Chapter Text
“Apo! Apo! Apo! Apo! Apo! Apo! Apokunaaa!!”
Cherri shouted running through the streets of the Red Kingdom trying to find her love. A letter had just arrived at the entrance of the kingdom, a letter with handwriting that she could recognise anywhere, the delicate swirls that she had familiarised herself with since she was a child. And there at the entrance to the castle she could see the familiar blue robes of Apo.
“Apo!!!”
“Hello, my dear. What seems to be the matter?”
“The letter! It finally came!!” The princess said excitedly, thrusting the letter into Apo’s face for her to get a better view of it. The knight simply smiled and grabbed the letter from her girlfriend to read it.
My dearest daughter,
I bring forth great news from our kingdom, our enemies have fled and we arise victorious. I know you may not have expected to hear from me again, and I too feared that I would never see you again. I must admit after your mother passed every day I fear the day I may lose you too, but I do hope you are safe and thriving as I knew you would. The troops fought valiantly, though not without loss, the kingdom is not the same as it once was but we are no longer under threat. You are safe to return home whenever you see fit, and I hope you and your knight have safe travels home. I look forward to your arrival.
Sincerely with love your father, King Ren
“Oh Cherri, this is amazing! Your powers have blossomed so much too I’m sure King Ren will be delighted upon your return.”
“Oh Apo, We can go home! We can really go home!” Cherri said smiling as bright as ever, tears building in the corner of her eyes after months of uncertainty, never knowing when she would return or even if her father was alright. She was so unbelievably glad everything was alright. Apo enveloped Cherri in a hug to comfort her and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
—
To their left upon a rock sat Frogue, staring out upon the lake deep in thought. He truly never meant to get caught up in this feud, he wasn’t even from here. He just got dragged into this war, he wasn’t even entirely sure what they were fighting over. He honestly felt like he was living a lie, living in fake skin, sure he was used to his new form but he never truly felt like himself. He quite literally forged a new identity based around this curse. He didn’t feel like the man he used to be, it was hard when he couldn’t even recognise his own reflection.
The feud was over now, a deal had been made between the two monarchs. But now Frogue just felt lost, he didn’t know what to do now. He’s lost, his home won’t welcome him back while he looks like this. He doesn’t think anywhere will truly accept him while he looks like this. And he was no closer to finding a way to reverse this curse.
“Frogue!!” He heard a voice echo from behind him, he turned around and was met with Cherri’s face, Apo trailing not far behind.
“Hey there princess! How can I help?” He responded chipperly.
“We were just wondering what you are gonna do now that the war is over you know?” Cherri asked, Apo nodding behind her with a hum of agreement.
“Ah, well you see.” Frogue stumbled over his words for a moment before catching himself. “I’ll probably keep err exploring, yeah. Maybe return to the south.” He lied through his lips, he had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. It was hard to find a place to go when the first thing anyone ever noticed about you is the giant eyes that sat upon his head and how he absolutely did not fit in anywhere.
“Ah I see I see, Well! We all live in the south. Sooo, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to Soluna with us, it’s quite a bit way more south than you live but I think it could be fun. Plus I think you’d get on great with my father.”
Frogue remained quiet for a moment processing the question. Someone actually wanted him around? This hadn't happened since before he was cursed. Some part of him wanted to cry, he knew he couldn’t. This wasn’t even that big of a deal he needed to reel it in.
“Yeah!” He failed at not sounding too eager. “I mean sure, that sounds fun.”
“Wonderful!!”
“Soluna will be glad to have you.”
Frogue smiled, feeling the joy of promised community, maybe he would finally fit in. Or maybe he would finally find a way to lift this curse, but that was wishful thinking. It has been a fruitless journey so far.
“When do we leave?” Frogue asked, eager to leave.
“We leave at dawn. Make sure you are ready, we will not wait.” Apo said sternly.
—
“Are we nearly there?? I swear we have been on this boat for years.” Frogue complained, slumping over the side of the boat. He would regret going on this trip if it wasn’t for the fact that this was his one opportunity to belong somewhere, and he clung onto that idea like a lifeline.
“Please refrain from leaning on the side, we do not want to capsize. Especially when we are so close, if I am correct we must only be half an hour out now.” Apo replied, slightly frantic at the sight of Frogue leaning on the side of the boat. She understood his impatience, she would have been equally as impatient if she hadn’t already done the journey before.
Frogue sighed, and moved away from the edge of the boat with a frown and let out a low croak in annoyance. He sprawled himself out across the boat, not massively caring if he was in the other’s way, he stared up at the sky looking at the stars as the boat gently rocked back and forth. Frogue felt his stomach churn as they got closer to land, he hoped so badly that they would accept him there, he was so joyous with the idea of being wanted somewhere it hadn’t yet crossed his mind that maybe they wouldn’t want him there once they arrived. Maybe the king would take one look at him and send him away, his appearance too ghastly for him to look at yet alone allow in his kingdom.
Before he knew it Frogue was dragged out of his thoughts by the harsh jolting of the boat as it hit against the dock as it stopped. He let out a surprised squeak, and quickly sat up to survey his surroundings. He looked up to his left and saw two people hugging on the dock and he could also see the familiar silhouette of Apo staring down at him from where she stood upon the dock.
“Welcome back to earth, sleeping beauty. Mind your step.” She said, offering a hand out to help Frogue. He hesitantly took her hand, not sure if she would want to grab his hand if she really thought it through, he can’t imagine grabbing a frog's hand is very pleasant. But alas he reaches out anyway, if she’s disgusted she can cope, she offered in the first place. He studied her face for any form of disgust or discomfort, but it never came. It stayed as stern as it always was, except for when she was looking at Cherri but he guesses having a partner does that to you.
He stood on the dock, taking a moment to adjust to the now steady ground after days upon the boat. He looked up across the dock towards the mountains, and between them sat a kingdom wrecked by war. It truly seemed like it had seen better days, and at the centre of it sat a castle. There was a burn mark up the side, the usual white of the castle a soot black and one of the turrets was completely gone, now replaced with scaffolding. He frowned seeing the state of the kingdom and let out a distressed sound. He felt bad for Cherri, it must be hard returning home to find it in such a state, he also felt bad for accusing her of trying to leave the red kingdom at the start.
He returned his attention to the dock, to where Cherri and her father had now stopped hugging. He looked up towards the king and saw the most beautiful man he had ever seen, he stood there dumbfoundedly with his mouth slightly agape as he took in what he was looking at. He looked perfect, his long hair flowed down his back and draped over his shoulders it looked picturesque, more wonderful than anything he could ever imagine. And his eyes were a crystalline shade of blue that replicated the beauty of sapphire, and they looked down upon his daughter with such kindness and love. Yet across one of them laid a scar, the skin looked like it had been burnt, but even that didn’t ruin the angelic nature of his face if anything it made him even more attractive. And what shocked Frogue the most was the two wolf ears in place of human ears. That sparked a joy in him and lit a flame of hope. If the king wasn’t purely human then what did he have to fear about his own acceptance here, maybe he would finally belong.
“Hello there! I am King Ren, and you must be?” The new voice of the king asked with a smile extending a hand to the newcomer, snapping Frogue out of his trance.
“Hello Me Lord” He replied with an accent and he bowed towards the king, he was tempted to kiss his hand but decided against it, before grabbing his hand to shake it “I am Frogue the rogue, it truly is a pleasure.” He continued keeping up the fake accent and shot the king a grin.
The king chucked at his antics and offered a warm smile to the frog. “I think I’ll enjoy having you in my kingdom. Do allow me to show you around, we do not want you losing your way around here.” He said towards Frogue clearly excited about the new guest if the way his ears stuck up showed anything. “Cherri, my dear. You and Apo will be fine by yourselves, right? I would like to make sure our guest is properly shown around.”
“Father, I think you forget we both grew up here, we will be fine by ourselves.” Cherri responded with a reassuring smile. Ren walked up to her and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead and pulled her into a hug. “I’ve missed you.” “I missed you too, father. Now go show around Frogue!” She said as she nudged her father towards Frogue with a knowing smile.
Ren just nodded at her and turned back towards Frogue leading him towards the heart of the kingdom.
“Are you sure setting up Frogue of all people with your dad is a good idea?”
“Absoluetly!”
“Alright then. Shall we go then my love?”
“Lead the way!”
And the pair left the dock and wandered in the direction of the castle, hands entwined.