Chamelea
Chapter 1.
Now that I've finished IKWTCBS, I can work on some of the other ideas that my drug-induced hallucinations showed me. Warnings: Hint of possible incest, little else. I don't own anything but my fics and the pain medication that keeps me writing them.
In the Eastern kingdom, there lived a King, predictably with a queen and several daughters. Twenty-nine, in fact. The strain of giving birth for the thirtieth time finally killed the queen minutes after she gave birth to the King's only son, who the King dutifully named Quatre after his dead queen Quatrina. Even about ten minutes after the birth, the baby bore a remarkable resemblance to his mother, from his constantly swirling blue eyes to the thick covering of changeable blonde hair on his head. As a mark of respect to the Queen, the little boy's hair was never to be cut.
The King had a Kingdom to rule, and so he needed a Queen. In the neighboring Kingdoms, alternative solutions had been discovered. A king could appoint a deputy, or rule with a sibling, or even marry someone of the same sex. As long as two people sat on two thrones, the Kingdom remained a Kingdom and not a dictatorship. However, the King of the East was an old-fashioned man, and it would be a while before he died and passed the throne to a daughter and her husband. Not wanting to forget his wife, he decreed that anyone, male or female, who fitted his wife's wedding ring would be his Queen.
Fifteen years passed, and no one could wear the ring. Queen Quatrina had had exceptionally tiny hands and fingers. The King's son. Quatre, was his mother incarnate, or so it seemed to his father, but Quatre had only ever seen his mother's family portrait. Nothing else of hers remained in the castle, except for her ring. When the boy went to look at it, several of his sisters were trying it on.
" What are you doing?"
" EEP! Oh, it's just Quatre. If the ring fits one of us, Father will hand over his throne to her and stop looking for a wife."
" What if he decides to marry one of you if the ring fits?"
" Oh, go get a haircut. Father won't marry one of his daughters, that's sick."
Soon enough, the King entered the room and the daughter holding the ring dropped it. He bellowed when he saw that it was missing.
" WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER'S RING??!!"
To avoid his sisters getting in trouble, Quatre dutifully picked it up and slipped it onto his ring finger, little realizing that he was about to make the biggest mistake of his young life. His father's eyes bulged when he saw that his Queen's ring fit the finger of his youngest son. He immediately grabbed Quatre's hand and hauled him down the hallway to the Chancellor.
'I'm sorry, my Lord. But the law clearly states that whoever the ring fits shall be married to you."
" Then change the law! I can't marry my son!"
" The ring was specially crafted for Quatrina's hand. It seems that only someone of her blood could ever wear it."
" I CANNOT MARRY MY SON!!! What am I going to do?"
" I have an idea."
" I'm all ears."
" The boy is small for his age, and attractive. Suppose you disguise him as a princess from a faraway kingdom…"
" NO!"
" Listen to me! You can tell the people that your son is abroad, and you will have your queen."
" B-b-but…"
" Yes, you must consummate the marriage. Otherwise it is not a proper marriage."
" This is monstrous! I won't do it!"
" Your child is the very image of your late wife. It won't be as hard as you expect it to be. Think it over, and let me know of your decision within a month."
" All right."
The King sat that night in his son's bedroom, watching the boy sleep and thinking of how much he resembled his mother. A shaft of moonlight caught Quatre's long blonde hair, turning it pure white. When there was no moon and just stars, the hair glowed a strange shade of silver. During the day, the sun would illuminate it and turn it an unrivalled color gold. His skin was about that same shade of brilliant white that his hair was at the moment, and his eyes constantly changed color. Just like his mothers. Just like a chameleon.
The King reached over and brushed some long, white strands out of his face. He was loathed to admit it, but he was starting to warm up to the idea of taking the child as his queen. Quatre moaned uneasily at his touch, then woke up. He was startled to find his father looking down at him.
" Father? What are you doing here? Did you sort things out with the Chancellor?"
" Yes, I did."
" Oh, what a relief."
" We will be married in two weeks."
" WHAT?!?!"
" The townspeople will be told that you have gone abroad. In the meantime you will be disguised as a foreign princess."
" You can't be serious!"
" I am deadly serious. It is the law that whoever fits my wife's ring shall be married to me. You know the penalty for breaking a King's decree."
" D-death."
' That's right. You are the image of your mother, no one will suspect that you're a male. And this will have to be a proper marriage, as well."
" Y-y-you mean…"
' I will have to take you in the marriage bed."
" You can't expect me to go through with this!"
" I thought you would react this way. You will be locked in your bedroom until the marriage, and minute guards will be stationed all over the castle to make sure that you do not escape."
" So I don't have a choice, do I?"
The King caressed his son's face and whispered to him huskily.
" It won't be as bad as you think. I will make you happy."
He slowly kissed Quatre's mouth, trying to probe the warm interior with his tongue. Quatre tried not to gag. When he stopped, Quatre decided to buy himself some time to figure out a scheme.
" Can I ask for a favor?"
" Of course, anything."
" If I am to be disguised as a princess, I need a gown. One that my mother would have been proud to wear. It has to be made of the palest silk you can find, a color to rival the moon."
" It shall be made for you. I need to give you a different name, as well."
" Such as?"
" Chamelea. Your mother's pet name."
The King left then, and Quatre lay back on the bed to try and form a plan. An idea struck him, but he would need time to prepare it.
A servant who had taken care of Quatre when he was five had taught him a language that all the animals, big or small, understood and responded to. Although the prince rarely used it, this was an emergency. He leaned out of his bedroom and called for every animal and bird that could hear him to come to his room.
The castle's mice and rats, the church's pigeons and owls, the forest's foxes and rabbits and even the spiders and flies trouped to the prince's bedroom in a swarm. Horses, cattle, sheep and pigs listen from under the window. When all had assembled, Quatre explained his plan to them.
Prince Trowa Barton, of the nearby Southern Kingdom, thought it strange that his late-night hunting expedition failed to bring him any game. Shrugging, he returned to his own castle to prepare for yet another masquerade ball where men and women would pester him to choose one of them as his partner and future Queen.