"What do you suggest we do then?" Katherine tried to keep her cool as her elite night council turned down yet another one of her ideas.
The head fisherman to her left cleared his throat, looking nervously around the room before turning to Katherine.
"No disrespect, Your Majesty," the fisherman stumbled over his words, Katherine leant back in her chair, eyebrow raised at everyone in the room. They had been plotting without her? They knew this was eventually going to happen? "But the only way to keep your subjects safe is to let us lead them back to the Overgrown,"
"I can't come?" Katherine had began to dislike this idea more and more by the minute.
This time Oscar spoke up, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose, "Your Majesty, if you are the cause of all this," he motioned around him at the once white room that was now bleached grey with the curse, "I'm afraid that if your subjects best interests are at heart then you may not come."
Katherine's heart sank, a thunder cloud beginning to form over her head as she thought long annd hard.
Everyone in the room was watching her intently, waiting for her to give her approval but she rose her hand to suggest one last thing.
"Give me one day," Katherine started, "To find the Enchanted Grove and bring home a cure for my curse,"
"If I'm not back in one day and one night, you can take my people to the Overgrown without me so they can be safe,"
The night council looked at one another, considering this momentarily before Oscar declared their judgement, "Ok, your highness, one day and one night to save yourself on your kingdom."
Katherine nodded greatfully and ended the meeting with a dip of her head.
The council members departed, murmuring good night to one another as they left the castle.
Katherine, tired, traipsed up to her bedroom, stopping briefly on the balcony to admire the view.
She entered her room and slumped onto the cold bed, curling up into a tight ball, eyeing the place where Shelby's head would lay, where she could feel Shelby's bubbling warmth radiating into her cold cursed soul.
Katherine lay there recalling Shelby's gentle touch and softness of her lips against her cheek, how Shelby could always find a way to brighten up her world and how she was always there when Katherine needed her most.
Katherine smiled and rolled onto her back, staring up at the pink ceiling, heart pounding. If she could get rid of her curse- WHEN she got rid of her curse, she would ask Shelby to be her wife. They would then be together, forever.
Katherine could only find one problem with that... or at least a few. What if she couldn't cure her curse? What if she did get rid of her curse, but would having no curse change her? What if she wasn't ready herself?
Katherine bit down hard on her lip, flushing all the questions into the dark corner at the back of her mind. She could think about them later, when she got back from her valiant search to find the Enchanted Grove.
She still needed to say goodbye to Shelby properly.
Katherine got up from her bed and walked over to her small writing desk, drawing a loose sheet of paper from her scrap notebook and scribbling a note onto it.
She left her room, note clutched in her hand and a thin piece of string in the other as she made her way down to the stables.
Thankfully most of the horses were asleep when Katherine tiptoed along the line of stables to the end, peering inside.
Her unicorn was standing at the small window that looked out across to the village, head rigid and tail swishing gently.
"Buddy?" Katherine asked, letting herself into the stable.
Katherine nearly fell over when the unicorn swung its magnificent head towards her. The unicorn greeted with a whicker and allowed Katherine to hold its head in her hands.
Katherine swallowed as she noticed that the symmetry of the unicorn's skeleton and coat was out of proportion, more of the unicorn’s face now being skeletal.
It pained her to see that her curse had inflicted such atrocities on an innocent creature that hadn’t done anything wrong.
She rubbed the unicorn’s cheek with on hand, tying the note carefully onto its horn with her free hand.
She finished and took a step back, bowing to the unicorn, “Go find Shelby and give her the note,” Katherine murmured, the unicorn brushing his head against her thigh, “Return swiftly and we’ll go find the Enchanted Grove.”
The unicorn snorted softly, rubbing its head comfortingly against Katherine as she pulled open its stable door, allowing it to trot free.
With one last look at Katherine, the unicorn galloped away, hooves pounding on the ground.
Katherine watched her steed leave, mixed emotions churning in her stomavh as she noticed the sun slowly creeping over the horizon.
*
Katherine sighed as she finished packing her last saddle bag, looking around the entrance hall to her castle. The castle staff had assembled themselves to say goodbye to their princess as she set off on a life changing journey.
Katherine was about to burst into tears when the last few staff members embraced her goodbye, but the thundering of hooves against dirt bought her to her senses.
She turned round and watched the unicorn skid to a stop just before the castle entrance, Shelby sitting hunched on its back.
Ignoring the flash back from her nightmare, she grabbed her saddlebags from the floor and stepped outside, allowing the castle staff to go back to whatever they had just been doing.
Shelby dismounted the unicorn with as much grace as she could muster, before running to up Katherine.
“Why are you leaving so soon?! I thought it wouldn’t be for a while. I thought we would have more time,” Shelby groaned, strangling Katherine in a hug.
“I-,” Katherine hugged her back, fighting tears, “I didn’t think it will be this soon either,”
“Well...” Shelby let go of Katherine, “I’ll be waiting right here for when you come back,”
“If I come back,” Katherine muttered glummly.
“Nuh uh uhhhh, WHEN you come back,” Shelby corrected with a grin, “Lil Miss Pessimist,”
Katherine snorted at Shelby’s child-like antics, “WHEN I come back,”
“That’s better,” Shelby grinned, cupping Katherine’s cheek, bringing her in for a long kiss.
YOU ARE READING
I Will Always Love You - Empires SMP S2 AU: Nature Wives
FanfictionKatherine and Shelby think they're safe. Safe from corruption. Safe from the curse. When a deadly past comes back to haunt them, they must find a way to keep each other alive. Even if it means sacrificing themselves.
