A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update everyone! How does a musical about an illegitimate orphaned son of a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean, by providence, impoverished, in destitution, turn out to be one of my fav productions? (see what I did there? :D)

Yes, I'm talking about Hamilton and after listening to its soundtrack, I've been obsessed! I have to express how lucky we are to be alive right now~ XD

I know I've been gone for a bit- I've recently started taking the Senior High School Program, and it's kinda a mandatory program that prepares students for college- kinda equivalent to first year college, really. So I kinda took an unannounced hiatus since most of my time has been taken up by my studies, anyway I'm back with this cbapter which I hope you guys would enjoy!

Anyway, I would like to thank the following for reviewing recently: New Prussia, alexiaroosenhaan, GreenWithAwesome, jenhen48, Cookiedoodles168, and wolfofstark.

I know you guys wanted to know what happened to Francesca so I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. Just for clarification, the last chapter was set earlier in the day, while what had happened in the airport occurred sometime in the last afternoon. I kinda used this chapter to establish a few parts of Percy's past that might seem interesting, as well as setting up the upcoming events of the story.

Enjoy~


Prince Percival Finnley Lombard, 21, Caste 1, Angeles

Percy decided hiding from the Selected through the secret passage ways was actually a good idea. Quincy and Thalia literally pushed him into one when the first batch of Selected arrived from the black zone, and well he's been using them since the morning to get around the palace.

He found it hard to believe that this was happening all over again. A little over a year and a half ago, he thought one of the girls in the palace was to be his bride. He hid in his office as he tried to go over every girls' form. Heck, he even made a few index cards to help him with friendly conversations, and which girl had the best standing or was the preferred pick among his advisers but it never did quite prepare him to meet any of the girls the last time.

With a walkie-talkie and ear piece that allowed him to communicate with Miranda, Quincy, and Thalia, Percy was certain that the plan to avoid the Selected was going quite well. Percy tried to enjoy the walk he was taking in the greenhouse, as much as one who was walking with a dog could.

Mario, a french bulldog, was Percy's emotional support dog. He was a gift from his mother a year ago, after the doctors had suggested a dog to help him with his PTSD. Mario did help alleviate some stress, and the bad dreams had lessened. It also helped that Mario liked to scooch in bed with him and lick his hand when the dreams were worse than his usual ones.

His PTSD was a known fact in the palace, to the country even, though no one really spoke about how he came to develop it. Illea did not want to talk about their prince whose mind is tortured by moments during an attack on the palace.

They wanted to talk about the heroic prince who fought in the Battle of Casa against the French Conquest Organization when he was only 16. There, Percival was among the bayoneteers that prevented the French Conquest Organization's plan of colonizing the small nation of Andorra and stopped them from gaining an access point to Spain.

Who sends a sixteen year old to war you ask? Certainly not Queen Hanna Beth Schreave.

She sent him to the war front in Spain when he was 14 years old.

He could still recall the day when his mother called him to his office, six feet and three inches of limbs he didn't know where to place, his mother comforting Elsa as they were informed of the attack on the French royal family: how the heir to the French throne, Lucas, was taken hostage and murdered in front of the rest of the family.

From the information sent to him from their spies in France, King Gautier, Queen Mackenzie, and the rest of the royal family whereabouts' were still unknown to that day.

From that day seven years ago, Illea and Spain- France's closest allies- had declared war against the French Conquest Organization in the name of the Sauveterre family and France. It was the least they could do for France, an ally that aided them long before they called it Illea and the country was still considered a colony of England.

Percy did not have many memories of the French royal family, only glimpses of blonde hair, pink dresses, and the story of how the French Monarchs always seem to get kidnapped.

Mario interrupted the sudden blast from the past as he yelped at him. Percy led the dark colored dog outside to the gardens to make their way back to the palace. He knew that the palace was much more secure now, his mother and him had made sure that security measures in the palace were tripled, but it didn't stop the slight anxiety he had every time he and Mario went outside. He always felt the need to be more vigilant when he was outside, especially when everything felt so serene.

He was greeted by the guards standing by the west wing entrance, a curt nod from the two stationary figures as Percy entered the library to take the passage way to his office on the third floor. The walkie talkie beeped as Quincy's voice called out to him, just as Percy made it to the third floor.

"Prince Percy, I need you in the Queen's office." Quincy said as he heard the breathy pants on the other end of the line. Percy felt his heart drop down to his stomach at Quincy's urgent tone, his feeling of anxiety coming back. He immediately grabbed Mario and began running to the secret entrance of his office, scrambling towards the door as he ran across the hallway to his mother's office.

Percy burst through the doors to see one of the head guards talking to someone on his ear piece and the Queen staring intensely at the wall with her hands knit together. Quincy was already half-yelling instructions in his earpiece and walkie talkie.

"Quincy, tell me what happened?" Percy said, his voice sounding panicked, as Mario was still held under his arm. He feared the worst, like one of the planes crashing and taking all the girls with it, or a shooting at the airport- Percy knew that it was a perfect opportunity for enemies of the crown to try and get get him. He tried to convince his mother that a crowd at the airport would spell disaster for them.

"There was a shooting," the guard spoke up, "the Selected from Ottaro was the apparent target, but another Selected had pushed her away." the guard's tone eerily calm despite the circumstance of the situation.

"W-Was anyone hurt?" Percy could never forgive himself for another Selected dying because of him. He already had the blood of three on his hands. Another soul lost because of him was just a confirmation that whatever deed he did, it never went unpunished.

"The one who pushed the Selected out of the way sustained a light graze on her shoulder. No one else had been hurt in the attempt, your highness." the guard assured.

"Who is the one that pushed the girl out of the way?" Hanna Beth asked, a mixed expression of worry and calculation on her face.

"The representative from Bankston, your majesty; Lady Francesca Kelsey." Quincy spoke as he took a folder out with the name "Kelsey, Francesca Jane" and a picture on it.

"She's a lieutenant general," Percy murmured as he scanned through the information gathered about her. "No wonder she'd throw herself in front of a bullet for someone else."

"Where are the representatives from the yellow squad?" Hanna Beth asked as she took a look at Francesca's picture.

"Two representatives are currently undergoing make overs- they were at the car at the time of the incident- the representative from Ottaro has just left the hospital wing and is unharmed, however she has told us that she would like to leave. Lady Francesca is currently at the hospital wing where Doctor Grey is giving her a few tests." Quincy reassured before yelling out, "Thalia, don't you yell at me like that! It's not my fault you hired that stylist! Just change her hair back to brown, god damn it!"

Percy almost smiled at Quincy's outburst, if it weren't for the fact that one of the Selected just got shot.

"My apologies, your highnesses." Quincy breathed out while the guard had the ghost of a smile on his face. "What do you suppose we do, your highness?" Quincy added.

"Well," the Queen started off as she took a sip from the mug on her desk, "there will be no covering up this." she said as she looked straight at the guard and Quincy. "The crowds in the airport would have dozens of videos capturing what happened. Percival, what else must we do in situations like these?"

Percy knew that the next words he was going to say have weight, especially since his mother has been more open to Percy being more hands on in the state of affairs as of late.

"We must announce what happened before tabloids and online news articles start up a firestorm. We should announce it tonight on the Report, clarify the story. We control the spread of the story." he declared as he gently placed Mario on the ground and took the seat across his mother.

"And what about your 34 other guest? Wouldn't they need to know?"

"Quincy, let Thalia and Miranda gather the girls to be briefed about what will and has happened. We should begin teaching the girls basics on how to defend themselves."

"Officer Flanders, I want you to give notices to Vice Admiral Baudin and Officer Battacharya that the training will begin the day after tomorrow."

"Very good, Percival. Quincy , Officer Flanders, carry out the orders Percival had discussed. You are dismissed." Hanna Beth nodded and the two quickly left the office, the sound of the door shutting echoing through the room.

"As for you Percival, I want this girl to be your first date for this Selection." she said with a smirk.

Percy sighed as he bent down to pick up Mario and place him on his lap. "You're going to have a lot of press for it, won't you?"

"It only makes sense. It's just going to show everyone against us that we will not be fazed by attacks like these." Hanna Beth said as she stood up and walked around her desk to scratch behind Mario's ears.

"It doesn't hurt that her background is one of the best among the Selected. I want you to go to the hospital wing and visit her."

"You're telling me to break protocol?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little unfair to the other Selected?"

"I'm just suggesting that you check on her, thank her for her bravery, maybe some flowers..?" Hanna Beth added a hinting tone.

"I suppose you're favoring this Selected, aren't you?"

"Percival, she is a lieutenant general! You should be fascinated by that!"

"I am, but mother, it is against protocol." Percy retorted. Leave it to his mother to act giddy and sorts when she finds a potential wife for him, even if he had 34 other choices.

"Then I rule an exception. Now go, hospital wing. A butler is waiting outside your office with some flowers for the girl." Hanna Beth replied as she pushed Percy to the door, Mario still in his arms, and shut the door in front of his face before he could say anything else.

His mother was right, a butler was outside his office with a lavender bouquet of flowers in his hand. The butler quickly scurried to him and handed him the flowers ,as Percy had placed Mario down, with a mumbled "An order from the Queen, Prince Percival" before bowing and quickly walking away before Percy could thank him.

Mario yelped as Percy guided the small dog with his left hand, while trying to balance the bouquet in his right hand, the scent of lavender crawling up his nostrils. Percy decided walked down to his room as he pushed a part of the decor on his wall to open the passage way that lead to the east wing of the palace where the hospital wing was situated.


A/N: Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I hope you guys are still going to follow my updates on this story even if it isn't as quick as it was before!

Question Time: What would you guys like to see in the next chapter? Would you like it to be another Percy POV chappie?

Thank you so much for reading again guys, and don't forget to review~! Be kind to one another!

Next on the Queenstrial: It's another mystery!

~*Sparky Out*~