Daring winced and held as stiffly as possible to avoid showing any other physical signs of weakness as his father began to verbally abuse him. The name calling was a little uncalled for, Daring believed, but he was in no position tone requesting decency and respect from his highly enraged father.

The king stormed forward and grasped him by the collar suddenly and then commanded, "You will put an end to this foolishness, and restore our family reputation, or you'll be sorry! Do you understand me?" He dropped him back down and then stood back, crossing his arms, unimpressed.

Daring scoffed suddenly, "What do you mean 'I'll be sorry'? What are you going to do?" He demanded to know, images of Cerise flying past his mind in a panic that he disguised with fury.

The king bellowed out, "THAT IS FOR ME TO KNOW AND YOU TO FIND OUT, YOUNG MAN!" He advanced towards him and finally, Daring gave in to his urge to cower as he stood over him.

They had been in the middle of a heated argument for at least a good hour now, and the king had abandoned diplomacy about 45 minutes ago.

He grabbed the young prince by the collar and then suddenly a little broach caught his eye. He stared at the little silver ornament and then grinned, plucking it from his sons clothing.

"No! Stop! Give that back!" Daring cried, trying to snatch it from him, but his father clasped it in his hand and held it away from him.

"Oh, well well, Miss Riding Hood used to wear a broach just like this one. I wonder..." He pondered sarcastically, "how did my son end up with such a personal treasure of hers?" He tapped his foot, stroking his beard in mock thought.

Daring latched onto him and tried to reach up as high as he could to pry it from him,but was forcefully tossed aside, landing on his back.

The king kicked his side and then hollered, "Oh, don't be so rough, son, you might break it!" He said, as he held it between his fingers.

SNAP.

The little metal pieces fell to the floor and were kicked aside. Darings heart was, more or less, currently in the same exact condition as he screamed and scattered to gather up the pieces of it, tears streaming down his face. He had known much humiliation throughout the past long days at school, but this was just too much.

"Cerise..." He breathed, holding the broken pieces of her family broach to his heart.

"Forget about her." His father spat. "I'm going to advance the date of your marriage to Apple White to be held next year upon your graduation. I trust she has a villain by now that can be relied on, so let's just get this nonsense over with."

With that he stormed off to the other side of the room, ready to summon Dexter to get his own emotional bashing.

Daring glared at him through hurt and broken eyes as his father made his way, off to abuse his poor brother, in most likely the same or an even crueller way.

He didn't know what exactly had overcome him be it some animalistic urge, or too much exposure to Huntress-Cerise-Mode, but for whatever reason, something snapped in him.

Scrambling up to his feet, he dropped the broach and then ran, he ran like a wild animal, and he latched into his father from behind, pulling his down and fighting him, unable to contain his hurt and rage.

With just a call to the guards however, the raging prince was tackled and subdued.

"Take him to the DUNGEONS! I've had it with you!" He growled.

The guards dragged him off as the king began to converse quietly with one specific servant, whilst making the occasional glance towards him. He didn't care if they locked him up now. He was just so fed up with this life...he'd find a way out though. Maybe he just needed alone time to clear his head.

XxXxXxX

Cerise sighed, her plans to break it to her parents having gone two separate wash. Her dad was mad, big shock, and her mother was utterly pleased.

Her mother began to chirp away excitedly about how her precious daughter was going to be a 'princess' and how romantic it must be, whereas her dad was muttering profanities and other prejudice nonsense under his breath.

"Are you sure you really want to pledge your loyalty to him? He's a guy who could have any girl he wanted! What if he grows tired of you?" He interjected.

Red smacked his shoulder and chided him, "Hush up you big bad bummer! Prince Charmings are known to be pious and honest! I have a very good feeling about this!"

He growled in disagreement.

Clawdeen nudged Cerise after she left the room to clear her head, "So did it go well?" She asked.

They both turned to look at her parents and then she smiled, "I think...actually...maybe this was going to be easier than I thought. I can't wait to tell daring about this! He will be so relieved!"

Clawdeen chuckled and then asked, "what, that your parents are okay with it, or that you mom just forced your dad to promise not to eat him?"

They both laughed knowing this was going to be a good break, and Cerise couldn't wait to see him again.

XxXxXxX

In the cold and dark dungeon, Daring lay across the floor, staring at the starry sky from the barred window above. He was almost ready to fall asleep, when FINALLY someone came with food to the cell.

It was his mother, who looked like she had a heavy heart.

She didn't speak until finally daring made his way to the food. She began to weep a little and then knelt to the floor. Daring put down the food and then reached through the bars to comfort her, but she flinched instead sending shots of pain into his heart.

She regained composure and then held him.

"My Daring. I love you, please, never forget that." She cried into his ear.

"I love you too mom. I'm so sorry. I just can't deny what my heart wants." He replied.

She slowly tore herself away and then stood. "We're doing this for your own good." She said before leaving, still upset. Still crying.

He didn't know what to do, but he was very hungry. He sighed at the Castleteria quality of the food, and then rolling his eyes, he began to eat furiously, feeling as though he'd been starved for a week.

He practically licked the platter clean, when a horrible gut wrenching pain invaded his stomach and he dropped to the ground, nearly unable to breathe. The room began to spin and he felt horribly hot all over, as he convulsed on the floor of his cell.

He thought he had been poisoned, or maybe it was a spell, but whatever it was, HE WAS DYING he was sure of it!

"No! You bastard...using my mother to..." He sobbed, realising what had just happened. His father knew he would never change, and so he decided to get rid of him. But it was the fact that his mother was in on it that hurt the most. Once she too was just a peasant girl, who fell in love with a prince. How could she judge him?

"Mom...momma, why? Why?" He sobbed, completely beside himself. His voice grew deeper and raspy in a way he didn't recognise and his vision dulled suddenly. He crawled to the corner of the cell. Some footsteps rushed down the halls, and the last thing he remember was hearing someone call out, "In the fifth cell! The queen says there's a horrific monster in there! Get it out of here! Kings orders!"

~to be continued

Soooooo... Yep. I pulled a 'We, the Spiritless' on you guys! For those of you who read my Frozen stuff you'll know what I mean by that ;)