Chapter 2:
Somewhere out in the ocean, on a small island the stars came out to dance and prance across the night sky. In the castle that was tucked away into the forest that surrounded the very vast property, a lot was going on.
Limos were pulling up and footmen were helping the women out of the limos. Directing the women to the ballroom within Alnor Castle.
Somewhere within Alnor Castle, in a room, there stood a very tall but muscular mutant turtle. He glared and glowered at the mirror's reflection as he tried to button up the front of his vest.
"Stupid buttons," He growled out.
"Let me, please," a softer voice greeted him as he turned to her.
The sight of her still made him sigh. She was a bulky but still slender mutant tortuous.
"Thank you, Helen," he said, holding still for her.
"It's what I'm here for, my Prince," she said, smiling.
"Just Raphael," he corrected her, smiling of his own.
Shaking her head, giggling, she fixed his vest buttons and his cufflinks. The hardest part was doing the tie around his neck.
Raphael was just one of the four princes of Aria. Leonardo was the oldest and "leader" since he was the crown prince. Raphael was second oldest but had a temper that rivaled that of volcanoes if you pushed him enough. Donatello was third but was the tech genius slash science nerd and medical student. And then the youngest of them all was Mikey. Michelangelo was into the balls, parties, events and always made people laugh at his jokes.
"Come sit down, my Prince," Helen said, patting the chair.
Raph sighed as he tried to keep his irritation under control. He walked over to the chair and sat in it. It creaked and groaned under the weight of him but, it held.
"I heard that there is a photographer coming. From the United states of America," Helen tried to make conversation with her fiancé.
"How do you know that?" Raph asked her curiously.
Distracting him with this was working.
"Oh Raph, you know that I have tea with your family every day. She will be arriving some time tomorrow or so. She's from California, wherever that is in that country," Helen scuffed at him.
"On the West coast, near Oregon, Arizona and above Mexico," Raph quickly informed her.
Helen shook her head and said "Must be very dirty then,"
"Why pass judgment on this woman when you have not even met her yet?" Raph asked next.
"I'm saying that about that…state or whatever, not of the woman," Helen smoothed it over.
"Do you know her name then?" Raph asked next, wanting to turn around.
"I do: Bianca Valeria. She's not that well famous within the Photography field, but they got her for a cheap price," Helen told him, rolling her eyes at this.
"If her work is good enough to catch our father's eye, then she is not cheap," Raphael then said, getting upset with her.
"I'm …sorry my prince…." Helen said, shocked.
"I'll go do my tie in Leo's," Raphael said, standing and walking out of the room.
Making his way through the labyrinth of hallways, Raph soon found his brother's door and opened it.
"That didn't take long now, did it?" Leo's voice carried from his desk deep into his room.
"Helen is putting down this …Bianca Valeria… before she even has the chance to meet her," Raph snarled, closing the door.
Leo's golden eyes looked up from his book and said "I take it Father has hired a photographer outside of our country then?"
"Yes, but that's not the point, Leo!" Raph snapped at him.
"I did hear you, Raph. And you are right, it's not appropriate for her to judge someone else before meeting them," Leo calmly said, watching his younger brother.
'But you did ask her to marry you,' he thought next, to himself.
The room that Leonardo was in took up a corner of the castle. It overlooked the forest facing where the sun would come up in the mornings.
Raph shook his head and then mumbled "Maybe she isn't for me,"
Leo never questioned why Raphael had asked Helen to marry him. They only knew one another through different balls and events about half a dozen times. But then again, Leo had to think on it from Raph's point of view and found that it was rather sad to think of. Donnie and Mikey along with their father already married to their forever person.
But Leo was still single. He knew that Raph had rushed things with that of him and Helen so that he wouldn't be lonely anymore.
"Here Raph," Leo said, getting up and walking over to him.
"I don't need your help," Raph snarled.
"Just accept my offering," Leo said, taking the tie out of his hands and swiftly putting it around his brother's neck.
It wasn't the first nor would it be the last time that Leo did this.
Raph glared at the floor, waiting.
"Don't expect anything from this," Raph warned him.
"Just like I wouldn't expect you to be the first one in the dojo tomorrow morning," Leo said to him, smiling.
Raphael rolled his eyes and muttered "Splinter Junior,"
"Ninja drop out," Leo lightly retorted back.
"Thanks," Raph said, walking out of Leo's bedroom and back to his own.
Leonardo however, stood there and took out his cell phone.
"Yes," a man's voice greeted his ear.
"Keep an eye on Helen. I don't trust her," Leo softly spoke to the man.
"Whenever have you trusted that woman, your highness?" the man asked him back.
"Never," Leo replied, hanging up.
Leo put on his royal blue coat but, instead of heading towards the ball for tonight, he headed towards in the opposite way.
"Aren't you, suppose to be heading to the Ball sir?" the man within the stable asked him.
"You know that I never liked these kinds of things. It's as if I'm just some kind of meat or something and the women aren't as if I don't know who is who," Leo replied back, grabbing a English saddle.
"Your father will not like this, sir," the man told him, shaking his head.
"Don't worry, Clyde. I'll see you later," Leo said, swinging up into the saddle of his black horse and riding off.
No one knew where Leo had gone off within the castle. Raph was getting irritated as this party was mostly for him.
Donnie, Mikey and their wives were already out on the dance floor, having a good time for now.
"Where is my son?" Master Splinter asked, looking around with his eyes.
"I don't know, Master Splinter," Raph growled low.
Master Splinter heavily sighed with a paw to his face, shaking his head slowly.
"Why must he always leave whenever we have these things?" A soft gentle woman's voice asked.
She was a mutant mouse, but she was Queen of Aria. Queen Takara.
"I don't know, my dear," Master Splinter or King Splinter said back, looking sad at the ground.
The blood boiled within Raphael, when he saw his father look like this.
"Why doesn't he like these events? He is going to be King of this country one day and"
"Dear, now is not the time nor is it the place. Whenever Leo gets back we will speak with him," Queen Takara softly interrupted her husband.
Master Splinter nodded as he sighed in irritation now.
Sometime later that evening, the ball had ended with much disappointment from the single ladies to see the heir of Aria. Raphael had marched to his bedroom alone.
It was somewhat embarrassing to get into an argument with his fiancé at the ball, but then again, Raphael did have some alcohol too. To take the edge off of Leo ditching tonight's event.
Now, Raph was alone in his bedroom. He walked into the bathroom a trail of clothes littered the ground. The hot steaming water splashed and sloshed around in the bathtub.
Raphael pressed a button near the light switch.
A maid was soon entering the bedroom with "Your Highness?"
"In here," Raph grunted at her.
She gasped and quickly shut her eyes and stammered out "S-s-sir! You're…you're…"
"Just get me another beer case, you stupid!" Raph interrupted her, his anger rising.
The maid was gone, tears trickling down her face. She soon returned, not looking upwards and then leaving the bedroom as fast as her feet would carry her.
Grabbing a cold bottle of the beer, Raph walked back into the bathroom. Quickly getting into the bathtub, Raph hissed at the severe hot water but didn't care after his body got used to it.
POP!
CLANG!
He opened another beer bottle as he relaxed in privacy.
Meanwhile, miles away from the Alnor Castle, in a wooden cabin sat the eldest brother of the royal family. He wasn't in his ball clothes anymore.
Leonardo knew that he would get an earful from his family when he decided to return. However, he just couldn't go through with these events anymore. The women here were nice and beautiful in their own right, but they did nothing for him.
So why meet them all over again?
A ring tone greeted his ears as he picked up his cell phone.
"Yes?" he said into it.
"We got her sir. She's on her way," the man replied back to him.
"Good. Is there anything else?" Leo asked him next.
"Yes, her debt to her landowner is paid in full, just like you had asked us to do. We'll see you in several hours time," the man said and hung up.
Leonardo hung up and then walked over to his laptop. He typed in Bianca's website and stared at the picture of her smiling back. She was different, not a royal by any means but, that's what Leonardo wanted.
Anymore these days, you had to be careful of not being inbred within Royal families. An outsider or commoner was what you needed to make sure that the line of the royal family stayed secured.
Leo's golden eyes scanned the website for anything that would be useful to him. There wasn't much.
"I'll get to know you soon enough, Miss Valeria," He muttered to himself.
Somewhere within the castle's kitchen quarters, where the cooks and such lived, a person glared at the floor.
"And you are sure that this has happened?" the person asked.
"Yes," The maid said sniffling.
"Don't you worry about what happened in the…Prince's room….the Press will love this," the person then grinned at the maid.
The maid suddenly felt unsure of this but, what could she do? She was just a maid. A Nothing to all of them. She nodded.
The person walked away with determination and a plan set in motion now.