Present Day

Celeste cared not for her hair, she cared not for bathing, and she cared not for getting out of bed.  Her raven locks came down her back now.  Today she found herself curled up with her knees to her chest as she leaned against the cold bars that kept her inside.  She could feel her powers just out of reach like a vibration surrounding her.  If she listened closely enough she could hear the hum of her magic fighting against the cage like two magnets repelling each other.  Knowing that it was there waiting for her was the only thing that kept her sane.  It kept her from shattering the mirror and cutting her wrists and ending it all.  She could taste their blood on her lip.  Not the blood of the cherub she had bitten that morning, she imagined it was Cupid's.  She closed her eyes and could imagine herself outside that cage, her magic embracing her at once as she stepped foot out of that awful place.  She fantasied watching Cupid tremble under her as she slit his throat.

Her trance was interrupted as she heard a door slam.  She scampered back a little.  She could hear Cupid's rampant shouts as he cursed her name.  He was furious but he refused to come see her.  That's all she wanted.   She wanted to see him.  To torture him with their shared past.  It wasn't the first time or the last time he would betray her she was sure of it.  She could travel back in time behind her closed lids.  Back to when she was young, before she was Celeste, the witch.  Before she was the mistress of deception, before she had drained those children of their life force.  The blood of youth could turn back time itself on her body if done so carefully.  She had bathed in it one too many times she supposed.  That's when The Guardians became concerned.  Protecting children was their forte.

When she opened her eyes she was still in her spot but now it was dark and the new moon kept the skies dark except for the stars.  The moon was her only source of light during the night.  She crept back to her bed, but before she could slide between the sheets she heard a sound like rustling leaves.  She spun around. Her eyes grew large as she tried to take in her surroundings.  There was a mass of some substance just outside her cage something black but also blue and purple.  It glimmered these colors as it moved across the floor.  Celeste froze hoping it couldn't see her.  The mass took the shape of a mare.  A haunting creature with black sandy ropes streaming from its body.  She tilted her head. "Hello?"

The creature approached and snorted furiously as it came upon the bars.  Celeste huffed and jumped from her bed and leaned against the cage.  

"It's magic.  To keep everyone out and to keep only me in.  Quite tragic."  She internally scolded herself for talking to this creature when it couldn't talk back to her, but it was the first time in a long while she had anyone or anything to talk to.  She crossed her arms.  "Did you come to break me out?"

The creature shook its head and looked around.  She couldn't tell if it understood her or if it was just lost, but she continued to talk to it all the same.

"That's a shame.  You know, in my day, I was one of the most powerful beings alive.  You must have heard of me.  Celeste, the witch?  Ring any bells?"  The beast turned its head toward her but she couldn't tell if it was annoyed with her or if it had indeed recognized her.

"That's right.  I was a conqueror of spells and potions.  I was an inventor!  I dabbled in dark magic.  I could turn myself into anything I pleased.  I could be whatever I wanted to be.  Change my skin...  Not really though.  It was all a trick, really.  I could make people see things.  See things they wanted to see or things they didn't.  I could make them believe I was someone else.  someone they knew.  Or I could make them believe in something as abstract as thoughts-- Are you listening?"

The creature nodded and trotted closer to her.  Celeste quirked a brow at this. "Really?"  It nodded again.

"There's a key--to unlock this!"  She pointed at the lock.  "See?  It's in Cupid's office.  You must go get it.  Please.  I'd do it myself, but this cage keeps me powerless.  Believe me, I've tried to escape.  I can't do it on my own.  You must help me."

The creature stood completely still for a long moment before dissipating into the air like dust.  Celeste feared this to be a hallucination and didn't attempt to call out after it.  She held herself tightly that night as she crawled back into bed.  It was a cold and emptiness that kept her company for the duration of those four weeks.  Four weeks that held her captive in time, the sun fading in and out, she felt like she had for those hundreds of years.  She was trapped in a limbo and she stayed the same, nothing changed except her posture.  One day she slouched, the other she practiced standing up as straight and as tall she could.  The next day she practiced something in between slouched and straight.  She did cartwheels, back-bends, hand springs, and rolls.  These brought her back to the time before.  When she had friends and someone she loved.  It reminded her of what it was like to be human again, it reminded her of how weak she once was.  Was she weak again?  She couldn't help but dwell on it.  There was nothing else for her in this limbo.

She couldn't remember closing her eyes, but when she opened them she noticed the moon was gone again.  It's watchful eye couldn't see her tonight.  Perhaps that's why he came, because he knew he wouldn't get caught doing something like this.

Celeste heard that same noise that had come to her so many nights ago.  She shifted in bed and sat up.  This time there was no mass, no mare-like creature made of sand.   This time a dark and tall figure stood in the shadows.  It's hands behind it's back as it's face that was covered in shadows watched her.  She could have sworn it was the Grim Reaper there to take her.  She almost wished it was.  

"Quite an impressive jail.  They too tried to contain me, but it didn't work."

His voice was deep and velvety, she couldn't help but admire it.  He certainly wasn't the Grim Reaper.

"Who are you?"

"Pitch Black,  or you may know me better as, The Boogeyman."

"Aren't you supposed to be hiding under my bed?"  Celeste was too surprised to be asking rational questions.  So many years she had gone without a visitor.  She had no one to talk to and now she was suspicious why he was here.  "You sent that creature here... weeks ago... that was you."

"A spy.  But yes."  He stepped forward.  He brought a hand from behind his back and let his fingers caress the air around her cage.  "That is a powerful magic being kept from you.  I bet you'd do anything to get it back.  To get out of that cage."

"Don't tease, Boogeyman.  Unless you intend to please."  Celeste tilted her head and came closer.  She wanted him to see her.  She walked delicately and let her hair drape over her shoulder.  

"Pitch Black will do just fine."

"I would." She added suddenly.

"You would?" She could see his face a little clearer as she approached.  His eyes glittered like gold and she could see the arch of his brow.

"I would do anything to get out of here." She kept eye contact with him even as she leaned her body against the cage.  Her hands slid up the bars and she left her hand slip through, reaching out to him.  He took her hand gingerly and gave the knuckles of her hand a tender kiss.  She could feel the force of power, like a dark aura that surrounded him.  Her hand began to tremble now.  The last time someone had touched her so gently... she couldn't recall at all.  His grip grew more firm on her and he pulled harshly so that her body rammed against the cold bars of the cage.

"Perhaps I ought to just take your power and let someone more qualified use it."

Celeste trembled with rage, "MORE QUALIFIED?!  NO ONE IS MORE--"

Suddenly he was gone.  Her hand left out in the open, cold once more.  As if the shadows had consumed him all at once without her even realizing it until it was too late.  Surely if this had been real she must have scared him off.  Celeste clutched her head and screamed in frustration for hours until her voice was gone completely.  If only she had not show weakness.  Her hand trembled and that was the moment he knew that she wasn't worth him time or effort to rescue.  She had one chance and now it was gone.  Gone like her past life. Gone like her freedom.  Gone like her powers.  How could she have been so stupid?  How could she let an opportunity like that slip by? She pounded her head against the bars of her cage.  She used to be smart, she used to be cunning.  Celeste tried to summon that girl back.  She was long out of practice and needed to bring that side of herself back.  She needed to be ready.  She had gotten lazy waiting for someone benevolent to set her free.  What she needed was to manipulate.  He could have been manipulated.  She could have MADE him set her free.  At one point in her life it would have been an easy thing to do.  Now she needed to retrain herself.  She needed to remember.