Chapter 8: True Identities

By Dory/Jessie

Men clashed their glasses of beer against one another and guzzled it down, laughing the whole time. Deep in the dungeon, right outside of where the prisoners were locked up, the Captain and his guardsmen were all celebrating the death of the king.

One drunken guard began to sing, "Ding dong the King is dead!"

"Who is dead?" a group of guards asked in a singsong response.

"The King is dead!" The same guard raised his drink up high, some foam splashing out.

"Ding dong the stupid king is dead," Many other guards added in.

The Captain sipped his drink, feet on the table, he leaned back in his seat, "And now the next step in the plan can begin."

"What'd that be, Captain?" A guard nearest him asked, he was one of the lesser-drunk guards.

At first he didn't respond, he smiled wickedly and took another long drink, then finally replied, "Within' a few hours the plane will take off – perfect timing too as we're about to be hit by a big blizzard right we all leave with them. I'll threaten the little pedestrian girl that I'll kill her and everyone she loves if she doesn't follow my orders – she'll be crowned Queen once we get back to the country, and everyone will be under my command as long as the real Princess doesn't come to save the day," he leaned back, completely pleased with himself.

"But – what if Miss Victoria does come back?"

The Captain smiled at this, "She won't have time – she's in school I'm betting right now – it'll be at least another hour until they tell the public that the King is gone, and who knows when the school children will find out. This little brat that traded places with the princess is already being shoved into the plane, it'll be far too late once the real Princess finds out. Besides – she has no way of getting to the country even if she does get back."

"She has the ring though!"

"The precious," one guard joked in a Gollum-like voice.

A fist hit the table hard; there was silence as everyone stared at the Captain now.

"If she comes back – we'll kill her. Send her to the dungeon, and anyone who figures out our scheme. Get an executioner, and tell them she's being killed for imitating a royal figure," he smiled, "That satisfy your questions?" The rest of them nodded.

And then he lay back in his seat again, "Good – now party my friends for now – for within the hour we shall be boarding."

Tears streamed down Cindy's face as she sat in the dark hallway – looking out through the large windows, touching them as if something was right outside she wanted to see. Outside snow was falling on the ground and she could feel the chills of the weather through the window.

But that was impossible; Cindy was nowhere near America, and even further from Retroville. Hours ago they had landed, with no word from Victoria – how were they suppose to trade now? She cried and whispered, "I need to tell someone – I need to find Victoria."

"Some how I knew you weren't her -," a voice in the darkness replied to her whisper, causing Cindy to jump in shock and whirl around from where she sat, nearly hitting the wall in the process.

Oh how it seemed not that long ago she was on the airplane, crying her eyes out, everyone assuming she was crying for Victoria's father – not her own father for that matter. But because she was being taken away from her home – from her parents, her friends ... her Jimmy. Oh if Victoria knew what was happening! She hoped Victoria told everyone what was going on – Jimmy would be able to do something, right? Jimmy always knew what to do, that is if he cared about helping.

"It'd be nice if you told me what was going on," The figure came closer and Cindy sighed as she stood up and leaned into the wall, facing the window. Josh appeared right next to her in the dim light from the window, looking out next to her.

"I suppose if I'm pretty much stuck here, you might as well hear the truth," she looked at him, "You don't hate me now, do you?"

Josh did not look back at her, his hands were behind his back and he looked out at the falling snow, "Depends – you going to tell me your name?"

"My name is Cindy Vortex – and I'm not a princess," she said simply.

Josh smiled and looked at her, "Cindy, I don't hate you," she smiled back at him, "Now – tell me everything."

The day before, back to where we left off with Victoria and the kids at lunch, it has been a particularly interesting event. Victoria continued to draw, and the others felt awkward with sitting together.

"So – Carl, anything, new?" Libby asked while playing with her fork, they had all pretty much finished their lunches and had basically nothing left to do other than to do the unthinkable – hold a conversation with one another.

Carl has out a little llama eraser and was busy talking to it, not hearing Libby's question. Libby gave an exasperated sigh, dropping her fork back onto the table, putting her elbows on the table, and then propping her head up with her hands. She looked over at her best friend with a confused expression, "Why are we doing this again?"

Looking up from her drawing, Victoria shrugged, "Why not?"

"Because -," Libby was looking slightly annoyed now, usually Cindy knew why, "You're the one who hates Jimmy."

Jimmy looked up from what was left of his lunch.

"Not really – I mean, not totally," Victoria stated simply.

The rest of them all looked up and gave confused glances at one another. What was going on with Cindy today?

Jimmy grabbed a scientific calculator and looked at Victoria for a moment, "could you – smile, for a moment?"

Victoria arched an eyebrow and put down her pencil, "sure ..." and she smiled for a minute while Jimmy looked at her carefully.

"Alright, thanks," Jimmy looked back down and began typing speedily on his calculator – making the others even more confused than before.

"Well this is weirding me out," Sheen mumbled loud enough for the rest to hear while scratching his head.

Libby nodded, "And that's saying something."

"Yeah --," she thought for a moment at what Libby said, "HEY!"

Libby snickered with a hand over her mouth. Sheen was so easy to make fun of – he practically gave her material to work with without her having to search too hard for it.

Victoria's eyes suddenly went wide in terror, she put her hand to her mouth, tears were slowly leaking out of her eyes, and she whispered almost hoarsely, "Something – is – wrong."

Everyone around then turned their heads and looked at her despite the fact she wasn't even making a scene.

"You ok, Cindy?" Libby moved closer and touched her friend's shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Victoria gave a loud sniffle, and now tears were silently drenching her cheek and falling off her face. Carl and Sheen exchanged worried glances as Jimmy put down his calculator and walked over to Victoria and put his hand on her other shoulder.

"Maybe – we should take her outside for fresh air, she sounds like she's hyperventilating," Jimmy said to the others, and they all quickly nodded. Jimmy and Libby helped her out of her seat and walked her to the door while Carl and Sheen quickly got rid of the remaining trash, as well as taking her drawing, and then following the others out the door.

Outside snow was starting to fall, there was a tree that didn't seem to have much snow in it, and they sat her down against the tree. Jimmy and Libby kneeled down beside her, and soon Carl and Sheen had joined them, they didn't know what to do or say; only watching Victoria tremble.

"Cindy – what's wrong? You've been acting strange all day," Libby was the first to speak, but Jimmy shook his head no to her.

"Can't you see – she's in no condition to talk – at least, not in full sentences," Jimmy said in a whispered voice, unsure himself of what they could do to help Cindy – err, Victoria - since they didn't even know what was wrong. Victoria's face was down stained with tears; some more escaped her eyes as they sat there. Jimmy held his hand up to her face for a moment, wondering if she would slap him or not, but decided to go along anyway, and using his thumb he pushed the freezing tears off her face.

Victoria's breath finally slowed down and she suddenly stood up, taking Cindy's friends aback, and she began pacing back and forth, mumbling utter nonsense in French, "mon père - roi - allé - reine - quelque chose a tort – horrible," and other things that quickly came to her mind, she rambled so fast that most of them thought that she was going insane.

"Wow – and I thought Ultra Lord being bitten by the Babel-Fish was bad, you can't even understand what she's saying!" Sheen literally threw his hands up in the air.

Jimmy shook his head, "No – she's speaking French," he arched his eyebrow at Libby, "Did you know she could speak French?"

Libby shook her head; "I've seen her babble insanely before when things are wrong – but not in other languages. I don't think she even knows anyone who speaks it fluently, other than you," she looked at Victoria while turning her head sideways, "And she would have to live near France to speak it that fluently – she is saying real words right?"

"Amazingly – she is," Jimmy watched her pace back in forth in utter amazement, "something about – her father being a king, him being gone, something with a queen – that something is wrong and horrible – jeez, some of her words are being slurred and spoken so fast I can't even comprehend them," Jimmy felt for once completely puzzled – if his calculations were correct then – but this couldn't be correct! It made no logical sense.

The clock chimed 1 PM, and Victoria stopped speaking French and started bawling with her hands in her face, then she stopped as an announcement came over the speakers.

"Attention, attention please!" Mr. Willoughby's voice came over the loud speaker, "I'm sorry for interrupting your lunch hour, but we have some very sad news," the kids looked at one another and then back up to the speaker, "The King of -," he paused and whispered something about not knowing the country the royal family had come from, "Well, the King that had been visiting in the castle right outside of Retroville has just passed on an hour ago. His daughter has already boarded the airplane home and will be crowned tomorrow evening. That is all."

Tears flew down Victoria's face within moments of the conclusion of his words as they finally set into her; she collapsed to her knees, not caring about the slightly muddy snow, and cupped her hands over her face, completely wailing at this point. Jimmy and Libby instantly stood up, but Jimmy rushed to her first, kneeling down in front of her.

"Cindy – what's wrong? Please, please tell us – tell me," Jimmy had his hands out slightly, and unexpectedly, Victoria collapsed into him, her face in his chest, Jimmy was a little surprised, but began to rub her back, hoping it would calm her down even just a little.

Libby, Sheen, and Carl kneeled next to them, Libby shook her head, "Honestly Cindy – I know you wanted to interview the Princess, but that's no reason to -."

"WHAT!" Victoria suddenly moved her head out of Jimmy's chest to face her head towards Cindy's friends, still in Jimmy's embrace however, "You guys haven't figured it out yet? I don't NEED an interview with the princess," she suddenly stood up, almost knocking Jimmy over a little.

Sheen backed up a little, and Carl followed, they knew better than to be this close to Cindy if she was in any sort of bad mood, but this – this just wasn't making sense.

"Cindy – sit down, you're going to hurt yourself," Libby pleaded, "You're right – you don't need the interview with the Princess-."

Victoria just started laughing now, and all four of the friends exchanged mixed expressions of confusion, worry, terror, and utter disbelief.

"You STILL don't get it – I don't need an interview with the princess – I AM the princess," she put her hands on her waist, "It was me who saved your turkey, Libby – in Downtown yesterday. Jimmy had taken Cindy to get an interview with me or something to show up that Betty girl, then Cindy some how got into my castle because everyone thought she was I because some how we look exactly alike. We quite literally ran into each other and devised a plan to switch lives for a day. Things were somewhat going fine – up until I had this weird nightmare, and now, Cindy was probably the last to speak to my father," more tears fell from her eyes, "and not ME, and so now, she's being sent to my country to be crowned Queen. And there's nothing I can do about it!"

Silence was all that followed for a minute as Jimmy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl stared at Victoria with their mouth's dropped open. Can you blame them for not knowing how to respond? The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, but none of them moved – none of them could move even if they wanted to.

But Sheen was the first to speak; he suddenly was in a deep bow, "Your majesty! I gravel at your feet. We shall help you in any way possible," he suddenly looked up, "This is like that episode of Ultra Lord where he trades places with that prince -," Libby covered his mouth.

Jimmy looked at Sheen, "it's grovel, not gravel," and then looked at Victoria, "I should have known – my calculations were correct. See, my calculator said after I equated all your factors that there was an 1 in 103,408 chance you were actually Cindy," he paused and looked up at Victoria, standing up a second later, "What is your name."

She replied, "Princess Victoria Kingsley – my actual name is longer, but I'll avoid wasting time," she exhaled a sigh, "and, I am not Cindy Vortex."

The rest finally stood up, and they all smiled.

"It'd be a pleasure to serve the royal family, your highness," Libby replied.

Carl chimed in, "Any fellow llama lover is a friend of mine!"

Victoria sigh, and her tears stopped flowing, and she was able to finally smile, pushing the last tears off her face, "But – how will we do that?" she paused and felt her smile fall, "They're already far ahead of us – and we still have school!"

The others turned to Jimmy, who was smiling thoughtfully, he was already calling Goddard – he had a plan.

"So now – you know everything," Cindy sighed, leaning against the wall, feeling like she was sinking down. Unknown to her, her four best friends and Victoria were already at the castle – but she had no way of knowing that. Just to remind everyone, this is the next day, not at the same time Victoria was informing Jimmy and his friends about who she truly was.

Josh nodded, looking at the ground, "I sort of wish it was Victoria who had said she would dance," he looked at Cindy, "Not that there's anything wrong with you – I've just always had strong feelings for her. And when you said yes to dancing – I thought she felt the same way."

A bit of guilt crept into Cindy as he said these words, "I'm sorry," she was only able to say, "I just don't know what to do anymore," she turned and faced the window and he did the same.

"I'll help you out – you know as well as I that you can't be crowned," Josh pointed out and Cindy nodded.

She smiled, "Thanks – means a lot to me, and I'm certain it'll mean a lot to Victoria."

"Oh, I don't think it'll mean too much to anyone, PRINCESS," a voice in the shadows suddenly grabbed Cindy from behind, covering her mouth. She attempted to scream and kicked her feet around, and trying to attack whoever was trying to attack her.

"Let her GO!" Josh tried to jump at the attacker, but was grabbed by several other men, and despite Josh's large about of strength, he couldn't move well enough to get out of their tight grasps.

Cindy bit the attacker's hand and for a moment he let her go, she shrieked, "Josh! HELP! SOMEONE – IN THE NAME OF THE PRINCESS -," but he put his hand around her mouth again.

The voice responded, "Oh – you'll do what I saw you little faker – I know you aren't the princess," instantly Cindy stopped moving and her eyes filled with terror and worry, "if you don't do what I say – you and all your friends will be," he took his hand off her mouth and made a motion across her neck to signal chopping it off, she gasped, horrified, as he responded, "you'll be crowned tonight little princess – and there's nothing you can do about it."

Cindy couldn't make a sound, but all she could think of was how did she ever get in this mess.

"Guards – take the boy to the dungeon with the rest of them, I'll leave the princess to be prepared for tonight's events," the man Cindy suddenly recognized as the Captain stated simply.

The guards dragged Josh away, and Cindy for the first time in her life felt like damsel in distress – she could do nothing. But as the Captain pushed her into the room where woman began to attack her by getting her ready for the big night – she realized something.

And under her breathe as she was suddenly thrust into a different outfit, she whispered, "My friends are here – Jimmy's here," and she knew the possibility of being saved was closer than she imagined.

To Be Continued