Naoko: We decided to make another fairy tale!
Sakura: So, we decided on Sleeping Beauty!
Naoko: I was watching.... Sleeping Beauty one day when I came up with it!
Kuri-chan: What a concept!
Sakura: You're Meriwhether.
Kuri-chan: I'm what?
Naoko: points her pen at Kuri-chan MERIWHETHER!
Kuri-chan: sprouts wings Oy......
Naoko: Now, say the magic words!
Kuri-chan: They don't own it. At all. Thankfully.....
Once upon a time, in a country, on a continent on a planet far, far, away, there lived a King and Queen. They wanted a child very much, and tried to get one many, many, many times, even on top of the refrigerator. One day, after years of trying, the Queen, in a fit of despair, decided to take a walk through the nearby forest. In the middle of a random clearing, she saw two baskets. Curious, the Queen walked to them and saw two babies inside the baskets. They were twins, one with a mole under his right eye, the other with a mole under his left.
"What are you two doing here?" the Queen wondered out loud.
The baby with the mole under his left eye started to cry, and the one with the mole under his right simply smiled.
The Queen examined the surrounding area. "Where is your mother?" she asked them There was nothing else in the clearing except for grass and flowers. "Could....." she put a hand to her chest. "Could they be a gift?" She knelt down and plucked them out of their baskets. The baby with the mole under his right eye stared at the Queen, then reached up and tried to grab her nose. The Queen laughed delightedly. "I shall call you Vash," she said to the right-mole baby. "And you," she looked at the left-mole baby. It had stopped crying and was staring up at her. "You shall be called Millions." She got up and clutched the babies to her chest. "Thank you!" She whispered and turned her face to the sky.
In the castle, with the King
"Alex! Alex!" The Queen burst into the King's meeting room.
The King, who had been examining a few maps with his highest-ranking generals, turned around to see his wife rushing in. "What is it, Lady?" he asked, giving her a stern look.
The Queen, ignoring her mistake of addressing the King informally in company, held out the babies. "A gift!" she said. "They were a gift! I found them in the forest!"
The King was quiet for a moment, then reached out a shaking hand and touched Million's head gently. "A gift?" he murmured. He took Millions from the Queen. "Are you sure, Rem?" he asked.
The Queen started to cry. "Yes," she said. "There was no one else there." She hugged Vash.
The King laughed and hugged the Queen and the babies. "Have you named them?" he asked.
The Queen nodded. "Vash and Millions," she said, indicating the babies.
"Hello, Millions!" The King cried and tossed the baby he held up into the air.
"Don't!" The Queen cried. "You'll drop him!"
"Nonsense!" the King cried and tossed Millions up into the air again.
One of the generals stepped forward and bowed. "Congratulations, your Majesty," he said.
The other one walked forward and clapped the King on the shoulder. "Wonderful!" he cried.
The first general bowed again. "We shall leave you two to yourselves," he said. The two men exited the room.
The King and Queen looked at each other and smiled. "I'm so happy," the Queen said and hugged Vash.
A month later
The castle was filled with activity as the servants hurried to prepare for the official baptizing and naming ceremony.
"No, no, no!" the head servant bellowed to one of the maids as she put a decoration in the wrong place. "That goes over there!" he pointed to another location. The maid curtseyed and apologetically hurried to put it in the right place.
The Queen glided into the room to talk to the head servant. "Edward," she said. "I do want this place to look nice, but please, don't give my maids heart-attacks."
Edward bowed. "I apologize, your Highness.
The Queen nodded and looked around at the hall. Every dark corner had been lit with candles, and the castle witch had cast spells upon them so they glowed with different colors, some blue, others gold, and others black; the royal colors. There were ribbons hanging up on the walls, with bouquets at every point. Some of the arrangements were even floating in the air. The great hall, usually dreary, had a very festive air about it. "Perfect," she sighed.
A maid walked up to her. "Your Highness," she said. "It is time to dress."
The Queen nodded. She turned and walked out of the hallway, the maid following her.
A few hours later in a different place
"We're here!" a black-haired man bedecked in purple and yellow stated.
The man he was speaking to said nothing. He merely sniffed in distaste. "Imagine the King and Queen's surprise at seeing me," he said. He ran his fingers through his royal blue hair in an idle manner. "Just think of their excuse." He laughed darkly.
"Master Legato," the man in purple said. "Do you think it is a good idea to do this?"
Legato turned his head to his minion slowly. "Do you doubt me?" he asked.
The other man bowed hastily. "No, but is it wise to go against the Three Spirits?"
Legato sniffed. "Midvalley," he said, "You know as well as I do that the Three Spirits are all idiots."
"Wolfwood..."
"Wolfwood listens too much to Millie," Legato interrupted.
'Millie is wiser than she seems,' Midvalley thought.
Legato turned his head slowly again, this time in the direction of the nearby forest. "Hn..." he said. "They are coming..." He raised his arm and the two vanished.
"Why are we doing this?" a man's voice demanded followed by a crash.
"Because the King and Queen had some babies, silly!" a woman's voice answered.
"They didn't have any children," a voice stated. It sounded small, and almost like a purr. "They found two."
"I wonder where they got them," the woman comented.
There was another crash and a man with white robes and magnificent black wings tumbled out of the thicket onto the road. He picked himself up and dusted his robes, then wings off. "We should have flown," he grumbled.
A woman also in white robes stepped out. She had light blue wings interwoven with taupe and mauve. A cat with bright purple wings streaked out after her.
"We would have been seen by Legato," the cat remarked and started to clean its paws. It looked up at the woman. "Would you please turn my wings back to their original color?"
"Nope!" the woman said cheerfully. "You were being mean, Kuroneko." She waggled her finger at the cat.
"Aw, come on, Millie," the man with the black wings said. "Ya don' want us to look stupid, do ya?"
Millie twisted her mouth. "Well... alright," she said. She pulled a wand from her robes and waved it over the cat. Some silver dust flew out of it and settled onto Kuroneko's wings. When the dust faded away, the cat's wings were gray with white stripes.
"Thank you, Wolfwood," the cat said gratefully.
"Eh? No problem," Wolfwood said.
"Well, shall we fly now?" Millie asked.
"NOW it's ok?" Wolfwood demanded.
"We won't be seen here," Millie said. "The Queen puts spells for us to do this sort of thing in this area."
"Ya don't hear me complainin,'" Wolfwood said.
The three lifted off into the air.
Back at the castle
"It's time," the King whispered to the Queen and squeezed her hand. They were sitting on their thrones in the hall, looking out among their guests. Vash and Millions were at their feet in handmade cradles.
Trumpeters on the base of the dais brought their instruments up and sounded a short overture.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" a crier called out into the crowd. "You may start with the procession!"
Courtiers and nobles lined up and began to rain gifts upon the babies, from money and food to clothes and toys.
Wolfwood, Millie, and Kuroneko burst in through the door to the hall. Millie curtseyed. "Your Majesties, I apologize for our lateness," she said.
The King waved his hand. "Bah, no matter," the King said. "You got here."
"Shall we give our gifts?" Wolfwood asked. He pulled out his wand and twirled it idly.
Millie beamed. "Let's!"
The three approached the dais. Kuroneko had to hover several feet in the air to be able to see the babies properly.
"I want to go first!" Millie said. The other two Spirits nodded and she stepped forward. She pulled out her wand and waved it over the babies. "I grant you two true beauty, inside your mind and on your body."
The Queen beamed.
Wolfwood stepped forward and waved his wand over the two babies. "I grant you talent, intelligence, and the ability to adapt yourself to whatever you want to do." He said.
The door to the hall burst open again, and this time, a man strode through.
"Legato," the king hissed.
The Queen stood up, facing him. Her face was pale in anger and fear, but she made no move to leave.
Legato smirked. "I hope I haven't arrived too late for the festivities," he said. He looked around at the silent hall and his smile broadened. "Good," he said. "Everyone is here." He strode forward to the dais and looked at the Three Spirits. "Let me guess," he said. "You gave them happiness, prosperity, and general boringness, didn't you?"
Wolfwood glared at Legato darkly and Millie pulled out her wand.
"Ah, ah, ah, don't be so foolish," Legato said and waved his hand. Millie's wand flew out of her hand and clattered onto the floor.
The Queen spoke up. "What do you want, Legato? You were not invited."
"Oh, so that's it?" Legato asked lightly. "No excuses? No blaming? Just plain not invited? That's not nice at all! A queen should be more polite than that..." With the word 'that,' the Queen stiffened and cried out in pain.
"Stop it!" Millie and Wolfwood yelled together. Wolfwood pointed his wand at Legato, which resulted in a large blast, and the Queen collapsed. The King knelt by her and lifted her up. "Rem..." he murmured.
Legato smirked again. "I see you three have gotten stronger," he said to the Spirits. "So, I do not think I shall endanger myself anymore. As my gift to the King and Queen, I shall relieve them of one of their burdens..."
The Queen stirred and whispered, "My babies..."
Millions floated out of his crib and into Legato's arms. "Hm..." Legato said. "Knives sounds like a nice name."
Millions stared up at Legato's face and began to cry. Legato tutted and waved his hand over the baby's face. Millions immediately stopped crying and started to laugh.
"Millions!" The Queen screamed and launched herself at Legato, pointing a previously hidden wand at the blue haired man. "Let him go!" she demanded.
Legato smiled. "Even if I did, he wouldn't want you as his mother anymore. He loves me now."
The Queen drew herself up and tightened her grip on her wand. "Let him go," she repeated, her teeth clenched.
Legato's smile disappeared. "Hurt me and you will hurt the baby," he snapped.
The Queen lowered her wand and stared at Legato, her eyes with anger and hurt. "Why?" she whispered. "Why do you hurt people?"
"Because," Legato said. He waved his hand over Vash. "As a parting gift, I will give the other child something. On his 16th birthday, he will fall captive to my minions on a hunting trip and shall be mine." The man smiled again. "Good day..." he disappeared in a flash of light.
The Queen collapsed into an undignified heap and began to sob. The King hurried to her and knelt beside her, murmuring comforting words. The rest of the court was silent.
Kuroneko flew up. "I am terribly sorry, your Highness, your Majesty, but none of us can remove this curse. However, I can alter it, and I will. On the boy's 16th birthday, when he is captured, instead of falling slave to Legato's will, the whole country will fall asleep, including Legato and his minions, until the chosen one who can save us all will come."
A silvery dust surrounded Vash and settled on him.
Millie lowered her head. "We're so sorry."
Naoko: ;; It was so dramatic!
Sakura: I want to cry!
Kuri-chan: =-.-= I want to cry....
Naoko: But, you looked so cute!
Kuri-chan: I LOOK like I belong on Sailor Moon!
Sakura: The cats didn't have wings, though!
Kuri-chan: I look stupid, though!
Naoko: That you do, Kuri-chan. That you do.
Sakura: You're not supposed to say that!
Naoko: Why not? It's true!
Sakura: But, when we enter the fic, he will attack us!
Naoko: Self insertion fics? But, those are so gross!
Sakura: That's why were making one!
Naoko: ............... what about Meryl?
Sakura: What about her?
Naoko: -.-
Sakura: Settle down! We're just comic relief!
Naoko: Even worse.
Kuri-chan: laughs evilly