"INCEPTION" fanarts + ficlet - Just Another Fairytale (1/?)
Once upon a time, in a castle on a mountain that overlooked a village situated between the kingdom of Proclus and the Kingdom of Fischer-Morrow, lived a vampire named Arthur. Contrary to what most people believed about vampires (that they were all evil and nasty creatures), Arthur was a gentle and kind-hearted vampire. Not once had Arthur ever attacked a human for their blood and he survived solely by draining the life from the roses he grew in the courtyard of his castle. However, this was a fact that nobody knew as no human ever dared to approach a castle that has a vampire living in it. So for three hundred years, Arthur lived in his castle all by himself, with only big old dusty volumes and the occasional wild animals as his company.
For most time the fascinating stories told by the big old dusty volumes were able to kept Arthur's mind occupied, but Arthur's favourite pastime was to sit on top of the clock tower of the castle and observed the village. Every night, as he watched from afar, Arthur always wished he could join the villagers, to be a part of their celebration, to laugh and dance with them, or simply just have a chance to talk to them.
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It started off just like every other night - Arthur sat at his usual spot on top of the clock tower, watching the village under the moonlight. It was starting to get late; he could see the villagers retreating into their homes and to the comforts of their soft warm beds. Even from the distance, Arthur could hear the bedtime stories parents read to their children (“If you don’t behave, the evil vampire from the castle will come to snatch you from your bed and eat you!”). Just as Arthur got ready to go back inside the castle, he heard the sound of a cry - not from a wolf or any other wild animals, but from a human child, and the sound came from the forest not far from the village. Without a having any second thought, Arthur transformed himself into a bat and flew as fast as he could to the source of the distress.
It didn’t take him long to find the child - even though the woods were thick, the scent of human blood drew Arthur in like a moth to the flame. When Arthur arrived at the scene, he found the child - a little girl, was trying to run away from a wolf that was chasing her. Arthur dove down while transforming back to his usual self and he managed to sweep the little girl into his arms just before the wolf pounced onto her. With his meal snatched from right under his nose, the wolf growled angrily at Arthur, who responded by transforming his cape into the head of a menacing dragon which promptly sent the wolf running away with tails between his legs.
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The little girl that Arthur rescued (whose name was Phillipa, as Arthur learnt while escorting her back to the village) turned out to be the daughter of the village chief. Apparently, the reason why Phillipa was out in the woods so late at night was because she would not believe her father when he told her a scary evil vampire lived in the castle on the mountain, so she decided to sneak out at night and go to the castle to prove that only beautiful princes and princesses live in big castles like Arthur’s. When Arthur told her that he was the vampire that lived in the castle, Phillipa looked at him with admiration.
“You are a vampire prince?”
“No sweetheart, I’m just a vampire.”
“But you are so pretty and you live in a castle! That means you must also be a prince!”
Arthur did not know how to respond to that.
----------
Arthur’s original plan was to escort Phillipa back to the entrance of the village. As much as he would love to go inside and meet with the people whom he have spent so much time in observing from afar, Arthur knew from experience that human generally fear, or rather, loathe vampires - his previous contact with humans almost earned him a stake through his chest (which wouldn’t kill him but would really hurt) and a splash of Holy Water (which would lead to some severe allergic reaction that could kill him). However, Phillipa insisted that Arthur needed to meet her father (“Papa’s name is Cobb, most villagers call him that.”) so she could prove him wrong about the castle being occupied by an evil vampire.
Needless to say, Cobb has been extremely worried when he learnt that his daughter has sneaked out from her bedroom window and went into the forest by herself, but he was absolutely terrified when he saw her dragging a vampire home with her - which then promptly led to him attempting to decapitate Arthur with a sword (he used to serve as a knight under Emperor Saito). It was only when Phillipa started yelling at her father (“Papa! Stop bullying Mr. Arthur!”)and threw herself between the two did Cobb stopped swinging his sword around.
After Cobb had calmed himself down (with the help of a couple of stiff drinks), Phillipa told him about Arthur being a vampire prince (at that point Arthur tried to interrupt to say that he was just a vampire but his voice was drowned out by Phillipa’s excitement) and how he came to her rescue when she was cornered by a big bad wolf. All the while Cobb threw a few suspicious glances at Arthur but did not say anything to interrupt Phillipa’s story. It was only after he has tucked his daughter into bed did he spoke to the vampire.
“I guess I owe you an apology, and thank you for saving my daughter.”
Arthur was used to hear curses or death threats being thrown at him so he was completely caught off guard by what Cobb just said to him, but what surprised Arthur the most was what Cobb said next.
“You are welcome to come back and visit her anytime, she seemed to have taken quite a liking to you. I’ll let the rest of the village know so they won’t be alarmed when they see you around.”
“You are not worried that I might drink from your daughter or attack the village?”
Cobb shrugged, “Well, I believe you would have done so already if you really wanted to. I suppose there are good vampires and bad ones, just like with people.”
For the first time in three hundred years, Arthur genuinely smiled, “Thank you for believing in me.”
----------
True to his word, Cobb called a village meeting the next day and told the villagers about Arthur. The villagers were skeptical at first and kept their distance from Arthur whenever they saw him perched on someone’s rooftop. Arthur did not mind as he was happy just for being around any signs of life that were not wild animals. When the whole village was asleep, Arthur would try to help the villagers by doing things such as fixing leaky roofs (the village doctor, Yusuf, once complained to Cobb about it over a drink at the village pub), trimmed overgrown bushes (the craftswoman, Ariadne, kept bumping into them because she was absorbed in her train of thought) and shooing wild boars off the vegetable patches (Cobb’s father-in-law, Miles, used to come out brandishing a broomstick but he was not as agile as he used to be so the boars did not see him as a threat).
After a while, the villagers began to notice the “environmental improvement” done by Arthur and they began to warm up to him. Gradually, most of them put down their skepticism and accepted him into their community.
----------
One night, after reciting a story he remembered from one of the old volumes he had to Phillipa and kissed her goodnight, Arthur sat himself down at the usual spot on Cobb’s rooftop and watched the full moon shining brightly in the sky.
Although Arthur now has more friends than he ever had before, but when the whole village was asleep, the familiar sense of loneliness would still creep up on him - to remind him that he was different to those he called friends.
The sound of a yelp jerked Arthur away from his thoughts. He looked around, trying to identify the source and tensed when he caught the scent of blood - not of a human but not of any animal he knew either. The scent seemed to be coming from the vegetable patches that were close to the edge of the woods. Without wasting any time, Arthur leapt into the night sky and flew towards the source.
Arthur knew that Cobb had set up some traps along the edge of those vegetable patches in attempt to discourage the wild boars from trampling the crops (Arthur kept telling Cobb that he was fine with chasing the boars away, but Cobb felt bad after witnessing one of Arthur’s chase which gave Cobb the impression that the boars had all the fun), so Arthur was expecting to find some animal caught in one of Cobb’s traps. What he did not expect to find though, was a full grown man with a pair of, what looked like wolf ears stuck out just off the top of his head and a furry tail being caught in the leg by a trap. The man (Arthur didn’t know what else to call him) was too busy trying to pry the trap open that he did not noticed Arthur’s approach until Arthur was standing in front of him.
For the longest moment, the man just simply stared at Arthur, trap forgotten, with a stunned expression. When the silence and the heat from the stare became too unbearable, Arthur broke off the silence, “Do you need some help with that?” gesturing the trap that was biting into the man’s leg.
The man leaned back slowly and with a massive grin on his face, purred.
“Hello gorgeous, I think you just made me into a believer in love at first sight.”
----------
(To be continued…?)
For most time the fascinating stories told by the big old dusty volumes were able to kept Arthur's mind occupied, but Arthur's favourite pastime was to sit on top of the clock tower of the castle and observed the village. Every night, as he watched from afar, Arthur always wished he could join the villagers, to be a part of their celebration, to laugh and dance with them, or simply just have a chance to talk to them.
----------
It started off just like every other night - Arthur sat at his usual spot on top of the clock tower, watching the village under the moonlight. It was starting to get late; he could see the villagers retreating into their homes and to the comforts of their soft warm beds. Even from the distance, Arthur could hear the bedtime stories parents read to their children (“If you don’t behave, the evil vampire from the castle will come to snatch you from your bed and eat you!”). Just as Arthur got ready to go back inside the castle, he heard the sound of a cry - not from a wolf or any other wild animals, but from a human child, and the sound came from the forest not far from the village. Without a having any second thought, Arthur transformed himself into a bat and flew as fast as he could to the source of the distress.
It didn’t take him long to find the child - even though the woods were thick, the scent of human blood drew Arthur in like a moth to the flame. When Arthur arrived at the scene, he found the child - a little girl, was trying to run away from a wolf that was chasing her. Arthur dove down while transforming back to his usual self and he managed to sweep the little girl into his arms just before the wolf pounced onto her. With his meal snatched from right under his nose, the wolf growled angrily at Arthur, who responded by transforming his cape into the head of a menacing dragon which promptly sent the wolf running away with tails between his legs.
----------
The little girl that Arthur rescued (whose name was Phillipa, as Arthur learnt while escorting her back to the village) turned out to be the daughter of the village chief. Apparently, the reason why Phillipa was out in the woods so late at night was because she would not believe her father when he told her a scary evil vampire lived in the castle on the mountain, so she decided to sneak out at night and go to the castle to prove that only beautiful princes and princesses live in big castles like Arthur’s. When Arthur told her that he was the vampire that lived in the castle, Phillipa looked at him with admiration.
“You are a vampire prince?”
“No sweetheart, I’m just a vampire.”
“But you are so pretty and you live in a castle! That means you must also be a prince!”
Arthur did not know how to respond to that.
----------
Arthur’s original plan was to escort Phillipa back to the entrance of the village. As much as he would love to go inside and meet with the people whom he have spent so much time in observing from afar, Arthur knew from experience that human generally fear, or rather, loathe vampires - his previous contact with humans almost earned him a stake through his chest (which wouldn’t kill him but would really hurt) and a splash of Holy Water (which would lead to some severe allergic reaction that could kill him). However, Phillipa insisted that Arthur needed to meet her father (“Papa’s name is Cobb, most villagers call him that.”) so she could prove him wrong about the castle being occupied by an evil vampire.
Needless to say, Cobb has been extremely worried when he learnt that his daughter has sneaked out from her bedroom window and went into the forest by herself, but he was absolutely terrified when he saw her dragging a vampire home with her - which then promptly led to him attempting to decapitate Arthur with a sword (he used to serve as a knight under Emperor Saito). It was only when Phillipa started yelling at her father (“Papa! Stop bullying Mr. Arthur!”)and threw herself between the two did Cobb stopped swinging his sword around.
After Cobb had calmed himself down (with the help of a couple of stiff drinks), Phillipa told him about Arthur being a vampire prince (at that point Arthur tried to interrupt to say that he was just a vampire but his voice was drowned out by Phillipa’s excitement) and how he came to her rescue when she was cornered by a big bad wolf. All the while Cobb threw a few suspicious glances at Arthur but did not say anything to interrupt Phillipa’s story. It was only after he has tucked his daughter into bed did he spoke to the vampire.
“I guess I owe you an apology, and thank you for saving my daughter.”
Arthur was used to hear curses or death threats being thrown at him so he was completely caught off guard by what Cobb just said to him, but what surprised Arthur the most was what Cobb said next.
“You are welcome to come back and visit her anytime, she seemed to have taken quite a liking to you. I’ll let the rest of the village know so they won’t be alarmed when they see you around.”
“You are not worried that I might drink from your daughter or attack the village?”
Cobb shrugged, “Well, I believe you would have done so already if you really wanted to. I suppose there are good vampires and bad ones, just like with people.”
For the first time in three hundred years, Arthur genuinely smiled, “Thank you for believing in me.”
----------
True to his word, Cobb called a village meeting the next day and told the villagers about Arthur. The villagers were skeptical at first and kept their distance from Arthur whenever they saw him perched on someone’s rooftop. Arthur did not mind as he was happy just for being around any signs of life that were not wild animals. When the whole village was asleep, Arthur would try to help the villagers by doing things such as fixing leaky roofs (the village doctor, Yusuf, once complained to Cobb about it over a drink at the village pub), trimmed overgrown bushes (the craftswoman, Ariadne, kept bumping into them because she was absorbed in her train of thought) and shooing wild boars off the vegetable patches (Cobb’s father-in-law, Miles, used to come out brandishing a broomstick but he was not as agile as he used to be so the boars did not see him as a threat).
After a while, the villagers began to notice the “environmental improvement” done by Arthur and they began to warm up to him. Gradually, most of them put down their skepticism and accepted him into their community.
----------
One night, after reciting a story he remembered from one of the old volumes he had to Phillipa and kissed her goodnight, Arthur sat himself down at the usual spot on Cobb’s rooftop and watched the full moon shining brightly in the sky.
Although Arthur now has more friends than he ever had before, but when the whole village was asleep, the familiar sense of loneliness would still creep up on him - to remind him that he was different to those he called friends.
The sound of a yelp jerked Arthur away from his thoughts. He looked around, trying to identify the source and tensed when he caught the scent of blood - not of a human but not of any animal he knew either. The scent seemed to be coming from the vegetable patches that were close to the edge of the woods. Without wasting any time, Arthur leapt into the night sky and flew towards the source.
Arthur knew that Cobb had set up some traps along the edge of those vegetable patches in attempt to discourage the wild boars from trampling the crops (Arthur kept telling Cobb that he was fine with chasing the boars away, but Cobb felt bad after witnessing one of Arthur’s chase which gave Cobb the impression that the boars had all the fun), so Arthur was expecting to find some animal caught in one of Cobb’s traps. What he did not expect to find though, was a full grown man with a pair of, what looked like wolf ears stuck out just off the top of his head and a furry tail being caught in the leg by a trap. The man (Arthur didn’t know what else to call him) was too busy trying to pry the trap open that he did not noticed Arthur’s approach until Arthur was standing in front of him.
For the longest moment, the man just simply stared at Arthur, trap forgotten, with a stunned expression. When the silence and the heat from the stare became too unbearable, Arthur broke off the silence, “Do you need some help with that?” gesturing the trap that was biting into the man’s leg.
The man leaned back slowly and with a massive grin on his face, purred.
“Hello gorgeous, I think you just made me into a believer in love at first sight.”
----------
(To be continued…?)