Dark Crown {Crowned Trilogy, Book 1} | ↺

[IV] Skylet - Determination & Stubborness ✔ [revised 7/09]

And there's no remedy

For memory

Your face is like a melody

It won't leave my head

Your soul is haunting me

And telling me that everything is fine

But I wish I were dead (dead like you)

Every time I close my eyes

It's like a dark paradise

No one compares to you

I'm scared that you

won't be waiting on the other side

- Dark Paradise, by Lana del Ray

The Crown Heiress didn't know how long it had been. Darkness was not a fair timekeeper.

Skylet sleepily peered out from inside the crook of her arm, where she had been sitting in a tight, fetal position, mostly because it made her feel safer, rather than laying prone on the ground. It was foolish, but she felt that if she was unguarded for even one second, some inky blackness would swallow her, and she would be underground, at the mercy of whatever critters lived there. Skylet shivered in repulsion, and winced as she stretched out her legs. They had been one position too long, and sent pinpricks of tingles up her entire leg in protest.

As she massaged some feeling and flexibility back into her stiff legs, she scrutinized the dark space around her, as if something had changed while she wasn't looking. The same blackness as always greeted her, and a low growl started at the base of her throat – she had welcomed it for a while, but it was possible to tire of looking at one color and not moving or thinking at all. Skylet glanced at herself, thrilled that she could see her clothes and skin, and by the brief burst of color that her dress provided in the monochromatic surroundings.

She patted the fabric, pulled it down, over her knees, until they sat above her ankles, and sighed as she tottered to her feet. A day gown was not the most ideal of all clothing to do what she was planning on doing – walking or running or whatever she'd had to do to find the exit of this place. Though the place, wherever it was, had provided a nice atmosphere for mourning and moping, she would not miss it. She was ready to go back to the Palace and...Skylet suddenly couldn't bear to think of what she had to face when she went back. She just couldn't say it, not even in her mind.

She swallowed hard, and mindfully skipped around the topic. She would address it later – later, when she was out. It wouldn't stop her from doing what she needed to. Skylet had been taught at a very young age that a princess always had to put the kingdom before herself, and that was the case now. She was the Crown Heiress, she had to get back to queendom and...do what was right. She swallowed again, knowing in her heart what the "right" was.

Skylet pushed most thoughts out of her mind as she concentrated on walking, on trying to find a direction to go. The darkness fully enveloped her, and there was a single layer of light covering her skin, enough to see herself, but not enough to see everything around her. She wobbled forward cautiously, trying to still her shaking legs, which seemed as solid and dependable as those of a newborn foal.

A moment later, she deemed her legs worthy of carrying her somewhere, and placed her arms in front of her, trying to feel for anything - a wall or a door or an entrance – anything at all.

After walking for what seemed like a while and touching nothing, she began doubt if what she was doing was really what she should be doing. It seemed to bring her no closer to any exit. She kept at it for a while, however, but eventually dropped her arms to her side, focusing singularly on just walking.