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You think that maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t have decided to go out for a walk in the woods on a night like this.
You think that maybe, just maybe, you knew this already.
And that maybe, just maybe, you were a little bit dumb.
Your name is Charlotte "Charlie" Marie Emily, she/her please, and you’re out looking for your brother. A person who you’ve never met.
You are what they call a changeling , a member of the fae species specifically designed to deceive and disrupt, as if most fae weren't good enough at that already. Far from the kinds of fairies you’d see in movies. Your magic let you mimic a human at a young age, and tradition meant that your fae parents swapped you out with a human child just a few days after birth.
Your parents (your real parents) didn’t notice. Or rather, they noticed too late. How your eyes shone an unnatural gray, your black hair just a tad off color, your skin a bit paler than it should have been. How your ears fell into a subtle point, how you stayed eerily silent, and how you seemed smart, far, far too smart for a newborn child.
They could no longer get the original back. No, that time frame had long since passed. So, after much deliberation, they simply… decided to keep you. Raising a fae child, a being who had magic coursing through their very bones, as a human had been quite the challenge for them, and for you.
But, well, you made it this far.
And now here you were, on what was practically a suicide mission, traipsing through the dangerous and deep forest as though you lived there (and, in another lifetime, maybe you had.)
You, Charlie Emily, were going to find your brother, no matter what. You were going to find the original and bring him back to his parents, and restore him to his life, one that you had so cruelly replaced. You were going to bring Oliver Emily back even if it meant that you had to sacrifice yourself in order to do so, because the way of this world wasn't fair and you had to do all you could to fix it.
You press your lips together tightly, carrying on even as Christmas roses bloomed beneath your feet, exposing your worries to any knew their meaning. You ignored your rapid heartbeat and carried on through the unknown.
The fae were cruel beings, made of magic and laughter. A faerie would find a way to trick you over an exchange of food, and deep in these woods, deep in the land of the fae, their trickery shone through in even the grass around you. The leaves on the trees were too perfect. The color of the bark was just right. Their flowers seemed perfectly crafted, as though God themself had edited their every bend.
Maybe a normal person wouldn’t have noticed the difference. But you, with all your fae lineage, couldn’t help but pinpoint every unlikely perfection.
The trees whispered in strange tongues, and you were being all too literal about that. They spoke, quietly, softly, too quiet for any human to hear.
But you are not human. You are fae, and their words followed your every movement, leaving you with sticky uncomfort. But you couldn’t afford to rest, to stop- you only had until the morning before your parents woke up, and it was only 10 P.M. now. An hour was just 60 minutes, and a minute was a mere 60 seconds. You suspected that time would pass faster than you could hope. So you had to keep moving. You had to-
You stopped short.
...
Something was watching you.
...
You could feel it.
The endless stare of unblinking eyes. Something that you couldn’t see, but that could see you. Eyes of knowledge and of malice, somewhere, somewhere...
All around you were too-perfect trees, perfectly trimmed grass, flawless bushes and shrubs. You couldn’t see the threat, you couldn’t see anything other than pretty perfection no matter how fast you turned your head, but you could feel them.
From where? You wondered. From where?
Begonias and monkshood bloomed beneath your feet, idle magic interacting with the alien world around you.
Beware, they told you. Beware.
Your senses were alight, scanning the forest=.
It was cold. Had it been cold before? No, you were sure it hadn’t. But fear encased your mind, making it harder to remember as your brain brought you back to the moment again and again, scanning and searching and scouring for the threat.
It was cold, and something was watching you, and goosebumps fled beneath your skin.
Keep your composure, Charlie , you told yourself, even as your hands clenched tight and your breathing picked up. You’re fae too, aren’t you? You may have been raised human, but surely they’ll recognize you as one of their own. Surely they won’t hurt another faerie…
And, oh, all the kids at school were afraid of you. Either that, or they made fun of you, encouraging you to run off to your ‘real fae family’. If fellow teenagers considered you fae, then surely they would, as well.
Surely, they would.
But you couldn’t find yourself too sure.
You lived with a human family, after all. To you, you were human, to you-
The trees stopped their whispers suddenly, a sharp stop.
Silence.
...
There were few animals in the forests of Mystbrook. Most living things knew instinctively to stay away from the fae. If any animals lived here, they hid well, knowing to keep themselves away from the threat of magic and misery that the fae caused. There were very, very few animals in the forests of Mystbrook. From bears to butterflies, the creatures of the world knew to stay away.
There was silence. All around you. Not even a rustle of wind.
You heard yourself breathe in.
You heard yourself breathe out.
Your chest felt tight, fear in your heart. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Snap!- a sound cut through the drear as your eyes widened in pure fear and darted to the right.
It was dark. It was darker than it had been. You knew that for sure this time.
A few feet away, the perfectly pruned bushes shook, sounds flying left and right. You couldn’t move. You could only breathe- in, out, in, out, in out, inout-
A tiny rabbit hopped out of the bushes. A small, brown creature with eyes that spoke of curiosity. A rabbit, known for their innocence.
But you, Charlie Emily, were not a fool.
No, a rabbit may be seen as gentle and kind, a rabbit may be seen as harmless, but you knew better.
A rabbit still had teeth. A rabbit still had claws. A rabbit may be prey, but it would fight back if cornered. Nature had not left them defenseless for nothing. And as the shadow of the creature stretched far, farther than a creature of that size could ever make in the dead of night, you couldn’t help but remember that hardly any animals lived in the forests of Mystbrook.
Oh, hardly any at all.
And you couldn’t help but remember that even the strongest of fae still had to eat something .
The rabbit stared back at you for a few long seconds, eternities in moments. The night was cold and dark, the seconds beating just as long as minutes. The trees were silent, and even the flowers kind to you said nothing.
You just wanted to search for your brother, and full moon was the perfect night to do it. If you could just continue forward, if you could just find the revel, then maybe someone there would know who kept him. If you could just…
Just…
The rabbit stared back at you, eyes cold and empty.
Unnatural.
Your hands shook, your breath swayed.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered into the night, the first sound in an eon. I’m sorry, I’m sorry I couldn’t find you.
You turned around, sprinting into the darkness, dashing for the home you had left just hours before. Running, running, running. I’m sorry, I tried, I really did.
The trees parted before you as you ran, you ran, you ran. I’m sorry, Oliver Emily. I’ll find you another day, I promise.
You broke free of Mystbrook’s forest, feeling your very atoms shift as you left faerieland. You paused for a few moments, heaving air through your chest.
I’m sorry.
You closed your eyes tight as your breaths slowed down, feeling the foolishness of patheticness as you processed your broken promise to yourself.
God.
Every day Oliver Emily was left alone was another day of pain for your missing brother, the absent original. The fae were not kind, and your interaction just now had proven it.
You cracked open your eyes, letting out a soft sigh.
If you could take it all back, you would. You never wanted to steal away a person’s life like that, you never wanted to replace anyone. You were a tool of deception, used against your will by a faerie that couldn’t care enough to raise you. No, the call of trickery had been too strong for those fae to bear.
Your eyes flitted upwards, staring at the sun breaking through the sky.
Strange.
Could it really be day already?