Notes:

Not much this time, I had a real blast writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy it ~

A few minutes after the two had met, trumpets started to play, drawing the attention of every candidate in the courtyard. "Attention!" Came a boastful voice that almost drowned even the trumpets themselves, "I present to you, the royal family!" On cue, the large – brightly coloured doors swung open in synchronisation to one another. It was like the doors were either respectful to the royal family or terrified of being out of place.

Ophelia was the first to come forward, River was on her left, Moon was on her right. At this moment all the candidates bowed in respect, Marco and Alfonzo were at the back of everyone. Despite being a working-class, they knew the kind of procedure that had to be followed when addressing or meeting the royal family. Pete had filled Marco in, presumably Alfonzo's escort informed him too.

The princess had both her hands clasped together in front of her body, once she reached the end of the platform she began to speak. "You may rise," her voice was kind, soft… Almost motherly. The keyword being almost, Marco couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was off about the way she spoke. "Hello my dear chosen few, right now I don't know any of you. Your names, your places of birth, your family. But by the end of these next 2 days, I hope to know your origin, your character, and perhaps even more." A soft breath, at this moment she was already scanning through the people. Putting names to faces, she had found out a lot about the candidates, but there were two which she couldn't seem to find anything out about. 'Marco and Alfonzo, where are you?' She thought, after making her way through them all she arrived at the back. 'That must be them.'

Marco felt a chill roll down his spine, Alfonzo moved back a little. Call it a prey's intuition if you would. That was the moment when Marco realised that this girl wasn't normal. However, a few moments passed by and the chill went away as her eyes darted back to the centre of the crowd. "You must be weary from your travels, please, do take the rest of the evening to enjoy yourself. Feel at home, because for one of you – this will be home." Unanimously, all hands erupted into a controlled clap.

They all began to walk inside, the servants took their luggage, taking them up to their personal rooms.

Inside the Castle

It was a small convention, the 13 plus the royal family. And a few guards of course made their way into the dining hall, it was much larger than the private one for only the royals, this one had an old feel to it, wooden pillars supported the structure. Beautiful paintings of more history and achievements plastered the walls. Alfonzo and Marco were silently chatting to one another in the back, they wanted to avoid being anywhere close to the royals.

"Hey Marco," The Diaz leaned in, "Would you rather eat a batch of dead fish or kiss that?" Alfonzo darted his eyes towards Ophelia, which made Marco almost burst out in a fit of laughter – if it weren't for the sacks of rich meat that blocked his full view of the royal family he'd almost be immediately spotted. He could only look down into his clothes and smile.

The family took their seats which resided on a table in front of all others, chairs facing towards everyone else. (See this link for image: /a/0sfCI). Marco wasn't aware of any sort of rule which entailed that you should remain 10 steps behind the royal family, and so everyone else stopped dead in their tracks. Causing Marco to bump into the person in front of him – he quickly used his wit to come up with something, putting on his best impression of a posh British person he mustered, "Oh -uh – terribly sorry, I actually need glasses like my friend over there. You see, they were left in my luggage which is being taken up now." The man in front was at least a head taller than Marco himself.

"Watch yourself next time pipsqueak, you're lucky we're in royal presence or you'd have a broken rib cage right now." Marco wasn't scared of him, his father taught him some fighting moves when he was six – never forgot them. He took up the martial arts when he was 8 because he knew that there'd probably be someone he'd need to knock out since his father wasn't there to protect his mother.

Nevertheless, Marco wanted to keep that card hidden for now and not start a fight, so he threw himself back into his posh British voice. "Ah yes, of course, no problem." Once the guy had accepted his apology, Marco turned to Alfonzo with a face of 'What the f*** just happened?' His new-found friend simply shrugged his shoulders and mouthed 'Not a clue.'

The guards began to seat people, Marco and Alfonzo were put on separate tables, they only used up the first 7/6 seats on each table to remain close to the family. They then began to bring food out, a full five-course meal, what Marco wouldn't give to shove every drop of food into his mouth. He had to pace himself though, Pete was a good mentor, he gave him information on how to properly dine. Simply start from the outside, and work your way inwards.

They brought out soup first, some cream barley soup. It was definitely something for Marco, going from fish that was partly rotten to luxurious five-star food was amazing. It was completely unfathomable for his stomach which couldn't quite keep up with the richness of the soup presented to him. Regretfully, it began to ache, but it wasn't rumbling. All he had to do, was force himself through this food without making a scene and it'd be fine.

But with each passing bite it became even more and more difficult to keep it down, the creaminess of the soup melted along his tongue and slid down his throat with such a refreshing texture it was overpowering. He was unable to finish the last bite.

On the other hand, when he slyly browsed the candidates adjacent to him, he noticed that they had also left a little in the pot. However, there was one person, 3 seats down from Marco who finished his entire serving. It seemed like the royal family looked in disgust at him, not saying anything but gazing at him with a disapproving look. The same for all the other Chosen. Marco tapped the person on his right and asked why they were all looking at him.

"It's rude to finish your entire serving here, it shows that you can eat more. Leaving some is respectful as it shows that you 'couldn't even eat another bite'." For once, Marco was glad that he didn't eat all his food. That was surely not a good way to start the day.

The rest of the dining was uneventful, the appetizer was Pork Dumplings. The salad was a Beat Salad with Goat Cheese, a little bit lighter on the stomach that one was, with the entrée being ratatouille. Finally, we had the dessert. Marco found this one a lot easier to eat, seeing how it was assorted fresh fruits and cheeses.

The time now was 6:10PM, everyone had finished their dinner and Marco was turning slightly green on the outside. But he still held on and refused to let his body eject the foreign entities. The Queen and King began to ramble on about something with being so excited to have them here and hoping to find a dashing man to take their daughter's hand in marriage – honestly Marco wasn't paying much attention, instead he was surveying the room. Trying to take his mind off his exploding stomach, there was an open second floor, if you will, sort of like a balcony that ran along the entire room with railing to prevent falls.

To the left of the royal family, on the second level, he spotted a blonde-haired figure crouched down, gazing at the royals as they recited their well-rehearsed speech. "Who's that?" Marco mumbled. The figure noticed his pair of eyes staring at her, it quickly vanished behind a wall and made a slight squeak on the floorboards, to which the royals snapped to it and stared for a moment before River had a hearty laugh, claiming that it must've just been a mouse.

Ophelia came to the centre stage once her parents had finished, "Our servants will take you to your rooms now. We'll be convening again in 2 hours for a celebration, during which I'll get to know some of you." Once again, as if by cue the doors bellowed open and multiple servants moved in a coded-fashion. They all stopped to guide their individual Chosen to their place of slumber.

Marco's servant was a woman, brown hair tied up in a bun. A well fitted waistcoat, shirt and pants covered her up, she wore white gloves and had the kind of smile on her face that spoke a thousand words. The Diaz could tell by looking at her that she would be a quirky, chirpy character. Once out of the hall she immediately pounced on him with questions. "What's your story? How old are you? Speaking off, when's your birthday? Oooo – what was your impression of the princess?" All of which were spoken with such fluidity and speed, that it made Marco question the limits of human potential.

"Uh…" They were now walking next to one another at a lightning fast pace, Marco hadn't even noticed that he was walking abnormally quick – too caught up in her 21 questions. "I'm a working-class from East Klingon, I'm 16, November 16th, she was uh… strange."

"Haha! Yes, she is a little bit strange indeed, you and I seem to be the only ones that notice it though."

"Oh, you think she is too?" Marco asked, the servant nodded.

"I mean I'd never say it to her face of course. That wouldn't go well haha!" The servant never lost face, even when talking about her possible hanging. "Ah, here we are!" She unlocked the door and gave one key to Marco. The two walked in and she showed Marco to his bed. "This'll be your room for the time being, I like you kid – don't go getting kicked out on the first rejection day! I'll be your personal assistant too, so if you ever need anything, just ring that bell there." She mentioned as her hand pointed towards a bell laying to the left of his double bed. "Your luggage is there." The hand moved towards another door in the corner of the room, "The bathroom is just through that door. Anything else?"

He simply stared for a moment as he tried to process all that had just occurred. "Erm… What's your name?" He questioned with a smile.

"It's Emilia." The assistant replied. "Anything else?"

"No… That's it I think."

She nodded and made a swift exit to the room, once she had left he simply moved over to the bed and fell on it. Uh… I haven't been here for more than 4 hours and It's already mentally taxing… I don't think I can go another 13 days.

20 Minutes Later

It took Marco 20 minutes to get his thoughts together, once they were he decided that it'd be best to go look around the castle. I'm sure if I go anywhere restricted guards will tell me. He left his room and made a satisfying click with the keys in the lock.

The hallway was quite large, very generous in size indeed. It had a few large windows that were scattered along the corridor, with a few candles on each side to emit some light when it got dark. He started on his path, choosing to head right, after a few minutes of walking randomly he came to some stairs, knowing that this entire floor was dedicated to the Chosen's quarters, he went up a level. Deciding that he might stumble on something a bit more entertaining up there.

Once up, the corridor looked identical to the previous floor, the red in the carpet had been switched to a gold colour, a few pictures hung upon the walls. He didn't know the royal family entirely, but he assumed they were all previous ancestors, noticing that one included a picture of Ophelia.

He moved further down the hall, but as he began to approach one of the rooms he heard a *Thud* along with some shouting, Marco being the silver knight he is, dashed towards the room careful not to do anything which could compromise himself in the Choosing.

He was now only a few feet away from the door, that's when he heard. "—nothing! Why can't you just accept it? … Star… You are NOT meant to interfere with the guests while they stay here, you remember what happens when you break promises right?!"

Marco had identified the voice to be King River. He froze in place, Who's Star? Is he… abusing… No! It's King River he ca— "But dad I wasn't interfering I was ju— Argh! You're pulling my hair too hard!"

"Be quiet! You deserve punishment. Do you know how embarrassed we are of you? Well do you?! We've had to put up with you for 16 long, painful years. You're so like the Queen of Darkness that your very existence is blasphemous." Marco had his ear to the wall now, he could hear sobbing from the other side. The door handle began to open – there wasn't anywhere to run. The entire corridor was plain except for the rooms.

Luckily, the door opened so that it went inwards, towards where Marco was standing, even more lucky was that River kept his eye on Star until the door was fully covering Marco's body. "Clean yourself up girl, you're getting the floor wet." He left for the stairs that Marco came up from. As soon as he the door was about to fully close Marco grabbed it with his hand. Star was on the floor at this point, not looking towards the door, she could see it open out of the corner of her eye and a figure moving towards her. She flinched, ready to accept a beating.

But nothing came... That was when she looked up, red eyes, flushed cheeks, frazzled hair with some strands laying on the floor next to her. Marco was taken aback by the amount of guilt he felt when he saw her, he could've stopped this… He could've tried to intervene, but he just let it happen.

"Hi there." He started.

"H-hello?" The girl replied with wobbly lips.

What do I do? I've never dealt with this kind of thing…

…

"I'm sorry." He said apologetically.

"For - *cough* for what?"

"Letting that happen." He reluctantly stated, his own eyes almost about to explode with tears of sadness, it was infectious.

The two simply stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity, unsure as to what to do. "I think you'll feel better if you get on your bed." He suggested, not making eye contact.

"Yeah… Sure." She said with an indifferent tone and began to crawl towards her bed. Marco bent down and helped pick her up to her legs, she was shaking, it wasn't too far to the bed, so Marco supported most of her body mass.

"There you go." He said as he put her down on her bed, it had a blue overhead, pink cover and a fluffy pillow that he could spot a little wet patch on.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?"

"For doing that." Marco smiled at this, she was so kind. It made him question even more so how King River could do that to her.

"What's your name?" She asked, the eyes had dried a little more now, but her face was still flushed.

"Marco… Marco Diaz." He replied, now looking into her eyes. "What's your name?" Marco asked, concern evident in his tone.

"Star… Star Butterfly."

Marco took note of her last name, but decided not to pursue it any further for now."That's a beautiful name." Marco replied, he wanted to know this girl more. Something about her intrigued him and he couldn't look away. "You know…" Her face that was turned towards her blanket had now been drawn back to him, "I've still got an hour and 20 minutes before I have to go... Maybe I could stay and chat with you?"

Just like how his face had lit up when talking to Alfonzo for the first time, her face near enough set on fire just after hearing that he cares enough to spend time with her.

"Yes! I'd like that." Her wobbly lip had now disappeared, and she wore a gentle smile, the flushed cheeks were still there, they still held pain in their meaning. But they now held another meaning to its redness too.

Notes: I did say on the first chapter that I'd try to include some more realistic themes in here, abuse was something that might have been foreseeable but I wanted River to have a dark side too. Everyone in this might be two-faced, or they might be plain. Who knows? Question everyone because anyone can be evil.

With that said, I forgot to put it on before but my twitter is vKAtFanfic_Net I post updates of current chapters and it's a way to get in touch with me outside of

As before, review - constructive criticism, praise, either or is fine. Let's me know real people are reading and not just numbers on a graph :P Peace ~