The Walls We Let Collapse
Once, a long time ago, in the time of kings and queens, a princess led her people to ruin out of greed. To this day, her knight and most faithful servant has not, nor will he ever, abandon her.
Pairing: LenxMiku
Rating: T
Genres: Angst, romance, friendship
Characters: Len K., Miku H.
This is not a happy story. This is angst wrapped in sadness wrapped in tears. I do not know what possessed me to write this.
Oh, God. I feel like a terrible person.
I'll get over it soon.
Anyway, enjoy! If you can, that is...
/
In a tiny village in the mountains just north of the capital city, an old, old house sits as though it were new. Inside this house lives a man the villagers say has lived for far too long. He has memories beyond what books have recorded and his age reaches beyond that of the parents and the grandparents and the parents of the grandparents. Yet despite his age, he looks no older than twenty.
The village children adore him. He talks and tells stories and plays with them. The girls bake him bread and drop flowers at his door. The boys feed his dog scraps and collect firewood for his hard winters and blistery nights. No one knows the man's name, but that doesn't make them love him any less.
On any given day, the man can be found many places. Down by the creek, catching fish with his hands. Or feeding the chickens at Auntie Lily's, who never feels very well these days. But his favorite place is his own house, where children gather nightly to hear his tales and to awe at his knowledge. It's a safe, warm place where everyone is loved. In fact, it's the safest place in the world.
The children all have favorites. Sometimes they request an epic tale of dragon slayers and demon hunters. Sometimes it's the account of Sir Leon, a knight who travelled three days and three nights without rest to come to the aid of a prince. But usually, it's the story of the princess and her ever-faithful knight. The children like this one the most because it makes the man smile the widest. What they don't understand is that his smile is not happy. His smile is one of sadness, of ends that came too soon and promises broken at the worst of times. But he does not expect the children to understand. So he begins his story.
"Once, my children, when kings and queens rule the land, a beautiful princess ruled with a fair hand and a kind heart. She was loved well by her people and times were happy.
"But a witch with no kindness sought power and cursed the princess, condemning her to a life of struggle and turmoil. From this, rose the ghost of a phoenix that the witch had never wished to create. And the princess became a monster.
"The princess's curse affected the entire land. Crops wilted, water ran dry, and children were hungry. Everyone was hungry. But the princess demanded more from her subjects. She wanted everything and more. She wanted enough to quell the witch's greedy heart as well as her own monstrous one. And for that, the people suffered more.
"But the princess was not the princess any longer and could not be blamed for her own actions. Her dearest servant, the man who was secretly in love with the beautiful princess, stole away in the night and found himself at the lair of the with. He begged for her to return the princess to normal, to lift the curse, but she refused.
"But the knight was a stubborn man. For five days, the knight camped not five steps from her door, reaching each day at noon to continue his begging. Eventually, the witch gave in, but not without a price.
"The witch demanded his soul in return for her work. The witch was a greedy, cruel woman with no soul of her own and she wanted one desperately. Without a second thought, the man delivered his soul to the witch and left for the palace, where the princess sat plotting.
"When he arrived, however, not a single person was to be found, save for his lovely princess. She had come to her senses and, with wide, frightened eyes, she approached the knight.
"'Knight!' she began. 'What have I done to my people! What horrible things have these hands dealt!' The knight could not reply truthfully and she fled in panic.
"The knight searched for the girl desperately, but could not find her. When he did finally stumble upon her, she was all but dead, having thrown herself from the highest part of the castle.
"No amount of mourning would do her any good, so he called upon the witch and she appeared.
"The witch, now with the knight's pure and kind soul, could not refuse his pleads, and sent the princess into a deep sleep. Until the say she could be made well, she said, the princess would sleep. And she did.
"The knight waited with the girl day and night. He would wait until the end of time. As neither would age, one with no soul and one in endless sleep, they could be together forever, but would always be forever apart. That knight is still waiting, and will until the day the girl had be saved."
It was a conclusion they had heard time and time again, yet each and every time rendered the children silent, watchful, as the man first drank from his cup and then stretched like a cat, standing from his chair. The stars would be out, and the children sent home, chatting in groups and hugging the man as they left. The man would smile as the last of the children disappeared into the dark night, off to their own beds and homes where family awaited.
The man would climb the stairs, body heavy and stiff from a day of work and fall into one of the two beds upstairs. Before long, he would be asleep.
/
Years later, there was no longer a village. An amount of time you simply cannot count passed and the village was replaced by the largest power plant in the world. Not five miles away, the largest city in the world rose above the horizon, painting the skyline white and silver.
Much like any other city, this one had many hospitals. Each one had its fair share of patients. But one special hospital would soon hold a girl whose beauty could not be described.
A call came in at ten-thirty in the morning. A girl had jumped from the room of her apartment. The ambulance arrived, drove off, and left a man with blond hair and a smile of broken promises behind to watch it go. Not twenty minutes later, the same man stood outside the large hospital, where the girl was undergoing extensive surgery.
The girl would be fine. It would take a while for her broken leg and ribs to heal, as well as the damage so deep you could not see to clean itself up. But the doctors were confident that she would wake up.
And she did. The next day, not a minute before eight a.m., the girl opened her eyes for the first time in years. At first, she was confused. Moments before, she had fallen to a death she knew to be unavoidable. Where was she now?
The man entered her room with a smile and a tilt of the head. Recognizing him, the girl tried to scramble to him, to somehow reach her favorite person, but he pressed her back into the bed with his words.
"Don't move. You'll rip your stitches."
The girl ran a hand over her stomach and found a neat little row of stitches. She didn't know it, but pain medication was keeping her from feeling a thing. That was, until she moved. A hiss of pain escaped her and the man chuckled.
"You're ridiculous," he murmured. "Please, go back to sleep. You'll feel better after resting. Then, I can explain everything to you."
The girl agreed halfheartedly, though quickly fell into a doze that last many hours. She could not be woken by the fiercest of shakings, nor the loudest of noises. It was bliss.
But the man never came back. She prayed for his return as soon as she awoke to an empty room. Days, weeks passed, and he did not return. The doctors had never even seen the man walk in.
But the girl knew. The girl knew that her most trusted, loyal friend had been here, if even for a few moments. He had waited with her for so long, to make sure that she could live and be happy.
And she cried for him, late into the night. Because how was she supposed to be happy without the one she loved the most?
/
"Once, when kings and queens rule the land, a beautiful princess ruled with a fair hand and a kind heart. She was loved well by her people and times were happy.
"And once, the kindest man of all ruled the heart of a princess, and led her to the happiest of times, even if he was not there to love her."