Chapter Text
Once Upon a Time…
In the small kingdom of Brooklyn, a king and queen were celebrating the birth of their first child...
The whole kingdom was invited to come and share in the joy of the prince’s long-awaited birth. The queen smiled beautifully as her people came and wished her newborn son well. She accepted their gifts and kind words, heart swelling as her people welcomed their prince with open arms.
When they’d first married, the king and queen had thought it would be a simple matter to have children. They were in love and eager to start their family. Not only would a child ensure the kingdom and their people were taken care of, but they both wanted to have a little one to love and teach about the world. Sadly, years passed and they were still without a child. The few times Sarah thought she’d conceived had ended with bloody bedsheets and Joseph holding her as she cried.
The next time she felt the first stirrings within her, she kept quiet until she was sure it was real. When a few months passed, and she was sure as she could be, she ran to her husband and threw her arms around him, tears flowing freely down her face. Joseph had held his wife close to his chest, his own tears falling silently into her hair. He had seen the way Sarah had wilted a little more with each month that passed without conceiving. Before she came to him, he’d even begun thinking of suggesting they adopt a child. He was well aware of his duty to provide an heir, but like his wife, he wanted more than just an heir. He wanted a child to love and teach and provide for. What would it have mattered if they were of their blood or not?
As soon as they were feeling calmer, Joseph summoned every doctor, healer, and wizard he could find to make sure his wife and child stayed healthy. Of everyone he summoned, only one, a wizard named Zola, was sent away after he made the queen uncomfortable. Even with all of that, it had all still culminated in a difficult birth. But, when her precious Steven had been laid on her chest, Sarah had wept tears of joy, amazed at the tiny being in her arms. She didn’t care that he was small and sickly. All that concerned her was that he was here and she would make sure to give him everything he needed.
A week after the celebrations had ended, the queen sent for her seer. Seemingly both aged and ageless, Margaret had also been her mother’s seer. Sarah remembered when she’d first seen the seer and how her mother had sent her away, promising her time with Margaret would come soon. Though her visions could be vague, Margaret would do what she could to offer whatever insights she was able to. She took her job very seriously and made sure to do whatever she could to help those in her care. In the past, when Sarah was being courted by princes from the surrounding kingdoms, it had been Margaret who had shined a light on a kind prince from a smaller kingdom.
Margaret had been counting the days since the festivities had ended knowing the queen would call for her soon. She walked through the castle without being seen, her steps taking her straight to the nursery. It was no surprise to find Steven’s nursery was the room next to the one Sarah shared with Joseph. She’d waited so long for a child and would want him close. She could still remember the visit she’d received from a desperate Sarah a year prior asking why she was not able to have a child. Margaret had taken her hands and made her promise to not give up hope. She had hated being unable to give her queen a definite answer, but Margaret had known destiny had plans for Sarah and Joseph.
In the nursery, Margaret moved straight to the crib. She lifted her newest charge into her arms and held him close to her chest to keep him warm. He was small, but those bright blue eyes the color of the sky on a sunny day watched her with avid interest and Margaret could already feel the stirrings of a vision.
The queen watched from the doorway; heart in her throat, fearing Margaret would tell her her son would not live to see his first birthday. Steven was strong, she knew he was, even if he didn’t look it.
She lasted another minute before the question she’d been holding back, burst forth. “Please, Margaret. Tell me. Am I going to lose him?”
Margaret looked at her queen and offered a comforting smile. “Come here, darling. Hold your son. Feel how strong he is.”
Sarah took Steven and stroked one soft cheek with her finger. His mouth opened in a yawn and his eyes began to droop and she smiled. Whenever she or Joseph held him, he watched them intently, eyes tracking them and their mouths when they spoke. Steve was small, but the way he watched them with such intensity made Sarah believe he was strong and would grow up to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Margaret watched mother and child for a moment and moved to the center of the room. She’d been feeling the vision wanting to burst forth, but she had tried to hold it back, wanting to see the prince for herself first. As soon as she stopped walking, the vision refused to be held back any longer. Her head fell forward, shoulders slumping as she called her power. When her head did lift, her eyes had turned white and a slight glow emanated from her body.
“Destiny swirls around the prince. His birth has awoken a Darkness which seeks to do him harm.”
The brightness of the light caused Steven to begin to cry and Sarah did her best to soothe him, trying her best to ignore her own fears. “Who? Who would want to hurt my child?”
Words continue spilling from Margaret’s mouth as though she did not hear Sarah’s question. “They are concealed by shadows. But the fates have seen fit to tell them what I know. I see your son in armor. A great warrior. Destiny has crowned him her champion. And the Darkness calls him enemy.”
Sarah gasps as a crown made of stars appears on Steven’s forehead. She never would have imagined her son would be so important. Brooklyn is still a small kingdom, almost inconsequential amongst the rest. How could her son be so important? She looks over to Margaret and the glow around her gets brighter until she has to close her eyes against the light.
“The Darkness cannot, no, it will not be held back. In the prince’s twenty-first year, Darkness will be able to claim victory. Surrounded by thorns and almost forgotten to time, the prince will sleep.” Margaret’s body shudders, hair lifting as Destiny continues speaking through her. “There is hope to be found. After a time, the prince will be woken but the Darkness will still be close at hand. Betrayal will come, but there is one who will come to stand at his side and be the truest of partners.”
“How will he know?”
“Destiny has tied their hearts with invisible strings. Their hearts will know. They will feel the pull to be near.”
Pressing a kiss to Steven’s forehead, Sarah holds him close and notices the light finally beginning to dim from around Margaret. Moving quickly, she lays Steven back in his crib and helps Margaret into a chair before she collapses.
When Margaret wakes, she looks over and finds Sarah crocheting next to her. “How long?”
“Not that long. Barely an hour.” Sarah starts another row and says, “21 years. That’s how long I’ll have with my son. Who would want to curse a child, though?”
“I am not sure, your majesty. I could not see a face nor a name, but they were hungry for power and your son is a threat to that desire. Do not fret, I will help where I can. Your son will not be left knowing nothing.”
Sarah looked over at the crib where her son was sleeping peacefully. Margaret was right. They would do everything in their power to ensure Steven would be prepared for whatever danger comes his way. She would talk to Joseph, tell him about the vision and decide how to help their son become the warrior he was destined to become.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As the years passed, Sarah and Joseph watched their son grow and tried their best to let him enjoy being a child. He remained small and sickly through his childhood, but that never deterred him from doing his best to be just like his father. He’d follow Joseph to the training yard, picking up sticks as he went to be his sword. There were a few advisors and knights who tried to dissuade their king from letting the prince be in the yard, but Joseph didn’t listen. Instead, he chose a few of his most trusted and would bring Steven to a quieter corner and show him how best to wield his stick sword.
In the end, all the training paid off. In his sixteenth year, Steven lost his small sickly frame and grew almost a full foot in height. It was a mystery how it happened, but no one was more excited than Steven. When he arrived in the training yard and his father caught sight of him, he was glad he’d woken up late just so he could see the stunned look on his face.
Starting that day, Steven began training with others his age. Joseph wanted him to build up his strength and hopefully prepare him for whatever was coming for him in five years. It was a surprise to everyone but Joseph that Steven took to the sword quickly. It was a natural extension of his arm and he was soon disarming even the most experienced knights. Joseph even allowed him to go out on a few excursions with his men, wanting Steven to get some real experience. He defeated bandits and raiders with ease and it was not long after that, that Steven began gaining a reputation.
For the next five years, Sarah and Joseph tried to teach Steven anything and everything he might need to know. Alongside his work with the knights, there were lessons in diplomacy, geography, languages, and history. As word of Steven's victories spread, it did not take long for nearby kingdoms to begin sending portraits of their sons and daughters in hopes the prince would choose one of them to wed.
When Steven’s 21st birthday was mere weeks away, both Joseph and Sarah began making preparations. They hoped that if they kept their son close by and surrounded by guards, maybe, just maybe the Darkness would not find him.
Unfortunately, all of their preparations were for naught. As evening approached, it was Sarah who noticed how quiet it had become. The birds were silent and even the wind had died. She ran for her husband and together they began searching for Steven. They searched the castle and when they could not find him, they feared the worst. Their search moved outdoors and they quickly found his retinue of guards and knew they’d failed in their efforts to prevent their son’s fate. Before they could continue their search, a thick red fog rolled across the ground, rendering everyone it touched into an enchanted sleep. The same sleep which had enchanted their prince in a tower surrounded by roses and thorns in the woods...