He’d been following you around for days, and it had really been freaking you out. You’d gotten a clear look at him at one point, and felt a sense of relief that at least it wasn’t a Smoker. That said, it was bizarre; why wasn’t he attacking you?
At one point, you got the attention of a pretty significant horde, and had to run/fight your way out of it. You just managed to take shelter in a sturdy shed when suddenly you heard the unmistakable sounds of dying zombies outside. You put it off for a minute to patch yourself up, and as you did, the sounds died off. It was dead silent when you finally got up the courage to look out, and were shocked to see nothing moving out there. The shed was surrounded with bodies, but there wasn’t a sign of your savior. Until you turned and saw him on the roof of a nearby building, watching you. For whatever reason, he’d helped you. You took a chance and waved your thanks, and was pleasantly surprised when he waved back.
For the next few days, you noticed him being a bit nearer than before, but still a good distance away. It was sort of like having a guardian…angel? Kinda.
Then, it finally happened: you made a huge mistake and ended up summoning the biggest horde you’d seen yet. As you fought and fought to gain the high ground, it never seemed to end, and you were getting tired and running low on ammo. You dropped your clip and were tackled by a couple zombies. This was totally the end; there was no way you’d get out of this one.
Suddenly, the Hunter dropped from the air and pulled the zombies off you, tossing them into the approaching horde, knocking them down and buying you some time to get up. As you scrambled to your feet, you stared at the back of this Hunter as he took a defensive posture and wondered what was going on.
You snatch up your clip and reload, and the moment it clicks into place, he’s diving into the horde, just mowing them all down. You pick off a couple that were coming after you while he continues to flatten the competition. A few minutes later, it’s just you and him left standing. You look at him, still amazed, and he self-consciously wipes his claws on his shirt.
A screaming cry echoes out, along with some other less savory sounds, as a Witch, Boomer, and Tank appear, much to your dismay. Your Hunter friend growls at them, and suddenly drops ammo in front of you from his pockets. As you pick up the last bit, he grabs you and carries you off at high speeds, leaving the other Special Infected behind. You’re grateful, but …what happens now?
With nothing but a broken mp3 player, 18¢, a “fun-sized” bag of M&Ms, and a wallet full of gift cards that may or may not be expired, describe how you saved humanity from extinction.
You put your earphones on while making your way to the highest building of the town. You knew you would find him here. You raised your head: black clouds were already forming in the sky, lightning flashing here and there, thunder making the ground shake occasionally.
In your ears, your broken mp3 player was playing the same song over and over. You had never been able to repair the damn thing – at least you liked the song. You couldn’t increase or lower the volume, so you could still hear the thunder as well as the people screaming and running around you, the sirens roaring in the distance, the howl of the wind; but all still quite faint under the music.
You sighed, ran your free hand into your hair (the other was holding your ‘fun-sized’ bag of M&Ms). Humanity was going to end soon.
You reached the building. The doors had been torn apart, surely in one of his access of rage, and you slipped in easily, walking carefully through the destroyed halls up to the elevators.
“He better not have wrecked them too,” you grumbled. That building was high as fuck. You didn’t want to take the stairs.
After two fails and a lot of cursing, you finally found a functioning elevator, which took you to the rooftop. You palmed the pockets of your jeans during the ride, pinched your lips. You thought you had taken your phone, but no, that was your gift-card wallet. Most of those which may or may not be expired. You had absolutely no idea, because you tended to forget you had gift-cards way too easily.
That was a shame, there were some interesting stuff in there. You promised yourself to use them if humanity wasn’t extinct tonight.
At last, the rooftop. You stepped out of the elevator, yelping a little when the strength of the wind nearly knocked you off your feet. Recovering your balance after a bit of struggle, you squinted your eyes and caught sight of him at the edge of the roof. In front of him, the entire city lay, completely at his mercy, covered already by the dark clouds he had summoned, which would unleash their rage when he would be done charging energy. And it would just be the beginning – nothing compared to what was expecting humanity the second after the storm would have started his work of destruction.
You didn’t know what he had planned after the storm. He liked surprises. You kinda betted on a flood, but you weren’t too sure.
The wind made each step complicated, and it took you five minutes to reach him, despite doing your best. You were a little scared to be thrown off the roof, but hey, you weren’t going to crawl up to him either.
You gently tapped on his shoulder.
“Hey.”
He turned around slowly, having already noticed your presence (and he had done nothing to help you? Asshole), and looked at you with those eyes you had never gotten used to: old, so very old, filled with ancient power gathered throughout millenaries, haunted and tired and pulling you in like a void.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
You dug into your pocket, swore a few times while searching, then proudly handed him your 18¢. He took them with a raise of eyebrow.
“I owed you 18¢ for that coffee the other day, remember?” you smiled enthusiastically. “I didn’t have enough coins. You gave me some.”
“It’s only 18¢.”
“I always pay my debts. How dare you underestimate me.”
Finally, he cracked up a smile. “You say ‘the other day’, but that might be a bit more than that. It was three years ago. The first day we met.”
“Yeah, took me a while to get exactly 18¢. Damn, I use coins a lot.”
He laughed, the millenaries-old eyes taking a slightly fond light, then turned back to the city and his work of destruction. You stepped beside him, handed him an earpiece. By habit, he took it absent-mindedly and put it on, watching the dark sky with a certain nostalgia while listening to the song that had been playing over and over on that damn broken mp3 player.
“You have M&Ms,” he then said.
“I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed them sooner, for a god. It should be a must, you know. M&Ms noticing skills. The world would be a better place.”
He snickered. “The world… it can’t be worse anyway.”
“Ah, yeah. That’s what this-” – you designated the brooding sky – “-is about.”
“The world is rotten. You know it too. Humanity is broken.”
His shoulders slumped, his composed mask falling down. You reached out to him, held his hand. He held back tightly.
“I’ve been here for millenniums. I’ve tried to help them for so long. But humans… have always been too broken, from the start. Genocides, wars, murders, stealing, rapes, poverty, corruption, cruelty, erasure, intolerance, extremism, oppression, discrimination, atrocities, ruins, tears, blood, pain…” He didn’t finish, because the list would be endless. You didn’t look at him, but you knew his eyes were filled with sorrow, and his voice was raspy. “I’ve seen it all. It was there from the start. It has never stopped. Has even been worse, sometimes. There would be so much to do, to fix the world as it is now.”
“Yeah.” There was really nothing else you could say. “I know.”
“Humanity cannot be saved.”
“I know.”
“That’s why I have to destroy it. If there is no humanity… there are no humans to cause harm.”
“True.”
There was a long silence, during which you both listened to the music on repeat, holding each other’s hand, looking at the city which was soon going to be reduced to nothing.
“But it’s not right,” you declared. “Humans cause harm, and others get hurt. Are you going to also destroy those who deserve to live a better life? Those who have been hurt? Those who suffer? Those who haven’t even gotten the chance to know good things? Wouldn’t it be unfair?”
“Yes,” he replied sadly. “But it would be for the greater good. Humans… humans are just hopeless.”
“I’m also human.”
You turned your head towards him. He was looking at you, expression bitter.
“You’re different.”
“No, I’m not. I grew up in this world too. I am not the worst human, but not the best either.”
“You’re not rotten,” he hissed, maybe a bit too aggressive.
You didn’t back off. “If humanity is born rotten, then yes, I am.”
You confronted his ancient stare with the same quiet and patient determination which had carried your steps here. In the end, he sighed, and averted his eyes while letting go of your hand.
“Yes,” he said tiredly, “you are.”
You smiled, opened the bag of M&Ms, put it between you two. He took one.
“But if everyone was like you, it would make things easier.”
“Come on. I’m already giving you troubles. It would be a mess. Everyone would forget their gift-cards.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you found more.”
You beamed, and took out your gift-card wallet out of your pocket, opening it to show him what you had. He glanced at it, and ate another M&Ms to hide his little smile. It seemed to you the wind was weaker, now.
“There are always more,” you winked.
“I bet most of them are expired.”
“But not all.”
You grinned happily, while he shook his head; but he wasn’t even bothering to hide his smile, now, though it was a somehow sad one.
“Humanity is like a wallet full of gift-cards which may or may not be expired,” you said. “Most of them are probably useless by now, but some of them are not. And just for those, you keep the entire wallet.”
“… you’re too positive.”
You saw the distress in his eyes, the despair, the ages-old tiredness – and it all made you want to take him in your arms and never let him go. But you didn’t.
Not yet.
“It’s like 18¢: it’s almost nothing, but it’s still something, and it still has some worth. It’s like a fun-sized M&Ms bag: small, and there will be some you don’t like, and some you do, and it gives you a smile. It’s like a broken mp3 player: damaged, but still working somehow. Broken, but not beyond repair.”
The first tear rolled down his cheek. You followed it with your eyes, followed how it traced the line of his jaw before being taken away by the wind. He turned his face away. You didn’t lose your smile.
“Your infamous bad metaphors,” he croaked out.
“Those are comparisons. And they are good.”
He shook his head lightly, not to lose the earpiece, then turned back to you, unable to stop weeping.
“And what if I don’t destroy this world? What then? What happens tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, one more person will be able to smile. One more person will be able to take a step towards healing. One more person will be able to be happy, and make other people happy. One more person will have the courage to accept themselves. One more person will accept others for what they are. One more person will live beautiful things. One more person will learn their lesson and become a better person. One more person will be kind.”
You couldn’t help the enthusiasm in your voice. There were many things he could answer, but he didn’t – maybe because he already knew it would be useless, against you.
“Those people make me so happy. Them, and all the others who make me believe in this world no matter how rotten it might be. They’re giving me courage.” You looked at the city in front of you, made a wide arm gesture towards it. “Look! There are so many people here, and some of them have struggled so hard to get up this morning, but they did it, and they’re still doing their best to find happiness! Don’t you feel proud? Also–”
You didn’t finish.
He wrapped his arms around you, buried his face in the crook of his neck, and cried, shattered and exhausted, while the wind around you slowly calmed down.
You leaned your cheek against the top of his head, held his arm.
“I want to go home,” he whispered. “Your home. Where it’s safe.”
“Sure. Let’s look up which of those gift-cards we can still use online tonight, ‘kay? My treat. You get whatever you want. And I still have some M&Ms at home, don’t worry. We’ll also be able to listen to something else than that song. Well, if you want. I mean, it’s a good song. I like it.”
He laughed between two sobs, holding you even tighter. He didn’t answer. It sounded like he couldn’t, like he was crying too much to formulate words for now.
It started raining; but the sky had cleared, and the wind was a breeze, and the thunder and lightning had faded away with his will to end the world. You welcomed the rain happily.
“It’s okay,” you said. It really was. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay, I promise. I’ll be there. You’re making me so proud too.”
“How can you have… so much faith?” he asked, voice strangled.
You smiled.
“People can surprise you in a good way, if you give them the chance.”
I was in charge of feeding the prisoners. This had been my task since the Queen had taken me and 2 dozen other Murania as hostages. The others had not survived long, but I adapted. Obeyed.
The Queen had taken a human. A rare being this far into the Deep, but one feared from one end of the galaxy to the other. According to the Encyclopedia of Sentient Beings Capable of Space Travel, humans needed a diet of roughly 2000 calories a sol served in traditional 3 portions a sol. Which meant that I had to approach the human three times a sol. I could not fail my duties.
The first attempt at feeding the large being ended with a tray thrown at my head with enough force that it would have caved my skull if I had not ducked in time. The human was raging, slamming their entire body against the containment bars with enough force to shake the floor and… and roaring. I cleaned the mess of nutrient paste as fast as I could and fled.
But five hours later found me trembling in front of the human’s cage with another tray of nutrient paste. The human had calmed and was glaring at me intently. I knew they did not speak Murania, but still I spoke my native language as I offered the food again. I did not get to speak it often and missed the sound. “Guria?”
The human tilted their head and to my shock, repeated the word, then repeated it again until they mimicked the sound perfectly, even with the slight whistle at the end.
I offered the tray. “Guria.”
They eyed it suspiciously so I tasted it, showing it to be safe. “Guria.”
They held their hand out and I gave them the tray, scuttling to a safe corner before they could attack me with it again.
They tilted their head again and scowled, then spoke in broken Common. “I thank”
I fled, claws scratching against the shiny floor.
Another five hours passed all too soon and I was back at the human’s cage with the final meal of the sol. They were moving slowly around the cage with their ear pressed to the wall, tapping with their knuckles. I watched them for a moment, confused at the erratic behaviour, but only managed a few seconds of observation before their head swiveled directly towards me and they stopped to face me.
I walked closer and offered the tray. “Guria.”
They took it. “How talk thank in you mouth talk?”
“Meesh Meesh.”
They opened their mouth and let out a loud, short bark, a laugh according to the ESBCST. (I studied it dutifully when they were brought aboard.) “Meesh Meesh!” They pointed to themselves. “Michael.”
My wings ruffled, the sound was so similar! I pointed to myself, “Mikel”
The human shook their head and pointed to themselves. “Me Michael.”
I jerked my head in an upward motion called a nod. “Yes, you,’ I pointed to them, “Michael.” I pointed to myself. “I, Mikel.”
They laughed again. “Michael, Mikel. Much same.”
I chittered. “Very similar, yes.”
Their eyes narrowed. “You work here?”
I bobbed sideways, a bit noncommittal, “As I must.”
“Must work?”
I searched for the simplest way to translate what I meant across the language barrier. “No work, in there.” I pointed to their cage. “Work, out here.” I hopped encouragingly. “You work soon, yes?”
The human bared their teeth and snarled. “No work. Fight.”
My wings flattened against my spine and I fled. Humans were so aggressive.
The next sol I completed my first duties and then found myself lingering outside the containment hall. I was apprehensive about what mood I would find the human in this time. I fluffed my wings out to convey confidence and clicked in with the human’s first meal.
“Mikel! Guria?” They were bouncing on the front part of their feet, hopping up and touching the ceiling, then dropping to the floor and pushing themselves up with their arms repeatedly.
“Yes. What are you doing?” I slid the tray to where they could reach and backed to a… well not safe but safer, distance.
“Work body. Stay strong.” They flopped over onto their back and turned their head to look at me. “Meesh Meesh.”
“Zuan.” I bobbed sideways before deciding to ask them the question I had been mulling over. “You’re Nice, mean, nice, mean.”
Michael laughed. “Yeah. Head bad.” They hooked their fingers like claws and shook them around their head. “Scare, tired, Fight.” They gestured to the bars and glared. “Not like.”
I nodded. “I know that feeling.” A chime sounded, signaling the Queen’s approach. I flattened myself to the floor and made way.
The Queen slithered in, her scaled body scraping against the floor with a sound that made my feathers stand up. She reared to her full two meter height and flicked her tongue out to taste the air.
“Human. You are mine now, you will serve the glory of me.”
Michael looked her up and down and whistled lowly then pronounced in exact Common. “Ugly. Mother. Fucker.”
I gaped at them in horror. They dared insult the Queen to her face?
The Queen hissed, but smugly coiled. “You will serve me, human. I know your kind. You are loyal. I feed you, I provide you shelter. I give you safety. You will love me.”
The human backed up, crouching into a fighting stance. “No love, mother fucker.”
The Queen wiggled and slid towards the exit. “You will serve me.” They paused to pat me on the head. “You have duties, tiny one.”
The next several sols passed in the same manner. I did my duties, I fed the human, we exchanged words. At night I tended my secret garden grown in glasses of water and composted nutrient paste from seeds and cuttings I snuck from the Queen’s hoard. The human was learning not only Common but Murania at a breathtaking pace. We could hold whole conversations now and I was no longer… completely apprehensive about approaching their cage. Michael had not acted aggressive towards me at all since the Queen’s visit.
The rare human plant called a “green bean” plant had fruited after several months of care and pollinating with the tip of my own feather. I was ecstatic over the first fruits of my secret labor and I felt that Michael would appreciate my excitement and maybe a taste of his home planet. Humans were said to be incredibly empathetic and sentimental.
That morning I secreted a pair of bean pods in my uniform and headed for Micheal’s cage. They seemed to notice something was different right away, peering at me with concern. “All okay, Mikel?”
I nodded and nervously whispered. “Secret, right?”
They lowered their voice and moved closer to the bars. “Yeah, secret.”
I showed him the beans. “I grew these. It’s the first harvest from the plant! It’s a huge secret, but I wanted you to have them.”
Michael stared at the beans with an expression I didn’t recognize for a long time before whispering, their voice strangely rough. “You get trouble for these?”
I nodded and tried to shove the beans into their hands. “Yes, a lot of trouble. Take them!”
They took them and smiled. “Meesh Meesh, Mikel. This…. This mean lot to me. I can’t say enough. Meesh Meesh.” They bit into one and grinned, crunching happily. “Very good! You do good!”
I chittered and ruffled my wings, pleased with the praise. “Zuan, Michael.” I gave them their tray of nutrient paste and fled.
The next day (human word for sol) I found a broken something in the Queen’s trash bin. It was silvery and had a lot of moving parts and made me think of Michael. I shoved it into my uniform and snuck it to Michael. They were overjoyed and immediately began fiddling (another human word I find pleasant to use) with it.
I found I enjoyed making Michael happy and kept my eyes out for things to gift them. A broken flute, a torn book, a shiny rock shard, a discarded pipe, a bit of string. It all was random junk, but Michael was still so happy for each item. It… was a pleasant feeling, almost like being back with my brood mates.
Then… Then the alarms sounded one morning and the ship rocked with an explosion. Frightened, I grabbed my precious green bean plant and rushed instinctively towards Michael’s cage.
Only to find they weren’t there. The bars were broken, bent outward and a piece of the wall was torn open, exposing sparking wires and smashed circuits. The lights were flickering and I could hear screaming. I decided to run for the escape pods and hoped that the Queen died in that explosion.
I had barely skittered into the hallway when I found Michael. They were fighting with a guard twice their size, but easily leaped around it’s bulk and stabbed it in the base of the skull with some sort of spear. A primitive weapon, but still deadly in the hands of the human. Michael rode the body of the guard down to the ground and leaped off, brandishing the spear at me.
Frozen in fear, I distantly realized the weapon was made from the shiny rock tied to a piece of pipe. I was to die from a weapon I provided then.
Except, Michael lowered the weapon and smiled. “Mikel! I find you! Come on! We get out of here!”
“Out… Escape?”
“Yeah! C’mon, I stole codes for ship!”
I followed them numbly, too scared and shocked to process that not only had a single human escaped a 1st class prison cell with just bits of junk, but had also destroyed the Pirate Queen’s ship, and was taking me with them.
It wasn’t until we were flying fast and far from the wreckage, headed towards a Trading Station, that I found my voice. “Why… Why would you save me? I…” I didn’t know how to express the fact that I was nothing, tiny, worth only for cleaning while the human was strong, big, and apparently a fearsome and brilliant warrior.
Michael glanced at me from the corner of their eyes. “We friends, Mikel. Friends no leave friends. Also, you trapped like me. On other side of bars, but trapped same.”
“Friends? But Queen provided for you, you were supposed to bond with her?!”
The human looked at me incredulously before laughing long and loud, his head thrown back with the effort of it. “No Bond with Queen, she put me in cage. You! You give me food, you talk, teach, you bring me presents. You good friend. Queen Piece of Shit.”
“Oh.” Michael had bonded with me. And.. I with them it seemed. And we were free. “Meesh meesh, Michael. You’re a good friend too.” I hugged my green bean plant. “What now?”
“I thinking I turn in Queen head for bounty, use money buy good ship again. After, you want go home or you want explore?”
My wings flared in excitement. “Can I have a garden room on our ship?”
Michael grinned and tossed his arm (gently) around my shoulders. “Yes, you have garden room. Grow lots plant in space. Explore! Garden! New Planet! New Seed!”
So is Swallowtail naked in all these or is there a body underneath that could be removed from the pretty stuff?
anything they can ‘wear’ can fuse seamlessly with their bodies if they so wish and sometimes even grow with them so the line between accessories and body parts/symbiotic organisms are blurry with these fae folk~
It comes in the quiet night, when all are sound and sleeping.
It avoids the bright lights and slips through the shadows, it’s dark figure unseen. It’s presence unnoticed to all. Humans are such simple, ignorant creatures, so unaware of what is truly there in the dark. Rarely has it’s kind ever been caught, only revealing itself when it’s too late for thier victims…
Quietly, it creeps closer to the little house on the corner, closer to the opened bedroom window…
A breeze whispers through the night, lifting up the curtains to reveal…you. Sleeping. Your chest rises and falls slowly, it can smell your sweet blood and sense your warmth. It growls softly, dark hands grasping your windowsill.
Not a soul notices when it enters the threshold.
It slips into your room, creeping across the floor and closer to you. It stops just near your bed. Leaning close, it takes in your scent, growling with satisfaction. Humans always smell good but you, you smell better. Sweeter.
And you are awake.
Your eyes are open, staring face to face with such a horrifying creature.
“Hey, you…” you murmur sleepily.
It comes in the quiet night, when humans slumber and monsters roam freely. It’s kind are still hunting but it is done for the night.
It is always sure to feed before coming to you, never wanting to risk any temptation as it crawls into your bed. It knows what it is. A monster, a nightmare, the scary stories humans tell around the fire. But it also knows what it has longed for so long.
Warmth. Tenderness. Love.
You give it all of that and more. It crawls into bed, keeping close to you as it snuggles beneath the blankets. You stroke it’s face with your soft hand and kiss it, whispering a good night as your eyes close once more.
Too perfect to stay inside in your opinion so, being the eldest sister, you dragged your two younger sisters with you into the fresh air.
It wasn’t too hard to convince them though.
The three of you had always been rather close and there was nothing more you liked then going out to the massive flower fields and enjoying these warm spring days. You usually did your own things, often wandering away but never too far.
You did today though. You couldn’t explain it but…something had some kind of hold over you. Some kind of feeling that was pulling you towards…a rose.
A red rose like you had never seen before.
You reached it, reminding yourself to be careful of the thornes, and plucked it from the ground. The second you did, however, there was a bright flash of light and then…Darkness.
The flowers sunlight and your sisters were all gone, though the red rose was still in your hand. You looked around, trying to find something in this…cave. Yes, a dark cave. It was quiet and dark and you wanted to leave desperately. You spied a bit of light in the corner of your eye and followed it, hoping to find your way out of this strange place. Instead, you found yourself in some kind of garden. It looked a lot like your own, with flowered hedges and a fountain but everything was…pale.
There was no sky, just more darkness and rock, though gems stones sparkled in the dark. The leaves and grass were a soft gray color, the paths made of the same smooth black stone as the fountain that was trickling softly. The only things that brought any color were the white and red roses.
Just like the one in your hand, they were beautiful…but beauty did not answer your questions nor did it comfort you.
“Do you like it?”
You turned around upon hearing the smooth voice, finding…a man. A very strange man. He was tall, with high cheekbones pale gray skin. His hair was the longest you had seen, reaching down to his hips and a pitch black color. His eyes were almond shaped and a glowing red eyes and, strangest of all, he had long charcoal colored horns atop his head, thin silver chains strung around them intricately.
“I had it made for you.”
He smiled at you, a sort of cold smile at that, and stepped closer.
“Who are?” You asked, hopong that you didn’t sound as frightened as you felt.
He frowned, looking away for a moment. He looked back at you with determination in his eyes.
“I suppose they never told you then. Well, this is going to be a disaster. My name in Prince Pallidus of Cavernae, son of Zinzo King of Demons and Lenora of the Snow Elves. I’m your betrothed.”
He ending it all with a graceful bow but you simply stared at him.
“My what?”
He stood back up (he certainly was tall, you noticed) and sighed.
“This is going to be more difficult. But I suppose that it would be ridiculous to just expect you to run into my arms, wouldn’t it?”
~
It most certainly was ridiculous.
You avoided Pallidus at all times, ignoring his protests (“We’re to be married! Can’t we at least discuss this?”). Your lavish apartments and beautiful wardrobe and all the gifts were not enough to win your affection. You avoided his brothers too as they often tried to argue on his behalf. You appreciated the loyalty they shared but you wanted nothing to do with the three of them. They way they stuck together and took up for one another reminded you too much of your own sisters. It just made you think about what you were missing and made you upset all over again.
You actually found yourself spending a lot of time in the garden which was actually quite beautiful. In fact, you spent so much time there that Pallidus began to catch on and surprise you there.
“Go away!”
You ran between the rose maze, hoping to lose him around the next corner. But the prince knew this garden better then you did and took a shortcut. Instead, you ran right into his arms. His pretty yet incredibly strong hands gripped you, trapping you in his embrace.
“Can you please,” he said through gritted teeth, “just listen to me?”
“Oh, fine!”
He let you go and you sat down on a black bench. Pallidus sat down next to you, trying yo figure out how to phrase his feelings.
“I’ve been told my entire life that we were going to get married. My mother, wanting us to understand our brides, gave us a magic mirror. So we could see you all, get an idea of who you were. I like you. Always did. I thought you were confident and intelligent but kind too. I was…excited for you to come here. I didn’t realize that no one told you. I…had hoped that you were looking foward to meeting me.”
He paused, looking at the roses for a moment.
“I was wrong. I should have considered that, even if you knew, you might hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
Pallidus looked at you skeptically.
“I hate this situation. I hate the fact that everyone I know lied to me and my sisters and that people I don’t know just…took me. I hate the fact that I’m expected to just accept it! But I don’t hate you.”
“Then what do you feel towards me?” He asked.
He seemed to genuinely want to know so you answered honestly.
“I have no idea.”
Pallidus thought about that for a moment. You both did really.
“You’re right. It was unfair to expect so much of you. Can we try to be friends at least?”
“Alright.”
~
Being friends was actually pretty easy. When he and his brothers weren’t trying to convince that Pallidus was the perfect husband, thier company wasn’t so bad. Pallidus, though often a bit cold and slow to understand the feelings of others, was trying.
He invited you on walks in the garden, he talked with you more. You actually found that you had quite a lot in common. And now that he wasn’t attempting to court you constantly…you liked him a lot more. Maybe you would have felt this way earlier if everything hadn’t started out so terribly. Pallidus was not as cold as he seemed, and slowly, you grew closer to him. It excited him terribly, he savored every soft moment and thd growing bond between you.
It was becoming rather wonderful.
You were lounging in the garden, laying next to Pallidus one night. His black hair was spread about like a raven’s wing, his arm around your shoulders…and you didn’t mind that at all.
“See? This isn’t too terrible.” He teased.
“I suppose not.”
“Will you marry me then?”
“Hmmm…later.” you replied.
He smiled, probably remembering all the times you said no to that question, all the times you had run away. And here you were now. Marriage wasn’t in the close future…but maybe in the far future. And you both liked that quite a bit.
Feeling a little bold, Pallidus went to kiss your cheek…at the same time you turned to look at him. When your lips met it was a surprise…but a good surprise. You kissed him and he kissed back, enjoying this perfect moment.
Until the perfect moment was interrupted by a sudden flash. You broke away, finding yourselves staring at your very confused younger sister.
❤🌹 Part One of the demon/elf ptince series! What do you guys think of Prince Pallidus? Be prepared to meet his brothers soon! 🌹❤
Toad's Cave 