I own nothing.
I present: Лебединое озеро- Spamano
Ships: Spamano, Germerica, one sided Spuk
Fem Spain-Isabel
Fem America-Abigail
Also, I am getting the names of the original work in the language off Wikipedia and google translate so if a native speaker sees something different than what I have gotten, please speak up. I don't want to think that I put 'Rapunzel' and wrote 'donkey' or something.
How does one begin a fairytale? Most begin with a 'once upon a time' or 'there was a little...' but not for this tale. This is by no means a fairytale. There is magic, yes and a beauty trapped in a magic spell along with a prince to save her. This is all very true however, there is nothing more true than the innocence of first love.
...
Romano was so incredibly board. He wanted out of this stuffy, suffocating castle and out into the wild. He could give up his royal life and live as a hermit among the turtles and the tomatoes.
Yes. He liked that idea very much.
"Hey Romano, I want to go hunting. Want to come?" He looked at his excited brother and was about to say no. Romano saw his grandfather the king walking in his direction and quickly agreed.
"Romano-"
"Nope. Going out hunting to spend quality bonding time with my little brother. Got no time for your shit about marriage. Fino a ventosa nonno."
Romano practically dragged Feliciano out of the castle by his ear.
Romeo looked up at his grandfather. "What does Romano mean by 'quality bonding time'?"
King Romulus picked up his youngest grandchild. "It means that Romano is so desperate to get out of talking about the future that he is willingly spending time doing things he normally would not do. Like going hunting when we both know that your brothers are the worst hunters in the world." He explained.
"Oh. So that means that Romano still likes me as much as Feli?" the little one asked.
"Yes. Roma loves you just as much as Feli. It just means that with Feli going out of the castle, he has a better chance of avoiding me and a big talk we need to have than if he stayed in the castle with you, my little Ravioli."
...
Damn it all to hell. First Feli tripped and fell and lost his arrows in river. They they got separated in these stupid woods and Romano had no idea where he was.
SMACK!
Romano rubbed his head where he got smacked by a tree branch.
"I hate the outdoors!" he shouted to no one in particular.
He stumbled and tripped until short shadows became long and the sun began to fade. The sound of swans made him think that this day was not a waste and followed the honking of swans to a grand lake in the middle of the Woods. It was grand in beauty but not in size and the setting sun made it seem other worldly to Romano. But only for a little bit.
Romano set his eye on a large dark brown swan in the middle of the lake.
The swan saw him and swan towards him.
'This will be easy!'
He docked the arrow.
The swan came closer.
He pulled back the drawstring, bringing it up to his chin.
The swan just looked at him with...hope? Pity? Acceptance?
Romano hesitated.
The sun went down and the swan stood up. As the swan stood, her feathers fell off her like a blanket and the beak like a mask. Her brown hair fell over shoulders like a waterfall and she wore an orange and red dress. Her green eyes bore into his amber ones. She was very pretty in the moonlight. But she looked so sad. Why did she look so sad? How could she look so sad?
Romano carefully released his grip on the bow's drawstring, not releasing the arrow, but not breaking his bow.
The woman tilted her head as she looked at him. When did she get closer to him? One minute she was at the edge of the lake and then she was in front of him. He didn't feel is bow in his hand. It was on the ground at his feet. When did he drop it? Why did time stop moving.
"Buenas noches handsome stranger." She said.
Romano let out a breath he had been holding.
"Are you the one?"
"T-the one what?"
"The one to free me from this curse and from him." She looked fearful as if saying anything related to 'Him' would summon this 'Him'.
"I honestly don't know. What is your curse?" He asked.
"Every day I am cursed to be a swan and every night, only by the moonlight on the lake do I turn back to a human." She explained. "The wizard Arthur wants me for his bride but since I refused him, he cursed me to this. Only the the love of a man pure of heart can release me from this curse. Oh how rude of me! My name is Isabel." She rambled.
"Romano."
Romano didn't know if he was pure of heart or if he could break this spell, but there was one thing that he knew with absolute certainty despite the craziness of it: he fell in love with this woman. He knew nothing about her besides the curse but there was plenty of time to get to know her later.
"Isabel I-"
There was a crash of thunder and a man in a green and silver cloak with a dark staff and a majestic eagle on his right arm appeared in a puff of smoke. His green eyes flashed with anger and his very fuzzy eyebrows were scrunched together making it look like he had a unibrow causing Romano to giggle in his head.
Isabel hid behind Romano and held on to his arm as if it were her lifeline. Romano unshiethed his sword with his right hand and used the arm that Isabel held to shield her from who he thought was Arthur.
"Izzy, I thought that when I came here that you would have come to your senses and agree to marry me. I didn't expect you to whore yourself to the first man that came your way.
Two swans, a golden one and a silver one, flew in between Isabel and Romano and honked at Arthur angrily.
"She's not my whore! She's a princess and deserves respect." Romano snapped.
"Renée and Julchen, I thought that I thought you better then to talk back." Arthur waved his hand and the two swans were turned into two women with golden and silver hair and he proceeded to use his magic to choke them.
"No!" Romano shook Isabel off and attacked Arthur but Arthur dodged. He let go of Renée and Julchen though Romano didn't see the eagle fly towards Isabel and fly away with her.
Romano was prepared to swing again when Arthur disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Merci, kind stranger." Renée choked out.
"Where did he take her?" Romano demanded.
"He won't hurt her, but who knows what Abigail will do to her." Julchen muttered bitterly.
"Who's Abigail?"
"His eagle. Well, technically his daughter. He keeps her on a leash just like us. She's a bird and could fly away but she'll never be free as long as Arthur is alive."
"Is there anyone not under his thumb?"
"No. Everyone in the wood is his bitch."
"Mon ami, do you love our Isabel?" Renée asked.
"With all my heart!"
"Then get her."
Arthur paced.
It was never any good when he paced. Abigail sat in her cage like a good bird and stayed quiet while she watched her father pace.
He raised her but she wouldn't call him father. Someone that took her from her mother and real father and turned them into bears because he could.
He stopped in front of her cage.
She prepared for what was going to come next. She was ready for the pain.
"I'm offended that you think I would hurt you. I'm your father, not a monster." Liar!
"Isabel loves that Prince more than she loves me. He is going to announce her as his bride to be tomorrow at his coronation and that will break the spell. You, my sweet," he opened the cage and she obediently perched herself on his arm for him to pet. "Will go in her stead. He will pledge his love to you, Isabel will die of a broken heart of which only I can fix, and you will have the freedom you so desire."
Abigail didn't dare allow herself to believe that he would set her free.
Arthur snapped his fingers and she was a human again. Trapped in the embrace of a monster but at least she was no longer a bird.
"Speak to me. You are no fun when you are mute." He commanded.
"Why? All this elaborate scheming and magic over one woman. Why?" Abigail regretted the question the minute she spoke.
Arthur slapped her and threw her against the wall so she was pinned with her arms behind her back. Abigail did not tear up or grunt in pain.
"I do this because of love which is something you will never understand."
"Understand what? How you want to force a woman to marry you? How you lust for her because she does not want to be yours? That is not love!" Abigail spat.
Arthur pulled her back and then slammed her body into the wall and threw her on the floor. She tried not to tremble but it was difficult to control yourself when one is on top of you.
"And what would you know of love? That sniveling weakling of a man would never loved you." Arthur hissed in her ear.
"Ludwig loved me!"
"Did he? I don't remember him putting up much of a fight when I killed him."
"You lie!" But her quivering voice betrayed her fear.
"Do I? For your lip, the minute you and Prince Romano are officially married, you will die within the week." Abigail froze.
Arthur snapped his fingers and she was back into an eagle and back into the cage.
"I don't get it. I feed you. I care for you. I give you anything that you could possibly desire and you still view me as a monster. You are nothing more than a child." Arthur left her with fear in her heart and her feathers bent.
As she cried and bent feathers fell, a swan pretending to sleep felt pity for the eagle.
...
King Romulus looked at his grandson in amazement. Romano was here willingly, granted he didn't dance with any of the lovely ladies, but he was here nonetheless. Romano told Feliciano something important and no matter how hard he tried to pry it out of his grandson, Feli just said that it would have to wait until tonight.
Well, it was tonight and no one was sharing anything.
This blows. Romulus was excited to have something to finally gossip about.
He watched his heir as he avoided dancing by having a conversation with his cousins. It must have been boring because he yawned ten times in the past five minutes.
Then there were gasps from his guests as a very lovely young lady in a dark red dress and dark brown hair entered the ball room. If Romulus was a few years younger, and still had his short hair, he would have been at her side in a minute.
To his shock, Romano was the first to get there. He seemed relieved that she was here and Romulus could not blame him, she was stunning. She however seemed a little tense. She tried to say something but Romano seemed to say something along the lines of "Come meet my awesome Grandfather!"
Romano lead the nervous lady to him and Romulus smiles at her.
"Grandfather, this is Isabel. I intend to marry her." Romano beamed at Isabel who seemed to be getting more and more nervous by the second.
"It is an honor to meet you, Lady Isabel."
Before he could say anything else, Romano pulled her out to dance.
"I am not Isabel. Keep smiling!" The fake Isabel hissed.
"What!?" Romano muttered through a fake smile.
"I'm a decoy! Isabel is alive. I made sure she was with Renée and Julchen before I came here. Do not proclaim your love for me!"
Romano dipped her.
"What happens if I do? I'd still be comfessing my love for Isabel."
"Not necessarily. Since I am here and Isabel is at the lake, you would be saying that you loved me for eternity."
They spun and waltzed on.
"And if you do that, she dies and my owner wins."
"Arthur is not your owner Abigail, is it? Tell me how to kill him and you will be free."
"He dies if either Isabel's curse is broken or she dies. Please break the curse!" As she begged, Romano saw flickers of dark blue peaking through Isabel's green ones.
"My kingdom, my heir Romano Lovino Vargas has chosen a queen. Romano, do love Lady Isabel? Will you love her for as long as you love?"
Romano felt his heart race. All eyes were on him.
"I will love Isabel until our dying day and forevermore." He said with grim sincerity.
The woman before Romano changed. Brown hair became blonde. Green eyes were a dark and sad blue. Tan skin turned pale from lack of light.
"Run! She's dying!" Abigail cried.
And Romano ran.
...
Renée could only watch as Isabel screamed and cried out for Romano. She was dying and there was no way to stop it. The only thing that she could do was hold her hand and cry.
Julchen held Isabel in her arms and sang a lullaby in German.
They could not stop the pain. She sweat and turned red and pale and ashen at the same time and oh how horrible it was.
"Isabel!"
Romano ran to his sweetheart and cried. Julchen allowed him to take her friend in his arms. "I swore my love to you and you still die on me." He joked but a tear rolled down his cheek.
"At least I saw you one last time." She gasped.
"You gave up your love for Isabel when you pledged your love to Abigail! Now, Isabel has a chance to live and she'll take it."
"Go to hell!" Isabel spat.
"I don't want to live without you. You die, I die." Romano picked her up and carried her like a groom with his bride and walked into the lake.
"NO!" Arthur tried to stop them but Julchen and Renée flung themselves at Arthur.
"I love you Isabel!"
They drowned in each other's arms.
...
In the middle of the woods, a bear turned into a human. His only thought was to find his dear Abigail.
Next: Beauty and the Beast-Rusame