A/N: Sorry for my not so great updating! :-( This story is harder to write than Angels of Prophecy because I hadn't prewritten it like I did for the other story. I will try to work on this story more.
New OC! We get to see the story from her point of view for a little bit. ^_^
Note: this Clara is a lot different than the one in my other story if you have read that as well. She is not as shy and quiet as the other one.
Disclaimer: I only own Princess Clara and no one else. Everyone else belongs to their respected owners.
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--Chapter 5: The princess--
High above the rooftops of the village and the gates of the castle, Princess Clara sat at the windowsill, gazing down to her father's lands. She was a light pink puffball, so pale that one could scarcely see the rose pink color. Her sea blue eyes wandered from the central fountains to the valley that bordered the kingdom. Her thoughts were interrupted as her handmaid entered the room.
"Your highness, your father wishes you to greet the young knight, Sir Galacta. Shall I assist you with your dress?" Sirica said as she bowed politely.
Sighing, Clara walked over to the large mirror and allowed Sirica to help her into a dress. She glanced at her reflection. All she saw was a frowning girl staring back at her.
"I do not love Sir Galacta."
Sirica looked at her in surprise.
"Your highness, he is the most noble knight of your father's kingdom! If thou do not love a worthy knight as he, who will thou choose to wed?"
Clara frowned even more.
"Thy father chose him, not I. I have witnessed him treat thy father's servants poorly. I wanted…someone…more honorable," Clara said slowly. "Thy father will hear naught of what I say. He believes a knight who proves himself worthy can wed me."
The princess stood up and Sirica bowed again. Clara walked out of her bedchamber and walked down the stone hall. In every direction, one could see this was a place of pure royalty. The floors were so polished that she could see her reflection below her. The walls held paintings of the finest artisans the kingdom had. Arches high above her head were heavily ornamented with gold trimmings and sculptures. At last, she reached the heavy wooden doors of the throne room. She stopped a few feet away from it. Clara thought back to the time when Sir Galacta had been unheard of and many knights competed in the jousting tournament. The stranger from the distant kingdom of the north made his appearance, seemingly unstoppable. Since then, very few knights dared challenge this legend of a knight.
A guard opened the door, surprised to see her there. The waddledee opened the door wider and bowed. The usual fanfare greeted her as she walked in. Her father sat on the gold throne at the far end of the room. He looked up from Sir Galacta to her. Clara seated herself on the vacant throne that was placed alongside King Arthur's. Her father wore his usual gold armor with its gold trimmings. A crown rested on his head and a dark red velvet cape outlined his shoulder plates.
"My dear, I want thou to talk with your future husband."
Sir Galacta kneeled down and took her hand. He took his hat off as he rose back to his feet again. Sir Arthur nodded and Sir Galacta led Clara out of the throne room.
Sir Galacta took her to the courtyard. On a usual basis, this was Clara's favorite spot. Trees bordered a stone fountain that stood as a center piece of the garden with a bench facing it. They sat down on the ornate stone bench. Clara inched herself away from him but Sir Galacta pulled her back, closer to him.
"My lady, pray tell I, what day shall we marry? Mayhap this eve? Morrow?"
Clara struggled to get out of his arms. Sir Galacta held her tighter and moved his face closer to hers.
"After the tournament with I defeating unworthy fools, we will be together."
Sir Galacta took his mask off and let it drop to the grass. He kissed Clara fully on the lips. Clara, unable to free herself, had to remain sitting there as Sir Galacta kissed her. Above them, a figure watched the two unnoticed...
"Sir Meta?" Fumu called out into the darkness. Kirby, Bun, Sword, and Blade stood behind her as they looked into the bell tower. The girl caught sight of the hem of a cape and lit a candle for more light. Sir Meta was seated in one of the nonbroken benches, facing away from them.
"Poyo?"
Sir Meta turned to them briefly before turning away again. Fumu and Bun's jaws nearly dropped when they saw his face. He had almost the same exact childlike face Kirby had except his eyes were gold instead of Kirby's light blue eyes.
"Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!"
"In the king's courtyard."
The others stared at him.
"You could have been caught again!" Fumu scolded. "And we might not be able to help you out again!"
Sir Meta seemed to ignore her and instead, answered, "He was with her."
Fumu looked at him confused.
"Who?"
"Sir Galacta. He was kissing the princess..." Sir Meta said slowly, eyes seeming to glow like fire in hate.
The others backed away from him as he got up and walked out of the bell tower.
Kirby, Fumu, and Bun were sitting on the stone floor of the tower, watching Sword and Blade attempt to juggle while balancing on the back rest of the benches with bored expressions. Kicking a stone, Bun said,
"I'm going outside."
He opened the wooden doors and stepped outside. Fumu was about to see if she could catch some sleep when Bun suddenly ran back into the tower.
"Sis! Sis! Dedede's coming!"
Fumu's eyes widened as she silently followed Bun outside to get a look for herself. Over the edge of the grassy hill, Fumu could see Dedede leading a small group of waddledee soldiers carrying torches up the small path. They had not seen the two children yet.
"We have to get out of here!" Bun exclaimed.
"What about Sir Meta? What if he returns? I bet Dedede is going to try to ambush him. We have to warn him somehow!"
Fumu looked around the hill. She couldn't find anything that could possibly warn Sir Meta about the trap. Her eyes fell upon the bell tower itself.
"That's it! Bun, get Kirby, Sword and Blade out of there. I have an idea!"
The two children ran back inside. Bun lead Kirby, Sword, and Blade out into the trees where they would not be seen and ran back to his sister.
"So what's your plan?"
"Come on! I'll show you!"
The two children ran up the stone steps and opened the hatch door to the bell tower. Fumu grabbed the rope of the great bell.
"Bun, help me pull this! We're going to warn Sir Meta!"
The bell boomed with each toll. Its ring sounded though the entire kingdom. Every villager in the village stopped. Every guard on the streets stopped. King Arthur stopped what he was doing. The world seemed to freeze as the bell that had been silent for decades suddenly toll. Inside the bell tower, Fumu smiled triumphantly.
"That should do. Now Sir Meta won't fall into the trap!"
"But looks like we have trouble!" Bun said as he peered down over the railings.
Dedede and his small group were at the base of the tower. Dedede shouted up.
"Stop thief! This eve, thou will be rid of!"
Signaling to the waddledees, they smashed down the door of the bell tower and Dedede walked in, axe out. Fumu and Bun looked around the room. There was no way out for escape. The bell room was to high off of the ground to jump. Below them, Dedede's footsteps became louder.
"Sis! Up here!" Bun called from the rafters.
He held a hand down for Fumu and pulled her up above the boards. They hid themselves in the shadows as Dedede smashed through the hatch door.
"Thou shall not escape from I again!"
Fumu moved herself slightly to keep out of his vision range when the boards suddenly snapped. Broken wood rained down on Dedede as well as Fumu and Bun. Shaking the dust off, Dedede stared at the two before he pointed his axe at them.
"You mages! I will rid of you as well!" Swinging the axe, he missed Fumu's head by a hair. She felt the blade skim over her head. The two children ran to the far end of the room for their lives. Grabbing the torch of a waddledee, Dedede advanced closer to the two. He swung the axe again and smashed through the post that head kept the bell hanging from the towers posts. Swinging as hard as he could, the axe dug into the wood above Bun's head. Bun screamed and ran. As he tugged on the axe to pull it out, Dedede accidentally rubbed the torch into the wooden posts. The wood ignited. In seconds, the entire room was blazing from the fire. Fumu grabbed the handle of the hatch door and pulled. The door remained shut.
"Bun! Help me!"
Bun was too far away from her however. Dedede freed his axe and swung it into the collapsing walls. Smoke filled their lungs as their eyes watered. The flames were shooting down through the hole in the floorboards.
"Sis! This way!"
Bun grabbed the remains of the rope end and held on to his sister as they swung down from the rope. They jumped off and glanced around them. The room was filling up with dark black smoke. They could barely see the door. Dedede jumped down from above, blocking their path. Fumu looked wildly around her. Finally, she saw a window that had been shut close with boards. Clawing at the nails, she pried away the wood and grabbed Bun. The two squeezed themselves through the window and landed in a heap outside on a shrub. Smoke billowed out of the tower. Its wooden roof caved in as flames shot out of the window. Fumu and Bun ran to the trees where they found Kirby, Sword, and Blade.
"Do you think Dedede got out okay? Even though he was trying to kill us, I still don't think he should have to die that way."
"He's fine. See? He's over there."
Dedede was outside, trying to put a fire that had lit on his hat out. The two smiled slightly as they watched his stomp on his hat to get rid of the flames.
"Young mistress and good sir? What hast happened?"
Fumu and Bun turned to Sir Meta who had appeared behind them.
"We had to warn you! Dedede was going to ambush you!"
Sir Meta glanced at the penguin as he and his waddledees walked back down the hill.
"The only safe place I had...is gone."
Sir Meta turned to the village below the hill.
"We will have to find another."
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A/N: Sirica is Clara's hand made in this story. Doesn't seem to really fit her that well but then again, all of the medieval characters' personalities change from the modern ones.
Now the heroes have nowhere to go. Who will help them now?
Please review!