Just escapism - Fantasia one shots

In the house where he grew up.

 The four shadowy figures move through the night, slowly making their way to the castle through the empty streets. The dark sky slowly fades to a light orange as the sun is starting to rise. One of the figures takes an unexpected turn and urges the others to follow.

"Where are you going?" One of them whispers.
"Trust me." The other whispers back.

They approach a house. There is nothing special about it: just a wooden house, much like the rest. The figure knocks on the door.

"Corby, are you crazy? We can't let people see us!"

A soft light comes on through the window and the door slowly opens. An older couple peeks through. Foxes with white fur on their eyebrows and paws. Corby lowers his hood and gives them a faint smile, and the old couple's eyes widen.

"Mum. Dad. It's good to see you."

The couple jumps to hug Corby with tears running down their faces, while the rest of the group keep their distance.

"Corby, my dear son!" His mom cries. "You've been missing for so long! We thought you were dead!!"

Corby's dad gets up, separating from the hug, and he looks angry.

"There are wanted posters of you everywhere. We had two royal guards by our door at all times for a month! Until they all disappeared inexplicably. What did you do?!"

Hearing this, his mom also lets go of him and stands up next to her husband, as if reminded that she was supposed to be disappointed.

"Please let us in. We will explain everything."

"Us?" Corby's dad looks up at the rest of the group, who had lowered their hoods by now, and stands back in apprehension. In the emotion of the moment, they hadn't even noticed them standing there.

"Who are these people, my son?"

"Please, mum, I will explain everything. Please let us in."

Roosters sing their good morning and people are coming out of their houses, ready to go to work, live their lives. As Corby's eyes get more desperate, his parents finally let everyone in.

There was a weird tension in the air, with the group standing by the door and Corby's parents across the room from them.

"Mum, dad, these are my friends: Sam, Ágata, Marianne and Jeremiah." The frog uncovers himself and waves eagerly from Sam's shoulder, to make himself known. "Sam... These are my parents: Delilah and Cornelius Barn-"

"naby Oliver The 2nd." Sam interrupts.

Corby's dad looks somewhat disturbed at the fact Sam knew his entire name.

"Yes."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Sam says, trying to be friendly, while Corby looks embarrassingly to the side with his palm on his forehead.

"Take a seat, please" Corby points to the table in the middle of the room and his parents hesitantly do so. "We only need to spend the day here. You can go to work and when you come back, we'll say our goodbyes and be on our way. But nobody can know we're here."

"Cornelius, what is going on?" His dad asks, deepening his voice.

A sigh as Corby gathers the courage to explain their story. He has faith that his parents won't turn them in, but part of him is not so sure they can be trusted.

"The Queen. She's bringing the end of the world, and we're gonna stop her."

"...So, the prophecy... It's real..." The couple hold each other's hands in hopelessness.