Empty and So Beautiful

By Thalia

The apple falls far from the tree
she's rotten and so beautiful
I'd like to keep her here with me
and tell her that she's beautiful
She takes the pills to fall asleep
and dreams that she's invincible
Tormented dreams she stays awake
recalls when she was capable...

Ah, what would the others say if they knew that you lived in a lie?

You're a creature of startling polarities, my love-- the strongest and the weakest, the sheltering tree that everyone leans on and the storm that destroys everything in its path. Hard fists and soft blushes. And you have no idea how much I know.

You're a worthy adversary, my love. The senshi of the biggest planet, with your attacks of storm and stress, and your eyes are hard and devoid of recognition when we fight. Ah, I am but a faceless enemy, an expendable warrior of the dark side. It is your goal to rid the world of me...

And so easy it would be to stop you, if only you knew.

Jupiter... what would they say if they knew that you were a little girl inside, who smiles at roses and spends weekends in the kitchen, flour dusting your cheeks? The brave, strong warrior-- just a human girl, after all. Kino Makoto, called Mako by her friends. You shelter them and smile and it's falsely bright as the moon-- a fake reflection on a glorified ball of rock.

With the knowledge that I have, the connections between the celestial bodies that no one else has seen, I could destroy you, and I should. Maybe someday, if I must, I will.

And there's a morbid sort of pleasure watching you, my love. Beautiful and alone, with your masks of flirtations with boys who don't nearly measure up. They don't see the inner goddess, the diamond under the rough. That is my privilege and my prerogative, a secret I shall keep. Ah, poor Mako-chan, so alone and so lonely.

He will never say that you're beautiful, princess.

None of them are that brave or worthy.

I watch you sleep now, curled up like a street urchin afraid of any moment's attack, and they never see your fear and your courage-- your strength and your weakness. Your energy surrounds you in an aura of verdant light, dappled like sunshine through trees, and there are those who'd crave a taste of it, just the smallest drop.

Your divinity would animate an army.

But you shall remain alive at my will, empty and so beautiful, the girl and the goddess whose life is split in two worlds. I can see them both, and the way they shape you, and the way that you wish things were different time to time. Your precious princess never sees you cry or hears the secret wishes that you whisper into your pillow, of a complete life, with love and with understanding. No one else knows of the dreams you have, of being capable and strong and truly happy. You're too honest to flourish in a life of lies.

Oh, my love, you are not alone.

I'll be watching you and your girlish empty smiles that don't reach your hard Amazon's eyes, from the other side, and you shall remain mine. My secret-- your secret, our link. Strength lies in knowledge, but I shall not share it.

I'll keep you here with me.