NEVER EVER AFTER
Beneath the indigo sky and bathed in moonbeams, a tall, bespectacled boy and a pretty little girl sat quietly on the cool green grass atop a small hill.
The wind whistled gently, waffling through their bare toes, blowing on their tresses, tossing about the clouds to open up the heavens.
All too soon however, the serenity of the scene was broken as a bright dot of light streaked down from the sky, disppearing into the horizon.
"Wow... a shooting star!" The girl gasped in wide-eyed wonder.
"Mimi, stars don't fall from the sky! That was a meteorite!" The boy replied, adjusting his glasses by its bridge.
The girl didn't seem to care. She was too captivated by the sight for it to be ruined by bland facts. "You know, I heard that if you wish on a shooting star, your wish could be granted"
"That's not true. Rocks don't grant wishes"
"It is to! And it wasn't a rock! It was... it was"
"Mimi... There are no such things as wishes and shooting stars. Those are stuff people make up for fairytales"
"Well... I wish my life was a fairytale. What are you wishing for"
"I'll save mine for later..." the boy said, the tone in his voice seething with sarcasm.
"Promise"
"Eh"
"Promise"
"Okay! Yes!" Jyou groaned in defeat.
Alas, as they sat quietly on the hill that cool spring eve, neither was the wiser that both would not see the other until four years later. And by this, though they had struggled not to forget, both would have forgotten.
Chapter One
Like most other fairytales go.
Our story takes place, for lack of better terms, once upon a time in a land far far away.
And as most fairytales went, it begins unassumingly enough.
His name was Giovanni de Castlegate, two-hundreth thirty-seventh Prince of Nordica and the third son of Carolus Magnus VII, Emperor of the vast Cyberian Empire. A rather withdrawn, bespectacled eleven year-old boy plagued with an entire tome of assorted medical maladies, Giovanni had spent the few years of his young life in pursuit of learning under the orders of his father, the Emperor, who wishes that he would follow in their ancestral trade - that of medicine, considering that he will never take the throne.
Having neither family nor friends to accompany him at the Imperial Academy of the Arts and Sciences, young Giovanni had developed a perpetual aura of awkwardness around him, his self-esteem deteriorating at the strict hands of the Academy lectors. His only companion there, of somewhat questionable value, was an odd talking seal-creature named Gomamon who, for some reason, insisted on addressing him with the archaic form of his name - "Jyou" from which the name "Giovanni" had been derived. Nevertheless, better an odd white seal than a blank wall - or a stern lector for that matter.
Her name was Mimi Von Fleurenbach, daughter of Grand Duke Maximian Fleurenbach and heiress to the Grand Duchy of Garland. A rather bratty nine-year-old with a brutal penchant for all things pink and frilly, she couldn't care less about her responsibilities as a future head of state and plans on running away and opening a fashion botique on the other side of the known world.
Both were seated, facing each other, before an ornate laquer table. Both said nothing and both avoided eye contact. Both wanted out.
Here they were, two total strangers who have never even met, being betrothed to each other. It would have been fine if they found each other the least bit agreeable but then again.
He was a geek.
She was a brat.
No deal.
Then again, no choice either.
"It is for the good of our people!" Her step-father would tell her. East Garland is all that stood between the Cyberian Empire and the Barbarian Lands in the North. Marrying her off to the son of the Emperor would ensure the Emperor's continued financial support of the Garlandian Army.
"You will have nothing against this" His father would tell him. Having Giovanni as husband to the Duchess of Garland makes him its Duke - making the territory defacto a part of the Empire.
"So... read any good books lately?" Giovanni muttered under his breath.
"Drop dead"
"Look, I'm not exactly hot about this arrangement either. You don't have to make this any harder for the both of us"
"You think I'm actually settling down with this marriage"
"Like we have a choice"
"Shows what you know." Mimi shrugged. Jyou raised his hands in defeat, resting them back at his lap and continued staring at the floor.
Mimi, for all she was worth, wasn't the least bit interested in royals. A boring lot, she would call them. Terribly dull and invariably tied to regal protocol - she detested every bit about them, she did.
And to marry the biggest, dorkiest royal of them all?
I suppose it should go without saying.
She had no intention of living the rest of her life as a walking-talking doll, doing everything under the watchful eyes of overbearing in-laws. Screw the Castlegate family fortune. She's had her fill of custom-made silk dresses and gem-studded tiaras (okay... she's somewhere close to having her fill, but anyway.
She was craving for something... someone... that would make her feel less shallow than what she's expected to be. Perhaps a bumbling squire... or a rugged blacksmith... or a roguish theif... or perhaps... that hot young bard who plays at the square at Fleurenbach Castle.
Somehow, it felt perfectly right for her to ditch the turdish scholar-prince for that impoverished-yet-oh-so-handsome musician. After all, it sounded politically-correct enough.
Jyou, for all he was worth (and he was worth more than the Gross National Product of most Third-World Kingdoms), was just as disinterested in royals as Mimi was. Heck, did HE choose to be a royal? And, more importantly, did HE choose to be a dork?
With Jyou, however, things are rather different.
Of all disastrous misfortunes, the annoying pink clotheshanger has caught the heart of his majesty the prince. In fact, he was actually looking forward to having the girl as his bride.
There was something... something about her.
But, anyway, he knew his limits all too well and he's never really been the kind of person who considers the nonesense of dream romances.
So much for that quite little bungalow near the ocean where they could grow old together and raise oysters and such.
To be Continued?
I'm sorry for the sporadic entries but work is pretty much draining all my time these days. Tell you what - I continue the story if I get 7 reviews. That's all I need to inspire me. 7 reviews. And to show you what you might be missing if you don't:
On the Next (?) Never Ever After:
An engagement ball has been thrown in the Cyberian Capital of Modderborg and it's like the entire world is invited. Seems like the perfect time to stage an escape!
While Mimi stages her escape with her handmaiden Sora, Jyou tries to bail out as well with the aid of Gomamon and a travelling bard by the name of Mateus Hessedah. How will their paths part from here? And where will all these paths lead to? Is this a spoiler or just a very detailed preview? Only YOU can tell!