AN (Please Read): This chapter wasn't meant to be updated until the end- the epilogue. But, I'm not so sure I will be able to write the rest of this prequel, and I didn't want to deprive you guys of the ultimate KennyxJade fluff, sooo here it is. Please read and enjoy and review if you like it or have any comments! I would love to know what you think. After all, this could be the last Seeing Truth-related chapter uploaded. :'( So, anyway, read on, read on!

Also, just to let you know, this takes place at the end of Seeing Lies where Kenny and Jade are the king and queen of Loronna- the night before Kenny basically turns into Jade's worst enemy.

P.S If you would like to enhance the reading experience (:B) listen to "What Have You Done Now?" by Within Temptation. Recommended by GDL and one of the very official songs for Seeing Truth.

Seeing Past Darkness

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Epilogue: Cursed

(Kenny's Perspective)

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I met her in the library, her form glowing softly near the burning fireplace. She gazed up at me from the book she was reading, her dark eyes widening in surprise. Her hand glimmered, pulsating with her heartbeat, controlling my own as well. My heart swelled, and I smiled despite myself.

"Good evening," I said, joining her on the bear rug where she lay.

She smiled, but I noticed how it didn't reach her eyes. "Good evening, Kenny."

"What is Loronna's queen planning for this evening?" I asked, placing a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. She took my hand before I could pull away, and gazed dazedly at the pulsating half-Triforce piece on my skin.

"I was hoping to spend some time with you," she murmured, eyes turning to me.

I grinned, and then forced it away and looked elsewhere. "What shall we do, then?" My tone sounded worse than I had intended, and dread built inside my chest like heavy bricks gathering one by one in my ribs, pulling down my heart until every beat felt like a hammer inside my chest.

She kissed my fingertips, and I drew away. She looked up at me, eyes glinting and clear, but her expression, nonetheless, dazed and bewildered.

"Jade," I sighed, tracing my fingertips along her jaw line, "What are you doing?"

She shrugged, eyes shifting to the fire in the fireplace, "I don't know… Do I have to have a reason?"

I laughed softly, leaning forward and brushing my lips along her jaw. She was caught off guard, and I smiled again. "Sorry," I whispered, but not for the kiss.

Her lips curved upward, and I saw how her eyes squinted in delight. She took my hand, helping herself to a sitting position to eye me wistfully.

"What?" I said, raising an eyebrow. Did she know what I was doing? Terror filled my gut, and I fidgeted slightly.

She shook her head, a small smile on her lips; "Nothing. I just think your eyes are… They're so amazing."

"What?" I wouldn't deny it. What she had said completely took me off guard, and I couldn't believe she would actually say that my eyes were amazing.

And then, my startled gaze floated to the wood-carved mantelpiece above the fireplace. In the glow of the flames, the empty wine glass sparkled and glazed. I shook my head, tightening my grip on her hand when she loosened hers.

"Jade," I whispered, "I thought you said you would stop?"

She laughed bitterly, pushing my hand away, "Did you really think I would?"

"Then, why did you lie?" I snapped, my calm demeanor fading away along with the embers that danced free from the burning flames in a mad attempt to scatter and live. But, no matter how hard I tried, the calmness that had once been inside of me wouldn't reappear. I was growing angry with her weakness- that she was so stupidly and naively trying to ease her pain by drinking. "Tell me, Jade." I said again after her sudden silence.

But then she looked back at me with this fierce expression quivering in her large, brown eyes; "As if you don't lie to me, as if you don't tell me things that are going to hurt me anyway…"

Mouth agape, I glared at her. My hands bunched into fists on my lap while I fought the rush of rage well inside me. I hadn't been so angry before- never felt my heart pound like some train was heading straight toward me and I couldn't move an inch. The train wasn't causing me fear, though; it was causing me anguish. I absolutely hated seeing her like this, like she had nothing else to live for. It had me in knots, tied thrice, chained, with padlocks holding it together. I was the cause of what she had become. Even if it wasn't the real world, she'd still feel everything she had felt, remember everything she had seen and done. It would come back to haunt me, I understood. But it couldn't end like this. I'd simply have to change it.

I lowered my head slightly, glancing up at her (more like her pouting lips rather than her eyes) and said, "You're right, Jade. You're absolutely right. Sheikah aren't meant to lie, but I did it."

"Why?" She asked, still on the defensive.

I bit my lip in hesitation, knowing I shouldn't exactly tell her the entire truth, or there'd be hell to pay…but…she wouldn't remember all this anyway. She'd remember something completely different. "Sheikah are sworn to tell the truth, Jade," I began, slumping my shoulders in a feign attempt at looking defeated, "But I'd never had a chance to be sworn to the king."

"How is that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

I looked away- anywhere but her, "Because my family and I ran away before I was old enough."

"And your brother?" She spat, as if just by saying the word, "brother" had caused acid to drip onto her tongue.

"He's sworn." I nodded slowly. Ryuichi had a definite way with words, morphing them into something that sounded like a lie, but in reality was the utter truth…just a little twisted.

"Hmph," and then she muttered something incoherent. "Fine then…"

"That's it?" I suddenly asked, as she settled back down on the rug.

She shrugged, her attention on me lost as she returned to her book; "Was there something else?"

"I…" Whatever I had planned to tell her couldn't come until tomorrow, and I knew she had to have some sort of hatred for me- just a little to show through when this happened. That way, she'd believe what her brain told her more clearly.

So I did something I had done when I was a little drunk. I placed a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention for the second I needed to press my lips against hers. The distraction allowed me to roll her onto her back. She let out a startled cry, but it was muffled as I pressed harder, forcing the cry to wait as she kissed me back. The taste of wine was on her lips and her breath- bitterly sweet. I wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing me closer to her. She didn't resist, and yet, I didn't push the fact that she was actually letting me kiss her.

But, now, I'd have to try something else. I pulled away from her, breathless. Her lips were a brighter red, her eyes blazing with something I hadn't seen before. It lit my world up, no matter how fake, and I didn't dare break my gaze. She grew calmer, leaving her heart racing, as I ran my thumb and finger down her jaw line.

"Kenny," she whispered softly, almost so that I didn't hear it.

"Hmm?"

"What is wrong with us?" Her gaze lifted to mine, and for a moment I was speechless. For a moment, I lost focus, lost the grip of this world from my fingers. As the flames in the fireplace flickered, so did the walls, so did the floor underneath us, so did her face. Her beautiful, exhausted, gaunt face- of someone that dwindled away with each second that passed… No…No! I grabbed the image back, pulled it toward me, held it close.

No, no, no.

Goddesses, no.

"What is it? What's wrong?" She voiced. It cracked unevenly. Everything flickered before me like a television screen gone awry, the colors changing, the scenery nearly fading.

"Jade," I whispered hoarsely, and then repeated it again. "Jade, goddesses, Jade. Stay with me. Please."

Faintly, at first, I heard her. "Kenny, what is it? Kenny, I'm here…always." And then, stronger, just as her warm fingers pressed against my neck, caressing softly, soothingly. "Kenny-…" Stronger this time, and I promised for it to stay this way. Without giving her another chance, I pressed against her, arm wrapped around her waist, other hand arching her neck with mine. She moaned softly, then louder, as I placed my lips to hers, molding mine to hers, hers to mine. For a moment, there was no Loronna, no Hyrule, no Link, no Kado or Liyanne, no obligations, no king or queen, no game or lies or…

Just us. Only us.

Losing breath, we parted. I held her close, twirling her dark hair around my finger, planting kisses in the crook of her neck. I could feel her heart beating under me, could feel the blood rushing through her, could hear her breaths in short gasps, taste the wine on her lips, smell it along with the scent of her- only her, see her eyes... So real.

Goddesses, how could I hurt her?

But, I did… I did by taking her hands and pulling her up from the floor. I hurt her by leading her away from the fireplace, from her safe haven away from me. I doomed her by stepping into our bedroom, by shutting the door, by letting myself and her to the bed. I killed her by kissing her. And when I killed her, I damned everyone involved.

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Her lips were soft, her touch hesitant. She didn't know what to do anymore, didn't know what to think. Everything I would have to tell her would be another lie, another stupid lie that would lead me farther to hell. She would hate me, she would want to spit in my face and kick me to the floor. There was nothing left of the twisted truth- the one I was meant to tell her. But I couldn't. I couldn't let her know I was supposed to kill her because of something she had been cursed with. She had to believe I was insane- a psychopath playing a sick game with her and her loved ones.

I would humiliate her, deceive her, anger her. I would force her into a hateful vengeance- so much she would die just to spill my blood. The game would then be over, and she would return to the real world and realize exactly what I had done.

The gamble: if she would forgive me or not. If I was lucky, she would hate my guts, and the fact that I had lied to her again- and even when she thought I had told her the truth…

She'd have to hate me…she'd have to try and kill me… Or else I would get there first. And the goddesses knew I could never kill her. Ever.

"I want you," I whispered into her ear, running a hand down her warm back.

Her lips parted, as she gazed up at me in awe. "Why?"

I smirked, "Where is the fun in telling you?"

The "game" was never fun, never inspiring. Telling her wasn't fun either; not telling her wasn't any different. And I hated seeing her being tormented. Especially since I was the one doing it- since I was the one hurting her again and again…

"Do you love me?"

Euphoria is a curse.

She smiled sleepily, hand brushing my bare chest, "That's a silly question…"

It was. She still pictured hazel green eyes and messy brown hair.

I laughed softly, taking hold of her hand and kissing her fingertips. I could smell the spilled wine on her skin, and I drew her closer toward me. "You had another drink without me?"

I had let her have that extra sip, that extra glass. She was becoming hopeless. Loronna didn't need it. Their queen would become an alcoholic if I didn't step in.

She smiled, eyes closing while she snuggled closer beside me; "I dropped the glass, though."

I played with the satin sheets between my fingertips. So real, it felt too good to be true. And it wasn't.

Her hand wrapped tighter around my waist, making my heart jump into a race, pounding inside my chest. "I love you," I whispered so softly into her hair before I kissed her head. Her smell nearly intoxicated me, and I closed my eyes merely to relinquish the feeling longer.

Tomorrow.

I broke her heart.

Tomorrow.

I did what I should have done a long time ago.

"I'll always want you, you know?" I mumbled, kissing her forehead.

She sighed, halfway to dreamland. "I know…" And then, so softly that I feared it had merely been my imagination, she whispered. "I love you, too, Kenny Blake."

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AN (Please Read): Ahh, I think this is the most cheese I've ever written in one chapter so far, and it makes me proud. Haha. Hope y'all enjoyed. The second part I wrote a while back so that's probably why it doesn't fit very well, but I couldn't just take it out because it contained a lot of things that Kenny really needed to say. Anyway, if this had been in SL I think much of what happens in SAON would be clearer- why KennyxJade happened, why KadoxJade didn't happen. All that stuff.

Also, I'll be making a ST Q&A chapter that will be posted at the end of SDL soon, so check it out once in a while if you're interested to have all your questions answered. If you have any you would like to ask, please don't hesitate to review or PM or leave a message on my DA account.

Anyway, SPD isn't officially discontinued, but not exactly on hiatus either. I feel like this chap really needed to be read so I got it up before anything else. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and don't forget to tell me what you think! And thank you!! For all the awesome people who have stuck around! I know I said this at the end of SDL but still- thank you!!

xblux