"Love while the night still hides the withering dawn"

[lifesmarvels]

Title: Love while the night still hides the withering dawn
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairing: Erik/Charles, Erik/Emma, mentioned Erik/others women
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst
Rating: PG
Word Count: 896
Warnings: None
Summary: The rumour of the princess in the diamond casket was a lie. There was just glass and a young man locked inside it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the writing and even this I'm reluctant to claim. 
Author's note: For the au_bingo's square "Royalty". There was a question few days ago on lj's main page "What is your favourite fairytale and why?" and although this isn't mine it did prompted me to write this short story. The title is from the song with lovely lyrics "While your lips are still red" by Nightwish.

The man laying inside was beautiful.

Logan snorted next to him and said something about fucking witches gossiping and spreading false rumors, but Erik didn’t care. The story about a princess in the glass casket brought them here, but really, he’ll settle for a prince if he’s going to be that pretty.

The man inside glass looked as if he was merely sleeping and not carried off in Death’s embrace time ago. His skin was pale as moonlight, but still had a flush on his round cheeks. His hair was as dark as an ebony wood and it curled in soft locks around his ears, Erik’s fingers itched to touch them and brush them away from that lovely face. And his lips, God his lips, the Prince wasn’t sure he ever saw that shade of crimson on any living person in all his travels. He touched his hand reverently to the cover of the casket, ignoring the argument going on around him.

He didn’t care what it was going to take, he’s taking this man to his palace. He can’t imagine now not waking to the lovely sight he has before him now. The little group of dwarves can stuff it as long as he’s concerned.

He caresses the glass softly and wishes he could have someone like that by his side, alive and breathing. Maybe even if he’d be lucky, the man would be smart enough to challenge him sometimes. Instead he gets the swarm of petty princesses that don’t care for anything but fashion and knitting. He feels his brows furrow, the man surely wouldn’t want to talk about knitting, but Erik’s pretty sure this is the person he could make an exception for. He could talk about anything as long as these beautiful lips would open and speak to him.

He sighs one last time and straightens up. Time for self-pity and silly wishes over. He needs a wife one way or another so he might as well have something gorgeous to look at when he’s spending time away from her. He’ll fill his duty as Cardinal Shaw pushes him into and give the Kingdom an heir, but it doesn’t mean he has to love his future wife or even spend time with her for longer than necessary. He orders Logan and Victor to pick up the casket and thinks that now he might even marry Princess Emma. At least, she knows things about military and would rather stab him with knitting needles than made him a scarf with them.

He can feel the grin stretching over his face at the thought of his future now and sees in the corner of his eye dwarves shrinking back at the sight, the protests they surely were going to make, dying on their lips. Good. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if they tried to stop him from taking this gorgeous creature with him.

Everything goes smoothly until during their trek through the forest, Logan kicks the back of Victor’s knee and the man falls. And with him the casket. Erik can almost see red and he’s close to just driving his sword through them both when he hear a soft moan from between the shards of broken glass. He’s kneeling at the side of unmoving body in a minute, listening for any other signs of life. It takes him a while to notice the moving chest. The man is breathing. He’s alive.

And then there are brilliant sky-blue eyes looking into his green ones and he would like to say there’s a love at first sight and everything ends happily ever after, but this just complicates everything. The man spoke and should Erik not realize that it meant he wouldn’t be able to keep him, he would be overjoyed hearing the soft baritone.

“Good heavens, where am I?”

Erik swallows and helps the man sit, noticing for the first time a piece of apple that must have surely fell from the red lips. It possibly was what kept the man at the brink of death for so long. He answers the question as truthfully as he can.

“You’re on the main road in the Magnus Forest with me, King Erik and my servants, James and Victor. You’re safe with us.”

The man looks at him with a surprise written all over his face and clears his throat before speaking.

“My name is Charles. Prince Charles of Chester. Thank you for rescuing me.”

The breath lodges in Erik’s throat. Chester was burnt down by the malevolent King Kurt two years ago and he doesn’t think this lovely man would like to know about it right now. Instead he helps Charles to his feet and leads them to his horse.

“We shall depart to my castle now. We’ll arrange for anything you’ll need there. You can ask for anything.”

If he’s last words sounded a little desperate, no one mentioned it. Charles rode, relaxed into his chest, taking in his surrounding with avid curiosity. Oh, what would Erik give just so he could keep him. But he knows there are few people in the world who would want to be married King’s courtesans and even fewer men with wishes like that. He looks onward on the road and keeps his royal face on. He’s happiness doesn’t matter, he’s doing it all for his people. 

Comments

[the-me09.livejournal.com]

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

POOR ERIK! OH HE JUST BUT IF HE WERE TO SAY SOMETHING HGHSWFJSKDf ERIIIIIIIIIIIIK YOU DUMMY! AAHHH THESE BOYS D: THEY BREAK MY HEART ALL THE TIMES!

LOVELY LOVELY FIC DARLING!

<3

[kiriana16.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHA YOU KNOW I DON'T BELIEVE YOU AND HATE EVERYTHING I TYPE LATELY, RIGHT? STILL THANK YOU AND LOVE YOU <3

ERIK WILL NEVER SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE HE'S A BLOODY MARTYR BUT CHARLES WILL POSSIBLY STILL STAY AND JUST TAKE CARE OF ALL THE SAD, ABANDONED SOULS LIKE A STABLE BOY ALEX OR A MAID RAVEN AND THEY WILL BE LIKE HIS WOODLAND CREATURES ONLY NOT AND THEY WILL ALL LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

POSSIBLY.

SDFHDLKFHDLFGFD HOW DOES IT HAPPEN THAT EVERYTHING I TOUCH TURN INTO ANGST?