Mom and Dad looked the same as they did when I last saw them. My mother's honey brown hair was curled lightly and fell across her shoulders. Her big, warm eyes, that always had a sparkle in them, and her thin, rosy lips lifted in a soft, comforting smile. Her pale skin, and light freckles that went across her nose from ear to ear. Her delicate hands, that were covered in calluses, and her thin frame, that hid her strength. The top she was wearing was light and airy, but casually formal. She was wearing sparkly bell-bottoms, which surprised me, since the last time I saw her she had always worn shorts. She had on 90s retro tennis shoes, and a pair of mini hoops in her ears. My mother has never needed makeup, because her natural beauty was known everywhere, and the only thing better known were her skills with metal. My father sat next to my mom, a perfect match for her. He was tall, with broad shoulders, although his hair had grown out quite long, and still had a short look to it, and had been loosely combed to the side. My father's usual rugged lumberjack beard had been forgone for a classy, clean-shaven look, but he left his chevron style mustache, and instead of it being the typical bushy way he liked, he trimmed it, so it was more streamlined and thin. His eyes had a ring of gold around the pupil, and flecks of silver in his sea blue irises. My father was looking at his wife with a love that could level the Earth, and absolutely beaming at her, his pale pink, full lips parted to show his bright, white teeth. His outfit was the opposite of my mother's, but somehow managed to compliment her clothes. He wore a black, decorated military uniform, with a gold belt around his waist. He did not have a hat on, but I thought he looked better without it anyways. I raised my hand and waved lightly at the parents I hadn't seen in years, but they didn't move. I looked closer, and noticed they were holograms. Simply projections on the chairs. My euphoria faded as quickly as it came, leaving me feeling empty and hollow. I looked at Erik and saw the same look on his face, and followed his gaze, to see his parents. Unlike mine, his mother and father were real. They were looking around the room, and quietly talking between the two of them. His mother's eyes had landed on him, and she stopped talking, and set her hand on her husband's knee. Erik's father turned, and looked lost for a moment before recognizing his son. He quickly turned away, crossing his arms, seeming to be ignoring his child's existence. His mother, on the other hand, had taken her hand of her husband's knee, and had put it over her mouth, stifling a gasp, and I could see a tear, shimmering in the light, roll down her cheek. Erik's father, leaned towards his wife and said something to her, and she tore her eyes away from Erik, and also started to ignore Erik, aside from the glances at him when his father wasn't watching. I slid my hand into his, and squeezed it, snapping him out of his haze. He had a downtrodden look in his eyes when he met mine, but I gave him a soft smile, as if to say 'I still see you.' In return he leaned down and kissed me, before walking with me down the white carpet that ran the length of the room. At the end, sitting on his throne, was my brother, or his evil twin at least, and in the smaller throne next to him, my sister Aysh, but she was real this time. She gave me a look that said to watch my back, before schooling her features into a queen-like gaze, looking towards the hundreds of people filling the bleachers around the room. We reached the end, and my brother simply straightened in his seat, and the room went deathly quiet.
"My beautiful subjects, who aren't really mine, but who cares right?" The whole room laughed harder than was probably needed, until my brother opened his mouth to speak, and the laughter stopped as suddenly as it started.
"This is my darling little sister, and her boyfriend. Isn't that just cute? Her childhood bestie, is now her one true love. Talk about cliché." There were collective nods, and chuckles around the bleachers.
"My starlet, I see you and the boy have found my gifts. How do you like them so far?"
I started to say that they were a very thoughtful gift but Alastor cut me off.
"DON'T CARE DARLING! I was asking to be polite, I don't actually want to know. Anyways, you and Erik have probably noticed that the parents showed up to watch the show. Well, sorry about broken hearts and such, but we aren't here to watch you cry a river. We are here to watch you and Erik become my princess, and my most loyal guard, respectfully."
"Like we would want to." Erik growled at the King.
"I never said you wanted to. Look, all you have to do is look into this," the King said as he pulled out a small handheld mirror, "and just say "Yes" or even "Sure" works. Just so long as you say it while looking in the mirror."
"It is real. Aysh wasn't lying, but what about the other people in here? They wouldn't let this happen would they?" I whispered to Erik
"Of course they would. Your parents are holograms, and mine couldn't care any less if doing this caused my death. Well, at least my mother would care, but because of my dad, he'd make her sit and watch. The rest of them are here for the show, they don't know us, nor do they want to, as long as they get what they came for, they're happy." Erik whispered back, a furious tone in his voice.
"What on EARTH are you whispering so angrily about? What do you not want me to know? Whatever it is, I can just get you to tell me once you are mine, isn't that right Crown Princess Ayshlin?"
"Of course dear brother." she replied, almost mechanically.
Alastor stepped down from his throne, and came to stand in front of us. Erik moved me ever so slightly behind him, so he was between me and my brother. Grinning, Alastor lifted the mirror up to Erik's face, and before he could look away, something in the mirror had caught his attention and was taking over his senses. I squeezed his hand, but his hand was limp in mine. I could only see his gaze searching for something deep in the mirror, before I heard him whisper so quietly, I could barely hear him,
"Yes. I-I-Yes, always."
"NO!" I screamed, as a blinding light from the mirror filled the room. I closed my eyes against it, and I felt Erik's hand get pulled violently out of mine, before I fell backwards trying to escape the brightness, tripping on a something, maybe the carpet. The light slowly faded, and I saw Erik standing there, but the first difference I saw, was his hair now had blonde-red highlights to it, and he was wearing a uniform to match that of the other guards in the castle. He turned to face me, and his eyes, before a caramel brown now an icy blue, locked on to me, as he reached out and grabbed my shoulders, shoving me in front of the mirror, and holding my chin forcing me to stare into the depths. The silver in the mirror started to swirl and take the shape of a person, someone I knew and recognized the shape of, but couldn't place who it was.