The King of Coal (A Dartron Fan Fiction)

Chapter Nine- The Tiara

Dar didn't need to worry about being seen. His invisibility potion would last until he drank his milk. What he did need to worry about was being heard.

As the little girl's sobbing grew louder and louder, Dar slowed down to a tip toe, making an effort not to step on any twigs or branches.

Dar stopped moving when he was close enough to make out the little girl's figure through the trees.

Dar studied the forest around them. No monsters were in sight.

Not letting his guard down, Dar popped out his sword and ducked behind a tree.

He listened to the girl cry.

"Why," She stuttered between tears. "why do they have to treat me like I'm nothing. What did I ever..." She sniffed. "Do to them?"

The girl climbed higher and higher up the mountain.

Dar took a step out from behind the tree, snapping a twig in two.

The girl spun around, terror stricken. She struggled to breathe, sobbing as she became hysterical.

Something was following her.

After a few moments of panic, the little girl stopped herself. She wiped her arm on her eyes and nose.

She took in a deep breath, and spoke to the air between her and Dar.

"Go ahead, creeper. Come and finish me. I don't care anymore. No one cares about me anymore." And at that, the little girl turned, and fled up through the trees.

"Not on my watch." Dar uttered, and trekked up the hill behind her.

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The little girl ran until she reached a tiny clearing at the top of the hill. She sat herself on a log at the edge of a crystal blue pool. By this time she stopped crying, now shaking as she breathed, her face buried in her hands.

Dar stood at the edge of the trees, watching the little girl sit alone in still day.

Dar put away his sword and stepped into the sunshine. He walked through the grass like a ghost, until he was only blocks away from the girl.

Dar sat down on the sand, crossing his legs. He studied the little girl.

The lemon headed girl looked up from her hands and down at the diamond water.

She frowned, splashing her reflection.

Dar watched as the little girl began to gather rocks from the sand. After collecting a dozen, she sat herself back down on the log, cradling the pile of rocks in her lap.

One by one, she threw the stones in the water.

"Oh Lily, you'll never be worth as much as the other girls. You'll never have what they have." She said, by now throwing her fifth stone.

Tears ran from Lily's eyes. She looked down at her dress of rags. She reach down and lifted the finger line of the dress and rubbed it between her tiny fingers.

She closed her eyes, and let her head fall against her chest. "I can't even afford enough for a tiara." She whispered, tears falling rolling off her reddened cheeks and dotting her brown dress.

Dar arched an eyebrow. Tiara?

Lily stood up, allowing the rocks to fall from her lap to the squishy sand around her toes. She exploded with rage.

Lily kicked the rocks into the water.

"'Lily, you're so pathetic!' 'Lily, where do you get your clothes from? A zombie?' 'Lily! You're so poor, bats have it great compared to you!'" Lily tore at her lemon hair, sitting back down on the log.

Lily lowered her hands from her tangled hair and looked up at the clear sky.

"Oh, I wish I could have an emerald. If I could have one, the blacksmith would make me a tiara from it, like he does for all the other girls."

Lily looked back at the pool, and propped her chin on her fist.

She laughed at herself. "Ha. Mum can barely afford enough food for all of us, let alone an emerald and an iron ingot to make me a princess."

Lily hugged herself, staring down at her reflection. Tears began to stream from her eyes again. "We'll always be at the bottom."

Dar's heart bursted for the little girl. He had always had whatever he wanted whenever he wanted growing up. What's it like to not even know if you'll have food waiting for you at the table?

Dar opened his inventory, searching for something, anything, to give to Lily, so she could make a tiara.

Though finding the iron was easy, finding a gem for the centerpiece of the tiara was another story entirely.

"Dang it, why did I decide to travel light today?" Dar thought to himself, starting to loose hope of finding any redstone or lapis lazuli that could substitute an emerald.

Then something caught his eye at the far left hand corner of his inventory.

Something black, shiny, and round.

Of all days, today he brought with him one, single piece of coal.

Dar plucked the black ore from its slot and held it in his hands.

A crown made of coal?

Dar felt horrible, wishing he could give her something that had some value. But it was the best he could do for the moment, so it would have to do.

Dar looked at Lily as she stared down at the water, wondering how he would discreetly give her the materials.

Dar got up from the sand, walked around the log, and stood behind little Lily.

Dar was tall for his age, and Lily sitting down only made Dar seem like a giant in height compared to her.

Dar decided to drop the iron and the coal onto her, thinking Lily would assume it had fallen from the sky; the tiara a gift from destiny.

Dar was so pleased with the idea, he didn't think through what happens when you drop coal onto someone's head.

"OW!!" Lily yelled, reaching for her bruised head as the coal bounced off her skull and into her lap.

"DANG IT!!" Dar yelled, so loud and so close to Lily's ears she jumped out of her seat.

"What the heck-" Lily whirled around, only to see air.

And an iron ingot in her seat.