Because of you

This week’s prompt on Search Engine Stories was ‘because of you‘.  Well in fact, this week we were lucky enough to get two prompts.  Because of you was the main one, but we were also provided with the idea of a prompt to write a perfect paragraph, that one being ‘road’. 

I struggled to incorporate road into my WriMo story, mainly because I haven’t come accross any roads yet, and can’t imagine doing so.  I also thought about because of you, but couldn’t really see how it would integrate into the story. 

Yesterday morning I wrote.  It’s one of the advantages of having a deadly quiet job, stuck at a computer all day long.  Nobody can tell when you’re not typing for work and are typing something else entirely.  I wrote the best part of 700 words, and I was really struggling.  I’m sure if you were reading my caramel waffles yesterday you may have guessed that one.  I’d come to the point where a major bomb-shell had just been dropped on the main character, at a time when she is battling with quite a mix of emotions anyway, and I was having great difficulty putting everything into words.  Of course, none of that is helped when I spend my few spare moments (they seem only to occur on the train now) reading about the beauty of Bella and Edward’s love. 

Then I screwed up.  Big time.  In a crap I’ve forgotten to save my novel and shut the window down moment I lost all those words.  Everything except the first sentence of the day.  I stared at the screen hoping that I would remember what I’d written, but I couldn’t even find the outline of what I’d laid down.  I just couldn’t get it back.  And that was how I stayed for most of the afternoon, desperately trying to remember.

Then I saw Selma‘s because of you and I figured I had nothing left to lose. I used the prompt to get the story moving again, and Search Engine Stories saved the day.

Tears rolled down Alia’s cheeks as she reflected on the sacrifice her mother had made for her.  Because of the sacrifice her mother had made, she had spent her life so far in the crystal towers, safely away from the war that had ravaged the land, cultivating the magic that she had always thought would one day lead her people.  As Larius wiped the tears with his sleeve he pulled Alia in closer, his strength enveloping her sobbing form. 
          ”You said that you were waiting for me?” she questioned him.  ”All this time you knew that I would be here, that I would be brought here against both my and my father’s wishes and that I would fall in love with you, because a spell would give me no choice.”  Ahe pushed him away and crawled backwards over the ground.  “I was falling in love with you, and I thought it was because of you, but all this time it wasn’t me.  It wasn’t even you.  It was because of a spell” she spat, her voice suddenly filled with bitterness and rage.
          ”No” he whispered, hurt by her angry accusations.  “When I held you as a baby…”
          ”You never!” she cried, cutting him off.  “My mother would never have let a monster like you near me.”
          ”Tell me you truly don’t believe that.  I am no monster, only moments ago you said you were falling in love.  Surely you couldn’t fall in love with a monster?”
          Alia grew silent with what she knew was the truth.  “You knew me.  As a child?” she whispered, unsure of both Larius and herself.
          ”I was in the court when your mother arrived.  She was beautiful, but merely a shadow of the beauty you are now.  It was the first time that Marcius had dared to show me off.  He had turned me, only years earlier, and I was finally growing from my childhood rage..” he trailed off, not wanting to broach that subject with her. 
          She looked at him expectantly.  “Tell me” she enquired.
          ”Marcius approached her, showing great interest in you.  As he got close you waved your hands in the air, as if you wanted to chase him away.  He laughed at you, and you started to cry.  Great wailing cries as if you thought you were in grave danger.  Your mother could not calm you, but when she walked near to me, you stopped, curious, as if a new toy had been given to you.  Your mother passed you to me as she talked with Marcius.  You were beautiful then, even as a baby.
          ”In that moment I knew that I would do all it took to be with you in the future.  I would wait for you to grow and then I would find you and love you.  I couldn’t imagine, despite all our differences, that you would not want to be with me.  I didn’t care about the war, about the history of our races.  All I wanted was you.
          ”When Marcius told me of the deal and what he had done to your mother I was enraged.  Only the strength that had come from his age stopped me from killing him.  All that time I loved you.  Never because of a spell, even before your mother cast the enchantment I loved you.  When I heard of her death all I could think about was revenge in your name.”
          Larius stopped, unsure if he should reveal more, but as he looked into Alia’s eyes, and saw the way she looked back at him, he knew whatever else he may say would have no bearing on her feelings.  “I am not a violent man Alia, after the trauma of my vampiric childhood I vowed never to take another life.  Even as young as I was then, I knew that I could not live with myself if I continued in the manner which Marcius expected of me.  But your mother’s death was enough to bring out the basest nature of a vampire, and even now, if you asked it of me, I would do my greatest to kill Marcius to avenge your mother’s death.”
          Alia  could not take her eyes off Larius, she knew that in his talk of death and revenge he was professing a deep love for her.  But, as much as she wished it, she could not bring herself to return that affection.  Withoutt her needing the words to express this, Larius understood.  ”You need time,” he said, “I know.  I’ve had years to come to understand my love for you and you have had no time at all.”  He fell silent, looking out over the river.  
          Alia, knowing that he could not give her more than this, took his hand, and together they looked out at the crystal towers.