*one hour before the attack*
"So Noah, prince Cameron, and this woman, he said she was my godmother Eirene, tried to bring me back to here, Ladon, without the other kingdoms and the central world finding out. You know how I told you about a crow following me everywhere, and you said I might be imagining it, well the king of the western kingdom did have me followed by a crow for all my life, so every time they wanted to contact me, they had to kidnap me or else the bird will see and it would tell the king" Olivia stops, suddenly aware of her friend's silence.
"A...crow was stocking you?" Mikayla responds, picking up her eyebrows.
"No, not like that" Olivia says, releasing a big sigh before she starts explaining again, "these crows are magic..."
"Magic?" Mikayla asks, her voice solid.
"Yes, Mk. You know this place has magic" Olivia says, standing up from her chair and walking two steps away, racking at her hair, exasperated now.
"Yes, but... magic birds? Really Livie?" Mikayla says, her voice as stable as before.
"Not the birds! The people, the ladorians or whatever they are called. THEY give the birds magic, to control them" Olivia further tries to explain, waving her hands about like an orchestra.
"But still, why birds?"
"Well if they had sent their own... workers, they would have stood out almost right away and the secret would be out, birds were more unnoticeable by others, and me"
"Why not just send out flies, no one would barely notice them..."Mikayla begins as the blond cuts her off.
"MK," Olivia says, now her voice down to a smaller decibel.
"Or they could have sent bees, they are pretty hardworking.." Mikayla continues, her features widening with her words.
"MK," the girl says again, louder this time.
"EVEN BETTER! THEY COULD HAVE JUST FUCKING ASKED!" Mikayla screams out, her arms flying about her.
"THEY COULDN'T ASK!" Olivia matches her friend's volume, mirroring her action.
"Oh, they couldn't? Why? Their royal writer couldn't come up with what to write. Huh? He couldn't just come to your door, FUCKING KNOCKED, and said" Mikayla stops, changing to a lower tone to mimic the prince's voice, "Oh, hey oli. I like to swim, and I also like to tell the truth, so I'm going to tell you everything you need to know"
"He doesn't talk like that" Olivia says, her facial features scrunched to the center, her gaze almost burn8ng through her friend.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I insult your FIANCÉ?" Mikayla says, emphasizing the word fiancé, "please, forgive me, your highness. I will never try to sound like his highness again, your highness" Mikayla says, while mock bowing to the princess.
"Why are you doing this? What's happening to you?" Olivia asks, jumping from one hazel eye to the next, unknowing of what she is digging for.
"I SHOULD ASK YOU THAT!" Mikayla scream out, accusing finger pointed at the blonde girl, "what are you doing? We had a fucking plan" Mikayla says, now suddenly feeling suffocated.
"We still have a plan," Olivia says, starting over to her friend, and reaching for her hands.
"No" Mikayla breathes out, backing away from her friend's arms, "it stopped being we the moment we came here," Mikayla says, a lump building in her throat, she stops talking, facing away from the girl while covering the tears building up on her eyes with her hands.
"That's not true," Olivia says, quivering eyes following the brunette's exposed back.
"Oh yeah?" Mikayla begins, turning back to meet her friend's familiar eyes, nonchalant about the tears streaming down the side of her face, "YOU decided to come here, YOU decided to trust the woman who claimed to be your aunt, and may I remind you I almost begged for you to tell me what made you so the strain of her trustworthiness. YOU decided to leave Noah behind, and you didn't give me a solid reason why, and now you are MARRYING HIM?" Mikayla's tone rises at the last word, "I have always known you two had a thing for each other, but I thought you would at least take it slow"
"But we did, it's been 13 years" Olivia cuts in, defending herself and her now fiancé.
"YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED! how is that taking it slow?" Mikayla asks.
"We didn't do anything about our feeling for all that time," Olivia says.
"Then what made you decide to do it now? Now of all times?" Mikayla asks.
"Because I need him now more than ever"
"So you were planning this for a while?"
"No, it just happened"
"Oh, are you sure? Because you seem to be doing a lot of personal planning lately"
"Oh, that's not true"
"YOU had plans to take down prince charming, and you never told me, I had to ask what you were planning or I would have just been left in the fucking dark in this too-bright place. Everything that happened these past couple of days is all YOU" Mikayla responds, stopping to catch her breath.
"I did all that to protect you" Olivia responds, her voice just above a whisper.
"WE PROTECT EACHOTHER!" Mikayla explodes at the girl's response, "we are supposed to have each other's back. Especially in a strange and unknown place like this," she says, waving her arms about the room.
"This isn't just some place MK, this is home" Olivia responds, crossing her arms over her chest, and hugging herself.
"Home was back in Bay Harbor, back at our apartment" Mikayla responds, her voice quivering she stops taking a deep breath before she lets out, "you were my home"
"You are my home, too," Olivia says, crying with her friend.
Mikayla shakes her head looking down at the white tiles with golden specks, blinking as her tears stream out her eyes, falling alongside her face, "your home is here, with your family" she finishes, looking up to her friend's tears.
"Your my family" Olivia begins, trying to reach her friend, but the girl backs away again, stopping the princess in her tracks.
"Seeing you here, you are happier that you were there," Mikayla says, wiping at her tears, "I thought we wanted the same thing before. New York, our new apartment, college, and I run a restaurant while you help people. We were supposed to spend our entire lives together. We were supposed to leave Bay Harbor and go to New York, we were supposed to buy a shitty one-bedroom studio apartment, but it still would have been perfect. We were supposed to go to New York University.."
"I didn't get in," Olivia says, cutting off her friend.
"What?" Mikayla asks, not fully conscious of what she was saying.
"New York rejected me," Olivia says, sitting down on the bed.
"When?" Mikayla asks.
"I got the letter a little while ago" Olivia responds.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Mikayla asks, going over to sit next to her friend.
Olivia shrugs softly, "I don't know, guess I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that I actually ruined our plan, but then I was going to tell you, remember at my birthday, I asked you what would happen if I didn't get into NYU and you said it was okay, we will figure it out, and I was going to show you the letter when we arrived back home, but..." she stops, shrugging again.
"We came here" Mikayla finishes for her friend, rubbing at her back to comfort her.
"Yeah" Olivia responds looking at her friend's warm eyes, and a small smile.
"And it's still okay, NYU isn't the dream, living together and growing old together is," Mikayla says standing up, she kneels in front of her friend, facing the girl.
"Okay," Olivia says, bobbling up and down her head, a bright smile on her face.
"We can do all sorts of things, it doesn't matter what just as long as we are together," Mikayla says, gently wiping at the girl's past tears.
"We can rule the kingdom together," Olivia says, her smile growing wider as her friend grows smaller.
"You mean to stay here?" Mikayla asks, dropping her hands from the girl's soft red cheeks.
"Yeah, I mean..." Olivia responds, shrugging a little with her response.
"But, our dreams and plans are on earth" Mikayla stands up from her crouching position, staring down at her friend.
"Yea, but I have responsibilities now" the girl responds, standing alongside her friend.
"Responsibilities? Who? The citizens you knew existed just days ago?" Mikayla can't help but scoff at her friend's response.
"You don't understand MK..." Olivia begins before the brunette cuts her off.
"I don't understand. Of course, I don't understand. Just a week ago our worry was rent being due, but now you are here talking about responsibilities and ruling over a whole kingdom. Yes, I don't understand, and I don't think you do too" Mikayla says, "this is fucking insane Livie. This world is so big, it's too much to handle"
"What did the king gift you?" Olivia suddenly asks, bringing a shrill running down the brunette's back.
"He gave me the dragon ring" Mikayla responds, rocking from one foot to the other.
"So what? You came here to say goodbye?" Olivia asks, her face scrunched.
"What? No" Mikayla says, taken aback by her friend's question.
"Then what? What are all this talk about not fitting in and stuff?"
"Because I don't fit in" the girl almost screams out, her hands flying out.
"Yes, you do" Olivia tries to reassure the distressed girl.
"No, I don't" Mikayla mutters, raking her hands through her hair, her curls stopping her just above her forehead.
"Yes, you do" Olivia insists again, walking over to grab a hold of her friend's shoulder.
"No. No, I don't" the girl almost whispers, her chin meeting her chest.
"So now what? Are you going to leave? Did you come here to say goodbye?" Olivia asks, bringing the girl up by her chin.
"I was going to ask you to come with me" the girl responds, grabbing hold of her friend.
"What?" Olivia asks, backing away like she just slapped her.
"Let's go back home, let's go back to earth," Mikayla says, still grabbing hold of her friend's arms.
"But this is home, this is where my family is"
"I know, but.."
"I can't just leave my family," Olivia says, breaking away from her friend's grip.
"I am your family too," Mikayla says, rubbing at her arms.
"That's not what I meant" Olivia tries to say before Mikayla cuts her off.
"Right. Your real family" the girl says, turning away to leave the bedroom.
"MK" Olivia begins, trying to call back her friend.
"It's fine," the girl says, her hands gripping the door handle.
"But, MK," Olivia says, running over to her friend.
"I said it's fine," Mikayla says, her voice dripping with venom, which stops the blond girl in her place, sending a shrill down her back.
"Fine" the girl whispers, stopping just meters away from her back.
"Fine," the brunette says, as she walks out.
"I wish you the best, MK" Olivia speaks out from her place, this time stopping the brunette in her tracks.
"I wish you success in your reign" Mikayla quietly says, before turning a little to meet her friend's familiar eyes, "and your marriage. Goodbye Livie," she says as she walks away swiftly, leaving her tears behind.
"Goodbye, MK" Olivia says, her eyes trailing to the door Mikayla shut behind her.
Olivia breaks down on the floor, as her friend leaves the room. Mikayla goes back to her bedroom, where she left the dragon ring in the further back side of the bottom drawer, where she planned she will not see again for a long time just an hour ago before she talked with her friend. Mikayla takes the dragon ring in her hand placing it on her forefinger, and she waits, like the small note in the box said to do, until it starts glowing green brighter and brighter until it consumes her all and she wakes up in her home, where she shared with her friend for many years.
Olivia stays in the northern kingdom, sobbing on the castle ground of her bedroom, before Noah comes back to the room, picks her up, and sets her down on the bed. Olivia tells the boy what happened between the two best friends, and he comforts the girl, rubbing her back quietly, shading silent tears, in turn, he cries for his lost friendship with the brunette, the years, and all their memories together.
**
"I'm so sorry, Olivetti" the queen comforts the sobbing girl on her shoulders, rubbing her back.
The three royals stay on the bed, crying for the loss of the brunette, Olivia sobbing on her aunt's shoulders, and Noah bent over his knees as he cries into his hands. A soft knock is heard, before a small man, wearing the face that tried to kill the princess just days ago, enters.
"Your majesties," He says bowing to the royals.
"Yes, Mr. White" the queen responds, still stroking the girl's blond almost white hair.
"The soldiers are ready outside, they are waiting for your majesty" He replies, not missing the fear and confusion in the princess's eyes.
"I will be right down," the queen says, turning her attention back to her niece, as Mr. White leaves with a bow, the queen grabs the girl's face in both her hands as she stares deeply into her mirroring amber eyes. "I have to go now, Olivetti. I will be back soon, I am not sure when, but the guards will stay here to keep you and the kingdom safe"
"Where are you going?" The princess asks, wiping at her escaped tears.
"The western kingdom is under attack," the queen says, gaining the prince's attention.
"Wait, what?" Noah says, rising up to meet the queen's eyes.
"I don't have the details yet, the western royals left just as soon as they heard, but I am going to help," the queen says, seeing the girl's silent protest, she continues, "I am going to help, the northern kingdom will help its neighboring kingdoms. Besides they still have a peace treaty to sign," she says, earning a smile and a nod of agreement from the princess.
"I want to help," the princess says, standing up to face the queen.
"Your kingdom needs you here, the people need to know their future queen is here with them while their present queen is away" the queen calmly explains to the girl, standing up to give her a hug that calms both of them, "and I want to know, that you are here safe and sound. When you are ready, you will fight for your battles, but this is my battle to fight"
"I'm coming with you" the prince stands, joining the two royals, "my family is there. I know you are not on good terms with them, but they still are my family"
"Fine, get ready, we're leaving now," the queen says to the boy before turning to her niece still in her arms, "I'll see you soon," she says, giving her a peck on the forehead, she leaves out the door but not before glancing at the boy as she does.
"You have to go?" Olivia asks the boy, as the queen leaves the room.
"I have to help, they could be in danger," the boy says, hugging his future wife.
"Be careful, I don't want Ladon to take you away too" she says, burying her head in the nape of his neck, absorbing his scent.
"Of course," He says, kissing the side of her head, "I have a beautiful woman to marry, trust me I will be extra careful. In fact, you don't happen to have bubble wrap do you, that might help if I wrap it around myself" He says, earning a small punch on his chest from the princess.
"I am not kidding," she says, looking up to meet his sky-blue eyes, that reflect the constellation in the hide from the light.
"Neither am I," He says, tucking away the single strand of hair to her ears, "fiancé" He finishes, with a bright smile, she almost swears a star was born right then.
"Okay," she says, before she stands on her tiptoes, bringing him in by his red shirt collar, the residues of paint marking it. His lips were warm and soft, she held his bottom lip by her teeth tagging on them, Noah releases a soft moan, his eyes opening to meeting eyes with the girl smirking back at him, before his lips part slightly, allowing her tongue to slip inside.
Noah wraps her by the waist, holding her in his arms. Her lips were soft, almost silken, and billowy against his own. He could feel the soft tickle of her breath beneath his nose, her long fingers carding through his hair as they breathed each other in. He feels the warmth and the distant taste of red wine, intoxicating him, he drives his tongue further inside the girl. Olivia pulls him by his hair, breaking away for a breath.
"You should go," she says, feeling out of breath.
Noah looks at the girl before him, her hair glowing and her eyes bright as the sun, and he smiles to himself, "wow" he says, his swimmer lungs not failing his breath.
"Go," the girl says smiling at the boy, not making a further move to break away from him.
"I'll be back soon," He says, giving her a peck on the lips before he runs out of the room, leaving the girl standing in the center of the room, smiling to herself.
**
*three hours before the attack*
Allega ducks under the bushes, keeping quiet as her brother passes by her. She quietly crawls away from him, holding her breath, she looks back to see him almost rounding the corner of the castle as she steps on a single twig, perking him up in her direction.
Achilles quickly walks over to her by the bushes, almost sprinting, "Allega, come out of there" He says, crouching under the bush to look between the gaps, expecting the mirroring blue eyes of his sister, with twigs and leaves stuck on her dark wavy hair, instead, a small squirrel jumps out, it's arms outstretched, wings up, screaming at the boy crouching at the ground. Achilles screams after the animal, sending a shilling sound through the castle, as he stumbles up from the ground running away from the little creature.
"That was close" the girl breathes out, before standing up and running away to the other side, the small creature disappearing as she wafts her hand away, putting away the enchantment.
Allega runs away until she reaches the other corner of the caste before hiding with her back to the stone walls, she quickly takes her breath and peaks out to see her scared brother leading the second older sibling to the bush, she smiles at Achilles hiding behind Andreas as he leads him to the bush she was hiding in.
"What are you hiding from?" The twins chant, causing a jump from the girl.
Allega panics at the sudden girl's appearance and their loud joined voice. She looks over the corner and sees her brothers, their attention now on their side.
"Are you hiding from your brothers? Are you playing a game?" The twins ask as Allega shushes them, panicking, "is it hide and seek? Can we..." they are cut off as Allega stamps her hand on both their mouths.
"Are you kidding me?" She whispers, looking over to see both her brothers walking over to them, "they found us thanks to you" she says, removing her hand from the girl's mouth.
"We can help you hide," they say, following her line of sight to the two brothers, "just tell us where you want to go," they say, both grabbing onto her arms, their pale almost grayish fingers digging into her brown melanin arms.
Allega looks at their glowing green eyes, knowing what will come next, and smiles to herself, "Let's go to the town over, Moondale"
Allega blinks and they are in the forest, away from the castle. "Not the forest, the town!" She grunts looking around them, at the thick forest.
"My brother said to never go to the towns, it's not safe," the twins say at the same time, looking at the surrounding trees.
"Forests are less safe," Allega says, before walking away to their west, "idiots" she whispers, ducking away from a tree branch.
"They will never find us here," the girls say, following behind Allega, jumping in excitement.
"The whole purpose is not just hiding, it's also going somewhere 'fun'" Allega says, turning to the girls and waving her hands at the word fun.
"Fun?" The girls ask stopping in their tracks.
"Yes, fun" Allega says, stopping after the girls, "you do know fun don't you?" She asks walking over to them.
"We know fun...we just don't do it often," they say, looking over at each other, "princesses should not leave their castle, and stay away from strangers"
"Oh! That is just a whole lot of bull..."
"Don't curse!" They stop her, eyes wide with worry like someone would hear them.
"What?" Allega says, in a deadpan tone.
"Princesses don't curse," the twins say.
"Princesses don't laugh too?" Allega taunts, smirking at the twins.
"Not too loud," they say, remembering a thousand lessons from their teacher and caretaker Mrs. Gibson.
"Ugh! This is unacceptable. Did Mrs. Gibson say this to you?" Allega asks, not waiting for their answer she continues, "Of course she did. Well, you know what you should say to Mrs. Gibson the next time you see her?" She continues again, not waiting for their answer, "tell her to stick her stupid, repressive rules up her tight ass" she finishes, earning a gasp from the twins, clasping their hands over her mouth. The twins warily look around, the grip on their interlocked hands tightening. "What are you doing?" Allega says, but it comes out, "wnmkd akk thr dioen?"
The twins quietly look around them until their eyes fall on each other, and simultaneously they say the haunted word, "ass" at the same time they clasp each other's mouths, looking around them again, and slowly their smile grows. Slowly lifting their hands off the other they say it again, "ass!" Louder this time, then they look around and they say it again, "ass!" This time they scream it out to the forest, hearing its echo travel far, they giggle to each other and they say again, "ASS!" They laugh loudly, grabbing Allega's hands the trio start skipping around saying the funny word repeatedly.
"ASS! ASS! ASS! ASS!"
**
*two hours ago*
"So, what do you do in the town for fun?" The twins ask Allega as they walk, passing a loudly barking dog, which Allega barked back to.
"Well, we could go to the park and play on the swings, those are very fun, or we could go to the movies and watch the new romantic movie, I heard the main character is very pretty" Allega giggles, earning a soft laugh from the twins, "or we could go try on new dresses, get our hair done or ..." she stops, seeing the growing smile of the twins, "or we could do them all," she says, smiling softly.
The twins squealed, jumping up and down with Allega. The trio leaves to the near beauty shop, running all the way.
"We would like the full service, please," Allega says, walking into the beauty salon with the twins following behind.
"Your majesties!" The owner with big beds of hair squeals, walking over to the girls with a wide smile, "Of course! Please come in! Just tell us whatever is it you want and it's on the house!" She almost skips with the trio as she leads them into the salon, sitting them on the seats.
"Oh, your majesty please sit right there," the woman with big hair says, looking at Veronica standing beside her sister Sabrina, still grasping her hands, as the twin sits to have her hair washed.
"No," they both say, their smiles fading fast, "we don't let go of each other"
"But..." The owner begins again, clearly in distress from the royal's strange behavior.
"It's okay, they will just take turns," Allega says, pulling her black wavy hair out of her double braid, her locks twist and fall just short of her waist as she throws it back to the hair wash bucket.
"Okay," the owner says, as her workers wash the two royals' hair, the girls giggling as they do.
Their hair stylists, wrap the three girls' hair in curlers, taking them to the hair dryer, the trio giggle as the fan starts, and their smiles fade as the time goes, on and its heat goes up. They lastly sit at the hair iron chairs, the twins getting their hair curled and Allega straight. While they do their nails, the twins exchange their interlocked hands with each other, but in the end, they all decide to get pink hair extensions to attach to their hair, celebrating their new friendship.
"Is the next-door boutique yours?" Allega asks the owner as the trio finish their appointments, looking at their reflections in the mirror, and giggling at the pink hair extensions.
"OH YES! come, come!" The owner squeals again, leading the trio to the side door, connecting to the boutique.
"Whoa" the three girls chant at the same time, sending them into other fits of giggles.
"Pick out whatever you want!" The owner says as the trio runs around the boutique, picking out the dresses they wanted, and trying them on one by one. The twins pick out a beautiful white, flow gown with gold star details.
Allega goes to the dressing room, putting on her puffy pink dress, knee length at the front and long trail reaching past her knees at the back. She walks out doing a catwalk for the twins, her Gothic buckle lace-up boots, adding an edge to her wardrobe.
"You look awesome!" The twins squeal as the girl poses for the girls, changing her position by the second.
"I feel awesome!" Allega says as the twins laugh at her different poses, "Don't take too long" she calls back as the girls run to the changing rooms.
The twins walk out, following Allega's move, they walk out on a catwalk, wearing grand gowns and delicate heels.
"Your majesties!" Allega calls out, bowing to the twins, as they giggle at the girl's tactics, "you look very pretty, but you have this back at home, pick out something else. Something edgy, one Mrs. Gibson would never let you wear but you have wanted for so long" she urges the girls, all of them going back to looking for dresses for the twins.
"Okay, V" Allega calls out to the girl on the left, as the girl beams up to her new nickname, "what do you think?" Allega asks, the girl holding out a short silk blue dress, with simple straps, and a lime-colored fur coat.
The twins gasp at the dress, taking it from Allega as they run to the owner, "Excuse us" the twins call out for the owner, sending her running to them, "is there another one like this?" The twins ask, lifting up, Sabrina's dress.
"Oh, I'm sorry girls but that is the only one, it's custom-made," the owner says, her smile not fading.
"But we always wear the same thing," the twins say, their voices dropping.
"You don't have to," Allega says, walking over to them, "sometimes you could switch it up too, even if one of you has green hair, we can still tell you are twins," she says with a smile, earning another smile from the girls.
"Okay," they say, walking over to look for another dress for the other twin.
"Okay, Sabi," Allega says, pulling out a short black leather dress, with a wide chest and small straps, "with this" she continues, pulling out a white shirt with long collars and long sleeves.
"We love it" the twins squeal running to the wardrobe, as Allega follows them carrying a white leather boot for Sabrina and short heels with long printed socks for Veronica.
The twins walk out, with a cat walk, their heels clicking together, posing for Allega, sending their laughter to echo through the empty boutique.
"I can't believe we are doing this!" The twins squealed, jumping up and down, "we look like"
"A Princess" Allega cuts in with a wink to the girls, putting on a small tiara on her long silky black hair.
"A princess," they say, eyes glued to their reflection in the big mirror.
"After a new wardrobe comes..." Allega stops, earning the twin's full attention, "pictures!" She says, earning an exciting howl from the twins.
The trio next puts on pieces of jewelry, putting the bill on king Theodore, they move next to the photo booth, and they take multiple shots, singular shots, and duo shots, leaving with 20 snapshots for each.
"This is the most fun I have had in...ever," Allega says, rocking back and forth the swing, head tilted to the honey-coated clouds, from the sunset.
"US too," the two girls say, slowly rocking back and forth the swing, their hands still interlocked.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Allega begins, her gaze not dropping from the gold sky.
"Sure," they both say.
"Why are you always holding hands?" Allega asks, the park going quiet almost waiting for their answer.
"Our lives are linked," they say, breaking the silence, "it happened a long time ago, during the great war. We were ambushed and one of us was killed, but our parents used magic to bring her back to life linking her life with mine, but it only works if we are touching, if we let go the other dies"
"The one they took the life source from?" Allega asks, now her attention fully on the girls. The twins nod in response smiling at her, "so who is who?" Allega asks again, feeling her heart sink to her stomach, her gaze now on the twin's interlocked hands.
"We don't know," they say, with a small smile, "we spent a long time as one, now we are almost as one person, so we really can't tell," they say, looking over at each other. Allega looks back at them, suddenly feeling breathless.
"Let's go get ice cream," Allega says, standing up quickly and extending one arm to Veronica. The twins stand up with their new friend, and they leave for the ice cream shop, shop where in 10 minutes as Allega has Oreo ice cream and the twins have strawberries and cookies and cream, the earth rumbles, and a big crack runs through the western kingdom swallowing most of the life and infrastructure.