Title: Fairy Tale
Author: Shadow/Phantomness
Pairing: Championshipping (Lance x Red)
Fandom: Pokémon
Theme: #22, Hocus Pocus
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Warnings: AU, het, fluff

“This has got to be the most foolish thing I’ve ever done.” Red muttered, glancing around the deserted forest. It had taken several hours to lose all of his royal guards, but Lance had sworn him to secrecy about their meeting and he respected his friend enough to acquiesce to the request. A twig snapped behind him, and he jumped, before seeing that it was only Lance, wearing her homespun brown dress.

Red breathed out a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“I appreciate your willingness to compromise.” She grinned. She put down her basket, spreading a red-and-white checked cloth out on the ground, before taking out a bottle of wine, a currant cake, and several bright red apples. Red smiled, and they sat down together. For many minutes, nothing was said, before finally, Red decided to ask her something personal.

“Lance? Why do you live out here in the forest all by yourself?”

Lance smiled crookedly. “The answer requires a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“I’d love to!” Red beamed, putting his slice of cake down and regarding her with rapt attention. Lance chuckled, before she began.

“I never knew my own parents. I’m not really their child, you see, but they have told me many times how I came to them. My father was a simple woodcutter, and he lived with my mother in a small town near the edge of the Great Royal forest. One evening, after he had cut down a good supply of wood and was heading home, he saw an old beggar woman sitting by the road. Her leg was broken and she had been lying there for quite a while. Being a kind-hearted man, my father immediately went to her aid. He took her home, leaving his load of wood behind, and for several weeks both my parents tended her well. Finally, when the old woman was recovered, she said she would give them a gift for their kindness.”

“And that was you?” Red asked, interested.

“Quite.” Lance agreed. “She gave them a silver walnut, and told them to plant it in the ground, and in the spring, they would have a child. Of course, my parents had no children of their own, so they were overjoyed, and obeyed her instructions. Sure enough, summer passed, then autumn and winter, and when the first rains of spring came, there I was, lying on their front step.”

Red looked very interested. So Lance was a fairy child, or something of that sort. How intriguing! No wonder she was so different from the pale embroidered ladies he interacted with in court. Of course, he knew magic existed, but he’d always passed it off as something he would never come in contact with. Finding out the truth about Lance was so interesting!

She poured herself another glass of wine with a smile. “Well, Red, did you enjoy the story?”

“Very much so!” Red chirped. He leaned forwards and kissed her on the cheek as she smiled.

“You’re a good child. You’d certainly make a better king than your elder brother Gareth, or Prince Rudy.”

Red shrugged. It wasn’t his choice to make. He would probably wind up having to marry some foreign princess, but… since he was only the third prince, maybe it wouldn’t matter? Then again, he could marry Lance…

The idea made him blush, and her golden-green eyes winked at him, almost as though she was guessing his thoughts. Maybe she was. The thought sent a warm fire spreading through his body.

“Lance, we’re friends, right?” He asked.

“Quite so.”

“Then… when we’re a little older, do you want to get married?”

She hadn’t been expecting that. “What will your parents say, Red? You’re still a Prince, and I’m only the daughter of a woodcutter.”

“I think my father would understand. He doesn’t find me very important anyway.”

Lance frowned. “Perhaps,” She agreed. “We still have several years to decide. You might find a beautiful girl and marry her instead. I know I’m not very pretty.”

“What makes you say that? You have lovely hair and nice skin and I love your eyes! They’re so shiny!”
Lance smiled. “And I love you because you aren’t at all conceited, nor do you treat me less because I’m not rich.”

“So will you marry me?”

“For now,” She agreed. Red cheered and hugged her, and Lance laughed, before leaning down and kissing him.

Red decided that the kiss was very nice indeed, and they chatted some more, before his guards came looking for him to take him back to the Palace.

It didn’t matter. He’d see her again soon.

End Fic

Completed 4/26/07

I remember watching Hocus Pocus on T.V. ^^ It was so funny…

Although having a nice story without too much angst is nice too!