It was the one mission that I thought would help me find my brother. I busted him out and was so freakin' happy to know he was alive and well, for the most part. This weird queen wanted me to do some freaky stuff and found me breaking my long-lost brother out. "So traitor, what do you have to say for yourself?" asked the queen accusingly.

"You took my brother, I didn't have a choice," I answered courageously. "You wanted me to kill innocent people."

"Sir McGraw said that you would do whatever you were told. He assured me that you going to obey my every command like a soldier. That makes him a traitor also," she said to herself. "No matter. By the end of this hour, you will be killed for treason against me, Her Royal Majesty-"

"Witch," grunted Haruki boldly. "You want me-"

"Enough! Guards, keep them until midnight, we will have our own private execution." With her long dress swaying, she turned for the door. The guards moved towards us in sync. One second ago, Haruki was barely hanging on my shoulders and the next, he was directly behind Her Majesty with something shiny pressed against her throat. Not even the apathetic guards had seen that coming. "Move and she's done for."

Bewildered at his sudden teleportation and very true threat, they lowered their swords and warily backed away from him. "Get over here," he commanded brusquely. Shocked myself, I made my way through the swarm of guards and stood next to Haruki.

"How'd you do that?" I lowered my voice so only he could hear me.

"Follow my lead." He moved backwards towards the door, still holding the dagger to Her Majesty's throat. Who knew my brother was such a badass, even when he was all jacked up from prison-at least that's what I thought. Before I slammed the dungeon door, I yelled, "Don't bother following us. We'll deliver you her heart!" A very empty threat, but hey, if it made them shit their pants, then it hadn't been in vain.

Like fleeing mice, we ran far away from the castle. At some point, the queen's dress got snagged in a branch and Haruki kicked her and told her to keep her ass moving. And then it happened again, and again. Finally, after an hour of constantly moving, we reached a river Haruki called Hornspike River-a safe distance away from the castle. "There's your river," Queeny pointed at the murky river. "Now will you be couth enough to let me return to the castle?" Her face was smudged from being habitually kicked by Haruki and if anyone happened to stroll by, they'd think we raped her.

"Yeah and let you send your guards after me, sure," he sarcastically answered. I was thinking the same thing, which made me smile, we were still the same despite the years we spent apart. "We're not just going to let you run back for help."

"So what are you going to do, hold me for ransom?"

"Shut up." He turned to me. "A word with you." Why wouldn't he just call me by name? Instead, he called me "you" like I was a complete stranger. We retreated from Queeny until we were sure she was out of earshot. "What do you think we should do?"

"Haruki there are so many things we have to talk about, so many things I want to say to you," I said nostalgically. "I have so many questions and-" I stopped abruptly, raising my head to the sky. The sunrise spilled burnt orange upon the unfamiliar world and that's when I finally got a good look at Haruki's face. My eyes widened in aghast. "You're…you're not Haruki."

The stranger shamefully gazed past me and sighed exasperatedly. "No, I'm not."

"Asshole!" I punched him in the shoulder, forgetting how weak and malnourished he was from his imprisonment. He nearly fell, just saved by holding onto the rock behind him. "You're a real douchebag! Why would you let me call you my brother when you actually weren't? Huh?" Swiftly, I kicked him in the chest, causing him to grunt in pain.

"Stop, stop, please," he begged. "There's no-"

"That's messed up you-you-uck!" I shook my head violently and gave him my back. I couldn't even look at him without twisting my face. This would happen to me; I thought I finally found my brother and then this shit had to happen. But he was still in my dream-okay technically, Haruki was in my dream getting jailed, but the dream had mirrored what happened to this deceitful clown. Maybe he's important in some way.

"I'm bleeding," the stranger complained. He sounded like a mouse compared to when he snapped at me earlier. I faced him with my hands on my hips, ready to make him feel like shit. He's right, I gave him a bloody mouth.

"Why did you lie to me?" he spat blood at my feet. "I'm gonna ask again and this time you're actually gonna answer or else I'm gonna give you more than a bloody mouth."

"Oh please, what else can someone like you do?" he snorted, letting his mop-messy, unkempt hair droop over his eye. How did I ever think this clown was my twin? As I reeled my right leg back, he raised his hands in defense. " I just wanted to get out of there, I didn't care how."

"So you let me just assume you were my long-lost brother?" he shrugged. My foot charged into his side.

"Aaack! Urg…y-yes. I went along with it so you can get me out. But now we're both in trouble because we still have the qu-" With haste and not without a pained grunt, he rose while clenching his new sore spot. "Make sure the queen is still there." Both of us-well, more like me since Lying Douchebag is limping-checked to see if Queeny is where we had left here. The river didn't moved, only Queeny.

"Shit!" I glanced around frantically until I spotted something long and golden swishing towards the direction we originally had come from. "Over there." I ran after her, unfortunately, putting me at the same speed as the limping runner.

If I ever see that guy ever again I would kill him. I've killed dozens of Heartless before, snapping his neck would be no problem for me or using my Byakugan eyes to make him suffer for getting my hopes up so high and toying with my heart like that. I can't get over him, it's sickening-I just hate him so much. How long have I been lying awake, I always know how long I've been daydreaming but I really don't know this time. Well I'm sure Odri's passed out by now. I get up, tip-toe towards the door, and press my ear to it. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, chiiing. Chiiing…chiiing…chiiing is all I hear in the hallway, God there's so many old clocks in this house. I turn to the window with a mischievous smile curling.

' ' '

The humidity is making my hair frizz up as if I'm under a giant light bulb. In vain I fervently stroke my hair down as I skulk away from Odri's antique home. I doubt Odri would have let me out even if I begged and kissed him, wait ew! Why would I think about doing that, just 'cause of that long stare before I shut the door on him? Whatever, I've snuck out of the house and now I can investigate this place. So it apparently prevents people from leaving or entering this city but I'm the exception probably 'cuz I'm not from this world. I really hope Odri believed that lie-hey, he lied to me before just like everyone else does. He lied about being a monk-ok, I assumed that so I can't say that he lied to me. I'm just relieved that I'm out of that house, those clocks were so annoying.

As I cross the street without waiting for my signal to turn green, I spot a kid twelve years old walking with a younger kid. They look indigenous to Grand Palace, they look a good place to start. "Hey excuse me kids, can I talk to you for a second?" They shoot daggers at me with their eyes.

"It's you! The one that left this cursed city!" the older boy scornfully says. His younger friend squints at me through the yellow street light and confirms it with a nod.

"What do you want?"

"Woah chill out, being mad at me isn't going to do anything for you. Besides you should be more respectful towards people older than you, those are called manners. Get some," I retort impatiently, storming past them furiously.

"These aren't our real ages!" replies the older one as I pace farther away from them. I roll my eyes, dismissing the frivolous comment. Why would he blurt something as stupid as that? He's just trying to mess with me that's all. I barely brush past another pedestrian blindly and stop to apologize. "Sorry about that."

"You think because you can leave that makes you better than me?" demands the dark seventeen year-old woman. "Does it?"

"When did I imply that? I just said I was sorry-uuuuugh! Forget it!" I throw my arms in the air exasperatedly and continue to storm down the sidewalk. I slam my fist on the side of a pharmacy being sure to hit the bricks and not the glass. Talking to anyone here besides Odri and Richard will get me nowhere, everyone just hates me for being able to break through the barrier. Where is Richard, I'm sure he would be kinder than the rest of his fellow Grand Palacians. Someone taps on my shoulder, ready to curse me out I bet. "Just leave me alone!"

The woman who I can barely see through the dim street light recoils in fear. "S-sorry I-I didn't mean-any-sorry." It's the first woman who I spoke to when I first got here who thought I was crazy.

"Something you want to get off your chest just like everyone else?"

"I met you earlier."

"Yeah you thought I was a lunatic but now I proved myself to be an asshole because I can get through the barrier."

"Right," she affirms sheepishly, switching her bag of prescriptions to her left hand nervously. "I just want to ask you, how old are you?"

"Why?" I wonder why she would ask me that question.

"It might confirm something for me. Will you take a walk with me, uh…"

"Mizuki," I finish glumly as I join her side. Some sort of smile forms on her mouth as if it's taking her energy to make a smile. "And I just turned fourteen three months ago." Before responding she scrutinizes me as if she's tentative about my answer but then believes me.

"That's the truth, you really look like it." From her black jacket, she pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Do you want one?"

"I'm fourteen," I reiterate for emphasis. "And you're three years older than me." She snorts, brings the cigarette to her lips, and covers it from the faint breeze. The woman plays with the lighter 'cuz it doesn't seem to be working properly. "Damn it." Finally, the eleventh click gets the flame to come out and she lights her end of the cigarette. Silently she inhales, pulls it out, and exhales a foul-smelling smoke. "That's amazing, you guessed my frozen age."

"Frozen age?"

"Yeah," she sighs emptily. "When the barrier came up, I was only seventeen years old and I've remained like this for so many years. I'm actually twenty-five years old believe it or not. Here's my place, let's sit on the steps." We take our seats on the rough steps of her apartment building right across the street from a closed beauty salon. "All the teenagers and kids you've seen walkin' 'round here like they own the place aren't who they look to be. They're all grown adults who left puberty behind a while ago. But it's the barrier that keeps us frozen."

"So everyone that lives in Grand Palace is young forever?"

"Unfortunately yeah. I mean it's kind of a good thing 'cuz nobody ever has to truly grow up but," the young lady puffs out more smoke that make my eyes tingle, "when you think about it, it really is a curse. I mean who the hell wants to stay stuck like this for the rest of their lives? You're only starting-the raging hormones, sexual frustration, and the horniness. Who wants to keep living like that you know? You know I had a dream about getting out of here and getting a job elsewhere, maybe Jasper Groove-where did you say you were from?"

"Uh, that's not important, go on." I know when it's time to shut up and the time to speak out and blurt how I really feel. The young dreamer puts her cigarette next to her feet and digs her shoe into it as a thin trail of smoke emits from it.

"That dream is gone now because I'm perpetually seventeen and can never leave Grand Palace. I wanted to grow up, find someone to settle down with and start a family. You'd have to be stupid to think you can handle all that at seventeen so don't even think about it at fourteen!"

"Wow, that really sucks. I guess it makes sense for everyone to hate me." The lady hums thoughtfully as she takes out another cigarette and the lighter.

"I don't hate you, I'm just jealous. You can be whatever you want and do whatever you want and you don't have to stay here forever. Time is really messing with this town. You're one blessed kid and don't ever forget it Mizuki."

"Do you hear that?" I wonder as I listen to the footsteps hastily coming nearer to us.

J.G.P.