CLEMENTINE'S POV
We all sat at the table. We all sat there in rare silence. We all sat there waiting for him. Fifteen of us sat at that table, a table for sixteen, a table probably made from some poorly paid low class workers in the 9th kingdom. The loud intakes of oxygen was something I've never heard from my family, usually my older siblings would be roughhousing or punching each other and Toxo, but it was quiet. Usually the bright laughter of my mother and the yelling of my father would rattle the room, but it was quiet. Usually the loud discussions of our chefs and butlers would be heard as they prepared our breakfast, but it was quiet. After all, the food was already on the table, and now it was cold.
"Where is that little shit head!?" Asked Damion, my older half brother, as he broke the silence. He was asking about my twin brother Toxodorius, or toxo, the one missing from the table. Today is our 16th birthday and while he's usually up by 5am and screaming with joy on his birthday, he isn't this year.
"I don't know..." Said my father with a tired tone, it's been a long day. From the corner of my eye I could see my mother nudge him. In which he responded, "And don't call him a shit head, it's not... nice?" He looked at my mother for approval in what he said, she nodded in response.
After a few more minutes of silence you could hear loud, small, but fast footsteps running down the corridor adjacent to the dining hall. The large door soon slowly creaked open and in walked Toxo. He smiled nervously at everyone as he caught his breath. He was fast for how small his legs were. Everyone stared blankly at him, every single one of us disappointed.
"Why the fuck did you show up an hour late to breakfast? You don't even look decent so it couldn't have been you getting ready." Said Rolvoros as he snarled at Toxo.
Toxo then responded with a stuttered still out of breath voice, "I-I'm always late to breakfast, I sleep in late every morning! Why is this breakfast so important." The last of what he said would have sounded unprofessional and ignorant if anyone else said it, but Toxo said it in the nicest way possible while keeping a nervous smile on his face.
Rolvoros stood up, he was seated closest to where Toxo was standing so he got to him fast. Because of Rolovoros's towering height of 6'5 and Toxo's tiny height of 5'5, Rolvoros had to bend down to talk to him. He got uncomfortably close to Toxo's face, giving an obviously fake kind smile. But since Toxo was literally the dumbest person I knew, he thought the smile was genuine so he smiled back. Rolvoros's smile quickly sank and he yelled in Toxo's face, "IT'S YOUR FUCKING BIRTHDAY GENIUS." He then raised his hand, flicked Toxo in the forehead, then lifted him up by the collar of his shirt and roughly placed him in the seat next to me before going back to his seat with a pissed off expression.
"Oh... I forgot... sorry everybody!" He smiled nervously then turned his head quickly to me. I was glaring at him, as I usually do but I intentionally made this glare more threatening, just to scare him. The glare ended up successful, he looked at me as his smile faded and his eyes went large. His lips quickly opened and he said to me, "Happy birthday." My glare then lifted, I didn't smile but I tried to make my facial expression kind and welcoming.
"Thank you, happy birthday to you as well." I responded to him with my very monotone high pitched voice. I'm not a big fan of birthdays. It's just another day for me and everyone always asks how it feels to be turning the age that you are. IT'S THE EXACT SAME FEELING. I for one can't wait to look wrinkly and old, grey hair looks the best when it doesn't come from some cheap hair dye but when it comes from years of agonizing aging, body aches, and your cable company attacking you with infomercials of eldery anus cream that helps your butt zits when your arms get too weak to take care of them by yourself with your sandpaper textured hands, i'm so excited for that. But for now I'm 15, well 16 today. Tonight, Toxo and I also have our 16th birthday thing where we go somewhere of our choosing. My mom will be choosing one of us out of a bowl with little pieces of paper with Toxo and I's name on them. Whoever gets chosen gets to choose where we go. If I get chosen I'll probably take us to the 13th kingdom, I heard that they have a huge purge party everyone month in their forest's which sounds fucking awesome. Toxo will probably want us to go to the 2nd kingdom, it's a very nice place with nice people, it makes me sick. He's too wimpy to want to go somewhere dangerous so I REALLY hope I get chosen.
"Best luck in getting chosen tonight Clem." Toxo interrupted my thoughts of what kind of torture I could commit at the forest purge party. I looked over at him and just nodded. By now the silence of my family had broken, most of them were eating and Zuriel, Minnie, Apollyn, and Adera were punching each other in a good old sibling fight, which was normal. I wanted to do that, I could easily, but I would feel bad for leaving Toxo close to Milcom, Naehmehh, and Rolvoros, who loved punching him and trying to get him to fight, but Toxo was not about fighting. I looked around the table then back at Toxo who was stuffing a pancake in his face.
"Have you thought of a place to go yet?" I asked Toxo. He paused from eating for a little bit and looked over at me with his mouth full. He nodded.
"Of course I have, and it's a fun place! Somewhere new." He said. Somewhere new? But all of our siblings have already been to every kingdom. But like I've said before, he is very dumb so he probably forgot that one of our siblings went to the sweet and gentle 2nd kingdom.
"Uh huh... fun." I said as I shot him a judgeful glare, trying to break him into saying where we're going, but he just looked back, already stuffing a new pancake the size of his face into his mouth. I sighed then looked down at my own plate as I very politely ate a small waffle.
~~~~TIME SKIP~~~~
Breakfast ended much later than expected because of Toxo's absence for most of the meal. All of us exited the dining hall and into our own separate bedrooms. Toxo and I's bedrooms were in the same section of the castle but I didn't see him as I strolled towards my room. As I reached my room I opened up the almost 20 foot tall door to my room as the loud creaks from the door echoed through the corridor. I walked over to my wardrobe and grabbed a random dress, I didn't care much how I looked but I guess I would at least try. Tonight's event would be televised for all of Hell, so I guess I should look semi-proper.
After about half an hour of getting prepped up, I was ready. I was wearing a very long red dress with a short train, normal red heels, two plain gold necklaces, and some long gold earrings that looked like feathers. I quickly walked out of my room since the event started in 20 minutes and it was about a 10 minute walk to the Ballroom. As soon as I opened up the huge door Toxo was standing there, looking like he was about to knock on the door. He smiled nervously and looked down at me.
"Oh um hiya, I was just about to come and ask if you wanted to walk to the ballroom together and talk." He scratched the back of his neck and then looked down at my dress and gasped. "Oh my! You look lovely! Where did you get that dress?" I just looked up at him.
"I got it from mom." I then looked down at his clothes. Toxo was never the guy to like wearing suits or anything under the average formal male category of clothing. He just wore a plain red sweater tucked into some black jeans, red sneakers, a red dangly bird earring on his left ear, and a few rings. Red was kind of our family's signature color, we all wore it at special events as a way to signify our royalty maybe? I don't know exactly.
"Mom and dad let me pick out my own outfit this year!" Toxo said as he displayed a large smile across his pale face. Every year our parents would force him to wear some boring suit like the rest of our brothers but I have to admit that Toxo looks better in what he's wearing now.
"Did they approve the outfit? Or even see it?" I asked as I raised my eyes back up at him.
"Oh um no and no..." He said through a gulp and his big bright smile turned into a nervous one.
"Well they better appreciate it, you look good." I said, almost giving him a smile. His eyes went wide and I can tell that rare compliment that escaped my lips made his whole day, maybe even his whole year. He was about to say something probably annoying and sweet so I interrupted him and said, "We should go, some of us don't like to show up late to important events." I shot him a glare as I walked past him quickly. I could hear him laugh as if he thought I was joking, I wasn't. He caught up to me soon enough and walked beside me.
We strolled down the length corridors and walked up the large stairs to the ballroom. Hundreds of people were just waiting out of the ballroom doors, probably important people. They were trying to ask us about stuff and tried to talk to us, to which Toxo actually stopped to talk but I grabbed his wrist and started dragging him to the ballroom doors. Once we got there a guard opened a door just enough for Toxo and I to squeeze through. We walked in and our brothers, sisters, and parents were waiting on a stage against a wall of stained glass. The sunset was shining through the multicolored glass and made the entire room glow. The room was silent except for the loud talking from outside and the waiters and waitresses preparing to serve drinks and food.
Both Toxo and I walked up onto the platform and got into our appropriate positions, in the front. A medium sized pillar stood in the middle of the stage with a red bowl, full of tiny pieces of paper. It was most definitely the bowl that our mother would be choosing our names from.
Only a few seconds later the ball room doors opened and all the people waiting outside very formally walked in, no storming or running. They all stood in front of the stage and looked up at the family. I thought they were just going to talk for about an hour but immediately my fathers voice roared through the room.
"Tonight we are gathered to celebrate my youngest children, Princess Clementine and Prince Toxodorius's Dekaexi Adventure. Since they are the Morningstar's first set of twins we will be doing this selection differently. My lovely wife, Queen Ceres, will be picking one of their names randomly out of a bowl. Whoever is chosen gets to choose where to go. Ceres, you may now step forward." My father nudged in the direction of the bowl while looking at my mother. She stepped forward and reached her hand into the bowl, feeling around until she pulled out a small piece of paper. She then smiled and opened her mouth to speak loudly.
(We apologize for the lengthy chapter! We do not expect that the rest of the chapter will be this long but we will see! Thank you for reading.)
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