Chapter Text
The group of queens was a steady friendship now. They told each other problems and cried on each other's shoulders. Anne had taken the longest to open up, but even she would sob out whatever was eating her up most days. That's why what happened on the morning of September 3rd surprised them all so much.
It had started off as a normal day. Jane woke up first, closely followed by Aragon, and the two made breakfast and coffee for the others. Katherine stumbled downstairs not long after, an exhausted looking Anna and Parr following. They all sat around the table and sipped their coffee whilst waiting for the final queen to emerge.
Anne made quite the entrance, as usual, stumbling down the stairs rubbing her eyes, then tripping over her heely she had left at the bottom of them, falling face first, and landing right on Wolfie's dog dish, which was full of food. Ignoring the others' laughter, she stormed over to her chair beside Kitty, sat down heavily, and crossed her arms.
That was the first clue something was wrong. Normally, Anne would have posed and expected them to applaud or something silly like that. But she just grabbed the eggs and began piling them onto her plate with more force than was necessary.
"Anne, love?" Jane asked softly. "Are you alright?".
"M'fine." Anne murmured through a mouthful of food. The others fell into easy conversation, talking about the day ahead, but Jane kept watching Anne. Something about the dark haired girl was making her nervous.
After Kitty had told them all of her and Anna's plan to go to the nearby town fair, the queens got pretty noisy and excited. It wasn't until Anna started a chant about cotton candy that Jane noticed the second queen covering her ears and wincing, shrinking back into her seat.
"Anne, are you sure you're alright?".
"I said I was fine, Jane. Leave me alone!". And with that, Anne abruptly stood up from the table, pushed in her chair, and stormed up the stairs all the way to her attic bedroom.
Aragon broke the silence that followed in the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?".
"I'm not sure. Maybe she had a nightmare?" Cathy answered.
"Maybe she just doesn't like cotton candy!" Anna said.
"Are you people for real?" Katherine called out over the din that emerged. "It's September 3rd. In her old life, Anne was heavily pregnant, confined to her rooms, and about to give birth to Elizabeth today!". The four other queens mouths' opened in a wide O.
"I should have realized. I was her lady in waiting at the time! Why didn't I remember?" Jane chastised herself. Katherine shook her head.
"No, you've been really busy lately. We all have. It's just that Anne was suffering, alone. We need to get better at realizing that.". The others nodded at what the teen was saying. They all felt horrible. Just as they all stood up to go see Anne, a terrible crash came from the attic.
Anne's room.