She was wrong. She was so wrong to ask him such a question. Dev thought while he stood watching the trail that she had just ran away by. She was nothing like what he thought when he offered to be her friend. She was stubborn, and rude, and not at all princess like, she even hated royalty! She was mean, think of how she treated Daisy! And thinking back on the day they met, she even threw a stone at him like he was some animal! Dev thought some more.

* You are an animal.*

He shook his head, no, he was a prince! He shook his head again.

* Yeah and where, oh mighty prince, is your kingdom? Your life as a prince is gone. * The voice in the back of his head rang in his heart painfully, but he felt it was true.

A princess couldn't even break the spell! He was now a frog forever, an ugly nothing of a man.

* She wasn't a princess, she wasn't anybody. She was ugly. Where are her lovely golden locks? Princesses are supposed to be beautiful. She doesn't know anything of a princess. *

Dev nodded again to the voice. True, she was free though, and happy.

* Not happy, ignorant.*

Dev shook his head.

"She is beautiful!" he said aloud. "Maybe she wasn't what everyone else considers beautiful, but I saw beauty in her!"

*Don't be as foolish as her, she was dumb and ugly. She was a simple common girl. She will give you nothing, she can't break the spell. What good is she?*

"She is my friend, she kept me from being lonely, she keeps me sane."

*Sane? You think your sane Frog?*

Dev snickered, true, look at him speaking to a voice in the back of his head. He shook his head. It made sense though, Spring wasn't helping him. He didn't care for her.

Dev turned towards his home, he hadn't gone back there since he met Spring.

When he returned to the lovely pond he looked at it. There was an opening in the trees and light shown in brightly. The pond was closer to the trees on one side and a lovely small field of wildflowers grew about with butterflies skipping on them on the other side of the little pond.

Dev sat down on a stone and watched the butterflies dance. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, wanting to smell the air of his home but instead he smelled Spring's sent, it wasn't sweet like the flowers, *like princesses are supposed to smell like,* but it was real. He saw her face when he closed his eyes. It wasn't flawless and perfect, *like how princesses were supposed to look like,* but it was real. The truth was she was real, and he wanted to be close to her. He felt something for her, she was just so...

*She is nothing you damn Frog! Don't like her, don't love her! She will bring you only pain!*

"It's true, love only hurts. I won't hope anymore, I am this creature and this is how I will stay." He curled into a ball and cried, and soon drifted off into a disturbed and nightmarish sleep.

In his dreams Page was there, the servant girl whom he loved from the beginning. She was so beautiful, she should have been born a noble. Her skin was perfect in everyway, no flaws. Her hair was as yellow as the sun and she had eyes that were such a lovely shade of blue-violet. He stood watching her by the fountain, the very fountain Spring now plays around.

"Hello Page," The prince said walking up to the servant girl. "Your beauty seems to grow every day."

She smiled at him, what a smile it was! She was so radiant. He was sure once his father saw her he would be allowed to marry her; she was more beautiful then even the fairest princess.

"I love you, Devon." Dev leaned in to kiss her but suddenly she changed. She turned into her mother.

"It is your fault! You killed my daughter!" The woman said in rage, tears were streaming down her face and she looked like she had been crying for so long, she looked so sad. "You killed my Page!" She mumbled words and a light blinded Dev. An odd copper taste filled his mouth and it grew dry, then everything went black.

Dev opened his eyes.

*It is your fault, you know. If you weren't foolish enough to let her love you or fall in love with her she would still be alive. You did kill her Devon, you did kill Page.*

Dev curled tighter in his ball and cried. It was all his fault. He fell back to sleep and this time his dreams were of Spring.

Spring played happily in the river kicking the water around. She turned and looked at him. Her wild black curls bouncing freely. Then she laughed, her laugh was young, innocent and sweet. She kicked a small splash of water at him and danced around the water once more.

Dev stood and walked to her, he wanted to dance and be carefree with her. He took her hand and they danced in the water together, a soft slow dance and she laid her head on his shoulder.

But then Dev pushed her away and turned his back on her.

"What is wrong Dev?" Spring asked sweetly.

"Leave me alone, I am ugly, you shouldn't be my friend." He heard himself say the words but that is nothing like what he said.

"No, your not ugly my friend!" Spring said cheerfully hugging him once more.

"Your not a princess. You can do no good for me." He heard himself say. "I have no need of you as my friend."

He watched as her eyes filled with tears.

"But I love you Dev."

"Your love is not good enough for me."

He watched as Spring cried and ran off towards her home. He never saw her again.

Dev woke once more with a horrible feeling. Of course that's not how it happened! It was different, she asked him such a hurtful question. And she never said she loved him. And he would never say the things he said. But still, the dream led to the truth. He stopped being her friend when she had nothing to offer him but friendship in return. And now he would never see her again, and it was all his fault.

*You are foolish Frog, and losing both women was all your fault.*

"All my fault." He said quietly over and over again as he laid in his flowery bed. "All my fault."