INFORMATION
Disclaimer: Characters are from Brother's Grimm fairy tale "Snow White," used in Sound Horizon's 7th Story Album: Märchen.
Synopsis: The Prince is still upset over the fact that Snow White had suddenly been revived. In an attempt to put her back into her beautiful, dead state, he takes her out on a picnic with a variety of lovely sweets—all apple-flavored, of course.
Pairing: The Prince "Tettere"/Snow White
Apples for the Dead
He fancied her more when she was lying dead inside the coffin of glass. Now, that beautiful dead princess was alive again with her arms wrapped securely around his waist while he steered his steed.
But he had a plan.
The Prince released a silent sigh and pulled on the reins, bringing his white horse to a complete stop. He bit down on his lower lip, hesitated for a moment, before swinging a leg over to climb off the large creature. When he looked up at his young bride, she was smiling sweetly at him with her fiery red lips. The Prince felt an awkward, crocked smile creep onto his face and he held out his hand for her. She happily took it and hopped off his steed with her lovely prince's help.
"This place is beautiful!" Snow White exclaimed in her childish voice and went off to survey the area.
It was a large open, meadow with various patches of colorful flowers scattered throughout the grassy green plane. The Prince watched her bounce from place to place, beaming at the different blossoms and giggling. She had even called her huntsman over to pick a little bouquet to bring back to the castle. At one point, she looked back at him and gave him a bright smile accompanied with a wave of her tiny hand.
The Prince, after recovering from his mindless staring, waved back at her. Then, feeling an uncomfortable warmth growing on his cheeks, he quickly turned around to his three guards. He cleared his throat, composed himself, and singled his guards to bring the baskets they had lugged along for the journey.
"Go ahead and set everything out," The Prince instructed.
With a unified "Yes, Your Highness!" the three guards swiftly organized all the contents of the baskets onto the ground. When their task was completed, the Prince smiled devilishly down at the picture perfect picnic spread lined with various sweets and pastries. He glanced over at his young bride, still wandering about the flowers and she even had a few baby blue ones tucked into her perfect obsidian hair.
"Snow White," he said aloud to get her attention.
"Hm?" she hummed and turned to him.
"Come. Let us have a snack." He beckoned her gracefully with his hand.
With a nod, Snow White quickly made her way over to him, with the huntsman following closely behind. She left her servant with the guards as they began their own small conversations.
The Prince held her small hand as she gently sat down on the large picnic blanket and he took his seat next to her.
"Everything looks so delicious," Snow White beamed.
"Would you like to try these apples first?" The Prince asked, picking the choicest one from the plate and handing it to her.
"No, thank you," the princess said simply. "I don't fancy apples very much."
"I see," The Prince said flatly before slowly putting the fruit back.
Snow White scanned the layout of various desserts, eventually picked up a small, golden pastry and began to nibble on it. Watching her grin as she ate, The Prince suddenly felt a strange twinge in the pit of his stomach and tore his eyes away from her for a moment. He sat patiently waiting for a certain reaction from Snow White because he knew that the pastry in her mouth was filled with apple jam in the center.
He waited. And waited. But Snow White finished the pastry completely without even a single cough. Disappointed, The Prince scanned the picnic blanket to look for something else to offer her. Ah!
The Prince cut out a generous portion of apple pie and scooped out a bite onto the fork, mindful that an apple piece was present. He drove the fork toward Snow White's red lips and said, "Open up, Dear."
His face lit up when Snow White happily took the piece of pie into her mouth.
"Thank you!" she said. "That cook really knows how to make yummy pies."
"Yes, he always makes the best—" The Prince began but paused when he looked at the fork. The apple piece was still skewed onto the metal while the pie crust and sauce was completely gone. "…apple pies."
"I like the pie but not the apple," Snow White explained with a giggle.
She took the fork from him and this time, she was the one who held it up to his mouth.
"You can have the apples for me," she said sweetly.
The Prince reluctantly ate the apple piece and found it to be sweeter than expected. But it was still very delicious. He gave a sigh and picked up a jug and poured the golden juice into two cups. Taking one, he handed the other to his princess.
"Have this," he said. "You must be thirsty after eating all those desserts."
"I quite am, thank you," Snow White replied and took the cup.
The Prince observed with anticipation. Snow White's first few sips were dainty but she finally drained the entire cup and let out a satisfied sigh. She set the cup down and looked up at him with a bright smile on her pretty pale skin. The Prince gently stroked her hair and waited for the essence of apples in the juice to take effect.
A hopeful grin imprinted itself into his expression when Snow White finally yawned and stretched out comfortably onto his lap. It wasn't long before her breathing slowed and the princess fell into a light sleep.
His eyebrow twitched.
Apple juice couldn't lodge itself into her throat and cause her to choke like solid apple pieces could. The Prince clenched his teeth and was about to groan in defeat when Snow White stirred and shifted her head that was lying peacefully on his lap.
She looked almost like she was a corpse. Almost. He could still feel her light, warm breaths.
The Prince finally gave in and began to stroke her hair again, careful not to make a mess of the flowers she had tucked into the ebony strands.
He finally thought things over in his head, smiled slightly, and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
He fancied her more when she was lying dead inside the coffin of glass, but Snow White was truly beautiful in death or in life. The fairest girl in the land was his bride. The Prince supposed he could live with that.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I didn't want to use "Tettere" as the Prince's name because it just sounded a bit weird so I simply referred to him as "The Prince" for the entire story. This is possibly one of my favorite songs in the album and after watching the live performance, I couldn't help but think of what was going through the Prince's mind when he watched in horror as Snow White took her revenge on the Queen.