Fairy tale AUs are just so much fun, you guys.
Kurt paced the great hall, idly wondering if he was wearing tracks in the marble due to his incessant wandering. He had to pass around fallen guardsmen and waitingwomen to complete his loop, ensuring that if he did leave a rut, it wouldn't even be a symmetrical one, but he had larger concerns on his mind.
Having your whole realm fall into an enchanted sleep around you could do that to a man.
"Do I remain or do I go?" he asked himself, not for the first time that day. "There's clearly nothing here for me, but I can't leave my father, not after-"
He cut himself off there, feeling his throat close with tears, a sure sign he was agitated. Normally he could speak about his mother's untimely death without his emotions overpowering him, but normally he was surrounded by the hum of a lively castle, with his father nearby to place a comforting hand on his shoulder or move the conversation along if it took an unpleasant turn.
Kurt broke from his repetitive pacing and walked down the silent hallways to King Burt's chambers, where he was slumped over his desk, just as he had been hours before when Kurt had last checked.
"Father?" he whispered. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Are you awake?"
Burt was unresponsive, not even flinching or snoring at Kurt's query.
"I don't know what to do, Father," Kurt said. He knew it was asinine to talk to his father when he couldn't respond, but he couldn't help himself. Burt was always the person he went to when he needed guidance. "I can tell nothing in Lima can help me figure out how to end this sleep, but I can't leave you. Not after Mother."
He stopped there, hearing Burt's usual reprimand in his head.
"I know, Mother dying wasn't caused by my absence. How am I supposed to keep from wondering if I could have stopped it, though? I may have only been eight, but I might have been able to do something."
"You really couldn't have," an unfamiliar female voice interrupted.
Kurt let out a startled yelp and spun around rapidly, one hand going to his sword belt. "Who's there?"
"I'm up here!" the voice said. A shimmery blur of pink flew down from the rafters. "Sorry, is this lighting better?"
Kurt just gaped.
"I'm Rachel!" she said. Now that she was floating in place, Kurt could see that the blur of pink was actually a very small girl with-
"-Wings," he choked. "You have wings?"
"What kind of faerie would I be if I didn't?" Rachel said, quirking a minuscule eyebrow. She was radiating an impressive amount of judgment for such a tiny person.
"I'm sorry, I've never actually met a faerie before," Kurt said, regaining a little of his composure.
"Oh, that's all right, neither had Blaine," Rachel said, flicking her wrist as though she'd heard that many times before. "I'm sorry I'm so late, by the way. When I visited him, he was humming a minstrel tune I hadn't heard yet, so I just had to make him teach it to me."
"Blaine?" Kurt repeated, dumbstruck. Rachel was a very forthright faerie.
"Yes, silly, Blaine. He's the one who can help you end this spell," she said, looking at him like she was afraid some of his brains weren't in his head. "You've got to go find him."
"But my father – and the fighting," Kurt said, confused again. "I know that the whole of Lima has to be affected by this curse, since it's been a week and no one has come to the palace for aid, but the citizens of Westerville might not be suffering the same fate."
"Oh, they are," Rachel informed him. "We put the whole of both kingdoms to sleep."
"We?" Kurt asked, ready to go after whoever had cursed his people.
"The rest of the congress and I," Rachel said. "You didn't think there weren't failsafes in place to keep the known realms from destroying each other, did you?"
"Uh-"
"We foresaw that if Lima and Westerville continued skirmishing, they would both eventually fall into ruin," she continued, blithely ignoring him. "And much depends on both realms prospering. So the other patron faeries and I gathered together to put a halt to the fighting once and for all."
"By putting everyone to sleep?" Kurt asked. "That seems a little misguided."
"Not everyone, Kurt," Rachel said, and how did she know his name? "You're awake, aren't you? And so is Blaine."
"The one who can help me break this spell," Kurt said, reciting Rachel's earlier words.
"And the crown prince of Westerville."
"How do I know he won't simply kill me on sight?" Kurt demanded.
"He won't," Rachel said. "And you won't harm him, either. You'll both know what to do when you meet."
"That wasn't vague at all."
"I'm sorry, we're only allowed to say so much," Rachel apologized, looking truly sincere. "Faeries are only supposed to interfere in times of greatest need, and we can only give hints. Everything else is up to you."
"Wonderful," Kurt muttered. "So I need to go meet this Blaine?"
"Mhm!" Rachel chirped. "He's already on his way, actually. You probably don't have far to go."
"And then I'll simply know what to do?"
"Uh huh! You'll figure it out quickly, I promise," she said. "Now get going! Blaine's going to end up beating down your castle doors at this rate." She snapped her fingers and disappeared in a poof of glittery magenta smoke, preventing Kurt from asking any more questions.
Kurt blinked a couple times, stunned, before briskly heading to the stables. He was still leery about leaving his father, but he figured Rachel would have been able to tell him if his father was in any real danger from the curse, so he ignored his worries and continued on.
"C'mon, Pav," he said to his bay horse as he saddled up. "We've got a curse to break."
They galloped through the market town and out the open gates. Just as the town walls disappeared behind them, another horse and rider came into view.
"Hello there!" the other rider called, waving. He halted underneath a nearby tree and dismounted.
Kurt rode up to the man, feeling his eyes widen with every step. The other man was breathtakingly handsome up close, with carefully slicked-down black hair and large eyes that Kurt could easily get lost in.
"Are you Kurt?" the man asked, eyes not leaving Kurt's face.
"I am. Are you Blaine?" Please say yes, please say yes.
"Yes," Blaine said, making Kurt's heart leap. "Rachel said you can help me break the curse on my realm."
"She said the same to me," Kurt said absently. All he could think about were Blaine's captivating eyes and what his lips might feel like against his own. "Lima has been put into some kind of everlasting sleep."
"Westerville has, too," Blaine said. "I'm the only one left awake."
"As am I. Do you have any idea of how we might free our peoples?" Kurt asked. If we can awaken our families, do you think they would be amenable to arranging a betrothal?
"When I saw you, I had a flight of fancy, but I'm not sure if it's what the faeries intended," Blaine said, shaking his head slightly. "Unless they also enjoyed the tale of the forbidden lovers when they were small – well, smaller."
"That was my favorite story!" Kurt said, gasping in delight. "The princess who fell in love with the poor maiden from her neighboring realm, and promised to never wage war with them again if she could only find the girl and ask for her hand in marriage."
"And then the maiden turned out to be the long-lost princess, uniting the two countries in an unbreakable bond!" Blaine finished, eyes sparkling with happiness. "I always thought that story was so romantic."
"And having love conquer war is such a beautiful sentiment," Kurt said, sighing dreamily. "I wonder..."
"I might be wondering the same thing," Blaine said. "Do you want to- mmm."
Kurt couldn't hold himself back any longer. He cut off Blaine's question with a light kiss to his lips that quickly deepened as both boys reached out to pull the other closer. Kurt felt a reverberation pass through his body like he was a bow snapping back from an arrow as lights blazed around them, but the majority of his focus was on Blaine and how right the other boy felt in his arms.
"I hope that wasn't too forward of me, I- mmph."
Kurt's hasty attempt at an apology was interrupted as Blaine leaned in for another passionate kiss, which assuaged Kurt's fears that he'd been too aggressive in his advances. They kissed for what felt like ages, dropping onto the grass to lie down, talk, and simply stare at each other when their legs finally gave out hours later.
"I feel as if I've known you forever, as if my soul recognized you the second we saw each other," Blaine said, tracing around Kurt's eyes with his fingers.
"Kissing you felt like coming home," Kurt responded, tightening his hold around Blaine's waist.
The pounding of horseshoes from both directions distracted them from their tender words and touches.
"Kurt!" Burt shouted as two people who could only be Blaine's parents pulled up their horses in the same spot.
"Blaine, what is going on here?" Blaine's father asked, looking aghast.
"I've found the answer to ending our problems with Lima, Father," Blaine said, standing up and offering a hand to Kurt. "Meet Prince Kurt."
"We're getting married as soon as possible," Kurt said. "Tomorrow, preferably. And then there will be no cause for our countries to fight any longer."
"Kurt, have you lost your mind?" Burt asked.
"Your Majesty, Father, Mother," Blaine began. "I realize this sounds strange, but Kurt and I were led to each other in order to save our realms. We were both warned that if we didn't meet, Lima and Westerville would suffer."
"The fate of both of our lands depends on us being together," Kurt said. "If Blaine and I unite in marriage, the combined wealth and resources of Lima and Westerville can be used to provide more than enough food and supplies for all of our citizens. And Father, I – I love him."
Burt stared at Blaine's parents, who seemed to share his knowing look. "I take it that your journey to find your son was also prompted by a glittery pink dingbat called Rachel?" he asked after a moment.
Blaine's mother nodded as a vein in Blaine's father's neck pulsed. "She was quite – forceful," Blaine's mother said. "But she did say that our son would hold the key to our prosperity."
"She told me the same thing," Burt said. "And our boys certainly look like they've found the secret to happiness."
"I suppose this means we have a wedding to announce," Blaine's mother said, smiling slyly at the boys.
Kurt froze, stunned with joy, as Blaine threw his arms around him and whooped. "I guess my flight of fancy wasn't too fantastical after all," Blaine said.
"We still have one more part to live out," Kurt said, returning Blaine's embrace.
"What's that?"
"And they all lived happily ever after."
