What is a king without his crown? What is a man without responsibilities? Fools claim a crown keeps a king's head high, but the moment a crown is on their head, those fools' necks snap under the weight of their own ignorance.
History, however, recounts a tale of a fool turned king. A crown was put on the head of a fool. The weight of it threw him down in the dirt, and he rose covered in sin and filth, but his crown still held him tight. A child became a god, a fool became a king. The crown was the start of his undoing. Now, it was a relic of the past that he wanted nothing more than to forget ever happened.
Nightmare wanted to break it.
The gleaming circlet, small in his hands, pulsed faintly with a childish spell. A spell meant to protect it from damage. It was a weak one, cast by inexperienced and foolish youth, and it was easily undone. And yet, it was powerful. A strong spell made with strong magic, a spell that would preserve it as long as it was in place. He could easily undo it and snap the damn crown in half.
Holding it felt wrong. Corruption and rot against something so pure and clean; it almost felt like a sin. An offense. Of course, though, when had he ever cared for such things? Who was he, if not a sinner?
There was no form of redemption, nothing at all that he could ever do to undo the harm he's done. That is, should he wish to. His crimes were too great, the number too large. Forgiveness will never be for him. Whether to receive or to give, he was not free to do either.
The soul who had once worn this crown so proudly was no more. No trace of it left in him. All that remained of that pathetic monster was broken bones and a crown that existed only here.
His fingers trembled with restrained force. His body demanded, screamed, for him to throw it. Break it. Ruin it. He could not. His corruption rippled and spiked its protest. But damn it all, he only put the crown back where it belonged with a gentleness he never granted to anything.
The circlet remained unscathed and Nightmare, once again, couldn't bring himself to change that.
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Challenges!!
Fanfiction[cover is mine!!] I'm not putting this with my oneshots, but this is basically the collection of month prompt lists or week lists, like Kross week or HorrorDust week, MerMay, etc.
