A Dance with Destiny
The halls of the Butterfly Castle rang with the wails of their queen, the Queen Moon. Said monarch was in her bedchambers, with the curtains and tapestries drawn to prevent any light from entering save a single small window, where a cool breeze floated in to give the queen some fresh air.
The midwives were all gathered around the queen's bed, whispering words of comfort and giving the queen herbs and potions to quicken the delivery while trying to induce as little pain as possible. A wet-nurse was nearby to feel the babe when (if) it began to cry.*
Queen Moon's breath came rapidly and in loud gasps. River had been forced to abdicate their chambers while his wife delivered and had retreated to the kitchen with some of his guards to eat his worries away. Oh how she wished he was there with her. He always knew what to say or do to make her feel better. Her body seemed to catch fire as another contraction ripped through her, bringing another scream to her lips.
"You must keep going," one of the midwives—Sherry, her name was—said when the queen faltered. "If you wait much longer…"
The rest did not need to be said; even in their world of magic and wonder, death by childbirth and stillbirth were still very real—and very frightening—possibilities. No, Moon thought, she would not let that happen; she would see her babe brought into the world.
She gave one last mighty push and used all her will to bring her child into the world. A shrill cry filled the room and a midwife gently picked up the newborn. "Well done, Your Grace, well…"
"What?" Moon asked. "What is it?"
"There is another," said another. "My Queen, you must push again."
Moon felt like weeping, but she steeled her resolve and began to push again. Fighting Toffee had been an easier bout, she reflected. At least then she knew all would be fine for her once it was done.
After another agonizing minute that felt like an eternity, another cry filled the room. Another midwife came over and picked the child up. Moon fell back, letting her head and sweat-filled hair rest on the pillows as her children were nursed and cleaned and wrapped in blankets.
"My Queen," said one of the midwives, her voice shallow and…fearful?
Moon lifted her head. "Yes?"
The midwife stepped forward, holding her oldest to her chest. My heir, Moon thought happily. The other child would live as a princess, and a close advisor to the future queen.
"The child…" The midwife unwrapped the babe and lowered it so Moon could take a look. When she saw what the midwife—Dooria—was so afraid of, Moon gasped.
The child was a male.
Moon's eyes widened in fear. Whenever a male Butterfly would inherit the throne, dark times followed. Wars and famines that lasted generations and the kings were cruel and evil beasts. A millennia ago, it was decided that only a queen could rule Mewni. The commoners had adopted a saying that went "A Butterfly must always sit on Mewni's throne, and that Butterfly must be a queen" to make light of the strange tradition of there being no Butterfly kings. There had always been male Butterfly cousins and second-cousins, but never heirs.
That didn't mean that queens gave birth to sons, but it also didn't mean that those sons lived past infancy. Most queens left their sons out in the forest to die or be eaten, but some of the more mercifully queens would give their children away to orphanages or churches.
Moon swallowed the lump in her throat, her mind racing.
"What…what do we do?" asked Dooria.
Moon steeled her heart. "Take him into the Forest of Certain Death and leave him there, deep enough so he can't make his way back to my kingdom."
Dooria opened her mouth to argue, but then closed her mouth. The queen's word was law; nobody could argue her, not even the king.
Dooria took the babe back and wrapped him in a blanket and herself in a dark cloak. She mounted a horse and rode until the sun disappeared behind the trees and she could hardly see anything, save what was illuminated by the light of her torch.
She dismounted from her horse and pulled the prince's meager blanket off and placed him on the cold ground. The baby began to cry and reached for her, but she closed her eyes and turned to walk away when a twig snapped behind her.
"Who's there?" she demanded, spinning around wildly, fearful for her life.
A large silhouette loomed over her, and she held up her torch to get a better look.
The monster before her was muscular, with green skin and a single yellow eye. Stag antlers sprouted from his forehead and his hands were elongated into claws.
"What is it, honey?" asked a feminine voice. Dooria looked up; a female monster with ash-grey skin and white hair was floating above her on leathery bat wings. She wore a yellow sundress and blue slippers.
"Mewman," said the man. He sniffed the air. "And baby."
The woman landed and scooped up the prince. "Awww, he's so adorable!" she cooed, trailing her finger along the boy's cheek. "What's his name?"
"He…uh…he doesn't have one," Dooria stuttered.
The woman cocked her head. "How can he not have a name? Is he a newborn?" When Dooria nodded, the woman said, "That explains it. Wait a second…" She studied the boy's cheeks, where a faint pink outline of a crescent moon on each cheek. "Is he royalty?"
Dooria nodded, hoping for a means of escape, but the large man was still behind her, blocking off any means of escape.
The woman pushed the baby at her. "You must take him back immediately! It isn't safe out here."
Dooria nodded. "I can't; the queen ordered me to leave him out here."
The woman recoiled. "Why would she sentence her own baby to death?"
Dooria hastily explained the bloody history of the kings of Mewni, and the monster couple listened the entire time. "Please," Dooria said, "I can't go back while he's still alive."
The monster woman looked at her husband. "What do you think, Brutus?"
Brutus looked down at the baby. "We take?"
The woman brightened. "That's a great idea, honey! Let's adopt him! You know how much the girls have been asking for a baby brother." She turned to Dooria. "Come with us."
"What?" Dooria asked. How could she leave? The Butterfly Castle was the only home she had, ever since her mama and papa had died.
"Please," the woman pleaded. "He won't know anything about who he is or where he came from. Besides, do you really want to return to the service of a woman who would sentence her own child to death simply for being a male?"
Dooria thought for a long moment, then said, "Okay."
The walk to the monsters' home was rather short, and the prince slept through the entire journey. The monsters lived in a shack on the edge of a green lake surrounded by trees. Lights from torches could be seen from inside.
When they were about twenty feet away, the door burst open and a tiny girl with wings flew out. "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" she cried, flying into her mother's arms.
"Pletinia, what have we told you about staying inside?" the woman—Laria—said.
Pletinia looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry."
Soon more children were coming out. There were three or four, counting Pletinia, and they all looked like a cross between their mother and their father—some had wings while others had antlers, but all of them were female.
"What's she doing here?" one of them asked. She had one eye and wings like her mother, though Dooria could see the tiniest peeks of antlers on her forehead.
"Children, this is Dooria, and she'll be staying with us for a while," Laria said calmly.
"Baby stay too," said Brutus.
One of the girls squealed. "Oh a baby! I love babies!" she cried, shoving past her sisters to look at the prince. She had one eye and was significantly taller than the rest of her sisters. "What's his name?"
Soon the rest of the monsters were asking the same question, and Dooria thought of the perfect choice:
"Cosmos."
* In medieval society, women in labor would be shielded by all light except for a single window since it was believed the sun would be damaging to the woman and the baby. Men were also forced from the room since it was believed that childbirth should be done only in the presence of other women, and since Mewni is based off of medieval Europe and England, I thought that that would be how they practiced childbirth.
A/N: I came up with this idea when I realized that there have been no kings from the Butterfly line, and that it seems like the kings have to marry into the royal family. Obviously this is pretty AU and I apologize to anyone who is mad about Moon being OOC. Please review to tell me what you thought. If enough people like this, I'll turn it into a full-fledged story, but if not, then I'll just leave it as a one-shot and a cool "what-if."
Bye!