You Are My Escape (G/T) (Completed)

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(Hiiiii this art^^ and these OCs are quite old but it is my best reference for Ez lol. If you have any questions about the story dont hesitate to ask! :D I tried to think everything through but it's been forever since I've written anything...)

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Ezriel couldn't stop his hands from fidgeting. 

He didn't want to be here. Royal ceremonies were never really his thing, but unfortunately he had no choice, being born a prince.

Although he grew up in the palace, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and suffocated by it's extravagant towering walls. He was protected, sure, but he wasn't free. He had schedules to maintain and a curfew to follow, and everywhere but in his room there would always be guards, reporting his actions back to his mother if she ever asked. But he didn't really mind that, because there probably wasn't much to report. 

Besides attending his training and studies, there wasn't much to do in the palace- It's always been rather lonely. His three older brothers grew up much more involved in the kingdom's affairs than him, and never had the time or patience to play games or walk around the gardens or dance to music. They didn't understand his yearning to find more in life than royal duties and following orders, and so their interactions were always brief.

But he didn't mind the time alone. The solitude gave him time to think, and to practice his magic. Sometimes on busy days when no one was looking, he could disappear for hours without them noticing, his spells growing stronger and stronger with every private session. It wasn't the typical magic that he was taught in his classes, so it was something he had to learn himself. And he was quite proud of his progress with it so far, but it wasn't like he had anybody to tell. Besides the fact that his teachers would disapprove if they ever found out, having a genuine conversation with someone was always hard, no matter how much he tried.

Even though there was always somebody assigned to watch over him, not many of them had very interesting things to say. He knew they were just doing their job, but he must have smalltalked a dozen of them out of their minds with empty conversation before giving up on interacting with the new ones entirely. It just wasn't worth it- even if he told them that they could be honest and speak their minds, none of them ever did.

Nobody ever did. And that's what he hated.

Even when he was able to sneak out of the castle entirely and fly through the kingdom with his presence unannounced, people still noticed him and treated him differently. He's seen it happen before, the realization dawning in their eyes of who they were talking to, and he watched as they would apologize for their informal interactions and shy away from his gaze, telling him only what he wanted to hear and giving him things for free. The people that noticed him were always quick to call his name, and crowds would form around him in no time, forcing him to return home.

It bothered him to no end that his status followed him everywhere he went, both inside the palace and out. He'd done nothing but try to escape from it for his whole life, but he realized with a deep pain that he'd never be able to escape the idea of being known.

Well, not here at least.

Despite never having left the woods before in his life, the prince knew that there was a whole world of humans just beyond the protective barrier at the edge of the trees. He's never seen one with his eyes either, but he's read everything about them, heard every tale and seen every drawing. It's forbidden for a fairy and a human to interact, a law he knew was as ancient as the barrier surrounding the kingdom itself, and following that law was vital to their survival. The human world was dangerous for a fairy, that much was a fact. 

So the prince decided that he wouldn't visit there as a fairy.