Warnings: mentions of child cruelty and racism

I do not own 'Superior', nor do I own 'Superior Cross', both belong to Ichtys, please go read it, it's a nice manga that needs more love

hi all. This one happens... after chapter 18 of 'Superior'

This came from no_true_pair's prompt "Sheila and Shion as the main characters in a fairy tale"

As a side note I must add 'Sheila-chan' here is Third/Shadow... She's also called Sheila... that's Shion's fault...

To keep from mistaking the two... Third will be called 'Sheila-chan' or 'little Sheila' and big Sheila is 'Sheila' or 'Sheila-oneechan' (big sister)... [yeah, I know it really doesn't make much difference]

also, Yuusha is a title, it means Hero

Shion woke with a start at the sound of whimpers coming through the wall. It took him some time to actually identify the sound, and remember who slept in the next room. The moment he remembered, though, was followed by a flurry of movement, flying sheets, and a thump as the child pretty much threw himself out of his bed in his haste.

"Sheila-chan! Sheila-chan, what's wrong?" he inquired, opening the door of the little girl's room. He found her sitting, curled up on her bed and sobbing.

"What's wrong, Sheila-chan, why are you crying?" Shion asked again, this time moving next to the sobbing girl and patting her softly on her head. Sheila responded by throwing herself to Shion and wrapping her arms around his torso, mumbling and sobbing onto his shirt.

Shion wasn't really used to such contact and froze for a moment... he wasn't used to consoling either, nor had be truly been consoled before, so he wasn't really sure what to do. He decided on putting his hand on the sobbing girl's back, and then stroke her, like he'd seen people stroke cats and dogs... it kind of felt good, and Sheila-chan's sobs subsided... so he was probably doing something right

Eventually, Sheila-chan's sobs stopped

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Sheila-chan looked up at him, small tear-tracks crossing her cheeks and slightly puffy eyes. "Nightmare?"

"Nightmare is a bad dream, scary or very sad. Did you have a bad dream?"

"I... I can't remember" she said, finally sitting back, though one of her hands was still firmly clutching his shirt "but... it hurt... here" she added, her other hand going to her chest and clutching her shirt over her heart, a pained expression crossing her face, "like if something was crushing everything inside".

Shion's face also mirrored the expression; the townspeople had found Sheila-chan in the desert that surrounded their oasis town; she had lost all her memories, up to her name, so they had taken her in, and Shion himself had given her the name 'Sheila', like his Sheila-oneechan, who had once also found him in the desert. Back then the townspeople wanted him dead, because one of his parents had been a monster, Sheila-oneechan and Yuusha-sama had saved him, saved the town, and changed the views of the townspeople so that now, even though Sheila-chan was a monster herself, they accepted them both. Back then, he had been abandoned to die, he hadn't lost his memories, but Sheila-chan had probably had something similar happen to her... or worse... and those feelings of hurt, they were probably the same he felt time to time, when he too woke up feeling like he had once again been thrown out to die... yes, he knew that feeling well enough.

Shion looked towards the window, the sky still completely dark. "It's still dark, do you think you can go back to sleep?"

Little Sheila hiccuped and laid down, but shook her head no.

Shion sighed softly... then said "do you think you'll be able to sleep if I tell you a story?"

"A story?"

"Yeah, I've heard it's a good way to go back to sleep" he told her smiling "I'll stay here with you, and tell you a story, until you fall back asleep, okay?"

A small nod

"Okay... ah, I know"

Once upon a time there was a young prince... the prince's name was Shion, and he lived in a very big castle, with lots and lots of towers and lots and lots of halls and rooms... there were beautiful fountains, and gardens full of flowers and fruits, there were impressive statues; and the castle was situated in a very high mountain so in also had a wonderful view of sunrises and sunsets and of the valleys around.

The palace was very nice... but even though it was so nice, and had lots of food and water and things, the prince lived alone.

It wasn't the prince's fault, he had invited many people to live in the castle, but the people couldn't go for there was only one road to the castle, and a hideous and fierce dragon had decided to make his home near that road, and everyone that tried to get to the castle was attacked, and so too was the prince when he tried to leave, so the prince was lonely in his castle.

One day, a traveler came to the nearest town to the castle; the castle was made of wonderful white stones so it would glow with the light of both sun and moon even from afar. The castle was such a nice view that the traveler decided she wanted to go and look.

The townspeople tried to stop her; they told her about the dragon and that it was no use trying to go.

The traveler laughed at the people's tries to persuade her, for she was very strong and determined, and if she wanted to go then she would. So, laughing, she parted towards the castle.

"At least tell us your name, traveler, so that we know what to write on your tomb."

"My name is Sheila" she said, turning around, her pose showing her strength and determination"and don't go making me any tombs, for there is no one who can stop me, I'm the strongest warrior there is!"

She traveled up the road and to the castle until she found the dragon. The dragon attacked her like he did with everyone else that approached.

Sheila was very, very strong though, and even though the dragon was also very strong, she managed to defeat the dragon and scare him away and so Sheila finally arrived at the castle.

Prince Shion was so happy that he welcomed Sheila to stay, and showed her around the palace, he also sent message to all the villages around that the road was finally open and everyone could enter the castle, and so the prince was no longer alone.

Shion was very tired now; he glanced at Sheila-chan and found her already asleep. Smiling, he sat up, intent in going back to his room... and found Sheila-chan was still holding his shirt. He tried to make her let go, but stopped when she started to stir... and he was also very sleepy now... 'oh well...'.

The next day, when Klevis went to check on his two wards, he didn't find either of the kids eating breakfast, and it was already rather late... he went to Shion's room and found it empty, too; now slightly worried he hurried to check on Sheila-chan's room and found the two kids curled up together, little Sheila still holding Shion's shirt, and Shion with an arm over her, protectively.

Klevis smiled slightly, they were both still too young, but maybe he should have a talk with them later...

Had originally rated this as G, but then I wrote that very long dark paragraph where Shion's background is mentioned, and went to add the warnings... 'So, it mentions child cruelty, cuz 'course its child cruelty what they did to Shion, and so mentions racism... Rating: G... I don't think its G any more... Rating: G PG'

I like Reviews!

also, I don't believe(don't want to, hope that) this is not the first ever Superior fanfic; so, if anyone knows of any Superior fanfics, please tell me