The Prince, the Pauper and the Musicians
By: NoctisStella20
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belonged to each of their creators and companies.
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A/N: Hi guys! And welcome back to the story! I guess I'm going to update is ASAP since I've got a lot of time and its Spring Break here… oh well. Just to remind you, this chapter is a bit longer than the previous chapter. If you guys can endure it, then you rock. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible and as usual, you may or may not leave any critiques or comments right here but I'll appreciate it if you do.
Just another note, the kingdom is a combination of fantasy and technology, so yes; there would be cars or computers in this story. It'll enable me to move the storyline freely as well as giving me freedom to write around the character's world instead of being just medieval.
Thank you, and enjoy the story!
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Chapter 1: A Crash on Life
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Years later, in the Kingdom of Midgar…
Kairi sat idly by the window, staring out at the vast land before her. It was noon and she had just finished her study with Merlin. Behind her, Namine, her sister, had busied herself by drawing plenty of doodles in her sketchbook. Her peaceful smiling face is in contrast with Kairi's brooding face. The two sisters are nearly identical in their appearance except for the fact that Kairi's red auburn hair is nothing to compare to Namine's light and serene locks. Just as their features can separate their identical appearances, so does their personality as well. While Namine is meek, obedient and loved art as much as her royal duties; Kairi wasn't interested in her "princess" status at all. As the matter of a fact, she was courageous and holds a penchant of adventure. Of all the princesses that everyone knew, she was infamous for often getting herself into trouble for sneaking out of the palace.
Today, however, Kairi did not want to think whether she would go out from the palace or not. She was busy thinking over the news that she and Namine had received earlier from their caretaker, Aqua. This morning, the two sisters were urgently told that the Radiant Garden kingdom had offered their alliance over their kingdom through a betrothed marriage. Their father, Eraqus, thoughtfully accepted it but he had a hard time deciding over which one of his daughters is ready to accept this marriage proposal. At once, Namine nervously replied that she would gladly to be betrothed to the prince of Radiant Garden. That was the point that Kairi could never get out of her mind.
Both sisters had dreamed of marrying the ones they would love but for Namine to sacrifice her, that is what Kairi had been worried about. Another thing is, the two sister were very close to each other. The thought of Namine leaving her had troubled Kairi until now. A few minutes later, Kairi had finally decided to summoned up her courage to talk.
"Hey Namine…" Kairi spoke, breaking the silence.
Her sister responded by turning her gaze away from her sketchbook and into Kairi's eyes, "Yes?"
"Why did you accept it?" Kairi asked.
"Huh?" Namine looked at her sister confusingly.
Kairi sighed in discontent, holding her palm on her forehead. "Namine, don't joke with me. Why did you accept the marriage proposal?" Kairi imagined something in disgust, "For all we know, he could be one of those mean, ugly jerks with lolicon fetish."
"But, dad doesn't have a choice! I mean, the kingdom's been running into problems lately and there's got to be someone to do it," Namine pressed her hands further to her silk dress, "And since dad couldn't decide, I have no choice but to marry a man that I hadn't even known in my life."
"I thought you believed in those true love things." Kairi responded, sitting beside her sister.
"This is reality, Kairi. If such things like fairytales exist, then I would have known who my true love is." Namine continued to doddle a man and a woman linking their hearts together. A small red heart is on top of them. "And face it, if father chooses you to marry that guy, you'll throw into a fit."
"Hey, I won't throw into a fit!" Kairi pouted then let out a groan, "Oh who am I kidding? Yes, I would! Because it wasn't fair for me to marry to someone that I didn't even know yet love! Stupid political marriage…" Kairi mumbled under her breath.
"Are you… worried?" Namine inquired her sister anxiously.
"Yes, I am! Because you spontaneously accept the proposal without thinking! What if you become miserable under his foot?"
"I don't care about it! It's my own decision and I'm proud of it!" Namine argued, "Father had lots of things to do and we need to form a strong alliance to the country from our enemies. I'd say that's the boldest move that I could think of!" then, her eyes lowered into sadness, "And because you're my sister, I am doing this so that you would have a chance to marry someone that you love most."
"But it's not fair…" Kairi looked at Namine sadly, "I mean, you should AT LEAST have a chance-"
"Kairi," Namine stopped her sister in midsentence and hugged her really hard, "I'll be fine. It's just marriage. Nothing is wrong except if I break into a total emotional breakdown," She let go of her and smiled, "Leave this to me, okay?"
Kairi gave out a sad smile to her and hugged Namine once more, "I never know what I could do without you."
"Neither do I," Namine released her hold from Kairi, "I thought you said you want to go out, today. The sun is shining and the birds are singing…" she motioned outside the window, "What else?"
All of a sudden, there was a mischievous look on Kairi's face and she abruptly took Namine's hands. The sketchbook and coloring pencils that Namine had hold fall and scattered into their room's wooden floor. "Come on! I have an idea!"
"Wait! Kairi! What's going on?" She did not have any time to yelp as Kairi covered them both with their travelling cloacks; blue for Namine and maroon for Kairi.
"Since you're going to be married, I had this theory that you won't go back to your country! So just for this time, I'm taking you on a walk." Kairi replied in enthusiasm.
"Wait! Kairi! Father said that we're not allowed outside unless it's with supervision!" Namine warned her sister as Kairi dragged themselves out of the room, "Didn't Terra and Aqua told us to stay in our room today?"
"Namine, it's just a little walk. I don't think there's any trouble outside."
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The words from Princess Kairi contradict to what had happened in the edge of the country. Not far from where Kairi's kingdom was, an imminent destruction raged itself on every imaginable path. The destruction that was mentioned is not a plague of grasshoppers which ate every stock of wheat or a large, drooling beast that had obliterated an entire town. Instead, it was a rapidly-speed-driven van owned by a troupe of musicians that hit ALMOST everything on its way. To make things short: they were doomed.
"Move it, Stitch!" A teenage girl, no older than eighteen with red hair and wearing a pink barbarian clothes, yelled behind the driver. "I'm supposed to be the one driving this van, not you!"
"Naga! Just shut up and let meega drive, Candy!" The driver cackled madly as he drove the van wildly as if they were chased by a thousand devils on their back. He was blue, small and cuddly… and possibly the most destructive force ever to walk on Earth. The blue WMD is named 626 but decided to be called himself as Stitch.
"Who's idea is it to let Stitch behind the wheel?" A man, in a brown mullet, holds his sitar for his dear life when the van jumped from the hills and into the mud pool, splashing nearly the entire natural habitat in brown goo.
"Demyx, all I care about now is my freaking life!" A young woman with blonde antennae hair tried to balance herself inside the van but it was no use; the sheer power that Stitch used in the van had knocked its inhabitants round and around the van. "Axel! Do something!" She yelled at the red-haired spiky man.
"I'm trying, Larxene!" Axel told exasperatedly as he tried to move between a raven haired teen boy named Danny Fenton and a moving, talking sword. "Lula, remind me never to let Stitch drive again!"
"Oh, now you're talking!" Lula, the magic sword, responded sardonically, "You said that we need someone fast enough to get away from the angry Hamelin mob and now look what you have done!"
"Lula, for the last time, shut up! And yes, I did regret that choice!" Axel, in the midst of all confusion, managed to grabbed the back of the driver's seat all while juggling himself to calm Stitch's erratic driving down. "Stitch… STITCH! Slow down! Or else we- OH MY GOD! A TREE!" the van managed to steer away from a large pine tree but not running over a poor, prehistoric squirrel. It survived but wailed at the mush that was once a nut.
"Look out, look out, LOOK OUT!" A big, barbarian brunette man named Dave closed his eyes as Stitch rammed the van into a fence. Pieces of wood splinters went flying everywhere and the action it did not even make its grumpy owner very happy.
"You pesky kids! I build that for a week!" he shook his fist at them.
"Great. That's the FIFTH fence we broke!" The Larxene told sarcastically.
"How am I supposed to know? I had not had time to count every single object that Stitch broke in this trip!" Axel winced when their van hits an unfortunate man in the chest, leaving them behind a screaming, wounded man. "Sorry!"
"You can say sorry later, red! We need to get the little fuzzball out of the driver seat!" Lula exclaimed.
Then, a yellow square sponge, the one who had not been affected by the wild drive and miraculously still stand healthy and proudly at the same time, announced himself optimistically to the group, "Hold it everyone! I've got an idea, let me drive!"
"NO!" Everyone except the sponge (and Stitch) exclaimed simultaneously out of horror.
"Aww… but why?" Spongebob whined sadly to them.
"Do you remember the last time you drive, Spongebob?" Candy told in exasperation.
"I never had been so glad to be out of that vehicle alive." Dave sniffled as he remembered the horrifying moment. Demyx nodded behind him, whimpering.
"I guess this makes Stitch a better driver than Spongebob." Candy deadpanned as she pointed at the cackling Stitch.
Stitch continued to drive for a few more blocks; twisting, hitting and destroying everything on its path. The occupants is no better than the atrocious exterior outside. Demyx looked like as if he was going to throw up and Lula looked like as if she hasn't seen land for years. Spongebob is the only remaining sane person who was able to endure the horrendous trip. As for Larxene… well, she just snapped.
"ARGH! That's it! I'm driving!" She tried to pry Stitch off the driver's seat using any imaginable strength that she could have.
"What the hell, woman! I'm driving!" Stitch responded to her violent outburst.
"If we keep this up, Stitch, you're going down!" the blonde woman snarled at the blue WMD.
"Bring it on, bitch!" Stitch taunted dangerously.
"WHAT?"
"Larxene, stop! The van!" Axel warned hysterically.
Stitch and Larxene wrestled on the seat, struggling to get to the driver's seat in order to get their van back into their normal disposition and in their moment of their violent tug-o-war, Stitch accidentally snapped the steer wheel off the car. Both looked at the broken item for a moment before the broke into an apologetically sheepish grin to their troupe. Sounds of gasps and wheezed is heard around the van. As if the situation wasn't worse enough, the car is heading for a lake.
"Well, we're dead." Lula said hopelessly.
Their screams echoed throughout the land. A loud crash followed soon after.