A/N: Thank you so much, Hollybird and Goddess-Hitomi for reviewing my Fic! Oh yeah, and there is swearing in this fic, just warning anyone out there who doesn't appreciate it.

Hollybird: Don't worry, you'll see why Apocalypse does all those things. It'll make sense later on in the story. The reason behind the tattoos will also be revealed but for now I'll keep you guessing.

Goddess-Hitomi: Thanks, I guess:)

Chapter 3: Dining with the Demons

Faye had fallen asleep yet again in a pile of blankets, but Apocalypse was restless. There was a tiny cone-like window to her left and she went to it, staring out to the landscape beyond the castle. All she could see was a motley garden with regal fountains and a bit of a marble wall encasing the garden's perimeter. There were several people chatting and strolling down the many stone pathways of the enclosure.

If she really concentrated, she could catch a few words out of their conversations. Every single person was dressed in Renaissance-type clothing, having an air of sovereignty to him or her. Apocalypse sighed hopelessly, thoroughly disconcerted by her situation.

Leaning on the windowsill and taking in a breath of cool air, she began to lose herself in her thoughts. 'I wonder if Loretta misses me. How sad am I, I call my stepmother by her first name. I can barely bring myself to call her mother. I wonder if anyone knows we're gone. Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe there is no Gaea or Fanelia. I think I'm going crazy.' She perched her chin on the back of her hand. 'This is unbelievable. Someone has to explain what the hell is going on. I've had enough.'

Suddenly a vision of the whole garden erupting in flames flashed before her eyes. Every person standing in the court had become a burning corpse, half-decayed. Everyone was screaming. She gave a tiny shriek, jerking away from the window, gasping for air, feeling sick to her stomach. The markings on her back began to sting again. Tentatively, she looked back out the window. Everything was normal again.

"I can't take this anymore," She moaned.

She tiptoed to the door, pulling on the handle. To her surprise, it opened with ease. 'Hmm,' She smiled to herself. 'And I thought they had actually locked the door.'

Apocalypse closed the door, wincing when it made a painful creak upon closing. She turned, finding herself in a hallway. To her right, more rooms. To her left, a winding staircase. She turned to her left and crept down the stairs.

Just as she reached the third step, sudden voices, male voices, stirred threateningly close to her. She gasped loudly, slapping a hand across her mouth and ran back up the stairs.

"You! Stop!" Her stomach dropped to the floor and Apocalypse, with no choice, halted dead in her tracks without facing her 'attackers'.

"Turn around," Someone demanded. She turned, ultra-slow, to delay her assumed 'punishment', and came face to face with that boy, Van, and another man whom she didn't recognize. The man had short black hair that was combed back and warm brown eyes.

"Why are you wandering the hallways? Didn't Lantos and Nathaniel take you to a room?" Van snapped.

"Y-yes…" Apocalypse stuttered, suddenly no where near as bold as she thought she was going to be.

"Then answer me, why are you just wandering about freely?" He glared at her. She lost her ability to speak and began to ramble.

"Well, uh, you see, um, I was standing in, uh, there," She pointed to the room she had come out of. "And I wanted to um, um…" She grimaced, humiliated. "I forget."

For an excruciatingly long moment, the three of them were silent. Apocalypse unconsciously began to chew her nails furiously. Van snickered before bursting into uncontrolled laughter, the other man joining him in a rotten guffaw.

"That is one of the worst excuses I have ever had the displeasure of hearing," the other man spat at her, and Apocalypse flinched as if his words had injected her with venom.

"Gareth, let's not embarrass her anymore. I think she's endured enough," Van chuckled and Apocalypse's face burned with suppressed tears of mortification. He turned to her. "Where's the other one?"

"Her name is Faye," Apocalypse growled, but both of them seemed unfazed. "And she's asleep, in there." She once again pointed to the door.

The two of them opened the door carelessly, and Faye jerked awake. "Huh?" She mumbled, sleep evident on her expression.

"Get up, you are going to have dinner with me," Van ordered.

Apocalypse bit her tongue, itching to put him in his place. She had a desperate longing to just walk over there and strike his pretty little face and bask in his expression of hurt and surprise. Of course, she wouldn't dare. She didn't want to get herself into any trouble.

"O… K…" Faye's words were slurred.

"And you can't go looking like that," Van gestured to Apocalypse's clothes. She glared at him, doing all she could not to strangle him. But it was true, her clothes were spotted with dirt and the ends of her jeans were ripped. "I'll send for a maid. She'll give you some proper clothes. Afterwards, wait here for an escort to bring you into the dining hall. And don't go wandering again." He glanced at Apocalypse with a cryptic smirk. It wasn't cruel or anything like that. But it was taunting her.

"Fuck you," She breathed as he walked out the door, nearly worrying he would hear her. He didn't.

About twenty minutes later, two young women, each about 16 years old, with their hair in tight buns ran into the room. Without saying anything, they grabbed Apocalypse and Faye and took them both to separate rooms with vanities, mirrors and small 'ditches' in the ground that were supposed to be bath tubs.

Apocalypse sat in the miniscule tub, feeling ridiculous. She could barely stand, let alone sit and bathe in the tub. But she had to admit, after two whole days without showering, it felt good to scrub away her tension. The soap was delightful as well. It had a light lavender fragrance, and the water was tinted with the scent of roses.

After she was finished with her bath, she dried off, wrapped a towel around her hair and looked at the selection of clothes set out for her. Apocalypse groaned audibly. Dresses. Frilly dresses, satin dresses, lace dresses, short, long, ranging from eggshell to ebony in colour. Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. She was never one to put on a dress. It was too elaborate for her taste, but then again, what else was she to put on? Everyone else was dressed the same, and she wanted to blend in as much as she tried to deny it.

She called in the maid after she chose a light plum gown with a long skirt dappled with tiny coral flowers. It extended onto the floor, dragging behind her by a few inches. The maid helped her into a sky blue corset.

"Is this tight enough?" The maid asked, pulling the laces swiftly. Apocalypse clutched at her stomach and chest.

"Am I supposed to be able to breathe in this?" She gasped, suddenly feeling light-headed.

The maid chuckled softly. "It's alright, you will grow into it," She paused, then looked at Apocalypse sadly. "How fortunate you are, my lady. You look so lovely."

Apocalypse blushed, struggling to form words. No one, not even her mother, had ever thought of her as 'lovely'. She hadn't even thought of herself as 'lovely'. "You obviously haven't been out much, have you?" She laughed uncomfortably.

The girl seemed a bit embarrassed. "No, I have never been off of the castle grounds. I was raised in this castle, and have only heard stories about the outside world."

"What? Why?" Apocalypse felt completely outraged by this. Everyone had the right to freedom!

The girl looked at her quizzically, and said, "Maids are not allowed to leave the grounds of the castle they were born in, unless they are being sold."

"Sold!" Apocalypse gasped incredulously. "That must be terrible," She shook her head. "Who would make such a rule?"

"It is not a rule," The girl replied absent-mindedly. "It is tradition." She grabbed a brush off of a table with several cosmetic items scattered on it. "Now stand still, I must brush your hair." She took the towel off of Apocalypse's damp locks and combed out the tangles.

"What's your name?" Apocalypse asked.

"Penelope," She answered. "Penelope Gaffet."

"Do your parents live with you, Penelope?" Apocalypse inquired.

Penelope was silent for a moment. "Both of my parents were sold a long time ago and my sister died when she was very young. Since the war, I haven't heard from my parents. I'm alone." She swallowed loudly. "And please, my lady, do not call me by my name. I do not deserve such a title."

"That's absurd, I'll call you by your name. You're a person, not an inanimate object!" Apocalypse felt awful about Penelope's lifestyle. She had always been able to have the liberty to go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted, with some restrictions of course. Apocalypse suddenly felt stupid. All this time she had pitied herself and her life when… she could have had this life instead.

"Thank you, my lady," Penelope said softly.

"And for god's sake, my name is Apocalypse, not 'my lady'. It's not like I'm royalty." Apocalypse shook her head. This girl needed to feel what it was like to live. She seemed completely institutionalized into this way of life.

"Who's your king?" Apocalypse asked.

"Lord Van Fanel," Penelope spoke with an admirable loyalty in her voice. "He is a wonderful person. Everyone in the royal court adores him. He's so wise, too."

Apocalypse snorted in an uncivil manner. "Of course, and how old is he, like, sixteen? He doesn't seem that great. In fact, he seems to hate me. He enjoys embarresing me anyways."

Penelope laughed as she placed the brush onto the table and ran her fingers through Apocalypse's hair, checking for knots. "He is fifteen. It is plainly evident that you do not know him. Lord Van does not embaress you, he was probably teasing you. Once you get to know him, you'll get to love him. He fought in the great war against Zaibach and single-handedly defeated the enemy, or so I'm told."

Apocalypse rolled her eyes. "That's what you've been told. Have you actually tried to get to know him?"

"Of course not!" Penelope looked at her as if to say, 'how could you not know this?' "Maids are not to mingle with people of noble blood."

"Noble blood, my ass." She hissed.

"It is time for you to go to dinner," Penelope had a huge grin on her baby-like face. "You are so lucky! You will be dining with the king of Fanelia! How I envy you!" Apocalypse grinned sheepishly.

"Even though he's a king, he's still human," Apocalypse shrugged. "I'm just having dinner with another boy. No big deal."

"Draconian," Penelope corrected.

Apocalypse wrinkled her nose. "What?"

"Lord Van is Draconian, not human." Penelope said, but before Apocalypse could ask any more questions, Penelope took her hand and began to drag her down the stairs, gushing on about Van as if he was some sort of divine being.

The dining hall, which had a 20-foot ceiling lined with gold paneling, was filled with people, most of who looked very momentous. They were all dressed in elaborate attirement. Penelope couldn't stay because maids were only allowed to eat in the kitchens. Apocalypse begged her to stay, feeling that it was wrong for a person to be banned from a certain room because that person was a maid. She was ready to fight for her, but Penelope told her that it was alright, that she was used to this and that she didn't mind. She called it 'the rules'. Apocalypse called it 'discrimination'.

Apocalypse took a seat beside an unfamiliar man and Faye, who was garbed in a flowing slate blue gown and a dim grey corset. Her long red hair stood out even more against the gown, and she looked simply amazing. Except for the fact that her face was twisted into a mournful grin.

"Hey," Apocalypse said softly, Faye barely hearing her over the din of the room. "Are you okay?"

Faye turned her head slowly to face her friend. "I'm so tired of pretending everything is fine. It's not. I'm scared and homesick and I just wanna go to sleep in my own bed and see my friends again."

Those last few words cut into Apocalypse like a thousand daggers. "But, Faye… I'm your friend, too." She murmured. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the man beside her staring discreetly at them.

"I… I know, but I miss the rest of my friends, and my family. The sooner we can go home, the better." Faye smoothed the folds of her dress slowly. Apocalypse nodded, but in the reality, she didn't want to leave anymore. This world was so intriguing, with it's antiquated traits. It was almost as if it had been frozen in time.

"Silence! The king of Fanelia speaks!" A guard yelled and everyone immediately quieted. Apocalypse pursed her lips. 'That was way over the top.' She thought, forcing herself not to snicker.

Van stood up from his seat at the head of the table. He was dressed in a lengthy midnight blue cloak and something that looked like a suit of armor… or maybe not?

"People of the court, I had told you earlier that two girls from the Mystic Moon had come to Fanelia," he paused. "Since a lot of you were skeptical, can Faye and Apocalypse please rise?"

"Why does it feel like we're on trial?" Apocalypse mumbled to Faye, who didn't even crack a smile, as they stood. Eyes scanned them, an eerie sensation. Apocalypse shifted in her place.

"Can you prove to us that they are indeed from the Mystic Moon, my lord?" Someone said, but Apocalypse just stared at the wall, trying to forget that nearly fifty pairs of eyes were all set on her.

"Don't you believe your king?" Van asked, sounding a bit ticked off.

"Pardon me, my lord," The person apologized.

"You may sit," Van gestured to Faye and Apocalypse.

"You aren't going to question us or anything?" Apocalypse cocked a brow.

"Why? I received all the information I need." Van folded his arms. She shrugged and sat down. Dinner progressed with a dull, uneventful drag.

In the middle of the second course, Apocalypse started feeling incredibly light-headed. 'Probably from the corset,' She thought and leaned her head on her hand. The feeling remained, so she closed her eyes, locking out all other sounds.

With no warning, another nightmarish vision showed itself to her. All Apocalypse could see was a dark hallway, and with no reason, she began running down the corridor. Suddenly a young girl with empty eye sockets and deathly pale skin was in front of her. "You have no choice but to follow your path." She whispered in a deep, manly voice.

Apocalypse's eyes shot open and a scream was emitted. She blinked. The scream was not her own.

"Her eyes!" A woman in front of her shrieked. "Before she blinked, they were pitch black! She had no pupils! She's a demon!" The woman screamed.

"I saw it too!" A man yelled, standing, along with many other people who were now backing away. "She's possessed! A fiend from the Mystic Moon!"

"Kill them before they kill us!" Apocalypse's mouth shot open as she was pulled from her seat by a surprisingly strong force.

RR!