"What did you do?" The prince says as he walks in, and sees the scene before him.
"Umm" Craig stammers out, the crying boy still in his arms.
"Frankie?" Mr. Snow asks, walking over to the boy sobbing in the tall boy's arms. "I'll take him back to his room," the doctor says, picking up the boy and taking him up the stairs to the little boy's room, sobbing and sniffing as he goes, his brown dog following close behind, whining.
The two boys follow them with their eyes until they disappear up the stairs, where the little prince looks over at the red hair boy sitting on the small sofa, with accusing eyes, "HE started talking about it, I barely asked him anything" the tall boy whines, raising his arms in defense.
"About what?" The little prince asks, bringing his arms crossed over his chest.
"About his father and a... Mr. Hurley, he called him" he explains, crossing over his brain to remember the name, "they were the ones that died in the eclair attack, that boy and his father were the owners of the lake house we stayed on," He says, with a defeated bow, ranking his hands through his red waves, it almost feels sunlight might escape through.
"Oh" is all the little prince manages, before walking over to join his friend on the couch. Craig doesn't look up from the peach-colored rug, with flower prints in all colors, he only feels the shift in weight on the left side of the small green couch.
"Yeah, oh"
**********
"Livie I need to speak with you," Mikayla says, walking into her friend's bedroom with a soft knock on the massive door, "what in the Jane Austin," she says, freezing in her steps as her two friends quickly separate, both wiping at their lips.
"MK, Noah is here," the girl says, shifting her friend's attention from her beet-red face to the equally red face of the boy.
"I see that," Mikayla says, slowly walking inside the room with her arms crossed over his chest, pushing the door closed with her heels. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the friends to lovers" she stops, just a meter away from her two very flustered friends.
"Well.." The boy begins, looking over the blond, almost white-haired, the girl with a small shrug, a wide smile erupting on his face.
"You passed the 'it's a secret' phase?" She asks raising her eyebrow while looking from the boy to the girl then back with an offended gaze.
"No," they both say at the same time.
"You still in the 'it's a secret' phase," Mikayla asks again, looking over both amber and sky blue eyes.
"Yes," the girl says, while the boy says, "No" causing them to look at each other with confused faces.
"We said we'll keep it low until we get married," she says with a raised eyebrow, earning recognition on the boy's face.
"WHAT!" Mikayla scream out, shaking her head, not believing what her ears heard and what her brain understood.
"We're engaged," the girl says, with a sheepish smile, her shoulders rising to her ears with her arms flung out to the side.
"Surprise," the boy says, mirroring his future wife's action.
Mikayla stands there her arms flung out, her mouth gaping open, and her eyes going from one friend to the next. "What is going on?" Mikayla almost breaths out, her voice barely a whisper, if not for the silent room they would have never heard her.
"Well, we spoke about it and we both have royal responsibilities for our kingdoms, and joining the two kingdoms will be of great advantage to the both of us, since the western kingdom bears a threat to us both, we hold a better chance at winning this.." she stops looking over at the boy for a better word, but earns a confused shrug instead so she continues, "whatever this is, so we wanted a strong alliance and what better alliance than marriage between two kingdoms, right?" She says, a nervous chuckle escaping her throat.
"Oh, okay. I understand" Mikayla says, her head bobbling up and down, "I also see that every alliance agreement is agreed upon with shoving your tongue down the other THROAT," Mikayla says, her voice raising g with every word until she screams out the last one.
"No, no, no" the girl begins saying.
"I need to speak with my friend privately" Mikayla cuts in, crossing her arms over her chest and cold hazel eyes looking at the boy's blue ones.
"I'm your friend too" He quietly says, a small smile plastered on his lips. Mikayla looks away this time looking at the girl, they look at each other as the boy's smile fades into a frown mixed with confusion, "I'll be outside in the hallway" He says in a small voice, walking out of the room with his head bent hiding the tears welling up on his eyes, where both the girls miss, still looking at nothing but each other.
"What happened?" Mikayla asks, her frown deepening.
"He explained," the girl says looking down at the white with golden speck tiles on the floor, avoiding her friend's accusing gaze.
"Oh, he explained?" Mikayla scoffs, bending a little to bring her friend's head up with her eyes.
"Yes," Olivia says, setting down on her chair by the table. The girl leans on the white table, with gold detail, her head resting on both her hands, she releases a deep sigh. "He said it was for my safety," she says, but it comes out in a mumble between her hands, "hm sm ts were frs mu dftry"
"What?" Mikayla asks, leaning down to better look at her friend's face.
Olivia doesn't remove her hands, instead lifts her arms slightly from her mouth and says again, "He said it was for my safety" then brings them back down.
"Kidnapping you, was for your safety?" Mikayla scoffs at her friend's response, she turns in her place starting to pace the room, her hands on her waist, giving herself support.
"Yes," Olivia replies shortly, releasing her mouth for a second before she clasps them again.
"Okay," Mikayla says, sitting beside her friend on the chair, and leaning towards her with her elbows, "tell me what he said, that explained what he did"
**********
"Man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal" the queen softly whispers, closing the black jewelry box with a loud bang, and setting it on the table.
"You are telling me to choose?" The king replies, his left eyebrow rising to his hair and hiding in his hair falling on his forehead.
"Yes" the queen replies, gently nodding her head while crossing her arms over her chest, she leans back in the chair mimicking the king's sitting position.
"And what do I have to choose out of, dear Clarissa?" The king scoffs at this, his eyes not breaking away from the queen in front of him.
"Two choices," she says lifting her forefinger and middle finger to the king, "one, we sign the peace treaty, no attack is to ever happen between our two kingdoms. Unless of course we both declare war on one another, no one-sided attack shall come from any side," she says, causing a smirk from the king on the last sentence.
"Where is the peace in that?" He replies, with a slight chuckle escaping him.
"No, unpredictable attacks will come from one side. I believe it will be peaceful to live without the constant worry of the other kingdom attacking you out of nowhere" she replies, her two fingers still out.
"I kind of like it," the king says with a small shrug, "keeps me on my toes"
"If you sign this treaty, we won't have to worry about any war in our kingdoms, and promise a peaceful life to our citizens for centuries to come," she says, as the king's jaw clenches, she knew he was listening now, "and let's not forget our prisoner. Sign this treaty and you can leave with him to your kingdom, my guards will personally escort him to the border of our land, and of course, he is banned from ever returning to the northern lands, but he will be back to his home"
"He doesn't have a home" the king replies his attention now on the armrest of his light gray cushion sofa seat.
"Excuse me" the queen replies, half not hearing what he said, and half shocked by his choice of words.
"His home was destroyed in the great war," he says bringing his attention back to her, "the southern kingdom. The underworld. The land that used to float on the sea of Ladon, sank to the depths of the ocean never to be seen again. Well, at least for now"
"I know what happened to the southern kingdom" she dismisses his story with a hand out in front of him, "what I meant was, the western kingdom. That is his home now, right?"
"No" the king replies now his voice rough like concrete surface, "he is merely a guest"
"Fine. Your GUEST will be free to leave once you sign the treaty" she says, emphasizing the word guest.
"And what's the other one?" He says earning a raised eyebrow from the queen to which he continues, "what's the second choice, that I have" He smiles at the last part.
"Two." The queen says bringing her forefinger down so only the middle finger is held up, "Don't sign the treaty, there will not be peace between our kingdoms and your 'guest' will be hanged on by tomorrow, his body sent to the depth of the ocean where you will never see him again" She replies, slowly bringing her hand down to her lap.
"Woah. That took a turn" the king says, rubbing at his forehead in confusion, but the queen who had her license in body language at the age of eight knew he was just messing with her, but she kept quiet just watching the king's act payout in front of her, "I'm going to have to listen to choice one again" He replies, earning an exasperated sigh from the queen.
"This is as simple as it can get, honestly," she says leaning against the table with her elbows.
"No" the king replies, lying back further on the chair.
"Fine, I will tell you again" the queen replies, mirroring the king's action and lying back on the wide chair.
"No, not that" the king replies, picking at the armrest again.
"Then what?" The queen asks, her heart suddenly in her throat, if it wasn't for the foundation she had on she was sure she would be as white as a ghost.
"I don't accept your choices, instead I offer you another choice. My choice you will release Amadeus and return him with me to my kingdom, where he will be my responsibility to take care of, but this time there will be no signing of a peace treaty, instead, we part ways until the next time we see each other again" the king replies, his gaze landing on the stonic queen.
"So you are asking me to release my prisoner?" The queen asks, earning g a quiet nod from the king, "and what do I gain from this?"
"I will leave 'peacefully'" The king says, erupting in a glorious smile at peacefully.
"Is this a joking matter to you, king Theodore?" The queen asks, rubbing the early signs of a headache from her forehead.
"You think I am joking?" The king asks, "but I could never have been more serious. you were the one that said, what did you say again? "A man has the right to choose but blah blah blah.." yes, I had the right to my choice, so I made the choice," the king says, leaning further to the queen, his grip clenching harder almost all his hand is ghost white.
"So this is about my womanhood" the queen starts, standing up to walk to the wall, her back facing the king.
"This has nothing to do about you being a woman" the king starts, putting his arms out in a defensive stance.
"OH, DO NOT, GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT!" The queen screams out, swiftly turning to meet the green orbs of the king, "Day one, and you had a problem about me, your stupid scoffing at my words, smirking here and there and taunting me with your funding wordplay, OH YES IVE NOTICED! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT ASSHOLE, WHILE YOU WERE STILL A FUCKING BABY CRYING FOR WETTING YOUR STUPID FUCKING DIAPER I HAVE BEEN TRAINING DAY AND NIGHT, LEARNING DAY AND NIGHT FOR MY POSITION ON THIS THRONE!" The queen brushes her escaped hair back, taking in a deep breath.
"I understand..." The king begins tiny drops of red building on his face.
"NO, YOU FUCKING DO NOT!" She cuts him short, "you never fucking understand, because all you do is fucking talk, talk talk, and let's not forget TALK! saying Clarissa this and no, Clarissa that, WOULD IT KILL YOU TO ADRESS ME THE RIGHT WAY!"
"Okay.."
"NO! Don't you fucking dare!" She begins, her finger pointed directly at him, unbeknownst of her white glowing hair and amber gold eyes, "I never wanted to be queen, I just wanted to be friends with my stupid fucking brother. He wanted me to be more like a brother, so I tried to be. I trained day and night, going places no girl ever went before, fuck no boy ever went before! You know, it took him 5 fucking years to start acknowledging me in public, FIVE YEARS! even then he gave me a stupid handshake" she says, bringing her right hand out, looking for traces of her brother, "but after that our relationship got better, and the less I was a girl the more he liked me! GOD FORGIVE ME IF I EVEN WANT ANY FEMININE THINGS! WHO FUCKING SAID I HAD TO BE MASCULINE TO BE ACCEPTED?! WHY CAN'T I LIKE FLOWERS AND DRESSES AND GET THE SAME TREATMENT AS THE BOY WITH STICKS AND MUD-COVERED CLOTHES? I CERTAINLY SMELL BETTER!" The queen says, dropping on the soft couch against the wall by the back door.
"Look.." The king begins again before the queen cuts him off standing up swiftly and walking towards him, pointing an accusing finger toward him.
"No, you look. I know you blame me for what happened to your parents during the great war, for all your loss, but you are not the only one who lost everything. I lost my family, I lost freedom and I lost my love. Everything was perfect and then it was all gone to be replaced by this" she says, gesturing around her, "a position I never was meant to have, neither want. All my loved ones are gone, alone in this fucking too-bright big castle, I mean don't other colors except white exist here? But, no. I'm stuck here, fighting a stupid battle I shouldn't have to fight, all because I have two lumps on my fucking chest, rather than on my TORSO!"
"I get it, okay!" The king almost screams out, rubbing at his head for that headache.
"No, you don't get it. How could you possibly get it? How could you get it, being a man?" She stops sitting back down on her chair, her hair going back to its original color along her eyes, "being a woman, is so much more than just baring gifts and taking in this constant belittling and insult. You can only 'get' being a woman if you live a woman. You will not just understand because you have a mother, a sister, or a fucking wife, you sexist pig"
"I am not sexist" the king almost whispers to himself, unable to meet her eyes.
"And I am not a man, I am not just a girl you can control and command when you want, I am a queen. And the queen of the northern kingdom does not take shit from just anybody, even if they are royalty. This is the last time you will disrespect me like this ever again" She explains, neatly arranging her gown and picking up the small black box, "was this some kind of a hoax, to try and weaken us from the inside? Try and separate us?" She asks, looking at the little necklace in the black box. With the king staying quiet she continues, "yes, I sent them to another world, I was the one who came up with the idea of sending them away, and my little nephew died because of that" she replies, stopping to wipe the escaped tear from her cheeks, "they told us he died in a car accident, the moment I heard that I tried to bring his sister back, back home, but she would never leave her brother's body, everything we tried to take her back she would attack and return. I thought because she thought her brother might come back one day, or if it was because she didn't want to leave him back there when she comes back home. It wasn't until soon ago that I realized the truth" she says lifting her eyes to meet the king's emerald green eyes, "she didn't want to leave earth, because she didn't want to come back home, she didn't want to come back home when all they did for all those years from the moment they left was wait for the day they finally came back home. She stayed because he was her home, she stayed back for her home"
"I didn't.." The king begins, but cuts short, rubbing at his head.
"You didn't what? You didn't know?" She asks, trying to meet his eyes, the green emerald eyes buried in the white marble table surface with gold details, "did you also know, who killed him? BLK879 license plate number. That plate is buried in my niece's brain, she recited that same number for years, and that was the only thing she thought of and said. The license plate on the car sitting in your garage of the castle" she finishes, snapping the box shut as the king swiftly stands up, the floor creaking with the chair wooden brushes it.
"Are you blaming me?" He says, his hands pointing to his chest, disbelief on his face, "you are blaming me for the death of prince Phoenix Mathedor?"
"No, I am not blaming you. I am telling you, the death of the northern prince lies in your hands"
"Your crazy!" He scoffs, walking away to leave the dining room, but what the queen says next stops him in his tracks.
"King Howard Caballero killed him" she stops as his grip stops on the golden door handle, "under your father's orders" she finishes, causing his grip to tighten further on the handle as he stands facing away from her, but she could still feel the anger leaving him.
"Under my father's order?" He repeats, not believing his ears.
"Yes"
"And how did you know?"
"I dint just leave my niece and nephew at a strange place, I had hundreds of guards and people looking after them. Every guard standing there that day swore the car just appeared out of thin air and hit him, leaving him for his death" she says, as the king's head further goes down, "but before the car can disappear again, we left a small tracking device on the car and we followed it back to Ladon, to your kingdom, then to your very own garage. The guards that followed the car saw king Howard leaving the car, and they confronted him, to which he admitted your father ordered him"
"When was this?" He asks, knowing the answer that comes next.
"The day before your father's death," she says, sending the king to his knees, his grip still on the golden door handle.
The king sobs out, covering his face with one hand, and his grip on the door handle still on the other hand, "why didn't you tell me this?" He asks looking back at her over his chest.
"Because I told her not to," the prince says, suddenly sitting on his original chair by the dining table.
"You what? You knew about this too?" The king asks his gaze now on his brother's black mass of hair.
The prince only nods in response, his fingers twirling around the wine glass with white wine.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The prince releases a small breath, shrugging a little he continues "I wanted you to have a father and a mother"
"And how did you find out about this?" The king asks, walking over to his brother, turning him by the shoulder to meet mirroring tear-hollowed amber eyes.
"I was on the back seat of the car" the prince explains, seeing the confused expression of the king he continues, "we were playing hide and seek, and I got competitive and hid in the car, then after a while of waiting for you, I fell asleep there. I woke up when I felt the car hitting something. I was so disoriented but King Howard told me to be quiet, so I did. Next thing I know I am in fathers office, telling me never to speak to anyone about this"
"But you still should have told me"
"I wanted to, but for the longest time I was scared for myself, and then time passed and I grew scared for you and our sisters" the prince replies, tears stream8ng down both his face.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" A guard calls out, blasting open the door to enter hurriedly.
"We're busy, leave us" the king replies, his eyes not leaving his brother's face.
"The kingdom is under attack," He says again, unbeknownst of his king's words.
"What?" the king says turning to meet the read-streaked face of the guard.
"What?" The queen says at the same time, looking at the guard with a quick breath, his chest rising up and down fast.
"What?" The prince stands up from the chair, at the same time as the two royals.
The guard's face grows even redder, with the sudden attention from the three royals, but he continues, "the western kingdom is under attack" he says as the two brothers disappear in thin air, leaving the queen and the guard alone in the dining room.
The queen runs over to the door, leading to the other room, "Tell the army to get ready, we are leaving for the western kingdom in 10 minutes" the queen speaks to the guard, stationed in the room and runs out to her niece's room.
"Olivetti!" She barges in as she sees her niece crying on a boy's shoulders, comforting her, "what's wrong?"
"MK is gone" the girl sobs more, looking at her aunt standing by the door.
"What do you mean gone?" The queen asks, looking around the room for the familiar face of the brunette.
"We fought and she left back home" Olivia sobs out, wiping at her nose.
"What do you mean back home?" The queen asks.
"The western king gave her the dragon ring as a gift" the boy talks for the first time since the queen came, turning her attention to him as resignation hits her.
"You.." she begins feeling breathless all of a sudden with the sight of the brown curls and bright blue eyes.
"Noah Mathedor," He says extending his hand out for the queen, "I am your niece's fiance" He finishes with a wide smile, his arms still out waiting for the queen's handshake.
**********
A WOMAN by hr on Tumblr
To be a woman is to be many things at once:
Kind yet stern,
Soft but firm,
A boss but not bossy,
Nice but not too nice or it's taken differently.
To be a woman is to always be on guard,
To not park near a van,
To walk with keys in hands like claws,
To be mindful of a man following you in a store,
Not being able to listen to music while walking.
To be a woman is to be perceptive and aware.
We walk a double edged sword every second,
Blood and sores on our feet are the scars we wear, an odd form of unity.
To be a woman is to be fierce always even when you feel small.
(I do not own the right to this poem, it belongs to the user Hailey on Tumblr)