Once Upon A Time
Summary: A tale of a queen and her servant.
Fandom: Biohazard/Resident Evil
Date Written: Sometime before September 20, 2011.
Rating: T
Word Count: 742
Disclaimer: CAPCOM owns Biohazard/Resident Evil; I do not. I make no profit from this fanfiction.
Once upon a time, there was a princess and her loyal servant. Whatever the princess wished, the servant wished as well; the world was hers to command by right, and he was the part of the world nearest and dearest to her – privileged beyond all reckoning by their closeness, but bound forever to obey as payment for that closeness, and what a small price it was. Common peasants received a nod and a word for their successful service, and even the grandest lords would only receive her respect, but her loving smile was reserved for him alone. Most happy was the servant, the happiest of all boys throughout all the lands; his only regret was that he could not be worthier of her.
The princess grew into a queen, and soon the whole world (or the important parts of it) knew of her intellect and loveliness. The servant should have felt nothing but joy; however, he was shoved aside and hardly allowed to appear in the same room as the queen in public, for he was a simpleton (so his father said) and a shame to the family. It was not the queen's will that this be done – she still retained affection for the servant – but it was what was proper, and so the servant, also against his will, acquiesced to it. After all, no shame could be allowed to taint the glorious queen.
Time passed; the queen continued to reign in glory, and the servant, despite the best efforts of others, remained closest to her, wishing, in his selfish heart, that nothing, not even her studies, would be as dear to her as him. Perhaps it was even so – blinded by his desperate longing, he could not distinguish his hopes from reality. In his search to earn the love she so freely bestowed upon him, he began to contemplate joining the army; he dreamt that he might set himself apart from all the other workers by becoming her soldier. He would fulfill a function that no others did…
One day, the servant, in his wanderings, came upon a secret tunnel, the entrance of which had been sealed to trespassers; with his queen's aid, he opened it, and discovered a horrible secret. He… the queen… created to cover their father's blunders… nothing more than common monsters… the only purpose of their existences…
…How dare he… Useless man… Only using the queen… How dare he… No right… That man had no right to call him a failure… And to use the queen… How dare he… How dare he… How dare he…
KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL KILLKILLKILL–
And so it was, with their father's malformed corpse moaning in a cell below, that the queen and her servant spoke of the future and their plans: the servant had assumed that now, with that false counselor gone, they would be free to live their lives as they wished – together – but the queen had other, grander ideas. She explained them to the servant: she would enter an enchanted sleep for five-and-ten years, and when she awoke, humanity would abase itself at her feet, all the world existing only to obey her, their knowledge from their earliest years becoming undeniable truth – however, in order to do this, she would require a brave and loyal soldier to watch over her for all those years, so that none would attempt to assault her while she lay unaware and helpless. And how could he refuse?
As they prepared for her entrance into slumber, the servant struggled to keep on a courageous face for his lady's sake, promising to serve her with unbending strength; only once she had gone to sleep did he weep, and weep, and weep. Some wondered if he had lost his sanity, but he did not care. The one for whom he lived had departed from the world, even if only for a time, and there was nothing to do but weep…
When she arose, fifteen years on, he would be there to prostrate himself at her feet, and she would give him her blessing, resting her holy hand on his forehead… but until then, there would be nothing to do but weep and wait and watch, her soldier at the gates. Until those years had passed, that would be the sole purpose for his existence.
And Heaven and Hell and all the saints and devils help the fool who dared to oppose him in his task.