War Has Come While Night Hath Fallen over our Faire Kingdom Chapter 18, a dc superheroes fanfic

War Has Come While Night Hath Fallen Over Our Faire Kingdom –

Chapter 18: Gaining a Friend?

Warning for Stockholm/ Lima Syndrome use. Very Beauty and the Beast.

The Oakes doors were shuttered open as before the halls rushed a familiar face. "Father!" She wept into the folds of his furs and tunic piece. Her light silver hair and blue eyes dashed along with dotted tears, Richard saw her eyes in a very different light for the first time ever. "Our new….did the king return? Is this our home again, father?"

"Rosalie, my dear." Wintergrhen came waltzing round with a scroll or four under his arm. "Your tutor is waiting; you are not to run off. My King…the journey was not arduous for ye?"

"Never, and I have brought new members to our clan."

Wintergrhen squinted as he saw the shocked boy and…

"Such a face! You should be wise to stay and bare the needy one. It's not without custom here to have guests. You may think us tyrants, yet your lands are never eventful as you'll find in Defencia…"

He trailed off, leaving as quick as he did and bowing lightly to the current lord of the mountain keep. Slade looked to Selene as she shrugged and held her grip tightly to the boy prince. "Lordship, should your bride not see the fest of her home before long, sire?"

"Why rush." Slade sniffed moving as she did the same, dragging Richard wherever the king was to head to. "We have all season to become, close. Like a family should."

Richard never opened his mouth, not until they'd gone outside to the courtyard to find that it was laden with many spring time rose buds hoping to bloom. The king gripped one stem and plucked, the blood not leaking as an ordinary man; he had the goddess of Defencia's blessing after all. Handing it to his bride, Richard took the flower, only drop it on the way out into the streets of the small kingdom. Tents and a fortress. This was….

A war ground for training. Training young to fight.

Richard saw the boys running with wooden replica swords and shuddered. Death would take them? At such an age?

"Long ago, there was a great battle upon this mound. The lives were totaled to nearly the entire clan. It was not until the Queen, my mother made certain to bring the goddess if war an offering so great, that the city was again spared. People rejoined. Do you know what that offering was, dear Prince?"

"No." Richard ground his fists, not knowing if he should care. "I don't."

"It was my mortal soul. I am a messenger of her will. I cannot end my life unless she deems it so. My mother sacrificed her own son to be a warrior. To never lose the goddess's gift."

"A CURSE." Richard's blue eyes studied the king as they reach reached a tent for the king himself. "You, were never gifted life. But to suffer whilst still living. To never know pain or sorrow, while others simply vanish. That, is truly horrid."

"The goddess is mysterious." Countered the king. "Show some respect, and she may just keep your child strong. Your body, one day may make it to the bat's city once more."

"God's do not punish unfairly."

"GODS, are not to question. Quietly, now come."

Richard have up on his question. Yet, the king did seem to believe with his being that he wasn't so blessed. Even that resentment towards the old queen had to be deigned as a cover for his true feelings. That spiting her and living was all he was good for. Taking a boy bride to bed? Impregnation them by magic, this was….if not, was Defencia actually for his reasons?

The ones to decide the war plans today were a few seated. "Lord Cain. Lady Shrivastava."

The woman looked to wear a similar style of clothing as the one Cassandra has worn from the first day she was adopted. It was curious to see these souls among the other. Cain had a scar up his lip to his cheek and his eye was glassy to that same right side. Unlike the King, he still had it. Though nearly blind. A third was there, seated close by as she –

"Lady Paam!" Richard pointed as Selene giggled at the two. They exchanged such a fair amount to criticize the other. Paam cleared her throat and stood. "I came at your behest, my sire. You hath reason to summon?"

"Your work is still od value, sorceress." Slade told told the red headed poisons - master. "The Romani – ya boy is still whole." She sighed. "Very well. I shall do a thorough check to be sure –

"I don't need a doctor for…what is she doing freed of her sentence?"

"Richard…" Selene put a hand to the boy's cheek. "She's not our enemy right now. Make nice, will you?"

"I….She knows too much of my history. That is private knowledge!"

"Is it?" Paam tilted her head and smiled. "I thought you would like to preserve the blood of your people. There is no need to fear us. I am only here to continue that legacy. Wirlon has a desire to help reformulated the children of the Nygght Hauk. If this goes accordingly, ye shan't need Wayne any longer."

"That was not due to his blood, or mine…" Richard spat. "Family is not objectionable –

"Your brother seems cozy upon his soon to be throne, as well. I saw his smile. He even proposed to a lovely dragon rider. A princess." Sweetly, Paam looked enamored by the news as if to gossip. Richard growled at the witch, Selene pulling him back as Wirlon said nothing to the boy. He needed to Paam and she sat, continuing the previous talk of a battalion against the city of Starfeld.

Richard was dragged across the halls once more as Selene only stood by to see the king aggravated. Angry for being forced to revive his deep annoyance since the beginning. "You're not broken, speak to those of my council as if your life DEPENDS on it!" Richard was tossed through the door and onto what felt to be soft. "Stop! PAAM SAI –

"I AM YOUR KING, AND YOU WILL NOT TAKE BACK." The king dragged off the boy's breaches and shoved those aside. He then went to his top. All buttons flee as the thing was snapped. Back to the rest, the boy's crying, angry glare was annoying. He picked up the shouting mother as she hung her head over the king's shoulder. "LET ME DOWN!! I WON'T BE SUBJECT TO YOUR GAMES!! THE CHILD! AAGH!! LET ME –

"There." The king dropped the teen into a pile of foam. He had not realized that the royal baths had been set down the hall. That he'd kept his eyes shut to not tell past his burning gut. In the suds he plopped, the boy's hair matted to his neck as the king wrenched up the teenager's face to look him in that cold one eye.

"Your stay can be pleasant." He drifted on that last word. Richard sputtered up water as Slade dunked his head below with a single shove. Up, then put of the water, Richard shook. The cold in his bones melting back to reveal a raw truth. "Look at yourself. What pride can a bitch earn? You have none. Not without me. Your father is glad to be well again at all. You're a damsel no matter what you know. It is true. Soak." The king let go of the boy as he scooched away, wincing at the ache by his navel. "When the child is all but near, you'll wish my words had not been ignored. Being a child all just, yourself." Smirked the king as he left, locking the door while Selene found her way through the lock. From a measly worm, she transformed into a Luna moth and rested before changing again to that face of a cruel, black cat. "I see you are deserving of this." She mocked. "The bubbles do not tickle?"

"I….don't want to be here. He could break the curse. Killing the child will harm us both." The teen held himself round, arms tightly hugging his sides as the temperature of the water did not help. The cat washed its face and spoke telepathically. "He tried to serenade; can one single rose prove his worth as a father? You must decide."

"I'll decide nothing." Richard sneered. "That child….is an unfortunate in all of this….the vision. Of Jason…" Richard bit his lip, wondering to the cat. "Was it not true? False? Paam was there…yet could she be trying to make –

"You'll stay as part of the bargain. And, if all goes well with your little bundle, Wayne's empire may not seem so far off. Only if…" The yawning cat had Richard lean over to the side of the tub.

"If?? What is it you mean, if?" Richard asked. "What? Tell me, please –

"IF." The cat raised its tone. "If, your father does not hold his end and comes here, to begin a new war, little rose bud."

Richard was led from the bath with the intent to find out more about this castle. It was none similar to his home of a Gothic afterlife. Here, the mountain looked to have supplied a great deal of the walls' structure. The wooden doors were as any mountain. It was truly built to decay over time, but then why was it so new to look at? Not a dent nor a scratch in this very fabric. Rosalie was calling out as he saw her in her might dress and with a little cloth doll gripped between her fingers. It didn't look to belong to her though…

"This belonged to my brother." She puffed and put out the toy to a now clothed Prince Richard. "He would be best in your care, so you might become a healthier mommy. Will you not have it?"

Brother, as in the child Timothy had ended back ….

Richard reached out to take the child's toy. It looked hand made with care. Perhaps by the queen herself…he could never replace someone who would allow their child to…

"May I ask, Princess Rosalie."

The girl cocked her head as Richard continued, "What ever happened to your real mother? And your brother's, you are not all related. Is that true?"

Again. He was struck upon the same night. Rosalie was forced to bed to not see it as Slade didn't care. He was angry and let Richard only rely once the stick of wood had been put away to be cleared of any welt – blood. Afterwards, he did his best to use a special balm from the mother tree in the courtyard to heal the bride's back. "You should never have spoken. Sleep with that doll if you like…and maybe it may have more sense to keep you humble."

The king did not embrace his bride that night as he hugged the toy and thought about Rosalie. How he did hear her words. About her mother not being a queen, and about Grandl's mother being taken from them to drive the current king to do as he did. He was not always a monster, Richard was. He was once a mam, too.

Richard's leave had King Wayne pacing to decide on a reason; just one, as Alf cane before him no sooner. A whisper in the King's good ear had the ruler fuming. He stormed to the library to search over for one of his missing brood. "Timothy. " Bruce cane to the boy in a hurried rush. "Where is Stefania?"

"She…is out playing. Cassandra wished to learn how to swing from the trees. You'll punish me as well, right father?" The king fruffly huffed, not saying that he had a need to be like Wirlon. That beast had tempted not only Jason, but also Cassandra abd Stefania to lose their way. He stomped to the view of the forbidden forest. Footprints were found by his Dane dog, Titus.( using him.) His old favorite, Ace, had been buried long before, while Titus had been safe with Alf and young Damian had expressed such joy in the hunting dog's good companionship.

He wanted Richard to know that same love, so in his feet took him to find his children and pull them back from a world they could not possibly hope to fathom.

Stefania and Cassandra had come across an old hut made of leaves and twigs. There were old pages and burnt books on as littered the floor. Someone had come to bury their evidence if tampering. There had to be a way to turn their brother back in this witch's tree – hole. "Anything?"

"None , nay." Stefania grumbled and tossed a few leaves from over top a potions book. Badly charred, yet still able to be read from.

"Don't touch it!" Cassandra shouted, the book falling and the pages coming undone. "You should be done here." Panted Royland as he came through the broken door frame. "There is a hunter close by. We cannot stay."

"We can hide, can't we?"

Stefania's question was put on hold. Cassandra put her eat to the wall, then out the door. "Titus…. that is Titus! I'd know his bark anywhere, sister!"

Stefania gripped her lantern and took to the book on the floor. "Take that and we'll use the back. There is a passage below that leads to the dungeons of the castle."

"How do you know so?" Royland argued with the blonde princess. "I do, it us…. just a hunch. So, I won't be tried. Come on!"

They did as she ordered and lo! There WAS a hatch below the wooden grates of this hutch. The dog's barking grew in close as Cassandra was shoved in first. Royland, then Stefania as the door was rattled back. In they fell into the dark. The weeds were tough and uncared for. Stefania's scream was muffled by Roy and Cass as boots of a knight stepped over head the trio.

"This is …"

The one who had come here, as the three scurried off down the dark tunnels, was King Bruce. All on his own…

The young dragon that belonged to Kor'anna was barred in the horse stakes, and this made the future queen quite cross. She went to see her dear young- ling. It's bright sheen was dull, it's claws not as sharp and strong. She frowned, the face behind her coming along with a single flower in his gloved grip. "Kor' anna…."

"How could the king, how could anyone allow this cruelty…. you did not have the right!" She pointed at the man, who was indeed shorn by her expression of distrust in those emerald orbs. His own green did not sparkle. "That need not be the case." He promised her. "Whence father passes on the crown to …the next king in line, you shall have her back."

"You did nothing to confer this? He does not own the skies nor the seas! How can such a king –

She looked him in the eye and her own started to glow. A flower as if he had taken her family again from her. The flower fell from his grip as her hands gripped his chest and tore him closer. "I will NOT be tamed. I am the skies and the sun! You have only to regret this act and tell the king; tell him, for this is an offense on my world. To my heritage! The rights of all dragon tamers is untethered….To be bound to the earth always, is the very same as being enslaved!"

Timothy stayed in the library and waited for all to go silent. Duke was in the kitchen searching for Lady Barbenthal. While he….

Tim pulled out the map from between the folds of the book he had been casually flipping through. The sane map could create portals for one to pass through; Stefania had to be close according to the enchanted relic. He searched it to find her on the grounds of the decaying wood. His eyes looked harder still, pinpointing where as they looked to be below the muck. The….

"Found you." Tim raised the map and spoke the words as his key jangled at his throat to unlock its passage. Wirlon had stolen his toys, yet Wallace had done a deed far noble in returning it to the correct prince. Tim's strategist learning had also allowed them to take the smuggled body of the young Joel from sight and put it elsewhere. When Tim had his time to truly be in isolation, Wallace and he gathered what they could to overthrow the king. It was a secret plan, and Richard…had been a lovely distraction without knowing a thing.

Until now, back then he had only known when Tim had spoken of it briefly to the boy in the child's cell. He was afraid to believe that Tim could kill, yet his pause was not the only worry the younger prince held. Richard could bend and break as a fallen willows branches.

If he did that, if he really did do as he said he would….

King Bruce…. they'd have to slay the bat. His grief by then, would be insatiable. Tim tugged at the page as the last word was spoken and he went to lift the great rug in the center of the floor. Beneath it, a hand grabbed out in black and green moss. Tim hopped out of the way as the groaning Stefania had his eyes droop. "You scared the life from my body! What did you find?"

"Hide, this." Cass tossed the book to Tim as he caught it. "A potions chapter? Will this do anything to…you want me to find a way to replicate a reversal-

"Hush!" Royland tried to get Tim to listen as Stef ushered the others to take a new tunnel back to the closest bath. "Get clean…I'll see to these pages." Tim scratched his chin while Royland nodded back. "I'll see myself out then. My deed is paid."

Tim went to his room right away. Down the way, however, Katherine and Prince Duke were discussion some ideas for the new king's revival. That there should be laws in place to protect the people better. Tim put the muddy, leave covered spell book under his tunic and walked as fast as he could. "Meeting Cass and Stefania in the courtyard!" He called back, acting as childish as he was allowed. "Don't run! Alf will scold…." Duke frowned. He was already gone?

"Did he seem, busied by something?"

Katherine shrugged. "He is a prince with a brother who may take the throne by the next time Wayne deems himself unfit. We have only to hope that this won't change the younger siblings you have…for a different cause. They did after all aid in the rebellion."

"True." Duke nodded back, agreeing to a point. "Yet, he is naturally quiet, meek even? Why do I have an awful feeling in my gullet."

"Tis' nothing." Katherine told the younger son. "We must regard all of the Wayne line as their protectors from afar. Luke calls. I must be off." Her red hair breezed from before her shoulders as Duke bowed in thanks for their meeting.

Yet, he could not for dear life seem to shake that something new was about to happen overnight.

If not a night, then in less than a single year….

So, ending this one up to here. Richard is not protected as much by Selene and Paam is letting the whole punishing for bad behavior. Next will be…. bonding? Find out!!