[location: Hedge Maze] Backdated to the last day of the fairytale glitch.

[ownlittleprison]

The appearance of the hunt dulled the sorcerer's merry mood and drove him to seek solace in the hedge maze. It so reminded him of the one near the Queen's palace in his homeland, and he fancied that if he wandered the paths enough he'd emerge in the realm of the twin suns. It was impossible, he knew, and this day it did little to ease his melancholy. 

So he stopped and settled upon a bench, fishing his newest soul-shard from his coat pocket. The lightning-girl's beauty was a golden topaz shot through with electric blue sparks, warm in his palm and pleasing to his eyes. 

"You were well-won, my dear," he murmured and traced the intricate facets with his fingertips. "Fairness to correct an unfairness, none can argue with that."

If there was one thing to be said about Wolf, it was that once he dug his teeth into something, he only rarely let go. And so it was, that whether Gwen liked it or not, he had taken it upon himself to undo her curse. After much toil and trouble, he had found just the path down which to trod - with care and deliberation. 
 
He made his way to the city, tracking the pixie sorcerer with his nigh infamous nose. 

The wolf was stealthy, true, but the pixie's pointed ears were well capable of hearing his approach. He tucked his prize away and looked up about the surrounding hedges with a frown. 

"Is that you, cousin?" he called. 

A hedge maze, thought the wolf, how quaint, and used his nose to navigate. "Who else?" He called out, eyes gleaming faintly in the dark. Careful now, he told himself sternly, Don't let him scent blood when he's such taste for it. 
 
"I have a favor to ask, a proposition to make." 

"You, toothsome?" the pixie replied and got to his feet. Curiosity and anticipation thrummed through him. "After all these years you've found something worth both our copious time?" 

The Wolf rounded the hedge (which was pruned to perfection, no doubt by magic seeing as it was so vast), and gave his cousin a grin to befit his true nature. 
 
"There's a first time for everything, of this I'm told. Have I piqued your interest sufficiently, cousin?" 

The grin which should have made him wary instead spurred the pixie to boldness, and he laughed and clapped his hands. "Most certainly, my dear good sir! Please, tell me of your desire, spare not a single detail." 

"The unimaginable has come to pass," said the Wolf and draped himself backwards over the opulently detailed bench carved from finest wood. 
 
"I am in love, and my love is beyond compare. She is the sweetest I have ever sensed, yet her looks deceive all men." 

The unimaginable had indeed come to pass, for the pixie was rendered speechless for several moments. He blinked, stepped back, edged closer, nimble fingers traced patterns in the air. Finally he grinned. 

"Love," he said at last, the word as always tinted blue in his mind. He was genuinely pleased, as such emotions tended to lead to rash actions...and rasher bargains. "Friend Wolf, I am happy for you, though I am also confused. If this love is so great, why should her looks matter?" 

"She claims she cares not for such superficial..." Wolf said, rolling his hands as if trying to whisk out the proper words for it. It wasn't entirely deceitful, as he did find himself at a loss. 
 
"Nevertheless, I can taste the loss upon the edges of her claims, and I want her happiness to be as truthful to me as she. You know?" He arched his neck, looking at the pixie from upside down - and even in such a position he could tell the sorcerer was hooked. Now, to keep him there, and squirming. 
 
"I asked if she fears me, and she said yes. No false pretenses, not even a brave facade - though she is, I know she is, my nose knows it! Cousin, she is too perfect to be so cursed that her face seems to fall off the bone as if roasted over open flame." 
 
He cared not for cooked meat. He slid himself fully onto the carved bench and turned on his side, to lounge and bat his long dark lashes at the pixie. "Whatever has befallen her to change her nature so, let it fall upon me instead. Surely that is within your power? You can take what you will from me. Please, say you'll help your own blood, though ever so distant?" 

That description gave him pause, as he could only think of one creature in the land to match it. The sorcerer thought about it, his quicksilver mind tumbling the notion like a rough stone to be polished. Restore the girl's looks and allow her to retain touch (that bargain was not part of this one, after all), transfer the disfigurement, and in return...oh, in return he could carve whatever piece he liked from the Wolf. He knew he was succumbing to the most primal greed but he'd be a fool to let the opportunity pass. 

"Of course I will aid you," he said softly, with his most benevolent smile. Oh what should he have, what should be -- he fought to keep his hands from his eager teeth, considering and discarding options as he paced before the bench. "I'll allow you to carry the burden of the sad enchantment which has befallen her, and my price--" 

He stopped, drew a breath. and closed his eyes. "Your pride. If the effects of the curse are as you say, you'll not be needing it anymore." 

"My pride?" Asked Wolf, pausing as if the very notion brought doubt to his heart. Then he shook his head and sat up, looking up into the almost manic tinge in the big brown eyes. 
 
He took a deep breath, his chest puffing from the air. Then, nodding the once, he said, "My pride. Work your magic, cousin; remember me as I am now, that you can remind me in years to come." 

"I certainly shall, noble sir, for the rest our days, for both of us." Manic and reckless and far too willing the pixie wove a spell, restoring Gwen the Lightning-Girl's fairness and rendering Wolf grotesque enough to befit his nature. And for this "favor" he extracted pride in the form of a gem, translucent blue edging on lavender like veins under the skin, all the better to sink my teeth into, my dear. 

"It is done," he breathed, captivated by his prize. It was, after all, by far the most pleasant sight in clearing, and so distracted he began to recite his law. "Should you wish to reverse our bargain, you've three days to--" 

When Pride left him, for indeed pride was not merely a concept but one of the most integral parts of him and thus deserving capitalization, Wolf bared his teeth in despair. His nose told him, better than any mirror ever could, that now he truly was a sight to behold. He could smell the festering sores, smell the way his skin sagged under his eyes more than he could feel it. It smelled as though his face had begun to melt, like he'd described Gwen's predicament: flesh roasting over flame, the fattiness melting away in disgustingly greasy drippings. 
 
And yet, without his Pride, how could he bear it? How could he hold his head high when his shoulders hunched and his spine bent until he were forced onto all fours? 
 
The pixie spoke, brown eyes gleaming to match the crystal cradled in his hands, and Wolf saw his chance. This was it, this was the time that he finally bested his cousin. He'd figured him out, at long last, and bested him once and for all. 
 
"Ambrose--..." he growled. "--langwe." 

The pixie - called Glitch by few, his real name banished form the lands until this moment - froze and took a strangled gasp, his face contorting to a rictus of horror as he slowly lifted his gaze to Wolf. 

"You-" he croaked, then his horror morphed into a snarl of fury. "You-- that-" With an enraged howl he threw the stone at Wolf's feet, where it shattered and restored his pride. The pixie stamped his feet and tore at his hair, his treasured hat falling to the ground. "That name is forbidden! You cannot it must not I am NOT--" 

And with that he stomped his right foot so hard into the ground a fissure opened with a gout of flame, and Glitch screamed in agony before falling into it, the hat drifting in after. The noise and flame abated, til there was naught but a crack in the earth. 

The silence was deafening after such vivid imagery, and the smell of burning flesh lay thick on the Wolf's tongue as he crept closer to the ruptured ground. It was still warm to the touch, and not even his eyes could (nay, not eyes, but just the one still working) see through the darkness. 

"Cousin?" He called out, gazing deeper yet, but no answer came forth but his own voice echoing back. It sounded distorted, just like he himself. 

Tilting his head, he considered it squarely. It wasn't his fault that his cousin had such a short temper as to stomp himself into the very bowels of the earth. He'd won, fair and square (beautifully and full of deceit and scheming and it was all very delicious even in hindsight - all the hours spent listening to dragons and trees and less interesting creatures well spent). He'd won, and yet he remained cursed - as per the conditions put forth. He take the girl's misfortune upon himself, for a small price indeed. 

"Farewell, cousin," growled the wolf and held his head as high as he could - infinitely proud to finally know sacrifice for a good cause. "Lest auld acquaintance be forgot - I shall remember you dearly, as a braggart and a thief, and a trickster of the highest ranking. For both our sakes." 

And so came the end of the pixie's life, and the start of a new one for the wolf - now fitted with better clothing than even sheep could ever provide. 


((Warnings for character death and unattractive imagery, fairy tale esque though it may be))