Chapter One: Towering Tall
I had mixed feelings about my return to Parthenia.
It was a celebratory feeling being back, and yet I wasn't sure if I was ready. It felt like at any moment I would wake up and had to keep subtly pinching myself to keep up my nerve.
"Are you alright Clara?" Turning I gazed at my primary reason for being here. "Yes Eric, I'm just…thinking," I responded with a light smile. Eric smirked and took my hand in his. "I was unaware that you required pain to think." I scoffed. So he had been watching huh? "I'm simply reassuring myself that this isn't some cruel dream," I replied as we walked on down the path. We were currently headed towards the castle. "I doubt it," Eric said grinning as he put his arm out to me. Apparently chivalry had yet to expire in this world. I took it allowed him to formally escort me. "But if you insist on self-injury I fear I may have to restrain you." "You could try," I said grinning back.
"Will you watch where you're going?" I raised an eyebrow and turned to see Candy and Mint arguing once again. "I thought I told you left right left!" Mint said pointing at Candy's feet. "I am doing left right left," Candy sighed, irritated by Mint's behavior. They were still in the clothes from Clara's world, but Mint had insisted that their rank be shown in their actions if not visible to everyone. "You sir, are doing right left right!" Mint corrected frowning. "Rirr Ra…your sloppy footwork is what caused you problems at the ravine! And it continues to plague you!" Candy looked at him incredulously. "That whole incident really did just pass him by," I whispered in Eric's ear. I really did think that Mint had just been covering up, not that he actually believed it. Eric shrugged. "It's best to leave it be." "I see I have scolded you into silence," Mint said almost proudly. My eyebrows raised. "Prince Eric I do believe you're right."
"Begin again," Mint demanded. "We're walking down a dirt path. Alone!" Candy growled throwing up his hands in dismay. "What you practice you perform," Mint declared adjusting his black coat before walking on with his left foot. "Actually King Eric," Eric said nonchalantly. "Yes," I agreed turning back to the path. "Whatever you say Count Eric." He laughed at my mischievous nature and looked upon his kingdom with joy.
We walked on and soon the castle was in sight. It had been so long that the sight took my breath away. It was so beautiful. The castle was surrounded by lush green grass and flowers. The sky shone blue and clear and birds floated in the air barely moving their wings. The castle itself gleamed like polished gray marble and in front of me I saw the courtyard. The fountain where Eric and I had done their pas de duex still graced its center. Looking around I noticed the townspeople were staring at me. To me shock when I looked back at them they dropped upon their knees. "What are they doing?" I asked confused. "Paying you respect," he said smiling at me, his eyes looking at me with kind tenderness. I tried hard to not forget what I was talking about. "You are recognized as the one who saved all of Parthenia from the Mouse King's evil." "Oh," I said snapping back, my eyes wide. "How do they know it's me though?" Eric said nothing as though he held a secret and looked beyond me. Looking where his eyes were I was shocked to see an addition to the fountain.
In the center of the cherubs that spouted water was a figure of a ballerina in front arabesque, her head adorned with a crown, a proud tutu on her, her hair in impossibly wonderful tresses. "That's…" I said unable to contain my astonishment. "You," Eric said smiling. "You had a statue of me made?" Eric shrugged as though it was a box of chocolates. "I had to do something while you were away." I tried to ignore that strange obsessive and yet endearing compliment and simply walked to the statute. "Well it's not very realistic," I said frowning at it. "That figure is gorgeous." He walked up to me and his eyes lidded with care and he took my hand. He raised it to his face and brushed it with his lips before giving me a measured look. "Yes you are." My heart raced and I gently tugged my hand away before Eric could feel my pulse. No need for him to know his full effect on me. Looking at his satisfied look I had an uneasy feeling that he already did.
"Um so," I said after clearing my voice. "What should we do now?" Before he could respond a group of very frantic people started calling "Your Majesty!" It was a little disconcerted being that they all looked like dollops of whip cream. The two females whom had large white gowns embroidered with jewels and the six males had large poofy trousers. They all had rosy cheeks and their hair was white and smoothed up like a curved points on their heads. Just like whip cream. "Your majesty! We're having problems with random rebel attacks!" A female with glasses and a clipboard declared. Her voice was operatic. I was expecting her to break out into a sonnet any moment. A man stepped forward now as quick as the woman had been.
"Your majesty! Repairs with the Gingerbread Village have been postponed due to Gumdrop hail!" "Majesty you have a fitting for the Reopening Parade of the Gingerbread village!" "Majesty the kitchens are out of frosting!" Eric twisted side to side trying hard to take in what was being thrown at him. "Majesty Majesty!" One of the females yelled loudly. "What?" Eric yelled in frustration. Her eyes widened and she folded her hands. "I missed you." The others turned to her, their expressions severe. Then a man loudly yelled, "Your Majesty I missed you more!" "No your Majesty. I missed you more!"
"LET ME INTRODUCE…" Eric yelled above the crowd.
They silenced themselves and looked at him respectively. He sighed heavily then began again. "I'd like to introduce you to the Clara Barks otherwise known as the Sugar Plum Princess." I was a little shocked to hear a collective gasp before they all scrambled to their knees and started crawling toward me. It looked like a mass of snowmen surrounding me and I was terrified. "Your Majesty!" they cried tugging on her coat. "These are the eight magistrates of the kingdom." Eric said seeing the horrified expression on her face. "They're a bit…dramatic." "A bit?" I asked as they pawed at my jacket like ravenous wolves. "Could you please get up?" I asked feeling highly uncomfortable. They all popped up in a flurry of white and I think my eyes rolled to the back of my head. All I knew was Eric was suddenly holding me up. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
"Have we distressed the Princess?" "For shame!" "On our knees we must atone!" "Indeed!" They all suddenly dropped and starting chanting, "For shame! For shame!" Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose holding me close in case I fell again. I could see he was very stressed out. "Clara let me introduce you to the four main magistrates. The rest of you can leave." They slinked away, but the two females and two of the men remained. "Rise," Eric commanded. "Slowly." They did as he asked and I pulled away from him. "I am Phineas Blue Burry," one said bowing at his waist. He had a white goatee and mustache and deep blue eyes that looked like actually blueberries. "And this is Lilith Straw Burry." A woman with a single spectacle similar to Mint's in her eye, brown eyes, and red stained lips stood forward and curtsied. She was very graceful despite their previous performance. They seemed like fraternal twins. "Are you related?" I asked curiously. "OH NO!" she shouted giggling. "I'm his wife! I was Lilith Straw Berry, but I became a Burry." Her husband chuckled and took her hand. "Yes yes! It tis much better to be a Burry than a Berry isn't it sweetums?" "Oh ho ho you sticky devil."
"And this…" Eric said striking that conversation. "…is Petunia Pudding Pop and Mr. Fizzler." The girl whom had said she missed Eric ran up to me and gave me a huge crushing hug. She had honey colored eyes and the pinkest cheeks of them all. Her fellow magistrates winced at the sight. "Such a pleasure to meet you! Oh I feel as though I've missed you too, though we haven't met. I'm Petunia! Though you can call me Petunia or Tunia or Nia, but probably not Nia because what if I asked you a question and you said Nuh like Nah but with an uh, but I thought you were calling me and we'd just be puzzled wouldn't we?"
I blinked as the girl continued to hold onto me. "Um, what?"
"Pop, get off the Princess you Opportunist!" Phineas said pulling her by her white flippy hair. "Oh," she pouted. "But we are to be best friends." Phineas scoffed. "I doubt that wholeheartedly. "Me and the Princess are to be best friends." "The Princess and I darling," Lillith interjected. "How true, oh you are my sweetpie!" "Ho ho you frosty scoundrel!" "Hello," Mr. Fizzler suddenly said.
He had on thin wire glasses and purple eyes. His face was handsome and he looked extremely out of place in his clothes. To my surprise he was the only one not smiling. "Hello," I said wondering if I had found a normal person among them. "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too," I smiled. "I want one of the Princess'smiles!" Petunia whined. "Hush up Pop!" Lilith snapped. "We call her Pop," Mr. Fizzler said calmly. "Why?" I asked confused as to why they wouldn't use her name. A ghost of a smirk graced his lips. "You shall see why. Anyways, he's Blue, and she's Straw." "Oh Fizzle darling you're no fun," the woman, now Straw said pouting. "We were hoping so for new names." "Mr. Fizzler, is Mr. Fizzler," he said grumpily. He turned back to Eric whom had tried to opt out of the conversation. "Mr. Fizzler thinks you should check your office personally."
"What?" I asked again. It seemed that I had lost a generous portion of my vocabulary on the trip here.
"He speaks in the third person," Pop giggled in my ear. I jumped. When had she gotten there? "There is nothing wrong with Mr. Fizzler's dialect," he said pointedly glared at Pop. She laughed and went back into her spot. "Oh course not Fizzle." "Mr. Fizzler is Mr…" "I'll go to the office and check out the damage," Eric said trying to stay calm. I was shocked that this was the true dynamic of the court. I had expected extreme sophistication and class. Instead it was as though I was in some child's cartoon. "Blue, Straw, I could use your assistance. Pop I will leave the care of Clara to…" She squealed in happiness before he could speak. "OF COURSE YOUR MAJESTY! Anything for dearest best friend Clara!" I wanted to tell her that I already had a best friend but decided against it. No need to get Sasha involved in a crazy escapade like this. Eric rubbed the back of his head. "Actually I was going to say Mr. Fizzler, you may attend to her as well." Pop blinked then decided it satisfactory and clung to my arm.
I laughed nervously. "Oh Eric dear?" I said removing her from me and floating to his side. "Yes?' he asked as though he could see the violent thoughts in my head. "Don't leave me with them," I whispered softly with a tense smile on my face. "You'll be fine," he said laughing and running a hand through my hair. "Just, try not to dance." "Why?" I asked curiously. "I think we should go," Pop whispered in my ear. I jumped, feeling as though she had stolen a part of my spirit. "So that's why they call you Pop?"' I said frowning. She simply giggled and clamped onto my arm before rushing me into the castle. Mr. Fizzler followed solemnly after. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.
Where were Candy and Mint?
Candy sighed as he and Mint scaled the castle walls.
As soon as Mint had seen the Parthenian colors he was attacked by a stroke of pride and demanded that they not be seen in their improper attire. In order to do that, they would have to scale behind the castle wall and enter through a vacant room, then travel down the corridors to their respective rooms. "Hup Hup! Faster ol chap!" Mint declared, his long dancers limbs pulling him up like a spider. Candy thought of retorting but feeling the vines that he and Mint were scaling loosen he decided to just climb. He didn't need another ravine accident. Suddenly he felt the vine jostling in his hand. Looking up to his horrification he found Mint was bouncing up and down to reach the window sill.
"Stop that!" Candy yelled. "You're going to make me fall!" Mint however was in his own world and after a mighty jump reached the window sill and pulled himself up. "Like clockwork," he exclaimed proudly. Meanwhile Candy was tangled up in his vines. Mint looked out and saw this. "Stop messing around Candy. We have a mission to accomplish." Candy grimaced. If he didn't know that Mint was an amazing leader, he would have dubbed the man a complete and utter idiot. Righting himself, he climbed up and followed Mint out of the room. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Clara being led by two of the magistrates. "This shall be your room," a man said ushering her toward the room they had just been in. "Um, thank you," she said. "Can she let me go now?" The man looked at the girl clamped to Clara and then back at Clara before adjusting his glasses. "No. No she can't." Candy chuckled under his breath and continued to follow Mint.
the corner he saw that Mint was perched again a wall, frowning heavily. "What's wrong?" Candy whispered though he dreaded the answer. "Hall guard," he grumbled back. "He'll see us." "So?" Candy asked not truly seeing the point. "He's part of the military, it won't matter. No one looks very much like us. It'd be hard to mistake us as anyone else." Mint peered over the wall and slinked slowly back having been deaf to everything that Candy had said. Suddenly he whistled loudly with two fingers. Candy's eyebrows furrowed as he heard the guard walk towards the sound. As soon as he was passing their wall Candy watched in horror as Mint's fist connected with the man's face. His jaw was slack as the man fell backwards effectively knocked out.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures Candy," Mint said looking at his fist with intense pride. "Was that even necessary?" Candy shouted now jolted out of his stupor. Mint frowned as he turned to look at him. "I just said it was. You really must work on your listening skills Major Candy." With that he walked past the unconscious guard and went into his room. Seeing no point in even acknowledging what had just happened, Candy simply strode to his own room.
He could use a cup of tea.
I sighed as we walked down the hall. Pop had been rambling in my ear and clutching my arm like an anaconda. "…And that's why you should always make sure the person you curtsey to is the one you meant to curtsey to! It's quite crazy to curtsey to a dog because you face the wrong way, but yet it's never bad to be polite. Politeness is a trait most people don't have. Like when people talk and others don't listen it's quite impolite you know…" "This shall be your room," Mr. Fizzler said, his calm quiet voice cutting through Pop's rant. As he opened it I saw a flash of color in the corner of my eye but chose to ignore it. Probably a hall guard.
"Um thank you," I said surveying the neat expansive room. It wasn't lavishly garnished like you'd expect, but I was simply grateful for the wonderful view it afforded. Right out by the gardens. Seeing that Pop still had my hand I decided to intervene. "Can she let me go now?" Mr. Fizzler shifted sharply to Pop then settled back to my face. I frowned as he adjusted his glasses. "No. No she can't." With that he bowed. "Mr. Fizzler will be back to escort you to King Eric in an hour or so. Please feel free to enjoy this temporary abode." Then he left. I stared at the girl who was latched on my arm. Suddenly Past Clara had an idea.
"Um excuse me," I said sweetly. "Could you get me a glass of water?" "Sure!" Pop exclaimed and she bounced out of my room. As soon as she vacated I bolted the door shut. "Ah," I sighed walking to my window. I was tired. "Parhenia," I mused to myself. It had been such a different experience than what I faced now. Looking down I saw that vines led all the way to the top of my window but was a little disconcerted to see what appeared to be boot marks on the wall. Okay, I'd be looking my window at night. Still, I thought about how boring it might be without rock giants and mouse troops to fight. I plopped upon my bed, ridding myself of shoes and stretching out. Then I thought of Eric and my heart fluttered. Perhaps he would be all the excitement I needed. Maybe, even more than I could handle. Yawning I turned over and to my surprise found myself drifting immediately to sleep.
Pop though the Princess was quite hilarious. She admired her for tolerating her nonsensical behavior. True, Pop could be quite disciplined when it struck her, but where was the fun in that? Totting a glass of water and a spare key, Pop entered the Princess' room ready for round two. She instantly quieted when she saw her asleep on top of her bed. Smiling to herself she left the glass of water on a side table and closed the door behind her. She'd…Pop up in a few hours.
Hi guys. I'M BACKKKKK! Finally got some direction for the sequel. I'm going to be experimenting with different POV's which gets a little tricky so if I botch please lemme know. I'm trying to make it clear by putting in line breaks so you can prepare for it just in case.
I try to edit but you always miss one or two.-_-
By the way, I save all my email alerts in which people have alerted, reviewed, PM-ed, or Faved my stories/me, so I KNOW YOUR OUT THERE! Please review!*pout* It's been my dream since I started Fanfiction with a few now deleted stories to get to 100 reviews at the end!
REVIEW AND I'LL THANK YOU! Let's start off fresh!