entranceway | [Handwritten Letter left for Elizabeth, slid under her door]

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[Handwritten Letter left for Elizabeth, slid under her door]

Elizabeth,

I don't blame you if you don't want to hear it, but I would still like to offer you my most profuse apologies for my mirror's behaviour. What happened was inexcusable, and I'm sorry that I found myself unable to stop it. I would also like to offer my deepest apologies for anything I may have said or done to lend creedence to his actions.

I have greatly valued your friendship in my time here, but I will understand if you no longer wish to extend it. I don't know how to begin to make amends for what happened. I'm not sure amends can be made for such a violation of trust and person.

Please take care of yourself.

Yours sincerely,

Aramis

[She can write back or call him or change to action or ignore it.]

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[Almost a week after the letter was written, Elizabeth still wasn't sure how to respond. She kept trying to find the words but none of them seemed right for what she wanted to express.

Finally, she decided the only thing she could do was to see Aramis directly and hope the words would come to her. And maybe she wouldn't look like a fool doing it.

There's a knock at the Musketeer's door.]

[He was reading. He's still wearing his glasses when he opens the door, but they don't disguise the black eye that's healed to a degree that he's all but forgotten about it in his self-imposed exile.

He's surprised to see who's on the other side of the door. He's wearing his chemise but not his doublet; in front of her, he doesn't feel properly dressed. After what happened, anything less than formality seems...disrespectful.]

Elizabeth.

Hello.

[An awkward pause.]

I'm sorry. Come in.

[He steps aside to allow her entry.]

[Elizabeth blinks and tries not appear too awkward, but it isn't easy. He looked handsome. He always looked handsome. It doesn't really help.

During the pause between them, she lifts one hand and pushes some hair back behind her ear.]

Hello. Thank you.

[She steps inside a bit hastily. Nerves.]

What happened to your eye?

Oh. [A hand goes to his face. It's still tender. Athos, when he found out. But he doesn't tell her that.]

My mirror busied himself offending rather a lot of people, I'm afraid.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[His mirror caused many things Aramis now has to live with.]

Um.. thank you for the letter.

[She actually has it and brings it out of her pocket. Clearly, she's read it many times by now.]

I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond.

You've nothing to apologize for. Not to me, of all people. I expected no response.

[A beat.]

I am pleased to see you. [Because he realizes, suddenly, how that might have sounded, which wasn't at all how he meant it.] Though I'm not sure why you've come. [He gestures to the sideboard.] Would you like a drink?

[She shakes her head.]

No, I've got a lot on my mind. Naturally.

[Not that she thinks he'd offer her a drink for some improper reason! She's just not prepared to hold a glass without shaking it. Instead, she paces a few steps back and forth, her shoes making soft clicks across the floor.]

The thing is, that is why I'm here. To apologize to you.

[Well he needs a drink. He pours a glass of brandy, then looks at her.]

Apologize to me? Whatever for? You've done nothing improper.

But I have!

[The idea that he doesn't think so is what bothers her. Doesn't he realize what she's done?]

I was fooled by him! I'm such an idiot! I've probably read a thousand books, and all of that learning has done nothing for me. I couldn't see an obvious lie when I was confronted with one.

[He looks over sharply.] It was not an obvious lie. He's a rather gifted liar, as it turns out, and he stole from the truth to flavour the lie; to make it palatable. You're not to blame.

[The look and his tone startles her a bit, but she's not prepared to simply agree with that. His other-self is a gifted liar, but she should've realized it was a lie.]

You never gave cause for me to believe you ever saw me as more than a friend. And I never...

[She never saw him as more of a friend, either, until that moment. Until the possibility was there.]

I should've questioned it more.

[He was sharp with her. Unnecessarily. Hesitantly, he reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder.]

Elizabeth, the line between friendship and more is a blurry one. I am extremely fond of you. The lie was not an obvious one. It was not even entirely a lie. But it was wielded as a weapon for him to get what he wanted. For sport. And I regret that.

Not entirely a lie?

[What did he mean by that? He couldn't mean he has feelings for her. That would be impossible.

Elizabeth looked at his hand on her shoulder. Gently, she brushed at his hand with her fingertips. When she starts feeling sentimental, she moves her hand away and takes a few steps to put some distance between them.]

You don't have to try and protect my honor.

Aramis, when I.. went forward with it, I wasn't being forced. I made that choice. His words might have been used to trick me, but I still had command of myself.

But you... he said you were fighting against him the entire time. I should be the one with regrets for hurting you.

I fought him because he was lying to you. You did not hurt me.

[She glances over at him.]

Really?

[Because she feels like she's wronged him.]

I'm sorry. I didn't want to harm our friendship. That's the last thing I ever wanted.

You didn't.

[He can't even conceive of how she would feel that way.]

It's just...I wouldn't wish for your first time to be a lie. As he said, he took something that cannot be returned.

[A few tears sting her eyes, but she blinks them away. Elizabeth decides to take a seat on the couch and sighs.]

Up until it was a lie, it couldn't have been more perfect.

[She supposes she got wrapped up in the moment, but it wasn't a story book after all. Hastily she wipes at her eyes and takes a deep breath.]

It's not important. I don't think I'm destined to live a normal life, anyway. If we do go back home one day, I don't know what will become of me. I might wake up in my tower or be captured and locked away somewhere else. Maybe I'll never see another living person again. I can't live my life here with regrets, should that ever happen.

Please don't cry. [Whispered.]

[He sits next to her and takes her hand.] It is important. You deserve happiness.

[Elizabeth fights back more tears. She told herself she wasn't going to get emotional in front of him. So much for that. Now she's not sure what to say.]

I don't blame you for what he did. You shouldn't either.

I don't want you to see him every time you look at me.

[She hesitates a moment, then looks at him.]

You're my friend, Aramis. You mean a great deal to me.

I'm just so embarrassed I couldn't tell the difference then.

[No matter how masterful a liar his mirror-self is.]

He was in my body, not his own. There was little to go on. He fooled people who've known me longer and more intimately than you.

[That does get a hint of a smile out of her.]

I guess you two do look very similar.

[She can also say she knows him pretty intimately now, too. At least as far as his body goes. Ahem! But she won't say that out loud.]

And it wasn't that act, with you, that I objected to. It was the whole...doing it under false pretenses.

Oh. [That's all she can say for the moment because she's suddenly burning with a blush. Is he saying he wouldn't object to doing that with her? Well, he is known to be quite amorous.]

Well, he did say many things. All that about my being clever and beautiful and those feelings he expressed... I understand those words were never yours.

[Because Aramis would not have said such things. He probably thinks her a child that needs protecting.]

Edited 2013-11-10 04:30 (UTC)

/action? XD

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