we.meet.again[kya]

[Forte!]

Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguities.

Kya rose her head again, a new light shining in her eyes. It was the light of acceptance, the acceptance of a fate too terrible to think, the acceptance of a love too forbidden to exist. The moon caught the swirling mist of her breath, her nose now pointed to its frost surface, as cold and unfeeling as this love of hers had once seemed. The tears did not ever well at the corners of her eyes now, but a deathly quiet, a silence, a still had fallen over her that was just as mournful. She was the very picture of hopelessness, the frozen frame in which she had realized that this was destined not to last. It could only end in death or separation, and she did not want to die yet. Not so soon after finally falling in love. She dare not look at Blink, but every detail of his face was etched in the creases of her mind, anyway, burning hot like a brand and searingly painful to remember, even now.

Her eyes caught the sharp glisten of the moonlight off of his years as they fell, finally, from his angel's eyes. But her ears were dead to his protests, she herself felt dead. The hopelessness had washed over her like exhaustion, a sorrow so terrible that it ached in the very marrow of her bones. His outrage made her flinch slightly, but she showed no sign of becoming even hollower at his words. It was if every spark of life had been scooped from her and scattered across the snow. She finally turned her eyes to him again, cold, empty eyes, yet gleaming with love and sorrow and rage and hate and an almost unspeakable emotion. Love and life had betrayed her, and she knew, dimly, that if she lay down now and simply let time pass that life would give her mercy and let her die. But she could not, she would not lay down. She was stubborn till her last breath.

She felt his heart break, and she knew that her own was already bursting out of its freshly-sewn stitches. She lowered her muzzle, barely touching his chest, coming into his embrace slowly. She did not speak, for it seemed words could not pass her lips, but simply lay her head in the nook of his chest and stayed still for a long time, mane falling across her head and neck. "I cannot bear to love you, but I cannot bear to leave you. So cruel is fate, but it is done. Not even the neutrals will accept us when this thing is done." She spoke quietly now, her voice no more than the coo of a dove or a whispered lovesong to some lost foal. "I will bear my love for you until my last breath, be it soon or later. But carrying it in my breast will surely kill me, will surely kill us both. We cannot keep this secret for long."

She still did not move, her body shuddering against his in the cold and with the raw emotion that coursed through her. "But I cannot pretend not to care for my life here already, nor you for yours." she said, "I will not leave this place if leaving can be prevented." She had a good life here, and it would have been perfect if not for Blink. But she could not hate him for that. His very presence washed the hate away from her, made her what she should have been all along. "Blink... do we have a choice but to leave each other? But to run away from each other and stay away until our dying day? We do not." Her eyes closed, pressing herself closer to him. "What is there to be done?" She knew that there was no answer that would make them happy, no answer that would make all of this better. But she knew she could not forget her love.

[fearless.]

Kya's hopless features were all that Blink could see. His eyes watery, yet the tears dried up, were filled with an undying image of his goddess. She was his life...and she didn't even understand the full capacity of his love. He wasn't even supposed to have a heart. He was supposed to be a cold, cruel stag with no love for anything except himself. If she only knew how she had completely changed his entire world.

What was to be done? They couldn't live together anywhere in this unforgiving land. They could surely run...or die trying. The others would find away and use this to kill them or banish them. If they were banished they would finally be together, but the what end? No family...no friends.

Blink's heart ached at the very thought of losing his beloved. He would rather die...yet, he knew that they couldn't stay together. Even now, they were in danger of being caught..but he couldn't bring himself to tear apart from her. She seemed reluctant for his embrace and this made his agony swell further.

She, too, understood that this wasn't possible. "Kya...I know...there is nowhere for us to go...we will be banished...or worse." He gulped down a hint of worry and spoke, "killed." He couldn't even wrap his mind around the thought of Kya dying. He would surely kill himself before letting her die.

"And I will always love you...but you're right...this is a forbidden love and they will kill us if they find out." He shook his massive head slowly and his eyes met hers. "I don't know if I can go on without you...just seeing you from a distance? How is this deed even possible? I would rather die than be away from you!" His very soul cried out inside him, begging to be heard. This wasn't easy for the fearless stag...for the first time in his life he actually was afraid of....lonliness?

"I don't know...I am at a loss here...if you wish for me to leave....then I shall tear myself away from my lovely." His head rose and he stepped back a few paces from Kya. It hurt, but it had to be done.

[Spitz]

Batty watched, he listened and every word killed his heart more and more. Tears were streaming down his face as he stood in the trees and watched the pair admitting their love for eachother. He wasn't a evil stallion but even now the thoughts of telling his royals and the dark king were flooded through his mind and growing stronger. "Heartbrake has hit me before but never as hard as this" his kissers parted and his vocals were angry. In a swift flick of his chestnut tail he blinked back the tears and walked through the trees silently and then saw a gap which had the sun beeming down on it. Batty trotted out and into the open and then walked toward Kya and Blink "Kya" he said, angry, "what are you doing with this stallion...is he hurting you?" he said showing the muscles underneath his pelt.

He knew what was really up but he wouldn't let Kya know that just yet so he stood by her and looked at the stallion. He was dark and he wasn't happy to be by him and the rage started to build. "And you, stallion, what are you doing to this beautiful mare? As if you lay a hoof on her you will be ripped to shreds" he said and then nuzzled Kya lightly on her neck. Batty knew the stallion had power and so did he but this would not end up a battle for the mare as it was her choice...in his eyes. "A dark...never been this close to one in my life and have never needed to" he said and tossed the chestnut mane which cascaded down his neck "and I finally meet one. I am Batty and what are you blessed?".

Batty looked down at Kya before letting his gaze look around the lands that they were standing. He had been here before with Smoke and then Aleena but they were now gone and he was left alone until now when mares were starting to come into the land. Kya was one of them and now he doesn't know what to do as he loves her but she doesn't return his love. Kya...I love you" he whispered in her ear so the stallion couldn't hear it. She was the greatest thing that had happened to him in a long time and he didn't want to lose the angel he had next to him now. Batty looked at Blink again and sighed before walking a few paces away from the pair but he turned and stayed watching...the three of them like the points of a triangle watching eachother.

[fearless.]

Blink's misery was apparent in his icy orbs. They pleaded silently with Kya's own. They begged for the situation to be different, but deep down they knew it could not change. This was not meant to be...even though it felt so right. So wrong. His head was spinning from a sudden burst of emotion when another stallion came into the clearing. Blink raised his head and took a step back from Kya. His eyes met hers and he nodded softly to her, letting her know that it would be okay. He could easily kill this stag.

Blink snorted uneasily as the other stallion spoke and nodded his own head, "I am cursed Don't Blink. And I can't say its a pleasure to meet you." He scoffed and added, "Ya right...I'd like to see you try and rip me to shreds. You're just a mangy light." Blink looked solemnly at Kya, letting her know that his words weren't directed towards her in any way.

"What brings you to these neck of the woods, Batty? Do you always stalk the femmes? Seems like an unlikely hobby from a bloody light." Again, a look to Kya. my dearest! i'm only trying to rid us of this pest! Blink forced a yawn from his mouth, trying to act uninterested in the stag and Kya. Although, that was extremely hard to do when all he wanted was to rip the stag's throat out and stomp it into the filthy dirt beneath his hooves.

Blink forced a sly grin to appear on his lips when the light called Batty flexed his 'muscles'. If you could even call those things muscles...He chuckled and flexed his own, his pelt rippling from the sensation of raw strength. Hopefully the wimp would take the hint and leave. Kya was his...and his alone.

[Forte!]

Kya could barely return Blink's mournful gaze. His pain hurt her more than her own, rent her heart again and again until it felt as if she had no more grief to give. She took a step back from him, barely able to meet his eyes for fear. Not fear of him, but fear of what he would bring. For the moment, they were sealed off in a world of their own, safe from the gaze of others. But that could not last long, could it? She broke the gaze an instant before the noise came, the crashing of underbrush and the steaming breath of another.

It was Batty, and she shivered at his appearance. She knew that face well - this was a stallion who had practically saved her life. Where Blink had only tormented her, Batty had been kind, soothing, gentle in his own childish way. Why could she not love him, instead of this dangerous dark stag whom she only barely knew? She herself had no answer to that, and stood, staring, amber orbs fixed upon the two of them at once. Emotion clawed in the depths of her gut, and she seemed to barely hear Batty's question. How could she answer that? If she said that he had been kind, Batty might suspect their love, and if she said that he had hurt her, there would be a fight. And Kya was a peaceful mare by nature. She would not stand for that.

She was saved from having to answer by Blink and Batty's furious exchange. Oh no! This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. She laid her ears back, looking as if she might flee. But then that streak of stubborn pride in her bubble to the surface, and she rose her head, glaring at Blink. For once, something other than perfection met her gaze. She saw him for what he was - a horse, just like all of them. He was not the shining knight, the tome of perfection, that she had seen before. But still she loved him. "Don't... please..." she whispered, the sound barely passing her lips. She didn't know how to say to Blink that this was the stallion who had saved her life, that she would no sooner have him die than die herself.

Her eyes widened as Batty whispered in her ear. Oh! That complicated things. She had known, of course, in that way that she knew these things, that he had feelings for her. It showed in his grief over loves lost, in the way the emotions played across his face. But she had always seen him as still a child, like her, shut off from the the world and incapable of that depth of emotion that she felt for Blink. But she knew now that Batty loved her every bit as much as Blink loved her, and she knew that she would eventually have to make a choice that would tear one of them apart. That was something they could not ask her to do. She could not choose between her knight and her angel, her defender and her savior.