Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
Title: Moonlight Meeting
Pairing: Durbe x Chris/Chris x Durbe
Word Count: 1,500||Status: One-shot
Genre: Romance, Fantasy||Rated: PG
Challenge: Catch The Barian Emperors: Durbe; Diversity Challenge, section C, #54, write an unusual pairing
Summary: By the light of the moon, Durbe meets a being that gives him an offer he does not want to refuse.

It wasn't forbidden to leave the village after the sun set. Night-hunters and night-fishers did it all the time, and those who walked the ways of magic often had to search for herbs and other rare ingredients after the sun set. But those were adults, skilled in knowing when someone who crossed their path without warning could be trusted and what to do if they couldn't be.

Durbe wasn't an adult. Not yet; he still lacked another year before he could claim that distinction. But that didn't stop him from slipping through the gates and setting off through the dark trails until he found the lake he wanted to wait beside.

I saw him here before, will he come again? His entire body tingled at the thought of seeing him again. They hadn't even exchanged words; Durbe didn't know if the other had seen him. He'd only seen him for a scant handful of minutes, enough to know that he wanted to see the stranger many more times.

He wasn't often enspelled like this, and in the time since, he'd worried that he really was enchanted, that the strange fey creature had done something to ensnare him.

If he had, then it was one that none of the village mages could detect. He hadn't said what he'd seen, not wanting to worry anyone else – for surely someone so fair could not bring harm – but only that he'd wanted to make certain all was well. He thought some of them suspected more than he'd told them, but no one brought it up to him.

Now he settled himself onto a slab of rock that jutted out over the lake. All he could hear were the ordinary sounds of the night, insects singing and night creatures moving through the brush on their own concerns.

The moon rose higher, until the lake itself glowed pure as a silver coin. Durbe stared at it in wonder; this alone was worth coming out to see, even if he never met the stranger again.

"Hello." A quiet voice spoke from behind him and Durbe twisted at once, hand automatically going to the dagger he kept at his belt. He'd expected someone, but he hadn't expected to be spoken to, and every inch of him tensed to defend.

When he saw who stood there, all of that faded from him, his eyes widening in even more wonder.

The stranger stood tall, with a long wave of glistening silver-white hair, robed in garments too fine for any common village. His eyes glittered in amusement as he took in Durbe's surprise, his lips curved up in a smile.

"Hello?" Durbe managed to speak, still amazed at being this close to what had to be a creature from another world.

"I thought you'd come back. Thomas wasn't so certain, but he doesn't think much of humans to begin with," the stranger spoke, a casual sort of amusement rippling through his voice.

"Thomas?" Durbe tried to work through the confusion the other's words called up.

"My brother. They all knew I'd seen you last month," the stranger said. He took a step closer and held out one hand. "My name is Chris. And you are?"

Durbe swallowed, once, twice, again, and reached out to accept the hand, shaking it. "Durbe." If Chris hadn't been so simply beautiful and if he hadn't been so surprised at seeing him at all, he might've said something else, perhaps something more intelligent. But at the moment, it was all he could do just to believe this was happening in the first place.

"A pleasure to meet you, Durbe," Chris replied. He came a little closer still. "You're wondering what I am, aren't you?" At Durbe's nod, he continued. "I'm one of the fae. We live in another world, which can only be entered or left during the full moon. I don't come out very often, but last month I wanted to gather some herbs that only grow in this part of the world, and I happened to see you at the time." He smiled a fraction. "So this month, I came back. I wanted to see if you saw me too."

Durbe nodded, a sweep of delight all through him at the memory. "You glowed in the moonlight." The last time he'd seen something so perfect had been when he'd seen a pegasus. He wanted to see that creature again too. For the moment, it was enough to see Chris.

"So do you," Chris murmured, his eyes resting on Durbe. "I wasn't certain if you were human or not when I saw you." One hand lifted to flick through Durbe's pale hair. "You must have some fae blood in you. I haven't noticed many humans who have hair like this."

Durbe could feel the blood rushing toward his cheeks, but couldn't move his head away. He didn't think he wanted to. "I don't know. I've never known who my parents were. They died in a plague when I was only a few years old." He thought nothing at all of telling Chris this, despite having known him for only a few minutes. Those were just the facts of his life, ones that everyone he knew already knew.

"Is there anything that ties you to this place? Anyone that you'd wish to see again?" Chris asked, his gaze not having left Durbe at all. Durbe liked it like that. Looking and looking back, it made all of this that much more real.

"Not really," Durbe admitted after a moment or two of thought. He didn't dislike the village, but he'd never felt that attached to it, either. One day, he believed, he would find somewhere that he did belong, and he'd go there. He'd be a great hero and perhaps come back to visit once in a while, but he didn't want to stay there forever.

Chris nodded, as if he'd expected this. "Would you like to come with me, then?" The look on Durbe's face must've said everything he couldn't form into words. "To the world of the fae."

"What?" Durbe blinked hard and shook his head in an attempt to clear it. They'd only just met. Even seeing each other from a distance a month earlier didn't count as meeting. And Chris wanted him to … to leave a place where he'd never wanted to stay in the first place? "What would I do there?"

That got a light shrug. "The same as you do here, I think. Only different, because you could live with me and my family. We aren't fae peasants, Durbe. Fae don't even have peasants. Our castle has plenty of room, and I'm sure I could persuade my father to see that you have the same kind of education that my brothers and I do, only tailored for you and what you want to be. What do you want to be?"

A castle? He lived in a castle? That could mean only one thing to Durbe: he was talking to a fae prince. it took him a moment or two to work through everything else that had been said, but he did have an answer.

"I want to be a knight. A hero. I've seen some of them coming through town, and they always seemed to be everything I've ever wanted to be." Though none of them had ever had a flying horse. That appealed to him too. He'd never gotten the image of that one he'd seen out of his head.

"The fae have knights. Whether you have fae blood or not, you could become one. We've accepted humans for training before," Chris told him. "It's your decision. You don't even have to accept tonight. I can come back every month until you make up your mind."

The thought of that alone was almost enough to make Durbe choose right then. To be a knight of the fae, to spend more time with Chris, to have an education equal to that of a fae prince...what did he need to think about?

Everything, he decided. He wasn't going to jump after something unless he thought it through first. And he didn't want to just abandon the village without warning. No one he knew of had ever spoken of the fae or their ways and he didn't want them thinking he'd been abducted and start to mistrust Chris's people.

"I'll think about it," he said at last, ducking his head. He suspected he knew what he'd decide in the end, but he still wanted to think about it.

Chris's hand rested on the side of his face for a few seconds, tilting his head up so their eyes met once more. "I'm sure you will," he murmured. "We have until moonset to talk about this as well."

Durbe nodded, his heart beating faster at the feel of Chris's touch on his skin. Fae princes and moonlight mixed so very well.

Perhaps he didn't need to wait as long as he thought.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.