Christian

  I told you this was the last time I was going to go back, and it was. Judge me, ridicule me, even hate me if you want. I’m in love, we’re in love. How can someone be so angry at someone just because they’re in love. I’ll tell you what I did, I’m not ashamed of it. I’m a damn hero.

  I traveled north, further north than we ever went in our time there, our time together there. You all had fun, don’t you dare judge me for seeing how much better that world was than ours. The real world, as you call it, gave me nothing but pain, but this world gave me something. But because I’m not a football player or a cheerleader that must just mean I’m not allowed to find any happiness. To hell with you, I agreed to stay in this world, but I’m not going to stay in it when I know what I want more than anything is right within my reach.

  I found the castle, I found the castle covered in thorns from base to tower. The castle we all heard about more than once in our travels. You all didn’t pay enough attention in English to realize what that castle held, but I did, I knew what it had, what was there, who was there, I knew she needed me.

  I passed at least a dozen towns, villages, hamlets, telling me to take caution if not just stay away. Telling me that damn witch put far too much evil there for even the greatest hero to overcome. But what they didn’t know, was that I was the greatest hero that Somewhere Else had ever seen. I’ve lived in this world longer than you could imagine, since the day I could first read I lived in that world. I may not have been there, but I lived there. In all my private moments, in all the moments I could just be left alone with a book I lived there. I knew how it worked, how it was. This was my world, this was more my world than this world you speak of so highly could ever be. So I found the castle, a castle lost to even the people living there.

  The thorns were massive, I drew my sword, the sword I earned for slaying a great demon. The sword that proved my heroism, proved I could be everything I wanted to be. I ask you, what has this world ever given me to tell me I could be the kind of hero I wanted to be? Never mind it, I started to hack, and I started to slash. These woods, these dangerous woods I found myself in, they fought back. They would try to wrap around my wrists and by pure force of will alone I was able to rip them off and tear at them as I cut my way towards the castle. It had to have been a mile of brush I rip and tore through.

  Inside all I could find were skeletons, skeletons of this girl’s entire world. Every baker who prepared a cake for one of her first fifteen birthdays, every handmaid who helped her fit to her dress for formal gatherings, and every wise teacher who helped her learn, helped her grow into the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. They weren’t just asleep, they may have slept for a time, but the word I had heard as I got closer to the castle was that it had been abandoned for over a hundred years. Their bodies sat there, skeletons wrapped in that deadly brush. Even if the man who was supposed to come came, she would have nothing if she stayed there. She has nothing, no family, no friends, I’m all she has, and she is all I have.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  In the hallways of the castle I still found myself hacking through those damn vines, they infested every inch they could. I didn’t just waltz up the stairs to her. I fought, I battled, I did everything I could to make my way, make my way to the tallest tower, up to the highest room. And I found her.

  Briar.

  No man could resist that beauty, her skin white as the moon, her hair fiery as the sun, her lips even when almost dead they were still red as a rose. My Briar Rose, just as beautiful as I always imagined she was when I read the accounts of her capture. I may not be a prince, but I knew my love was true. I came by her bed, and I found all I could do was look at her. I didn’t even know if it would work. I’m not a prince, my whole life has been a reminder I’m not a prince. The abuse I’ve faced, the hatred that this world that you call the real one has given to me. How can you blame me for finding more meaning in the world that actually treats me like I’m a God Damned human being. I know you have a problem with it, but we don’t know everything about the other world. The man who should have done this could already be dead for all we know, all the problems, all the evils we fought there. You don’t think that some destined Prince Charming could have been killed in all the nonsense battles we saw? I know Morgan most likely killed some of those Princes. And if one of the men Morgan killed, was him, Briar would have been lost forever, lost to time and destined to rot for the rest of however long that damn spell would last just laying there in that bed, no life, no love. I loved her, we love each other, I don’t give a damn about the looks you may give me, the criticisms you may have, or your damned judgments.

  I looked at her, Briar Rose in all her beauty, I ran my arm under her lithe and cold body. She was so cold, dead but not dead, but she felt like she was dead. What would you want? Would you want her to be dead so long as I didn’t do what I did? I leaned in, I put my lips to hers. For god’s sake, this was the first time I had ever kissed a woman on the lips. It felt so right. It felt more right then any action I had ever taken in the meaningless life I had before I saw her eyes flutter open. Before I saw her look at me and utter the words, ‘My prince,’ I’m her prince, I am hers, and she is mine, and I’m not going to god damn apologize for it.

  You told me I can’t stay there. So, I took her, I took her to the lake, I took her to your world. Damn your judgments and damn your looks, I can give her a life she could never dream of here. She had nothing left in that world, and I have nothing left in this world. So, I brought her here, I brought her somewhere we could have something, anything, together.

  All we have is each other, just let us have that. I agreed to your terms, I wont go back, but please, just understand. I don’t give a damn if you condone of condemn it, just, please, understand.