Slight changes were made to the two previous chapters, specifically chapter one. References to what was changed will be written in this chapter. It is suggested that the changes are read in order to for this to make more sense. Thank you~!
"Mooooooooom!"
The woman whipped around barely catching Celina as the eight-year-old barreled into her, tears threatening to spill.
"Mom, mom! Aini and Iri are ganging up on me!"
"Iri?" the woman questioned in surprise. Sure, the little boy had his moments, but he was usually well behaved.
"You think Iri's a good kid? Ha! Let me tell you, once boys hit about three or four, the cuteness is gone and we get hyper-active energy kicked-up monsters of destruction. But that, V, is why I love my little Citrine."
The comment made almost embarrassingly loud by a slightly drunk Topaz at a small bachelorette party for Opal came to the front of her mind. She had prayed that it was simply a normally blunt and confident woman turned even more blunt and extremely loud due to her low tolerance for alcohol.
Iri and Aini suddenly burst into the room, plastic katana's in hand and scarves loosely tied around their lower faces. Celina whimpered, scurrying behind her legs. V sighed, shaking her head.
"Aini. Iri." she said, bending down. "What did I say about running around with these things in the house?"
"We're not running!" Aini defended.
"Jogging." Iri stated with a nod.
"It's mean to team up on your older sister."
"She said she wanted a romance princess story!" Aini stated.
"Blech!" Iri said, pulling his scarf down and sticking his tongue out with his eyes screwed shut. "I wanna adventure!" Iri exclaimed with a hopeful gleam in his eye.. "With ninja's and pirates!"
"We aren't even done with the first story yet." V smiled, ruffling his hair.
"Then start again!" Iri ordered with a grin. "I want my ninja's an' pirates!" he then bolted off to get the storybook. V turned to Aini.
"Aini, don't turn your brother against your sister."
Aini gave V a raspberry, to which she laughed as Iri hurried back into the room with the story book.
o.0.o.0.o
The Monster and the Thief, Part Three
Blue was... entertaining.
That was really the only kind word Green could think to say about the girl. She talked endlessly, conned uncontrollably, and was constantly being an overall nuisance. She had since forgiven him for what had happened when she first appeared there, and whenever he came down for dinner- a tradition his sister so honored, eating as around the table as a family- she would simply talk and act as if nothing was wrong.
Red had informed him that he and Yellow told Blue of the curse, how it stopped time and how he was a beast and how they had been stuck this way for ninety-nine years. She knew that, behind the mask of beasts, they were humans. From what he noticed, she seemed to not act so confused and freaked out by the fact that his servants were talking pokémon, and even though she looked at him oddly, she didn't outright scream and run when she laid eyes on him.
Which he took as a good sign.
"Love starts as acceptance of another person's flaws." he recalled his sister saying fondly. "Once you get through that hoop, the rest is history, Green."
He stared thoughtfully over the balcony, realizing how nice it was to actually have someone who didn't seem terrified at first glance. Even when she first met him, and with him at his worst, she still was foolish enough or brave enough-he had yet to figure out which- to not only slash him with a dagger, but also punch him twice and poke him in the eyes.
"Show me Blue." he said to the magic mirror, watching as she suddenly appeared talking to White about dresses or something. Like White was a an actual person, and not a pokémon.
"Maybe," he thought as a smirk slowly formed on his lips. "She's entertaining in a good way."
o.0.o.0.o
Blue had to admit that the castle was a pretty cool place. She explored countless corridors and halls, and true to Masque's word, this place did have bucketfuls of gold and jewels. Gold and jewels that she, even thought they were pretty much useless due to her being stuck here with no way to leave, couldn't help but picking through and choosing gems and trinkets she took a certain liking too.
It sort of became some sort of game for her. Find one thing each day, and see if she could find something else that would top what she found the day previous. It served as a decent enough distraction.
During her little 'journeys', she ended up meeting countless characters outside of those she met her first day. She became more acquainted with White the snivy, who took the time to introduce her to the others. She met a Tepig named Black, a young man hired to be a servant, though was extremely loud. Ironically enough, he was in charge of keeping the library organized. It seemed as if he had read every book in the library. Lastly was Emerald, a rather young boy-maybe fourteen or so- turned to a Treeko and the gardener of the castle grounds. He didn't have much to do now, what with it being winter, but he spent most of his time helping out Black in the library.
She also met the head chef, Diamond, Dia for short, and the su-chef, Pearl. A munchlax and a chatot respectively, they were about as different as night and day, the former rather quiet and laid back while the former was, in two words, high strung. They were comedians, and even though they wanted to perform for her when she first met them, they said they had to prepare the meal for that night, but they swore they would perform for her as soon as they ran into each other. A promise they kept up, as whenever she bumped into them, off duty, they performed at least two or three different versions of their skit.
And that left the final servant of the castle. Topaz, the castles welder. At first, she was surprised when she saw a Meloetta walking around with a huge sledgehammer, but brushed it off as a servant cleaning. She was even more surprised, however, when she discovered that same Meloetta sitting in a welders room, welding a sword.
"*bleep*ing things wouldn't be suitable for a *bleeped*ed circus act let alone a *bleep*ing prince."
And that was the first sentence that Blue ever heard out of the female pokémon's mouth. This was quickly followed by a fiery glare and a point of a stubby little black hand.
"What the *bleep* do you think yer looking at? Never saw a girl welding before?"
And with that, Blue abruptly left. Oddly enough, Topaz reminded her of Silver. It wasn't just their profession, but the way they criticized every piece of work they did, how they strived for something better, to be the best they could be, how they enjoyed isolation from other people, and knew how to effectively dismiss people they don't want around. It was especially their glares. While Topaz's was fiery and passionate, ready to smolder someone if they dared take another step, Silver's was colder than Kyreum, effectively freezing someone in their place before they got the message and took the hills running. Though utterly different, they were so similar it... almost hurt.
She hardly saw hide nor hair of Green, as he was always locking himself in that West Wing. The only time that he ever made his presence known was by appearing at dinner, eating without hardly saying a word, then moving on with his life. Honestly, she wanted to know what was so damned important about the West Wing that she couldn't visit it. But whenever she asked about it, the servants always either quickly changed the subject or they suddenly came up with a 'very important task' that needed to be attended to.
It was annoying.
On top of that, Red was guarding her door at night. Yes, a small little pikachu wielding a butcher knife of a sword, was guarding her door when she fell asleep. At first, she found it adorable, maybe even admirable. But adorable quickly turned to annoying when she woke up one night just to go to the kitchen for some water, and he insisted that he escorted her to and from her room. Seriously, if it wasn't for the recently formed friendship with Yellow, she would have punted the human turned yellow rat across the hall. What, did he think she was planning on sneaking out to go to the West Wing?
Well, that was exactly what she planned on doing. But Red didn't need to know that.
"Yellow~." she sang out, practically pouncing on the little pikachu. Yellow blinked, pausing at organizing the herbs in the kitchen to look at her.
"What?"
"Well, I've noticed that Red has been working so hard lately, and I'm kind of worried."
If a pikachu could pale, Blue was pretty sure that Yellow did. She averted her gaze, staring at the herbs in her hand.
"Oh." she barely murmured. "What's wrong?"
"He's been guarding my door at night. I think he's staying up all night to do so, and working all day too." she sighed, clicking her tongue in worry. "So I was thinking we find a way to keep him from working tonight."
"B-But if Master Green ordered it-"
"If 'Master Green'," she said mockingly. "Is ordering Red to work himself to the bone, then there's going to be a serious problem."
Yellow seemed to muse over the subject, worryingly biting her bottom lip. Slowly, she turned to look up at her.
"What should I do?"
o.0.o.0.o
"Come on, where is it?"
Red dug feverishly through the cold storage, trying to find his most favorite condiment for his bread. It was the oddest thing, really. Every since turning into a Pikachu ninety some odd years ago, he had the oddest, strangest craving for one single condiment: ketchup.
Don't get him wrong, before he even became a pokémon, he very much did enjoy ketchup. There was literally an entire shelf in the cold storage meant simply for ketchup. But now he wanted so much that he could simply drink it straight and would go on with his day. Most of the time, though, he simply squirted it onto a slice of bread and smacked another slice on top of it. A ketchup sandwich. Green and some of his other friends thought it was disgusting, but he honestly didn't care.
Besides, it was time for a quick snack before he went to guard Blue's door tonight.
"Got it!" he cried out victoriously, holding up the clear bottle, the red liquid clearly visible through the glass. Grinning, he shut the door to the cold storage and happily scurried up the kitchen shelves with the condiment tucked into his belt, and carefully set it down. Now for the bread...
He scurried back down the shelves and delved into the pantry. Bread, bread, bread...
Suddenly, the door slammed shut. He whipped around, staring at the door in surprise.
Then he heard a click.
"Hey, I'm in here, you know!" he yelled, running over.
"I'm sorry, Red!"
"...Yellow?" Honestly? He expected it to be one of Gold's pranks or something.
"You're working to hard! I don't care what the Master says, you're taking a break tonight, even if you have to sleep in the pantry!"
"Yellow, did someone put you up to this?"
"Nope!" she said to quickly.
"You're lying." he responded, sweatdropping. "Open the door."
"No!"
"Yellow...!"
"No! It's for your own good and I'll get you in the morning! Good night, Red!"
o.0.o.0.o
"To easy." grinned Blue as she listened to the small argument between the engaged couple from the hallway. "Well, that's one problem out of the way." she turned on her heel, a new pep in her step as she made her way to the West Wing, but she realized another glaring problem.
She had no idea where the West Wing was.
She stood thoughtfully in the middle of a random hallway for a moment, trying to formulate a new plan. Honestly, she didn't want to get caught wandering around looking for the mysterious West Wing. She was here for three weeks, that was long enough for her to know where the bathrooms and the kitchen was, so she couldn't use the "Oh I had to go powder my nose but I got lost" and the "Oh, I just wanted a midnight snack but I couldn't find the kitchen." excuses.
She stood thoughtfully for a few moments, when...
"Miss Blue?" she blinked as she saw Diamond coming down the hallway, Pearl reprimanding him on his huge appetite the whole way. "You here for a late night snack too?"
"Nope." Blue shook her head, a plan suddenly forming. "I was curious, guilty as charged. I've never been in an enchanted castle before."
"Enchanted?!" Pearl snapped his head to her. "Who said this place was enchanted?! This isn't an enchanted! We're not enchanted! We're just..." he faltered, much to Blue's amusement. "Smarter than the average pokémon."
"Newsflash, you two." Blue said, placing a hand on her hip with a smile. "Red and Yellow already explained the entire 'fairy curses the entire house and time remains frozen on castle grounds' thing."
"Did they tell you how beautiful she was?" Dia asked with a dreamy look in his eyes. Pearl sighed.
"Damned fool's been smitten with the fairy since the day he saw her." he explained with a roll of the eyes.
"Well if you saw her, you'd understand." Dia defended with a bright smile. Blue chuckled.
"Anyways, I'm trying to find my way around the castle better." she lied with a bright smile.
"Would you like a tour?" Dia offered sweetly.
"A tour? Diamond," Pearl hissed. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. We can't go," he lowered his voice to muttering. "Poking around in certain places if you get what I'm saying."
"Maybe you could take me." Blue said, resting her elbow in her hand and her cheek on her fist as she fluttered her eyelashes at Pearl. If she ignored the fact that Pearl was a chatot and reminded herself repeatedly in her head that he was, truly, a human, it made it easier for her to flirt her way into getting what she wants. "I'm sure you know everything there is to know about the castle."
For good measure, she winked.
"Actually," Pearl grinned haughtily. "I do know quite a bit about this place."
o.0.o.0.o
Blue listened absentmindedly to Pearl as he rambled on about the castle and directions on how to get here and there and there and here. Inwardly, she was smirking. Pearl was almost the complete opposite of his best friend. While Diamond was laid back and kind to all, despite impressions, Pearl was quick-tempered and impatient, not to mention haughty.
And that haughtiness is what Blue used against him. She knew exactly how to deal with arrogant people, especially men. All she had to do was stroke their ego and viola, putty in her hands.
"You're not really lost or wanting to learn about the castle, are you?"
Blue snapped her gaze down to Diamond, who was munching thoughtfully on some random loaf of bread he picked up from who knows where. Pearl hardly paid them any mind to the small talk as he was to set on completing the tour. Blue opened her mouth to retort, but wasn't exactly sure how. She always thought that Diamond was but a simple-minded, well... idiot. Kind at heart but seemingly only focused on food and uncaring of what was thrown his way. He just munched on some candy and continued through his day. She never dubbed him as the type to actually pay attention to what was going on around him, but oddly enough, she realized it almost suited him. He was the person who studied the emotions of others and acted based on them. The person who, perhaps not even known to others, kept everyone's emotions under control and in check.
"A lady's got to stretch her legs. She can't stay holed up in her room all night." Blue responded with a smile. Diamond stared at her, chewing his food even slower than before, an obvious sign that he was contemplating and absorbing her words.
"Whatever you say, Miss Blue." he finally said with a shrug. Blue returned her half-hearted attention to Pearls speech.
Suddenly, she heard a soft sobbing.
It was hardly there, just small sounds. At first, she thought it was Yellow because she got a scolding from Green for locking Red in a bread cabinet, but she realized that the sobs were coming from a woman maybe a few years older. She looked around, trying to determine where there was a crying female.
"My... brother..."
A shiver shot down her spine as the disembodied voice cried out.
"Er..."
"Please..."
"Pearl, this place wouldn't happen to be haunted, would it?" Blue asked, forcing a smile on her face.
"That's ridiculous." Pearl said with a shake of his head.
"... My brother..."
"Can they not hear it?" Blue wondered, glancing at her guides. Pearl was caught up in explaining something and Diamond was to busy. While they were distracted, she decided to follow the voice. Slowly, she wandered up the staircase, but only made it three steps when her two guides rushed in front of her.
"What's up there?" she asked, cocking her head curiously.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Pearl said quickly.
"Yep, nothing cool up in the West Wing." Diamond added in. Pearl glared at him, but Blue smiled slyly. Mission accomplished.
"So that's the West Wing." she said offhandedly.
"... Please..."
"I wonder what he's hiding up there."
"Hiding?" Diamond said shakily. "Master Green is hiding nothing!"
Blue smiled slyly.
"Then it wouldn't be forbidden." she said, climbing a few more steps. They bolted up and stopped her again.
"Maybe you would like to see something else?!" Diamond asked, almost desperately. "There's this poffin recipe I know that's to die for."
"Maybe later." she mused.
"M-Maybe you could see the gardens, or the library!" Pearl exclaimed.
"It's winter, and I'm not much of reader."
"Or the royal vault!" Diamond blurted out. Blue stopped at that. Vault? She's seen precious gems just lying about in random piles like discarded trash. What on earth could be more valuable that it's locked in a vault?
"You have a vault?" Blue asked, cocking her head. Pearl let out a relieved chuckle.
"Yes, a royal vault, filled to the brim with jewels, one worth more than an entire city!" Diamond exclaimed.
"Speaking of pokémon!" Pearl exclaimed, suddenly beginning their comedy routine as they walked down the stairs.
"Speaking of pokémon!" Diamond echoed.
"Did you know Prince Green has a vault?"
"A vault, you say?"
"Yeah, the gems in there are worth more than an entire city!"
"Really?! How haven't they cracked the floors yet?"
"What?"
"The gems weigh more than an entire city, right?"
She faintly heard Pearl deliver a smack to Dia as she headed up the stairs to the forbidden West Wing. These people were almost to easy to trick!
Her inward snickering stopped as she rounded the corner. Even though the castle was overall depressing, this place was just scary. Statues were smashed, paintings torn, a mirror shattered into a thousand shards. As she continued further down the hallway, the damage seemed to get worse and worse.
At the end was an overwhelmingly large doorway with large golden handles. She ran her hand along the doorknob. Was this real gold?! She greedily wondered what could be laying on the other side. Gems the size of her head? Golden floors? Glass replaced by diamonds?!
"... Help him..."
Blue paused her thoughts of riches at the voice.
"A woman?" she wondered as she pushed open the heavy doors.
Through the dim lighting, she saw that there was no precious jewels. The tile was normal tile, and the glass, as far as she could tell, was simply shattered glass. At this, she pouted, but continued to look about. Curtains were torn and random objects were shattered. Holes were present in the walls, and pictures and portraits were shredded, as if someone brought in an axe into the room and just decided to go to town.
One portrait, however, seemed to have been painted on cloth, and looked to have four ominous claws slashing down diagonally to the portrait. Judging from what she could tell, it was two people. Two important people, since it was painted on cloth rather than paper, so it would last longer. Two important people that someone didn't want anyone to see.
"Well, if I did this..." she said absentmindedly, reaching out to one of the shreds, dangling down from the claw marks. Honestly, if she just picked the two cutting straight through the middle up and placed them where they were meant to be, she'd be able to maybe get a complete picture.
And she did.
There was a young man and a young woman, both were human, the former around her age and the latter a little older, maybe her early twenties. Both had brown hair a shade lighter than hers, the male spiked up and the female with straight, long hair. The female had blue eyes and had a bright smile, while the male had an almost familiar stoic, serious look and piercing green eyes.
Blue furrowed her brow.
"Who...?"
"... Save him..."
She turned her gaze as something sparkling caught her attention. There, just inside the room, glowing in the moonlight that flooded in from the balcony, was a silver table. Atop the table was a glowing, floating daisy, surrounded in small, magical orbs, covered with a glass case. She hardly paid any mind to mirror. Instead, she paused thoughtfully in front of the daisy, the smiled. A magical daisy! This thing might be worth more than those precious gems Masque brought home.
Carefully, she removed the glass case and set it on the floor, eyes never moving from enchanted flower, and slowly rose back up. Slowly, she reached out to grip the stem of the flower. Just as her fingers were brushing the stem, a shadow suddenly blocked the moonlight.
Slowly, she looked up and let out a terrified gasp as Green flew over her, wings flapping to keep him in place almost two feet off the ground. He glared at her, eyes filled with fiery rage as he charged, scooping up the glass case and putting it back over the daisy. Blue stumbled back, watching as he protectively curled around the daisy, muttering something. What was so important about the daisy that he was so protective of it?
Sure that it was safe, Green slowly turned to her, glare never leaving his face.
"Why did you come here?" he demanded, turning fully to face her, using his body as a shield for the flower, as if afraid she would suddenly break out a hammer and start beating the poor thing with it.
Blue's mind was going a mile a minute, trying to think up an excuse for being here that he may believe.
"I..." she floundered a moment. "Got, um, lost?"
"I warned you..." he growled, stepping forward, forcing her to take a step back. "Never to come here!" he snatched her wrist, gripping it so tightly she was sure he would break it. "Do you realize what you could have done?!"
"But I didn't do anything!" she responded, flinching as she felt his hand suddenly heat up, practically on fire.
"Get out!" he roared, shoving her back. She stumbled, grabbing at a shelf to steady herself. Green whipped around, smashing something that was in his path. Blue ducked as a table went flying her way, nearly hitting her. "Get out!"
Blue looked at him and nearly froze. The last time he tried to hurt her, he was simply pissed off. She could understand, though, she hated getting conned out of a deal as well. She knew that he was once human, that all of them were human, and rage was just a part of life. But this time, he was beyond anger. The human part that she saw whenever she managed to catch a glance at him was gone
He truly looked like a monster.
She bolted down the stairs and ran.
"Miss Blue!" she heard White exclaim in surprise, the wood in both her's in Black's vines and tail respectively, as if heading to her room to put more wood on the fire.
"What are you doing?" Black asked as she yanked open her closet and pulled on her belts and her cloak then grabbing a random satchel and began shoving some more of her items into it.
She didn't have enough room for all her items, but she honestly didn't care. She had her important things. She had the gems and Silver's dagger and some spare clothes. She'll be fine. She'll hunt for food. She'll think of something.
"I'm leaving." she said curtly to the two pokémon. "Tell everyone I'm sorry, I just can't do this anymore."
She had no idea why she felt the need to apologize, maybe she had formed some sort of friendship with the humans-turned-pokémon. She bolted past them and down some more stairs, nearly plowing down Crystal, who was reprimanding Pearl and Dia on shirking their nightly duties.
"Hey!" she heard Gold exclaim as she muttered an apology to Crystal.
"Where are you going?!" exclaimed Diamond, actual panic seeming to form behind his eyes.
"Deal or no deal, I can't stay here another minute." she said, turning to them for a brief moment before wrenching open the front door, the blizzard blowing in.
"Now please wait a moment...!" Crystal practically begged. "Please! Please wait..." she called out fruitlessly as the door slammed shut.
o.0.o.0.o
Green panted slightly as his anger began to ease away, watching as Blue retreated in a panic. Slowly, he turned his gaze as he heard a few doors slam, then a large one. Slowly, he stepped outside onto his balcony, and watched as Blue's tiny form bolted to the gates, wrenching them open and running.
Shamefully, he covered his eyes with his hand. He was a monster. He scared her off. The horror, the pain, the absolute fear that was on her face... He burned her, no doubt. It's just... Daisy was so delicate as a flower. What if she had knocked a petal loose? What if she sped along the process? The petals had yet to fall, but he knew they were winding down to the final year of the curse. Exactly one year from now, if he didn't get someone to fall in love with him as he is, he'd be stuck as a beast, his servants, pokémon, and Daisy would die.
"I'm sorry, Daisy." he sighed, turning back to his enchanted sister. "I've failed you. I'm so sorry."
"Master Green!" someone was knocking frantically on his door. Well, rather, it was pecking, as Sapphire didn't have hands, but she knew not to enter his room. "Master Green!"
"Miss Blue has left!" Ruby this time.
"I'm aware." he responded.
"Master Green, it's dangerous this time of year, you know that!" he heard Emerald shout. "It's a blizzard out there and mightyena are running rampant in the woods! She won't make it through the night!"
"It's my fault she's gone." Green responded.
"But Master-!"
"She was about to touch Daisy and I lost my temper!" Green roared, wrenching his door open. "I became the monster I am and I scared her off!"
"Then go help her!" Sapphire hollered. "Win her back! She's gonna die out there, for Arceus's sake!"
"Girls like a hero, right?" Emerald suggested desperately.
"I can handle wooing the girl without the advice of a fourteen-year-old boy." Green growled out, resisting the urge to punt the human-turned-treeko across the room. He needed to learn to control his temper.
"Please, Master Green." Ruby begged. "If not for you or us or Blue, at least do it for Lady Daisy."
Emerald and Sapphire looked at him in horror. There was literally only five rules in this house when it came to Green. Don't enter his room, don't allow anyone in the West Wing, keep up with their chores and duties, always address him with respect, and never, ever, ever mention what happened to his elder sister, Daisy. Hell, they were afraid to even to say her name. The only one who could break two of these rules was Red, his most loyal and longest serving man, who had the right to address him without the 'Master', 'Sir', or 'Prince', and he could enter Green's room. But even he was uneasy about mentioning Daisy.
Ruby just signed his own death warrant.
Green narrowed his eyes at the mightyena, and Ruby kept his gaze steady. Bringing up the forbidden subject was a surprisingly ballsy move on his part. A small sizzling noise cut through the silence, causing Sapphire and Emerald to flick their gaze to Green's hands. Smoke was fizzling up from under his palms. He was mad, so mad that his hands were literally burning the wood.
Then he closed his eyes and slammed the door shut. A few moments later, they heard the faint flap of wings.
They made their way back to the front foyer, where the news has already spread to the other servants. Yellow came running from the kitchen with Red. Everyone had gathered, muttering nervously and fearfully, hoping their only chance wasn't lost.
"Hey." they turned at the open door and saw Topaz walking in, signature sledgehammer in hand, dragging in snow behind her. "Any one of you *bleep*ing maggots want to tell me why the *bleep* Master Green went flying off the *bleep*ed grounds?"
Everyone turned their gaze to Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald, the three who decided to go and talk to her while the others spread the message throughout the castle. Sapphire and Emerald had their gaze fixed on Ruby, who seemed to have a smug and confident look on his face.
"Master Green's going to save Blue."
o.0.o.0.o
Blue was running on foot, determined to get back before the Mightyena sniffed her out. She had recalled Ruby's warning after about three minutes of running as fast as she could through the snow and paused for a moment of thought.
There was no way she was turning back.
The snow had piled up to her knees and she was literally treading through it. clutching the cloak tightly for warmth. She heard once that water will throw dog-pokémon off of someone's scent. Would the same apply to Mightyena, with melted snow?
She heard a howl in the distance.
"Arceus, please don't come after me." she muttered as she clutched her hood around her cheeks and trudged faster. This continued for a moment, and then she heard an even more terrifying sound.
A screech of a bird, no, multiple birds.
Suddenly, over the howling winds of the blizzard, the flap of wings pounded in her ears with her heartbeat, and a flock of staraptor appeared.
She froze as she stared at the flock. Weren't birds supposed to migrate for the winter? Why were they here? Did they miss the migration? Or could they survive through the winter? If they couldn't... did that mean they would be hungry and searching for food.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream and turned, bolting in some random direction. She didn't care where she went. She didn't care if she ended up back in the castle with Green. Anything, anything, was better than being stuck with those monsters...!
More screeched and squawks, and Blue didn't need to be told that they were in pursuit of their latest meal.
"No, no, no, no, NOOO!" she shrieked as she felt something swoop over her head. Seeing that the snow was considerably less piled where she was standing- for whatever reason, she honestly didn't care at the point- and she continued running down it, feet pounding across the ground.
Then she heard a distinct cracking sound.
Quickly deducing that she was on a river or lake or something, she prayed that it was simply the water shifting underneath as she continued running. She had to get off this lake or river or whatever it was in order to not die. The cracking sound continued, birds screeching overhead.
Then she felt nothing but cold.
Now, Blue realized, if a person had adrenaline and fear pumping so fast through their veins so fast they were afraid their heart would burst, she could suggest going out into the dead of night in the middle of winter, find a lake or stream or river or creek or whatever, jump up and down a bit, and allow themselves to fall into a river. That is how one would chill.
Her heart immediately stopped as she fell into the icy water. She prayed that it was going to be easy to climb out of, but she realized, rather than hitting the bottom, she kept sinking, immediately confirming that this was probably a deep drop off of a river or something. And it was cold.
She floundered for a moment, kicking against her skirts weighing her down. Realizing the fruitless fight against the cloth, she scrambled around her waist for a moment, trying to find the buckle to release the skirt before realizing something; this was not the dress she go from Masque, but rather, a dress that Ruby had designed and had White sew for her. Which means no belt to make things easier for her.
Blue flailed her arms around a bit, making little to no progress. Out of no where something was underneath her, pushing her up. Through blurry vision, she managed to make out the light brown back of a pokémon, silver cannons, and a blue head.
She was suddenly flopped onto the ice, then scrambled to the deeper snow, indicating the bank. She fell into it like it was a featherbed, breathing deeply and quickly, uncaring of how the icy cold hair only made her throat and lungs burn more.
Then the screeching came back.
She kind of just curled into a pathetic whimpering ball at that point, covering her ears and wishing for the screeching to simply stop. Suddenly, something landed next to her. She looked up and saw a jigglypuff using Tri-Attack. From the gaping hole where she fell through, the pokémon that saved her-a blastoise- was blasting water into the air, trying to drive the birds off.
No matter what, though, the birds kept coming back, as if completely undeterred by the two pokémon attacking them.
Blue suddenly shrieked as she felt talons dig through her clothes and into the skin on her back. Scrambling and floundering in fear, she wailed as it tugged at her cloak. She didn't wanna be bird food...!
Then, an inhumane roar ripped through the flapping of wings and sounds of battle. Blue dared to crack open her eyes, and saw Green grabbing the bird around it's neck, roaring in it's face with dragon-like fangs on full display, then throwing it across the river she had just dragged herself out of with the help of the blastoise, making it and it's flock know that he was a threat.
She watched as he cast a glance at the blastoise came to her, but quickly ignored it as the staraptor's regrouped and got ready for another attack. Ferociously flapping his own wings, he bolted into the air, slashing at the birds overhead. Another roar, and a fireball flew from his hands. The staraptor glanced at each other, then dived in for an attack, ignoring Blue, the jigglypuff, and the blastoise, deciding to go for the bigger, larger threat.
Blue scurried back as the birds seemingly enveloped his form. She barely saw the flickering orange of the fire on his tail. Suddenly, there was another loud roar, and what Blue could only describe as an explosion. Some of the staraptor went flying back but regained their balance, but others fell to the ground, unconscious or dead, Blue could't tell.
Glancing at their fallen comrades, then back to Green, the birds seemed to make a unanimous decision and fled, knowing that the. Green let out a low sigh... of relief? For what? Her safety? The fact that the fight was over? She had no idea. It seemed as if all she could do was flap her mouth open and closed without any sound coming out. Finally, he turned. Then he turned to her.
"Let's go back to the castle, pesky woman." he stated, taking a few steps forward. "You'll freeze if you don't."
The blastoise and jigglypuff seemed to take a defensive stance. Blue had no idea why the two pokémon suddenly became so attached or protective of her, but she really didn't care. They had saved her life, after all. She shakily stood up, slightly fearful as her legs had gone entirely numb and her skirt was stiff as cardboard from the freezing waters. She place a hand on the blastoise's shell.
"H-H-He's sa... fe." she forced the last word out through her chattering teeth. The blastoise cast a glance at her, then moved to the side. Green stepped forward, scooping her up without a moment's hesitation.
"H-H-Hey, I kn...ow... a pri-nce wants to swo...op.. his princess off her f-f-feet, but you're ta-king the term a... bit to literally." she joked half-heartedly, slightly cursing her choppy speech, though welcoming the warmth rolling off him.
"Pesky woman, you can hardly stand, let alone walk back." Green responded, flapping his wings. He turned to the pokémon, still staring at them. "Friends of yours?"
"Just met 'em."
He glanced at them again.
"I have to take Blue back quickly. Are you aware of the castle?"
The pokémon nodded in response.
"Then come there." he paused, realizing that whomever answered the door would need something to signal that they too were his guests. But what would be significant enough...?
His hands clasped around a locket around his neck, as if wondering if he should part with it. With a reluctant sigh, he pulled it over his head, passing it to the jigglypuff.
"The castle is where she is staying. Show that to whomever opens the door. If you loose it, I'll never let you see Blue again."
Green wasn't sure if it would be an effective stress, or if he could trust the two pokémon, but they seemed to understand, as both nodded, the jigglypuff pulling the pendant over it's head.
He slowly flapped his wings, watching as the two pokémon began making their way towards the castle in the distance. Confirming that they were indeed coming, he began picking up speed, only slightly aware the Blue had already curled into his chest, a content smile on her face.
o.0.o.0.o
Green walked aimlessly through the hallways of his castle while he waited for news on Blue. He couldn't place why, exactly, he was so worried.
Flapping his wings, he rose from the ground and went over the railing. How he ended up on third floor, he had no idea. Perhaps he was pacing mindlessly. He, Prince Green Oak of Kanto, was pacing mindlessly over some annoying, pesky, noisy woman.
Ugh.
Slowly, he opened the door to the front parlor, only to here sniffling from the only chair in the room. His chair.
He felt anger flick on the edge of his consciousness, as that chair was very precious to him. It was were his elder sister and he sat when they were younger to read mindless fairy tales until they were both to big to fit in the chair together. No one but he or Daisy was allowed to sit in that chair, and even he very rarely sat down in it. It was, like so many other rooms in the house, something of a shrine to his sister.
He went to the side of the chair, staring down at what he could only described as a cocoon of blankets with a head of wet and matted brown hair and blue eyes on top.
"What are you doing, pesky woman?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Blue sniffled, looking up at him.
"Hiding." she stated simply. "Freezing."
Slowly, he reached up and ran his hand down his face. This was a test, he guessed, not intentionally set by Blue, but a test on whether or not he could truly control his rage.
There was silence for a moment, interrupted only by Blue's sniffles.
"Pesky woman." Green stated, grabbing a fistful of blankets and yanking them off her. She let out a cry of protest. As all twenty blankets- how she had managed to gather all those up and sneak in here, wet, sick, and with no one noticing, was beyond him- fell to the floor, he scooped her up and plopped down on the chair with her in his lap.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded in a hoarse voice. Green glanced at her as she went into a coughing fit. Just as he thought. The idiotic girl got herself sick. Shifting slightly, he grabbed one of the blankets and pulled it up over her head and then another and draped it over them.
"You're not going to get any warmer by piling more layers of cloth on you." Green stated simply, staring at the fire. "Your body temperature dropped from falling into the river, plus you have wet hair, plus you're sick. You need actual heat in order to regain body heat."
"Then light a fire." Blue muttered, though curling into a ball, obviously to tired from the events that transpired that day, resting her head against his chest
"I'm literally half fire dragon." Green said bluntly. "This is easier."
"Nows your chance!" a voice that sounded oddly like his sister's exclaimed. "Apologize, Green!"
Though he could have easily brushed it off as an odd hallucination from exhaustion- this woman has given him more exercise than he had in decades- but the advice sounded plausible.
"She just needs to fall in love with you!" Golds voice echoed in his head.
"I'm... sorry." he muttered. Blue shifted, leaning up again and blinking her eyes at him.
"For?" she teased.
"Hurting you."
"And?"
"Yelling at you."
"Aaaaaaand~?" she sang this word out, a sly smile on her face.
"I don't know!" he huffed. "For scaring you? I'm just sorry, okay?"
"You're funny when you're uncomfortable." Blue hummed. Green blinked at her. She closed her eyes with a grin. "Apology accepted." she said with a content, yet somehow teasing, smile, falling back into his chest with a small thump. "I'm sorry for entering the West Wing without permission."
Leaning back in his chair, Blue shifting slightly to regain her comfortable position. Green waited until he heard soft snores before he smiled slightly.
"Apology accepted." he said, lowering his head and letting unconsciousness take over.
o.0.o.0.o
"Oh. My. Arceus."
Crystal had her mouth covered with the leaf atop her head, staring at the two larger forms snuggling- snuggling- together on the chair.
She had come in her to pick up some blankets that had somehow gotten strewn about, but now she was looking at her master and the girl from the town sleeping together on the chair. N-Not even friends did that! Did that mean...? Could it be possible...?!
The grandfather clock tolled midnight, indicating the beginning of the new year. They never celebrated such holidays anymore, but she knew that the servants were all milling about keeping up the tradition of having to stay up till midnight. Usually, new years wasn't a festive holiday, just a cruel reminder of the curse and another year beginning of being stuck in a small form, being viewed as pokémon rather than human... But now there was something truly worth celebrating.
She hurried out the door. She had to report this, quickly...!
"Heya, Crys." she whirled around to look at Gold, a teasing grin on his face. "Can I have the first kiss of the year?"
Crystal didn't even care it was Gold. She bounded over, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, then continued on.
"Gold, we truly have something to celebrate this year!" she whispered so not to wake Green in the next room. "Gather everyone up! Pour the champagne! We must make a toast for the hope of being human again!"
o.0.o.0.o
"Green?" Red cautiously moved about the tattered room of the prince. Even though Green granted him, and only him, permission to enter the room, he still felt uneasy about perhaps disturbing the man he served.
He pushed aside a tattered curtain hanging down and saw Green with his hands resting on a small table, head bowed and eyes closed. Red took one look at the small daisy floating inside the glass case and withheld gasped.
A petal had fallen.
A petal had never fallen from Daisy before. Never in the near century the curse had afflicted the castle. Never ever. But this... this was the first month of the last year... Did that mean that each month of the year is represented by one of Daisy's petals? Were they acting... as some sort of countdown?
Judging from Green's form, he seemed to have figured it out for himself.
"Green?" this time he said the name in a gentler tone. Green straightened his form, though never tore his eyes from the flower.
"Leave me be." Green said quietly. "I need to mourn."
o.0.o.0.o
Blue couldn't believe how quickly the year had passed by, filled with nothing but ever improving times. She got Green to leave his room, and throughout the seasons, she saw different sides of him. In spring, she braided flowers into his hair while he was asleep- courtesy of Jiggly's singing. In summer, she soaked him with water courtesy of Blasty while he was asleep- courtesy of Jiggly's singing. And in the fall, she buried him in leaves while he was asleep- courtesy of Jiggly's singing.
Jiggly the jigglypuff enjoyed singing.
The two pokémon who rescued her that day had arrived on the doorstep of the castle three days later, Jiggly waving the locket around as Blasty non-to-discreetly blasted through the doors and somehow found her room. After Green confirmed the blastoise and the jigglypuff were not enemies- as Red was about to shock them both to oblivion- he went back to his room.
Blue still had the locket, safely clipped around her neck and tucked under the collar of her dress. She sometimes felt a little guilty about keeping it from Green, but he either hadn't noticed or hadn't cared, as he never asked. She snapped open the locket again, staring at the photo inside. It was the older woman from the portrait in his room. The smile was undeniable. It was the same woman.
Blue always wondered who it was. After all, she had to be important in both status and in Green's heart if there was a portrait of her in in his room and a picture in a locket he had on him.
Anyways, winter had rolled again, and honestly, Blue couldn't help but feel... strangely happy. Even though the servants were pokémon, she, oddly enough, began to form human faces for them. Yellow was a petite thing and had blond hair and wide amber eyes, looking younger than she truly was. Red had dark black hair, spiked up, though nothing like Green's, with Red eyes, having perhaps six inches over her.
Green didn't go on his angry rampages anymore, and Blue liked to say she had something to do with that. He didn't even get mad when she shoved snow down the back of his shirt when the snow first came in. She hardly doubted he felt it, what with being half a charizard and all, but all in all, she only had one regret over the year.
She was no closer to breaking the curse or figuring out how to break it. Not that she minded their pokémon forms, but they seemed so sad like that. She wanted them to be happy again, and somehow, someway, she had a feeling that this was more than them being stuck as pokémon and Green a monster.
"Hey White," she asked in an attempt to clear her head of the single snivy was still working with her hair. Apparently, Green was planning something big. Something she wasn't allowed to know about. She pouted. Meanie-Greeny not letting her in on the fun. "When I was in Green's room, a little over a year ago, I saw a portrait of a woman with long brown hair. Who was that woman?"
White ceased her movement, holding her hair, then pinning a bright blue rose behind her ear, deciding to keep her hair down. Then, and only then, had White paused fully to look at her.
"That was Lady Daisy." she said, a nostalgic undertone to her voice. "She's a wonderful person."
Noting the present tense on the word 'she', Blue spoke.
"So she's still alive? Why hadn't I met her yet?"
"Yes, she's still alive. You hadn't met her because of the curse."
"Is she embarrassed of the form she took on?"
"No."
"Then why can't I meet her?"
"Because of the curse."
"Ah." Blue nodded in understanding. "Another one of 'Ye Magical Rules of Thine Curse'? That's why you can't tell me?"
"Yeah." White smiled. Someone suddenly slammed the door open. Startled, Blue turned to see Topaz stomping into the room.
"Get yer ass in gear for *bleep*'s sake." she spat, crossing her arms. "The Master's gonna be ready soon, and I don't want all the work we did to be for nothin' because she decided to take for-*bleep*ing-ever to get ready."
"Ready for what?" Blue decided to try her luck on Topaz this time. She's been pestering White since she came in to help her, and had gotten no where.
"For the fucking surprise." Topaz huffed. "So hurry the fuck up."
Then she walked out, muttering profanities under her breath.
"She always does that when she gets stressed." White chided gently, hopping down the desk and walking over to the wardrobe. "Ready to see your dress?" Blue grinned, nodding her head like a child on Christmas morning. Using her vines, she expertly latched onto the handles, and pulled the door open.
Blue stared wide-eyed on what was on the inside.
It had to be the most beautiful dress she's ever seen. It was a strapless blue ball gown, the color reminding her of something akin to sapphires, the skirt layers upon layers of tule with silver sparkles gathering at the bottom hem and sprinkling throughout the dress like stars. The top of the dress was also sparkled with silver, though it seemed to be more organized into a pattern, making it different from the sparkles on the skirt. Wrapped under the breasts and winding around her waist, tied at the hip, was aquamarine tule, the ends trailing down to the bottom of the skirt.
"Holy Arceus." she whispered. She's never seen such a beautiful dress! There was nothing like this back in her small little village; all the dresses were either simple and affordable or an abundance of ruffles and bows that were way out of everyone's price range. But this... this was amazing! "I've never seen anything like it! Where did you even get it?"
There was a chuckle from the doorway. Both turned to see Sapphire standing in the doorway, a bright red ribbon wound around her neck. Blue glanced at it, figuring it was her dress clothes for the night.
"It's a Ruby original." she stated, walking forward.
"He made this?" she whispered in awe, wondering how he managed to do it considering he had paws over hands. "How?!"
"With a lot of work." Sapphire smiled, she turned to Blue. "What do you think that he was doing, holing himself up in his room all that time?" she asked gruffly. "For as much of a pansy he is, when it comes to this stuff, he's a hard worker."
The admiration was clear in her voice. Blue shared a sly look with White.
"Sapphire, do you have a thing for Ruby?" Blue teased. Sapphire fell into silence, and Blue swore the orange feathers on her little torchic face became a slightly darker shade of red.
"I'll peck yer eyes out!" Sapphire shrieked, then bolted out of the room. There was a moment of silence before Blue and White burst into fits of giggles.
"Come on," White said, gesturing Blue over to the wardrobe. "Let's get this on and go meet with Prince Green."
o.0.o.0.o
Green was stiff as a board as he waited at the bottom of the stairs. He hadn't worn a nice suit since the night that he was cursed, and now that he was practically seven feet tall with wings, Ruby had to work on crafting a whole new one for him.
"You're not nervous, are you, Green?" Red asked, adjusting his little black bow tie around his neck as he stood next to him on the railing.
"No."
"You are."
"No, I'm not."
"You are." Red smiled knowingly. "Don't worry. It'll be fine."
"This is the last chance. The last ditch effort. If not, Daisy will..."
"Hey," Red interrupted him. "This is not the time for that. This is going to be a happy night. Daisy will want to hear all about it. So be happy for her."
"But what if Blue doesn't feel anything for me? What if... she doesn't love me?"
"Then at least have a good story for Daisy when this is over." Red smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to find Yellow."
Green watched as he climbed down the banister, scurrying off to find his fiancé, leaving Green alone. With his acute hearing, he heard Blue's footsteps, and suddenly a woman he barely recognized was coming towards him.
It took him a moment to realize that it was Blue. After all, all he'd ever seen her in was some sort of version of the same black dress. But upon closer look, he realized it was Blue. Nothing could change the ever present mischievousness that hid in her eyes, no matter what.
"Well?" Blue asked in a teasing manner as she descended the stairway. "Are you going to stand there gawking like a village idiot or are you going to go on and on about how beautiful I am?" with this, she laughed her signature 'ho, ho, ho!' laugh.
Yes, Green decided, this was definitely Blue.
"You," he said taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. "Look radiant."
He stood to his full height again, slightly smirking at Blue averted her gaze, blushing, and looking anywhere but at him.
"To dinner, milady?" he asked, all the etiquette courses from when he was a child suddenly surging back to him. Blue chuckled at that, as if finding it humorous.
"Of course, good sir." she said with a mock british accent.
"... I do not sound like that."
"By saying all that fancy stuff you do!"
o.0.o.0.o
To say that Topaz was happy was an understatement. She was absolutely *bleep*ing ecstatic.
For the first time in a near century, there was actually some form of hope. She had secretly watched from the shadows with her fellow workers as Green and Blue enjoyed their night. Dinner went swimmingly as it always did with them, and then, about halfway through, Gold whispered for her to start the music.
At first, she felt the overwhelming need to smack him across the room. He knew that she hadn't tried to play music with her Meloetta powers in over eighty years! She lost the heart and soul to even try. But... With the hopeful glances from her friends, she caved, and gave it a go.
A good call on her part, because the music that came forth was pretty damned impressive. Almost immediately upon hearing the violins and other string instruments, Blue scooted her chair back, grabbed Green's hands, and dragged him to the now clean ballroom.
Took forever in a day to clean the place, but for fuck's sake, it was so worth it. They were dancing, and Topaz almost wanted to get ing their and smack their heads together in a forced kiss just to see if the curse would break.
After a couple songs, Green and Blue left for the balcony, giving them all a chance to have a mini-celebration. After all, they would be human in a few short hours.
Now the music was going on it's own, without her need to control every second of it. As the other's went off in pairs to try their hand, paws, or whatever they had to try their hand in dancing, she opted to leave the ballroom and take a moment to herself.
Leaning against the wall, she tilted her head back. Arceus damn, she could almost see it. Having her blond hair again, being able to reach the table without climbing up a bunch of shit, wearing fucking pants and working her welding like she always had...
"Topaz?"
"For *bleep*'s sake, you're ruining my *bleep*ing daydream." she spat at whoever it was.
"Well excuse me for checking up on ya!"
Topaz rolled her eyes as Pearl came flapping in. He was the only male in the house ballsy enough-or stupid, she couldn't figure out which- to bother her when she didn't want to be bothered.
"What do you want, Pearl?"
"To get you back in that ballroom. Aren't you going to dance?"
"If you're trying to get me to dance with you, it's not gonna work. You're shorter than me and I like my men tall."
In response, he flapped his wings so he was a little above her head.
"Not gonna work, stupid." she herself lifted a little off the ground. "Meloetta's can fly too."
Pearl huffed in response as both landed on the ground.
"I'm taller than you in human form, you know."
"Yeah, well, we won't be human unless the lovebirds decide to confess." Topaz huffed. "Speaking of which, how're they doing?"
"No idea." Pearl shrugged. "They're just sitting out there, talking."
"That's it? No new developments."
"Nope." Pearl shook his head, huffing angrily.
"I'm worried." Topaz admitted.
"Why's that? You saw they way they were acting. They've totally got a thing for each other, I don't see-"
"What if it's one-sided?" she interrupted, looking him dead on. "What if only Green loves her? What if he fell for her instead of the other way around? You know what the curse said. What are we going to do if we're stuck like this, forever?"
Pearl didn't say anything. So Topaz decided to what she always did when she was angry. She punched him in the face.
"Say something! Tell me that I'm not going to be stuck at two-foot-oh for the rest of my life! Tell me I'll be able to actually make myself dinner without the fear of falling or breaking my neck! Tell me that you'll be taller than me one day! Say something to make me feel like this isn't all entirely pointless!"
"I can't." Pearl said, oddly calm after her literal assault. "But we've been pokémon for a near hundred years, we could do a hundred more."
"I don't wanna be stuck like this for another minute." Topaz whispered.
"Then you'll have to have faith in Master Green." Pearl paused. "And if we do become human again, well, so to say..."
"What?" Topaz hissed out bitterly. Damn, when did she become such a pessimist all of a sudden.
"Maybe, after Yellow and Red's wedding, I could take you to town for dinner or something."
Topaz widened her eyes.
"Did you just ask me on a date, bird brain?"
"Yes."
"Well, aren't you confident." Topaz hummed, a smirk falling into place.
"Well? What do you say?" he asked almost a bit to forcefully. My, my, isn't he impatient.
"I say..." she drew out the words. It was fun to watch him squirm. "Y-"
The word was suddenly cut off as the doors to the castle were pushed open, and a figure entered the foyer. Topaz and Pearl stared wide eyed as a woman stood shakily for a moment, clutching two bundles to her chest, then fell to the ground, two infants beginning to wail as she hit the ground.
o.0.o.0.o
Blue nervously smoothed down the tule of her dress though this only proved to make the cloth even more creased then before. She hadn't the slightest idea why she was so nervous. This was only Green after all.
"Are you happy here?" Green asked.
"Of course I am!" she answered without thinking. "I haven't been happier than I was here." she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Except for maybe that first week or so, but all that aside, I love it here."
"Are you happy here..." he gently grabbed her hands, his green orbs meeting her gaze. "With me?"
"My happiest times," she stated with a soft smile. "Are here, with you." She paused as her heart painfully panged in her chest. Had she not had happy times with Silver? Or what about teasing Onyx about Opal and Carnelian? Or shopping for baby items for Jade?
"What is it?" Green asked. Blue hadn't realized she averted her gaze until she looked back at his worry clouded orbs.
"I was thinking about my little brother, Silver. His birthday was the twenty-fourth, you know. He would be seventeen. I also had two friends, Jade and Onyx. They were married, and Jade was due to have a baby around the end of december. I liked to tease Onyx about his overprotectiveness of his sister, Opal. She was seeing a magician named Carnelian, and even though I didn't know them as well as Jade and Onyx, they were still my friends." she sighed. "What I'd give to see them again. Just to make sure everything's okay. I just... miss them, I guess."
The guilt that tore through his eyes killed her, but she couldn't think of a convincing lie that would get past him. So she told the truth.
"There is a way, you know." he said with a soft smile, pulling her up as he stood. With ease, he lifted her up and they were suddenly airborne. Blue let out a gasp as she saw the drop under them, tightening her grip on his coat before they landed. She blinked.
"Isn't this..."
"My room, yes." Green answered, walking through the balcony doors and into his room, not putting her down until they were standing in front of the small table with the daisy, still protected by glass, sitting on it. She noticed only a single petal remained on the daisy, but said nothing, watching as Green carefully picked up a hand mirror. "This mirror," he said, showing the reflective side to her. "Can show you anything you wish to see. Anything at all."
"Anything...?" Blue trailed off, taking the mirror as she looked up at him. He nodded in confirmation. Looking down at it again, she spoke. "Show my brother, Silver." she paused, then added a 'please'. Suddenly, the mirror crackled with green magic, and an image appeared.
Blue nearly fainted on the spot.
Her little brother was in a cold, dark place, obviously sick from Arceus knows what, head resting on the lap of the all to familiar Soul.
"It's okay, Silver." she whispered tearfully. "You'll get better. We didn't do anything. We're not witches. We'll be fine."
In response, Silver simply let out a wheezing cough, tightly holding her hand.
"S-Silver..." she exclaimed as the scene faded out. "N-No..."
"What's wrong?" Green asked, forcing her attention away from the mirror.
"He's sick... and... and in a jail cell. Something must have happened to him. He's not dumb enough to let himself get sick..." she froze, trailing off in horror.
"What is it?" Green pressed a little more frantically. The next sentence she spoke in a whisper.
"But he's dumb enough to cross Masque." she suddenly felt very dizzy, grabbing the table for support. "And Soul said something about witches... Did Masque accuse them of witchcraft?!"
Then wailing rang throughout the palace. Both snapped their heads to the doorway.
"An infant?" Green asked incredulously. Blue found herself getting scooped up again by Green, hurrying out the door and through the castle hallways. He landed at the front foyer with the servants gathered around a fallen figure and two brown-haired infants, wailing and kicking in the tight confines of their blankets. Blue widened her eyes at the espeon ears and umbreon ears, but hardly said a thing as her gaze moved to a pale blond woman lying prone on the floor with glaceon ears coming out of her head.
She hurried over to her and flipped her over, eyes widening in surprise.
"Jade!"
o.0.o.0.o
"Mom, you can't leave us like that!" Aini cried out. Celina was completely enamored with the whole story, and even Iri looked interested at that point.
"I can and I will." she responded, shutting the book with a smile, looking over at Iri and Aini. "Think of it as your punishment for chasing after Celina with ninja swords."
"I told you that was a bad idea, Aini!" Iri immediately exclaimed.
"My idea?! You're the one who-"
"If you start a fight, I'll skip story time tomorrow." V said, crossing her arms. They immediately fell silent. "Good. Off to bed, you three."
o.0.o.0.o
Aaaaand this is the link to Blue's dress:
imgfave view /2746901
Just in case you can't picture it.
Officially the longest chapter i've ever written. So the next chapter will probably be the last in this story.
And at the end of this was when I realized that this story was being read to children, so I had to *bleep* out most of Topaz's vocabulary. XD
Anyways, anyone have a preference on the fairy tale for Specialshipping? I'm taking suggestions!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^