It's weird how you're thinking of one thing and the next thing you know an idea hits you hard on the head telling you to write it down before it's gone. This is suppose to be funny and I hope that it is but who knows maybe new things will develop along the way. Any way each chapter will have different fairy tales in them with
Fairytales Come True
Prolouge
"We're lost," sighed a skeleton of a parrot giving the owner of the shoulder he was perched on an agitated glare. "Turn around and ask for directions all ready you buffoon before I lose what little patience I have with you left,"
"Hey! Who's the captain of this bike?" replied a short, ten-year-old ghost in a pirate costume, hotly.
The parrot sighed tiredly, "You are,"
"And who is it that you're bound to serve for all eternity?"
"You are," unfortunately he added in his mind.
"Who's the one with the hat?"
"You are,"
"Exactly!" Young Blood said smugly, "I am, and as captain I know exactly where we are,"
"And where exactly are we captain?" The bird asked adding the last part in a mocking voice.
Young Blood paused for a moment looking uncertain, "We're… uh, in…" he looked around his surroundings of the Ghost Zone. There were random pieces of floating rocks or small deserted and desolate islands. Some had dead trees on them or pieces of destroyed and ruined building on them. All around there were hundreds of floating doors, each one leading to a different lair of a ghost.
These were just the things that one would typically see in the vast inter dimension that held the spirits of the dead that hadn't made it to the Other World because they still had some sort of purpose, tie, bond, or unfinished business that connected them to this world.
A ghost could spend thousands of years or all of eternity in the Ghost Zone until they could finally leave and rest in peace or sometimes never at all. Some could cross over in just a short time because they know why they couldn't cross over and what ever their business is can be taken care of quickly so they can move on.
Young Blood caught sight of something and pointed, "We're… uh… between that rock and that… door." He said weakly as the parrot gave him a pointed look. "Okay so we're lost!" he admitted out loud. "But it can't be that bad… I mean how far away from my room are we anyway?" he chuckled slightly but it died when he saw how annoyed the parrot was.
"Hmm, lets see shall we." It flew over to a nearby floating surface and started to draw something on the dirt. Curiously, Young Blood took him and his bike to where the bird was. He cocked his head in confusion at the images before him.
Snapping a twig of a branch the parrot pointed at a rectangle with an X through it. "This is where we started, three hours ago!" Then he dragged the stick to that it made a kind of squiggle in the ground, "And this!" he slammed the stick hard on another X, "Is where we are,"
Young Blood got off his bicycle and bent down to get a better look, he studied it for a second before shrugging, "So, that doesn't look so bad I mean, we're only what, a couple of miles away?"
"Try a couple of hundred miles away,"
That snapped the mischievous ten-year-old back to reality, "What!" he exclaimed, "That's more than I can count up to without getting bored."
"That's more than you can count period."
Now it was Young Bloods turn to sound annoyed, "I'll ignore that one, but how the heck is it possible to have gone two hundred miles?!"
"I have no idea!" the bird replied sarcastically, "Maybe it was when you wanted to take that short cut, or maybe it was when you chased that ice-cream cone all the way into Walker's lair-"
"Hey, it was chocolate alright!" Young Blood defended pouting slightly. 'And it had marshmallows on it too…' he thought in his mind. It had been really tasty and he wondered where he could get more but the squawking of his companion slapped him out of his fantasies.
"Or maybe it was when you wanted to know why that door a few minutes ago had a 'do not open' sign on it and we ended up somewhere in CHINA! Before that vortex sent us back to the Ghost Zone and we ended up here." The parrot paused for breath but he still wasn't done with his ranting, "Or how about when-"
"Alright I get it! Jeeze," Young Blood snapped crossing his arms. "You're worse than my mom…" he muttered under his breath.
The bird sighed looking around for anybody who would be able to help them get out of the mess that his 'master' had gotten them into, again… He spotted two ghosts floating along chatting aimlessly about just random things like the latest news and things like that. He flapped his wings and flew towards them.
"Excuse me," he said, the pair stopped chattering and looked at him.
Ghost 1# said, "Yes?"
"Can you help me?"
"Sure, buddy what's the problem?" the second ghost asked.
I'm stuck for all eternity to baby-sit some brat who thinks he's a pirate, I'm lost, and my wings have this kink in them that starting to give me a rash, he said in his mind out loud he said, "We're a bit lost," he glanced over to Young Blood who was busy playing with a stick pretending it was a sword and using it to fight an imaginary opponent.
In the parrot's mind the invisible opponent was the one winning when Young Blood tripped over a rock landing flat on his face with an 'oof'.
Shaking his bony head he continued, "Could you tell us how to get to the Realm of Trickster?"
The Ghost Zone was divided into realms and it was the practically the only way that a person could possibly keep track of the vast space in the Ghost Zone without going completely mad. There was the Realm of Time, Ice, Fire, Air, Magic, Shadows, Light, Sound, Lightning, Beasts, etc. just to name a few.
The Realm of Trickster was where Young Blood's lair was along with several other mischief makers, pranksters, and those who have an annoying sense of humor. There were countless others including where several powerful spirits or forces, rather than ghosts, such as Poseidon and Pandora dwelled.
But not many went to those parts because to anger anyone of those beings was surely asking to bring an end to their afterlife, and not in a very pleasant way. The only ones who can even go there and come out with very little damage are those who are invited or who are either very brave or stupid to even try it.
Other realms were as their names described them like the Realm of Ice, or as some like to call it The Far Frozen, which is made entirely of ice and snow where ice dwellers of the Ghost Zone lived, Frostbite and his people are one of them. True that there were others, Frostbite's kind was the most common.
The two ghosts thought for a moment while the bird ghost waited rather impatiently for them to answer. After a minute the first ghost answered, "Well I can't exactly tell you where it is…"
The parrot sighed in disappointment at not getting an answer. He knew as a fact, that that little brat, who was now climbing on a tree and using his hands for a telescope, wouldn't waste a second to rub it in his face that he couldn't find a way home any better than he could. So far the parrot's patience was already all used up for the next ten years and if he didn't get home soon to his bird house then he was going to kill himself!
That is, if it was even possible… But it was worth a shot, right?
He was about to go when the second ghost spoke up, "Wait! There may be someone who could help you."
"Really, who?" the parrot asked desperately his voice full of hope.
"Fickler can help you,"
"Where can I find this 'Fickler' person then?"
"Uhh…" the ghost seemed deep in thought before speaking again when the memory came back to him, "Oh yeah! It's that door over there next to one with the giant camera on it. You can't miss it."
He thanked them and flew back to Young Blood, it took all of his will not to sneer and say I told you so right there and then to the little brat. Taking notice that his pet had returned, Young Blood got off the tree and said, "Ahoy there matte! How… uh… goeth thou… uh… what's that word again?"
"Quest?" the parrot sighed correcting and filling in words for the boy yet again. If he was going to be the side-kick to someone who pretended to be a pirate then at least they should say the right words. It actually amazed the bird that Young Blood was even able to get almost a full sentence correct.
"I found-"
"No, no, no," Young Blood interrupted, "You have to talk like a pirate, or I'll make ye walk the plank!"
The parrot rolled his eyes but did as told, "Aye Captain, salvation 'tis near yonder door that be of ole Fickler." He said in a monotone.
"Oh come on," whined Young Blood, "Say the last part,"
"Do I have-" he started to ask but was cut off. Not that he didn't already know hat the answer was going to be already…
"Yes! Now say it,"
He sighed, "Fine, arr."
"Say it like you mean it you scrubby hog,"
"That's scurvy dog," he corrected the ten-year-old on the bike. The young ghost just ignored him and shot him a look that said if he didn't have his way then he'd start whining again until he did. "Fine," he let out a breath and said it again but a little louder this time, "ARR!!! Happy!?"
"Yes," Young Blood sneered glad that he had gotten his way again.
Story of his life, for the most part anyway…
Getting settled in his bike once more he said, "Where to?" The bird settled on the handle bars and pointed his wing to where the ghosts had directed him to go.
"Southeast captain,"
"Uh…"
"You have no idea what Southeast means do you?"
"Of course I do!" Young Blood cried out defensively, "It's… that way." He peddled in the opposite direction for a second before the ghost bird started to peck at him. Stopping, Young Blood used one hand to shield himself and the other swat away the bird. "Hey! W-What are you doing?!"
"That's the wrong way, that's Northwest you twit! Southeast is that way."
Glancing to see where his companion was pointing at Young Blood saw a sign floating around that had North, South, East, and West on it. And he was certainly not going southeast at all. "Oh, I knew that I was just making sure hat you were paying attention. Now let's go!" he took off in the right direction.
The bird sighed in irritation but followed him none the less.
'I need a vacation, or at least a hobby." The parrot ghost thought as he flew behind the ghost on the bicycle in front of him.
It only took a few minutes to reach their destination. When they did Young Blood let out his disappointment, "Aw man, it's just a stupid book store,"
The door had a sign dangling over it that read 'Fickler's Books of the World'. The door was painted a dark blue that was so old it was peeling and bits of mold grew around the cracks. The door knob was rusted and Young Blood was sure that if he touched it, it would crumble away right there and then.
The parrot fought the urge to bang his head against something extremely hard with sharp spikes in it. How could he have gotten stuck with this two and a half foot brat was beyond him. Not that he belonged to any religion, but it seemed as if a higher force had decided to play a little trick on him purely for watching him suffer.
What had he done to deserve this?
Once again he had to tell the boy the significant of something. "Yes it's a bookstore. But every bookstore has different types of books."
"Yeah so?"
The parrot smacked its bony skull, "So… a bookstore is bound to have a book on maps, and since this store resides in the Ghost Zone then it will be bound to have an atlas or at least a map that'll give us some sort of idea as to how to get to the right realm at least." He explained as best as he could to the ten-year-old would be able to follow along.
Finally, Young Blood understood, much to the parrot's relief, "Oh, I get it… As boring and stupid as this place is, it's got to have a way for us to know where to go. I mean, how hard can it be to find one stupid map?" He opened and stepped inside cockily but his cockiness quickly died as he gaped at the sheer size of the place and the number of books there were.
The walls reached so high up that they disappeared into what seemed a night sky. The room seemed to stretch on and on that Young Blood couldn't tell where it the end of the room was or it ever ended at all. There were millions of books all sorted into different areas and of all varieties.
There were books with brilliant illustrations on the covers and beautifully written titles. Some looked to be centuries old and had worn and torn edges, they even had a moldy smell to them.
Torches that held flames gave off a soft glow to the room floated around freely. Several books were doing the same thing. Some were floating stilly in the air for display while others floated from shelf to shelf rearranging themselves to suit some sort of invisible need. They moved in straight patterns never hitting anything else.
It looked like a miniature version of the perfect traffic line, only made of books and suspended in the air.
They came in all sizes from ones as small as a humming bird's egg to the size of a king-sized bed. One thing that Young Blood noticed was that no two books seemed to be alike at all. He couldn't say why but it was as if there was something different about every single one and it was starting to creep him out a bit.
Getting over it he put on a stubborn face, "HELLO!" he called out in a loud voice that echoed on bouncing off the walls and even rattling a few loose objects. The parrot on his shoulder jumped up in surprise and covered his ears from the sudden change in the volume of the room. "IS ANYBODY HERE!" he shrieked.
When the last echoed died, there was still no answer so Young Blood got ready to try again. "HELLO! I SAID-!"
"I heard you!" called a crisp voice from above; an elderly looking ghost came down from one of the shelves and glided over to where Young Blood was. "You didn't have to shout you know, I may be old but I ain't that old kid, I heard when you came in." he said crossly frowning.
"Then why didn't you answer?" Young Blood asked defiantly glaring up at the adult in front of him.
The ghost narrowed his red eyes and looked down at the owner of the rude reply, "It takes me awhile to get down from up there all right kid."
"Pff, whatever old timer."
The ghost shot the younger ghost a icy glare, the velvet robe he was wearing was patched in several places, the middle was tied with a piece of rope slightly ruffled as a strange breeze seemed to come out of nowhere causing the flames to almost go out, the books froze in place, and Young Blood gulped nervously.
Even though he hated adults and loved to tick them off, he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach not to mess with this one. Even with his wrinkles, gray skin, bony figure, and skeletal fingers and long, dirty finger nails, there was an invisible aura around him that demanded respect from everyone, including ten-year-old brats in pirate costumes and their pet bird.
"Listen you little punk, I don't have time to baby-sit some spoiled, rude, little child who obviously needs a good spanking and their stupid pet canary."
"Hey!" he parrot complained.
Ignoring him he continued on, "State your business and get out of my shop. This isn't a place for children, this is a highly respected place that holds some very powerful knowledge and I, Fickler, have to attend to matters that are actually worth my attention and the quicker you get what you need the faster I get rid of you and can continue with my studies."
No words passed between the three of them for several moments, just as Fickler smirked and turned to go back to his work the parrot got his vocal cords fixed, "We need a book or a map of some sort to help us get to the Realm of Trickster."
Fickler raised an eyebrow at that, "You do know that it's about two hundred miles away."
"No duh, that's why we need a map. So do you have one or not?" Young Blood said rudely steeping in to the conversation. Even though adults were talking that didn't mean he had to respect it and wait for them to stop talking.
In his opinion adults were always blathering on about stupid stuff like the weather or their jobs, it always took them forever to ever get to the point. When they finally did he could never tell if it was a straight answer or if they were just stalling. They always used big words to make themselves sound important.
He remembered his dad doing that sort of stuff all the time when they went to boring business parties on Christmas or Thanksgiving. His dad would always try to sound important even though he was only an accountant for this small local company.
Fickler starred icily at Young Blood, "You're a very rude little boy aren't you."
The parrot could sense that trouble was about to come and immediately stepped forward, cutting Young Blood off just as he was about to make a very rude remark to the ghost in front of him. "Why don't you and I step somewhere a little quieter to discuss matters of the situation and my dear, naïve, fool can stay here."
Fickler rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, "Fine," he said at last, turning he wagged his finger warningly at Young Blood, "But don't you dare touch anything you little brat. If I see anything missing damaged or out of place you better wish that you had never stepped foot into this shop or that you were even born. GOT IT!" he spat out.
Young Blood nodded nervously; true he hated adults that didn't mean that they couldn't scare him sometimes. And boy was this one scary.
The elderly ghost and parrot vanished behind a tattered old curtain that was completely invisible surrounded by all the books that Young Blood had to look hard to see it at all. Before going in, the parrot shot the young ghost a scathing look that warned him not to do anything stupid or he will not like the consequences that followed afterwards.
After they had left Young Blood took to looking around, just walking up and down the rows and columns of books. In his short life never had Young Blood seen so many books in one place, not even at his schools library or the bookstore that his mom would drag him to in order to buy the latest issues of 'Easy Cuisine America' despite the fact that she couldn't even make ice without burning it.
Young Blood shook his head to get the memories away from his thoughts, he was dead now and there was no way he was going to spend his afterlife thinking about the past. All that matter right now was the present and what he was going to do in the next day or hours.
Turning his attention to the books on his right he scanned the titles and covers. They all looked the same to him but one book seemed to jump out at him, he could hear this faint melody playing in his head even thought the room was utterly still except for the ruffling of papers and the movement of the books at they alphabetized and organized themselves.
It was more beaten than the other ones around it and the title was so faded that Young Blood couldn't even read. He reached up to it and took it off the shelf in order to get a better look at it. The cover was utterly blanked; flipping through the yellow pages he couldn't find a single word or picture.
"What kind of bogus book is this?" he said out loud to no one in particular. He jumped up when a voice from behind answered him.
"That, my dear boy is a very special book that you're holding in your hands right there." Young Blood wheeled around to find he was facing a talking fox. Its eyes glowed scarlet, the sleek body flowed smoothly with movement making the silvery fur reflect the light from the flames.
"What's so special about it then?" he challenged.
The fox laughed mockingly at that making Young Blood grow in irritation, "What's so special about it? Ha!" he repeated, "Don't you know anything? That book has the ability to bend reality for the people who the reader chooses."
"Really?" now this sounded like a book that Young Blood would actually be interested in reading. "So…uh… how does it work?" he asked slyly.
"You just say who ever you want to be in your story and presto! They fall into a dimension where whatever you say goes and will happen. Buuut, I doubt you'll be interested in it."
"Why's that? I mean this is a book where everything I say goes, I could have superheroes or make me the star or something."
"Not exactly… The book does do what you want but it only works if the stories are fairytales and-"
"Fairytales?"
"That's right; you know like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Jack and the Beanstalk that sort of stuff and you can't add anything of the future like robots or superheroes."
"Then what's the fun in that?"
The fox smiled at that, "Easy kid, who ever you choose will be stuck in whatever story you choose and be stuck there until they get to the end. You barely have to do anything but tell them who they play and just kick back and watch them run around. Sometimes they get stuck there forever." He added secretively.
"So you mean to tell me that I get to tell the story how I want it?"
"That's pretty much the point,"
"Hey wait a minute… How do I know that this isn't some sort of trick?" Young Blood asked suspiciously.
"Tell you what kid if you don't like it then I'll let you keep it for free. But if you do then you pay full price. How's that sound kid?"
"Sounds good- what's the catch?"
"Well there is one thing… You see you can only use the book once after that it comes back here."
"What! What kind of a deal is that?!"
"All right, all right, tell you what since you're a first timer I'll give it to you for only a quarter of the price which would be fifty bucks. Sounds good?" the fox extended its paw out to Young Blood like a hand shake.
Young Blood thought it over for a second… but then again it was only fifty bucks and there was one person he had in mind on trying this on… "All right deal!" he took the paw and shook it.
"Perfect!" the fox flashed a toothy smile; reaching into a leather pouch that was around its neck it pulled out a piece of paper with a book and a crow on it. "Here is your receipt. You have a good day now." I with a flick of its tail the fox was gone between shelves.
Young Blood stared at where the creature had vanished and then turned his attention to his purchase. Memories of a certain teen rushed through his head and how he had beaten him.
Now he had the ultimate revenge…
"Alright I have the directions so that we can-"
Young Blood practically jumped out of his skin. "What are you doing?" he demanded, "How dare you sneak up on your captain like that! Isn't that muttony?"
"That's mutiny, and never mind that I know how to go home." The bird's eyes caught sight of the edge of something behind Young Blood's back. "What is that?"
"What's what?" he said innocently.
"That," The bird pointed at the book.
"Oh this," Young Blood held up the book so that it was in full view of his companion, "This is what I like to call the best revenge ever…"
Wow now this is a decent length for the first chapter don't you think? What kind of twist will Young Blood add to the stories I wonder…? Tune in to find out for this is bound to be fun to write. I'd like to thank WingsofMorphius, Ali Phantom, Sweeteen19, and LilIndianPrinzess. They're the ones who encouraged me to write this story. I'm sorry if updates have been slow but I'll work harder to speed things up a bit.