Chapter Text
The sun was shining harshly, its golden rays beating down on the town below it. A young boy bursts out of the cottage, a dog following. He's holding a large stick, while dressed in his tunic and knight's hat, grinning. He turns his head and looks back inside the house. "Be back before dinner, Stanley. Be safe!" A voice inside the home calls out, barely audible over the music of nature.
"I will, Mom!" The boy replies, quickly taking off towards the fences. He peers over the fence and smiles again, watching his furry companion chase its tail. "Sparky, let's go out," he whispers, opening the fence for Sparky to exit. The dog looks up and runs out of the entrapment quickly, causing the human – Stan – to fall over and drop his stick. "Ow- Sparky!" He yells and shifts, standing up. He grabs the stick and then chases after the dog clumsily, tripping over his feet a few times.
He almost caught up with the canine until it paused and looked back at him. Right in front of the forest. The forest he was warned about. The forest he wasn't allowed to go into. He looked up with wide eyes before locking eyes with the animal."Bad Sparky. Get over here," He hisses through his teeth, inching closer ever so slightly. Sparky takes a step forward, then another, then bolts into that goddamn forest.
Shit.
Stan frowns and looks around to make sure the coast is clear before he rushes after him, careful to not trip on any branches or rocks. He's scared, terrified even, of what could happen to him. Safe to say, all what he's heard about this certain patch of land is NOT good. Travelers getting lost and dying, beloved family members being attacked by wolves, or the worst one...
An entire other species.
Elves. Wait, was it species or race? Poor boy can't remember. Either way, all he needs is to make it out alive. And if grown adults can't survive, then how will he?
Stan has to stop. A small clearing, leading to a tree stump and small lake is present in front of him. Perfect. He can rest. He stumbles over to the tree stump and sits on it, sighing deeply.
How can this day get any worse?
First, his dog ran away from him, now he's lost, and no one knows where he is. Probably.
The sun is terribly bright today, which would probably make the boy a bit darker than he already is, but the shade of the tall trees protects him. He places the stick on the soft forest floor. It's comfortably warm despite how obvious the sun is today, making him a bit sleepy. He knows this isn't the best time to take a nap, but he hasn't been sleeping well the last few days. It's calm, it's warm, and he feels tired.
And everybody knows this kid falls asleep as fast as someone blinks.
20 minutes, an hour, maybe two has passed since he first passed out. He awakens to the soft humming of his surroundings. It's nice, almost lulling him to sleep again. He forces himself awake, though. A yawn and quiet groan escapes his mouth as he sits up and stretches, his neck a little stiff. He blinks until he's fully awake, and then looks around him. Everything looks the same, except the sun has gone down much more, close to a sunset. "Christ, I slept late. Damn it." He quickly gets up to his feet, freezing as he hears a voice reply.
"You did sleep for a while." a quiet voice says, making a soft hum like the one he just heard.
Stan slowly turns around, his eyes locking on another pair, a soft green. He flinches and jumps back, his eyes wide in fear. He scans over the other's features quickly. Red curls, pale skin, green eyes, a twig crown... a crown? And... elf ears.
Elf ears.
Elf. Ears. Holy shit.
"Stay back!" Stan yells, clearly scared. He stands his ground, awaiting the worst already. Elves have magic, right? He's definitely going to die.
The elf is surprised, taking a step back and staring at the boy with wide eyes. He's a bit shorter than Stan, wearing a long red robe. He... looks harmless. Friendly, even. But looks are deceiving!
"Um. Okay?" The elf sounds confused as he stays a few steps away, but then he looks behind him. He giggles and something pops up.
Oh. Of fucking course.
Sparky, the traitorous bastard. His dog, his, is such an idiot! Why is he over there?! He should know better. He does know better.
"Wha- hey! Sparky! Excuse me, I don't know who you are, but he's supposed to be with me." Stan takes a cautious step forward as the elf laughs.
"Well, it seems 'Sparky' here has taken a liking to me." Stan frowns hearing his voice again, much clearer and louder than earlier. Interesting. And the crown... what's that about?
"Anyway, what's your name? I want to hear more about you. You look different from me and everyone else in my kingdom." The elf asks softly, tilting his head. A look of curiosity on his face, which Stan hates. His stupid face.
Yeah.
Stupid.
"You don't need to know that. It's none of your business." Stan replies harshly, crossing his arms over his chest. The elf steps close once again, Sparky trailing behind him. Stan flinches and reacts on instinct, picking up the previously forgotten stick and pointing it towards the elf. Suddenly, as quickly as he picked up his makeshift weapon, he's lifted into the air. Stems wrap around his wrists and legs as the elf gets closer to him. He squirms in the plant restraints before the elf is right in front of him. The elf squints as he's inspecting the human, gently touching his skin a few times or his clothing.
"Huh." The elf murmurs, and the stems weaken. "Nice reflexes you have, considering you're a human." Stan squirms once more and he is released, gently being placed onto the soft forest floor. "You... are a human, correct?" The elf asks, tilting his head.
Stan glances away before looking back and nodding slowly. "Um.. yeah." What does this elf want with him? It's strange to see somebody so new, so different.
And pretty.
He's suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he feels a pair of hands on his. He looks up, eyes wide and maybe a bit scared. "Get up, don't sit on the floor. Your pants are gonna get dirty." The elf murmurs, hoisting Stan up to his feet.
He doesn't know what to say. Could... is this one different? But aren't all elves powerful and merciless?? Couldn't he be killed in a snap if they felt like it? This was interesting, to say the least. "You're... what's your name?" He finally chokes out, having been lost in the elf's appearance for a little too long.
The redhead beamed and extended his hand, soft and small. "Prince Kyle. From, um, back there. All the way back there." He turned and pointed far off into the distance, where the forest's trees got denser and where there was much more shrubbery. Stan suddenly felt more at ease. He... didn't feel as afraid as before. The elf - no, Kyle - seemed nice. Nice enough. He wasn't dead by now, so that has to be a good sign, right?
Wrong. Wasn't this a tactic he's heard Elves use? Pretend to be nice, and then strike you down at the last moment?
Stan internally reminded himself of the enemy here and made sure to take a step away from Kyle. Kyle frowns, the expression quickly being replaced with a calmer one as Sparky runs back over to Stan. The dog tackles him, almost knocking the air out of the poor boy. "Sparky! Hey- hey. I told you not to come in here. Bad dog." Stan quietly scolds the animal before he clears his throat and tries to puff his chest out to appear taller.
"Well, um. I'll be taking my leave now. Don't touch my dog again or... or there will be consequences!" Obviously, he doesn't know what consequences. That was such a stupid thing to say to a magic user.
Shit.
"C'mon, Sparky, let's go." Stan whispers, walking off before it occurs to him.
He doesn't know where to go.
He doesn't know how deep into the forests he is right now.
Double shit.
He swiftly turns around and clears his throat again, face flushed with embarrassment. "Okay, so, um. Do you- do you know where we are? Just- I need to make sure... you know where you're going, haha. Yeah." He awkwardly explains, clearly lying through his teeth. Kyle stares at him with an unreadable expression before he tilts his head, those beautiful warm green eyes boring into the humans skull.
"You're allowed to say you're lost." He says simply, enough to make Stan's face burn red. The human stammers before replying again.
"I'm not lost!"
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not!"
Kyle exhales before he walks over, taking a spot next to Stan. "Wow, is this how all humans are? You're pretty stubborn." Stan scoffs but doesn't respond, because, yeah, most of the humans he knows are stubborn. But he wouldn't admit Kyle's right. "Anyway, I can lead the way. You came from that way, correct?" He turns and points west. "All you have to do is walk straight, dummy."
Oh, right.
"I knew that." Stan grumbles while he looks down at his shoes, his face flushed with embarrassment. Kyle chuckles and starts towards the forest, Stan quickly catching up with him, then Sparky. The walk is quiet, tense, even. A human and an elf… this sucks. Stan had been expecting more. An ambush, touch, magic, anything. But this? This was just… boring.
Before Stan can sulk any more about a boring trip, Kyle makes a sudden stop. His ears twitch before he ducks down, pulling Stan down as well. He's obviously confused, starting to whisper.
"Kyle, what– is something happening?"
"Someone's here, following us."
Stan almost gasps, but decides to stay quiet. Sparky whines and trots towards Stan, rubbing the top of his head onto Stan's arm. He absent-mindedly pets him while he tries to get more details.
"So– um– what do we do?" He whispers, a bit loudly. Kyle shushes him and tries to duck down a bit more. He doesn't respond, his ears twitching again. It reminds Stan of Sparky's nose; It twitches whenever the dog smells something interesting.
In the distance, a stick cracks.
Footsteps.
Stan's breath hitches, and–he doesn't know why, but– his first instinct is to protect the one closest to him. So, Kyle. He pulls the other a bit closer by the waist, earning a small and confused hum. Sparky barks, the duo's eyes widen, and the footsteps stop.
Sparky barks once more, darting back in the direction they had left. Stan almost jumps up, ready to follow, but Kyle keeps a firm hold on his wrist that tells him otherwise. He deflates, still keeping the elf next to him either way. Kyle slowly rises, after the forest goes eerily silent for a good few moments. Stan joins him, right as an arrow whizzes past his head. Kyle squeaks and then they run.
That's all Stan remembers, running until his legs grew sore,
running until he couldn't breathe,
running until he was ready to collapse.
By the time they reached Stan's humble home, they were both ready to pass out. Stan let Kyle in and shut the door tightly behind him, locking it. He's panting, hard, as so is the other.
"Stanley!"
Oh shit.
Kyle looked around, trying to track the location of the voice, but Stan was panicked. He quickly pushed the elf off to the side, hiding him behind their couch. He then tried to make himself look as casual as possible for the eventual 'talk' he's going to receive.