THIS WAS WRITTEN FOR THE PURPOSE OF TELLING EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS FROM THE END OF WAR THAT I MADE UP TO CURRENT TIME IN STORY. REGINA IS THE HEIRESS OF A RICH ARISTOCRAT AND IS A FAIRYTALE PRINCESS OF SOME SORT. PLEASE KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR MARY SUE CHARACTERS AND ENJOY!
Regina looked out of the window from inside her luxury hover and sighed. Exactly why was she doing this again? She had every artificial genetic enhancement that would ever prove useful, her parents possessed the largest fortune in the history of mankind, and she could easily intimidate some of the earthen royalty. Why had she let herself be convinced to do this? And why hadn't she chosen any other of her more sensible options?
It was the best of days, it was the worst of days. There were so many events leading up to this, she could hardly count them with her genetically enhanced brain.
It had all started when she had woken up from her artificially induced hypersleep. And oh look, Levana's dead, this random Linh Cinder-Princess Selene-Cyborg thing she knew nothing about has overthrown her along with a shell and an earthen criminal and whatever, and now, Levana's crazy stepdaughter is about to be crowned queen, and her entire aristocratic bloodline is about to be history.
At first, she was furious. Her entire life was a blitz of lessons, genetic enhancements, careful planning on behalf of her parents, and even more lessons to prepare for what? An eventual ascent to the lunar throne, perhaps a position as Levana's heir, a marriage to another wealthy aristocrat. But now, all the effort, some on her behalf, some on the behalf of her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, all gone to waste. Because exactly how does one gain the favor of the new queen or power in her court? As far as she could see, Winter installed her close friends-and that lover, Jacin Clay or whatever his name was-In all the high positions of power. Rumor has it, Winter was even going to remove many of the lunar Court members.
All her life, the world was an Aristocracy somewhat controlled by the Queen. The aristocrats stayed in power through hard work, careful planning and personal sacrifice. Fall in love with a servant? Too bad, one of your family members will have him sent somewhere far away or even killed, before engaging you to the richest man they can find. No one killed him? HOW SCANDALOUS! So too bad, your entire family falls out of power, and the rest of the aristocrats have you murdered out of spite. Lucky enough not to have a drop of noble blood? Too bad, you aren't going anywhere near all our lovely power and riches.
But somehow, with the help of the shell and a small band of revolutionaries, Linh Cinder managed to catch Levana and torture her mind. Then the lupine soldier ripped her throat out.
Fast foward a month, it's princess Winter's coronation, for some reason, despite the fact that Princess Winter was of no royal or even noble blood, had no formal education or experience in politics, and was even slightly loopy from not using her glamour.
The coronation itself was a 'memorable occasion'. The aristocracy had been invited, as per lunar law, and all came. Usually, coronations were fancy celebrations where the aristocrats fought and jostled over the right to greet and congratulate the new monarch first, and all were merry and somewhat drunk. However, the first thing that happened during the coronation was for Winter to personally present Princess Selene, Carswell Thorne, the criminal, 'Wolf', the lupine soldier who abandoned the Lunar Queen's cause and would have been otherwise sentenced to death, Scarlet, the earthen who had been in Winter's menagerie (not that it was anywhere as exciting as Regina's own), and Crescent Moon, the shell as the wonderful heroic saviors of Luna.
The earthen criminal and the lupine soldier looked bored and uncomfortable in their fancy, starched suits, the earthen female ginger had been looking with disgust at-well, every lunar in the room-and the blonde shell looked plain nervous, smiled awkwardly and whispering something incoherent that was registered by Regina's artificially enhanced hearing as 'I am a famous actress. I am a famous actress. These people are my adoring fans. I am a famous actress."
For a moment, Regina's piercing gaze had softened with sympathy-but she pushed that feeling away almost immediately. Shells were disgusting,after all.
Now, the lunar court had very specific, sometimes odd, extremely strict rules of etiquette it was essential to follow. Winter had shown a complete disregard for three of them: Don't present any criminals or traitors under lunar law to an aristocrat unless it is to mock, judge, or humiliate them, don't present anything previously showcased in a menagerie as an equal or superior, and don't EVER expose well-bred aristocrats to something as lowly and absolutely disgusting as a shell! (That was quoting the code, by the way.)
To add insult to- well, more insult, the earthen referred to as Scarlet was wearing a tiara, an adornment reserved for 13 noble 'houses' of the lunar court during festivities and all manner of celebrations, rule number 59 in the code of etiquette. Not even Emperor Kaito's mother had dared to break that rule during Levana's coronation, and now this insignificant country bumpkin was? How dare they. Such unbelievable obstinacy.
Regina chuckled as she remembered hiding behind a potted plant with her bodyguard, Cassiopeia, and two third-cousins as they glamoured Wolf into dousing Scarlet with the contents of his champagne flute right before they were about to make out or something-stars, they were so indecent-and laughing at how Scarlet had hit him over the head with a silver tray she grabbed off the hands of a passing waiter.
"If I was him, I would have eaten her," whispered Kiara, the first third cousin, desperately trying to hide her smudged lipstick behind her designer purse.
"Do you want to make him do it?" whispered Regina back.
"That might be unsightly." commented Cassie, smirking at the thought.
"But it would be fun," squealed Kiara, clapping her hands in girlish glee.
The second cousin made an odd squeaking noise and ran off, fanning herself violently and bumping into a passing aristocrat.
"Let's not," whispered Cassie.
"But it would be so fun!" moaned Kiara.
"And your sister would faint. I vote nay." muttered Regina, handing Kiara a makeup wipe.
Of course, it was tradition for the matriarch of the highest ranking noble house to throw a welcome party for the new Queen, where only the elite were invited and excess abounded. So, as per usual, Regina's mother, Corliss nightingale, approached Winter with a forced smile and followed by all the other aristocratic matriarchs.
"Please accept my sincere congratulations, your illustrious majesty," cooed Corliss, dropping into a perfect curtsy, painfully free of etiquette breaches. "We'd be most honoured if you would accept an invitation to attend our humble festivities, at the Nightingale Manor, to celebrate your glorious ascent to the throne. My estate is your estate, and for you to make yourself welcome would bring me boundless joy, O righteous queen. "
(This was what was said every coronation, and was meant to be accepted.)
(Seriously, there is a specific measurement of time for each pause, and a many rules involving where emphasis could be put and where it could not, and none of those rules were violated.)
Winter frowned, confused. A nearby lady in peacock feathers moved in, whisper the expected answer, which was equally as complicated and precise as the invitation, but was simply brushed off. Scarlet stepped protectively in front of Winter, glaring contemptuously at Regina's mother.
Regina's non-existent hairs bristled. "Show some respect, peasant," she seethed, quietly enough so that no one noticed.
Scarlet lifted her head proudly and glared down even harder. "Winter will not be going to your party tonight." she snapped.
Corliss was taken aback. Her lips pressed together the slightest little bit, and the hints of a Botoxed frown was beginning to form on her alabaster brow. "No, madam, I beg your pardon, it would be my utmost pleasure-"
"She is not coming, none of us are coming, and that's final." snapped Scarlet, cutting her off, grabbing Winter's wrist and dragging her off.
That night, the party was much different from the usual. The aristocrats gathered around the massive ornate fireplace in the largest parlor in the Nightingale manor, having a polite accountable talk the way they learned during day-to-day tutoring classes on social etiquette.
"Could you imagine," complained Gaile Lyon, a perfumed middle aged heiress with an abusive use of blush, "Such lack of etiquette! I could not believe how we could ever accept a queen who doesn't enforce tradition and rankings."
"Presenting a previous menagerie showcase," gasped Loretta Gregoraci, one of Corliss's ladies of the bedchamber, practically convulsing. "I saw her there and take my word that she was lower than those idiotic tapirs next to her. And at the coronation, SHE WAS WEARING A TIARA! I simply cannot believe it. The insult!"
"It looked horrible on her too." commented Regina, voice showing the required hint of contempt.
A couple of nobles snickered. Gracefully, of course, etiquette rules really did control everything.
The next week, every member of the privy council and some of the royal advisors were stripped of their lands and titles, and banished in disgrace to a small colony on mars, with no formal explanation from the queen. An inexperienced court official who had been irrational enough to go after Winter with a Swiss army knife had been attacked by a Wolf,(furry mammal, not the lupine soldier), and one of his fingers was bitten off, before that guard Winter had an affair with choked him to death. Thaumaturge Aimery and a few others were dismissed, the way someone would fire incompetent kitchen maids instead of high-ranking army officials who had served the previous 2 monarchs well.
At her mother's request, Regina had hosted a massive memorial, and given a five-hour-long speech commemorating their achievements and service to luna, before hinting at how random and uncalled for the banishment seemed.
"These people have served Luna the best they can all their lives, and have brought us much glory and success. And how do we repay them? Banishment and disgrace. So farewell, loyal citizens of Luna, and I beg you to be aware that we as a nation are much obliged."
One memorial turned to two, one speech turned to ten, and pretty soon, Regina was indirectly becoming leader of a people on the brink of revolution.
Did she want Winter off the throne? Yes. Did she want to be able to pass laws without the senate and the supreme court's approval? Definately, the senate was full of imbeciles. Would her parents undoubtedly force her to? Of course, getting an heiress on the throne was more or less their mutual life goal. But a revolution? HELL NO!
It was common knowledge that revolutions were violent and horribly damaging to personal property. And we aren't sure whether it was inherited from the mother or the father or simply programmed genetically, Regina was overprotective of her material goods, estates, and that massive vault of gold, jewels, and liquid cash.
So, they did what they always did: they looked in the royal archive and found a few acts, laws, and bills that declared that the leader of the revolution should live for a week in the palace, interacting as he/she might to with close friend, with the Queen and her company, the following week the Queen and her company would live with the leader of the revolution, and everyone repeated this until they had wasted two months. At the end of the two months, the most radical leaders of the revolution and the people directly or indirectly wielding the most power got together and made some major compromises. The idea was that everyone knew each other better and became such good friends that they were no longer tempted to even bother fighting.
These laws came from an embarrassing era in lunar history when everyone worshiped the teachings of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
And of course, as the leader, Regina was everyone's first choice. Well, everyone except for Scarlet, who insisted that Regina would be stuck-up and bratty and spoiled-which wasn't that unreasonable, considering how much her mother tried to accomplish just that, insisting that the spoiled heiress was a sign of wealth-or try to murder them all in their sleep, but it wasn't like she would prefer any of the other options, and Queen Winter and Princess Selene and all those others had no preference.
Therefore, arrangements had been made, a hectic week of etiquette lessons and meetings discussing an ascent to the throne were edited into Regina's schedule, and at this moment, she was on her way to the lunar palace, where she would be staying with Queen Winter and that small, rag-tag group of rebels responsible for the overthrow of queen Levana.
"Well, well," muttered Regina as she dug around her purse, pulling out a diamond-studded pocket mirror. Flipping it open, she examined her complicated hair and make-up, putting every speck of glitter and every dab of color under scrutiny. Her reflection, of course, was nothing like the glamour she was wearing, as Regina had never considered herself beautiful, even with the help of plastic surgery and makeup and a five-person prep team.
Regina frowned. She hated the sight of her slightly-too-long nose, her slightly-too-high cheekbones, the tiny bump in her skin where the dermatologist had messed up on last month's hydraulic acid skin plumper. She hated how the sight of her face would never achieve perfection-never achieve the sheer beauty of Winter or the lunar beauty ideal or the femininity of her own mother.
But that could all be ignored and forgotten during the busy days, cursed only to return to plague her thoughts at night.
Seeing that the mascara on her left eye had slightly clumped, Regina frowned and pulled a make-up wipe out of her purse to remove the mascara. Of course, she ended up removing a large swatch of eyeshadow as well.
"Darn it," she hissed, fumbling through her purse for that-
The hover jerked to a sudden stop.
The a butler from the palace who had been sent to greet Regina opened the hover door and dropped into a bow.
Regina froze, stiffening into a straighter position, one hand still clutching the wipe, the other still shoved into the purse.
As the butler rose again to a standing position, he raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth jerking into the hints of a mocking smirk before it was quickly smothered. How the others would laugh when they heard how he had caught the heiress of Archduchess Corliss Nightingale with her appearance so flawed?
"My Ladyship," he began, "your presence is greatly-"
"Yes, thank you," Regina cut him off, cheeks flushing bright red, glamour instinctively correcting her imperfect appearance and pushing the memory of the incident out of the butler's thoughts. Her back straightened itself into the perfect posture, she held her head high, and she released the wipe, now stained black from mascara. "Please inform her majesty that I have arrived, and that I'll be with her shortly. Oh, and do have someone prepare red velvet gelato with gold leaf? I fear I am dreadfully hungry from the trip."
WTFH was that? Any feedback is appreciated, this might become a huge multi-chapter novel during the course of summer break, so follow, fave, and put this on alerts. I sneak Easter eggs and pop culture references whenever I can, so keep a lookout for those during the next few chapters. The second chapter is almost done. I am always ready to take constructive criticism and feedback, so send in those reviews!
Also, I think I we should do something of this sort: rate the story out of ten, type the number into the review box, and hit send. I'll get back to you if I can, but you can ignore me if you want.
Truly yours,
SiberianTiger. Sumo Sumo, out!