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Somewhere lost in the woods of Briar Valley, there was a small cottage, a place where a family lived, formed of a father and a son. Though not blood related, they were as close as a mother hen would be to it’s chick, though in this sense, the hen is taking care of a baby swan, a creature quite similar in nature, yet so very different in features. The son always believed he was alike his father, a creature of the woods, a fae. But that was far from the truth, and he realized that quite late in his childhood. On the day that would mark his anniversary, his so called eight “birthday”, he learned a rather harsh truth… he was living life as a beautiful lie. He learned it by himself.
How so, you might wonder? He’s always looked at his father’s face with admiration, ever since he was a baby. Yet there were no similarities between them: His father’s ears were pointy like a bat’s ears, while his ears were round like a rabbit’s; Their hair was a huge contrast to eachother, like night and day, black and white, good and evil, sun and moon; silver and gold; And when he looked at his father’s eyes, instead of seeing an iridescent purpleish opal hue in them, his elder would look back at him with rubies, rubies with a slitted pupil. similar to that of a reptile… while his pupil was as round as the circle of life would be.
And just like a circle of life, our dear protagonist wondered if his father was actually from the same clan as him, and not from the predatory one, or even the prey one.
The nail to the coffin was hit when he asked his father to be sincere, as a birthday wish. To be sincere about why they look so different to each other. They were both eating cake. Though it had rather sharp edges from the eggshells that were inside, our young hero had no clue that it wasn’t normal to have eggshells to cakes and pastries. His stomach was rummaging to let him speak to his father, finally ask him everything that was in his mind. Yet, he felt as if a dragon was inside his stomach, trying to roar for him. “Papa…”
“Yes, Silver?”
“Why don’t we look alike?”
His father remained silent, pensive brows making way on his face, as if it was a hard thing to say. Though, it was an equally hard thing to swallow, for an innocent child who lived a life of pure unknowing bliss, no less. “Silver… this is rather hard thing to say, my dear one…”
“Am I not… your boy?”
“Yes, you are, but-”
The boy understood the next sentence his father would say. “You are not my own blood and flesh.”. With tears welling in his eyes, he got up from his seat, and ran as fast as possible, and as far as a way could go. And yet… he didn’t know what destination he was going towards, as rain started pouring heavily. Did his father truly love him? He wasn’t his own child. Was he a changeling…? A mere replacement of an actual baby fae?
His vision was blurred, and he finally fell over the overgrown surface root of a tree, falling on his stomach against the mushy dirt and leaves, that were slowly turning into mud. “Owww…” he muttered, trying not to cry too much as to not alert trouble, but he couldn’t stop.
“… Are you okay?” he looked up and saw a figure. A child wearing quite strange (f/c) clothing. An overal with a small pouch near the heart, which had collected some white lilies. He’s never seen such colorful clothing before… and the child looked a lot like him: round ears, and circles for pupils. The stranger looked at him in the eyes, and looked at him with pity “Please don’t cry! I won’t laugh at you! Everybody is clumsy sometimes!”
“I’m not crying because of that…” he sniffled, getting up on his feet, his whole shirt and pants now muddy from his impact. The child extended their hand, a white lily in their hand, though one petal was wilted and slightly chipped. “Please, have this one! It’s the prettiest in my collection!”
“…Who…who are you?”
“Me? Oh, I’m (Name)! But my dada calls me (Nickname)!” They smiled at him, taking his hand in theirs to sit under the same tree our protagonist fell from. Silver’s eyes became even more tearful at that word. Dada. Dad. Father. Papa. “You don’t seem too happy to know my name…”
“I am happy to meet you… but I feel so awful…and unloveable…” He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, as his palm was scratched and dirty from the fall. (Name) got closer to him, and hugged his side, as to not get their clothes dirty. “How so? Did somebody make fun of you? I’ll fight them!”
the child tried to humour the boy the best they could, yet nothing worked, he was still silenly crying, trying to hold his tears back. “No it’s just… papa might not love me… I think?”
(Name) looked at him with a confused yet saddened expression. “Why do you think that? You’re very nice, oh, and cute too! Did you do something wrong?”
“I… am not his boy…”
Yet, the child didn’t look at him with shame as he was expecting in his mind. Quite the opposite, they sat down next to him, and put their head on his shoulder. “Yes you are though! Family is not by blood, but by love!”
“What do you mean…?”
“You’re rather silly, you know? Does he love you still?”
“I… don’t know…”
“Then why can I hear somebody yell in the distance? Are you sure that’s not your father?”
Silver looked over his shoulder to see if there really was a source of noise nearby. It sounded like his father… was he searching for him?
“Please go, new friend. I promise you that he’ll be more than happy to see you return to him!” (Name) smiled, getting up to walk behind the tree.
“Wait, where are you going?!” The boy hiccuped mid sentence, looking at his new friend as their hands were getting transparent.
“My own dada is calling for me… I promise to see you tomorrow!” They smiled, as they finally dissapeared behind the tree. Our protagonist got up too, to look behind the tree, yet no one was in sight…
“Silver!” he looked back to where he came from, and saw his father, with tears in his eyes. “I thought I lost you!” His father huffed, as Silver looked at him like a kicked puppy.
“I’m sorry…papa…” he sniffled, running towards his father, and clinging to him like his life depended on it.
“Silver… you feel like you’re… freezing… let’s get you back home.” But even after everything, his father smiled, caressing the boy’s head with his palm, holding him up in his arms, as Silver fell asleep in his arms.
While on the way home, he saw the same child from earlier, (Name), walking on the parallel path, and smiling. “See, I told you!” they smiled, until they disappeared once more.
Silver did indeed catch a cold. A rather nasty one, so much so that he had to stay in his bed much more than he did already, to rest. When he woke up from his nap, he saw somebody walking through his room, looking around, and even poking his wooden horse toys. “What are you doing… (nickname)?”
The kid looked at him in surprise and slight embarrassment from being caught looking at his toys. “You remembered my nickname?” was all they muttered.
Silver, instead of being grumpy, just laughed. You were very silly. “Yeah! I did!”
(Name) looked at him in pity. “You’re sick? Then how can we play together?”
“We could play on my bed. Just bring my toys here!”
“Right-o!” The child smiled, as they brought all the toys and started playing on his bed.
“How did you get inside anyways?”
“I’m… not sure either… I woke up here!” The child laughed. They continued playing, just feeling pure bliss from the stories they were creating, even laughing in some instances.
They were both very happy, that’s what was important.
(Name) was the shoulder Silver would always cry on, and vice versa. Both of them were more than excited to play every night together, and it was a very big surprise that Silver’s father, Lilia, never caught either of them. It was a dream come true.
But all good dreams must cause a nightmare… as (Name) disappeared one night, more specifically on Silver’s thirteenth birthday. The day he was supposed to turn into a young man, and no longer a young boy… well, at least by what his father told him. The age of Thirteen was the age when the stages of childhood and adulthood would combine into teenagehood. Silver was very excited that day, ready to tell (Name) his wish. His wish to be together with them, like in a fairytale. It was no lie Silver has grown very fond of the other teenager… yet they didn’t appear that night… so he waited one more night… and one more again… yet… there was no hope… for their return… where could’ve they gone? Did they…abandon him?…
Silver was heartbroken… and it would take an eternity to heal fully.
Even now four years later, at Night Raven College, in his second year, he felt rather… lonely… Highschool was supposed to be a fun time for everybody… but for him it wasn’t…
One night, he overheard his lord Malleus’ conversation with Lilia. It was just another September night, but tonight… was different… Malleus seemed more than happy. He befriended someone who was staying at Ramshackle… Someone magicless from another world …someone named (Name)…
(Name)… could it be the same (Name)… could he have found the same (Name) he met Once Upon a Dream… He felt… hopeful… he felt… more than happy.
He’d have to visit Ramshakle… at least one night… just like how they visited his father’s cottage the night they met… but this time… It’d all be real.