A/N: I have not yet decide on the ending. There are actually three endings I am contemplating on, Happy Ending, Normal Ending and a Sad Ending. Do let me know your thoughts on my fanfiction. Thank you :)
Warning: Romance & Angst
*setting based on gree.
* * *
His finger trailed lazily across her bare back, her skin was soft and delicate as a feather, and each touch elicited warmth in his heart. Sieg smiled to himself, gently caressing his beloved’s hair as she lay deep asleep in his embrace, defenseless in his presence. He was contented, he was finally happy. He had found his sanctuary after a long time of searching.
*
Petals were raining down on the sidewalk, the falling blossoms dotting the streets in soft hues of pink and peach. It was finally March, and the month marked their first anniversary of being a couple. Sieg had been staying in Charlotte’s apartment for a week; pampering his lady with kisses and gifts in the short while. Their time together was brief, and each moment was precious, the strenuous duties of a royalty were time consuming.
Sieg had wanted to do something memorable for Charlotte, but an important meeting had demanded him to be back in Dres Van in the afternoon. Sieg was originally planning a subtle trip to the jewelry shop, he had wanted to select their engagement rings together but time hadn’t permitted him to do so. But he was absolutely certain, that he was going to marry this woman, this one special girl.
“It’s fine.” Charlotte assured the disappointed prince, her replies were always too understanding that Sieg had actually wished for her to throw a tantrum at times. “I am just glad that I am able to be with you.”
Sieg watched her quietly in response; she was dressed hastily in his large shirt, her hair in a complete mess, and yet there was a contented feeling churning in his heart from looking at her. Charlotte was preparing breakfast for the two of them, knowing that Sieg had to leave for Dres Van soon, and it was as if she was already his wife. There was so much that she had given him but he couldn’t even give her the simplest thing of them all- his time.
“I will make it up to you.” Sieg embraced her from the back, softly kissing her hair as she gave a light yelp to his sudden affection. “Like this…” Sieg murmured as he started trailing kisses along her neck, pressing his body tight against hers, yearning to learn her scent once more.
Despite her protests, the morning was long and full of love, and it was the last morning together they would have in a long time.
If he knew that she would disappear from his grasp, he would have never let her go.
*
Days had passed by, with Sieg sending messages habitually to Charlotte, speaking of his mundane days as he wished for her to be by his side. She was elated to receive his texts, perking her up in the most tiring hours of work and she would always send her reply back almost instantaneously.
He could still remember her breaths on his skin, her sweet voice ringing in his ears and her gentle touches on his skin.
Charlotte’s replies simply stopped one day. Sieg had deduced that the pastry house was in their busiest period, since it was a holiday season, and he had decided to not intrude upon her lest she would be resting in between time.
Few days had passed; Sieg had then decided to visit Charlotte, after getting worried from not hearing from her at all. He had half expected that she would have lost her phone, hence explaining the lack of contact, since his lover was always so clumsy and so easily confused. But the ominous silence from her apartment spoke otherwise. There was nobody in the house despite the late hours of the day, and he then entered her house using his key.
The bed was untouched, and the pot of Earl Gray was still on the dining table; there were ingredients left strewn across the counter, an evident evening meal in preparation. It was apparent that it had been one or two days since she had last stepped into the apartment. His Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. His heart sank, there was a dark foreboding- and he silently knew it.
*
“She.. is in the.. hospital? His hand hung limply at his side as he processed the news. The other voice apologized repeatedly for not contacting him at once, stating that there were inexplicable reasons. “What do you mean by that, Kuon?”
“…I don’t think she would like to see you. Or us.” Kuon’s voice sounded exhausted, he had loved Charlotte too, a different kind of love. She was like his sister, she was his lovable colleague back at work; and she was now lost to all.
“She doesn’t remember us anymore.”
*
He could still feel her soft lips pressing onto his cheek, her face crimson as she shyly conceded to her defeat- she had lost a bet and she had to kiss the prince. He had gloated afterwards while she fervently demanded him to stop teasing her.
*
“I don’t know who you are.” Charlotte stared at him with a blank face. She was hospitalized, dressed primly in a pristine white gown, her hair draping on her shoulders. She looked fine, except for the cast on her left arm, the thick bandage across her forehead, the numerous tubes extending from the back of her hand and lastly; the emotionless stares she had given them.
Sieg was surprised, and his voice was trembling. He insisted quietly, his voice coming out weak, “Look at me again, please…” He took her small hands, guiding her to touch his face. He was devastated; watching in pain as her face scrunched in concentration- eventually coming to naught.
“I am sorry.” Charlotte answered flatly, quickly retracting her hand as she turned away. She was tired, she didn’t know who these strangers were, they were swarming around her day after day, after her accident.
“We have gotten wind that Charlie was involved in a car accident…” Kuon was explaining to Sieg, he was standing at the back of the ward as the latter sat slouched in the chair. It was the first time Kuon had seen his childhood friend looking so miserable. “The doctor had said that her brain was injured in the crash… there were no major injuries but part of her memories was damaged. She only remembers her time before coming to work in Charles."
Sieg barely nodded in response; his gaze never leaving his lover who had become stranger, she who had refused to look at him. That meant that her memories were stopped at the time before they had met, before the ball, before the work. He was nobody to her now.
“Please leave. I would like to have some rest.” Her voice was frail, and Charlotte was in pain, in her own way. She couldn’t stand anymore people watching her with those eyes full of sorrow and disappointment. Especially with the arrival of the strange man with those deep amethyst eyes, those eyes that had expected her to recognize him, those eyes that looked at her with love.
Who was he?
*
“If you lose me one day, what will you do?” Charlotte had asked Sieg, as she lay on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat as her arm rested on his toned body. He was playing with her hair, entwining strands around his finger, watching the red changing in different shades under the moonlight.
“Well, you can always use a map. Or you can just call me and I will pick you up.” Sieg whispered idly, “Although I doubt that you can read a map.”
“Hey, that’s mean!” She had retorted, laughing as she punched him lightly on his arm. “I don’t mean that way you know…”
“Then…” Sieg thought for a moment before answering her, “I will find you again. And again. I guess I will just have to stick to you for an eternity if you are so easily lost. If I really have to, I will fight with whomever you had run away with.”
“I will just make you fall in love with me again.”
Charlotte had giggled at his cheesiness, her voice silvery and happy, “Really…? But you know, Sieg… if… if I am really lost for good…” Her voice had turned serious as she contemplated her choice of words, “Don’t look for me. You are the Crown Prince after all, be a good King, Sieg.”
His mind was fogged with sleep by then, and he murmured, not completely comprehending her words, “Then I will just have to not lose you…”
*
If one could be dyed in the colour of love, he would be stained with the colours of tragedy, because that was the colour of the love that was lost.
Those words from that day replayed in his mind endlessly, it was almost as if Charlotte had foreseen this day and she had told Sieg succinctly and subtly. Sieg was alone, sitting in a chair in the empty corridor, the door he was waiting to be opened was still firmly shut.
He was at loss for the first time in his life. Sieg was supposed to be reliable and strong; he who would have known what to do in all kind of situations. All except for this.
“Your Highness..?” Hans’ voice echoed down the hallway as he searched for his petulant master. Once he had caught sight of the prince, he willed himself to speak, reminding his master over and over again. “You have to eat, Your Highness, you haven’t eaten in a day.”
“No.” Sieg replied curtly.
Food tasted bland to him, days had become meaningless and the skies were now in shades of grays. There were no more rainbows, there were only rain made of his tears.
*
Hans had sent updates to the prince daily from Charles, as Sieg had to resume his duties back in the Kingdom. The prince was half-hearted in his work, his thoughts drifting to his lover, whom he had not seen since that day.
*
“You are supposed to be my princess.” His fingers had grazed her cheeks as Sieg stared at her. Charlotte didn’t utter a single word; but her eyes were not cold, and in contrast, those large pupils of hers were brimming with tears. She was in pain, she was hurt, she was struggling to remember him.
“I am sorry. Please rest well.” Sieg pat her head, he knew it was inevitable that he had to leave, or she would never recover. “I will always be waiting for you.”
Even if it would take a month, a year, or a decade, he would wait until she would come back to him. When that pair of eyes would look at him with love, like they had used to in the past.
*
Charlotte was discharged; she had left in the middle of the night, requesting anonymity and protection from the hospital staffs, successfully evading the pestering butler.
She had eventually faded into mere memories.
Another year had passed, the sky had turned from shades of red to dark blue, time would wait for no man. Charlotte had taken residence back in Oriens, her home country, away from the prying eyes in Charles.
During that lonesome year, she had felt ill and nauseous, only to find herself to be pregnant with a child. She was pensive about her pregnancy, and despite her parents’ worries, she had decided to raise the child by herself. She knew silently, the identity of the father of her child.
Her little infant was beautiful, her baby girl with those all too familiar pair of alluring purple hues, and inheriting her own tuft of brown hair. Her child reminded her so much of that strange man in the hospital, the man that had clearly loved her with all of his heart, that man who had unwavering determination to wait for her.
She would looked at her infant for hours on end, wondering if the man called Sieg was hers at one point, and if she had loved him so much to give herself to him. If they once had a beautiful love story in the past.
“Memoria.” She named her child, “Of the times I couldn’t remember.”
*
Sieg was adamant to find her, and he was still searching for her relentlessly. A year and a half had passed, these precious times that he could have been with her. It was almost as if the short time together with his lover was nothing but an illusion, as if she was no more than a phantom, a mere conjuring made up in his mind.
Was she angry at him for teasing her so much in the past? Was she upset when he kept addressing her as his family when obviously they had feelings for each other? Was she afraid that he would leave her and marry his former fiancée?
Where was she?
Sieg sat dejectedly in his office, his pen hovering above the stack of documents, his heart nowhere in his work. His reverie was broken when Hans rushed into the room, disheveled and breathless as he started to speak rapidly.
“News…News!”
*
“I love the sea.” Charlotte announced with enthusiasm as she stepped right into the sapphire waves, leaving the prince at the back, “It’s always so peaceful and so calming.”
The cold seawater was soothing, the foam crashing against her legs, and she urged Sieg to come in together with her. “Come on.” She walked towards her hesitant lover, holding his fingers as she gently pulled him in. “See, isn’t it cold and relaxing?”
Sieg seemed to be distracted, however, and he was staring transfixed at the rows of beach houses lining the perimeter. “Sieg? What are you thinking of?”
“I was thinking… we can get one of these houses, if you like.” Sieg turned to look at her, his eyes were full of eagerness as he thought of the future, their future together. “We can come here and spend the weekends in Charles after we are married. Then, maybe we can get another vacation house near the coastline in Dres Van too.”
Maybe that was actually possible one day.
*
The Oriens Princes, Kuon and Shion, had aided Sieg in his search. They had sent out a few men to comb the lands of Oriens covertly, the only likely country she would have gone home to. They had eventually found her after a lengthy time; she was residing alone in a house near the western sea.
Sieg knocked a few times but there was no reply. He was apprehensive and he was worried that this trip might come to a naught. He stood outside for a while, shuffling his feet nervously as his heart thumped hard with anticipation. He had wanted to meet her, to see her, to have her in his arms again.
What am I going to say to her? Should I be angry at her for forgetting me, for leaving me and for not being with me? What should I do? Should I kiss her like I always do, or should I hold her tightly? Can I even… touch her? Am I still… allowed to love her?
There were quiet footsteps before a soft voice spoke.
“…Is that you, Prince Sieg?”
*
“Will you be my princess?” Sieg had asked Charlotte a long time ago when they had finally confessed their feelings to each other. “I promise I will always love you, and I will never let you go.”
She had only nodded, as her voice was muffled with tears streaming down her cheeks; embarrassed yet blissed she was, she had tightly embraced him in response. She loved her, and he loved her, their feelings were finally conveyed to each other.
“who guess if I’ll be able to finish all of them or if I’ll drop this project too”... Oh, I was so predictive, ahah xD So yep, this shouldn’t be the last page, but I won’t go any further.... I get bored quite easily, duh. As I was considering today, I never finished any reinterpretation for myself... and honestly, if I don’t have any input to keep on working, I drop this kind of works quite easily. *sighs*
Page 1 -> HERE
Page 2 -> HERE
Page 3 -> HERE
