Chamber by Chamber // Snowbaz

S+B

COC #20: Fairy Tale/Myth Retelling

Simon as: The Prince | Baz as: Snow White | Lucy as: Queen Lucy | The Mage as: King Davy | Fiona as: The Hunter | Ebb as: The Horse | Agatha as: The Prince's girlfriend | Penny as: The Prince's Second in Command

~ I really really loved writing this one. I got totally lost within the story. I sincerely hope you enjoy! ~

The wood is a dangerous place. It's full of nymphs (the tricky bloody things), dwarves, dragons, and goblins. Which is what my girlfriend Agatha had told me before I was sent on my quest by King Davy. She hadn't wanted me to go out away from the Watford kingdom, really, but the king said there were cluster of aggressive goblins spotted on the edge of the other side of the wood, so I had to go and see for myself. After all, I was the prince, and prince's (so I was told) had certain duties. (I had often thought that maybe I didn't want to be prince- even though I was born that way.)

So I kissed Agatha's cheek goodbye and she just stood there and took it like a princess. (We were set to marry in a few months- another thing I wasn't so sure I wanted. But, well. It was on my list of things I dare not think about.) I packed my sword and set out on my horse, on my way all alone in the wood. Of course, King Davy had wanted me to take accompaniment, but I felt as though I could do it on my own. (And maybe I was tired of always following his orders. Maybe I wanted to do something for myself.) The ride on horseback was set to take only about a day there and then a day back. That is, if I hadn't found any trouble along the way.

So I took the ride as an opportunity to think of my duties as prince. I had thought... well, I had thought that I was a right daft bloody prince, hadn't I? Often when I would talk, it would come out as short sputtering sentences. The king had me do speech when I was a wee ankle-biter, but it didn't help as he thought it would. Um and er came out every other bloody word. And it didn't help when I met Agatha through my second in command Penny. Of course, it was frowned upon to have a girl as my second, but I had known her since we were young, and I had trusted nobody more. She introduced me to Agatha, and I had thought she was bloody well stunning. Which, of course, didn't help my stuttering. So then we dated for a short while before I introduced her to King Davy. They got on well; he was glad that I would be marrying into another rich family, as the kingdom was recently down on wealth.

But over time, I felt as though maybe... maybe Agatha wasn't what I wanted. Penny saw that too, I think, but although she had mentioned it to me before, I waved it off. After all, what is a prince without his lovely princess? My father (I try not to call him that, but he is the closest thing I've ever had to one) loved her and so did the subjects in our royal court. But for some reason, what Queen Lucy had said to me before she passed. It's okay, Simon. It's okay if you don't love her the way you think you should. I'll respect whatever you decide, love, but... it's alright if your heart wants something else. Follow it. She said that to me on her deathbed. She was the closest thing I had ever had to a mother and her passing made me rethink... everything, really. I went a little crackers after she had went. Sometimes I thought maybe I did want to follow her advice. (My heart, that is.) But then, I'd look at all the king had done for me over the years, and I just couldn't. Besides, I didn't even know what my heart very well did bloody want.

As the sun went down, I started feeling drowsy and hungry. Granted, I always felt hungry- one of the many things that contradicted the whole 'perfect prince' thing. I loved eating to a point of fucking obsession, and I was messy when I ate, too. Agatha always had to correct me at the table. (It bugged me when she did that; why couldn't I just be me?) My steed - Ebb, as it were - was getting tired too. I could tell she was slowing, and I could feel her hungry stomach rumble beneath me. So we went on a bit until we hit a clearing. It was nestled in the middle of thick trees, seemingly where no one would ever find it had they not been looking, and there was a small cottage in the middle of it. (Queen Lucy once told me about the time when she and King Davy used to live in a small cottage; perhaps this was it?)