Work Text:
third person POV:
Let us tell a story, a fairytale if you will, though this is unlike any child's story that you would usually hear. It does not have a beanstalk that breaks through the sky, it does not have a lamp that will make dreams come true, there are no brave Princes, no mice, no dragons; not yet anyway. But it does, however, start with those 4 special words. The ones you will hear in every fairytale, and certainly in this one…
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Once upon a time there was a kingdom, known to the people as dogwarts. Its walls were tall and strong, holding the people close to its heart: the castle which was home to an old, selfish, greedy king who never left his palace, keeping all the riches to himself. Despite him, the kingdom flourished, the crops grew on healthy soil, enough to feed the whole kingdom, and the people were kind, and caring for one another, though apparently not enough to notice the small boy escaping over the thick stone wall and running into the fields.
Just beyond the kingdom, past luscious fields, winding rivers and where the golden sun shone, was the monopoly mountains, a mountain range nicknamed that due to the plentiful resources that the valley within had to offer. Fresh fruit growing from every tree, ores of diamond, gold, and emerald lay within, but what was so magical about the mountains wasn't the scenery, but the creatures that lived inside. The people of the kingdom believed that these creatures did not exist, that they were mere stories told by tired mothers and fathers to help their children sleep. But these creatures were not fabricated, far from it actually.
As when you drift down through the mountains you will find faires flitting between the trees, wallerbogs tossing mud, pixies sprinkling over the currents and spriggans guarding all entrances to the moors, thick spears in hand, waiting as they sense someone coming. Though down past all this mischief, chaos and collaboration from the creatures, at the rivers end, lies a tall winding tree that reaches just halfway of the height of the mountains.
Patterns and shapes spiraling up the tree, branches sprout off lazily with vines and foliage gently hang off in a canopy-like way.
Rising higher up the tree, we find a large nest, filled with bright colourful feathers, trinkets, flowers- wilted and fresh- small pieces of diamond, but most importantly; a small boy. He fits perfectly in the nest, like it was made for him. He had short, messy sand-coloured hair, filled with dirt and twigs. His skin was pale and spotted with freckles shaped like stars. He adorned simple clothing, hand made and roughly sewn. Though his most stunning feature: was his wings. Bright colours of Scarlett, sunshine yellow and blue, mixing together like a macaws wing and most definitely The brightest thing in the nest. Aside maybe from the boy's smile as he stretched his arms up into the sky, Laid down in his cozy nest.
Small sparks of purple magic dance from his fingers: flitting up toward a pair of wooden dolls, the boy giggling as he makes them kiss.
As the wind drifts them to the side, he notices a branch of his tree had been snapped, likely from a bird who had perched there.
He stood up, allowing his thick Talloned feet to grip onto the carefully woven sticks of the nest. Bending down slightly to avoid His horns from scratching the overhead Branch And made his way to the snapped Branch. The smaller pair of wings on his head pressed together as he assessed the damage, the feathers there just as bright. Eventually he pulled his hands together and cupped them round the branch, fixing it back together in a flash of purple light. From his position standing up he can see over the whole valley, he smiles to himself as he can see everyone darting around and doing their jobs to keep the place running. His smile fades the moment he can see three small fairies darting about frantically, appearing to be spreading some kind of news to everyone, and as the message gets passed, the creatures stop what they are doing. “So not good news then”, he mutters under his breath.
Only when two of them turn towards his tree, then flitter to the small island sat at a fork in the river is when he decides he's definitely needed.
He bends his knees and spreads his wings, before giving two large beats, and takes off down through the valley. As he flies, he passes by many creatures who haven't yet apparently heard the news, and greet him with a simple good morning on the way past, which he responds the same thing with. He compliments all of the work being done, and runs his hand through the stream, feeling the cold fresh water on his taloned hand as he shoots past.
Eventually, he makes it to the central island, the worry clear on everyone's faces. He slows the beat of his wings and lands with a small clink of his talons against the rough stone. The three fairies come dashing over to him the instant he gets there. He recognises them as Cleo, Bdubs and Impulse.
Cleo was the first to step forward as the self appointed leader of the group. “Oh thank the stars your here Grian, we were worried we'd have to send someone to come and fetch you-”,
But bdubs butted in by saying “yeah and it would've Been me now let me say it-”, cleo opened their mouth to protest and the two went back and forth before deciding cleo be would the one to say it, just as impulse all in one breath butted in with “t-The border guards have found a human in the pool of jewels!-”. The two looked at him annoyed so he turned his head away and muttered a quick Apology.
But before they could say anything more Grian was already off. Knocking the three bickering fairies out the sky with wind resistance, and leaving them shouting insults at him.
Though in all honesty he didn't really care, he sped off in a direction towards the pool of jewels, a small lake that homed all of the gems that fell out of the mountain side, aside from the ones in Grians nest. Despite what the humans thought, the creatures of the mountains never mined the resources for wealth, in fact they never mined them at all. They would find bits of crystals that fell out of the mountain due To natural erosion and deposit them here. The only reason Grian owned the diamonds He did was because his mother had given them to him many many years ago.
He knew humans were greedy, but he didn't think they would steal, that's just wrong.
When he arrived at the lake he found the two spriggans that guarded that part of the valley, their spears pointed at a vine-covered hollow in the wall. So a stubborn human, He could work with that.
Clearing his throat he yelled “I know you're there, and it's not like you're going to escape any time soon. Just come out and talk.” To that, the mystery human just responded “n-no! They want me dead!”
Rolling his eyes grian snapped his fingers, a wordless command for the guards to lower their weapons, to which they complied. “happy?” Grian shouted impatiently. He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot rhythmically, his talons clicking like the sound of a clock ticking down, or a bomb.
Hesitantly a hand reached out and pulled back the vines, and slowly out popped a head, a young one, maybe not even any older than Grian himself. The head moved back slightly upon laying eyes on Grian. Probably expecting another human. To that Grian softened a bit and dropped his arms down, simultaneously stopping the tapping of his foot. “you don't appear to be very old…” he whispered to himself, not intending for the other to hear. Despite his intentions, the young thief heard him anyway and responded with a small “i….im not..”
Eventually Grian just stuck out a hand, small but sharp talons gleaming in the light. The human boy flinched, so grian added “the jewel, please.”
When Grian caught the boy contemplating, he said in a slightly more stern voice “come on, you have to give it back. It's not yours.”
Eventually the boy relented, throwing it over the lake that separated them. It landed perfectly in Grian’s palm. After holding it up to the light briefly, he gently tossed it back into the lake where it came from and seeing the confused look on the boy's face, he invited him to go on a walk, away from the mountains of course.
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“you know, if I knew you were going to throw it away I wouldn't have given it back.”
“I didn't throw it away, I returned it home.”
“home, I didn't think a diamond would have a home.”
To that Grian stopped walking, they were quite far away from the valley now and you could see the kingdom and its castle from here. Incredulously, Grian asked “everything has a home, I mean, don't you?”
The boy looked down, and by then grian knew he probably messed up. “I did have one, a long time ago. But now I don't." He looked like he wanted to leave it there but Grian couldn't care less and kept pressing. “So where do you live now?” “In an alley, it's dark and I usually don't have food. I stole the jewel so I could afford something.” “Well although your life seems to suck pretty bad, that's no excuse to steal, and I'm not sure how humans work, but there's got to be other ways to get food. Ethically I mean.”
The boy huffed to himself “you'd be surprised” and turned to look at grain, it was only now that he took this boy's appearance In. hazel eyes looked at him, gentle but obviously been through something nasty, his skin was scarred and his hair was long and messy, uncared for and similar to Grian's own. He wore a torn white shirt and a wine coloured waistcoat, unfit for the cold weather that winter brought. He wore a pair of black trousers, the bottom of which were covered in a thick layer of mud, the same for his shoes which Grian couldn't even make out. It was obvious that this boy had sacrificed a lot by coming out here today, only to leave empty handed.
Grian thought he would offer something else though, a form of trust within the faires of the mountains. “my name is grian, what's yours?” he decides to give him his name, something to call out if he ever returns.
The boy, unknowing of the value of the word he was just given, gave back the same favour. “My name is Ren.” smiling at the exchange which had taken place. “so ren,” grian started. “have you anywhere to go once you make it back to your kingdom?” he questioned, partially curious and partially just to hear more of the thieves suffering.
Instead he was met with a small ounce of hope. “Well, although I am probably headed back to that alley, or maybe inside the storage of the florist if I'm lucky, I'd like to think that one day, I'll live up there.” He pointed up towards the castle, where just from where they stood you could see movement and light emanating from inside. But to Grian, it just looked like a prison inside a prison, and he hardly disguised his disgust when he questioned “why?” the feathers on his wings fluffing up as he spoke.
Instead of getting mad Ren just responded with a small breathy laugh and the simple statement of “because then I'll mean something to someone, I'll be worth something to someone.” Before he even thought about it, Grian said “well, you're worth something to me.” He regretted it for all of 2 seconds before Ren turned to him, smiling.
“does that mean if I come back, you'll still be here?”
He was about to refuse, before realising that, maybe he did want to see him again. He did give his name up after all. So after some consideration, he eventually decided “yes, I will be.” and stuck out his hand for Ren to shake.
Ren grabbed the hand, ready to shake when Grian pulled away suddenly, staring at Ren's hand. “What's wrong?” “y-your ring. It's iron isn't it?” he asked, ignoring the concern. “Well yes, but why?”
“iron burns fairies” he answered, holding up his hand to show the red mark it left behind and pulling both sets of wings in tight. “it's the minerals, they mess with our magic.”
Ren, looking surprisingly horrified, pulled his ring off, the rough thing sitting like a weight in his hand. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” and without hesitation, he threw it far away into the fields. Probably never to be seen again. This was probably the action that caused Grian to trust Ren. This human boy, throwing away his ring, despite having so little in this world. So this time, instead of going for a handshake, he stepped forward, gently wrapping his arms around Ren, under his arms, to give him a hug, wings spreading outwards slightly.
Ren gazed at them in awe, returning the hug and pulling him in close. “your wings are pretty” he complimented. To this grian stood up straight, and thanked him.
“So you'll be on your way now I presume?” grian asked, in a way that neither of them thought was pushy. “afraid I am, but I'll be back. And not for jewels this time.”
“oh really, and when will that be?”
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The answer was very soon, for Ren traveled up to the mountains very frequently, just to meet him again. They grew up together, their friendship was strong, and all creatures of the mountains knew it. Maybe this human wasn't as bad as the rest of them.