+ SANCTUS +
A story from Wonderland Overdrive
planning & presented by MadHatter - all rights reserved
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~ Thanks to Sarah who betaread this :) 

«Kiss and kill me sweetly 
Come and drive me home 
Drag the miles in me 
I am yours alone...»
Smashing Pumpkins, "Pug"


Sunlight over scarlet petals. Heavy corollas with a penetrating smell, in vague patterns of light and green. Red and gold, under a dome made of metal and glass, as far as the eye can see. The air is warm, wet and still… nobody walks through the sunny paths, neither guests nor gardeners, only roses upon roses, painted flowers, little soldiers fallen on a bed of thorns and deep green. 
From nowhere and everywhere, a feeble moan comes. 
Like the cry of a child trying to hide.
In the middle of the biggest flowerbed, in the garden's center, the grass is strewn with white petals. They catch the light, like pieces of a spotless mirror. 

"Why are you crying?" says a voice, curtly.
The child raises his eyes. His tears have cleaned the scratches on his arms, but the signs stand out red against his pale skin. He looks at the dark shadow that faces him through his still-raised fingers; the sun backlights the shadow. 
The shadow doesn't repeat the question. 
The child lowers his arms a bit, stifling a sigh. It's not the Aunt… it’s not a known voice, anyway. He shouldn't talk to strangers, but… somebody who walks in the Aunt's garden can't be a real stranger, after all.
A cloud slowly covers the sun and the figure becomes clear.
There's a man in front of him, dressed elegantly. His hair is white, like the torn roses on the ground.
Two grey eyes look at him, waiting.
"I…"
What if the man is someone sent by the Aunt to punish him? The child steps back, pressing close to the bush's stem. The man looks at him for a long moment, then bends down with a unique graceful gesture. He puts a knee on the grass, near the child. He looks at the red signs on the child’s arms, the petals on the grass, then at the child again. 
"Why are you crying?" he repeats, in a calm voice.
The child stifles a moan, then looks at those grey eyes through his tears. The man’s eyes aren’t cold, only… enquiring?
"I’ve mistaken the color…" he murmurs, without looking away. "The Aunt will be angry… and she'll punish me…" he rubs his eyes with a hand, sobbing.
The man raises his hand towards the white roses that peep through the torn bush; some are streaked in red. He turns his eyes back to the child, stretching out a hand towards him, but the little boy steps back, scared… his dark eyes filling with terror. In their depths, like a faded light, the man sees resignation and pain. 
The man puts his fingers gently on the child's hand. At that touch, the boy suddenly closes his eyes. Slowly, he forces open his fingers, unwrapping his palm. The skin is so torn there that it’s only a red surface.
"Were you tearing them… because of their color?" the man asks. 
The boy opens his eyes and nods, slowly. "I was the one who chose the roses… the Aunt will get angry if she sees them… very angry," he says in a muffled voice.
The sun through the clouds casts flimsy shadows on the plants and the man's face. The man looks deeply into the child’s eyes, the expression in his own grey eyes unchanged.
"It wasn't your fault… so stop crying," he says.
The man helps the child rise, then shakes off the dust from his knees and stretches out a hand to pick up a rose… The only rose still intact on the bush. He pins it on his jacket's lapel.
The child looks at him, faltering. The man stares at the child again for a moment, then curls his lips in a subtle smile. A voice calls him from the garden's threshold.
"Reuben! The Queen wants to see you… immediately!"
"I'm coming," the man replies, without raising his voice. His grey eyes gaze at the boy's face for a moment.
"What is your name?" he asks.
"P-prince…" the boy murmurs, rubbing his nose before going on, "…Two of Hearts."
The man’s smile becomes slightly wider. "I think we'll meet again, the two of us," he says. "Until then, try to be worthy of the name you bear," he adds, turning towards the waiting man at the end of the garden.
"Reuben! Please, it's important!…"
"I had something more important to do." the white-haired man replies calmly. The child watches the man’s back as he walks away though the bushes of scarlet roses. Before he vanishes, the child starts to run, following him through the green-edged paths. But he's far away… too far.
He can only see the two men talking, and the other one shakes his head when he notices the white spot on the chest of the first. Then, his voice…
"Have the garden cleaned, please… I had to pick all of them to decide which one suited me." 
Is he smiling? 
"But now it's mine, only."
The two men stare at each other, then the second lowers his eyes, nodding. He makes a little bow, then, with deference, he invites the other to follow him. The two men disappear.
The garden turns silent, full of light… still.

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