I will keep you in mind as something larger than life; Fiasko.

[Tarnished]

I am not the boy who saved her.

Although, his ghost likes to visit me. It has anchored itself to my reflection, so that every time I look, I see his sad little face staring back at me; it hurts to think about sometimes, but Drow tried his best to console me after Else ‘died.’ The rest of our family tried even harder after I discovered her alive and well in The Deserts. I would have none of it. And for several long, lonely years, I wondered what might have happened if I didn’t intervene—if I had just let that stallion smash that little girl into tiny, broken and bloody bits. If I hadn’t told Else, if I had just kept everything to myself.

I convinced myself that things might have been different.

Else would have stayed with me.

But then I met Elanor and Rune.

I hated them, at first; I’d be a liar if I said otherwise. I thought about eating them. I thought about leaving their little bones at the border for their mother and father to find. But I didn’t. I kept my distance, kept an eye on them; I protected them the way I was not able to protect her. And then I couldn’t keep my distance anymore. I taught them things, I played with them, guided them away from trouble. And I loved them—love them—both, as if they were of my own blood.

I am not the boy who saved her, but I do not regret his decision anymore.

“Around,” I reply, grinning. “And you? Where have you been?” I shift my weight and the rest of my body contorts, ripples, changes fluidly from hellhound back to horse. It hasn’t occurred to me until, well, now, that this might not even be what I’m meant to look like; Mother shaped me in her image because I didn’t have one. I wasn’t born in the sense that everyone else was, so how would she know anyways? She’d needed a body to twist me into and this is the first one that came to mind.

Funny, innit?

“I never knew your name, but I suppose you never knew mine either—it’s Tarnished, or Nish,” I shrug, studying her carefully. She looks the same—better, but still very much the same. “Immortal?” I wonder.

@[Fiasko]

[Fiasko]

fiasko

He is not the little boy that saved her, but she is not the little girl that he saved.

She has grown so much since that day he saved her, and not just in size. She has grown in confidence and determination, and has worked hard to help her kingdom grow and thrive. She has become a queen, a lover and a mother. She is someone now. And when he saved her she was no one.

She’s never forgotten him though. Because, everything that she has, all that she is, she owes to him. Who knows what would have happened if he had not appeared on that day, so long ago, to scare off that dark stallion. The stallion might have killed her, and her body might have fertilized the meadow grounds. But it doesn’t, thanks to him. And it’s something she will never forget.

She returns his grin, still marvelling at having run in to him so many years later. “Oh you know, just been keeping myself busy. I live in the Gates now.” It seems so wild that he’s here. Her eyes widen as his body shifts again, this time changing from hellhound to the form he’d first approached her in. A shapeshifter. Incredible. “How … how do you do that?”

He speaks again, introducing himself, and she can’t help but laugh. It’s funny that, even though he’d been so instrumental in her life, she’s never known his name before this moment. “Well it’s nice to meet you Nish, officially this time. I’m Fiasko.” She dips her head in mock formality, grinning her crooked grin. She wonders what he’s been up to since she saw him last. Has he helped anyone else, like he helped her?

She’s surprised when he asks if she’s immortal, but she simply smiles and in a moment of uncharacteristic cheek, decides to let a bomb drop. “Temporarily. Perk of ruling a kingdom.” She can’t help but smirk, just a bit. Will he be surprised to learn of what’s become of that pitiful child he rescued so long ago?

i'm still waiting for the world to end

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