The One They Call Dark One

9) Fight For It

Up in her room, the princess lied in bed with her face hidden atop the pillow, salted tears staining it's silk sheets. She didn't want her love for him to end like that, she didn't even want it to end in the first place. His arrogance led to what had happened, and all she could do was blame him. She'd blame him again, and again, and again until her head thought it to be true. Eric had made countless attempts to kept her heart at bay, but it proved no use as her condition only worsened.

The young prince sat by the fireplace beside the king, drinking from a glass of rum with a look of sorrow on his face, "Your majesty with all due respect I must ask, why'd you separate them?" The king was baffled, "Can't you see it Eric? He will only lure her to the darkness, and my daughter must be kept in the light." He spoke with such confidence, blind of what the damage he has done to his daughter.

"You think separating her from the man she loves keeps her in the light? Your majesty, that's just plain stupid. I'm going to say it, and I don't care if you throw me to the dungeons, but I will." The Prince threatened as he bravely exhaled, "You are a mere Shepard who had no future, only to live and tame the farms as yours. That pathetic King George was the man who made you meet your wife. If he hadn't shown up at your door that day, you'd still be at the fields. You married Snow from luck, so don't you dare say her love for the Dark One isn't true, because it is."

"You dare say such insults at me?!" The king yelled, raising from his seat, pointing his blade to his throat, "I brought you here to marry my daughter so she may forget that hideous beast. You're of no help, get out on my sight. Better yet, leave my kingdom!" The Prince protested, anger filling his voice, "If I leave, there will be no one to let her feel safe! She's the closest person she can have other than the Dark One! You are blind, you know that?! What will you achieve by taking her away from the people she loves?!"

"She doesn't need him, she has me! Her mother, and all of the kingdom! She doesn't need darkness roaming around her like a ghost!" He said back, "It is you who are blind here Prince Eric! Can you not truly see what is happening?!"

"I do see it! I see a cowardly father afraid of losing his daughter! Well it's too late! You lost her the moment you came to the Dark Kingdom! She was happy there! Did you really think if you rescue her, she'd be the same Emma Swan you raised all those years ago?! She's all grown up! She has a lover, she had a damn son! You expect the old Emma you once knew to come back?! I think the whole reason you're doing this is for just that! You don't want your daughter to grow up so you can keep her forever! We all come and go, even your daughter. Fine! I'll leave, but she's coming with me!"

The angry prince slammed his glass down before stomping out of the room, but was stopped seconds later with a sword at him neck, "You are not to speak of me, or anyone with that tone! Guards! This traitor goes down to the dungeons, now!" Two guards standing by, roughly grabbed him by the arms, dragging him down to the dungeons. He kept squirming, refusing his sentence, "Let me go! Let go fools! I am a prince and you better treat me like one dammit! Can't you see that king's crazy?! He's emotionally killing his own damn daughter!"

The first guard never listened, but the other one did. He was only following orders, but he knew the princess well. He knew something was wrong, and that Prince was the answer. After the first guard left once he tossed the prince to the dungeons, he asked him through the rustic bars, "The princess... How's she holding up? I know I put you here, but y'know how kings are." The prince agreed, "Yeah, I know. That king's gone awol, and he's too blind to see it."

"See what?" The guard asked, "If you tell me, and I believe you, I'll let you go and take your spot in sentence." Prince Eric protested, "N-No please! I don't want you to suffer because of me." He shook his head, "Your highness, I want to know. I'll gladly do anything, but I must know. I have been the princess' babysitter half her whole life, and I want my reward; what has the king done to his daughter?"