Faye and Ruin

Father Versus Son

Bayne fell over backwards into the water the moment I left and all the girls giggled. I tucked myself against a thick trunk so they couldn't see me but I could see them and let a tear slide down my cheeks. It was good to know what Brierra thought of me, which wasn't much. I couldn't blame her though. The longer I'd been here, the more weight I'd put on. Muscle, but all the same, when there wasn't much room for it to go up, it went out.

Shrimp. What a fitting name, I thought.

Liquid splashed in the pool as the girls giggled and shrieked, wading in. I watched two of them pretend to trip into Bayne and he caught them, his back still to me. Deimos seemed to find it funny and eventually the two boys disappeared into the sea of tall and perfect Fae women.

I turned around, letting my back face the pond and slid down the trunk. Shimmering back to the castle was a bad idea, seeing as that would give away the fact that Bayne had removed the bracelets. So I stayed put, hiding and listening to the splashing and the giggling flirtations laced with deeper male voices.

As I sank deeper into the purple and silver streaked moss, a small fairy with the most intricate and delicate wings I'd seen yet landed on my knee. Her hair was loose and black like mine and she wore a tiny purple leaf as a dress. Beautiful blue eyes gazed up at mine and I smiled.

She placed the smallest hand against my bare skin and a soft song came from her. Not from her lips, but from her wings as they fluttered faster and tighter. Several more purple fairies, both male and female, floated towards me, the song sinking deeper into my bones. There were no words, it was simple notes all flawlessly blending together.

Then blue ones joined, adding a different harmony to the song. Colors slowly emerged from the trees, fairies that had been camouflaged and they all joined in. It was beautiful, unique, harmonious and I couldn't help myself. I began to hum along.

They stopped moving and then turned to look at me, continuing the music and it swelled inside me. It tasted sweet. The music tasted sweet against my throat as I continued to hum with them. For the first time in years, I produced music from my own voice.

For the first time in years, I finally felt like myself again. Wild, free, yet there was a pain coating my stomach even as the giggling faded behind me and all I could hear was the music, something tugged at me and my melody turned sad.

All of the fairies shifted their tune to match mine. A solemn song. Several more fairies fluttered down and landed on my legs. They patted me softly and a tear slid from my eye once more. Every exhausting feeling of worthlessness, of complacency, of boredom, of captivity in my own world slid out through the humming tune that these beautiful creatures matched.

Movement in my peripherals had me glancing up from the fairies and I found Bayne leaning up against a tree across from me. He was watching me with soft eyes and a smile. I immediately stopped humming and the fairies changed their tune back to a more joyful sound. "How long have you been there?" I quietly asked. I should've felt embarrassed, or fearful, but I was tired of hiding.

"A while." He replied and tenderly walked towards me, somehow completely dry. Kneeling down in the dirt beside me, I studied him. Studied the way his eyelashes were as white as his hair. The way his lip had a slight Cupids Bow and it seemed to split them into two completely different halves when he expressed things.

I studied the way he held out a massive hand, one that had probably destroyed so much, yet little fairies landed on it like he was home. The way his eyes lit up as they smiled at him, sang a little song, and then flew away.

"Why are you here and not with all those beautiful women who are obviously vying for your attention? Like Deimos is." I broke the silence and his attention returned to me.