Disclaimer 1: "Gummi Bears" is property of the Walt Disney Company and its affiliates.
Disclaimer 2: "Hamlet" is property of William Shakespeare.
"Prince Hamlet and the Gummi Bears"
By TwilightSparkle3562
Chapter 1
"The King of Denmark is Dead"
It was another quiet night in the kingdom of Dunwyn in Southern England. The night watch was on their patrol and the citizens had long since retired for the night, with the intention of going to sleep. However, the silence was hastily broken by the sounds of rapid hoofbeats that pierced the silence and tranquility.
"Who goes there?" shouted a knight from the top of the tower to the stranger on horseback.
"I come from Elsinore with urgent news for King Gregor," responded the man. "Urgent news!"
"What kind of news?" questioned another knight, who had his reasons to be suspicious.
"News that I must share with his highness, King Gregor, you bloody fool!" he snapped. "What is the matter with thee? I come with urgent news and I must be allowed in to inform King Gregor! Please lower the drawbridge!"
Not wanting to upset the traveler further, the knights complied and lowered the drawbridge, allowing the messenger to come into the kingdom. Approaching the tower where King Gregor was sleeping, the traveler got off and began the climb up to King Gregor's quarters.
…
In his bedroom, King Gregor was fast asleep in his bed, having just completed another day of his reign over this small kingdom. However, his sleeping was interrupted by the sounds of a banging on his door. The loud banging caused him to fall out of his bed and be woken up.
"What the devil?" he muttered as he struggled to his feet. "Who in the name of God is…?"
"Your highness!" called the traveler from the other side. "Open the door! I bring you news from Elsinore!"
Still waking up, King Gregor got to his feet and walked over to the door of his bedroom, opening it to reveal the traveler on the other side.
"What is the news from Elsinore, young man?" asked King Gregor.
"It's your friend, our beloved King Hamlet," panted the traveler, handing him a scroll. "He is dead."
King Gregor opened the scroll and read what was written on the scroll. He stared at the scroll for several minutes and as he read it, the eyes in his face widened in disbelief and shock.
"How did he die?" asked King Gregor, his voice filled with shock and disbelief as he handed the traveler the scroll.
"I do not know, your highness," said the traveler. "But, I come on behalf of his wife, Queen Gertrude, who wishes me to tell you of what had happened. The funeral is in three days if you wish to attend."
King Gregor considered the matter and was beginning to wonder if he would even attend the funeral on time. The matter of him attending a close friend's funeral was at times, too much for the king to bear.
"You can tell Queen Gertrude and Prince Hamlet that my daughter, Princess Calla and I will leave tomorrow morning," he said after considering the matters that were presented in front of him. "King Hamlet was my friend and he will be greatly missed."
…
Acknowledging that he was in King Gregor's prescence, the traveler bowed to Gregor and left King Gregor alone to come to terms with the death of his close friend. However, King Gregor was not to be left along as the noise in his room had awakened his young daughter, Princess Calla.
"Father, what's going on?" asked the blonde-haired braided princess of Dunwyn Castle, clad in a pink robe worn over a sleeveless pink nightgown. "Who was that?"
"I have something to tell you, Calla," he said, looking over towards his only child with a crestfallen expression as she walked over to her father. "Our good friend, King Hamlet, is dead."
"How?" wondered Calla. "How did he die?"
"It wasn't said how," replied Gregor as he sat back down on the bed. "But, we are going to Denmark tomorrow for the funeral. We leave in the morning when the wind is on our side."
As her father spoke, Calla was beginning to have a suspicion that something was very much rotten. Calla had always been a very curious girl and it didn't matter if she was a princess who must have a dignity to uphold, in her mind, something wasn't right. But, there was only one way to find out what was really going on.
…
Calla remained at her father's side for a few more minutes before returning to her bedroom. However, the Princess of Dunwyn couldn't fall asleep right away as there was now something else in her mind that she needed to address.
"Sunni," she whispered to herself. "I was supposed to go fencing with her tomorrow. Perhaps I should at least tell her that I am going to be going to Denmark before we leave in the morning."
Peaking outside her bedroom to make sure that no guards were present, Calla hastily changed out of her pink nightgown and into her usual blue dress and white shirt. Once the coast was clear, she snuck through the secret passageway towards Gummi Glen.
"I know its early in the morning," Calla thought to herself as she got into a quick car bound for Gummi Glen. "But, at least Sunni will be awake."
Soon, Calla was on her way to Gummi Glen which was going through the final few hours of darkness before another day was to start. Once Calla had arrived at Gummi Glen, she found the doors leading to the main hall were locked.
"Sorry if I have to do this," Calla whispered remorsefully and she knocked on the door, trying to awaken any of the Gummies who were in an ear shot of the knocking. Calla knocked for a few more minutes and then, amazingly, the door opened to reveal a purple older looking gummi bear dressed in a purple tunic and red cape. "I'm sorry to come this early, Zummi. But, I need to tell Sunni that I have to leave for another kingdom tomorrow."
"Well, she is asleep," said the oldest male Gummi of the Glen Gummies. "But, if you like, I can wake her up for you."
"I can wait, but father says that we need to leave in the morning when the wind is at our side," replied Calla as Zummi let her inside the glen. No sooner did Calla enter the Glen's main hall did she start to notice that Zummi was also up. "Speaking of which, Zummi, why are you up so early yourself?"
"Because we had received a message last night from a small group of Gummi Bears," explained Zummi as he led Calla towards the Great Book of Gummi, the large book that held all of the Gummi's secrets. "Apparently, they come from a warren similar to ours and they were requesting that we'd join them to confront the kingdom of Elsinore."
Calla was now confused on the matter, since she was also bound for Elsinore as well.
"Why? What happened?" wondered Calla.
"Apparently, the Gummies of Denmark had been planning to seek revenge against the king of Elsinore for quite some time," answered Zummi, holding out the note that he had received. They are claiming that the war between Denmark and neighboring Norway had not only disturbed the peace, but also damaged their home to the point of them being exposed. We have discussed about it and we all came to an agreement to go and try to convince them not to carry out an attack."
"Well, you don't need to worry about the king of Denmark," sighed Calla, shrugging her shoulders as she spoke to Zummi. "Because he is dead."
"Oh, my stars! How did he die?" cried Zummi, his eyes widened with shock.
"I am not sure," said Calla. "However, I have my suspicions that this was no accident. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark. The King is dead and I am going to find out what has happened."
However, both Calla and the Gummi Bears of Gummi Glen had no idea of the drama that was about to unfold with time in the kingdom of Elsinore…
