Sorry for my long absence; at first, I just kept putting it off because I was really afraid of what people would think about this particular chapter. But, then, when I actually got up the courage to sit down and write it, this chapter just didn't "feel" right for some reason. It seriously didn't feel as good as the others. Just yesterday, I basically wrote up a long complaint to just to get my frustration out that I couldn't write anymore. And guess what? Inspiration came flooding back to me. While this chapter still doesn't feel quite right to me, at least I was able to type it out in the end. I don't know, maybe you readers will enjoy it; I enjoyed it toward the end. If you don't, please, feel free to suggest what I may do to improve it.
This marks a turning point in my fanfiction; I introduce some points in the plot that will be expanded upon later, though it may not seem like it at first. You will just have to wait and see what they are, I suppose. And this chapter also marks a turning point in rating. Because of the highly suggestive material in this chapter, I have decided to give my entire fanfiction a Mature rating, just to be on the safe side. There's also a little cursing here and there and a bit of crude humor once again. This chapter is one of my longest ones yet, but it's not quite as long as Chapter Four. That being said, if there are any spelling/grammar errors, please forgive me, I was so excited about posting a new chapter up that I forgot to check back through it thoroughly. And, also, the eternal stars that I mention in this story are not to be confused with the stars that are made in Katamari Damacy after playing through an eternal level.
Chapter Five—Bizarre Prophecy and Impossible Dream
Chapter Theme: Katamari Mambo—Katamari Damacy Soundtrack
The Prince flew home at a leisurely pace, observing the beautiful stars, comets and planets that he had helped make. The Prince sighed. Although the King and the Prince had replaced some of the stars that the King had destroyed during his drunken rampage through the Cosmos (which, inevitably, had caused quite a few Cosmic Beings to grumble against the King because he had destroyed one of their favorite shopping, party, and casino planets in the process—Tau Boötis), the Prince doubted that they ever could completely restore the majesty of the Cosmos. The Cosmic Royal Family had been making stars, planets, nebulas and other celestial bodies for countless eons; and yet, it had only taken the King of All Cosmos a matter of hours to annihilate just about every single one of them. Yes, truly it had been a while since any King had screwed up this badly, probably not since the King of All Cosmos that reigned several centuries back had hurtled a large katamari into space carelessly, which just so happened to land right on top of an entire civilization on Earth, which the Earthlings now called "the Lost City of Atlantis". And truly it was lost grievously, for even Cosmic Beings valued the fine elegance of the Atlantians' art and architecture.
As his eyes wandered over the constellations of Taurus and Ursa Major, the Prince cringed. The King had claimed that he had tried to make Taurus and Ursa Major himself so that he wouldn't appear to be a deadbeat father, but the last cow or bear escaped from him. So, of course instead of finding the last one himself, he sent the Prince to roll him up just one cow or bear. There was a catch though: his father wanted the largest cow or bear that he could find, and the King even counted things like cow pylons, milk, bear statues and "Beware of Bear" signs to be cows or bears. After many futile and frustrating attempts, the Prince finally managed to roll up the Kintaro Bear for Ursa Major and the Holy Cow for Taurus. After those constellations and the Extra Smelly Cowbear Planet, the Prince and many of his cousins agreed that it was not an experience that they wished to go through again any time soon.
A twinkle of bright pink light caught his eye as he approached Planet Prince: the Poofy Love star. The Prince was truly happy that he had finally seen his mother make a star for a change. Her star, in fact, seemed to outshine many of the stars that the King had made. As he remembered the process that the Queen went through to make the star, he gasped. She had made an eternal star—the type of star that was made when a Cosmic Being incorporated some of his or her essence into the katamari before sending it up to the Cosmos. An eternal star could never burn out, never be destroyed. Many of the past Kings had made at least one eternal star; the average per King was three or four. Although the Prince's father had yet to make one himself, the Prince was sure that he would be intent on making one before too much longer, especially since the Queen had just made one that outshone so many of his regular stars. Making an eternal star usually sapped a lot of strength out of a Cosmic Being, and if one made enough eternal stars, he could actually become very weak and frail. For example, the previous Emperor of All Cosmos had made many eternal stars before the Prince's father assumed the throne, at the very least twelve eternal stars in all, which was well above the average of eternal stars that Cosmic Kings usually made. While the Prince knew that it was probably vanity and vexation of spirit on the Emperor's part to make so many eternal stars, he still looked up to his grandpa for managing to sacrifice so much of himself for the enjoyment of both mortals and immortals everywhere. In fact, he had given up so much of his strength while making eternal stars that the Emperor had actually collapsed during a beautiful outing with the would-be King and Queen. It had taken him a long while to recover and of course, after making so many eternal stars, he realized that he could never regain his entire strength and passed the crown down to his son. That was how, according to the Queen, the King had claimed the Royal Cosmic Throne. Several years later, the previous Emperor had regained his strength and just simply left without an explanation. No one in the Royal Cosmic Family actually saw him leave and no one had ever seen him again since.
As he continued to observe the Poofy Love star, it suddenly flared passionately, startling the Prince. He remembered his tutor telling him that eternal stars were very intimately connected with their creator, and often reflected what he or she was feeling at the moment. The Prince quickly looked away from the star, trying to push both what should have been the King and Queen's earlier tete-a-tete and what probably was making the Poofy Love star flare so passionately out of his mind. 'Ugh, I'll just pretend I never saw that,' the Prince thought in disgust.
A world of stress lifted off of the Prince's shoulders as he landed in front of his house. As he approached, however, he noticed something strange: the door was ajar. Within, the house was completely dark. The Prince felt his heart leap up into his throat and gasped silently, in fear, wondering who…or what…could possibly want to see him as of the moment. Perhaps Signolo and his ragtag group of aspiring comedians were playing a prank on the Prince, but he doubted it. He would've been able to hear their snickering from a mile away.
He hovered above the ground slightly. He 'swam' through the air silently, trying not to make a sound as he entered into his house, quickly but quietly placing his mother's burritos into his refrigerator. He could 'feel' the presence of another Cosmic Being within his house, although it seemed remotely familiar, he could not tell who it was. This Cosmic Being seemed to be veiling itself against any probing that the Prince could manage; its mind was just a painfully cold steel wall to the Prince. As he flew into his bedroom, the most putrid odor the Prince had ever encountered assaulted his senses. As he flew to the other side of his room, he was so overcome by the stench that he coughed and lost concentration, falling right onto his bed. But, to his surprise, his bed didn't feel stone hard like it usually did; instead, it felt cold, moist, gummy and disgusting. "Ahhh! What the hell!" the Prince screamed in shock, abruptly flying off of his bed. Whatever was on his bed, rank morsels of gunk that came off of it now clung to him.
As the Prince hurriedly flew to the light switch, a high-pitched voice (well, for a male) squealed excitedly, "Weee! Woo-hoo! Nematodes!"
"Beyond, I should've known it would be you," the Prince said, flipping on the light switch to reveal what would appear to be a long, smiling corpse tinged with shades of green, blue and gray. Beyond was one of the most peculiar of the Prince's cousins. True to his name, he was pretty much 'beyond' the realm of reality. Although he was one of the most amply gifted cousins with Cosmic powers, he utilized them in very strange and annoyingly creative ways, such as he was doing now. "Ugh, Beyond, why are you imitating a mortal that's been dead for several months? And more importantly, why in my house and on my bed?" the Prince asked.
In reply, Beyond began to sing a nonsensical epitaph to himself and the Prince, "Beyond was a great cousin to Fred, but alas, he has passed away on Fred's very bed! When Fred came home several months later, he mourned for Beyond's tragic loss…Aww, don't cry Fred! Beyond will feed the flowers faithfully in your stead! Just don't open Beyond's tomb or Beyond may curse you! Wouldn't that be fun, Fred? Then we could be friends forever and ever and ever!" Beyond began to giggle and roll around happily on the Prince's bed. The Prince could actually see Beyond's skeleton underneath flaps on skin, some of which was now sticking onto the Prince.
He then proceeded to pull his cadaver cousin off his bed who landed with a sickening wet plop on the floor. The Prince wrinkled his nose in disgust as he observed his bed. Beyond had used his Cosmic powers to resemble as realistic a corpse as possible, even leaving behind a stagnating pond of rancid fluids on the Prince's bed. The Prince recalled locking the door to his house but there really wasn't any way to keep Beyond out if he wanted to come in, as some of the other cousins could attest to. The Prince felt very nauseated. Why did Beyond choose to bother him tonight, out of any of the other cousins?
"Ima rolling, rolling, rolling like a hippo!" Beyond said as he rolled on the floor, using his Cosmic powers to produce even more rot and fluid that quickly spread across the floor.
"By the Cosmos, Beyond! Please stop!" the Prince cursed as he leapt onto Beyond, futilely trying to halt his cousin's revolution.
"Aw, Beyond loves you too, Bob," said Beyond, crushing the Prince in a massive bear hug that inevitably covered the Prince in even more gummy cadaver flesh. Although he got mad at Beyond on numerous occasions, the Prince knew he couldn't blame him for the way he acted. The Royal Family was infamous for inbreeding and Beyond's parents just happened to be two of the King's cousins. In fact, the Prince suspected that some of his very own cousins may have interests for each other, particularly June and Marny. Marny loved water and, since it rained wherever June happened to be, ponds inevitably sprang up wherever she stayed at for long periods of time. June loved Marny's friendly personality, so the two were almost inseparable. Beyond released the Prince and suddenly jumped up into the air, exclaiming, "Yay, now Beyond is undead! Boop-de-do!"
The Prince moaned. He would get nowhere with harsh words, that much he knew. The Prince said softly, "Yes, Beyond, I love you too. But, could you please change back? I promise that you can stay for as long as you desire if you change back. Not only that," the Prince entreated, deciding to bribe Beyond further, "but I have some organic burritos that my mother made. Very healthy and delicious to boot. If you change back, I'll let you have one; that's a promise."
"Burrito, burrito, burrito," Beyond chanted, changing back to his lilac-colored self, "give Beyond a burrito!"
The Prince smiled at Beyond and said, "Of course you shall have your burrito, Beyond, you deserve it." The Prince escorted his strange cousin to the kitchen.
When the Prince opened up his refrigerator, however, Beyond pointed to the very back of the fridge, where a basket full of golden apples lay, and exclaimed, "Ooo, Beyond wants those appleses too!"
The Prince feigned reluctance, saying uncertainly, "Well…I don't know, Beyond…these are golden apples, and they happen to be quite the rare and tasty delicacy on Earth. Oh, I don't think I could bear it if I let them go!"
Beyond began to sob uncontrollably, throwing himself at the Prince's feet. He begged, "Beyond wants appleses, please give Beyond those appleses! Beyond will do anything to get his hands on those appleses, anything!"
"Hmm…" the Prince said as if in contemplation. After feigning a moment of intense thought, the Prince said, "Well, I suppose I can let you have these super rare and delicious apples, but only if you clean up that mess you made on my floor and on my bed. And be sure to get rid of that offensive odor too."
"Oh, that's easy," Beyond said. Beyond suddenly ran into the Prince's room and leapt into the air, heading toward the puddle of rot that he left on his bed. The Prince quickly averted his eyes, envisioning the mess that Beyond would soon be causing. Soon, a strong, sweet scent filled the air contrary to the foul odor before. He looked back at his room in disbelief; it was spotless, even cleaner now than it had been before Beyond had made a mess. "Mmm, orchids," said Beyond, sniffing the air.
The Prince stared at Beyond in disbelief for several moments before Beyond approached him and held out his hands, moaning in impatient expectation. The Prince laughed and said, "Wow, Beyond, you're amazing! It's even cleaner than it was before!" He fished around in his fridge and pulled out not only Beyond's coveted food items, but also a couple of bananas. The Prince handed Beyond his reward, stating, "You really outdid yourself, so I'm throwing in a couple of bananas as a bonus. Enjoy."
Beyond snatched the food from the Prince's arms and exclaimed, "Yay, Beyond is amazing! Even more amazing than mutant centaurs!" Beyond ran screaming into the Prince's closet and shut the door behind him.
"Ah, the results of inbreeding!" the Prince whispered to himself, laughing as he thought of the whole ordeal that he just went through. Although Beyond was quite annoying at times, the Prince truly cared for his scatter-brained cousin, more so than some of the others (like Ace, the Prince added as an afterthought). Beyond was perhaps the most innocent cousin out of all the Cosmic cousins beside Huey; he would never do anything to directly harm anyone. But the Prince couldn't reflect on this anymore. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he realized that he had become quite filthy during the day. 'Another outfit ruined,' the Prince thought, looking at all the holes and stains that had accumulated on his shirt and tights. The Prince pulled off his clothes and promptly vaporized the ruined outfit with laser beams. Before stepping into the shower, the Prince knocked upon the door of his gibbering closet and said, "Beyond, I'm going to take a shower now, so just stay in there and don't cause any trouble, okay?" Of course, the only response he received was an odd, piping chirp.
The Prince emerged from his shower, warm, clean, and refreshed. Although he had to scrub himself quite hard to get all the filth off from the day, the warm shower had invigorated the Prince. As he stepped out of his steaming bathroom, it felt as if the Prince had stepped out of a sauna directly into Antarctica. Although Planet Prince received some light from the sun, it was too far away to receive much heat from it. The Prince ran across the ice cold floor, trying to reach his closet as quickly as possible. He really wished that Beyond wasn't in the closet at the moment. While Beyond himself wouldn't mind, the Prince was very bashful and reserved by nature. He didn't want anyone to see him naked, especially…
The Prince's heart skipped a beat as he felt a draft blow into his house from the open front door. When he turned his head, he shrieked in horror and covered himself as best as he could with his meager towel. Leaning languorously against the doorframe was his naked tan cousin, Lalala. There was no doubt that she had known that the Prince was taking a shower. She flashed a wide, knowing grin at him. She gazed at him fully, like a lover. The Prince felt as if she were drinking him up with her gaze and savoring every last drop of him.
The Prince stammered and backed away from her slowly, saying, "L-L-Lalala, w-what…are you d-doing here? I'm n-n-naked!"
"Good, that makes the two of us," Lalala laughed. She stared at him for a few more moments before saying, "Oh, my Prince, this is the very first time I've truly seen you. Hmph, I thought you were cute before but now that I see you when you are free of all restraints, you are even more handsome than I could ever imagine. My dashing Prince…let me have a closer look at you."
As Lalala slowly sauntered up to the Prince, he couldn't help but noticed how much she had developed since they last met. He blushed as he let his eyes wander over her sensuous form. He couldn't help but linger on the slight curvature of her body, breasts that were just beginning to bud, the lengthening of her legs, the long eyelashes that occasionally batted at him perceptively; yes, Lalala was going to develop into an exotic beauty in due time. Lalala smirked as she observed the Prince's obvious fascination with her. Blushing, the Prince quickly turned his eyes away from her, vainly trying to choke those sudden feelings that threatened to ensnare him and pull him down into their euphoric and forbidden depths. He continued to back away from her until his back hit the wall.
Now Lalala had him where she wanted him. She suddenly rushed at him and pushed him down onto his bed, which the Prince just realized was right beside him. "Prince, you are mine; please, my Prince…why are you afraid to hearken to my touch, my voice, my charisma, my desire? Why are you afraid to freely express that which we both feel?" Lalala asked him softly as she pounced on top of him. The Prince gasped in both sheer terror and pure anticipation as he felt Lalala's weight settle down on his stomach. His breathing quickened as both of those feelings fought within him for control. His blood rushed throughout his body, filling and stimulating even the furthest tips of his extremities; a result of a hot, passionate, primal desire.
As she brushed her lips against his neck, the Prince shuddered in both delight and in horror at the thought of what his father would think if he saw the two of them like this. "Oh God, Lalala, please, you can't do this to me. We're related, I could never-"
Lalala promptly covered his mouth with her hand and said stubbornly, "Why couldn't it work? And don't give me that age-old excuse of yours. So what if we're related? Trying telling that to Dipp and Peso, or June and Marny, they don't let that little aspect restrict their feelings for each other." As Lalala concluded, she began to caress him with a ferocity bordering on necessity. The Prince moaned huskily as her magical hands wandered over his body, exploring, probing, and working out all the knots, aches and pains that the Prince had accumulated that day from rolling the katamari. Just as the Prince was about to speak up again, Lalala silenced him with a kiss, drinking in his essence as if she were a hummingbird in dire need of the sweet nectar of his love. When she resurfaced from the long kiss, she pouted, "Prince, please, I know I'm not the only one between the two of us that's feeding this flame. You want me just as much as I want you, perhaps even more. I can hear it in your voice; I can see it in the way you move; I can feel it in the way you succumb beneath my touch…why can't you acknowledge that?"
The Prince sighed and said, "Lalala, you must understand. I'm the son of the King of All Cosmos, and one day, I will inherit the throne from him. As such, I'll have to bear an adequate son, I can't have an inbred like Bey-" The Prince stopped in mid-sentence, smiling suddenly. He had found the key to getting out of this awkward situation. The Prince yelled toward his closet, "Oh Beyond! Cousin Lalala is here to play with you!"
Lalala groaned as Beyond emerged from the Prince's closet wearing a pirate hat and sipping from a bottle of fruit juice. Beyond giggled and said, "Oo, barnacles and seagulls, arg!" His eyes lit up, however, as he spotted the duo on the bed. Beyond promptly dropped his juice and pirate hat and sprinted toward the bed. He leapt into the air, yelling, "Yay! Dogpile!" After he landed atop both Lalala and the Prince, he embraced both of them in a large hug, cooing, "Aww, I like naked!"
"Beyond, you ruined everything! I had my Princey-poo right where I wanted him!" Lalala complained, laughing all the while at Beyond's antics. The Prince took this moment to run into his closet and pull on some clothes.
The Prince hugged Beyond back, saying, "No, no, don't listen to her, Beyond. What you did saved my life. In fact, as a treat, you can keep that pirate hat and feel free to help yourself to a melon in the fridge."
"Arr, Beyond is a melon-pillaging pirate!" Beyond said as he raided the Prince's fridge and pulled out a melon. Beyond then ran outside, once again leaving the Prince and Lalala alone.
"Hmph, you think you're sooo smart, huh, Prince?" Lalala said firmly with her hands on her hips. She soon lightened up and said, "Oh well, enough of that. I'm sure Colombo already told you about this, but I heard about what Ace did to you from Daisy. I swear, he's gonna become a no good cop when he grows up!"
The Prince laughed at his cousin's outburst. If there was something that Lalala hated more than anything else, it was a cop. Since Lalala was so free-spirited and never wore any clothes, she naturally had rubbed elbows with the law (both in the Cosmos and on Earth) on numerous occasions. Many of her best stories started with the words, "You would never believe what this rude, stupid cop did to me the other day…"
Remembering the appearance of Seraphim Akros and the mention of the Royal dungeons, the Prince asked Lalala, "So, did Daisy tell you about what happened to Ace?"
Lalala's eyes widened in excitement as she said, "Oh, did she ever! She told me that the Royal Castle has dungeons! Who would have ever guessed? Prince, you and I should explore the dungeons. I can just imagine it now, you and me, hand in hand, huddled together in the cold, eerie dungeons. And I have nothing to fear—I will never be in any real danger, for I know that my Prince in shining armor shall protect me from any unknown horrors that decide to sneak up on us."
"Well," the Prince said, choosing his words carefully, "as much as I would love to explore the dungeons alone with you, don't you think it would be unfair to keep such an exhilarating opportunity away from the other cousins? Besides, we could most certainly benefit from some of their experience, especially Jungle."
Lalala sighed, "What was I thinking? I'm so silly, of course you're right. I do, in fact, know of a couple of cousins who would just love to accompany us. When and where shall we meet? Does tomorrow night sound fine to you, here at your house?"
Just as the Prince was about to reply, Beyond slowly opened the door and came in. He gasped as Beyond walked in with slow, determined steps. He planted himself before the Prince and stared impassively at him as if he were under a spell. He had a very strange, dark, eerie aura about him at the moment, very different from his usual happy and zany mood. Beyond boomed in a deep, hollow voice that was not his own, "The peacock shall be banished from his motherland by the red panda, although the transgression for which he is evicted shall not be of his own doing. He shall dwell among jackals and foxes, through whose faults he shall be exiled even further into an empty and void realm. He shall become nothing more than a whisper of the wind. However, through the efforts of a ghostly savior, he shall arise all the mightier because of it!"
The Prince stared at Beyond in disbelief for a few moments, trying to take in all which Beyond had just said. Then, he asked in astonishment, "What in the-? Beyond, what are you talking about?"
By the time the question came out, however, Beyond was back to his old self He pulled a stuffed moose out of his tights and hugged it merrily as he said, "Beyond loves the little mooses! Yes he doooes!"
A tap on the shoulder startled the Prince, but it was only Lalala. She whispered to him, "Prince, Beyond just made a prophecy! He tends to do that at times."
"H-him?" the Prince stammered in disbelief. "Since when?"
"Since his whole life, Prince. You really should start hanging out with your cousins more, you know," Lalala paused, and then elaborated with an example, "Remember back when Opeo got that hole in his stomach when Fujio had that freak jousting accident? Beyond prophesied about that a few weeks before it happened. I don't exactly recall what he said, something about a valiant cougar piercing not his dark foe but his own kin. So…well, you were there, you remember what happened."
The Prince backed away from Lalala slowly, grasping his heart. He began to think about Beyond's prophecy. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the prophecy could refer to him, and therefore, the more frightened he got. He was green, just like a peacock and it didn't exactly take a genius to guess the identity of the red panda. "No…" the Prince cried, "if he's referring to me, then that means…oh God! What could I do that's so heinous that he'd…"
Lalala ran up to the Prince, trying to comfort him, "Prince, don't sweat it. I'm sure it's nothing. Some of Beyond's prophecies have yet to come true. In fact, he told me one a couple of years back that still hasn't come to pass."
"Still, that prophecy…it unsettles me," the Prince said uneasily. Just then, as the Prince gazed into Lalala's comforting eyes, the Prince noticed some white blur bouncing just out of the corner of his eye behind her. When he focused his vision, he noticed that it was Archangel Bianco. Bianco shot the Prince a glare and pointed at Lalala, as if he wanted to speak to the Prince alone. The Prince sent the frantic archangel a mental comment, 'Bianco, I think I've had enough excitement for one day. What do you want?'
'Ah yes, Prince, with…that,' Bianco nodded his head irritably toward Lalala, 'harlot prancing around and practically having oral sex with you, I can see why you don't want me around. Prince, when I approached your house, I saw her on top of you, licking and caressing every inch of you. You're really lucky that I'm not a snitch like Ace or else, I'm sure you and His Majesty would have quite a few things to discuss, not to mention work out over your next meeting, right?'
The Prince, trying not to let any of Bianco's outrageous accusations show themselves in his expression, told him, 'I didn't start all this. It was her, I wanted nothing of it, believe me.'
'Prince, don't even try me. If I recall correctly, you weren't exactly panicking and pushing her off of yourself. In fact, you seemed to be relishing the whole experience, even returning a few of those caresses. Just please, make up for what you did and get her out of here before I do decide to tell His Majesty about your whole rendezvous with your naked cousin,' Bianco said impatiently and flew off to hide somewhere so Lalala wouldn't see him.
The Prince sighed in exasperation and feigned a yawn as he said to her, "Well, what you were saying earlier about meeting here for the dungeon trip—sure, we can do that. But, I'm very tired from rolling that katamari earlier, so I'd appreciate it if you left now."
"I can't believe you! Letting Beyond stay and not me? That's no way to treat a lady! Throwing me out into the cold reaches of space…alone…" Lalala pouted.
"Lalala, seriously, you came here alone in the first place!" the Prince laughed. "I'll see you later."
"Well…umm, Prince, you got me there. Goodbye, my tricky little Prince," Lalala said as she flew off.
The Prince waited for Lalala to fly off several feet before yelling, "Wait!" She paused in midair, and turned back toward him, waiting in expectation for what the Prince had to say next. The Prince bided a few moments, feigning hesitation before adding with a wicked grin, "Just be sure not to invite any cousins that would blow our cover, like Twinkle."
"Ooh, Prince, you're so impossible! Ugh, see if I ever talk to you again!" Lalala shouted in exasperation and left in a huff.
"Good grief, I thought she would never leave!" Bianco said, emerging from the only tree that grew on Planet Prince. "Hello, Prince?"
The Prince however, was not paying attention to Bianco. He couldn't help but let his eyes linger on her budding figure once again as she disappeared into the depths of space. He continued to look on after her, even well after she was no longer in his miracle sight.
"What'cha looking at?" Beyond asked the Prince, prying his head directly into his line of vision.
Forgetting that Bianco was around, the Prince said, "Ah, Beyond, just a dream that can never come true. A dream that haunts me, tempts me daily; a dream that wants me to immerse myself in its rapturous pleasure and begs me to escape with it from the confines of the everyday world into places unknown—to be free of my royal heritage and of the responsibilities that come with it. Unfortunately, Beyond, that is fantasy, and there is such a thing as reality."
"Well, little dreamer Prince, you better tend to reality rather than dwell in that illicit fantasies if you know what's good for you!" Bianco said. "Now that that harlot is out of our hair, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here. I'm here to retrieve you for that wedding party that His Majesty is hosting in honor of the marriage of one of his own cousins. His Highness claims to have sent you an invitation to the party a few months ago. I expected you to be prepared, or did you forget about that, bumbling Prince?"
"My father never sent me an invitation to any party whatsoever, I would've remembered. And, Bianco, please, Lalala is not a harlot. Just because she's naked doesn't mean that she's promiscuous," the Prince said defensively.
"Oh bother, Prince, let's just lay off the subject of Lalala, you get way too touchy when it comes to her," Bianco groaned. "I suppose your invitation may have been held up in the mail; that is, if His Majesty even remembered to put it in the mail in the first place. His Majesty seems to forget about things when it comes to his very own son, so it seems. Well, anyway, basically, His Majesty decided to invite all of your cousins to this party with the exception of Lalala and Colombo. I guess he's afraid that Lalala will cause too much chaos at a party of this sort, and he did not want to ruin it for his cousin. As for Colombo, well, to tell you the truth, His Majesty had noticed that he has been acting rather defiant toward him lately. So that was the reason Lalala had to leave."
"Bianco, my father is crazy if he thinks that Lalala and Colombo won't find out about that party. What will they think when none of the other cousins are around for their nightly outings, or at least at home to talk to?" the Prince asked.
"Inquistive Prince, mere archangels can never understand the sheer will of His Majesty. We are merely his servants, nothing more, nothing less. But, if you want this lowly archangel's opinion on the matter, Prince, after serving countless Kings of All Cosmos, one such as myself does tend to see history repeat itself. Let it just be said—if Lalala and Colombo find out that they have been left out of this party, the night will not end prettily for anyone, especially not for His Majesty. Now, enough of that. His Majesty is expecting us, and if we are late, I will be the one who is punished. Beyond, Prince, this will be a long night, one way or the other." Bianco said resignedly. Not a word passed between Bianco and the Prince as each contemplated the upcoming events for that night; Beyond, however, gibbered as if he were in his own world, pretending once again that he was a melon-raiding pirate.
Will it creep anyone out that writing the whole scene between the Prince and Lalala turned me on a little? I hope not. The whole thing is a bit of a symbol of what's going on in my life (no, I'm not in love with a relative; don't worry, I'm not that creepy). But, besides writing out Lalala's dialogue where she's asking the Prince why he doesn't indulge in their feelings, my favorite part to write out was Bianco's reaction to the whole thing. My brother actually sneaked up on me while I was writing that part, and he literally burst out laughing. I think I have anonymous reviews enabled now, so even if you're not an author, please feel free to leave me a review. Just, if you didn't like it, don't just flame it, please leave me with a bit of advice as well, okay? Until next time, faithful readers.