[CONTEST] As goes Light, goes Darkness

[TheWishling]

For Fear of the Moon
Username:
-_Wish of Tevarae_-
Prompt Answer:
Once upon a time, she had loved him, and once you have loved, you can not ever forget. That was a truth that Hydaelyn had come to accept long ago. Even as Zodiark became dark, as those eyes turned to power and greed. She watched as love turned into something far darker, as he clung to the scraps in a way that had frightened her. Fear can make a fool out of even the wisest of us, and it was in her terror that she pushed him away. They were no longer, and he would not even be allowed in her presence if she had anything to say to it. This did not mean that her heart did not ache for the moments in the past that he had been hers. That they had been happy.

Even today, even now, she longed for him, and her eyes would sometimes turn heavenwards, to seek some kind of answer from a long-quiet sky. Paws carried her about the small area she called her domain, her eyes ever shifting...until at last she found herself hunted. Ascians, they called themselves. and by the Light....it was painful. Casting him away, she could understand, and she had even, to a sense, understood when he'd began to pull power about him like a mantle....but this. Oh, this was the ultimate betrayal. He cared not for her, if he was going to press his people to harm....and that, oh.

What little love she had still retained had died that day.

While Hydaelyn could not bring herself to hate, or to scorn, she could bring herself to feel a certain level of indifference. So long there had been a tenuous peace between them, so long she had been able to fondly remember the Zodiark that had stood by her side, been her mate. Now, well...Now there was no doubt. That male was dead, and she had no further emotion towards her. Not love, not hate. This was the cruelest fate that she could impose upon someone who'd once been so near and dear.

For to turn someone so close into nothing was a fate worse than death.  

[Sami-Fire]

For hate of the Star
Username: Sami-Fire
Prompt Answer:

Contrary to the opinions of some, being exiled to the moon was not equivalent to being made to sleep on the couch. In most cases, when one member of a pair is made to sleep on the couch, that couch is at least in the same house. Imagine being made to sleep on a couch on a different planet for several years, with no access to things you want that happen to be on your home planet. Such was Zodiark's fate.

Was Zodiark angry about his exile? Oh, yes. Just when things had started to get good for him, Hydaelyn had jumped to conclusions and decided that the act of finally getting some damn respect was worthy of an immediate divorce and throwing him out of their home. As crazy as he had been for her, he couldn't always read what was going on in her head, and he never did understand why the act of assembling followers and staking claims on artifacts and territories was so terrible. What was so bad about being powerful? What was so bad about being one of the movers and shakers of the world, one of the people who made things happen?

Hydaelyn didn't understand any of Zodiark's explanations on the night of his exile. She was so convinced that something terrible was in the works that she wouldn't listen. That bullheaded refusal to believe that there was no evil in his intentions broke his heart and permanently soured his opinion of her, and that heartbreak festered over the years he was trapped on the moon. A cheerful but ambitious man became a bitter husk who wanted what he believed should have been his from the beginning. Sometimes, acknowledging that transformation hurt. Other times, it just made him resent his situation even more deeply. He could have given her the world, and it would have been one thing if she had politely declined, but such a massive rebuff made him wonder if anything would ever truly satisfy her.

After many struggles, Zodiark had finally managed to break free of the moon that had been his prison for years. He was received by the Ascian servants that had sprung up over the course of his imprisonment, and while he regarded them coolly on the outside, something about having actual followers that believed in him and his agendas lit a spark in him. This was the recognition he wanted, the kind of grasp he wanted to have on the world. Even if they were essentially just his gofers, he had still been able to seize the hearts and minds of a group of people. That was true power, to be able to make people move with you.

Things went swimmingly for a while. Artifacts were obtained in Zodiark's name, a few areas were made Ascian territory. Small advances, but they all added up. One day, however, through some quirk of incidental magic, he saw her again. Hydaelyn, the one he once loved with all of his heart, mind, and soul, looked terrible. He had heard from his officials that she was breaking off pieces of her crystal form to give people the power to fight back against the Ascians, but he wasn't expecting her to look so thoroughly decrepit. An uncomfortable mix of emotions flooded him at the sight. He wanted to laugh at her, to tell her that she should think twice about not listening and being so set in her ways next time they had a quarrel, but at the same time, a pang of pity shot through him. He had his own cracks in his crystal form, and sometimes they would act up and make his day hell. Having so much broken off had to be immensely painful for her.

He tried to laugh to keep his heart hard. All that came out was a single derisive chuckle.

He shook his head as the vision faded. Had she somehow completely lost her sense of self-preservation? If she was willing to go this far, then it was that much more important that the Ascians found her before she destroyed herself. A plan formed in Zodiark's head: he would find that stubborn woman, and he would show her what he could do with his new power. He would heal her, and he would make her understand that not all ambition spelled doom for the aspiring. Then, perhaps, they could live together again. Now, he wasn't expecting to move on as if nothing had ever happened, but the idea of having another throne that would match his own warmed something in his chilled heart.

Once again, he would offer her the world, and this time, she would be a fool to refuse.

For Fear of the Moon
Username: Sami-Fire
Prompt Answer:

There was a time when Hydaelyn could be genuinely happy, when she could say "good morning" and truly mean it.

That time had passed. She had seen a good man become corrupted by a desire for power and control, and the terrifying changes she had seen in him shattered her ability to trust. She would admit that perhaps a stronger woman would not have let fear utterly overwhelm her, and would not have ousted her beloved due to being too afraid to follow him to the bottom of his fall. Hydaelyn saw Zodiark change; the shifts were insidious at first, but the man she cast to the moon was decisively different from the one she had first pledged herself to. She did not have regrets about her decision, and still does not have regrets. If allowed to satisfy his ambitions unchecked, a precious balance would be upset, bringing about consequences beyond either of their reckonings.

For a time, things were quiet. Hydaelyn almost considered bringing Zodiark back from the moon, if not necessarily back to her. Then the Ascians gained power and began to hunt her. The terrible fear from the night of Zodiark's exile arose within her once again, and her concerns were confirmed. His heart had been absorbed by the desire to gain influence over the world. If he still cared for her at all, he did not show it. His underlings did not demonstrate subtlety or care in their searches, only a single-minded desire to satisfy their "true god."

Something needed to be done. If no one fought back, the Ascians would hand Zodiark the world on a silver platter. It was after one particularly brutal Ascian raid that Hydaelyn broke off the first piece of her crystal form, offering it to a human who despised seeing the Ascians rampage without any concern for the collateral damage. This one would be her first chosen.

The Ascians only grew more powerful. Hydaelyn knew that one chosen would not be enough to overturn the Ascian forces and restore peace to an increasingly troubled world. So began the pattern of her seeking out suitable humans and giving them pieces of her crystal form. The chips in the crystal were small at first, but they added up, first into growing cracks and then into gouges so big that smaller pieces of the crystal around them would simply fall off, floating aimlessly around the main body.

Such gifts were not without cost. At first, Hydaelyn could shrug off the small twinges and aches from the broken pieces. As time passed, the pain grew worse, and once pieces of crystal began to flake off on their own, she would spend days debilitated by pain. She was in a horrible state, and she knew it. She was certain that somewhere, Zodiark felt smug about her decay.

These days, Hydaelyn does not think of Zodiark much. She is far too busy keeping her chosen alive through the power of her crystal shards. More than that, she is too busy pouring all her willpower into holding on and not letting the spasms of pain cause her to surrender. In those uncommon moments where her former beloved does come to mind, all she can do is shake her head, for he is beyond hope. He does not care about her, and she can no longer bring herself to care about him either.