A knock sounds on the twin's door, "come in!" Victoria calls out, as she fixes the hems of her off-shoulder tulle layers black gown, her long dark hair, straight down her bare back. The princess of the south walks inside the large bedroom of the western princess, heading for her friend's walk-in closet, in her elegant white shimmering off-the-shoulder court train tulle sequined, with short puffy sleeves, her hair up with pearls decorating the sides of her hair. The western princess doesn't look away from the mirror as her friend strides in, going directly for the jewelry cupboard in the closet.
"How does this look?" Allega asks turning to her friend, with pearl earrings hovering on either side of her ears.
The princess of the west turns standing on the heels of her bare feet, scrunching her face her head turning to the side, "try our diamond earrings, they will compliment your dress" Victoria says, walking over to her shoe cupboard on one side of the wall, he eyes lingering on the half-empty side of the cupboard.
"What's wrong?" Allega asks, walking over to stand beside her friend.
"i know its been almost a year, but It still feels so empty without her stuff, everywhere in this bedroom, it just feels half incomplete," Victoria says, gesturing around the large walk-in closet, with half the cupboards empty.
"Well, we did just pack up her stuff just a month ago," Allega says, her gaze on the empty cupboards.
"We can't help but think, maybe we should have gone somewhere else. We couldn't have gone to the south or north side where your brothers were, because my brothers would find me and send me back" Victoria says, as Allega's head turns to the side, her forehead scrunched with her friend's words, "we could have come to where you were, but we thought the prince might need our help more, and the guardian of the creatures of the skies and land seemed easy to handle so..."
"Wait. Wait" Allega stops the girl, putting her hand palm up, "your brothers went to help my brothers?" The princess of the south asks.
"Yeah" the princess of the west replies nodding her head, "they left shortly after I teleport-ed with the boys to their locations, said they will help the southern prince's and then disappeared"
"Well...the king went to help Achilles, but the prince never did go to where Andreas was. I thought he stayed behind to help around the kingdom" the princess of the south replies.
"But...he said he would go" The princess of the west replies, stammering with her words.
"Did he say he went after?" The princess of the south asks, to which the princess of the west replies by shaking her head.
"No. I didn't ask him, I just assumed he went there" The princess of the west replies.
"Well, he didn't. Andreas will not shut up about how he fought a guardian alone, and survived...barely" the princess of the south says, rolling her eyes.
"If he didn't go there, then where did he go?" The princess of the west asks, as a soft knock sounds at the door of her bedroom, "come in" she calls out, before prince Cameron walks in, sporting a dark suit with a deep dark green satin shirt, unbuttoned to his chest.
"You both look exquisite!" The prince exclaims, waking inside the large walk-in closet, and seeing both princesses in their ball gowns.
"Thank you, Cam," the princess of the west says, as her brother gives her a small peck on her forehead hugging her tightly.
"Thank you, prince Cameron" The princess of the south replies, extending her arm out to fist-bump the prince.
"We're all waiting downstairs, it's time to go" the prince replies, his fist meeting with the princess of the south extended fist, his other hand hugging his sister with a side hug, "I'm assuming your both done?" He says squeezing the princess of the south with her shoulders.
"Yea, almost done" the princess of the west replies, taking out the black high heels from the cupboard and putting them on.
"I'll go get my crown, it's in my room" the princess of the south replies.
"Come on I'll take you" the prince replies extending his arm out to the girl to take, as the princess of the west hands wavers for a second, her eye jumping to the side before she clasps her shoe on walking back to the jewelry cupboard.
"Oh, thanks" the princess of the south replies, taking the prince's extended arms.
"We won't be long, wait here for us here, Victoria," the prince says, earning a silent nod from the girl, as she places a dark crown with flower patterns on her head, before disappearing into thin air with the princess of the south.
"Okay, Sabi. Let's try this again" She softly whispers turning to her wardrobe desk, eyes focused on the black wrist-length lace gloves, she takes a deep breath in then slowly releases it she closes her eyes, her fist clenching at her sides, "one, two, three" she counts, before slowly opening her eyes looking around her, finding herself at the same spot.
The princess of the west grunts in frustration, walking over to the dressing table with a huff, as the two royals join her back in her closet.
"Sorry, she couldn't choose between two similar crowns" the prince of the west replies, as the western princess shakes her head, back turned to them.
"It's fine," she says, struggling to put the black lace gloves on her hands.
"They weren't similar, they had the slightest of difference but that gives the whole outfit a different vibe" the princess of the south replies, fixing the silver shimmering crown on her head, "if I had chosen the other one, it would have been small for my dress, but this is perfect," she says, earning a slow head shake from the prince.
"Oh. Come on!" The princess of the west grunts, earning the two royals' attention.
"Are you okay?" The prince of the west says, walking over to his sister, standing by the wardrobe table hands out in front of her.
"I ripped it" the girl mumbles, as the prince takes her hands with the black lacy glove, ripped from the palm down to the wrist.
"Oh, v" the princess of the south softly says, walking over to the girl with her head down, "it's okay, you have other similar gloves right? Let's try those on," she says, quickly walking over to the girl's glove compartment.
"No" the princess of the west begins, "you said it yourself, the little details make a big difference, and this glove was perfect for my dress but I ripped it and now I ruined my outfit," the girl says near tears before the prince disappears into thin air.
"You look as good without the gloves too" the princess of the south softly says, walking over to the girl with tears welled in her eyes shaking her head as she closes her eyes, her tears dropping to the sides of her face.
"No," the princess of the west says, bringing her hands up to her chest, "I can't," she says, closing her hands, trying to feel for her sister lost grip on her hands, "I can't, my hands feel empty without gloves, I can't without gloves"
"And you don't have to" the prince of the west says, suddenly appearing in front of his sister, a duplicate black lace glove of the ripped one in his hands, as he gently puts them on his sister, one by one, "there," the prince says, holding both her hands with his as they all look at the beautiful detail of the lace gloves, identical to the torn ones.
"Thank you," the princess of the west says hugging the prince, as he gently pats her head.
"5 minutes is not 50, Cameron" The king of the west grunts, suddenly appearing in the closet, "Why are you crying? What happened" the king scrambles to his sister, hastily pulling her away from his brother, grabbing onto her face with both hands, twisting her face around left and right to inspect her face.
"They are perfect," the princess of the west says, raising her arm out to her older brother's face, sniffing at her nose.
"What?" The king asks, dumbfounded by his sister's words.
"They are perfect!" The princess of the west sobs out.
"What did you do?" The king of the west says looking over to his brother, eyes narrowed at the prince.
**********
"Olivetti, are you ready?" The queen of the north says, softly knocking at the girl's bedroom door.
"Yes, come in" the princess of the north calls out, putting on her pearl earrings.
The queen of the north slowly walks into the room in a gold glitter beading lace, accentuating her shoulders and torso, and with big feathers for the long trail. The queen's platinum white hair dropped to her waist in soft curls, a shimmering gold crown sitting on top.
"You look amazing, auntie," the princess of the north says, turning as she places her slightly smaller gold crown on her blond, almost white, hair falling straight down her bare back.
"You look gorgeous as well, honey," the queen of the north says, looking at the girl in a golden bead tight torso, off the shoulder and long sleeve, with the long trail ending with gold peacock feathers to blue hues peacock feathers, "is the blue for the southern prince?" The queen of the north remarks, going to kiss the girl on her head.
"Kind of, We promised we wouldn't tell the other kingdoms until we were married," the girl says, looking up at her queen aunt, "and I haven't seen him in weeks, he stopped coming here so it wouldn't grow suspicion, and I never could go there after all that. I feel so distant from him, I thought I might wear something that tells him I was thinking of him and I missed him" she says, grabbing the hems of her dress as she waves the trail from side to side, fluttering the golden and blue hue feathers.
"I'm sure he missed you too," the queen of the north says, fixing the golden crown on top of the princess's head, so it holds onto her head more comfortably.
"Is it almost time to go?" The princess of the south asks, excitement evident in her eyes from seeing her fiancé again.
"Yes. We should leave soon if we don't want to arrive last, I'm sure the western kingdom is just going to teleport there...along with the southern royals," the queen says, adding in the last sentence pinching the girl's nose, earning a soft giggle from her princess niece.
"I'm sure they will arrive first," the princess of the north says, scrunching at her nose.
"Well, if they arrive first then we will arrive in style," the queen says, winking at her niece.
"How are we going there?" The princess asks, scrunching her eyebrows at the queen's words.
"How about something more fitting to our dresses?" The queen says, walking towards the room balcony with the princess following behind her, "I'm sure your friends would be glad to see our big guy again" the queen finishes stepping out of the balcony as the winged creature soars past them, blowing their feathery dresses with the wind.
"Zuba!" The princess exclaims laughing at the winged creature dressed in gold armor, with the northern royal crescent.
"Come here, Zuba!" The queen calls out to the winged creature, as it flies around the skies, turning and rolling around the wind, flaunting his golden armor wardrobe, "he's excited about his new armor" the queen says to her princess niece, watching the souring winged creature in the air, "and seeing his eastern kingdom friends"
"Arthur and Craig will be happy to see him again, too," the princess says, "come on Zuba! Let's go to the east!" The princess says, causing Zuba to zoom towards them stopping just below the wide balcony, hovering below the floor as they jump on his back settling against the golden armor.
"Okay! Let's go!" The queen of the north commands as the winged creature heads to the lost kingdom of the east.
"Wait, are we going alone?" The princess asks, noticing the missing guards that never seemed to leave them alone before.
"Wait a bit," the queen says, turning to look behind them as four other relatives of the winged creature emerge from the grounds, the two carrying thirty guards in the carriage behind them, and the other two carrying twenty guests of the northern kingdom with the carriage soaring behind them, "there they are," the queen says, laughing alongside her niece as the northern kingdom soars to the sky, heading for the lost kingdom of the east.
**********
"Don't you think you've used enough jell?" The little prince asks his friend, lying back down on the boy's bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"How would you know? You've been staring at the ceiling like it will tell you life's secrets" the tall boy says, scooping up more jell as he swivels it to his flaming red hair.
"I can smell it" the little prince replies dryly, not moving from his position, eyes still borrowed on the small chandelier on the white ceiling of his friend's bedroom.
"Well, you can stick your fancy shoes up your nose, I have to fix my hair before the guests arrive," the tall boy says, smoothing down his flaming red hair sticking out in all the places.
"You mean before the western princess arrives?" The little prince asks, picking up his head to look at his friend with a smug smile.
"We're just friends" the tall boy quietly whispers almost to remind himself, a sad gaze falling on his face as his hand falters for a second, "she's a princess, nothing could ever happen between us"
"I don't think she feels that way," the little prince says, resting his head back on the bed.
"Oh yeah?" Craig says scoffing at his friend, "Mr. I will marry for the sake of my kingdom" the tall boy says with a high-pitched voice, trying to mimic his friend, finishing with his hair.
The little prince throws one of the pillows at his friend, hitting him square on his head and ruining his hair, to which the tall boy groans smoothing out his flaming red hair, "I don't sound like that" the little prince says still lying on the bed, missing his friend giving him a deadpan look.
"I dOnT sOuNd LiKe ThAt" the tall boy taunts his friend, earning the boy's raised middle finger.
"How is she doing? The princess" the little prince asks his friend after a moment of silence.
"She says she's fine," the tall boy asks, stopping to look up at the chandelier on the ceiling his friend has been staring at since he came here, "but it can't be easy to suddenly lose your powers" Craig replies, turning his attention back to his friend lying on the bed, eyes borrowed on the ceiling sitting as still as before, not affected by the little prince's efforts to move it.
"The guardians are coming too," the little prince says, trying to change the subject.
"Arthur" the tall boy begins,
"Father said he invited them to introduce the new guardian of the skies and land and to figure out more of the case of the lost guardian of gifts and magic," the little prince says, ignoring his friend's calling.
"Arthur" the tall boy begins again, as his friend swiftly stands up heading for the door.
"I'm sure the guests will be here by now, we should go greet them" the little prince walks out of his friend's room, heading outside.
The tall boy sighs following behind his friend, heading for the castle ballroom.
"It's not that bad to be ordinary" the tall boy begins, to which his friend releases a deep breath rolling his eyes.
"I don't want to talk about it," the little prince says, moving faster to avoid his friend.
"It's really not!" The tall boy says, trying to catch up with his friend, "it's liberating, that's what it is"
"I don't want to talk about it," the little prince says with a dry voice, turning to give his friend a stern look.
"Okay, Arthur" the tall boy begins, "first of all, you are now part of a bigger crowd"
"I never want to be part of a big part" the little prince cuts in as his friend continues despite his protest.
"And second, you'll get some exercise in, even if it's to stand up from your bed, to lift your phone from the cupboard, every exercise counts as exercise" the tall boy continues, raising his second finger after his first.
"I work out for hours every day, I don't need extra small exercises" the little prince cuts in again, as his friend continues.
"And third, you don't have to listen to people's minds, with the constant fear of hearing what you weren't supposed to listen to, or their fear of YOU listening on what is supposed to be private thoughts," the tall boy says, as they make their way to the ballroom majestic door, for the entrance of the eastern royal, "or the fear of you controlling them, with your brain" the tall boy finishes pulling up a third finger, then proceeding to mimic the little prince's telekinesis power, by putting his three fingers to the side of his head.
"I don't care about that, Craig!" The little prince almost screams, swiftly turning to meet his friend's eyes head-on, "I don't care about, being part of a big crowd, or being approachable now that people know I can't listen to what they are saying, or that I have to lift from my seat to reach a strain things, I DONT CARE! THAT'S THE LEAST OF MY WORRIES!"
"THEN WHAT ARE YOU SO WORRIED ABOUT?" The tall boy asks, matching his friend's loud tone.
"Have you stopped to think about what this means to the future of the eastern kingdom, to the people and their future king?" the little prince says, hand quoting the word 'future prince'
"You are still their king, Arthur" the tall boy begins, placing his arm on his friend's shoulder, his tone soft.
"No, Craig! I'm really not" the little prince says stepping back, as his friend's hand falls from his shoulder, "I can't be the king of the eastern kingdom now, my whole life I have been preparing and training to be a king someday, but now..." The little prince says, suddenly at loss for words.
"The people still love you, whether you have powers or not it doesn't matter to them," the tall boy says, waving his arms out the castle-wide halls wide windows, directing at the sky kingdom's houses scattered across the solid clouds.
"But, I can't be their king, a kingdom can't have a ruler without powers or gifts," the little prince says, seeing his friend's protest he quickly continues cutting the tall boy short, "the gifts and powers are not there to make us feel special or make or lives a little easier...okay, a lot easier, or any of the other things" the little prince scrambles out, "it's to help protect the kingdom and our people, the royals of the kingdom are to use their powers for the good of the kingdom, to keep their kingdom from harm that might come from the other kingdoms. Like my grandfather did during the great war, a royal protect their kingdom with their powers, and if I can't protect the people then I can't rule them, I can't be their king, and if I'm not the king of the eastern kingdom then who am I?" The little prince says, releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You are Arthur Splitzerd, crown prince of the eastern kingdom, son of Edward Splitzerd, THE future king of the eastern kingdom," the tall boy says, reciting his friend's introduction, one he heard a million times sometimes in his sleep, back to him.
"Craig, did you listen at all to what I said?" The little prince asks turning while rolling his eyes, continuing their path to the eastern kingdom ballroom.
"You the one that should listen to yourself" the tall boy begins, following along with his friend, "you are making it sound like this is forever"
"It feels like forever," the little prince says, stopping by the ballroom door.
"Stop, okay," the tall boy says, turning his friend by his shoulder to meet his red flaming eyes, "we are going to find Eirene and we are going to get your powers back"
"We have been looking for her for a year, Craig" the little prince says, his tone lower.
"And every day, we come close to finding her," the tall boy says, stopping his friend's protest, "it's not just us that's looking for her, every kingdom is looking for her, along with all the guardians. She has nowhere to hide, at one point or the other she has to crawl out of whatever hole she dug herself in" the tall boy says, earning a small smile from his friend, "now, come on. We have a party to attend" the tall boy says, turning his friend around to the grand ballroom door.
"Okay," the little prince says, knocking on the grand door as two guards open the grand maroon door from the inside, exposing the two boys to the grand ball.
"Today is all about having fun, tomorrow we go back to looking for Eirene," the tall boy says, standing beside his friend, looking down from the balcony floor to the grand ballroom.
The two boys marvel at the grand ballroom, with window cladding on all sides of the walls, bringing the outside magnificent clouds and blue sky inside the big circular room. They look up at the window roofs with concave roofs, and a giant sparkling chandelier dropping down from the center, lighting up the dance floor in the center of the room, the changing floor lights accentuating the soft mist clouds inside the ballroom floors. They look to their left, to the gaping wide door, connecting the outside castle yard to the inside grand ballroom, seats, and tables running along the sun-kissed solid cloud yard, the red draping the white clouds giving the eastern kingdom a mystical feel.
"I never thought we would use this ballroom again," the tall boy says, as the people of the eastern kingdom look around the majestic display, their necks cracking around them to see the magical ballroom.
"Mom used to say it was for special occasions," the little prince says, as the western kingdom's grand limousine stops on the driveway, of the front side of the grand ballroom.
"That's the western kingdom" the tall boy whispers, feeling short of breath.
The chatter of the party stops as the king of the western kingdom climbs out of the large limousine, fixing his platinum black suit, his eyes fixed back on the people of the eastern kingdom, followed by his brother, the prince of the western kingdom, grazing slowly along the window circular dome ballroom before it falls on the guests of the eastern kingdom. The two brothers stand by the limousine for a while, a small stare-down between the two western royals and the people of the east.
"Where is...?" The tall boy begins, his eyes wavering around the grand limousine, before the princess of the west walks out, her black dress jumping with her every movement, "oh" the tall boy says, seeing the princess of the west in her beautiful dress, with her platinum black hair straight down to her waist in soft curls, as his face builds in red, matching his flaming red hair slicked back to his head.
"Well, now. I'm kind of glad I can't hear your thoughts" the little prince says, seeing his friend's face as he watches the princess silently.
"Yeah, me too," the tall boy says, not hearing what his friend said as the three royal siblings walk inside the grand ballroom, with the princess of the west in the middle of her brothers, clasping both their hands, as the stares follow them until they make their way out to the yard, sitting on the tables reserved for the western kingdom, followed by the fifty of their guards and guests.
"And there's the southern kingdom," the little prince says, as a big white limousine pulls up on the driveway, replacing the western kingdom's black limousine.
"Where are your parents?" The tall boy asks, still looking at the princess sitting quietly outside the yard, the light from the sunset giving her a certain mystical glow, with her royal brothers.
"They said they had kingdom matters to attend to before they join the party," the little prince says, as the two brothers of the southern kingdom walk out of the white limousine following behind their father, the king of the underworld. King Howard Caballero strides fast, his navy blue suit, with white shit as he walks past the hundred of guests and their pair of eyes seeming to have glued on him and his two sons, Andreas walking out first, fixing the sleeves of his midnight blue suit, and his white shirt, as his brother Achilles follows behind, unbuttoning the third button on his sky blue shirt, exposing his soft skin and sculpted chest, as he steps down the cloud floors in his gray suit.
"Is it that or do they just want to walk out last?" the tall boy asks, as the two brothers stride inside the ballroom following close behind their father, heading directly for the tables by the yard outside, sitting on the table across the western kingdom.
"The arrow is pointing toward the latter" the little prince replies, as the youngest prince of the southern kingdom steps out of the grand limousine, brushing his soft curly hair, which seemed to have gathered up nice and neat, to the side. Noah fixes the collar of his brown suit, with a white shirt, standing next to the limousine, before he is joined by the princess of the south, her gaze scrapping along the guests of the kingdoms, as they look back at them with wonderment to see the royals of the underworld kingdom after the great war that seemed to have destroyed their land, before they walk to the yard by the outside, joining their family on the table across the tables of the western kingdom and their guests.
"They brought guests" the little prince notes, as 50 other people follow behind the path of the southern royals, joining them on the seats around them, "I guess many southerners did survive the great war" the little prince finishes as a striking roar sounds on through the grand ballroom, gaining all the attention of the royals and the guests, looking up to the winged creature flying across the blue skies of the eastern kingdom.
"Zuba!" The tall boy exclaims laughing as their winged creature softly lands on the cloud floors, dressed in his gold suit armor.
"And the northern royals," the little prince says, a wide smile escaping his lips at the sight of the northern royals, descending from the winged creature's back as their feathery gowns brush against the cloud floors, before walking inside the ballroom side by side, heading for their seats in the yard outside.
"It's been a year since we've seen them," the tall boy says, thinking back to their small adventure while the two girls were back in the western kingdom. As the two royals walk past the two kingdom's table sections, going for the northern royal's table sections, passing small glances and curt nods to the royals of the other kingdoms as they go.
"And their guests," the tall boy says, his eyes wandering around the fifty guests of the northern kingdom as they head for the tables in the northern kingdom sections, missing the certain brunette in the crowd.
"Where is Mikayla?" The tall boy voices out his friend's concerns, turning to meet his friend with mirroring confused expressions.
"Should we join our guests then?" The queen of the eastern kingdom says, suddenly appearing behind them alongside her husband the king of the east, proving the two boys' suspicions before.
"Of course, mother," the little prince says, fixing the collars of his maroon red shirt, and the hems of his black suit.
"Let's go," the king of the eastern kingdom says, heading to the stairs by the side of the balcony, depending down the cloudy stairs with his wife the queen in his arms, her long trail red gown with a long v-neck and long trails passing from both sides of her shoulders down from her bare back to the floors.
The little prince follows behind his parents as his friend stays behind the balcony fidgeting on the ends of his copper suit and then fixing the sleeves of his white shirt, before he joins the royals on the section of the eastern kingdom, stealing glances at the western princess as he walks past.
As all the four kingdoms sit, the four guardians emerge from the skies in the white cloud above the outside yard, hovering on the center of the kingdom's seats, softly landing on the cloud floors of the eastern kingdom, making the silence that broke in on the western royals first entrance, as a loud chatter.
Feeling as though the wind stopped with the presence of the four guardians, the guests and royals of the four kingdoms hold their breath, as the four sisters' guardians stand in the fifth section of the big yard, next to the eastern and western kingdom's sections, the four kingdoms and the central world stuck in a stare down amongst themselves.