This started off as a one-shot that was meant to be roughly 3000-3500 words but then I got carried away... really carried away... so carried away that it ended up being more than 4x the intended length, which is why I shall be posting it with more than 4x the intended chapters.

This story is also set in an AU where BBS didn't end in tragedy and exists in the same continuity as Paper Planes and Petals. Don't ask me for details about the AU, I didn't think about it too hard. I mostly just thought about how the characters would be different if BBS had been allowed to end happily and then fast-forwarded 10 years so that all the characters that I'm actually interested in shipping were already at a shippable age.

So disclaimer is that I don't own KH and this is for fun and also for my feels... hopefully for yours too. Review and tell me what you think... or you can wait until more actual content shows up, that's cool too.

The Succession Ball

Petals flitted on the breeze like snow as one more spring came closer to an end. The warm days wilted them but they left the air heady with their perfume like a fragrant swan song. A clock entwined within a tree ticked casually towards 4 o'clock. The clock tree, a strange and enigmatic thing, ticked the time away quietly like any clock, only with a fourth arm to count moons. It stood like a stern sentry, as if it could see more than what lay in front of it. Perhaps it watched the whole town from its giant reflection on the walls of castle or maybe it observed everyone through the faces of every clock in town. Kairi barely spared it a glance, finding more peace of mind watching the branches sway and the flowers flutter. He was late again.

Huffing and footsteps caught her ear and she turned around. She giggled at the older teen as he ran up to her like he was being blown in with a hurricane. He stopped in front of her and doubled over to catch his breath. No, Ienzo was not known for being punctual.

"I was starting to think it would be dark before you got here," she teased. "And you were even the one who called this date."

He stood up and smoothed his hair down. "I apologise absolutely sincerely," he replied guiltily. "I-I was on track when I got to the train station but I accidentally missed a stop and then…"

Kairi waved a hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter. Better late than never. So, is this a special date?"

"Special?" Ienzo said bemusedly.

"When you called you said that something important had come up and you needed to see me." She looked away sadly. "It's not bad, is it?"

Ienzo floundered uselessly at her downcast expression, fishing for a save. "What? N-no! Nothing bad happened, no, not at all. It's actually quite good. Very good, in fact."

He reached into one of the deep pockets of his lab coat (which he always wore, even when he wasn't in a lab) and presented her with a crisp envelope. Kairi's eyes widened. The envelope was made of a thick, dense paper with a shiny, marbled texture that felt like polished stone when she gingerly grasped it. On the front it simply had her name, carefully handwritten in elaborate cursive with shiny sapphire blue ink. She turned it over and the flap on the back was sealed with red wax stamped with the royal seal of Radiant Garden's current ruling family.

"I came to give you that," Ienzo continued when it was apparent that Kairi was going to continue to stare at it speechlessly. "It's an invitation. I would recommend that you open it in private and after you've read it remember to RSVP promptly, it's a… it's a very formal kind of thing."

Kairi nodded, looking the envelope over again to search for any clues as it what it was about. "Are you sure this isn't bad? Is Ansem the Wise sending me a reprimanding letter because he doesn't approve of a castle ward dating outside the aristocracy or something?"

"It's nothing of the sort," Ienzo assured her, a little bit exasperatedly but he understood her concern. She'd never met the king after all. "If Ansem wanted to reprimand you the court would mail you a summons and he'd do it in person."

Kairi flinched at the mere suggestion. She placed the invitation in her handbag very carefully so that it wouldn't crease and zipping it up tightly lest anyone even suspect that she was carrying something that might be extremely important. She linked arms with Ienzo and smiled.

"Thanks," she said and Ienzo couldn't help smiling in return, if only because she was being a bit too wary over her letter. "Well, it would be a total waste of a day if we didn't do something, right?"

"The day's almost over already," he pointed out.

"But we've both come all the way out here so we may as well make a proper date of it." She dragged him off to see more of the park.

Following the recommendation (perhaps a bit too zealously, once again), Kairi waited until late that night to open the envelope. Her curtains were closed and she was already dressed for bed, her parents were still pottering around downstairs, her grandmother asleep, and the only light on in her room was her lamp. She bounced onto her bed excitedly, fingers nervously teasing under the flap until the wax seal peeled off. The paper inside was just as rich in quality as the envelope but in a contrasting feathery texture, light, and thin enough to split a hair. Kairi unfolded the thirds to read the invite, written in that extremely careful cursive again, this time in black ink:

The Royal Court of Radiant Garden

His Majesty King Ansem
requests your attendance at the Royal Succession Ball
in honour of his ward,
Ienzo the Percipient

Kairi abruptly stopped reading at that point and almost dropped the invite in shock. Ienzo was rather secretive by nature and tactical about who he shared information with and when. One day she had surreptitiously followed him home only to discover something so alarming that she jumped out of hiding right at the last moment to demand an explanation. Ienzo calmly told her that he was merely a ward of the castle. It was often too much of a hassle trying to chase down a number of individual people to get the full story of anything he said, so she let it alone at that. However, this invitation seemed to be implying that he wasn't just a ward of the castle, he was the ward of Ansem the Wise.

"Oh my gosh…" she breathed. "Ienzo is the prince… I've been dating the prince…"

And in only a few short weeks, the prince would be formally named the heir.

Of all the nights that it had to rain, the night of the ball was perhaps the worst. It was early summer but the sky had been darkened by clouds at 3 o'clock and they had let loose at about six-thirty, just before the event was to start. It was too dark to see the clouds but Kairi grimaced at the sight of the rain on her mother's car window. The invitation's requirements had been quite difficult to fill: a white tie event with a plus-one. Not that the plus-one was hard (neither of Kairi's parents or her grandmother expressed particular interest in going to the ball, so she had recruited her school friend, Marli, who had been over the moon at the mere prospect of going to such a high society party) but finding white tie calibre dresses for two girls was excruciating. Kairi didn't even know what it meant until she'd looked it up. Luckily, Kairi's grandmother was able to save the day. The old woman knew a few things from the days when these sorts of things were more common (and she had once dated a marquis. Kairi could hardly fathom that). She knew what to buy and where to look for it and most importantly how to wear it. But at this rate, all of their work preparing for this night was going to be washed out by the rain.

"Oh, don't sit there looking dismal about it," her mother said in a sternly encouraging manner. She drove into the grand front gates of the castle, parking at the curb. Kairi gulped when she realised that ahead of them were several fancy cars, vintage vehicles and even coaches. Coaches driven by horses with ribbon braided into their manes and tails and gold or silver embellishments on their harnesses. Kairi's mother looked over her shoulder to the girl in the back seat. "Marli, have a look in the boot, there might be some long cloaks there, or maybe some umbrellas. If you girls gather up your skirts and make a run for it I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Found them!" Marli chirped, lifting the cloaks over the backseat and unfolding them. "They even have hoods! Kairi, this is going to be fun. We can walk up there like the mysterious visitors, you know, that one guest – or two – who waltzes in, nobody knows who invited them or who they are but it's the mystique that captures everyone's attention and imagination." She waved the heavy fabric around herself and over her face as she spun her fantasy.

Kairi giggled at her friend's antics. "We're not fashionably late enough for that."

"Well, hurry up!" her mother admonished. "Before the rain gets heavier."

Neither girl wanted to see if the rain would get any heavier. They wrapped themselves up as much as they could while in the car. Before Kairi could open her door and make a dash for it, her mother reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. She smiled at her daughter with the kind of parental pride that was always there but swelled enormously at any of their child's special occasions. She gave Kairi a motherly goodbye kiss on the cheek.

"Kairi, you look so beautiful tonight," she sighed. "Have a wonderful time. I'll pick you girls up at ten."

"Can you make it eleven?" Marli begged.

"Yeah, please?" Kairi added.

"Alright, eleven. Now off you go."

The two girls flung their doors open and slammed them shut, making sure the hoods were up and the hems covered their dresses as they hurried alongside the garden hedges. Thankfully, the large portico at the top of the stairs provided much needed shelter. Kairi and Marli sighed in relief and lowered their hoods. At the bottom of a secondary flight of stairs leading up to the main doors proper was a desk laid with a red, velvet cloth and a stunning bouquet of blue and purple flowers. Guards were stationed at the foot of the stairs and at the doors, off to the side and sinking into the shadows with their grey uniforms. The one nearest levelled them with a suspecting glance. The girls instinctively huddled closer together at the intimidating scrutiny and the guard apparently decided their mousiness posed no threat because he looked away, returning to a more general survey.

Kairi and Marli looked around bemusedly for a moment when suddenly there was a commotion at the bottom of the stairs. Cars and carriages alike were being told to move by footmen in exquisite gilded livery, making space in the coveted place right in front of the main stairs. A spherical coach rounded the fountain pool, drawn by four white horses. The entire ensemble was glittery and golden, even in the rainy night. It parked in the vacated space and the doormen rushed to get the doors.

The first person to get out didn't look like anyone special, just a plain woman with straight brown hair, curled at the ends, in a simple green gown. She stepped aside and did some remarkable magic that made Kairi and Marli gawk in awe; a blue glow appeared over the carriage and the rain streamed over it like it was a barrier. The water on the ground suddenly leaped and rolled like a tidal wave, splashing the woman's elegant dress. It fizzled and splashed, unable to flood back as if a completely water-free zone had been established. However, the brown-haired woman was not under its protection.

An olive-skinned girl stepped out, her jewelled heels going out first like a grand gesture and stamping on the coach stair. Her great ball gown blossomed around her like a rose as she stepped onto the ground – a strapless, red dress with many layers of fabric, jewels inlaid on the hems and a bodice so tight and low that her enormous bosom looked like it was about to fall out. She strutted up the stairs like the guest of honour, keeping her prettily powdered face averted from those she deemed unworthy to look upon it with the help of her lacy fan. The woman in the green dress followed her dutifully. At the top of the stairs she stopped under the protection of the portico and shot Kairi and Marli a dirty look.

"Excuse me, girls, if you're not in a hurry would you kindly step aside?" she asked, polite in all but her tone, which was positively toxic.

"Oh, please don't let us stop you," Kairi replied nervously, even as Marli was giving that woman a defiant glare. Kairi grabbed her hand through the cloak and took a couple of steps back.

"No, further," the girl snapped. "If you keep standing in my way like that your cloaks will make my beautiful dress all wet. Go on. Get back."

She gestured at them with her red gloved hands like she was shooing away an annoying little beast. Now even Kairi was looking at her sourly as they backed away. She flounced past, her attendant's magic turning the floor around her completely hydrophobic. The drops left on the carpet leading up to the front of house practically bounced away. She approached the desk and folded her fan into the palm of her right hand with a sharp snap.

"Lani Treasure Leena von Garndartz," she proclaimed in a voice so loud that it was probably possible for people already inside to hear her.

"Yes, of course," the man at the desk said pleasantly, standing in her presence. She smirked and her shoulders shimmied proudly. "Your footman announced you well ahead of time. Welcome and do enjoy yourself tonight."

She tittered daintily and bounced up the rest of the steps, turning around only briefly to speak to her attendant (more like screech, that's how loud she was): "Oh, Alma, don't follow yet. I said you'd get all wet and dirty, didn't I? That's why I told you to wear that ugly thing."

The woman called Alma put the magic barrier down. Her dress was damp all over and the skirt was especially drenched and muddy from her own spell's splashback. Kairi gazed at her in sympathy, her nice hair was now bedraggled and her make-up was washing off. That dress wasn't even ugly either; it was a flattering shade of light green and even had a train. Lani snapped her fingers and one of her own footmen rushed to obey, bowing to her at respectable distance.

"You, go to the carriage and get Alma's other dress out of the trunk. Make sure it doesn't get wet!" The footman bowed a second time and left to do as he was ordered. "Is there someone around here who can show her to a place to change?"

Ignoring her shrill voice was difficult but Kairi and Marli decided to do just that. They approached the desk, shrinking a little bit when the man's gaze – despite being friendly when addressing Lani – turned hard upon seeing them.

"Yes, girls, what may I do for you?" he asked in a clipped, no-nonsense tone.

"Isn't it obvious?" Marli blurted out.

"We're here for the ball," Kairi added quickly, cutting in front of Marli so that she wouldn't say anything more. The man was already frowning at them. Kairi took the envelope out of her white clutch purse and handed it to him. "I'm Kairi and this is my plus-one, Marli. It does say on the invite that I can bring her."

The man opened the envelope and read the invitation with intense scrutiny. "Middlepoint?" he inquired and Kairi blushed at her embarrassingly peasant surname. "The privilege of bringing a plus-one is only extended to particular guests on the list. How did you acquire this invitation?"

"She was personally invited!" Marli suddenly burst out again. "A friend in the castle gave it to her. We just did what the invitation said and it's a legit invite, isn't it, Kairi?"

"Yeah, it is," Kairi agreed. Ienzo wouldn't have personally given her an invalid invite.

The man narrowed his eyes at them and folded Kairi's invitation back into its envelope to hand back to her. He checked the leather-bound book on the table in front of him, flipping through the pages of the guest list, examining each name under M.

"You're on the list," he said, with an air of disappointment. "And the conditions are as stated on your invitation. Welcome to the castle. Enjoy your night."

Kairi tucked her letter away and she and Marli dashed around the front of house and up the stairs to the front doors, eager to get away from his patronising stare. The doormen opened the front doors for them and the two girls sucked in an awestruck breath.

Whatever the entrance hall was made of, it might as well have been made of solid gold. The lights in the room gave the whole place a gilded ambience. A butler gave Kairi a tag and offered to take their cloaks. They shrugged the drab, old garments off, finally able to show off their outfits in their full glory. Kairi's one-shouldered, pearl pink dress with a long scarf over the strap took on a pearlescent quality she hadn't realised it had before seeing it in the opulent light. The little sequins along the waist and bust shone like little stars. Next to her, Marli's halter neck, teal dress complemented her dark skin harmoniously, along with the shawl that went with it. Her hair was tight in that tall bun so that it was out of the way of her dangling earrings, a set with her necklace and watch. Kairi didn't even have any holes for earrings, the only jewellery she ever thought she needed was her moonstone necklace. Not to mention her layered hair didn't even fit into a neat sort of bun so she had to settle with having it twisted at the nape of her neck.

"Wow, we're in an actual castle," Marli squealed under her breath. "Just look at that. A real crystal chandelier. And this carpet is the best thing I've ever felt under my feet." She looked down at the plush carpet, running from the front doors and up another staircase at the end of the hall. After that were the tall, open doors of the ballroom. "Give me a moment to enjoy this before my stilettos kill my feet."

Kairi could testify to that, having reluctantly strapped on her mother's nicest pair of stilettos.

"Excuse me!" an already familiar shrill boomed at them from behind. They both whipped around in surprise. It was Lani again. She was still in the hall and now Alma was following her in a different dress. It was a dark green strapless gown with a picked-up skirt and sequinned trim, still just as lovely as the first one she was wearing. "How is it that I've been impeded by you twice in ten minutes? Don't you have anything better to do than get in other people's way? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"We were invited here just as much as you were," Kairi retorted before she could hold back her tongue. "Who do you think you are?"

Lani gasped, scandalised. "I am the heir to a long line of famous adventurers, mercenaries and treasure hunters, trained accordingly, as per tradition. I am the most beautiful hunter the world has ever seen." She swished her skirts and sniffed derisively. "On second thought, I don't really care for who you are. You're obviously rabble."

"Rabble!" Marli fumed.

"Obviously?" Kairi wondered nervously.

"Of course it's obvious." Lani rolled her eyes. "Those dresses are bottom of the line. Those sequins probably aren't even made of real crystal. You've got the fashion sense of a commoner too. A redhead in a pink dress? What a faux pas! And with that lipstick? They may both be pink but the shades clash."

"Whatever. Kairi looks hot tonight, in my opinion," Marli replied sharply. "We don't need your lame advice."

"Why are you even here? How do you expect to get anyone's attention in such awful getups as those?"

"Whose attention are we trying to get?" Kairi asked, genuinely confused.

"Are you saying you don't know?" Lani gasped. Then she giggled like a love-struck schoolgirl and hid most of her face behind her fan. "Why, the prince, of course. It's a long-standing tradition of the Succession Ball. The prince can only be declared the heir once the current king deems him ready for the position of ruler, that includes being ready to marry. If he's already been betrothed, then the ball is also the event when the formal announcement is made, although in this age of communication we would have heard of an engagement long before this little shindig. But if he hasn't a future a bride, then all ladies of high standing get a personal introduction to him and if he takes a shine to someone… well, we might spend a lot of time together and get to know each other."

Her shoulders did that excited shimmy again. While she was still lost in her daydream, Alma sidled up to the two girls and said quietly but genuinely politely: "Before she gets her wits about her again, would you two please step aside? She won't let it go otherwise and as you've seen, she's a bit of a pain."

She smiled apologetically. Marli huffed but they both stepped off the carpet. Lani pranced off towards the ballroom, giggling and fanning herself. As she passed, Alma gave the girls one more glance and a relieved thank-you.

Kairi's fair skin had gone paler, especially her face. The situation she found herself in suddenly became questionable. Why exactly did Ienzo hand her an invite in the first place, let alone personally? Was he secretly engaged? Was he only planning to tell her that here, in front of an audience? Or maybe he was rejecting his betrothed in favour of her. Or maybe he was rejecting her. Or perhaps this was actually Ienzo's idea of a game: pit yourself against the other girls who are actually worthy of royal attention and see how you stack up. Kairi's arms were deadweight pulling at her shoulders as her body trembled.

"Come on, Kairi," Marli said, taking her by the hand and leading her back onto the carpet. "Let's just go and have fun. And then you can introduce me to this very well-connected friend of yours in the castle."

"Yeah…" Kairi said in a small voice that made Marli turn to her with concern. "I'll introduce you as soon as I find him…"

She gathered her strength and walked onwards to the ball.