Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or anything else I might base this on! (I said that just to be safe).

So here's another Esca fic for all my readers! This one's a little more different than some of my others, since I tried a new approach!

Sit back, relax, and read please!

Enjoy!

Faerie Tale

A teal-haired young man, around fifteen, looked out his window at the night sky. "I know that tomorrow I'm supposed to become a man by taking the task of dragon slaying, but I don't know if I'm ready yet. My body might be maturing, my mind is trained to be a ruler of a country…but my heart and soul—"

"—are that of a child," a tiny voice finished for him.

Jumping from his seat at the window, he looked around for the source. "Who said that?" When there wasn't a reply, he drew his sword, his magenta eyes glaring at every dark corner. "Whoever you are, come out, or I'll be forced to use this."

A pale blue light came from the windowsill, floating to his eye level. Blinking, he raised a finger to touch it, only for it to land and go out, replacing it with a miniature girl around the size of his middle finger. His eyes grew wide as he tried to figure out what she was. She had pixie-style cut black hair, large blue eyes, white skin, and wore a sleeveless blue dress with a skirt shaped like an overturned flower.

"What are you?" he finally asked, because he'd given up with trying to solve what she was through observation alone.

The girl shook her head, frowning. "That's not nice to ask right off, young prince. Why don't you ask me my name, for starters?"

"What's your name, if I may ask?"

"I'm Bluebell, and to answer your previous question, what do you think I am?"

At this answer, he frowned back, though he looked at her harder. "I'm Folken Lacour de Fanel, crown prince of Fanelia. I'm not one to study magical creatures too much, so I don't have a clue as to what you are, Miss Bluebell."

Bluebell smiled and walked a bit closer. "Maybe these might help." Turning a little, she exposed a pair of gossamer wings that glittered like aquamarines. "Ring any bells?"

"A fairy, perhaps?" Folken guessed, thinking about the section on fairies he'd glanced at once, though he'd never guessed that they were sentient.

A pleased grin came to her face. "Yes, I'm a fairy. One of the last on Gaea, which is a shame. We were so numerous on the Mystic Moon, before the Draconians decided to bring some of us onto Gaea. I could sense that you were one, Prince Folken."

Folken dropped his hand in surprise, shocked by the last thing she'd said. "You can tell I am Draconian?"

The female fairy hovered, her glow returning a little, so he could still see her. "Yes. Your kind seems to have a certain aura about them, but yours has an innocence to it that at first I thought you were younger than you are. I can see I was wrong. I heard you talking from the window and decided to meet you. I'm sorry I startled you so."

"If I didn't have reflexes that sharp, then I could've been killed, had it been an assassin."

"Oh, I see now why you drew your sword. Are you going out tomorrow for something?"

"Yes, I am." He sheathed his blade, turning towards his bed. "It's the tradition of my country that the crown prince goes into the forest, find a dragon and kill it, bringing its energist while still alive. Then the prince will be crowned king. If the prince dies, then the rite will be passed on to the next prince."

Bluebell landed on his pillow, as he lay down, putting his sword on the side of it that wasn't used, within arm's reach. "Is there another prince, should you fail?"

Folken nodded, though he looked pained to do so. "My brother, Van. But he's ten years my junior, and too soft to experience war. If I have to become king, I'll do it to spare him that."

"Is there anything you want for yourself?"

"A queen that would support me and love me for everything I am, and the power and wisdom to uphold my kingdom at all costs, whether from external or internal crisis."

"Oh, is that all? The only two things you could want out of everything on Gaea?"

"Yes."

"What about before you become a man tomorrow? Is there something that you want to do before everything becomes your responsibility?"

He thought about what he wanted now. "A walk to a silver lake surrounded by magical lights and bathed in the light from the Mystic Moon and its child. And that Van experience the same thing before he turns of age."

"If all goes well, the future wishes will be granted," she chirped with a wink. "But for the present ones…" She cupped her hands and blew a flurry of blue stars into his face.

Folken opened his eyes to the forest, bathed in silver light and little lights floating all around him. Eyes bright, he walked straight through, until he reached the lake, shining in the twin moons' light.

"This is even more beautiful than I imagined. Bluebell, are you here?"

She appeared, a ball of light with fluttering wings. "You called, Prince Folken?"

The prince smiled at the fairy and nodded. "Thank you for this. Maybe someday, my wife and our children will share this moment together."

Bluebell landed on his shoulder and asked, "How long do you want this moment to last?"

"Just enough until the moons seem to set."

So they waited for what seemed like days, just gazing at the lights.

"Prince Folken, would you treasure this time, even if you never come here again?"

Folken glanced at his fairy companion, a smile on his face. "Of course, Bluebell. If we meet again, then call me Folken."

"Then call me Aoi. Even if you are to die tomorrow, I will cherish every second of this time."

She flew to his eye level again and gave him a light kiss on the nose. With the same glitter as before, Folken's eyes closed, appearing in his bed, fast asleep and under the covers.

"Good night, my prince. May you be king when next we meet."

Just as Folken was blacking out from blood loss from his severed right arm, Bluebell came into his vision, crying out his name, though he couldn't hear it.

"Folken! Please, don't die! Folken!"

"Aoi…I can't…hear…you…"

"FOLKEN!"

I got this idea from watching "Hook", especially the last scene, it's kinda like when Peter falls off the ship and he can't hear Tink because he's underwater. There are other things I'm going to use, but not until later! I'm not telling!

Please review!