~Chapter Fifty Six~

Once Upon A Time

Old, but I'm not that old.
Young, but I'm not that young.
I don't think the world is sold;
I'm just doing what we're told.

I feel the love, and I feel it burn,
Down this river, every turn.
Hope is a four-letter word.

I could lie, could lie, could lie –
Everything that drowns me
Makes me wanna fly.

Lately, I've been, I've been losing sleep,
Dreaming about the things that we could be.

~Counting Stars, by One Republic

Disclaimer: Me No Own; You No Sue.


Blood pounding, I pulled back to breathe, heart beating faster with the realization that somebody might stumble upon us, a scary and simultaneously exhilarating thought. Takashi slowed, before gently placing me on a clean desk, his hips in between my open thighs. Lips to lips, hips to hips, and hands entwined, Takashi and I continued kissing, making out. A hand slowly, hesitantly, reached down to the hem of my shirt.

"Nothing is wrong?" Takashi hesitantly questioned, his voice deeper, huskier than usual, and his silver eyes warm with desire. Fingers and lips stilled, waiting for my response. He wanted to know not if I wanted to sleep with him, but if I would consent to touching and exploring together. And I…

My earlier words rushed back to me: "I'm ready to take the next step with you."

Forehead pressed to his, I smiled tenderly and kissed him soundly yet again.

"Everything is perfect."


Sammy's P.O.V.

Once upon a time, I lived in America. I was a small girl, with sky blue eyes and dandelion yellow hair. I lived in a small cottage surrounded by honeysuckle and shaded by the big oak tree with the red tree house and the tire swing. In there, I used to sit listen to my mother tell the most wonderful stories – tales of dreams and wishes and happy endings. Fairytales.

The Prince married the Princess. The Kingdom prospered. Everybody lived Happily Ever After.

"What about you and Daddy?" I asked her and leaned against the wall of the tree house, arms over my skinny legs and chin perched atop skinned knees. I loved hearing the stories about them – the stories of how Daddy and Mutti met and then married; the stories of Germany and the States.

Above all, though, I loved spending time with her.

My Mutti...

"What about us?" My mother playfully demanded then, her hands reaching out to tickle me on my sides, fingers digging mercilessly into the tender flesh. She laughed with me as my eyes watered, and I frantically gasped, "Uncle! You win, you win…"

My Mutti smiled down at me, a glow of happiness burning from beneath her skin and lighting her smile from the inside out. She laughed softly and dropped down beside me, an arm curled around mine. "You want to hear die Geschichte?"

"Yes, I want to hear the story," I cried out in excitement and curled closer to her, eyes open and curious and brimming with laughter. She always did this to me, and yet I did not tire of it. I loved this playfulness, this happiness. It made me so very warm.

My Mutti hummed, pretending to try to remember the words, and then cleared her throat. She kissed at my nose and softly said, "Once upon a time…"

Happily, I settled in against her side for the story.

The Princess and the Pauper…

A Fairytale.

"Your father was a very strong soldier, his hair blacker than coal and his blue eyes cooler than ice. He was a poor commoner, a pauper who lived only to serve and protect the Royal Family. I, however, was a princess. Everyone said that I was incredibly kind, and intelligent, and above all, lovely. With kind brown eyes and sunshine yellow hair, I attracted lots of attention, but I longed only for my guard, the soldier who tried to keep me safe and happy."

My stomach warmed with happiness, and I found myself thinking not of Daddy, but another tall, dark, and handsome man. He, too, had black hair and steely eyes. My man, who I could only vaguely picture through the fogginess of the years, was a man with olive skin and silver irises, and not tan skin and blue eyes. A name, strange and hard for my young six-year-old-self to pronounce, was on my tongue, ready to fall off and call out to him.

But I couldn't remember it…

Who are you?

"Many years passed before I fell in love with him, but fall I did, and I pined for him all the time. He tried not to fall, thinking his lack of wealth and station less than what I deserved, but the soldier could not help it…" My Mutti whispered, "He eventually fell in love with me, too."

"Mutti? Was? Was happened next?" I asked her, the question almost habitual after hearing the story so many times. I already knew the next part of the story, but Mutti always drifted off into her thoughts at this part, her smile soft and loving. I could tell it myself, but I wanted to hear her. I wanted – needed – to hear her voice because I had not heard it in so many years.

Eyebrows furrowed, I thought: Wait, I hear her all the time. I live with her, and Daddy, and Sarah. Why would I think that I hadn't heard her in forever?

"We were married," My mother softly said to me and dropped her lips to my cheek, letting them linger until I squirmed playfully in her hold. She leaned her head against mine and then sighed in content. "We lived in a castle, with beautiful honeysuckle and red and white roses." Gray sadness clouded her face, suddenly and without warning. "But the König did not like it…"

A gasp of shock escaped before I could rein it back in. "No! What did the King do, then?" I asked, completely entranced by the story, and hushed the words to keep from ruining the suspense of the moment.

"The König tried to kill der Soldat, the soldier, who had become the newly crowned Prince,"My Mutti solemnly said, "So in the middle of the night, the Prince and I escaped by finding two wise dragons that would fly us away, to another land. We lived there, in the forest, for many years."

"What about me?" I chanted the question, bouncing in barely suppressed excitement because I would be entering the story in another minute – if I waited patiently, anyway. My mother pushed her finger to my mouth and said it, too. Hold still, Prinzessin.

"You," My mother thoughtfully said, softly tapping her fingers against the skin of her calves, bare beneath the hem of her yellow sundress, "You were a surprise, but the best kind of surprise all the same. You, Princess Samantha, were our pride and joy. You were sweet and clever, the best daughter I could ask for. But I wanted her to have friends, and I asked for another – my Princess Sarah, who adored her big sister. You were a wonderful big sister…"

"No, I wasn't," I said, suddenly sounding much older, sadder, and lonelier. My six-year-old-self turned ten in the blink of the eye. My dreams turned to nightmares, my story turned to reality, and Heaven became Hell.

"You tried to help her," Mutti murmured to me and patted the small hand that I had fisted into my pink long sleeve shirt, the shirt that Daddy had bought me on my ninth birthday. It was covered in glittery pictures of little black dinosaurs. A siren screamed at us.

"No!" I vehemently protested, hands to my ears as more sirens wailed, and I tried to block out the voices of the paramedics, nurses, doctors, and psychiatrists. "No, Mutti, I should've tried harder! I should've tried to stay with her, to pull her seatbelt out of the lock, swim her up, and…and…" My lips trembled. "…I'm sorry…"

"You're forgiven, Prinzessin," My Mutti whispered to me, and for the last time, I leaned into her embrace, holding her tightly and clinging to her in the hopes of keeping her here, with me. But I could hear Sarah calling. So I let her go.

My feet darted to the doorway, and I swung myself around to climb down the rickety staircase made of moldy wooden boards, rusty black nails, and cheap paint, lowering myself from within the tree house – my sanctuary. I ran and pushed through the bushes until I reached the edge of the forest, where I hesitated. Turning back around to face my mother, I lifted both hands in a wave, wishing her goodbye, only to find her gone.

Where…?

"…ten! Ready or not, here I come, Sammy!" Sarah laughed at me, a sweet and bubbly sound of laughter leaving her lips and reminding me of Mutti. My four-almost-five-year-old sister lifted the branch of the small wisteria bush and ducked beneath it, heading straight for me. "Yay! I see you!"

Screaming in laughter, I whirled around and darted off, trying to hide behind this tree and that one, up until I reached the side of the riverbed that Daddy always said not to get too close to this early in the year. I stopped there and then dropped down, staring into the crystal clear water with wonder, finding it too beautiful to ignore. A voice cried out to me, sounding desperate, and I tried to listen, I really did, but I could not concentrate. Sleepy, I was so very sleepy…

"Your sister is drowning, Sammy-chan! You have to find her! Save Sarah!" A Japanese girl screamed, with her long hair brushing her lower back and straight brown bangs in her brown eyes. She pointed down to a golden pocket watch in her hands. "Time is running out!"

My heart pounding, I snatched the watch from her hands, counted to ten, and then rushed for the water, diving in without thinking about the consequences. I moved through the water with ease at first, but the storm roaring above us roughened the currents, and I wanted to give up and rest. A small blonde head caught my eyes, and I stubbornly continued; I reached for the arm of the beautiful little girl. She whirled around, smiled at me, and pulled her arm away as a wave crashed down, carrying us away.

Hitting the rock, which appeared out of nowhere, I gasped and coughed to clear myself of water. A rush of German escaped from within me, instead – "Mein Gott in Himmel! Was ist das? Bist du in Ordnung, Sarah?"

"My name is not Sarah!" A small blonde girl, the same girl swimming ahead just minutes before, huffed at me. She licked her hand and swiped it down her cat ears, cleaning them of the remains of river plants. Whined, "Why do foreign characters always have to be stupid in manga?"

Another girl appeared behind her with the help of the rotating rock that lifted out of the water, brushing her golden brown hair behind her. She restlessly flipped her pink tail against the rock and grumbled, "No good! It isn't interesting at all! What do you think should happen instead, Kirimi-chan?"

Kirimi the Cat bounced back and forth, much like I used to do at the orphanage – wait, I live at home, with Daddy, Mutti, and Sarah – and loudly squealed, "She didn't save me! And I hate water." The Cat turned to a young man with violet eyes and meowed, "She should drown."

The Frenchman smiled down at the little girl, picked her up, and placed her to his hip, pushing his nose against hers. She purred at him and pushed back with her own nose, as a cat would do to somebody it liked. "Yes, Princess, Big Sister should drown!" He exclaimed while wagging his tail like a puppy.

"Arigato, Big Brother," Kirimi exclaimed, before reaching out to play with the large blonde dog tail that had appeared from behind the Frenchman. Batting at it with her paw and meowing, Kirimi the Cat purred, "Bye-bye, Big Sister!"

While Kirimi and the Frenchman waved in happiness, I tried to back away, my chest aching with fear. A black cape swished around in front of the river, and I tripped, falling to the ground at the feet of another young man. With his blue eyes and blonde hair, I mistakenly thought him to be a merciful angel, but in his hands was a weapon – a scythe carried by the Grim Reaper.

"Why did this have to happen to us? Why are you doing this to me?" I asked him, sounding young and scared and all alone. My lips trembled, and I started to cry, my nose running obnoxiously. I swiped at it with shaking fingers.

"You were supposed to die, but Sarah died, instead. You should take her place." He glanced out from under the hem of his black hood and glared halfheartedly at me. A moment passed, and the Grim Reaper smiled; the dark smirk tugged at his lips and pulled them up. "I might give you another chance, though,if…"

As the storm shrieked, and the water crashed against the shore, and the dirt began to crumble beneath my sneakers, I crawled closer to him and desperately said, "Please, I'll do anything!"

"…Kiss me," The Grim Reaper demanded, his right hand moving from within his pocket, lifting it to reveal his faithful companion, the little cat puppet. It smacked its lips at me and waited eagerly for my response.

Wrinkling my nose in disgust and turning off to the side, I scoffed, "No way in Hell! I will not kiss you – either of you!" I crossed both arms over my chest, squishing the heartache back inside, and softly said, "Besides, Takashi-kun would hate me…"

"Who is Takashi-kun?" The Grim Reaper asked the question, but the mouth of the cat puppet moved in time with his words. He exchanged glances with his yellow cat puppet; the former raised his eyebrows and the latter shrugged its tiny shoulders.

"He's…" I paused in answering him, face scrunching with the confusion consuming me, and I began to feel sick to my stomach. I should know the answer. I really should, but – "…I don't remember."

"Then…" The Grim Reaper stepped forward to meet me and then viciously crowed, "…I'll help you remember, Sammy-chan!"

Into the ice cold water I went, and I screamed, falling into the freezing river as the Grim Reaper, the Frenchman, and Kirimi laughed together. Water pushed down at my eyes and closed them, but while I could not see anything, I heard it all – I heard the sound of metal hitting metal, the screeching of tires, the ripping of the guardrail, and the silent singing sound of the silver sedan flying through the air. I waited with baited breath, and then it slammed into the water, making more waves.

"Just keep swimming, Sammy!" A mermaid called out, her blue tail swiftly pushing through the water – up and down, down and up. She flipped above the surface and dived back into the water again, short yellow hair spreading out behind her, a small halo. Blue irises laughed at me.

"Sarah," I breathed, the sight of the pretty little mermaid surprising me. Cold water immediately rushed into my now open mouth, and I coughed, desperately trying to get rid of all of it. I failed miserably, though, and then…

I started to drown.

Sarah…

"'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming~!'" My little sister began to swim away. A scream was ripped out of her, though, because the Sea Witch captured the little girl, her purple tentacles encircling her small waist and pulling her into the dark depths of the water. I never saw my sister again.

A silent scream escaped, shooting the water with bubbles and consequentially filling my open mouth with the water; it filled the insides of my ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Hands pulled at me as my screams continued, and I did not stop screaming until the moment that I could breathe in fresh air and feel the cold, wet dirt beneath me. I coughed again, water in my ears and mouth pouring out like waterfalls. I blinked it away. A pair of redheaded boys stared impassively down at me, arms crossed and feet tapping in unison, like Twins.

"Come home us," The Twins chorused, but instead of waiting for my answer to their command, the redheaded boys whirled, turning as one and vanishing into the lush garden of red and white roses. Japanese songs were sung as roses moved, dancing to the beat of the music.

"Thank you," I said to no one and followed behind the redheaded Twins, broom in my right hand and dustpan in the left. I hurriedly swept at the trail left behind by their fancy black shoes and coaxed the dust bunnies into the pan. I turned this way and that way and tried to keep up.

Another redhead, much taller and older and with cat green eyes, was painting his fingernails pink while crouching atop the hedge next to me. He examined his nails, flicked the little brush at the tip of his pinky nail, and mused, "Wrong way!"

"What?" I croaked out at him, out of breath from the speed with which I had traveled around the maze of dancing flowers, and blinked at him while shielding my weary eyes. I slumped against the nearest hedge. "What do you mean wrong way, and who are you, anyway?"

"I," He puffed out his muscular chest and proudly proclaimed, "am called Caleb! I'm your…" Caleb glanced to the left, then the right, and then back at me, and whispered, "…Fairy Godbrother!"

Stare. "…Don't you mean, uh, Godmother?" I asked him in confusion, the twelve-year-old-girl in me protesting this change to a classic fairytale and wondering about it with all the seriousness I could muster – in other words, not much.

"Do I look like a girl to you?" Caleb the Godbrother haughtily asked, lifting his nose in the air, climbing down from the hedge, and stomping his right foot. The Godbrother accidentally stomped down on the hem of his pink kimono, which matched his hot pink fingernails. "Whoops!"

"Um…" I started to answer with honesty, but quickly decided not to say anything since the tall, redheaded teenager simply snapped his fingers and fixed his kimono without speaking a single word, "…no."

"Oh! Smart girl! Great answer!" Caleb the Godbrother purred down at me, a gleam in his cat green eyes. Then, Caleb cocked his side to the head and repeated his earlier proclamation – "You went the wrong way!"

"Okay, then – where should I go?" I asked the swaying man, irritated with the situation, and put both hands to my waist. I eyed his fingers, waiting for him to snap or curse me, and mumbled, I do not want to be turned into a slimy frog.

"Wrong fairytale," Caleb the Godbrother dismissed with a wave of his hand, clearly hearing the mumbles and ignoring my stare of disbelief. He continued to flap his hands around, drying the fingernail polish this way, and announced, "You, CinderSammy, must –"

"…Dude. My name is not CinderSammy; I'm not wearing any cinders," I pointed out dryly, hand gesturing to my clothes which, while dirty and dusty, had not been covered by ash or cinders or anything else from inside fireplaces.

A green eye stared down the dust covering me and the broom, before glaring at the pink shirt that I still happened to be wearing; I scowled at him, practically daring him to say anything. Caleb the Godbrother only shrugged at me and said, "You want to be called DustySammy, instead?"

"Bite me," I muttered in distaste, only to have him throw two bananas at me. I yelped loudly and ducked to avoid being hit in the face, but bent down to pick them up. I bit into one, and through the mouthful, I asked, "What should I do with these things – besides eat them, I mean?"

"'One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all,'" Caleb the Godbrother sang – and really off key, too – to the music of White Rabbit. He grinned like the Mad Hatter at my nonplussed expression. "'Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall!'"

"You gave me two bananas," I informed him without hesitation and pointed to the two peels, the remains of the bananas, in my palm, "and not pills. Plus, Mutti doesn't like giving me pills. I only get Children's Motrin…"

Annoyed with the continued rebuttals, Caleb the Godbrother finally glared at me and, through his gritted teeth, darkly growled, "I said, 'Go ask Alice when she's teen feet tall!'" He stomped his feet again but managed not to ruin his kimono this time.

"…Fine, fine!" I hurriedly said then, lifting both hands in front to try and ward him off. I came in peace, and I did not want to leave in pieces. Mouth lifted in a sarcastic smile, I chirped, "I'll leave to find Alice, then…"

With that last statement, I wandered off through the maze, searching high and low through the red and white roses. I could not find her, whoever and wherever this Alice happened to be, and I eventually decided to collapse in a gazebo, resting for awhile. I grumbled to myself and flopped to the side, letting my eyes close and cheek rest against the cold marble of the flat bench. My mind wandered, mouth opened, and I started to snore –

At that moment, however, the ground started to shake, trembling with the force of each step that the – holy scheiẞe – giant girl made forward. She tried not to step on any roses and managed to only squish two hedges, but the Japanese girl still seemed pretty damn annoyed. "Damn rich bastards! Why do the flowers have to be so small?" She complained to herself.

"Mutti does not have small flowers," I said without thinking, too intent upon moving out of the gazebo and staring at the really tall girl in shock. She had to be about ten feet tall, at least, and thus – "You're just really, really, really big!"

Instead of glaring at this disagreement, the Japanese girl smiled brightly down at me, something that seemed really familiar but that I could not place. She squatted down to lessen the strain on my neck and said, "So your mother must be the Queen!"

"Yeah," I said, slowly, and with confusion because while I remembered the story of how Daddy and Mutti met all those years ago, my guess was that this girl had not heard it. She seemed to know something about my mother, though…

"You have to hurry, then!" The Japanese girl moved closer, gently stuck her forefinger into my pocket, and picked out the watch from earlier, lifting it with her fingernail. She checked the time. "You're going to be late for the wedding!"

"Wedding!" I exclaimed in surprise and staggered backwards, only to land against the columns holding the roof of the gazebo in place. I blinked repeatedly at her, my mind awhirl, and croaked, "My Mutti is getting married?"

"Hurry, Sammy-chan!" The Japanese girl repeated the words, pushing at me with her fingers and inclining her head in the direction I needed to go instead of answering the question I asked her. She climbed to her feet, dusted off her uniform skirt, and waved at me.

"Thanks, Fujioka-san!" I yelled to her over my shoulder, turned around quickly to smile at her, and then whirled back to face the front. If I was going to the wedding, then I needed to look somewhat nice!

My friend – at least, I thought her to be one – cupped her hands to her mouth and called, "It's Haruhi-chan!"

With a wave and laugh to signify that I heard her, I darted off toward the enormous white castle that loomed in the distance. I reached the end of the maze and tried to enter the castle gates, but the two redheads lounging at the front gate would not let me go in. One pointed furiously at me. "You are not wearing the dress! She is not wearing the dress, Hikaru," He whined, first to me and then to his brother, who growled, "I know, Kaoru…"

"What dress?" I asked him, bemused, and glanced down at my relatively clean clothes – the pink shirt with the dinosaurs, the jean shorts, and the black sneakers.

"This one," Kaoru exclaimed and clapped his hands together, instantly transforming my ordinary clothes into the yellow disasters that the girls standing behind the castle gates were wearing. Some had hats; others had matching scarves. All of them were wearing gloves.

"What's wrong now?" Hikaru and Kaoru groaned in dismay, obviously confused because I only scowled at the girls, the dress (if it could be called that), and them. Who would think these dresses to be cute? Certainly not me!

"…I hate yellow," I mumbled, before tentatively picking at the big, baggy dress and holding it away in speculation. My twelve-year-old-self slowly grew up and into the dress, filling spaces made for the breasts and hips of the teenage me. Unfortunately for Hikaru and Kaoru, I still hated it.

"Fine! Be that way," Hikaru snapped at me, while waving his hands in intricate patterns and turning it the bright blue of the sky on a sunny morning. "He likes to see you wearing blue, anyway…"

Confused, I glanced from Hikaru to Kaoru, neither of whom appeared happy with the situation, and stepped closer to them. I wanted to hug them for some reason and had to fight the urge. Instead, I squinted at the redheaded fashion designers and warily asked, "Who does?"

"The Prince!" They exclaimed in chorus, lifting their thin hands in the air with exasperation – because, obviously, I should know this fact, and I should know who liked to see me wear a certain color. Perfectly normal. Yep…

"Who's the Prince?" I asked while standing with tip toes to see over the gate. Eyes wandering around the courtyard, searching the faces of the few boys in the crowd of girls, I wondered if I knew him…

Shaking his head, Kaoru waggled his finger at me and said, "Oh, no! We're fashion designers; Hikaru and I only do the clothes, you see. If you need to ask questions, then go ask –" The Twins shuddered at the mention of this name, as if afraid of it. "– You-Know-Who!"

"…Voldemort?" I stupidly asked, the teenage girl I had become remembering the nickname for the feared Dark Lord in Harry Potter. What did the Dark Wizard have to do with anything in this story? Man, I'm confused!

"Not Voldemort!" Hikaru exclaimed and then plopped his head in his hands, risking the chance that it might ruin his hair. Meanwhile, Kaoru patted him on the shoulder, warily checked the perimeter, and hissed, "Caleb! Go ask Caleb!"

"Caleb the Godbrother?" I asked for clarification, but the Twins had already vanished, leaving to help newly arriving girls into their yellow dresses. So I shrugged to myself and entered the nearest door. Inside, I noticed the other redhead from before – the strange(r) one.

Caleb the Godbrother was quietly seated there…behind the kotatsu…in the dark.

What the…?

As if hearing this thought, Caleb the Godbrother smirked at me and winked. He petted the head of Kirimi, who swished her tail and meowed at him from her spot beside him. "'You come to me on the eve of my daughter's wedding,'" Caleb started to speak.

Eyebrow raised, I interrupted him before his longwinded and dramatic rendition of the old movie began, and sarcastically snapped, "Uh, I hate to break it to you, since it looks like plenty of effort went into preparing for it, but you're the Godbrother – not the Godfather!"

Caleb the Godbrother shrugged his broad shoulders and continued to pet the hair of the little girl napping beside him. He smiled down at her and said, "Same difference! Anyway, I want you to head back outside and dance with the first man you see!"

Remembering what Hikaru and Kaoru had claimed, I frowned at him and began to bounce back and forth, back and forth in nervousness. "Hey! You're supposed to answer my questions!" I protested, knowing somehow that if I bugged him enough I might get an answer.

The Godbrother struggled with himself, clearly wanting to give in and respond without all of the riddles and hullabaloo, but decided differently at the last minute. He licked his lips, sighed, and asked, "You wanted to know where to find the Prince, right?"

"Yes, but…" I started to tell him about the Twins, but Caleb the Godbrother returned the earlier favor by bluntly speaking over me. Caleb smirked at my annoyance. "Then go and dance with the first man you see!"

Somehow knowing that I had the right to mistrust him, I stared at him for a moment, my eyes narrowed in concentration. He seemed to be telling the truth, but still I eyed him and warily asked, "…why?"

Caleb the Godbrother slumped in his seat and dropped his head into his left hand. He rubbed at his nose, mumbled viciously to himself about not getting paid enough to do all of this stuff, and sighed, "Just do it…"

"Whatever," I grumbled, before turning, leaving the dark room, and heading back to the – now sunny and beautifully decorated – courtyard. I kept my eyes on the ground, though, and kicked at the pebbled yard, scattering them with the toes of the black sneakers that still poked out from beneath the pretty blue dress. Until…

"May I have this dance?"

Startled, I glanced right up and stared straight into two beautifully shining silver eyes. A tall, dark, and incredibly handsome man with black hair, warm gray eyes, and olive skin solemnly stared down at me. Raised his hand, palm up, and asked for my permission. So I softly said, "Yeah…"

We slowly walked to the center of the courtyard, and amidst the sea of other girls, I danced with the handsome gentleman. He put his right hand to rest on my waist, his left hand holding mine up. I lifted both of mine, including the one in his left hand, and put them around his neck, the action familiar and happy. He smiled softly down at me and then leaned forward, his lips nearing mine, brushing against them, and then –

We kissed.

Fireworks exploded.

"I now pronounce you man and wife!"

Yelping, I pulled back from the handsome man and turned to face the two thrones that appeared at the front of the courtyard, just before the entryway to the castle. On the taller one, a man with black hair rested, seated there without the least bit of pretentiousness. He was covered from head to foot in army gear, a cap atop his head, uniform covering his torso, arms, and legs, and two big, black boots hiding his socks from view. A bright, cheerful smile, which illuminated his solemn expression, made him seem years younger. He saluted to me. I grinned playfully and saluted back.

Beside him, I saw a woman with short blonde hair and brown eyes. She slowly climbed to her feet and dusted off her yellow sundress, before walking down the stairs and through the crowd, to me. She stopped at once, stared at the handsome man, and kindly said, "Willkommen to the family, Takashi."

"Thank you," Takashi gratefully said to her and bowed low at the waist, his expensive white suit crinkling lightly with the movement. He stayed that way a moment, then lifted himself again, and walked through the castle gates. I automatically moved to follow him, but at the last moment, I turned back around to face my mother.

My mother, beautiful and stronger than anybody else I knew, smiled through the tears raining down her cheeks, raising her arms. I immediately leapt into them and burrowed deep into her shoulder, tears falling down my nose. She smiled at me. "Go home, Prinzessin."

"Mutti…" I whispered, holding tightly to her and refusing to let go. She gently pulled back, letting my arms slowly drop, and headed back to the courtyard, to stand beside Daddy. Whispered, "Go home, Sammy…"

Everything faded to black, and I turned back around to head back in the other direction, through the castle gates. I walked steadily toward the light shining from within the hedges surrounding the maze. Bravely, I walked into the maze, navigating it with only the thought of home in my mind, and eventually arrived back at the small, white gazebo. This time, however, it wasn't empty…

"Otou-san," A little girl with blonde hair and silver eyes squealed and bounced to and fro in the gazebo, climbing into the lap of her father. She excitedly looked back and forth between us and then pointed at me. "Look, Mommy's home!"

"Welcome back, Sweetheart," Takashi warmly greeted. He smiled down at the little girl in his lap and rubbed her small back with his much larger hand, kissing the top of her head. He lifted his arm and waited.

I smiled through the tears, stepped into his embrace, and whispered, "It's good to be home…"


***Author's Note***

YAY! I UPDATED WITH A SUPER LONG CHAPTER! I LOVE CHOCOLATE! IT'S ALL MINE! BACK OFF!

IMPORTANT! Sammy is dreaming in this chapter! It is aligned with Episode 13 of the anime, Ouran High School Host Club. You all remember where Haruhi is dreaming and plays the part of Alice in Wonderland? Well, Sammy is dreaming, too! I used several different fairytales in this chapter, though, so...

WHO CAN NAME THEM ALL THE FAIRYTALES THAT I USED?

C'mon! You know them! List them in a review!

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

Update = 770ish Reviews

:D