Entry tags:

!myfanfics, *[h] peter petrelli, *[laby] sarah williams, *[para] sarah petrelli (née williams), .dyaniera, fandom: heroes, fandom: labyrinth, fic.length: fic: oneshot, fic.setting: parabolical

[FIC] A Real Life Fairytale. SP, PP. PG.
TITLE: A Real Life Fairytale
AUTHOR: Jessi, princessjessia (Disclaimer)
FANDOM: Labyrinth/Heroes [parabolical]
CHARACTERS: Sarah & Peter Petrelli
SUMMARY: The best stories always hold elements of reality.
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 2260+
NOTES: for dyaniera on her birthday, with much ♥

As many stories go, there was once a princess who would inherit a kingdom, but only after she reached the age to accept her throne. Until then, her kingdom remained in the hands of the court magician who was also her guardian, a sly sort of man, strangely coiffed and always clad in exceptionally tight trousers. He, as most villains usually do, wanted to keep control of the kingdom, so under the guise of sheltering the princess until she could rule her kingdom, he sent her away to live in a tower while he ruled the kingdom with little mercy and a great deal of glitter.

What the princess' guardian never considered was that the princess was quite happy to go. Beyond avoiding the years of sneezes at everything around her being dusted with glitter, the life of a ruler was a lonely, burdened one, and even as a princess, she already felt that distance between her and the rest of the people in the kingdom. For several years, she lived in relative seclusion and was happy with it, for she was visited only by her most faithful servants via the spells of the magician, those who saw her as more than just the princess. It was there in the tower that she grew from girl to woman, princess to impending queen.

But as most stories about princesses in towers tend to do, word spread throughout the land and the kingdoms beyond about the princess. From far and wide came men from the richest kings to the greediest fortune hunters to the most famous knights, to win the favor of the princess who would soon be queen. At first they came alone, and then as the stories spread of the princess and her continued rejection, they came in groups with spectators by the score. Every day at the brightest hour of the day, people would gather to see the next man try his hand.

By the end of the day, every day, she would turn each away. A kingdom she had, one she wasn't certain she wanted, so she had no use for kings. Riches she had, more wealth than she had need of in several lifetimes, so she had no use for fortune hunters either. Her tower was high, her guard secure, her safety assured, so she had no use for knights either. And none of these men ever offered any more that their titles or wealth or the protection of their sword. They flattered and cajoled and even threatened, but one by one, the princess sent them off, sometimes kindly, sometimes with a sharpness fierce enough to cut them to size.

And then one day, just as the crowds had disappeared down paths and into the outlying forest, a man came forward. He was not a king or a fortune hunter or even a knight, but a defender of the people, one who cared not for the state of the pockets of or the expense of the clothes on those he saved, only that they were indeed protected from the dangers that plagued the land.

The princess had seen him before, skirting the crowds at a distance far enough apart to be noticed, always watching and never joining in the cheers or jeers of those gathered to watch the 'sport' each day. He always stayed to the shadows where he seemed to blend in with them at times, dressed always in dark garb, dark hair falling over his face. But she had noticed his smile, a flash of white teeth in the shadow that was light in the dark, the quirk of his lips holding an amusement that often was separate from the rest of the crowd's.

It was only when he stepped into the empty clearing that she saw why it was that he might wish to stay to the shadows, for there was a scar upon his face. It was a very nice face just the same, one of the handsomer faces to approach her tower, and the princess had never been terribly superficial. Curious as always as to what new trick or line would be tried by someone who had often observed, she beckoned him closer to the base of the tower and waited.

He was surprisingly quiet for a few moments, just looking up at her, and then that smile appeared, a look that was confident, but not arrogant. The others had bluster and pomp and greed to spare, but this time there was no artifice in the face upturned to her.

"My lady, would you like to come down from your tower?"

It was then, for the first time, the princess had no immediate response. No one had ever asked her before. All assumed they were rescuing her from a terrible fate that she wanted to be free of. Would she like to leave the tower? Yes, but only if the world that was outside these walls would be worth it, as in the tower, she was free of her guardian, free of the constraints placed on her by who she was and safe from harm.

"I might indeed, good sir, but tell me," she asked, propping her chin in her hand, "what of the world would hold my interest to make finding a way down worth the effort?"

"That I can't answer, but I know that for as long as you remain in that tower, the world below will always be the lesser for it."

Pretty words, not as effusive as some, not as coaxing as others, but the princess found that appealed to her. A heart that had never been moved by any who came to seek her hand suddenly found itself beating a little quicker. She wanted to hear him speak again, which was another remarkable first.

"If the world below is lesser," she called, leaning further over the railing to speak to him, "why do you stay in it?"

"Because I haven't been invited up. Now be careful, my lady, as only one of us should be in danger of falling today."

The princess grinned, amused by his answer, but also quietly pleased by his concern. "If you are so certain you can reach me, then by all means, come up."

"As you wish."

But rather than the words being spoken from the ground by the man, they were said softly near her ear just as she processed that he had vanished. Startling, but not frightening, her response was a small jump of surprise that the man countered with a light touch of his hand to keep her from tumbling over the railing.

Rather than be afraid, the princess was intrigued, not just by his act, as she had witnessed magic before, but by all of him. As the sun set fully, the princess asked him to stay while her servants brought dinner and they two simply talked, of the world outside the tower, the world inside the tower and their own lives until the sky began to lighten again with the impending dawn and the man bid her farewell.

Every day after, this was repeated. Crowds would come, the princess would turn down the kings and fortune hunters and knights and when the crowd had dispersed, the man in black would join her in her tower. Eventually, the princess grew to understand the man, not just the amusement behind those smiles flashed from the shadows, but his preference of the shadows and the work he did, helping those who needed help without expecting reward or fanfare or fame, and the man grew to understand the princess in return.

With each morning that dawned, the man's departure grew later, the princess drawing him out into the light from the shadow. In turn, the man coaxed her into the word beyond the tower, able to take her wherever she might wish to see, until she remained out with him past the brightest hour of the day. With no princess in the tower, those who sought her hand and the crowds that gathered to watch each day soon dwindled, then stopped.

One day, the day the princess came of age, there was only the dark-clothed man in the clearing, conspicuous even in shadow as there was no crowd to circle, no spectacle to witness. They had parted only hours before so he could see to some business, but now he was back, as always. The princess watched him from her tower, amused at first but then puzzled by his reticence, finally perching on the railing when he still did not draw close.

That act did get his attention and he moved forward until he was directly beneath her.

"There are safer seats in your tower than that. You should take one."

"Safe, perhaps, but only enjoyable with the right company. That has been you for quite some time, yet you remain below."

In the distance trumpets sounded, heralding the arrival of the royal entourage. The princess stiffened and so did the man, that champion of the people she would soon rule.

"Yes, but I haven't been invited by the queen." Rather than look up, the man's head was bowed, hair once more hiding his face just so to cover the scar.

The princess made a dismissive sound, puzzled expression turning to a frown. "Princess or queen, it makes no difference."

"What company a princess wants and what company a queen should keep might be two different things, my lady."

The princess realized then that they weren't simply speaking of invitations, not with the emotion in his voice or the feelings in her heart, and that they had not been speaking with just one meaning for some time now, even though it had gone unacknowledged.

"What a queen should have is whatever the queen dictates she should have, for she is the queen. What the queen should have is exactly what the princess wants."

"And what do you want, my lady?"

"To answer the very first question you ever asked of me." The princess held back a smile and instead waved imperiously, her hand trembling ever so slightly. "You may ask it again."

The man looked up, clearly caught by surprise, but the question was voiced with no need on his part to think back. "My lady, would you like to come down from your tower?"

The princess paused and then leaned out as far as was still safe. "Yes, for I have found the one thing in the world that makes leaving my tower worth the effort, worth more than kingdoms or riches. For that one thing, that one person, I would leap from this railing to be free of this tower, for I have long since fallen."

And next to where the princess sat appeared a staircase, an exit from the tower she could make entirely on her own without the man's aide. But there was no need, for the man was there at the princess' side before the last step appeared, murmuring her real name, not the formalities he had always used, before he kissed her.

It was like this that the royal procession and the princess' guardian found the two. As traditional for the villain and the true love of the story, the magician and the man faced off, until the princess grew frustrated with the male posturing and banished the magician and all his glitter to lands far, far away, never to return. The man proposed, the princess became queen and the man of the people became a king as well, the only king of his kind, that of genuine good, to ever walk the lands of that kingdom.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"The end."

Peter arched one eyebrow at her as he rolled over on his side. "A teleporting Robin Hood. I am not Robin Hood."

Rolling to her side as well to face him, not quite nose to nose, Sarah stuck out her tongue. "There is nothing wrong with Robin Hood. Princes in fairy tales are notoriously idiots and sometimes even jerks. Were you paying attention to The Swan Princess earlier? Prince Derek was an ass. I'll take robbing from the rich to give to the poor any day, thank you."

"You watch too many cartoons."

"That is the best version of Robin Hood ever invented, so shush."

"You have a crush on a fox."

Smirking suddenly, Sarah traced a finger up his side. "You are pretty foxy."

"Touché." With a chuckle, Peter moved to his back and tugged her atop him, Sarah settling easily with one arm across his chest, her chin atop it.

"I tell better bedtime stories than you, even if you do have some storytelling superpower you could use," she said, "so just admit it."

"You tell better stories," he agreed, then took her left hand, kissing her fingertips as he toyed with her rings. "Now tell the other one."

Repressing a smile, Sarah feigned innocence. "Which one?"

"The one that starts with a coffee-bearing angel."

"Angel, coffee, hmm." Head canted, she pretended to think before suddenly brightening. "Oh! That one. The one with the cocky superhero." She pulled a face, all act, and countered by the light in her eyes. "Well, I suppose, if you really want to hear that one."

"Mmmhmm." The agreement was an indistinct sound against her palm, nearly a purr and almost ticklish against her skin.

Laughing softly, Sarah dipped her head and kissed his chest. "Once upon a time..."