#... hi.

In traditional fare for this genre, our leads are Eris (protagonist), Helena (rival/"original" lead), and prince Alecto. Classic setup: Alecto is engaged to Eris but wants Helena, and eventually leaves/denounces one for the other, and Eris attacks Helena. (In the "original", it's out of jealousy; in the story proper, "Eris" is trying to die and go back to her original life). Eris is a noblewoman and Helena is of considerably lower rank, despite being childhood friends with both.

At the end of the story, Eris succeeds and goes home. Alecto marries Helena like he always wanted. He loves Helena, who is kind and warm, a beam of gentle sunshine. She's been in recovery after the attack, and while he is reeling from learning a few things about Eris, he is so relieved to have Helena back. It doesn't matter if Eris is dead, even if there was ever a time that she loved him, because his true love is back. He goes to the room where she waits for him, falls to his knees, and sees her...

staring down in disinterest.

She's Queen now. She can stop pretending. She had to pretend to love him, to appreciate his attention and advances, because he was future Emperor and she was a commoner. She could not say no. She had to be warm and gentle and bright, not because she wanted to be, but to survive.

But she's Empress now. She's his equal. And she doesn't have to pretend anymore.

Helena gets up and walks away, ready to dedicate her life to being Empress and serving her kingdom, not to loving Alecto. And Alecto is left standing there. He has, over the course of the story, sacrificed every personal connection - every relationship, every bond, every thread of trust - to have Helena. And now that he got what he wanted, he learned it was never real, and only seemed to exist at all because he was a prince and couldn't be told no.

And the only person who's ever loved him is dead.

He's the Emperor. He got it all - his enemies vanquished, his crown bequeathed to him, his childhood friend the Empress. He is the man who has everything.

Lo's on her sofa, watching a Christmas movie marathon, trying not to think about how empty her home feels. Benji's strewn across the couch with her, and she's been thinking about getting a cat or a fish or something to take care of that isn't her or her dog.

She hates staying here, in the quiet loneliness of her home, which doesn't feel like home because there's no other people in it. How does anyone stand this? It's been a decade of living by herself and on days like this, she hates it.

Where's the dishes that aren't hers, the laughter in the other room, the last bite of leftovers in the fridge? It's too cold out there for her to be alone. There should be people she loves here, people who love her.

Oh, cute, the magic of Christmas saves the day in the film she's watching. How unexpected and whimsical.

Losing her family did a horrible number on her. Her anxiety disorder turned into agoraphobia, depressive episodes and panic attacks. She would fall into episodes of repeating the same sentences over and over, completely shut out the rest of the world, and basically spent her teen years on autopilot. The only reason it didn't get worse was because she had a very kind foster mother after leaving her first two foster homes. It was easy for Naomi to fall into "I don't want to make things harder for her" as an excuse to just... not participate in the world beyond the bare minimum.

They're still sick. They still have all of those things. But as an adult, They're finally forgiving themself for being a sick child and a sick teenager. They're letting themself have fun and live, after years of wrangling survivor's guilt and just guilt in general. They're giving themself permission to just... be, something that was beyond their terror-ridden comprehension before.

And Sport is just... fun! More than cool, more than impressive, he's fun. He's silly and goofy and makes up games for himself, and is happy to share them, and doesn't judge Naomi for being scared or needing time to learn how to have fun. He's happy to share whatever moments he can with her, and she doesn't need to be perfect or an instant expert on anything. She always jokes about never keeping up with him, but he doesn't need her to keep up. As long as he looks over his shoulder and she's there, he's happy.

And they're friends! It's so important to me that their romance is built off of being friends. They trust and confide in each other, they talk things out, they tease each other. It's a slow-burn, yeah, but neither of them is really pressed about it because they're so busy enjoying each other's company anyway.

Type: Self-Para Prompt: #001