Green vines decorate the wooden chairs, all of which are placed in rows of two. Their occupants, consisting of barely a handful of people, are made up of Daniel and Rose's family members, as well as an anthropologist that begged to make the list. These are the only people brave enough to be around a Vessel.

The soon-to-wed understand the absence of their childhood friends and favourite cousins, though, and if Rose was not a Vessel herself, she wouldn't attend a Vessel's wedding—something she reminded others about when they were nervous to reject the invitation.

Rose only hopes that Daniel, who is not a Vessel, will not live to regret this day. However, when she looks at his teary and loving eyes, she's almost convinced he'll never feel that way.

Daniel, standing under the wedding arch covered in blue and pink flowers, smiles at Rose and takes a deep breath. Rose does the same as nerves and excitement creep in.

"I, Daniel Smith, take you, Rose Miller, to be my wife and my lifelong friend. I vow to love you every day, stand by you in sickness and in health, hold you through poverty or wealth, support your ambitions and work to be the husband you deserve. I choose you today, and I..."

Daniel's words trail off when Pastor Reilly's eyes widen. The pastor wastes no time in turning away, and he begins to run towards the opposite direction, never stopping to look back at the havoc that has just occurred.

The couple doesn't look around, but they can hear their guests shuffling, sure all steps are taken in all directions away from them—away from Rose.

"Daniel!" His mum screams out. "Run!"

Daniel ignores his mother's words. Instead, he looks at his first and only love. He watches her eyes, previously a warm brown, turn a darker shade of red than the pastor saw. It's more frightening than he imagined, but despite the change, he knows she's still his Rose.

"And I choose you for the rest of my life," he says.

Daniel squeezes Rose's hands tighter as her body begins to shake, and he falls to the ground with Rose when her legs can no longer support her.

"Uhh," she groans. "Go, Danny."

Rose's voice is soft, and when she cries out in pain, her head tilts back before it falls onto her lap. After a while, the shaking of her body slows down, signalling that it is soon the end of her.

Rose has been triggered. Not only will this lead to her death, but as a Vessel, being triggered means that a new evil will be released into the world; an evil previously stored in Rose's body.

"Rose!" Daniel shakes her shoulders and tries to tilt her face towards him. However, with much difficulty, she swats his hand away.

"I'll never forgive myself if my evil gets you quickly." Rose looks at Daniel with pleading eyes. "You're already...my evil might eventually hurt you, Danny, so get away and buy some time."

No Vessel knows what evil they are cursed to hold, but over the years, people have come to realise that the evils released first hurt those in close proximity with a triggered Vessel.

This was discovered thanks to the Vessel holding the evil of madness. The people with him when he was triggered went mad after a couple of days, and people throughout the world became insane over the years. Not everyone will be affected, but Rose doesn't want to risk it with Daniel.

"Please!" She begs.

Luckily for Rose, Daniel's father and uncle appear behind him, and they pull him to his feet. Rose watches as Daniel, kicking and screaming, is dragged away from her.

"Let me stay, Rose! Rose!" Tears roll down his cheek, but he doesn't bother to wipe them away as Rose releases another scream. "Let me stay!"

She shakes her head as she thinks about what today will mean for the rest of the Vessels. The government has been itching for a reason to guilt-trip the lot into isolation.

"Excuse me." A lanky man approaches with hesitance—his only fear for this moment being the worst time to ask the questions he desperately seeks. Still, he goes on. "May I take a moment of your time?"

Rose looks up to see the anthropologist looking down at her with curious eyes. She almost tells him to run, but the casual way he flips his notepad open stops her from doing so.

"Can you tell me what emotion you're feeling? What emotion is triggering you?"

Rose chuckles, and after some seconds, her chuckle becomes a laugh. She can't believe someone would stay behind to ask this—no one in their right mind, anyway.

"Happy," she says, her casual reply coming as a surprise to her. Soon enough, a smile takes over her face. "I'm the happiest I've ever been."

When the anthropologist scribbles words into his notepad, Rose analyses her hand, watching as they slowly turn into red dust and begin filling the air around her.

The rest of her body follows, but for some seconds, she can think, and her final thoughts are of a life she was so close to having. If her existence didn't kill the glamour of fairytales, she would think that such a life could still be achieved, only with her and Daniel in a different form.

~•~