Just as she hid her face from the world with her silvery mane, he hid his face from everyone under a mask of shining gold. His affliction tormented him. Despite the fact that, on the surface, he was a stallion of impeccable breeding, graceful, kind and sincere, his soul was blackened by his own bitterness and self loathing. The mask was merely to reassure himself, to cover himself. To hide the spirit within himself that he hated, and to hide his blindness from himself. To hide the beautiful eyes that he and the rest of the world knew were dead. He knew it had the opposite effect... the bright gold only served to draw attention to himself. But somehow, he had rationalized that it covered him... protected him...it was his crutch.
When he was a foal, he had thought that the whole world was intended to be dark forever. Then he realized that everyone else thought and saw in colour. He couldn't even comprehend what colour was. He had never seen shapes, pictures... fellow Serians. He relied on touch, and grew angry, because he yearned, above all, to see what he loved most. For such a brilliant gentle foal, he had been sentenced to a lifetime of darkness that was so contrary to his nature that it seemed to slowly kill him.
When he met Frost, it was as if he had touched the very soul of a kindred spirit. She knew what it was to hide from everyone... she knew what it meant to hate, to deny and to be denied. He could feel that she knew what it was like to be betrayed. There were so many emotions that she understood... so many things that she could empathize with. Yet somehow, he sensed that she was denying herself a world of good.. she deserved so much more than she was willing to give herself. She was torturing herself... much as he was doing, but was unwilling to admit aloud.
At the party, it had been painful. There was such a powerful connection between both the mares in his life. Frost understood him to an extent that no one ever had before, whether she realized it or not. Wave gave him her love unconditionally, and was everything light in the world. Frost was to Wave what night was to day. And he loved them both for it.
He had wanted to speak longer to her... had wanted to tell her everything that his head was trying to piece together. But the wounds were all too raw, and he had found that the words had gotten stuck in his throat. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't utter them without choking, couldn't hear her without wincing, couldn't touch her without visibly shaking. Now, he thought he was ready... ready to talk without collapsing into a heap. He hoped...
He winced as he heard the abnormally loud clap of his hooves on the marble. Everything seemed amplified... as if the moment of truth was near, and his senses were on overload, while they adjusted to the intense emotions in the air. He let out a small snort of disgust with himself. So much for being relatively silent... he heard her voice called out, and he shivered. Oddly enough, as he moved towards her, he didn't stumble... didn't hesitate. It was as if the place was familiar to him... as if he had been here before...
"Frost..." he said simply, settling directly opposite her. He lay on the ground, legs tucked up comfortably underneath him, the proud arch of his neck never altering, despite the fact that he felt that the cares of the world were on his shoulders. "I promised I'd come back..." he added in a whisper.