Eternity
By Je
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It begins with an idea, as all things do.
The Lady, overseer of the universes, dreams in her eternal sleep, and as she dreams, small bubbles start to pop into existence, until the white blankness of everything that has ever existed is stuffed with them. Some bubbles become people, some become stories, and some become feelings. Everything the Lady dreams materializes into a reality, and when the bubbles start to pop, that’s when a world really begins.
Among the uncountable bubbles are two in particular that are linked and tangled so closely together that if one were to trace the connections to the origin, he or she would never reach the final goal. Suffice to say that each of the two bubbles contained within it a person, and one was a she, and the other a he. They did not have true names, of course, although over the course of time both would know many. But here is where their story begins: in one of the first worlds ever to pop into creation, where a fairytale castle was ruled by a King and his Queen, and a child was born with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony...
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She is Snow White, the fairest in the land. When the huntsman leads her into the forest, she follows, thinking it just a game. She runs from the silver knife and into unknown lands. The cottage is a fine home, and the dwarves take care of her so that she never wants for anything. She cleans, sweeps, cooks, and is content.
The mirror leads the Queen to the cottage, and she almost dies two times over: once from the bodice and once from the comb. After she eats the beautiful apple, she feels herself falling, falling, falling into darkness.
She awakes to the blue of her Prince’s eyes, and falls in love for the first time.
-
She is Cinders Ella, the poor girl in rags who sleeps by the fireplace and wakes up covered in ashes at the crack of dawn. Her stepsisters mock and jeer and whine, but Cinders Ella vows to be better than them. She longs to go to the ball and cries alone when her stepmother and stepsisters leave in the carriage. Cinders Ella remembers another lifetime, when she was queen of the land with her Prince by her side, and she was only ever happy.
Her stepsisters arrive home that night gushing with the news of the handsome young heir with the brilliant blue eyes. Cinders Ella vows to go to the ball the next night, no matter what it costs her. She knows that this is her Prince.
The day passes in a blur and as the door clicks shut behind her stepsisters, Cinders Ella begins to ready herself.
The ball is a bright, ornamented affair, but she is perhaps the brightest creature of all in the eyes of the Prince. He offers her his arm, and they dance. He inquires politely: What is her name? What family is she from? Cinders Ella looks into the same blue eyes she has known for decades and feels her heart sink a million times over.
It’s me, she wants to reply. Your Snow White. Your Queen.
But she doesn’t.
Before she knows it it’s already midnight and she needs to get home before her stepsisters do. She rushes away with forced words of politeness and feels the Prince’s hand on her arm. He asks her to stay with confusion in his voice, but she only tears her arm away and leaves quickly through the back garden.
So distracted is she, that she doesn’t realize she’s lost a slipper until she’s already safe at home, pretending sleep by the red fireplace cinders.
But the next day becomes one to remember, because the Prince appears at the door with slipper in hand, and she steps into the shoe and brings out the other slipper and she knows it’ll all be okay, because it’s a perfect fit.
-
She is Aurora, who pricks her finger on the spinning wheel and falls asleep to wait for her Prince.
When she feels herself awakening, she opens her eyes with wild hope contained in her chest. The eyes that meet hers are green this time, but they are still the same they have always been.
He falls to his knees. My lady, he says, I believe you are the fairest woman I have ever laid eyes upon. Pray tell, what is your name?
Her heart sinks just as it did when she was Cinders Ella, the girl covered in soot. She may be covered in fine velvet and damask now, but nothing has really changed.
-
She is Little Mermaid, who sells her voice to gain a human soul. The pain is excruciating when her fins melt to become legs, but it’s all worth it when she sees the Prince again. In this lifetime, she has no name, but she’s still the same girl who lived with dwarves, woke with the rooster, fell asleep for a long, long time...
The Prince talks with her and accompanies her on walks, making enough conversation to fill in her muteness. She looks desperately in his eyes, hoping to see him remember, but he looks back with the gaze of somebody already in love with another woman.
Little Mermaid wants to give up when the Prince marries the temple girl. But the sea carries her far away and soothes her wounded heart until she’s ready to wait for another lifetime to try again.
-
She is Belle, lovely and purest of hearts, sent away to live with the Beast at the expense of a rose.
She is blind at first to what is right in front of her eyes, but when the Beast falls ill and she sees the truth, Belle weeps bitter tears and confesses her undying love for the Prince she has known for so long.
When her tears touch his face, the Beast becomes her Prince, freed from an evil spell. He thanks Belle for saving him, but it is clear to her that he does not know who she really is. They live happily ever after (in this particular world, at least), but even ever afters do not translate across to different lifetimes in different universes.
-
She is Jasmine, who leans over the balcony in the fresh night air and waits for her Prince to arrive. He takes her around the world on his magic carpet and uses three wishes to defeat the shadowed sorcerer, but without the knowledge of who really she is. Jasmine smiles when they announce their engagement, even though her heart has never been perfectly content.
-
She is Rapunzel of the long hair, who lives in her own lonely world in the top of the tower. She sings when Dame Gothel is gone, wondering about the Prince and where he is now, and what kind of life he’s been born into this time. She’s not unhappy, but she gets so heartsick at times, waiting for nothing at all.
One evening, she hears his voice distantly from outside the window, calling for her to let her hair down. Rapunzel concedes, heart beating wildly, and moments later meets the deep brown eyes of the Prince. She watches in that moment for any hint of recognition; anything at all, but sees only the wonder and surprise of a first-time meeting.
She sighs and covers up her disappointment with a tilt of her head, welcoming him in. He departs before Dame Gothel returns, but promises to come back the next day. Rapunzel sees him off with a sad smile and wonders how the story will end this time. She’s so weary of it all.
-
She is Wendy, who flies to Neverland with her Peter Pan in hopes of staying a child forever. Peter refuses to go back with her once Wendy realizes that life is the experience of growing up and getting stronger. Wendy lets him go and marries someone else, but all the way to the end of this lifetime, she doesn’t ever quite forget the boy who never grew up.
-
She is Gerda, who plays with Kai among the roses. When splinters of the evil troll-mirror enter Kai’s eyes and heart, he becomes a shadow of himself and locks his soul away. When Kai disappears, spirited away by the Snow Queen, she sets out to look for him, despite his cruel words to her.
Not far into her journey, she is trapped by a sorceress, but the sight of roses reminds her of her mission. The robber girl and the reindeer befriend her, and finally they reach the Snow Queen’s palace. Gerda prays a soft prayer, and enters the palace alone.
Kai sits upon a frozen lake, trying to spell ‘eternity’ with pieces of ice, for only then will the Ice Queen release him.
She steps forward hesitantly at first, but then runs up to Kai and kisses him, weeping. The troll-mirror splinters dissolve from his eyes and heart, and he looks at her anew with sparkling eyes, as if seeing her for the first time. Gerda looks back at him fiercely and holds her breath.
Gerda, he says, and she lets out the breath, chastising herself for expecting too much. His next words, though, cause her to stiffen, and she dares not move lest she has heard him wrong.
Snow White. Cinders Ella. My Aurora. Little Mermaid. Belle, Jasmine, Rapunzel... Wendy, who grew up and left me all alone.
I finally see now.
She looks at him with a strange light in her eyes, and takes him by the arm. They dance and dance joyously on the frozen lake as ice whirls around them, smiling and laughing with the happiness of having discovered each other at last; the Princess and her Prince.
And when they tire of dancing and slow to a halt, cheeks rosy with life, the pieces of ice fall to the surface of the lake and spell ‘eternity’.
-
And it’s true: they’ve grown up immensely through the different times and worlds and lifetimes, and in the future, long after their bones have been laid to rest in this particular life, their story will continue on for eternity: the Princess by the Prince’s side, searching for him, watching over him (even if he may not know it), and loving him to the moon and beyond.
-
-
It begins with an idea, as all things do.
The Lady, overseer of the universes, dreams in her eternal sleep, and as she dreams, small bubbles start to pop into existence, until the white blankness of everything that has ever existed is stuffed with them. Some bubbles become people, some become stories, and some become feelings. Everything the Lady dreams materializes into a reality, and when the bubbles start to pop, that’s when a world really begins.
Among the uncountable bubbles are two in particular that are linked and tangled so closely together that if one were to trace the connections to the origin, he or she would never reach the final goal. Suffice to say that each of the two bubbles contained within it a person, and one was a she, and the other a he. They did not have true names, of course, although over the course of time both would know many. But here is where their story begins: in one of the first worlds ever to pop into creation, where a fairytale castle was ruled by a King and his Queen, and a child was born with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony...
-
She is Snow White, the fairest in the land. When the huntsman leads her into the forest, she follows, thinking it just a game. She runs from the silver knife and into unknown lands. The cottage is a fine home, and the dwarves take care of her so that she never wants for anything. She cleans, sweeps, cooks, and is content.
The mirror leads the Queen to the cottage, and she almost dies two times over: once from the bodice and once from the comb. After she eats the beautiful apple, she feels herself falling, falling, falling into darkness.
She awakes to the blue of her Prince’s eyes, and falls in love for the first time.
-
She is Cinders Ella, the poor girl in rags who sleeps by the fireplace and wakes up covered in ashes at the crack of dawn. Her stepsisters mock and jeer and whine, but Cinders Ella vows to be better than them. She longs to go to the ball and cries alone when her stepmother and stepsisters leave in the carriage. Cinders Ella remembers another lifetime, when she was queen of the land with her Prince by her side, and she was only ever happy.
Her stepsisters arrive home that night gushing with the news of the handsome young heir with the brilliant blue eyes. Cinders Ella vows to go to the ball the next night, no matter what it costs her. She knows that this is her Prince.
The day passes in a blur and as the door clicks shut behind her stepsisters, Cinders Ella begins to ready herself.
The ball is a bright, ornamented affair, but she is perhaps the brightest creature of all in the eyes of the Prince. He offers her his arm, and they dance. He inquires politely: What is her name? What family is she from? Cinders Ella looks into the same blue eyes she has known for decades and feels her heart sink a million times over.
It’s me, she wants to reply. Your Snow White. Your Queen.
But she doesn’t.
Before she knows it it’s already midnight and she needs to get home before her stepsisters do. She rushes away with forced words of politeness and feels the Prince’s hand on her arm. He asks her to stay with confusion in his voice, but she only tears her arm away and leaves quickly through the back garden.
So distracted is she, that she doesn’t realize she’s lost a slipper until she’s already safe at home, pretending sleep by the red fireplace cinders.
But the next day becomes one to remember, because the Prince appears at the door with slipper in hand, and she steps into the shoe and brings out the other slipper and she knows it’ll all be okay, because it’s a perfect fit.
-
She is Aurora, who pricks her finger on the spinning wheel and falls asleep to wait for her Prince.
When she feels herself awakening, she opens her eyes with wild hope contained in her chest. The eyes that meet hers are green this time, but they are still the same they have always been.
He falls to his knees. My lady, he says, I believe you are the fairest woman I have ever laid eyes upon. Pray tell, what is your name?
Her heart sinks just as it did when she was Cinders Ella, the girl covered in soot. She may be covered in fine velvet and damask now, but nothing has really changed.
-
She is Little Mermaid, who sells her voice to gain a human soul. The pain is excruciating when her fins melt to become legs, but it’s all worth it when she sees the Prince again. In this lifetime, she has no name, but she’s still the same girl who lived with dwarves, woke with the rooster, fell asleep for a long, long time...
The Prince talks with her and accompanies her on walks, making enough conversation to fill in her muteness. She looks desperately in his eyes, hoping to see him remember, but he looks back with the gaze of somebody already in love with another woman.
Little Mermaid wants to give up when the Prince marries the temple girl. But the sea carries her far away and soothes her wounded heart until she’s ready to wait for another lifetime to try again.
-
She is Belle, lovely and purest of hearts, sent away to live with the Beast at the expense of a rose.
She is blind at first to what is right in front of her eyes, but when the Beast falls ill and she sees the truth, Belle weeps bitter tears and confesses her undying love for the Prince she has known for so long.
When her tears touch his face, the Beast becomes her Prince, freed from an evil spell. He thanks Belle for saving him, but it is clear to her that he does not know who she really is. They live happily ever after (in this particular world, at least), but even ever afters do not translate across to different lifetimes in different universes.
-
She is Jasmine, who leans over the balcony in the fresh night air and waits for her Prince to arrive. He takes her around the world on his magic carpet and uses three wishes to defeat the shadowed sorcerer, but without the knowledge of who really she is. Jasmine smiles when they announce their engagement, even though her heart has never been perfectly content.
-
She is Rapunzel of the long hair, who lives in her own lonely world in the top of the tower. She sings when Dame Gothel is gone, wondering about the Prince and where he is now, and what kind of life he’s been born into this time. She’s not unhappy, but she gets so heartsick at times, waiting for nothing at all.
One evening, she hears his voice distantly from outside the window, calling for her to let her hair down. Rapunzel concedes, heart beating wildly, and moments later meets the deep brown eyes of the Prince. She watches in that moment for any hint of recognition; anything at all, but sees only the wonder and surprise of a first-time meeting.
She sighs and covers up her disappointment with a tilt of her head, welcoming him in. He departs before Dame Gothel returns, but promises to come back the next day. Rapunzel sees him off with a sad smile and wonders how the story will end this time. She’s so weary of it all.
-
She is Wendy, who flies to Neverland with her Peter Pan in hopes of staying a child forever. Peter refuses to go back with her once Wendy realizes that life is the experience of growing up and getting stronger. Wendy lets him go and marries someone else, but all the way to the end of this lifetime, she doesn’t ever quite forget the boy who never grew up.
-
She is Gerda, who plays with Kai among the roses. When splinters of the evil troll-mirror enter Kai’s eyes and heart, he becomes a shadow of himself and locks his soul away. When Kai disappears, spirited away by the Snow Queen, she sets out to look for him, despite his cruel words to her.
Not far into her journey, she is trapped by a sorceress, but the sight of roses reminds her of her mission. The robber girl and the reindeer befriend her, and finally they reach the Snow Queen’s palace. Gerda prays a soft prayer, and enters the palace alone.
Kai sits upon a frozen lake, trying to spell ‘eternity’ with pieces of ice, for only then will the Ice Queen release him.
She steps forward hesitantly at first, but then runs up to Kai and kisses him, weeping. The troll-mirror splinters dissolve from his eyes and heart, and he looks at her anew with sparkling eyes, as if seeing her for the first time. Gerda looks back at him fiercely and holds her breath.
Gerda, he says, and she lets out the breath, chastising herself for expecting too much. His next words, though, cause her to stiffen, and she dares not move lest she has heard him wrong.
Snow White. Cinders Ella. My Aurora. Little Mermaid. Belle, Jasmine, Rapunzel... Wendy, who grew up and left me all alone.
I finally see now.
She looks at him with a strange light in her eyes, and takes him by the arm. They dance and dance joyously on the frozen lake as ice whirls around them, smiling and laughing with the happiness of having discovered each other at last; the Princess and her Prince.
And when they tire of dancing and slow to a halt, cheeks rosy with life, the pieces of ice fall to the surface of the lake and spell ‘eternity’.
-
And it’s true: they’ve grown up immensely through the different times and worlds and lifetimes, and in the future, long after their bones have been laid to rest in this particular life, their story will continue on for eternity: the Princess by the Prince’s side, searching for him, watching over him (even if he may not know it), and loving him to the moon and beyond.
-