A Little Bit of Pixie Dust

ii

George

I fumed down the hall. I'd always clashed heads with my father so being in this state was never new. Bad understood my frustration, being on the same level as I when it comes to the King's wrongful actions. He is one of the few people with a heart of gold in this kingdom, even with the terrifying skills with throwing knives. He'd never harm a soul though.

I pulled off the coat I adorned, making my way back into my room to await whatever business I need to deal with. Another thing about my father is he is always on a tight schedule, leaving me to learn fast and manage the scraps he tosses behind. Can't make it to a meeting because of war? Send George! Can't complete a set of paperwork because of war? Send George! Honestly, he'd be able to take care of everything like a normal king if he wasn't so caught up in some useless battle. I had to mature fast to handle the onslaught of sudden work at such a young age. Not a way to end a childhood.

I fell back on my bed, messaging my temples with a small groan. I'd become prone to migraines recently due to the amount of stress and it wasn't doing well to the rest of my head.

I sat up, deciding to snack on something, drink some juice and lay back before a servant delivers the new workload.

I rounded the corner to my kitchen, barely missing the mess created. I looked around, seeing bits of food strewn about, Tupperware dirtied, and overall not the state I normally kept my kitchen. Had I really made this much of a mess without realizing?

I rubbed my eyes once more. The sleepless nights were really beginning to catch up. I sighed, moving on to begin cleaning it up before finally getting something partially sustaining.

I began to fill up a glass of orange juice when I paused, noticing a strange stone on the ground. I set down the carton and leant over, picking it up. It was smooth, as if it had rolled in the ocean for months. I twisted in on my palm, being met with a little colored symbol. It was engraved into it, but in no messy way. It looked like care had been put into the slight grooves and points, incredibly precise.

I began wracking my brain for anything that might connect with the strange symbol. It reminding me of different markings etched into the walls of the castle, carved memories of the ancient Fae rulers of the structure. Many of the runes failed to work after centuries of humans and the inability to control magic, but it did add a charm to the framework. 

I stood, about to turn back to my glass when there was a sudden sharp pain in my head, and then blackness.

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I awoke to a pounding headache, reeling from the sharpness of it. I groggily reached to feel for something, but discovered they were unable to move. My eyes felt heavy, and it took multiple attempts of blinking to find secured bondings wrapped around my wrists, securing me to a wooden floor.

I let out a pained groan, shifting minutely to feel twinges and cramps in my unmoved muscles from the uncomfortable position.

"Dream, your hostage is awake!" A voice called out from somewhere. My brain felt too foggy to comprehend directions.

There was shuffling as I desperately tried to shake my head and make sense of my surroundings. By the time my eyes cleared and focused, there was a figure sitting before me. I jolted backwards in surprise, seeing an anomaly of a person.

He was dressed in strange, green clothes that was entirely separate fashion from the kingdom -- looked more like leaves and vines then clothes. I looked up to see a dingy, crooked smile mask covering the majority of the person's features. Actually, I thought it was a person until I looked up, seeing something that ran my blood cold.

Wings. Bright, vibrant, and glittering like a clear night sky. I'd heard them described in storybooks from my childhood, but seeing them in person both mesmerized and terrified me.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." The... creature moved the mask to the side of his head, revealing a sight that took my breath away. 

It was a face, normal, rubbery, yet even with the visible scars and slight wrinkles, he glowed of an ethereal beauty only the fae were enhanced with.

"Maybe I have." I mumbled, enraptured in awe while the chill of fear trickled down my spine, subconsciously attempting to back away only to be pinned by the bindings.

"What are we even doing with this thing, aren't we technically supposed to be killing them?"

The faerie before me gave a dirty glare towards his companion. "You know why we're here, no killing."

He stood, walking over to a makeshift table and began working with what looked like fruit. Now that I got a chance to look around, this 'home' seemed more like a shack then the magical cities I had heard from folklore.

"I've still gotta look for supplies after you decided to screw up our last mission, and then bring home an enemy. You're making dinner and keeping watch the rest of the week."

I turned slightly to see the other faerie, similar in the way you were struck by how beautiful these creatures were. Unlike the controlled, determined power that radiated from who you assumed was 'Dream', this faerie was all raw, lethal beauty. His eyes and wings were the same shade of intense, rippling crimson and red, seeming to change tone based on his mood. It seemed this brightness was based off anger and annoyance at the moment. Apart from the main striking features, he had straight raven hair and a gruff, sharp jawline flecked with stubble. He seemed much more wild and untamed then Dream.

"Yeah, yeah, but I got this one from inside the castle. Imagine how much intel we can get from it as a primary source."

My blood ran cold at the idea of 'getting intel'. Based off what I had seen my father do to pry information from war prisoners, it was pretty safe to say faeries can do much worse with their magic.

"Whatever, just don't burn the house down while I'm gone." The red faerie turned away.

"You're the fire boy, pyro." Dream called after, earning a dramatic scoff from the other. I sat there silent, continuing to try to steel my heart beat as I was now alone with the colder of the two.

"So, what do humans even eat? Are you all rabid for meat and only eat raw chicken or something?" He laughed at his own joke, but frowned at my continued silence. "Are humans all this dry or something?"

It was my turn to frown, feeling a strange sensation creep up at his comment. Remembering my disputes with my father leaned me to remembering my cause, to end the war between our species. Yet here, before someone I was to feel sympathy and help, I was merely a toy to them.

It made me feel uneasy, watching the way his eyes, an unnatural bright green, brush over me like some inferior, and sent my blood boiling.

"No, you rat." I let out in a quiet snap, watching his eyes turn from cool to surprised, and then to amused.

"Rat? Isn't that what you are, spreading all your diseases and such?" He set down the fruit and came sauntering over to me, crouching down and grasping my chin sharply. "You better be nice or I can make your stay a lot more hellish, worm."

He pushed my head back causing me to fall back on the wall I leaned on, staring disgustingly as he continued chopping up fruits.

I inhaled sharply, focusing on my breathing. 

It didn't matter how rude or harsh he thought I was, it was only fair coming from the injustices Sam had committed during the endless war. I had to continue with reason, and think about the innocents over the jackasses.

Leaning my head against the wall, I continued putting positive thoughts in my head against the background noise of Dream with the food.

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words: 1.4k

i finished the entire right-up of the plot before i finished this chapter and now i'm really pumped to continue this story. i'm hoping that it gets at least a bit of the recognition my other one got, and i really want to finish this by the end of summer.

thanks for reading, ily all :)