• A harsh winter's night.
    A single shadow moved across the familiar meadow that it wandered through every night. The shadow left big footprints and a few handprints along the the way. Hunched backed, its invisible heart turned away from the sky. Its eyes, made of marble, scanned along the snowy grass, not noticing the change. A few more steps, and the shadow stopped. Its giant claws scratched at the snow curiously, and gathered a clump of the white in its hand. It turned its head to the sky.

    A lone gargoyle, midnight blue, with marble eyes the color of the sun, watched the white flakes fall from the sky. It moved its other hand out to catch the snow. 'What is this?' it asked itself, as it felt no temperature change. It dropped the little snow clenched in its claw to the ground, as it drpped its head again. It continued on, walking slowly, admiring the snow-covered grass. It lifted its head once more, when the sparkle of something in the snow caught its attention. Its invisible heart paced, as it moved faster to uncover the sparkle.

    Its claw carefully lifted the small, snow-covered item. Using its other claw, carefully as well, it brushed the snow off the item. The snow slipped off in little chunks, and the gargoyle nearly dropped the item. It was something it never seen before, almost unreal to it.

    The item was a doll, smaller then most. It was a joint doll, the connections beginning to rust. It was wearing a white flower-like dress, which complimented the blond curls resting just below its shoulders. Its blue eyes shimmered in the reflected moonlight. Shoulder puffs covered its shoulders, jewels strung and hung off the puffs. The small crown that caught the gargoyle's attention was nestled neatly into its hair, shining almost brightly in the moonlight still. It stayed limp in its claws, staring away into a void.

    'Oh my.' echoed through the gargoyle's empty head, as it sat in where it stood. The doll was enchanting, beautiful even. But the gargoyle didn't understand what it was feeling, in its non-existing nerves. It carefully ran a single claw down the doll's cheek, and lifted it up to look at it completely. A few minutes later, the gargoyle felt the wind rush at its back. It brought the doll closer to itself, and hunched over the doll, protecting it. The snow fell much faster, gather on its arched back and neck. Why did it feel like it had to protect this...useless item? It could easily throw it away, cast it aside, and move on, forgetting it. But, it didn't, it couldn't. The gargoyle was attracted to this beautiful doll.

    The beast fell in love with the doll.

    Daylight soon began to break through, and the gargoyle looked to the sky. It stood slowly, still looking to the sky. More daylight broke through, and it turned, tucking the doll at its side. It ran, ran back to its pedistol atop the church in the sall town. As it rooted its feet back, it rested the doll at the side, staring to the sky. The gargoyle took one last look at its discovery, looked to the sky, and slipped back into its frozen statue, turning all grey, with a smile now carved into its face.