Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom on a small island off the east coast of Asia, there was a young and beautiful princess named Massao. She had short brown/black hair that almost came down to her shoulders. the strands of hair in the front longer than in the back. Her eyes were big and brown with flecks of honey gold. Her skin was very pale, as white as snow, and maimed with scars that she had received in battles. She was a bit small for her age, which was 17. Her parents had died when she was 11, leaving her to rule the kingdom at a very young age. She had some caretakers, and they loved her like she was their child, and she loved them like they were family. She also had friends that took care of her, so it wasnt all that bad. Everyone in the village loved her because she always helped them in times of need. She loved to play with all the children in the village, and help the farm workers with their animals. She had a way of communicating with animals and they all did what they were told; she even had some pets of her own.
Unfortunately, there were more pressing matters at hand. Massao was about to turn 18, which meant she needed to find a prince to marry. The bad thing was, her kingdom was far away from most of the other kingdoms. It was rare for a person to come to the village where she lived, let alone a prince. Her assistant, Arthur Kirkland, had sent out messengers to the closest kingdoms to try and find an available prince, but there had been no luck yet. Out of the 15 messengers that had been sent out, 9 had returned with no news of an available prince.
The princess had been writing in her diary when her assistant burst into her room. "Your Majesty! The lookout has reported that three of our soldiers have returned! He says that one of them has news of a prince!" The princess ran and put on some of her worn-out sandals and ran limply after her best assistant. "Are you okay Miss Massao?" asked her assistant, worried for his leader and friend. The princess had been a sickly child and never was in the best of health. "I'm fine Arthur, and you dont have to be so formal, remember?" she said softly. He had been one of her caretakers when she was little and used to read her bedtime stories. That and the fact that she's the only one who can see his magical illusions. The faeries were at her side, in fact, helping to steady the girl. She nodded her thanks at them, and then resumed running.
When they approached the soldiers, you could see they were worn out. When they arrived, the soldiers kneeled and she bowed in return. The one in the middle, who also happened to be one of the head soldiers, was the first to speak up. "M'lady, I have brought news of an eager prince from the north. We took the boat and sailed across the ocean to the mainland. Up north, we found a prince eager for a princess, who seemed elated when we told him about you. He wants to meet you immediately. But, there was something off about him, he seemed as though he might be dangerous. I don't know if he would be an appropriate choice for a princess like you." he said with a sigh.
The princess trusted the soldier's opinion, since he was usually right about these things. He was very kind, but he flirted. A lot. With men and women. But he was respected and not a force to be reckoned with during a battle. He kissed the princess's hand as a kind gesture and looked at her with his blue eyes. "But the decision is yours princess~" he said, trying to charm the young woman. Her assistant came to her aid. "You bloody frog, stop hitting on the princess, she's too innocent for that!" he yelled while promptly smacking him upside the head.
"Oh Arthur, he was just being kind." she said. "Thank you for your bravery, Francis." she said, and gave him a small peck on his cheek as a sign of gratitude. This caused him to smile happily. "I am hounored to be able to get a kiss from you, your majesty." he said, bowing. "So will you go and meet the prince,you hi- i mean, Massao?" asked her assistant. The princess was silent for a few moments. "I don't think it would hurt to meet him, since he may be the only prince we find." she said. "Very well, I will arrange a ship to take you to the mainland." said Arthur. "Pack your bags for a 3-day journey. And pack warm clothes, it's only fall and the weather there is worse than it is here." advised the head soldier. "And get ready quickly, the ship will be ready by dusk tomorrow." added Arthur, giving the instructions to a soldier on hand, who ran off to request the ship. "I've already told your caretaker Emil; he'll help you get ready." he said a few moments later.
She sprinted back to her room to find Emil lighting the lanterns so as to see in the quickly approaching darkness. She saw his bird, , sitting on her bedpost. "Hey there, princess~" said the bird. "Why, hello there ! Nice to see you again."she said, petting the bird. "And hello to you too, Papa Emil." she added, turning around and giving him a hug. It had been a while since she had seen him. She loved looking at his silver hair in the light. His hair was so cool, in her mind, and had cool indigo/purple eyes to match. "It's nice to see you too, it's been a while hasn't it?" he said, smiling and ruffling her hair. "It sure has. So will you help me pack for my trip?" "Of course, that's what I'm here for! Do I pack warm weather clothes, or cold weather clothes?" "Cold weather, I'm heading north on the mainland."
The small talk continued until they had finished packing the necessities. Then Emil surprised her by giving her a hug since he usually wasn't one to give hugs. "You'll be careful for me won't you? You won't let that prince do anything to you or force you to marry him, right? You'll be strong for your family back home?" he asked, getting a bit emotional since he, like all the other caretakers, had watched her grow up. "Of course Papa Emil. You'll tell everyone that I love them?" "Definitely." he said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"I have to go now, damn Lukas and his shit head friend Mathias are waiting for me back home." he griped. "Watch what you say, or your bird is going to start catching on." she said motioning to his pet, who cocked his head to the side, wondering what they were talking about. "Heheh, guess you're right. Well, I'll be there to see you off tomorrow, so see you tomorrow." he said as he picked up his bird and left. The princess sat on the bed and sighed, hoping that it'll all go fine.
She woke up the next morning to find that Arthur was knocking on her door. "Misstr-Massao! We're almost ready to go! Are you awake?" he shouted through the door. "I am now." she replied weakly. "Oh, sorry! I just suspected that you were already awake. Do you need any help getting ready?" he said. "No, I'm fine, but could you send someone in five minutes to help me with my bags?" "Of course." he replied, then left. She quickly put on one of her nicest dresses and fixed her hair. Shortly after she finished, there was a knock at her door. "Come in!" she shouted. Berwald walked in slowly. "You said you needed help with your bags?" he asked. "Yea, thanks Papa Berwald." she said and smiled at another one of her caretakers. He nodded and slightly returned the smile. He picked up the two big bags as though they were nothing more than feathers and carried them outside, where they were put on the backs of horses.
"Here's your horse, M'lady." said Francis, leading her favorite horse over to her. It was so black, it was blue, and had a silver streak running from its tail to its forhead, where it made a shape like an arrow; it also had bright, sky-blue eyes. "Hi there Archer, how are you, boy?"she said calmly as she rubbed his head. He whinnied his reply and nodded. She hopped on the special saddle that had been made for her and stroked his mane.
The princess saw that Francis was about to hop on a horse and go with them, so she rode over to him. "What do you think you're doing Francis?" she asked, smiling. He looked at her as if to say 'What the Hell does it look like I'm doing?'. "I'm coming with you to the mainland to prote-" "That won't be necessary . We have plenty soldiers and you need to regain your energy. I want you to stay here and watch over the kingdom, okay?" she asked nicely. Francis sighed. "Okay then, M'lady, I guess I'll stay home with my little Iggy." "Watch it you bloody frog." said an embarrassed Arthur. "And don't bloody call me that." "Aww, but why not Angleterre?" "Because it's not my name! Now leave me the bloody hell alone will you? I have to speak with the princess." he huffed and walked up to the princess and her horse. "You know, I could just summon a Pegasus for you instead. It'd be quicker than just riding there on horse back." he said, stroking the horse's neck. "Archer will do the job just fine, Arthur." she said, patting the saddle. "Okay then. If a soldier comes back with news of a prince, I'll make sure you find out one way or another. Just in case this prince doesn't check out." "Okay Arthur, thank you. Let's go onwards men!" she commanded the soldiers on horseback.
They traveled through the day and got to the docks just a the sun was sinking. The princess put Archer in the horse stalls and made sure he was okay. "It's time to go, your majesty." said a soldier who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Oh, thank you Ludwig. Bye Archer." she said to the horse. "Lead the way, Ludwig." she said to the commandant of her small, yet strong army. He nodded and led her to the huge ship that would take her to the mainland. "Who's sailing?"she said, looking around the deck of the ship. "Hola, princess~!" said the captain. "Antonio! I should have known, you're the best captain in the kingdom." she smiled. "Thank you Princessa, for the praise. I'm honoured." he said, bowing. "You're welcome, Captain Antonio." she said, then headed to one of the lower decks where her quarters were.
12 hours later, they docked at a mainland port. They walked for about three hours until they arrived at The Kingdom of the North. It was very pretty, and even though it was only the middle of autumn, the entire place was blanketed in snow. "What a pretty place~" thought Massao out loud. "We have already sent someone to notify the prince. He expects you immediately." said Ludwig. "Then let's not waste any more time, my soldiers. Lead on." she commanded nicely. Five minutes later, they were standing in the throne room of the Royal Palace of the North. And standing at the mercy of the King, Queen, prince, and princesses that ruled the north.
One of the princesses looked on in amazement at the frail, pale, beautiful princess that had just arrived. The other one looked at her, full of hate and resentment towards the princess she didn't even know. The prince, was captivated by the princess's beauty. To him, she looked like her skin was made of snow and her eyes made of chocolate and honey, a combination that she made look beautiful. "It seems my son was interested in learning more about you." said the King, known to others as General Winter. "What a pretty girl~" said the queen, smiling. The girl kneeled before them. "Thank you, your majesty. You are prettier than I, though, your highness."she said. "Why thank you! And polite too~ I like her~" said the Queen. "Arise, young princess," said the King," you came to meet my son, not kneel before me."he said, and looked over and nodded at his son.
The prince stood up and walked over to the princess, not daring to take his eyes off her, lest her looks change if he even dared blink. "Hello, prince. It is nice to finally meet you."she said, smiling, and bowed. Seeing her smile made him blush. "As I, princess. My name is Ivan, may you grant me the pleasure of hearing your name?" he said in a charming manner. The princess blushed a bit. "My name is Massao, Prince Ivan." "Ah, a name as pretty as your face." he smiled down at her, as she was a lot shorter than he was, by at least five or six inches. "Thank you." she said, blushing and smiling up at him in return. "And over there are my sisters, Katyusha and Natalya." he said, motioning to the sisters. Katyusha smiled and waved hello, while Natalya huffed and looked away. He sighed at the latter sister's reaction.
"Would you like to take a walk around the village and talk?" he asked, turning his attention back to the princess. "That would be wonderful, Prince Ivan." she said, then turned to her soldiers. "Why don't you all go and find places to rest at and refuel, and I'll check on you all later." she told them. "Where will you stay at?" asked Ludwig. "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I can find a place-" "She can stay here in our guest room." Ivan interrupted. "Oh, well, I don't want to be a bother." she said modestly. "Oh, won't you please stay? It's been so long since we've had a guest!" said the Queen and the nice princess at the same time. "We'll, I can't really say no since so many people want a yes." "Hooray!" cheered the Queen and the princess. "I'll have a servant ready the room for you." said the Queen. "Thank you, your majesty." said the girl as she bowed once again. "Now that that's been resolved, let's continue on with our walk, shall we?" asked the prince, offering his hand for her to take, which she did.
They had a nice walk and chatted, and it was fun. But she noticed something odd, whenever someone saw the prince, they'd hide and cower in the shadow, like he was a terrible monster. But they seemed mesmerized by the princess, like 'How could someone as nice-looking as her be with a monster like him!?'. She managed to ignore it, but it was still eating at her, like the answer was obvious. That wasn't the only strange thing. Sometimes when he was talking, he'd say something about an enemy and his face would shadow over and started making a sound like 'Kol kol kol kol~" and then saying something about how they will become one with him, one day.
They were having a conversation about snow, when a man leapt out in front of them. "Yo, Ivan! I've got you now!" yelled the strange man. He had sandy hair and blue eyes and glasses. "Oh, hello there Alfred~" said Ivan, his face shadowing over again and the Kol's starting up. The man lifted what looked like a huge mallet. "This time, I've got you right where I want you!" he said and rushed towards them. "Eek!" squeaked the princess, making the man, Alfred, stop. He pointed to her and looked at Ivan. "Who's the chick?" "She is a princess who came to meet me. Hurt her and die." Ivan said, stepping in front of the princess a bit. Alfred put down his mallet and walked over to the girl, earning more Kol's from the prince. he offered his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet 'ya! I'm Alfred, Ivan's mortal enemy!" he said, laughing and smiling. She shook his hand, a bit mystified. "So, what is a sweet girl like you doing with this psychopath?" he said. Ivan shot him a look, telling him to shut up, but Alfred didn't pay any attention. "Alfred, we are trying to take a nice walk. We'd appreciate it if you left us be." said Ivan coldly. "Hmpf, fine. But I'll get you next time!" he shouted and ran away, dragging his mallet with him. "He was... strange..." said the princess quietly. "Always has been, always will be." said Ivan, sighing.
After that, they returned to the palace. "Oh, welcome back you two!" said Katyusha. "Would you like me to show you to your room Miss Massao?" she kindly offered. "Please, don't trouble yourself sister, I'll have a servant show her." said Ivan, waving away her offer. "Ravis!" he called. A small boys ran up to him. He was shivering and had tears in his eyes. "Y-yes Master I-Ivan?" he said quietly. "Show the princess to her room." he said, smiling. "Y-yes Master. T-this way M-ma'am." he said and turned around. They walked down a series of corridors and finally arrived a a room. "H-here you are Ma'am." he said, pushing open the door. "Oh, what a pretty room~!" she marveled at the decorated room. It looked very royal with it's many tones of burgundy and gold. She looked back at the boy, and knelt down. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped the tears out of his eyes. "There you go, there's no need to be scared of me." she said, and hugged the small boy. He stopped shaking and hugged back a bit. Then he hugged with all of his power. "Thank you miss." he said and smiled. "No problem, just call me Massao. Okay?" she asked, letting go. "Okay...Massao." "Here, have this." she said, and took a piece of candy out of her pocket and handing him the handkerchief. He marveled at them. "Can I really have these?" "Of course. Now, run on before Ivan thinks you're up to something." she said, standing up. He ran off smiling.
She sighed and sat down on her bed. "What a sweet kid. Wonder what he's doing working here...?" she thought. She got up and closed the door, noticing that someone had dropped off her bags. There was a note attached to one of them. 'Thought you might need these. We all have found places to rest up for the night, so there's no need to check up on us. Sincerely, Ludwig.' She'd have to thank Ludwig tomorrow for dropping off her things. She changed into one of her evening gowns and crawled into bed. It was very comfy, and she was asleep in no time.
She awoke sometime around midnight, needing some water. She managed to find a bathroom and got some water from the sink. As she was making her way back to room, she heard a noise in one of the rooms. It sounded like someone had gotten slapped. She creeped towards the door, and opened it a crack so she could see inside. She could see the prince looming over Ravis, who was holding his cheek and shivering violently. "You do not socialize with guests, you do what you're told to do, then move on. Next time, I won't go so easy on you." he spat coldly. Massao put her hand over her mouth. 'How could someone be so cruel to a child!?' Ravis began to weep quietly, and Ivan turned to leave. The princess ran soundlessly back to her room and quickly crawled back under the covers. She didn't sleep the rest of the night. And in the morning, Ravis was nowhere to be seen.
~The next day, back at the kingdom~
"I'm telling you Artie, there was something wrong with that prince!" said Francis. "Don't call me that. And what do you mean by there was something off?" said Arthur. "I mean that everyone who saw him cowered in fear and hid! Normal people don't do that."
"Hmm, I see. I hope Massao notices."
"Oh, she will. she's a smart girl." said Francis. "If a 17-year-old girl can create winning battle strategies every time because she knows the enemy's minds better than themselves, she will notice."
"Well, what do we do now? The rest of the soldiers came back yesterday and none of them had news of any available princes."
Francis thought for a moment. "There's one prince that we haven't tried. He would be a perfect match for the princess!" "What!? Who?!" said a surprised Arthur.
"Kiku." Francis said simply. "Well, I thought about him, but I figured he would've already found a princess." "Would it hurt to check?" "Okay, then. I'll send for him myself and see." Arther said.
He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled, and a Pegasus came riding out of the clouds. Francis stared in amazement, then kneeled down before Arthur. "I'm sorry for ever doubting in your magical creatures, please don't summon a dragon to kill me." "Wha- what are you talking about, frog?! Just get on, you're coming with me." Arthur said, wondering where Francis got a ridiculous idea like that. "Okay then, Angleterre~!" Francis said happily and got on. "Francis?" "What~?" "PLEASE, stop touching my bum."
~Time passed, a day and a half later~
"Hello, my kingdom, I am back early!" shouted Massao a she entered into her kingdom. There were cheers and shout as the people came rushing to see their leader. "Massao!" said Emil, rushing forward. "Papa Emil! What is it?" she said, dismounting her horse. "I am glad to see your back. I don't know where Arthur and Francis are, no one has seen them since yesterday morning." he said, looking at the crowd. Just as he finished that sentence, a Pegasus landed nearby, carrying said men. "Oh, hello there Massao, glad to see you're back." said Arthur nonchalantly. "Guess what we've found~" said Francis happily, jumping of the winged horse. "I give, what did you find?" "A prince that is the perfect match for you~! He's very keen on meeting you, and expects you very soon. He's a good guy." Francis said with a smile. "Good, because I didn't like the last prince. He was a cruel man. He seemed all nice and sweet, but he had a child who worked for him, and I heard him slap the poor child, just because I talked to the poor boy."
There were gasps and murmurs through the crowd as this settled in. "Well, that's a shame. But we need to hurry, hurry and go pack for four days, we're taking Pegasus this time." said Arthur. "Then why pack for that many days?" said Massao questioningly. "Because we'll be staying there awhile." Once again, Emil helped her pack and Berwald carried the bags down. Within an hour, they had arrived in an extraordinary town. It had paper lanterns and colourful temples. And it was warm. "I just sent a messenger, so it'll be a minute." said Arthur. A couple of minutes later, the messenger returned, saying they could proceed.
When they walked into the throne room, the prince was pacing the room, waiting. He heard footsteps and looked up, only to meet the eyes of the princess. He got the same amazed face as Ivan did. "Are you... the princess?" he asked quietly,walking over to her. "Indeed I am, it's nice to meet you, prince." she said, a bit stupefied about how handsome he was. "May I please hear what your name is, fair maiden?" he said, his face still frozen in surprise. "My name is Massao, handsome prince. Now may I please learn your name?" she said, smiling. He blushed. "My name is Kiku. It is an honour to make your acquaintance, princess." he said as he took her hand and kissed it. The princess blushed deeply.
Then the King walked into the room. "Oh Kiku~aru, is that the princess that you were talking about?" said the King nonchalantly. The prince shot up and blushed. He whipped around and yelled "Yao! What the hell?! Don't scare me like that! I swear, if I didn't respect my elders so much, I would've thrown something at you." he said sheepishly. "Yes, this is the princess." "Haha! Oh, you're my brother alright. So, princess, what's your name?" he said happily. "My name is Massao, your highness." she said, kneeling. "Oh, and she's as polite as she is pretty, you did good brother." said the King, smirking. "You may arise, one question though, young lady."
"Yes, your majesty?"
"Do you like pandas?" he said hopefully.
"Oh, I love pandas! I've only ever seen pictures of them though."
"Yep, she's a good one~aru. Great find brother. Polite, smart, pretty, and a panda-lover. Wish I could find one of those~aru." he said, sighing. "Brother, PLEASE, you're embarrassing me in front of the princess!" said Prince Kiku, his face flushed. "Aiyaa," groaned his brother," fine, I'll leave. It was nice meeting you, Princess Massao." he said and walked off.
"Now then." said the prince. "Would you like to go sit in the garden and talk?" he smiled. "That would be absolutely lovely. Soldiers, go rest up and I'll check back with you later." she said, and took the hand of the prince. As they talked, they found out that they had a lot in common. "This garden is so beautiful..." she said marveling her surroundings. A breeze made the sakura tree above their head shed some of it's petals. The prince couldn't stop staring at the girl in front of him. She looked so pretty with the sakura floating around her. Then she looked at him with her chocolate-honey eyes. She was amazing. He realized that he liked her a lot. He loved her. He lent in, as did the princess.
Their lips were about to meet when-BAM! the door to the garden flew open. "HEY KIKU, WHAT'S UP!?" yelled a familiar voice. They both shot up straight and whipped around. "Is that... Alfred?" said the princess. "Oh hey, I've seen you before. You were up north on the mainland, hanging around Ivan. What're you doing here? Are you guys siblings or somethin'?" he asked, his head cocked to one side. "No, we're not sibl- wait, did you say she was hanging around Ivan?" the prince asked. "Yea, they looked like they were talking about something and hanging out together." said Alfred. "Yea, I was visiting him because he said he was interested. I might've married him if I hadn't figured out how cruel he was." said the princess.
"Wait, so you haven't that you don't like him and have found a new prince?!" said Alfred, clearly worried. "Not yet, why?" she asked, confused. "Alfred, go get my men to scout out the area, leave no place unchecked. I'll protect the princess." Kiku said, drawing his katana. Alfred nodded and ran off. "Wait, wha-?" asked a very confused princess. "Just stay behind m-" he was interrupted by the nearby bushes rustling. "Damn, he's already here. Stay behind-" he turned to look at the princess, but she was gone. While one of Ivan's henchmen rustled the bushes to distract the prince, Ivan had captured the girl from behind. "If I can't have you, nobody can~" said Ivan and disappeared with the girl.