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Once Upon A Time...
By: Nicole Wagner: The Deadly Gambit
One upon a time, there lived a King and a Queen. The King and The Queen were a very happy couple and loved each other dearly. One day, the Queen found out she was going to have a baby, and the King was overjoyed with such news. One day, the King used his magic to make the baby stronger than all of his subjects, which frightened the Queen, so she ran off, leaving the King all alone and very sad. A few months past, and the Queen gave birth to the baby, a Prince. Horrified by the Prince's appearance, the Queen abandoned him in a hospital, never to be seen again.
One day, a group of thieves happen upon the young Prince, taking him from the hospital, and giving him to an evil wizard. The evil wizard collected rare children, and since the Prince had been born with strange eyes, he was worth collecting. Years later, when the Young Prince was only five years of age, he escaped the Evil Wizard, only to find himself alone on the streets. He was hurt badly and tortured on these streets, all because of his strange appearance. Luckily, this did not last long, for when the Prince grew up to be nine years of age, a group of thieves took him in as one of their own.
Years would pass, and the young Prince grew up to be a man, discovering he had powers beyond mortal men. Soon, he would wed a beautiful woman, to bring peace between two feuding families, The Thieves and The Assassins. The peace was short lived when a member of the Assassin Guild challenged the Prince to a duel. The battle latest for what seemed like days, but the Prince came out as the victor, only to be banished from his new wife and his family, in order to maintain what little peace was left.
After the Prince found himself all alone, again, his inhuman powers started to become stronger, and he could not control them anymore. He feared for his life, as well as the lives of others, so he sought out a Wizard to help him control the magic he had. The Wizard granted him his request and helped the Prince control the magic powers he had, in exchange for a favor. The Prince was to gather him an army of the strongest fighters and mages in all the land, to cleanse the world of a group of evil beings that lived below the ground.
The Prince agreed and had gathered up the army in a short amount of time. The group was filled with the fiercest beings in all the lands, all with great powers, much like the Prince had. One day, the Prince was asked by the Wizard to lead the warriors to the dungeons far below the city, in order to rid the world of these evil beings he was told about. Again, the Prince agreed, and lead the warriors down into the deep, dark dungeon. Once inside the Dungeon, the Prince became horrified at what he had seen and begged the Warriors to stop, but had failed, nearly getting slain in the process. The Prince managed to gather up one of these beings and fled the horrible battle. Once back out of the Dungeon, he freed the young being, and left the area, finding himself alone, again.
For years, he lived in exile, without any being or loved one to comfort him. Soon, that would change, for one day, The Prince rescued a small child, who turned out to be a lovely witch. The kind Witch offered him a home with other warriors and mages like himself. The Prince finally felt like he was accepted, and that he could become a good knight, like the many warriors that were around him. One day, the Prince met a woman with long brown hair, with a white stripe down the middle. He had fallen in love and started to court the young woman, only to discover she had a curse, where she could not touch any man, without placing him into a deep sleep. The Prince did not care about this curse, and continued to pursue her love, only to feel the wraith of her curse, and fall into a very deep, dark sleep.
Once the Prince awoken, he sought out the woman whom he had fallen in love with. Once he had found her, after a long, hard journey. When he tried to ask for her hand, she refused and left him
alone, once more. The Prince became very sad, and awaited her return for many months. One day, she returned with a new warrior, and the two seemed very close. The Prince became upset and dueled this new warrior for the love of the maiden he had sought out to be his wife. In the end, no one won the duel. Instead, the Prince became distant towards the maiden, feeling as if he had lost his love for her.
A few more months would pass, and the Prince, the woman he loved, his rival, and a few other Warriors travel to a large castle in the sky, to save another land from a horrible beast. Once the battle was done, the Prince and his troops came out as the victors, and slowly returned home. But alas, the Prince and his troops became lost in a cold, snow covered land, where there appeared to be no one around for miles. But a rogue warrior and her demon pet found the Prince and kidnapped him, taking him to a large tower of ice and metal, where he would be tried for helping the wizard with his deeds.
The Warriors he had worked with became angered over his work with this wizard, and turned away from him, leaving him to die in the tower. But the woman he had fallen in love with had saved him, before the tower had collapsed and slain him. Once outside, he begged the beautiful maiden for forgiveness, only to discover she was nothing more than an evil Witch. The Evil Witch became furious for the work he had done for the kind Wizard, and grabbed two icicles from the floor of the frozen land they were on. She jammed those icicles into the Prince's eyes, blinding him and turning him back into a helpless child. She then flew off into the sky, leaving the Prince to suffer a horrible death in much pain.
But the Prince did not suffer a horrible death, for the kind Wizard whom had helped him years before had returned, for he was not just a Wizard, he was really the King, the Prince's father. He took the Prince back to his castle, where he tried with all his might to save the Prince's eyes, and undo the horrible spell that had turned him into a child. Alas, he could only restore the Prince's sight, but the Curse was too strong for him. To this day, the King looks after his Prince, trying with all his might to return him to the man he once was. No matter how long it takes, the King will try and break the curse that had stolen his son from him.
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"Does de Prince ever get better, father" asked Remy LeBeau, the young mutant known as Gambit sat in his bed, leaning against his father's chest as he slowly closed a book that was infront of him. His long auburn hair was slightly in his face as he slowly looked up at his father, with those exotic red on black eyes.
"He will, one day, my son. and when he is all better, he will rule the land with his father, and destroy the evil Witch that left him to suffer in that icy waste land. But that will be a story for
another time ... it is time for you to go to sleep..."
Remy slowly nods his head in agreement, before gently pulling away from his father and resting his head upon a feather soft pillow on his bed. Those red on black eyes finally closed, and he drifted off into a deep sleep, one that was peaceful and without any nightmares.
Rogue had left him to die in Antarctica, angered he had once worked for Mister Sinister, and lead the Marauders to kill the Morlocks years ago. Her rage became worse when he admitted he still
loved her, and it made her go crazy. She grabbed two icicles that had fallen to the ground from a cliff that Remy was under, and rammed them into his eyes, blinding him, and leaving him with brain damage. Mister Sinister soon appeared right after she left him to die, quickly teleporting him to his lab, and trying to repair his eyesight and brain, but Remy's brain was beyond repair, even for him. He brought back his sight, but not his mind.
For months, Essex has been working day and night to restore Remy's mind, but all has failed, and he had regained the lost child he had sought out years earlier. He slowly brought the covers up on
Remy's sleeping form and slowly left his bedroom, leaving the book he had just read behind.
"One day, Remy ... you shall be whole again, and you shall work by my side, my son." He quietly said, as he closed the door behind him, leaving his dear Prince to sleep, and dream peacefully,
for once in his tortured life.
The End