Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

2. The Court of Breadcrumbs.

Paety and Y/N hurried through the streets, hoping that they wouldn't be too late. As soon as Paety told her that their meeting with the Court of Breadcrumbs was today, she bolted up from the doorway where she had fallen asleep, and the two children began to run.

Paety grabbed onto Y/N's hand, urging her to run faster through the small dirt streets of Crivell. As they ran Y/N looked over at Paety, in all of her eight years, she had never seen anyone that looked quite like him.

His hair was a snowy white and floated around his head like a cloud. His eyes were yellow and seemed to almost glow with mystic light. His skin was like the color of fresh brown bread.

If she had to pick one word to describe Paety, it would be different. From the tips of his fluffy hair, down to his dirty feet, he was not like anyone else who she had seen in the Village. Y/N remembered the day she met him like it was yesterday.

It was her first winter living on the streets, and the first snow of the season had begun to fall. Y/N was wandering aimlessly, shaking with cold, not sure if she was going to survive the winter months.

Wondering if this would mark the last night of her miserable little life she decided that she wanted to spend it with the goddess. So, she carefully made her way to the town square where the fountain was. The place was calm and completely empty.

The cold weather had driven most people indoors, leaving the streets of Crivell quite. The little flurries of snow hung in the air, almost frozen.

There was no one around except for a small boy that stood next to the statue of the goddess. Y/N had never seen anyone like him before. The combination of his hair that was the same color as the snow that fell around them, and his dark warm colored skin made Y/N think that he was some otherworldly being that had been sent by the goddess to take her to the next life. For a while there was only silence as the two children stared at one another, shivering in the cold air.

"Did Luccia send you to take me away from life?" Y/N asked the boy, tilting her head and pointing to the idol that stood behind the boy.

He turned, and noticing what she was pointing at he quickly shook his head.

"Then where did you come from?" The girl asked, not caring that it was growing cold enough for her to see her breath in the air.

"I come from a land beyond the sea," the boy replied in a lilting voice, snowflakes catching on his pale eyelashes.

"Come," he said, offering his hand to Y/N. "We must find a place to shelter from the cold."

The strange-looking boy led Y/N to one of the fancier houses in the village and instructed her to curl up next to the chimney that stuck out from the building. To the little girl's surprise, she found that the stones of the chimney were warm to the touch.

She soon curled up into a little ball, protected from the wind by the house and chimney. The boy snuggled up next to her for warmth.

"I'm Y/N, what's your name?" She asked, looking at the boy.

"Paetayis," he said proudly.

"P-p-pa-paety," the young girl sputtered, tripping over her own tongue as she tried to pronounce the foreign name.

"Just call me Paety," the little boy said, petting Y/N on the head.

The two children spent the rest of that cold night curled up side by side, keeping each other warm, and for the first time since her mother died Y/N felt like she was safe and loved. After that night the two children were inseparable.

Y/N awoke from her memories to find that she and Paety had arrived at the Court of Breadcrumbs. It was located in an abandoned building on the edge of the village. It was falling apart, and no one wanted to come near the place since the last family that had lived there all died of illness.

But that is what made it the perfect hideout for the Court of Breadcrumbs. The Court of Breadcrumbs was a group of eleven children, including
Y/N and Paety, that had decided to group up to better survive life on the streets.

The two children stepped nervously into the building through the doorway, even though there was a hole in the wall large enough for several grown adults to slip through right next to the door, it was seen as bad manners to go through the hole.

The two children stood inside the rundown house. Most of the walls on the inside had fallen in, and there were a few gaping holes in the ceiling.

A girl who was younger than Y/N ran up to the pair and said quietly, "the Council will speak with you now."

Knowing the way to the council room, the pair followed quickly behind the young mousy girl named Visca through the old house. Y/N and Paety passed a place where the roofing had caved in entirely, and was lying in a heap on the floor.

Passing under the broken, rickety staircase that once led to the second floor of the house, the children arrived at the Council room. The council room was really nothing more then some warn bedsheets hung around to look like draperies in the room that had once been a kitchen.

Apart from the food cellar, it was the most intact part of the house though, so it made sense that the children chose this to be the council room. In the center of the dirty kitchen stood a man's wooden desk, and on top of it perched three children.

The first was Visca, who had rushed into the room, in order to scramble up on top of the desk. Unfortunately, she was still only part way up by the time Paety and Y/N arrived a few steps behind her. The second was a boy by the name of Demetrius. He had dark eyes and was the bastard son of a lord who had abandoned him in Crivell two years ago. He had a cunning look about his face that reminded Y/N of a rat. The third was a girl who was a few years older than everyone else there, and had a head of strikingly curly hair. She scoffed and looked down her nose at the latecomers, but other than that said nothing.

"So you two children finally decided to show up," Demetrius said mockingly, puffing out his chest and putting on airs of being much older than he actually was.

"But we're the same age," Paety said before he could stop himself.

"I will not let you disrespect me any further Paety, I have had enough of your antics lately!" Demetrius yelled. "you show up late then you disrespect me. I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!"

Demetrius took a few deep breaths, then he said, "as President of the Court of Breadcrumbs, it's my responsibility that we have enough food stockpiled for the next winter. What are we at right now Visca?"

"T-Thirty-four percent," Visca stuttered. Looking down through the trap door that led to the food cellar, "the minimum we need is seventy percent, but ninety would be best."

"Well, you heard the girl," the president said. "Go find some food, and make sure you two bring at least ten percent of our needed food back with you."

"But that is twice as much as we can normally scrounge up in a day," Paety exclaimed.

"I know, that's what makes it a punishment," Demetrius said with a smirk. Then he pointed at the door, "you two better be off if you want to have hope of completing your task before nightfall."

A/N

What do you guys think of the Court of Breadcrumbs? I find the whole idea of it pretty amusing myself.

I got some fun stuff to look forward to in the next chapter, but

Until next time I'll see you on the other side.

~J. C. Coltt.~