Chapter Text
It was a fine afternoon. The heat of the sun was welcoming to anyone who's rays it touched. There was also a nice cooling breezing through the air, that ruffled the leaves of the trees.
Alan perched on a small leaf that was in the process of turning from a green to a yellow. A true sign that autumn was upon the land of Phantonia.
The land of Phantonia was ruled by the long bloodline of the Phantomhive family. Even though they only claimed this land a few centuries ago, the family had managed to keep their rule over the land without fail. Currently, the highest of the royal family was made up of four people: King Vincent, a young man who claimed the throne at the young age of 24 after his father had died of illness. Ruling beside him there was his wife: Queen Rachel. The two of them married when shortly after Vincent became king and soon after their marriage, the couple bore twin boys: Prince Ciel (the first born) and Prince Astre (the second born). Of course there were other nobles, as well as the Marquis Midfords, and the Dutchess Dalles (also known as Madame Red), who lived with the Phantomhive family. There wasn’t much that Alan knew about them but occasionally he would see the children wandering in the woods and jot down small notes about them.
Alan resigned on a tree that was some distance away from a large clearing, a popular spot where the neighboring human kingdom would come to practice various sports. On this particular day, Alan was watching a group of noblemen practice their hunting skills. The fairy squinted slightly to get more accurate information to note in his journal. The fairy never had the best eyesight, everything was slightly blurry from Alan’s perspective. From what Alan could make out the company was made up of eleven men. All were wearing a black cloth draped over their chests and the symbol of the kingdom they represent. Alan assumed that these men were wearing the unmistakable white insignia of the Phantonian lands: a shield laid in the middle with a royal staff resting in the center, two eagles with one wing spread out hid behind the shield, at the bottom there was a waving ribbon that had the words 'Potentia' on the left and 'Regere' on the right. Alan had previously seen the design closer up when some of the knights of the kingdom did horse riding training in the woods or when the occasional lost flag had found its way into a tree. Whenever Alan had seen the design it was always the same, black background with the white insignia.
Alongside the men, accompanied fifteen smaller humans. Children. Most not even a decade old yet.
Hm, I wonder what it is they accomplish by bringing their children. All of them seem too young to understand the concept of hunting and archery, Alan thought as he scribbled down a few notes in his research journal. Unlike most fairies in Alan's tribe, he was a researcher and a scientist. He didn’t always rely on magic to explain everything, especially when it came to the mind. No magic could ever explain how the mind worked.
However, there was one rule that made Alan’s job more difficult. Fairies of the land had one law every tribe had to follow: “Do not come in contact with humans, for it could disrupt both ways of life.”
This rule had kept the distance that Alan sustained whenever he went to observe humans.
The young fairy started to hum a small tune, his translucent white wings fluttering slightly at the rhythm. He swayed back and forth as he watched what was happening. The men of the company shuffled around the clearing. They started with archery. Three of the men set up several targets where the grass met the tree trunks; while the other eight ushered the children a few meters in the opposite direction. Alan continued to sway and impatiently tapped his pencil on his journal. He wanted something interesting to happen but nothing seemed to pique his interest so far.
Once all of the company had rejoined, the men started with the basics of the sport. Alan sighed in disappointment when the company was a little farther than earshot. He ceased his pencil tapping. Maybe just this once he would get closer for his research, despite the rule of contact. Alan was feeling a little daring daring today and his curiosity never ceased. It made to want to take risks for the sake of knowledge. He was always smart about how he concealed his presence, whether disguises. He made his decision and knowing the risks he quickly stood, gathered his belongings into his satchel and hopped from his leaf to a tree at the very edge of the clearing.
"Now, to string the bow, all you need to do is tie one end of the string to the tips of the bow. Make sure that the tension isn't too stiff or too loose," one of the men explained. In the time Alan had moved, each child had a bow and a quiver of arrows on their back. Alan settled down on a yellow leaf about 5 meters from the company. The fairy took out his research journal and pencil and setting them aside, ready in case something interesting happened. A few hours passed and Alan began to grow bored. The only thing that was worth noting was how the older humans reacted when the children did not do it perfectly according to how they were instructed. The older humans would curse and become frustrated. The brunet laid back on to the leaf. He needed to relax a little. After all it was a nice day to laze around and just take in the environment. That’s when Alan began to doze off to the afternoon’s warm light.
Alan’s eye fluttered open to the sound of crickets chirping. Ah… I guess I fell asleep , Alan thought as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. He stood up and stretched so he could get ready for the flight home. Alan looked up to the sky, the stars above sparkled slightly in the murky blue hue.
It’s quite late. I hope I didn’t worry William too much, Alan wondered. He picked up his satchel then turned to where he set his journal down earlier. But it wasn’t there. Alan anxiously looked around for it but the journal was nowhere to be seen. He paced the leaf several times before Alan looked over the edge. Alan’s eyes scanned the grass below. Luckily, he chose a leaf that wasn’t too high up from the ground. A few moments of scanning the grass, Alan spotted the muddy brown cover of his journal. “Ah ha!” He perked up. “There you are!” And with a small little jump off the leaf he glided down to his journal. He picked it up from the ground and wiped the specs of dirt on the cover, and he then began to inspect it for any damage. There was a small scratch on the cover and a few pages were bend but nothing permanently damaging.
“Thank goodness,” Alan sighed in relief, as he held his journal close to his chest. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost this.” He laughed and unbuckled his satchel and placed the book safely inside. Alan then paced around the area the book fell for his pencil. Not much time passed before Alan gave up looking for his pencil. It wasn’t as important as the book, and he had several replacements back home, but Alan liked familiarity. The fairy straightened up his clothes a little and took off the ground, letting his wings carry him high in the air. Alan gazed into the maze of trees trying to remember what direction home was. He knew it wasn’t far but trying to find his tribe’s land would be difficult in the dark.
Suddenly, a small transparent wall fell in front of him and the was the sound of a small clank noise. Alan suddenly realized he was trapped in a bottle of sorts.
“Oh no!” Alan panicked trying to find a way to escape from the prison. Alan looked around for an opening or hole he could escape from but there was absolutely nothing.
“Damn it…” Alan cursed before setting his feet down on the bottom. His wings fluttered to a stop. There was a sudden force of being lifted up and then Alan was face to face his a pair of large brown eyes. A human! He was captured by a human! This was bad. The human tilted his head in curiosity. Then violently shook the jar from side to side. Alan’s body flew from one side to another, knocking against the walls, each impact shot pain through his body. “Please stop…” Alan whispered. And sure enough his wish was granted but not because he asked.
Right before the violent motion stopped, Alan heard a muffled voice yell out, “Quit shakin’ the jar, Ronnie, or yer gonna hurt the light bug! An’ did ya poke small holes in the top? It’ll die if ya don’t.” The pair of eyes, assuming belonging to the human called ‘Ronnie’, looked away and Alan fell to his knees breathing heavily, his body badly bruised. Shit. He had forgot all about a fairy’s ‘glimmer’ at night.
The fairy then took the time to look for anything that would ease the pain. He reached for his satchel, and opened it up. Pain surged through his body as he began to dig through the pouch. The world was spinning slightly and Alan’s coordination was off. That proved finding something would be difficult.
Maybe I have a healing potion from Grell in here somewhere, Alan thought as he felt around the bag for a small cylindrical like container but nothing felt as such. The brunet gave up and let his body go limp. He couldn’t stand the pain that moving caused him and it was getting slightly harder to breath. Alan winced as he heard small pops from above him. He took a deep breath and felt a lot better from before. Oxygen was a nice thing, and when did he end up on the ground? Blades of grass encircled the area of the transparent wall. The next time he was picked up it was gentle and slow.
“Goodness, Ron,” Alan heard the same muffled voice from earlier.
“Sorry Eric,” the other one apologized.
It took Alan a few moments for his head to stop spinning and regain his focus. He really need some healing medicine right now. Slowly looking up to see who his captures were, Alan squinted to look at the two figures. Both were young but there was an obvious difference in maturity.
One of the figures had golden blond hair with a few strands sticking straight up. He was dressed in leisure or pajama type clothing. Whatever he was wearing it wasn’t the formal wear that Alan normally saw. This human was slightly shorter than the other. Alan then looked over to the taller one. He had ash blond hair that was parted to the left side. This human didn’t wear night attire like the smaller one. He wore suit of light armor and at his waist hung a short sword. Alan guessed that this one was in charge of protecting the other one in some way. It wasn’t long after that when Alan drifted back to sleep so his body could heal.