~ Birthday fic for mugiwaratrash on tumblr ~
Law remembered watching the three brothers play in the field on the outskirts of the forest. Their home wasn't too far away, and they would play long after dark until one of the adults came to take them back. Sometimes he and a few others would fly out into the field to get a closer look. Occasionally the brothers would notice one or two of them but never for long. The awareness of a child was sharp enough to see the fairies through their magic, but their attention rarely stayed.
Perhaps it was because he was the youngest, or maybe because he smelled the sweetest, but the smallest of the brothers always gazed upon them longer. He'd smile and wave before running after his brothers. Law remembered him very well. The boy smelled sweeter than the honey from the Queen's garden, more potent than fresh nectar from a lily in bloom, and the magic in his blood was pure like a hidden spring, safe from the taint of adulthood.
Once, when Law was there alone, he fell and scraped his knee in the field. Amazed by his stubbornness to not let the tears fall, Law foolishly fluttered over to him and began to heal the scrape. He wonder what the child saw as his magic knitted the broken skin back together. Did he see a butterfly? Or did he see Law as a little person with wings? Did he see anything?
He looked up to see the boy blinking down at him. With a smile, he stood and gave short bow in Law's direction. "Thank you."
Law could only watch as he ran back to his brothers without a second glance. He lowered himself on to a daisy so he could watch the three of them play. The child's blood was still on his hands. Curious, Law licked his hands cleaned. It tasted so much sweeter than it smelled. His whole body tingled from the restoration of magic the boy's blood gave him.
After that day, Law would follow the brothers home, leaving the sanctuary of the forest. He'd wait until the boy went to sleep before phasing through the window into his room to drink his blood while he slept. Dreaming only made the boy's blood more intoxicating.
Then at the end of summer, when the leaves were beginning to turn, the fire happened.
The fairies watched from the edge of the forest as the house was engulfed in flames. The scene was a chaotic wash of light and noise. And the over powering dread of death billowed up with the smoke as the fired died.
Law could tell someone had been lost in the flame. By morning the house was no more than a charred wood skeleton. Some of the adults came back to shift through the remains but eventually they left too. And Law didn't see the boy again for ten years.
