Work Text:
Wish - ‘to want; desire; long for’
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The moonlight streamed in from the stained glass windows, illuminating the empty throne that stood before them and casting a sad, blue glow upon everything it touched. The chair cast a long shadow on the floor, one that seemed to stretch out towards her, the shadows of the ornamental spires on the top of it becoming long, shadowy fingers meaning to catch her legs and feet and drag her back into its seat. It was for that reason that Katsum stood just out of its reach, staring sadly at the throne in the silence of the empty throne room. It was well into the night when she had risen from her bed, finding herself up able to sleep in the midst of her torrent of thoughts. She had somehow slipped past the guards and the soldiers on their nightly posts, wanting to be alone for once. With her gaze falling to the floor, she reached up to the cornet that adorned on her head, gently lifting it from her head and out of her hair and held it before her. She turned it back and forth so that the moonlight shone over the golden metal, sparkling in the low light. With a deep and shaking breath, she finally stepped forward to the throne and knelt down in front of it.
She laid the coronet down on the seat of it, her ears falling back against her head as she curled her tail around her and bowed her head and folded her hand in front of her in prayer. How long she had waited for a moment like this, to be alone in the quiet of the night when everyone slept, so that no one could hear the cries of her soul that she so desperately needed to speak out into the air, to confess them to the heavens.
A tear slipped past her eyelashes as her voice quivered, “Oh Savior above, tell me why you chose me to rule…I am but a child…and what I think is right seems to tear at the very foundations of my beloved kingdom. I am at a loss at what I must do…and I do not understand why my decisions make so many of my advisors angry…”
Katsum bared her teeth to try and hold back her sobs, “I never wanted a throne…I never wanted to rule or have the power to do so. So why…why did you chose me? I only ever wanted what I had…to go out and explore the world beyond the shore…and perhaps I could have done that one day as an heiress but now…now I will never leave this island…so why…”
She could only imagine what the kingdom would say if they heard her speak now, their beloved queen asking heaven why she was burdened with the throne and the crown. What would they think of her then? Would the kingdom fall into chaos, crumbing from its very core? Would people leave the island? Sail away to some distant shore to live in another kingdom? Would she be killed? Would her family…would they be killed too? The answers were far too heavy to bear, and so Katsum kept the questions silent and to herself. She could not afford anyone to learn of them, yet the weight of them became too much, and so she found herself here tonight.
Katsum’s body shook as she cried as quietly as she could, turning her eyes up to the ceiling, “Please, oh Heaven…I wish to go back. I wish the world to be as it was. I do not want the throne anymore, I do not want this responsibility…” She sobbed and covered her face with her hands as she lay her head in the seat of the throne, “I want this to end…I want to go home…I do not want to be queen anymore…”
Suddenly, the door of the throne room creaked as it opened and Katsum gasped, wiping the tears from her face and quieting herself before speaking, “I am in the midst of prayer, please leave me.”
No one answered, yet the person did not leave the room. Instead, she heard the person step closer to her, moving down the center aisle of the room. She took a deep breath and stood to her feet, picking up the coronet and placing it back on her head to resume her high status before speaking again, “I asked for you to leave me. I do not wish for company tonight.”
This time, a voice answered, “Thief…a thieeeef…”
Katsum froze. That voice…or voices…they all spoke in unison yet they all sounded familiar. But she only heard one person moving towards her so who…
She whirled around to face who spoke to her and when she saw them, her eyes widened, “What….what have you…What have you done!?!”
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And on that night, it ended, and Katsum would carry her guilt and the burden of it for years to come…