I've been meaning to work on this sometime ago, so ta-da!

Disclaimer: Do I look like Scott Westerfeld to you?

Like most fairy tales, this one starts out with a wish. And this wish was what caused this to all happen in the first place. But what is that wish, you might ask? That simple wish was made by Artemis Sharp and his wife, the king and queen of the Darwinist Kingdom.

Their wish was to have a child. Again.

They had a son, Jaspert, who renounced being the heir to the throne, and dedicated his life to serve in the army. That was a fatal mistake, as the Darwinist kingdom and its neighbor, the Clankers, were at war. Jaspert was never seen again. (But he was DEFINITELY not dead. He just disappeared.)

After two long years, their wish was granted. The queen finally gave birth to Princess Deryn Sharp. Because of that, the kingdom called for celebration. They invited everyone who was anyone: the subjects of the Darwinist kingdom, the three fairies Lilit, Adela Rogers, and Dr. Nora Barlow. They also invited the king of the Clanker kingdom Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek, as they called for a small break in the war to celebrate.

But they forgot to invite, unfortunately, the evil guy Nikola Tesla. He makes everything a big deal. And since he wasn't invited, that technically makes him no one. That, and he'd been holding a grudge against the Darwinists for a while.

Back to the party, though, as King Franz and King Artemis were feasting on wine, Queen Sophie showed King Artemis their one-year-old son, Prince Aleksandar. And an outrageous idea came to King Artemis.

"Say," the king said merrily, "How about we make your son have an arranged marriage with my daughter?"

"What?!" King Franz protested, having a spit-take. "My son marry your daughter? But they're still babies!"

"No! I mean when Deryn reaches sixteen, and Aleksandar is seventeen. Think about it: if our children get hitched, then we will be able to form an alliance with our warring kingdoms and peace will reign throughout all of Europe."

"In my opinion, that is a genius idea, Franz," said Queen Sophie who was tending to Alek. "You should agree with the proposition of King Artemis. After all, you said yourself you wanted this bloody war to be over without anyone surrendering."

Franz Ferdinand paused for a while, then turned to the Darwinist king. "Fine," he said. "I will accept your proposition. Deryn and Alek will be married when Deryn reaches sixteen. But if our children disagree, the war will rage on." The king then glanced at Princess Deryn, who was sleeping soundly in her crib, and then turned to Alek, who was peacefully asleep in his mother's arms. "But that seems highly unlikely, because these two will definitely fall for each other once they see each other."

"I agree," said King Artemis, and the two laughed as they toasted their wine cups together.

"Hark! Hark!" The Duke Eddie Malone called from his station, interrupting the whole crowd. "The three fairies will now present their gifts to the princess."

With those words, Lilit and Adela ran from the buffet table to the crib. Dr. Barlow excused herself from the conversation Count Ernst Volger and she were having, and went to the crib.

Adela went first to grant her wish. She pulled out her magical pen and notepad, which whatever she wrote on it will come true. Adela wrote on it as she dictated, "My gift to the Princess is intelligence and good common sense." She tore the paper out of the notepad, put it on the Princess's forehead, and the paper disappeared, signifying that what she said will come true.

Lilit came next, pulling out a magical, harmless bomb from her pocket. If Lilit throws the bomb, it will grant whatever she wants. "Since Adela was kind enough to steal my present," she said, "I will give you the gift of beauty inside and out." With that, she threw the bomb at Deryn. It exploded, but it did not destroy the palace. Instead, out came some fairy dust. It scattered all over Deryn, making her sneeze, but the gift was given either way.

Dr. Barlow approached the crib, pulling out a regular fairy wand. "My gift to you is-" The fairy was interrupted by a crack of thunder, and in stormed the evil guy, Nikola Tesla.

"Hello, King Artemis and everyone else," Tesla said politely, but he was giving everyone the cold shoulder. "I see you are having a party without me. There must have been a mistake or something. Why wasn't I invited?"

King Artemis was about to apologize, but was interrupted by Dr. Barlow saying, "You weren't invited because you weren't wanted!"

Nikola Tesla became furious. He stormed up to Deryn's crib, pointed his magical walking stick and hissed, "I have a gift for you! Before the sun sets on your sixteenth birthday, you will prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and you will die!" He turned to the king and queen of the Darwinist kingdom. "Do you understand me? The princess you love so much WILL DIE!"

Tesla used his walking stick to create lightning, and with that he disappeared, leaving the king and queen too frightened to move.

Franz Ferdinand turned to King Artemis who was too stunned to speak. "Face it, man," he said. "The deal is off now that your daughter will die at sixteen."

"Wait!" Lilit said. "Dr. Barlow still has her gift!"

The queen of the Darwinist kingdom turned to Dr. Barlow. "You started it," she said. "You fix it."

"I'm not as good as Tesla is when it comes to his type of magic, mechaniks," she replied calmly. "But I'll do what I can."

Dr. Barlow pointed her wand at Deryn and murmured, "My gift to you is life! When the spindle pricks your finger, you won't die. Instead, you will fall into an enchanted sleep, and you can only be awakened by your true love's kiss."

Those words calmed the Darwinist king and queen down a little, but they were still uneasy. So the king decreed that all the spinning wheels of the kingdom be burnt. The king and queen also thought it would be safer if Deryn did not live in the palace, so they asked the fairies to look after her.

Adela, Lilit, and Dr. Barlow became peasants, hiding away their magical items to keep Deryn safe. They moved to a cottage in the woods, and instead of calling Deryn her real name, she became Dylan and was forced to dress up as a boy to hide her true identity.

"Hey, Adela, may I go out into the woods again? I'm bored," said Deryn.

The years flew by quickly, and today was Deryn's sixteenth birthday. Tesla searched far and wide for the princess, but couldn't find her since she dressed up as a boy. His messenger eagle was still searching far and wide for her, but did not have any luck.

And Deryn herself did not know why she dressed up as a boy, or that she was a princess. But she simply followed what the fairies told her, except for when it came to walking around in the woods. Deryn always found interest with all the beasties that lived there, and the beasties themselves had a connection with her.

"Sure," Adela replied, focusing more on the mirror as she fixed her hair. "Just don't reveal your real name to anybody you pass by. And go collect some blueberries while you're at it. Lilit's making cheesecake. Remember, you should be back once you're finished."

"Thanks!" said Deryn. She grabbed her coat and bag and ran downstairs. She left the house and quickly gathered blueberries for the cake. After, she decided to wander around instead of heading back, hoping to see a stranger or anyone.

Around the same time, Prince Aleksandar, or Alek, was talking his walker for a spin through the woods. His pet, Bovril, stayed on his shoulder. Everything was going well for him, aside from the fact that he had to meet the princess he would marry later.

I can't believe it, he thought to himself. Why do I have to marry a person I don't even know? Don't I have the right to marry who I want to marry? I know it will bring peace to Europe and all, but still... I can't believe my parents set me up for this.

The walker was passing by a pond when Alek's thoughts were interrupted by Bovril, who jumped off his shoulder and started toying with the walker's controls.

"No, Bovril! Don't!" The prince commanded, but Bovril simply chuckled and pressed the shiny red button.

"Explosion," said Bovril.

But the walker did not explode; instead, it fell into the pond, causing the front window to break and get Alek wet.

"Ugh!" Alek complained, then turned to Bovril. "This was my favorite jacket!"

The beastie simply chuckled.

As if on cue, Deryn arrived at the scene. Her blue eyes lit up upon seeing Alek stuck in that pond, and she couldn't help but laugh at the pathetic boy. "Barking spiders," she said between laughs. "I knew weird things were out in the forest, but I didn't expect this at all!"

"Enough with the pity, good sir," Alek said with gritted teeth. "Do me a favor and help me up."

Hearing that made Deryn frown slightly. She wondered how could he not see that she was a girl in trousers, and she had to admit that the boy in front of her was quite cute. But she quickly got rid of the frown and helped him up.

Alek proved to be heavier than she thought, and because of that she stumbled after helping him up. Alek landed on top of her, and she was forced to stare into his green eyes, which seemed to reflect the woods she loved so much. She kept staring until she realized the positions they were in. Deryn pushed him off her and giggled in embarrassment.

"S-sorry," she stammered, blushing.

"It's all right," Alek said, removing his wet jacket and slinging it over his shoulder. "But what are you doing here? These woods are quite dangerous, being filled with all those beasties."

"I... uh... happen to live nearby," said Deryn.

"Who in their right mind would build a house in the middle of the forrest?" Alek said with a raised eyebrow.

"N-never mind that!" Deryn tried to drop the subject. He would probably ask her if he could get help from those at her house, and Adela would kill her for bringing someone-a boy all the more-over.

Alek stared at Deryn, whom he thought was a boy. He thought there was something weird about her/him. She/he blushed a lot for no apparent reason, and she/he seemed to act slightly like a girl. Her/his voice also sounded slightly like one, but Alek put those observations aside for now.

"I didn't catch your name, by the way," Alek said, stretching out his hand to that boy. "I'm Aleksandar. You are?"

Deryn looked at the outstretched hand. Should I tell him I'm a girl or not? she thought. Surely I could have at least one other person who knows I'm a girl and not a boy. So Deryn shook the boy's hand and said, "Dy-Deryn. Deryn is my name."

"Deryn?" said Alek. "Isn't that a girl's name? Wait! You're a...?"

"Girl?" Deryn finished for him, smirking with her arms crossed. "Is it that hard to guess?"

"Well, yeah. You wear trousers and your hair is boy-short."

"Ha ha ha! Boys are so blind! You all the more!" Deryn snorted. "But you're not so bad, Aleksandar."

"You think so? And you can just call me Alek. It's easier to say than Aleksandar," said Alek. Then an idea occurred to him. "Do you think I can just go to your place this evening? I have somewhere I need to go to this afternoon, but I'm available this evening. And I would like to know you better. Is that okay?"

"You just became bad, Alek," Deryn cooed. "Are you trying to stalk me?"

Alek then realized how what he just said sounded, and he started blushing. "W-what?" he stammered. "No! I just want to know you better because I don't get why you're dressed up as a boy when you're so beautiful!" Alek quickly covered his mouth, wondering why he said that last word.

Deryn blushed as well, the smirk disappearing from her face. "B-beautiful?"

"N-never mind that!" It was Alek's turn to drop the subject, and he looked down to his formal boots.

As if by instinct, Deryn started to brush her hair nervously and muttered, "You're really weird, Alek. But I'll admit, you're quite cute as well." Alek looked up as Deryn sighed. "Well... You could visit later... I guess..."

"Really?" Alek asked, his hopes rising.

Deryn nodded. "Sure. But you'll have to come late since Adela doesn't like it when people suddenly come over." She paused. "I've been meaning to ask by the way, what's that thing on your shoulder?"

Alek turned to where Deryn was looking, and he saw Bovril on his shoulder. "Oh, Bovril? He's a perspicacious loris. It was a birthday gift to me from a fairy when I was born. But Bovril seems more like a curse than a gift."

"Perspicacious? That's beyond my English."

Alek laughed. "Mine as well."

"Not a curse!" said Bovril. "Gift!"

"Well isn't that cute," Deryn smiled. "Come here, Bovril." Bovril jumped off Alek's shoulder and started playing around with Deryn, repeating most of what she said and having a conversation with her. Alek couldn't help but stare at them in amusement, though he was staring at Deryn more-her eyes that looked like the ocean, her hair that looked like the sand on a white beach, the way her eyes twinkled like stars when she laughed-it was as if she was a reincarnation of nature.

Bovril jumped off of Deryn's shoulder and went back to Alek's, but the boy wouldn't stop staring at her. Deryn crossed her arms again and smirked. "Enough with the staring, good sir," she said. "Do me a favor and stop looking at me like that."

Alek snapped out of it and laughed uncomfortably. "So, what time may I go to your place later?"

"I'm thinking 9:30. How does 9:30 sound?"

"Great. How do I get to your house though?"

"It's a walking distance from this point. You go straight from here and you'll see the house after 5 minutes."

"Okay. I look forward to our 'date', Mr. Sharp."

"D-date?! Mr. Sharp?! It is NOT a date. It is simply a get-together, and since when did I become Mr. Sharp?"

"A get-together, late at night, in your house. Not a date. And you became Mr. Sharp the day you started cross-dressing." Alek pushed the walker out of the walker, pushed open the hatch and was about to climb in when he looked at Deryn and said, "It's been... stimulating."

Deryn started blurting out random words, then pointed at Alek and said, "We aren't done yet, mister! I expect you will be there at exactly 9:30, and when we see each other, we will have words."

Alek smiled. "I think I can live with that." He climbed in the walker, closed the hatch, and after a few minutes, the walker was walking away.

Deryn stared after the walker, a dreamy smile coming to her face. "Stimulating..."

"Agreed," came a voice.

"What the-?" Deryn looked down and saw that Alek left Bovril behind. She picked the beastie up. "How did you get here?! Good thing your owner is coming later. It looks like he dropped his curse."

"Not a curse!" Bovril snapped. "Gift!"

"Aye, I get it." The girl put Bovril on her shoulder. "Let's go home now, shall we?"

"A get-together, late at night, in your house. Not a date," Bovril repeated.

Deryn stared at the beastie, then understood. "BARKING SPIDERS!" she exclaimed. "What the hell did I get myself into?!" With that, Deryn ran home quickly, the loris chuckling on her shoulder.

Little did Deryn know, a messenger eagle was watching nearby, and it smiled evilly after hearing Alek and Deryn's conversation. As Deryn ran home, it flew quickly and landed on the chimney of the cottage. The eagle saw three ladies, the youngest trying to prepare a cake and the older ones trying to sew a dress.

"It's no use!" the youngest complained. "We'll need our magic items to make a cheesecake good enough for Deryn!"

"Well, at least this dress is turning out well," said the other one who was sewing the dress.

"What do you mean, Adela?!" complained the one being measured. "This will never fit Deryn! Lilit's right. We need to get our items."

With that, the one named Lilit pulled out a bomb and threw at the table. After the dust cleared, a beautiful cheesecake appeared. The one named Adela brought out a notepad, scribbled something, and a pretty dress appeared on the table. Then a knock came from outside.

"Dr. Barlow? Adela? Lilit?" Deryn called. After some seconds, she entered the house and was greeted by the three fairies.

"Happy birthday, Deryn!" they said in chorus.

Deryn pulled them into a group hug and said, "Thank you so much, guys! Man, I forgot I was turning sixteen today!"

Lilit handed Deryn the cheesecake, which already had a candle on it, and said, "Here! Blow the candle and make a wish."

Deryn paused, then blowed the candle. Everyone clapped. Then Lilit piped up again and said, "So, what did you wish for?"

Adela punched Lilit's shoulder. "She can't tell you, Lilit. It won't come true."

Deryn giggled. "Oh, it's all right. It will come true anyway."

"What did you wish for? Tell me!" said Lilit.

"I can't explain it properly," Deryn said. "But I happened to meet someone in the forrest, and we... clicked. Sort of. Well, he did call me beautiful..."

"You wished you could see him again?" said Dr. Barlow.

Deryn only nodded.

The three fairies sighed and huddled up. "Should we tell her already?" asked Adela. "She's sixteen after all."

Dr. Barlow replied, "We should. We are bringing Deryn back to the palace, right?"

Lilit nodded. "Sadly. Sixteen years flew by so fast." The fairies turned back to the girl, who had a big smile on her face.

"Deryn, we haven't exactly been honest with you..." Lilit began.

"Hm? What?"

"You had to dress as a boy for your whole life because..." Adela said.

"You are the princess of the Darwinist Kingdom," Dr. Barlow finished.

"W-what?!" Deryn couldn't believe it.

"You'll return to the palace today because you'll be married to the prince of the Clanker kingdom tomorrow," Lilit said.

"How can this be?" said Deryn. "I'm not meant for royalty, and I can't be a princess! And if we're leaving tonight, that means I won't be able to see Alek again..."

"I'm sorry, Deryn," said Adela, embracing the princess who was close to tears. "You can never see this 'Alek' boy again, plus you have to agree with your real parent's wishes. They agreed when you were born that you and that Prince should be married so Europe may have peace."

Deryn shoved Adela away roughly. "I don't barking care about the war, and I don't want to be a barking princess!" she declared. "I, most of all, don't want to marry a barking prince because my prince is ALEK!" With that, Deryn dropped her bag and ran to her room, leaving Lilit and Adela shocked.

But Dr. Barlow suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Adela asked.

Dr. Barlow snorted. "It really has happened, huh."

"What happened?" asked Lilit.

"The name of the Clanker prince is Aleksandar, and his nickname is Alek," Dr. Barlow replied.

"So?" said Lilit with a raised eyebrow.

"So, pop quiz. What is the name of Deryn's 'prince'?"

Adela raised her hand. "Ding-ding-ding. Alek."

"Correct," said Dr. Barlow. "So there is a high chance that the boy Deryn met in the forrest was actually the Clanker prince himself."

"But how will we know?" asked Lilit. Suddenly, Bovril crawled out of Deryn's bag, looked up to the three fairies, and said, "Guten tag."

Dr. Barlow pointed at Bovril. "That, Lilit, is how we'll know."

Adela gasped. "Isn't that...?"

"My gift to the prince when he was born?" Dr. Barlow finished. "Yes."

"So it has happened, huh," said Adela.

"I don't get it," said Lilit. "What happened?"

"Our Deryn doesn't know that the person she fell for will be the person she'll marry," Dr. Barlow explained. "I said 'happened' because the Clanker king said himself they would fall for each other once they meet."

"Barking destiny," said Bovril.

"Shouldn't we tell her, then?" asked Lilit. "Deryn has the right to know."

"Nah, let's just make it part of our surprise for her," said Adela.

"Adela? Lilit? Dr. Barlow?" Deryn called from the stairs, and the three fairies looked up to see Deryn's tear-streaked face. "I changed my mind. I'll marry the Clanker prince."

"What? Are you sure, Deryn?" asked Adela.

The princess nodded. "You taught me many times that I should put others before myself. Therefore, I'll push through with the marriage if it's good for others." With those words, she cried even more.

"It's all right, Deryn," reassured Lilit. "We know this is hard for you. But we'd like you to know that you made us proud, and you won't regret this!" Lilit winked at Adela and Dr. Barlow.

"Shall we go then?" asked Dr. Barlow.

"S-sure," said Deryn, wiping her tears. "I'll just go a decent dress."

"Dresss?" said Adela. "I thought you hate dresses."

"I need to look good in front of my parents," Deryn said, and went back to her room without another word.

Dr. Barlow sighed. "This is turning out to be harder than I thought."

The messenger eagle heard enough. With that, it spread its wings and flew to Nikola Tesla's tower to report everything it just heard.

The palace, though a place of luxury, seemed more like a prison now to Deryn.

Sure, it was nice seeing her parents after sixteen years, but there was a huge hole in her heart that seemed like it would never be filled. After sending her to her chambers to get ready, Deryn was alone again, and it was a good opportunity to cry again.

So she did.

After what seemed like hours of letting it out, Deryn saw a strange, green light coming from the fire place. She came closer, and saw that there were stairs in the fire place, so she climbed it. She finally reached a room, and inside was an old woman who was working on something with this weird contraption that had a huge wheel on it.

"What's that?" Deryn asked, pointing to it.

"Oh, this?" said the woman. "It's a spinning wheel. You use it to spin cloths. Want to try it? It's very easy to use." Little did Deryn know that the woman she was talking to was actually a minion of Tesla sent to get Deryn to prick her finger on it.

And Deryn did prick her finger on it, which is why when the three fairies came upstairs they saw her passed out on the floor. They took Deryn to her bedroom, lay her on the bed, and cast a sleeping spell on everyone in the kingdom so that if Deryn is awakened they will awake too.

"Wait!" said Adela after casting the spell. "Deryn can only wake up if her true love kisses her! We need to find Prince Alek!"

Alek was sick of everything.

He was sick of having an arranged marriage. He was sick of being told what he has to do. He was sick of having to be married since it's the Darwinist princess' bithday today and the wedding day is tomorrow. He was sick of the Clanker and Darwinist war. And most of all, he was sick of not being able to see Deryn.

It was weird really: he meets a girl who dresses up like a boy, and yet he automatically likes her. Even if she is a bit indecent and annoying. Alek was looking forward to seeing her again that he made it a point to get flowers for her, despite how cliché it sounded.

After putting his walker at the pond where they met, he took the five-minute walk to Deryn's cottage, which he saw in the distance, and knocked at the door when he arrived.

"Deryn?" he whispered. The door opened slightly, and Alek took that as a signal to go in. The cottage was pitch-black, and the door suddenly shut behind him. Alek turned to find Nikola Tesla.

"How delightful!" Tesla said, though he didn't sound so delightful. "I set up a trap for peasants, yet I catch a prince!"

Alek pulled out his fencing sword from his scabbard and pointe it at the evil guy. "Tesla!"

"Yes, yes. Everyone knows who I am," Tesla said with a wave of his hand. "And I know very well that you are Prince Aleksandar. You're the one Princess Deryn has affections for."

"P-princess Deryn? What do you mean by that?" Alek's sword point wavered.

"I mean, Deryn has been lying to you this whole time. Which is why she got the punishment she deserved." Tesla's hand moved over the nearby mirror, and it showed an image of Deryn being asleep in the palace. "She will remain sleeping forever unless her true love awakens her with a kiss, and since you're her true love, you could either give her that rightful punishment or save her."

Alek's grip tightened on the sword. "Then I choose to save her! I don't care if she lied to me all this time. I lied to her as well, saying I'm not the prince. And besides, now that you tell me she's the princess, you just saved Europe. Thank you very much and have a good day." Alek went to the door and was about to leave when suddenly he was stopped by Germans.

"You made your choice," Tesla said coldly. "And I must now use force."

Alek's vision became black, and the Germans took him away to Tesla's tower, laughing in glee.

Adela picked up the fencing sword from the floor, and sighed when she saw it had the mark of the Clankers on it. "We were too late," she said. "They got here before we did."

"Then we have no choice!" said Lilit, cracking her knuckles. "Let's head to Tesla's tower!"

"You say that as if it's just a vacation," Adela snapped. "We're walking straight into a trap you know!"

"Ladies, ladies," said Dr. Barlow. "Now's not the time for an argument. We need to rescue Prince Alek so we can rescue Deryn and save Europe! Who cares if it is Tesla's tower? We can make it if we believe, and we must not think of losing because it will make us lose!" She took a deep breath, then continued. "There. You brought out my diplomat side. Now will we go or not?"

Adela and Lilit looked at each other, and Lilit said, "The answer's quite obvious now, isn't it?"

The three fairies head out of the cottage and went to the west where Tesla's tower and newly built weapon, Goliath, lay. They made it through the first sets of guards in the tower, and made it to the deepest dungeon of Tesla after a while. They could hear he was talking to Alek.

"... I will destroy the Darwinist kingdom, using my weapon, Goliath. Everyone you love- your parents, your tutors, the princess most of all-will die. And you can't do anything to stop that from happening!"

They could hear Alek say something, but it was muffled by both Tesla's laughs and a cloth over his mouth probably. The door opened, and Tesla came outside laughing. He locked the door and left with the keys spinning on his index finger. After his laughs faded, the three fairies unlocked the door using one of Lilit's bombs.

"Good evening, your majesty," Dr. Barlow said politely. "We're here to rescue you."

Adela removed the cloth over the prince's mouth. Alek took a deep breath and said, "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Lilit," she replied. "The one in the lab coat is Dr. Barlow, and the one who removed your gag is Adela. We were Deryn's caretakers."

"Were," said Alek as Dr. Barlow removed his chains. "How can I be sure I can trust you?"

Adela threw a sleeping Bovril at Alek. "Here's your proof. Look, do you want to rescue your girlfriend or not?"

"Corrections," said Alek, handing Bovril back to Adela. "One, she is NOT my girlfriend. She's my fiancee. Two, I don't want to rescue her. I need to rescue her."

A huge "boom" sounded from upstairs, and Lilit turned to Alek. "Tesla's getting ready to use Goliath! You need to go now!" She handed the prince his fencing sword.

"I'll go. Give Bovril back to me when Deryn awakes." Alek said, putting his sword in its scabbard. "Now, which way do I go?"

"When you're at the bottom," said Dr. Barlow, "the only way to go is up."

Alek nodded, thanked the three quickly, and went to the highest point of Tesla's tower. The Germans who saw him escape tried to stop the prince but he beat them easily. Once a person is fueled up by love, he or she cannot be stopped. And Alek was fueled up, making his way as fast as he could up the tall tower.

After what seemed forever, Alek found himself in front of a door. He opened it slowly and saw Tesla at Goliath's controls. His walking stick was on the table, unguarded. The prince quietly entered, aiming to get the walking stick. It was just within his reach when Tesla suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Good evening, your highness," Tesla said. "May I know what the heck are you doing outside the dungeon?"

"That's not important," Alek said. "What's important is that if you don't want me to interfere, you should fight me and kill me off instead."

"That sounds divine," said Tesla. "I'd rather make you suffer, but this is probably the better way. I'll make you suffer through a fight."

Tesla's walking stick lit up with sparks of electricity, and he shot it at the prince. Alek's reflexes helped, and he automatically dodged the sparks. Tesla shot again and again, but Alek easily dodged. With that, Alek stood in front of Goliath's controls, and as Tesla shot him, he dodged, and the controls were fried. Tesla cried out, cursing. He dropped his walking stick, and tried to fix the controls. Alek seized the walking stick and pointed it at Tesla, whose back was turned.

"It's no use," Alek said. "Just surrender. The weapon can't work anymore."

"One thing you should know about me," Tesla murmured, "is that I always have back-up." Tesla pulled out a small remote with a button on it and pressed it. Alek heard Goliath charge up, and from the window sparks of electricity were released from the weapon.

"Ha ha ha!" Tesla said as Alek's grip tightened around the walking stick. "The Darwinist kingdom shall crumble! Nothing can stop me now!"

"One thing you should know about me," Alek murmured, "is that I am Nothing, so I can stop you now." The walking stick lit up with electricity, and it hit Tesla.

What happened next was pretty obvious. Tesla died. And Alek destroyed the remote, therefore shutting Goliath off forever.

The prince was climbing up the steps of the castle. He'd been in almost every room of the Darwinist king's palace before (long story), but he was now going to the room he'd never been to before.

Deryn's room. Because it was always locked.

The glow worms on the ceiling guided him on, but a weird feeling was invading him, like the waves washing up on the shore. He and Deryn just met a few hours a go, yet all of this happened; he fell in love. She felt the same way. She gets cursed to stay asleep until she is awakened by her true love. He gets kidnapped by a lunatic. He kills that lunatic.

And now he has to kiss her.

It all seemed cliché to him, as if someone had set all of this up. Probably it was his parents and Deryn's parents, or those three fairies from earlier. Maybe even that Tesla dude. But either way, Alek was reaching the grand finale of this story, and it was now up to him to end it.

He reached the end of the corridor, and in front of him was a wooden door. Alek didn't knock (no one would open it since the one inside was sleeping) and entered the room, which was slightly dark aside from the glow worm lamp on Deryn's side table. Alek approached the bed, and Deryn was asleep true enough.

Her sandy-colored hair was slightly longer now, but was still boy short. Sure, girls with hair that short seemed inappropriate, but it actually looked really good on her. She snored slightly, a sound which sounded like rippling water. He was definitely sure now that she was a reincarnation of nature. There was simply no one else he knew like her.

And he would give anything just to see those ocean-blue eyes again. He killed a person just so he could save her, and to save her he needs to kiss her.

So he did.

It was brief, lasting only seven seconds maybe. But something tight around the prince's heart loosened, something that had its grip ever since he met this girl.

Deryn's eyes opened, and she stared at Alek like the way a bulldog stares at the sun. "Alek? Is that you?" she said, sitting up. "Did you just...?"

"It's me, and yes. I did," Alek said sheepishly. "It was the only way you could wake up."

"Huh," said Deryn, then smirked. "I've been waiting for that. It was really overdue."

Alek laughed. "You think?"

Deryn nodded. "And I do believe another one is due."

They kissed again. And this kiss was longer, surpassing the five greatest kisses in the history of the Darwinist and Clanker kingdoms. The profoundness of their lips touching and their tongues clashing and Alek's hand cupping Deryn's cheek blotted out any thoughts of wrongdoing or responsibility.

They were kissing and kissing then it was suddenly over. They parted, and Deryn put her hand on Alek's chest. "I need to breathe, dummkopf," she said.

"Okay," said Alek. She took his hands, and they stared at each other. It seemed more intense than the kissing. A silence had settled over, and Alek broke it by saying, "You could have told me you were the Darwinist princess. That means we'll be married tomorrow."

"I didn't know until I got home," Deryn said. "And since you mentioned that, you could've told me you were the Clanker prince. That would've saved so much tears."

"I'm sorry then," said Alek. "But since we are pretty much getting hitched tomorrow, now that I know today's your birthday, I'll ask you two important questions. You need to answer truthfully. One: do you HONESTLY like me?"

"What kind of question is that?" Deryn snorted. "I don't like you. I love you!"

Alek sighed in relief. "I love you too, Deryn. Now, two: will you marry me? What our parents said shouldn't affect your answer."

"You're asking such stupid questions. Of course I'll marry you, dummkopf!"

Alek sighed again. "That's good to hear. We should go check on our parents now, shouldn't we? It will cause them less worry."

"Aye. We should."

Everyone was waking up around the Darwinist kingdom, but the first to wake up were King Artemis and King Franz. Before the sleeping spell was cast, King Franz was talking to King Artemis about Alek saying he was in love with a commoner.

"Oh, ah, forgive me, Franz, the wine..." said Artemis, waking up slowly as everyone nearby started to wake up. "Now, you were saying?"

King Franz stretched, yawned, and said, "My son, Aleksandar, said he was in love with-"

"Hark! Hark!" The Duke Eddie Malone called from his station, interrupting the Clanker king. "I present the prince of the Clankers and the princess of the Darwinists, Aleksandar and Deryn."

Just on cue, Alek and Deryn came downstairs, arm in arm. Huge smiles played on their lips, their faces somewhat flushed, and their was a gleam in their eyes as they looked at each other.

King Artemis caught their smiles. "Deryn!"

King Franz's eyes widened. "And Alek!"

The both of them kneeled down before the two kings, and Deryn hugged both her parents after. The princess also turned to greet King Franz and Queen Sophie, and she took Alek's hand. He guided her to the dance floor as the Clanker stared at them, confused.

"But a while a go Alek said he was in love with a commoner," said Franz to Sophie.

Sophie shrugged. "Maybe Alek thought Deryn was a commoner. It seems as if they know each other very well already."

The three fairies watched from the castle's balcony as the prince and the princess danced together. They had done their job well, and it was all thanks to Alek the princess was saved. A tear escaped Adela's eyes as she watched the happy couple.

"You okay?" said Bovril, who was now awake on Lilit's lap.

Adela sniffed. "I just love happy endings!"

"I guess that's one thing we have in common," said Dr. Barlow. "Aside from the fact that your taste in color is terrible." She waved her wand and changed Deryn's red dress to blue.

"What the...? You're the one with terrible taste! Red!" Adela wrote in on a paper, and Deryn's dress turned red.

But as the debate on what color Deryn's dress should be raged on, the couple danced happily on the dance floor, and they pretty much lived happily ever after.

THE END

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