Chapter Text
"You are a proud kingdom." Lotor purred over the child in his arms; ignoring its parents who looked horrified somewhere behind him. "Look at this. The single heir of this entire kingdom. So small and helpless, don't you think?" He laughed. "I'm not going to kill him, if that's what you think I'm going to do. I simply think he deserves better." He stared down at the child. "Better than an abusive father and an absent mother his whole life. Forced into a life he'll never be able to choose~"
"Put him down!" Krolia screamed at him, finally past her breaking point. "I don't care what kind of ultimately powerful fairy you are; you will unhand my child before I have you killed! He's the heir to the galra throne. He's perfectly fine here so don't get any ideas, got it?" She grabbed her son from the fairy's arms and carried him back to her throne.
Lotor smirked. "Oh? Hmmm..." He thought for a moment. "How's this: On his eighteenth birthday; the night before he's finally crowned king of the galra empire he will fall into a sleep like death. With his fall will come the fall of this kingdom, but he will lay there unharmed and safe until someone comes who will truly love him. Someone who will heal all the pain you may cause him. With one kiss this person will wake him. And as the kingdom fell with him so shall it rise. An era of great prosperity will shine upon the kingdom as long as he should live. No matter what he chooses to do with his life." A snap of his fingers and Lotor had disappeared.
The king and queen could only cry over their poor cursed child.
X X X X X X X X X X X
Keith grew up knowing he was cursed. Well, blessed and cursed. There were twelve fairies in all that gave him gifts. One simply happened to be a particularly shitty gift that would probably ruin his life. All his gifts, in no particular order, were: Beauty, strength, rebellion (which got one more fairy pushed onto the list of 'fairies we don't invite places anymore.' The servants informed him that she was a bit of a trickster and probably decided it was worth it), boldness, wit, trustworthiness, independence, intelligence, grace, song (song? he'd asked a maid. She explained his singing voice was a gift from fairies. No wonder it was so popular for him to entertain guests with a song), beauty again (technically it was 'handsome and gentle features' but it sounded like beauty to him), and of course, death apparently. Or at least the closest thing he could imagine. Falling asleep until someone who could love him more than even his own parents did kissed him awake? He might as well die.
So, at the ripe old age of seven, he decided he was going to fall in love. He was going to fall in love while he was young and they would kiss him the second he fell into his death-like state. That way he wouldn't have to worry about it, right? Besides, what were the odds he'd ever find the love of his life by waiting around waiting for someone to kiss a 'dead' body? Not terribly likely.
His parents, of course, thought it was a wonderful idea, and got to work.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Exactly ten years and one hundred eighty-seven days later he'd met every single female on the entire continent at least twice and he didn't like a single one. Of course, some were okay. They still talked even, but none he liked in the least bit romantically. He'd run out of time and his day was tomorrow. The day he fell asleep forever. He wished he'd spent less time meeting with girls he hadn't fallen in love with, but of course, how was he to know?
"Don't you worry. Maybe you didn't fall in love at first-or second-glance but we'll bring them all back! Soon enough you'll be right back awake. Don't worry sweetie." His mother smiled weakly, holding his hands tightly. "I don't care if I have to make every single person in existence kiss you, as disturbing as that is for me, I'm going to get you back. You're not going to spend forever under a curse." She promised.
Keith sighed and nodded. "Mom? I think... I think I'd like to be alone. It's almost midnight. I could go any moment and I'm sorry, but I really don't think I could keep myself together if you were here."
"Of course." Krolia smiled, hugging him tightly. "I'll see you soon. "
"Yeah..." Keith smiled as he watched her leave. Thank god.
Oddly enough, he'd grown accustomed to the idea of falling asleep for a few hundred years. His mother pretended to care about him, but resented him for preventing her from leaving all the time. Something the evil fairy had said to her about being absent. She'd decided not to be, then resented him for that. Then his father who'd been told he was abusive so he only saw Keith at meals and in the hallways where he simply grunted a hello and told him to stand up properly. Some family. When he was younger he never realized how horrid it was, but enough was enough.
Keith laid down on his bed and watched the moon. It had to be only a few minutes now. Keith had spent hours preparing; putting on his nicest red suit with his favorite knife strapped to his side. His ebony hair combed soft and one of his finest crowns nestled on his head. He looked quite fine if he did say so himself. Though, it was hard to say if he'd be as fine after several hundred years. No matter, best to start as well as he could, right? He was starting to feel drowsy and numb. Was that the curse, or was he just tired?
Whatever. Keith closed his eyes and let the darkness overcome him.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X
"You're going to get lost, Lance!" Allura shouted, running after her brother. They'd just finished moving into the newly finished palace. After nearly a thousand years, this land needed a proper set of rulers. It was rough going, and it was obvious that they would need to rely on their other lands for supplies and food for the land, but with some work it could truly be a paradise as all of Altea was. Lance, of course, cared little about this and decided to go off exploring the ancient towns that dotted the land. old, deserted buildings filled with things from another time.
Lance turned back and stuck his tongue out at her. "Hey, I heard the old castle was this way! You can't tell me you don't wanna know how the old royals lived. What a galran castle looks like?" He teased, pushing through the brush. "The people here are so old-fashioned. Imagine what it was like when there were millions of them all over this land, instead of the handfuls we find living in caves."
"I imagine it wasn't much different from the tech they had before we came. Perhaps even more advanced as they seem to barely be able to keep a proper functioning town together, instead of each home living with their own rules. Seems quite medieval to me."
"That is the last time these guys weren't in poverty it seems- ha!" Lance grinned as he pushed through a rusty gate and found himself before the crumbling remains of what had to have been a castle. "I told you! God, this place is a wreck. A thousand years will really do some damage."
Allura whistled low and took in her surroundings. "There must be a lot of history in this place. Look at the statues." She smiled, pointing them out to her brother. "They're all more or less in tact. I suppose at least some things around here were built to last." She smiled.
"Yeah." Lance shrugged, barely glancing at the statues she was referring to as he climbed into the ruins of the building. Something colorful caught his eye. Like the lint of jewels...
"Allura!" Lance screamed, grinning as his eyes locked onto the figure. "Allura you have to come see this!"
Allura rolled her eyes but followed him. "Wow." She looked the figure over and poked it, the stone feeling oddly warm from the sun, but stiff like stone nonetheless. "It's a statue. A colorful one, which is quite impressive seeing as it's been inside a crumbling building, but it's definitely a statue."
"I saw him move. I think he's just asleep." Lance smirked, walking over and shaking the figure. "Hey! Wake up, we know you're a person!" He had to admit, Allura was right; he did feel a whole lot like stone, but the clothes were most definitely cloth. Completely perfect, unrotted cloth. "Okay, so if he is a statue then why is he wearing clothes like a person? Or laying in a bed? A very nice bed, actually, seriously this entire room is intact you don't find that a bit odd?" Lance grumbled.
"There's a reasonable explanation, I'm sure. You know that this used to be fairy lands before they went extinct. Perhaps this statue was a fairy gift. The energy could radiate off of it and cause the room to not decompose."
"Or-" Lance smiled and sat on the bed next to the statue-man. "-He was a royal who got cursed into stone by a vengeful fairy! I wonder what he did?" He chuckled. "Probably something horrible. Hey look! He's got a knife!' Lance smiled and unsheathed the blade. It was beautiful, the finest craftsmanship he'd ever laid eyes on. And engraved deep into the blade was 'with this kiss my fate regains. Take my heart, yet my soul remains.'
"What do you think it means?" Allura asked, reading over Lance's shoulder. "'With this kiss'? What, are you supposed to kiss the statue to get a wish or something and then it takes your heart?"
"I don't think it's literal like that. It could mean that kind of kiss, or the kiss of a blade, or it could just be a meaningless poem some rich dude liked and had it engraved. Probably a bunch of gibberish either way." Lance shrugged. "I don't think you should kiss the statue."
"Why? Because you think he's hot?" Allura snickered at Lance's blush. "Ooooohh~! Lance has a crush on a statue boy! And his pretty knife with a gibberish poem on it!"
"Shut up!" Lance growled. "I'm holding a knife you know. I could very easily make Veronica the next heir to the throne." He threatened, pretending to take aim.
Allura stuck her tongue out, enjoying this thoroughly. She might be in her late twenties, well past time to be crowned queen in some cultures, but she loved playing games with her brother. "Dare you to kiss it. See if you get a wish. I bet you two silver coin I'm right that you'll get one."
"Bet you two silver coin nothing happens and I get a mouthful of dust." Lance grumbled, but was unable to back down from the dare not that Allura had said it. "Look, I'll only do it if you promise you won't tell anyone."
Allura rolled her eyes. "Dude, I was joking. But sure, if you wanna kiss the statue be my guess. But if you do end up getting a wish you owe me two silver."
"Fine." lance was flushed redder than he'd ever felt. "But if nothing happens you owe me two silver, got it?" He wiped off the statue's mouth. Under all that dust he was even more beautiful. Like something out of a fantasy or a dream. What would he have been like, Lance wondered, ig he was ever real. Was he kind? Or cruel? He was so beautiful Lance had no doubt he'd have fallen in love with him no matter which.
Herr went nothing, Lance thought to himself as he plunged down and kissed the stone figure. His lips were oddly warm, even though the day was cool. Soft like satin and unlike anything he'd felt before in his life. It took arms wrapping around his neck to even register that yes, in fact, who he'd thought to be a statue was actually kissing back. Quite well, too. Lance pulled back gently and opened his eyes to see soft purple ones. Ones he'd read about in storybooks. How only the royal galra bloodline held the genes for them and since they'd died out they no longer existed. Yet here they were, staring back at him.
"Hi." Lance whispered, unsure what to do. DI'd he just kiss someone back to life? Or was this guy pretending all along?
"Hello." The man smiled. "I didn't think you'd be a guy, yet thinking about it now I guess it does make sense. After all, I never was into girls thay much." He smiled harder and gently fixed Lance's suit.
Lance bit his lip and looked to Allura for help. Not finding any, he turned back to the man in his arms. "Uh- well I'm Lance. It's nice to meet you."
"Keith. It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Keith could've smacked himself for such a boring intro, but his 'wit' gift only seemed to come out in situations where he really did not need it. "Lance... I like that name. Do you know how long it's been? Since I fell asleep."
"Awhile I'd suppose." Lance shrugged, looking around. "You wouldn't happen to feel like.. I don't know... explain this? Would you? Because I've never kissed someone awake unintentionally before and definitely not someone who could've easily been here a thousand years or more."
A thousand years. Keith had outlived everyone and everything he'd ever known. A chance to start over. That's what that fairy had given him, right? A chance for something better and a chance for true love if he chose it.
"Well it started oN my christening, back in the days when fairies were a huge thing...."