A/N: There's no Crona in this Fanfic, sorry Crona. This is AU, so I guess Crona doesn't exist in this story because I couldn't find a place for him.

"For the sake of our kingdoms, Prince Kid, I will take your hand in marriage."

"Wonderful," he said impatiently and got down on one knee.

"But!" She interrupted him as he was reaching in his pocket for the ring. "Only on one condition. We have to at least get to know each other first!" Maka's determined olive-green gaze met his hardened gold eyes.

"Then when do you want this marriage to happen?" He asked.

"Whenever the time is right. I can't just marry someone I just met."

"Very well then. I will ask the queen if we could put off the marriage for a while, and in that time we can 'get to know each other.'" Kid held his hands up and made quotation marks with both of his two fingers.

OooooooooO

The queen paced slowly in front of the throne, frustrated and flustered. "Postpone...? Why should we postpone it? You heard it yourself that we must end this war soon."

"Then tell the kingdoms that there will be marriage; the princess did not refuse me, but instead told me that she needed time to get to know me."

"Hm... This will not be able to stop the fighting."

"Yes it will; just telling them will hopefully be enough to stop their fighting. And also, if you have come to terms with King Spirit then we may be able to arrange some kind if agreement for the time of the wedding."

"Perhaps so..." Medusa trailed off in thought and stopped pacing. "We will try to arrange a time in the future to have the wedding, but in the mean time I will allow you to have some time together."

"Good. Hopefully she will be ready soon enough."'

-2 YEARS LATER-

He went out into the Albarn's garden with freshly pruned roses in his hands. Venturing though the endless rows of colorfully vibrant flowers and bushes, he scanned the area for her. In this early morning, the garden was a spectacular sight to see; flowers all around perked up towards the sun, as if just awakening from their nightly slumber, and butterflies of all kinds congregated near to their sweet-scented nectar. Hummingbirds (a rare sight to see) hovered over their petals, wings beating a hundred times per minute, sucking the sweet juice. It was he very definition of beauty; the thing that the Albarn Kingdom was known for, unlike the Gorgon's, who were noted for their abilities to reek havoc with magic and witchcraft and wizardry.

"Maka? Princess?" He hollered in the serene grace of the garden, but with no reply. "Where are you?" Kid peeked around the corner and approached the porcelain statue of the past king mounted in the dead-center of the garden like a regal guardian, watching and protecting the courtyard with a stone-like gaze. Still there was no sign of the princess anywhere, even though when Kid had walked into her castle look for her the maids had directed him to the garden. It is here every morning that she'd usually be- admiring the flowers, or reading a good hard-cover book on the bench near the statue.

He turned his attention to a sudden ruffle in the branches above his head. Placing the roses down carefully beside his foot he took a fighter's stance. "Who's there?" A deep growl came from his throat as he looked around. The rustling became louder as it approached him. Taking one cautious step backwards, Kid clenched his fists in front of him, poised for attack.

"Boo." A voice said right behind his head. A startled Kid swung around and saw her, hanging upside-down from a thick tree branch that jutted out on a slight angle. Maka gave him an upside-down grin and laughed.

"What are you doing up there? You know it's not very lady-like to be climbing trees." Kid composed himself and straightened out his suit again before picking the roses off the ground.

"I know, but the view up here is amazing! It's also a great place to read," she said and sat back up, patting the empty part of the branch. "Come on, I'll show you!" She held out her hand as Kid climbed, stopping every few seconds to calculate where to place his hands and to make sure his outfit didn't get wrinkled. Maka sighed as he took her hand cautiously, and she yanked him up. "See? Isn't it nice up here?"

"I suppose this view is very alluring to you," he said dismissively.

"Oh come on, Kid, cheer up," she said. "Everything is not always work."

"How can you be so relaxed when we are engaged already? There's so much to do! We have to plan the wedding, make the guest list, decorate-"

"I know...but can't you just chill for a moment? It's too early in the morning to be all riled up like this," Maka replied, leaning back a little with the book in her lap.

"We don't even know when the wedding is..." he continued to ramble until she took his hand.

"Just relax," she repeated calmly, weaving her fingers in between his.

"We can't keep procrastinating like this... And I don't think we can keep it It's already been 2 years since we've met. Medusa's extremely impatient, you know?"

"Yeah. But I just don't get why she wants us to be married so quickly. I mean, the fighting has stopped ever since they announced that we were getting married. Isn't that enough? I doubt there's anymore hostility towards the two kingdoms now."

"As the next generation of rulers, we also cannot go back on our words. Promising that we were going to be wed means that we have to be wed. What kind of example would we set if we didn't?" Kid grasped her left hand and held it against his, pressing their silver engagement rings together.

"I guess you're right," she sighed sadly. "But we can still have fun, right?"

"Even if it's not, I'm pretty sure you'll find a way," he ginned slightly. "I have something for you." Handing her the fresh roses, her face lit up happily.

"They're beautiful!" She exclaimed and sniffed their soft smell.

"Fresh from the Gorgon castle garden, though ours is not as nice-looking as yours."

"Thank you," Maka replied.

"Now... I think I must attend to the rest of my morning duties, so I will see you at lunch." Kid carefully slipped back down the tree the way he came, waved good-bye, and walked away. "Are you coming to the daily morning discussion with me today?"

"Nah!" She shouted back. "Why would I want to listen to a bunch of old people telling me what I should be doing for the rest of my life? Just tell them my usual thing- I'm doing my daily reading session and don't want to be disturbed!"

"You know you can't dodge these meetings forever!"

"It's not like anything interesting happens!"

"That's because nothing ever does happen." Maka laughed and blew him a kiss, which he caught and smiled back at her.

OooooooooO

The king and queen came into the meeting hall at the same time and took their seats at the opposite sides of the table. "Good morning, and welcome to this session. All of the other councilmen are not able to make it, I'm afraid. What might we discuss today, Queen Medusa?" Spirit asked, tapping his fingers boredly on the solid marble.

"What we have been discussing for the last two years! When will we finally have this marriage? My patience has been tested for too long." Medusa rose angrily and placed both her hands on the table.

"I told you, when Maka and Kid feel ready."

"Ready? They've been holding it off for two years now, and using the same excuses every time! It's time to end this; we will have the wedding in a month."

"A month, you say? There would be much more time needed to prepare for this momentous occasion..."

"If it must be done, then it must be done," she shrugged. "Excuses, excuses, Spirit. But the outcome will always be the same."

"Must we always rush things?"

"I feel as if Kid is ripe for this marriage; why, his eyes have even grown less cold."

Suddenly, the door creaks open behind Spirit. Kid stood in the doorway with his hands placed in his pocket and says, "Good morning, all."

"Where is the princess, Kid?" Medusa asked with her arms crossed, shooting him a deadly glare.

"She is, as I have stated many times, in the middle of her daily reading, and she does not want to be disturbed." Kid entered and closed the door slowly, taking a seat next to Medusa in the far side of the table.

"Ahem," Spirit cleared his throat and continued. "As we were saying, Medusa has suggested that we hold the wedding next month."

"Next month is too soon. There would be no time to prepare everything on time," Kid concluded quickly.

"See? That's what I said!" Spirit chimed in with a high-pitched squeak.

"How old are you? Twelve?!" Medusa scolded Spirit, who was obviously a grown man. "Can we compromise then?"

"How about the month after next?"

"Fine!" Medusa waved her hand dismissively at the idea.

OooooooooO

She combed her hair for the last time, making sure that nothing was sticking up or out of place and then set down the brush on the dresser. Maka looked up into the mirror and glanced at her own reflection. It was a morning like any other, starting with her waking up early and grabbing a good book to read out in the garden. Then, after she had made decent progress with it, Kid would pay her a visit and they would spend some time together. After that, her friends since childhood, Liz and Patty, would hang out at the castle and talk. "Princess! Are you finished yet?" Liz asked impatiently. "It's tea time."

"Coming!" Maka made her last adjustments and ran out the door to her friends, who were sitting at the dinning table near the window, their usual spot. Liz and Patty always matched their outfits, wearing different matches everyday. On this day, they wore a light blue gown matching blue heels.

Patty, even though she was sixteen now, was toying with her little stufed giraffe that Maka helped her make when they were little. Her almost twin sister sat next to her and smirked at Maka. "Let's get down to buisness already! I'm bored."

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I've been reading this good book and-"

"Yeah, yeah very interesting. Now what about some more important things; how is the prince? Is he treating you well?"

"He treats me fine, thank you very much. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, uh...'cause I just wanna make sure that's he's being a good husband. 'Cause if he's not, we'll make sure he is," she winked at Patty.

"Haha. Very funny," Maka said dryly. "But thanks for the offer."

"No worries, Maka. We got your back! We owe our lives to you, after all. If you hadn't found us playing in the street all alone long ago when we were all kids, Patty and I would probably be still wallowng in that same dirt that our mother left us in."

"Liz, I told you, you don't need to me mention it," Maka blushed.

"Seriously, thanks to you and the castle they adopted us and let us live here, since our mom abandoned us," she continued. The door opened suddenly, and one the maids rushed in. Marie, one of Maka's personal maids who usually helped her groom herself for special occasions, bowed in front of the tea table and greeted the.

"I have wonderful news for the princess from the king," she exclaimed.

"From Papa? Ugh, you know how I feel about him after what he did," Maka said in disgust, remembering how her father betrayed her.

"I know, but this is important. It's about the wedding; they have decided when it will be held!" Marie said cheerfully.

"When will it be?"

"The month after next! There will be so much to do! Well, that's all I have to say for now, carry on!" Marie rushed away again.

"Next next month? That's so soon!" Patty laughed.

"Too soon, if you ask me..." Maka answered with a disappointed tone.

"Whaddya mean?!" Liz scolded. "If I were you, I'd be really happy marrying someone like Kid! He's really handsome, and nice... and erm, you two make a cute couple!"

"I like Kid, but I don't actually want to marry him!"

"Why not? He's like the perfect lover!" She insisted.

"I know...but I just don't love him. And I don't think he loves me either, but we have to pretend to. I don't want to pretend to love someone! Sometimes I just wanna run away from this whole marriage thing, but I know I have to; it's my duty!"

"Really? You really want to run away from all this?" Liz motioned to everything around her. "It's perfect here!"

"Though I'm not denying that it's a nice life here...I still feel as if it were a prison."

OooooooooO

Maka laid sadly on her giant bed, pulling the covers up to her cheeks. She gazed up at the ceiling, which was painted with all kinds of designs, but at night were a grey, monotone color. Thinking hard about the news she heard today, she tried to imagine if her life were different. Right now, she wanted to be anything else but the princess of the Albarn Kingdom, destined to marry the prince of the Gorgon Kingdom- a prince that she did not want to marry. All this time she had known that she would have to one day be wed to him, but it never occured to her that it would be happening so soon.

Was there any way to escape her fate? she wondered.

'Sometimes I just wanna run away from this whole marriage thing.'

It was a plausible idea, and not a bad one, either. It had been a long time since the announcement that the Albarns and Gorgons fought each other; this war is long over. Kid doesn't actually love me, and I don't love him back, so I wouldn't be hurting him at all. I already hate my father, too. The more she thought about it, the more reasonable and realistic it became.

So it's decided, Maka thought. In the next few days, Princess Maka Albarn will disappear.