Austin takes a deep breath and slowly opens the door to his mother's office. "Mother? You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, darling, come in and have a seat," she says, looking up from her work. He swallows and sits down in front of her desk. "I'm going to make this quick. I'm sorry, but you will not be returning to America with Ally for the spring semester."

It takes a few seconds for him to process what she just said, but then Austin's face falls, and his heart drops down to his stomach. He was expecting something like this, but that doesn't mean it doesn't kill him hearing it out loud. "Why?"

"You know why, Austin. You cannot be with Ally. She holds no title, has no leadership experience, and could never be a queen. I know you say you don't want to think about the future yet, but it will be here much sooner than you think. It's better that you two break up amicably because of the distance than for you to tell her you've been betrothed to another woman a few years from now."

"Mother, she makes me so happy – "

"Unfortunately, as Prince you must put your country before your own happiness. I'm sorry, darling, but I'm not budging on this matter."

Austin tries to swallow the lump in his throat and clenches his jaw as he stands up. He turns and walks out before he says anything to his mother that he'll regret, and he storms back up to his room angrily. But before he goes in, he takes a deep breath. He has to enjoy every moment of these last couple of days with Ally.

He opens the door and finds Ally exactly where he left her: napping peacefully on his bed. (She claims that the bed in his room is more comfortable than the guest bed she's sleeping in, but he has a sneaking suspicion that she just wants to be near him.) Before he can debate whether or not he should risk her wrath if he wakes her up, her face scrunches up and she stretches, her eyes fluttering open.

He smiles a little, but then he bites his lip as he walks over to the bed and sits across from her. "Hey, uh, I kinda need to talk to you."

Ally frowns and sits up, watching him. "That sounds ominous."

"Well…it's not a fun talk."

She frowns more. "Are you breaking up with me?"

His eyes widen. "No!" He grabs her hands. "No, no, no, I'm not breaking up with you. It's just…" He looks away from her and takes a deep breath. "My mother sorta forbade me from coming back to school with you after break. I have to stay here."

She doesn't say anything for a while, and when he finally works up the courage to look at her he wishes he hadn't. He hates himself for being the reason she has that look on her face.

"O – oh," she finally says, pulling her hands away from him gently. "Right." She clears her throat, and he can see her already building new walls in her mind. "I understand. I mean, you're a prince and I'm nowhere near royalty. Your mother is just thinking about what's best for the country."

"Ally, I'm so sorry – "

"What is there to be sorry about?" she asks quickly, picking at his bedsheets and avoiding his eyes. "This wasn't your choice, and I already knew your mom didn't think I was good for you or Ocheria. We both should've seen this coming."

"Don't say that. I'm gonna keep talking to her. This doesn't mean we have to break up," he tries.

She finally looks up at him, and the pain in her eyes is almost unbearable to look at. "Austin, we'll probably never see each other again."

"That's not true – "

"Look, I know you're always the optimist, but we're gonna be on opposite sides of the world. And besides, if we don't break up now, we'll have to eventually so you can marry a princess or whatever." She stands up from the bed and starts walking to the door. He scrambles up after her.

"Ally, wait. Please." She stops and turns to look at him, and he swallows nervously. "I – I know you aren't big on putting too much into relationships, but I don't want this to be the end of us. Can't we at least try?"

She presses her lips together in a tight line, and all he wants to do is go back in time and never invite her to Ocheria and never tell his mother about her. Then they wouldn't have all these problems.

When she doesn't say anything for a while, he takes a deep breath and keeps talking. "I get it if you wanna just break up now. But…can't we at least enjoy these last few days we have together?"

"I don't want to break up," she mutters, staring at the floor.

He feels his heart finally start beating again. "O – Okay. Then let's not break up."

She hugs him tightly without looking at him, and he sighs and hugs her back, not feeling as relieved as he should be.

"Austin, you're acting weird." He smiles nervously and tries to wipe his sweaty palms on his pants without her noticing. But she does. "Tell me what's going on."

"Well…you know how I told you I couldn't come back to school with you the other day?"

"I had almost forgotten for a second."

"And you know how we decided that we should just focus on being together before you leave, so yesterday and this morning all we did was stay in my room and watch movies and play all those video games we got and make out and then almost get caught making out and – "

"Are you going somewhere with this?"

He swallows, the nerves continuing to build up. He knows she isn't actually mad at him, but this whole situation and the pain it's causing has his girlfriend pretty on edge. "Yes. I am. You know I enjoyed all of that very much, but I thought that maybe we could do something different since it's your last night here."

"What did you do?" she asks, crossing her arms.

"Okay, so, I know you don't like big romantic stuff, but I thought that maybe since we won't see each other in person for a long time after tomorrow, you might let me sweep you off your feet a little bit? Just for tonight?"

She lifts her chin slightly and watches him warily. "A little bit," she finally says. "But Austin Moon, I swear if you look at me and tell me you love me for reals, I'm locking myself in my room until the ferry leaves tomorrow."

He grins, despite her threat. "Deal. I'm really glad you agreed because I sorta already set everything up. My lady?" He holds out his arm, and she narrows her eyes at him for a second before linking her arm through his.

"You knew I was going to agree," she says as he leads her down the hall.

"I hoped you would. It's a little hard to be certain."

"Well, as much as romantic stuff makes me nauseous…it's not so bad coming from you."

He smiles and walks with her out to the castle gardens, where he unlinks their arms and grabs her hand instead. She smiles a little too, looking around at all the perfectly kept flowers and trees in the garden. As they walk along the cobblestone path, he finds himself unable to enjoy the beauty of the gardens because he's too busy watching her.

"Walk in the garden," she says as she looks around. "Not too romantic. I like it."

He grabs a bright purple flower off a bush as they walk past it and hands it to her. She takes it, trying and failing not to smile.

"Yeah, I thought I'd ease you into it," he teases.

"Ah. I should've known there'd be more."

He smiles again and brings her hand up to his lips to kiss the back of it, and he pretends not to see the pink tint her cheeks take on (even though they both know it's there).

"And Austin Moon takes home yet another gold for Ocheria in Mouth Grape-Catching! The crowd goes wild!" Austin exclaims victoriously, mimicking a cheering crowd. "Ocheria has officially wonthis year's Fruit Olympics with substantially more gold medals than the U.S., but Ally Dawson brought her home country enough gold and silver to snag second place."

Ally rolls her eyes and throws another grape at him, laughing. "Oh, shut up," she says, her eyes twinkling. "I let you win."

"No way," Austin says, grinning and tossing a grape back at her. She catches it in her mouth. "Face it, Ally. I'm just better at fruit sports than you."

"When did you get so cocky?" she asks, looking slightly impressed.

"I'm not cocky. I'm just running on the high of winning the Fruit Olympics. I've been dreaming of this moment since I was a kid."

She laughs more, which makes him smile more, because he still doesn't hear that sound often enough and he loves it more than any other sound in the world.

"But we should probably get going," he says, looking up at the sky. "Sun's gonna set soon."

"First a picnic, and now another big romantic sunset date? You're killing me, Moon." But she's still smiling.

He grins and stands up, holding out his hand. "I wouldn't be me if I didn't take you on a sunset date."

"No, I guess not," she admits, taking his hand and standing up. He leads her back inside the castle. "Can I get real with you for a sec?" she asks as they walk down the hall.

"You can always be real with me."

"I know, but I mean, like, really real."

"You can always be the realest of reals with me," he tells her.

He sees her smile a little out of the corner of his eye, but a split second later she's looking at the ground and her face is hidden by her hair. "Right. Well, when you first invited me to come home with you and meet your family and stuff, I thought maybe it would be my chance to find a family who actually cares about me, even just a little. But then you turned out to be a prince and your parents understandably don't like me, and with them not letting you come back with me on top of it, I just…I'm really bummed out."

He frowns and stops at the bottom of the staircase, turning to look at her. "Hey, I know the situation isn't the best right now, but we'll figure it out." He forces a tiny smile and squeezes her hand so she looks up at him. "If I somehow managed to earn your affections, I'm pretty sure I can do anything."

She rolls her eyes, which he knows means he made her feel a little better. "Please," she says. "If anything, it's crazy that you like me."

"I'm not playing this game with you," he says. "Besides, we have a sunset to catch. C'mon." He smiles at her and leads her up the stairs to the roof of the castle, where he's set up another blanket near the edge with a perfect view of the sunset. There's more greenery up here, too, and Ally smiles a little. She walks over to the blanket in a daze, dragging him behind her.

"Wow," she mutters as she looks out at the view of the city from where they are. "This view is incredible."

He looks over at her. "Not nearly as incredible as this one."

She looks at him and scrunches her face. "That was too much. Very cringey. But thank you."

He grins. "Your criticism has been noted. However, I stand by what I said. You do look beautiful, love."

"Love?"

"I'm sticking to that one."

Her cheeks turn pink again. "Oh…screw you."

Austin laughs and they sit down on the blanket together as Ally presses her hands to her cheeks to cool them down. He swallows and glances over at her, worried that she might actually be upset with him, but she's watching the sunset and smiling softly, so he breathes a sigh of relief.

"I wish I had my art supplies. This view with the sunset would be amazing to paint," she says absentmindedly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Next time," he says quietly, resting his cheek on her head.

"Next time," she echoes, and then lifts her head from his shoulder. He frowns and looks over at her, meeting her gaze. "Because there will be a next time."

He smiles a little. "Of course there will."

She nods once and then looks out at the sunset again, and the orange glow in the sky illuminates her face the same way it did on their first date. He wraps an arm around her tightly, already missing her even though she isn't even gone yet.

As the sky turns dark, Ally starts pointing out the constellations like she always does. Austin listens to the stories behind them intently, but he can't bring himself to look up at the stars she's talking about. He just watches her, listens to the confidence in her voice as she spouts information he doesn't know about, and he wonders if she even realizes how smart she really is. Her starry eyes twinkle more than usual, especially because the constellations in the sky are reflecting in them.

When she finishes a few stories and is silent for a while, Austin clears his throat. "I wanna show you something," he says, standing up and holding out his hand.

She takes it and stands up, a small smile on her face. "There's more?" She doesn't even bother trying to act annoyed, and he smiles at her.

"There's always more, love."

He leads her across the rooftop to a massive dome. He opens the door for her and she eyes him warily.

"You're gonna kill me, aren't you?"

He laughs and takes her hand again, leading her inside. "I'm still not gonna kill you," he says, turning on the lights. "This is the observatory. Since you love the stars and constellations so much, I thought you'd like it."

She grins and immediately rushes over to the massive telescope in the center of the room, leaving him to follow. He presses a button and the dome opens up, revealing the starry sky still above them. Ally puts her eye to the telescope.

"This is so cool!" she exclaims. "I want one."

"I'll give you one," he says, absentmindedly messing with some maps of stars on the table next to him.

"You don't have to do that. I can get one."

"I know. But I would, if you wanted me to."

Ally stands up straight and looks over at him, her eyebrows scrunched together. "You okay?"

He nods, meeting her gaze. "I just…want you to know that I'd do anything for you."

"Anything is a big word. But thank you – "

"I mean it," he says, watching her earnestly and searching for the message in her eyes he's dying to see. "Even if it was something I'm not supposed to do. Like going back with you, or – "

"That's what this is about," she interrupts. "I'm gonna stop you right there. As much as I wish you could come back with me, and as sweet as it is, I'm not letting you go behind your mom's back and risk the future of your country for me. You said yourself, we'll figure something out. But you running away with me is not the answer. Even if it is sorta very romantic that you would do that."

"C'mon, Ally. You hate rules. I thought you'd love the idea."

"Not this time. Your mom has a point."

He frowns at her. "But I want to be with you. I'll do anything to make it happen."

Ally sighs. "It's like you're a prince from a damn Disney movie."

"I am a prince."

She walks over to him and rests her hands on his cheeks. "You're staying here like your mom wants. Please don't do anything stupid that'll get you in trouble." He keeps frowning at her. "Promise me?"

He sighs and nods, and she stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Then, she wraps her arms loosely around his neck and looks up at him again. He watches her, resting his hands on her back.

"Thank you for today," she says after a few silent moments.

"Even though it was romantic?"

She smiles. "Because it was romantic."

He raises his eyebrows, smiling back at her. "You liked it?"

Ally does her little laugh, which makes Austin smile more. "Turns out, I kinda like a little romance when it's coming from you. But don't let that give you too many ideas. I'm still really bad at being romantic."

"You're not bad."

"Earlier I told you that if you said you loved me I'd lock myself in my room until it was time to leave tomorrow."

"Hey, a month ago you would've said you'd break up with me. We're making progress."

She laughs again, so he laughs, and for a few quick seconds he forgets that she's leaving in a matter of hours and he won't see her for who knows how long. But then they stop laughing, and he remembers, and it sucks.

"You're sure you have everything? Maybe we should sweep the castle one more time just to be sure – "

"I have everything, Austin," Ally interrupts, zipping her suitcase. They're in her room, and she's leaving in a matter of minutes, and Austin is just about ready to call one of Ocheria's enemies and beg them to lay siege to the island so Ally doesn't have to go.

"Hey, come on. I don't want my last image of you in person to be you frowning and pouting," she says, walking over to him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He glances at her, still feeling pretty miserable. His heart pangs painfully and he looks away quickly. "Austin, you really wanna spend our last moments together feeling bad for yourself? Because I don't."

He sighs and shakes his head. "I could still run away – "

"No. You're staying here."

"It's like you don't even want me to try to be with you," he mumbles grumpily. He knows he sounds like an immature brat, but he can't help it. Plus, she really has been way too okay with all this. He needs to see her show some sort of emotion or sign that she really will miss him before she leaves.

Ally raises her eyebrows at him. "Okay, I know you're upset and you don't actually believe that, but I'm gonna need you to take a deep breath and try to snap out of it."

He hoists her suitcase off the bed wordlessly and sets it down next to her, avoiding her eyes. She's right, and he knows it, but he refuses to just pretend like everything is fine and dandy when his heart is being ripped out and sent to the other side of the world without him.

"Come on, Austin, we had so much fun these past two weeks! Don't let it end on a bad note. Especially because you know how hard it is for me to be the optimistic one."

He finally looks at her, and he realizes that she's just barely holding it together. He hasn't really looked at her much today because he's been too busy sulking, but she looks like a mess. There are dark circles under her eyes like she didn't get much sleep last night, and it looks like she only made a half-hearted attempt to look presentable. Her eyes are glassy and her nose is red, like she rubbed it with tissues all night. She's just as miserable as he is, but she's forcing herself to be strong and optimistic for him. She's far from okay with this, but she somehow knew that showing it today would send him into a mental breakdown.

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her into him, squeezing his eyes shut and burying his face in her neck. Her entire body sags in his arms as she hugs him back, and he knows she can't be strong anymore. He isn't surprised when he feels her tears seeping through his shirt.

He takes a deep breath, inhaling her scent, memorizing it, and braces himself to take the weight of being the strong one off her shoulders. When he pulls away from her, she has tears streaking down her face. He realizes with a start that this is the first time he's ever seen her cry.

"I hate crying," she mutters shakily, wiping her cheeks with her hands and then looking at the tears with disgust. "But this sucks, Moon."

"We'll talk every day," he promises, taking her face in his hands and wiping the fresh tears from her eyes with his thumbs. "I'll even write you love letters. That way, you'll be so annoyed with me you won't even want to see me."

She laughs a little and sniffles, finally meeting his eyes. Normally he'd find comfort in her starry eyes, but the constellations look like they're trembling because of her tears. "If you write me love letters, I might sneak back here and kill you." But he knows she doesn't mean it.

"At least I'd get to see you."

She rolls her eyes and wipes her face again. He drops his arms.

"No use delaying the inevitable any more than we already have," she says, grabbing her suitcase. He purses his lips and nods, and they walk downstairs together wordlessly, although he does giggle a little as Ally struggles to get her suitcase down the steps.

The King and Queen are waiting for them in the foyer, the big doors already open and a car waiting for Ally outside. His mother won't even let him go to the dock with her, so this is it.

"Thank you for having me here," she says to his parents with her best, albeit still a little awkward, curtsey. "I'm sorry if I, um, got in the way of any of your plans."

Austin's mother watches her coldly, but his father offers her a warm smile. "It's been a pleasure getting to know you, Ally."

Ally glances at the Queen and swallows, but she responds with a nervous smile. Then she looks at Austin, and he takes a deep breath. He walks her out to the car, trying to put together the words he wants to say.

They stop next to the car, and he opens his mouth, but she beats him to it. "This isn't goodbye," she blurts. "So don't…don't say goodbye."

He nods and clears his throat, watching the driver load her luggage in the trunk so he doesn't have to see those eyes just yet. "Right. Can I make a speech?"

"Small one, or you're gonna make me cry again, and I'm gonna have to punch you in front of your parents and a bunch of armed guards."

He smiles a little and finally manages to look at her. "Just a couple things. I'm really sorry for not telling you who I am sooner. I know we're past it now, but it was still a really lousy thing for me to do, especially with all my speeches about how you can trust me. But you can trust me. I never wanna keep anything from you again."

She nods. "I know."

"Okay, um, second, I just wanna say that despite everything, it was really fun having you here. And it's just been a really fun three – well, almost four now – months with you, and even though we aren't gonna be in the same country, I'm sure we'll find a way to make all the future months fun too."

She smiles a little at that. "I really do love it here. And you know that these past few months of you have been the best of my life, don't you? And I know I'm gonna cringe so hard when I think back on saying this later, but you're truly the best thing that's ever happened to me."

He bites his lip, his heart pounding. He doesn't quite trust himself to say anything else yet without breaking down. He wants to kiss her. He wants to kiss her so bad and he knows she wants to kiss him too but his parents are watching and his mother would probably have an aneurism. He settles for taking her hand and kissing the back of it, and he knows she understands.

He opens the car door for her and she takes a deep breath. "Thank you for everything," she says. She starts turning to get in the car but he catches her hand.

"One last thing," he says quickly. Then he finds himself smiling genuinely, despite how sad he is and how serious he is about what he's about to say, because he already knows what her reaction is going to be. "I love you. For reals."

Her lips part in surprise and her cheeks tint pink, and he can't help but be reminded of the day she kissed him for the first time. Her eyes meet his, and he's pretty sure he can see the constellations twinkling brighter than before. Then she swallows and narrows her eyes at him, her cheeks turning from pink to bright red.

"I told you – "

"I already said it, Ally. Can't take it back now. You're just gonna have to live with the fact that there's somebody in this world who loves you, and it's me. I love you."

The blush spreads from her cheeks to the roots of her hair and the base of her neck, and she whacks his chest lightly. "Stop it."

She's reacting pretty much how he expected, but it's so very her that he can't help but laugh, and he even forgets how sad he is for a few seconds. "Stop what?" he asks in between giggles.

She seems to realize that he's just teasing her now, and she rolls her eyes. Her face is still red as a tomato. "Got anything else to say, Romeo?"

He smiles and kisses her forehead. "Have a safe trip, love. And call me when you get home."

"'Have a safe trip, love,'" she mocks with one of her famous eye rolls. She turns to get in the car again, but then she looks back at him one more time, all the annoyance magically gone from her expression and replaced by…uncertainty? "You really do love me?" she asks softly, and he can tell she genuinely wants him to say yes but she's also mad at herself for asking.

"I really do love you, Ally," he promises.

She opens her mouth to respond, but then she closes it again, looking away from him and biting her lip as her fading blush fires up again.

"You don't have to say it back," he tells her. "I know it's touchy for you."

"I'll see you soon," she manages, looking in his eyes one more time. He nods in agreement, and she gets in the car.

He waves to her, and she waves back, and then he shuts the door before he loses control and jumps in next to her, which would get them both in trouble. He watches the car drive away, and he stays staring in the direction it went long after it disappears from view.

It's a rough couple of months. He talks to Ally every day, but his mother has increased his classes to "better prepare him for the very near future," which he takes to mean "distract him from Ally as much as possible." The time difference doesn't make things any easier, but they manage.

A couple weeks after she left, he borrowed the Royal Photographer's camera and took pictures of Ocheria from the roof where he took her that last night she was here. He got a shot at every time of the day, and he sent all the pictures to her along with a letter telling her why he sent them. Now, he gets a new painting or drawing or sketch of that view from her every few days. His favorite, though, is a watercolor painting she did of the sunset from the rooftop. The sunset is beautiful, of course, but the reason it's his favorite is because she drew a dark silhouette of a kissing couple in the foreground. And because it's the first picture she sent him, which means it represents the first time she wanted him to see her art.

Unfortunately, they seem to argue every time they talk. He's slowly been making plans to sneak back to America to be with her, but for some reason she refuses to support him.

"I don't care about the future of Ocheria if it means I can't be with you," he tells her on the phone one day as he paces the length of his room. He's said that line so many times he feels like a broken record.

"You know that's not true," comes her tired voice on the other end. She just woke up, but he can tell that the tone in her voice isn't just sleepiness.

"It is true."

"If you run off to be with me, there's no chance of your mother ever accepting me." At this point, it sounds rehearsed. "Then we'll really have no future."

"Do you even want a future with me?"

"Not if it means you have to abandon your family and leave your country without a leader."

"You don't mean that. When – if – I run away to be with you, you'll be okay with it. All you ever do is break rules."

"Austin, I mean it." Her tone goes from tired to harsh in a snap, and Austin swallows.

"I just…miss you."

"I miss you too. But that doesn't mean we can just drop everything and abandon all our responsibilities and run away together."

He sighs. "I know."

He hears her shift in bed on the other line. "How're your classes so far today?"

"Fine," he says. "My mother only intensified my schedule to distract me from you."

"Doesn't seem to be working."

"It's not. How's school? Are you passing your classes?"

"Yes, mom," she teases.

He smiles a little. "How're Dez and Trish?"

"They're good. Dez misses you. He came up with this elaborate story about how your parents had to pull you out of the exchange program to start teaching you to continue the family pasta business. I didn't have the heart to tell him I know the truth. Although I don't know how he hasn't put together that I came home with you for winter break so I had to find out who you are."

"He told me about the cover-up," Austin says, smiling more, but then he hesitates. "Wait, isn't Trish in there with you?"

"Don't worry. When she's asleep, I could literally be screaming bloody murder in my bed and she wouldn't wake up."

"Right."

He hears her yawn, and then she sighs. "I should probably start getting ready. I can't scrape by in my classes if I don't attend them, unfortunately."

He chuckles. "You're doing great, love."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you later. Be a good little prince and try to focus on your classes, okay? If I can do it, so can you."

"Fine. For you."

He hears the smile in her voice when she says, "Bye, Austin." Then she hangs up, and he sighs, feeling drained.

Just then, he hears a knock on the door and his mother walks into the room, carrying an envelope.

"Austin, I'd like to speak with you," she says.

"You already are," he mutters, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Austin, please," his mother says, tapping the envelope against the palm of her free hand nervously.

Wait. Nervously? Mimi Moon doesn't get nervous.

He watches her warily as she sits next to him on his bed. She doesn't say anything for a while, and instead looks at all of Ally's art hanging on his walls.

Finally, she takes a deep breath. "I know you miss Ally."

He bites back a sarcastic reply. Prince Austin Moon wouldn't dare talk back to his mother. No matter how badly he wants to.

"You aren't supposed to see this," she says, handing him the envelope. "But I want you to read it."

He holds it gingerly in his hands, as if it might explode any second. Now that he's looking at it closely, he recognizes Ally's handwriting, tall letters squished closely together in dark ink. The return address is the school.

"Ally wrote to you?" he asks his mother, still staring at the envelope.

She doesn't say anything. He opens the letter and pulls out a few pieces of paper stapled together. The one on top is a normal lined sheet of paper in her handwriting, and the two underneath it are printer paper. He swallows and starts reading.

Your Majesty,

I want to start off by saying that I did research about whether handwritten or typed letters were more respectful for royalty, and I got mixed answers. So, to be safe, I also included a typed version of this letter. And also a version translated into Italian, if that's what you prefer. Although, I would ask you to read the English version along with it, because when I translated the letter back from Italian, I'm not sure it conveyed what I'm trying to say.

Second, I know you don't like me and you don't approve of me for Austin, much less for Ocheria, and I get it. Austin and I may be young still, but you have to always be thinking big picture, and I understand why I wouldn't really fit into that picture. But please, I wouldn't be bothering you by writing this if it wasn't important, so don't burn this letter just yet.

I really shouldn't be telling you this, but I think Austin is genuinely considering running away and coming back here to be with me. I've told him not to a million times, even though I thought he was joking at first, but now I'm not so sure. I don't know what exactly you can do, but please don't punish him. The last thing I want to do is get him in trouble. But the future of your country wouldn't look so great if the prince ran away and had to be exiled or something because of it. Ocheria is the most beautiful place I've ever been, and I don't want Austin to throw away the future and livelihood of all your people because of me. So maybe just have some guards or something keep an extra eye on him? I don't know. I just felt like I had to tell you. I care about Austin too much to let him make such a huge, rash mistake.

Also, I was thinking another solution is maybe letting him see me a few times? You could send him here for a weekend, or I could come there where we could be under constant supervision or whatever you wanted. I just think that maybe being together might boost his mood and help him focus more on his king classes (I'm sorry, I don't know what to call them). I won't be surprised or disappointed if you don't want him seeing me anymore, and I really don't want to be disrespectful. I genuinely just want the best for him and your country.

If you read the whole thing, thank you. I'm sorry again if this was a waste of your time or bothering you or if you got the letter too late and he's already gone. I should've written sooner, but since Austin doesn't know about this, I spent days researching trying to make sure I did this right. Thanks again for listening. I hope Austin's okay.

Sincerely,

Ally Dawson

Austin swallows and glances over at his mother when he's done reading. He isn't sure whether the lump in his throat is anger at Ally for telling her about his idea to run away, or fear that his mother will punish him and take away all means of communication with Ally, or just sadness and longing for his girlfriend.

"So…I'm in trouble?"

His mother takes a deep breath. "Is it true? Have you been planning to run away?"

"Mother, I love Ally. I care about being King someday, but I care about her more."

"You allow your emotions to govern your choices without thinking them through," his mother says wearily. She pauses, and then continues. "Ally seems to be a voice of reason for you." He looks down at the letter again so he doesn't have to have his hopes crushed by the disappointment in his mother's face. "This girl must really care for you if she's willing to sacrifice your trust and possibly your entire relationship because she wants the best for you. She cares about the future of a country she only found out about a few months ago. I may have been wrong about her."

Austin tries his best to keep his heart rate under control and prevent his hopes from getting too high, but he risks a glance at his mother. "What…what are you saying?" he asks her hesitantly, already afraid of the answer.

She smiles softly. "I'm saying that your father reminded me that we can teach anyone the basics of being a queen, but nobody can be taught how to love a person as much as you and Ally clearly love each other."

He swallows. If this is a dream, he tells his subconscious, it's a really cruel one.

"I have decided to allow you to return to America to finish the school year and graduate from Seaside Academy."

Austin's heart pounds. It's too good to be true. He digs his fingernails into his palm to try to force himself to wake up, but this seems to actually be happening. "Are – are you serious?" he asks her.

She smiles a little more at his reaction and nods. "I believe Ally deserves a second chance with a more open mind on my part."

Austin breaks into a smile. "Thank you!" he exclaims. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He hugs his mother tightly, which seems to surprise her, but she hugs him back.

"You will still be focusing on your studies, right?"

He pulls away to look at her. "Of course," he says quickly. "Study, study, study. That's what school's for. I should pack!"

He stands up and grabs his suitcase, throwing clothes into it while his mind reels. He vaguely registers his mother laughing, a sound even rarer than Ally's.

Austin scares Dez so much when he walks into the dorm, he falls out of his bed.

"Austin! You're back! What happened? What are you doing here?!"

"My mother let me come back!" He grins and hugs the redhead. "I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you too. Ally's been meaner than usual with you gone. But don't let that scare you. Go see her and we'll talk later!"

Austin laughs and silently thanks his friend for being so understanding. Then he rushes to Ally's dorm, takes a deep breath, and knocks on the door.

Trish opens it, and her eyes go wide as saucers.

" – fine, Trish," he hears Ally saying. He looks over Trish's shoulder and sees Ally's legs sticking out from under her bed, where she's probably looking for art supplies. "With Austin gone, I'm just putting more time into my art. I miss him, but really, I'm okay. Is someone at the door?"

"Uh-huh," Trish manages.

"Don't let them in if it's someone I don't like. Where did I put my stupid – "

"It's someone you like," Trish says.

"Is it Dez? If this is about his dumb project – "

"It's not Dez," Trish interrupts again.

"There's literally no one else here I like. Did you forget about Austin again and try to hook me up with some guy?" Austin frowns and opens his mouth, but Trish gestures for him to be quiet. "Trish, Austin's my first ever boyfriend, and I came to you freaking out last week and told you I love him. How do you keep forgetting about his existence?" Austin chokes and starts coughing, and Trish grins and winks at him before rushing out the door. She shoves him inside the dorm and closes the door behind him.

"Ugh, finally I found it. Trish?" Ally crawls out from under her bed and stands up before she sees Austin. Her jaw drops, and so does the box of oil pastels in her hand.

He tries to smile at her, but it's probably distorted by the shock he still feels over hearing that she loves him. She loves him! "Um…hi." The Crown Prince of Ocheria, trained on the art of eloquence from birth, and that was all he could come up with.

"Austin!" She runs over and hugs him, which takes him by surprise, but then she pushes him away before he can even hug her back. "What are you doing here?! Did you run away?! Austin Moon, I swear if you ran away – "

"You love me?"

"You first."

He exhales impatiently. "No, I didn't run away. My mom got your letter and decided that you're a good influence on me, so she let me come back. Thanks for ratting me out, by the way. But none of that matters. You love me?!"

Ally swallows, her cheeks turning bright red. He can't help but smile. He missed her so much. "I don't know what you're talking about," she says, crossing her arms.

"Yes you do. I heard you tell Trish."

"I don't recall…"

"C'mon, Ally. I told you my big secret, so now it's your turn. And we haven't seen each other in months."

She rolls her eyes and looks at him, throwing her arms up in defeat. "You know what? Fine. I love you, Austin Moon, and if anyone has anything to say about it, they are cordially invited to suck it."

He grins, despite the pain of his racing, pounding heartbeat, and raises his hand. "I have something to say about it."

She glares at him, her cheeks still red as tomatoes. He knows she's just finally letting out all the frustrating emotions she's been keeping bottled up these past few months, so his smile doesn't waver.

"I love you, too."

She grits her teeth and storms over to him, but he can see those constellation eyes his missed so much dancing. She can't fool him.

"You're an asshole," she mutters, but she grabs his collar, pushes him against the door, and kisses him for the first time in months.

As he wraps his arms around her and gets his fingers tangled in her hair and inhales her scent, he feels her lips curving into a smile and her body relax in his arms. Now, everything is perfect.

ahhhhhh i hope you guys liked it! thank you so much for reading, and i hope you like the ending :) thanks twitter friends for supporting me in all caps and yelling at me to keep writing there's no way i can make it w/o u :,)