A Dance with Destiny
Chapter Two: Infiltration
The day had finally come.
For fifteen years Prince Cosmos Butterfly had trained and prepared for this very moment—the moment where he would return home.
He had grown up in a wooden shack far from Mewman society, living amongst the monsters that populated Mewni. His mother and father had taught him how to live on his own, how to hunt his own food, how to care for himself, and how to be just. His guardian, Dooria, had taught him the ways of his people, and how to act, and what it meant to be a prince of Mewni.
She also taught him why he didn't live in the Butterfly Castle.
He wasn't wanted; he knew that. He had been cast out because his dear mother had believed him to be a threat to her kingdom. He intended to prove her wrong.
Don't get overconfident, the prince reminded himself. You still haven't even been inside the castle. He had ventured into a few of the smaller villages around Mewni, but he had never been inside the castle walls or caught a glimpse of his mother or father except in tapestries.
Then there was his sister.
Star Butterfly was her name, and the entire kingdom seemed to either despise or adore her. When she was fourteen she had inherited the wand, but had been sent to be fostered in a dimension called Earth.
He patted his blonde shoulder length hair and wondered, Does she look like me? He had already promised himself that if he ever got his hands on a pair of dimensional scissors then he would visit her.
Dooria found him outside, sitting on a rock near the lake, examinging his appearance in the water. His hair was honey-yellow, and his eyes were a light cerulean. The moons on his cheeks had faded from a light pink to a mute grey.
Dooria came around to face him. When he was younger, her face had been young and lively, but after fifteen years in the wilderness, she looked gaunt and old. Her hair was a light grey as opposed to the flowery yellow of her youth. Her eyes, though, her brown eyes still had that same spark of life that they had always had.
She crouched in front of him and cupped his cheeks with her hands. "What is your name?"
"Griff," the prince said automatically. He had nearly memorized his alter-ego, to the point that he could think and talk as Griff on command.
"Where are you from?"
"Squalor's Hook," he said. Squalor's Hook was a shanty town on the outskirts of Mewni's capital city and was known for its high crime rate and levels of poverty.
"How do you speak?"
"Like a Squalor." The prince's voice changed, instead adopting a Squalor's Hook accent.
Dooria nodded. "Good." She leaned in and kissed his forehead. "I fear for you."
Cosmos reached up and took hold of her hand, squeezing it. "You could come with me," he said, returning to his Mewman accent.
Dooria took his hand and kissed it lightly. "You know I can't. The palace was where I grew up; I would surely be recognized by the staff and queen if I were to return. Besides, you must make this journey on your own."
Cosmos nodded, keeping his tears at bay. "I understand."
Dooria sighed deeply. "It is almost time. Are you prepared to go?"
"Mm-hmm."
Dooria shook her head. "Not yet." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny bottle of black liquid. She uncapped the top and poured a smidge of it onto his hair. She reached in and began to spread the liquid around. Cosmos remained quiet, having gone through this before. After a few minutes Dooria took her arms back and let the prince examine his reflection in the lake—his hair was now jet black, a perfect cover for his normally yellow hair.
Then she took a bottle of cream and wiped it over his cheek marks, effectively concealing his identity. Griff stepped back and wrapped his arms around the old midwife, who hugged him back. After a long while, they stepped back.
"You should go," Dooria said, wiping a tear from her eye.
Griff nodded and turned away, not looking back. If I look back, I'll never leave.
His mother and father were waiting for him, along with his five sisters. The eldest was Lania, who had a lithe frame and bat wings. She was essentially a copy of Mother. The second oldest was Lyan, who had stag antlers and claws and grey skin. The middle child was Ogora, who had one eye and was the tallest child. The fourth one was Megarra, who had wings and antlers. The youngest was Pletinia, who had wings and claws. All of them were crying.
Mother wrapped her arms around Griff and hugged him tight. "Oh, my little prince."
"Calm, Mother," the prince said, "I am only going away for a short time."
"Promise me you'll stay safe," said Mother.
"I promise," Griff said.
"Keep safe," Brutus said, placing a massive clawed hand on his son's shoulder.
"I will."
The girls each gave a teary farewell, each forcing him to promise that he would be safe, that he would return soon, and that he would make them all princesses when he became a king. I don't even know if I'll survive this journey, Griff thought, much less become king.
At midday, Griff, Lania, Ogora set off for Castle Butterfly. The journey took nearly three days, but eventually they reached their goal: the forest outside of Mewni's capital city.
"The king's coming!" Lania shouted from high above them.
"How close?" Griff called. The king was known to hunt in the same area every fortnight, and it was a simple task to calculate when he would venture out again.
"Close enough!" she called.
Griff turned to Ogora and said, "Now."
Ogora nodded and let out a massive shriek that would've made the strongest men turn to jelly. Griff pulled out his swords and began to shriek. "Help!" he called. "Help!"
"Hello?" came a voice.
Griff slashed wildly at Ogora but left enough space so that he didn't hurt her. Ogora yelled again and smashed her massive fists on the ground, shaking it. Ogora roared, so loud that birds fled from the tops of the trees, hundreds of stories above them.
"Hi-ya, monster!" cried a fat blonde man in a grassy loincloth. The man threw a spear at Ogora, who rolled to the side, avoiding the spearpoint. "Die!"
Ogora gave a final shriek and fled. "Follow her!" said the man in the loincloth. A few knights in royal steel armor and blue cloth with a yellow five-pointed star on the chest.
"Are you alright, son?" the man asked. He had blue eyes and a long beard spattered with mud.
My father. "Oh, thank you, sire!" Griff cried, throwing himself at the king's feet. The sound of metal flying through the air surrounded him, as half a dozen spears were pointed at him. The king held up his hand. "Now, now, that won't be necessary." He turned to Griff. "What's your name, boy?"
Cosmos. "Griff, Your Grace,"
"What are you doing way out here, Griff?"
I'm here to reunite with my family. "M-My family and I got lost on our way from the capital."
"And where are they?"
"They…they…" Griff made himself cry, covering his eyes with his hands. "
The king seemed to understand. "Oh." He glanced around nervously, until he said, "Uh, listen, why don't you come back with us?"
Griff looked up hopefully. "Really?"
"Are you sure that's safe, sire?" asked one of the knights. "He could be a bandit."
"Come now, Sir Vardis, can't you see this child has just lost his parents? I say we take him back to the castle and let him join the staff." The king massaged his beard. "Yes…I'll make him my royal cupbearer!"
"Oh thank you, Your Majesty!" Griff said, falling to his knees and bowing before the king's feet. He would've kissed them, but there was mud between the king's toes. Ew.
King River laughed merrily. "Come, come, let's get you some food and a change of fresh clothes. Guards, ride ahead and tell the Knight of the Wash to prepare some new linens for my newest cupbearer."
"Yes, Your Majesty," they said, mounting their horses and galloping off into the woods.
The king put his arm on Griff's shoulder. "Come along, boy, we have quite the journey ahead of us."
A few hours later, Griff and the king were riding through the streets of Mewni's capital on white horses as fast as they were beautiful. Around then, seven guards in white plate armor with white cloaks rode with them—the Queensguard, escorting their king to his castle.
As the massive gates opened, Griff couldn't help but gasp in wonder as the massive castle seemed to stretch higher than the mountains and scrape the sky.
River laughed. "Impressive, isn't it?"
Griff nodded. "It certainly is, My King."
I'm home.
A/N: So what did you guys think? Next chapter we'll see Griff (Cosmos) meet Queen Moon, as well as a few of the other knights and squires around the castle. Also, River adopting Griff as his cupbearer is basically him taking him in as a squire, so they'll be spending a lot of time together.
If you like where this story is going then please favorite and follow so you can be alerted to when I update, which should be happening either weekly or biweekly; the only reason this is coming out today is because it was intended to be part of Chapter One, but I decided to break them in two.
Finally, please leave a review because it helps motivate me to write more and honestly just makes my day, so help me out.
Bye!