:P this is Lunar Lurkers fault.

I couldn't get the idea out of my head after we talked so- here it is

Come yell at me on my tumblr: FairyQueenOfTheDragons
Come chat with me on Discord: h-t-t-p-s: / / discord. gg / TYe6zbm

OO OO OO OO

The Fairy King had been trapped for what felt like an eternity.

He had been trapped in chains, in his body, in his own mind.

He had screamed for years. He had begged for many more. He had been silent for even longer.

Pain like one could not imagine had been inflicted on him, his cries, his whimpers, his pleas, only spurring them on.

He had suffered horrific things, things he would wish on none.

(none but a few)

But he was free now.

His chains were gone and his body his own. He could move and breathe and exist without fear or pain.

For a time that was enough.

For a time he basked in freedom not caring for anything else.

He was vaguely aware of the handmaiden who had cut down the Demon King (who he owed a debt). He was vaguely aware of the dragons who had come to aid them. He was vaguely aware of the decisions being made.

He was acutely aware of when he was led to the prison once more.

"No!"

His wife, his Queen, the Queen, held him close, whispered reassurance, promised it was no longer a prison, no longer a cage holding his own guards.

He fought, he yelled, he begged, he did everything he'd thought he'd forgotten how.

He was brought inside anyways.

The prison (his prison) was as he had never seen it.

He had been chained since before they entered.

But it was dank, it was dark, it dripped with poison and darkness and cruelty.

Every breath brought to mind his chains.

The Queen, his new jailer, purified a space for him, grew flowers and trees and rose crystal walls much like a room he hadn't seen since before.

But no matter what she did the chains remained.

He had traded one prison for another.

OO OO OO OO

She brought him food and drink and books and anything he could want.

But he didn't want any of it.

All of it sang with life, with light, with purity. He was none of that.

He was not alive, he was not light, he was not pure.

He was a unicorn who had lost his light.

A unicorn without life.

A unicorn without purity.

Unicorns were pure beings, everyone knew that. Where they walked the air cleansed, water glittered, life shone. They brought delight and light and life to all around them. They were not fairies, not beings of life and creation and growth, but they had life of their own that they brought.

He did not.

Where he stepped the ground did not brighten. The air did not refresh the senses. The life around him did not lean towards him.

He was tainted.

And the more the realm, his prison, his chains, lightened, the more he felt the taint on him.

He begged to leave, and when the Queen brought him healers, brought him therapists, brought him books, he raged.

The Queen was less willing to let him out after that.

She was the one who had chained him before. She hadn't saved him. She had left him. She hadn't cared. She had helped the wizards, had worked with them to make a prison that could hold (the demons) him.

She had banished his guard, the guard that would have should have could have saved him.

She now stood before him with concern on her face and love in her voice as if she hadn't abandoned him and he hated it.

He hated her.

But the hate got him nowhere, it tightened his chains, so he masked it with care.

She seemed to see it nonetheless, keeping him back, keeping him from (killing all of them, all of the ones who abandoned him) freedom.

He wanted to rage but the last time he had she had kept him in. She had kept his rage from harming any other.

He wanted to cause harm.

He wanted to (break destroy hurt) remove this purity.

He wanted freedom.

And then a chance came.

OO OO OO OO

The handmaiden stood at the shrine. Tears in her eyes and hope and despair in her heart.

She begged, she pleaded, she prayed for help. To save her brother and to save her friend.

The King did not care for the prince (his son who had given a horn to bind (the) his prison shut). But the Queen did.

And he knew there was little that could be given to the shattered handmaiden in front of them.

And so, he coaxed the Queen into giving the girl the crown. He coaxed her into giving up the strength of the realm, the source of her power.

Once he had stood by her side and helped her claim the crown, to pick it up from the body with torn wings and blood splattered clothes. He had placed it on her head and declared her Queen and none could stand against them.

Now he took the crown from her head, reverence in his hands and not his eyes.

He was dark, he was tainted, the crown would not send power and light and life through his veins.

But if he removed it from the Queen she would fall. She would not be able to hold out against the Demons and the keep the boards strong.

So, he placed the crown in the shrine and the fallen Queen directed the new Queen to take the crown.

All felt when she placed it on her head, the change of a monarch.

People whispered, eyes were on the once-Queen. But she stood tall and smiled.

She had faith the handmaiden would return the crown, as if any would return the crown when they held it in their hands. He'd seen it time and time again.

Now it was time to leave and to be free.

It was never that easy though.

OO OO OO OO

Nothing had shocked him as the handmaiden returning and placing the crown on the New-Old-Queen's head did.

She didn't even seem to understand that she had been Queen. She handed it back with none of the reverence, none of the gravitas, that it truly warranted. Simply returning the crown as if it were a trinket lent to her.

And yet it did not escape him how the crown lingered on her. She was marked, in a way he had not seen before.

But then… usually the crown was not handed off.

It was taken.

But this ruined his plans.

The New-Old-Queen had enough power still that he hadn't been able to escape, and the handmaiden had delivered the crown back to her.

And yet… the news of Ronodin.

Ronodin.

Oh he hated Ronodin.

The boy, his nephew, the fool. He deserved death, he deserved suffering.

He had given him one job, one simple job, and he had failed.

He had listened to the darkness and allowed it to infect him, had infected himself willingly. He had doomed the King, his Uncle, the one who had vouched for him.

The boy was the original cause of everything he'd suffered.

If he'd only obeyed for once in his miserable life. None of this would have happened if he'd listened.

But… he could be useful.

One last time.

Then he would handle Ronodin as well.

But first the Queen.

And so when the handmaiden left, though he did ask, plea, with her and the prince to free him… he still plotted.

The demons here would be useful, he would inform them of his plan. Then he would get in contact with Ronodin.

One last time.

OO OO OO OO

Ronodin had flinched at his voice and satisfaction filled him.

The boy had caused his imprisonment, had stolen and tricked and manipulated the situation and doomed the King.

The King would not have been trapped if he had been obeyed.

But this time, this time the boy, the ex-prince, his nephew, would obey.

He told him of the crown, told him he was the narcoblix of the prison, and brought him in. Ronodin had studied him, gaze intense, for a long moment. Then made only a single request of the deal.

To release the King from her, the false Narcoblix he claimed to be.

He considered it, wondered why the boy would even pretend to have care. He hadn't cared when he'd doomed the King.

But he agreed.

It wasn't as if he were actually under the hold of the Narcoblix.

Truly, a unicorn under the hold of a blix? Who'd ever heard of such a thing.

Ronodin had agreed, then taken the remaining demons and slipped through the land until reached the Queen.

The (ex) King didn't know whether to be angry or not that Ronodin spared the royals lives, that he did not follow the (ex) King and (ex) Queen's own path in plucking the crown from blood and pain and ruin.

He decided he did not care enough and turned to leave.

He had plots to make, and a King to dethrone.

OO OO OO OO

The chance to bring Ronodin's downfall, his suffering, came in a surprise.

The boy, the boy he'd helped once, twice, now three times, came to him for help. To enter the demon prison, to retrieve the crown.

And he knew what he wanted for revenge.

He went, a plan in place.

He knew the Demon King would not give up his crown without something of great value. And nothing they had would be of that value.

But Ronodin? Ronodin would be a fair price.

And well, if he suffered a few thousand years as the once-King once had?

That was just his actions having consequences.

And thus, the once King bowed to the Demon King and put himself in his hands. He had faith in this boy, wronged by Ronodin and suffering.

He would fulfill the once Kings decree if he had to die to do so.

The small spell the once King had laid on him to encourage such was just a precaution.

OO OO OO OO

Ronodin landed before the once King and went white in terror.

He had realized all too soon what was happening.

The King smiled as Ronodin stepped away. Ronodin backed away with eyes wide and face pale and breath quickening.

"I didn't have a choice," the once King said. "You brought this upon yourself."

The betrayal and pain and fear fear fear in Ronodin's eyes would stay with him for many years to come.

Ronodin fled, and the once King smiled.

He may have had to return to the light. He may have been left in a realm so drenched in purity and life he slowly returned to it. He may have become something new once more.

But his revenge stuck in his mind.

And he smiled.

OO OO OO OO

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

What do you think of the Fairy King? What about his actions? Have you considered the implications of the things he did and said and realized how things don't line up?

Come yell at me on my tumblr: FairyQueenOfTheDragons
Come chat with me on Discord: h-t-t-p-s: / / discord. gg / TYe6zbm