Angry footsteps echoes in the castle as a young man rushed down the hall. As usual, arguments followed by multiples kisses, followed by more arguments are the start of his day. His queen is being difficult, which is also customary to his morning. The young man shoves one of his servants as he turns the hallway swiftly. The servant, looking back with an angry, confused look upon his face, continues walking towards his destination. The young man went into his private chambers and slams the door behind him. Snatching his cape away from his back, the young man throws the material on the floor. The sun peers inside the chambers beautifully. The sky is clear; a perfect day for gardening. Several servants and gardeners are moving about planting and gathering fruits and vegetables. There is a chocobo stable a few yards from the garden, all of which are adorned by the castle's crest, a purple-like creature that had orange-like mane going from the top of its head and stopped midway followed by a blend of orange and red fangs, that's centered of the rose gold armor. All of the chocobos are gold, black, and white.
There are also several merchants coming in and out of the castle bringing supplies and food. A sound comes from the double doors. The young king doesn't even bother to turn to see who entered his chambers unannounced. There's only one person that's allowed to come into his chambers unannounced. One would think that person would be his queen, but that would be inaccurate. The young man looks into the window to see an older man looking back at him with a frustrated expression.
"Say what you will, but don't forget, I am your king."
The older man sighs. "You bore me with your so called threats. Care to explain to me why I hear the queen is brokenhearted and crying?"
The king snorts. Of course the queen cried and made a scene. She is simply looking for sympathy because her king doesn't have an ounce of compassion towards her. The older man sighs at the young man's actions. He'd seen this behavior before; young men who were named king at an early age and let the power corrupt their hearts. He has been around the world, traveling from castle to castle, for a little over eight decades to see each ruler repeat the same pathology, none of them being able to break the never-ending behavior, except for one. It was arduous task at first but eventually, the king and queen were able to agree on some sort of common ground. As one of the eldest members inside the castle, it is the older man's duty to make sure the terror stops permanently.
"My Lord, surely you must know what you are doing is wrong."
The young man turns and glares at the elder man. "You dare question my actions, Ramuh?"
Ramuh sighs, moving towards the young man. Like many rulers before him, they were all fed the same lecture on being king. Ramuh motions for the king to sit. The young man obliges but with the glare still remains on his face.
"My Lord, you must apologize to her. Do you dare disappoint your nation?"
The young man is on the verge of yelling at the elder for questioning him but stops when the elder man mentions his nation. He knows what the elder man really means behind his words. It is a touchy subject for the young king. He quickly gets up and looks out of the window, observing the servants and merchants move about. The older man waits for his king's reply. The king looks at Ramuh's reflection for a second before turning towards Ramuh to give him his undivided attention.
"What are they like?"
Ramuh chuckles a little at the young king's curiosity. He sits on the bed and begins telling the tale of the one king and queen that defied the typical, harsh laws that they were destined to follow, in hopes their successors, and other royal figures around Gaia, would follow the same path.
The flames illuminates the small, private chamber belonging to a short-haired girl. The chamber is decorated in pink. Teddy bears are perfectly lined up against the window on the window pane. Dolls are scattered about on the floor. The girl and three of her favorite adult-sized dolls are at a table with a porcelain tea set in front of her. Unlike most girls' tea parties, the girl has actual tea. She brings a cup carefully to one of her teddy bears, but quickly places it back down when she hears hurried footsteps approaching her room.
A woman with long blonde hair braided to the side burst into the chambers with a worried expression on her face. She snaps her head at the girl, who also has a worried expression. The blonde quickly closes the door and locks it. She quickly runs over to the bed and start to grab several articles of clothing and using the bed sheet she roughly snatches away from the bed as a travel bag. The girl runs over to the window and sees several men on chocobos approaching the castle.
"Mommy, what's going on?" The girl questions.
"There's no time to explain." The blonde panics. She throws the sheet over her back and rushes over to the girl. "We must get to the main hall, sweetie."
"Why?" The girl doesn't understand what's going on.
The mother replies with a swift push, urging the girl to move forward. The girl reluctantly follows her mother's orders and walks towards the main hall. As the pair approaches the main hall, the mother's anxiety is beginning to go into overdrive. She should have been a proper mother and told her daughter that her fate to leave Midgar was coming soon instead of waiting until the very last second. They arrive in the main hall and the girl immediately runs to her father.
"Father!" The girl hugs her father tightly. "Why is Mommy acting strange?"
The father snaps his head towards the mother, who tries to swallow away the lump that's forming inside her throat. "You didn't tell her?"
"What was I supposed to say?!"
The front doors opens before the argument could escalate further. A tall, slender man walks inside the hall along with a brunette woman at his side, both adorning rose gold crowns. The man slowly stands from his throne, with his frightened wife and child next to him.
"I can see your daughter is ill prepared." The slender man notes as he sees the child's frightened face.
"Yes, well, my wife just informed me that she hasn't informed my daughter." The man glares at his queen and then looks at the slender man. "However, we must fulfill the treaty between Midgar and Edge."
"That is correct." The slender rubs his hands together and then claps them together. "So? Shall we get down to business?"
"Father, what's happening?"
The girl's question goes unanswered as her father guides the guests to a small section that has a table, ink feather, and parchment. Frighten wine-colored eyes meets bright cerulean eyes that are now filling with tears. Her mother knells in front of her and places her hands on her daughter's small, slumped shoulders.
"Honey, you have to leave for Edge." Her mother's tone is firm.
"Why? Why do I have to go Mother?" Tears starts to fall freely from her eyes.
"We have a peace treaty with Edge and part of the agreement of peace was…" Her mother hesitates and glances at her king, who is now writing on a piece of parchment. The king of Edge is looking over at her with a smirk on his face. She quickly turns away and turns her attention back to her daughter. "For you to rule Edge." Her mother finishes her sentence.
The girl's eyes widens. "Mommy, I'm not old enough to be a queen! I wanna stay here and be with you and Father!"
"Hush child with all that sadness." Her father yells over to her. "You are going to be a queen, like it or not. You are bounded until death."
"No! I don't want to!"
"It's not about what you want to do! You have no choice in this matter!" Her father bellows.
"How dare you talk to her that way!" Her mother stands firmly, a mistake she will soon learn from. Her king glares at her. His hand connects to her right cheek leaving a red mark on her face.
"How dare you defy me in front of our guests?" Her king grits. "How quickly you forget, you are expendable."
The king turns to his guests and smiles. "Well, now that the signatures are taken care of, I think it's time to go."
The girl's sobs are getting louder and louder as her mother hands her things over to the king of Edge. Her father knells in front of her and shakes his head. "You need to stop crying, grow up, and be the queen you are destined to be."
"But I don't wanna be queen of Edge, Father! I wanna be queen of Midgar and stay here with you!"
"In order to keep the peace between the two nations, you must go and you will go. You have no other option." Her father replies rather harshly.
All of the young girl's personal belongings are slowly being carried out by the servants of the castle. Her mother starts to have a nervous breakdown as she hands the bed sheet to the Queen of Edge. The King of Midgar rolls his eyes, sighing at the pathetic scene. The queen hugs her daughter one last time before walking her over to the queen of Edge.
"Take care of her."
"She will be a proper ruler." The queen replies sweetly.
The girl frowns at the queen and looks at her mother. Her mother shakes her head sorrowfully and gazes at her king. The King of Midgar motions for his daughter to leave the main hall. The Queen of Edge grabs the girl's hand but the girl snatches her hand away. She pleas with her mother and father, begging them to not allow these strange rulers take her to Edge. Her father keeps saying you have to go, while the mother cries. Her father yells at the two of them, disgusted with their behavior. Kings and queens shouldn't act in this manner. Her father pushes the girl into the Queen of Edge's arms, demanding they ensure that his daughter will be a proper ruler.
The crying and shouting is heard clearly as the king and queen of Edge practically drags the girl away from her parents. The girl's pleas didn't cease, though she knows they are feeble. The king lifts the girl up and put her inside the carriage, commanding his queen to get in and settle the child. With one more respectable bow to the king and queen of Midgar, the King of Edge gets into the carriage and the chocobo tamer commands the chocobo to move, carrying in the trio in tow.
The girl's cries slowly halts as she realizes that this is her destiny. She looks at the woman who is now going to look after her, along with the man. She is merely a ten year-old girl. How can she be queen of a nation she has no knowledge of? Midgar is her nation, the nation she lived in since birth. How could her mother and father give her up so easily? She wipes away the tears that fills her eyes, turns around, and sticks her head cautiously out of the carriage at Midgar. She knows she would probably never see the nation again.
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