TITLE: Brier Xander
AUTHOR: Small Woodinat Creature
RATING: PG slash.
SUMMARY: My perversion of the Brier Rose (aka Sleeping Beauty)
fairy tale.
SPOILERS: No worries, here, luv.
ARCHIVING: Anywhere and everywhere.
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy belong to Joss and Co. I'm
not making any money off of this. No copyright infringements intended.
Please don't sue me, I'm not worth it.
NOTE: This is for my fairy tale/myth challenge.
FEEDBACK: I'm a big feedback ho, and not a bit ashamed of it. Give
me feedback or the bunny gets it.
Once upon a time in the kingdom of Sunnydale, there was a good
king and his noble queen. They were happy ruling their kingdom,
but they did not have a child to love and cherish. Every day and
night, the king and queen would pray for a child. They did not
care if the child would be a girl or a boy, as long as they could
have a baby. One day, a magical zombie kitty named Patches
appeared to the queen, and said to her, "Your prayers are to
be answered, my noble queen, and you shall have a child."
Nine months later, a healthy baby boy was born to them. They
named the prince Alexander, Xander for short. The king and
queen were so overjoyed, they held a great feast. The king
intended to invite thirteen faeries to the feast, but had only
twelve plates, and had to omit the thirteenth faery.
The feast was held, and one by one, the twelve faeries bestowed
great gifts upon the infant Xander. Cordy gave him beauty, Willow
gave him kindness, Oz gave him wit, Buffy gave him fortitude,
Angelus gave him great hair, Larry gave him a desire for men,
Owen gave him a desire for adventure, Jonathan gave him good
luck, Spike gave him devotion in love, Faith gave him lustiness, and
Kendra gave him an appreciation for lovely accents.
Just as the twelfth faery, Jenny, was going to present her gift, Dru,
the thirteenth faery, appeared. In her rage, she cried out, "In his
eighteenth year, the prince shall prick his finger upon a wooden
stake, and then he shall die!" Dru giggled madly, took a swig of
punch, and stuffing several cookies into the dress of her doll, Miss
Edith, left the hall.
Jenny stepped forward and spoke. "I cannot undo Dru's wicked
curse, but I can soften it. Instead of dying, the prince shall fall into
a deep sleep for one hundred years."
The king wished to prevent this cruel fate for his beloved son, so
he ordered that all stakes be banned from the kingdom. When
his men burned the last stake, he was hopeful that this would
prevent the curse from happening. In the meantime, Xander
grew up to display all of the faeries' gifts.
On the day Xander turned eighteen, the king and queen were
away from the castle, planning for his birthday party. The prince
wandered about the castle, and came upon an old room in the
tower. When he opened the door, he discovered a woman
sitting in there, holding a wooden stake.
"Good day, milady," greeted Xander, for he was always kind and
polite. "What are you holding in your hand?"
The odd woman stopped stabbing Miss Edith with the stake.
"It's a stake. Isn't it lovely?"
"Well, if I ever get menaced by porcelain dolls, it would work. It's
rather sharp though." Xander eyed the wooden stake.
The raven-haired woman giggled. "Oh it's not sharp. It's all soft,
like a honey cake. See?" She held the stake out to Xander, who
reluctantly touched the tip with his finger. With the touch, the
spiteful faery's spell worked and Prince Xander fell into a deep
slumber.
All over the castle, one by one, every living being, man and beast,
fell asleep. The dogs playing in the courtyard stopped their
romping and slept. The cook stopped baking. Eventually, the
untended oven in the kitchen stopped burning, and the lanterns
around the castle went out.
A large brier hedge grew around the castle and the courtyard, and
soon it obscured all view of the castle. In this time, the legend of
Prince Xander's great beauty grew, and many a man and woman
attempted to brave the brier hedge to reach the prince. Yet, every
one that tried was caught on the brier, and died horribly.
When the hundred years were almost complete, a handsome
prince named Giles came to the country. He learned of the
story of Brier Xander from an old man, and immediately
wanted to reach the handsome prince. The old man warned him
not to go, but Giles, Prince of Tweed, would not listen.
By the time Prince Giles reached the castle, the hundred years
were up, and the brier had turned into beautiful flowers. He
was able to scale the castle wall, and when he reached inside,
he found everything, flies, pigeons, and people, were asleep.
Prince Giles made his way through the castle, and finally reached
the tower. He found the sleeping Prince Xander. The prince's
beauty touched Giles' soul. Giles drank in the sight of the prince's
pale skin, raven hair, and long sable lashes. He immediately
fell in love with the sleeping prince, and gave him the softest
of kisses. At that, Xander's eyes fluttered open, and he was
awake. The entire castle woke up a moment later. The cook
tended to his bread, the dogs continued romping, and a cat
pounced on a mouse.
Prince Xander looked at the handsome prince standing above him,
and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Giles, Prince of Tweed. I-I have traveled long to find you, my
beloved one. If it would not be so indecorous to ask, may I have
your hand in marriage?"
The prince gave the tweed-clad man a lusty leer. "Shoot me, stuff
me, mount me."
The wedding of Prince Xander and Prince Giles was held
several days later, and the two men lived happily ever after.
THE END