"My God…he's the spitting image!"
The soldier the King had brought with him to this little meeting gasped at David. The moment his eyes landed on him, they went wide with amazement. But King George was stoic. He stared wordlessly at the man he'd brought to him just before sundown.
David's choice to come was easy for him to accept, but getting his mother to accept it had been a bit of a trial. Fortunately for him, the shepherd told him to stay out of it and promised he'd go and get her to agree to the notion. That particular conversation they'd had inside. He'd waited outside on that bench for nearly three hours, finishing off the ale in his flask, and wondering if he'd make it home in time for dinner with Belle. Most of the time the house had been quiet. Every now that then he'd hear indistinct shouting, both masculine and feminine. Finally, only a few minutes earlier, David had emerged. Over his shoulder, he had a bag, something like what his father had brought to the castle when he'd seen him, something he was certain was filled with clothes David wouldn't need where he was going. Ruth followed him out.
"The King only needs him for this? This is it?!" she demanded of him, untrustingly. And for good reason. The deal was simple, and it was true, both as he'd presented it and for now. King George had tasked him to retrieve David, he could play the part while his soldiers, who would be the only others who had knowledge of the trick, killed the dragon. After that, they would spread the rumor that the Prince had fallen ill and died, allowing David to return home to his quiet life. It was agreed upon. What he wasn't sharing was the future or Clopin's rumors; he wasn't going to tell George what he knew just so that when this moment arrived, he could honestly answer "that's the deal." They didn't need to know yet that the deal was likely to change. With that, David had hugged his mother and promised he'd be back as soon as possible. She'd wished him luck, sneered once more at him, and then in a puff of red smoke, they were gone.
Now they stood in King George's study, the two of them facing the King and the Captain of the Guard he'd seen earlier. The Captain continued his wide-eyed stare at David, his jaw drooping lower and lower by the second. King George had taken one look at his clothes and hair, one sniff of the farm, and was considerably less impressed.
"Well, did I not promise he would be?!" he asked of the King, despite the promise being made to George. He was judgmental, but quiet. His eyes showed a man utterly conflicted. He'd brought him someone who simultaneously looked and did not look like his son. And he appeared dumbstruck by it.
"So…you're the King?" David questioned, looking at him nervously but with pride as well. What was he planning?
"No!" he inserted before he could say more. "No, no, no, no…he's your father! Remember, you're taking the place of your dear departed brother, who loved and admired his father above all."
Now it was him that David turned his glare upon. "I had a father."
"And now you have another!" he countered before turning back to the King. "Isn't he…charming?!"
The King let out a short but heavy exhale as he broke into laughter. "Needs a haircut," was all he seemed able to state.
"But it's…uncanning!" the soldier breathed, beginning to circle David as if he were a vulture seeking his prey. "Your Majesty, he has muscles soldiers train years for!"
David shrugged. "Comes from working all my life in the fields, baling hay, carrying sheep, building fences…"
"He'll do just fine." The soldier smiled with such admiration that he laughed gleefully. At least one person was happy with the arrangement.
"David is the identical twin of your Prince James. Raised by his mother on a struggling farm, I believe you are familiar with his father, who passed some years ago. He had a bit of a love for the bottle," he announced in a tone that pretended he wasn't.
"My father loved me," David insisted.
"Well, no one said he didn't! He had the wisdom when you were but a baby to save you and your brother by making a deal with me…I'm only saying that he also loved his barman. And!" he inserted as David opened his mouth to argue. "Fortunately for you," he explained, pointing to George and the soldier, " due to a little problem a few years back with a certain warlord we're all familiar with, David has some experience with a sword."
"Yeah, a problem you did nothing about, by the way," David inserted, looking at the King as if he were guilty of murder. He supposed from David's perspective, knowing some of the crimes Bo Peep committed, he was guilty, seeing as how he didn't do anything about her. But David was a good reminder as to why he didn't sell people. It was difficult to convince someone an individual was the answer to all their prayers when they kept accusing the buyer of crimes against humanity. "And…how did you know about that?" David questioned, suddenly crossing his arms over his chest and turning to face him with a smirk on his face. He supposed that meant to make him feel guilty. If he only knew…
"What I know would send chills down your spine," he muttered under his breath, then turned his gaze on the King. As long as he was making veiled threats... "Same for you."
"You've handled a sword?" the soldier questioned, looking him over and ignoring the tension in the room.
David swallowed as he turned his attention back to the man in armor. "Yeah…" he admitted half-heartedly. "A bit, a long time ago, and it was mostly luck."
"Handling a sword like your son was never a requirement of this deal!" he added quickly, lest George think that he hadn't delivered exactly what he'd said he would. "His skill, however great or feeble it may be is simply a perk! I've thrown it in for free!"
"It's good," the soldier nodded. "I can take him, get him trained up a bit, teach him to handle armor and a shield for his own protection. He'll be able to fool Midas all day long."
"Hey this…this is just for now!" David insisted, turning back to him with wide eyes, seeking clarification.
Finally, King George opened his mouth but wary as David was he couldn't imagine anything coming out of that man's mouth that would help this situation.
"Ah-h-h-h!" he hushed, waving a finger in the King's direction. "The boy is right. It is 'just for now' but…go with it, see where this path takes you. You never know where it might lead!"
"I know where it leads," David answered confidently. "Home."
There was a sudden shift in the air, a flicker of energy coming from King George as he looked David over but not as he had been before. He wasn't judging anymore, he'd made up his mind. "It seems you chose well in their infancy," George suddenly stated. "My son would never have been so ignorant of the gifts he was given. How remarkable…I see my son's face buried somewhere beneath that mane, I hear his voice somewhere in that arrogant attitude, but I do not recognize my son. He'll do. He's good for a cheap forgery, but he's nothing like him."
He could have reached out and murdered the King on the spot. Did he have any idea how to seal a deal? It would seem not!
"I'm sorry I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth," David snapped at the insult.
While he was at it, he might have killed David as well.
The pair stared at each other with a natural hatred he'd rarely seen, not even between Regina and Snow. It was hate born of bias and classism. David, raised in a poorly way, had grown up seeing the lush way the royals lived, taking their taxes and filling their halls with gold. He despised the King for everything he was. And the King, in turn, had grown up learning to have respect for politics and the mind games that the upper-class had to work through in order to get where they were and stay where they were. He despised what David was and thought little of him for not picking himself up out of the dirt he was born in. They were natural-born enemies. But enemies that needed each other, one far more than he realized.
"Well then!" he interrupted, stepping between the two. "I guess it'll be hard to get attached," he joked before taking another step forward and planting himself next to the King. "Have the soldier train him up, make him look pretty as your son, see that the dragon is slayed, and after you've made your deal with Midas you can announce that the good Prince James has been struck by the fatal Dragon Pox, an unfortunate side effect of being too close to our scaly friends. If he hears the boy was killed directly because of his encounter with his dragon, then I daresay the King will feel enough responsibility he'll give you all the money your country desires. David here goes home to his mother and his farm and you'll go back to ruling your country, and ne'er the two of you shall meet again! Can we all agree to those terms?"
He looked between the two men again. Though he'd been speaking to the King, he'd intended for David to hear him loud and clear as well. After a short moment of quiet, David finally shrugged. "I will if he will."
"I will if he will," George agreed.
"Good!" he inserted quickly. "I trust you'll take it from here, yes?"
"Yes," the soldier answered. "I'll take him, your Majesty," he inserted. That was when it dawned on him that the soldier was probably just as devoted to this idea working as he was. David accepting this deal assured him of his position and title going forward. That was probably why he treated him as if he was the Prince now. Reaching down to take his bag and ushering him quickly through the servant's halls so that he wouldn't be seen until his hair was cut and he was changed. With the pair of them gone, the temperature in the room dropped significantly. King George wasn't exactly his favorite person in the world to be alone with.
"You have my gratitude for the boy."
"Oh, if only your gratitude was worth weight!" he shrieked with a laugh. "It's not your gratitude I require, just…my price."
"Yes…her exact location is unknown as she tends to move around. But I've written down for you a list of her…clients, shall we say. She mostly caters to royalty though she has been known to slum on a few occasions. I hope it'll be most helpful."
He snatched the paper out of his hand and looked it over. This wasn't exactly what they had agreed to, not at all, but his price, in this case, was secondary. With as much as he had hanging on David, it wasn't as if he could take him back to the farm. It would have to do.
"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, pocketing the paper. "Enjoy your new son!"
This chapter exists because for the longest time I could have sworn we'd seen it. I had all the words, the scene in my head and it all sounded like something A&E would have written so I assumed it was actually part of the series. But I've watched all of George's scenes, I've watched all of David's flashbacks, and I've checked the deleted scenes and the scraps that we have from A&E's twitter accounts. I can't find any reference to a scene like this, which leads me to believe that I've just made it up. And at this point, I hope I've made it up because if one of you comes back and says "nope, it's right here, we've seen it, I'll send you the link" then I've obviously got some editing to do.
Thank you Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and Alarda for your reviews on the previous chapter. I know this chapter isn't one of the seen scenes, but I hope you'll like it either way. I felt it really sort of shows the early distaste George and David have for each other and how one step could lead to a big leap for them both. I had a lot of fun "channeling" King George, even if I was convinced for a time the words weren't mine. I enjoyed trying to show the pride he felt for James and giving him a reason to hate David even before he really has a reason to truly hate him. Peace and Happy Reading!