One Step Closer

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I have died everyday waiting for you.

You're only a few yards away from us. The day we've been waiting for with anticipation and dread and fear and longing for so long. We don't have to wait any more. We've found you. We can finally face you.

Darling, don't be afraid. I have loved you for a thousand years.

I wish I didn't have to do this. I draw my sword. This is for the best, right? My grip tightens on the hilt and my knuckles turn white. I'm already fighting. I'm fighting with myself. I'm fighting back tears.

I'll love you for a thousand more.

I've been alive for way too long, and I'll live for way too long after this. The memory will be fresh in my mind for the longest time. It might never fade away. But even then, I won't hate you. I hold my staff, ready to strike. This is for your own good, you hear?

And all along I believed I would find you.

For the longest time it was me that everyone trusted to find you. I'm the smart one, the strategist, so it would make sense that I would be able to track you down. But I couldn't. Gods, I wish it didn't have to be this way. I keep hoping that I'm gonna wake up any second and this will all have just been a nightmare. But it's not. And we have to do this, or you'll only get worse.

Time has brought your heart to me. I have loved you for a thousand years.

In the end it was me who found you. I didn't use any special tools or anything, I just wished that we could find you. I wished that it would end. It was a lucky guess. I'm glad we found you now, before you got any worse. I'm glad that at least you look like your old self. Except that makes it so much harder to do what we have to do.

I'll love you for a thousand more.

Your beautiful green eyes shine in the moonlight. But while they were once bright and full of life, now they're dead. They hold no emotion. You're not you anymore. But you're trapped here. And it's our job to free you. It's our job to learn to let you go without forgetting you. Not this you, the old you. The you that used to paint on everything, with anything. The you that never stopped finding the beauty in everything. The you that was able to make anyone smile. But you have to make the first move. You're the queen, dressed all in shining white, and we're the knights and a king, all bound in black.

One step closer.

White moves first. Then we play.