[fic] tsubasa, "fairytale"
Jan. 29th, 2008 02:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
TITLE: Fairytale
CHARACTERS: Kurogane/Fai
NOTES: All credit for inspiration goes to Frank Stockton and his short story "The Lady or the Tiger?".
SUMMARY: Fai is a prince. Kurogane is not a princess.
FAIRYTALE
It's an ancient land, a stone land, filled with towering monuments to wise rulers. It's a hot land, a harsh land, a bright land.
There's a prince.
(Isn't there always a prince?)
There is a prince, and there is a princess. The prince is a glorious creature, valiant in battle, kind in temper, elegant in bearing. He is everything a prince should be: loyal, proud, thoughtful, joyous, with laughter like the wind and eyes like the sky. There is a princess: fair beyond description, with locks of chestnut and skin like snow and a touch more gentle than a drop of rain falling on a single flower. The prince and the princess have been betrothed since birth.
The prince is named Fai.
The princess is almost entirely inconsequential to this story.
(If you want a happy ending, look elsewhere.)
-
The prince and the princess meet perhaps once a month, to discuss matters of state. There is peace between their countries, and so often their meetings go like this:
"Thank you, Princess, for the gift of exotic fruit last month. The pomegranate was delicious!"
"Of course! I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Or like this:
"I would like, though, for the import tax on our cloth to be lower."
"It shall be as my princess wishes, then."
What makes this worse is that the prince and the princess are friends.
-
In the light of the day, that's how things are.
At night -
At night a shadow slips into the prince's chambers. Less than a shadow, even: a though, a whisper, darkness itself slips into the prince's chambers, and the prince is waiting.
The less-than-shadow might have red eyes and dark hair. It might be a soldier in the prince's service. It might even be the prince's personal bodyguard.
The less-than-shadow might be named Kurogane.
-
The princess isn't entirely faithful herself, although her betrayal isn't quite so brazen. There's a childhood friend, the son of one of her advisers. His name is Syaoran, and he has never spoken a single word to the princess, nor she to him.
But oh! How they yearn.
-
The prince turned thirteen; the queen assigned him a guard. It started out innocently enough.
"Take Kurogane," the queen said. "He's your age, but he's as strong a fighter as any officer in my army."
"Thank you, Mother!" Fai said, and smiled, and bowed handsomely. Two years later, he kissed Kurogane on the mouth.
Three years later, he took him to bed.
Now he takes him to bed every night.
"We can't," Kurogane says. "You're already betrothed," Kurogane says. "You're a prince," Kurogane says, and turns his face away; but the next night he comes back, and the next, and the next.
"I'm just a guard," Kurogane says, and Fai draws him closer.
They love each other, you see.
-
Eventually, when both the prince and princess are of an age, they marry. People from all across the land pinch and save and finally scrape together enough money to travel to the capital. They are not disappointed: the wedding is a lavish spectacle, the festivities exhilarating, the castle decorations ornate and the food rarity itself.
The prince and the princess smile through the whole ceremony. At the end, he kisses her neatly on the cheek.
They spend their wedding night in separate rooms with different people.
-
Life could have continued the same way, of course. Oh, eventually people would have wondered why there wasn't an heir, or some late-night worker might have noticed a shadow slipping into the prince's room, or the princess and her adviser's son (now an adviser himself) might have raised questions with the casualness of their touches.
Things could have continued the same way -
Except the queen finds out.
-
She is a good queen, a just queen, but there is in her a streak of cruelty. When she finds out about the prince and his guard, she locks the guard away for three days and three nights while she broods on her son's adultery. On the morning of the fourth day, she orders invitations to be sent across the land. "In three more days," she says, "tell the people to come to the arena at the center of our capital city. Tell them there will be a great spectacle. Tell them - " she says, and smiles a smile that her own son wouldn't recognize. "Tell them there will be blood."
-
So here it stands, on the seventh day: in the area below stands the guard Kurogane. He is unarmed and unable to escape from the arena's pit. Before him are two doors.
In the stands above sit the queen and her son. The queen rises; she speaks.
"My son," she says, and the crowd quiets. "My son has broken the law, and for that he will be punished. A just ruler is subject to the law; he is not above the law. My son will be punished.
"Below you see his lover: a mere castle guard. Before this mere guard are two doors. Behind one door is a tiger, a proven man-eater, who has not been fed for two days. Behind the other door is a beautiful woman, one of my own handmaidens. If this guard opens the door to the tiger, he will surely die; if he opens the door to the lady, he must marry her and leave this land. He must open one door.
"Only my son knows which door leads to the lady and which to the tiger," says the queen, and the crowd roars. "So," she says, and only the prince hears her words.
"So, my son - choose."
-
In the end, what comes out of that open door is really a matter of the prince's character. Is he the sort of man who would rather have his lover taken from him, or is he the sort of man who would succumb to jealousy and choose the tiger? Will he take a chance on his lover's fighting skills? In one hand he holds death; in the other, betrayal. Which would Kurogane have him pick?
He chooses.
-
The right-hand door, he mouths, and then louder, "The right-hand door!" Kurogane's eyes are trained on him, two crimson points against a washed-out world. Slowly, Kurogane nods.
He turns.
He opens the right-hand door.
He steps back, and out comes -
(I'll leave it to you:)
The lady, or the tiger?
CHARACTERS: Kurogane/Fai
NOTES: All credit for inspiration goes to Frank Stockton and his short story "The Lady or the Tiger?".
SUMMARY: Fai is a prince. Kurogane is not a princess.
FAIRYTALE
It's an ancient land, a stone land, filled with towering monuments to wise rulers. It's a hot land, a harsh land, a bright land.
There's a prince.
(Isn't there always a prince?)
There is a prince, and there is a princess. The prince is a glorious creature, valiant in battle, kind in temper, elegant in bearing. He is everything a prince should be: loyal, proud, thoughtful, joyous, with laughter like the wind and eyes like the sky. There is a princess: fair beyond description, with locks of chestnut and skin like snow and a touch more gentle than a drop of rain falling on a single flower. The prince and the princess have been betrothed since birth.
The prince is named Fai.
The princess is almost entirely inconsequential to this story.
(If you want a happy ending, look elsewhere.)
-
The prince and the princess meet perhaps once a month, to discuss matters of state. There is peace between their countries, and so often their meetings go like this:
"Thank you, Princess, for the gift of exotic fruit last month. The pomegranate was delicious!"
"Of course! I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Or like this:
"I would like, though, for the import tax on our cloth to be lower."
"It shall be as my princess wishes, then."
What makes this worse is that the prince and the princess are friends.
-
In the light of the day, that's how things are.
At night -
At night a shadow slips into the prince's chambers. Less than a shadow, even: a though, a whisper, darkness itself slips into the prince's chambers, and the prince is waiting.
The less-than-shadow might have red eyes and dark hair. It might be a soldier in the prince's service. It might even be the prince's personal bodyguard.
The less-than-shadow might be named Kurogane.
-
The princess isn't entirely faithful herself, although her betrayal isn't quite so brazen. There's a childhood friend, the son of one of her advisers. His name is Syaoran, and he has never spoken a single word to the princess, nor she to him.
But oh! How they yearn.
-
The prince turned thirteen; the queen assigned him a guard. It started out innocently enough.
"Take Kurogane," the queen said. "He's your age, but he's as strong a fighter as any officer in my army."
"Thank you, Mother!" Fai said, and smiled, and bowed handsomely. Two years later, he kissed Kurogane on the mouth.
Three years later, he took him to bed.
Now he takes him to bed every night.
"We can't," Kurogane says. "You're already betrothed," Kurogane says. "You're a prince," Kurogane says, and turns his face away; but the next night he comes back, and the next, and the next.
"I'm just a guard," Kurogane says, and Fai draws him closer.
They love each other, you see.
-
Eventually, when both the prince and princess are of an age, they marry. People from all across the land pinch and save and finally scrape together enough money to travel to the capital. They are not disappointed: the wedding is a lavish spectacle, the festivities exhilarating, the castle decorations ornate and the food rarity itself.
The prince and the princess smile through the whole ceremony. At the end, he kisses her neatly on the cheek.
They spend their wedding night in separate rooms with different people.
-
Life could have continued the same way, of course. Oh, eventually people would have wondered why there wasn't an heir, or some late-night worker might have noticed a shadow slipping into the prince's room, or the princess and her adviser's son (now an adviser himself) might have raised questions with the casualness of their touches.
Things could have continued the same way -
Except the queen finds out.
-
She is a good queen, a just queen, but there is in her a streak of cruelty. When she finds out about the prince and his guard, she locks the guard away for three days and three nights while she broods on her son's adultery. On the morning of the fourth day, she orders invitations to be sent across the land. "In three more days," she says, "tell the people to come to the arena at the center of our capital city. Tell them there will be a great spectacle. Tell them - " she says, and smiles a smile that her own son wouldn't recognize. "Tell them there will be blood."
-
So here it stands, on the seventh day: in the area below stands the guard Kurogane. He is unarmed and unable to escape from the arena's pit. Before him are two doors.
In the stands above sit the queen and her son. The queen rises; she speaks.
"My son," she says, and the crowd quiets. "My son has broken the law, and for that he will be punished. A just ruler is subject to the law; he is not above the law. My son will be punished.
"Below you see his lover: a mere castle guard. Before this mere guard are two doors. Behind one door is a tiger, a proven man-eater, who has not been fed for two days. Behind the other door is a beautiful woman, one of my own handmaidens. If this guard opens the door to the tiger, he will surely die; if he opens the door to the lady, he must marry her and leave this land. He must open one door.
"Only my son knows which door leads to the lady and which to the tiger," says the queen, and the crowd roars. "So," she says, and only the prince hears her words.
"So, my son - choose."
-
In the end, what comes out of that open door is really a matter of the prince's character. Is he the sort of man who would rather have his lover taken from him, or is he the sort of man who would succumb to jealousy and choose the tiger? Will he take a chance on his lover's fighting skills? In one hand he holds death; in the other, betrayal. Which would Kurogane have him pick?
He chooses.
-
The right-hand door, he mouths, and then louder, "The right-hand door!" Kurogane's eyes are trained on him, two crimson points against a washed-out world. Slowly, Kurogane nods.
He turns.
He opens the right-hand door.
He steps back, and out comes -
(I'll leave it to you:)
The lady, or the tiger?