The Cottage ( Flower Husbands AU )

Prologue: The Fields

A blond man crouched down in front of the strawberry plants. 
His blond hair was blowing in the wind, blending in with the wheat crops around him. 
His brown leather gloves sitting in the dirt beside him alongside his pale green jacket.  
A bright smile spread across his face. 

" Today is going to be a good day, Cube," he said, petting his slime pet, sitting on the top of his straw hat. 
The slime purred against the palm of his hand, a bright, goofy smile spreading across his jello-like face. 

The farmer smiled. 

" Ava! Can you please get me the fruit basket? " He yelled over his shoulder, towards the small cottage, sitting in the distance. 

The cottage's pale blue door opened and a brown-haired girl stepped out holding a small basket. 
Her yellow dress blew in the gentle breeze as she ran through the wheat fields towards her guardian.

While the man waited for his charge to get closer, he turned back to the crops. 
Beautiful strawberry, ripe for the picking, hung between green leaves. 
He smiled again.  
" Looks like we are having strawberry tarts later, Cube. The bakery is going to smell wonderful today. "

Bakery Acres was the most popular bakery in the small town they lived in.  
It was positioned close to the river, sharing the blue colours of the water on the walls of the building.
Cherry blossom trees grew along the river, often those trees were filled with young children. 
Axolotls slept all along the edges of the river, snoozing, goofing around and making friends with people. 
Yellow flowers grew all year round, adoring the path and under the baker's front windows. 
The bakery owners, ( The farmer and his charge ) would let people pick some of the smaller flowers. 


The sound of someone falling on a gravel path alerted the farmer that something was wrong. 
He spun around and saw the young girl, lying on the gravel, knee cut and bleeding.
The fruit bowl was lying on its side in the gravel. 

The blond jumped to his feet, running towards the girl, feet crunching against the gravel. 
He crouched down beside her, gently pulling her into a hug. 
Blood pooled from the scrape.
The little girl let out a sniffle, gripping her guardians green shirt. 

" It's alright. See? It's alright. " Cooed the farmer, gently rocking the girl back and forth. 
The girl sniffled and clung to him. 
" I-It hurts. " She sobbed unhappily. 
The farmer gave her a sad smile, " Take deep breaths, Ava. " 

Cube let out a worried coo, slugging his way down his owner's hat and shoulders, plopping himself down on Ava's knee. 
Ava's yellow pet axolotl, Lemon, jumped onto Avas lap, tail thumping on her thigh. 
He froze when he saw the slime cube. 
Lemons head frills opened like a fan. 

The amphibian extended his paw, so it hovered just above Cubes head. 
Then he smacked the slime. 

The two humans blinked in surprise. 

Cube blinked before his eyes shone. Cube jumped up and clung to the axolotl's paw, cooing. 
The poor amphibians head fins went back in shock, mouth wide open in horror. 

Ava burst out laughing. 
Jimmy smiled and chuckled. 
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a grey handkerchief. 
Jimmy gently dabbed the blood away. 

He raised the handkerchief up to the sun, drops of blood stained the cloth. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Solidarity, I love you like phantoms love those who do not sleep. 
Smajor, I love you like the striders love the lava lakes in the nether. 
________________________________________________________________________________

The farmer's eyes widened, then he shook his head. 
He stuffed the cloth into his pocket

" Alright Kiddo, let's go pick some berries, alright? " Jimmy said happily. 
The girl's eyes shone. " YEAH! " She cheered happily, getting up. 
Cube was picked up by Ava and so was Lemon. 

The girl held the two in her arms while Jimmy picked up the bowl. 
The two began to walk down the path, chatting happily between themselves. 

________________________________________________________________________________

JIMMY!? JIMMY, LOOK OUT!!!
SCOTT! HELP!! 
________________________________________________________________________________

" Mr, Spirit. Are you alright? " 
A gentle tug on his sleeve pulled him from those weird visions. 
He glanced down at the girl and their pets. 
Lemon looked worried, Cube just looked up at them with an expression of fear. 

A little known fact is hostile mobs can smell fear. 
Since Cube is a tamed slime, he can still smell fear, but he can't act on his natural instincts. 

Solidarity feeling the tension in the air, quickly changed the subject. 
" Oh My! Looks like the sweet berries are also in bloom. " 
Ava blinked. 
Then she slowly nodded before turning back towards the rows of neatly planted berries. 
The two got on their knees and began to trim back the leaves, picking the berries and cracking jokes. 

Lemon ran after the bees, nipping playfully at them. 
Cube, when no one was watching, threw a Strawberry at Lemon. 

" A-And then the skeleton drew back his bow. " Ava then pretended to draw an arrow in an imaginary bow. 

________________________________________________________________________________

S-Scott, I'm sorry I couldn't g-g-give you the h-happy ending you w-wanted. 
My happy ending is with you, My green tulip. . . Please don't leave. 
______________________________________{}_______________________________________

Jimmy shook his head. 
" Who? What? Why? " he thought, he shook his head again. 

" And then I launched off the tree top and drove my axe through the skeletons skull! " 
Ava cheered, doing a chopping motion with her hand. 
" That was incredibly dangerous, Ava. "  Jimmy warned with a playful nudge. 
Ava nodded and giggled. 
She looked back down at the full basket of berries. 
" Looks like we can make Sweet berry pie, Strawberry tarts and Lemon cookies. " She said happily. 

Jimmy nodded and picked the basket up. 
He smiled and asked, " The Bakery? " 

Ava nodded and with a smile said,  "  You know it. " 

Have a good day, Reader. 
You're an amazing person, drink plenty of water, eat your food and rest.
Goodbye, 
Have a Bee = 

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         { Bee }