LJ Idol Season 7: Round Two; Darkside
“That behavior is unsuitable for a lady, my dear…” The elder scowled down upon the girl as if she were nothing but a mule that she would kick if given half the chance.
“I’m sorry, Madame…I will try to be on my best behavior once more.”
The girl curtsied slightly for show while plastering the ever so perfect smile upon her lips. She knew better than to talk back to an elder. There were severe repercussions when it came to such things. She had been lashed countless times in her lifetime and already knew the price of back talking all too well. She had the scars upon her back to remind her forever.
“You should feel privileged to be part of such a golden court, Claire.” The scowl still firmly planted on her face as if she had no other emotion but disgust. “We are the beautiful, lovely creatures everyone else dreams of being. Don’t ever forget how fortunate you are...:
“Yes, M’am.” Claire knew it was her duty to be unpleasant and make sure that the court adhered to the rules that were hung around the square and had been since Claire was a little girl. Rule #5 was “Absolutely no running”. What they should have added to the rule is “If you’re a girl...” since the same rules seemed to not apply to them, but again, Claire learned early on to not argue such matters since it only earned her more scars upon her body to do so.
The elder merely nodded and without a second glance, set out to ruin someone else’s day with her facial expression of contempt.
As soon as the older woman had scurried off, Claire took off once more...only this time walking fast instead of running. What a silly rule to have in place, especially when one was late, she thought. But rules are rules are rules...just as Claire was Claire and that meant trying to find ways to break them every chance she got. Not merely for the purpose of breaking these rules, simply because she couldn’t help herself.
She had to run when she was late, which was often and yet another crazy rule that she had to adhere too. Rule # 6 was “Never be late”...Well how did they expect her to not break Rule #5 in order to not break Rule #6? She had to break one rule in order to not break another. It confused her to think about these sorts of things, so she tried best not to whenever possible.
She made her way right outside the gates, and sat in the field of grass far away from her lovely court. Her friend was also late, but that was to be expected considering the type of creature he was and where he was coming from. His world didn’t have such silly rules about being late. As far as Claire knew, they really didn’t even have clocks that told them when they were late. They merely followed the sun...When it was out, they were early, but after it had gone down, they were right on time. The sun was still barely hovering over the horizon, so Claire really wasn’t as late as she thought she would be. Her running had paid off.
She looked out upon her golden city, admiring it for its beauty and life. Darkness was slowly creeping in upon her, and while being outside the gates after dark is breaking Rule #8, she wasn’t too terribly worried about being caught since even the guards themselves were too terrified to step past the gates after dark.
“Claire Bear!” His voice instantly sent shivers down her spine and made her heart race in only ways that his voice could do. She stared up into those eyes as black as the night around them. He didn’t look mixed if you didn’t look closely...He could almost pass for a pure blood like herself, but his dark eyes and extra arms gave away that his bloodline crossed into the perverse while Claire’s did not.
Before she could say another word, the dark creature of the night wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her softly on her lips. They would settle in for the night out in the pasture, she was not afraid of the bogies and the demons that possessed these parts as long as she was with him since he was as much the enemy as they were, and Claire knew he would never let any harm come to her.
He could protect her from his kind, the dark creatures of the night...but he had absolutely no way of protecting her from her very own people. No one in her village knew about Drake, he was her little secret.
***************
Sometime in the night, she had fallen asleep in his arms, probably in mid-sentence too. She was telling him about the plans her parents had for her, including marrying this awful boy from the city. She didn’t love that boy, but marriage was not about love in her parts. It was about keeping the bloodlines strong, keeping everyone as perfect as they believed themselves to be.
Claire didn’t want to be perfect. She wanted to be Claire, which would mean she wanted to be perfectly imperfect and be happy that way. Drake certainly was happy with the woman she was becoming, but beyond that, no one else could see the beauty that was inside of her.
Not even Claire herself could see it.
She woke up with a start to a loud noise directly beside her head. As she opened her eyes, she heard laughter and snarls coming from directly above her. She opened her eyes and as they adjusted to the darkness around her, she saw two of the Queen’s men standing over her with weapons trained on her.
One look to the man laying beside her and she instantly knew what the loud noise had been as the blood started soaking into her clothing.
She managed a loud cry of “NOOOO!” between the sobs that came on as quickly as she realized what had happened. The guards didn’t give her much time to grieve as they lifted her up by her arms and drug her towards her Court, kicking and screaming the entire time as the blood of her love dripped from her body.
***************
The court did not take kindly to affairs with the Others . In fact, of all the rules displayed everywhere in the court, that was Rule #1. She had broken it and had gotten caught doing it too. There was one, and only one punishment for her crimes.
Banishment.
Claire knew better than to fight it. In fact, she no longer had any fight left in her. Her heart had already been destroyed, she had no desire to live amongst all these shiny, good people knowing that she never really did belong here. She wasn’t perfect enough for them, and she was tired of trying to be. After everything she had endured, she was thankful for the chance of being banished to the Dark Lands. Banishment there meant certain death, as the creatures of the dark, besides her one and only love, would surely love to eat out her heart as everyone knows that they do.
They would relish in eating her very flesh and bone, and drink up her blood as if it were wine...And in that moment, she really couldn’t care less. She just wanted everything to finally end. Being herself was no longer good enough for anyone anymore, so she would gladly cease doing so if it meant the end to all the ridicule.
So with great pleasure, she let the guards escort her to the gate to the Dark Lands. She endured their beatings, their snide remarks at her for being such a dirty little whore to sully herself with the likes of a lesser being...She took it all as it would be over with soon. The pain the demons would inflict upon her would be nothing compared to the pain from her very own people.
They tossed her outside the gates and closed it quickly behind them. The sun was once again setting behind the mountains, and without the protection of her love, she was fair game for anyone and anything which would like to taste her flesh.
She sat down next to a tree and ran her hand down the bark, realizing this very well could be the last sensation she would ever feel. She took a deep breath and cherished the smell of the night air for the last time. Even the air out here smelled sweet, something she never realized. It was the same air the townspeople breathed inside their golden gates, separated from the rest of the world but somehow it just smelled sweeter.
She watched the sun disappear behind the horizon and closed her eyes, waiting for the death she most surely expected and desired.
And nothing. She waited and waited for death to strike her down.
Nothing but the wind rattling the leaves on the tree and then… footsteps.
Footsteps?
Yes...and they were coming in her direction too. This most surely would be the end.
Then a voice.
“Hello?”
She opened her eyes to see as ghastly creature as was to be expected in these parts. He had the body of a horse, and what appeared to be two heads with three eyes a piece.
“You look hurt... Do you need any help?”
Claire looked up into his eyes, or at least one pair of his eyes and saw concern. How could such an ugly beast show concern for her?
“Aren’t you going to eat me?” She asked meekly.
“Eat you, my dear? The creature laughed as if it was the funniest thing he’d heard all day. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you really aren’t my type of food. I much prefer carrots...”
“Well then, aren’t there creatures somewhere that would eat me? We are in the Dark Lands after all...”
“I’m sorry, child...But if you have come here to be eaten, you are sadly mistaken.” He continued to chuckle at her naivety. “Another one from the city, eh? What did you get yourself cast out for? Oh I suppose it doesn’t really matter...I can give you a ride over to the town, where the others who’ve been banished are now living. Nice little village over there if I do say so myself.”
Claire somewhat reluctantly accepted his offer, sure that it was a trick, positive that this would be the end of her. An end she welcomed with open arms. But then something strange happened. She found something she’d never expected to find. Acceptance. Acceptance among the creatures that lived in the Dark Lands, acceptance among the others who had been banished like her. For the first time in her life, Claire was allowed to be Claire.
“I’m sorry, Madame…I will try to be on my best behavior once more.”
The girl curtsied slightly for show while plastering the ever so perfect smile upon her lips. She knew better than to talk back to an elder. There were severe repercussions when it came to such things. She had been lashed countless times in her lifetime and already knew the price of back talking all too well. She had the scars upon her back to remind her forever.
“You should feel privileged to be part of such a golden court, Claire.” The scowl still firmly planted on her face as if she had no other emotion but disgust. “We are the beautiful, lovely creatures everyone else dreams of being. Don’t ever forget how fortunate you are...:
“Yes, M’am.” Claire knew it was her duty to be unpleasant and make sure that the court adhered to the rules that were hung around the square and had been since Claire was a little girl. Rule #5 was “Absolutely no running”. What they should have added to the rule is “If you’re a girl...” since the same rules seemed to not apply to them, but again, Claire learned early on to not argue such matters since it only earned her more scars upon her body to do so.
The elder merely nodded and without a second glance, set out to ruin someone else’s day with her facial expression of contempt.
As soon as the older woman had scurried off, Claire took off once more...only this time walking fast instead of running. What a silly rule to have in place, especially when one was late, she thought. But rules are rules are rules...just as Claire was Claire and that meant trying to find ways to break them every chance she got. Not merely for the purpose of breaking these rules, simply because she couldn’t help herself.
She had to run when she was late, which was often and yet another crazy rule that she had to adhere too. Rule # 6 was “Never be late”...Well how did they expect her to not break Rule #5 in order to not break Rule #6? She had to break one rule in order to not break another. It confused her to think about these sorts of things, so she tried best not to whenever possible.
She made her way right outside the gates, and sat in the field of grass far away from her lovely court. Her friend was also late, but that was to be expected considering the type of creature he was and where he was coming from. His world didn’t have such silly rules about being late. As far as Claire knew, they really didn’t even have clocks that told them when they were late. They merely followed the sun...When it was out, they were early, but after it had gone down, they were right on time. The sun was still barely hovering over the horizon, so Claire really wasn’t as late as she thought she would be. Her running had paid off.
She looked out upon her golden city, admiring it for its beauty and life. Darkness was slowly creeping in upon her, and while being outside the gates after dark is breaking Rule #8, she wasn’t too terribly worried about being caught since even the guards themselves were too terrified to step past the gates after dark.
“Claire Bear!” His voice instantly sent shivers down her spine and made her heart race in only ways that his voice could do. She stared up into those eyes as black as the night around them. He didn’t look mixed if you didn’t look closely...He could almost pass for a pure blood like herself, but his dark eyes and extra arms gave away that his bloodline crossed into the perverse while Claire’s did not.
Before she could say another word, the dark creature of the night wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her softly on her lips. They would settle in for the night out in the pasture, she was not afraid of the bogies and the demons that possessed these parts as long as she was with him since he was as much the enemy as they were, and Claire knew he would never let any harm come to her.
He could protect her from his kind, the dark creatures of the night...but he had absolutely no way of protecting her from her very own people. No one in her village knew about Drake, he was her little secret.
Sometime in the night, she had fallen asleep in his arms, probably in mid-sentence too. She was telling him about the plans her parents had for her, including marrying this awful boy from the city. She didn’t love that boy, but marriage was not about love in her parts. It was about keeping the bloodlines strong, keeping everyone as perfect as they believed themselves to be.
Claire didn’t want to be perfect. She wanted to be Claire, which would mean she wanted to be perfectly imperfect and be happy that way. Drake certainly was happy with the woman she was becoming, but beyond that, no one else could see the beauty that was inside of her.
Not even Claire herself could see it.
She woke up with a start to a loud noise directly beside her head. As she opened her eyes, she heard laughter and snarls coming from directly above her. She opened her eyes and as they adjusted to the darkness around her, she saw two of the Queen’s men standing over her with weapons trained on her.
One look to the man laying beside her and she instantly knew what the loud noise had been as the blood started soaking into her clothing.
She managed a loud cry of “NOOOO!” between the sobs that came on as quickly as she realized what had happened. The guards didn’t give her much time to grieve as they lifted her up by her arms and drug her towards her Court, kicking and screaming the entire time as the blood of her love dripped from her body.
The court did not take kindly to affairs with the Others . In fact, of all the rules displayed everywhere in the court, that was Rule #1. She had broken it and had gotten caught doing it too. There was one, and only one punishment for her crimes.
Banishment.
Claire knew better than to fight it. In fact, she no longer had any fight left in her. Her heart had already been destroyed, she had no desire to live amongst all these shiny, good people knowing that she never really did belong here. She wasn’t perfect enough for them, and she was tired of trying to be. After everything she had endured, she was thankful for the chance of being banished to the Dark Lands. Banishment there meant certain death, as the creatures of the dark, besides her one and only love, would surely love to eat out her heart as everyone knows that they do.
They would relish in eating her very flesh and bone, and drink up her blood as if it were wine...And in that moment, she really couldn’t care less. She just wanted everything to finally end. Being herself was no longer good enough for anyone anymore, so she would gladly cease doing so if it meant the end to all the ridicule.
So with great pleasure, she let the guards escort her to the gate to the Dark Lands. She endured their beatings, their snide remarks at her for being such a dirty little whore to sully herself with the likes of a lesser being...She took it all as it would be over with soon. The pain the demons would inflict upon her would be nothing compared to the pain from her very own people.
They tossed her outside the gates and closed it quickly behind them. The sun was once again setting behind the mountains, and without the protection of her love, she was fair game for anyone and anything which would like to taste her flesh.
She sat down next to a tree and ran her hand down the bark, realizing this very well could be the last sensation she would ever feel. She took a deep breath and cherished the smell of the night air for the last time. Even the air out here smelled sweet, something she never realized. It was the same air the townspeople breathed inside their golden gates, separated from the rest of the world but somehow it just smelled sweeter.
She watched the sun disappear behind the horizon and closed her eyes, waiting for the death she most surely expected and desired.
And nothing. She waited and waited for death to strike her down.
Nothing but the wind rattling the leaves on the tree and then… footsteps.
Footsteps?
Yes...and they were coming in her direction too. This most surely would be the end.
Then a voice.
“Hello?”
She opened her eyes to see as ghastly creature as was to be expected in these parts. He had the body of a horse, and what appeared to be two heads with three eyes a piece.
“You look hurt... Do you need any help?”
Claire looked up into his eyes, or at least one pair of his eyes and saw concern. How could such an ugly beast show concern for her?
“Aren’t you going to eat me?” She asked meekly.
“Eat you, my dear? The creature laughed as if it was the funniest thing he’d heard all day. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you really aren’t my type of food. I much prefer carrots...”
“Well then, aren’t there creatures somewhere that would eat me? We are in the Dark Lands after all...”
“I’m sorry, child...But if you have come here to be eaten, you are sadly mistaken.” He continued to chuckle at her naivety. “Another one from the city, eh? What did you get yourself cast out for? Oh I suppose it doesn’t really matter...I can give you a ride over to the town, where the others who’ve been banished are now living. Nice little village over there if I do say so myself.”
Claire somewhat reluctantly accepted his offer, sure that it was a trick, positive that this would be the end of her. An end she welcomed with open arms. But then something strange happened. She found something she’d never expected to find. Acceptance. Acceptance among the creatures that lived in the Dark Lands, acceptance among the others who had been banished like her. For the first time in her life, Claire was allowed to be Claire.