The Strings Between Us

Everlasting

The candlelight started to flicker low.

Slappy was staring down at his hands.

Real, warm, human hands.

There were faint scars on the knuckles, small remnants of a life long lost. His chest rose with every breath. His skin stung with cold and life.

Belinda was still leaned against his chest, blinking up at him in awe.

"You... did it." She whispered.

He gave a shaky laugh, half-mad with relief, half-dizzy with disbelief. "I did something."

But his voice was hoarse, uncertain.

He stood slowly, staggering slightly on long legs that hadn't existed in a hundred years.

He caught himself on the altar, breathing hard.

Belinda reached out instinctively, steadying him.

"I don't know what I am," he muttered. "I gave up everything. My strength. My magic. My immortality..."

He looked at her, eyes darker now, more grounded.

"I thought I'd disappear. Burn out like smoke after the fire."

Belinda frowned, shaking her head. "But you're here. Alive. You didn't lose anything. You saved me."

Slappy shook his head. "You don't understand. Everything that made me—me—was cursed. I was a puppet powered by rage and dark magic. I built HorrorLand with fear and chaos. I wasn't supposed to feel."

He placed a hand over his chest, stunned at the sensation of a heartbeat.

"But now... I feel everything."

He smiled warmly and took her hands into his.

"And I wouldn't change it for the world."

~~~

They made their way slowly back toward the castle halls, the fires burned low and walls still echoing with the ghosts of battle.

Belinda kept close to him, slipping her arm around his waist to support him when he stumbled, but soon, his legs grew steadier.

His balance returned. Too quickly.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You're walking like someone who's not just human."

Slappy paused. Then flexed his fingers.

A burst of green light flickered from his palm—brief, but unmistakable.

His eyes widened.

"...What?"

Belinda's heart jumped. "You saw that, right?"

He looked down at his hand. Another spark. A pulse.

Then he laughed—a deep, breathless sound full of disbelief.

"The curse... it didn't just end. It evolved."

"What do you mean?"

"I gave up the vessel. But not the power."

He turned to her, his green eyes brighter than ever.

"I'm still me. But stronger. Alive, human... and still magic. Just not cursed."

Belinda blinked. "You're free."

"So are you," he said softly. "The cracks, the fragility, the wound the wizard gave you—it's gone. You're not some fragile porcelain girl anymore, Belinda."

She flexed her hand slowly. "I feel stronger. Lighter. But still like... me."

Slappy studied her, then slowly reached for her cheek, brushing a lock of hair back behind her ear.

"I thought I had to be a monster to keep power. But maybe that was the curse lying to me all this time."

The air stilled again.

Belinda looked up at him—her eyes reflecting moonlight, full of questions she hadn't dared ask.

He swallowed hard.

"I've been alive a long time, Belinda," he said quietly. "Long enough to learn that nothing ever lasts. Not kingdoms. Not monsters. Not feelings."

He stepped closer.

"But this? You?"

He reached for her hand. Interlaced their fingers.

"I thought I knew what love was. I used to scoff at it. I thought it made people weak. And maybe it does."

He pulled her closer until there was barely a breath between them.

"But right now, I've never felt stronger."

Belinda's voice was barely a whisper.

"Slappy..."

His voice cracked. "I love you."

Silence.

"I know I'm not easy. I'm arrogant. I've hurt people. I was cursed for a reason."

She touched his chest. "You were alone."

His lips twitched, a bitter smile. "Until you."

The next words came slowly. Carefully. As if admitting them out loud might change the course of the universe.

"I want you with me. For eternity, if you'll have me. Not because of the magic. Not because of the power. But because I don't want to live this life—this new, human, terrifying, real life—without you."

Belinda didn't hesitate.

She stepped closer, eyes locked with his.

Her fingers curled against his chest.

"I was afraid," she whispered. "That I'd lose you. That I'd forget you. That becoming human again would make everything fade."

She leaned in.

"But all I feel right now is love. And I don't want to run from that."

Slappy stared into her eyes intensely, his hands firmly grasping her waist as he pulled her in.

Their lips met in the space between a breath.

This kiss wasn't desperate. It wasn't reckless. It was steady and slow — a promise, not a demand. It was two broken people choosing to be whole together.

And in the stillness of that kiss, something clicked into place.

Not magic. Not darkness.

Something real.

~~~

Later, Slappy sat by the window of the castle's highest tower, watching the stars.

Belinda lay curled in his lap, her head rested against his chest; warm and safe, half-asleep.

He looked down at his hand again—flesh and blood, still glowing faintly with residual power.

He wasn't the same man who once cursed his soul to wood and paint.

He was something new.

And so was she.

They had paid the price. But they had found something worth living for.

Even if eternity had other plans, tonight...

They had each other.