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Her eyes followed the hourglass above her.
Sand trickled upwards and floated around like water.
A pale purple hand tapped the edge of the glass object gently. It twirled through the air slowly, moving away from her.
The girl sighed. Brushing deep purple strands away from her face.
Her muted hand outstretched behind her. Grabbing something smooth and ring shaped within her dainty grasp.
Pulling back she stared at a glass halo, her crown.
Within the fragile vessel was flickering stars that drifted around in it like water.
This crown.
This burden.
The delicate piece was their galaxy, their whole kingdom she was supposed to protect.
All by herself.
If it ever got damaged everything would crumble with it. The thought haunted her mind constantly.
She shook her head, trying to ignore the troubling thought.
She propelled herself up with a thin glass-tipped tail. Glancing about the open space.
She scanned the various objects hovering around the room. The walls were smooth and stone shaped. With handles protruding from the round walls.
Her delicate tail wrapped around one of the many handles, pulling her in. This method was used for all travel around the city-ship. She was just lucky enough to be a royal. Common folk weren't born with the assistance of a tail and would frequently be lost to space because of it.
Without dwelling on the dreadful thought she continued through the halls. Guards of various colors and jet black eyes nodded to the teen as she passed.
They were just another obstacle anyways.
Her eyes darted both ways of the hall. Her feet propelled her into the new room. There, among the dimly lit room, a cracked full body mirror stood alone. She grabbed a hold of the mirror to stop herself. Cobwebs grazed her lavender skin, like hands pulling at her nerves.
The rest of the room was a inky black. Only the mirror and three paces into the room were dimly visible by light. The rooms darkness ate any light within its grasp, candles would burn out, lanterns would flicker, and even the faint white glow of the teens crown was consumed by its hunger.
The princes didn't shutter, or even wince at the cobwebs infirm grasp. Her eyes met her own in the mirror. Hands grasped around its extravagant frame.
What stared back was a normal reflection. An ill-lit figure with thistle glass skin and silky iris hair hiding a pair of short willowy antenna. The graceful and slender frame floated just above the seeming infinite darkness. Atop her drifting head of hair was a glass halo-like crown, packed with small dawdling stars revolving lazily.
What? Where was she?
The girl eyeballed her own, dimmed reflection. Staring in thought. She glided pastel fingers delicately off the mirror's cool border. Her tail loosely grasped the frame. The only thing keeping her from being consumed by the darkness, and its infinite unknown.
Weighty steps and incoherent chatter echoed into the chamber.
No. No. No. Dammit, I can't lose her now...
She jerked her torso around, facing the opened door. Wincing as her feet met the cold glass and left. Launching her towards the open door with an outstretched hand.
Her heart drummed loudly in her ears.
The steps get closer.
Her eyes close.
cold
She opens one eye. Glancing at the freezing metal latch under her hand. With a swing, that sends her spinning from momentum, the door shuts.
CLACK
Darkness.
Without the faint glow of the outside light everything was dark.
She spun around, at least she thinks she did.
Waiting in the dark void was the mirror. Even in complete darkness a glare painted over its reflective wall.
The soles of her feet met with a biting cold floor. An unknown sensation. She carried her own weight, a foreign task, to the mirror. Barely holding herself up in front of the mocking glass, relaying her struggle right to her face.
Or lack thereof. The reflective screen echoed her image, but a glare engulfed her face.
Cold
Her hands met with the glass surface. Stopping herself from falling under her weight. Her head lifted to meet her own gaze but it was not reciprocated. That glare persisted. Motionless over her face. Taunting her.
Cold.
Her knees fell next. Hands sliding down the glass with a grating sound. Her head remained limp, staring down at the vast emptiness she seemed stranded in.
Cold.
A gentle hand cupped her heavy head.
tink
tink
The sound of glass followed close by the embrace. The cold, dead, hands lifted her by the cheek.
The reflection cupped the other cheek with a just as frigid, but gentle, almost caring hand. From the neck down remained in the glass wall. But its static white face and ghostly arms stayed inches from her face. The 'reflection' didn't breathe, just stared its empty face into her own.
"Poor child..." It's finger brushed just under her wide eye. "I can help," It cooed.
Her lips parted, but no words came out. Like they were stuck in her racing mind, screaming to come out.
"What do you need?" It whispered, tilting the others face upward more as if to get a better look.
She blinked, lost in its words for a moment. A laden, rod-thin arm lifted upwards slowly. Grabbing the glass halo and sliding it off her head. It met the 'ground' with a sharp ping.
"You want freedom?" It asked, removing its hands from the other's limp face. "From the high and burdened position you occupy?" It specified. Pulling its hands back through the flat screen.
The princess nodded with all the energy left in her.
Freedom.
Free from the responsibility.
It took the crown from her hand, as carefully as possible. Both pale hands wrapped around the glass halo with small singing sounds.
CRACK
Its grip tightened, hard. Too hard.
The small crown shattered in its grasp.
She tried to stop it, but was powerless.
The small star-like fragments cut deep into its hands. Blood trickled down its hands without expression. The weak princess just starred with wide, confused, eyes.
The crown...
No.
The grim realization hit her like a wave.
It stood up within the glass wall, walking away without another word. Its footsteps wavering into the distant abyss.
Shaking hands gripped the cool frame. She shook the mirror with no reply. Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall. Warm tears fell onto her knees in a rhythmic pattern. The darkness seemed to drown out her endless cries. She pounded her hands against the adamantine screen before her with all she could muster. She choked through salty tears, curling up her enervated body into a fetal position. Her hands ran across her shaking arms, struggling to even grip onto herself. Showering tears blurred her vision staring into the black void.
This was never meant to happen.
Her scalp burns and throbs as her own hands pull at her tangling hair.
Why.
Why..
She screamed until her voice gave out. The void consuming the sound mockingly.
It was dark.
Cold.
Minutes.
Hours.
Days.
Years.
She never knew how much time had passed.
But she had grown accustomed to the void, as well as her own company.
Her hair brushed the floor when she stood. Her reflection no longer talked to her, only mimicking her movements in the mirror.
Was her reflection ever alive? Or was she just selfish.
This question ate away at the disconsolate princess. Robbing away hours, days, years of her indefinite situation.
She would cry so much she could no longer cry.
Stare so long in the mirror till she knew every blemish on her skin.
Try so hard to piece the glass back together her hands developed thick calluses.
Recall memories so much the faces blurred together.
Screamed so often she couldn't even part her cracked lips.
Stared into the inky void for so long her eyes would bleed.
Cold.
She was so cold.
She felt dead, but yet she wasn't.
Her eyes shut, not much of a change from the endless black engulfing her.
Done.
She was done.
She felt herself drift.
Her dark eyes never opened again. For she was content and ready to move on.
Everything stilled, the ringing quieted, the weight didn't feel as burdensome.
Maybe it was all over...