Chapter Text
“Come on, Dad! I just want to hear it one more time!” A childish voice rang throughout the room. It was already well past midnight, far too late for any kid to be awake.
“Anzu, I’ve read it to you 3 times tonight. At this rate, you can probably quote the whole thing yourself. Who knew you’d be so into history?” The deeper voice let out a chuckle. He seemed very amused by his daughter’s interest in how everything came to be. “Alright. I’ll read it one more time. Just for you, sweetheart.”
The deeper voice let out another soft laugh before clearing his throat. He opened the book again and began reading.
“Long ago, before you, or me, 4 kingdoms lived together on a very connected continent. You remember what they all stand for, right Anzu?”
“Lux is finding the beauty in day, Tenebris is finding the beauty in night, Libertas is about being free and keeping others free, and we’re about showing love to one another!” The child’s voice echoed happily. She was really excited about hearing this story again.
“Okay, okay, kid. Looks like you do know. One day-” as the deeper voice was speaking, he was interrupted by his daughter once more.
“One day, a huge war broke out and then Tenebris disappeared and then there was a huge earthquake and, and-!” The child was clearly way too excited. Her father put a finger to her lips to keep her quiet.
“Who’s the one telling the story here, Anzu? It seems like you don’t need me to read it to you and you can just go to bed.” The father said with a smirk and a joking tone.
“Sorry, Dad! I just-”
“Blah, blah, blah! How much longer are we gonna have to watch this girl for, Rui?”
The demon chuckled at how his second in command was acting. Rui was powerful, to put it simply. He had plans and they all involved this one little girl.
“Like I said, Kohane my dear, she’s the key to my plan. No princess, no going back to our former glory. And besides, you’re the one that’s gonna have to deal with her once she’s a bit older, so get used to seeing her.”
Kohane groaned. She was equally as powerful as Rui but never took the initiative to make her own plans. She looked at the image that was being shown in Rui’s magic and sighed. “I know what you said. We have a prince though, and a dragon! I don’t understand why we need that girl too.” The blonde pointed towards the sleeping boy in the corner of the room, and the baby dragon that was cuddled up with him.
“Who? Toya? Kohane, don’t be daft. That kid is nothing but a pawn. I may love him like a son, but you know why we took him.” The demon spoke with his cat-like grin.“Because he was alone in the woods?” Kohane crossed her arms, clearly unnamused by Rui’s words.
“Well… Yes but.. You know what, nevermind. You know my plan, go to sleep.” Rui said while closing the picture he made. He was determined for his plan to go how he pictured. It would only take another 14 years for him to be able to start, but that’s besides the point.
Kohane sighed as she went to sit by where the young prince was sleeping. She really thought that Rui’s 14 years of planning were pointless. After all, it’s just more waiting time added to the thousands of years they’ve been alive
—-
“Dad! Mom! Dad!” A princess was running frantically through the halls, holding her blue skirt as she went. She ended up bumping into a couple of workers, who promptly scolded the princess.
She soon after found her father in the throne room, doing some sort of work with his advisors and his wife. He let out a sigh, while the princesses mother went over to see what she needed.
“Yuka don’t get her started she’ll-” “Mom, we spotted a boat in the distance! Haruka’s back!” the princess exclaimed.
For a 19 year old that would have to become queen soon, An was still very childish and naive. She had the excitement of a little kid but the knowledge of an adult. She was serious in serious situations, but she was always loose and looking for fun in every situation. It made for a weird combination, and she was the exact opposite of her knight that was following closely behind, out of breath because they ran all the way here.
“That’s wonderful, Anzu. Why don’t you go get something to drink from the kitchen? I’m sure someone would appreciate it.” the queen said with a laugh as she pointed at Mafuyu. The purple haired girl had just appeared in the kingdom one day in a basket floating on the river and the queen couldn’t just leave her there. So the royal family decided to take her in as a companion slash knight for their daughter.
“I’m fine. Just don’t run off next time, princess.” Mafuyu said with a sigh while running a hand through her short hair. An had a bashful expression on her face, embarrassed by the situation.
“Anyway, Mom, can I go out to see her? It’s been ages since I’ve seen Haruka! I know we’re busy today, but please?” the princess spoke with puppy dog eyes, hoping that would convince her mom. A lot of stuff had to be done since they were having a banquet today, but An was desperate to see her friend.
Her mother made an over exaggerated thinking face, taping her cheek with her index finger, “Hmm, let’s see. You have half an hour, have fun kid. Don’t forget, 30 minutes. Mafuyu will keep you in check. She always does”
An cheered with excitement, giving her mother a hug before grabbing Mafuyu and running out of the castle. The knight was stunned by the sudden force but she didn’t have time to even protest. The king and queen looked at each other and then laughed. “What are we gonna do with that girl?”
An was having a grand time out by the ports. Spending time with Haruka after her travels was one thing the princess loved so much. She was never allowed to see the other two kingdoms since the island was so far away from any sort of land, so she really enjoyed hearing stories from the pirates. She can hardly even remember what her life was like before meeting Haruka and hearing all about her travels. It was how she experienced the world after all. Eventually, her 30 minutes were up and Mafuyu had to physically drag the princess back to the castle. The preparations for banquetes were taken very seriously by the king and queen, and so An had to participate in them despite her really not wanting to.
The princess never liked doing these banquets. It was just a bunch of stressful eating of food she didn’t like all that much, but she just bit her tongue while helping arrange the flowers in the banquet hall. She wasn’t paying too much attention to her surroundings, so when her advisor snuck up behind her, it took her a moment to notice. She was just fluffing up the roses, making sure everything in the display looked nice and nothing was hidden. When she turned around to see her advisor she jumped and let out a quiet scream.
“Miss Kohane?! When did you get in here?!” The princess said while trying to compose herself. All the blonde could do was laugh at how frightened the princess was by her just standing there. “I didn’t mean to startle you like that, dear. I just came to check on how things are going in here and I must say, you have a way with flowers.”
An had a bashful expression on her face as she listened to Kohane’s words. “You flatter me, Miss Kohane. I at least get to have a little bit of fun before the inevitable boring dinner that comes in a few hours. I assume you're here to come get me dressed?”
“Precisely, my dear. Come, your dress is ready and the banquet is starting soon anyway. Come, come, don’t worry about the flowers anymore.” Kohane said while grabbing An’s hand and leaving the hall. The princess felt like something was up. Kohane was too cheerful today and it felt odd.
Once in An’s quarters, the dressing began. An hated getting into big dresses, but she was relieved to know that this dress was short. The bodice was black with lace like details on it. The skirt and sleeves were a gorgeous periwinkle and were very frilly and fluffy. Two black bows adorned the sleeves and a larger bow was on the back. It was simple but elegant, just what An hoped for. She let out a sigh of relief as she got her shoes on. Her thoughts were immediately rattled once she heard loud and strange noises from downstairs. Unable to cover her curiosity, she went out of the room.
To her surprise, there was a strange guy around her age standing there. She had never seen him before but he looked like a prince. What she couldn’t wrap her head around was why everyone looked so shocked and scared to see him standing there. She slowly made her way downstairs to ask what was happening, but she was quickly silenced by the sound of a loud crack. The ground was splitting..
The princely looking figure walked over to An and just stared. His eyes were sharp and intimidating and it felt like he was judging her. “You’re the princess?”
An tried backing up a little more but was nervous with the way the floor was cracking. Everyone standing in the hall panicked, An was stunned into silence. She looked at him again, her lip shaking as she tried to speak. The princely looking guy let out a small laugh, his hair falling in front of his left eye. “Cat got your tongue? What’s wrong?”
“I- sorry. Yes I am the princess. Who even are you and why are you here?!” An exclaimed while she tried to keep her voice steady. The guy just let out another laugh, and in an instant, all of the cracks were gone.
“My apologies. Maybe I should have introduced myself first, but at the same time, it’s fun to keep you clueless,” he said while beginning to circle An. “My kingdom will be taking over. This is just a warning to protect yourselves and get out while you still can.”
Everyone was shocked. Gasps and murmurs filled the room as speculations began. The king stepped forward and glared at the mystery-man, flanked by a ton of workers. “Over my dead body, kid. Get him out of here,” he commanded. Before the workers could even get to him, he had disappeared. No one knew what to do because of how sudden and weird that announcement was.
“Who does that kid think he is, the pope?! Barging in here and causing a ruckus. What was that even about?” The king grumbled under his breath as he started walking out. Everyone followed soon after as the banquet hall filled up. An stayed behind, pondering what she just heard. She felt some sort of conviction inside of her.
“Kohane?” the princess turned to the advisor next to her, “I feel like I have to do something. I-” An couldn’t even get another word off before she was cut off by Kohane.
“No, child. This isn’t something you have to deal with. You’re just the princess, don’t worry about foreign affairs too much. Just let your father handle it and everything will be okay. It always is. You may have your neutrality clause in place, and you don’t have a proper military, it’ll be fine child.” Kohane spoke with a soothing tone, but An wasn’t convinced.
“No. I have to do something. I’m still a part of the royal family. I’m going to help.” An said while running back to the banquet hall to find her father. Kohane scowled a little bit and walked away before completely vanishing.
“What is she doing?” Mafuyu muttered as she saw the whole ordeal from around the corner. She decided to stay silent and walked into the banquet hall to find An.
“Bad news. She’s not giving up that easily.”
“Dammit. Toya, you’re gonna have to do more than that to scare the girl. Do as I say, try again tonight.”
“Yes, sir.”