The Kingdom of Sassiland
A/N: Well, first of all, merry christmas people! :D Second, this isn't a christmas story...but a christmas present based on a headcannon I have for an AU where Hinata is the king of a whatever kingdom and Komaeda is his court jester, and the "Sassiland" thing is a joke between a friend and me and the idea for this story popped up in my head when they said they wanted to to be in a story of mine, so here it is hahaha
In front of the gates of the kingdom of Landuc stood a young, commoner girl; the girl's name was Tania. She came from a faraway kingdom and traveled quite extensive distances during days and nights to get here. Her journey had been the opposite of pleasant because of the blazing sun, but most of all, it was her overly sassy personality that made it hard for her to survive since she brushed away the people that tried to help her. None of those mattered now, though. The trip had been tough but finally over.
Her home was the kingdom of Sassiland. Sassiland was the home to the sassiest people of the world, and Tania was here on a mission. The king of Sassiland had placed a request on her. Recently, there had been knowledge of a sassy person in the kingdom of Landuc; therefore, that person was to be offered an invitation to live in Sassiland. Tania had traveled long distances and endured hardships just to look for that person and now that she was here, she was going to speak to the king to decide that person's fate.
The king of Landuc's name was Hajime Hinata. According to what she had heard, king Hinata was a fair-understanding person and everyone around him respected him, so Tania expected him to accept her request without too much trouble.
Tania now stood in front of king Hinata's home, Landuc's greatest castle. If the kingdom of Landuc were to be seen from a far, tall mountain, the king's home would be the only thing you'd see, as if that was the only building in the kingdom. Still doubting a bit of herself if whether he could convince king Hinata, Tania went in.
Filling her lungs with lots of air, Tania spoke to the guards at the entrance, "I have come to speak to king Hinata on behalf of king of Sassiland."
"Have you requested an audience with him?" The guard replied.
"No need to." She removed the hood she was wearing to conceal her identity. "My name is Tania and I'm the princess of Sassiland."
The guards quickly reacted and stepped aside to let Tania pass. She smirked and went through the giant gates of the castle.
"Would you like to be announced, princess?" The guard asked.
"Thank you." She said without stopping.
She walked through a huge red carpet that spread all around the enormous lobby until she arrived to a set of stairs, where a person, the one who would escort her through this gigantic palace and to where the king was, waited for her. Once Tania met with the escort, he told her that it was his duty, and part of the protocol for when royalty visits the palace of Landuc, to give her stroll around the castle to give king Hinata time to prepare himself to receive her in the audience room.
Once the stroll was over, the escort informed Tania that she was now on the audience room. The audience room was a huge room, just like the others, except that it was entirely empty. The only things in it were a huge window that went from the ceiling to the floor so the sun rays could lighten up this vacant room, and a throne. And the one sitting on that throne was none other than king Hinata.
The escort left and so Tania began walking closer to the king. As she came even closer, when the king's face was already in sight, someone jumped off right in front of her, wanting to surprise her and screaming "Boo!" to which the princess immediately jolted and almost fell down on her back.
"Huh? Did I scare you that much?" the person asked while laughing. Tania didn't reply, she just simply stared at him in bewilderment, as if to let him know they were insane and how dared they do that to a princess.
The person in front of her had an incredibly messy white hair and the clothes he wore were half green and half white, and on his head he wore a ridiculous hat with small bells hanging, which rang as he did his nonsensical dance and began singing some absurd song.
Nagito Komaeda is my name,
And this palace is my place.
King Hinata is my lord,
And through me all his visitors go.
When she looked at king Hinata, he didn't even budge at what had just happened.
He bowed in front of her and removed his hat. "Greetings, your highness. Like I said in my song, my name is Nagito Komaeda, and I'm king Hinata's jester." he said. Then he put on his hat again and sang a different song.
If you an audience wish to seek,
And to king Hinata speak,
Three questions I will ask,
And you the answer must provide.
"Question number one! "Would you say that the kingdom of Landuc, governed by our wonderful king Hinata, is a place gleaming with hope?"
Taken aback by the atypical question, Tania tried to respond naturally. "Yes." she replied despite not having a clue of the life in Landuc.
Komaeda clapped his hands excitedly, and his face lightened up like the one of a kid's on Christmas as and laughed to himself. "Yes it is! Right, my king?"
King Hinata's expression didn't change.
"Question number two! "Do you think hope is more powerful than despair?"
Tania sighed. "Yes."
"Of course it is!" Komaeda replied somewhat aggressively. "If you had said it wasn't I would have kicked you out of this palace in a heartbeat!"
"That's what I sa—"
"Question number three! What do you think is the true meaning of hope?"
The true meaning of hope, Tania thought. "Could it be…something that this world needs to move forward" she said, not so sure of herself.
She stared expectantly at Komaeda and King Hinata who were still as a rock. "So?" she asked.
"Hm…your highness, I'm afraid…You've got that wrong!" Komaeda exclaimed.
"What!?"
Komaeda then broke into laughter. "Hahaha I'm joking! After all, it is what I do." he said and stepped aside so she could pass.
When finally walking past Komaeda and straight to king Hinata she glared at him. Komaeda, instead, smiled at her as if they were already friends. Now that she stood in front of King Hinata, she bowed down to him and introduced herself.
"I am aware that you have a request for me." King Hinata spoke.
"Yes. I am here on behalf of king Kirito from Sassiland to request that a person from your kingdom comes to live with us. The name of that person is— Nagito Komaeda, your court jester."
"You want to take my jester away?"
"We weren't aware it was your jester, lord, but he's been invited by the king himself." she then proceeded to take out something from her commoner attire. It was a paper, an invitation. "May I?"
King Hinata gave a slight nod.
Tania came closer to the jester who stood proudly on his corner, not too close to the king, but not so far away. When she was in front of him, she delivered him the invitation. His baffled expression almost made her laugh.
"The king of Sassiland requested someone like me to join?" Komaeda asked with disbelief in his eyes. He proved to be crazy when a hoarse, demented laugh came out of his mouth. "This sure has got to be the best joke someone could ever pull off on a jester. But I don't mind, I love a good joke."
"I wouldn't have traveled such a long journey from home if it wasn't serious." Tania said firmly.
There was a playful smile on Komaeda's face; one that Tania had seen many times before. It was the smile of the people back home.
"If a king of such a faraway kingdom wants someone like me, who was diminished to a court jester, then it is something I have to see for myself." he made a small pause to glance at king Hinata and then bowed down to him. "With your permission, of course, my king, I'd never do anything you didn't want me to do."
King Hinata doubted for a moment before answering. "Hm…it'll be boring without a jester…but you may go." he said still not showing any hint of emotion. In spite of that, Komaeda's face lightened up once again.
Komaeda bowed down to him. "In that case my king. This is farewell for now; I hope our paths cross ways once more." he said and took off his hat. Tania bowed down as well.
"Thank you, king Hinata." Tania said.
"Tania-san, I expect your king's words are worth the long journey." Komaeda said.
"They're all expecting you."
And so the princess of Sassiland rescued a poor soul from another day as Landuc's court jester to offer him a life with his kind of people— where she was sure he would feel at home.