Chapter Text
Once upon a time, as all stories start, there was a princess of a faraway kingdom of the north named Phil. He was known throughout the land as a fair and lovely lad. Although a beauty in his own right with sparkling bright eyes and a warm inviting smile that would be the envy of any ballroom (that he actually got quite nervous at, not that anyone would know since his masking was pretty good and if needed he would usually be found in the garden minding his own business) he was hidden away in a tall tower. Once beloved by all, now left to rot away in his lonesome.
For there was a prophecy, the princess would be taken by someone unhuman, and only the one who could prove themselves worthy would be able to save him from the cruel fate of loneliness.
…
Not that that was anything a selkie would ever need to be aware of.
Unless you’re Dan Howell who is tired of being in the ocean.
Now there was nothing wrong with being in the ocean. It was a fine life. It was a solitary life. The sea had safety underneath its waves and in its caves. There were plenty of shrimp, krill, fish and squid to eat and hunt for fun! But there was a longing at Dan’s heart for more than just the life of a seal, no he wanted to know what the human world was like. And as weird as that was...
Every seal had to shed their skin sometime.
—
Princess Phil was at a crossroads with his life. He grieved his family and he grieved the palace he grew up in. Now up in a tower far from anybody and everybody he knew. Sure he was brought food and drink by palace guards every half a week. but only for a brief moment would be in the company of another before they quickly left him by his lonesome.
What in the world did he possibly do to deserve such loneliness? Sure, even though sometimes people could be too much and he would much rather stay in his cozy room left to his own devices to play games and watch shows (we can ignore the technicalities of technology in this fic for the sake of vibes) it didn’t mean he wanted to be shut out from the world forever. And this cramped room in this desolate tower didn’t help the state of his worries.
He could feel creaking during the nights with heavy wind, when rain would pound and pour upon the roof of the tower where he lived. Yet the fire inside of it didn’t roar, but purred with its soft heat and crackling. The only real thing he could call a friend in this lonely lonely tower.
The prophecy stated that the lovely princess Phil would one day be taken away by a creature not human, nor beast. And only a knight with a true heart could be the one to save him from a worse fate. Or at least that's what his fortune telling aunt said to everyone's horror.
Out of love for him (and concern that this possibly half-human, half-beast creature might come for the rest of the Kingdom) his family sent him far away to a place where neither people lived nor beasts came close in hopes of protecting him from his fate. For they would never want Phil to be met with such a sad fate.
Phil thinks that maybe he has already met such a fate being here by himself.
—
Upon the reefs and the shore where Dan lives, there was a tall tower not far away, it was visible in the near distance.
It was strange. Humans never seemed to like locations like these. The sky in this area was always cloudy and grey. Humans hated that. Humans hate stuff that they don't understand. Like rocky shores and foggy air. He personally found them to be stuffy haters.
So why in the world would there suddenly be a tower built here?
Selkies weren't really the type to wonder as to why people would do things and would rather leave humans to their own devices. But Dan's bad trait of needing to know what was out there wouldn't stop nagging at him.
What could that possibly be? And why -here-
He swam through some murky waters, through bits of tasty kelp and muscles. He even ignored some slow fish that were just begging to be eaten because what the heck could these humans possibly be doing that would warrant building a tall tower in his territory!?
Wading onto shore was always such a chore, and although some selkies could stand it, Dan, was an absolute hater.
Sand gets everywhere, even more so than it would get in the ocean, because at least in the water, the sand would leave you if you shook your fins and swam around for a bit. But this process of having to wiggle around and jump up and down a little to get where you needed to go on the rocky shore was absolute hell.
But once he was sure he was on land he peeled away his soft seal skin.
Taking off one's seal skin was equivalent to going from a warm water stream to a cool one. A refreshing minty chill that tingled all across your body from head to fin, or in his current case now, toes. He shook his head as the seal skin released his shoulder length scattered curls. Unwet and soft underneath his thick warm skin, he wore it close to him. There was no way in the depths of the ocean he was even going to chance someone taking his skin from him.
Every selkie was always told the story about humans, “Do not let them take your skin or else you'll be stuck on land forever, taking care of their children never to see the sea again”.
He just curious about these people, that’s all. He wasn't asking for a death wish.
…
It was a bit of a trek through the forest that laid between the shore and the tower. With all the walking he did, the day felt sooooo long. Soon his feet were covered in dirt, sore and tired. But no sooner did he almost collapse against a rough barked tree forsaking his insane drive just to know whatever the hell was going on by that tower, before a tall human shaped shadow fell against him-
Wait! A human?
He looked up, his eyes wide from being startled. He desperately tried to take a better, closer look at the person staring at him from above.
“You don't look so good," The man muttered. "Where did you come from? You poor thing, you look tired.”
The voice came from a lanky human with hair so blond it could honestly be white standing above him. Was he elderly? No, no way he looks too… happy to be elderly, his eyes were too clear. And he sounded young. Like he could even be around his age.
Dan turned to his side and held his skin closer to himself yelling “Who are you!? What are you doing in the middle of the woods over here! Nobody even comes here!”
Even if he tried to seem scary, Dan knew he was scrawny and turning away from this stranger sure didn't help him seem any bigger or give him any power. But this human was looking at him so intensely that he was sure he could see the fear in his eyes! Blondie over here looked startled at first from Dan's growling voice, but then sheepishly looked around the forest.
Taking a moment to collect himself he calmly replied “I know. That's why I'm a little glad to find you here. If it weren't for that eyesore of a tower I’d think this place was -completely- dead and haunted.”
Dans’ ears perked up. “The tower! Do you know anything about it?” his voice pitched.
“That tower over there?”
“Yeah, that one, the one that looks all dingy and sad and stuff”
“Oh yeah, I live there”
Dan had to take a moment and make a sour face “Now why in the world would anyone want to live in a place like that? It looks disgusting"
The stranger sighed. “Right, who would? Even I don't want to live there”
“Then why do you? Dan asked earnestly.
“My family” the man shrugged, with a sad smile upon his face. A wistful look in his cold blue eyes.
“What, do they have some kind of death wish for you?” Dan laughed. He tried to imagine what kind of family would want anyone that they loved to live in a place like that and he genuinely wasn’t coming up with anything great. How could any evil tower-dwelling people create such a strange sweet creature.
A soft, somber smile laid upon the man's face, “No, they love me very much, they do! I just happened to be cursed is all..”
The mention of curses made Dan's human skin tremble “Cursed? Are you even allowed to tell people this sort of thing? You know, with witches and stuff like that there's strict rules to this whole ‘getting cursed’ business”
Dan was given a confuddled side-eyed stare. “What do you mean? Doesn’t literally everyone in the Kingdom know?”
“No, I mean I didn’t at least” Dan quickly covered. He knows that humans aren’t kind to others outside of their own. “These are the outskirts, almost nothing gets through here”
“Well that’s embarrassing on my end isn't it? I could’ve said nothing and you wouldn’t have realized that “hey look it’s the forlorn and forgotten Princess Phil” and instead you could have thought “oh hey look it’s just some strange guy in the woods”.
Phil seemed to have had some strange realization himself, looking down at Dan.
“Hey wait a second, what are -you- doing out here in a forest in the middle of the woods. I thought I was the only one out here”
'A bit too late to make that realization' thought Dan. “Well don’t flatter yourself too much babe, I actually live around here, and unlike people who just, i don’t know, give out their location like some strange princess in the woods, which by the way I still don’t trust that you’re completely telling me the truth, I don’t actually have to tell you where I live”
“Do you want to come visit me?” Phil tentatively said with an awkward, yet emotionally open smile.
“What.”
“I said– do you want to come visit me? It’s lonely out there in that tower. I’m sure all the guards think I have bad prophecy cooties and at most all they do is leave me food by the door at this point.”
Dan took one look at the curious tower that he came all this way for, standing in front of him only a short trek away.
And then he took a look at the strange person in front of him who swears he’s a “princess in a tower”
Having more energy to survive on the way back home did sound good.
But there was also a chance that this guy was insane and this was actually his draw to bring people with him to his murder chamber in that weird looking tower where Dan would never be seen again
He thought about it for a second
“I’m good actually, you know I actually like keeping my head on my body and I have kelp waiting for me back home.”
Dan booked it back to the sea, fast away from the strange questionable man with that haunting tower looming above them. His adrenaline pumping his trek all the way back to the sea.
Phil had only just noticed as the other boy ran away that it didn’t seem he was wearing anything except an animal coat.
“What a strange guy” said Phil as he walked back to his desolate tower where surely there was going to be some meal left at the inside of his door where he was going to eat it alone staring towards the fireplace again.
If he didn’t find something else to fill out his days he was sure he was going to go insane.
—
Pizza friday came around again, where he just toasts a frozen pizza from the icebox on the ground floor in his fireplace in his room. It gave the room a comforting, albeit strong pizza smell. It’s been almost a month since he’s been dumped at the tower. He’s become a pretty adventurous person since then he surprisingly realized. When it’s just you and a room there isn’t much else to do. He gets letters from his family telling him how much they miss him and he’s sent like two back.
Because at some point the letters he was writing went from things he's noticed, things he’s seen, "The sky here is temepermental, but sometimes the clouds look more blue or green somedays than others" "There seems to be a lot of pretty birds around here suprisingly" to things he wondered about his family “how is my brother, did Mum do that thing again?” to “Why did you just leave me here..? Do you really believe that for my own fate I -had- to be abandoned in this depressing tower by myself?”
And Phil decided that maybe sending nothing back sometimes was better than sending a depressing letter home.
He ate the toasty slice and savored it. One thing he’s noticed is that in his spare time he’s been able to map out everything he can see from his tower windows. His small room was at the top floor of the tower which would have been a lot more inconvenient had it not been for a surprisingly convenient pulley system thing that could take him from the floor to the top in around 15 minutes.
Today though, there was no going outside, for even though the colors outside his window were normally grey, today it was an especially muddy black looking thing, where all the clouds above looked angry. As if it could feel his injustice from being stuck in this stupid tower until something or someone or whatever is eventually supposed to happen to him happens to him.
It also had a stellar view of the rocky beach near the tower. He’s snuck out a few times to go see it at this point.
There was a reason why no one ever frequented it really. The waves crashed along the rocky -yet- sandy beach so hard that it would almost seem like everything here had a reason to be mad. But when you’re by yourself in your nice coat that blocked out the strong winds like Phil did every so often, it was almost reassuring. As if the ocean itself was actually a friend that responded in kind to one’s thoughts and emotions.
Once you get to know it, you’d realize how the color even shifts from a dark blue to green sometimes as well when it would soften up. When the tide was low there were loads of shells to be found by its shores too and the sand would actually become softer, even if it would remain cold.
One day Phil noticed something particularly fun. A seal!
He never used to live close to the sea. Instead if he wanted to go out he would find himself in his family’s royal gardens, where his Mum’s favorite flowers were planted everywhere and the shrubs were always a fun squiggly shape or cut into the shape of diamonds or hearts. He’d walk, sometimes even run around those lovely green fields and lay on the soft grass. Thinking about what tomorrow would bring. Maybe he’d have more time to write, or imagine a play in his spare time. Or maybe he’d have more etiquette lessons that he’d surely be miserable at. Even though his family was fun it seemed as though everyone else knew how to switch a flip going from a warm fun loving family into the royals they needed to be.
Phil was sure he’d never be able to do that. At least now on the bright side of things, he may never have to and he can survive on ordered food and small visits from family for the rest of his life in a tower of his own where no one would ask “what happened to Princess Philip. Was he truly that un-marriageable? Or was he just so insufferable that he was forced into a tower of his own”
Nah, even if he was a little too much at times he was surely more introverted than silly. And even then his silliness was a privilege to be around! Not a burden to be corrected!
“Do you want to be my friend?" he said to the seal on the beach. It didn’t seem to react to him at all. He walked closer.
“Are you asleep or dead? I sure hope you're not dead. I could really use a friend.”
If he didn't know any better he'd say this cute fat seal was giving him a stink eye! What a judgy little guy! No, it surely must just be tired from being woken up from its nap.
“Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you up you cute little guy! … I guess it was quite careless of me to come so close to a wild animal like you. But you're just so cute!”
Phil decided to make himself comfortable and just sat next to this seal. “You're not going to bite me right? You seem like a nice seal”. The seal made movements that seemed like it was considering leaving, bobbing around it’s general area but it just “wreahed” at Phil and plopped back into a blobby little shape.
“That's what I thought! You are a friendly seal! I should name you something! Good seals like you deserve a nice name”
The seals eyes opened wide, looking bewildered at the thought that human would even consider giving it a human name.
“My name is Phil so how about you can be my Pheal? Get it? I'm Phil, you're a seal, but because you're my seal you will now be knighted Pheal, the royal seal of the round table!”
The seal didn't seem to like that.
it barked at him and hit him on the shoulder as if reaching for his face and rolled back into the sea, but not before barking at him again and sticking its tongue at him and blowing a raspberry at him.
Phil didn't know they knew how to do that.
He guessed that surely this Seal must have been very anti-monarchy. Not that he could really blame the seal, but what seal would possibly have a good idea of the English language and hierarchy.
It couldn't have possibly been because of the name Pheal. Pheal was a noble name, a lovely name, a cute name befitting of a cute seal like it! It's not Phil's fault that he had a fun name!
He sure does wish the Pheal stayed around longer though...
Phil looked back out the window to the stormy sea and the hazy dark sky. He wondered if the seals like Pheal hide in the depths of waves to avoid storms like these?
What about that strange encounter with that almost naked guy in the woods? How could he possibly be scarier than him to the point he didn't even want to join him for some snacks? Pizza sounded better to him than Kelp at least. Maybe he really was bound to rot away by himself in this tower. Even Pheal was against hanging out with him for longer.
He was losing his touch.
—
Okay this guy was really starting to grind Dan's gears.
Before this whole tower business and “Princess Phil's Prophecy” he used to have this beach all to himself.
It seems that someone out there took his wish seriously about wanting to learn about people and sent him this freak of nature.
Phil. The princess in the tower. Dan admits that as much as the idea scares him he finds himself just a little happy knowing there's someone visiting him.
Honestly, Phil seems desperate for another person around. For all his silly and strange antics of striking conversations with random people he finds in the woods and calling him a stupid name like -ugh- pheal, he seems genuinely nice. If a little desperate.
Thinking it over. Dan thinks he got him pretty well when Phil was being stupid last time, even if he was only able to hit him on the shoulder.
“Worst case scenario, I think I could take him in a fight”
Time for another trek across the woods. Plus it's been surprisingly calm the past few days with the mud from the last rainstorm dried by now into just soft dirt.
He slipped off his seal coat again and headed off to find this socialization hungry so-called Princess Phil.
…
The last few days have been almost relaxing for Phil. That last rainstorm did indeed pound against the roof of his house, but at this point it just turned into a relaxing strong lullaby for when he got tired of pacing his room, writing, and watching things. He even came up with some fun little jingles with a triangle he found hidden in his room. Sure it made a simple, yet magical sound, but at this point finding anything new to do was another adventure Phil was glad to go on even if it was as simple as learning how to hit a dumb little triangle with a metal stick in different ways.
A sound came from somewhere. A pounding sound.
It wasn't the guards who would come every so often to bring him food. They had a little bell they would pull that would chime through the tower.
Was he under attack!? Was it finally happening? Was he going to be kidnapped by some strange monster!? Was today his last day of being alive? Where was this hero that was supposed to save him in case of emergencies like this!?
He crouched all the way down so that he wouldn't be seen from the windows. And peeked through with binoculars, because there was no way he was going to be able to see whatever it was clear enough without them.
But to his surprise there was no monstourous centaur, Minotaur or even a spynx-like beast waiting to turn him into their tasty little phil-pot pie. Instead what seemed to greet him with rocks tossed at the tower was that guy he met in the forest the other day… with just the cloak on again.
Okay so he was weird but he did seem to certainly live around here. Was he homeless? Or was there just some tribe of just cape wearing men that just happened to live around here unbeknownst to the rest of civilization?
Well if the rest were as pretty as this guy was, Phil certainly wasn't against the idea. If push came to shove, Phil wouldn't mind joining them out wherever they live if he did eventually become left for dead in the tower.
He stuck his head out the window and yelled “Hold on a second! I’ll be right with you!” Hopefully enough in time so that the fellow down there wouldn’t start chipping off part of his tower and leave his with nothing else to live in out here.
Phil gleefully ran to the other side of the room where the pulley-mechanism was and even twirled around a bit before getting on!
A visitor! A person! Even if they were rather odd, wanted to see him! Someone who was a living breathing person who wasn’t scared of his prophecy cooties wanted him around!
He went up to his door and rang the bell himself before opening and dramatically bowing.
“Welcome to the Tower of Phil, how can he help you?”
“I think he can start by not talking in the third person, thank you very much”
Finally in closer light he was able to see the strange man in a better light. He had wispy curls that framed his face perfectly and these big brown eyes that just soaked all the light into them like moist soil.
“Oh sorry. I thought that it was a bit of a fun, enterance no?”
“... I get the sentiment but really it's kind of givng a bit too much. Is this really what royalty does in their spare time?”
“I have a bit too much spare time in my hands these days if you haven't noticed. I've been practicing the triangle recently!”
“... Like the Shape?”
“No the instument! It's like a little metal rod shaped into a triangle that you hit with another metal stick so it makes a little ‘ding’ sound!”
“how.. interesting”
“Anyhow, since -you- came to visit -me- how about you give me your name, you know my name is Phil, how about yours?”
“My name is Dan. I..”
Dan wasn't exactly sure what would be the ideal thing to tell him, so here he goes again.
“I come from a remote village a little far from here. But it's relaxing to be here so I really enjoy coming around”
“Funny, I haven't seen anyone else around here.”
“Like I said, outskirts, I just know how to get around that's all”
“Would you like to come in?”
“I mean sure, I wasn't tossing rocks by your window for nothing. And you've been holding that entrance open for like… a while”
“Oh please, you’re the only one whose actually wanted to come in”
“So from what I'm hearing, no good reviews on the place yet”
…
Dan had never been inside a human dwelling before. It was a lot warmer than he thought a tall tower exposed to the elements would be, Phil had a little area at the entrance filled with soft heavy items, like Dan's coat, but more.. colorful.
He really did have an eye for color. It seems like he brought a whole garden in with him. There was a soft fluffy fabric that lined the floors of this place in a soft moss green color. His blankets were contrasting colors of dark blue and a bright unnatural green.
“So this is where you live?” Dan looked around in amazement. As the pully dragged him up with Phil. “How does that mechanism even work?”
“You have to pull on the rope to take you up”
“Yes, I understand that part, but surely pulling your own weight, much less the weight of another person must be pretty difficult, no? You don't look too strong yourself.”
“Was that a read?”
“Yes. I don't expect royalty to be able to handle much weight, as from my understanding most things are done for them, not by them.”
“Well…there's a specific mechanism to this thing that make it easy to pull up, and go down when there's no one there. Ask the engineers about that, not me. I can't tell you anymore than that”.
“Interesting…” The ride up was much less pretty than the room below since all that was visible was from firelight. Dark stone walls, and soft firelight between Him and Phil tugging the rope, save for the occasional window.
“And, we're here! Tada!”
Dan's eyes widened at the place. It seemed far nicer than his usual abode. Maybe this Phil guy wasn't lying