By Your Love I Live (Sumeragi/Mikoto)
A woman sits by the lake outside of Valla's palace, her hair unbound, impossibly long, its black tone a stark contrast with her pale skin and the white dress she wore. She feels someone observing her from afar, maybe hears the rustle of the grass as someone approaches her and turns.
A single look from her eyes is enough to leave Sumeragi mesmerized.
In a soft, gentle voice, the woman greets him, introduces herself. "I am Mikoto, Arete's sister. It's a pleasure to meet you, at last, King Sumeragi." Her smile is engraved in Sumeragi's mind from that moment onwards.
And almost without noticing, Mikoto becomes a part of Sumeragi's life, settles in his heart, begins to rob him of sleep. Almost without noticing, Sumeragi falls in love with Mikoto, and Mikoto falls in love him.
But maybe fate knew that what they had couldn't be.
It’s by the great love Mikoto feels that she helps Sumeragi escape as the Silent Dragon tears her home apart, at the expense of ending trapped in that hell. And it’s by the great love Sumeragi feels that he promises he will find his way back, that he tries in vain to return to the Invisible Kingdom, but ultimately, he fails his word. With every entrance to Valla blocked there is nothing he can do, he is powerless to stop the ongoing demise, powerless to save Mikoto. She might be dead now.
This is one wound Sumeragi is sure will never close. The best he can do is concentrate on his son and his newborn daughter, on his kingdom, on his wife that he still loved, tempestuous as their relationship had turned.
Maybe this was destiny’s way of punishing him for everything he has done wrong. How he wished he had never crossed paths with Mikoto, then, if that would have kept her safe.