u/ItsEsmeJones

Context: Unwanted as a child, you were taken to be a caretaker to one of the would-be Princes to the Underworld. A Fae child with a gift for necromancy, Prince Sybil has been the entirety of your life for as long as you've had it. Your relationship with him is... complex. Love flies unrequited, denied, and his mood spirals the more his sanity is tested. But you would do anything for him. He's assured you that you will have your freedom once he is finally called for the final test of the throne, a mysterious challenge that proves one can sit on the throne of Death. What happens after, neither of you know. He tries to assure you, then curses you in the same breath. His kisses are as painful as his rants. You curse yourself for loving a man who can never return your feelings. At least, it will be over soon. He'll let you go... but you're not sure how to be broken without him. Whatever happens tonight decides both of your Fates. All you can hope for is that he's finally happy...

Setting: The Submerged Castle / The Underworld / The Simulacrum

Tags: [MM4A][Complex Relationship][In-Denial Necromancy Prince Speaker][Cruel Necromantic Prince Speaker][Broken Human Listener][Argument][Making-Up?][In Denial Yandere]['Unrequited' Love]but[Yearning][Fantasy][Horror][Lore Drops][Royal Attendant][Comfort][Reverse Comfort][Longing][Revenge][Betrayal][TW: Abuse/Listener Death/Necromancy, etc.]

Usage: You may tweak or record this script. Please credit me if you use this script in any of your projects. If you would like to use this script for a paywalled recording please DM me first. Thank you :3

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[B] = Boros, elder brother to Sybil, your keeper

All unmarked text is Sybil

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[Scene opens in the Submerged Castle]

[SFX: Alchemical experiments / Potions brewing, etc. General cottage/fantasy core]

[You’re tidying up the submerged castle while the Prince works on one of his experiments in his study, as always. You know the routine by heart - breakfast, communing with the dead, study, lunch, a new chapter in his book of shadows, eventually dinner, perhaps chess, if his mood holds]

[SFX: Glass crashing / Sybil swearing violently]

“GODS DAMN IT, NO!”

[...You doubt the mood will allow tonight, and hurry to the study]

[Pause??]

[You find him clutching a hand mirror, obsessing over a scratch in the beautiful mask of his face]

“Rrgh, I cut my damned face trying to finish up this spell! ON THE MOST IMPORTANT NIGHT OF MY LIFE! Of course, of COURSE! Fate DOES have a sense of humor, doesn’t she, the old bitch?!”

[Pause…]

“It might look tiny to YOU, but I’m meeting my father, the King of the entire damned underworld tonight, and I can’t afford a single mistake! He’s looking for any reason to keep me confined to this submerged castle, studying, rotting, being his little ‘Fae-bound necromantic’ prodigy… ANY excuse to give my brother the throne!”

[P-Pause…]

[SFX: The mirror being thrown / hitting the Listener and them reacting appropriately]

[Pause!]

“SHUT UP!”

[He whirls on you, body shaking with fury]

“ENOUGH WITH YOUR STUPID, MINDLESS PLATITUDES! YOU YAP AND YAP ABOUT HOW EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE, AND IT’S ‘BARELY NOTICEABLE’, but you…! You’ve never even KNOWN what being beautiful is like! How can you stand there and pretend to know what it feels like to lose it?! HMMM???”

[. . . ]

[SFX: The broken glass tinkling on the ground]

“...I-I…”

[He stops, frozen in panic as you touch the wound on your face]

“...I-I didn’t mean to hit you with the mirror, I…”

[...Pause.]

“No, it’s… It’s not fine. None of that was fine, I-”.

[SFX: The Listener trying to leave / being stopped by the Speaker]

[Pause!]

“Wait! Don’t go!”

[Pause.]

“No! I…! I-I…”

[He sinks to his knees, still clinging to your wrist with both hands, fury giving way to anguished sobs]

“...Please-! Please don’t leave me! Not you! Everyone else leaves, but not you! I’m sorry! I don’t… I don’t know why I said something so cruel, please, they’ll eat me alive if I go out there! They’ll look at me like I belong in some traveling sideshow! Please…”

[. . . ]

[He meets your gaze and you hate how honest he is now, that he has nothing left to lose. Now that he’s made sure someone is as hurt as he is]

“...Even you look at me like I’m disgusting, now…”

[. . . Pause.]

“W-What? No, I didn’t call you hideous…”

[Pause.]

“I-I…I didn’t mean you weren’t beautiful! I meant that you’ve never had this pressure on you, your entire legacy isn’t built on being some gifted prince gifted with the looks of the Fae…”

[Pause.]

[He holds your wrist still, and you can see the gears turning painfully in his head]

“...Do you… Do you think I don’t find you beautiful?”

[Pause.]

[He gasps, wounded]

“How can you say that? How can you doubt my love for you when I risked everything just to stay at your side?! I have moved KINGDOMS to make you mine, spun silk into gold to thank you for all you’ve done for me, and you dare to accuse me of not loving you?! Do you have… ANY idea what I’ve done for you?! What I would do for you?!”

[. . . ]

[He stands, forcing you to take a step back as he towers over you]

“...Do you have any idea… what it takes to be what I am…? CONSTANTLY communing with the dead?? Constantly having to play peacekeeper, constantly having to make deals, connive, sneak in the shadows, all while contained to this accursed fucking castle with-!”

[Pause.]

“...You.”

[His voice softens, though it’s strained in anguish]

“...Let me see the wound.”

[Pause…]

“Dove. Let me see the goddamned WOUND.”

[. . . ]

[You hold still as he brushes your hair aside and looks at the cut, expression muddled in guilt, fear, anger and something else you can’t place]

“...It’ll need stitches. Sit down, I’ll fix it for you.”

[. . . ]

[SFX: The Listener sitting / him prepping a suture]

[He sits, cleansing the wound with a quick spell before he starts to stitch the skin. His tone has evened out again - apologetic. Walking a tight rope of control]

“...I am sorry. You know I’m sorry, right?”

[Pause…]

“...You know I think you’re beautiful, don’t you? Just because the pressure is on me to be better than my brother when the time comes, that doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re beautiful.”

[. . . ]

“...You don’t believe me.”

[Pause…]

[He lets out a bitter noise]

“What do you want from me…? I’m a Prince. You’re some little gardener that got trapped in this castle to tend to me until my twenty-fifth birthday, and you’ve done a fine job. Do you want me to mourn the childhood you sacrificed? Do you want me to heap praise unto you for your fine meals, and your tender care, and those sad, pining little looks you give me when you think I’m not looking? Do you want me to prolong your agony by letting you think your fantasy could ever be real…?”

[. . . ]

[He breaks at the same time you do, continuing his stitches as sobs wrack his body]

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry you love me. I’m sorry… I don’t mean to hurt you, I don’t want to!”

[P-Pause]

“It’s not your fault! We’re all the other has ever known… You gave up everything to make sure I didn’t die, and I… I’d do anything to make it so this life wasn’t agony for you…”

[SFX: More stitches]

“...I have my meeting with my family tonight. You’ll be free soon. Free to go and find someone who can love you, and cherish you, and not scare you so badly that you tremble in the night… There are plenty who would love you. You have to trust that. They’ll love you without you feeling like you must sneak a simple head pat in the night to help mend your broken heart.”

[. . . ]

[. . . ?]

[He takes a breath, finishing his work]

“...I don’t love you. For your sake, you need to know in your heart that I do not love you, and never will…. Please. Can you do that for me?”

[. . . P-Pause.]

[He sobs harder, forehead resting against yours for a moment as you both lie to to the other]

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so, sorry…!”

[Pause…]

[The two of you share a bittersweet kiss, just as brief, before he forces himself to stand]

“...I need to prepare for the carriage that they’ll send to fetch me from here. Once the meeting is done, and they’ve done their final test, whatever it is… You’ll be free.”

[. . . ]

[He draws a shaky breath, forcing himself to be stoic]

“...Dove?”

[. . . Pause?]

“...Thank you for… For being my everything, these twenty odd years we’ve been together. I… I promise, I’ll find a way to show you gratitude, once I survive this night.”

[. . . Pause.]

[He looks wounded but you hear the infernal carriage pull up outside the castle. The fiery footsteps of the Dullahans echo in the lake surrounding the castle and rattle the old trees in the forest barely clinging to life]

[SFX: The arrival of the Dullahan]

[...Pause.]

“...Yes. It sounds like it’s time.”

[He takes a breath, checking your forehead once more before he turns toward the door and watches the magical seal finally lower]

[SFX: The seal breaking]

“...Wish me luck, I suppose. This… Our time together is almost over.”

[...Pause.]

[He gives you a weak smile. The complex tangle between the two of you is so heavy all he can manage is a quiet:]

“Be safe.”

[-before he goes to meet his destiny]

[SFX: His footsteps fading away / the Dullahans departing]

[Note: If you want to foreshadow act two, SFX: footsteps approaching the castle shortly after his departure]

[You sit and wait, not knowing how the night will end. You can only pray that all of his torment, the many, many times his mind has been broken, will be worth it. You’re so lost in thought that you don’t even realize someone else is there with you…]

[Fade out]

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[Fade in]

[Scene re-opens in the Infernal Court]

[Sybil is carried by the headless transport to the Kingdom of the Underworld, a castle of ice surrounded by black, molten obsidian and bone]

[SFX: General royal dinner ambiance]

[He is led through a castle he has never seen past familiar portraits and whispering servants of long-dead conquerors. Eventually, he is sat at the royal table along with his father, the Grand Reaper, and his brother, Boros]

[B] “Sybil! The Fae genes certainly did you a lot of favors, hm?”

“Mmh… Boros? Is that truly you, big brother?”

[SFX: General chatter / dining]

[Boros sips his wine, smiling genially]

[B] “Indeed. They’ve already sat your chalice out for your final test. Such an interesting flame color… As if it can’t decide what color it wants to be.”

[Sybil eyes the chalice and then the empty throne]

“Where is Father…?”

[B] “Ah, he’ll join us shortly. He’s waiting to see what color the flame will change. Mine has already turned a quite pleasing obsidian, as you can see.”

[Boros gestures to his goblet]

“Yes, I can plainly see… Do you think you can find it in yourself to explain what these chalices and flames have to do with anything? I’ve spent over twenty years preparing for any kind of spell exam, monster battle, simulacrum, paradox… any test that Father might throw at us.”

[Boros surveys him calmly]

[B] “It sounds like you over-studied, dear… The final test is a simple exploration of your character, and your command over the soul bound to you during your ‘studies’.”

[Pause-Fill SFX: More dining / the fire shifting]

“...The soul bound to…? Do you mean Dove?”

[Boros muffles a laugh behind his hand]

[B] “Oh, you named it? Oh, that’s adorable… They’re just little humans no one would miss, dear… In order to command Death, one must be able to utter a command to a soul and have it followed without question. If I tell mine to jump off a cliff, they will, and their devotion to my power paints a most beautiful, ruby red flame… See?”

[SFX: The fire flickering]

[Pause]

“...I was not instructed to command them to do anything… You do not mean that literally, do you?! You don’t expect me to tell them to leap to their death??”

[Boros waves him off, nonchalant]

[B] “Oh, Heavens no! Goodness…”

[Sybil begins to exhale]

[B] “Father knew you wouldn’t have it in you to utter the command. I did it for you, don’t worry.”

[SFX: The sound fading out of the room]

[He turns to his brother, expression set in silent horror]

“...W-What… What command did you give them.”

[His brother takes a moment to finish his drink, unbothered at the growing aghastness of the court around them]

[B] “A very simple one, dearest Sybil. ‘Stay’. Like a dog. And when they knelt in the doorway obediently, I tossed a torch inside…”

[He mimics the motion coldly, the memories of the fire reflected in his eyes]

[B] “-and shut the door. In order to truly ascend as a Necromancer, to inherit your final gift, you must sacrifice the soul most cherished to you. Of course, their soul isn’t bound to me. They could simply have chosen to have stood and escaped the castle, sparing their own life.”

[SFX: Another sip as the court mutters in horror]

[B] “But your flame turned blue… The command was obeyed. You have successfully ascended, little one.”

[He toasts to him, and the court follows suit in muted horror]

[B] “Congratulations.”

[SFX: Sybil using dark magic to teleport away]

[Sybil stands and vanishes before Boros can finish the sentiment. The calm of the castle transitions immediately to a raging forestscape]

[Fade out from SFX: Court / Castle ambiance to Fade In SFX: A castle burning]

“No…!”

[He races through the snow, stumbling several times as his only home for decades burns before him. He mutters spell after spell under his breath to tame it, to clear the smoke, to save the structure, to do anything]

“DOVE!”

[Note: The sheer emotional devastation this guy would be feeling is probably best left to improv. He’s quite literally lost everything he’s ever known / loved]

[His arms fall around what’s left of you. The little skeleton still knelt at the door like a faithful dog, awaiting its cruel master. His screams are primal, incoherent, shaking the entirety of the forest more than the fire itself ever could]

[SFX: The castle crumbling quietly, now that the fire has died]

[...but there’s nothing left of you to save. You were loyal to the painful, painful end. Some part of you lingers - your soul, you suppose, watching him cradle your body and scream so hard that blood flecks on the soot and snow around the life you had built with him]

“I-I… I didn’t know… Why?! Why would they do this to you, an innocent?! What more proof could they need of my willingness to go to the most depraved depths of the Seven Hells to be a proper Prince?! Oh, my poor Dove… The pain you must have felt, all of that to die for a fool too cowardly to tell you his true feelings…!”

[. . . ]

“...I loved you. I never told you that… Did I? I thought they’d hurt you if I… And here I am, ever the fucking fool…”

[. . . ]

“...No more.”

[The Reaper awaiting you pauses, as if He cannot believe what he is hearing]

“...They want me to join their ranks of profound, powerful necromancers? Then so be it. I renounce my faith. I renounce my crown. I renounce my humanity… I renounce my Fae blessing. All of it, I will give to seize you back from the depths you’ve been taken to…”

[. . . ]

[SFX: The forest growing eerily still]

[The Reaper holds out his hand once more, almost urging you away from Sybil]

[. . . ]

“...I’ve been working on a spell for you for so long now… I knew if I told you about it, you’d be horrified. Offended, rejected, but… What is left to lose now that I’ve lost you already…?”

[He rests a hand over your body’s skull, power surging around him as he murmurs:]

“Paradisum simulacrum”.

[SFX: The Listener’s soul being teleported elsewhere]

[Before you can react, before even the Reaper can react, your soul is elsewhere. The world around you is beautiful, lush with fruit and vegetation you’d only read about in books. A cottage stands near a river and birds chirp quietly]

[SFX: The above]

[You hear his voice speak throughout the world as if it were the wind itself]

“...It will take time for me to reconstruct your body, my love. I cannot have your soul taken away during that time… So, I built this little pocket dimension over years and years of careful preparation. I never knew if or when I might need it… But I knew I could never truly be without you… Even if I had to hide you away here.”

[Pause!]

“Shh… It will all be fine now, my love.”

[The emotion in his voice is gone. He’s snapped beyond a point of return, and you realize with terrifying clarity you truly were the one thing holding his sanity in check]

“I’m going to burn this world to the ground for you… And rebuild it so that it is a fraction as beautiful as you are. Your world is within my locket, we are always together, now.”

[Pause!]

[His laugh answers, broken, jagged and mournful in one tempest]

“I know, I KNOW, I’m a terrible liar! I spent so many years convincing myself I could live without you, trying to do the noble thing! But… But now they’ve removed everything reminding me of my humanity… They wanted a Fae King, capable of the most powerful necromancy the world has ever seen?!”

[SFX: The clouds swirling / raging above]

[The clouds above briefly turn storm-like, almost taking his visage]

“THEN THEY SHALL HAVE HIM! AND I, THEIR TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE MISTAKE, SHALL FINALLY HAVE YOU AS I’VE ALWAYS WANTED! NO MORE LIES! NO MORE HONOR! JUST A TIDAL WAVE OF BODIES UNTIL WE CAN EMBRACE AGAIN!”

[Pause-!]

[You try to plead for him, but he’s gone. The world… His world… is quiet around you]

[SFX: Fade out on the Simulacrum, as desired]

[To be continued?]

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Note: Um-