Once Upon A Time [Hammel Fairytale!AU]

[Fifi Hart]

Prologue


Once upon a time, in a land before the time of the common reckoning, where dragons terrorized the land and magic ruled the hearts of man, there existed humans beyond the comprehension and the abilities of the mere mortals of our time. The strength of their bodies and their minds was matched only by the strength and gentility of their hearts, and in songs now are their stories sung. Collected here are just some of those songs, for their stories number too great to gather here alone.

[Fifi Hart]

The Hardest of Hearts

In one of these such songs, we lay our scene. Fearsome dragon, possessed by the darkness and cold of the angry north, consumed the heart and soul of a man. The dragon desired most deeply that the man suffered the pain and loneliness of the dragon’s life, sequestered in a dank, dark cave. And the dragon fired the man-of-clay, hardening his skin that he would never feel. Nor cold, nor heat, nor sting did breach the man’s hardened exterior, and he lived for a time among men, before they cut out his heart by fear of his strange ways.

The world having torn the very heart from his breast, the man fell into the deepest of slumbers, captured again by the dragon before the world could find the secret to the its defeat. And so did they retreat far into the bowels of the earth: the dragon in seething loneliness and the man his only silent companion, sharing not in his experience of the world, but in the feeling of emptiness in his heart.

Knight after knight came to slay the dragon, but each was felled by his terrible claw, the charred armor returned to the city. Tears flowed as thick as the blood, and the humans of the world cried to know how they might defeat the dragon, for how should it be that one could break a heart of stone?

One day, years into the man’s sorrowful slumber, a lady was exploring in the wood near the dragon’s cave. She had heard of the cruelty of the man, and of the ferocity of the dragon and was afraid, but resolved to defeat it all the same. For she too knew the sting of loneliness and felt the pit of it deep and heavy in her heart.

“No man, not even the hardest of hearts, should have to be alone.” She would say to herself when fear pricked her soul, and so was able to forge ahead, the strength of her courage growing stronger within each beat of her heart.

When she finally came upon the dragon, smoke leaking from his terrible mouth, she felt as strong as any man, and knew that she would be able to rescue the man from the clutches of the dragon.

Swiftly the dragon did advance upon her, great black eyes shining like the ice over the deepest waters. With no weapon to strike with, and no shield to keep her frail body from harm, the maiden struck out with her hands, the strength of her heart imbuing her with the ability to slay the dragon.

Their fight was terrific, and her very soul ached with the feat, but soon the dragon fell to her hand. As it lay dying, it’s wounds too great even for its powerful magic to heal; its rancorous voice came forth: “Foolish woman. You cannot save him!” it cried, for it had seen the maiden’s sorrowful eyes come to rest on the slumbering form of the man, and it saw that her heart was filled with love for him. “You have killed me, and so with my death I curse you: may the strength of your heart become the strength of your body, that you may never hold the one you love without crushing him to death in your arms!”

With an anguished roar he then died, his body wasting quickly into a black wind that blew the maiden to her knees. Tears rolled freely off her eyes, as the deep sorrow of the dragon overcame her. Yet through the mist of her tears she saw upon the ground a rock that was not a rock at all. When she picked it up, it trembled in her hand, contracting and beating with all the life of a true human’s heart, though it was as heavy and as hard as stone.

She knew then that it must belong to the man, laid out on a bed of rock at the back of the cave. Running to him, she saw the hole in his chest and knew it must be so: the dragon had stolen the man’s heart, and its magic kept him alive. Despite the dangers that could have arisen, the maiden tucked the heart into the hole in the man chest, covering it with her hands. She laid her gentle head upon those delicate hands; the greatness of her strength cracked the man’s stony exterior, her tears melting the rock away.

When she spoke, her voice echoed softly in the cave. “My love, if you can hear me, know this: That I will never leave you. That no matter how cold, how warm, or how lonely…I will always with you, here now in your heart.”

Her kind words warmed his core, and the man awoke from his slumber, taking the woman in his arms. “My darling, you have saved me from the spell and from the darkness, and for that there cannot be enough thanks.” Without a thought, the maiden threw her arms about the man, embracing him tightly. Horror struck her as she remembered the dragon’s curse and, fearful that she had crushed her love to death, she began to weep.

“Why do you weep so bitterly, my love?” Asked the man.

She replied “I want no more than to embrace you, but the dragon cursed my strength, and I fear killing you!”

With a smile, and a chaste kiss to her cheek, he drew her again to him. “Fear not my love, for the dragon also left me with a burden: while the stoniness of my appearance may be gone, I am still as immovable as the mountain, and as rocky as the stones which surrounds us.”

“But now these curses have become our blessing, for how more perfect suited to one another can we be?”

Satisfied that they were indeed made for each other the maiden and the man with the heart of stone left the cave to begin their life together…

…and they lived happily ever after.

[Morgan Tonaya]

The Light of the Kingdom

I sing a song of a great Queen and her valiant King, and of the day the truly came to love each other. For long ago, when the Queen was a Princess, betrothed by a Prince, a curse came down upon her kingdom. They were plagued by a ferocious dragon whose greed was unsurpassed in the realm. He demanded tributes of money and food, and drove the peasants of the land further into poverty. Finally, at the pinnacle of its greed, the Dragon demanded a tribute of the greatest price: the life of the kingdom’s beloved Princess.

Her subjects refused to give her over, standing to fight the fearsome beast, but the Princess cried nay. “I will go with the Dragon and slay him forever more, that our kingdom may thrive in it’s death.” The people were woebegone, but she could not be swayed, and so gave herself over to the dragon with the intent to slay him.

Alas, he proved too strong, and she could only keep the greed of the dragon in check by her continuing presence in it’s lair. Satisfied that her people were safe, though in despair that she must pass her days in the clutches of the dragon, the Princess prayed for salvation.

When the Prince journeying in a far off land heard of the fate of the betrothed he hardly knew, he vowed to rescue her. For though their time together was short, their love was destiny, and he knew that for that love, he must fight.

And so he took his fastest steed and rode to the lair of the Dragon, demanding that it do battle. Amused, the Dragon obliged and struck the Prince down easily. “Mortal, your sword is no match for my hide.” And so the Prince was forced to retreat with a solemn vow “I will return for my Lady, foul beast. No creature can hoard the light of an entire kingdom.”

And so he returned, many a time, to many a failure. The lady dreaded seeing him each day, only to watch as he was defeated by the dragon and forced to retreat. But each day that he returned, her love for him grew, for no matter how many times she called out to him and begged him to desist, or assured him she would be alright, he always came back for her with the assurance “You are the light of the kingdom. Without you, there is only darkness.”

One day, the Dragon grew tired of toying with the Prince, and vowed that he would vanquish the man before he could leave the lair. The Princess wept, for she knew his fate.

The Prince arrived in the lair of the Dragon, just as he did each day, and drew his sword for battle. The Dragon struck the first blow, crushing the Prince under his foot, for the mortal man was weak and battle-worn from weeks of fighting. The Dragon laughed, letting his mighty jaws descend upon the man. Before devouring the Prince, the Dragon growled: “This is the day of your death, Prince. Because I am a gentleman, you may say your last words to your lady.”

The Prince felt a calming warmth engulf him as he looked toward the Princess, saluting her with his blade, which began to glow softly. “To the light of our kingdom, that it may never be extinguished.” He turned to the Dragon, the light surrounding the Prince growing brighter and brighter until the Dragon had to draw back or risk blindness.

“What is this magic?” roared the dragon, disorientated by the pure light of the prince’s heart. Swinging his sword, the prince stabbed the dragon through the heart, the white-hot blade striking true through the monsters steely hide.

The brave prince sheathed his sword, triumphant over the evil dragon. The dragon though, would not leave the world of the living without taking a bit of the prince with him and so struck out with a dying breath of malignant flame. “For casting me in the pits of hell, Prince; may you suffer forever in the eternal dark!” and so perished the dragon, and so trembled the prince, as all of the light of his heart faded from his eyes, casting him into a living night eternal.

The princess ran to him and took his face in her hands, calling to him quietly. “My lady, for all my strength I cannot see your face, as the dragon has damned my eyes to an everlasting dark.” He clutched her hand, pressing it to his breast. “But know this, my love, for all the loss of my sight, your visage of beauty remains forever etched on my soul. For the heart has no need for eyes to see that for which it beats.”

With tears in her eyes, she pressed her face close to his. “You are kind, my Prince, and you are wise. And for your might and chivalry there will be rewards deserving of you.” And she took him to her to her kingdom, where they were married.

One night many years later, when they were sleeping peacefully together, the Prince---soon to be king--- was troubled from sleep. “How can I lead a people I or protect a Queen I cannot see? The light of the kingdom cannot burn in the darkness.” He asked of his Queen.

The Queen replied:“Your light has always shined in the darkest of nights.”She smiled and kissed each of his eyes. “And the heart has no need for eyes to see that for which it beats.”

Curled against her, the faint sensation of warmth engulfed his body, as it had when slaying the dragon and suddenly a vision of his lady appeared before him, as beautiful and chaste as he remembered. Smiling broadly, hertouched her hair and looked at her as if he needed to see nothing else again so long as he was alive. “At last, my Queen…I truly see the light.”

Tears of joy filling her eyes, his wife threw her arms about the neck of her healed husband, and called for celebration throughout her lands.

…and they lived happily ever after