Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a King, who ruled a small but thriving kingdom. He was a good King, brave and kind and clever; beloved by all his people. They spoke with pride of him, of his great deeds and his fierceness in battle, of his regal bearing and handsome features. “Now that's a King,” they'd say to one another, waving to him and shouting his name, strewing flowers in the road as he passed by. “Our King is everything a King should be,” and they gave no thought to the fact that their King had no Queen or Prince Consort. After all, they said, it is only right that a King's first duty is to his land and his people. Our King is ensuring that our land is prosperous before he takes a thought for his own happiness. Just as a King ought.
However, as the years passed, and the land settled into peace and prosperity, the people began to wonder why their King continued to take no spouse. A King needs a Queen or a Prince Consort! It is completely acceptable that he was alone while the needs of the kingdom were at the forefront of his duties, but now that the land was safe, the King should look to his future! What was he waiting for? Surely a King such as theirs would have no trouble securing the hand of some Lord or Lady. And they began to murmur among themselves, wondering what it was that kept their great King from marrying.
Many members of the King's Council would never want to admit to having anything in common with the King's people (unlike the King, his Council was not always good or kind, but they were more than often wise, so they proved useful enough), but on the matter of the King's unmarried state, they were in complete agreement. The Council often notified the King that some country or other had an unmarried Prince, or a Lady of the Court was recently come of age and would make an exceptional Queen, does His Majesty not agree that she looks well today?
Despite the continued pressure from his Council, the King stubbornly refused to marry any of the Lords or Ladies of the Court or the neighboring kingdoms. “If you are so eager for an alliance with them,” he told them, his voice brooking no arguments, “offer to wed them yourselves. I will not marry anyone but my True Love.”
Some of his Council scoffed at their king's fanciful insistence. He had been declaring this since his coming-of-age more than thirty years ago! A True Love? Why, not one man in a hundred was lucky enough to find his True Love! Insisting on marrying none but your True Love was a declaration well enough indulged for a boy of eighteen, but certainly not a man of fifty! Their King would remain unmarried until the day he died, they grumbled to each other, and then the Council would have quite the trouble finding their way around the royal family's tangled tree to discover their King's heir.
What his Council did not know was that, when he was just a young Prince, the King had sneaked away from the Palace, found a Wizard and made a Wish (and, as everyone knows, a Wish, once Voiced by the Wisher and Heard by a Wizard, will always come true—though depending on the temperament of the Wizard, it might not be in quite the way the Wisher imagined).
The bright-eyed young Prince in his oversized cloak--borrowed from a stable boy--had Wished that he would grow up and marry his True Love. The Wizard had smiled down at him and said, “Your Wish will be Granted, young Prince, though you will have to be patient and wait many years for them to come to you.”
“How will I know them?” asked the Prince, uncaring in his desperation that the Wizard had seen through his paltry disguise. “For I cannot simply kiss everyone I meet in hope of it being True Love's Kiss.”
The Wizard laughed. “That you cannot, Your Highness,” he replied. “But know this: True Love is not found at first sight, no matter what the tales might tell you. You will meet them, and be drawn to them, and you will face adversity together. Your smile will lighten their heart and their laugh will bring you joy. It is then you will know you have found your True Love.”
The Prince nodded thoughtfully, thanked the Wizard for his time, and slipped back to the Palace, warm in the knowledge that he had a True Love and would marry them one day.
And so, even as the years passed and some part of the King started to lose hope, his heart never wavered. He'd Wished it. Wishes always came true. So he waited, and waited, and waited, for his True Love to find him.
In this same land, about three days' walk from the King's Palace, lived a young man named Gary, although no one ever called him that. He instead went by the name 'Eggsy,' and had done for so long that very few even remembered that it wasn't his actual name.
Eggsy's life was not a happy one, but he always strove to keep his spirits up. He was a charming lad, with a wide dimpled smile and shining green eyes, and he could often be heard whistling or singing a cheerful ditty as he helped his mother to the Market or sat fishing along the Lake.
His father, a minor Knight of little consequence, had died long ago, when Eggsy was small, and his mother, who'd loved her husband deeply, had been inconsolable for years. Eventually, she'd remarried, and Eggsy's stepfather was, as many stepparents in tales such as this are, a cruel and ruthless man, who treated Eggsy and his mother terribly.
Eggsy often dreamed of running away and becoming a Knight like his father, but he knew that if he ever left, his stepfather would take out his anger on Eggsy's mother, and Eggsy could not let that happen. So he stayed, and kept his mouth shut—well, most of the time—and did what his stepfather told him to do—most of the time—and Eggsy's mother, and later, his baby sister, stayed unharmed.
Well, most of the time.
Eggsy sometimes thought about finding a Wizard to cast a spell on his stepfather, as often happened in the tales of old, that he’d heard at the knee of an old man in the village. But he knew that the heroes of such tales were Princes and Kings and Knights, who used Magic to help them save their kingdoms or a Princess, with whom they'd then fall in True Love. Eggsy had never heard a story about a brave hero who'd gone to a Wizard to help his mum. Eggsy figured that even if he could afford to pay a Wizard, he'd be laughed out of the room for his silly Wishes.
But he still Wished. Not out loud, as he couldn't risk anyone Hearing it, but in his heart.
Late at night, as he lay in his bed, Eggsy would stare out the window at the stars and Wish, with all his might, for someone to love him the way his dad had loved his mum. Wished for a way to help his mum and sister to get away from his stepfather.
Although he'd never spoken it aloud, one day, his Wish was Granted. Though not quite in the way he'd imagined.
And, in the unlikely adventure that led to the Granting of his Untold Wish, Eggsy learned that the best tales are the ones about unlikely heroes. The heroes who don't even realize what they are until their tale is told.