Dora was becoming more and more anxious as the days wore on. She wanted, no needed, her husband back yet he had not reappeared in the last month, 5 days, and 14 hours since his death. Each day she had to wait sent a pang through her chest of fear and sorrow -she didn't want to face the possibility that Danny would not be returning.
The days after the king's death were surprisingly the easiest days for the queen. She was kept busy with arrangements for the funeral and could hold onto the hope that Danny would pop out of his own casket with a smirk and witty comment. When that hope fell through and Dora had to take up her husband's duties in the kingdom, the weariness set in. As each day went by, not even the reassurances of Clockwork could calm the queen so she began a new venture.
Not ready to give up hope, Dora began waiting in all the places she'd spent significant time with Danny in including a hidden section of the garden on the Keep's grounds. Danny had stolen her away one day not long after their betrothal was announced and purposely got them lost, so they had an excuse to stay out longer. What they found on their little adventure was a spring tucked behind some overgrown vines and surrounded by enough trees and rock formations to keep anyone from finding it. Since that day they'd spent countless hours escaping to it and simply talking and relaxing.
The queen sat down on one of the jutting rocks that hung over the heated water. She slipped her shoes off, dipped her feet in the water, and closed her eyes trying to focus on the sensations around her instead of the emptiness she'd been feeling the past month.
Howling ghosts could be heard from one distance and from another came the faint sound of people tending to the more tame parts of the garden, others exploring the less tame sections. The smell of freshly trimmed bushes travelled and mixed with the humid aroma of the spring and the mini ecosystem created around it. Steam rolled up onto the tall grass and created dew drops on the giant leafed plants near the tree line, and warmed the queen's legs.
The rustling of ghostly animals behind Dora brought a hint of a smile to her face. Those sounds allowed her to pretend Danny was coming back after exploring the area -even though the young king already knew the land by heart after all the times they'd been there. He'd sneak up behind her and dangle some wildflowers above her nose to get her to smile. Then he'd sit with his legs on either side of her own, his arms lazily wrapped around her, and his head lightly placed on her shoulder. She could practically feel the comforting cold of his core tickling at the warmth of her own.
Dora sighed and reluctantly opened her eyes. She was met by a pair of teal eyes and long white hair hanging upside down in front of her, making her jolt back only to be stopped by two legs right behind her. Slowing the unconscious panting she'd instinctively begun, Dora forced her eyes back to normal from their draconic state and smothered -for the most part- the death glare she wanted to direct at her unknown surprise visitor. When the queen appeared calm once more, the stranger spoke up.
"I would've brought you flowers like normal, but I was so excited I sorta rushed over here without thinking." The stranger rubbed the back of his neck in an eerily familiar way. Come to think of it, everything about the stranger seemed familiar to Dora, so familiar in fact, that the ghost had a knot in her throat just thinking about it. She couldn't even move away when the visitor took a tanned hand and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face, she was so frozen in shock of the familiarity. Any other day she would set fire to such a strange man for being so close to her let alone touching her in such an intimate way.
Taking Dora's silence and stillness as a bad sign, the stranger continued talking. "I guess this is kinda weird… I die and show up out of the blue, probably looking pretty different -wait! How long have I been gone? It hasn't been, like, years or something has it? I don't feel like it's been years, more like a couple weeks or months maybe. Oh man! How's the kingdom? People haven't been too worried, right? I mean, they had to know I was coming back and Clockwork wouldn't have let me die if he knew I wasn't coming back eventually to continue leading and I wouldn't leave you to-"
He was cut off when his face met the steaming water of the spring. When he emerged, Dora was pacing on the rock above him, hands in fists and eyes glowing a dangerous draconic red. "One month, five days, and fourteen hours of waiting and worrying and you show up here worrying about everyone else being worried, going on about how we should have instinctively known you would come back as a ghost; as if it should have been the most obvious fact in the Ghost Zone that you would be back and not disappear into oblivion for the rest of eternity leaving all of us behind."
By now, Dora was fighting back the tears she'd let accumulate since Danny's death but it was a losing battle and the first one was already tumbling down her cheek, followed by a dozen more. Danny floated dumbstruck in the spring and at a loss for words. He was expecting a happier reunion with his wife, not to be shoved into a hot spring and yelled at by his teary eyed queen for worrying. Although, considering how his life tended to play out, he should have expected it.
Gathering his nerve once more, Danny grinned and readied one hand on the edge of the jutting rock. With push, the king launched up and grabbed his still pacing wife's hand, pulling her down as he went down so she kneeled on the rock in front of him. Smirking half-heartedly, Danny said, "I missed you, too," and kissed Dora with the same passion he'd had the day they married. It took only a moment for the queen to return the kiss.
When the couple finally left the spring and made the walk back to the castle, nobody bothered to ask why the king was soaking wet or where the queen's shoes had gone. They were too relieved to have King Phantom back to care about such trivial details.
Ha! I live! To be honest, I'm just procrastinating on my other story… and homework… On the upside (for you guys) I may be updating this story more! I have a few longer chapters already started and am cooking up ideas for shorter ones just so I can get more chapters on this ('cause it's a pretty small one-shot collection right now…).
Thank you everybody that has reviewed, favorited, and/or followed this story -you guys keep me motivated, so keep it up!
~MandolinDoodler
