The Wonderful Stars Demise

By ANBU Squad Leader

(aka Queen of All Cosmos)

The Queen was sitting at the table, fiddling with her thumbs. Dressed in a pink satin gown, slippers in feet and glass of water near her, she waited. The royal clock illustrated its bright red digital numbers: 3:00 AM. He had been gone for very long, so long, too long. The King had left at 9:00 PM this evening to attend a party hosted by his father, most of his family was attending and the Queen had not bother to come because she did not have any babysitter for her son.

So here she was, fiddling with her thumbs, waiting for her husband. They had been married for two years now and whenever he got out somewhere, she worried, especially at parties.

"Oh darling, please come back to me safely… I feel a bad premonition…"

A few of her hair dislodged themselves from her pin, she brushed it back gently with her hand and looked at the glistening ring inserted in her finger. It was in the shape of a constellation attached all around her finger, her husband had called it the constellation of love. What imagination.

The door creaked, he had arrived.

She got up from her chair and headed toward the castle entrance past the guards. Her eyes filled with water at the sight of her husband.

There he was, in all of his "glory", his blue shirt had a disgusting patch of vomit and his pants were a bit ripped on the bottom. He had drank, he had broken a promise to his Queen.

"Hullo dear…" the King spoke as a burp escaped his lips.

"W…What happened darling?" the Queen asked while placing a hand on her mouth and nose to cover the stench of drunk ness.

"We partied… A lot…" the King smiled to his wife as he tiptoed toward her and as soon as he stood in front of her, ready to kiss the Queen, she reacted.

SLAP!!!!!

His cheek burned and pinched into a bright red as the Queen escaped a tiny scream. His hand directly massaged the part that hurted and he looked at the Queen.

"Why did you slap us?" he asked in a confused voice.

"Because you are not the man I married!" she begun crying and headed toward their room, but as soon as she crossed the hallway leading there, she looked outside the window.

Her eyes widened, her hand reached to her mouth to refrain the scream that was about to come out…

It was too late… It was too late…

It came out like a shooting star, the high pitch piercing throughout the castle. The Queen fainted on the floor under the dark night sky, starless.

Starless night sky…

Where are the stars?

The Prince woke up at the scream of his mother and got out of his bed, he hurried to the source where he had heard the noise. He found his father supported by two guards near his mother as well as two maids taking her to the Royal bedroom. The Prince approached his father and cocked his head in question.

"Dad, what is all this noise about?" he asked in a very tired voice.

"Nothing son, we think you should go back to bed. We will visit your quarters tomorrow and discuss about this." the King ordered.

"Ok dad, say good night to mom from me, good night." The prince bowed and headed slowly toward his bedroom.

The king sloppily walked toward his room, he suddenly started feeling an urge to puke.

Several hours later, they were both in bed. The King was snoring a bit while the Queen's pale face lay silently. The sun rose from the horizon and into the room came a nice morning light, illuminating the couple's face. The tiny Prince had woken up as soon as the sun had touched the horizon, he had ran happily toward his parent's bedroom because he wanted to sneak in for the last minutes they would remain asleep. It was a game for him, to sneak between the sleeping couple and make them realize that he existed, that he was the fruit of their love. As young as he seemed, he understood a lot.

The door squealed a little as the Prince entered the huge bedroom, he flew gently toward the bed and landed between his parents. With his tiny pillow in hand, he crawled under the covers and lay there observing one parent at a time.

The King's eyes were puffed up and huge black moon were strangely nested under them. He didn't smell good, he smelled something disgusting as well as sweat. The Prince was hoping that the maids would clean the bed sheet or his father as soon as they realized the stench he was generating.

The Queen, serene, pale, as usual, but something was different. He smelled maternal odors on her, but something else as well, he could not pinpoint exactly what it was.

He heard a noise coming out of his father's mouth, he had awoken. The King got up from his bed and headed toward the bathroom as quickly as he could almost tripping on a slipper on his way. The Prince looked worried, what was his dad's problem?

His mother opened her eyes and turned herself to notice her beautiful son. She took him in her arms and cuddled him like she would a plushy.

"MOM! Your choking me…" the little Prince exclaimed.

"How's my baby?" she asked while kissing his tiny forehead.

"I slept weirdly last night… I was worried about you, are you ok mommy?" the little Prince asked with a concerned face.

"Of course mommy is ok, she only fainted a little because she was tired…" the Queen lied.

As soon as she finished her sentence, the King came out of the bathroom and slipped under the blankets again barely noticing his poor little son and almost squishing him. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"You know, you are quite impolite babe, you should say good morning to your son!" the Queen reproached.

The King's eyes opened again as he looked to his tiny son, his huge fingers grabbing the poor Prince by the antenna and lifting him up in the sky over his face.

"We bid you morning little Prince" he spoke.

"Your breath stinks." the Prince replied.

"We beg your pardon?" the King asked.

"I'm going to be sick…" the Prince answered.

The King placed his son on his wife's breast and closed his eyes again, his head was pumping him a terrible headache and he didn't feel like arguing with his son. Today, he would have to face the Queen's anger.

What is a King to do when his wife is angry?

TBC…