Family

  ( Cutiehorn )

  Scrambling fingers slipped on straps and fumbled buckles. It'd always taken Cutiehorn longer than she'd prefer to equip her suit of armour, yet now, with only one hand, no one to assist, and the sound of tiny fists thundering upon the bedroom door, she struggled with even the simplest of steps.

  "C'mon! 'Urry, 'urry, 'urry!" called Cherrychomp from outside.

  "Just a second!" Cutiehorn yelled.

  A series of portrait-rattling reverberations had risen through the palace walls, as if a line of cannons had fired upon its mighty doors.

  Cherrychomp called again. "Am gonna go -"

  "Wait!" barked Cutiehorn, harsher than intended. "I'm coming!"

  She clamped her teeth upon the rim of her gauntlet and punched her hand inside, then rushed for Spineless. Its emblems glinted with window-refracted moonlight, both those of her deceased sisters, and those she still had a chance of protecting.

  "Get clear!" she roared.

  Hinges could be replaced. Lives could not. She charged right through the door.

  Together, she and Cherrychomp raced to defend their home.

  When the pair burst out onto the balcony overlooking the Grand Hall, however, they discovered a trail of squelched footprints leading not to an intruder, but an escapee.

  Sunshine stood at the foot of the great staircase, her once white robe heavy and dripping with deathly hue. Tensed fingers clutched a creature of twinkling, midnight flesh, the sight of which made Cutiehorn's gut churn.

  Atop the steps, before her own majestic portrait, loomed Queen Titania herself. The painting radiated the indomitable warmth of a fortress hearth, whilst its living subject flared erratically, like a star on the verge of collapse.

  A little hand tugged at Cutiehorn. "What's 'appenin'?" Rubies blinked up at her expectantly.

  "I don't know, Cherrychomp. Just..." Cutiehorn trailed off.

  Puddingpuff lurked upon the balcony opposite, as dishevelled and exhausted as she was utterly transfixed.

  Sunshine's vast spheres scanned. "Bubblebun? Where is Bubblebun?"

  All eyes turned to Cutiehorn, yet she hadn't a clue where her closest companion had gone after they'd parted ways. "...I don't know."

  "Fine," snapped Sunshine, her golden orbs narrowing. "We do this without her..."

  But Bubblebun wasn't the only Fairy Princess absent. Cutiehorn followed the ominous trail from Sunshine's stained sandals to the shrouded passage whence she'd crawled. "And Splishsplash?" she called. "You ask of Bubblebun, but not Splishsplash. Why?"

  "Worry not. Titania's precious Ace still draws breath." Sunshine snarled every syllable as if the words tasted foul. "But this." She raised the glittering grub high. "This is worth your concern."

  "That's enough, Sunshine." The carpet at the Queen's feet smoked. Glowing fibres snapped and peeled, expanding into a ring of emberous retreat. She clacked a heel upon the exposed floorboards. "Let the cosmpillar go."

  The attempted assertion brought a faint smile to Sunshine's lips. Her defiant grip tightened, yet even she flinched when the stubby-legged larva twisted to clack its mandibles at the air, its aggression outweighing its size.

  Cutiehorn found herself a half-step back. Cherrychomp, who'd been standing beside her, now cowered behind her armoured bulk, guarding Merrymint's hat.

  The only one who didn't at least twitch was the Queen. "You know not with what you meddle, Sunshine. Put. It. Down."

  Sunshine's faint smile remained, yet crystal beads snaked, clearing paths upon crimson-coated cheeks. "I remember."

  The two words hit the monarch like news of a loved one's passing. Her eyes widened. Flames flickered.

  "What?" Puddingpuff lunged at the balcony railing, leaning over as if physically reaching for answers. "What is it you remember?"

  Queen Titania's stance steadied. She slashed a hand for silence. "Girls! Go to your rooms!"

  Puddingpuff's lips pursed. Pink eyes flicked between the ruler and the challenger. Her grasp subtly squeezing the faesteel-concealing parasol.

  What is she thinking? She's not actually going to disobey a direct order, right?

  Then Cutiehorn realised. She hadn't moved either. Queen Titania's desperate gaze was upon her, yet her sabatons remained planted in place.

  "We should go." Cherrychomp pulled at Cutiehorn's chain mail skirt. "Merry' won't like it if we get in trouble."

  "Oh, I think you'll all want to hear what I have to say," teased Sunshine. "The truth of our dark making..."

  And she was right. Bubblebun would never forgive Cutiehorn if she were to walk away from such knowledge. Not only that, but if things were to escalate, Cutiehorn needed to make sure they were on the right side of any conflict.

  The Queen's attention remained upon those most likely to back down. "Cutiehorn. Cherrychomp. To your rooms. Now."

  At times, it had felt like Queen Titania's glare was capable of melting her and along with the cage she'd been forced to bear. But now the regal gaze was weaker. Vulnerable. This time, Cutiehorn could stand her ground.

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  Though not everyone was as willing. Shimmering rubies raced around the room. A whine reverberated from Cherrychomp's throat. She released Cutiehorn's armour to squash the leafed hat against her chest, before turning to flee back to the Dormitory.

  The three fairies remained silent whilst waiting for the tapping footsteps to fade.

  "Please..." The monarch's lips quivered. Shoulders shuddered. Rather than erupt in volcanic wrath, her expression collapsed in on itself, like that of a heartbroken child. "Please just... forget all of this. I keep these things from you so you might have a chance of happiness. So you can live ignorant of the evil I shoulder. If you stay... if you listen... there'll be no going back."

  Sunshine's head thrashed, casting away bloodied tears. "Where was that compassion when you cut us open? When you implanted these things inside us?" She looked to her sisters, eyes burning bright. "Behold, our true forms. The parasites that made us into monsters!"

  Cutiehorn's jaw dropped.

  She's gone mad. Completely mad. Misguided by a prison-induced delusion...

  She slowly shook her head.

  ...So why? ...Why doesn't Queen Titania deny it?

  "Ridiculous!" screamed Puddingpuff. "Pure nonsense!" Crazed, bag-burdened eyes locked on the breaking matriarch. "Tell me it's nonsense!"

  Queen Titania's face lowered into trembling hands.

  "Oh, you've yet to hear the best part!" cried Sunshine. "Go ahead and tell them, Titania. Tell them of the deal you struck on our behalf! How this sadistic pact is sealed! What you really mean when you say fairy magic is fuelled by love!"

  The monarch's masking palms fell away. Her head rolled back and dulled eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Words escaped her lips as mere whispers. "Post emergence, the cosmpillars are satisfied through nightmares, but a successful metamorphosis requires greater nourishment. A feast of trauma. The quickest method... the most efficient... most m-merciful..."

  "She made us eat our loved ones!" Sunshine screamed. "She strapped them down and locked us in a room until the hunger broke us!"

  Cutiehorn stepped away from the balcony's railing. With weak knees she paced one way, then the other, as if her facing might change what she'd just heard. She pressed the edge of Spineless to her forehead, hoping the digging pain would stop the world from swaying.

  It's not true. It's a nightmare. Another horrible nightmare. Wake up! I have to wake up!

  But the pieces were slowly falling in to place. A paradoxical jigsaw puzzle that further fractured reality with every additional connection.

  ...Is that why she couldn't watch us eat? ...Is that why we were never served meat?

  "What choice did I have...?" uttered Queen Titania, her voice as hollow as a vacated shell. "I can't defend the realm alone. Hosts who don't endure enough suffering emerge flawed, their bonding incomplete..."

  Cutiehorn cupped her heaving lips, unsure whether to feel more relieved or revolted that her own lack of power was a result of insufficient torture.

  "No!" howled Puddingpuff, clutching at her stomach and wincing in pain.

  "Can't you feel it, sister?" asked Sunshine. "That discomfort in your gut. The thing inside you is hungry. I can see the aura gnawing upon your innards, desperate for pain."

  "Shut up!" shrieked Puddingpuff, staggering along the railing, eyes like pink daggers. "Take it out!" She ripped her rapier free of its sheath, before brandishing it towards the Queen. "I want it out! Now!"

  "What's done is done," said Titania. "The people we were... The cosmpillars within... are now one and the same."

  Puddingpuff sucked up breath after hysterical breath. She hammered a clenched fist down upon the balcony railing, buckling the support with a crunch of splinters. Then, without further word, she quietly stomped from the hall.

  Cutiehorn couldn't stop herself from shaking. Her skin was as cold as the snow whipping against the palace windows. It took her far too long to call out. "...P-Puddingpuff, wait!" Her voice echoed through the vaulted space unheeded.

  "Cutiehorn," said Sunshine. "Whatever you do from here, know that I don't hate you. That might not sound like much, but... it's more than she can say." She nodded toward the immobile monarch. A flick of her wrist launched the cosmpillar high, buying her the time she needed to make her escape.

  Queen Titania flashed to life and rushed to save the flung creature, whilst Sunshine smashed through stained glass and disappeared into the night.

  Cutiehorn made no attempt to call out this time, for she knew the feathered fairy would not listen. One by one, all of her sisters had left. Now it was just she and the monarch.

  "I... I know I haven't always treated you fairly," mumbled Queen Titania, "but I can't do this alone..."

  Realisation struck Cutiehorn like a slap to the face. A truth more disheartening than the resentment she'd been subjected to, and more disturbing than what lurked within her depths.

  The orphanage! Me and Bubblebun thought we were saving those children, yet... Queen Titania... She took them in pairs and... and...

  Her skull throbbed. Skin shivered yet burned.

  She swung over the railing, landing with an impact that shattered marble. Heavy sabatons strode forth, each step bringing her closer to the Queen. She tightened her grip on Spineless. Arm coiled back. Muscles tensed, ready to strike.

  For all of Queen Titania's power, she didn't even attempt to defend herself. Rather, she appeared terrified, dropping to her knees and cradling the parasite protectively. "Stay away!"

  Cutiehorn froze. She'd spent her entire life living a lie because she believed she had no choice. Because she believed, as everyone did, that Titania was unrivalled. The Queen's will is absolute, she'd been told when released from the prison tower. Yet now the monarch sobbed before her, defeated without a single blow exchanged.

  "I have served faithfully for almost a century, yet still you look at me with fear and disgust!"

  Titania's blubbering lips mustered no words.

  Cutiehorn slowly lowered the shield. "...I will not vindicate such scorn. Not now. Not ever."

  "P-please, Princess -"

  "I am not your Princess," growled Cutiehorn. "I am done with this deceit."

  The pits of Titania's eyes were all but extinguished. "You don't understand."

  "No. I do not." Cutiehorn grabbed at the armour's breastplate and strained until straps snapped. Forged feminine curves fell with a clatter, revealing the true masculine form that'd always lurked beneath. "And I do not care to."

  With that, Prince Cutiehorn departed the palace, wading through the deepening snow towards ice-white skeletal trees.