Synopsis: After all of the wonderful experiences that she's had, Sabrina wishes to stay in the Flower Kingdom, leaving the real princess to stay in the other world. Will she get used to the place, and will she find love among her classmates?
Disclaimer: The characters and the names of places in this story do not belong to me. Only the scenario.
Chapter 1: The Point of No Return
"I'm sorry Sabrina, but I don't think I can ever come go back to my original world," Sabrina said, with a somewhat regretful look on her face.
But why not? This isn't fair. This isn't your world. We made an agreement that you would only stay until the Ball was over. You wanted to go back to your own world, remember?
"I did say that, but it was before I got to really explore the Flower Kingdom and form relationships with the people in this world. Now that I've had all of these wonderful experiences, I don't think I could ever get myself to go back." As she said this, her face glowed, and there was a joy on her face that I had not witnessed when I had first left her here.
What about your real family? What about the friends that you're leaving behind? Don't you care about them at all? I felt my face getting heated and starting to become red. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep my emotions under control, and I was just barely containing them.
"I do care about them, but I also care about the people here as well." Sabrina softly said, still a little happy, but also a little guilty. "I don't want to be separated from the man that I love," she said, looking happily at the partner she had been practicing many long hours with for the Ball.
Why are you being so selfish about this? I yelled. I couldn't take it anymore, I had just about had it with the other world, and all I wanted was to reclaim my rightful place back in the Flower Kingdom as its only princess.
"You should have thought about it before you selfishly brought me here against my will to fulfill your duties. You should have thought about that before you left me with no chance to get back to my own world. You should have thought about that when you decided to come back and pretend that everything was alright and that there were no hard feelings between us." No longer looking guilty, her eyes were now cold and distant. "I will not be going back, which means that it is only right for you to leave. You will only have two days here before you have to leave, and you will leave the key here with me." And with that, the other Sabrina turned away and swiftly left the room with her beloved partner.
My knees found themselves weakening, causing me to collapse from where I was standing. The tears that were constantly threatening to fall from my eyes finally fell. I turned towards my father, who was still sitting on his throne, quietly listening to the discourse I was having with my other self. This couldn't be happening…
Father, can't you do something about this? She's not even your daughter! I'm your real daughter! Please, don't send me away. Please, daddy! I begged him as I sobbed, no longer able to see the throne room through the blurriness caused by the tears in my eyes.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but the other Sabrina has spoken. There cannot be two Sabrinas in this world. You must take responsibility for your actions and go back to fill the place in the other Sabrina's world."
Once I realized what the verdict was, it was too much for me to bear. I could no longer control my emotions. As soon as I realized that I had no way of getting out of this, I dissolved into tumultus sobs and convulsions that wracked my whole body.
I was going to have to leave this place forever.
My eyes flew wide open, as I began to breathe heavily. I stirred slightly, feeling the now damp sheets stick to my perspiring body. Everything felt so hot and cramped, but for a moment, I found that I could not move. It was as if I was paralyzed. After I regained some sense of movement in my body again, I weakly pushed myself up to a sitting position and stared at my surroundings.
This was the fifth night that this occurred. Some nights, I found myself staying up because of the loneliness of thinking I couldn't see people like Father, some of my friends, and admittedly, even Kip. Other nights, I found myself reliving my last few days in the Flower Kingdom. It was only just a week ago that I had begun my permanent life here as just Sabrina. Not Sabrina the princess, or Sabrina of the Flower Kingdom. Just Sabrina.
I didn't see my fancy vanity or my emerald necklace proudly hanging on my wall. Instead, I just saw a small cramped room and the closet that contained my only connection to my old home. In its place were a simpler desk and chair and a small frame containing a picture of a flower.
It didn't bother me too much in the month that I was living here as her substitute, because I had always thought that I was always going to be able to get back and resume my normal life as a princess. I thought of it as something that would serve as a fun little story to tell the other ladies during tea time, as if I would never have to deal with that sort of thing ever again.
But that night proved me wrong. Little did I know the consequences of avoiding the Ball in St. Lyon would change my future that much. It was just a ballroom dancing competition, but why was this so important? I still couldn't understand it, and I still couldn't completely understand why she didn't want to come back here. Did that one month over there really change her life that much?
Tired and weak from a lack of sleep, I slowly rolled off the side of the bed and used my two arms to support myself up. Trudging towards the small closet, I placed my hands on the door handles and thrust the closet open, half-wishing for the portal, but half-expecting just some ordinary clothes on the other side.
After confirming the contents of the closet to be only clothes, I sighed to myself, trying to hold back the tears that I had been failing to keep from falling in the last few days since I've arrived back here. I knew that no amount of tears would make the portal come back or change the situation that I was now in.
I don't think I can sleep tonight either, so I might as well go for a walk for a few hours before school begins. I grabbed a thin jacket, and sneaked through the front door so I could walk around the neighborhood.
I shivered slightly as I hugged the thin jacket around my arms tightly, mentally kicking myself for not choosing something warmer to walk in this cold. It wasn't a big deal though, as my mind was still set on walking around to my favorite spot.
It was probably three o'clock in the morning, so it was expected that no one would be awake and about at this time. All the little shops in the market area were obviously closed as well. I looked around the quiet neighborhood that I had spent a month in. There were definitely some things that I had missed back at home, but this place wasn't horrible either. I had found some nice places like the school rooftop, or the library
As I looked around, I thought of how lost I was when I first arrived here. How I had wandered hours and hours just to be able to find home because Lucas' sense of direction wasn't any better. Just that memory of his exasperation made me giggle a little to myself, which surprised me. That was the first time I had been able to smile since I got here. After that realization, I immediately became sober again.
Finally, I had arrived to the small park, but next to it was the lake that contained some of the most crystal clear water I had seen here, water that was almost as magical as the water at the Viennese Waltz Lake. It was on one of these little "adventures" that I had randomly stumbled upon this place.
I had gotten scolded by my "parents" for my terrible grades again, and I just needed a place to breathe. Granted, I had the key back then, and I always could have just gone back through the closet when I missed home, but I didn't want to jeopardize the plan while it was still in the early stages. Why hadn't I just risked the plan, why couldn't I just have gotten in trouble before the other Sabrina ended up loving that world?
Now that I had stopped walking around, the same thoughts and feelings of despair that I had been trying to avoid suddenly came back again. The deeper the hole I found myself in, the more that my emerald eyes continued to cloud.
Suddenly, I heard some small rustling in some bushes nearby, which shook me out of my thoughts temporarily. I looked around, wondering what it was, a little surprised because no normal person should be up at this time.
After a few minutes of trying to strain my eyes in this darkness, I noticed what was a little cotton tail. Eventually, it had emerged out of the bushes, revealing itself to be a bunny. Those tinted-pink ears, that little mouth. It couldn't possibly be...
"Kip, is that you?" I asked the little bunny, trying to approach it slowly. Feeling threatened, it continued to back away, out of reach for me to go and pet.
"Oh yeah, I should've figured, you're not Kip. Kip's not here. You're just a dumb little bunny who can't speak…" I said, with a half-hearted laugh. Of course, it wasn't Kip. The Kip that I grew up with had green emerald eyes like I did, not some dull black ones. Speaking of which, this Kip didn't have his signature magenta glasses, red cape, and golden wand. This was probably Kip's other self in this world.
"Eh, what's this?" I said as I felt some moisture on my cheek. "No, not again," I told myself as I desperately tried to stop. But it was no use. The little bunny, perceiving that I was no longer a threat, inched closer and closer to me. Soon, it huddled next to me, trying to look up to me.
"You can't understand me, so why are you still here?" I asked, with another half-hearted laugh as I searched for a blurry white fuzzball through my tears to pet the little bunny's head. It didn't run away from my touch and continued to stay with me, soon hopping onto my lap. Although it was small and petite, it was like a small bundle of warmth. And unlike Kip, this little bunny wasn't constantly at my throat for not completing my princess duties.
It was rather silly of me to keep track of days that I've been here because there was no goal that awaited me on this long and uncertain road. Even if I had been here for a thousand nights or so, nothing would have changed. I was still stuck here.
If I wasn't in my kingdom, was there even a point to living? What was I supposed to do with a life that was not even mine in a world that was not my own? As I hugged the little bunny close to my chest, I continued to cry deep into the night.