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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄

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"Hurry up, boy! The dogs won't feed themselves!"

His mother's shouts caused the young blonde boy to jump and almost hit his head on the open cupboard. Once he regained his bearings, he looked back in the direction of Cruella's voice. Chills ran up and down his spine at the sight of one of her dogs staring back at him from the doorway before he quickly continued scrubbing the counters. After he finished cleaning the kitchen, Samuel rushed toward one of the cabinets and grabbed the dog's food before following her order and filling the bowls while trying to ignore the growling dogs beside him. His attention stayed glued to the animals as they practically swallowed their dinner whole before he walked out into the hall and told his mother that he was finished.

"Good," she told her son as she walked down the staircase and came to a stop right in front of him. Her cold eyes scanned over his small form for a long moment before she adjusted her coat around her slim body and gestured toward the steps. "Get up to your room. I'm going out and I don't need you getting in trouble."

"Yes, ma'am." Samuel sprinted upstairs as soon as those two words escaped his mouth. He didn't look back as he raced into his small bedroom and slammed the wooden door shut behind him. Before he could even make it to his bed, the sound of the lock clicking greeted his ears. The blonde boy didn't move a muscle as he listened to the sound of his mother's footsteps fading down the stairs and the front door slam. Then he was greeted by nothing but silence.

And that was the end of his daily routine.

It began with him cleaning the house all day while Cruella's snarling dogs watched him with their teeth bared and anger in their eyes. When he finally got a break from trying to make their mansion shine, Samuel cooked for his mother and fed her beasts. The second night fell he would get locked in his room so the De Vil woman could go out and enjoy the world. Then it would repeat the next day. He was a twelve-year-old boy being treated like a slave.

Samuel was about to lie down in his bed when the sound of horses' hooves clicking against gravel cut through the silence. A small smile made its way onto his face before he rushed to his small window and peered out to the road to see a group of knights passing by. The De Vil boy wanted to be a knight more than anything but he also knew there was no way that was going to happen. A chuckle passed over his lips as he thought about a boy who couldn't even leave the house being a knight.

The De Vil boy watched the group of warriors until they were out of sight before his smile slowly faded. Samuel walked back to his bed with thoughts of the freedom he desired to have more than anything. As soon as he got to his bed and lay down, the blonde boy stared up at the ceiling as he continued to think about the life he always dreamed of having before he began to doze off.

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The sound of the unlocking of his door woke the boy with a start before he sat up so fast in his bed that his head almost collided with the low ceiling above him. His eyes were glued to the wooden door for a long moment before his half-awake brain fully registered the situation. When the door swung open, Samuel jumped off his poor excuse of a mattress and stood in the center of his room just in time to see his scowling mother standing in the doorway.

"Is everything okay?" the young boy asked while trying to hide the tiredness in his voice and the shakiness of his hands.

"Dinner isn't done! How long do you expect me to wait?!"

"My apologies, mother, but-"

The De Vil boy's question was cut off by a force slamming against his cheek before he stumbled back a few feet. After standing in his place for a moment, stunned that the woman actually slapped him, he glanced up to find Cruella slowly walking over to him. Samuel jumped as his mother roughly grabbed his face in her hand before forcing him to look into her eyes.

"Don't ever call me that again. You mean nothing more to me than a stranger passing by the house. Understand?" she hissed, causing the boy to nod in response while trying to hide the tornado of emotions inside him before the woman released him and stepped to the side while pointing to the door, "go!"

It took everything within himself not to jump at the volume of her voice before he sprinted out of the room and downstairs to prepare her dinner. Just as he finished cooking the chicken, a low growl cut through the silence. Samuel let out a shaky breath as he slowly turned to see his mother's favorite dog baring its teeth at him while staring daggers at the boy in front of him.

"Easy," the De Vil boy said as calmly as possible before he looked at the food on the counter then back to the animal, "want some chicken?"

The dog stared at him for another long moment before his growl grew quieter. A small smile soon formed on Samuel's face as he picked up a piece of the chicken and tossed it to the dog. Without any hesitation, the dalmatian caught it in his mouth and finished it within seconds. As soon as he finished eating the piece of meat, Cruella walked into the kitchen with her signature scowl on her face.

"Did you give him a piece?" the De Vil woman questioned, causing Sam's whole body to shake as he met his mother's cold eyes, "you know he isn't supposed to eat chicken."

The De Vil boy's mouth opened to respond but he was unable to form words. The angry look on Cruella's face grew before Samuel realized that her dog was beginning to grow. When his eyes moved away from his mother and to her pet, the blonde boy saw the dog walking closer to him. Samuel instantly began backing away from the animal and looked up at his mother with a pleading look in his eyes. However, when he saw an amused look in Cruella's eyes and the dog continued to stalk toward him, the De Vil boy knew it was no good.

"Don't go too hard on him," was all Cruella said as the wicked grin on her face continued to grow. As soon as she finished speaking, the dog let out a loud bark before tackling Samuel to the ground and swiping a paw at her face. The attack caused a cut to form on the De Vil boy's cheek just under his eye. The De Vil woman called off her favorite dog before he had a chance to strike again and stared down at her son. "Don't make that mistake again."

After slowly nodding and getting to his feet, Samuel served her dinner before he took a small plate of corn and rushed up to his room. A relieved sigh passed over his lips when he was in the safety of his attic with the door shut behind him. As soon as he was able to calm himself down, the De Vil boy placed his dinner on a box and looked in the small cracked mirror above it to examine the cut on his cheek. His eyes scanned over the scratch a few times before concluding that the cut wasn't too deep. He then took a cloth and dipped it in the small tub of water. Once the rag was damp, Samuel began to clean the wound as well as he could.

The moment he was satisfied with his work, the blonde boy let out a long sigh and sat down to eat his dinner. Samuel's eyes were glued to his small window as he ate his corn and watched the sunset. It wasn't long after that when darkness began to take over the world outside and Samuel let out another long sigh. The usual thoughts of why he was forced to live this life filled the De Vil boy's head, just like every other night. He always tried to figure out what he could have possibly done in a past life to deserve this.

As soon as the darkness started to fill his room, Samuel heard his mother walking upstairs and down the hall followed by a slam of her bedroom door. Another quiet sigh passed over his lips once he knew he wouldn't be facing her again that day. After taking one last look out his small window at the world below, the blonde boy lay down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling like he did every other night. It wasn't long after his mother's snores met his ears when realization began to flood through his veins. Samuel jumped off his cot faster than ever before and rushed toward the only exit of his room. His hand wrapped around the rusted nob as soon as he reached the door before he slowly turned it. A genuine smile appeared on the De Vil boy's face for the first time in a long time when he heard a soft click.

His mother never locked the door.

When he opened his door a crack, the loud snoring of mother and the dogs filled the air. Samuel waited and listened for anything else to follow, but nothing came. The De Vil boy's smile did nothing but grow as he rushed to grab the small bag he always had packed just in case there was ever an opportunity like this. Once he was ready, the blonde boy slowly made his way downstairs into the kitchen before grabbing a loaf of bread and stuffing it into his bag. As soon as he knew the coast was clear, Samuel walked to the front door and silently ran from the house.

He ran from his nightmare and away from the life he had and to the life he wanted. Samuel ran in the direction of the knights.

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After half a day of running, Samuel finally made it to the knight's camp and stood outside the entrance while trying to build up the courage to enter. The De Vil boy stayed there for another ten minutes as he listened to their laughter before letting out a sigh and walking straight into the camp. Once he made himself known, silence replaced the laughter as all the knights turned their attention toward Samuel. The men just stared at him for what felt like an eternity, making the De Vil boy silently wish he had come up with a better idea. The awkward moment soon ended when a tall knight with brown hair and a sword on his belt stood up from his log and made his way toward the boy.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked after he stopped right in front of Samuel, towering over the blonde boy's small form.

"Samuel."

"Samuel what?"

"It's just...it's just Samuel."

The De Vil boy held his breath as he watched the knight's eyes scan over him before they moved back up to meet Samuel's gaze. "What are you doing out here all on your own?"

The blonde boy hesitated for a moment while keeping eye contact with the man in front of him until he finally built up enough courage to respond. "I wanna be a knight."

Samuel was surprised when he saw the brunette man smile before he wrapped an arm around the De Vil boy's shoulders and began escorting him into their camp. "Well Samuel, if you wanna be a knight, you came to the right place. You got the attitude. Now all you need is some training."

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