Chapter 1: A Tin Man is Born

For as long as he remembered, Ethan had wanted to be like his father. Sure, he might be hospitalized now, but back when he'd been a little boy, his father cut an impressive figure. He was tall, with a broad back and thick shoulders. They lived in the Enchanted Forest, (Not the Enchanted Forest by the Hoods, no - but the Enchanted Forrest by the Pigs and the Wolves - hey, it was a large Forest!) and while they lived on the far corner of the village, practically surrounded by plants and not a person in sight, they were happy.

His father would begin every day the same way; by taking his trusty saber and going into the forest. He wasn't there to pet animals - he was out there to hunt. Ethan would often wake up earlier than his father, just so he could see the transformation; the young boy's eye gaining a glint of magic as he saw his caretaker turn from his lame old dad to the Mighty Tin Soldier from the Fairy Tale! The Fairy Tale he'd initially thought was old rubbish, but was told so many times he could recite it end-to-end.

The Fairy Tale that his father starred in! At the ripe old age of 7, Ethan began to believe that the Fairy Tale didn't do his Father any justice - he wasn't just steadfast or brave. He was the coolest man alive. Ethan had always wished he could be just like this father. No, even half as much as a man would be enough.

So who could've ever foreseen that his hopes would be dashed so soon?

While the current Ethan was very habitual, he didn't use to be. He'd learned his lesson very young, and it was a lesson that scarred him for life. Living in an overly fluffy, magical forest of all things, it was easy to forget that not every aspect of the Fairy Tale World was all sunshine and meadows.

If he squinted, he could remember bits and pieces.

It happened a week after New Chapter Day. He'd remembered, because they had celebrated by going into town. There, he'd seen other children - and a strange sense of want pooled in his heart. He wanted to speak to them. What would they be like? Would they be like him? Or stoic and brave like his father? He had never met anybody else in his whole life. Village visits happened once a year, and he didn't always go with his father.

This was new to the little tin soldier.

Suddenly, he could feel a stare in the back of his neck. He looked behind him, but there was no one. Who was staring at him?

'Ethan', his father drawled. Ethan's attention snapped back in place, eyes regarding his father again. 'I'm going inside that store. Come.'

While he would normally love to accompany his father, this time, he felt himself wavering. He wanted to figure out who had been looking at him and his father. And he wouldn't find out by staying glued to his father's side.

Nervous, he felt his mouth move before he permitted it, 'Dad...is it alright, if I stay outside instead?'

Sweat pooled at the base of his neck. He hated to complicate his father's tasks, but...

He couldn't help it. He was intrigued.

His father's hood covered his whole stature, but as soon as he finished saying that, it swayed. He was laughing. 'Sure. It's boring by Dad's side, isn't it? Go and make some friends.'

His eyes moved towards the gaggle of children down the street. They hadn't noticed him yet.

Ethan's face reddened. 'It's not like that,' he found himself muttering.

His father chuckled, 'Alright. You know, it's funny,' he began. His palm found Ethan's head as he patted it gently. 'I was starting to think you hated being away from me. Just be back before I leave,' he said as he turned and left.

The New Chapter Day's ornaments cloaked the humble village in beautiful shades of blue and white.

He started to look for anybody suspicious. His feet led him towards a store two streets down, the beauty of the Village Festival sporadically stealing his attention away from his purpose. No, he thought, pushing his cheeks with his hands. He was on a mission! No time for distractions!

At some point, he had walked the whole Festival grounds without finding a single clue, and he felt like he had been mistaken all along. Suddenly, as he walked by an alleyway, he heard a commotion.

A young boy surrounded by a bunch of children...and they didn't seem all that nice.

'Where's my necklace? I bet you stole it,' a girl accused. She had short, white hair with streaks of green. Eyes like the first dews of rain, grey and cloudy. Her clothes were perfectly curated to match the New Chapter Day's Festival. In fact, her dress looked so glamorous that she looked out of place at a simple village festival. One would think she was a princess! Either she was one and was bad at hiding it, or she was just really wealthy.

'No,' the boy answered meekly. 'I didn't take it, and you know that...why do you keep doing this to me?' Small pools of tears escaped his eyes, which only seemed to aggravate the girl further.

'This! This is why,' she boomed, snatching his arm and pulling him up from the floor. 'Do you think I didn't notice? You always act like I did something to you. Making me feel like the bad guy. Can't you just go away?' the other children surrounding her giggled.

Admittedly, there were only 3 others, but - that didn't matter. It still clearly hurt the boy's feelings - by the way he continued to sob.

Ethan hated seeing this. He didn't know them, so it felt odd for him to interfere - but something about this felt so wrong. He felt like he didn't understand...and even if he did, he wouldn't like it.

If his earlier gut feeling had clued him in, the next words really clinched it: 'Stop it, Alba! What did I ever do to you to deserve this? We're cousins. I know...I annoy you, but - I don't mean to! And, I can't stop annoying you if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong!' the boy screamed at his tormentors. You could tell me he had held that inside for a while. There was a shift in the air, and suddenly, her face changed into a scowl.

'You don't know? Don't make me laugh. Of course you do,' she sneered. 'You stole my Destiny. Do you think I'm just going to roll over and let you take it from me? No chance,' she spat, letting go of him like he was a contagious disease.

'If you feel bad, give me back my Destiny. Go out into the Forest and never come back!' she huffed before leaving.

Ethan, realizing he had been drenched in shock for too long, tried to step back, but the girl's eyes locked with his.

Um...

Awful as she might be, her eyes were really expressive. As they stood there, taut from surprise, they regarded each other - he with judgment in his eyes, and her with pure shock. They stood there for a while. Then something broke the spell; and suddenly he was air, insignificant and intangible. She moved on, shoving her shoulder against his. His eyes widened, as his eyes followed her out, shocked by her audacity. He didn't even know how to think about her...why, she was possibly the rudest person he'd ever met!

Rustling from the alleyway made him remember the boy. 'Hey,' the boy asked, 'You aren't from here, are you?' he tried to move but found he couldn't.

Ethan ran to his side and hoisted him up, laying his non-injured arm on his shoulders. 'I'm not. I'm Ethan,' Ethan introduced. The boy looked up, smiling through a split lip and a tear-stained face. 'My name is Blane Duckling.'

There was a pregnant pause.

Then, the boy said: 'I'm sorry...you had to see that.'

Ethan shrugged as he continued to carry the boy. 'Yeah, me too. '

The boy started to ramble. 'It's not always like this,' he began.

'I'm not always this much of a mess. It's, I'm - She's usually nicer - not by much, but still - and I think it might be because Nonno Duckling chose me to accompany him to the Enchanted Lands.'

'Okay?' was all that Ethan could think. He had information overload.

'Enchanted Lands? What kind of nonsense was that?'

'It's a place the adults go to decide who in their Family Line gets the Family Destiny', Blane explained further. 'Only in extreme cases, though. Or when families fight too much, like mine.'

'But Alba's overreacting. She always does. She's always loved stories of princesses and their vast kingdoms and all that stuff - so she's really protective when it comes to the Family Destiny. Really, she has nothing to worry about! Nonno only wants me there to take care of him.' The boy ended with a self-deprecating smile. Ethan could tell he wasn't...all there. Like he was hiding something worse.

Ethan had, by this point, dragged the boy to a stump by the square of the village Festival. His arms were tired, and he found that the more Blane talked, the less he understood him.

'Blane, I have to ask,' he began. Blane tore his eyes away from the ground to him. Ethan's brows furrowed, 'What does your Family Destiny - and who gets to be whoever - have to do with that girl bullying you? She's a right monster,' Ethan spat, and before Blane could get a word in, he said: 'You could be Blane the Fateless. She still can't treat you that way!'

Blane's eyes looked like balloons the way they grew. And try as he might, he couldn't stop the way the corners of his lips would rise.

Deeply confused, the poor boy tripped over his own words. He exhaled a shaky laugh, before saying: 'Ah - but, you don't understand - she's older - and she's not normally like that -'

Ethan scoffed. 'So? Just because she's older, she can do whatever? How old are you?

Blane was confused by the conversation change: '8, why?'

'Say I was 9. Does that mean I can treat you however I please? It's one year, Blane. It doesn't mean anything.'

'But Nonna said-'

'She's your Nonna, not mine. I don't wanna hear it!'

'But-'
'No!'
'But-!'
'NONONONO-'

They continued like that for a while, until one of them started to giggle, and the other followed. It was, after all, all rather silly.

Blane looked at Ethan, looking at him like he was a very odd mystery. 'I have never met anybody like you,' he said, mystified. 'Do you always say things like that? Do you never care about what other people will say?'

Ethan gathered himself from the ground, dusting himself off. 'No, that's stupid. I've only ever met my Dad, and he's worse than me! I think you're very nice, Blane - but some people don't deserve that. Like her.' His lips curled into a frown. Figures - the first time he makes a friend, and he can't even help him out right! It bothered him.

'Anyway, I've always lived in the Enchanted Forest with my Father. Oh, there he is!'

He was right. His father was there, cloaked in his long hooded cloak, a deep red. He swept across the Village grounds before he stopped abruptly. He turned to his son.

'Ethan,' he called. 'We leave in five minutes. Say goodbye to your friend.'

Blane looked horrified at the scary figure. Ethan nodded, before turning to Blane, 'Well, goodbye Blane! Give your cousin a few smacks from me,' he added for fun.

Blane looked even more horrified. 'And if you can't,' Ethan added, 'Then just tell her her clothes look super gaudy.'

Blane's head tilted in confusion. 'What does that mean?'

Ethan's eyes darted around, before saying, 'Oh! It means, uh, really fashionable?'

Blane's confusion turned into happiness. 'So you did like her! I'll tell her,' Blane ended with a smile.

Ethan couldn't tell if Blane was just super nice or very forgiving...but it did make it hard to leave. He wanted to tell Alba off for Blane's sake, but he had to go. There wasn't any time, and he felt regretful for staring blankly when he saw Blane being bullied.

He should've done something!

Oh, well - hopefully that comment would make her boil over. Imagining it, he giggled a little to himself.

'Bye, Blane - oh, that's right. What was your Family Destiny again?' He asked, curious despite himself. Did his family hail from Giants? From princes, from wizards? What destiny could make Alba act out like that? Or was she just always a pain?

Blane regarded him with confusion. 'Oh, that's right, I didn't say! Our Family Destiny is really sporadic and not lineal like most others,' he said. 'It can move to any of my family members according to who is most like the main character in the Fairy Tale,' he explained.'

Ethan grew impatient. 'Oh, just say it already! I'm full of anticipation already,' Ethan grumbled.

Blane laughed, 'It's really rather obvious. Didn't you see Alba's dress? It's the tale of the Ugly Duckling.'

Ethan's eyes widened. 'Ugly Duckling? Really?'

Blane laughed. 'Well, it's not like I'll get it, will I? I'm perfectly fine living fateless.'

[Female Narrator: I don't doubt that. Sheesh, talk about being uninterested in the Fates!
[Male Narrator: Thankfully, that isn't up to young Blane - and he'll have his Ever After soon enough.
[Female Narrator: Yes - an Ugly Duckling is born.