callmeaprincess | Inbox for labyrinthum

[She stroked Jasmine's hair and closed her eyes, grateful for Jasmine's presence, for all of her loved ones' company, really. Her ears heard that heavy sigh and she let one of her own.]

I'm starting to think these months are meant to be the harshest instead of winter. If we're both here next year, we'll have to see if it's another set of awfulness.

[She shook her head.] That isn't why I came here, I wanted to make sure you were alright. We both... fell to the Green Knight, and we both hurt those we cared for.

[The attention to her hair helps her forget for a moment the horrifying thought of being stuck for a whole other year... being here with Aurora means the world to her, but to have them trapped in a stasis, unable to return to their own kingdoms or to each other's... the longer she's here, the harder it is to think about.

Her eyes drop at the mention of the Green Knight - she expected such a topic, but that doesn't make it any easier to address. Where to even start...?]

It's... hard to know what to do. It's not even my first time being... used like that, so I guess it could have been much worse. At least those I hurt were strong enough to get me out of it... but, I can't help but wonder why he could so quickly take - take over me again and again.

[She subconsciously squeezes Aurora's arm; there's a shakiness to it, revealing how vulnerable the situation made her feel.]

[She keeps holding Jasmine, and hums softly in thought.]

You know, before coming here, I was put into a trance by Maleficent, made to climb up a tower to prick my finger and fulfill my curse. I remember not being able to resist, even as my aunts called for me, crying out my name. I could hear my aunts' voices yelling, pleading at me to not touch anything, and when I tried to fight against it, when I tried to resist, Maleficent's voice came back in full force and I could not disobey... but am I weak for being unable to resist? Is it my fault that I could not fight back? It was not my fault that I pricked my finger on the spindle, Jasmine.

This is no different.

We did not... ASK to be taken over and we did not wish for it. It does not mean our mental fortitude is somehow weaker or we are lesser. We were just targets, a means to an end. [She pushed back some of Jasmine's hair from her face.] Consider if it was Aladdin in your place, you would not say it is a fault of his to fall again and again. You cannot hold yourself to a different standard for forgiveness.

Consider that there were victims of all sorts, gods, mortals, magical and non-magical beings, children and adults, and soldiers and civilians. All of us are different mentally, spiritually, and our abilities all vary wildly.

[That grip tightens on her friend as she speaks - this time, not out of fear, but out of concern. She's known ever since they met what happened to Aurora, but the fellow princess never went into detail of how Maleficent made the curse come true. Once there's silence, Jasmine pulls her into a tight embrace, the hand on her arm moving to clasp Aurora's while the other rests over her back.]

You're right. I would never hold that against you, or Aladdin... even myself. I just wish I knew why he only went after some of us. Why you and me, and Corrin, and Beas- Adam, while Aladdin and Belle were untouched? Is it something we've done? Because we know the fae? Because we're use- used to not having control of ourselves?

[Her voice cracks - that's a vulnerability she may never get over, and perhaps shouldn't. But she allows herself a couple of tears in Aurora's presence, before taking a deep breath and continuing.]

When the Green Knight spoke that first night, my mind went back home. To specific events. Very... difficult events. Did that happen to you?

[She hugs Jasmine tight, stroking her back and allowing herself to cry as well, several tears falling as she just held on to the desert flower. She hadn't really told anyone how it all happened, not in great detail. She relived it in her nightmares sometimes, but she hadn't explained everything that had happened. Eventually, she takes a deep breath and pressed her forehead to Jasmine's, taking deep breaths.]

For me, my mind was filled with the forests from home. My mind went to where I feel most at home and then it just... went blank.

So... perhaps that is what connects us, our minds went home. We would have to ask others to see what they thought of when they succumbed.

[She half-smiles at the suggestion, pulling out her handkerchief to pat at some of Aurora's tears before her mouth settles into a small frown.] Not just any part of home. Things I haven't thought about since...

One was a sorcerer I met, who kept a garden of flowers. He thought humans didn't care about nature, and I tried to prove him wrong.

[That's not the full story of Arbutus... but explaining the rest just reminds her of... well. She swallows before continuing.]

The other... was when I died.

[Aurora paused and then rested a hand atop Jasmine's, pulling Jasmine's hand towards her, her brows knitting together.]

What... what do you mean when you died, darling? [She reached out and held Jasmine's cheek.] Did this happen here or back in Agrabah?

[She turns her hand to entwine her fingers in Aurora's.]

Not long before I arrived here, I dreamed that a figure called the Ethereal would come to Agrabah. She brings judgment to thriving cities. The last ones she'd visited were Atlantis and Pompeii.

[She doesn't know if Aurora has heard of those two cities, but the hesitation in her voice probably says enough.]

When she came, she asked us to show her what makes Agrabah great. We showed the library, our trades, the arts, but it wasn't what she wanted. She started destroying the buildings, and a... a boy fell right under a topping tower, so I... pushed him out of the way, and...

[She shakes in Aurora's hold and squeezes her hand much tighter than she realises.]

...The next thing I remember is waking up in Aladdin's arms. S... sacrificing myself, for the people... was what she was looking for, so she... brought me back.

Jasmine... [She holds Jasmine tighter to her body and strokes her back, inhaling sharply. Her poor desert flower.]

Such a test... it is a spurious test, demanding the death of a leader to dictate the life of a city. I know you would sacrifice yourself again and again for your people, you should not have been tasked with proving it.

[She moved to hold Jasmine's cheeks.] She is not some stalwart arbiter of a person's character simply because she is able to end the lives of thousands. If she were, she would not have needed your life to end simply to pass her test.

You did not deserve that, Jasmine, even if you were revived from it.

Inbox for labyrinthum

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cw: Mention of past death

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