Once A Tale (MXM, BXB)

The Six Swans

WARNING: this chapter contains incest, feel free to give it a pass if that ain't your thing!

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Once upon a time, there was a young boy.

He lived with his father and mother in a modest cabin in the forest.

One dark, terrible day, there was an accident. In moments, his home caught up in flames. With their remaining strength, his parents saved him by pushing him out of the burning home but, to his horror, they were unable to save themselves.

Now orphaned, the boy knew not what to do. However, the King had been a friend of his parents. And he, who had six sons of his own, took him in, promising that he would look after him in his parent's stead. For years that boy lived happily, becoming fast friends with the King's youngest son. They would run through the woods together, finding fairy circles and escaping from the rest of their brothers—who had little idea how to play with their youngest siblings that didn't involve teasing them.

"Tormenting, more like," the youngest son muttered as they hid from their brothers one day.

All but the third youngest, who would sit and read while watching and waiting for his youngest brothers to come home. When they returned, they would sit at his feet, lean against him as he read stories aloud to them to relax them or lull them to a nap in the late afternoon sun.

Sadly, one day the Queen became quite ill. She would pass away from this sickness but, mere years after her death, the King found another suitable woman he happily introduced to his sons. They welcomed her to their family, but she changed completely once she had married the King and become Queen.

Jealous of the former Queen and the King's lingering affection for her, the way he saw her in his sons, she cursed them all into swans. By some chance, she missed the youngest son but, upon seeing that he had escaped her spell, she laughed and told him:

"If you want to bring your brothers back, let's see if you can silence that ever-chattering mouth of yours for seven years. Make a shirt made of nettles for each of your brothers within that time, and the spell will be broken."

The youngest son could speak none of the many curse words he knew at her, but swore at her furiously in his head. He accepted the terms with a nod, though he promised to himself he would have his revenge upon her once he broke the curse on his siblings.

To his dismay, one day a different country's King happened upon him in his task of making shirts and was taken with him—why, the youngest prince had no idea—and asked him to marry him. The youngest son was unable to refuse but to shake his head but, without a proper reason, the King would not give up and was determined to have him for his own...

What made matters worse was that the youngest son had never learned to read and write, so had no way of communicating with anyone, much less this King.

Here, our tale begins...

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"Good gods, he does not know when to give up," said a man with vibrant red hair. He straightened up, standing ankle-deep in muddled pond water as he scowled toward the entrance of the garden and the retreating back of the foreign King. Along with him were five other naked men.

The one clothed person in the whole garden was Esque, who currently had his face buried in his hands, refusing to subject himself to the sight of his naked siblings and one naked not-as-much-of-a-sibling. Worse, they'd witnessed the King's newest courting attempts, which mostly just consisted of persistent question after question that Esque couldn't answer.