Extra

Chapter Seven: The Tragedy

Haru was still miffed about the stolen kiss and the little fact that Baron had stolen her human life from her, so she couldn't see how she had fallen for the guy. She kept looking through the pictures, noticing how often Baron was now appearing. But no more of the red cat.

"What happened to Mother?" Making the small difference in how she addressed her Althean and human mothers would help her keep her focus. Neither noticed the formality, perhaps interpreting it as a term of respect.

"She caught a bad cold," the king said softly, squeezing her again. "She should have gotten better, but she didn't. You were fourteen when she died."

Her heart trembled; wondering how well she would have gotten along with the woman. No one could replace her mom, she was certain of that but… she couldn't help but wonder.

The white cat princess turned another page, and her eyes shot up in interest. Baron leaned over and laughed.

"That's Toto. Your sweet sixteen birthday present."

The white cat in the picture was riding on the back of a giant crow, and looked like she was enjoying herself.

"That looks like fun," she whispered, guessing Toto was the Althean equivalent of getting a Harley. Her father laughed.

"You always enjoyed riding him. If he weren't so big, he would have been in the throne room to greet you. Good thing he's patient."

Muta gave a snort.

"That birdbrain…" he growled. Haru cocked her head at him, since she didn't have eyebrows anymore.

"Do you hate him or something?"

He blinked, and then sighed.

"Not quite, but…"

Baron filled in the blank.

"He and Toto love to fight, and they do it at a drop of a hat. You'll probably see that for yourself fairly soon."

She sighed, and turned two more pages. Her eyes sharpened slightly. She looked at the king, pointing to an elegant gray cat with mismatched eyes.

"He's an Ylthean, right?"

The king nodded, an old regret in his eyes.

"Yes. He is Prince Lune. He'll probably be coming by soon to greet you. Although there was an ugly mess with his father, he adores you for what you did for him."

"Do I get to find out what I did?"

The king laughed again, seeming to get younger from her presence.

"You see, right before you turned eighteen, I got an offer from his father, the Cat King. He wished to unite our kingdoms by marriage. I asked him and his son to come by so we could discuss the matter." He sighed. "You liked Lune, and Lune liked you. But it was the kind of love one had for a friend or sibling. And by the time you two met, both of you were in love with someone else. You with Baron, and Lune with a sweet servant girl from his castle. You hadn't told me or Baron how you felt, but you still egged on Lune to elope with his girlfriend. So he did."

Haru giggled, thinking that it sounded like something she would have done.

"His father was livid with fury, but divorce doesn't exist in either of our kingdoms. So he decided to put himself behind the altar, and asked to marry you himself."

Haru fought the urge to hurl.

"You better not have made me-" she started yelling, but the king held two fingers to her mouth, disabling the tirade that he had somehow known was coming.

"I didn't. While Lune was eloping with his girl, you told me and Baron the truth about how you felt, and he felt the same way about you. I couldn't refuse you something you wanted with all your heart, so I turned down the Cat King. You don't remember this, but the cat had a terrible temper and many secret stashes of dynamite in his arsenal. He started threatening to destroy Althea for the insult of getting a mere baron picked over him, so your fiancé challenged him to a duel over the matter, on the grounds that the loser wouldn't make war."

Muta started snickering sinisterly.

"Turn the page, Chicky."

'I must have really liked Muta, to let him call me that.' She turned the page as directed. Her mouth dropped open in shock and horrified amusement.

"You didn't," she whispered harshly to the orange cat, who grinned mischievously at her.

"I did."

The girl promptly started laughing.

In the picture, Baron was standing tall, facing away from his opponent as he shook a few light gray hairs from his sword. The large longhair behind him had been closely shaved in several places, and he was holding his paws to himself like an embarrassed child caught naked. His crown, a purple gem, had been shattered. Off in the corner of the sketch, the princess was also laughing her head off.

'Maybe she and I are one.'

Haru looked at the orange cat again, with new respect.

"That's… priceless!" she managed to say through her gasps. Baron smiled a little wickedly, enjoying her change of tune towards him.

"The memory of that day has helped me survive all the years I waited for you to return."

Haru bit her lip, softly so her newly sharpened teeth wouldn't cut her.

"Why did you need to wait for me? The way the story's going, it sounds like a happily ever after was on the horizon."

Unbearable pain clouded the faces of her companions.

"It was on the horizon. On the day of our wedding, the Cat King returned, and tried to kill me. But… you saw what he was doing, and pushed me away so you would take the hit."

Her father squeezed her hard with both arms, from the terrible memory.

"That should have been the best day of your life, but it was your last. Because your birth was wrought by magic, the same marked your forced death. If you had died at a ripe old age, nothing would have gone wrong, but at such a young age… well, Baron wasn't about to let you go so easily, and managed to soften the doom that nearly destroyed both kingdoms for the Cat King's broken promise."

Muta picked up the story.

"What was supposed to happen was that both kingdoms would be destroyed. But Baron made a powerful spell that only suspended the kingdoms' existence. No one could die, be born, or truly continue with their lives until you returned to Baron, and he kissed you while you were in slumber. Baron and I got transported to the human side of the portal when you were reborn as a human, but we couldn't enter the kingdom again without you. He wasn't being disrespectful to you, doing what he did."

Her eyes widened.

'I died for Baron? And he waited two centuries for me?'

She looked at the orange cat again, wondering why she had loved him enough to do that. And why he had loved her enough to do what he did.

The way he was looking at her right now clearly said that he cared for her with all his heart, but… could she really forgive him for taking her human life away from her, to finish a life and love that she didn't remember starting? To start calling a complete stranger 'father'? She knew she wasn't princess material, but how long would it take them to figure that fact out?

Baron sighed.

"I realize I'm not your favorite person right now, Haru, but I promise that I'm not all that bad. I mean, I was willing to shave a crazy king for you. I'd do it again, if you asked me to," he offered, his eyes filled with a sad longing as the white monarch gave him a fearful eye. She started giggling again, sneaking another glance at the picture on her lap.

"True… not too many guys would do that, even if they had the chance." She was pretty certain that Machida wouldn't, in any case. Not that he mattered anymore; even if he saw and noticed her now, she doubted it would be in a good light. And seeing what Baron could do with a sword, she doubted that Machida would matter anyway, even if he did ever like her the way she wanted him to. Well, she had always had a soft spot for swordsmen… was the orange and cream cat in front of her the reason for her obsession with old-fashioned gentlemen?

'There's no way in heck that I love Baron right now, but I don't think I'll slam the door on him just yet. Maybe there's something I knew about him back then, that will make up for all this. And it had better be more substantial than the fact that he's a fantastic kisser.'