A/N: Just something light-hearted to get me back to work on my darker stuff. If that makes sense.
Pairings: PruHunAus (Prussia/Hungary, Austria/Hungary)
Summary: Fairytale!AU - Once upon a time, there was a poor boy who was in love with a princess. To marry her, he had to go on an epic quest...Once upon a time, there was a prince who was in love, but that love's heart was pledged to another...AusHunPru
The Kingdom of Hungary and The Kingdom of Prussia have nothing to do with their real life counterparts.
Silver Feathers
Once upon a time...
Ten Years Ago:
The Kingdom of Hungary
Elizabeta grabbed Roderich's hand, pulling him through the tall grass. Roderich was panting already, begging Elizabeta to let him go. After all these years, you would have thought he would at least be able to walk a mile without collapsing, but you just can't help some people.
She stopped abruptly and sat down on the ground, crossing her legs underneath her. Roderich bent down, hands on his knees, and panted. He hung his head down, his hair making a messy halo. "Too...fast!" he managed to say, eventually. He sat down next to Elizabeta, who was already getting a picnic basket out and unpacking the food the servants had prepared.
"Here?" panted Roderich. He looked around. To him, it just looked poor, outlying region of the capital city: unpopulated, dirty, with too many bugs and trees for his taste.
"Well, I don't think you can make it any farther!" Elizabeta laughed, not caring a bit about their unexpected stop, but Roderich blushed.
"I'm sorry, princess."
Elizabeta pouted. "Don't call me that!" She whapped him gently across the head. "Now help me unpack – gosh! Look at all these strawberries!"
Roderich had a deep, probably unnoticed, love for Elizabeta. No matter what he told himself (that it was impossible, that she was a princess, she had duties, she couldn't possibly love him...), he couldn't seem to get over it. The cool, logical exterior was slowly breaking down.
"Roderich? Are you listening?" Elizabeta tilted her head. "Roddy?"
He blushed again. "Sorry, prin- Elizabeta." She smiled at that. "What is it?"
She pointed at two white specks in the distance. "What are those? Are they clouds? Why are they so close to the ground?"
Roderich squinted and shielded his eyes from the sun. "...sheep. They're sheep." He began to laugh softly under his breath.
Elizabeta glared at him. "What? Are you making fun of me Roderich Edelstien? I swear, if you-" She screamed as a loud, wet 'BAA' sounded in her ear. She punched, hitting the confused sheep squarely in the forehead.
"Baa!" the sheep baa-ed, rather accusingly in Roderich's mind. It wandered off, glaring.
"What was that?" Elizabeta asked breathlessly, rubbing her knuckles.
Roderich fell over laughing.
"Roderich! Come on, this isn't like you at all!" Elizabeta whined, bending down beside the boy. "What's so funny!"
As the Austrian boy was trying to explain what exactly was so funny about punching a sheep, a bush parted. Two red eyes looked out, unnoticed, from the green leaves.
He's pretty cute...for a guy, that is. Gilbert squinted at the pair. The one with the glasses is pretty girlish though. Maybe I should go and play with them...
Next to him, a small chicken twittered.
"That's right Gilbird!" Gilbert announced. "I am too awesome for the likes of them!" Picking the tiny animal up and putting it on his head, he jumped out of the bush and ran off.
Elizabeta looked away from Roderich. "Hey, did you hear that?"
XxXx
Roderich came to the royal palace when he was just five years old. The King had heard of the boy's miraculous musical talent, and decided that, like all the other treasures that God granted upon his kingdom, the boy had to be kept in a place where the king, and the king alone, could see it.
Roderich barely remembered anything about his family anymore,except for a cousin that always kept him from being beat up. He did, however, remember the first time he set eyes on Elizabeta very clearly.
He had been crying in his room, cursing music and his country and all that had taken him away from his home. Sure, he hadn't been any good at farming, but it was better than this.
Then Elizabeta had thrown open the door and leaped on the the bed, bouncing slightly. She couldn't be less interested in the piano – she wanted to hear about the farm. She had never even been outside the royal city said she was the only child of the King, and as princess, children were scared (and rightly so) to play with her. A scrape on one knee could result in a dozen executions.
It was love at first sight.
XxXx
Present Day:
The Kingdom of Hungary
Roderich ran his hands over the ivory keyboard. He was older now, a lanky teenager of 17. Elizabeta sat beside him on the piano bench, facing away from the piano. There was a small flower in her long hair. As she grew older (and closer to Roderich), her normal disregard of the piano had grown into it being one of the few things she enjoyed after a busy day.
She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he began to play. Roderich swayed slightly, reaching towards both ends of the keyboard and making it back to the center with remarkable smoothness. But Elizabeta didn't mind.
In fact, she dozed off, snoring slightly (and in a most unladylike fashion) in Roderich's ear. He smiled, and switched to a gentler tune.
Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree-top / When the wind blows, the cradle will rock..
Elizabeta sighed and nuzzled into Roderich's neck. If anyone saw them like this...
Well, Roderich didn't care. Even he could enjoy a few minutes of peaceful happiness.
The door burst open, hitting the wall. "Kesese! Guess who's here!"
Elizabeta bolted up, brushing off her green dress. When she saw it was Gilbert, she sat back down with a resigned sigh. "You're still here?"
Gilbert struck a pose. You could almost see the imaginary cameras flashing. "You know it, darling!"
Roderich tried to smooth his hair down. There was one hair that insisted on sticking up in a gravity and logic defying way. Elizabeta called it his 'idiot hair.' Then she ruffled it, messing it up even more.
Gilbert was the...Roderich supposed he was technically a political prisoner. Ten years ago, the King of Prussia had personally come to Hungary, with the intention of stopping the war that had been raging nine years (and gently simmering for seventeen) between the two great countries. As a result, Gilbert was left in Hungary. If the Prussians started war or attempted to get him out of Hungary, they would execute him. If a hair on his head was touched without provocation, the Prussians would invade. It wasn't a very fair system, Roderich had to admit. Especially to them: having to deal with Gilbert was generally agreed to be only marginally better than war.
Like Roderich, he had forgotten the faces of his parents – except the the giant portrait his parents had hung in his room. But he couldn't bring himself to look at their faces. He had moved a giant-leaved plant in front of it.
"What do you want, Beilschimidt?" Roderich asked, turning away from the piano and looking at the Prussian.
Gilbert jerked his thumb towards the door. "Guys in the kitchen said they want you, Rod-Rod."
Roderich bit his lip. "Idiot. That's not my -"
"Nuh-uh!" Gilbert waggled his index finger. "Who's the awesome one?" He didn't wait for a reply, probably knowing what response he'd get. "I am."
"What did they want me for?" Roderich sighed, standing up.
"Dunno. Oh! They did say they're missing a frying pan, so you might wanna return that, Miss Princess."
Elizabeta stood up quickly and made for the door. She really didn't want to be in a room alone with Gilbert. "I better go get that then..."
Gilbert grabbed her arm. "Naw, it's not that urgent. Just saying. Rod-Rod had better be goin' though. Actually, he can probably pick your pan up for you. He has the key to your room, right?"
Elizabeta slapped him. "You cad!"
"Ow!" Gilbert rubbed his cheek. "What kind of insult is 'cad'? What was that even for?"
Roderich and Elizabeta were both blushing. It finally seemed to dawn on Gilbert.
"You two have been hanging around near Francis too much!" he snapped, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Roderich looked away. "I'm sorry, Princess, for making him question your honor like that."
To his surprise – but when had Elizabeta not surprised him? - she laughed and ruffled his hair. "You're so uptight!" She hugged him. "Loosen up a little! I just wanted him to leave us alone."
He looked down at her. Elizabeta was a lot shorter than him – she really only reached his chin, on a good day. God, he loved her so much.
What could he lose, really? If he kissed her? Her friendship, maybe. His place in the kingdom (exile, if not killed by her outraged father).
None of those things happened.
Elizabeta squeed and looked as if she was about to faint. "R-Roderich!"
"I..." he was speechless. After all these years, he had finally kissed her. Waves of nervousness racked his body. She would reject him, and he would - what would he do, oh god, what had he done?
Elizabeta threw her arms around him and kissed him again.
XxXx
Roderich kneeled before the throne. It had taken him awhile to get there. Even after so many years at the castle, he still got lost. Elizabeta said he just had no sense of direction. Roderich blamed the size of the castle.
The king was inclining to fat in his later years, and his stately beard was beginning to gray. He was very jovial about it, but everyone in the court was afraid to mention, in case he became as insane as Lord Windleberry the Third (who killed his own mother because she called him 'dumpling' and made it against the law to say 'donkey').
Roderich gulped. "Sir..."
"Speak up, boy! We're not all young things!" the King shouted. Roderich winced.
"Sir! I..."
"Get on with it!"
Well, he had wanted to phrase it a bit more formally then this, but if the King was going to insist: "I want to marry your daughter!"
The King looked confused. "You?"
This was exactly what Roderich had feared. "Yes, my liege."
"No of that 'liege' stuff, boy! Which daughter do you want, hm?"
"You only have one, sir! Elizabeta!"
"Ah! The Princess one!" The King thought a moment. "No, I don't think you can have her. Some law somewhere. Why not Jasmine?"
"The lady-in-waiting?"
"Yes, that one. Her mother was a nice young thing..." The King drifted off a little there. Roderich thanked the Gods that Elizabeta wasn't with him. "You sure about Elizabeta?"
"Yes, sir."
"Are you sure your not a prince in disguise? That happens a lot, I hear." One of his advisers nodded.
"No, I don't believe so sir." Roderich sighed inside. He was remarkably more agreeable then Roderich had expected, but it was taking him a while to get around to the idea.
"I swear there's some qualifications you have to meet." The King heaved himself up and waddled over to the (replica) of the Book of Lore in the corner of the room. The Book of Lore was legendary. Claimed to be written by the first kingdom of Hungary, in contained the rules every royal Hungarian was expected to live by. Being so old and out-of-date, it was often ignored. Still, the King was rather fond of it, and it had served him well. He idly flipped pages for a few minutes. "Found it!" He began skimmed the page.
Roderich waited in nervous silence.
"Lucky day for you, my boy!" the King finally announced. "All you need to do is go on a Quest! Prove your worth, and all that. Find a wizard or rescue the Kingdom from some peril of some sort. Slay a dragon. Win half of the Kingdom, too."
Roderich's heart sank. "A Quest, sir?"
"Right! I knew you were a smart lad. Play me a minuet, would you? I think of something for you to do on your Quest later." He appeared to think for a minute. "You do have ol' Lizzy's permission with this, don't you? It would be very bad form if you killed a dragon and she said no."
That was exactly the thing Roderich feared. Despite all her reassurances that she did, in fact, love him , Roderich could never see why. She was a beautiful princess – why fall in love with a humble pianist?
"I think so, sir. I haven't actually asked her yet. It's going to be a surprise."
A/N: *shrug* That was short.
I dunno.
6/28/12 - Edited for confusing typos.