A month after Sofia's meltdown the princess found herself chatting with her closest animal companions. She had missed them terribly and they her, still they had a job to do. Sofia remembered fondly when they had returned to the castle.

It was the middle of the night when they reappeared. They gave no warning of their return so when Sofia woke up to a pitter patter of feet she panicked. She glanced to a sleeping Hugo beside her, she would protect him. Yet before she could move something landed on her bed, Sofia looked towards the object to find a bunny. A very familiar fluffy bunny.
"Clover!" she whispered excitedly. The bunny grinned
"Hey Sof" he then jumped into her arms as she brought him close to her chest. He sniffled slightly
"How are you doing?" he asked. Sofia smiled shyly
"I'm not great but I'm doing better!" she replied. It felt kind of awkward being able to talk to animals again. Whilst talking to Cedric she had been convinced to wear her necklace again. Still, as weird as it was it opened a whole different world for her again. She was interrupted from her musing when a light snore reached her ears. She turned to Hugo, who was deep in dreamland. She smiled softly; her smile was not unnoticed by Clover who made a mental not to discuss it with the princess later. Instead of talking about it Clover huffed
"Just what is this Miss Sofia? Giving up my bed so quickly? Oh, I am wounded!" he yelled dramatically. He then grabbed his furry chest and fell backwards as Sofia giggled loudly.
"Oh I have missed you Clover" she admitted wistfully. Clover grinned at her fondly
"I missed you to Sof, more than you know."

In the present however Clover, Mia and Robin were chatting with Sofia in the stables. They were discussing how they had found Sofia when Hugo plopped down beside her.
"You know people gone think you crazy talk to animals" he quipped, his eyes twinkling with mirth. Sofia rolled her eyes
"They already think we're crazy" she replied. Hugo chuckled slightly
"We have post-traumatic stress said Smith" he announced. That too was a new development, both Sofia and Hugo had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. It was hard to live with, both of them sometimes zoned out of reality. They would relive their experiences again and again until they would just do nothing all day. The thought of getting out bed was sometimes too much for the prince and princess. Then to add to the mix was Hugo's mums trial. After two months in prison the kingdom had finally arranged a trial for the former queen. Thankfully, most of the evidence was produced by James and Hugo's father but the two of them still needed to provide their versions of the story. It was stressful to say the least. In fact, that's why Sofia and Hugo were sat in the stables. Earlier In the day they had watched the final moments of her trial. They were currently waiting for the jury's verdict.

Sofia looked over to her animals friends.
"You know apparently these three saved us" she told Hugo. The prince smirked
"How?" he asked. Clover suddenly jumped to his feet, getting into a fighting stance.
"You doubt me princey" he asked. Sofia laughed
"Clover calm down and well apparently they had asked the wild forest creatures for help in looking for us. An ant in you know… there found us nd sent a message back. Then nature did its job and got us out of there." The barn was silent for a minuet as the realisation sank in. Suddenly Hugo stared the rabbit in the eyes.
"Thank you" he said sincerely. Clover nodded.

They were interrupted by a guard who summoned them to the castle.

Upon entering the castle, they were greeted by Bailywick. He handed them both a bottle
"You must replenish yourselves, your highness. We can't have you getting ill can we?" he chided. Sofia nodded but still didn't drink the water, she looked at the steward who understood. He took the bottle and took a sip before handing it back to Sofia and doing the same with Hugo's bottle. The pair smiled slightly and gulped down their drinks. When they had finished Bailywick took their bottles and handed them to a nearby servant before helping them upstairs.
"Now the King has requested your presence, in about an hour the former queen, Hugo's mother will be being sentenced. It is procedure in a trial that the victims be present for the sentencing." The pair nodded solemnly. They knew the day was coming the just wished it hadn't come so soon.

Bailywick smiled at the young prince and princess but said nothing, after a few minuets of walking they reached the part of the castle that Sofia wasn't allowed in. The trial rooms. It was manned at all time by armed guards as it was where all of Enchancia's trials took place, a place where the most evil resided. Amber greeted them at the door, her usual bright gowns were replaced with a red, yellow, and blue suit. The colours of Enchancia.

"You don't have to do this, it's procedure sure but exceptions can always be made" she offered. Sofia said nothing, this was Hugo's mothers trial. She would do whatever he wanted. When she looked at him though she realised that he wasn't Hugo at that moment. His face had turned to steel, it lacked al the warmth she associated with him. His entire posture scarily reminded her of being in the cage. He would laugh and joke with her then moments later he would morph into a machine, hiding his emotions so their attackers wouldn't get any satisfaction. The only time that broke was when they hurt her.

She took a deep breath to bring herself back to the present.
"I think we… we have to do this" she spat. Amber nodded in understanding and let them in.