A/N- It's a double whammy! I updated this story, and Most Eligible Bachelorette, so after you REVIEW this story, goread the new chapter forMost Eligible Bachelorette.

Chapter 11

It was officially two weeks before the wedding and I was losing my mind. I never even saw Edward anymore, what with all the details flying everywhere. The palace was in a state of panic and the members of Parliament were smirking at my decreasing levels of sanity.

One day, I nearly broke down and declared I needed a walk to clear my mind. It was slowly shifting from autumn to winter and the garden was a testament to the transition. The trees were almost bare and the olives and apples had all been harvested. But the sweet, cold scent of promising snow hung in the air, and I greatly anticipated the event.

I thought back to the wedding plans. I decided to have it in the cathedral and the reception would later be held in the ballroom of the palace. Edward and I both agreed to no honeymoon. We both had other responsibilities to tend to, and besides, we would have been bored anyway.

I threw the end of my scarf over my left shoulder and buried my nose into the soft yarn. I sighed as my mind turned to my lonely existence. After the wedding, Lilly would move in with Boris, but she would continue to be my personal assistant. She just wouldn't be around as much. Edward would move back to Burgundy and Michael…well I didn't know what Michael would be doing.

I sat down underneath my apple tree and sighed. I had hoped that my love for Michael would decrease as the wedding drew ever nearer, but instead, it had done just the opposite. Day and night, thoughts of Michael haunted my mind as I went about my daily activities. My dreams were just as cruel. At night, my fantasies came to life, as he drew me close in his arms and trailed kisses all over my face. And he would always whisper those three cherished words in my ear. "I love you…"

I sighed again and closed my eyes, hoping to go back to that imaginary world where I was no longer Phantom Phoenix and he was no longer in love with her, but with me instead. Sometimes I even dreamt that he knew who Phantom Phoenix was and he loved me nonetheless.

I often asked myself why I didn't just tell him that I was Phantom Phoenix. Mostly my reasoning was that he would admire her less and betray my secret. And besides, if anyone knew that I cared for him, especially some of the members of Parliament, something dangerous might happen.

I must have dozed off because I woke up to the soft sound of someone humming. My eyelids fluttered open and I saw Michael sitting next to me, my head on his shoulder. He smiled softly at me. "Hey."

I rub my eyes and sit up straight. "Hi." I looked around and saw sun setting in the horizon against a blood red sky. "What time is it?"

"Seven."

I groan as I get up. "I have to go back for the wedding details."

"No," Michael said as he took my hand. "You don't have to. Lilly's got it covered. Let's go somewhere."

I raised my eyebrows. "Where?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just to get the wedding off your mind for once."

I watched the purple horizon as the last remainders of the sun disappeared over the hills. Then I turned my gaze back to him and said, "Alright."

His grin was infectious. "Great. Let's go."

"Wait, let me change."

"What you've got on is fine."

"Michael—"

"Let's go!"

I had never really done this before. I'd never gone out and just done something spontaneous. My days had always been carefully planned from sunrise to sunset. And now we were just throwing that schedule out the window to escape the monotony of my wedding planning days.

Sweet.

We went to the dollar theater and saw Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Then after that we went out to a Chinese take-out restaurant and I laughed as Michael struggled with his chopsticks.

Later that night we were walking down the street having a heated debate over who would win in a sword fight: a samurai or Zorro. I was fiercely arguing that Benicio del Torro could win over any samurai while he countered that Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai would win without a doubt.

Suddenly our conversation was interrupted when a dark body came flying out of nowhere and knocked Michael to the ground. "You son of a BITCH!" A gravelly voice screamed. "You convicted my brother!"

Michael rolled him over and pinned him to the ground. "Whoa, dude calm down."

"SHUT UP!" He yelled as he struggled against Michael's strength. Unfortunately, he couldn't come free and resulted in flailing his legs about.

"Let him go," A dangerously familiar voice called from the darkness.

I stood up slowly. "Who are you?"

While I couldn't see his face, I could feel an icy glare piercing through me. "I've got a better question: who are you?"

"Mia, be careful," Michael called out.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Mr. Moscovitz," The stranger in the shadows warned.

My eyes never left the dark outline of the man in front of me. I watched as he lifted his arm and gave a resounding snap. Immediately four more men, two at each of his sides appeared. "Guys…get her."

Instincts took over. Immediately I dropped into a stance and punched the guy nearest me. I took advantage of his surprise and used the opportunity to throw him into the next guy.

After a few minutes of kicking, punching, and random biting on the behalf of the shadow men, all four of them were unconscious and lying on the cold concrete. I turned around and found Michael on the ground unconscious as well.

"Interesting," The gravelly voice of the man in the shadows murmured. "Very interesting." And with that, he was gone.

"Mia, you're jumping to conclusions."

"No, I'm not!" I cried worriedly, still pacing back and forth.

"You don't even know that he saw your face."

"He did! There was a street lamp. Just because I didn't see his face doesn't mean I didn't see his!"

"Mia, calm down." Lilly jumped up and grabbed my by the shoulder, forcing me to look her in the eyes. "I know that you're worried. But it's probably not as bad as you think."

"He saw me, I just know it!"

"If he saw you, then don't worry. You'll find him and sooner or later he'll be out of commission. Problem solved."

"Easy for you to say."

Our conversation was interrupted by a faint knock on the door. "Mia?"

I opened it to find Edward standing there. "Um, is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything is fine," I replied while attempting to paste a wobbly smile on my pale visage. "Is there anything in particular that you needed?"

"No, I just heard slight hysteria. Is Lilly alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine."

"Okay…well, I suppose I'll be going then…" He trailed off as he kissed me on the forehead. "I'll see you tonight, dear."

"Of course. Have a good day."

As he walked away, I closed the door and threw myself on my bed, burying my face in the covers. "What am I going to do?"

"Mia, look at me."

I looked up.

"You're gonna pretend like this never happened. You're going to go about your daily business and when you find this guy on the street again, you will kick his ass and make sure he doesn't get away."

I breathed deeply. "You're right."

"And what are you NOT going to do?"

"Freak out."

"Good."

I buried my face in the sheets again and began the process of slowing down my pulse. When I was finally collected, I looked up again and asked, "How's Michael?"

"He's got a couple of bruises, but otherwise, he's fine."

I buried my face in my hands. "This was all my fault. He wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't gone with him."

"No, if you hadn't gone with him, he wouldn't have come back alive. Mia, you saved his life from a bunch of other thugs that would have ripped him to shreds. He might be good at defending himself, but not as good as you. He couldn't have lasted that long against four other guys."

Later that day I went to go visit Michael. Even though he could walk and talk, Lilly refused to let him leave his apartment until he was okay.

I tentatively knocked on the door while cradling a basket of my homemade blueberry muffins. They're the only thing I knew how to bake, and if I did say so myself, they're pretty damn good.

I heard a faint, "Coming!" And muffled footsteps. I nervously started fluffing my hair, listening to the quickening pace of my heartbeat.

The door opened as I sucked in my breath. His shirt was off (of course) and he was walking around in nothing but Darth Vader boxers.

I was temporarily speechless.

"Hey, Mia." He smiled as he opened the door the whole way. "How are you?"

"I—uh—I—"

"Come in."

I walked in and tripped over the coffee table.

"Whoa, careful." I felt a pair of powerful arms clasp me around the waist and my breath catch in my throat again. I brought my incredibly red face up to face his and he gave me a dazzling smile. "Sorry about that. I haven't bothered to move it yet."

"That's okay."

And as I gazed into his peat bog eyes, I swore something passed between the two of us. The air was heavy and tense with the emotion. I knew what was going on in my heart. But I had no idea what he was thinking.

Then the silence was broken. "Mia?"

"Yeah?" I asked breathlessly.

"Are those muffins for me?"

That shook me out of the spell that had been cast over us. "Uh, yeah. I made them for you."

He brought me back to standing position and grabbed the basket out of my hands. "Sweet! I haven't eaten all day!"

As he ran into the kitchen, I brushed myself off and tried several deep breaths. "That's not healthy, Michael. Especially in your condition."

He came out into the living room with a muffin on a plate and a glass of milk. He made a face at me as he sat down on his couch. "I'm not in a condition," He replied breezily. "I've just got a few bruises. Even Lilly said it."

I smirked at him. "Then how come you're not at work?"

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Shut up."

I laughed. "Wow, you're mature."

He took a bite out of my muffin and his eyes fluttered for a moment. "Whoa…that was like…heaven…in a convenient muffin form."

I laughed again as I made my way to the door, careful to avoid the coffee table in the way. "Well I gotta go. I'll see you around."

At that, he jumped up. "Hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?"

"I have to be back at the palace. To take care of some last minute wedding details."

"Can't you stay a little while? I'm dying for some conversation. Pavlov isn't exactly well versed in the politics of Genovia."

"I can't. There's a lot that needs to be taken care of first. Which reminds me, you haven't made your RSVP yet."

He began hesitantly. "Mia…"

I raised my eyebrows. "Yes, Michael?"

"Mia, I'm not going."

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. "Do you have other plans? Can't you reschedule?"

"No, I don't have other plans. I'm not going."

I still couldn't understand. "Why?"

"I can't stand watching you get promised to a guy that doesn't pay attention to you! You deserve so much better than that! Why can't you see that?"

Tears started to well up in my eyes. I realized then that this has happened more in the past few months than they had my entire lifetime. "Michael, this is for the good of Genovia! Why can't you see that?"

"What good does our queen being in a loveless marriage do for our country? You deserve to be with someone who loves you, and someone you love back!"

That's when my tears broke the invisible barrier that kept them from falling. "Who, Michael? If not Edward who? Goddamn it, Michael I don't want to die alone!"

There I stood, tears furiously falling down my face in the middle of Michael's apartment and the very man I loved so deeply standing there half naked watching me cry. He must have been moved with pity or maybe he was just guilty. Whatever the case, he approached me and wrapped me in his arms. "You can't marry Edward."

I had had enough. I pushed out of his embrace and rushed out of his apartment before he could stop me.

A/N- Haha, many more twists to come, so be sure to REVIEW!