The Fae That Lost the Game

“Alright,” the fae smirked, looking down at their human, “I’m impressed, darling. As promised, because you won, you get a single request I must comply with!”

Maybe it was weird for a fae to be excited about losing, but in truth, the fae let their human win on purpose. They’d owned this human for a while now, and when they first purposed the idea of a game, they agreed. It was a fun little back and forth that gave the fae a free excuse to have even more fun with their human afterward, loving to remind them that they did agree to the challenge, after all.

To their surprise, the human didn’t learn their lesson the first time, and they kept making the offer for the next few months. Always losing, of course.

It was getting boring. So, the fae let the human win, deciding they were just too curious about what it would be that the hero asked of them.

Would it be revenge? Force their master to serve them for a day, or maybe even return the favour of previous “fun”?

Or maybe, they’d be practical. Ask for something that would make their life here more bearable long-term. Their own, fully furnished bedroom with fae wards?

Or maybe it would be some boring emotional nonsense, like going back and seeing their mother for a day, or walking along the beach at sunset because they missed it. The fae really hoped it wasn’t that one.

Besides, the rules of the game included not being able to order the fae to forget their name, sense asking to be let go meant very little when your name was still known to them.

Oh, the possibilities were endless! The fae had been practically vibrating all morning they were so excited, waiting for their human to once again inevitably make the offer.

“I knew you would eventually tire of winning,” the human stated, smiling. Their tone was so smug it actually startled the fae. This was not the way their human talked to them. Any human for that matter.

“Watch it,” the fae warned, their cheery tone from earlier replaced with a sharp, deadly one, “You may have won, but-”

“Save it,” the human cut them off, “I already know what I want you to do. I have for months. I was just holding out long enough until you grew bored of winning and your curiosity got the best of you,” they were full-on smirking now.

They locked eyes, and there was an almost worrying lack of fear in their humans.

“Command me to change my name…” They smiled even wider, a downright feral grin now that could rival the fae’s own, “…right before teleporting me home, of course,”