There was once a little prince who lived in a big castle. A rather big castle, at that. Now, this castle was located in a land far away, called the Land of the Rising Sun Not to Mention Breads and Biscuits Too. In this land the sun shone, the birds chirped, the people were happy, and the pastery was always good.
Even with all that was listed above, the little prince ot the Land of the Rising Sun Not to Mention Bread and Biscuits Too was unhappy. In fact, he was quite sad.
You may be asking, 'Why would a prince such as this be so sad?'. Normally that would be a good question. You see, the little prince-his name was Milliardo-was sad, and he was sad because he had no friends. In his country the sun shone, the birds chirped, the people were happy, and the pasteries were very good, but no one wanted to be the little prince's friend.
So, once upon a time-because that is normally when a story takes place-this little prince of ours made a wish on a far away star. It was very far away indeed and the little prince had a hard time seeing it, but using the ability all heros posess to be able to choose the right one, he picked that one.
"Pretty star, so shiny and bright, won't you grant my wish tonight?" Little Prince Milliardo asked the star looking up at it with big innocent eyes.
And much to his-and also many astronomers out in California-surprise, the star winked. Or blinked. Whichever. Then burst into an explosion of a billion different colors all at once, quite overwhelming the little prince.
Squinting up at the sky Milliardo thought he saw the star moving. Of course, it was moving, but if he knew that it would ruin the surprise.
When the little prince saw that it was indeed moving towards him he became frightened.
"Don't be frightened, Little Prince." Said a somewhat harsh voice seemingly out of nowhere. "I'm the wishing star and I was dragged all the way out here to grant your wish in the middle of my favorite tv show. So, you better not run away or anything like that."
The little prince thought about this, and being young and fairly stupid, he went along with it.
When his eyes were used to the bright light the "star" emitted he could see that it was not a star at all, rather it was a pretty fairy. Sort of.
The fairy had wings like a fairy and a wand like a fairy and even a pretty dress like a fairy, but our young hero wasn't at all sure if it was indeed a fairy.
She stared hard at him through wire-rimmed glasses. "So, what is it that you want? Fame? Fortune? No! Wait! I got it! You want the world, right? No? Well, what do you want?"
Our little prince looked up timidly at the fairy. "Well, ma'am-"
"Don't call me ma'am. It makes me sound like a school teacher. Call me Une. Fairy Une."
"Okay," Milliard said, staring at his feet. "Fairy Une, I would like a friend."
"What?!" The fairy stared at him unbelievingly. "You want a friend? What're you crazy?! You could have anything you wanted and you ask for a friend?"
Our little hero felt bad. In fact, he was feeling quite embarassed. Was the fairy going to refuse him his wish? He began to cry.
Fairy Une stood where she was. "What are you doing? Are you crying? You're a prince! Princes don't cry! I won't accept it. There's no crying in my presence! No crying! Did you hear me?"
But the poor little prince of the Land of the Rising Sun Not to Mention Breads and Biscuits Too was past the stopping point. He cried and cried. And for such a little prince he sure cried a river. He kept crying and crying.
Soon Fairy Une stood ankle deep in what was quickly becoming an ocean and she stared guiltily at the prince. "Look. I'm sorry. Please don't cry anymore. You're ruining my dress. It's a new dress, too. I'll do anything." The water was now up to her waist. "Um...Stop crying and I'll give you a second wish!"
At this, Little Prince Milliardo stopped crying and looked up at Fairy Une's face. "Really?"
Now, realizing that she couldn't risk making the prince cry anymore she gave up. "Sure. Whatever you want."
The little prince's eyes shone. "Wow! Thanks Fairy Une! My first wish is to have a friend. Um, my second wish will be....Um...can I have it later?"
"Sure." Fairy Une said. "Now, about the friend. You will find one, but you will have to journey a long way. I will send the happy-go-lightly God of Death to guide you. Now, I have to be going, but I'll keep an eye on you and if you ever want to make that wish, call me. But don't call me collect. Here's my number. Good Luck, Prince. You'll need it." With that Fairy Une disappeared.
Milliardo sat in the shoulder-deep water and blinked. The little prince was very confused. Hadn't the Fairy Une said she would send a guide? But where was the guide? The poor little prince didn't have enough time to think about it, because he was called to dinner.
After a good dinner of (what else?) bread and biscuits and a rather severe chastisement over his soaking clothes, Milliardo climbed into bed and started to fall into a nice sleep. He had just about fallen asleep, when he was awakened by the second very bright light he had seen that day. The poor little sleepless prince nearly fell out of bed when he found himself staring at a boy with a long brown braid whose face was inches from his own.
"Hi!" The boy said with a big smile.
"Ahhh! What are you doing?!" Milliardo cried, alarmed. "Who are you?! Get out of my room!"
The tall boy shook his head. "Uh-uh. Sorry. Can't do that. As much as I'd like to. Fairy Une told me that I'm supposed to be your guide and take you to find your friend. My name's Duo Maxwell. Otherwise known as the happy-go-lucky God of Death." Duo smiled again. "And you're Little Prince Milliardo. Yeah. I know your name. I'm the God of Death. What did you expect?"
To be quite truthful, Milliardo had not been sure what he had expected, but by that time of night he had forgotten all about it. He was sure that this must be Fairy Une's Happy-Go-Lucky God of Death though, because the boy was always smiling.
The Happy-Go-Lucky God of Death danced around the room. "Are you ready to go, Prince?"
"Yeah!" Little Prince Milliardo said excitedly. "Let's go now!"
"Okay," The Shinigami said with a yawn. "But we have to go a very long way, so I'd advise wearing good shoes."
Running about excitedly, Milliardo put on his best pair of shoes and followed the Happy-Go-Lucky God of Death outside. Soon they were well on their way.
At first, the little prince was very amazed. He had never seen anything like the outside world in his life. There were people standing outside and talking. There were people selling things, and he even saw the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.