Authors Note: I blame this entirely on dress up games and my massive headache. I own nothing.

Bottled Up

1. Birthday surprise

Prince Arthur Pendragon was not expecting much for his coming of age. Well you know aside from that whole 'you will inherit the kingdom someday' thing. He wasn't expecting many presents. Maybe a few swords, daggers, and other weapons. He was not expecting what he got.

"Sire I took seven of my best trained men with me to, shall we say, acquire your gift." The knight in question held up a small box.

"Be careful my lord, it is fragile and dangerous. I lost six men to retrieve it." Arthur frowned, the box was only slightly bigger than his hand. He nodded to the knight as the man set it down on the box on the table in front of him. His father nodded and Arthur's curiosity peaked. His father approved of this loss for his gift. Why?

Hours passed and finally the feast was finished. Arthur wanted to know what was in that box. His useless boring bootlicker of a manservant was carrying most of his presents but he carried the small box. It was warm in his hand and so small. How could it be dangerous? More hours past and George got him ready for bed and finally left. He sat at his desk looking at the package. It was a simple box wrapped in colored paper, a gold ribbon circled the box and he pulled it opened easily enough. He tore the paper. Then he lifted the lid and looked in. His jaw practically hit the floor.

Inside the box was a bottle. It was the size of his closed fist. It seemed to be made of plain glass, a normal cork pressed into the opening and several small silver chains wrapped around the cork. But it was the contents of the bottle that fascinated the prince of Camelot now.

Curled up in a relaxed ball against the side of the bottle was a figure. A tiny female figure in a blue shirt that had clearly seen better days a brown skirt in similar condition to the shirt and brown leggings that had holes torn in the knees, she wore a pair of red gloves that were barely recognizable as such and a torn cloak held on by scratched and dented gold shoulder plates. She had short dark brown hair the color of a hawks feathers and skin the color of new fallen snow. For a second Arthur thought she might be dead. But then she moved, shifting until she was lying curled up on her side. She was so small he could have held her in the palm of his hand and covered her entirely with his fingers. Well he could do that now, she was in the bottle and he almost did just that tipping the bottle over to get a better look at her when she shifted and groaned.

Then he saw them. A tiny set of wings growing from her back. They were blue and ragged like her clothes they had been beautiful once, now they were just sad. Tattered like everything else. Her feet were bare and their soles were covered in mud and what looked a bit like blood. She had scratches on her feet and face and her arms were not unscathed either. She looked like she had been through a battle.

She was restless even in sleep and looked like she was in pain. There were flower petals and a few leaves at the bottom of the bottle. Arthur felt something tug at his heart. She was glowing a soft gold and as Arthur lifted the bottle up to his eyelevel her damaged wings fluttered and her eyes opened. They were bright sapphire blue and glinted the minute they opened. She tried to shoot up but wobbled and fell curling in a ball and gasping as her broken wings flittered. She groaned and Arthur felt that tug at his heart again.

"Are you alright?" She clapped her hands to her ears. That bottle must have worked like an echo chamber.

"Sorry. Are you alright?" Arthur whispered. She looked up at him and frowned.

"No I am not bloody alright! Where am I? Who are you? You're not that bastard knight who attacked us, so who are you?" She spoke brashly and her hand went to an empty scabbard on her left thigh.

"I am Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot, and it appears that 'that bastard knight', whose name is Sir Dryren by the way, gave you to me as my birthday present. As to where you are, you're sitting in a bottle in my hand. You know for a fairy you're a bit of an idiot." He held the bottle up near the candle so he could see her a bit better. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"And for a prince you're a prat." He frowned.

"You're very rude for someone in your position." He shook the bottle a bit to illustrate his point, and immediately regretted it when she slipped and hit her head on the side of the bottle and curled up into a ball tiny tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen." She glared at him, her eyes flashed gold and the bottle shook without Arthur shaking it.

"Oh no of course you didn't. You've just got me magically bound in a bottle and plan to what? Have me killed, fed to your dogs? Do what you want with me but at least tell me what you've done with my people." She looked worried and angrier than ever, despite her height she looked a bit intimidating.

"No idea. Sir Dryren said he lost six men getting to you, what happened to them?" She glared at him.

"What do you do when you are attacked Prince Arthur?" She spat the words at him, gold fire glowing in her eyes.

"They attacked us, we defended ourselves. What would you have done?! They came out of nowhere! Attacked us from behind, there were children playing outside!" Her voice caught in her throat and she glared up at him seeming determined not to give in to the tears glittering in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Her glare dropped and she pulled her knees up to her chest wrapping her arms around them as if for warmth. Arthur saw it then, the tears in her eyes the despair there. Her shoulders were trembling and her wings, so sad and so damaged, seemed to sag. She had glowed brighter when she was angry. Now that gold glow that surrounded her, though it remained contained inside the bottle sealed as it was with silver chains. Those chains contained magic, kept her where she was.

"No you're not. Just kill me and have done with it." More tears made their way down her face as she looked down at her knees. Arthur felt that mysterious tug at his heart again and this time he listened. He would later see that as the greatest decision he would ever make.

"I'm not going to kill you. Why would I you're harmless, well as long as you're in that bottle. But you do need to learn how to address your betters." She glared at him; if looks could kill he'd be on the floor with a broken bottle in his hand and a vengeful fairy on the loose. But all she could do was glare as he walked across his room and opened a drawer on his bedside table. He set the bottle down inside the drawer.

"And here you'll stay until you learn to behave." He closed the drawer and heard the bottle fall over. A small gasp came from the drawer, shortly followed by a string of curses. He stifled a laugh and finished preparing for bed. As he went to blow out the candle he heard a noise from the drawer. He paused and opened it slightly. The bottle rolled and he quickly stopped it with his hand. Its occupant did not wake up. She was asleep and she was crying. Arthur felt his heart crack a little at the site. But what could he do? He was only a prince and his father had very strict laws about magic. As long as she was useless, trapped and bound inside the bottle she wasn't a threat. She was a trophy of a war Arthur had fought battles in many times but never truly seen any point to.

He rolled back over and looked up at the ceiling. After a while the noises stopped and he checked once more on the bottled fairy. It occurred to him that he didn't know her name.

She was deeply asleep, no more tears to cry she had slipped into a dreamless sleep. He sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. What was he going to do?