Faerie Tales and Phoenix Fire

Lilia could feel his heart seize in his chest as cloudy, sleep-hazed, eyes glazed at him. There was something so much more comforting about seeing the boy awake and aware. His skin was still pale grey and near transparent but that would take a while to fix. Still, the child was awake and confused and most probably hungry. 

“This time?” 

Oh dear, that voice. So croaky and scratchy and so very reassuring to hear. He’d worried endlessly that he wouldn’t get the chance to hear it again. The tightness that had plagued him for days fell away as he landed on his feet and plopped down into the recliner he’d slept in for the past week. It was almost over. So very close to the end of this whole exhausting ordeal. He couldn’t wait to get home and cook up a good nutritious meal for the poor dear. Maybe this time he’d actually make it taste good too.

Or not! 

Who knows; it was always fun to see what happened when he mixed ingredients in new ways and following recipes was so boring. If the child really was like him then he may even like his cooking! 

“The nurses had quite the show when you came out of anesthesia.” Lilia giggled as he remembered the flustered crowd of medical professionals after he was discovered giving the boy his blood. He’d nearly been barred from the hospital and the nurse and doctor who’d aided him actually had been. “Though the complements were quite flattering. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone focus so much on my eyes before and then you yanked that assistant’s tail, the poor dear.”

Truly, he really hadn’t had anyone comment on his eyes so much. They weren’t anything special, but the boy had slurred out compliment after compliment about them. That had nothing on the adorably confused look he’d had when he pulled a nurse’s tail and the whispered “ kitty” he’d let out though. Lilia had lost his mind laughing at the poor nurse who’d skirted around the bed cautiously afterward. 

A bright red flush crawled up the boy’s face, trailing up little round ears and down his bruised neck. Lilia grinned, bright and happy, and by Mab, it was so good to see him awake. He wanted to hug him so damn badly, but no. No, he’d keep physical touch to a minimum until he knew how the boy would react. There was every chance he’d have physical triggers Lilia would have to learn to avoid and he had no desire to rush to find them. 

“Though still better than any time I’ve had to be anesthetized. I’ve got combative in big bold letters on my file,” he chirped as he brought the clipboard up again. There was a section he’d been reading about the side effects of Fae blood transfusions typed out on the last page. None of it seemed all too concerning to him. Fever, chills, fluctuating body temperature, certain food cravings, low iron; Lilia couldn’t help but snort at that last one. The symptoms didn’t seem all too drastic altogether and he didn’t plan on telling the boy about it unless necessary. There wasn’t really any need to tell him. What child cared about their medical information? 

There were a few that were concerning, but according to the notes they were rare reactions, so he didn’t put very much thought into them. There were some he didn’t understand, like tachycardia or hypervolemia, but they couldn’t be that bad , right? They were rare so that meant he didn’t have to worry about them. Besides humans weren’t that fragile. 

“How do you feel? Would you like me to alert the nurse? There’s one right outside the door.” And wasn’t that annoying. He just couldn’t get a moment of privacy, though he was pleased they were taking his boy’s health and safety seriously. No other Fae would be getting anywhere near him while they were in the hospital. 

The boy turned to glare at the door, a pout twisting his face petulantly. Cute . There wasn’t any need for him to worry but it was cute that he was. Lilia wouldn’t let them lay a finger on his child. 

“Are they going to try to take you from me again,” the boy questioned, glaring even harder at the door like he wanted to fight the nurse on the other side. 

Lilia- Lilia just couldn’t. Take him? The nurses take him , Lilia, away from the boy? Like the boy was the thief and Lilia the poor unsuspecting victim? Are you kidding? That’s straight gold! A child, a human, stealing a Fae! 

And the fact that the boy had said “try” like he would and could fight them off if they did try taking Lilia away. Oh, oh, that was hysterical. 

Lilia turned his head to the side, eyes wide, a hand over his mouth. That was just- he let out a treacherous giggle. He was like a kitten! Like a teeny tiny kitten hissing and spitting like that could actually do anything. Oh, the poor dear was delusional, but it was hilarious. He didn’t even know what kind of situation he was in. He thought he was the one with the power, the little aggressor. It didn’t even cross his mind that Lilia was the one stealing him. Did he even understand that Lilia wouldn’t be letting him go? That Lilia owned him now? 

“No,” soft laughter interrupted him, “No, dear, they’re not going to,” he lurched, snorting with the effort not to laugh. How hilarious! A child thinking they could possess a Fae! 

 “They’re not going to,” he took in a deep breath only to succumb to snickers, “‘Take me’ from you. I’ve made sure of that.” 

Name, blood, oath; there was very little the humans could do to take his child from him now. Granted, they didn’t know Lilia didn’t possess the boy’s Name yet, and they wouldn’t for a long time yet. His claim was solid and the royal attorney would ensure that in court. 

The boy relaxed into the bed, shoulders falling and metaphorical hackles smoothing over. Oh, the poor, poor, delusionally dear. He’d never get away from Lilia now. He was his. For the rest of his life; either his or Lilia’s. There was nowhere he could go to escape him. Lilia would always find him. A Fae’s love was a dangerous, smothering, thing. 

“Ah, before I forget,” he set the clipboard down on the little side table, avoiding the burning, infernal, sunlight, “The medics had to remove your clothes, though I assumed you’d like them back, so I mended them.” 

He rose, knees clicking, and began rummaging through the bags he’d brought. The boy’s clothes luckily hadn’t fought him too hard, though the charms were very interesting. There were a number of charms he couldn’t exactly identify though he could parse through their functions. General protection, from what he could tell from the feel of them, layered over with warming and cooling enchantments and a healthy amount of damage resistance. Very interesting indeed. Given the amount of warming enchantments, Lilia could assume the boy came from a country with rather frigid winters. It’d have to be further up north and perhaps sea-locked. Isolated from the rest of the world. One way or another, he’d find them. There was vengeance to be had and far be it for him to not live up to his species reputation. 

Lilia whispered a quiet “aha” as he found and placed the folded clothes out on the side table. The golden fabric had been an absolute bitch to color match and he’d eventually just used magic to change his thread. 

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t save your shirt. That one had to go straight to the biohazard bin, I’m afraid. But I did find quite a few interesting things in your pockets.”

Unfortunate for the boy anyway. It wasn’t unfortunate at all in his opinion, though he had wanted to save the whole outfit. That shirt had been ripped and bloody and just overall disgusting though. He hoped it was burned. The child didn’t need to know that though. 

With a soft hum to himself, Lilia turned to the bag he’d placed all the things he’d found in. There was quite a bit. He really wanted to know what enchantments had caused the pockets to fit so damn much. There were a lot of things he could do with that kind of spellwork and not all of them were benign. 

“Apparently all children are the same,” he muttered with a smile. He’d found no less than five different boxes of candy squirreled away in the cloak and pants. He didn’t remember doing things like that as a child but Silver, Malleus, and Sebek had all done the same. He mourned the amount of melted chocolate he’d had to scrub out of pocket after pocket. The jellybeans were just plain weird. He’d snuck one while working. He was pretty sure it was drywall-flavored.

His fingers slipped over water-like silk and he hesitated, but the thing let out a subvocal, magical, hiss at him. Evil little trinket. He dragged it out, ignoring the smug way it purred. How the hell a piece of cloth had enough magic to be sentient he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. It wasn’t any kind of magic he’d seen before, Fae or otherwise, but the thing had made itself abundantly clear. It belonged to the boy. Nobody else. 

“ My cloak! ” 

And apparently, the child was just as possessive. The boy bolted up and Lilia could see the way his skin pulled at his neck. In an instant, he teleported to the boy’s side and pushed him right back down. The bones beneath his fingers were thin and fragile and Lilia wasn’t sure just how much pressure he could put on them without snapping them. 

“Careful now. You’re not to move without the doctor’s permission.” 

Lilia couldn’t give less of a fuck about the doctor’s orders but if it got the child to stop trying to hurt himself then he’d use it to his advantage. He just got him, Lilia wasn’t going to let his new child get any more broken. He gazed at the I.V. port in the boy’s neck, ear twitching at the vivid purple-blue bruises around it. 

“It doesn’t look as though you’ve ripped the I.V out, at least,” he sighed, taking another step back. He sent the boy a stern look, daring him to move again as he moved back to the bags. He really didn’t want to have to spend another day in the hospital. 

Next, he took out the books he’d found, placing them right beside the clothes. The boy barely paid them a glance, too absorbed in staring longingly at the cloak. Honestly, he was looking at the thing like it was made of gold.

“Oh yes, and this!”

Oh, but he really didn’t want to admit to having the little trinket. Oh well, Lilia shoved a hand in his pocket and took out the little gold ball of endless entertainment. About half the size of a baseball and twice as heavy, the ball of gold was the absolute best toy he’d ever come across.

 It flew. 

Fast. 

He loved it. 

And wanted it. 

He’d have to find someone who could replicate it. It was shiny and fast and it reminded him of a faerie and it kind of made him want to try eating it, but he wasn’t that foolish. He’d rather not get a mouthful of gold. Malleus might enjoy something like that, but not him. It was half the reason he hadn’t shown his eldest. 

The sound of footsteps had him freezing, turning to stare at the door. There were three- no, four- sets heading their way. Four heartbeats: two human, one drastically slower, and one only a tad bit slower than human. His eyes narrowed, head twitching to the side. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the boy instantly pick up on his change and his target. The child’s head snapped to the door, poisonously green eyes glaring. 

Observant. 

Good instincts. 

The door clicked open, two guardsmen stalked in. A mischievous smirk tugged at him as they moved to stand against the back wall, both staring at him cautiously. The pale one was the one with the drastically slow heart rate. Deep black eyes tracked him with the attention of a predator. But what kind was the question. Lilia took in a deep breath, dragging in the scent of seawater. It didn’t tell him much. The man was merfolk, but that was about all he could get from that. 

The dark-skinned man had a normal human heartbeat and no unusual scent belying any other species. Though his eyes were quite bright, a bit unusual for a human, but not exactly rare. Then there was the doctor; again, human. Her heart rate was smooth and regular, her scent overlain with medical influences. 

His smile twitched and widened. The last one then. His gaze met crystalline blue. The doctor quickly went over to the boy, but Lilia didn’t spare her a second glance. His pupils dilated as he stared and smiled at his new source of entertainment. 

Traitors made good toys in his experience. This must’ve been what Maleficia was talking about; half-Fae siding with the Land of Dawning and refusing to pay their dues to her. Traitors that decided to abandon the Queen they owed their loyalty to. Pathetic whelps unworthy of the blood running through their veins. 

“Good evening, Mr. Charming. You may call me Dr. Haust, I’ve been overseeing your recovery since we received you. With me is Mr. Schwartz, the social worker presiding over your case. Please pay no mind to the officers, they are here for both our and your safety,” the doctor said as she opened drawers and scanned the counter with a soft frown. 

He could ignore the traitor for the moment. He’d have plenty of time to figure out what to do with him later, for now, his child was more important. 

“Ah, I believe you’re looking for this,” he chirped as he sent the clipboard floating over the bed. The doctor grabbed it out of the air with a glance at him. She was afraid of him, obviously, though she was doing quite well at hiding it.

“I will excuse this for now, Sir Vanrouge, but may I remind you that it is illegal for you to look at the medical information of others not under your purview,” she murmured lowly as she placed the clipboard back down and grabbed a pair of gloves. If there was one thing he enjoyed about this little ordeal it was the medical professionals. They were almost perfectly polite and, even if they didn’t exactly adhere to Fae etiquette, they still treated him respectfully for the most part. 

Lilia staunchly ignored the way the half-Fae typed away on his phone. Instead, he watched as his boy frowned at the man. He could smell a smidge of fear trickle off the child and had to fight back the urge to snarl in the half-Fae’s direction. 

“We were expecting you to wake up yesterday, but you had a strong reaction to the anesthesia. Now that you’re awake, one of our officers can take your statement and Mr. Schwartz can go over what’s going to happen next.” 

The kid was coming home with him; end of discussion and if the halfling knew what was good for him he’d fuck right the hell off. 

The thought had barely taken shape when a sudden spike of territorial fuck-off scent flooded the room, all aimed at the social worker. Amusingly enough, it didn’t come from Lilia. Slowly, Lilia turned to stare at the boy lying half-reclined in his hospital bed. The child who had been bedridden and unconscious for four days. The child who was positively blasting a territorial cocktail of fight-me-bitch at a much older half-Fae. 

For the second time that day, Lilia nearly lost his mind laughing. Until he noticed the undertones of spiraling panic underlying the scent. Oh, dear. The boy wasn’t reacting in any obvious way, other than his scent, but Lilia had more than enough experience with panic attacks to notice one in the making. Malleus had been prone to anxiety attacks when he was younger, ignoring Lilia’s own issues with his emotions. 

Slowly, calmly, he drifted closer to the boy’s bedside. He reached out, watching for any sort of violent reaction, and placed his hand on a tiny bony shoulder. The child’s eyes met his and Lilia felt a part of himself whine at the almost blank haze gazing back at him from too-large pupils. The child’s pupils had expanded nearly thrice their normal size, expanding until black nearly engulfed the jewel green. 

He smiled down at the child, practically an infant. He wanted to dip down and nuzzle his nose into downy soft hair, smother the boy in his scent. He wanted to climb into the bed and haul the child into his lap and wrap him in his wings, protected and warm where nothing and nobody could ever get to him. 

“Mr. Charming.”

 Oh for Mab’s sake! Relax, relax. Lilia gave himself a moment to calm down and marveled at his own self-control. He’d grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. If any half-Fae had tried taking Silver away when he was a toddler Lilia would have killed them. He was fairly certain he’d stuck his foot through one of his neighbors’ chest just for looking at Silver wrong. 

“That’s not my name,” the boy hissed with venom dripping from his tongue and a glare that could freeze fire. The boy could speak though and that was a good thing. He wasn’t too far gone for Lilia to reach. The poor dear felt trapped, vulnerable, like a mouse surrounded by cats. 

The Name probably wasn’t helping either. As far as Lilia was aware, Charming was typically assigned to unknown individuals. It was a general catch-all but it carried a sort of helplessness with it. The Name had picked up general meanings that tainted it: helplessness, lost, abandoned, forgotten, help-is-here, aid. 

Perhaps if the boy had been any other child, he would’ve felt comforted by it, but he most definitely wasn’t a normal child. Instead, he was a feral little thing and feral things did not appreciate being called weak in any way, shape, or form.  So Lilia did his best to rinse that Name from him.

“Let’s get you sitting up, Little One. I’ve the feeling this conversation will go much smoother that way, yes?” He smiled down at the boy, well out of range of any teeth that may snap at him. He knew well how he would’ve reacted in a similar situation at the boy’s age. 

Little One was a much better Name to call the boy for now, though perhaps a bit presumptuous on his part, but again he didn’t really care. The boy was his after all, it was only right that he refer to him as such. It was a common enough endearment in the human settlements, none but the half-Fae would think overmuch about it. They wouldn’t catch on to the young-vulnerable-mine-mine-mine the Name carried with it when spoken from the mouth of a Fae. Though, Lilia hoped it calmed the boy, sensitive as he seemed to be to Names. 

Lilia smiled at the doctor pointedly, tilting his head down toward the child. He was the one with the power here and it would be very much appreciated if the humans, and human adjacents, could do as they were told. Predictably, the doctor didn’t seem all that enthused about adjusting the child’s bed, but well, it really would be better for everyone. The kid had been eyeing her throat when she’d leaned over him and Lilia didn’t think death via panicked child was a very good way to die. He wouldn’t want to be shuffled off the mortal coil because he was too stupid to stay away from a cornered animal’s teeth. That’d just be embarrassing. 

The boy let out a soft sigh as the bed straightened up. Good, less bloodshed for them all. Oh , but Lilia really wanted to nuzzle the little dear. That little pout and the way his hair stood up at all angles. It was absolutely precious . 

“Alright then, could you perhaps tell me your name?”

Lilia’s eye twitched violently and he turned, hand still on the child’s shoulder, to stare at the half-Fae. Really? No, seriously, really? That was literally the oldest trick in the book. Lilia had already tried it anyway and obviously, the boy wasn’t stupid enough to give it. 

“No.” 

Case and point!

Even the kid thought he was stupid. 

The half-Fae was planning something, Lilia could see it in the way he smiled. The boy didn’t seem all too intimidated or impressed. But perhaps this could be another test for the child. Lilia had played with him a little bit, but it’d be interesting to see how he reacted to another with Fae blood. Lilia could stand aside and watch. It wasn’t like the half-Fae could actually do anything anyway, so what was the harm? He couldn’t coddle the child all the time. It was best to see where the boy needed improvement and the best way to do that was by throwing him into the deep end. See where instinct and natural wiles got him. 

So, Lilia took a metaphorical step back. He’d let the kid have his fun 

The boy’s head twitched, cocking to the side in a way that reminded Lilia of Revan. Or Crowley. He preferred to think of Revan though. Perhaps he could find some clues as to the boy’s species. The hospital obviously didn’t know so that left more specific species rather than a general everyday hybrid. Maybe even something as unusual as a beastfolk-merfolk hybrid. How would that even work? Maybe an amphibious species or an aquatic mammalian species? 

The boy’s hand twitched, fingers curling, and Lilia couldn’t help the way his smile widened. Violent little thing. He loved it. He could practically taste the boy’s desire to deck the half-Fae. Lilia would let him if he really wanted to, though he doubted the child could cause much damage. He'd be more than happy to do it for him though! That was a parent thing to do, right? That felt like more of a mother thing to do. Was he being more of a mother? He’d never really thought about fighting someone like that for Silver or Malleus. The half-Fae wasn’t an actual threat to the child. With his other boys, he usually only got involved if it involved an assassination attempt or thievery. Granted he’d reacted much more violently when Silver was a toddler, but again that was more to dissuade any attempts at theft. 

Oh well. Mother, father, guardian; he didn’t care what the boy saw him as. He’d match whatever role the boy gave him. Why he was acting so defensively over the child was a complete mystery to him. 

Lilia shrugged. Who cares? Maybe he was just getting old and soft. 

“How about something to call you by then? Could you give me a nickname or something similar?” 

If the kid wasn’t going to fall for the Name trick then he wasn’t going to fall for the nickname trick either. 

“No.” 

Lilia pressed a hand to his mouth, giggling softly. The kid just sounded so done with everything. Lilia could imagine him crossing his little arms and raising an eyebrow sassily like Cater does when he finds a flabbergasting post on Magicam. He was just so damn cute! All swaddled in bedsheets and sass. He couldn’t wait to take him back to Diasomnia and show him off to all the other Fae. Like, “ Yes, this is mine. Be jealous.”

The boy leaned to the side slightly, putting more weight on Lilia’s hand. Ah yes. He could die happy. He was going to rant about the cuteness of children to Cater the moment he got the time. Malleus had already heard all of his rants and he was pretty sure if he brought it up one more time his prince would decide to forego parenthood altogether. 

But just look at him ! His hair was all messy and fluffy and slightly greasy because he hadn’t had an actual bath in at least four days, but he was like a tiny scruffy little animal. Lilia almost wanted to cry from sheer cuteness overload. He was absolutely going to take as many pictures of the kid as he could. He’d get them printed out and add a few to the pictures he had in his wallet of Silver, Sebek, and Malleus. 

“Well then, young man,” the half-Fae paused, eyeing his kid, waiting to be interrupted again, “Could you give us a phone number to contact your guardians? We’d like to investigate just how you came to be injured, but to do that we’d need to know where exactly you belong.”

Oh, actually, yes, he did need that information. The boy was never going back, but Lilia would love to visit. There was so much he could do in a country he’d never explored or been banned from. 

Lilia waited, smiling happily, enjoying the way it made the guards leak caution and the way the half-Fae kept glancing at him. Life was good and if he stared at his new child besottedly, who could blame him? The twisted little smile painted on his little gaunt face was adorable . It was positively Fae in its mischief. He didn’t know what the boy was going to do but it was going to be amusing as hell. 

He could see the well-hidden darkness lurking behind the child’s teeth, misting across his eyes, and if Lilia took a moment to imagine, he could almost see little round ears lengthen into points. He sighed lovingly, blinking away the fanciful vision. Mostly human children didn’t turn Fae overnight. He would know. He’d been trying to push Silver closer to Fae for over a decade. 

A dark little giggle began to bubble in Lilia’s chest. He smiled at the half-Fae, letting the man see the claim he held over the boy, the threads already woven so tightly around the boy’s soul. The crimson stain he’d begun to paint so lovingly across the boy’s very being. 

“My guardian is Mr. Vanrouge.”

Lilia’s eyes bulged and his smile split his face, cracking his human visage before he sealed the cracks back up. Oh, oh, oh this was fantastic! This was glorious! One of the best days of his life for sure! 

He paid no mind to the chaos around him, only to the oath-like words that spilled like spiced wine from the lips of a child who knew nothing of what he’d done. Words were their bond, their power. Not just their own but that of others as well. Just a few simple words and the boy had bound himself to Lilia, had given Lilia power over his life. 

Lilia couldn’t help his glee and the way it surged out of him. He folded in half to hide the way his smile stretched and twisted. He wrapped his arms around his waist to hide the way his nails lengthened. He laughed and laughed and laughed because what else was he to do? Five simple words from the mouth of a babe spelled the Land of Dawning’s fall. 

He barely noticed when gravity abandoned him, floating up to the ceiling, curling his legs up to his chest. He couldn’t breathe, lungs too busy bursting with glee, so he decided he didn’t need to breathe. His laughter went high, echoing clicks announcing his corrupted joy to his colony. He could feel Malleus’ response echo back to him, Maleficia’s not far behind, both enthusiastic in their own ways, bleeding into his satisfaction. 

One more to the hoard. One more to be tainted in wicked red. 

He floated down, hovering above the boy, his boy, his son. Such a Fae child he was. Lilia would enjoy training him and teaching him to harness that Fae-like attitude. He brushed a hand over his son’s head, gazing into the bright green eyes that gazed back up at him. 

“Never in all my years~”

The boy smiled up at him guilelessly, so innocently, like he had no idea he’d sold his soul away. Lilia’s nails danced across his son’s forehead, sweeping inky strands out of those too-bright eyes, and paused. Bright scarred red marred his child’s skin, etched deep with foul magicks.