Fairytale •Reddie•

D E U X

"You'll be alright. You're the most spectacular person I've ever met."
★♡★

Richie was sour. Especially in the face of the infamous queen, who he worshipped with every fibre in his malicious body. But when he was alone with the queen's only daughter? It was the one time where he could ditch his scowl for a smile, and let the genuine hands of friendship overpower the strong grip of mental solitary confinement. To say he loved the girl more than a mother loved her child would be an understatement. If only someone could find the right words for the relationship, seeing as it tested all the limits of an evil soul.

Richie's childhood wasn't pleasant. His parents (whoever they were) left him to perish on the side of a mountain, where he was found by a nymph henchman of the newly appointed queen and her baby daughter.  The nymph had a soft spot for small children, and took the wailing infant to his master. The queen took pity on the child and took him in, raising him and Beverly side by side to be her most loyal warriors. She may not have been kind, but she was as close to a mother as he could get.

Richie only had Beverly to confide in, and had never felt anything remarkably close to love. He was lonely and depressed, always drifting through life as if nothing really mattered. And for the amount of pain he had suffered..nothing really did.

~
"Stop your whining. We only have two miles to go." Richie's feet were killing him, he had twigs stuck in his hair, multiple scratches on his arms (Per Beverly's words, "you should have worn a long sleeve shirt dipshit!"), and he had hives on his legs from accidentally stepping on a wasp's nest two days into their journey.

"Easy for you to say! You're wearing red! I'm sweating like a hog in a desert!" Richie grunted, being whacked in the face by willow branches that Beverly knocked out of her way.

Richie continued on a pessimistic rant, "At this rate, we'll never find the damn tree. For all we know, princess is already riding off into the sunset with her Prince Charming." He finished the last words with a look of revulsion. "Queen gave us so little detail on what we had to do, we may have past the fucking damsel without even knowing!"

"SHUT UP RICHIE!!" Beverly snapped, turning around. She took a breath. "All we need to do is find the tree and guard it. I'm tired too, but once we've killed off all the suitors, they won't come anymore. Then we can go home. Now if you complain one more time I'll throw you in that goddamn river." She said, pointing into the stream right beside her.

Richie didn't say anything the rest of the way.

When they finally reached the gates of the golden forest, Bev took out her knife from her backpack and cut the lock clean off. The gates opened onto a bridge over a beautiful flowing waterfall. They started walking without a word, enjoying the murmuring of the water below and the sounds of birds singing their lovely songs, as opposed to the screaming of the things being brutally hunted in Obsidian, or the angry traffic in Silver. The month long journey had yet to bring peace and quiet, and yet as soon as they finally get some, it's somewhat unsettling that this land belongs to the enemy.

Richie was slowly starting to stray away from Beverly, having the strong desire to run into the trees a few feet ahead of him. Richie looked at Bev, she was focused on killing chauvinistic princes, knife held out proudly in front of her.

"Maybe she won't notice.." Richie said under his breath, continuing to be guided towards the trees. It was as if someone had decided to push him into the willowy trunks. Stroking his hand past every one, feet moving faster than his body. He felt like he was going to take flight. His feet were going to go faster and faster and then he'd be in the air. Soaring higher and higher, the wind in his hair, no problems to worry abou-