The Idea of You (Bdoc Royal AU)

Chapter Eighteen: Return to the Forest

[Day 16]

As the royal family ate breakfast, a servant stepped into the dining hall to present King Scar with a parchment.

He hummed as he read the paper.

"It appears we are running low on some enchanted plants and spells," he noted out loud, casually sliding his eyes over to Bdubs and Beef. "I wonder if-"

"Yes, we'll go!" The prince immediately piped up, his eyes sparkling. "We'd be more than happy to collect magic from the forest!"

Doc pursed his lips to suppress his laughter. Prince Bdubs seemed like a little kid with how excited he was. Then Bdubs' eyes met his. Despite holding eye contact with him countless times before, his heart still skipped a beat. "You'll join us, won't you?" On instinct, he scolded himself for feeling this way. But, why did he scold himself?

He ultimately decided that was a predicament for another day and nodded.

"If it's alright with you two, I wouldn't mind," he agreed.

-

The hybrid held the basket while Bdubs had the list as the three entered the forest.

"The first thing we need is 'Essence of crisp sea breeze'. Easy enough," Bdubs noted out loud, his feet carrying him down the right path before he could even think of which direction.

Beef pointed out the small handful of glowing blue flowers, swaying in a non-existent breeze. "Looks like their magic is ripe for picking too!"

The two mages knelt, carefully drawing out the magic and placing it into the basket. It seemed like the request had come from the kitchens. Perhaps they wanted to revisit the seafood dishes from last month.

"Ooh Dragon's Breath!" Beef pointed out, looking over Bdubs' shoulder at the list.

"Further down is Lavender Mist, so we can grab both from the same area," he added as they stood.

As they began down the trail, Doc piped up. "Can't you only collect Dragon's Breath from the End?"

"Well, that's one way, yes," Bdubs nodded. "But here in the forest, there's a certain flower that has pollen which is essentially the same thing."

The hybrid had stopped walking altogether, and the Artise royals turned around. "Do you guys smell that? It smells like... smoke. Fire."

The prince's heart stopped.

And then he remembered.

"Oh! Oh, wait, that whole section of the forest to your left? Most of that is fire-based magic. That's what you smell." He nearly had a heart attack over something that couldn't happen.

Natural forest fires couldn't occur in the Magical Wood.

-

As the three continued to collect magic, Prince Doc couldn't help but feel a little on edge.

Like something bad was going to happen.

But it was nothing.

It was always nothing.

He couldn't explain why he felt this way, but he just... did.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" The other prince quietly asked, touching his forearm.

"Ah, apologies," he murmured. "Just... out of it, I suppose."

It was admittedly strange to him that there seemed to be a spell for everything natural. Does a sorcerer need the magic of 'crisp sea breeze'? Most of the magic sounded more like candle names than anything. A part of him was a little disappointed magic wasn't as interesting as he thought it'd be.

Of course, he could still be impressed by it, he had been since he was first exposed to it. He had only assumed it was always interesting.

Well, Bdubs seemed to enjoy it all, so there must be something to it then, right?

He quietly watched each time as Beef and Bdubs collected magic and made comments he didn't understand. Doc wondered if this would be how Bdubs would feel if he had to watch Doc build some kind of robot with someone.

In between the thick trees, the sunlight had been flowing down onto his face. The prince squinted his eyes, slowly looking up to admire the forest ceiling.

A twig snapped and his eyes darted across the path.

He curiously watched as bushes rustled, only to stop. And was that... whispering?

His robotic eye scanned the area for heat signatures, and his heart stopped at what he found.

With his stare fixed, he reached behind him to feel around for the prince's head. Bdubs was currently checking on some red flowers with golden edges.

"What? What?" Prince Bdubs laughed as he lightly hit the back of his head.

"Over there," he whispered, pointing in the direction he was looking.

He heard the two stand up. "I don't see anything," Beef whispered. "Is it hiding?"

The bushes rustled again and the creature leaped out.

It had the head of a dear, but the antlers looked more like tree branches. The body resembled some kind of large cat. A panther, Doc assumed. But it had hooves and a goat tail.

The creature was also half-transparent, and pale, soft green.

"What is it?" Doc whispered, his eyes transfixed on the strange beast.

The creature yawned, but what came out was a distorted version of his voice. "What is it?" It echoed. When its eyes opened, more opened than the two before. Like a spider.

"Simpleton term is Echo-Echo," Beef explained. "It echoes animal appearances and sounds."

Doc only peeled his eyes away to watch Bdubs approach it. The Echo-Echo met him halfway, butting its head against his hand. "Want to see its original form?" He asked, looking up at the prince while stroking its head.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he breathed, amazed at what he was seeing.

Gently raising the beast's head, Bdubs closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against its. The Echo-Echo glowed, shrinking into a ball of light. Bdubs stepped back as the ball reshaped itself into a lizard-like creature with six legs and two tails. It was the same color but had large, white eyes.

Kneeling, Bdubs let the Echo-Echo scramble into his hands. He stood back up and walked back over to Doc and Beef.

"They have fur," he explained to the hybrid, who was hesitant to pet it. But, he did, gently rubbing its head.

"I remember when I was younger, I wanted to keep one as a pet," Beef recalled, lightly laughing. "But my mother told me they'd be too overwhelmed with all the noise, which is why they tend to burrow underground or sleep high in the trees."

"The trees have fur," the creature echoed, their distorted voice switching from sounding vaguely like Beef to Bdubs.

"Here, hold them." Without any further warning, Bdubs let the Echo-Echo onto Doc's shoulder in favor of checking the list. Beef laughed as the hybrid prince froze, feeling the creature crawl up and curl upon his head.

Beef carefully placed more glowing orbs into the basket in Doc's hands. "Anything else we need?"

"We're all set! We can head back now."

-

After the creature was returned to the forest floor, the three left the woods.

Although the bad feeling was still nestled in Doc's chest, he chalked it up to be his nerves for Bdubs. When he became weak so suddenly, it terrified him. Far more than he expected.

Bdubs is fine now. It won't happen again. He tried to reassure himself, but in all honesty, Doc wasn't so sure of himself.