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Bad never thought he would be chosen for such an honor. Much less by the royal family themselves! He’s not the most popular Demon in court by a long shot, but his love for the Overworld seems to actually be a good thing!
“We want a bride about his age, so find someone about five in a couple of years,” the queen instructs, giving Bad a list of qualifications for the bride he is to find. He scans the list. It seems to mostly be personality and skill-based, like the ability to fight multiple people and high intelligence.
“No gender preference?” Bad asked, not wanting to mess anything up.
“No. We do ask that the bride be an overworld hybrid or a human who considers themselves from the overworld. They tend to adjust better to other customs, less likely to hold on to old traditions,” the queen stretches her wings a tad. “Now, I would like to get back to my son. Any other questions that cannot be answered by the Head Guard?”
“Just one, your Majesty. Do you wish for them to have any magical qualities?”
“I wish for them to be an admin, but I would rather a bride that can meet most of the other qualifications on the provided list than one that is an admin.”
Bad bows deeply. “Yes, Your Majesty. As you say, it shall be so.”
He leaves the room excited, ready to get the finer details of his mission and prove himself to the court.
It had been years since that day. Bad no longer considered himself a member of the demon court and tried not to think about his mission.
It only took a couple of months before he realized what he had been asked to do.
He had been asked to raise a child bride.
Which should have been obvious, honestly, but it took some time and the start of his search to realize. What really changed his mind was meeting Skeppy.
Bad told Skeppy about his mission, about his doubts, about how he didn’t know what to do. He told him about Not really wanting to go back to the court, that while the Demon realm was peaceful, there were still problems.
Skeppy helped him understand that he wouldn’t only be raising a child bride, he would be stealing a child’s future from them. That if they didn’t want to marry Prince Farfadox, they would be forced to anyways, how damaging a child deriving their worth from being able to be a suitable spouse could be. That molding a child instead of letting them grow into their own person was wrong.
And while neither of them said it, they both thought about other things too. That Farfadox could turn out to be abusive and the chosen person would feel that they would have no choice but to accept it. That because his bride was chosen and groomed for him, Farfadox would feel it his right to take his bride, whether they wanted it or not.
So Bad stopped looking. He and Skeppy decided that when the day came for him to present a bride, they would be on a whitelist server, out of reach without someone telling their pursuers where they are. But that wouldn’t be a problem for over a decade.
They were so skinny , and despite being a demon, Bad had too much empathy for his own good.
It was two boys. A little blaze hybrid and an older cat hybrid. An Overworld hybrid. Who was smart. Brave. Good at fighting,
An Admin.
NOPE. No, he’s not going to groom Dream. If Dream wants to do all the things that the Queen wants her son’s spouse to do, Bad would be a terrible parent if he didn’t encourage it.
“This isn’t about them , right?” Skeppy asks. Bad shakes his head, watching Dream inspect Sapnap’s food before letting him eat it.
“No. No, it’s because they need us. Dream only barely trusts me and they need help.”
Bad ends up teaching Dream some of the demon customs. Nothing about to courts or how to act as Farfadox’s spouse, but holidays and ideals are something he shares. And maybe the fighting technique he helps Dream learn is inherently Demon.
There seems to be a bit of separation between him and Dream that there isn’t with Sapnap. And while part of him says he should try harder to fix that, his upbringing whispers that he needs to keep some distance between him and the one he will have to give up when the Prince comes looking. He knows that he won’t be able to run forever, and he can’t lose Skeppy. He can’t .
Somehow, without trying, Dream fits what the Queen wants for her child as perfectly as someone can.
Dream starts an SMP, and they join. But it all goes downhill, and Bad forgets the day that he dreads is approaching.
During one of Quackity’s visits to the prison, a black boot laced with gold steps out into the Overworld sun of the Dream SMP for the first time, following a nervously twisting tail and glinting hair clips. The prince adjusts his jacket as he eagerly follows his guide further into the lands, wondering what his bride will be like.