if you’ve still got these open
if you didn’t mean it, why did you say it? x vulnerability x second chances for narrator x damsel is my idea
(I feel like I know who this is based on the ship, but if not, it's still a really good request and I think the pairing could be so interesting and sweet!! This is technically HEA as well because that's what I thought it was before looking at it again, so hopefully it's still acceptable. Enjoy!)
She cautiously walked forward, just to the right of the object on the wall. The mirror.
She tilted her head at it curiously, watching the starlight through the cabin windows catch the corner of the glass.
It's so strange. The mirror was always something that she, or any princess, was never meant to see, let alone know about.
It had always been to help Him, for Him to understand everything and himself. She wondered if it would have even made a difference, for a princess to know about the mirror. She's not sure.
Then she sighed, straightening up and gripping her dress tight.
Still, that wasn't why she was here, to see the thing that eluded logic.
She was here because the mirror was the only place where she could find him.
If he still even existed. She hoped he did.
She took another step forward, reaching a hand out and cautiously bringing it in front of the mirror.
She let a quiet gasp out at the reflection, and she wiggled her fingers, entranced at seeing the way the glass showed her own fingers back to her.
Confidence slowly growing, she gingerly stepped closer to the mirror, until she was actually within the space that the glass reflected.
She took a moment to just stare and take herself in.
Her eyes were wide, full of tired nerves. Her cheeks still had those inky tear stains that seemed to be permanent. Her entire body still looked on edge, as if waiting for something to trap her again.
She tried to smile, and it came out small, almost strained. The it dropped as she sighed, looking away from her reflection.
"I was told that maybe you would be here," she softly spoke into the empty cabin, her words bouncing around the walls.
"Everyone says you're gone, but I thought that I would at least give it a shot. Why not?"
She wrapped her shawl tighter around herself, her gaze going to the ground.
Doubts and fears started to creep up on her, the longer that the silence went on.
Would the Narrator even want to listen to her? She knows what his goal had been all along, and Hero had told her what had become of him in the end.
But... she wanted to talk to him.
"I've been curious about you for a long time. For someone that was so invested in me, we didn't actually talk that much."
She knows that their paths had crossed in some instances, like with Spectre or Tower. But those always had more important objectives in mind.
She genuinely just wanted to have a chat with the Narrator.
She lifted a finger up, softly tapping it against the glass.
The others couldn't possibly understand why she wanted to do this, and their confusion and anger wasn't completely unwarranted.
"Most everyone has the same opinion of you, of how determined you were to create your own world, and to drive Quiet and Shifty apart."
"I'm not saying what you did was right. You hurt a lot of my friends." Thorn, Fury, Wraith- all those faces and their pain flashed in her mind.
She leaned against the mirror, glancing up at her reflection. Would something on the other side hear her? Would it hear her heart and the way it beat against the glass?
"But I still wanted to talk to you properly. You apparently used to say that there were so many different worlds and different 'yous'. I just thought-maybe one of those worlds would still have a piece of you in it, and that you would be able to hear my voice."
She twisted, her back flat against the cool glass, eyes trailing to the stars outside the window, feeling an urge to sit under them and marvel at their beauty.
What would he say about the stars? Did he think about them in his grand plan? Or were they one of the few things that comforted him in his time of fear?
"I was talking to Hero, and he spoke about you. Well, he spoke about the way you talked about me, about how different it was."
She took a deep breath in, clutching her dress tight for support, to embrace this vulnerability, even if it may seem like it was just her right now.
"Hero told me that in all the other cabins, with all the other princesses, you were adamant that they all had to die, that they not leave the cabin. But you didn't do that with me."
She hadn't believed it when she first heard it, but the more Hero spoke, the more it made her want to learn, to go out and do something. Some days, it was still hard to think for herself, but this time, she was overcome with an urge to get answers.
Her voice was a soft whisper, not daring to speak the truth so loudly into the world, lest it somehow try to prove her wrong.
"He talked about how you didn't even try to stop me from leaving the cabin with Quiet, how it sounded like you were wanting me to be free."
She chuckled emptily, palms now pressed against the mirror. How could something so simple be making her feel so small and vulnerable right now?
"I- didn't know how to feel about that. At first, I immediately wanted to know why."
Her volume picked up, passion filling her voice. "Why was I the one who changed your view? What did I do that was different? How was my pain different from all the others?"
She paused, giving herself a moment to catch her breath, trying to control her confusing feelings and desires.
There was a lot she wasn't sure about, but she did know one thing. She knew she wanted this.
"That's why I'm here, to try and speak with you, really speak with you. It doesn't feel like we ever got to have a proper conversation."
She shrugged. "I guess I was hoping for a second chance with you, a chance to actually know you."
She turned around, resting her cheek against the glass, enjoying the way it felt against her skin.
"That's something we have in common," she whispered, almost to herself. "We never got a chance to actually do what we wanted. We were both trapped. We both had roles to fulfill. Is that why you let me go? Did you realise we were the same?"
She sighed softly. "Witch says it doesn't matter what you did. You still would have seen us dead in any other circumstance. But if that were true, then why did you say it?"
She bit her lip, looking away suddenly. "Hero said, in the cabin, that you told them that there were worse fates than the end of the world. Then, when we were finally outside, you almost seemed happy for us. You said you genuinely hope this was worth it, even at the cost of yourself."
She stood up straight, feeling herself wanting to push that last little bit, to try and achieve what she wanted to- and if she didn't succeed, then at least she tried, for both of them.
"If you didn't mean it, then why say it? What would you possibly have to gain from lying, even at the edge of death for yourself? That's why I think you were telling the truth, and I really want to talk about it with you."
She wanted to actually understand the Narrator. She wanted to know about his life and his quirks and his fears. She wanted to look at him and see if she could see herself, another trapped person living in fear.
He wanted her to be free, and she eventually got her freedom, after so much violence and death. She knows the Narrator isn't completely innocent, but she knows a trapped soul when she sees one, knows when there is so much more to them than what everyone else sees.
She wanted to help set the Narrator free as well.
But as the silence dragged on, it appears that it might be too late.
She sighed, turning to face her reflection one last time.
She smiled tiredly, then placed a soft kiss against the glass, hoping it touched someone who needed it most.
She took a step back, then turned around, walking a few steps away from the mirror, despite the desire to go back and keep speaking to it. Something about it comforted her.
But then she felt it, and she froze with a gasp. A shift in the air.
Then a voice she knew all too well spoke up, "What would you like to ask, Your Majesty?"
