This is following up on "The love we all Feel." If you haven't read that, I suggest you do, because details from that story are going to be included in the coming chapters.

Blumiere

Blumiere is resting on a grand blue, bed. It's soft, pillowy covers encompassing his entire body. The sheets covering him, and the engravings of hearts making it look like a funeral scene.

He stirred: "How odd. Where am I." He thought. Getting up, he realized that he was back to normal! His Darkner body, as blue as the ocean, looked more light, though. His eyes were light blue, too! Not his usual red eye. "Where's my monocle?" He questioned.

Standing up, he realized Timpani was on a white bed next to him. There were engraving's on the bed, and it had a brown cover. "Timpani? mi amore, wake up!" Blumiere called to Timpani. She started to wake up and rose up. "Blumiere, honey?" She said, drowsy. Blumiere chuckled and leaned in for a kiss. The sheets came off, and the door opened.

Timpani

We kissed, me and Blumiere. And, we both saw a human, dressed in purple and white. "Those are the Tribe of Ancients and Darkness main colors!" She thought, in a panic. Blumiere took note, and quickly moved away and stared at the human. They were giving a look of surprise and were blushing furiously. "Um, um, uh, am I? No, I mean, uh, ugh, should I go?" He asked. It was a boy, young, and a hood covered his face.

"No. And, who are you?" Timpani asked. The boy looked so embarrassed, and said: "You do know you, um, don't have any garbs on." He asked, stuttering. Blumiere and I quickly looked down, realizing why there was tension, and we both blushed. "Never mind, please leave." "Ok."

Alb

"OK! I just need to go get a few things from the cottage, your royal highnesses." Alb said. "Alright, we will teleport you there. But first, here." Queen Melinda said, before snapping her fingers. Alb suddenly felt very light and found that he was wearing a purple clock that had a hood, and it had blue fabrics instilled in it. However, his suit was now changed into some sort of green-white collar, along with a white bowtie. He had black dress pant on and black dress shoes.

"Perfect, we can add the other effect fro the Pi'illo Kingdom, but here is what you would wear to the events hosted in the competition, or showcase." Count Marcus said. Alb found it very comfy, although a bit small, but he can manage. "Ok, head to my castle once you prepared." Count Marcus said, before teleporting everybody away. Queen Melinda looked like she was about to say something, but didn't get the chance too.

Alb closed his eyes and found himself back in the front of the cottage. Opening the door, he stepped in to get the picture and mirror. He moved the painting aside, opened the safe, and got the contents out. Although, Alb saw something odd next to the safe. It was a button, white.

"Um, Alb. I really don't think you should-" Mel tried saying before Alb pressed it. A door appeared, it was similar to that in the place where Alb woke up. "Let's check." Alb eagerly said. Despite Mel's protests, Alb ventured forward. Opening the door, he saw two beds, and the couple that was in the picture in front of him, kissing... Naked.

FAST FORWARD 20 SECONDS

Mel was laughing and cooing at the same time. "Aw, they look so cute together. I wonder why they kept it a secret?" Mel said, giddily. Alb was starting to question if Mel was a friend or annoyance in his mind. Alb heard shuffling, and the sound of buttons clicking into their holes. They came out and were blushing ferociously. "Sorry about that, but who are you?" 'Queen Melinda' asked.

Alb just looked at the 'Queen', or was it the 'Queen.' Alb said to Mel: "She looks young and looks just like the queen. Should I..."

"No, I want to see how they respond to this situation. They seem nervous." Mel said, somewhat sounding mischevious. Alb wasn't sure if that was a good idea, so he decided to address her by how he normally would. "Your Highness, it's me. Are you well" Alb asked. The women looked at him with confusion and suddenly looked afraid. She glanced at 'Count Marcus?" He looked young, too.

"Yes, we are fine, and-" The count was saying before Alb interrupted. "I apologize, can I ask something?"

The couple looked tense; the Count narrowing his eyes, asking, "What is it?"

"Sheesh, rude much?" Mel remarked. Alb asked, "Are you the couple in this photo?" Pulling out the photo, and showing it to the couple. The Count grabbed it and started whispering to the 'Queen'. Mel had a bad feeling, and Alb sensed it. "What's wrong, Mel?" Alb asked. Mel immediately shouted, "Run!"

Blumiere

"That was peculiar, the human looks calm albeit a bit flushed, rather than scared," Blumiere said. Timpani seemed to be thinking the same thing, too. Timpani glanced at me and gave him a sorry look. Blumiere looked back and started acting like his father. As far as he was concerned, they were in their home dimension, and the tribes were still enemies.

The human seemed surprised, and a bit scared. Blumiere almost got the human away, but the human asked: "Are you the couple in this photo?" While showing the picture him and Timpani took. Timpani paled, and Blumiere saw it. He took it from the human's hand and leaned near Timpani.

Timpani came closer, whispering "Sorry, I meant to take that, before... You know." "I know, and I'm not mad. But what are we going to do." Blumiere reassuringly said, in a whisper. Timpani replied with, after deliberation, "Tell him to stay here; I don't like the latter, but use force if needed." Blumiere nodded, he and Timpani normally came to the same conclusions but fights are more Blumiere's expertise.

Turning to look at the human, he prepared for the spell, and the human, for some odd reason, went wide-eyed and started running. "NO!" Timpani called out, but it was too late. Blumiere cast a spell out of panic, a binding spell that he used on Princess Peach when he kidnapped her.

It went straight at him and was entrapped in a box. "It's fine. He's not hurt." Blumiere had said. Timpani could only respond with, "I'm glad, but now what." The human was silent, in shock, but quickly snapped back and looked around the box.

Timpani

My memory is a haze, but I remember this place, this dimension; my home. The cottage where I took care of Blumiere when he was injured. This was also my sanctuary from being the princess of the Tribe of Ancients. "Did I do something wrong?" The human asked.

Blumiere saw this and wasn't exactly sure how to respond. "I'm sorry, but we can't tell you, nor can we let you out yet." He said. The human listening was floating too. "Can I please sit down then? Floating in this outfit isn't exactly comfortable." The human asked.

Blumiere and I were surprised by his calmness, and Blumiere looked at me for permission. "Yes, It's only fair," I said. Blumiere lifted his scepter, and the human landed on the floor. "Thank you, your highnesses. But, can I ask exactly why you're doing this?" He asked, looking at him.

Timpani finally had enough, and asked "Why do you keep on calling us, "Your Highness?" We are not royals." Timpani had some bad moments with her mom, so she didn't like remembering about her childhood. Blumiere looked at Timpani, with pity, and asked: "Are you well, dear?" Timpani flushed, "Yes, I am sorry. I should not have snapped like that." She said, apologizing to both males.

The human had a face of realization, "Ohhh. I see I am so sorry. You both look so familiar to the rulers from each tribe." Blumiere and Timpani both cringed, "Do we? Haha, how do you know about them anyway?" They both asked, in unison. The human smiled and said, "I met when I performed at the auditions for the Dimensional Piano Representative for the tribes, as well as, Pi'illo Kingdom. But, besides that? I think I should tell you that tensions between humans and Darkners are almost non-existent."

Blumiere looked at the human, with a look of denial and hope: "No, that can't be right. The tribes hate each other." The human simply shook his head, saying "It doesn't seem like that to me. I mean sure, there's gossip. But, nobody is xenophobic to each other." Both Blumiere and Timpani at him closely, he wasn't lying. "Does that mean-" Timpani began to say. "Judging from your reaction, I'd say it be best if you hide. I'm not sure what the reactions would be, because you look so similar to the rulers of each tribe." The human quickly said.

The couple sighed and sat down on the chairs in the cottage. "Can I please go. The Royals are actually waiting for me." The human asked, pleadingly. Blumiere and Timpani were both hesitant about letting him go, and said: "How will we know you won't say anything?"

"You have magic, I assume that little spell is a tracking spell too?"

Blumiere did a double-take: "How did-"

"Try being a bit more discreet when doing it, but other than that, I don't have any reason to tell. You seem like a happy couple, and I don't want to ruin that." The human said. Blumiere was about to refuse before she tugged on his cape. "I think we should. I have a feeling we trust him." She said. Blumiere nodded, trusting Timpani's gut feelings; They were always right.

Raising the scepter, the human was let free. "Thank you, and my name is Alb." He said, before quickly running off. "What an interesting encounter." Blumiere mused. "Yes, I agree," Timpani said. It was silent for a while, but then Timpani broke the silence. "What do we do now, honey. I don't think it's a good idea to trust our parents, still." She said. Blumiere nodded and thought about it when an idea popped to him.

"Let's turn ourselves into Pixls, that way we can travel around without being suspected of anything." Timpani was about to protest, but after thinking about it, she agreed. Blumiere lifted his scepter up high, and a white light shone in the cottage.

ALB

" That was good improv. Are you telling?" Mel said. Alb after thinking for a while, said "No. I'm not. They really do seem afraid of me telling about them." Mel nodded and stayed silent. Quickly speedwalking over to the entrance to the castle, he reached the gate. Some Darkner guards saw him, and said "Are you the pianist? The Royals have been expecting you." Alb replied with "yes, I am. May I please go in." The guards nodded. Alb immediately speed-walked over to the throne room, not hearing what the guards had to say. "He's going to get lost, isn't he?" One guard said. The other guard nodded.

Alb had been walking when he realized he didn't know where to go, or at least he thought. He knew the castle, he couldn't remember how, he just did. Walking quickly to the throne room, he passed through guards and nobles to the throne room. Finding it, the guard looked at his stopwatch and was wide-eyed. "Huh, you were quick. I guess you got lucky." Alb hastily replied, "I guess I did." The guard opening the door while saying this.

Thanking them, he approached the center of the room. It was dark, and he had a very weird feeling that something was going to-

"Alb! You are finally here. What took so long." He heard Queen Melinda said, before instantly glomping him. Alb was expecting the question, and said: "It took a while to get here, and I forgot something, so I had to go back."

"And what is that you forgot?" Shoot, Alb wasn't expecting them to be inquisitive. "Uh, I'm not sure where they are, I just had the-"

"Sorry, sir. You went too fast." Two Pixls flew in, a shiny blue-white hat and a rainbow butterfly. Alb secretly knew who they were, and mentally thanked himself for not telling. "Who are they, Alb?" Count Marcus asked, appearing.

The hat cringed, and Alb quickly thought up of names that came up in his head, and said: "The butterfly is Tippi, and the hat is Blumy." The two royals looked surprised, and sad before gaining their composure.

"Strange. What was that shift in the mood." Mel thought. "I'm not sure, but let's keep up this lie until they're ready to talk," Alb remarked.