Once Upon A Fairytale

The Two Travellers

Author notes at the end

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Seokjin scampered through the prison. His new tail constantly flip flopping behind him. It felt almost natural now and from the short time since his escape from that room, he'd already familiarised himself with its uses and the techniques to master it.

If he wagged it while he walked it actually helped with his balance.

If he curled it upward or tucked it between his legs as he ran he didn't have to worry about tripping over it.

The remainder of the time it just had a life of its own, moving in tandem with the beat of his emotions but nothing that couldn't be controlled when he put his mind to it.

Seokjin stopped for a bit and whipped his head around, searching.

He had no idea where he was going.

The corridor was much bigger than it had been before. The floor appeared much closer, the ceiling was further away and the walls much wider apart, which he knew had nothing to do with the space having grown and everything to do with the reality that he was now a dog.

A DOG!

He didn't even like dogs.

Dirty. Mangy. Slobbering mutts.

At least the one he was in seemed to be well groomed.

Seokjin tried not to think about it too much as he started moving again and sniffed the air. A hundred smells assailed him at once.

What was he sniffing for exactly?

He didn't quite know. But he had to try something to get himself out of this prison and back to the castle so he could warn his ministers of the Queen's escape.

But if he did manage to get out how would he even find his way home? It was a long journey even by carriage. A week... Or two? Or was it three? How long had they been on the road before arriving here?

If only he'd taken a page out of Jooheon's book and paid attention.

His heart twisted a little as he spotted another unconscious guard slumped against a nearby wall. His face covered with that strange pink dust he'd seen all over Jooheon as he'd fallen. Everyone he'd come across so far had been like that. There was not a single soul here who could help him.

For the first time in his life Seokjin was on his own.

He kept stopping at every door but they were always locked or as good as locked.

Oh, how he missed his thumbs.

Seokjin halted as he spied a staircase going downward at the end of the corridor. The last thing he wanted was to corner himself into a dead end so he circled around. Only managing a couple of steps back the other way when he heard the echo of urgent voices.

Then the three younger Pixies appeared. Skidding around the corner in frazzled states.

The cute one spotted him first, grabbing the feline ones arm. "There! There he is!"

Seokjin huffed through his nose, looked over his shoulder at the stairs then back at the Pixies.

Resolving to make a break for it, he took a readying step forward but then froze. His nose catching a whiff of something in the air that made his fur bristle. It smelled like him- or like the dog he was currently inhabiting... But wrong.

The earthy musk of a woodland after it had just rained water tainted with blood, sweat and tears.

As if summoned, the cause of the offensive odour stalked into the corridor. A young but well built male who from the outset appeared to be human, but that Seokjin knew wasn't. Not fully anyway.