Priscilla enjoyed her meal and looked at Jasper, she smiled at him, “I wish you could eat. This food is delicious.”

Jasper smiled back at her, I have really come to love this little girl, she is so innocent and sweet, here we are in this hidden room, just, playing cards, a never ending game. Almost all the dolls were destroyed, the news that Byron and Fay had died, I had not expected that. I have been trapped here for many years.

Priscilla tilted her head, “What are you thinking about Jasper? Is Elysium going through your mind again? I know you are sad, I am sad too. I wish to see the world outside, my mom. anything actually, anything but this parlor.” She put the empty plate in a hole in the wall and pushed a button, it brought the food back to the kitchen.

Jasper creaked, this card game is not one we can win, the world outside is cruel and is still burning. I never intended for this to happen. I still hunger and wish for death, but my death would mean her death. That can’t be right, this is just, not right. All of this, I wanted to save New Albion with Annabel, and instead, we worsened it.

Priscilla came closer and dealt a card, “A club and spade I raise, I know what you are thinking Jasper, I know what you long for. To be dead, to be gone, to go back to Elysium, but you are my angel, like my dad also used to call you. I wonder what he was like, I barely even remember him. My mom told me he got dragged into the street, and he was murdered.”

Jasper sighed deeply, and mechanical creaks came from his old body, The idea he got Byron and Fay killed, his family, and Annabel. It was never his intention, he just wanted to go back to Elysium. He played his next card.

Priscilla looked at him with a sad smile, “You have seen me grow up from a small toddler into almost a teenager, in this room where time stands still. I want to be free, but I can’t be because being free means you will die, no, I will die. The moment they see you, I will get shot. You can hear it right, when you are close to the vents, the shots that are being fired outside?”

Jasper played a heart and folded, I understand you Priscilla, I really do, we both live, while I want to die, but you want like to be free. Neither of us can get what we want. Because I need to protect you, I am all that there is left to protect you. Your mom keeps you hidden to keep you safe.

Priscilla nodded as if she understood his thoughts, “I get it, I only love you, I also don’t know my mom, food, and drinks are served through that secret hatch. We heard the soldiers storm through the mansion a few times. You are alive, so I won’t die, it is kind of a twisted sacrifice, knowing that you want to die.”

Jasper grunted angrily, this is not the world I wanted to create for my family.

Priscilla laid down her cards and stood up, she looked at the candle. Priscilla clutched a small, intricately designed music box. As she gently wound its delicate mechanism, a haunting melody filled the air, casting a spell of enchantment within the hidden chamber. The music, a lullaby from a bygone era, resonated with the melancholy that lingered in the room.

Priscilla closed her eyes, losing herself in the haunting notes that seemed to transcend time. Her voice, pure and crystalline, joined the ethereal melody. “Some speak about love in a sweet way, enchantment, romance, and dizzy dream states.”

“And some just wait and pace in their cage, some speak about love as a passion, as rapture and cries, and sighs, and gasps, and some resign to yearn inside. These odes of tear stained banter, and dew eyed candor. That wither in the world, the world that just deceives you and beats and bleed you.”

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“It leaves lonely little girls, and some sacrifice anyway, and some sacrifice it all anyway. Ah, the fallen and the burdened and the wreaths upon their graves. Then they’re broken, there’s no assurance they made a better place.”

“Some speak about love in a kind way, the friend that won’t leave you and makes your day sane. As you bide and cringe and hide. Some wait for a stranger to touch and fill them. Some wait for the stranger who will kill them. And some just pace in their lonely cage.”

“With one dear doll, who keeps you from crying but cries too, silently inside, some speak of love and kindness, and clutch in blindness. And some sacrifice anyway, and some sacrifice it all away. Ah, the fallen and the burdened, the wreaths upon their grave.”

“When you’re broken, there’s no assurance you made it a better place.”

The echoes of her singing reverberated against the walls, creating a hauntingly beautiful symphony. The hidden parlor became a sacred space where Priscilla’s voice became a vessel for expressing the depth of her emotions, her song that echoed through the corridors of her secluded existence.

Jasper, the silent guardian, listened with an unwavering serenity, his expression reflecting the timeless connection between them. As Priscilla’s song unfolded, it carried with it a bittersweet essence, a lament for the world beyond the hidden parlor and the solitude that defined her existence. Jasper clapped for her.

She sniffled and wiped away tears, “I am sorry, Jasper, I had to let out some of my emotions. How are you feeling today?”

He looked down, her feelings hurt me, a lot, she is right, I want to die, I am going to shut my eyes for a while.

Priscilla kneeled beside him, “Sleep well, my darling Jasper,” she grabbed a secret device to contact the police. Today was the day she would sacrifice herself. She called the police, “Hello?”

“Who is this on our secured line? How did you even get this number, answer, or face the consequences.”

“My name is Priscilla, I live in Charlotte’s mansion, I have a doll, my father, is Byron.” She hung up.

She looked at Jasper, he had heard everything, I thought you might do that, he sang to her, “Priscilla, what’d you do? When they come for me, you know they will also kill you. You are young, all those years you have ahead of you. Now that they come, who will think of you?”

Priscilla smiled as she let the music box continue with music, she sang for Jasper. “Someone must think of you, the game is going to end tonight. I will help you to die.”

Jasper sang back, “I cannot live with myself if they kill you too.”

Priscilla let out a melancholic smile, “This is wrong, and you know this to be true, we both will die, tonight it will be over.”

Jasper continued his song, “You will need to run, you can still run away from them. I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself, all those years you have ahead of you.”

“Jasper, some speak about love, I’ve seen New Albion fall, you have always been my angel, my angel, my angel!”

He replied in his perfect singing voice, “You and I, are the same, ghosts of the selfish, all the blindness, all the pain, all the rules and petty games. All the sadness, we are the same.”

Priscilla kneeled beside him as she cried while singing, “Please, go back to berths of black, to silent shores, from me once more. Through veils and gates and seas of slate, where I’ll see you once more, my angel. Some sacrifice, sometimes when you lose, you will win.”

Jasper heard the storming of soldiers, he sang, “It is time for an execution, it is on this day, my duty will be done. Just like the soldiers say, my sentence is served.”

Priscilla let a genuine smile form, “The game is gonna end right here and now, they will kill us both, we will see, Elysian nights!”

Jasper stood ready, he stood up, he summoned all the willpower he had, he readied himself in front of Priscilla. As he finally spoke, not with powers, not with singing, no just with the love he felt for this girl, this selfless girl who is going to die. “Priscilla, we are going to Elysium.”

She stood right behind, “I am with you, my angel, my lovely doll. We are going to win this battle, by losing. The soldiers are almost here. Are you ready, to finally go back?”

“Yes, I am ready, my dear Priscilla, our never ending game of cards, will end tonight.” They heard shots in the distance, the boots of the soldiers. The door was being battered. Instead of fear, Priscilla stood side by side, awaiting their fate, they would die, both of them, and they were fine with that.