disclaimer: credit for the characters goes to jkr.

dedicated to: my wonderful twin ella-beth for being awesome, always, and also happy holidays! love you!

warning: i wrote this at four in the morning, don't expect sense, please.

She paints the world once or twice, she scatters diamonds in the seas. She waits and she waits and she waits. She is the hero, she owns the fairytale. She is broken. There are ghosts beneath her eyes.

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She grows up lonely, she grows up happy. She is far too old for her time. In a generation that spins and that sputters, she is the brightest star of all. Childhood is gingerbread cookies and bubbles in the garden, a palace of happily-ever-afters and never-looking-back. She breathes and she loves and she is happy. She is lonely. There are ghosts hidden in her smile.

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Beauty is currency, and truths aren't beauty. She is Lily, she is pretty. She is glitz and glamour and jade. Green around her neck and blood upon her lips, she is the princess of a new palace, a saviour for a new age, a leader for a new revolution. She spins and she laughs and life is good. There are ghosts tangled in her limbs.

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There are boys and there are girls, there are sapphires in stones. She is happy, she is light, she is heavy on in the night. She wants the skies beyond his touch, a hopeless sort of eternity. Dances, romances, the end of an age, and still nothing compares to the melody in her eyes. She is stars and fires, she is cold to the touch. She is everything, she is nothing. There are ghosts embedded in her skin.

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The broken and the damned gather around her. She isn't easily forgotten, she is Lily, she is shining. She stands, forever remembered, in ruby red, in diamonds, fairest of them all. Fireworks dance, and they flash, and they burn, but it is Lily who remains, Lily who blazes. Her breaths are ribbons of smoke in the winter air. There are ghosts entwined.

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She asks him if he loves her and he says no. And he leaves, and she waits, and love scatters stars in the ocean. Life is messy, life is lovely, and she's got a million kisses to trade for gold. There's no need for a crown when she has a kingdom. Peace comes to the worthy, and she is worth it. She has heaven in her eyes and angels in her smile. There are ghosts lost inside her.

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Breathe easy, she is Lily. There's no time to pause. An empire built upon falling stars is rising from the ashes of angels. She is kingmaker, kingdom-crafter, and she will ruin him if he wants her to. All around her lie the remains of loves lost and worlds missed. Let her go, she is happy. She was happy. The ghost of once upon a time fades.

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The difference between happy and happily-ever-after is simple. One is coffee on a balcony overlooking New York and the other is tea at a table in London. One is Lily, one is not. She is an ocean away, she is inside the room. She leaves traces of rubies, of opals, of jade. Her lips taste of honeydew, there are ghosts imprinted on her heart.

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She waits and she waits and Paris blurs between her hands. Sunsets bloom in golds, in reds, in the deepest purples ever seen, and still he does not dare approach. She is a tragedy in the making, history unfolding, an empire crumbling. Caeser was lucky, she is Lily, she is not. Take a breath, and she's gone again, ghosts scattered in her wake.

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Follow the trail of ruby-red lilies, and find her, lost in Canada. She is alive, she is beautiful. She is home. Sitting on a stool by the seashore, prettier than a picture, she is Lily, and he's missed her. She splashes green onto her painting and she turns and she smiles. Breathe slowly, breathe gently. Breathe.

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She's got eyes bluer than the ocean she's painting, she's got stars of diamond at her fingertips. She is love and she is loving, she is all the reason for staying. Every shade of ruby in her hair is tangled in his hands. There is nothing more to say, this is it, end the saga. The kingdom's fallen, the crown stolen, no more waiting. She is found, he is here, and happily-ever-after is one sunrise away.

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Countdown to doomsday, lover boy. She is worth fighting for.

a/n: if you've read this far, please drop me a review to tell me what you thought! i really appreciate it!

(and if you can understand all my 4-in-the-morning metaphors, i'll bake you cookies.)

please DON'T favorite without reviewing, thank you.