Dance With Me
Chapter Nine: Dawn of a New Day
Marcy Wu awoke to the feeling of warm sunlight on her face.
The teenager sat up and stretched with a loud yawn. She was in her bedroom at the Royal Castle, morning sunlight streaming through the window. Marcy looked down and saw that she was still wearing her dress from the Midsummer Ball, and memories of last night cut through the haze of her morning grogginess.
After she and Anne had confessed their feelings to each other and officially become a couple, they had returned to the mansion's grand ballroom for the rest of the Midsummer Ball. With her new girlfriend - Marcy blushed and smiled at the thought - at her side Marcy had been able to laugh and socialize with the other guests with no trouble at all. She had lost track of how many dances she and Anne had shared, swaying to the dulcet tones of Gnat 'King' Cole and his band.
Just a week ago Marcy would have balked at the thought of attending a fancy Newtopian soiree, and would have found the idea of her and Anne as a couple to be unbelievable. It still sort of boggled her mind just how much things had changed in such a short time.
It was close to midnight when the first guests retired for the evening, which gradually triggered an exodus as the ball started to wind down. Ready to call it a night, the girls decided to take their leave as well. Marcy had wanted to personally thank Lord Sycamore again for the invitation, but couldn't find him - apparently no one had seen him in hours. Everyone just assumed he had retired early, an assumption that Marcy found herself agreeing with due to Sycamore's advanced age. She settled for thanking one of the butlers, who assured her he'd pass along the message.
The carriage ride back to the Hemisphere had been largely uneventful, with both girls exhausted from their long day. They had spent the ride cuddling together in the back seat, basking in another's aura. Having Anne's arms wrapped around her while Marcy curled up against her, Marcy felt warm and safe and protected from all of life's woes.
She had almost cried when they arrived at the hotel and Anne had to take her leave. But she had promised to stop by the castle with the Plantars first thing in the morning where they would share the news of their relationship with everyone, so at least Marcy had that to look forward to. With a final goodnight kiss Anne had bid her girlfriend farewell, leaving Marcy to send the carriage back to the Royal Castle. By the time she had made her way through the dark and winding corridors to her bedroom, Marcy had been so tired that she flopped onto the bed and was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.
But now it was morning, and morning meant seeing Anne again.
That thought brought a surge of energy to Marcy, who leaped out of bed with a smile. Several minutes later she sauntered out of her room, dressed in her normal clothes and Ranger cloak, face washed clean of last night's make-up and the necklace from Anne around her neck. She walked through the halls towards the dining hall, her and Anne's agreed-upon meeting spot, with a spring in her step and a sunny smile on her face.
"Good morning, Henrietta!" Marcy said brightly as she passed by the maid, who was hard at work dusting the portraits that hung on the walls.
"And good morning to you, Lady Marcy," Henrietta replied with a smile. "I take it the Midsummer Ball went well?"
"It went fantastic! Hit me up during your break later and I'll give you all the details."
Henrietta looked uncertain at the sudden invitation. "Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you…"
"It's no trouble at all! I'll even treat you to lunch. I know a place over in District Two that makes the best beetle burgers in the city."
"Well…" she slowly smiled again, and nodded, "if you insist. Thank you, Lady Marcy."
Marcy smiled and clicked her tongue at Henrietta as she rounded a corner and continued on her way to the dining hall. She started to whistle one of the tunes she and Anne had danced to last night, quickening her pace.
"Hey hey, Jilly-bean!" Marcy said when she turned a corner into an outer corridor that overlooked the castle courtyard. The blue newt looked up from the window she was washing and smiled.
"Ah, good morning Lady Marcy!" said Jillian. "How was the Midsummer Ball?"
"It was wonderful! Give my thanks to your cousin again, her dress was a big hit. And tell her to expect lots of new customers, 'cause I gave her name to plenty of people."
Jillian's eyes and smile both widened. "Oh, that's incredible! Fiona will be so happy to hear that. Thank you, Lady Marcy."
"And thank you for sending me to her in the first place."
With that Marcy went back to walking. Her walk soon became a jog, then a run as she turned a final corner and spotted the ornate oak doors of the dining hall.
On most mornings the spacious chamber would be packed with members of the Newtopian Parliament as they prepared for their day, with dozens of servants working to keep hot breakfast and coffee flowing. But with no parliament sessions scheduled for today, the dining hall was mostly empty. King Andrias, Lady Olivia, the Plantars and Anne were the only occupants, sitting at the far end of the oaken dining table with a selection of breakfast foods resting on platters placed before them. Sprig was sitting up in his chair, talking and wildly waving his arms while Andrias listened intently.
"... and so we had no choice but to eat our way out of the tomato plant before we were digested by its stomach acid," Marcy heard Sprig say as she approached. He paused, a contemplative look coming to his face. "Boy now that I think about it, I've survived getting eaten alive like a lot."
Andrias laughed heartily, his booming guffaws echoing through the room. "My my, it sounds like you Plantars lead exciting lives," he said.
Sprig grinned again. "And that was just one adventure! There was this other time when me and Anne got cursed by this-"
"Hey-yo, everyone!" Marc said, getting everyone's attention. A chorus of "good mornings" greeted her as she took the seat next to Anne, who was digging into a plate of pillbug pancakes. "Morning, Anna-Banana!"
Anne swallowed and smiled at her girlfriend. "Morning, Marbles!"
Olivia set her coffee aside and leaned forward with her fingers steepled, unable to keep the inquisitive smile off her face. "So… how was the ball?"
"Anne was telling us you had some big news?" Hop Pop added. "What's that about?"
"Yeah, don't keep us in suspense!" Polly said, bouncing in her chair. She cast an annoyed look in Anne's direction. "Someone wouldn't tell us a thing about last night until you showed up."
Anne set her fork down and took a deep breath. "Right," she said, and everyone's eyes fixed on her. "So the thing is, me and Marcy-"
"Actually Anne," Marcy interrupted, "would you mind if I gave them the news?"
Anne blinked, but smiled. "Oh. Yeah, go ahead."
"Come on, spit it out already!" Polly demanded.
"Yeah, what's this news of yours?" Sprig asked.
"This," Marcy said.
She wrapped one arm around a surprised Anne to pull her close and kiss.
Polly and Sprig gasped, their eyes a-twinkle.
Hop Pop choked on his coffee.
Andrias' eyebrows shot up.
Olivia merely nodded.
Both girls were blushing when Marcy pulled back. She giggled, pleased with herself for her boldness.
"Well, that's one way to break the news," Anne said with a chuckle.
"So was that just a 'friendship' kiss?" Olivia asked, smirking. "Between two 'good friends'?"
"Hardy har, very funny," Marcy said. "But for real though, Anne and I are together now. Romantically, I mean."
"We're totally girlfriends," Anne said. She gave proud smile, putting an arm across Marcy's shoulders.
"Congratulations, girls!" Andrias said with a wide smile. "That's fantastic news."
"It sure is," said Hop Pop, also beaming. "I'm happy for you Anne, you and Marcy both."
"So… how did all of this go down?" Sprig asked eagerly.
"Yeah we were promised details!" Polly added. Anne chuckled.
"Alright alright, just calm down kiddo. So we got dropped off at the Sycamore Mansion, right? And it was this big, fancy mansion with a huge garden built into the walls. Gah, I wish I had taken some pictures!"
"Anyways," Marcy said, "the party itself was held in this grand ballroom, packed full of richest and fanciest newts you've ever seen…"
Marcy and Anne launched into a detailed account of the Midsummer Ball: the colorful characters they had interacted with, the way Marcy had been confident and charismatic, and the dance the two of them had shared which led to their first kiss.
"Ha! That means me and Olivia win!" Polly blurted out with a grin, interrupting the story. Her smile dropped in an instant and her eyes went wide. "Uh I mean… that's so sweet?"
"... You win?" Marcy asked, arching an eyebrow. "What do you win?"
"Uh nothing!" Andrias said quickly, eyes darting around as he steadfastly avoided Marcy's gaze.
Anne looked to the others: Spring was whistling innocently, Hop Pop was stiff and sweating, and Olivia suddenly found her empty coffee cup very interesting. She gaped at them as the pieces clicked into place.
"Wait, did you guys actually bet on which one of us would make a move first?!" Anne asked, incredulous.
"No!" Sprig said, waving his arms. "No no, not at all, of course we wouldn't…" He trailed off as Anne and Marcy glared at him. "It was all Polly's idea!"
"Sprig you traitor!" Polly snapped.
"I can't believe you guys would just bet on the love lives of two teenagers like that," Marcy said, throwing her arms up.
"In our defense," Olivia cut in, her voice calm and even, "you two were the ones in steadfast denial of your own feelings. All we did was make a few…" She paused, glancing away, "hypothetical wagers on what would happen at the dance. Other than that, we didn't push either of you into a confession, just as you asked of us."
"That is…" Anne began to say sharply, only for her anger to ebb as she considered Olivia's words, "... actually true."
"Yeah, I guess we were being kinda stubborn about being in denial," Marcy admitted.
"Hey, the important thing is that you two admitted how you felt about each other," Hop Pop said brightly. "At least, I'm guessing that's what happened next?"
Marcy chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "Sort of. First I kinda got super embarrassed and ran out of the room."
"But I caught up with her," Anne said. "We got to talking, one thing led to another and, well…" She leaned over to kiss Marcy's cheek, who blushed and giggled sweetly. "Yeah."
"Well I'm glad you two are happy together," Sprig said, with the others at the table voicing their agreements. Anne and Marcy gave them smiles full of gratitude.
"Thanks everyone," Marcy said. "And thank you for everything you've helped us with this week."
"Well most of us did," Andrias said. "I feel like I was barely involved in this whole plot."
"That's not true, Your Majesty," Anne said. She paused, furrowing her brow. "I mean you, uh… You got us that carriage to and from the ball."
Andrias chuckled. "Anne it's okay. I may not have done much to help you and Marcy with the dance, but that doesn't mean I didn't have work of my own going on." He leaned down. "While you two were gone last night, I hit the royal library again to see what I could dig up on the mystery of the music box."
"Didn't we go through practically the whole library already?" Marcy asked.
"Yes, but I wanted to take another look to see if we missed anything. And I'm glad I did!" He leaned forward, smiling broadly. "In my search I found the entrance to a secret wing of the library, one that looks to have been untouched for hundreds of years. Maybe even longer."
Marcy's eyes lit up. "No way!"
"Yes way! And in it I found some books that might finally hold the answers we seek. All we have to do is translate the ancient glyphs."
Marcy couldn't believe her luck. She had successfully attended a fancy Newtopian ball, her best friend was now her girlfriend, and they might have a clue on how to get home?
This morning couldn't get any better.
Marcy opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of the dining hall doors slamming open. Everyone at the table turned to see a frazzled frog butler quickly walking towards them. Next to him was a tall, broad-shouldered, crimson-skinned newt with short-cropped black hair. He wore leather armor, a dark blue cloak hanging loosely off his shoulders.
"Chief Maximus?" Marcy muttered, eyes going wide.
"Friend of yours?" Anne asked.
"Eh, more of a coworker. He's the Chief Enforcer of the Newtopian Knight Guard, head of all Enforcement for the city."
"My deepest apologies, Your Majesty," said the butler. "But Lord Maximus says he has urgent business with Lady Marcy."
Anne and Marcy exchanged confused glances as Maximus bowed before Andrias.
"A thousand pardons for the intrusion, King Andrias," he said in a low, gravelly voice. He stood up and turned his attention to the two human girls, nodding respectfully to Marcy. "Chief Wu."
"Chief Maximus," Marcy said, standing up from her chair and nodding back. "What seems to be the problem?"
"You attended the Midsummer Ball last night, correct? You and one… Anne Boonchuy?"
"Yeah, that's me," Anne said. "Why? What's wrong?"
Maximus wore a grim expression. "It's Lord Sycamore. He's been kidnapped."
Author's Note: Well, we've finally reached the end of this story. To think it was barely two months ago when I started this. Now here we are over thirty-thousand words later.
First off, let me just say thank you to all of my readers. Everyone who reviewed, who faved and followed, it was all of you that motivated me to keep writing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Now onto the elephant in the room: the "criminal conspiracy" subplot and the subsequent cliffhanger it resulted it. To be perfectly honest, I REALLY wish I had never even included that. When I first came up with this story, I thought I wouldn't be able to write a straight-up romance, so I thought I added that subplot with a few ideas of where it might go: a criminal group attacking the dance, Anne and Marcy thwarting Lord Sycamore's abduction, them getting captured as well and needing to escape, or something like that.
But lo and behold, I found that I wasn't half bad at romance and rather enjoyed it. So much so that by the fourth chapter I was like "Oh yeah, I had this other subplot in mind. Shit." And by then it felt like trying include it would subtract from the real meat of the story, which of course was the Anne/Marcy romance. I'm very much still learning the craft of writing and storytelling, so that blunder is all on me. Anyways rather than try and shoehorn it in here, I decided to just make that whole thing its own separate story, a sequel to this one.
That being said, that story won't arrive for sometime, probably not until late this year or early next year. Unlike this one which was mostly written by the seat of my pants, I'd like to take the time to properly plan this next story out. Not only that, but now that I've gotten into the habit of writing regularly, I'd like to focus most of my efforts on writing my own original fiction. I will still write fanfiction, don't worry. I'll just mostly stick to one-shots and drabbles for now, with bigger projects like the sequel to this story being farther down the road.
Again, thank you to all of my readers for making "Dance With Me" a bigger hit than I ever could have imagined. I hope you'll tune in for more fanfiction from me. And if anyone's interested in my original fiction I have a Reddit account for short horror stories, as well as dumb memes and other stupid stuff. Also on Tumblr, but I still need to get around to actually posting my short stories there.
Thank you all, and happy reading.