A Whole New World chapter 5

She hated Prince O'Neil. She didn't know what he may have done, but had a very high suspicion he bewitched her father, which made her anger and detest of him grew into strong hatred that only grew much stronger than before after he tried forcing himself onto her.

She hated her father, the king. Even if he was spelled, she thought the love he felt for his daughter would give him enough power to resist the spell, but she could see she was wrong. And for the horrible choice he was forcing her to make, giving her an unfair option to marry O'Neil to become queen or get kicked out from her home.

She hated her mother, Queen Lily, who dead on her and wasn't around when she needed her the most. Even though she knew it wasn't like her mother chose to die, recalling how her father used to tell her the queen wanted a daughter so badly and she was delighted to find out she was pregant with a daughter, she still neded her mother.

I just hate everything, the princess thought as endless tears were streaming down her face, the water mixing with her dark mascara, which was now running down her face in ugly streaks. While endless tears were flowing down her cheeks, she felt so numb and empty inside from all the pain she experienced.

After finally getting away from that monster-like, bastardly demon known as Prince O'Neil, whose eyes she could feel burning holes into the back of her head as she stormed away from him, she went straight to her room.

Musa was with her every step of the way, showing much of how much of a true friend she really was. When they both reached her room, Musa insisted on drawing Flora a hot tub, saying it'd make her feel better. Although her body seemed to be craving that, the princess wanted nothing more than to be alone and dismissed her friend.

Alone in her room, she stared at her reflection with dazed eyes and nearly burst into tears again from the sight. She looked, in one word, horrible. But as horrible as she appeared on the outside, she felt even worse inside.

Even worse didn't seem to describe how she felt. Numb seemed more like it. Numb and hollow, as if there was nothing left in her but agonizing sadness.

Half-heartedly she grabbed her brush and ran it through her tangled hair, trying in poor attempt to make it look decent. She was too tired to fix her torn clothes with a spell, not having any energy in her to do such a task, so she slowly peeled off her clothes and tossed them in the laundry hamper. She selected a sleeveless pink dress with light green spaghetti straps, decorated with flowers and leaves, and had a light green belt with a pale yellow belt buckle slide around her slim waist. She then paired the dress with dark green wedges sandals with light pink ribbon straps tied nearly up to her knees.

As much as Flora wanted to be alone, she didn't want to be alone in her room. The walls seemed like they were slowly moving, as if they were closing on her and every where she turned there were countless reminders of who she was and destined to be staring back at her. Looking at them made a lump form in her throat, nearly suffocating her and making her head feel light-headed.

She knew the rose gardens would be the perfect place to go, with it being her favorite place, and she escaped to there. Being surrounded by the beauty, having the tall bushes and vines containing the beautiful rose buds, watching the trees blow in the direction the wind was blowing, and smelling the rose buds were almost enough to make her forget about her problems.

Almost, but not completely.

Inhaling the sweet, beautiful scent of the roses in the air, Flora sighed heavily as she sat down in the warm, soft grass and arched her back against the jasmine tree that had beautiful, sweet-smelling petals falling onto the ground like rain.

As much as she didn't want to think about what happened, her subconscious couldn't let her forget about it. Slowly each fragment of the memory flashed through her mind, till the whole thing was being played back and she was in tears once again, crying so hard her body was shaking hard.

How in the realms could her father force her to marry someone like that?

As she hurried off to her room, she passed by his study and saw him sitting at his desk, looking…sad for some reason with his face buried in his hands. Looking at him for a moment, she thought about telling him what happened to her but at the last second decided against it. After the explosive anger her father displayed in the dining room, she had a strong feeling he wouldn't even cared.

Or worse, he blamed the whole thing on her. He probably said she should have used magic to help her out in the situation or thought she lead O'Neil on with that forced kiss and seduced him into thinking she wanted something more than that.

Flora tried holding in a sob as she ran her hands through her hair in both sadness and frustration, gripping onto her hair tightly and was in too much numbing pain to even think about the pain her poor skull was going through by her hard hair-pulling. She hated crying because it made her feel so weak and vulnerable, exposed like she was stripped nakes and letting everyone see emotions she was suppose to keep bottled-up inside. But she just couldn't stop crying and the tears seemed like they had no intention of stopping.

She knew she must have looked less like a princess and more like a…horror with tears she was too numb to wipe away falling heavily from her eyes like rain and ruining her makeup, snot dripping from her nose, and her glttering eyes puffy and blood-shot. But she had no annoying nannies to remind her to freshen herself up, warning her a princess should never look less than perfect, so she didn't care about her appearances and let herself cry.

What am I going to do? She wondered, but unfortunately didn't have an answer to her question. She was then immediately snapped out from her thoughts as she heard the sound of snapped twig nearby, her head jerking up while her ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming closer to her. She quickly got up from the ground and turned around, seeing a figure coming closer to her.

Prince O Neil, she figured. She knew he wasn't going to give up too easily and thought he was coming back to finish what he started. Only things were going to be different, and she was going to fight back.

Taking in a calm, deep breath and emptying her head of thoughts, Flora held her hands in front of her protectively, frowning as she saw the figure was coming closer and closer. Her hands began glowing brightly green as her eyes, which were both light as fresh grass yet usually dark, both beautiful and frightening at once. "Try anything, my Venus Gobbler will swallow you whole!" she warned.

As the man took another step closer, the vines deep underground were pulsing loudly like a heartbeat underneath their feet, the pressure of the loud and strong pulses slitting cracks onto the ground encircling him. He seemed not to notice and took another step forward, and she was ready to attack him till she got a look at him.

Aqua, bright yet almost dark blue eyes gazing deeply into her, as if they could see everything inside her she kept buried. Those beautiful blue eyes belonged to a handsome servant dressed in a light green peasant long-sleeved shirt and stone khakis, looking more like a poet than a servant. His pale skin, which contrasted with his dark hair, looked much natural in the night time than daylight that gave it a certain glow, making him more beautiful.

Staring into those blue eyes made those strange, strong feelings come alive inside her, and left her speechless. She blinked twice before shaking her head, as if she was freeing herself from the trance she was in.

He was carrying a small lantern and held it over their heads, shining some light in the dark place. When Helia saw he was looking into the princess's tear-streaked, beautiful face, he was shocked for a moment before smiling softly and bowing before her.

"Your Highness." Helia greeted, blushing slightly and was thankful his long hair was covering his cheeks like curtains.

Despite herself, Flora found herself smiling softly at him and curtsying, but felt so embarrassed by her appearance. Her past nannies always warned her to have her makeup bag with her at all times, but at the time she thought it was silly and was against. Except now she could see why she should follow their advice in the first place. It was in case she was placed in situations like this when someone catches her at a bad time when she wasn't beautiful and looked horrible.

"Forgive my appearance please," She smiled, attempting to fix herself up but had a good feeling she was only making things worse. "I know I must look horrible."

Actually to him, she looked beautiful either way, but he didn't say that out loud because he feared those words would only make her uncomfortable. Or worse, scare her away. So instead, Helia smiled a charming smile that was so unlike O'Neil's smug one and was softly sweet in its' own charmed way, as if he was saying he didn't mind her appearance. Then, as if he was reading her mind, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief he handed her.

Smiling slightly in gratitude, Flora wasted no time using the handkerchief to wipe her tears and blow her nose, doing the action over several times till she was sure she looked okay. Looking at Helia's smiling face, which was starting to get more attractive by the second; she was smiling herself, a bit broader than before, and held the tear-damped, mucus-covered tissue. "I don't suppose you want this back?"

Helia pursed his lips and tapped his chin thoughtfully with his fingers, making her giggle by his display of deep thinking like the suggestion was a tough choice to make. Finally he looked at her with that serious face, done with thinking, his expression firm while his eyes held some laughter in them. "That was my favorite handkerchief to use, but seeing how you have your tears and…nose dripping on it I think it makes more sense for you to keep it." He joked, finally allowing himself to smile, and they both couldn't help laughing.

"How kind of you, dear Sir." She joked, making them laugh harder. It was odd to Flora. Usually Musa was the one who always kept her laughing; being the only one could ever make her giggle heartedly instead of politely, so it was strange the servant standing before her was making her laugh. She really didn't know him that well, other than the fact he was recently new and saved her, but being around him and this close was different.

A good different, though.

After the laughter slowly died down, silence filled between them. It was the kind of silence that was almost comfortable like the type you feel around a friend when things get quiet and also a bit awkward since neither of them knew the proper way to break the silence.

While Helia fixed his gaze on the rosebuds and appeared to be lost in his thoughts, Flora couldn't help looking at his profile.

His dark hair seemed even darker at nighttime, tied in a loose ponytail but had loose strands flowing with the cool wind breeze, looking so fine and smooth she nearly reached out to run her fingers through it. His pale skin was beautiful and nearly flawless, with the exceptions of the few cuts and bruises she could see were signs of the hard work he did. He was definitely tall, about a foot or so than she, and was as lean as he was tall. He had the kind of body that was a perfect cross between a figure too toned to be skinny and also a bit too skinny to be broad, which she found very attractive and appealing.

Completely absorbed in looking at his features and memorizing every detail into memory, she took a quiet step closer and tried to get a better look at his eyes. At first glance she thought they were aqua, but they almost seemed to be a bit darker like teal blue. Very beautiful, intense blue eyes.

When he slowly turned back to her, she flushed as it occurred to her she was rudely staring. She ducked her head, embarrassed and also a bit surprised by what she was thinking.

Helia could feel Flora's eyes staring at him while he stared at the rosebuds, so he turned back to wonder what she needed. As soon as their eyes met, those feelings for her he kept buried were bursting inside him and felt almost as shocking as electricity. He wondered if she read the poem he sent to her. He wondered if she liked it.

He opened his mouth, about to ask the question, but then stopped and closed it tight again. The Princess already been through more than enough tonight and had too much to think about, much more important things than thinking about some poem. "After you and Musa went away, I got a bit worried. I went to check on you, but saw you weren't in your room. And since this is your favorite place, I knew I found you here. Are you okay, Princess?"

She winced, still not comfortable about talking about it. Then she looked into those amazing blues, which were both dark and bright at the same time, holding her gaze with one that was intense but also searching. In those eyes she saw genuine concern for her and was touched. "No, not really," she confessed, managing a small and weak smile while her voice seemed to crack a bit. "But I'm so touched you care about my well-being. You are quite kind."

"I'm only a simple servant dedicated to serving my lady." he said with another bow.

"Nah, you're more than that. What you did for me…was completely incredible. You protected me like a knight," Saying those words she meant to keep inside made her cheeks blush, but she tried not thinking about her bright red blush and continued talking. "Please call me Flora, noble man. I prefer being called my actual name than my titles."

"Flora," He smiling, shivering in pleasure from saying her sweet name, which set pleasurable tingles up his spine. "I'm Helia."

Helia, she thought, smiling as he bowed again to her and she curtsied. A fine name for a man like him. "Thank you for what you did, Helia. You were so brave and heroic. If you hadn't come to my rescue..things would have gone really bad."

"The pleasure is all mine, Flora. Besides it's the least I can do. After all, you did save from the wrath of Disprao and my boss."

She allowed herself to smile as she remembered that morning, but soon the smile went away quickly while recalling the horrible, unkind insults Disapro threw at him because of the accidental spill. "No trouble at all. In the end, we both repaid each other by out kindness."

Even he was touched by the princess's words and still in shocked she actually thought of him as some sort of savior, it still wasn't enough for Helia. He was glad he saved the princess from that devil-demon, but still it didn't seem enough to pay her back for her kindness.

He recalled from that morning she helped him out and he watched her leave, he made a promise to himself he was going to pay back her kindness by giving her the thing he knew he desired. Helia was well aware how much Flora longed to see the see the world beyond the walls taking her in.

She clearly needed something to do to keep her mind off things, they were both alone with no one around, and as far as he was concerned the guards weren't coming back from break for a few more minutes. He wondered if he could make her wish come true now.

"Flora?" He asked, waiting till she turned back to him and smiled as he continued "May I show you something?"

"What?" she asked.

...

"Oh my goody goodness." Was all Flora had to say as she eyed the organish-red hover cycle that was flowing a few inches off the ground after Helia started it and walked around it to get a better look from all angles. When Helia took her to an abandoned garbage near the servants' quarters, he said he wanted to share something with her but she never thought it would be something like this.

"A beauty, isn't she?" He said. "It was actually nothing but pieces of scrap metal, but a good friend of mine fixed it up for me as a birthday present to celebrate my twelfth birthday."

"Really?" she said, interested. "Was he a mechanic?"

"No," Helia answered, and a strange look crossed his eyes, which became suddenly hooded like he was reliving through some memories. "He was a wizard, actually. A good, too. And he was also a good friend of mine who was like a grandfather to me, and seemed to be the first person in the longest time to actually care about me."

"What happened to him? What was his name?" She asked, and then immediately regretted asking it in the first place as she watched the sadness deepening in his eyes.

"His name was Saladin," He said, looking at her but not really seeing her, completely dazed like he was living his memories through his mind right now. "And, sadly, he died two days after my twelfth birthday. After that I became on my own again for the next five years. At least till I came here anyway."

"I'm so sorry, Helia." She said with true sincerity. She may have lost her mother, but she was far too young to remember her and was able to escape the hurt. She had no idea what it might be like to lose someone who you remembered and meant so much to you so suddenly.

"It's alright." He said.

A painfully long, uncomfortable filled between them as time seemed to slowly drag on, more awkward than comfortable like she liked it to be, making her feel so anxious and wanted it to stop.

"Do you know there are wide mountains as far as eye can, which are told to bring such peace just by the sight of them?" He finally said, breaking the silence. She arched her eyebrow in confusion at him, but he only smiled a bit at it. "Or that there's an island on a sunny realm where rainbow-colored flowers blossom everyday? And a place where an ocean floor sparkles beautifully like diamonds? There are so many beautiful things I wish to share with you, Flora. So many beautiful things I loved for you to see."

All that did sound beautiful to her, creating such a longing ache in her heart to see such wonderful things. Her eyes widened with the possibilities, and Helia saw she was already on board.

"I want to show what you've been longing for all these years," he said. "I want to show you the amazing sights and travel all over the realm."

"See the realms?" she repeated. "That's always been a dream of mine. I wanted it for so long."

He went over to a nearby desk to retrieve two helmets, one blue while another was pink, and handed the pink on to her. Slipping on his helmet, he climbed on board the bike and gave the engine some gas, which purred amazingly as silent as a kitten.

He held out his hand to her and asked "Do you trust me?"

She glanced down at the pink helmet he handed her before slowly lifting her head up, finding herself gazing into his eyes.

She was careful when it came to true, knowing how helpful and also deadly it can when it's given, and had very few people in this world she could give that, too. Although he seemed kind and saved her, she still didn't know him that well so it was hard for her to decide. But there was a feeling, a strong one buried deep inside, that told her she could.

And even though she didn't know why, she decided to go with that feeling and trusted it. She slowly nodded her head and smiled, smiling once he saw he was smiling back, slide on the helmet that was a perfect fit, and held onto him tightly as she climbed on his back.

He started the bike and they zoomed off, going higher and higher till they were flying in the sky and were off.