Chapter Text
Come What May
I Will Love You
Until My Dying Day
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Long ago, in a land called The Midlands, there stood two kingdoms on the brink of war. One, The Golden Kingdom, which heralded itself for its morality and good will, self proclaimed to be blessed by the gods. The other, The Kingdom of The Twisted Crown- a vile and barbaric kingdom where there was close to no law. This dark kingdom is named after the twisted crown that sits upon the king’s head; a misshapen, cruel, dark, twisted piece of metal that was sharply spiked at the top and was decorated with deep red jewels, stained with the blood of ancient battles past. On the surface there were vast differences between the two, however, if you were to ask anyone who lived outside of the two kingdoms, you would have gotten a very different story.
Inside of the grand throne room of King Charles Shurley, Knight Commander Sir Raphael was finishing up giving his daily report.
“…next, there were several incidents related to witchcraft reported in the eastern district near the kingdom wall, sir.” The king seemed unmoved. Raphael continued, “There were a total of five deaths. Next, the bandit crisis. Despite my best efforts, I regret to inform his Majesty that I still have not found the leader of the bandits. The criminal we captured revealed no information to us and has been executed for his crimes. Due to this, we still have no word on where Princess Amara’s stolen amulet is. That is all. Long live the king.” There was a slight pause. King Charles gathered his thoughts, then spoke.
“How wonderful” he said with a forced smile. “You’ve failed me again, Raphael.” The smile quickly faded. “My kingdom is under siege by criminals and witches and you have continued to disappoint me. Do you understand how that makes my kingdom look? It looks weak now, thanks to you. This is the last time you will fail me. You are henceforth demoted, your duties as head of the search party have been terminated. Get out of my sight.”
Raphael bowed and walked out of the throne room, head hung in shame.
“Sir Castiel…” Charles beckoned. Castiel was among the higher ranks of The Knights of The Highest Order. He was strong, had deep black hair, a strong jaw, and eyes as blue as the sky. Castiel was known to be silent but effective, the true perfect soldier.
“Yes, your Majesty” Castiel replied in his deep voice, bowing before his king.
“You have yet to fail me. You take orders like you should and always trust your instinct…this is good. I am appointing you as head of this search. Find that bandit and do not fail me”.
“I will not fail you, your Grace.”
“Be gone then. You have much work to do,” Charles commanded.
Castiel walked out of the throne room. You wouldn’t have known it, but he was filled to the brim with anxiety and excitement.
“Look at you go, hotshot” Gabriel teased. Gabriel was a fellow knight, and Castiel’s best friend. “You know, I have to admit, I did not see that coming. Did you see Raphael’s face!? He was humiliated!” Gabriel mocked, laughing. “Good on you, that egomaniac had that one coming.” Castiel smiled, yet remained silent for a bit as they were walking to their assigned posts for the day.
“Do you really think I can do this? So many have tried before me and failed…I don’t know if I’ll be able to find this bandit,” Castiel asked with concern.
“Honestly, I’m going to bet you that you can’t.” Castiel turned his head sharply looking at his friend. “Come on, like you said, so many have tried before you and failed. This is your first big assignment, the odds are definitely not in your favor,” Gabriel laughed.
“I think he can do it,” a female voice said from behind. “I trust that Castiel has the intelligence and instinct to finally track this monster down,” Hannah said. Hannah was a knight as well. She was not one of the higher-ups, but she always seemed to find herself near Castiel.
“Oh please, Hannah, the only reason you’re saying that is because you’re infatuated with Sir Castiel, here.”
Hannah turned bright red. “How dare you” she said, pushing by Gabriel, leaving the two alone. Castiel glared at Gabriel.
“Oh don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true.”
Castiel rolled his eyes. “Well, you don’t have to make her uncomfortable.” Castiel liked Hannah, she was a good soldier, and the admiration she gave him was endearing. But, he couldn’t return her affections.
The two men had arrived near the castle gate. “Well, this is my post for the day. Where are you stationed?” Gabriel asked while getting prepared to watch for crime.
“Near the front gate,” Castiel replied, smiling at the peasants going by.
“Then I will see you later tonight. Don’t forget, the tavern after your shift!”
“I’ll be there.”
“Long live the King!”
“Long live the King!”
As Castiel walked to his post, he began to think to himself. “Can I really do this…why did King Charles pick me…how does he even know my name?” Castiel had a relatively good upbringing, though he never knew his father- he left when Castiel was only five. He looked up to the knights as a child and they had a great influence on him. Where his home life was unpredictable and disorganized, the knighthood had structure, order. He knew that someday he wanted to be one, too. Here he was, 17 years later at the ripe young age of 22, and he had made it. But even so, something was keeping Castiel on edge. He didn’t see himself as a leader. Regardless he put his fears aside and did his duty for the day.
Later that night, Castiel was in his house getting ready to head to the local tavern. His house wasn’t terribly small, nor terribly big, but he lived alone so it was big enough for just him. He got dressed out of his armor and into civilian clothes. He wore a loose fitting light blue shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and had on a pair of darker brown cloth pants. He placed his lucky blue stone necklace on and proceeded out the door. The necklace was sort of a safety blanket for Castiel.
On his way to the tavern, Castiel again found himself slightly on edge. He wasn’t a very social person and he didn’t necessarily know how to or get along with anyone but Gabriel and Hannah. Would it be weird? The five head knights would be there, including Raphael. Castiel arrived at the tavern, took a breath, and entered.
The tavern was full of life. It was truly a mixing of the classes. It was filled with some lower ranked knights, peasants, homeless people, drunks, and finally at a table near the bar, the head knights.
“There he is!” Gabriel shouted as Castiel walked up to the table. “Sir Castiel, our heroic leader.” Gabriel was clearly already very intoxicated.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Raphael huffed.
“Aw, c’mon, Raph. Don’t be such a buzzkill just ‘cus you got demoted,” Gabriel slurred and laughed. Raphael remained silent, irritatedly looking away from Gabriel.
“Truly, though, Sir Castiel, we are all happy to be under your lead. Excuse Raphael” Michael said, smiling sincerely.
“Thank you all. I…hope I don’t disappoint” Castiel said, sounding rather uncomfortable.
“Alright, we’re here to celebrate! What are we waiting for? Well, besides Gabriel. He didn’t quite wait, did he?” Balthazaar said as he held up a tankard. Castiel picked one up as well.
“To Sir Castiel, who will sleigh all of the witches everywhere, and find that damned thief!” Gabriel toasted.
“Here, here!” they all said, clinking their tankards together.
Castiel found that he was having a better time than he thought, and Raphael actually seemed to loosen up a bit and engage in some conversation.
“Okay, okay, I’m placing my bet here and now that this bandit is a warlock!” Raphael drunkenly stated. A slight argument between two men at the bar began in the background. “It makes the most sense. How else could he have gotten away every time?”
“Oh, no way. They have this whole honor code thing, I doubt they’d dabble in black magic. They don’t even kill the people they steal from,” Gabriel retorted. The argument behind them seemed to escalate.
“No, no, what about Ezra? Hmm? They killed him!” Michael said.
“Well, he also killed a few of their men too. Maybe it’s an eye for an eye thing?” Castiel said. He hadn’t drank very much- he always felt like he should be on guard even off duty. The argument behind them couldn’t be ignored any longer. The two men were drunkenly howling insults about each other’s mothers, then suddenly it got violent as the two men began pushing each other. Castiel stood up in an attempt to neutralize the situation.
“You two! Enough of that!” he ordered. The two men didn’t stop. Finally, the taller man punched the shorter in the face, the man twisted around and fell onto Castiel.
“Alright, alright, enough. Take it outside,” Castiel commanded while helping the green eyed man up.
“Thank you, sir. This man over here thinks he knows everything about everything. He says Princess Amara is a witch. What a joke, am I right?” the man said to Castiel, far too close to his face, hand on his shoulder. Castiel had never seen him before, he had a face he definitely would not have forgotten. This strangers eyes were greener than the grass that grew in the king’s garden. His stubbled face had a certain degree of harshness to it, yet the smirk he wore showed that he had a whimsical spirit about him. This man was unlike anyone Castiel had ever seen. They both stood there, staring at each other. Castiel realized he hadn’t replied yet, and after a brief moment of silence, Castiel broke eye contact.
“Well..uh..le..leave now…civilian” he ordered while pointing to the door, hoping this man hadn’t had noticed that his voice was lacking the authority it had held before.
“Yes, sir. Of course. Right away,” the man said as he winked, bowing slightly then quickly escaping through the exit, followed by the other man.
“Hey, I’m not done with you yet, pint sized,” he yelled as he ran out of the tavern.
The crowd resumed its usual banter when suddenly the town slob, Metatron, walked up to the table of head knights, drunkenly laughing.
“Can we help you?” Michael asked, already annoyed.
“No, you- you- can’t even help yourselves,” he slurred in between laughs.
“Is that so. Do you know to whom you speak?” Balthazar asked with an amused grin on his face.
“Yeah, the head of the knights…you didn’t even see it happen. It went right over your ego filled heads,” he insulted.
Raphael angrily slammed his fist down, “What are you speaking of, pig?”
“Oh, wow, nothing, just the fact that that bandit you’ve been looking high and low for for years just took blue shirt’s necklace and ran off right under your noses” He fell to the floor laughing. The knights looked at each other and all at once sprinted out the door.
“Do you see them, Castiel?” Raphael yelled as he trailed behind him.
“Not yet, can anyone see them?” he yelled back as they ran through crowds of civilians. How could this have happened?! He was so thrown off by this man that he hadn’t noticed he’d been robbed. Castiel was humiliated and furious. The knights ran through the various courtyards, down the alleys of houses. “I see them!!! They’re running out of the front gate into the forest!!!” Castiel said.
The green eyed man turned around only for a second, looked shocked, shouted something to the other man, and they started sprinting even faster. They were incredibly acrobatic, leaping over fences and shrubberies.
They ran out of the gate, over the drawbridge, and into the forest.
“Stop now, thieves!” Michael yelled to them. They chased the two men through the forest, weaving in and out of trees, all the way to a small cliff face, roughly 20 feet high.
“This is it, thieves. You’re outnumbered and cornered. Return what you’ve stolen from me and prepare to be arrested,” Castiel ordered forcefully as he walked up to the green eyed man, sword out.
“Ah. See, we would. But, you’re a lot less intimidating without your armor, and if you’d look up, you’ll see that you’re the outnumbered party.” the green eyed man said teasingly.
Castiel looked up to see roughly 15 bandits, all with crossbows and arrows pointed at the knights
“Charlie!” the taller one yelled. He seemed much more agitated than the other man. A rope ladder unrolled down the side of the cliff. The taller man furiously began to climb up, as the other one waited and stared only at Castiel. Castiel fiercely stared back, a fire had ignited in his stomach. He knew this was absolute fury that he was feeling. The man narrowed his eyes and smirked, walked backwards to the ladder, grabbing on, he was hoisted up, not once breaking eye contact.
“I’ll find you, thief!!!” Castiel screamed.
“Please, do!” he shouted back.
With that, the bandits faded from sight, and the knights stood there completely dumbfounded in silence.