A/N: nonsense-shit requested for a royalty au wherein Levi has to marry the princess of some country for an alliance and that the two of them does not get along. I hope you like this! 3 Chapter titles for Parts i and ii from the song "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion ft. Peabo Bryson and the title of this fic and the title for Part iii is from "Your Guardian Angel" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and for Part iv from "Back to You" by twin forks. Levi is 11 years old and Petra is 9 in the beginning of this fic. Happy reading! :D ao3; tumblr
i. both a little scared; neither one prepared
"Why does it have to be us, father?" she whines to her father as they make the long, long journey to Sina.
She hates the bumpy roads of the forests they have to cross and she hates being cooped up in the carriage. She wanted to go outside and ride on a horse all on her own. But her father wouldn't allow it, said it would be dangerous for a princess to ride by herself. There are bandits and assassins in the forest, trained killers hired by their country's enemies to kill the king and his heiress. Their enemies would do whatever it takes to stop this betrothal from happening, would do whatever it takes to ruin their kingdoms.
"We're the one who proposed the marriage, sweetheart." The King tells her young daughter calmly. She understands little of this betrothal but she knows how important it is to save their kingdom, and this proposal just might bring the salvation they desperately need. So, she lets out a sigh and straightens her back, willing herself to be brave.
He is lacing his boots when she arrives.
"Hurry now, little prince, your bride has come."
He scoffs. In his mind, he tells himself that he's not going to marry someone he doesn't know.
The servant pulls him up, laces his boots for him, and ushers him out of his room. His uncle is standing guard and he greets the prince with a smile, "Excited to see her, Levi? I heard she's lovely, with hair the color of fire and eyes the color of sunset."
He shrugs and tries to catch up with his uncle's long strides. Inside, he is anxious. Will she like him? Will he like her? The only way to find out is to go through that door and into the courtyard.
She jumps down from the carriage and rubs the sleep from her eyes. Her bones ache from the long journey so when the prince gives her a bow, she does not curtsy.
Prince Levi frowns, "You're supposed to curtsy."
She glares at him and curtsies out of mockery of the prince. Kenny snickers while the Queen smiles in amusement.
She will give him hell and he will accept it with open arms.
ii. barely even friends; then somebody bends
"I was hoping they'd get along," Queen Kuchel says to her brother as they watch the children during their archery lessons. Petra is better at it than her son and she knows that it is hurting his ego. There is nothing in this world that her son hates more than being bested in something.
"I think they're getting along real well," Kenny assures her.
"We need this alliance as much as they need it. Karanese needs our men and we need their provisions. The famine is not getting better, Kenny. More and more civilians are demanding food outside our gates and if the children don't get along, it would be death to all of us."
Kenny kissed his sister's brow, "You worry too much, sweet sister. They're children, give them time to grow accustomed to each other."
She is better than him in everything and it annoys him to no end. Everything about her annoys him. The color of her hair when the sunlight touches it, her gap-toothed smile. The looks she gives him, the sound of her laugh whenever he falls off his horse or he when misses the bull's eye annoys him. The fact that she is taller than him when he is older than her annoys him.
His mother's fondness of this girl annoys him. His never-ending annoyance of her annoys him and he has come to the conclusion that he hates her, hates her to the point that he can't stop thinking about her.
She is only 9 years old and she has already plagued his young mind. What more when she is a woman grown?
"She's annoying, uncle. I don't like her," he complains to his uncle as he hauls himself up his horse.
Ah, young love, Kenny thinks to himself.
"You find it annoying now, but you'll find it endearing someday," his uncle tells him.
"I find you annoying, uncle," Levi says as he spurs his horse out of the stables.
Her father leaves after a fortnight, "You'll be safe here, Petra. I need to go back to rule our country. You be good to Levi and her mother, alright?"
Petra nods and hugs her father goodbye. She doesn't cry. Not yet, not here in front of Levi and all his family. Later, when all are gone and she is alone. She will cry later, in the quiet of her bedroom. She has to show them that she is strong. She's going to be Queen of Sina and Karanese someday, and Queens don't cry in front of everyone.
She does not go to dinner that night and although he won't admit it, he is worried about her. Levi stomps to her bedchamber and demands to be let in.
"The princess does not want to be disturbed, my prince," the guard at the door tells him.
He huffs and pounds his fist on her door until she opens them.
"What do you –" she never got to finish her sentence for he barrels through and closes the door behind him.
"You didn't come to dinner," he says as he follows her further into her bedroom and sits beside her on her bed.
"I wasn't hungry," her eyes are red and puffy and her voice hoarse.
"I got you this. You know, just in case you get hungry later," he hands her an apple that he hid under his coat.
"Thank you, my prince," she says.
He stayed with her, just the two of them, in the quiet of her bedroom.
"Well, I'm going now," he says when he hears his uncle call for him from behind her door.
"Good night, princess," he gives her a curt nod and closes the door.
And just like that, they become friends.
iii. seasons are changing, and waves are crashing
They grow together, but they don't always get along. There was a time when he burned the hair from her favorite doll for beating him in a game of chess and as her revenge, she snuck into his room and dumped a bucket of cold water over his head as he slept.
It is fascinating to Kenny Ackerman as he watches these two young children in their game, as they chase each other around in the gardens – the princess laughing as the prince curses under his breath, as they learn their lessons on how to rule together, never seen without the other. They bicker and fight all the time but they are also each other's anchor.
She's been here for neigh four years but eventually, she has to leave. Her father is sick and she needs to be with him to give him strength. They are sitting by the fountain in the heart of the garden. Her hair is longer than the first time he saw her and it falls to hide her face when she bends to pick up the fallen leaf by their feet.
"It's the same color as your hair," he retorts.
She smiles and tucks her hair behind her ear before he could move to do so, "Will you miss me?"
"Perhaps," He says as he watches the sky turn yellow and gold and orange in the setting sun.
She twirls the leaf between her fingers; there is something beautiful about the silence and the twilight, about that time in the day where the sky exchanges the sun and its golden beauty for the stars and the moon and their silvery light.
"Will you miss me?" He throws her question back at her and he sees her smile in the corner of his eyes.
"Perhaps," she says and hands him the leaf that is the same color as her hair.
He etches this day into his memory. He will remember the exact shade of the sky and the color of her skin under the moonlight, and the sinking feeling in his gut as they said their goodbyes.
She left in the middle of the night, the darkness adding a bit more cover, shielding her from her enemies. The castle is silent and empty without her presence, without her light; the walls are grayer and the floors are colder. The trees they once scaled together looked taller and the fields where they once raced no longer looked as inviting.
Before, his days were filled with excitement and her laughter. Now, he spends his days studying and learning how to be a king, getting bruised and bloodied as his uncle knocks him down on sword fights.
He would do anything just to get his mind off of her, to forget the girl with the ginger hair and wildfire for eyes, as if she was no more than a bad dream.
His uncle told him that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but the only thing his heart is feeling is anything but.
She left him, didn't even ask him if he wanted to come with her, and he would do anything to forget her.
He is twenty now and a man grown, tall and fair with hair as black as midnight and a prowess in swordsmanship that not even the most skilled in the country could best him. He is a knight first before he is a king.
"Would you like to visit Petra?" his mother asks him on the turn of the year as the night sky lit up in red and blue and silver.
The question caught him off guard, the mention of her name made his heart ache. He hadn't thought about her in so long. How is she faring? Does she still remember him? Does she still want to be his queen now that the famine is over and her enemies are no more?
He takes a deep breath, "No."
iv. i follow the signs; right back to you
She arrives in the early morning light, unexpected and so like her to surprise everyone in court. He dresses hastily and half-walks half-runs to the great hall.
Her back is towards him. She is taller and more regal than the last time he saw her. She holds her head higher and her hair is the longest he's ever seen it. And all at once, the memories of her came crashing back. All those days he tried so hard to forget, all those times he convinced himself that she would find another man more suited for her than him – those thoughts no longer mattered for she is here.
He walks toward her and whispers her name like a prayer.
She turns and she smiles up at him, she is even more beautiful now than they were children.
"Did you miss me?" She asks him.
"I'm taller than you now," he replies and he takes her hand in his.
"Did you miss me?" he asks her when they are finally, finally alone in her bedchamber – reminiscent of the day when he brought her an apple.
I didn't know what to do without you. You hollowed out my heart and left me for dead, is what he didn't tell her. He would never make her feel guilty though, would never make her responsible for the sadness he felt in the years of her absence. But she is here now and he is once again alive in her presence.
And if he didn't love her then, he loves her now. Maybe he was too young to realize it back then, or maybe he was just stupid. But she's here and he's never letting her go.
"Perhaps," she murmurs as she laces her fingers with his.
"It's been so long," he says as he leans closer.
"I know. I'm sorry," she whispers.
He cups her face with his free hand, and she leans in to his touch, "Petra, will you do me the honors of being my queen?"
A bubble rises up in her chest and she almost laughs, of course she would marry him, even if he didn't ask.
"Of course," she smiles and his days are finally back to the way the used to be, back when they were children.
When he was young, he told himself that he wasn't going marry someone he doesn't know, that he wasn't going to marry some stranger's daughter from a kingdom he has never been to.
And now, with her standing before him, he stays true to his word. He will never marry a stranger.
But Petra is no stranger; she is his light, she is his home.
note: I made some minor edits and corrected some grammar mistakes. I also made them younger, compared to when I first posted this fic a year or so ago. Levi was supposed to be 13 and Petra was supposed to be 12. Thank you for reading! :)