed.

"As you wish," she said, expressionlessly, running her hand along the side of the wine goblet.

He turned quietly on his cloven hooves and vanished behind the mirror.

He was gone. This opportunity was Lili's best chance of escaping Darkness. She could have run... but where would she have gone? Looking back, the princess thought that she might have stayed because she held onto some desperate belief that she could save the unicorn. In truth, she stayed because she could not stop herself from wondering how someone could step through a mirror. She peered cautiously around the glittering room, and crept closer to the mirror. She saw no trace of Darkness there, only her own reflection. She looked quite grown up, she thought, though she felt half naked in a gown with such a neckline.

Her eyes only lingered upon her reflection for a moment before she held out the wine goblet toward the mirror. It passed through the glass in a shimmering shower of silver, just as Darkness had, and passed back out again whole and unharmed. Lili wondered what it might be like to step into the mirror, and as she wondered, so she moved through her own reflection into the realm of the Sire of Demons, the Ruined Master.