Hey Guys!

I'd just like to introduce you ALL to this little story with a welcome... and I hope you like the story.

I'm not going to confuse you with names, so I will try my best to update if I'm going to be adding any voices to this story... and small profiles.

Me and Opal:

Carielle = me (the writer). I love cookies and praise, but I also like recieving constructive critizisim. If you don't like the story, tell me. I'm still in highschool, so I know very much what highschool life is... and my school has no cliques... but maybe that's because it's an all girls school. Which pairing is this? I don't know myself... the characters here will choose very much the character in this story that suits them. I have a bird called Opal who is four years old... but as of my extensive roleplaying, I am starting to get the hang of naming characters and crating character profiles. I have an account on deviantart, and there is a writer there who writing (my favourite ever) Shugo Chara fanfiction.

Opal = my friendly and loyal bird. He loves budgerigar treats, snacks and bells. He has a nice whistle, and has never met a cat before in his entire life. He lives in my room, but he doesn't mind me singing, jumping around and being spontanious. In fact, he provides a great deal of inspiration. If you want to thank him, feel free.

Summary:

A baby stolen from the royal palace, then prized for her long pink locks, escapes from the tower in which she is captive... and as she meets the royals, secrets will come about. Only the pink haired princess called Amu will be able to discover the truth behind the Humpty Lock and Dumpty Key... and time is ticking... for her, it may already be too late.


Prologue:

It had been sixteen years since the emperor and empress had seen their baby daughter, that they had cherished and the whole empire waited for. They didn't know back then, that in her first day of life, their daughter would be kidnapped by one of the maids, and that even if they waited years for the ransom note, that it wouldn't come. Another kidnapping happened, shortly after, that was intercepted. They held the funeral for their baby after two years of waiting endlessly, and losing all hope. The princess (queen to be on her tenth birthday, and empress on her eighteenth), it seemed, was dead...

Chapter One: The Maid, The Countess, and The Prince

Amu was living in a nightmare, ever since she could remember, it was just her, and the witch who was maid that would torture her. How did Amu know the woman was a maid? Well, during one of the woman's drunken rantings, tales of being used to clean the floors, and almost being married to the Emperor spilled from her mouth, as well as vile complaints and words of torture toward the woman who had stolen the Emperor.

Amu knew she lived in a tower, she also knew that the repeatitive beatings she got were not natural. Perhaps it was a sense of wanting someone other than herself to be kind, but Amu wanted friendship. Though Amu knew it was a futile dream, since all the witch who raised her was good for was torturing her, pulling on her pink locks of hair, and making sure Amu's life was miserable. Amu learnt things instead through dreams, mimicing them all she could, trying to remember even a second of kindness that could've been shown to her.

The tower was dark, damp and terrible, and only a dirty blanket which was covered with years of muck was used as a bed. The door had a lock on the outside, and her only connection to the outside wall was a hole that was in the wall. Forest ferrets, the only animal which could scale the rock would visit her sometimes, as well as mice and little sparrows. They helped her maintain her sanity, though Amu could've sworn that she understood what they said at times.

"Stay still Rapunzel." The drunken woman's voice called out as she ran a brush of thorns through Amu's hair, and even when Amu's scalp was bleeding she wouldn't stop.

Amu collapsed on her bed, her hair stained blood red, waiting as she was locked once again in her almost windowless room. Amu could only see the outside room from the mouse hole, which wouldn't take the old witch soon to discover, but the witch would probably only laugh at the draughts of cold wind it would bring in, and the spiders that would enter, regardless of Amu's knowledge that her animal and bird friends would visit her.

Her days of torture were endless, there wasn't even one happy moment Amu could remember as a child, not even with the animals that wished only to see a smile on Amu's face. Amu felt more tears coming down her face, as she wished that someone would come rescue her.

Her only hope was a ring on a necklace around her neck, which read, "Our Princess," to Amu; it must have meant she was loved once. Amu felt her burning tears as they ran down her cheeks. When she was younger, she would dance just to get rid of the saddening feeling, even if it only took the sadness away temporarily. She learnt how to dance through her dreams, her only escape.

"I'm coming in Rapunzel." The old woman's voice called, as the door creaked. Amu, still in tears, felt her body, legs and arms move in a sequence of quick movements, that all ended with contact with the old woman's head. The woman, though, managed to cut off Amu's hair at the shoulder, and Amu ran down the stairs, and into the thick woods that surrounded the tower.

Amu didn't understand what had just happened, but her legs were running with new energy as she cleared fields. Amu wasn't cold blooded; the type that would murder someone, so there was lurking fears in her heart that she would be discovered and killed by the old witch. Amu ran faster, if it was even possible, with just the mere thoughts, and knowledge of what the old witch would do.

Amu looked around her, as she saw weird shapes around her that could only belong to a dream. Weird rough brown things that stood straight up, and supported thousands of little green objects, above her, a blue canvas, spotted with white, beneath her, brown. Sky, Trees, Earth, the words came to her in a sequence, as Amu felt a connection with them.

Then she heard a noise that she had never heard before, and ran forward, through the bush, to come into connection with a silver metallic object. Colours she had never seen before were right in front of her, and even though it had knocked it over, Amu hesitantly reached out to touch the metallic silver object, "Smooth." Amu noted. The word car echoed in her mind, and Amu accepted it.

A person stepped out of the metallic object, which almost looked like something the witch had spoken of before, a man. The man rushed over to Amu.

"What the hell was that? You could have been killed!" Amu was anxious at this, 'kill' had only been used in a threatening sentence against her before, and the only kindness she knew was the kindness Amu showed herself.

Amu cowered, and the man realised this, seeing the dried blood, and bruises for the first time. The man had blue hair, and blue eyes. The eyes were bigger than the witch's eyes.

Amu reached out a hand to touch his hair, when a bloodcurdling scream came from the woods, which made Amu jump, looking fearful, and the man guided her into the car. "Hey, listen here. I need to be at the palace in a few minutes. I can drop you off anywhere."

"Away from here," Amu said instantly.

The man looked confused, "I don't quite understand you..." he said, making the car warm by turning on a... a heater, Amu realised.

"Anywhere away from here," Amu begged, tears filling her eyes as she looked back at the woods. The car started moving, and Amu found herself feeling comfortable as she fell into a slumber.

Amu woke to find herself in a bed, in a blue room, and a petite girl with long blonde hair who was pacing the room noticed the opening of Amu's eyes and walked over to her, "Are you okay?" The girl asked, and Amu's eyes widened as she felt the first kindness in her life.

Amu hesitantly reached out her hand to check if the girl was real, or whether she was still dreaming, and the girl smiled as she gave Amu a hug.

"I'm Rima... talk to me about anything, okay? You were really lucky Ikuto bothered to pick you up... that prince is a truant, you can't trust him to complete any tasks." The blonde girl said, and Amu nodded, then pondered about the word Rima used.

Amu looked confused, and then looked at Rima, "Prince?" The connection and feel with the word occured just with her repeating it.

Rima smiled, ruffling Amu's hair, "Ikuto is the prince, but his family are not those in one of the branches to the emperors and the empress. Tadase, his cousin, and Kairi are both dukes. Utau, Ikuto's sister is a princess. I'm a countess, so I'm not as great as them, but I've got a really cool cousin called Yaya, who is a Marchioness, which is one above a countess. Don't worry, since you don't seem to know much about who is ruling, I'll tell you; at the very top are the Emperor and Empress, but lately the Empress has been very sick. I can count on my hands and toes the number of times I've talked to them personally."

Amu nodded, "Makes sense, I mean, naturally they'd be busy, right?"

"I guess. What's your name?" Rima asked, but was interrupted by the door opening.


Authors Note: A short first chapter, I know, but expect the next chapter to clarify quite a few things. Firstly

Titles:

Ikuto~Prince

Utau~Princess

Rima~Countess

Tadase~Duke

Yaya~Marchioness

Kairi~Duke

Midori~Empress

Tsumugu~Emperor