The moment Arthur and Fairy took a step into the Café they were barraged with sweet smell of freshly cut fruits along with the unmistakeable smell of caramel and freshly made fudge, all which filled the entire café with this sickly sweet and refreshing aroma, which was enhanced by the earthy smell of coffee that burst through the initial wave of sweetness before merging with the other smells so well blended that Arthur and Fairy immediately gulped and began to drool.
"Make that three cakes, I don't think I would feel right letting this Fairy get away from this without three cakes" Arthur said turning his head to Fairy, "That sound good?" he questioned, before he could even finish his sentence she began to rapidly nod, causing Arthur to let out a light chuckle and say "Guess that's a yes" as he began to look around for Coco, seeing her sitting at one of the booths that were closer to the kitchen, telling a story to the two faunus children he had seen when he looked in, both listening to her with so much attention that Arthur didn't even see them blink.
"…The battle was long and hard, yet the prince had won, he had defeated the evil dragon and rescued the princess, awakening her from her eternal slumber with a simple true loves kiss." She said, causing both the children's eyes to sparkle, "And they lived happily ever after" she grinned looking up from the two children to see Arthur walking up to her holding the hands of what looked to be a homeless child judging by her mangled clothing.
"Yo!" Coco exclaimed, "Took ya long enough, I was starting to get hungry" she said turning back to Arthur, putting her question to the side for a moment as she turned back to the two children about to ask them to go back to their parents, but couldn't get a word out as they both bounced out of the booth landing in front of Arthur, looking up at him with sparkles in their eyes as they both asked "Are you a prince!?" in excitement so loud it attracted the gaze of the other patrons of the Café.
Arthur's mouth hung open as he was just about to address Coco, yet the two children immediately stopped that thought. He turned to the two with a disgusted expression on his face "Oh, nonono, I am no measly prince, why I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They taste best marinated in a mixture of barbeque sauce, mixed with chilli sauce and a little bit of Garlic, salt and pepper" he said animating his movements with pretend drool as he looked longingly into the sky before turning back to the two children who had now taken a few steps back, the girl hiding behind her brothers back. "For you see, I am a dragon! Couldn't you tell? Just look at this hair!" he brought his hand through his head and kneeled on the ground "And these beautiful eyes!" he pulled his eyelid down to show his strangely coloured and shaped eyes which gave him a slight inhuman look if you didn't see the rest of him "It is just impossible for me to be a measly prince! My elegance is simply too much for such a thing."
"But you see, I am no mere dragon! For I am the prince of them!" he quickly stood with a proud smile on his face, "Why do you think I have this form? Why we royalty can transform and change our shapes at will!" he said with a wide grin, getting the sparkle back into both the children's eyes, as well as Fairy who was giggling at his overly exaggerated actions.
"Dragon…" the boy started. "Prince?" the girl finished as her brother jumped forward, hand on his hip while his other was pointing at Arthur.
"Dragon! I shall slay you and save the princess!" he shouted
Arthur opened his eyes wide in amusement and surprise "A prince!? Why no, that just can't be! I ate the last one just last week! I couldn't have missed one! This is just impossible!" he screeched as he reeled backwards "Hmm… but now that I look at you… Hmm, no, you are much too… lanky to be a prince, you wouldn't even make a snack! Hmm, but I am looking for a decent challenge, say? Why don't you become stronger and fight me when you are ready?" he said with a grin getting a huff from the boy as he hit his chest with an 'Of Course!' expression.
Arthur then turned to the girl "Hmm, and might you be a princess then?" he questioned, causing the girl to look up at him with a cute smile as she nodded, "Why, I can just see it! That beautiful hair! And those gemlike eyes! Why you are most definitely a princess, you would make a fine addition to any dragons treasury!" he grinned while the girl once again jumped behind her brothers back.
"But, oh woe is me! My treasury is full enough as it is, and I just can't part with any of it! The hardships I went to collect it all! I just can't fit a princess, and I'm sure the prince over here would have my head if I even tried, now wouldn't you?" the boy gave a quick nod.
"See? I couldn't even take you if I wanted too. Now, why don't you two run a long before I get… Snappy" he said opening his mouth, showing his teeth as he gave a quick snap at them causing them both to run off to the old woman who was currently behind a counter where she was rolling out fondant, the two children laughing and giggling as they told her their story of meeting a real life dragon prince.
Back in the kitchen area of the Café, Velvet was peering through the door frame, a light and warm smile on her face as she watched Arthur exaggeratedly act for her little brother and sister.
"Never expected you to be so good with children" Coco commented with a smile.
"Comes with the past…" he muttered as he watched the two children bounce around their mother with a wide grin as he took a seat opposite her, with fairy sitting next to him, her hands immediately grabbing the menu where the numerous treats were all listed out, but struggling to keep hold of the menu long enough to actually read it as it soon slipped out of her hands, but she was not one to be discouraged as she got onto her knees on the bench and looked down at it, happily making a list of what she wanted to eat.
Coco leaned forward and whispered to Arthur "Who's the kid?" she asked.
Arthur turned to Fairy with a sad smile "She's an orphan" he whispered back after a moment of sontemplation.
"How can you tell? She just looks homeless to me" she added.
"She's too clean, her skin and clothing are spotless apart from the tears in her dress" he explained.
"So you, a stranger, just decided to bring her into a store that sells sweet treats. Should I be concerned?" she squinted with a mock concerned face.
"No, no" Arthur waved her off, still watching the Fairy read through the menu, her eyes going wide as she gasped at the sight of a nearly pure white flan covered in a sparse decoration of powdered sugar making it look like a field of fine snow. Yet the Fairy soon began to violently cough as she quickly covered her mouth, beginning to wheeze in pain as her throat began to burn.
'Crap!' Arthur quickly moved to her side putting his hand on her back and called out the woman he thought was Velvet's mother "Can I get some water here please! Quickly!" getting a nod from her as she quickly ran over to where her husband already had cup filled with water which he handed to her.
"Thank you" Arthur said as he quickly took the glass from her, lightly pushing on the Fairys shoulder so she was sitting straight, still coughing albeit lighter now. "Here drink" Arthur said as he held the glass up to her, which got her to release her hands from her mouth and quickly wrapping them around the glass and bringing it to her mouth as she began to gulp water down to calm her burning throat. "Slowly now, slowly" Arthur said as he gently pried the glass from her hands, his eyes locking on a slight red tinge that coated the outside of the glass 'oh no…' he thought as he quickly turned to Coco and the woman who was kneeling next to Fairy with an equally as worried face as Arthur.
Fairy soon began to sob once her coughing had died down, her voice hoarse and crackly as her tears ran down her face. "Oh, Fairy…" Arthur whined as he picked her up and put her on his lap, gently cradling her as she wept into his shoulder. His hand on the back of her head as he turned to the woman and mouthed 'Thank you'. The woman only gave him a smile and shook her head to say 'No thanks needed' as she took the seat next to Coco, not wanting to just leave a potentially injured child alone.
The Fairy's tears began to die down as she ended up blowing her nose into Arthur's causing him to give her a wry smile. Fairy soon moved her face off of Arthurs shoulder sniffing as she wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands which Arthur could now see were almost entirely covered in numerous types of scars and suture marks.
"Fairy, do you mind if I take a look at your neck?" he asked, Fairy hesitated for a moment but soon gave him a short nod. With a weak smile Arthur put his hand to her chin and gently lifted her head while also leaning his head down to get a better look, frowning at what he saw, as he saw the thing he hoped he wouldn't a large scar running across the right side of her neck, he could also see that the rough and red scar ran down through her dress and up across her right cheek which was normally covered by her hair.
"Thank you" Arthur muttered as he let her chin go, having seen enough of the horrible disfigure ment. "Oh Fairy…" he muttered as he gently rocked his body to comfort her, looking more depressed as she looked at the menu, knowing that she couldn't eat anything in case it caused an infection in her throat.
As Arthur rocked her back and forth his mind began to race in an effort to find some way he could help, just one that could help alleviate her pain for but a day. But coming up with nothing except one thing, his last day with Ashe, and the way he had healed her. 'I could try that again…' he thought remembering when he had attempted to use his 'Vita' skill before initiation.
"Fairy, do you mind if I try something?" he asked, getting a short and weak shake from her head, 'I hope this works…' he said putting his hand on her chin and lifting her head up again "Please keep your head like this, Okay?" he gently asked, Fairy nodded and kept her head up.
Arthur put his left hand over her neck and closed his eyes as he began to channel the feeling he could remember of when he tried to use his skill the last time. Arthurs body soon began to let out a light white glow as small particulates of light began to raise from his body, causing Coco, Velvet's mother as well as Fairy to open their eyes wide as they watched the strangely enchanting scene, Velvet also watching along with her two siblings and her father also keeping an eye on the scene, while the patrons, or at least a majority couldn't see anything as between them and Arthur was a large booth which blocked their vision.
The light that exuded off of Arthur began to get even brighter and as it got brighter it brought along a light hymn with it. Arthur opened his eyes and saw the familiar white light, with a smile Arthur began to try and move it around, which was surprisingly easy as he noted that it moved a lot like his aura did when he was being taught the basics of aura manipulation by Summer.
Arthur began to condense the light into his palm and felt it beginning to heat up as if it were on fire, and yet, it didn't feel painful, it felt as if he was putting his hand into a lukewarm bathtub. Fairy could also feel a slight radiance of heat coming from Arthur's hand as a strangely comforting feeling filled her body as the residual sting from her coughing fit faded away.
After nearly five minutes of channeling 'Vita' Arthur began to feel tired, so he slowly removed his hand from Fairy's neck and let the light fade from his body taking the hymn with it. Arthur let out a heavy breath as Fairy put her hands up to her throat, still feeling the rough skin of her scar, yet it also felt better, at least to her as she couldn't feel the usual burn she had grown accustomed to since she had been injured.
"How do you feel?" Arthur asked with a low voice.
Fairy took a deep breath and attempted to say something, but her hopes were shattered as just as she felt her throat tremble in an attempt to make a word that she began coughing once again, and yet, this was different, it didn't hurt, it didn't burn and no blood came out. Realizing this Fairy looked to her hands which only had the remaining blood from earlier and nothing more.
Her head bolted up, looking at Arthur's head which was tilted to the side in worry, but eventually a smile crept up on his face as he realized that she seemed happy, "Did it…" Arthur was about to say but stopped as Fairy wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder as she wept in joy that she didn't feel the pain she had lived with for months, maybe even years.
Arthur was surprised for a moment, but soon smiled and hugged her back for a moment before quickly locking eyes with Velvet's mother and used his free hand to tap on the menu, specifically on the flan he had seen her gasp at. Velvet's mother gave him a thumbs up and then tilted her head to ask 'And you?' to which he shrugged, letting her choose for him. She also leaned into Coco and whispered "The usual?".
"Yeah, please" Coco responded, sneaking a look to Velvet who had been dragged out of the kitchen by her father to continue her mothers work while she was busy with Arthur and Coco, and giving her a wink.
Just then Arthur's body froze as his head darted to the side, looking through the window where the pastries were displayed, having felt a ominously familiar sensation, yet all he saw was a quickly disappearing shadow of a man.
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"Finally found you, little cur… this time I won't fail…"
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Alternate Chapter names: [The Dragon, The princess and the Prince] [Weeping Fairy] [The Prince of Dragons]
Dun, dun, Duuuunnnn. who is the strange shadow of a man! What does he have to do with the Fairy? Find out next time on… Akashic!
Won't lie, probably won't be next chapter, probably after, not next but after the one after the next, aka, three chapters from this.
Also, I've changed how I'm going to do 'Abilities' from now on. Instead of being able to actively improve 'Abilities' they are now just permanantely at a certain rank [X-S-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H] and this is determined by, rarity of ability, power of ability, of difficulty of acquiring ability.
Also, for those who don't know what I mean by 'Abilities' these are essentially passive in nature and generally don't need to be activated or can't be activated (Depends on Ability)
Abilities instead unlock Skills, or have passive effects on the owner of said Ability. [For example, Vita is a skill that Arthur gained from his ability of [Blessing of Life], while his ability [Full Body Hypermobility] does not grant a specific skill and instead gives his body increased flexibility.
Also, that is not to mean that Arthur can't get a skill from [Full Body Hypermobility] it is just that he has not discovered something that the ability does that can be turned into a skill.
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