CHAPTER ONE:

AMU POV

I am tired of idiots. Really. It's enough to deal with the idiots at school, on the road, and pretty much everywhere else in life. But family too?

"Amu, please, don't be like this. It's all in your best interests. If you do this, you won't be enslaved by your father and I's debt." My mom's rapidly-aging face was lined with wrinkles, a visual sign of all the stress she was dealing with.

Our family had recently fallen on hard times, and my parents were forced to take loans from some shady people. Debt collection was coming soon, and both my parents and I know that we are still not in the condition to pay them back.

The only other option left is me.

I am eighteen years old, and thus officially eligible to become the prince's, or Tadase Hoshina's, fiance'.

It is a tradition in the royal family that when an heir seeking the throne is old enough, he is to marry a commoner before assuming their role in power. I'm not sure why they do that, probably to make the people feel good that a common person was in power, and thus had their needs in mind. Or maybe it was just to feed the fantasies of all the young girls in this country. Who knew.

But as far as my family was concerned, this was where I came in.

"I don't want to marry a man I don't love!" I shouted at my mother, my anger breaking through my usually 'cool & spicy' facade.

My mom winced, and my dad stepped in between us. "Amu, calm down." He said, putting his hand on one of my shoulders. His eyes were red-rimmed; it looked like he had been crying. I felt a pull in my heart at that thought, but I quickly pushed it away. If he was upset about selling me off as a slave to the royal family, than he shouldn't do it in the first place. "We only want what's best for you."

Before I could retort that ridiculous statement, Ami, my little sister, piped up. "Onee-chan gets to marry a prince!" Ami was ten years old, and was completely oblivious to everything all the time. Her eyes were sparkling as she no doubt drifted off into her dreamworld where princes marry princesses and live happily ever after.

But this is reality, not Ami's dreamworld. And I'm no princess, and I know there will be no happily ever after in my book, chosen as Tadase's bride or not.

After arguing with my parents, I went up to my small room and thought about it. I realized there were only two ways for this to work out. The first being that if I get picked as the future queen, I can pay off my family's debts and help ease their situation, while I no doubt live miserably in a stiff-necked, restrictive royal household, married to a man I don't love. The second was that if I don't get picked, my family and I lose everything we own to try and pay off our debts, and we end up homeless. Ami gets taken away from us, and I'm forced to work what would probably feel like a million jobs, trying to get back on our feet.

So really, it's a lose-lose situation, as far as my happiness was concerned.

But I knew that I just had to suck it up and put my family's best interests first.

So I went to that stupid party.

The party was a few weeks later after our discussion, and in the meantime, there was obvious tension and discomfort in the family. Besides Ami's naivete, we all knew just how serious this party was to all of us. Our future was at stake.

The night of the party, my mom gave me one of her old ballgown dresses to wear, which was completely not my style. It was pink, lacy, and I didn't like the underwire thing you had to wear with it to make your dress poof out. It made me itch. It strangely matched my pink hair, however. And I knew it would go perfectly with the theme, 'Masquerade Ball'. It even came with it's own mask, which was pink and lacy like the dress.

All in all, it was completely un-Amu, but it wasn't like I could afford anything else.

"You look beautiful honey." My mother assured me as we stood in front of the full-length mirror in my tiny room. I stared at the pink, lacy beast that was staring back at me with obvious disgust on my face. It just wasn't me. I didn't know who it was.

"Remember," My mother said. "Act like a lady. Don't eat a lot, and for heaven's sake, don't chew your fingernails. Keep your hands down when you're eating, and keep your posture straight." My mom ranted on, but I tuned her out. I knew I had to make a good impression, but at this point in time, I just wanted to get the night over with.

"You'll knock him off his feet, I'm sure of it." My mom said, turning me around and hugging me suddenly after I had gotten completely ready and was now just waiting for dad to pull up in his car.

"Are you okay, mom?" I asked, noticing how suddenly emotional she was becoming. Why did this feel like a goodbye? My heart wrenched in my chest, and I forced myself not to cry.

"I'm fine, honey. Go knock him dead." She laughed, tickling my ears with the sound. "Of course, not literally though."

I smiled, giving her one last hug as dad pulled up. "I love you, mom." She hugged me back. "I love you too, sweetie."

I knew why she was getting emotional, after I thought about it for a moment. It was another stupid royal tradition: Once the bride was selected for the king-to-be, she didn't have any contact with her family til the day of the wedding. And who knew how long that would end up being? Even with modern technology, like e-mails and cell-phones, it was strictly prohibited to contact them. I think it had something to do with the fact that you were being integrated into the royal family, and you had to take a lot of lessons to be ready to rule as queen.

I don't know if I'd ever be ready for that.


When my dad dropped me off at the party, which was taking place inside the castle walls, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. It looked like it was touching the clouds in the sky with it's pointed towers. There was a certain ominous feeling that shot through me as I stared at the castle, not making a move to go into the party yet. It was like I really realized what was happening. If I was chosen, than I'd live here. If I was chosen, I wouldn't see my family for a long time. If I was chosen, I would be queen of this country. I couldn't breathe.

"Amu-chan?" I snapped out of my tiny panic-attack when I spotted my friend coming towards me from the party. "Is that you?"

I had forgotten to put the mask on, so I quickly put it on as I walked up to her. "Hai. How are you, Yaya-chan?" I smiled, happy to see at least someone familiar here. I had forgotten that most of the females of the country attended this event, who were old enough to at least. Remebering that left me with mixed emotions. There were so many people to choose from, what were the chances he would choose me? And if he didn't choose me, than I would be able to stay with my family. But if he didn't choose me, my family would suffer.

"Are you okay, Amu-chii?" Yaya-chan asked, her light brown eyes full of concern behind her yellow mask. Her ballgown was yellow as well, full of bows and sashes, suiting her vibrant personality well.

"Hai, I'm okay. Come on, let's go in." I hooked arms with her and we walked in together. The guards waved us off as we ascended the stone steps. Two massive wooden doors opened in front of us, revealing a ball-room right in front of us. The sounds of violins and various instruments hit my ears as we stepped inside, along with the various chatter going on among the women inside. Men were there, too. But most of them were related to the royal family or friends of them. Otherwise, it was like an estrogen hotspot.

My heels clicked noisily as we stepped onto the marble floors, passing white pillars as we moved past crowds of people into the center of the room, near the dancefloor. We stood on the outskirts as we watched people waltz.

There's another thing, I can't waltz for the life of me. And the one chosen has to waltz with the prince.

"Aww, Yaya wants to dance!" My friend whined, making a jealous face at all the people dancing already. "Do you see any free guys?" She asked, and I scanned the crowds. There were mostly women, and I couldn't even see the prince on the dancefloor. Had he not arrived yet? I wondered. "Sorry, I don't." I apologized, trying and failing to spot a male face in the crowd.

"Oh, Yaya thinks she sees one! Bye bye Amu-chii!" She waved, running off and disappearing into the crowd.

I stood on the outskirts of the crowd uncomfortably. I folded my arms together as I watched people. Everyone was wearing masks, some were typical, others were very unusual and vibrantly colored, or dressed with things such as peacock feathers. I couldn't recognize anyone's face, and I wondered if anyone would be able to recognize me behind my mask.

I sighed; this didn't seem to be playing out like I had expected. But what had I expected? Getting swept off my feet by the prince himself? With so many women to entertain, that thought was far from plausible.

"Excuse me," A deep voice interuppted me out of my thoughts, and I looked up in surprise. "But would you like to dance?" A tall man with dark blue hair had his hand extended towards me, a small smirk on his face. His mask was simply black, no other fancy things done to it. But he didn't need to; his dark blue eyes stood out like gems against the black. His suit was black with a white undershirt, and it looked good on him.

I blushed at this handsome man's offer. "S-sure." I took his hand and he led me out onto the dancefloor. For a moment, I'd forgotten the fact that I can't waltz.

"Uh," I stammered as he pulled me close to him in the waltz position. "I-I can't dance." I said in a low voice, looking away out of embarassment. What a horrible thing to have to admit.

"That's okay, just follow my lead." He said, his voice surprisingly close as he started to lead me forward.

I did as instructed, and followed his lead on the dancefloor. His manner was aloof, but strangely attentive. He was watching everyone and everything, while still being able to dance with skill and grace.

He noticed me staring, and smirked down at me. "Find something that's caught your eye?"

My face turned a dark red, and I instantly looked away, stumbling over my words to try and give an answer. "No, I, uh, well," I was fumbling with my words so much that I'd forgotten to concentrate on my dancing and stepped on his foot with my heel.

"Ow," He winced in pain, and I instantly started to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, I'm sorry. Is your foot okay? I'm so sorry." I ranted on, automatically moving to bow my head repeatedly, which was hard to do, considering we were still dancing.

He chuckled, sending my ramblings to a dead stop. I looked up at him to see him smiling down at me. "You're very interesting." He said, twirling me out on the dance floor. It was then I noticed that practically everyone was staring at us. A large crowd had gathered around the dancefloor, more than I'd ever seen before. "I guess they think so too." He remarked, a smirk back on his face as he pulled me close again.

We continued dancing for a few moments more, and I found myself enjoying it. My parents had tried multiple times to teach me how to dance, and to waltz specifically, because of this very night. I was never able to do it, I was always tripping over somebody's feet, or my own. Yet here I was, waltzing with a complete stranger. It was strange how well our bodies naturally synced together in time with the music, but I knew any supposed grace that I had was only because of his skill. But it still felt like it was only us, only the two of us on the dancefloor. The eyes that were staring at us were no longer important, or even there in my mind.

Than the song ended. As everyone burst into clapping, he still held me close to him. "W-what are you-" Before I had a chance to ask, he shushed me. His dark blue eyes were looking out into the distance above my head, and a smirk effortlessly graced his features.

"Looks like time's up." He said mysteriously, sending my mind into confusion. Time's up for what? The ball only just started, there was still a lot of time left. Unless the prince had already made his decision. My stomach twisted at the thought; here I was, completely distracted by a handsome stranger, so much so that I had forgotten that my mission here was, in fact, to be picked by the prince! Was it too late? Did he already choose?

The handsome stranger interuppted my thoughts abruptly with a soft, tender kiss on my hand. "Thank you, miss." His dark blue eyes stared up at me with a heart-pounding intensity, and I reminded myself to breathe. "And I'm sorry." I just barely heard him whisper under his breath, before he let me go and walked to the center of the dance floor.

Suddenly, guards flew past me as they ran towards him, their arms outstretched as he remained still, smirking wickedly at them, as if he knew they were coming.

"Party's over." He announced, loud for everyone to hear, as he chucked something in his hand to the ground.

A loud boom and a bright light filled the room, leaving me blinded for a long horrifying moment. My ears were ringing loudly, and I couldn't hear anything else beside it.

I stumbled backwards, hitting something soft and toppling onto the floor with it.


A/N - Hello peoples. :) I wrote this fanfic awhiiilee ago, but I figured I'd upload it here... :) I posted it on deviantart first, but then I took it off. And now it's here! I hope you enjoy it, and reviews are very welcome. They help motivate me~

Sneaky kitty.

-StormySea