A/N SO I got really tired with this story by now. SO here is the epic ending of epic proportions!

For a final time, thank you to all my reviewers, story alerts, and favourites. It means the world to me.

ONWARD, MATEYS!

xXx

Lovino spun Anita around in circles. The world seemed to disintegrate around them, leaving only shadows and blurs behind. The gentle, swaying music moved them, their feet moving gracefully, in perfect time.

Julius was watching from the corner of his eye. "I never knew your son could dance," mused a blonde woman beside him.

"No, neither did I," the older man replied, wondering where indeed the hot headed prince had taken the time to learn the waltz.

Lovino, on the other hand, was a little disconcerted. Something about Anita was missing, was it her smile? Nope, still there. She looked exactly the same. He decided it must have been her distinct lack of chatter.

Maybe his memory of Anita wasn't quite the way she really was...

He shook all thoughts out of his head. "I've second-guessed myself my whole life," he muttered. "Be a man, man."

She glanced up. "Hmm? What was that, Lovino?"

She didn't call me Lovi.

"Oh, nothing," he smiled slightly.

The slow song ended, and the band struck up a different tune. Gentle, piano humming, guitar strings fretting quickly, quietly. Lovino recognized it instantly, the type of music, and the type of dance. His eyes met Anita's, and he could tell from the way her ears had perked she recognized it, too.

Throwing back all of his worries, embarrassment, years of hiding, years of being closed off, Lovino ignored the fact that his face was as shining red as a tomato, he held out his hand.

"Care to tango?"

Anita smiled, almost wickedly, and grabbed his hand as the violins struck down in a fiery, passionate tune.

(A/N: If you want a background track for what they are dancing to, it's "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge.)

Anita whipped her head up. Gillian noticed the way her friend's eyes glazed over. "Anita? Whassup, yo?

"The tango," she whispered, lips dampening at the very sound of the word. The tango. The dream of every young girl in Spain, a man, a rose, and a tango.

"Ah," Francesca sighed. "Of course. Our dear Anita is Spanish; after all, she would be naturally attracted to that sort of thing."

Anita began to walk towards the captivating sound, her feet stepping in time to the music. Francesca and Gillian followed, not entirely sure where they were following to, but tempted to see where Anita would lead them.

She ended up on a balcony, looking down at the dancing figures. "Help me find Lovi," she ordered her friends, scanning the dance floor.

Francesca let out a gasp. "Oh, non! NON!"

"What is it?" Gillian and Anita ran to where she was standing, Green and red eyes followed blue ones, and were met by identical gasps of horror.

"Mein Gott! It can't be!"

Anita's finger gripped the rail, hate blurring her vision. Sadik, you bastard, she thought, raging. How could you do this to me? To Lovi?

"He's dancing with Tonia. And he thinks she's me."

xXx

All around them, bodies were spinning, in close knit formation with each other, passion and sweat dripping from their bodies. Lovino didn't bother to wipe his brow, merely allowed it to flow down his cheeks like tears. Anita spun like a professional, her red material of her dress staining against her heaving chest.

They were pushed together, pulled apart, flowing with the masses. Lovino had eyes only for his partner. And the rest of the floor watched them dance in perfect harmony, envy shining in their eyes.

The music ended with a great flourish, and Lovino pulled Anita into his arms, her hands flying around his neck, fingers curling back in his hair. Their breath mingled for a moment, as lust-filled eyes collided and chests heaved.

"Anita," Lovino barely managed to whisper, "there's something I need to say."

A horrible, beautiful grin curled on her face. "Yes, you do," she breathed in his ear. He shivered involuntarily.

Lovino grabbed her hand, and, ignoring the blush radiating on his cheeks, strode up to his father. "I have an announcement to make."

Julius eyed them, trying unsuccessfully to hide the grin tugging at his lips. "The floor is yours," he said with a flourish.

xXx

Anita ran down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her, jumping steps and stumbling on the landing. Francesca and Gillian tried their best to follow, although they found themselves having a hard time whipping around corners at the lightning speed Anita was going.

'Slow down!" yelled the albino, but her cries fell on deaf ears. Anita's heart was echoing in her eardrums.

Lovi, she thought, Lovi, please, see through her disguise.

But deep in her heart, she knew he wouldn't. She'd only known him for two days, but that somehow felt like a lifetime. She could tell, even by just looking at him (and that ridiculous curl in his hair) that he was a complete blockhead.

Por favor.

xXx

Lovino stared out at the crowd. Everyone was watching him, expecting him to say something. His brother watched him with hopeful Eyes. He took a deep breath.

"Ladies, gentlemen, your attention please."

He didn't know why he said that. Everyone in the room was already quiet. He could hear Anita give a muffled giggle, and tried to shoot a condescending look in her direction.

"I feel," he continued, struggling o find the right words, "that I have found someone worth marrying."

A collective gasp could be heard. Lovino resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if they hadn't known this was coming.

"And her name is Anita." He glanced at her. "The Princess of Spain."

Anita smiled, and walked towards him on the platform. Several murmurs of "My, such beauty!" and "Lord, look at that smile!" could be heard.

Fighting the smile worming its way onto his face, Lovino took her hand. "I announce to you," he stated, (God, trying to talk like a noble was hard) "My engagement to Princess Anita Fernandez Carriedo."

"LOVI! NOOO!"

Anita, the real Anita, screamed her voice raw, pushing down the doors. Several people gasped, others shrieked. Lovino gasped.

"A-Anita...?" His voice trailed out weakly, as he turned his head to stare at the girl he'd just danced with. A girl with a grin, a wicked, horrible grin, spilling across her face like blood. A girl with half-moon crescents in her palms from digging her nails in. A girl who was not his Anita.

"Tonia, you bitch," whispered the Spanish princess before she fell, in slow motion, becoming a pile of bruised, squished tomatoes.

Lovino didn't waste any breath screaming her name. He didn't even bother to look where he was going, pushing past people, fighting his way through the crowds. He had to get to Anita. He just had to. But when his feet skidded to a halt, all he found was a pile of red pulp, followed by a rotting pepper, and a snapped piece of celery.

He fell to his knees. The blood pounded in his ears. I...what? I was tricked. And now...He forced the lump forming in his throat back down. Now, because of me, they'll all...the all die. Lovino, you failure. You stupid, fucking failure.

He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. He felt empty, hollow, like someone had taken away all the joy in his life.

The gentle rumble of the wind was becoming a steady roar on his ears. Cries of fear filtered through his mind. People were screaming. Lovino turned his head, slowly, coming face-to-face with a pair of soulless black eyes, and an ivory white mask.

"It was you," he mumbled. Hands clenched into fists. "You were the one who cast the spell on Anita. You were the one who tricked me. You were the one who killed her, you bastard!" Lovino launched himself as Sadik, who parried his blows easily.

"Little Italian fool," he sneered. "You can't fight me."

Tonia came up behind her father. "Perhaps we should give him one last chance to say goodbye to his beloved tomato," she whispered. Sadik nodded.

Lovino felt the heat drop from his face. His eyes glazed over, and he dropped back to his knees. A finger came down, and, more gently than he ever imagined he could touch, he stroked a piece of untouched tomato.

"Oh, Anita," he whispered. "What have I done to you?" His voice was beginning to shake, and although he knew everyone in the room could hear him in the pin-drop silence, he found himself not caring. "I failed you...I'm so sorry." He cleared his throat, this time unable to hold back the tears. "I'm not very good at, um, expressing my emotions, so you better be happy, damn tomato!" A few tears fell as shook his head, landing on the crushed pieces of pulp.

"Sentimental," came a voice from behind him, "but I'm afraid all this sweetness has given me a toothache."

Lovino whirled around before feeling a hard fist connected with his face. "FUCK!" he screamed, loud as you please. "That hurt, you bastard!"

"Good," whispered Sadik, before launching himself forward again.

His fist was inches away from Lovino's face when another set of knuckles smashed the mask on Sadik face on half.

Lovino started, the stared down at his hand, because he knew he couldn't throw punches like that, even if he tried.

"That'll teach you for turning me into a pepper! Kesesese!"

"Mon Dieu, Gillian, must you be so coarse? Poor Lovino doesn't even know what is going on!"

Lovino stared. And stared. And STARED. Because, standing in front of him, as if nothing had even happened, was Gillian and Francesca.

"Free of ze curse!" The latter shouted. "Oh, my, I must immediately celebrate by going over and dancing with that handsome fellow with ze eyebrows!" And like a flash, she was gone.

Gillian started to follow her friend, but stopped by the young prince. "You're welcome," she grinned, before dashing off to dance with some invisible guy.

Leaving behind a very dazed-looking, but still very much alive Spanish lady.

"Anita," mumbled Lovino. She glanced up. A smile grew on her face, wide and trusting. That was the smile Lovino remembered from the vegetable garden. The smile he ultimately fell in love with.

He threw himself at her.

"Ouch! Ahaha, hi Lovi, I missed you too, ow, haha..."

It was a very good thing Anita had started her constant stream of chatter, because if Lovino had heard the collective "Aaaawwwwwww..." that shot through the audience, he probably would have killed them all.

But, as luck would have it, he was too busy embracing his newfound love to hear any of it.

xXx

And, so with love and laughter, the lost princess was finally found. She and Lovino traveled home to see her family, who were so overwhelmed at her reappearance on the arm of a scowling Italian man that the fell over. Feliciano married his potato princess, and Lovino happily handed the kingdom over to him, because now he had a whole vegetable garden to take care of. He and Anita ended up with seven kids, one for every chapter in this story, all who loved tomatoes almost as much as they loved swearing. And of course they lived happily ever after, but the point, ladies and gentleman is that they lived.

THE END

A/N ENDING LINE TOTALLY STOLEN FROM "EVER AFTER"!

So, the story has come to a close. (finally...) I hope at least one person enjoyed it. Some of you had really good suggestions for a plot twist, thank you for that, but they were all so good I didn't want to butcher them with my horrid, rushed style of writing.

So, all reviewers and story alerters and favouriters, thank you for giving this story a chance! It really meant a lot, and helped boost my morale to make each of my future stories better than the last!

This is Calavera signing out!~