A Fairytale Ending-Klance

A Fairytale Ending

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, lived a king and his queen. They had no children, although they wished dearly for a son or daughter. One winter day, the queen was sewing and looking out on the snow-covered castle grounds. As she sewed, she wished to herself, “I wish I had a child with hair as black as ebony, skin as pale as snow, and lips as red as blood.” By mistake, she pricked her finger with her needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the fabric.

A few months later, the king and queen were blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby boy named Keith. His hair was dark as ebony, his skin was pale as snow, and his lips were red as blood. The king and queen were impossibly happy and they both doted on the child.

Sadly, the queen fell ill. She passed away, and the king had to remarry. He married a woman who was beautiful, but cruel. She shunned him and made him work in the kitchen or the cellars, treating him as a servant. He slept in the dungeon with the rats and the bats. But he never complained. He stayed fair and beautiful, although his face was dirty and his clothes were ragged.

One day, Keith was out in the courtyard, getting water from the well. He sang softly as he pulled the up the heavy bucket. All of a sudden, he heard a horse's hooves echoing outside the castle walls. He ran to a tree beside the wall and scaled it easily. Peering over the wall, he saw Lance riding by. Keith wasn't allowed outside the castle grounds, so he had no friends his age except for Lance. Lance visited every so often, and the two got on great. They often bickered, but deep down they truly cared for each other. They shared interests and really enjoyed each others company, but their conversations had to be kept brief or Keith would be missed in the castle. Lance had told him of all the wonderful people outside the castle. There was Lance's best friend, Hunk, who apparently cooked better than anyone Lance had ever met. Pidge was the smart, sassy younger girl, and Shiro was the mature, older one. Keith often daydreamed of having a life with Lance, eating Hunk’s food, laughing when Pidge made a fool of Lance. He imagined sunbathing in flower filled meadows, stargazing with Lance. He imagined his first kiss, hugs and cuddles and sweet exchanges. All with a certain boy whose name began with L and ended with ance.

…he might have developed a small crush on the other boy. To be honest, it was hard not to. Lance had soft-looking brown hair that fell into his ocean blue eyes. His skin was smooth and tanned and his teeth were almost unbelievable white. He was funny and smart and flirty and… KeKey thing was falling far too fast.

Lance snapped him back to the present. “Keith? You there, buddy?” Keith shook his head to clear his mind. “Yeah! So, how have you been?” The two chatted for a while, conversation flowing easily. After a few minutes though, Keith looked over his shoulder worriedly. If he spent too much time out here, his stepmother would begin to wonder what he was doing. “Lance, I'd better go, but we should talk again soon.” “Yeah, totally! I'll talk to you later, buddy.” Lance waved as he rode away. Keith smiled fondly at his retreating back.

Later, Keith's stepmother was in her chambers. She turned to the mirror hanging on her wall. “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” she asked. A face came into view in the mirror. It was Keith! “This child is, your Majesty.” the mirror replied. The queen screamed in rage. Immediately, she summoned her huntsman. “Take the child into the forest, and kill him!” she yelled. The huntsman bowed.

Later, Keith and the huntsman were standing at the edge of the forest. Curious, Keith turned to the huntsman to ask why they were there, only to see him holding a sharp knife. Keith toppled backwards in surprise as the huntsman advanced on him. Keith moved his arms up to protect his face. In the distance he heard a horse whinny. A moment later, he heard hooves. The huntsman paused, and a horse burst from the edge of the forest, Lance on its back. He quickly dismounted and delivered a swift punch to the huntsman’s jaw. The man crumpled to the ground. Lance turned to Keith, but the boy had scrambled up and sprinted into the forest quickly, not even waiting to thank his rescuer. “Wait, Keith!” Lance yelled at his retreating back, but Keith was already out of earshot. Geez, that boy could run.

Keith ran until his legs burned and his chest felt like it was on fire. He stopped in a small clearing and bent double, trying to catch his breath. After a few minutes, he stood up again. He began to look around the area, and after a little while he spotted an old abandoned cottage. It seemed to be in good enough shape to stay in for a little bit, so he went inside. The door was still intact, which was a good start. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the inside. Sighing, he got to work.

A few hours later, the cottage was fairly clean, and actually in really good shape! Keith was pretty sure he could stay there for as long as he needed to. He made himself a little pile of the blanket he had found in an old chest and curled up in a corner, quickly falling asleep.

The next morning, he woke up stiff and sore, but well rested. After a little bit, he headed out into the forest to look for breakfast. A stream nearby happened to have quite a lot of fish in it, so Keith managed to catch a few, and smoked them over a fire. That was breakfast sorted. After that, there wasn't much to do, so he fell back asleep in his little blanket pile for a while.

He woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. He wiped his bleary eyes and opened it a crack. Peering out, he saw an old woman with a basket of apples. “Hello dearie. I was passing by and saw that someone had fixed this place up a bit! I wanted to say thank you, this place has been a bit of an eyesore for a while… I was just wondering if you wanted a few apples, freshly picked from my own orchard.” Keith smiled at her. “Thank you, that's very kind! They look delicious” They did, red and rosy. He took the basket and picked out an apple. He took a careful bite. The flavour was fresh and sharp, but there was something… sour underneath that. He forced a smile and chewed a bit before swallowing. His eyes widened when the apple caught in his throat. Gagging, he tried to cough it back up, but to no avail. It was well and truly stuck. The apple cut off his air supply and his vision slowly went black as he crumpled to the floor. The old woman laughed at his sprawled figure. She threw off her cloak, and with it, the spell. She returned to her true form, Keith's stepmother. “Now you have what you deserve, you little brat!” she cackled as she left.

A few hours later, Lance found himself standing in the clearing. He had been looking for Keith for the past day, hoping he hadn't gotten lost or eaten by wild animals. Spotting the cottage, he decided to take shelter there for a while. Goodness knows he could use a break.

He opened the door and immediately reeled backwards in surprise. Lying on the floor was Keith. He was sickly pale, and his chest wasn't moving. Lance fell to his knees beside him, putting an ear to his chest, checking for a pulse. He found nothing. A tear rolled down his face and he gathered the smaller boy into his arms. Curling his body protectively over him, Lance wept for his friend.

He rocked back on his heels, still cradling Keith. Carefully, he stood up, carrying Keith's small body. He began making his way back to his village. He would give Keith a proper goodbye. It was the least he deserved.

All of a sudden, he stumbled over a tree root. Falling, he turned so his back would hit the ground, protecting Keith. A jolt went through him on impact, and Keith jerked in his arms. Something small and white flew from his mouth and he sucked in a deep breath, coughing and wheezing. Lance began sobbing again, his hands shaking as he set Keith down on the ground. He grabbed Keith's hands, holding them to his chest as tears rolled down his face. Kai the breathing evened out, and colour had returned to his cheeks. “Lance?” he asked worriedly. “Are you okay?” “I th-thought you w-were d-d-dead, Keith” Lance sobbed. “I was so scared” He opened his eyes and looked at Keith again, relief evident. He brought his hands up to Keith's face, cupping his cheeks softly. Suddenly, he leaned forward and kissed him right on the lips. Keith could taste Lance's salty tears on his lips briefly before Lance pulled back, leaning his forehead against Keith's. “Please never scare me like that again” he whispered. “I won't if you kiss me again” Keith whispered back, a smile playing on his lips.

So Lance did.

And they all lived happily ever after! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Reviewers get cookies, and voters get hugs! Have a good day! Xxx