After almost a month of travel, the two groups made it to where they needed to be. As Mari, Kanan, and Chika walked through the main Shining town, there were a lot of people watching them. Mari walked to the center of the town. She took a deep breath and called attention to herself. Kanan stood beside her with Chika on her shoulders.

The knight supplied by the Snow kingdom for the travel were standing by and making sure no one tried anything. They were to protect them until they were dismissed.

"Everyone! I am the Queen of this kingdom now!" Mari told the people that had gathered, "This kingdom and the Diamond kingdom are going to become one. It might not be permanent, but for now we are one kingdom."

Mari looked over at Kanan, "This is Kanan. She is going to be the King."

There were murmurs in the crowd. The announcement wasn't exactly what they were expecting to hear. It was still very uncommon for royalty to be dating or married to the same gender.

"If anyone has a problem with that, I would suggest you leave. We will not tolerate any hate." Mari stated firmly.

After she finished, her and Kanan went to the castle. It was exactly how it had been left, save for there no longer being dead bodies and blood around. Mari was greeted by the knights that worked for her. She dismissed the Snow kingdom knights.

"Let's see what we have to do to fix this." Mari said as her and Kanan walked into the castle.

DIVIDER--

"Looks like things have been going smoothly despite there being no one to enforce anything." Dia commented as they walked to the castle.

They had gotten out of the carriage at the main town entrance and started walking. They had already told the knights to leave.

"Well, at least that's one less thing to fix." Ruby said.

"True." Dia nodded.

They got looks as well as they walked. Most of the citizens stared at them with wary eyes. After what had occurred with the previous rulers, they weren't very trusting. Dia knew she had her work cut out for her. It would take a lot to gain back the trust of the citizens.

"Let's see how the castle is doing. Once we do that, why don't we make the announcement about what's going on?" Hanamaru suggested.

"Sounds good to me."

The four of them picked up their paces. It wasn't long before they reached the castle. Dia took a deep breath and opened the doors. It was a horrid sight. There was still blood everywhere. The knights may have been disposed of, but not anything else.

"Ruby, don't come in." Dia quickly stated.

She tugged Hanamaru inside and told Yō to stay with Ruby. Hanamaru gagged at the sight.

"Can you do anything about this?" Dia asked.

Hanamaru nodded, "Yeah. I can clean it up."

She flicked her hand toward the mess and it vanished. Hanamaru walked down the hall and continued to do that to any blood she found. Dia called Ruby and Yō inside. Yō sniffed the air. She knew why Dia had refused to let Ruby come in. It still smelled of blood to her because of how sensitive her nose was.

"If you'd like, you can go and rest." Dia told Ruby, "I can handle the announcement."

"Okay." Ruby nodded and headed off to go find her room. Yō went after her.

Hanamaru soon came back. She informed Dia that everything was now clean.

"Shall we go tell everyone the plan?" Dia asked.

Hanamaru nodded. The two of them went out of the castle and into the town. There was a small area that the royalty members always tended to use for announcements. Dia took a deep breath and then walked up to it.

Citizens slowly started to gather. They eyed Dia with wary eyes. Hanamaru hesitantly moved and stood beside Dia. A lot of the citizens looked at her. They knew exactly who she was. She was still wanted in the kingdom, after all.

"Everyone. As you know, the King and Queen are dead. I am going to be taking over as the new ruler." Dia started the announcement, "The Shining kingdom is going to combine with this kingdom for a while. If there are any issues with what I have told you, feel free to pack up and leave."

The crowd murmured to each other. They were discussing the new announcements. It was unheard of for kingdoms to combine like that.

"Also, this witch here," Dia nodded to Hanamaru, "is no longer wanted. She is a member of the castle again."

The talking in the crowd got louder. Most of them couldn't believe the news. After all this time, suddenly Hanamaru was being forgiven. There were also rumors that it was because Hanamaru "cursed" Dia, so that was why she was being taken off the wanted list.

Dia grabbed Hanamaru by her hand and started walking away. They made their way back to the castle. Dia sighed once they got away from everyone.

"You did good out there." Hanamaru commented.

"That was easy. Now, the hard part… we need to restaff the entire castle…" Dia groaned.

"I guess that will be tough. But, that's something we can worry about later. Why don't you go and rest?" Hanamaru ushered Dia to her room.

"I guess I can take a little bit of a break." Dia said.

"I'll go and make something for you guys to eat. Take it easy for now." Hanamaru said and then closed the door.

DIVIDER--

"This is a lot harder than I thought it would be…" Mari sighed as she plopped down onto the bed beside Kanan.

"No duh. Running an entire kingdom is tough." Kanan replied tartly as she shifted over to not be crushed by Mari.

"Kanan? Do you think things will go smoothly?" Mari asked with worry in her voice.

Kanan sighed, "I don't know… I won't lie to you, it doesn't seem likely we'd get by without any issues. The only thing is, I don't know what type of issues to be worrying about."

"I'm honestly more worried about the others. They have no knights anymore. What if someone attacks them?" Mari asked.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. Yō is with them. She can fight. And, Maru can use a weapon. She can make one appear with her magic. I think they can survive until we can meet up again." Kanan tried her best to reassure Mari.

"I'll take your word for it…" Mari said as she snuggled up beside Kanan.

Neither of them knew what they were doing. The kingdom was in desperate need of repair. The laws were horrible but the treatment of people was even worse. There had been a few riots over the new rule. Thankfully, they were small and easily taken care of. The knights were very good at dealing with any protestors.

"You think we can really fix this place?" Mari asked.

"I don't know, Mari. I really don't know." Kanan replied.

That answer was not what Mari had been wanting to hear. That meant there was a chance to fail. Mari didn't exactly know what failing would entail, but she knew it wasn't something she wanted to find out. She had a suspicion that failing would result in their executions.

Kanan wrapped an arm around Mari and pulled her closer. Mari responded by burying her face into Kanan's chest. Kanan placed a kiss on Mari's head.

"I'm worried… not just about us…" Mari mumbled, "With Dia being pregnant, things are a whole lot more complicated."

"Do you approve of her choice?" Kanan asked.

"I don't know… I really don't think she should be having a kid with what's going on…" Mari sighed, "But, if she thinks she can do it, who am I to say otherwise?"

"I don't think it was a wise decision for them to ever use the potion at their ages." Kanan stated, "But, like you said, it's her choice for what happens."

"I'm tired…" Mari yawned.

"Get some rest." Kanan replied and kissed Mari on the head.

"You should rest too…" Mari mumbled.

"I will." Kanan promised her, "I just need to talk to Maru about how everything is going first."

DIVIDER--

"You're telling me that people are really protesting?" Dia couldn't believe the news.

"Yes. That's what she told me. They don't like the fact that they're getting a ruler from the same bloodline." Hanamaru nodded.

"I'm glad we haven't had anything like that." Dia said, "We only have three knights."

"Shouldn't you just force people to serve like most do?" Hanamaru questioned.

Dia shook her head, "They're already wary of us. We can't do that. It'll break their trust."

"I guess that is true… this is tough." Hanamaru sighed.

"Do you think we can really fix this?"

"I'm sure we can if we try hard enough."

DIVIDER--

It had taken them both almost two months to fix their kingdoms and get the combination in order. It had finally gone through. Mari, Kanan, and Chika finally we're arriving at the Diamond castle. They were free to leave now.

"I can't believe this is what our lives have come too…" Kanan sighed as she watched the court that was currently in session.

"Well, there aren't enough knights yet. You need someone to keep an eye on them." Yō replied.

Kanan and Yō were watching the citizens that came to make requests to the kingdom. They were in charge of stopping anyone from harming any others in the castle. The Diamond kingdom was still slowly getting more staff in it.

Mari was currently the one holding the session. Ruby was beside her learning what to do. Dia wasn't there. There was now a noticeable bump on her stomach. She wasn't supposed to let the citizens see. They would start up rumors.

These were dangerous grounds they were treading on. The moment anyone found out, things could change. The citizens had started making up a lot of rumors since Dia refused to accept anyone as her King. With Riko being gone, the citizens started wondering if something else was up.

Who knew what would happen once they learned of the child?