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Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a palace. But the palace had twisted spires and walls as black as the king’s soul. The prince was trapped, destined to marry a princess as soon as one proved worthy. In order to win the prince’s hand in marriage, the princesses had to prove themselves worthy.
The King had set up a challenge: The princesses had to fight their way through an army of hellhounds, then defeat the mighty Cerberus. The first princess to do so would marry the prince, and the prince had no say in the matter.
But the Prince didn’t want to marry a princess- the prince dreamed of a handsome prince brave enough to rescue him. He dreamed of a prince as beautiful as the sunrise and as deep as the ocean. He had hoped, once before, that prince Perseus would have rescued him, but prince Perseus had fallen for princess Annabeth instead. Prince Nico yearned in private, heartache and isolation setting deep into his soul.
When princess Bianca had died, the responsibility for producing an heir fell strongly on Nico, and time was running out- the King was old and dying. Nico had unfortunately accepted that one day a princess would battle her way into the tower, and Nico would be forced to marry her and start a family.
The last thing Prince Nico expected was to see a prince covered in dog slobber wearing a dress climbing in through his window in the middle of the night.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” the Prince said loudly, “but I was running away from home and I stopped to pet your dogs. Also please excuse my attire, I was told only princesses were allowed near the tower and I really wanted to pet your dogs so I swapped clothes with princess Reyna!”
“You… didn’t get eaten by the hellhounds?” Prince Nico’s heart was exploding, the prince handsome and brave and kind. Nico didn’t want anybody to slaughter the dogs, and he didn’t expect a prince to pet them, so he had expected to forever be alone or marry a princess who had slain his dogs.
“Of course not! I played fetch with them and scratched them behind the ears! Then I cried because Cerberus has three heads and I don’t have enough hands. Anyway, why was there a no men rule on petting your dogs?”
“Oh boy,” Prince Nico sighed, preparing to explain, “it’s a long story.” Prince Nico explained to the prince, whose face turned from shock to concern to- smiling?
“So, I have to marry you now?”
“I uh- I mean uhm…” Prince Nico blushed, averting his gaze, “I doubt you want to marry a prince like me.”
“I’d love to marry a prince!” he exclaimed, “I always dreamed of marrying a handsome prince! I’m Prince Will, by the way!”
“Prince Nico. So um… does this uh… mean you um… want to marry me?”
“I mean if you wanna…”
And they all lived happily ever after. The End.