Jackunzel Drabbles (The Original)

An Apollites Day

(Dark Hunter AU)

“And to think I loved you.” He whispered.

His voice was so broken, a shattered self-esteem in a broken infrastructure of trust. She watched as his body grew stiff, as his hands tightened into fists at his sides. She could see the ice under his feet began to crack the ground like a disease, freezing everything in its path. His blue eyes were down and looking away. He couldn’t even bare to see her. To know what she had done yet still find her as beautiful as he did the first day he met her.  

She stood in the middle of the gardens, the moonflowers blooming in the darkness. The gardens were covered with them, spotted with white roses and babies breath. She had walked through his gardens with him in the dead of the night, holding his hand as he told her stories of his home. As he confided in her all of his secrets and confessions, giving her the control even in their differences.

She looked at her lover, on his knees in the dirt, and felt her hand tighten around the dagger in despair. 

Rapunzel knew what she had to do. She was Apollite. She was a daughter of Apollo, a woman of the sun. She was born into the sunlight and given the features of the beautiful spring. Golden hair that fell down to her thighs, green eyes that reflected the lush grass of summer. Her skin shown with sunlight and her lips as pink as the flowers of her home. Yet she was born to die. Each of them were.

Her long white tunic fluttered in the night breeze, “Would you believe me I told you I loved you as well?” she said softly.

Icy blue eyes rose and met hers, filled with hurt and hatred.

“No, I could I? You tricked me into thinking that I could trust you! You told me you loved me than took your opportunity to destroy me.” He said, watching her, his white messy locks moving in a sway of the night.

She felt her resolve break, her shoulders felt weak.

“I didn’t want to…”

“Than why?”

“I’m dying, Jack.” She gave him a sad smile and he tried to ignore the way his heart lurched at the words. “Its our curse. I will not live past my 27th birthday without consuming human souls. I cant do that either. Ive watched my people die at your hands…”

“They were taking human souls!”

“They were my family!” she cried.

There was a heavy silence, the light that bound his hands and ankles bit into his pale flesh. He had never considered the idea that she had felt anything toward them, he never even thought that he might’ve killed the people she once loved. He was just doing as his job required. He was a Dark Hunter, a soldier of the goddess Artemis to take down the Apollites who went down the wrong path and took human souls to stay alive. 

Then he fell in love with one. She was kind and sweet, always there when things got hard, when he felt like he no longer wanted to be immortal. He had searched for her in the dark of night, secret meetings outside her clan and his own. If the other Dark Hunters knew of his affair they would go ballistic. If the Apollites knew that she was laying with a Dark Hunter, she would be executed.

“I don’t have a choice.” She said softly, raising the dagger and taking a step toward him. Her bare feet made hardly a sound on the dirt path of the his gardens.

“You always have a choice.” He said watching her, the ice he tired to harness only melted as it tried to manifest in his hands.

“They told me I must take revenge on our executor.” She said, tears filling her eyes, “Or they would try myself and my sisters for treason. They would hang us.”

He didn’t know what to say, his eyes widened at the barbaric news of her clan. Apollites were a people of the prideful and vain Apollo, no doubt that anything outside their own would mean death. He watched with dread as she made her way toward him, her dagger pointed toward his heart. He pushed his back straight, his midnight blue cloak fell around his shoulders and bared his chest to her. He was bound and on his knees before her, he had no way out and apart of him wanted to save her as much as he wanted to save himself.

He felt the point of the dagger at his heart. She held it with a trembling grip, unable to truly push it through flesh and muscle.

“Im sorry…” she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.

He looked at her and tilted his head in his usual fashion and gave her a smile.

“I always told you that you had the strength to what was needed.” He said, his voice was soft and light despite his position.

She was shocked at his demeanor, at his words. She had come to him with all her woes and told him of how scared she was compared to her sisters. She was always the one who rather be safe than go out and risk her life before she turned 27. When she finally ventured out of the town, she had met him. He was still her strong hold, he was still safe. She would meet him in the dark of the night and felt like nothing, not even death, could get to her. She felt weak compared to her sisters and him. But he always told her that she was strong, she just had to find something to be strong for.

She felt the sobs rack her body, her shoulders shook. She looked beautiful even in her tears. She lifted the dagger once more, pointing it toward his heart. She hoped it would be quick. She hoped he would die swiftly and without pain. He didn’t deserve any of this. None of them did.

She watched as his brow furrowed from the point of the dagger on his skin, his eyes closed and he waited for her to plunge it home.

His eyes opened when the poke of the dagger disappeared and the sound of metal hitting the dirt echoed in the darkness of the garden.

She fell to her knees before him, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him close to her. Her sobs racked her small body, her tears staining his tunic and cloak. In seconds of her touch on his body, the light that bound his hands and ankles disappeared and entered her body once more. He wrapped his arms around her, the cold meeting the sun in a loving embrace. He held her to him, taking in her scent of spring flowers and sunlight. Ice formed under them in intricate designs of contentment and relief.

“I-I-I couldnt do it, Jack.” She said into his shoulder, “I loved you too much.”

He chuckled, pulling back and placing his hands on either side of her face. She looked at him, her cheeks red and streaked with tears. He smiled at her, his icy blue eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

“Do you still? Even knowing what I am?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to find words for the beautiful man before her. He always knew what to say, always able to smile in the worst of situations. He leaned down and kissed her chastely.

“Then we’ll figure this out together.” He said softly.

“And when I die before you?” she mumbled, her eyes searching his.

“I wont let you.”