Hi all. How are you doing? Exams are FINALLY over, thank GOODNESS, so now I can get this posted. I slaved day and night to get this to you, so you'd better review and tell me you love it, or else...!!! Actually that is a blatant and unholy lie. But please review anyways?

Many thanks to Lady of Weirdness/anime-gurl, taidigimon, Hikari-Kawai, lazygirl, claire1308, alien-angel38 and Shy-Lil-Dreamer for taking a few moments out of their busy lives to review my fic. To all of you, you make writing worthwhile and I love you for it. To taidigimon, the taiora aspect will come in soon, I cross my heart promise it.

And with no further adieu, I bring to you chapter 11. Enjoy!

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They entered the town of Celestria two days later, midway through the morning. Mimi had the hood of her coat pulled down over her face, so that only her lips and below could be seen. She was so certain she would be seen. Looking out from under the white fabric, she winced as she saw all the citizens of her region hard at work already. Some were running inns in the olden day style so common in this area. Some had restaurants or shops also tucked away inside the buildings that lined the stone street. Some were at the stands that lined the street, selling items and accessories and foods that were particular to this city. Mimi smiled as she saw an old lady selling nocturnes. They were a type of fruit that only ever grew in the Celestria lowlands, and as the name suggested, only ripened at night. Their pinkie-orange skin almost made her homesick. Almost.

Tearing her eyes away, she moved up closer to Matt. Five young girls were running around her feet, playing with their dolls and chattering incessantly. The way kids do. Or, most kids anyway. Hazarding a glance upwards, the castle loomed into view. Her parents' castle. Her castle.

The city was structured in a circle. The castle was right in the middle, so wherever you where you couldn't miss it. Then the rest of the city was split into four quadrants. Two were residential, one was business and the last was for entertainment. They were walking through the industrial quarter to get to the entertainment district. The entertainment district was the one with all the art galleries, museums and theatres. There were three local amateur theatre companies, and then many more visited from other cities. All shows were performed on the Celestria Grand Stage, and that was exactly where this troupe was heading.

Still staring at the castle, Mimi realised she had never seen it from this angle before. She had seen it from up close basically every day of her life, and she had seen it in paintings that famous artists had done for her parents. But from here Mimi could truly see the majesty of the architecture. The brick was cream marble with golden streaks. A diamond based building, it had four towers, one in each corner. Mimi looked towards the north tower. That was her own personal wing. She had slept under that blue peaked roof for sixteen years. She had run up and down that spiral staircase so many times to get to the courtyard, or to go to dinner, or to get to her lessons. There were exactly eight hundred and twelve stairs. Number three hundred and forty-four was cracked down the middle. The window above number seven hundred and fifty-six often let in the rain, and made the step wet and slippery. Elaborate candelabras lit the way every twenty steps, starting with step three.

Mimi felt sick at how well she knew that castle. She could recall so many vivid details. The day she had lost her first tooth, and while searching for her parents in order to tell them, had got lost in the labyrinth of halls. The day she had been in the garden on the roof with what seemed like hundreds of white doves, and the guards had chased them away in case they had been carrying diseases.

She bowed her head again, tears springing involuntarily to her eyes. Why had she come back? Why had she agreed to have all these memories forced back on her? What if she was found out? What if she had to return to the castle? What if she had to return to that beautiful prison that had kept her locked away for so many years?

Suddenly she felt Matt's arm work its way around her waist. She looked up into his eyes, her own were overbright and shining with tears. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before saying quietly,

"This is your home town, right?"

His sense of her was impeccable. She snuggled under his arm as they walked, whispering, "Yes."

He used the hand that wasn't wrapped around her to gently wipe the tears from her eyes. "Don't worry. We're all here for you now."

She smiled faintly. "That is everything to me. I would be nowhere if you were not with me."

He grinned as they approached the canal that split the industrial sector from the entertainment quarter. To get across you had to first speak with the two guards, state your business, then if it was approved, you could be escorted across on a little barge. Mimi felt her stomach clench and unclench as if it were being tied tightly in knots. They would surely recognise her. They would surely know. Here it would all come undone. Here she would lose everything.

Matt approached the first guard. Mimi sneaked a glance. She did not recognise the woman, but her clothes were signifiers enough. The short black pleated skirt, with a black and silver studded belt for her two daggers to be holstered in, combined with the red shirt that had a v-neck reaching almost to the girl's navel, indicated that she was a trainee. Mimi sighed in a mix of frustration and relief. For one thing, the fact that the girl was so young and inexperienced meant that she would not have been at the castle, and may not recognise Mimi from under her coat. On the other hand, Mimi thought with a wry half-smile, her grandparents really should not have let the men design the women's uniform.

But despite her lack of qualifications, and her youth, the woman knew what she was doing. She approached the group, hands resting lightly on her two daggers.

"Your business with the entertainment quarter?"

Matt moved forward to her. Mimi noticed, with a twinge of icy jealousy, that she was not immune to his startlingly blue eyes.

"We're here to help the big production that's being set up. You know... 'Midnight Dreamers'?"

The lady smiled suddenly. "That's great. They're planning something huge, and they are really low on staff. Your help would be really appreciated." She looked across her shoulder at her partner. He seemed to Mimi to be about thirty years old, his dark brown hair starting to coarsen with grey. He was dressed in the typical black uniform, but the red stripes across his shoulders and down his pocket showed him to be a major. "That's Markus. He'll get your names and details as he takes you across. Usually that would all have to be done beforehand... but you seem like nice people, and I don't want to be the one to hold those drama guys up. Have a nice time, okay?"

She gestured to Markus, and he nodded.

"Come this way, ladies and gentlemen. Hop aboard the Entertainment Express."

He stepped into the barge that was tied to the dock, and motioned for them to do the same. Mimi thanked her lucky stars, or guardian angels, or whatever they were, that he was not one of the harsh corporals. She actually had a chance to stay in the shadows. She had a chance to remain unnoticed.

She followed the rest of her group onto the barge. As soon as she had settled herself, Markus untied the barge and used his long pole to push them out onto the water. Mimi knew that the boat ride would take about ten minutes. Ten minutes and she was free. But it wouldn't be easy.

"So... what are your names. It's not that important, if you're going to be staying in the area, but we need to know for security purposes. And as well, for our records."

Markus was very casual as he used the guiding pole to steer them through the canal waters. The rest of the group gave their names without hesitation. They were not planning anything sinister or unlawful. They had nothing to lose. Mimi, however, felt like his gaze was one of fire when it was turned upon her.

The heat drilled through her. She had no choice. She had to give her name. "My... my name is Mimi."

Markus nodded, satisfied. He was quiet for a moment, then had to open his mouth again. Mimi silently cursed him as he began to speak once more.

"It's a nice name, Mimi. Our princess is named Mimi. Very beautiful young woman, she is. I'd definitely place our young princess as the prettiest of all the nation's princesses. Then again, I may be biased. I was there when they first brought her out into public, you know. Course, I was only a trainee then. Gosh, seems like such a long time, doesn't it? I suppose you would have only been little bubbas then, huh? Wouldn't remember too much? Oh, but I do. They had a public holiday for it. Very good day..." Mimi internally winced at every word he said. Why talk about this? Why? What was it doing except ruining her life, again? She just wanted to jump off the boat, before anybody realised anything. Before this happiness was shattered completely. She was just looking for a way to disembark, when he said something very interesting. "Of course, we haven't seen the princess in weeks. None of us have any idea where she is. King and Queen are being very cagey, very cagey indeed. Not that you'll tell anyone I said that. More than my job's worth, you see. Anyway, latest rumour is that she's very ill. Can't leave the castle. Not that I have much faith in these rumours. Last one was that she'd been kidnapped. Very silly if you ask me. If she'd been kidnapped, wouldn't all us national guards be out searching for her? That's what I think anyway. So what was I saying? Oh yes. Mimi... a very nice name."

Mimi was about to vomit. So many thoughts were spinning around in her mind. The King and Queen... her mother and father... hadn't even told anybody that she had fled? Why? She had expected to come back here with the streets swarming with people looking for her. But there were none. Why were there none? Were they trying to avoid embarrassment? Or did they just really want to be rid of her? Maybe they didn't want her back. Much as that suited her, she couldn't help but feel a little rejected. Suddenly she noticed everyone's stares upon her. She was expected to reply to Markus. What could she possibly say? She knew she had to squash any doubts in her new friends after what this man had said. They were not stupid. They could put two and two together and come up with four. But she couldn't lie either. Not to Matt. She could practically hear the cogs in her brain working at lightning speed.

"Yes... I have always found it to be quite nice myself. You see, I was actually named for the princess of Celestria."

Not a lie, but not exactly the truth either. Mimi was quite proud of herself. She had never had to think on her feet like that before. Not with her cosy, cushioned palace life. That was what her speechwriters had been paid for. Now she felt like she had just passed a huge test in her life. Overcome a huge obstacle. And she was feeling great. This feeling only served to heighten when Matt's arm snaked around her waist again. While his hand rested protectively on her hip, she felt like nothing in this world or any other could touch her.

Only a few moments later and they were at the dock of the entertainment quarter. They all hopped off the barge, Matt sneaking a quick kiss on Mimi's cheek before helping her alight. Mimi, feeling glad to be on solid ground and quite far from anyone who knew about her past, smiled and spontaneously grabbed Matt's hand in her own.

Spinning herself around under his arm like a ballroom dancer, she said happily, "Let us go... let us find this theatre company. I simply cannot wait to get this started."

Matt couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. "Yeah... let's go."

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Well she made it through that, didn't she? The question is, will she be so lucky next time? Tune in next time to find out! ... Okay, I have been watching too much television. But is that such a bad thing? Maybe I'm losing brain cells at a disturbingly fast rate, but at least I'm having fun...? Oh well.

Now, I realise that practically every chapter I write (if not every single chapter) ends with a plea for reviews. So in order to break tradition, I will not mention them from now. I shall just think silently of them. Okay?

*~* Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular *~*

A baby rabbit is called a kit, and a large group of rabbits is called a warren.