Frostbitten Past

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"Please, Cornomous, don't leave me down here! Don't let me die down here. Please, please help me!"

She knew it was pathetic, and she knew it was definitely more damsel in distress than hero, but she felt trapped with no other choice. She was never going to cut through time and space again.

She didn't want to stop, even though she was lightheaded and dizzy. She continued to push against the walls, trying to rip them open, trying to cut a sliver big enough for her to escape. The darkness though was like a leech, grabbing onto her, sucking her of her energy slowly but surely.

She ran the claws of her mind down the black walls, trying to get out, trying to cut open the gates of wherever she was. She'd never felt something so hard, so adamant, like bricks against pavement.

She was so desperate. She kept scraping, kept trying to tear open the walls, but she could feel the claws of her mind bleeding, as though she were actually scraping her nails down brick walls. She could feel the pain, but she kept trying, desperate to escape the dark warmth, the dark stench that surrounded her.

"Please don't let me die down here!" She cried out to what felt like nobody. When she closed her eyes, she pictured Noah, the way it had felt to have him in her arms. The way he'd smiled at her, the way he'd shown her warmth that he'd trapped so far within himself. The way he'd shown her his past memories, how vulnerable it had made him.

She pictured her parents, her human parents, the way they used to tuck her into bed at night and kiss her on the forehead. How safe she had once felt, how loved she had once felt. She had been protected, wanted, cherished.

She couldn't give it all up because of this. She couldn't give up Oberon's quick smiles and laughter, and she didn't want to, not because of this hell she'd slipped into.

"Cornomous, get me out! Please get me out!"

Your creator has abandoned you, just as he has abandoned your parents... do not be foolish right now... submit to us, Princess... let that anger flow free...

The words were sickening to hear, because they had to be true. Cornomous wouldn't have let her parents rot down here, not when he'd chosen them to be Queen and King. And the voice was right: why would he save her but not her own parents?

But, she had heard the words of others telling her how Cornomous had always been there, protecting her, watching over her, keeping her safe even as a baby. She had been named Princess almost as soon as she'd been born, but Cornomous himself.

Andorra focused on a string of those words telling her to let her anger flow free, as if that was what they wanted from her. Perhaps it had been her anger that had landed her there instead of in the in-between, and if anger had landed her there, Andorra thought about how she would escape.

She immediately flopped onto the ground and shut her eyes, pulling in a deep breath. She steadied herself, taking more and more deep breaths until it felt as though she'd been sitting there for hours, perhaps more than that. But, as soon as her heart rate had dropped, as soon as the dread and fear was manageable, she opened her eyes to the darkness, and she focused on the single most happy thought in her mind: Noah loved her.

It was the most teenage human thing about her, so of course her happiest thought would be of a boy. But, she thought of him, of the way he'd kissed her, of the way he'd played with her as a child, of the way he'd fought for her. She thought about how happy she'd been when she got a glimpse of his true emotions.

Then, her thoughts drifted towards her parents, towards her earlier memories in California, and how they'd loved her tirelessly. They had cared for her, bathed her, took care of her. She remembered the way her mother had woven ribbon into her hair, and how her father used to carry her on his shoulders.