Hey... this the challenge i was issued for FICATHON so I hope whoever I wrote it for likes it... I think that It's pretty okay, the only thing I don't like about it is Daisy the little girl she's a bit of a brat. So I hope that everyone enjoy's it and REVIEWS because that makes me happy... oh and sorry for the mess of it I'll have a revised post up by next week but its due tommorow and I'm in of a hurry to post it. Oh and I'll put the challenge requirements down in the bottom.

The Life Of A Fairy Tale

"Tell me a story before bed daddy," six-year-old Daisy demanded.

"Okay, what do you want it to be about?" her father asked sitting down beside his daughter.

She grinned revealing a smile missing its two front teeth, "how about an adventure… with a princess."

He nodded, "Have I ever told you the story of how I met your mom?"

"No… will you tell it to me… please daddy?" she asked her blue eyes shinning.

He smiled softly at his daughter and tucked the blankets around her small body, "Well…maybe…"

"Please! Tell me, tell me!" she begged.

"Hmm…this is going to take a while, so you'll have to promise that you'll go right to sleep once I'm finished," he said gently.

She looked at him while nodding eagerly, "I promise, I promise!"

"Okay then but keep in mind that this is a story full of love, adventure and joy but at some times fear and sorrow," he warned.

She nodded again and shifted impatiently for him to begin.

"Okay… once upon a time, "he started running a hand through his short brown hair, "Once upon a time there was daring knight ready to do anything for the kingdom he helped protect and the royal family that led it."

The young knight William stood in front of his king with a grim look on his face he had been summoned for yet another briefing for his next mission and seeing as there was a major war going on with the neighboring kingdom William feared that his mission would not be pleasant.

"What is it, Your Majesty?" the knight asked dreading the man's response.

The kings expression became somber, "I don't know if you've heard but my daughter has been kidnapped, Sir William, and I fear the worse."

William hadn't heard and the news came at quite a shock for him, "But, My King… I thought… didn't she have guards?" he wasn't sure of how to word his response without accusing someone of letting this happen.

"Don't worry, William, they have been dealt with," the king responded coldly.

William paused again not quite knowing what to say, "I knew that this war had become serious but the... Deloreans have never sunk this low before, Your Majesty. I mean kidnapping your daughter…"

""Yes, nobody knows that better than I do, I know that you must be wondering why that I am telling you this," King Langford frowned obviously thinking.

"Well your Majesty, I suppose that I am," William responded, he had an idea why but he didn't dare voice it.

Langford stood up from the grand throne on which he sate and he ran his hand through his long grey hair in frustration, "You must know , Sir William that you are the bravest knight I have in my service and you have more than proved yourself by completing many heroic deeds."

"What kid of heroic deeds did Sir William do daddy?" Daisy interrupted.

William stared at this daughter blankly, "Uh… well… I suppose that he might have slain a dragon or something."

"What's 'slain' mean daddy?" she stumbled of the word slightly trying to figure it out.

Her father sighed knowing what was coming and even considered lying to her about it, "It means killed, he killed it darling."

"But why would he do that… was the dragon mean," tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about the hero killing a dragon.

"Yes dear… he… he was eating the villagers so William had to kill it," her father explained. And the tears disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

"Okay then… you can keep going," she smiled.

"Okay… I will, Langford stood up from the grand throne on which he sate and he ran his hand through his long grey hair in frustration, 'You must know , Sir William that you are my bravest knight I have in my service and…

…you have more than proved yourself by completing many heroic deeds."

"Yes I suppose I have sir," the knight said, "But what does the time I killed that dragon has to do with the princess?" the knight looked at his king in confusion.

"I want you to go and save my daughter, all I know is that she is locked somewhere in the land of Deloreans and that you must find her. You will be giver the finest steed… eh… horse and I will give you our finest sword the 'Axl Rose' and when you return with my daughter I will give you whatever you wish."

William didn't really want to breach the subject but felt that he must, "What if I fail, sir?" William asked.

"Well I don't even consider that a possibility but if that were to happen then I would have to banish you from this kingdom if the king of the Deloreans had not already killed you," the king explained calmly, "now you should be off at once."

Sir William nodded, "Yes your majesty let me go get my horse…"

"Pink Marshmallow?" Daisy interrupted once again.

William looked at her startled, "what are you talking about?"

"The name of the horse daddy, is it pink marshmallow? It is, isn't it, what else could it possibly be?" Daisy looked at him expectantly.

"Well no… its not," William said quickly.

She started to cry, "Why… not… is… it… not… a… pretty… name?" she asked between sobs.

William scrambled to think of a reason, "Well Daisy, it's a boy horse, a stallion and so it needs a fierce name."

"Is pink marshmallow not fierce?" Daisy asked her sobs subsiding.

"Well, not particularly dear," William explained.

"What's his name then if it's not pink marshmallow?" she asked wiping her wet eyes and nose on her blanket.

"Then Knight William said, 'Yes Your Majesty, let me go get my horse Chevy," her father said continuing the story.

"Ah yes Chevy the most lovely of steeds," the king nodded, "now I now be off, I'll have some one at the stale with food and supplies for your journey.

The dark haired Knight nodded, "Thank you, Your Majesty, I won't let you down."

"That's good to know, I'll hold you up to your word," the king replied.

"Well, I'll be off then, if you don't mind your majesty. William turned to leave.

The king smiled, "You're dismissed but be forewarned the next that I see you, you had better be accompanied by my daughter or dead."

The knight gulped he definitely did not won't the mission to end up with the latter being the result.

He left the castle and made his way to the stables where he mounted his horse and left the grounds through intricate gates, which promptly shut behind him making his mission seem so finale.

His horse was loaded with supplies so they could not go as quickly as they usually would but they still went quickly down the road towards the kingdom of Delorean which was over 20 leagues away."

"A League?" Daisy asked.

"Oh… it's a measurement… like a mile?" William explained.

"How far away is 20 of them?" she looked at him.

"Well… do you know how long a mile is?" he asked not sure of what they taught them in school these days.

"No…"

"Well, it's pretty far… and a league is farther so 20 of them are really long," he told her slowly, he honestly had no clue how long a league was.

"Oh… so how will his horse be able to carry him so long?" Daisy continued with her questions.

"Well, he'll give his horse water and stuff, and you know feed it. Plus It'll get to sleep at night so they'll be fine… it's a strong horse," William was seriously beginning to rethink this whole asinine idea of telling his daughter a story before bed that was not already printed in a book for him to read.

"Okay… will he rescue the princess?" she asked looking concerned.

"I don't know… we'll have to wait to find out," he said, "I suppose that I'll continue then, "William traveled for many days and nights trying to go as fast as he could in the barren wasteland of a desert that separated the area between kingdoms…"

William traveled for many days and nights trying to go as fast as he could in the barren wasteland of a desert that separated the area between kingdoms.

Until he got to a misplaced river, with a huge bridge going over it, William approached the bridge with caution he knew from experience that bridges could mean nasty things.

He carefully guided Chevy onto the bridge and sighed with relief when nothing drastic happened. That is until he got about halfway across and troll immerged out of nowhere.

"Hello young knight I know that I might be quite a fright. But I promise you that the riddle I inquire will get you out of your quagmire. So you'd better answer it with grace or else I'll have to eat your face," The troll sang.

"Okay…" William didn't know what else to say in response to the statement.

"So what goes 99 clunk, 99 clunk, 99 clunk?" The troll asked smiling a rotten-toothed grin.

"Hmmm… 99 clunk?" William honestly had no idea whatsoever what that could be.

"Yes if you give the correct answer to me, I'll be forced to leave you be," the troll continued on with his rhyming.

William knew that if he didn't figure out the answer soon that he would probably fail at his mission before it even really began.

So he thought long and hard about it and sat there for many hours just thinking.

"That's silly daddy, that riddle is really easy. How come the knight had so much trouble figuring it out?" Daisy asked.

"Well…" William began, "I don't know… maybe he just is thinking about it too hard, what do you think that the answer is it might be harder than you think?"

She rolled her eyes drastically, "Daddy it's a centipede with a wooden leg of course, I saw that riddle yesterday on a popsicle stick anyways. Maybe if Sir Will ate more popsicle sticks it would make more sense to him."

Her father laughed, "Well yes I suppose that if he ate more popsicles then he would know that answer."

"Of course he would," she said, "now can you please keep on going?"

He nodded, "So he thought long and hard about it and sat there for many hours just thinking. And then a thought came to him, what had 99 legs…?"

What had 99 legs? Nothing of course, but he knew that a centipede had 100 legs and if it was missing one it would need a replacement, and what would you replace your leg with? A wooden one of course.

"Evil singing troll I know the answer," William said, "It is a Centipede with a wooden leg."

"As correct as you may be still does not get you by scotch free, for in order for you to still be… you'll have to answer riddles three," the Troll explained revealing that he would have to answer another riddle.

"Okay then what's the next one?" Sir William asked.

"Where do bees go on their days off?" the troll asked.

Unlike the first William knew this answer - he had read this exact question on a popsicle stick early that day, "I know they go to the wax museum.

"This may be true but you'll have to answer this one without a clue," the troll sang, "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?" the troll had a vast smile on his face and figured that William had no chance figuring this one out.

"Because he didn't have the guts to do it," William answered with ease, the last two questions were a lot easier for William

"I suppose that I'll have to let you pass, so you'll be able to save your lass," the troll said and stepped aside, "Just remember that when you think that you hope is lost, just think what giving up costs and always remember flowers and the powers that I hath so you can complete you path."

Sir William continued on his way and traveled without any problems for the next several days until he met another traveler on the road except this one was not nearly as friendly as he was - in fact this one was a werewolf.

His entire body was covered in fur but he stood as a human man would and looked relatively like a human but he was howling and foaming at the mouth so the term werewolf would be applicable in this situation.

William knew that him traveling though the night had not been a good idea but instead of heading the warnings that his inner self gave him he just went off and now he was probably going to be killed by a man-eating werewolf.

"NO!" Daisy shouted, "He can't die, please tell me that he's good at slaying werewolves too."

"No he's not particularly good at fighting werewolves," William answered.

She looked crestfallen at this news, "then how is he going to save the princess?" she demanded.

"Well, I suppose that he'll have to get the werewolf not to eat him," he father explained.

"Is the werewolf a vegetarian?" she asked this of course in her logic would fix everything.

"Eh… yes… he is, that's how that Sir William gets away, he looked at the werewolf and took out his sword and with a yell he…

Slashed at the werewolf but the werewolf was too quick and then the werewolf jumped at William but the knight was able to pull his horse away just in time.

Just about when William was about to attack the werewolf again the werewolf called out, "Wait! Please don't hurt me, I'm a vegetarian werewolf, and I'm not man eating."

"You're not?" he asked suspiciously, what if the wolf was just trying to get closer to him so he could kill him.

"No, I promise, I'm just passing through, I hear that there's this princess locked in a tower somewhere who has to sleep forever until she's rescued, and I thought that I might share this information with any knights I see passing through, you were however the first one I saw."

The knight nodded, "well will you show me where this tower is at?"

The werewolf grinned, "Of course but first we'll have to cross this lake here and get the key from a mermaid at the bottom of it."

"Oh…" William frowned, "how do you know so much about this?"

"Well about that actually," the wolf began, "I might have actually overheard a conversation, discussing exactly what someone would have to do to rescue her. So I consider myself very well informed on the subject."

"Well that makes sense," William agreed.

So they approached the lake with caution, a large sign on it clearly read, "DON'T DRINK THE WATER," in neon green letter, William decided that they had better heed their warning.

They both jumped in but not before putting on the scuba gear that the king had packed "just in case." They both swam downwards into the murky waters and asked for directions as soon as they found someone who looked like they knew their way around.

This happened to be a friendly looking octopus, "Hello Mr. Octopus, "the wolf greeted, "do you happen to know where a mermaid with a key to a tower where a princess who this knight needs to rescue happens to be?"

"Well I actually think that I do," the octopus said, "In fact I think that she might just be straight down that way." He pointed down farther in the water with one of his tentacles.

"Thank you," William told him with a smile.

"Your welcome, just come back up and ask again if you have any trouble, and be careful around the mermaid, she can be sort of crazy sometimes," the octopus warned.

So both the knight and the wolf swam down deeper and deeper into the water an the water got both colder and darker. They were swimming for so long that they thought that the octopus had tricked them.

That of course until they met the mermaid, she was very beautiful, but William knew the princess to the prettier, around her neck she wore a fancy golden key.

William looked at her and did the most logical thing that he could think of in this situation. He looked over at the mermaid and asked, "Can I please have that key?"

"This key?" she looked at the key around her neck and glared at him, "Why do you want it, I found it and as you know finder's keepers loser's weepers. So you'll just have to get over it."

"But I need it?" he tried.

"But why do you need it, this key can't be that important," she argued.

"It is though… uh… its my house key," the knight tried again.

The wolf looked over at him and mouthed, 'get ready to run."

The knight looked at him confused, why would he do that.

"There is no way that this is your house key," the mermaid said, "it's too pretty."

Just as she said that the wolf kicked forward and grabbed the key from around her neck and broke the chain. Both him and the knight swam as quick as they could up to the surface and needless to say the got there faster than when the were going down.

"Now the only thing that we have to do is find the tower," William said the wolf whom was happily chomping on some carrots, it was daytime now so technically he was no longer a wolf.

"That may take us a while though… and we'll also have to wake her up somehow," the wolf pointed out, then he looked up at the sun to see what time it was but instead saw a tall tower.

"Hey look at that," the knight had also seen it and was now running towards it. The wolf followed quickly behind him.

They got to the bottom of it and quickly used the key to open the door. The knight dashed up the spiral steps of stairs. And quickly rushed to the princess's bedside.

She was sound asleep. He tried everything to wake her up, and nothing worked. After he was done singing loudly in her ear and before he dumped freezing cold water on her he remembered what the troll had said.

He consulted the wolf about. Neither of them were sure what exactly the troll meant by, "Just remember that when you think that you hope is lost, just think what giving up costs and always remember flowers and the powers that I hath so you can complete you path."

"So are you sure that you don't know?" the knight asked the wolf for the umpteenth time.

"Uh… how about a song or a poem about… uh… flowers?" the wolf suggested lamely.

"That's it!" William exclaimed. How about that one… uh… Roses are red violets are blue, let this please wake you."

Both men stopped breathing and stared at the princess, nothing happened.

"Well it was worth a try," the wolf shrugged.

"But what else will work?" the knight asked desperately.

Just then the princess moved. Her eyes fluttered open; she looked around startled and then saw the knight and the wolf.

"Oh… thanks for saving me… do you work for my dad?" the princess asked.

"Uh… yeah," William told her.

So the trio set off back to their home kingdom and on the journey back the princess and the knight fell in love. So when the king asked Sir William what he wanted as his prize he asked the king for the princess's hand in marriage which he granted.

"And they all lived happily ever after," William finished.

"Yay!" daisy exclaimed, "I loved it daddy, I want you to tell it to me again."

Her father looked at her alarmed, "Maybe tomorrow Daisy, you need to go to sleep now.

"Okay… goodnight," the young girl smiled and yawned.

"Night," William left the room shutting the door quietly behind him.

END

So I... Hope that everyone likes it... Here are the requirements...

Challenge 13
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy
Rating: K-T
Like: A Mermaid, A Talking Octopus, A Singing Villain, A Dramatic Adventure, A Vegetarian Werewolf,
Hate: Mary Sue Type Characters, Boring Info-Dumps, Whiny Heroines
Words/Quotes: Asinine, "Don't drink the water.", "Roses are red, violets are blue..."