Raven!Fakir/Wili Maiden = Only True Dark!Crack!Pairing
Fakir glared out of his bedroom window with a dark expression. His mind kept wandering back to the night before and it was beginning to really frustrate him. It was ridiculous. And that fact was infuriating. He hated being affected by ridiculous things.
He had been so close last night. So close to getting a heart. And then she just had to open her mouth...
"You can have it if that is what you truly desire, but it is broken."
Ridiculous. Why should mere words cause such internal turmoil in him? In Fakir. The Raven's son.
The worst part about it was that ever since the night before, he couldn't seem to get his mind off of her; the Wili Maiden.
It was an old story; one that was told in plot of "Giselle". Wili Maidens were the souls of girls who committed suicide before their wedding day. According to the story, their queen still seeks a partner to accompany her into the afterlife; summoning young men to dance with her until they die of exhaustion.
Fakir had no fear of such things. He was not so easily swayed by magical enchantments. The Raven's blood that flowed through him made certain of that. But apparently the specter he had seen the previous night had cast an entirely different spell on him...
Fakir could still see it in his mind as though it were happening right then. He had talked with the young woman, enticing her with sugary words of desire and affection. She had seemed vulnerable enough at first, but then something happened that stopped him dead in his pursuits.
"All I desire is your beautiful heart."
"You can have it, if that is what you truly desire, but it is broken. Will you accept a broken heart?"
Talk. Talk had prevented him from performing his intended task. How was that even possible?
...No. It wasn't just her words that had moved him. Fakir thought back to her eyes; those empty, expressionless eyes that seemed to crave someone to fill them back up with feeling.
"Damn!" he thought, pounding his fist against the windowsill with rage. "What did she do to me? It must be some sort of curse! There's no other rational explanation!"
This was unacceptable. Fakir had to go and find her. Even if he had to force her, he would get her to break this spell she had obviously placed over him. His mind made up, Fakir wrathfully grabbed his cloak off of the hanger and stormed out into the night to where he had last seen the spirit. She would pay for this.
Fakir hadn't set foot in the Wili Maiden's domain for more than five seconds when she suddenly appeared before him.
"Fakir," she said in her soft, hollow voice, "You've come back."
"Stay your triumph," Fakir replied hotly. "I want to know what you did to me last night."
The spirit tilted her head slightly, but her woefully blank expression didn't change.
"What I did?" she echoed. "I did nothing to you, Fakir."
"Don't lie to me!" Fakir snapped. "I'm no fool! You've clearly cast some sort of spell on me! Ever since last night I haven't been able to think straight!"
"Why should I lie?" the Wili Maiden asked simply. "I have no reason to do so. Nor inclination."
Fakir paused. For some reason, he found himself believing the ghost.
"Then why didn't you summon me to dance last night?" he asked, his voice heavy with suspicion. "It seems to me that you wouldn't purposefully spare me without some sort of ulterior motive."
"I don't know," the Wili Maiden replied. "I didn't want you to die."
"That's ridiculous," Fakir said flippantly. "Why wouldn't you?"
"Why didn't you take my heart?" the spirit asked in place of a reply. Fakir's eyes narrowed. He really despised people who avoided giving answers. It was incredibly small and cowardly.
"Because Father needs a beating heart," he replied. "You're dead. Your heart would never do."
"So it is broken, then. You can't use a broken heart."
Fakir suddenly softened, but just as quickly caught himself. He set his jaw and attempted to stare the maiden down.
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "I told you why I didn't take it and I'm not lying."
"Neither am I," said the maiden. Fakir looked away with exasperation. He was getting nowhere with her. He should have expected as much.
"What do you want with me then?" Fakir asked, looking back into the Wili's empty eyes. She simply looked back at him and the two of them gazed at one another for quite some time. Fakir tried to force his mind to form words to further his argument, but they wouldn't come. Shocked at himself, he suddenly realized that being around her was making him inexplicably relaxed. Why did he feel so at-ease in her presence? It didn't make any sense.
Fakir remained lost in the maiden's eyes until he finally let go of the urge to fight her. Utterly shocked at himself, he heard his voice ask "Would you dance with me?" Part of him asked him what the hell he was doing, but the rest of him seemed to soar with delight as the Wili Maiden stepped closer to him and lifted herself up en pointe.
How does one dance with a spirit? Fakir could only describe the experience later as performing a pas de deux with an icy breeze. But for some strange reason, the Wili Maiden felt more real to him than he imagined she could have with warm flesh. As Fakir dipped her low and raised her up into the air, it suddenly occurred to him why he wouldn't take her heart and why she wouldn't summon him to dance to his death.
Could he call it love? He wasn't sure. But he and this maiden shared an understanding. An understanding of emptiness and that need to be filled up inside. Fakir knew that two empty beings could never fill one another, and it was for that reason that he wavered when it came to giving their bond a name such as love.
But there, dancing with his Wili Maiden, he finally understood what it was not to feel alone.
(...I just realized the letter opener has a raven on it. How...appropriate! I'm using that icon for this post, for sure)