A/N: Just a one-shot I thought I'd experiment with….

She's never alone, she thinks.

She watched the sunlight cross her room without so much as moving a muscle, because that's what she's good at. Staying still and quiet, observing from the sidelines. She doesn't cry when she's sad- she locks herself in her room and draws on herself, marks of buildings and towers that could never actually exsist, but can in her mind, and this is why most people question if Ariadne is entirely sane. Maybe not, she muses, but who cares? Only I can hear the voices.

Maybe everyone can, as well. She has yet to meet someone who can.

Even now outside her door, she can hear someone softly singing to her. As she has locked herself inside and thrown the key out the window, she's alone. She can hear the sobs faintly. She wonders if it's an actual person or just her imagination. Probably her imagination. Earlier, during the shadow filled night when Ariadne had not slumbered, she had seen a large golden bird perched on her window, cawing " Arthur. Arthur."

She named the bird Arthur before it flew away.

She's drawn a bird on her arm already, the marker digging into her skin because her hand is shaking so.

The voice is still singing. Ariadne knows the words. That can't be good.

"Are you real?" she asks it, and it stops singing. I've scared it, Ari thinks, going back to her chair in the center of the room. Then the voice starts to speak, telling her names and places, and how is she could just come out, it could help her.

I don't need help!

She doesn't realize she's shouted this until she finds herself at the door, shrieking, beating at it with her fists, and she does this until she's tired herself out and fallen asleep in the pool of blood at the bottom. The marker lies forgotten, uncapped and doused in blood. I don't need help, that's what they said to-

When she wakes it smells like wood and blood, marker and rain. It smells like self-imprisonment and pain, but maybe that's just Ari. She considers trying to open the door, just for kicks, but decides against it and settles into the corner to watch the rain out the window. It splatters against it, and she remembers a night about a year ago.

The street is dark and Ariadne lets herself into her room. There's a figure in there, something moving against the black. She flips open the lights to see a person, moving quickly in the glare of the new lights, and all she gets to see is dark eyes, before something hits her chest, something cold and long and made of steel. She can't grasp the air to breathe, and the world is suspended in one long terrible moment in time. Dark eyes ,dark eyes, beautiful and deadly dark eyes that have her trapped in their glare-

She isn't sure why the rain reminds her of it. Maybe it's because she's buried it with other memories, determined to forget it, but she can't. Maybe this is part of the reason she's to afraid to step outside of her room into her bright apartment with paint smashed onto the unsuspecting walls, with papers scattered everywhere and no pictures of herself or of any of her family. And the voice outside her door is part of it- she's afraid of it- she'll step outside and no one will be there but a voice whispering her fears into her ear. She scuffs her sneaker against the wall angrily for a moment. She likes being alone. She can be alone forever, hiding in the deep calm of forever in her mind...

"Once upon a time there was a princess in a tower..."

Arthur

ipromiseidon'tloveyou.

idon't.

He promises, they make promises both of them cannot keep. She can remember the smell of his breath, like mint and butter scotch candies and orbit gum. He promises he will never love her in between kisses, but he never keeps his promises. And he certainly won't change. But the reason he's so desperate for her to come back out of her prison-to come to him- is just that. He loves her. He loves a slightly mad girl who saw her parents die and was nearly killed herself. One of the biggest mistakes he has ever made.

He loves her, and sings to her outside her door in a valiant effort for her to come back to this world.

(ipromiseidon'tloveyoubutit'salieicannotkeep)

He sings love songs, he sings her name, he sings the barney theme song- but there's only silence radiating from her room. It's been a whole two days, and Arthur knows fully well that she has a mini refridgerator and a full bathroom in there. She could stay in there for weeks and never come back out. Like Repunzel in her tower.

So what is Arthur, then, in this fairy tale? The evil and cruel person who won't let her forget her past? Or the prince who can save her from herself?

There's a shriek from inside and a thump; a few moments later a bloodied marker rolls out from inside.

ipromiseidon'tloveyouipromiseidon'tloveyouipromiseidon'tloveyouIPROMISEIDON'TLOVEYOU)

Arthur sings it to her for a few minutes.

Then out comes a feeble voice.

"Are you real?"

"Ariadne? Ariadne! I can help you, do you remember me? I'm Arthur, I-" he swallows the words love you, "know you, just open the door. I can help you."

There's the furious shriek and a smattering of fists on wood, a heavy obeject rattles the door a bit and Arthur backs away. Then he sits down, back against the door.

"Once upon a time there was a princess in a tower. She had lived there all her life, and had only one visitor. The person who visited her loved her very much, you see, and was afraid to let her go..."

Muffled crying is heard. Arthur perserveres.

"And so made sure there were no doors, only one window. The princess often sang to the world outside her window. And one day, another voice joined her.

"You want your independance

But you wont let me let you go

You wanna test the waters

And leave it on the empty shores

But I'll take my time if you want to

And I'll give you what ever you need

And I'll wait a lifetime to give it to you

Give in to you

You think that you're the sun

The whole world revolves around you

The center of attention

And everything is drawn to you

But I'll take my time if you want to

And I'll give you what ever you need

And I'll wait a lifetime to give it to you

Give in to you

I will wait a lifetime

And I would wait for you

(x2)

But I'll take my time if you want to

And I'll give you what ever you need

And I'll wait a lifetime to give it to you

Give in to you."

Arthur's voice is quite sore from this point, but he still goes on, urged by the silence radiating from the door.

"They sang together, and then the prince stopped and urged the princess to come out of her tower. "

He stops.

"What happens next?" asks Ariadne, her voice extremly close to the next of Arthur's head. He fights the urge to turn around and wrench the door open.

"It's up to you."

The world is a funny place. Before he loved, it was drab, no bright colours and endless repition. And then he fell for the slightly mad girl who dreamed building and loved with a feirce intensity that made his heart sing. The colors became bright and sharp, and he felt like singing. So he did.

"No," says Ariadne.

But she opens the door.

I promise I'll always love you.