Work Text:
Shelby dreams of battle, bloody fields, scorched lands, broken bodies laying in the sand.
They're images that transcend time. It could be their future, but it's already been the past.
War is never graceful. It's a roaring kind of ugly, tearing one's mind to tatters, tearing them open limb to limb.
It scars. War kills.
It's not a war they wanted. No one ever wants war. Except for those who declare it, aiming to strike in the heart of a peace as fragile as glass. Those, they intent to kill.
The Fairy Regent, Empress Stress, has declared War against the Ocean Empire and all parties who associated with the Ocean Queen. In short, at least half of the Empires, if not all after the Great Journey through them.
The Monster, as called by many, finally and truly declared her intentions.
Gone are the days of pretending.
The truth was out, to Shelby at least, but it had been for years.
What could she do though? A young, lonely Witch trying to keep her lover safe, a lost princess cursed by the very same Empress that tormented them and torments the world.
Luck is fleeting, a fabled wish. The odds are unlikely, but once in a while, a lucky star aligns itself with the life of the most unfortunate.
It's terrifying to think this simple luck could've missed them and turned into a shooting star instead.
Her dreams are bloody, terrifying pictures of death.
And the future.
The witch’s heart lodges in their throat when they shoot up awake, jerking away when a snore reminds them of another presence.
Right. She's… They're both in bed.
Hidden away, as a new war is about to break loose.
The Fairy Empress's decree echoes through the hills and groves, Kill the Ocean Queen on sight!
But the Queen and her entourage are long gone, and their trails remain only to loop the Empress’s knights into more circles.
Shelby shivers, and exhales with a shaky breath.
It's night.
Darkness shields the castle from untoward attention, if there was any, around these parts where everything was cursed to turn to mold and death.
Glimmer Grove was once a flourishing city, Katherine has told her, where kids played in the streets, and the ports were busy with fishermen and tourists.
Her family, the Elizabeths, reigned the port and land, relatives of the Regent Fairy Queen, with no heir, she died soon in a coup for power.
Their daughter, fair and bright, the next in line to inherit the beauty.
She wouldn't.
When the Fairy Queen died, centuries ago, she left a hole that was filled by a being of great malice and terror.
Empress Stress, of House Monster.
Second in line to inherit the Crown, she cast a curse on Glimmer Grove and the Elizabeths, killing them and turning their beloved child into a shapeshifting monster.
Fairy, naturally; faun by day.
By night, a beast with matted fur and bloody teeth commanded to carry out the new Empress’ commands.
Her first command was to kill House Grim, who staged a coup to challenge the hateful Empress.
Katherine had left the kids alive and regretted it with months of torture.
She was glad they could escape and create a safe haven for all the monsters the Empress deemed too disgusting to host.
She hoped one day she could escape to the Grimlands with Shelby. The fairy would whisper so in between the sobs and howling each night she came back from the forced hunts.
Katherine, her beacon of hope, her hearth, her love… She looks gaunt, nowadays.
Shelby had known her way before then, having met in a pub while barhopping.
They had grown steadfast, and closer, until love bloomed. Their lives were young, they loved spectacle and fun. Times changed, and things became dreadful.
Katherine, in hiding after being cursed, was declared lost, and House Blossom withered away.
Each time Katherine came back to Shelby's hut they'd patch her up. They'd spend their time together, sharing tea and table games, hoping the curse would one day, somehow, let up.
Shelby studied to try and find a cure, to try to break the curse.
The Empress found out, and summoned her.
She seemed surprised and infinitely annoyed to find a witch helping her little animal, and by force made them one of her Fairy Court.
Centuries have gone by and the final attack broke the unmovable streak of control the Empress held over the Princess.
A Peace was declared, and a Great Journey through the Empires was being pioneered by the Ocean Queen and her entourage.
Shelby met Cleo again, and found a different person than they'd seen last year.
Shelby knew of their plans.
They knew Cleo was an agent sent to kill the Ocean Queen when she was weakest, far away from the waters of her Empire.
She knew Cleo.
A powerful mage, scarred by unwanted immortality, cursed the same as her Katherine, in a way even more brutal and despicable, if that's possible.
Necromancy is the darkest of magic.
It steals Energy away from the people, instead of the world around. It kills, and revives. But life can't be regained so easily, it begs a debt bigger than life itself.
While Cleo must pay in pain and debt, and the Necromancer will know not a day without rot.
The smell of rotting flowers is the telltale of the Monster's presence.
It cannot be hidden by any magic. Oleanders that mold and shrivel up to become rotting black and brown.
Shelby knew that Witch, the Earl Cleo. A cog in the machine. Usable. Of great use, in fact. But all things lose their meanings once used up.
The Empress' had declared them a traitor. A morbid monster!
When their debt was repaid, they were doomed to be executed once the Monster lost control of her curse.
Shelby knew a different person.
Who she saw the night of the attack, when Katherine was sent to kill the Queen's Entourage after they were expelled from the Fairy Court, is a new being.
She sees herself in the eyes of the zombie, who panics and cries and struggles to use their magic to help in any way they can. Who fights back against the just as helpless monster.
Their Empress, cruel, pitting two creatures against each other, when their circumstances are the same.
Days, then weeks passed.
Summer's breath whispers faintly in the wind.
Shelby and Katherine aren't staying in the witch's hut anymore.
They fled and looked for answers. They looked for safety. For change that seemed to come with Cleo and her Queen.
They'd intercepted the Ocean Queen on her way to Pixandria, and made a deal.
Soon, they'll march to the Ocean Empire. They'll reach the Prisma Palace, and they'll fight alongside the Empires against the Fairy Empress.
But that's the bloody future.
Now, it's still night. They're still in bed, lying next to each other.
Shelby observes as her lover's chest rises and falls, the rhythm is thankfully steady.
She's finally healed since her forced attack.
The room is cold, the white stoney walls pale as the moon hangs over them, taking a sneaky look through the huge quatrefoil windows.
The moonlight, soft and kind, illuminates Katherine's sleeping face, expression relaxed.
With a sigh, the fairy turns on her back, hiding her face from Shelby.
The witch smiles sadly, turning their face to look at the ceiling and the little paper animals hung from twine.
Swans and rabbits slowly rotate in the drafty air.
Despite its time abandoned, the ruins of the castle remain somewhat untouched by the elements.
She knows, that it could be luck, but luck is hard to come by these days.
Maybe it's Glimmer Grove's curse then, sparing just this room, hoping for the Princess to one day be back.
Glimmer Grove, abandoned and ravaged by darkness and time, fought to keep the rightful heir's room intact.
The Curse, it's never really been about Katherine, but the greed of others.
Katherine, it knows, is the only one that could restore the place back to its ancient beauty.
Katherine, used as she is, suffering a fate forced on her, is finally free.
No more will she suffer, caught in the Empress' hands, forced to kill for her.
No more will she turn into a merciless beast, no more will her fur and hands stain with the blood of strangers.
Shelby, too, can now breathe.
Her lover's curse is broken.
They can be together forever, they won't have to worry each night if their enemies might tear open Katherine's throat.
But the end approaches fast, and with it, so does war. And death.
Trembling hands slide over the cold velvety sheets, and close around a soft hand.
Shelby's golden eyes shimmer in the darkness, and her silver hair reflects the pale moonlight.
Her lover is breathing, and huffing softly, she turns again, eyebrows pinched.
Katherine’s hair is a dark halo around her face, dark lashes flutter as eyes dart around under closed lids, body trembling every now and again.
Shelby has done a lot of good in all her time on this realm.
If she has to do bad… If she has to act just to save her skin or her beloved…
She will do what she must.
Saving Katherine is non-negotiable.
Spending forever with her is Shelby's goal.
She knows only this bond. She won't let go.
They caress Katherine's face, and a tear breaches and streaks down her pale skin.
Shelby brushes it away with their thumb and leans in to leave a kiss on the Princess’ cheek.
“I'll do anything for you” she promises to the cold room.
What matter is that this bed is warm and that they're together.