Notes: Yeah... It's me... Back from the dead! Except, not really. Sorry I've been gone so long, I don't have an excuse. I got a lot of writer's block with this story, no ideas were coming to me and I wasn't sure where to take it. There's quite a lot of pressure when people are saying "I can't wait to see where this is going" and "I like where it's going" and I'm thinking 'This is more or less being made up chapter by chapter idfk what I'm doing! XD' So sorry. I do make some ideas, like the Town trip to get the confession as a plot point - but I didn't start this story knowing where I was going, cause that'd have been boring.

Also, more about this chapter - because I've been gone so long, I completely forgot everything about this story! D: I forgot why I added Kelly, or what the tuxedo was for, I forgot Matt's name! Or what day I was on, I had to re-read most of my story to figure out what I was doing :P

tl;dr - I forgot the story, I was making new stuff on the spot when writing this chapter, and I'm sorry for not posting.

Reviews!

Awakened One - Thanks for the compliment :)

paolotejadaj -Chapter, wasn't coming soon - sorry for the big disappoint. And thanks for the compliment, I'm not sure. I feel like I wanted this to be dark, gritty and had drama in it. But I ended up writing a mashup of that and heroism, I wasn't sure which way to go and I think I'm going to delve back into darkness for now, spiciness will hopefully continue!

Guest chapter 13. Apr 15 - I will!

Guess chapter 14. Apr 17 - I tried, and I'm back, for how long - Idk.

zeldex - Yeah mine too, the tests aren't too bad for me but maybe that's because we're doing different courses/levels of education. And I have to do a project for year 13 (Equivalent of Senior high school, I think.) I've been trying to make a game in C# (XNA) and I can't even get started! xD I'm really bad

SuicideGuy - I think River does suspect something, and Kelly's character is still up in the air for me. I'm considering it, but I don't know yet. And about Marco, I don't think he has the skill to win, a good suggestion though, I might end up doing it - depends how I feel :)

Nonyaarb - Thank you! I do try :D

"Um, hello… It's Kelly here… My friends call me Kell, but that doesn't mean anything to you, right… Yeah – er – this!" She presented herself, arms open to reveal a slightly grey and white tuxedo.

"Uh… Hey, what's all this?" Marco replied, slightly baffled at the green-haired girl's offering. Kelly had her eyes fully squeezed shut as she held out the clothing articles, as if she was terrified to make any eye-contact.

"It's your outfit for the ball – sir!" She quickly added on the 'sir' at the end, obviously new to this role. Her mannerisms were rather cute, she was currently fidgeting around very awkwardly.

"The ball?" The Diaz asked inquisitively.

"Yes sir, it's the mid-stay ball. You didn't hear? We hold 3 balls over the course of the Choosing, the first is at the start, the second is during the middle and the final one is towards the end."

"Oh I see…" Marco acknowledged, a moment later he saw that her arms were starting to shake from the weight of the clothing. "Oh let me get that, sorry." He quickly stated with a small chuckle.

"It's fine. My old man usually says I need to 'toughen up' anywhoo." The girl sheepishly rubbed her neck and looked down. The two stood idly for a minute before the green-ette decided to break the tension, "I should be going now. I have other stuff to do, bye!" Kelly chirped as she left the doorway and hurriedly moved down the halls. What a strange girl. Marco silently thought to himself before closing the door and laying the outfit down on a chair with a soft *pomf*. A ball, huh… This could work.

Castle – Entrance

Alfonzo and Matthew were headed up to fill Matt in about the current situation. Slight clanks of their feet echoed down the corridor, an annoying feature but also a useful one, it was about mid-day now so the sun was beaming through the windows, occasionally blinding Al who was stood on the left of Matt.

"So, did we decide to take on the royals?" Timmings whispered quietly, not wanting any wrong ear overhearing them. Alfonzo glanced around for a moment before responding, ensuring himself a pseudo-safe space.

"Yeah, this entire thing is crazy though. I mean, three hours ago I didn't even know you all made this little snowball, and now it's creating an avalanche!" Al whispered, his voice becoming slightly louder as it approached the ending. The companions approached the start of the staircase and began to climb, "God I hate stairs." The Dolittle complained, he had never been in the best physical condition due to his poverty, however, his arms had definitely bulked up thanks to working in the mines every day.

However, the same could not be said for Matthew – like a swan gracefully dancing on the water he powered up the stairs with ease. Matt was the kind of guy who went up 2 steps in one leap, meanwhile, Al's method included lightly hopping between following steps.

Upon reaching the final flight, the two brushed past Emilia who was making her way further down the castle, Em gave a weak smile with an 'ok sign' with her hand, she seemed somewhat distracted though. Alfonzo nodded in acceptance and smiled back, meanwhile Matthew was still lost as to why nobody would just speak to each other. This wasn't some fantasy-novel where the walls have ears. Regardless, the two proceeded to Marco's room.

20 Minutes Earlier – Diaz Room

Emilia was conversing with Marco about the itinerary she had learned, or more accurately, dragged out. "So, it's looking like archery later?" The teen asked, eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

"Yes, God knows how many things could go wrong with that…" The servant remarked solemnly as she similarly stared off into the abyss, thinking about all the possibilities that laid before them.

"I've never shot an arrow in my life…" Marco added, neither one enthusiastic about today's plans. The adolescent strolled over to the side of his bed before collapsing himself on it, with it releasing a massive sigh. Whereas, Emilia walked over to one of the dressers and leaned on it for support, none of the candles were currently lit, so the only light source was the massive window that allowed the sun's rays to strike the wooden floor. The two remained in silence for a long time, Star was relaxing in the tub, she returned back from her adventure about 10 minutes ago and instantly moved towards the bath, in hopes to wipe away her hangover, it was her who eventually came to break them out of their wall-of-depression.

"What's up with you guys?" The princess asked while she scanned around the room, a towel was tucked in around her chest and ended just above her knees. Her slightly darkened golden hair was clustered up and fell behind her back. Marco was laying face-first into his pillow, thus, unaware of Star's immediate attire. Emilia took note of the scars that embedded themselves deep into the Butterfly's arms, her eyes dropping down to the floor as a sense of despair briefly washed over her: Which only reinforced her thoughts of bringing down the king.

"The world hates us…" The male retorted, voice half blurred by the smothering pillow. The servant thought it'd be best to let the two talk out in privacy for now, she bid farewell and strode towards the exit – hands in pockets.

The Butterfly waddled over to his bed, legs constricted by the tight towel encompassing her frame. She plopped herself down to Marco's left, and looked at his ruffled hair, slightly admiring the view for a moment before her cheeks started to go rosy and she shied away. That was when Marco rotated his head to look at her petite body, he noted that there was still a small red-stained patch from when Ophelia tried to drown her… "Shouldn't you be getting dried off?"

Her head was still turned away from Marco – slightly wetting the pillow she laid on. "Oh? You want me to get dried right here? In full view of you? Perv." Her voice reminded him of a more comedic Ophelia, nonetheless it had enough 'Phe in it to make him blush vigorously and started to fidget around a little.

"N-no, I mean- what I meant was that you should go… in the bathroom – and dry there – dry in the bathroom not here." A wicked smile spread across Star's face before she turned to face the tomato-faced boy who was bashfully looking at anything that wasn't her. Star might've still had a little alcohol left in her system, or maybe this was her just being truthful with what she felt. Who was to tell?

"If you want, I could—" She brought her right arms up to the small knot that held together he towel "open it up… Just a little." She added on at the end, her hand starting to pull gently on it. Marco couldn't find words to say, he audibly gulped at the idea. Despite the sun not beaming onto the Diaz, he felt as if he were cooking alive.

That was when a couple *knocks* were heard on the door, dragging Marco to reality and breaking Star back into her regular self. The Butterfly now joined in with Marco's blushing parade and quickly removed herself from the bed, rushing over to the bathroom and snapping the door shut. The other teen straightened himself out and said "come in..." with a weak, crackling voice.

"Hey Marco." The friends greeted, Al said that he had some others things to do with clothing or something, he left Marco and Matt.

"Marco what was it you wanted to talk about?" Matt asked inquisitively, moving over to a chair to sit down.

"The plan… Right… We're still gathering information, but it looks like the ball is when we'll make our move..."

"Okay, great. What am I doing?"

I'm sorry Matt, "You, my friend, need to distract Ophelia tomorrow, again… Sorry for springing this on you." Marco sheepishly rubbed his neck and looked away from Matt.

Timmings replied casually, "Oh? That it? Yeah I can do that no problem."

"Really? You don't have any objections?" A hint of relief laced the Diaz's voice, he had thought that Matthew would put up a lot more objection when having to go another day/night alone with 'Phe.

"No, I'm fine with that plan. However, I must ask, how exactly do I distract her for so long?" He had leaned back in the chair now and was looking up at Marco with an eyebrow raised.

"About that, I don't know. You're gonna have to figure that one out on your own." A prolonged sigh escaped Matthew's mouth as he shuddered at what he might have to do.

"Well… I'll get to work on that then, we should probably go down for lunch now." Matt added, realising the time was about midday now.

"Yeah, give me a minute to get ready. I'll catch up soon."

"Don't take too long!" Matt shouted back as he strolled for the door, it opened and closed in a fluid motion. That was when a little Star reared her head out of the bathroom door, she had successfully dried herself off but didn't have any clothes to wear.

"Umm, Marco could you, pass me those clothes over there?" She asked, pointing to a splatter of clothing that lied on the floor.

"Yeah, sure – no problem." They both felt kinda awkward about what happened prior to Matt and Al's intrusion. After delivering the scrumpled up cloth he resigned himself to lunch and left Star to get dressed on her own.

Dining Room

When Marco arrived, most of the Chosen were grabbing food from the banquet on the central table. The royals were not present for lunch today, most likely too important for it. It was kind of like a buffet, you take what you want and put it on your plate, then move to sit down and eat somewhere. Friend groups had already started to form between some of the Chosen – how much of it was real or fake: Marco didn't know. As he was standing in the doorway, just about to enter the massive wooden cage, a small tap on the shoulder had him turn around. "Hey~~ Marcooo~~" Oh f*** me.

"What do you want Ophelia?" He responded coldly, refusing to turn around and meet her face.

"You're becoming quite careless with your actions you know, don't get me wrong – I love~ a confident man, but it seems you're getting a little ahead of yourself." She was snaking herself to both sides of the teen, leaning into his ears to whisper threats.

"I don't know what you mean." Marco chirpily stated. A slight giggle escaped Ophelia from his retort.

"Funny… But just so you know, I've been playing a very coy game. Letting you get your wins, letting things 'slip' by without being noticed… That's over now, there's nothing I love more than tearing down a peasant's hope."

"Huh, that supposed to be a threat?" He met her eyes now, over his left shoulder.

"No." She replied, "Not a threat: It's a promise Diaz, a promise that I will end you so completely you won't know which way is up." Her voice used to hold poison. A venom so toxic it'd freeze you in place, now that was gone; all that remained was a smug, sinister malevolence. "Chill out Marco, I won't be so direct as to start my war now… Just so you know, I think you should have a drink."

"Yeah, getting drunk would solve all my problems." A hardened look formed on the Diaz's face.

Ophelia took a sharp breath in and out before continuing, she started with a light chuckle and then "Oh no, but I think it'd solve one of your problems. See ya." She left abruptly, walking away with clanks of contact between her shoe and the ground. What the hell did she mean by that?

He moved on, still processing the riddling message she left him. He was then waved over by his crew to sit down and eat, dismissing the immediate warning that Ophelia gave him – Marco began to feast.

10 Minutes Later

'Phelia made her way down to the cellar, she opened the doorway with a hefty *thunk* and proceeded. "Hey~ my lil sis."

"Piss off bitch, shouldn't you be busy screwing some noble?" Princess Star was fixed to the wall by a heavy steel chain. Just enough length to sit down but not much else, metallic, slightly brown cuffs were wrapped around the Butterfly's wrists, already slightly sore from rubbing.

"Calm down. I just need you out of the way for a little bit. Of course, if Marco doesn't find you – well… You'll be out of the way forever but let's not think about that." She ended with a giggle.

"You're insane."

"Well that's your opinion Butterfly, just so you know – the time you spend here won't be nice… I have some friends coming in to, well… You'll find out." She ended with a wink before heading up the stairs, Star began to panic at what she meant. Once Ophelia was out, Star began to pull on the chains with all her might – smacking them into the wall, kicking off from the wall, trying to jump and pull on them – this only made her wrists hurt.

"Marco, please."

End notes: Yeah. Short, 2.2k words I think. But anyway, I hope you all had a good read, it took me a few days to write this chapter - usually I do it in 1 or 2 sittings. So I'm still not 100% sure what to do or where to go but I'm getting there!

Review! Suggestions or anything are welcome, just for this chapter I'll allow flat-out criticism because I've been a bad writer :P Anywhoo, I hope you all have a good day, week and year :)

See ya,
vK~