The Majesty of Choice

Danger

"Are we there yet?" Patrick asks, for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

"We're literally ten feet away from where we were last time you asked."

"How about now, are we there yet?" Patrick asks.

"I'm starting to regret wanting to come with you guys," Pete says.

"It's not too late to go back," Gerard says hopefully.

"Not that much," Pete says. Pete evaluates Gerard as he walks along beside him, Patrick a couple feet back because he's miraculously shorter than Pete and thus has shorter legs.

"What?" Gerard asks, not liking the feeling of having someone's eyes on him.

"I know we just met but I feel like something's up with you," Pete says.

"Yeah, a lot of things. I'm the furthest I've ever been from home and I'm terrified about what I'm going to find when I get to where I'm going."

"It makes no sense, this quest of yours. Why is it that you cannot tell the purpose of it?"

"I literally can't," Gerard says. "I'm trying to find a fairy, because he... we had a run in a long long time ago and I need his help."

"His help specifically?" Pete asks, "is there no other fairy who can assist you?"

"No, it has to be him," Gerard says.

"So it's something that this fairy in particular is responsible for," Pete concludes. Gerard doesn't give him a response, just continues walking and looks back at Patrick, who, Gerard's not sure he's seeing things right, looks jealous. Gerard can't think of a good reason for why Patrick might be jealous of him right now.

"So Pete," Patrick says, catching up and creating enough space for him to stand between Gerard and Pete, like he's trying to get Gerard further away from Pete.

"Yes?"

"What do you hope to find in Giantville that you can't find at home?" Patrick asks.

"Nothing really, as I've said. It's more about wanting to get away from it all. I would just like to have an adventure once in my life."

"What do you wish to do after?"

"Well, I wish more than anything to be reunited with my family of course. And to be free. That's all anybody really wants, isn't it? Freedom."

"Freedom is the only thing people hope for at night when they think someone might be listening," Gerard says. "If only it was something that was within reason to achieve."

"You sound as though you've experienced the heavy hand of subjugation yourself?" Pete asks, wondering what it is that Gerard is hiding, because he's sure there is something. There's probably many somethings.

"I'm the unwanted leftovers of selfish people," Gerard says. "My father cares very little for me, and my stepmother sees me as a servant and nothing else. To my ungrateful step sisters, I'm a rag, and these labels are ones I cannot escape. Among others."

"Maybe running away is the only solution," Pete offers.

"You can't run away from troubles that will follow you across the globe," Gerard sighs. He wishes he could say what his real handicap is. He wishes he could tell Patrick, and maybe even Pete, all about his curse. He wishes for so many things. He wishes his brother weren't trapped inside a book, wishes his mother wasn't dead, wishes not to be attracted to Frank or at least wishes Frank weren't the product of a man as vile as Edgar. He wishes to be free, to make his own choices. Sometimes the chokehold this curse has on him feels tighter than usual, and it's been getting tighter recently. As he ages, it becomes more and more unfortunate. One of these days it's going to strangle him completely.