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redactedgoose · 7 months

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@phantasycentral day 3! I went with wings.

Content warning for body horror and injury (not graphic).

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Danny buries his head in his hands.

"Frostbite, please."

"Great One..." Frostbite's voice is patient and measured, but not without caring. "I understand that this may take some time to get used to, but it is nothing but the truth. On my clan, I swear it."

Danny gulps before looking up. In the reflective surface of the ice, he sees himself. His blue eyed, black haired, human self.

The skin on his back crawls at the reminder.

"And there's no way to... to stop this from happening?" Danny asks, cursing the tremble in his voice.

"None," he confirms once more, shaking his shaggy head. "Blended entities such as yourself experience bleed, Great One. It's nearly unheard of this early, but you are a powerful demon."

After unwittingly completing his parents' portal to hell and coming away as something a little bit left of human, Danny had thought he'd seen it all. Tucker joked that Danny had his own symbiote, except it was just himself possessing himself instead of anything like Venom.

But this...

"I would advise you to not reject yourself, Great One. Doing so could cause discord within your body, resulting in injury or worse," Frostbite chides. Honestly, Danny would wholeheartedly believe that mind reading was a part of Frostbite's powerset.

"But my parents-" he cuts himself off, groaning at the spike of pain on his back. He has to wave Frostbite off when the yeti almost leaps forward, hands outstretched in concern. "Fine, I'm fine."

"Your parents..." Frostbite trails off as he sits himself back down on the stool of ice. "The hunters, yes?"

Danny nods. His parents, the hunters. The Fentons went way back as hunters of the supernatural, but it was his Mom's side of the family that drove his parents to focus on demons due to the supposed generational curse laid upon them.

(Privately, he had always wondered why they would choose to have children if there really was a curse on her bloodline. He'd never asked, and he probably never would.)

"You will always have a place here in the Far Frozen, Great One," Frostbite says. "And you do have other allies, do you not?"

He nods again, biting back a sigh. It's not nearly as comforting as Frostbite thinks it is, honestly. Like, he gets what Frostbite is saying, but... he can't just up and leave his human life!

The new muscles growing underneath the skin on his back ripple, bones scraping against the inside of his skin ringing out a dull pain.

...he may not have a choice.

"I have to get back soon," Danny says instead of answering in any way.

Frostbite nods, smile sad. "Do not forget the salve, Great One. Change your bandages every morning. If there's any excessive bleeding indicating breaching, get to a safe place."

Danny tugs the blue jar of salve into his hand. "Gotcha. Thanks again, Frostbite."

"Of course, Great One."

In just a few minutes, he's standing outside the gates of the Ice Citadel, breathing in the chilly air of Frostbite's clan's personal corner of hell.

"Ugh, this is gonna suck."

With that, he triggers his transformation.

As usual, it starts on his back, right between his shoulder blades. He contains his shout of pain—he was right, that sucked ass—as his skin ripples, flesh transmuting in a wave outwards. The unnatural blue-green crawls up his back and up his jaw, cascading down his shoulders in the next instant. His clothes sublimate, the rough texture of the protective gear that he Became in forming once more. His armor settles on his shoulders and chest as the rest of his flesh finishes transmuting, the bone structure of his legs cracking as his feet shift from normal plantigrade to digitigrade. His horns, as always, make his forehead itch.

Danny shakes his hands out as his knuckles pop, fingers growing an extra joint and nails hardening and sharpening into claws. His tail lashes behind him as the last parts of his transformation happens, pain flaring. His incisors lengthen into fangs, but his gums have long since become numb to that.

No, it's his wings that are causing him grief, figuratively and literally. They're a darker blue, almost a midnight shade, than the rest of him, the webbing mottled with glowing dots that he swears are constellations.

The pain eases in the next instant as his transformation completes, leaving him a demon once more.

It's easy enough to lift off, his wings strong enough to go from standing to flying without having to take a running leap off a cliff to get enough lift. It also helps that he has telekinesis and personal gravity manipulation as part of his powers.

With a few sharp flaps of his wings, he starts off for his parents' portal.

Despite himself, a few minutes into his flight home, he starts to grin.

Plain and simple, flying is fun.

He corkscrews around a floating island, being careful to not get too close to the purple flames coming off of it. Elemental demons didn't really have weaknesses like that, per se, but he still preferred to not get burnt.

Danny lets out a rumbling churr of happiness as he swoops, claws just barely grazing the surface of the half frozen ocean he passes, twirling out of the way of a beast leaping from the depths to try and make him his meal.

He's gotten pretty familiar with the route from the portal to the Far Frozen, and even though the Depths are kinda dangerous, he likes this path. It's almost like a giant obstacle course for him. He can't fly much in Amity Park—or, well, he can't fly much for fun. His parents and the DIW would be on him in minutes if he went for a joyride and he didn't really plan to be an experiment any time soon.

His pleased rumble turns more gravelly at the thought and he straightens his flight path out, flapping harder and shooting forward at speed.

The more time he spends in his demon form, the quicker... the quicker his wings will come in in his human form.

Ancients damn it all.

He hadn't thought much of the pain on his back when it started a couple weeks ago. He got into scraps with all the demons who came to visit the town, after all. It was probably just a bad hit or something, and he knew his supernatural healing carried over to his human form so he wasn't too concerned about it. It would go away eventually.

Then, today, when the pain had made him pass out in seventh period, he had Sam and Tucker check it out. It obviously wasn't getting better—it was getting pretty remarkably worse, actually.

Tucker had passed out almost instantly, and all he could get out of Sam was that something was moving underneath his skin. He'd been off pretty quickly after that.

"Ah," Frostbite says. It's a neutral 'ah' and not an 'ah!' of fear or an 'ah?' of puzzlement. Danny doesn't know if that's better or worse.

"Just give it to me straight, doc," Danny jokes nervously. "Do I have some kind of demon parasite or what?"

"Oh, no! No, nothing like that," Frostbite chuckles. "No, Great One, it's merely the mixing of your two separate halves. I knew you were remarkable when you put down Pariah Dark, but seeing the proof of your power like this is something else!"

And that had been that.

He almost wishes it had been a demon parasite.

How is he supposed to hide his massive eff off pair of wings from his parents? His tail had been easy enough to hide when it popped out—something about how humans used to have tails anyway, which had been a nice little factoid for his anatomy test. He'd gotten extra credit and everything—and his fangs were always retractable and whatnot.

Danny climbs, wings beating hard, to clear a ruined archway and dodge the hellish flora that reaches for him.

It's so unfair. Vlad doesn't have to deal with this!

...although it is kinda nice that he can rub it in his stupid, smarmy face the next time he sees him. Vlad's been a hybrid for longer than Danny and Danny gets to go through the blending thing first. That would certainly put a bee up his butt.

Danny flares his wings out as he comes up on the portal, the swirling black disc floating in the air as usual. He slows down most of the way and draws up his invisibility glamour over himself before slipping through.

Sticky as always.

It's easy enough to teleport up to his room from there, a quick step to the side depositing him in the shadows in his room.

He has to bite down on his arm to muffle his shout of pain as his transformation sloughs off of him, the extra matter and energy pooling around his quickly resetting feet to be reabsorbed.

Ancients, that hurt like nobody's business.

He all but collapses down on his bed, bouncing slightly on his stomach.

Right, he should contact his friends. They've undoubtedly told Jazz at this point, and if she realizes that he's home before he tells anyone, it's not going to be pretty.

blood pact under the new moon when? spoopy: guess whos back zermbie: whats the word? frosty give you the bad news already?

Danny winces.

spoopy: yeah mother hen: Danny! Text first next time! Sam and Tucker scared the heck out of me! spoopy: sorry, jazz. i got kinda freaked out spoopy: wanted to go fast zermbie: gotta go fast nightshade: tuck, shut up nightshade: danny, what's the news? spoopy: so. good news- im not dying! zermbie: *jazz hands* mother hen: Saying it like that implies that there's bad news, Danny. spoopy: i was getting there zermbie: oh no spoopy: further good news: this is natural for something like me nightshade: *someone. c'mon, danny. spoopy: okay, someONE. like me spoopy: bad news its going to be a lot harder to hide nightshade: danny zermbie: hey danny wHAT mother hen: Danny, what does that mean? spoopy: ancients, let me finish typing! nightshade: >:/

Danny takes a breath.

spoopy: so evidently its normal for a hybrid like me to. Blend spoopy: capital B b t dubs spoopy: so. more of the demon stuff is going to come thru when im hjuman spoopy: *human nightshade: oh shit zermbie: what, what am i missing? nightshade: that's where your wings come from in your demon form isn't it. where it hurt. spoopy: got it in one mother hen: So you're going to grow wings? As a human? spoopy: yeap

The group chat collectively pauses for a second as they undoubtedly absorb that fun little fact.

mother hen: So... how are we going to hide it from mom and dad? spoopy: still thinking about it spoopy: i dont. think that i can. honestly spoopy: my wings are BIG spoopy: and like i know theyre pretty blind to stuff spoopy: like i pretty much have fangs 24/7 and my tail likes to pop up in human form spoopy: and they havent seen that spoopy: but like spoopy: there's a liimit. at some point. and i would think the giagnitic wings are The Limit yknow nightshade: can you glamour it away? spoopy: good point spoopy: but unless like you find a way for them also to be like, intangible or something its not going to work spoopy: a glamour just is an illusion spoopy: doesnt cahnge the fact that my fuckoff big wings are still Right There mother hen: Language spoopy: srry jazz zermbie: frosty cant do anything to stop them coming in? you're not entirely a demon, D zermbie: you're a human too zermbie: that's gotta count for something at least spoopy: nah. frostbite said its natural spoopy: its cuz im so powerufl spoopy: evidently spoopy: his words not mine nightshade: we'll figure something out, don't worry nightshade: worst case scenario you can hide in my attic nightshade: bubbe is the one who gave me the grimoire after all nightshade: i'm sure she'd be chill with the town demon taking up residence in her attic spoopy: wouldnt yr mom try to exorcise me? nightshade: nah she hates christianity more than she hates phantom and there's no jewish exorcists zermbie: honestly im still surprised that mom and dad took the whole demon thing so well zermbie: like i know we don't go to church regularly but like. still

Danny tosses his phone to the side as the chat derails away from him and his little wing problem.

Ancients, what is he going to do?

There's not really much he can do for now. Maybe just cross his fingers and pray to the Ancients that some sort of mercy still exists for something like him?

So he starts working on his homework. Bed-bound, there's not much else he can do, honestly.

At some point between finishing the trig worksheet and starting on the essay about Dante's Inferno for Lancer (which is kinda funny, actually, since he's pretty intimately aware of what hell actually looks like) he falls asleep.

And, at some point, he must've turned over in his sleep, grinding his poor back into his mattress.

He wakes up shouting.

That's his first mistake.

It's not too late, actually; it's only about eight thirty. It was a nice nap, if with a rude awakening.

He's just about settled again when he hears running footsteps. He only gets halfway up in bed when his door is thrown open, the handle slamming against the drywall.

"Danno! We heard you shout! Are you-"

His second mistake is getting startled. Generally, if his parents are yelling like that, it means that he's Phantom. It means that they don't see him as his son. His body is conditioned—his parents yell, he panics.

When he panics, his emotions run high. When his emotions run high, his eyes change.

So when he looks his mom dead in the eyes and sees hers widen, he knows that his eyes are completely black, with only white pupils.

"Demon," his mom gasps. "A demon! Jack, a demon's possessing Danny!"

The third mistake of the night is that he forgets about his pain, in his panic. He twists his torso and involuntarily shouts again, faltering. He can feel the burst of wetness underneath his bandages and immediately, intimately knows that he's screwed up so, so badly.

His falter is enough for his parents to bring their weapons up to bear, the muzzles of the guns that they built out of blood and bone pointed at him once again.

"Mom, Dad, it's me!"

It's his last gamble. Revealing himself to them as their son wasn't ever something that he really wanted to do, not ever since he saw just how far they were willing to go.

"The portal wasn't working, and I got it working," Danny babbles, bringing his hands up in a motion of surrender. "I... it changed me, but I'm still me! I promise! Please-"

"Get out of our son, fiend!" Dad barks, thumbing the safety off.

"It's me. It's just me," Danny says, heart pounding wildly in his chest. "Please."

"You will always have a place here in the Far Frozen, Great One."

"Jack," Mom breathes, hands shaking slightly. "The curse."

Mom had never said what the curse was, exactly, so as Dad turns to look at her, eyes wide, Danny's listening intently as well.

Well. Mostly.

His tail curls out of the top of his pants, inching up the bed to grab his phone. If nothing else, he has to tell Jazz, Sam, and Tuck what happened to him.

"Blood of your blood, they will fall. Child of yours, they will change. Hunt, and you will bear an enemy that will rip you apart," Mom recites.

"I'm Phantom!" Danny blurts. "I don't want to hurt anyone! I try to keep the other demons out of town! But you thought I was your enemy, I'm not!"

He hasn't exactly texted with his tail before, but it should be at least a little legible. It's only one word after all: caught.

"And I fell into the portal!" He adds. "I didn't—I just wanted to see if I could help," Danny says, swallowing. "Please. I'm—I'm still me. Just... a little different."

"Demons are evil," Mom says, but she doesn't have her usual conviction. Danny's heart soars at the sound.

"Not every single one!" Danny says. "I know this one guy—he's a yeti, and his whole clan is just scholars and healers and stuff. His name is Frostbite and he's helped me out in the past."

Dad's gun is still trained on him.

"Why did you scream, then?" Dad asks, when Mom stays silent. "It sounded like you were in pain."

"'Cause I am," Danny can't help but grumble. Keeping his arms up like this hurts. "I'm... they call me a hybrid? I didn't get possessed or anything. The energy from the portal opening became a part of me, basically, which is how I can look like Phantom. But it's still me, so- " he swallows again. "So some other demon traits are coming through."

"Other?" Mom asks.

Danny tilts his head back a little bit and opens his mouth up wide, showing off his fangs.

"I've had these since, like, week one."

"And we never noticed," Mom murmurs.

They lapse into silence again. Danny's arms start to tremble from the pain of keeping them up; he can feel his back getting wetter by the second. It's pooling around his butt.

That's not good.

"If..." Danny's voice cracks. "If you're going to—to shoot me, get it over with already," he says.

Mom and Dad jump a little at that.

"I can't—if I haven't convinced you, I don't know what will," he says. "I wanted... I wanted to tell you guys, in the beginning. And then you started cutting demons apart and I got scared. I'm sorry."

He's babbling again. Might be blood loss. That's really not good.

"I just wanted to help, and—and then the demons started coming through and I felt responsible, and then I started learning more about everything and learned that not all demons are evil. Not most of them, actually, and some of them were really nice and-"

Mortifyingly, he sniffles slightly.

He's tired. He's in pain. He's probably losing blood way too fast.

He might've been Amity's protector for the past two years, but this is just too much.

"Please." His voice cracks. "Just—just say something."

"...it's really you, isn't it, Danno?" Dad's voice is almost startlingly quiet.

"Yeah," he whispers.

The moment stretches on for a few breaths before Mom lowers her gun. Dad silently follows suit seconds after, uncocking his own.

"Thank you." Embarrassingly enough, this is when his body decides that it's time to start crying. "Thank you, I'm sorry-" He moans in pain as he finally lets his arms drop, back screaming at him.

"Where are you injured?" Mom asks him, her face creasing with concern. She's by his bed in an instant, hands flying to his shoulders.

"Back," he croaks out. "On my desk—there's a salve. I need to change my bandages too."

Dad flicks his light on so they're not all standing around in the dark anymore. That's when Mom audibly gasps.

"Jack! Get the first aid kit-!"

"Can't," he groans. "Just salve and change the bandages. Doctor's orders."

Mom tugs his shirt off with gentle hands and-

Oh. Wow. Okay, that's more blood than he thought. The entire back of his white shirt is now a dark red. She flings the shirt towards his hamper. Dad glances at it before going over to his desk.

Mom freezes where she's unwinding the bandages around his chest.

"Danny. What is that?"

"Mm?"

"At the base of your back."

"Ah." He pulls his tail up, the tip slightly curling. "M' tail. 's why I said other stuff's comin' through," he slurs.

He blinks hard. Oh, that's not good. He's seeing double.

Dad comes back over with his salve, tossing it from hand to hand like a hot potato.

"It's super cold!" Dad says.

"Sorry," Danny says. "'s ice. Everything's ice in the Far Frozen." Mom catches him when he pitches to the side, all but swooning. "Ohh, no. Gotta... gotta get something to eat."

"Soup?" Dad offers, but Danny grunts. He doesn't shake his head 'cause that would be a bad idea.

"Gotta eat something from the Realms. Energy's low." It's really low. The edges of his vision are turning black.

He sighs happily as Mom starts to rub the icy salve into his back.

"Realms?" Mom questions, voice tight.

"You guys call it hell," Danny says, only slightly pouting. "Christian Hell is only a portion of the Realms. They've got every afterlife in there, plus places where—ugh." He swallows, blinks hard. "Where people who were born there just live. Like Frostbite! He's so nice... he made the salve for me."

"Danny, sweetie, you've got to stay awake, okay?" Mom sounds really concerned. "We don't know what you need."

"Jazz 'n' Sam 'n' Tuck know," he protests, blinking hard. "Sleepy."

He groans.

"Sleepy," he repeats, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Danny!"

---

When he comes to later, he's stomach-down on the couch in the living room.

He blinks, thoughts muddy.

He was in his room... he took a nap... he woke up... and then-

Danny's eyes blow wide.

His parents know.

But he's on the couch with a nice blanket over him instead of on an operating table so that had to count for something, right?

He hears voices from the kitchen. He focuses, enhancing the sense.

"...healthy. He has to."

"Jazz..."

"I know you're scared," Jazz replies to Mom. "But he knows more than we do, and his friends know more than him. His friends in hell, at least."

"He called it the Realms," Dad says.

"It's another name for it, yes," Jazz says, very diplomatically. "Your intent and method punched a hole into a specific part of the Realms—hell. Most of the other types of denizens don't stray into the area where the portal is, so we don't usually see them. Danny's described them to me, though. Some are more like ghosts, some are mythological creatures. Some might actually be where we got stories of fairies from, actually, from what he's told me. It's not a lot, though. He's got other things on his mind—protecting the town and finishing high school."

"So the reason for his bad grades and everything else...?"

"Staying out late to protect the town. Getting up in the middle of the night to protect the town. Leaving school in the middle of class to protect town," Jazz says. It's very pointed. Is it a psych thing?

Danny's surprised to see his phone on the side table.

He scoops it up and smudges off a few droplets of his blood before opening it up and navigating to the chat.

His eyes widen.

Sitting there in the message bar is his message. 'cauyght'. He never sent it.

Ancients.

Danny closes his eyes again.

If they hadn't taken it well... no one would've known. They would've had an entire night and morning to do whatever they wanted with him.

A few tears slip from under his closed lids.

Thank the fucking Ancients they took it well.

blood pact under the new moon when? spoopy: i think i just used up my luck for the rest of my entire life. unlife. whaetever spoopy: ancients fuck

#danny phantom #phantasy phest 2023 #demon au #identity reveal #body horror

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unbreathable · 3 years

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The magpie ❃ B.Barnes

Summary : As the princess of a prosperous kingdom, you lived a life of luxury and happines. But when war is brought upon you homeland and you find yourself at the mercy of the enemy... just how far would you go to stay alive?

Pairing : Dark King Bucky x Female!Reader

Before you read, please understand that this is intended to be a dark fic. There will be noncon elements, violence, manipulation, lying, blood, gore, death and so much more. If you find any of these disturbing, please click away. 18+ only.

Warnings for this chapter : violence, swearing, mutilation, death.

Word count : 2.745

Credit : for the magpie image, the credit goes to it's rightful creator.

Note : Not me reading only dark fics for the last month and then deciding that I should try my hand at it. Also, I'd do anything else then study for my exams so there's that. If being honest, I don't really know what I'm doing, so if you decide to read this, please bear with me. It’s the first time I write something like this. Also I should mention that English is not my first language so please excuse any typos you may encounter.

Also, to all the writer from this platform (especially the dark!fic ones) thank you !

❃

There was no other in this world that tresured love as much as the people of your kingdom did.

You could see it clearly. Even as your people’s last breath was cut short by the blade that severed the head from the body. Even when their screams were silenced by the blood that gushed down from their throats . Even in the last breath of those that were drawning in their own blood. You could see the love they carried for their homeland, for their kingdom and for their kind king.

But love, as strong as the bards that often sang their verses for your delight made it up to be, was frankly not enough.

The sound of clashing swords was terrifying. The axes were clattering against the metal shilds. The chain armor your people wore was jingling with every hit it received. Enemy forces were carving their way through your people s defences like it was nothing. Scarlett red blood and greasy innards covered the ground. The men were snarling and groaning while the fight continued under the starless sky.

From the highest turn of the citadel, you watched, as man after man fell to their knees. Your heart clenched at the sight. Those men celebrated every moment of your life, they watched you grow and as their princess they protected and loved you as they would their own. Tears were already running dry while your mouth opened in a soundless sob.

In the distance you could see the younger ones clutching anxiously the sword at their side. Some of them were even younger than you, and their life was already cut short. You watched as the enemy lunged forward. From were you were standing it seemed like being attacked by a swarm of bees. It was carnage.

”Stupid child! What are you doing?!”

The sharp voice made you jump. Tearing your eyes from the battle, you turned towards your mother, wanting nothing more than just to fall into her arms and let her hold you the same way she did all those times you’ve scraped your knees. Taking a shaking breath you opened your mouth to speak but the only sound that was heard was that of slashing swords. There was so much you wanted to say, to scream and beg for it to stop, but the words never came.

Your mother stared out the window for a second. She seemed lost, nothing like the queen you looked up to. Her hair was disheveled, her dress wrinkly and her face seemed to have gotten 10 years older over night. The crown on her head was the last thing that reminded of her once, imposing figure.

”We...” she took a shaky breath before continuing. ”We have to hurry!”

Her voice trembled, and the shaky hand that took yours shattered every hope you had. You knew it was a lost battle. You knew it was the end for you kingdom. You knew you were gonna loose your home, your parents and everything you ever knew.

“Mother, we have to put an end to it“ you spoke, your voice as steady as you could manage and nothing more than a whisper.

She didn’t seem to hear you. Only the hold she had on you seemed to thighten as what seemed to be iron ladders clinked againts the castle walls.

The corridor your mother took, lead to a small chamber in the back of the castle. It was dimly lit and there was a second door at the end of the room. There was one more person there, hiding in the corner. You reconised her. A maid, nearly the same age as you. She was the one that used to serve your food. You appreciated her and in some kind of twisted way, you always thought she resembled you. The hair color, the height, the full lips it was all there. You used to joke that in another life she could have been your twin.

Looking at her now tough, something didn’t sit right with you.

“There is no time to lose!”

Your mother’s voice echoed in the empty room, bringing some of your senses back. Watching as she was marching across the room, you straitghened your back.

“Yes” your brought your shanking hand up, moving some strands of hair that have fallen on your forehad. “You as the queen of the fallen king should order a retreat. We have to save what men remained alive and surrender.”

There was no answer. And for a second you questioned if you truly spoke or everything happened in your head. However you caught a glimpse of the maids hopeful eyes before she bowed her head again.

“Listen to me, mother.” you pleaded. “Between two evils we have to choose the lesser one. If we give them what they want maybe they’ll let us ... “

“I won’t be a slave in my own castle!”

You never heard you mother yeel. She never did something that wasn’t lady-like. And for a moment there, you were stunned. You were young, and this was the first battle that was brought upon you homeland. You didn’t know how to act or react. You fel helpless and you hated it.

There was a dress put at your feet. And as your mother urged you to change in the simple cloth, you eyes darted to the maid. She was terified, jumping at every sound and making her hand a fist over the cloth of her dress. A cloth, you realized, used to make only your most beautiful gowns. You eyes widened.

“Mother” you took a step back as the one that gave you life adjusted the modest dress. “What’s happening here?”

Again, there was no answer. The queen avoided your eyes as she went ahead and opened the door, for the one that you recognised as the head of kingsman to enter. Sir Gregor was your father’s loyal friend and your family’s protector long before you were born.

He sat on firm feet. His face impasive as he scaned the room. There was a short bow as his eyes fell upon you, but otherwise he remained the stoic knight.

“Do it”

Suddenly his sword was drawn.

You watched in horror as he headed towards the trembling girl that was hiding in the corner of the room.

“What are you doing?” your voice was suddenly hoarse.

You could see the fear on the maid’s face. You could see her shanking with sobs. You could see that she was unable to do anything. She feared for her life.

“Stop” your voice echoed. “Leave her alone!”

“Do it!”

The second comand given by your mother merged with your own. But it was to no avail.

The girl screameed as she was taken by her hair and hung in the air, the sword close to her throat.

You made to lunge foward, without thinking. Ready to fight thoot and nail for that girl, but the sudden grip on your shoulders threw you back. You hit the ground with thud.

“Stop!” you were screaming at this point. “Sir Gregor I said stop!”

You scrambled on your hands and feet trying to regain your composture, but as your mothers hands pushed on your back you found it hard to do it.

“And I’m ordering you to kill that girl!”

You couldn’t believe those words were said by the same person that used to remind you everyday that there was good in everyone and that every little thing had it’s own beauty. Your eyes widened in horror.

“Please, n-no, no...”

The poor girl voice was distraught. Terrified and when the sowrd dig into her skin her screams were even louder.

“Sir Gregor” your mother gathered you in her arms as you tried to break free. “Do as your queen commands! Protect your princess! Now!”

You screamed as the blade cut through the young girls neck. A sound like the winter wind could be herd as the maid gave her last breath. It was wrong. She had a whole life ahead. She could have had a family. Maybe there was someone out there praying that she’s safe and sound. Maybe.

”Unhand me!” you bated your mother s hands away as her grip on you lessened. ”How could you!?”

For the umpteenth time that day, you wanted to scream. Your mothers tired eyes stared at you. She was biting her lip whiler her hands were tugging at the dress sleeves. For a moment there, she seemed lost.

”Darling” her quavering voice made you forrow your brows. ”Look away, darling!”

You didn’t understand what she meant.

The sound of cracking bones came all too soon. You turned you head towards the man you once thought to be so kind. His sword was now put aside, replaced with a dagger. Shock crossed your face. He already smashed the girl’s head against the bare wall. That s were that shattering sound came from. If you squinted your eyes you were sure that you could see the blood running down that wall. It left you speechless.

”Child, I said to look away” your mothers voice seemed so far.

While you undestood what she said, the shock paralized you. Your eyes widened in horror as the man you trusted with your life was skinning the poor girl’s body. His moves were precise. Cherry red blood sprayed from the gaping cuts. Her young face was covered in blood, but you were sure that there was more damage than that. Her throath was cut open. And as the knife danced across her collarbone, you realized. He was carving her skin in the exact same spot your birthmark was.

It slowly came to you. The resemblance you noticed. The braied hair. The beautiful dress. Your mothers orders. The killing. The mutilating.

The battle was lost. Your kingdom was already in foreing hands. There was no chace for a retreat. Making it out to the forest that was near the citadel was imposible. The enemy was already searching for what was left of the royal family. This murder. This charade. This, was your mother making sure you survived.

”I...”

Shooking your head, you stared at the barbaric picture that was before you. There were no words you could think of, that explained what you felt at the sight. Your heart sank and a your head started to throb. You wanted to throw up.

”How could you just take her life like that? Like she was no one?” you hadn’t realized you were holding you breath, till you took a a deep one to finish your questioning.

”She was a no one.” the queen’s voice was flat and steady.”If she didn’t die today, she would have been useless tomorrow.”

You turned towards her. Your eyes searched her face while your ears could not believe what they have heard. Those words were coming from the woman that gave you life. The woman that used to sing lullabies and braid flowers in your hair. The woman that protected every single girl that worked in the palace from the predatory gaze some dukes had. You wanted to be like her.

”I did what I had to do.” your mother continued.

She neared you. Her hand went to you face and as she did a hundred times before, she caresed it. Her sad eyes were looking you over, taking every single piece of her daughter’s face in. She looked at you like she was seeing you for the last time.

You held her gaze for a moment. The love you could see in her sad eyes was overwhelmimg.

”My sweet, sweet child. Forgive me for I could not see a wold without you in it.” tears fell down her cheeks. ”I just want you to live, to get a chance to fight back, to become the queen I always imagined you to be. I did what I had to do, what any mother woud do to protect her child! You... you don t know what he will do to you.”

You cried with her. And when she pulled you in a thight hug, you let your head rest on her shoulders. You wanted to tell her you understood but at the same time a part of you resented her for the decision she made. You were a princess, if your people died you should die with them.

There was a sharp noise, and your mother was the first to react, pushing you back to the end of the room, where the door was. Sir Gregor drew his sword as footsteps and loud voices could be heard in the castle. The enemy was here.

”Run!” your mothers voice was nothing more than a whisper.

”What?” you asked. ”You re not ... ”

”Run as fast and as long as you can. Don’t ook back. Keep that damned birthmark hidden. An don’t stop for anything in this world. You have to make it out alive!”

As the sound of voices became clearer, your mothers one become hushed. She balled her hand on fists as you drew in a shaky breath. Sir Gregor stepped in front of you both, his sword at ready.

”Child, promise me.” the queen looked you in the eye before placing a kiss on your head. The same spot your father used to kiss ”Promise me!”

”I ...”

A loud bang could be heard and the footsteps stopped right before the chamber’s door. A clattering sound. And then another.

The queen gave you on last push through the door. She looked at you as she used to, when you were just a little girl trying on her crowns and jewelry. You could see all the love she had for you. You could understand the sacrifices she made for you. So as another thundering sound made itself heard you took on running.

The tunel was dark, but you knew it. You darted forward, trying to move your feet as fast as you could. Your arms churned. And after a while, sweat started to go dawn your forehead. You panted. There were foreign voices that the echoes made them seem to close. You urged you feet towards as panic settled in.

The tunel wasn’t long, but you were already questioning how far could you push it?

The dim light you could see after a few more minutes of running gave you hope. You knew you were close to the opening that was in the back of the castle. It should be safe and the forest would give you a place to hide. You knew you could make it. Your feet pounded on the cold wet floor.

As soon as you neared the door, you threw it open. You sprinted outside. But the sound of clashing swords made stop dead in your tracks. A jet of blood surged into the air, part of it touching your face. You recoiled. The scent of death was around you. Swords were riging against each other. Men after men meet their doom. You trembled. The enemy really surrended the whole castle.

As you stayed there, too terrified to even move a finger, you saw him. This one man that no one seemed to touch. He moved with precision and when he hit, he hit to kill.

There was something familiar about him. You didn’t remember when or where but you were sure you’ve seen him before. Stunned, you stared at him. And somehow in all that madness, as his blade cut open the troath of some poor man, his eyes found yours. You realised then. He was the man that brught war on your home. He was the one that led the armies towards the castle gate. He was the man that drew his sword through your father’s heart. And he will be the one that tomorrow would be celebrated as a hero by his men. King James.

You gulped. He was the one you mother told you to run from. You teared your eyes away and in moment of panic you made to run. The hand that was suddenly caught into your hair trew you off balance. The ground was cold, and as soon as you hit it, you head was tugged back by the one whose hand was still upon hair. You yelped.

”Where you running to little bird?” a deep voice asked in a mocking tone.

You opened your eyes to see the brute of a man smirking down at you.You hated him. Without a second thought, all the saliva you had into your mouth, was spit directly into the man’s blue eyes.The image of his disgust, made you proud.

”You whore!”

You should have seen the kick coming. You should have expected the second and the third too. Though it didn’t really matter anyway. Unconcioness was so invinting.

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