Chapter Text
A/N before starting:
-This is a semi-alternative universe. There are demons yet - as it will later be explained- they don't feed off humans, so the kids in the orphanage are actually adopted by families and well, not eaten.
-Also, I'm not really comfortable writing with underage characters when the theme is romance so all the characters will be aged up, however the only characters that are relevant for you to have in mind their ages are the full score trio, who they all have 18 or around such age.
-I'm still wondering the rating of this fic but it will mostly be for every age, until further notice.
-Not beta reader- I will probably see and correct the mistakes sooner or later.
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“Long time ago lived a royal family, just across the forest. That family was loved by every child as they guaranteed their safety from the monsters, giving special protection to the Grace field."
"Emma!" The ginger-haired young adult stopped her story, despite having just started it, when the innocent voice of one of the children that sat in a circle around her lifted her arm to catch her attention "What kind of monsters were they protecting us from?"
"Hum... That's a good question, Shelly..." Emma had wondered about that too, every time Mama had told her this same story and so she could only give the answer Mama always gave her " I guess it's better not knowing about it."
"It can't be more dangerous than whenever Ray thinks about burning the place again..." The duo of troublemakers of the group joked in between them until they both are hit in the head with one book and the other lightly with a fist.
"Emma. You weren't going to tell the same story once again, were you...?" The raven-haired sighed at the large grin that Emma gave him, her answer not needing any words "You know you shouldn't scare them like that. You're eighteen...For heaven's sake, yet you still act like a child of five."
Receiving this answer, Emma couldn't help but pout. She was just having fun, no need to be so cold "I'm taking care of the younger ones, Mama said I was the best with them. Plus, they know it's just a story. They know that the gate is too dangerous to cross, there are too many dangerous animals behind them. Right?"
"Right." As following her, the group of kids agreed in a choir, making Ray sigh.
"Come with me. I need to speak with you." Under the serious tone that one of the oldest siblings had spoken - even serious than usual- and that caused Emma to fear whatever was coming after but she nodded nonetheless.
"But Emma! You didn't finish the story!"
The young adult gave the younger ones a smile before ruffling the dark hair of the one that held the sleeve of her shirt "sorry Phil, I promise it will be quick. What about you go to play hide and seek?"
To her luck, the children seemed to be excited over the idea and quickly the two young adults by themselves but even so, Ray seemed to prefer a more private place as he led both of them to the house's library.
"How long do you intend to keep believing in those stories? Next thing you'll say is that you want a charming prince to come and rescue you." Ray stated coldly, not even a hint of restrainment on his tone. "Life isn't a fairy tale Emma."
"I know but... What is the joy of staying by the rules of what is normal?" Emma sighed, her hand reaching out to hold one of her favorite books in the library. Maybe she still hung onto her childlike dreams of princes and princesses, curses and happily ever after but she still knew how reality was cruel. She knew of the world full of demons that lived outside those gates. She knew how hard Mama worked to protect them until they would finally leave with a lovely family that could protect them themselves. That was why Emma wanted to be a Mama herself. She wanted to help mom as much as possible so she had secretly destroyed every single way she could have to be adopted. She simply refused to leave this house without a reason that would benefit the orphanage.
It wasn't exactly that she longed for a life like what she reads in the fairy tales she loved but still she desired this one selfish thing that she found in every one of her stories. To know what love meant.
She knew the family like love that she felt for everyone in the house but what she read made her curious about how it would be like to feel those so-called butterflies in her stomach, to the point of one time she asked mama on how to cook butterflies, to which the older woman had softly explained the feeling and given the example of how she had felt for her deceased husband.
"Mom's sick. And it's worse than we think." Ray called out, breaking her out of her thoughts and understanding the urge on his voice "Last night, the napkin she had at dinner had blood on it. She was coughing blood."
Emma gulped, the concern now filled her mind. While Isabella wasn't her mother by blood she was the only mother she would ever consider as such and knowing the state she was in made an intense sadness travel her mind and body as she understood what the epilogue of the situation would be "Is there any way we can help?"
"Just... Be prepared to be the next caretaker of this place..."
"Ray!" She scolded him, even hitting his head with her hand at the emotionless attitude. She was aware from all these years together that the cold expression was often a cover that Ray had to put on, after all, there was needed an authority that Emma couldn't bring herself to put the role of so that lead Ray as the other older kid of the house responsible.
"I'm saying the truth. Maybe I'm overreacting and this is nothing but..." He trailed off, unable to think further.
" You're still concerned for Mama... " Her emerald eyes traveled to the book she held, her fingers gently passing over the cover as she recalled the first time Mama had given this book to her. After a moment of silence that neither was aware of the time passing by, she glanced up again, her light colored eyes meeting the more darkened green and her lips shifting to a reassuring smile "I'll make sure Mama will be fine and I'll be more responsible. I promise. I'm sorry for being such trouble."
"Emma..." The taller man sighed once again but smile under her promise, softly messing with her already wild ginger hair "You're not that much of a trouble, just irresponsible. Now run off to go find the kids before any of them gets hurt, I'll start making the dinner."
Ray left the room and Emma stood by herself, covered by the unusual silence that rarely ever was heard in the orphanage with all the kids that Emma knew like the palm of her hand, almost as well as Mama herself.
With all the silence, Emma could let the depressive aura that she had surrounded her just like the lack of sound, glad to have this quiet moment away from the children. She just didn't want them to be unhappy unless it was truly the moment for such, for now, only herself and Ray would bear the truth about Isabella.
The ginger-haired walked to a corner of the library and sat there, slowly re-reading the pages that already had her fingertips saved due to the number of times she found herself reading that book in particular.
"Isn't this amazing?" She sighed, talking to anyone " This is my favorite part... Faraway places, a prince in disguise and even so she still falls in love with the humble thief that stole to help other needy children..."
Emma passed her fingers by the images of the book, the one where the young princess stood by her luxurious terrace, sighing as she remembered the night that her mysterious prince had presented to her.
Would Emma ever find someone that would make her feel this way?
Would she even realize they were the one when seeing them?
Quickly, she shook her head, her hands even coming to her face to lightly slapping her cheeks "Emma! This isn't time to think about that, there's more serious stuff before that!" She scolded herself, letting out another sigh. In her dreams, she could think of it. In her dreams only. For now, she needed to focus and bring herself to face reality.
Not noticing the time that had passed, when Emma was putting the book back to the respective place, a desperate call for her made her concerned as she left the library, footsteps quickly making their way to her and Emma did make it on time to catch the pair of children that had came to her, almost tripping when seeing her had it not been her quick movements in catching them.
"Emma! Phil's missing!"
"What happened?" The ginger-haired asked while trying to not show much concern as it would only cause even more panic, instead, she softly patted the dark, long hair of the younger girl.
"We were playing hide and seek but we can't find Phil! The gates are open and we think he..."
Emma didn't need the girl to continue. She knew why the panic. And she couldn't let Ray or Mama know, that would just concern them.
"Calm down, I'll go check it out. Phil's smart, don't worry about it. In the meanwhile, don't tell Mama or Ray about this, ok?"
With the nod that both girls gave her, Emma quickly rushed past them and dashed to the forest where the gates were located. She ran and ran, thankfully Mama allowed the older girls to wear black pants instead of the usual white skirts and right now such clothing made it much more practical to run.
She knew she couldn't call out Phil's name or she would attract any possible wild demons, the major threat they had to face and the reason why the gates existed. Emma had once almost run into one wild demon, before Mama explained what they were, while playing hide and seek and she had somehow escaped from death, she wouldn't allow Phil to be put in danger.
For now, she could only run and follow the track she knew it belonged to him. The footsteps were fresh and nothing seemed to be following them even so, Emma rushed in the same way that she was following.
´Phil... Please stay safe. I beg of you.´
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The tanned skin colored child looked petrified at the hooded figure that stood in front of him. The white cloak hid the said figure, who towered Phil, who took notice that he was probably two or three heads taller than Ray, only letting exposed the face that even that one was hidden behind an expressionless white mask.
He hadn't thought about being caught and he wasn't sure if this person meant good or bad news. Phil had been just curious of the forest, having seen Emma adventure herself along with Ray to the said woods and both returning rather exhausted. He didn't expect to be that dark and as he rushed his steps after hearing some noises, he tried to find some sort of hideout but to his relief, he walked past another gate, not knowing that there would be anyone living anywhere near the orphanage.
As the young boy caught his breath, he didn't notice the soundless steps of the figure that got closer to him, until a deep voice spoke, making Phil jump in fear.
"You shouldn't be here..."
The voice held no threat in his tone, it was a strong tone that surprised Phil. He could feel eyes looking at him from behind the mask, the shadow of the cloak covering half of the masked face, the glance only shifting to the open gate for a brief second before returning to the boy.
"The gate was open?" Taken the silence of the child, the figure asked him, only receiving a furious nod from his head. The cloaked figure hummed, thinking on why the said entrance was open but as if it was a prepared script, a pure white stallion ran along the green fields without a care in the world, the animal's mane flowing in the wind as it exposed his beauty.
Having the reply of his unasked question, the mysterious character focused on the boy again, seeing him a little calmer.
"Are you lost?" Again, another nod, this time not so furiously as he had taken his time to calm down, now being able to reply to the stranger.
"I was playing hide and seek and I decided to hide in the forest before I noticed I arrived here..."
"The forest is a dangerous place. It's not a place for children like you..."
"So I've been told... But Emma and Ray often go there and I wanted to see it by myself!" Phil could swear he could feel that he was receiving a smile from the one that carried a mark but with the darkness that hid the face he couldn't be sure, either way, he smiled back. But then again, he remembered to ask one thing. "Hey, mister? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. What is it?" He kneeled down to stay at the same level as the boy, the long cape of the cloak falling gracefully on the green pastures but he didn't seem concerned about the clothes getting dirty. Instead, he seemed to focus on the number that Phil carried on the collar of his shirt.
"Are you dangerous?" Phil noticed how the figure tensed under the cloth that hid him and this time, the small boy had the larger figure hushed in a deep silence "I don't think you are."
"Is that so?"
Phil hummed and nodded his head, giving the man a bright smile that he didn't recall the last time he had seen someone smiling that much.
"I'm never wrong. Emma says I'm too smart."
The caramel-skinned colored saw how the man's hand had moved from underneath the cloak but it never came out from it's hiding place as he had stopped himself, however, he allowed Phil to notice the smile on his lips.
"I'm sure that that Emma is right. Nevertheless, now it should be a good time for you to go. It won't be long before the sun sets down and there's when more wild demons will be lurking in those woods."
"Oh right. Emma should be concerned and..."
"Phil!" A feminine call for the boy's name caused that the two figures turned again to the still open gates, finding a ginger-haired young woman looking desperately for the younger one, her emerald eyes glinting with pure joy when seeing him and rushing to pull Phil into her arms "I finally found you! You don't know how worried I was!"
"Emma!" Phil smiled, accepting the embrace that his sister figure trapped him in, his own arms even if smaller also wrapping around her as he buried his face on her neck, taking in the comfort of the scent. Only after a few moments, he was able to break free from Emma "I was hiding in the forest but then I walked past this gates and accidentally crashed into this man who was helping me."
As if only know to notice the third person's presence, Emma looked up, seeing the said man looking down at them, or rather, assuming he was looking down as his eyes were covered by the white mask.
His mouth was lightly open until her eyes lifted themselves to -unknown to her- stare into his, what caused him to gulp nervously under the intensity of her bright glance.
He felt himself starting sweating just from her glance so his heart wasn't ready for this new found intensity the exact moment she smiled at him. Well, at least now he knew he still had a heart.
She quickly got up and bowed her head lightly "Thank you so much for helping Phil. I hope he didn't cause you any bother"
"I... No. No, not at all." If he could blush he was sure his cheeks would be putting a tomato's red tone in shame so now he just had to focus on stopping on mumbling and saying nonsenses, even if they had caused a small laugh from the woman that was the most beautiful of the melodies that he had ever heard. "It was my fault for letting the gates open."
Regaining her posture again, Emma kept her arm around Phil's shoulders while taking in her surroundings. It was odd she had never noticed such a mansion in the middle of the woods, even more, when she explored the forest. It amazed her to find such a discovery, too bad Ray wasn't there and she couldn't brag about it to him.
"You live here?"
The man gave her a smile, noticing how her curiosity caused her to barely tilt her head to the side. Cute.
"Indeed I do." He seemed like he wanted to continue the conversation yet he himself wasn't sure on how to continue and Phil tugging on Emma's sleeve made them remember of the petite boy.
"Emma, it's getting late and the others must be concerned!"
It was as if breaking away from a trance that neither of the two remembered getting hooked into but had it not been the smaller boy, the older two wouldn't mind the silent stares.
"Oh right! I'm sorry, we need to go!" She gave a small smile to reassure Phil and returned to look at the man once more, bowing down again "Thank you so much again, we must be going."
Turning her tail to him, Emma and Phil had walked back but as soon as they were under the gates the man called out again, causing them to stop on their tracks.
"Wait! I.. I can take you there. It will be faster and less dangerous by horse." He offered, silently pleading to have his offer accepted.
Emma looked a little uncertain in accepting the offer, it would be bothering him even more than what they already did but she knew it was getting late and the odds of arriving in time before the night set before them would be low..
"If it doesn't bother you, we would appreciate it a lot." She shyly accepted and the mysterious character could only let out a mental sigh in unfamiliar happiness.
"It's not a bother at all." He said with a returning smile, releasing a sharp whistle and in no time, the white stallion was near him, looking even taller than what Phil had thought.
Settling himself on the horse, Emma helped Phil getting in first, the man holding him in front of himself for better support. He was about to help the feminine character when he felt a presence behind him, her arms wrapping around his thin torso for a brief moment as she settled in place before removing the arms and letting them fall, not sure on where to put them but the "hold on tight. We don't want you to fall." coming from the horse's owner made her wrap her arms around him again, smiling at the warmth that his cloak gave.
Due to the weight that the horse had on, they had to move on slower than usual yet it was still at a decent pace to arrive in no time. Phil looked at the hands that were on the horse's reins were still hidden under the long sleeves of the cloak, yet he was sure he saw something sharp poking at the end, almost unnoticeable but he knew he had seen it. That arose some questions within him: Why was such man so covered? What was he hiding?
In the meanwhile, Emma also noticed how slim the man was. It wasn't that she was checking on him... Not saying that she also wasn't... but having her arms so closely around him allowed her to feel the body that she was pressed against.
There was a lot of questions surrounding that man but only the sound of owls and the horse's running steps could be heard as the night made its presence and hid the day's light until the horse finally stopped when arriving at the grace field's gates.
"Unfortunally I can't go past there but I'm sure you won't have any more problems from now on." He smiled, helping the other two climb down of the animal.
"Thank you again." Emma smiled when the two were by themselves, Phil running to inside the gates after waving a quick goodbye, having noticed the silent glances the two adults exchanged a long time ago.
"Anytime, now hurry before you get in troubles." The man smiled back and at that moment Emma felt an even bigger desire to remove the cloak that covered him the whole time and see the person that was hidden but he had already on top of the horse again " Farewell, Emma, take care."
With those words, he parted away, leaving her alone at that gate's entrance, staring at the distance as the white horse ran into the forest, quickly staying out of sight as if it was a ghost, all the sounds vanishing as it seemed like the owls had followed the same man.
The way he had said her name... It was normal, he wasn't teasing or threatening her so... Why did she felt such shivers in her body?
She was brought back to reality when Phil's voice came from the other side of the gate "Emma! We need to hurry!"
"Yeah!" She called out, sparing one last look at the forest as if trying to believe what happened wasn't just a dream, and then rushed to enter the grace field territory and closing the gates behind them, locking them with the key Mama had given her and both of them rushing to the main building, where the dinner already awaited for them.
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Back to the mansion in the deep woods, in a lonely, dark room by the top of the house, stood the figure of the man. He strode around the room, all the mirrors were covered by heavy blood-colored carpets, absolutely refusing to let them reflex the horror that the man denied having turned into.
He still didn't understand what had happened that afternoon.
After so many years of this curse... After so many years of trying to look for a solution to his problem, the answer came to him.
Like she had told him.
Looking at the rose blooming on the inside of the glass that he had in the middle of the room he noticed how its white petals had this orange color as if contorting them, the tip of the petals glowing with the color.
He smiled as he recalled that wild ginger hair.
Then, he laughed. How long had it been since he had laughed? Since he had smiled?
Now he had found her. The one that would break this curse.
And like hell, he would let her go.
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A couple of days had passed and it was deep into the night when Isabella made her way to the gates, where she had to meet with the one responsible to protect grace field from the wild demons.
"Punctual as always Norman."
The older woman stated when seeing the familiar figure hidden by the white cloak, the white stallion standing behind him as one of his owls rested on his shoulder.
"Manners are always a must."
"Understandable." She mumbled, before letting out a cough, her arm coming to her mouth to cover it "What can I help you this time?"
This wasn't a really usual meeting. Norman was in charge of protecting the orphanage, as his family had promised and the heir still kept his family's word, however, this had to be a mutual agreement and so, whenever the heir asked for something, Isabella had no rights but to agree with, for the protection of her dear children.
Thankfully, Norman wasn't a greedy person to start with.
That was why this night shocked her.
"I come with a request. An odd one but it will forever grant you the protection you seek of."
"And that request will be granted. Just say what you want and you'll have it."
"I want a bride." He stated simply. It was not needed any games or tricks. He didn't want any games or tricks. He planned this out as if it had been something that he had long planned.
"Excuse me?" Isabella, on the other hand, had been taken completely of surprise "You want a bride?"
"Exactly." He knew who he had in mind yet, he didn't want to state the obvious. This was also a test to the maiden's words. Only his soulmate could break this curse and if she was his soulmate - which Norman had no doubts about it- she would come to him. "I have only one rule: She needs to come to me willingly. No one should force her. Is this clear?"
The amethyst eyes of the caretaker shown the uneasiness of the deal but she, unfortunately, was in no position to fight back, at least, not now.
With a nod, they signed their deal. And with their deal signed, the man climbed to his horse, looking at Isabella who gulped terrified of the intensity of the coldness in Norman's eyes, the demon having adjusting his mask enough to reveal the fiery orbs.
"You have one week. By then, I expect her to be standing by my gate."