Title: "Pages"
Author: Wish Wielder
Fandom: Puchi Puri Yucie
Pairing / Character Focus: Arc / Yucie
Challenge: 33 Proposals
Theme / Prompt: #12 (Airport)
Word Count: 6,963
Rating: K/ PG
Summary: Because really, she needed to know the ending. Even if this Yucie girl was long gone, something told Ellie that – if Yucie got a happy ending – she would, too.
Notes: Set in both modern-day (well, a tweaked modern-day, if you will – gotta allow room for the other Worlds, after all!) England and the Erlsel of Yucie's time (which I totally think could pass as 18th-century England, or 'round bouts). Just wanted to do some experimenting. ) Also: sentences that seem to be cut-off in the diary entries are intentional; no text is missing.
Disclaimer: "Puchi Puri Yucie" and all respective properties are © Takami Akai. Megan D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Puchi Puri Yucie".
"Pages"
Ellie Swift hadn't spoken to her mother in four weeks. It had been exactly four weeks since her mother had told her they were leaving their home in London, England for Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States. Four weeks since her mother had eagerly ripped her heart from her chest and stamped it into the ground with the pinpoint heels of her stiletto shoes, all with the biggest smile she could muster on her face.
"It's a great opportunity, El! And you'll love it in Pennsylvania – I always did! Oh, the trees, the people – it's wonderful!" her mother had said. Ellie didn't feel wonderful. In fact, she felt the farthest from wonderful that she ever had her whole life.
"Then you move there and leave me with Gran," she had shot bitterly, and that was the last thing she had said to her. She had holed up in her room, refusing to help pack or really have anything to do with the woman. (But, of course, that didn't keep her from packing the room up while she was at school, did it?)
If it had been any other time in her life, she probably would have been glad to go. As it was, she was happy. She was nearing sixteen and attending a great high school, she had an amazing boyfriend that she had been seeing for three months now, and all of her friends were here. A trip to the States would be lovely, but that's all she was interested in – a trip. She didn't want to move there. She was number one in her class and looking to attend Oxford in two years – what would happen to those plans if she was stuck in some Podunk town in Pennsylvania?
"Oh, there are wonderful colleges in Pennsylvania, dear! The state uni is very wonderful from what I've heard," her mother had replied when she had given that argument. She was coming to hate the word 'wonderful' very much these days.
It had been another attempt to flee her exuberant mother that had led her up here, to the attic of their old home. It dated back centuries – her father had once told her, before he died, that it was his family's summer home, back from the time when their royal title was still recognized. She smiled as she closed the old door behind her, the memory of her father warming her heart just a little.
And wasn't that also important? Didn't her mother care that he was buried here, in a churchyard just a few blocks away? Didn't she care that she'd be ripping her away from everything that tied her to her heritage?
She sat on an old box and sighed, coughing slightly as a puff of dust shot up from the cardboard. She frowned as she felt something poke her, and she stood momentarily to fish the cornered object out. Her frown only deepened when she saw that it was an old, weathered book. She sat back down on the box and turned it over in her hands, awestruck by the red, leather cover and intricate gold designs. She flipped it open to see pages that had been yellowed with time, and her surprise only increased as she saw the flowing script on the first page.
Yucie, daughter of the hero Gunberd
Platina Princess
Do not, under any circumstances read – and that means you, Arc!
She laughed at the note, still mystified by the discovery. She flipped through the book quickly, smiling as she realized that it was this Yucie's diary. Thrilled by the prospect of a connection to her past (and she could already tell it was a distant past, as the original owner had claimed to be the 'Platina Princess', whatever that was), and finding she had nothing better to do, she moved over to the window seat and settled down for a nice long read.
She turned back to the first page, and her eyes soared open again. Where the page before had been written with a light-hearted, carefree script, this page was filled with jagged letters and blotchy stains that reminded her of tears. Intrigued, she began to scan the text.
I find it horribly cruel that my previous diary should run out of pages yesterday, causing me to start this new one on the exact day my life has fallen apart.
No, no – the others are still here. Perhaps this isn't as bad as the Princess Selection, since no one's dying this time, but I still feel like it could be, and that they might as well. So perhaps I should just say that this is the second time my life has fallen apart, or at least the closest it could get to falling apart again.
Queen Erlsel approached me today about some diplomatic business. Normally Arc is the one who handles these things (it's his job as prince, after all), but this time she said she needed me for the job. I hate to admit that I actually felt honored – until she told me what I had to do.
I'm leaving. I'm going to a country so very far away, and I'm probably never going to return. I won't ever see Arc again, and I won't see my friends, and I won't see Papa or Cube or Drago-sama or
No, no – I'm getting ahead of myself. She just brought it up today – nothing can be final yet, right? I can talk to Arc about it tomorrow, and we'll figure this out. He won't let me leave – how could he? But I can't quiet that tiny fear gnawing at my heart, the one that says nothing will ever be ok again.
Ellie nearly dropped the book as she finished reading. She wasn't one to believe in fate, but if that wasn't what this was then what could it be? There was no better term for it, other than 'just plain freaky'. She suddenly attacked the book with a new vigor, hoping that in its pages she could find the answers to her own separation questions that she so desperately needed.
The next page was just as jagged and blotchy as the first, and something told Ellie that things hadn't gone well during Yucie's talk with this Arc fellow she kept mentioning.
"You need to realize," he told me, "that life as royalty isn't always sunshine and flowers. We're the ones in control, and so we make the tough choices. We sacrifice of ourselves so that the rest of the world can function properly because no one else wants to make the decisions we have to."
That's all he said.
He came this afternoon, hoping to take me out on a picnic, but as soon as I saw him I started crying again. And when I finally told him what was so terribly wrong, he changed. It wasn't Arc sitting next to me, holding me as I wept, but Prince Aero, the stoic royal whom I hate so very much right now. He seemed to shrink away from me as that stupid mask went on, and he spoke with a voice so devoid of emotion I can call it nothing other than cold.
He talked to me like he talked to those flighty noblewomen that always try to separate us at the balls and functions. He's never talked to me like that before.
And why? Can't he see how this is killing me? Can't he see how much I love him, and how much I want to stay? Doesn't he realize how much I hate all of this – how much I hate him for just letting it all happen?
I don't know what's going to happen anymore. Life used to be so constant and sure, once we got the others back. Everything was going perfectly, and then this happens. All I really know right now is that I don't know anything, and that thought scares me to death.
She jumped as the door opened, and she looked up to see her mother standing there with the phone. She was smiling, but Ellie could tell it was strained.
"Gran wants you to come visit tomorrow," she said. She continued on without giving her a chance to say anything (and really, that was just infuriating; what if she had plans? Her mother never thought anymore!). "I want you to have your room packed up by tomorrow. I've already got the boxes and tape and paper and anything else you'd need, so now it's just you putting it together.
"We're leaving in two weeks, El," she said, and Ellie looked back down at the journal. "I need you to be ready. Most of it's going to be flown over a few days after we get there, but we'll still be there. Please don't make this any harder than it already is."
"I don't want to leave," she said, her voice stiff, and her mother sighed.
"I know," she said.
"Then why are you making me?" she asked, and she heard another sigh in response.
"Because, Elizabeth Swift," the older woman said firmly, "I know this will be best for the both of us, and I know that you will, too – someday. Good night."
She hated how parents used that 'I'm older and therefore know better than you so ha!' card. It always made her feel little.
– W –
She hadn't had a chance to go back to the diary at all during those two weeks since the night she found it. Her mother kept her busy – maybe she thought that if she was busy enough she wouldn't remember how much she hated her? Parent psychology was weird; it was probably something along those lines.
That brought her here, to the airport, waiting for a delayed flight to the States. The plastic chairs were uncomfortable, the crying babies were annoying, and she really didn't like the way that kid with the lollipop was staring at her. She made a mental note not to get too close; getting too close was one mishap away from that lolli being shoved into her hair.
Her mother was chatting amicably with an older couple next to their seats; she seemed so excited about the flight. Maybe she was just excited to finally be going home after so many years away. Someone had told her once that your heart always yearns for your roots. Maybe it was true.
She sighed as she sank back into the hard, orange plastic. She checked her watch and sighed again; the delay was taking much longer than she would have liked. While her mother continued chatting, she pulled her burgundy satchel into her lap and began rummaging through it for the old diary. If she was lucky, she'd be able to make more of a dent in it while they waited for their flight. She hadn't breathed a word of it to her mum, but the story had been driving her crazy these past two weeks. Well…more like not being able to finish the story, but in essence it was still the story.
Because really, she needed to know the ending. Even if this Yucie girl was long gone, something told Ellie that – if Yucie got a happy ending – she would, too.
I told the others today. We were walking home from the Academy – our final day of classes! – and I just told them. I knew I couldn't put it off any longer, that the day I have to leave was creeping ever closer, but I still felt horrible doing it. Gurenda screamed and raged and Kokoru cried. Erumina – impassive, glorious Erumina! – looked as torn as I felt. She's changed so much through all this – she's opened up so much. Before, she would always seem so robotic. At times I would think Barizan would feel more than her, and he's made of metal! But now she's as open as the rest of us, but still so reserved. And Beth…poor Beth, you would think I'd have just stabbed her. I tried to explain, even though I really know nothing of why this is happening or even what I'm expected to do, but in the end I just couldn't find the words.
So I hugged her. I hugged all of them, but I hugged her first and longest. I squeezed her as hard as I could as I started crying again, and I told her that I would fight it. I wouldn't abandon her or any of them, not after everything we've been through.
They're the closest to sisters I've ever had, and I don't see how the Queen can do this to us. She had been so torn after Arc and I returned from the Magical World with them. She kept apologizing like it was all her fault, even though it really wasn't (she had told us, and we believed her – she didn't know the Tiara would kill them until the very end, when we found out). And now, despite all that grief and guilt, she's doing it all over again.
No one's dying, not this time around, but isn't separating us like this just the same?
Ellie sucked in a breath at the words.
She didn't understand any of the parts about this 'Tiara' (how in the world could a tiara kill anyone?), but whatever it was seemed crucially important. It had put these girls through something that had formed an unbreakable bond between them, one that was being threatened by the queen.
She felt impossibly close to Yucie just then. She snuck a glance out of the corner of her eye at her mother, who was laughing with the woman beside her. She could almost see her as the Queen right now, as she thought of Sarah and Finny and Gwen. She would give anything to be at the local café with them right now, drinking tea and gossiping about Tommy Owens, that gorgeous senior in their Ancient Civilizations class.
She flipped the page and smiled slightly. Compared to the past few entries, this one looked much more promising. The writing was still stiff and jagged, but there were no tears blotching up the letters.
An arranged marriage.
That's what this whole thing has been about from the very beginning, and Queen Erlsel only bothered to tell me today – two days before I leave. Apparently, she's been fighting with this country for years now, though open hostilities had laxed in the past year or so due to the whole Platina Princess ordeal. Apparently they had hoped the Princess would come from their land, and in order to ensure that they had stopped attacking. Now that I'm selected and obviously not of their people, they're demanding I marry their prince. She said it's the only way to stop a full-blown war.
And she just had to say that, didn't she? My status as a war orphan would just make me cave when she mentioned the stakes, wouldn't it? No, my Queen, it most certainly will not! I don't want a war any more than you do, but I do not want to marry some guy I don't even know, either! Don't you remember your son? That idiot that nearly died just a few months ago? I'm supposed to be marrying him!
Of course, Arc isn't saying anything. He's right across from me the whole time she's explaining all this, with that horrible mask he throws on whenever he has to act all princely. Save the country, lose the girl. Is that how this is playing out, then? Fine. If he doesn't care enough to fight, I will go. Maybe that prince will be man enough to stand up for me.
I cornered him today. I trapped him in the gardens and forced him to talk to me, but it wasn't Arc I was talking to, was it? It was Prince Aero. Prince Bloody Aero, that horrible man who would sacrifice his heart for his country, consequences be damned.
I feel so horrible for how I spoke to him, but at the time it seemed like the best way to go. Maybe it was. I don't know. I yelled at him and cried and even slapped him, but he just looked at me with those impassive eyes. And I couldn't take it any more. I kept yelling, demanding to know why he didn't do anything. Most of what I said is all blurs now, but I remember asking him if everything he ever said – ever did – had been a lie, and if he really hated me as much as he was acting.
And I think that's what did it – what finally broke him. The mask slipped just a bit, and it was Arc looking at me, not Prince Aero. He looked so tortured, so much like he was living his own personal hell that I almost felt bad for shouting. And I could tell, from the way his hands twitched and the way he stepped towards me, that he wanted to grab me. And after so many weeks of him avoiding me, I wanted him to so badly.
And that's when he told me, right then and there, that I was a "damned fool who is so caught up in her own misery that she can't notice what's going on around her". And he told me he did love me, and that if there was any way around it he would fight, but that he knows this is what's best. It's his duty to his people to protect them, and if he has to lose me to preserve thousands then he'd do it without ever looking back.
And this is where I started to hate myself, where I realized how cruel I could really be.
I remember exactly what I told him. I looked him dead in the eye (so much easier to do now that I'm almost as tall as him), and I told him as evenly as I could, "Giving me up for your people isn't love, Prince Aero. When Magazerent told me to choose between you or my friends I wouldn't, because I love you both so very much. I wouldn't kill them to save you, and I wouldn't save them to kill you. I convinced myself that there was another way, and I was willing to fight for it. If you won't even make the same decision for me, or at least consider it, how can I honestly believe you love me?"
And no, I couldn't stop there. I'm not smart enough for that. I never was.
"I hate you," I told him, sounding so sure of myself in the heat of the moment, "I hate you, and right now I wish Magazerent was still alive so she could erase any memory of you from my mind."
It was Arc I was speaking to, and it was Arc who reacted to my words. The royal mask had slipped, and it was the only time I could ever think of that I wished it hadn't. It was Arc looking at me like I had just thrown my fist into his gut, or that I had ripped his heart out with my bare hands. It was Arc whose face darkened as he looked down, and it was Arc that I walked out on.
And the worst part, even worse than what I told him? I can't decide who I hate more: him, for making me say it, or me, for actually meaning it.
"I'm going to go get a cuppa," Ellie's mother said, snapping her out of her reading. She looked up at her as her mother grinned at her. "Would you like one, El?"
"Uh…sure," she said, slightly confused. Her mother returned a short while later with two of those Styrofoam travel cups that always make things taste funny.
"I put some honey in it for you," she said, and Ellie gratefully took the cup. "Look, El…I'm sorry."
"What?" she asked, looking at her, and her mother shrugged.
"I guess I haven't really said that yet, have I? I've been so caught up in my own excitement…but I am, El," she said. "And you need to know that, if I had any reason to think this wasn't for the best, I'd never make us leave. But I think it will be, so I'm asking you to trust me. And if that doesn't work, would you be more willing to give it a try if I promised you you could come back during summers and holidays to stay with Gran?"
She looked at her and bit her lip, taking a moment before asking, "You mean it?"
"Yes," she said, sipping her tea. Ellie nodded, smiling slightly.
"Thanks, Mum," she said. Her mother reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"I know I haven't made this the easiest on you, but…I know we can work through it, together," she said, and Ellie returned the hug with all the gusto she could muster.
"I love you, Mum," she said, and her mother smiled.
"I love you, too, baby girl," she said, kissing her hair. "I love you, too."
They sat there for a while, talking and laughing and catching up on everything they had missed in the six weeks since Ellie had stopped talking to her. They laughed about the new PM's haircut and the Spice Girls' reunion tour, and her mother hugged her as she cried about James, her boy…ex-boyfriend, as it were.
She had decided Arc was James. She had told him the same night her mother had told her about the move, but he had been…well, less than sympathetic is putting it nicely. It almost had seemed like he didn't care, and that had hurt. She had thought he liked her, possibly as much as she liked him. He had jumped at the chance of a non-exclusive relationship, though, and that was when she knew she should call it quits. Finny had sat with her as she cried not long after that, calling Sarah and Gwen for an immediate 'Heartbreak Intervention'. They were common occurrences by now, what with how many boyfriends Sarah had every month. (She called it the curse of being 'Busty and Blonde and Beautiful to Boot' – they called it the curse of being loose.)
She still had them, though – and she knew she always would. They had been friends since diapers, and she knew nothing would change that. Maybe that was another reason she could relate to Yucie so well; in Gurenda, Erumina, Kokoru, and Beth she saw her own friends, and thanks to her mother she knew just how hard it was to leave them behind. At least her mother had promised her she could spend vacations at her Gran's, ensuring she'd see them again; Queen Erlsel hadn't even given Yucie that.
When Ellie decided she had no more tears left to cry, her mother patted her shoulder and gestured to her book.
"You just finish up what you were reading, dear. I'll go see how much longer the delay will be," she said before getting up to leave. Ellie nodded and looked back at the pages, suddenly a bit happier than she was before.
It felt good to have her mum back.
Oh, I can tell I'm going to have trouble reading this later. The road is so bumpy, and the driver is horrible (no, they wouldn't even let me bring my own driver – I have to use theirs, because it's their kingdom I'm joining and why remember Erlsel when I could be a Domivinian? Yes – a Domivinian! Already I hate it. It's long and horrible and it just doesn't sound nice. At least 'Erlsel' has that nice little ring to it. Domivin sounds blood-thirsty and cruel.
Oh, no – I'm not biased. I'm not judging them at all by prior actions. But…
There's only one time I've ever cried harder than I did this morning. Everyone was there – my friends, Papa and Cube, Queen Erlsel and Frederik…even Arc. And it was Arc, I knew; Prince Aero wouldn't show up looking like a kicked puppy. And he certainly wouldn't wear that goofy old hat.
I said goodbye to Papa first, and he told me he'd find a way to visit. He told me it wouldn't be goodbye, and then the idiot guard sitting across from me (yes, sir, please look at my personal writings and realize I mean YOU!) told me that, as the future queen of Domivin, I would not be permitted to deal with any Erlselians unless it was through diplomatic business, and even then all communication was limited to couriers. I ask you, what is the purpose of a diplomatic arranged marriage if you're still not going to talk to the country you're marrying into? Isn't the reason I'm marrying this idiot because they want peace between our kingdoms? How do they expect peace if I'm not even permitted to see my family?
I loved Gurenda so much then, though. The guard's eye is really starting to smart where she punched him (for once I'm truly grateful she's the princess of the Demon World!). I bet he won't forget he shouldn't cross her any time soon! As soon as he said it, Gurenda's fist was thrown into his eye and she was yelling at him that if they even thought for a second of keeping me away she'd bring all the armies of Hell against them, and then Beth said the armies of Hell would be a blessing compared to what the Fairy World would do to them, and then Erumina – yes, Erumina! – said that if they insisted upon it she would send Heaven's armies as well, and even Kokoru threw in the armies of the Spirit World!
Yes, that's right – the armies of four worlds ready to tear down Domivin just to rescue me from a pompous prince!
But…as happy as I am about their support (I can't even begin to express how much I'll miss them!), any warmth caused by their gesture was eliminated when Arc remained silent. When the guard told me it was time to leave ("and it's such a very long journey, so we should really leave now"), I was talking to Queen Erlsel. I don't really blame her for any of this any more; I realize that she's just doing her duty as queen. But…no, I don't blame her. I blame Arc. But that's…
I hugged her and cried, and I told her I didn't hate her for this whole mess. She told me I should, and – and I could laugh about this, even now – I grabbed her hands and made her promise me that she would stop blaming herself for everything. When she tried to deny it, I hugged her again and told her she's been wonderful through everything, and that I understood she was just doing her duty and she needs to, too. I told her she couldn't live her life in regrets, and then – and why I did this I'll never know; maybe to make Arc jealous? – I told her that I might end up falling head over heels for this Prince Henrik of Domivin, and who knows? Maybe we'll be a soul match or something! (Oh you should have seen Arc's scowl when I said that!)
And then it was Frederik, and he actually hugged me first! He told me to write him the minute they did anything horrible, and that – despite his duties to "that fool son of hers" (yes, he actually called Arc that!) – he'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm going to miss Frederik so much – he's the best guard anyone could ever ask for, if they ever needed a guard.
I didn't say goodbye to Arc. I didn't even look at him, and I still remember Gurenda's gasp as I just walked straight past him and into this suffocating carriage. I could see him, from the window, with his face down and shadowed by that brown cap. I want to say I saw him crying, but I know that was my own stupid mind. Arc doesn't cry, and certainly not for me. I
But no, no more thoughts of stupid Arc and his stupid self! I'm beginning a new life today. A new life as the wife – er, soon-to-be-wife – of Prince Henrik of Domivin! Now if only I could convince myself that that's a good thing…
But really, this carriage is horrible. I hope "a very long way" isn't really that far. I don't think I can last long in here with this idiot and the heat.
Three months. THREE MONTHS.
And has he opened up at all? Oh, no – I still don't even know his name! I've made better friends with brooms! (And that's a true story, too, thanks to Gurenda.)
The guard won't talk to me, other than to bark (and yes, he does bark – like a tiny, high-pitched dog!) orders at me or status updates on the trip. "Time for sleep! You must look your best from Prince Henrik!" "We shall be staying here, Princess – do not speak to anyone!" "No, you mustn't go there – it's forbidden!" If he tells me one more thing I'll
"Stop writing, Princess! You're always writing – it's so improper!"
Oh…I wish I could turn him to cinders!
The driver won't speak to me, either – I think the guard has him scared. He has everyone scared, but honestly! You should see how the driver looks at him! It's like he stole his cat or something!
And you know what? I think he's doing it on purpose. I think he's making us go the extra-long way to a long way away just to drive me crazy! That must be it – he wants me to go stark raving mad before we reach Domivin, and then they won't have any reason to hold up this peace treaty of a marriage, and then they can just attack Erlsel whenever they
He took my book. HE TOOK MY BOOK!
What kind of man steals a girl's diary? What kind of person does that? Why do I have to go to a country where they breed people who steal people's diaries?
"You are being very seditious, Princess! I won't have you writing treason against your future husband!"
But was it Prince Henrik I was writing about? No, it was you! You, you book thief! I bet he's a dirty old man that just gets his jollies from rea
Ellie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing; most of the other people around them were much louder and nosier than she had been, but she still didn't want to disturb them. She knew how loud her laughing could be.
She was beginning to think of Yucie as a spitfire with a sparking temper, and part of her couldn't wait to see what she'd do to this guard.
She whispered a hurried "I'm fine." to her mother, who was giving her a concerned look, and went back to the book.
And thus starts my bout of writing only when he sleeps, which isn't very often. I hate him. I hate him more than I hate Arc. I hate him more than I hate the Eternal Tiara, and I didn't even think that was possible!
He'll probably realize it's missing in the morning, but I've actually managed to sneak a few talks with the driver. The driver's actually somewhat decent, and he's been helping me get this book back.
And now I'm crying again. The minute I think I've stopped all tears dealing with Arc, I make one obscure reference and there they are again. I…I miss him. If I was home, right now, and this was any other problem we were working through, he'd be holding me. He'd be brushing my hair and rubbing my back and telling me that everything will be ok in the end. He would kiss me and tell me that we'd get through it together, because we conquered the world and we can conquer it still.
I thought the hardest thing I'd ever have to do was live my life looking like I was ten, even when I was sixty. Then I had to fight Diabolos, and Arc was injured, and I was made Platina Princess and told that whatever wish I made – to grow or to save Arc – would cause my friends to die, and I thought that would be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do.
I'm slowly realizing that the hardest thing I'll ever have to do is look at another man and pretend he's Arc, because I can't love Arc anymore even though every little bit of my soul yearns for him. I can pretend Henrik is my soul match, and I can pretend that whenever I look at him it'll be Arc looking back, but in my heart I know it won't be. If Henrik is anything like his guard (and I've learned that servants always reflect their masters), I know this won't be a good match, and I know I'll never be able to love him like I love Arc. I doubt I'll ever be able to love him at all.
And if you were wondering? This entry marks the end of the fifth month of travel. The driver told me earlier today that it actually is much closer now, and that we should be there in as little as two weeks.
If only they had let me bring Cube…who ever heard of a princess without her steward? At least then this trip would have at least been semi-decent!
My hands – no, my whole body! – are still shaking. Today goes down in history as the best day in my life ever. I know so many mothers who say the best day of their lives were the days their children were born, but I know this day will forever be so much more wonderful, because without today I'd have no children. And even if I did, they'd be snooty little Domivinian children who walk around like my idiot guard (the "Pompous Ass" as Arc likes to call him - or am I getting ahead of myself?).
We finally arrived at the palace today. After five months, two weeks, six days, eight hours, and forty-two minutes we arrived at the Palace of Domivin. And the guard made me wait another hour in the carriage, making sure I looked as presentable as possible (honestly, in the carriage? Give me a decent washroom and – even better – a wardrobe change, and then I'll look presentable!), and then he finally said I could go in. Of course, he seemed very flustered, though he wouldn't breathe a word of it to me. Breathed it to everybody else, though (mostly himself in mutters) – apparently Prince Henrik wouldn't let him into the throne room until I was with him. (And I thought Gurenda had a mouth! You should have heard the things coming from this man – about his own prince! And he called me seditious!)
Well, we finally got to the throne room. And really, the place was so dreary. All black stone and dark gray, and their tapestries were the worst shades of midnight! But we got to the throne room, and I wouldn't look anywhere but this interesting little patch of stained gray on the wall to the side. I wouldn't look at this man daring to rip me from my family – I would never grant him that courtesy. I just threw on the angriest, most defiant face I could manage, and I stared at the wall.
And that's when my guard started spluttering and making demands, asking Prince Henrik what he had done with Prince Henrik. Well, I was almost interested enough to look, but I figured the prince just didn't look the same after what had to be a good year of travel on the guard's part. So I kept staring at my little patch of wall, and already I was wondering how much redecorating they would let me do if they were going to force me to live here (I was really starting to miss the marble halls of Erlsel's palace).
"Really, not even looking at your betrothed? Honestly, Princess – that's just rude."
That's what made me look at him. Ignore the idiot guard and his spluttering. Ignore the shouts of protest and denial he was making. I looked at the throne, and Arc was sitting there, sprawled out like he owned the place. And did he ever look out of place, in those tattered old brown clothes of his! (I bet the spurs on his boots did a nice number on that throne, too!) He had his head propped up in his hand, and the other one was just twirling a silver crown around like it was a discus. And that smirk he was wearing! Oh, I could have slapped him just for that! And I know he must have been fighting a laugh, because I know I had to have looked like a fish there. No one had to tell me that for me to know my jaw must have hit the floor. And there was who could have only been Prince Henrik, bound and gagged off to the side of the throne with Frederik standing behind him. (He was throwing quite the fit, too – and did I mention how he looked a good five years my junior?)
And I obviously wasn't being quick enough about any kind of reaction, but really, how could I have been? Arc was there, in Domivin, and he had arrived before us! And did I mention that he wasn't even supposed to be there? That, as far as I knew, we were still furious with each other and hating each other and so many other things that would just keep him as far away as possible?
He hopped up off that throne and walked right over to me with this wonderfully determined face, and I swear, it was a good thing he was holding me tight when he grabbed me and twirled me around, because I knew my legs would've given way if he hadn't been. But he set me down and held me close, and he suddenly looked so very serious that I didn't know what to expect.
"This is what's going to happen, Princess," he told me, and I remember I just looked at him like I was a daft, dumb idiot – I couldn't wrap my mind around any of it, and I still can't believe it all happened. "You're going to come back to Erlsel with Frederik and me, and we're getting married. And this isn't a proposal, because 'proposal' implies that I'm asking – and I'm not asking."
That had to be the most romantic unromantic way he could have proposed. And even now, while I'm holed up in my room just down the hall from his in Erlsel's palace (why didn't that idiot guard of Prince Henrik's think of portals? Arc arrived in Domivin a day after we left Erlsel!), I still can't believe this is all real. No one but Queen Erlsel (and Arc and Frederik, of course!) knows I'm back yet, but we're going to tell them tomorrow. And did I mention I'm going to marry Arc? Not Prince Henrik? I don't think I've stopped smiling since this morning, and I know I should stop (my face is starting to hurt!), but I just can't! I'm back home! With Arc! And we're getting married!
And now I should really stop writing, since he's peeking over my shoulder and nudging me and telling me to put the book down, so I guess I should oblige. Even though he totally doesn't deserve it – really, Arc? You arrived in Domivin a day after we left Erlsel? And you didn't think of, oh, I don't know, maybe opening another portal closer to where would be on the road to save me from five months, two weeks, six days, eight hours, and forty-two minutes of hell with that idiot guard? (And please stop poking me, or I'll take even longer to close this up!)
So that's it, really. Life is back to how it should be – and did I mention how Domivin isn't threatening Erlsel anymore? After Arc scared the living daylights out of Prince Henrik – OK FINE I'M STOPPING. Happy now?
P.s.: Thank you, Arc. I'm sure you've figured out by now that I don't really hate you? (Much?)
And this time, Ellie couldn't stop her laughing. Her mother looked back to her, and she just gave her a grin. She held up the book, laughter still bubbling over.
"You really ought to read this sometime," she said. "It's great."
"Is that Yucie's diary?" her mother asked, and Ellie raised a brow.
"You know what it is?" she asked, and her mother nodded.
"Oh, yes. It was one of your father's favorites. Your Gran used to read it to him before he'd go to bed, and she'd tell him that he'd know he'd found his girl when he was willing to usurp a throne for her," she said, and Ellie laughed all the louder.
"Dad? An usurper? No way!" she laughed. Her mother patted her shoulder as the intercoms crackled to life, calling their flight.
"Come on, baby girl," she said. "It's time to go. Are you sure you'll be ok with this?"
Ellie took a moment – just one moment – to look at the book in her hands before she nodded.
"Yeah, I think I will be," she said, grinning. England would be England and Pennsylvania would be Pennsylvania, but no matter where she was she would always be Ellie Swift, and maybe – if she could remember that – everything would be perfectly fine.
A.n.: Ho'boy that was fun. xD It all started with that proposal line of Arc's (and wow, I so saw him as Harrison Ford when I was re-reading this…), and then my lovely little plunnies started going mad until I wrote it. Then I got Yucie's memory-wipe line, and they really made me sit down and write it. Candy-chan said a little bit ago about how the characters are the ones who really write the stories, and this one just proved it for me; I don't think I wrote any of this, except a few bits where I struggled with Ellie ('cause really, this Ellie girl just doesn't like me), but Yucie loved stepping in and going "It's my dang story and I'll be the one to tell it, thank you very much."
El got a bit easier the second time 'round, though, after I rewrote all her scenes. Hopefully it'll still go together pretty ok. If it's a bit disjointed, I sincerely apologize, but I'm still happy with it. (P.s.: Dauphin is not really a Podunk; in fact, I'd have you all know that it's a lovely place you should all visit if ever given the chance. The mountains aren't as great as Virginia, but they're still amazing. (Most of Mum's family is from the Harrisburg/Dauphin area, so we've been up there quite a few times.) Just thought I should clear that up before any Dauphiners read this and start yelling at me.)