#11 - Happily Ever After

It was late evening, and it was drizzling. The sun was almost set in its place of rest, and the world was cast in a light blue.

The Prince of Thieves drove up the street leading to the suburbs slowly. Snow White was with him, sleeping in the car. It was a long drive, he has been driving for the past four hours just to get to this place.

"Honey, we're here," The Prince of Thieves woke Snow White gently after he parked the car under a tree just beside a row of houses. They both got out of the car, and stood under the tree.

"Is this it?" asked Snow White, looking at the tree.

"Yes, I'm quite sure it is. This is the only tree that has lived since the days of Fairyland," answered the Thief.

"How can you tell?"

"I can tell."

"Okay. So."

"We have to do this, Snow White. We've been running and hiding for milleniums now. We've lived through the rise and fall of a million civilizations. We've been happy. We've been together. And now, this tree is that is left of where we came from, and we can't let it die."

"The tree is not dead yet, dear."

"But it will be, if we leave it like this. It has survived so long without being cut down, its fortune is running out. We have to let it live, at all costs."

"I know."

"We have lived long enough, love."

"Yes, I suppose we have. Everything that lived during our time have already passed on to other worlds. Even the gods and fairies, creatures we thought would be eternal, have all passed on. It is only because you stole death away from us, that we have lived this long."

"Mm. We've seen more than any normal living being would've been allowed to see," agreed the Prince of Thieves. He closed his eyes and thought. About what, we do not know.

"Let us save this tree then," he finally said.

*

Snow White and the Prince of Thieves dug a small hole beside the tree with their hands. The sky was almost dark by the time they had dug. The leaves of the fairy tree slowed the tip-tapping drizzle into streams of water that fell on the two lovers. The Prince of Thieves wept as he pressed his fingers into the ground. Snow White remained silent as she removed the soil.

Both Snow White and the Prince of Thieves kneeled beside the little space that they have dug with their hands. By then the Prince of Thieves had removed his tie, and had put his coat around his beloved. They looked at each other and smiled, before reaching into their bodies with their hands, and removing their hearts.

It glowed red and gold in the night, and nothing more.

Snow White gently placed her shining heart into the ground, and the Prince of Thieves followed suit. Then the drizzling stopped, and the winds ceased to ruffle the leaves of the fairy tree.

As the two of them buried their hearts beside the tree, they remained silent, as did the rest of the world.

*

The Prince of Thieves and Snow White sat under the fairty tree. She was lying in his arms, and The Prince of Thieves gently stroked her coal-black hair.

"The roots of this tree will find our hearts," said, assuring himself and Snow White (for he has said this a thousand times) "and from it, a new world will grow, a world like the one we came from... Whether we have succeeded in restoring Fairyland, I don't think we'll ever know."

"It doesn't matter anymore. We've done what we did. We don't even have time to hope. We are dying,"

"Yes, we are. I love you."

"I know."

And they rested under the tree. Sometimes they were silent. Sometimes they spoke, reminiscing old adventures (for their adventures were many, and mostly dramatic).

Airplanes flew over the skies; trucks, taxis and cars passed that street; paddlers strolled past them, but the world paid no heed to them.

It was their last night in the land of the living. They faded as the night passed. In the lunar cycle, the sky was seventeen days away from lighting a full moon, yet the moon hung from the sky in its full glory that night.

*

As for when the birth of a new Fairyland will be, we will never know. Perhaps tomorrow, or next year, or a thousand years later.

Or perhaps the world would have ran its course by then.

We will never know.

As for the Prince and the Princess, I guess many would tell their tale and say that they did live a "happily ever after" life. Some would go so far to say that their tale lasted almost an eternity, yet seemed too short.

But yes. Happily ever after.

*