A/N: updateeeeeee

Not gonna say too much. I was trying not to rush them. I hope everyone's in character :P

Enjoy!

The two ended up in a courtyard with a fountain in the middle, flowering plants around the edges and benches lining the path between. Ella sat Mike down on one of the benches. Mike looked up at her with his uncovered eye. His leg pain continued and his whole body felt heavy from exhaustion.

Ella sat down beside him, making sure her dress wasn't in a weird position. She met his gaze again. "...I've thought about you a lot," she admitted, "since we last met."

"Really?..." Mike hadn't expected her to say that.

Ella nodded. "It was nice to sing with someone else...not many around the castle appreciate my voice the way you did. I'd hoped we could do it again, eventually."

Mike tried smiling at that but it ended up a grimace because of his current physical state.

"Why is your hair covering your face?" Ella suddenly asked out of nowhere.

Mike's expression shifted and he tried to come up with an explanation but there wasn't really a good one. He just looked at the ground and then reached a hand up, brushing aside the hair so she could see the damaged side of his face.

Ella placed a hand over her mouth with a slight gasp, shocked and worried once again.

After a few moments Mike moved his hair back and sighed.

Ella wasn't sure what to say or do.

"...I...I think I should go," Mike said after some silence.

"Why? You just arrived, it's still early in the night…"

"It's not a good idea for me to stay…I shouldn't have come in the first place."

"Now that's not true. Stay for a little longer. Please?" Ella asked.

Mike looked at her again. "...okay, but I'm not dancing again," he conceded.

"I wouldn't dream of making you," she assured him. She tried to think of something. "I could show you around a small part the palace." Not the best idea.

Mike didn't really want to walk but he replied, "Okay."

Ella stood up again and took his hand. Mike stood up painfully and he let her lead him out of the courtyard, through a different door than the one they'd come in from.

The two spent a short amount of time walking through the empty parts of the palace, Ella pointing out what was what to Mike while he listened, focusing more on her than his surroundings. Soon they circled back to the doors of the ballroom and at this point Mike was hardly moving. He ended up collapsing onto another bench. "I'm going to go in very quickly, to see how it's going," Ella told him as she opened the door.

Mike nodded weakly, leaning back into the wall.

Ella opened the door to the ballroom and was immediately grabbed by her sister. "We're supposed to stand next to father. He's gonna give a speech," Sky told her. She then glanced around. "Where's that boy you want to marry?" she asked half jokingly.

Ella blushed. "He's just a friend…"

"If you don't want to get paired with one of those annoying creeps in that ballroom you'd better get him in here."

"But I can't…he's hurting and needs to rest." She felt bad for proposing and doing something that made him hurt even more.

"Get him a cane or something. Figure it out," Sky replied.

Mike couldn't really hear them.

"I...I will think of something," Ella conceded. She then left the room again and looked down at Mike. "Can you stand?" she asked quietly.

"...you know that I can't…" Mike replied slowly, confused.

"I do, I'm sorry, I just...I need to get you inside," Ella explained the situation.

"If I could then I would help you, princess, but I really can't do anything like this…" Mike replied weakly.

Ella didn't know what to do.

Sky opened the door and grabbed her sister. "Sorry, time's up," she said. "Gotta go." She got a glance at Mike. "We'll deal with you later." She pulled Ella back into the hall to her protest. She looked at Mike and he could onot watch her go.

See ya next update, thanks for reading :)