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Chapter XI: Cinderella

He had done it again.

Stupid boy! the grimoires seemed to mock him, staring at him with their open, unread pages – the gesture was akin to a pointing finger of the jury. Anxiety, mixed with the feeling of blatant guilt, wallowed in Yuugi's mind, making it difficult for him to concentrate: thus, the writings that had once fascinated him and left him yearning for more – for more to read and to learn – now felt almost alien.

The glyphs seemed to slither on their pages, teetering on the edge of the boy's failing vision, slipping just out of sight the moment he tried to read them; his own thoughts were escaping him, leaving him in a state of utter exhaustion.

Yet, for some horrifying and unfathomable reason, Yuugi found himself not caring at all.

Who cared if he didn't study for the exams? Who cared if he didn't pass?

Atem…

Grabbing the nearest pillow, Yuugi hugged it to himself, a silly grin spreading onto his face. The prince hadn't been angry with him – in fact, it had been the exact opposite: he had been worried! And even though Yuugi did regret causing distress for Atem like that (the mere thought alone was enough to make his heart drop) at the same time, the boy had been incredibly touched, too.

And what kind of night they had had! Filled with fun and games, just like before –

"…I…I think I'll have something important to tell you."

– and perhaps even something…more?

Stop it!

Yuugi shook his head, hitting it against the pillow. Despite his giddy good mood, he was starting to feel the effects of staying up all night: it was clear that he wouldn't be able to study properly anymore – not at this ungodly hour. He yawned (a sign of finally admitting defeat) and closed the book he had been trying to decipher with heavy eyes hazed by near-sleep.

Before getting under the covers however, Yuugi decided to make a brief visit to the attic. Up there, he gathered the last of the fabrics he had: a pile of white silk was what he managed to find. He smiled while spreading out one of the cloths in his hands, holding it up for inspection: these would serve nicely for his costume of choice. Downstairs, he set the materials down onto the coffee table, ready for tomorrow.

On his way to bed, the witch checked the lunar calendar he kept between the pages of his notebook. He hoped his memory hadn't failed him; otherwise, there would be a lot of improvisation in store for him. Fortunately, the page looked just like he had remembered it: a big yellow circle stood next to tomorrow's date – perfect.

It was going to be full moon.

With a happy sigh, the boy began to dream.

Yuugi decided to get up early, in spite of having slept only for a few hours. It wasn't because he was in a hurry (far from it, in fact – he had lots of time to prepare for the night, as well as to study, too.) No, he was wide awake at eight o´clock in the morning because of the sheer anticipation that kept rushing through him, turning his veins into miniature rapids. The boy felt like he simply couldn't sit still; instead, he opted to carry his books around the house, walking back and forth while turning a page after another, and every now and then having a sip of coffee between chapters.

Finally, when Yuugi felt like he couldn't have gone on any longer (his eyes had begun to ache and his vision was acting funny; not to mention that his throat was still killing him) the familiar evening chill arrived, sneaking in like a shadow of a person. It was his cue to begin working – with a slam, the grimoires were closed and forgotten.

The witch wanted to go classy for the final night, and he hoped that the traditional ensemble of slacks and a tailcoat, worn with a vest, would do the trick. Taking the necessary measurements, the boy marked and cut the fabrics accordingly, before pinning the matching pieces of cloth onto each other, and then carefully sewing them together. The slacks were easy enough, as was the vest – he had Grandma's patterns helping him with those, after all – but the end parts of the tailcoat proved more difficult. In the end, Yuugi had to resort to a spell to get the tails right: if he had continued with the conventional methods, he doubted the results would have looked as nice.

After giving the attire a fitting – so far so good – Yuugi stole a quick glance at the outside: dusk had already fallen, and soon there would be a clear night sky waiting for him. So, after fixing a few messy stitches and double-checking the seams, he placed his homemade clothes into a laundry basket, and made his way to the well that stood at the backyard.

While he was carefully lowering the wooden bucket in to gather water, Yuugi craned up to have another look at the sky: fortunately, he saw no clouds nearby that could have obscured the moon.

Up against the black canvas of the night, the celestial body showed herself in her full beauty. Glowing with the light gifted to her by the sun, the moon shone bright enough to illuminate half of the forest, despite the thick foliage trying its best to shroud it. At the sight, Yuugi couldn't help but to feel a shiver run across his spine – a light lunacy seemed to infect him, clouding his thoughts (or perhaps he was just feeling the sleep deprivation.)

Pulling the bucket up from the well, the boy placed it down onto the ground, next to the open laundry basket. Then, picking up a piece of clothing one at a time, he dunked them all into the pail (the water was so cold that it almost felt like his skin was being scorched off) until the whole suit was submerged.

Murmuring soundlessly, Yuugi waited for the reflection of the moon to appear on the surface of the water. Finally seeing the pale lady present herself in all her fullness, the boy moved to shatter the image into pieces by plunging his hand into the bucket, and then stirring its contents. After a few moments of rigorous swishing (which left his fingers numb and aching pink and purple) the water began to shimmer – as if someone had dropped coins onto the bottom of the pail, and now the pennies were catching light, shining like little lanterns.

Slowly, the glimmering got brighter – like the constant to-and-fro motions were infusing it with the water – until the contents no longer stayed see-through: instead of water, the bucket now seemed to house something else entirely. Liquid silver, someone of the non-magical folk might have said (the thought made Yuugi chuckle internally) but in reality, it was just ordinary well water enchanted to capture and encase moonlight.

Finally, deciding that he had to pull his hand out or lest he suffer frostbite, Yuugi picked up the now soaked suit out of the pail. Straightening the clothes with a flick, he gave them one long inspecting look, before drying the whole ensemble with a simple snap of his fingers.

The suit glowed.

Gleaming and glimmering, the white silk now shone silver, lunar light embedded in its threads. As pale as the face of the moon, the clothes shimmered eerily against the black backdrop of the night, forming a faint silver lining – like the suit itself had acquired an aura of its own.

It was as if the moon herself had decided to descend into Yuugi's hands.

He donned the suit – shivering as the cloth still felt a little chilly against his skin – and pinned a small piece of translucent leftover cloth to cover his face, letting it conceal his eyes like a veil. However, the boy stopped abruptly when buttoning up his vest. Turning on his heel, the witch ran inside, opening his closet and rummaging through its contents – all in vain.

He had no suitable shoes to wear with his attire – any pair the boy tried on simply seemed ruin the whole ensemble. As childish as it was, panic struck Yuugi's core; what was he going to do? He couldn't possibly come to the ball barefooted – no, that simply wouldn't do. But he couldn't leave out of it either, could he? Atem was waiting for him – the prince had even said that he had something important to tell him tonight – he had to go!

Just as Yuugi was about to lose his mind, a lone idea shone through his despair. Jumping up, he ran to the backroom, frantically searching the shelves for the one item that could help him –

A crystal ball.

As an apprentice, divination was one of the subjects Yuugi was required to learn: and although greatly belittled and even straight-out ridiculed by the majority of the witch population, it was still considered an obligatory part of the standard curriculum of magical studies.

Divination was a curious subject, because unlike many other fields of witchcraft, it had several varied ways of realization: these ranged all the way from reading the intestines of a butchered animal to the tradition of consulting tea leaves.

Yuugi had never been that keen on the practice of clairvoyance – it seemed like cheating to him, as ridiculous as it sounded – but he had invested in a crystal ball at his master's insistence (although the boy would have preferred a tarot deck himself.) However, his wasn't actually made of real quartz – those things usually ended up costing you an arm and a leg – but it was, in fact, a simple solid glass sphere.

Smiling in both relief and triumph, Yuugi held this fragile object in his hands, and began once again mouthing under his breath. Slowly, he kneaded his palms against the cool, round surface, keeping a firm grip on it, until he felt it starting to soften. Soon, the glass had turned mouldable in his hands, resembling something between clay and taffy in consistency.

With one well-worded spell, the piece of cold-molten glass began to take the shape of a heeled shoe; and it took little to no time before Yuugi could adorn his feet with a pair of beautiful glass slippers. However, despite his best efforts in trying to be as quick as possible, the boy noticed that he was about run late. With hasty, teetering steps, he retrieved his broom –

– and began to soar towards the castle.

To say that Atem was anxious would have been an understatement of grave quality. He was near nervous wreck by now: wrestling with both his feelings, as well as the upcoming challenge that he still wasn't quite sure he could face – and all this was coupled with the fact that Yuugi was about to be late; or what if he wouldn't turn up at all –?

However, the prince's fears were in vain so far. As he saw the boy running across the castle yard, steadily approaching, the sight brought the heir-to-the-throne both relief and unease. Yuugi looked just as beautiful as on the previous nights, glowing in the dark like the moon herself – the vision was almost heavenly for Atem's tired eyes.

"Yuugi…" he murmured softly as he embraced the other in a short but sweet greeting, "I'm glad you came."

"Shall we?" he inquired, once again offering the boy his arm, which Yuugi gladly accepted – his face flushed a lovely shade of pink beneath his veil as he smiled.

The two began their leisurely walk across the castle grounds. Hand in hand, they strolled along the neat footpaths, occasionally stopping to admire the magnificent starlit sky. From time to time, Atem would point out constellations he could find with the naked eye, briefly recapping bits and pieces of the stories his nanny had used to tell him about them when he had still been but a wee ankle-biter. Yuugi listened, attentive as ever, following the prince's line of sight as the other pointed out another cluster of bright lights, giving them a name and a tale to go with it.

"See, those two bright ones, up there? If you connect them, and then follow the line – you'll get to the North Star."

Atem smiled to himself, reminiscing the words heard long ago.

"If you know how to find it…" he murmured, "…you're never really lost, you know?"

Eventually, the pair was greeted by dainty, wispy willows, which hung over the royal garden (now spread out before them, resembling a miniature valley, hidden from view) like waterfalls made of branches and leaves. The flowers in soil were asleep, slumbering in their beds: most curled up back to a bud, awaiting the sunrise. But a few oddballs, headstrong in their nature, were defying this so-called natural order: instead opting to bathe under the moon, awake. Their colours were washed out, of pink and white and grey, mixed with a rare shade of baby blue, glowing pale in the low light.

A lone vine was one of these strangers, refusing to sleep like its daylight-loving brethren. Its blossoms resembled those of lilies, and its stem was coiled against a wooden ornament frame as if to flaunt them with flourish – Atem cupped one of the delicate clusters of petals in his hand, tilting it between his fingers.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured softly, more to himself than to anyone else.

Soft music could be heard – the orchestra had begun to play another piece back at the castle. In the garden, it almost sounded like listening to a music box: one with a rusty old key, and a ballerina dancing on the top. The notes were tinkling, mingled with the rustling of the trees and the muffled laughter of people – it was almost like hearing murmurs from another world, across the Milky Way.

It also served as a reminder of sorts; that right now, the two of them were alone, with nothing but each other as their company.

It wasn't an unpleasant thought.

The music continued to play, and before long, a certain tone began to slip between the notes, going almost unnoticed at first: a new addition. Vocals – dark and dulcet-like – rose, quiet but steady, from between the folds of the music, emerging beneath the strings and the woodwinds –

Someone was singing.

The lyrics were but a distant hum, like a memory long forgotten – but the voice sounded still nigh-hauntingly beautiful.

Atem looked at Yuugi; the boy gave him his hand.

They began to dance, together in their lonesome.

Their steps were light, and their movements slow, swaying in the rhythm of the faraway song. Atem led them across the garden in gentle turns, gliding under the hanging branches, all the while pulling Yuugi closer –

He felt warm.

The moon was at her highest, shining upon them – it almost felt like a blessing of a kind.

It was time.

"I…" Atem murmured, pulling them over a turn.

"I think…I said I had something important to tell you, didn't I?"

Another turn.

"Well…I…"

The veil was lifted; a face revealed.

"…I…I think…"

Yuugi.

"…I think I love you."

The castle clock struck twelve.