BACKSTORY:: ( tw- mentions of death & war )

x -- Once upon a time, in a small rural town in Italy, there lived a young human couple who wanted nothing more than to have a baby of their very own. A stray fae took notice of the desperation of the two && offered them a deal. What the couple traded was unknown, but in return the fae gifted them a child of their own. A precious little “fae” baby named Basil. 

x -- But what started off as elation, quickly turned to --- well, for lack of a better term, regret. Something felt wrong with the baby. It looked human, it acted human, but something about it just felt....off. The aura of the child just felt so uncomfortable && off putting, the couple decided that they wanted nothing to do with it. 

[[ Changeling babies are often unsettling to humans. They seem almost human but something seems different about them. Sometimes they have extra toes or markings that set them apart. --- The couple had simply assumed that they were getting a human or fae child. They had no knowledge of changeling children. All they knew was that the child they were gifted made them feel extremely uncomfortable, despite not knowing why this was occurring.  ]]

x --- but due to the nature of the trade, the humans knew better than to go back on a deal with the fae. So they raised the baby as their own, despite their dislike of it. 

x --- Now, let it be known that Basil was never abused or treated unfairly by his new parents. He was just simply not loved by them. They had minimal contact with boy- no hugs, no kind words, no parent/child bonding. It felt as though Basil was simply a stranger to them living under the same roof.

x --- At the age of eighteen, the boy saved up everything that he could && ran away without notice. --- Only to end up in the arms of the fae. He came upon a community of them by happenstance && they were very quick to tell him what he really was. They could sense it of him. That he belonged with them. Basil, baffled, explained that he was a human raised by humans but the notion was quickly shot down. 

x --- For the next ten years or so, Basil lived among the faeries --- though, this life didn’t seem right for him either. It began to feel like no matter where he went he’d always be an outcast of sorts. Not fully fae, not fully human. Uncomfortable for everyone around him. 

THE WAR::

x --- Now that he was an adult && fully aware of what he was, Basil decided that he was fed up && wanted answers. --- Had one of his parents had an affair?? Was that why they despised him so much growing up?? Were they even his parents at all?? Had he been stolen as a baby??  

x --- Turns out he’d never know. He ventured back to his parents town only to find ruin. The neighboring town sang the stories of a battle taking place their- unknown soldiers tearing it down in a matter of hours && leaving no survivors. 

x ---  He was returning home to the fae when he caught word of Rome && what was happening there. “ A melting pot for supernatural && human alike. “ they whispered, eyes wide with excitement. A place where it didn’t matter what you were && the war couldn’t harm you.... It sounded too good to be true.