Who we are
She runs.
She runs faster that she ever has, and she runs further than she has ever done. She paid no heed to her shoes giving up against the ground, being sent flying from the soles of her feet and she ignored the pain as she ran over rocks and the glass on the street.
She has to run. She must run.
But she's not running hard enough.
Her dress, such as it was, was in tatters; shreds of silk clinging on to her body and gems of all sorts scattered in the wind. Diamonds and rubies, sapphires and pearls; she was not the regal queen she wanted to be. Silk and chiffon, lace and beads; she was no fair lady she wished she was.
No; all she was was a simple young woman. Scarred by the harshness of reality and bitter from the acknowledgment that nothing was fair. Nothing was as it should be, nothing was how she wished and prayed and begged to her Self and the One above. But couldn't she once, just once, pray for just a little bit of break? Shouldn't she have the right to at least have something go her way, just for once?
But wait. She hears him from behind. Running for her. Running to catch her. And she could not bear to face him so she tries to run ever faster.
A hand on her shoulder spins her around; fast and hard so that she rammed straight into a chest so wonderfully warm and welcoming. She looks up and sees him; his features set in a frown and his eyes slitted as he gazes straight into her own.
"You," he says harshly, "You are mine." Without waiting for a reply of any sort, he pressed his lips firmly against hers and despite herself she relished the feeling. The intimacy it brought and the love it promised. But tears that welled up inside of her.
This was a dream. Nothing but a dream.
"Mine," he says again fiercely. But now his gaze is softer, his hands threading through her long hair as he sees the tears fall. With one hand, he gently brings her to him, resting his forehead against hers and his palm firmly on her cheek and slowly brushing her tears away.
Now she presses herself against his chest, and the unshed tears tears away at her heart.
Because this was a dream. Only in her dreams, he is hers. And she knows once she wakes up... she is no ones.
Not even herself.