Wow guys, sorry it's taking me so long to write this stuff! I'm just slowly growing more and more lazy... but here it is :D Thanks for reading and that goes double for those who review! You guys are my inspiration! Wow, that couldn't have sounded cornier ;)

"So?" he mumbled gruffly. "Will you?"

I pretended to think about it a little, just to put him on edge. I could almost see the tension rolling off his body in waves as he watched me fake consider the proposal. His eyes were bright, eager, and he was completely stiff, barely moving to breathe as he looked up at me. After I thought he'd had enough stress, I gave him a pleasant smile and curtsied.

"As you wish… Your Highness." I was starting to get used to the old timey way of phrasing things.

He seemed taken aback momentarily, before he gave a barky laugh and stood up straight, puffing out his chest. "Hahahaha! As I wish! Because I'm the boss here, so you have to do what the awesome me wants! That's what the Supreme Overlord gets to do! Now let's go get married!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Right now? Don't you want to wait and plan a big wedding that your whole kingdom attends?"

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms, saying, "The awesome me doesn't want to wait! Hey!"

Just then, a priest chose to walk right in front of us. I wondered if that was planned or pure coincidence. The Father turned as his prince ordered him to marry us here and now and shrugged, taking out a book and starting to read wedding vows… or something along the lines of that. Before I could really process what it was that was happening, Gilbert had pulled me up in his arms and kissed me in a very sweet manner, especially for him. Just as I was starting to think he was growing softer and a little more mature, he had to go and ruin it with his next words.

"And now it's time for the honeymoon! Let's go make some GILBABIES!"

I struggled in his grip pointlessly. "B-but Gilbert, where are we going for our honeymoon?"

He didn't even think before telling me, "My room," with utter seriousness.

I couldn't stop my eyes from widening as I registered immediately what this meant. Suddenly terrified out of my mind, I looked up to the "sky", hoping that the real Gilbert was listening as I pled with my eyes to get out of here. There was no way… absolutely no way I could… As he moved toward his room, my heart began to pound, beating in fear and nervousness. Feeling faint, I sputtered, trying to tell him to stop, to put me down, that we could married some other time for real and then have a honeymoon somewhere else, but it was obvious by the devious looks he gave me there was no way I was getting out of this, no matter how much I tried. To him, this WAS real life and we WERE married. My resolution weakening, he purred sweet, calming things in my ear as we entered his room and he placed me on his bed.

His room was exactly what I had pictured; huge, almost like a living room, and decorated finely, as were most rooms for royalty. But it was hard to focus on my surroundings when I was being loomed over by a fierce, wild prince like Gilbert, who obviously wanted my full attention by the way he kissed me. Right then, looking at the way he was absolutely glowing, I decided to let him take me, even if I wasn't even really Princess Maddie. It wasn't like he knew that. Relaxing in his grip, I let my eyes flutter shut and I was plunged into an unexpected darkness that had me out cold.

"Did you do it yet?" I murmured softly, waking up, my eyelids heavy as I lifted them. My blue eyes were met with an almost identical pair.

"Do what?" said the slightly cracking voice of my brother.

"EEEEP!" I shrieked, flying backwards in my bed, pulling the sheets over me. "Alfred?"

"Uh, yeah? Who else? I came in here and found you passed out on the floor, so I stuck you in bed and called Mom. She said she'd be here in a few minutes. Dude, what happened?"

Anxiously, I looked around and was met with the familiarity of my room staring back at me. For a second I was relieved, but as I kept glancing around, I realized something was missing. Not just something, but someone, the certain someone who had shoved me into that crazy world in the first place and then ditched me there. After a minute of pondering, I remembered that Alfred had asked me a question that I had never answered, but…. what had he asked again? Shaking my head, praying that answered the question, I clasped my hands together in my lap. Where was Gilbert? Had he really just shown me that so he could make his grand escape? I felt my heart clench at the thought. Why had I ever let him get so close to me?

Alfred felt my forehead with a look of brotherly concern. "You don't remember? It doesn't feel like you have a fever… Maybe just a weirdo fainting spell?"

"Actually," I found myself muttering, "It was more of a… Gilcoma."

His eyes widened, his blue eyes pools of confusion and a slight bit of pain. "A… Gilcoma? That sounds exactly like something Gilbert would have said… wait, why did you call it that?"

I shook my head again, not really intending on answering. There was no way I could explain that I'd been seeing the ghost of his dead friend everywhere I went without making myself look crazier. Just as he was about to ask something else, Mom tore into the room, looking honestly worried about me as she came over to my bed and knelt down next to it, running a hand through my hair and staring up at me.

"Oh, my poor baby! What happened, honey? Are you hurt? When Alfred called, he said you were still unconscious." She turned to my brother. "How long was he out?"

"Hmm, well… I came in like, half an hour ago… so at least that long," he answered.

I stared back at myself in the reflection my mother's glasses put out, seeing the hectic shine in my eyes, the spots of red across my face, fading blush. My mother had never seemed this worried for me before, and I had always been sure that, if the day came when she was, I would enjoy being pampered and stressed over. But, as I looked past myself into the depths of her azure eyes, I could see the fakeness, the lies, the hatred for me… I had been a mistake. She'd told me so herself, once. I had broken a marriage with my birth, because if she had never gotten pregnant with me, Alfred's father never would have known. And now… now she was pretending to actually care for me like a mother should. And yet, her effort to pretend to love me… well, it just hurt me all the more.

"Leave me alone," I told her, my jaw set. "Go back to work; I know that's what you want to do. Don't pretend to care. Just leave me alone."

She seemed astonished, taken off guard by my words. "Matthew Williams, I came all the way home to see if you were okay! I gave up good work hours for you, hours I could be using to earn the money I need to support our family! You're just hallucinating," she explained, more to reassure herself than me.

With a sigh, I gave into her will, let her bend me like I always did. "You're right… I'm just going to sleep for awhile, I guess. I'm sorry I took up your time, but I'm fine, so you can get back to work now."

"There's a good boy!" She kissed my cheek and stood, brushing off her work clothes. "Goodbye, sweethearts, I'll be back tonight! Dinner's in the fridge Alfie, make sure Mattie gets some!" Then she left without another word, going to pull herself back through the knee-deep work she had.

Alfred and I just stared at each other, silently, both of us thinking deeply.

"So, guess what dude?" Alfred exclaimed excitedly, out of nowhere.

I jumped, but made a questioning noise.

"I'm going to England! Woohoo, British people! I saved up money from my job and now I have enough to finally go meet Arthur! But wait, that's not even the best part! Guess who's coming with me? YOU! I have enough for both of us!"

In utter horror, I looked at his hyperly twitching face. "You have that much money and we still are having issues paying the bills? Why don't you give Mom a break and use your money for something that can help us all instead of just you?" I asked quietly, afraid of how he would react.

"Because…. Because…. England looks so cool, though!" he complained, putting on a whiny tone. "Look, wait here! I'll show you! Don't move!" He streaked out of the room like he was on steroids.

I had no idea where he was expecting me to go, but I did what he instructed and didn't move. The minutes ticked by, and there was still no sign of him. Only the sound of him tearing through his bedroom wildly made me not go to check on him. Just as I was starting to wonder if he'd gotten lost in his closet again, he came in empty-handed, cheeks flushed and panting heavily.

"Um, were you going to show me something?" I wondered as he looked at me strangely.

"Oh, uh, I was going to show you something? Crap… well, so much for pretending to be Alfred to mess with you! The awesome me, sadly, isn't a mind reader!"

"Gilbert!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Where were you?"

His face darkened. "I used up a lot of energy telling you that story, so the awesome me lost my visible apparition form… But don't worry, it's temporary!" he assured me, although he didn't seem too confident in that fact himself.

"But wouldn't possessing someone take up even more energy?" I asked him, worried.

"Well… yeah, but there something that the awesome me needs to ask of you before I go and rest for awhile!"

"Yes?"

He stuck his hands in my brother's hoodie pockets and jutted out his bottom lip in a pout. "Could you… maybe go and visit my gravesite? It doesn't even have to be a long trip or anything, but it would be… awesome. I haven't really had anyone visit me in a long time and I think it's about time somebody paid their respects by bowing down to the former awesomeness that was my glorious body!" he tried, though the energy wasn't in it.

For once, he was being totally serious.

I nodded, at first hesitantly, but then I gained more confidence in the movement. "I'll do it now, if you want me to."

He gave me a lopsided grin, said, "I'm at Rivercreek Cemetery. But don't go there until my apparition returns, kay? When the awesome me comes back, we can go there together! Tomorrow!"

"I'll stop by after school tomorrow if I see your ghost, right?"

"That's right! The awesome me is gonna bother you at school! Bye!"

And then he faded out, leaving my brother unconscious in my doorway. I walked over and leaned down, checking Alfred's pulse just to be sure he was okay. His heart seemed to be beating normally, so I decided I would go make dinner for the two of us before he woke up. I took out what Mom had left for us and stared at it a bit before throwing it out and going to the cupboard to find something NOT coated in mold. If Alfred had made dinner, he would have just eaten it and tried to feed it to me. It made me glad he was passed out and I silently thanked Gilbert for saving me from another bout of food poisoning.

As I waited for the oven to heat up, I leaned against the counter and carefully closed my eyes with an unexpected urge to pray to whoever was out there watching over everyone.

'Please let me see Gilbert again… I think I may...I may love him.'