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He walked the bleak corridors, every footstep echoing as it hit the marble floor. The sound resonated forth, emphesising the silence and the lonliness. He walked the corridors with a heavy heart, a heart that only ached more with each step. There were so many memories; many doors with broken locks, the wood rotted and splintered, revealing gaping holes into a past that burned and tortured. He missed the gaze of her dark grey eyes. Eyes like stone that may never warm again, unless he walked on and sought out the heart of her memory.

There was no point in shouting. He'd already tried, calling and calling to her, crying her name, his arms around her still form. Something had made her afraid, and in her fear, she'd retreated to the deepest darkest part of herself. The innermost sanctum of her mind. And now that she was there, she couldn't break free. The doors had been broken, the memories of anguish pouring out. She had seemed so pale when he looked upon her. Her skin had still been warm when he touched her cheek, her heart still beating strongly in her chest. She breathed, and yet... she was not with them.

The knight had come out of nowhere, carried in by a dragon of the wind. He'd reached for her hand and almost pulled her from the world where she was trapped, but at the last moment, he slipped, their connection was cut, and she remained in that cruel world of her mind. And strangely, she had barricaded him out. No moatter how hard he tried, his attempts were in vain. He couldn't reach her in her sanctum again.

He put his hands to his chest, his heart beating so painfully. Every step, the doors on either side of the corridor roared, maws open, memories burning and painful. He began to wonder if there was ever joy in her life, but remembered the soft sounds of laughter, of happy cries that he'd heard upon entering this strange place. But her laughted had come from behind closed doors, doors built solidly, the locks untouched, teh wood untainted. Her happiness had been sealed away for a long long time. He trudged forward, as though battling a blizzard, the further he got, the stronger the urge to fall to his knees and weep with the helplessness of the situation. But he didn't fall. He stumbled a few times, but he'd promised he would always be there. On and on, he walked, down the black marble corridors, searching for the light of her inner sanctum.

Then suddenly she was there, standing before him, eyes filled with tears, hands clasped tightly around the slender shaft of her weapon.
"Why have you come?" She asked, loking terrified. And then she was gone, her footsteps echoing down the corridor. He wanted to cry out for her to stop, but as she disappeared, a powerful wave of her aching sadness struck him. He nearly fell to its pain, but managed to crawl through it, though he had hardly the will to continue.

Why couldn't she feel light? Couldn't feel joy or happiness? He wondered these things as he walked further. There was such a vast emptiness now, like all the emotion had been pulled from his heart. He carried onward, amazed at how easy it was to walk now. And suddenly, abruptly, he stopped. Before him was an enormous chamber of glittering black marble, but what struck the fear into his heart was what rested in the middle of it. A gravestone, with a soft, dark blue aura to it, hummed and shone from the middle of the room. On it, in bold capitals was her name. And sitting upon it was... something. He couldn't quite make out its features, as it seemed like a swirling mass of black, vaguely shaped like a human.

"Why have you come here?" It spoke with her voice. "Can't you see I want to be alone?"
He shook his head, not believing. "What are you?" he cried. "What have you done with her?!"
It looked away from him, and immediately he was struck by an aching sadness that made him fall to his knees.
"I am nothing." it sighed. "A shado. Something that was once a person, but si now nothing. Something consumed by fears until it becomes like fear itself. Unable to accept the world, unable to be faced...." It looked back at him, two glowing blue eyes shining in its black face. "Leave now. I want to be alone."
He was silent, gazing at her.
"Come back with me."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I'm unfit to grace you with my presence. You deserve something better."
He hung his head and looked away.

"I promised to protect you. And I shall. Even from yourself."
She hissed, drawing the bladed weapon from teh black wall nearby. "You will leave me. Lest I trap you in a memory too horrible for you to endure."
He was silent, glaring defiantly. With a roar, she threw herself at him and he braced himself for the impact, waiting to feel the blade peirce his flesh.
It never came. She was as she said, a shado. She was nothing. She couldn't harm him without having the will to.
"Give her back to me." He growled, soft but angered. "Give her to me and never trap her in your prison again."
And the wisp beast howled in anguish, exploding into a thousand tiny fragments. He shielded his face, but he was blinded by the darkness, then blinded by light...

And when he opened his eyes, she was at his side, her face pressed close into the warmth of his neck.
"Thank you." She whispered softly.
And her eyes lit up with a light, a kind of light that only love could bring.