Chapter Text
“I want you to kill King Stolas.”
The air in the room suddenly goes cold. The huntsman lifts his head up from his kneeling position to lock eyes with his Queen.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me, imp. Carve out his heart and present it to me in this box.”
The calloused, apathetic tone of her voice sends a chill down the huntsman’s spine. He hesitates to accept the box and the dagger that lays on the top of it.
“Did I not make myself clear?”
The queen picks up the dagger and points it at the imps throat
“You know what will happen if you don’t do this for me.”
Sweat forms on the imps brow. nodding, and finally accepting the dagger and box.
“Yes, your highness.”
-
“My, you sure are feisty today, little one! Growing big and strong!”
The huntsman walks into the garden, spotting the King caring for his many plants. He refuses to hire staff to do it for him, for whatever reason. Perhaps he doesn’t trust lowly imps to care for his most precious possessions.
“Good afternoon, your majesty.”
The owl turns to the voice, tilting his head and quirking an eyebrow at the imp before him
“.. Blitzo?”
“The O is silent.”
“My apologies. Blitzø then!”
The king smiles kindly at Blitzø, shaking the imp to his core. This hit should be easy. Royals are all pompous assholes who think they’re better than everyone else simply for being born into an arbitrary title.
But here is the king, in dirty overalls, selflessly taking care of his plants, and weirdest of all, he’s now bowing to an imp as if they were equals.
“For what reason have you come to see me after all this time, dear Blitzø?”
The term of endearment makes his brain short circuit, and what the hell does he mean “after all this time”? He shakes it off and stands straight
“The..” he clears his throat “The queen has tasked me with escorting you this evening.”
The owls eyes widen for a brief moment, a smile quickly replaces the look of shock
“Oh! Yes, of course.”
He almost seems disappointed, but Blitzø isn’t going to dig too deeply into that. He’ll feel even more disappointed when his so-called “escort” stabs him in the back..
Quite literally.
Blitzø tries, he really does, to not look into the fidgeting, nervous fingers of the King. The way they clasp together and squeeze, and how he runs his fingers over his knuckles in a soothing fashion.
And it’s impossible to ignore the way he shifts on his taloned feet, swaying backwards and forwards.
He’s definitely nervous. Does he know? If he knew surely Blitzø would’ve been turned to stone by now.. right?
“Uh.. so.. I’ll meet you back here when it’s time to leave, yeah?”
Blitzø finally has enough and breaks the silence, seemingly startling the owl out of his own head.
“Y-Yes, um. That is fine.”
“Ooookay.. See you then, your highness.”
Blitzø spins on his heel to leave the garden
“Stolas.”
The imp turns his head to stare quizzically at the king
“You can just call me ‘Stolas.’”
“..Sure, whatever you want.”
He smiles, causing the imps heart to jump. He scoffs and turns his head away quickly, making his way out of the garden. This odd feeling must be disgust, Surely. He’s acting all nice as some kind of twisted game just to see the itty bitty imps reactions, like he’s a spectacle.
That’s what Blitzø will convince himself is the truth, for now. Makes the kill that much easier.
-
After a few hours, Blitzø waits in the garden, his back leaned against a pillar leaving him in the shadows.
Stolas emerges from the overly fancy door, dressed to the nines. He looks around before spotting Blitzø easily, ’he probably has night vision’ he thinks, Blitzø should note that. Can’t hide in the dark from him.
“Hello, darling!”
‘Another term of endearment, Christ’ Blitzø feels his heart jump, in rage, probably. Not because the king looks absolutely stunning and is smiling so innocently, completely unaware that this is his last night alive.
“Uhhh, yeah, hi. You ready to go?”
“Yes, of course!”
Stolas offers his hand to Blitzø who stares at him quizzically. If it’s his final moments Blitzø supposes he should just do as he wants, so he takes it, earning a wide smile from the owl.
“May I ask where exactly we are going?”
His innocent, confused smile leaves Blitzø’s mind blank for a beat
“Uhhh... where do you.. want to go?”
‘Wow, great performance there, Blitzo. The king surely won’t find that suspicious.’ He chastises himself, trying his best to not cringe at his own stupidity
The king looks taken aback, blinking his wide eyes multiple times and opening his beak to speak but nothing comes out. Finally, he clears his throat and begins speaking
“My apologies if I’m just getting caught in my own head, Blitzy..”
‘Blitzy’? Are you fucking kidding me?’
“But.. are you, perhaps.. trying to seduce me?”
Silence fills the air, Blitzø is struggling to make the words make sense in his mind. An affair between a random imp and the literal king. There’s no way he wants that-
But his cheeks are tinged pink and his eyes look so full of hope, he’s holding Blitzø’s hand tight, as if he’s afraid the imp will run away.
Fuck it.
“What else would this be, your highness?”
He smirks, earning a surprised hoot from the king that is so adora- gross and weird.
“We’re going somewhere real special.”
Blitzø wiggles his eyebrows at the king suggestively, making him giggle
He begins leading Stolas by the hand, out the gate and up a hill overlooking the castle
Blitzø used to play there as a kid all the time till he got scolded for throwing pine cones through the castle's open windows.
He can’t really recall WHY he was throwing the pine cones but he stopped coming there after that. Strange how fuzzy his memory was but he felt this place was important to him.
Blitzø glanced back at the owl who’s been babbling on and on about how excited he was and how romantic this all was, the moon was full and the sky was clear, allowing them to perfectly light up his heart shaped face. He really was beautiful, it’s such a pity that Blitzø has to wipe that smile off his face and stain it with his own blood.
He turns his head away quickly. ’This should be easy. Look how easy he’s making it for you. Trusting you so much to lead him somewhere all alone, in the middle of the night. Why does he trust me so much?’
They stop at a large tree sitting atop the hill, a strong gust of wind rustling the leaves and blossoms, causing them to fall around them
Blitzø makes the mistake of looking at Stolas again, his eyes full with wonder. His gaze softens when their eyes meet. Blitzø can’t help but stare, his heart is beating a mile a minute. Surely it’s from nerves. The king is the most dangerous target Blitzø has ever had, obviously. He’s just worried about the hit, that’s all. Nothing more.
“I thought you forgot about me.”
Stolas’ voice startles him out of his head
“Those days we played together remain so dear in my heart, Blitzø.”
Stolas lays his hand atop his heart, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath
“I was so happy to see you making a name for yourself with your hunting business! I never knew what I did that caused you to leave but I am so happy you came back and..”
His eyes fluttered open, Blitzø notes the pure emotion in his voice, the tears gathering in his eyes, just waiting for the dam to break
“That you feel an affection for me too..”
Blitzø quickly rips his hand for Stolas’, taking a step back. The hurt on Stolas’ face fills him with rage. Why is he making that face for someone like him? He’s meant to rip his heart out literally not metaphorically!
“That’s not-“ his throat feels terribly dry, his voice cracking embarrassingly. “That’s not what this is. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
He points an accusatory finger at the owl, he flinches back, which Blitzø will also not be thinking about and over analyzing, fuck you very much
“You must be mistaking me with some other fucking imp, we all look the same to you, don’t we?!”
Stolas’ eyes widen in horror, his mouth agape and trying to form words but he just cannot make a sound.
“It doesn’t even matter.”
Blitzø quickly digs in his pockets pulling out blessed rope and tying Stolas’ hands together, who is still in a state of shock. He looks down at the rope and he shakes his head
“I promise you, I-I am not mistaking you for someone else..! we used to play on this very hill.. you’d throw pine cones through my window to tell me you were here!”
He’s squeezing his eyes right, tears rolling down his face. Blitzø’s hands hesitate on the knot he’s tying.
Of course. That’s why he was throwing pine cones. How the hell could he forget that?
The first time was an accident. Not the throwing part, but alerting the young prince inside.
He had just gotten scolded by his father for nearly getting caught pick-pocketing some fancy tourist. In his defense he was running on an hour of sleep and a single slice of bread. They had much more to go around but he was already being punished for messing up the day before. And despite that, Cash loved sending Blitzø out most. Probably because if he was caught.. he wouldn’t be missed.
He wanted to get as far away as possible, that’s how he found himself on a hill overlooking the castle. Fancy ass royals with their fancy ass house and probably even fancier access to food and comfortable fancy ass beds.
His foot hits a pine cone on the ground. He picks it up, tossing it in the air a few times before throwing it as hard as he could at the large tree it came from, bouncing back over his head and straight into the open window of the castle below.
He shrinks back, hoping no one was inside to notice. Breathing a sigh of relief after a few moments thinking he was in the clear.
But suddenly two.. no, four large glowing eyes were peering at him through the window. The boy gasps upon locking eyes with the imp.
“Who are you?”
“Uhhh.. I was just.. passing through!”
The boy in the window tilts his head curiously with a chuckle
“Passing through the Goetia Family’s property?”
The small imp sucks in his breath. Yeah, that was a dumb excuse. Well, this is it. Blitzo is about to get into a lot of trouble for trespassing, he’ll be publicly executed and his father will jeer at him from the crowd, what a failure he had been his whole short but shitty existence.
“You didn’t answer my question!”
Blitzo shakes his head staring back to the small owl peering at him
“Oh.. I’m Blitzo.”
“Hello, Blitzo!”
The boy chuckles slowly climbing up, dangling his little feet off the sill and clumsily falling out of the window with an oof.
He brushes himself off
“Ahem! I am Prince Stolas of the Ars Goetia! You can just call me Stolas though.”
He scratches his cheek, embarrassed after the most rehearsed introduction Blitzo had ever heard.
“Aren’t you going to go.. tell someone?”
“Tell them what?”
Stolas smiles curiously at him, tilting his head.
“an imp just threw a pine cone through the Princes window..?”
The owl snorts, flicking his wrist up and down as if to shoo away the idea.
“Now why in the world would I do that to my new friend?”
“Friend?”
“Yes! I’ve never had any friends and all the kids my age are so stuffy they won’t play with me!”
Stolas crosses his arms with a huff befitting a spoiled prince like himself, making Blitzø giggle
“You wanna play.. with me? You know I’m gonna shove you in the mud, right?”
Stolas gasps
“Please do! I’ve never been shoved in the mud before!”
Blitzø bursts out laughing
“Okay, okay. Let’s play.”
The two boys spent the whole rest of the day playing together, hiding from guards, and listening to the others fun facts about the fauna and wildlife around them.
Blitzø hoisted Stolas on his shoulders to get him back through the window before anyone would notice he had snuck out.
“Will you come play with me again, Blitzo?”
“Sure. If I feel like it.”
They smiled at each other. Stolas turns as he hears the sound of servants coming to his room, turning back to face Blitzo with a apologetic look
“I have to go. I hope to see you again.”
“Yeah.”
The young owl disappears inside, leaving Blitzo staring at the open window before he made his way back home.
They ended up having a routine, whenever he could, Blitzo would pop over and throw a pine cone through the window, the young prince would climb out and they would play together for as long as they could.
Until one day, they were caught.
The last thing Blitzo remembered was the previous king looking down on him with such disdain and disgust
“You are lucky to leave with your life, imp. But I cannot risk you tainting my son any further.”
-
Blitzø shuts his eyes, squeezing them tight. He lets out a long breathe, opening his eyes and finally securing the knot he was tying.
“None of that matters. I have a job to do.”
The hurt on Stolas’ face is evident, but he closes his eyes, resigning himself to his fate.
Blitzø climbs on top of him, pointing the tip of the dagger to his throat.
“Any last words, Stolas?”
The owl lets out a shuddering breath, opening his eyes, glazed with tears, yet, he is smiling.
“I have always dreamed of the day I would see you again and how you would whisk me away from my dull and cruel life. I never imagined it’d be through death.. but.. reality has never matched my fantasies.. If I have to die by anyone's hand.. I’m glad it’s yours, dearest.”
Stolas lays his head back, closing his eyes in anticipation. Tears soaking his face and leaving his mascara running, he looks a mess.
Blitzø raises the dagger above his head, taking one final look at his old friend. The wind blows, rustling his messed up feathers and making him shiver from the cold. Blitzø’s hands shake, so he squeezes the knife tighter.
‘Get a fucking grip! So what you played together 10 years ago!? What does it matter if he’s never forgotten you, that he sees you as some fucking knight in shining armor. He’s still a pompous spoiled bitch, just like the rest of them. The payout for this is huge, it’ll be worth it.’
A tear streams down Stolas’ face, letting out a sob
“Please, just do it, Blitzø..”
The imp inhales a shaky breath, steeling himself and finally plunging the knife down.
…
…