Stories Unknown

Two Worlds Apart

Song Shot: Astronomy by Conan Gray

"Cinder," Kai whispered, her name a mere sigh upon his lips. He was watching her with that careful stare only he could manage— the one that said he was paying attention, the one that came from years of training to take over his father's empire. "What are you thinking about?" He knew what she was thinking about. She knew that he knew and he knew that she knew. But neither of them would say it.

This feeling hurt more than a knife to the heart— something that she was all-too familiar with. It was the slow burning of her insides. To think back upon other times, times when things were different, times when things worked out and made sense. She remembered meeting him at the marketplace, jokingly asking him if he wanted to run away with her. Sometimes she wished they could just run away, that they had just run away— but it was too late now.

They were older now, no longer children playing at politics. She was a queen and he an emperor. They were monarchs ruling in different worlds, constellations of power, stars never to be united. And as time and distance tore them apart, they became strangers. Lovers without lips to kiss or hands to hold; children grown up, forgetting how to play the game of pretend.

It was a tale as old as time: young love doesn't last forever.

Cinder turned her face out toward Artemisia Lake. It really was a stunning view, despite the lack of sunlight. It wasn't like anything on Earth, but that was just as well. She didn't belong there anymore. And Kai— well, he didn't belong here.

She walked to the ledge, leaning against a pillar, examining the view below her and marveling at just how far the fall was. She could hardly believe she'd once jumped that. It sent a shiver down her spine just to remember.

Kai moved to stand near her, allowing his body to incline against the opposite pillar. But unlike her, he didn't look at the view. Instead, he watched her. He always watched her.

But after years of being apart— seeing each other for mere days between that great expanse— she couldn't look at him. Now she knew— she knew. It was time to go.

"Do you ever wonder why we fell in love? How we fell in love?" Cinder asked. "Was it because of some predestined insanity like fate, or was it because we chose each other? Was it because of compatibility or because it was easy?" She could feel his stare, hot against her skin, never wavering, never ceasing. She was a coward.

"No," Kai breathed in response.

"Well I have," Cinder said, eyes downcast. Her fingers twitched at her sides, itching for a tool to fool with— or perhaps a hand to hold. "I've been thinking about how we've traveled the seas of trial and ridden through the stars. We've seen everything, Kai. We've seen empires fall and new ones rise. We've seen devastation and triumph. We've been together through it all." She let the pain within her consume her entire being. She looked at Kai. "But as much as it seems like you own my heart, Kai. We're too far. We're two worlds apart."

Cinder didn't regret the words— she meant them— but that didn't stop them from hurting. For her heart would always love Kai, and she knew he would always love her. But things had changed since the revolution. They'd grown up; they'd grown apart. And in the end, some things were unfixable.

Kai let out a sigh that rested somewhere between the sound of relief and a sob. It was a noise that mirrored the aching within her— one that matched the mix of emotions going into this conversation. The look on his face, however, was one only of pain.

She'd put a lot of thought into this conversation. Hours upon hours, dozens of sleepless nights and dreary days. She'd examined the situation from every angle. From far away, she wished that she could stay with him— hold onto the hope of them. But now that he was here on her moon, standing beside her, face to face for the first time in ages, he was only a stranger that she had once known.

"I thought that maybe if you came here— if we saw one another— that the feelings would come back. That I'd fall back in love." She released a bitter laugh. "You know what they say: distance makes the heart grow fonder, but..."

"I guess not with us," Kai muttered. He ran his fingers through his hair, allowing the black strands to fall about his face. His cheeks were pink, an unsettling color of distress, but his eyes were set entirely upon her.

"I wish we could run away," Kai said, a wry smile playing at his lips. "Leave this life behind us and just be... just be us."

"No." Cinder shook her head. "I think even if that were an option, it would be a mistake. I think that we were meant to love one another, but I don't think we were it for each other. The stars didn't align."

Kai sighed, but he didn't argue. He looked down at the ground, and it was only then that Cinder noticed the tears on his face. Her heart ached to reach out to him— to take it all back. But she couldn't keep their love alive. They were stars in the sky that didn't align— stars that had already died. And no matter how far they'd been together—from Saturn to Mars, through a universe of stars—in the end they were still just two worlds apart.

"Those damned stars," Kai whispered, eyes sparkling as he looked at her. She let out a breath that was supposed to be a laugh.

"It's astronomy," Cinder said lamely, scuffing her feet against the marble floors. "We're just..."

"Two worlds apart," Kai finished for her.

Cinder felt her heart break into a thousand pieces as she watched his face, but there was something else, too; something that felt almost like freedom. She was no longer tied to this doomed relationship. One built upon teenage dreams— a "good future" that felt more like a trap now that she had made it there. Now she had only herself to consider for the first time in her life. She could focus on being her and living as her own person.

She'd once watched a net drama with Peony and Iko on soulmates. Everyone had belonged to another person, for it was fate— destiny. When she'd fallen in love with Kai, it had almost felt as if it were meant to be, as if they were the only ones for one another. But now she was older—had seen more of the world. Now she knew that love was built on more than the notion of inevitability, that there was no other half for each and every person. And it was a relief.

It still pained her to watch Kai leave, wordless, tears still streaking down his face. Her insides twisted as he retreated into the shadows, leaving her to stare out at the shimmering lake. For he had once been the one she'd imagined ruling beside, growing old next to, loving until she died. But time and space had caused them to grow apart— but it was time and space that would heal them, help them to move on. And they would continue to live their lives from afar, time and space between them, two worlds apart.