A/N: Okay, here is the next chapter. Sorry for the long wait, I just took a little break for a while after finishing my last story. But I am back on my regular writing schedule now, so I will be updating more frequently. Hope you enjoy! This chapter was fun to write. As for Holly's husband, most of you guessed who it was. What can I say, I am a total sucker for that pair. Oh well. Hope you enjoy!

A Prince's First Love

Chapter 3

After a good half an hour, Holly's gondola stopped in font of the main palace. The small elf got out of the boat, slickly sick to her stomach. She never ridden in boats much, they were virtually unheard of in Haven, and she had rather quickly found out that she was quite given to motion sickness.

"I think I am going to try to avoid the gondolas as much as possible," Holly whispered to herself, glad that her feet were once again firmly planted on land. Flying she had no problem with, it was just the constant rocking of the boats that got to her.

"Lady Holly, would you like for me to accompany you to see the infirmary cambers or would you prefer to go yourself".

Holly looked up to see another man in a suit bowing to her.

This palace has too many workers, Holly though to herself before turning towards the man, "You may escort me".

"Of course," the man said. He made a sharp turn and started to walk into the palace. Holly quickly followed him, not wanting to get lost in the maze of hallways.

"So what type of person in my husband?" Holly asked the man as they walked.

"Pardon me?" the man asked, sounding confused.

"I was just wondering what everybody thought if him," Holly said, "being married to him makes me biased, of course. I was just wondering if everybody else liked him".

"The royal physician is a very noble person," the man said stiffly, "his care for the King and the royal family is always very detailed and complete".

Holly sighed to herself. From what it sounded like, her husband was a bit of a stiff. But then again, from the way people were treating her, it seemed as though she had been a bit of a stiff as well.

"Here we are, Lady Holly," the man said after another ten minutes of walking in silence. Holly looked up and saw that they had stopped in front of a pair of large, heavy wooden doors. The doors were inlayed with beautiful and intricate designs.

"I shall take my leave now," the man said, bowing, Holly waved him away. She was too nervous to be concerned with proper etiquette now. Behind those doors was the person that she was supposedly married to. And if Artemis was right and there was no way to get back to their own dimension, she could potentially be married to this person for the rest of her life.

"Buck up, Holly," she whispered to herself before grabbing hold of the doorknobs. Slowly she turned the knobs and opened the door. A strong smell of medicine hit her nose and she cringed a bit. Holly had never been a fan of medicine or hospitals.

What an ominous sign, she though to herself before walking inside the room and closing the door behind her.

"Ah, Holly. Butler told me that you had something to speak to me about".

Taking a deep breath, Holly turned towards the voice, eyes closed shut. The voice sounded familiar, and that scared the elf a bit. What if it's Root, Holly thought desperately, if it's him I am going to kill myself. Even if his personality is completely different, please don't let me be married to Root.

"Holly, is there a reason that you are closing your eyes? Is the light in the room too bright for you? I can ask someone to dim them".

Sighing, Holly slowly opened her eyes a fraction. She looked at the source of the voice, which was coming from a person sitting behind a desk at the other side of the room. She saw who it was and gave of a very audible sigh of relief, sinking against the wall that she was standing by.

From the desk, Dr. Trouble Kelp stood up in shock.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "are you falling ill?"

"I'm fine," Holly said, getting up. If there was anybody out there that she would be okay with marrying, it would be Trouble. After all, he had always been one of her closest friends, plus he wasn't Root. Oh, thank god it wasn't Root.

"I'm fine," Holly answered faintly.

"You just collapsed against the wall," Trouble said warily, "are you sure you are fine?"

"It's just been a long day," Holly said. Trouble nodded stiffly.

"You've been working hard," he said formally. Holly shrugged.

"The work isn't actually that hard," Holly answered, "in fact, with everybody thinking that Artemis is a moron, all I have to do is make him stand upright properly and they all think that I've done my job properly".

Trouble looked at Holly, eyebrows raised.

"Are you sure you are okay?" he asked once again. Holly stood up.

"Of course," she said, "why?

"You are not acting the way that you usually do," Trouble said cautiously. Holly sighed to herself. It seemed as though her previous thoughts had been correct. In this world, she used to be some type of prissy and uptight woman.

I can't pull that off, Holly thought to herself, I love being outdoors, going on missions…breaking rules. I can't just suddenly be expected to stay indoors and tutor Artemis all day.

"I think I'm just tired," Holy answered. Trouble nodded his head, though he frowned slightly to himself. There was something a little off with his wife.

"You said you had something to talk to me about?" Trouble asked, "is it about the history book?"

"What?" Holly asked, looking up, "the history book?"

"Yes, the rare edition of the history book that my brother had," Trouble said, getting a book out of the drawer, "you asked to borrow it from him to help the prince with his lessons".

"Oh yes," Holly said, quickly going up to him, "is that it?"

"Grub said that he wanted it back once you were done," Trouble said, handing the book over to Holly, "as you know, copies of this are quite rare".

"Of course I know," Holly lied, taking the book from Trouble. She looked at the title. A Complete History of the Lion Kingdom. Well this is strangely convenient, she thought happily, all we need to do now is read this and we'll know about this world.

"Thanks," Holly said, looking up at Trouble, "this is going to be a great help".

"It was no problem," Trouble said, looking slightly nervous, "listen, Holly…"

"Yes?" Holly asked, looking up at him, wondering why he looked so jumpy.

"I hope you are not acting this way because you overheard me," Trouble whispered cautiously. Holly raised her eyebrows.

"When I was talking to Foaly about how you have changed since coming to the palace," Trouble continued nervously, "it wasn't that I did not like the change, in fact I…."

"Wait, Foaly?" Holly asked, excitedly. Trouble cocked his head to the side.

"Yes, Foaly," he said, "the one who is the head of all the palace technology".

Holly looked down at the ground, a smile forming on her lips. Foaly was here in the palace. If there was anybody who could possibly to take Artemis and her back to their dimension, it was Foaly.

"I have to go talk to Artemis," Holly said quickly. Trouble looked at her, a bit taken aback.

"So you are not upset by what I said?" Trouble asked.

"It doesn't matter," Holly said, brushing away the elf's words. Especially if Foaly could work his magic. Being married to Trouble wasn't the worst thing in the world, but truthfully Holly would prefer her old world filled with flying, stakeouts, and having Trouble simply being her best friend.

"Oh, okay," Trouble said.

"I'll be going now," Holly said, "thanks for the book".

"Alright, I will see you tonight then," Trouble said as Holly left the room. The elf sighed and slid back down into his seat. Holly was acting exactly the way she had when they had first gotten married, and while Trouble actually preferred his wife this way there was still something quite strange about her actions.

Holly made her way down the maze of hallways, mind furiously churning. Hopefully Foaly was as smart in this world as he was in her own.

On the other side of the palace, Artemis' mind was churning quite a bit as well. The girl sitting on the floor in front of him was different from any other person he had ever encountered before. On the outside she was rather cute, with her waterfall of red curls and large, innocent brown eyes. But when she opened her mouth, her cute image was replaced by a much stranger one.

"So, is there a reason why the crown prince would honor me with such a visit?" Alicia finally asked, looking up from her pot of stew, which she had nearly emptied in the past ten minutes.

"I simply wanted to talk before our upcoming nuptials," Artemis said. The small girl frowned at the boy's words.

"Have you been reading a thesaurus or something lately?" she asked.

"I really fail to see what part of my statement was thesaurus-worthy" Artemis drolled, looking down at her. Alicia shrugged her slight shoulders.

"Well the word 'nuptials' is pretty big for a person who ritually misspells his name," she said, raising both eyebrows.

"You can stop telling lies," Artemis sighed.

"It's not a lie," Alicia countered, "we did go to the same school, in case you forgot".

"How is that possible?" Artemis said. Alicia let off a groan.

"You are only a year older than me. We went to the Arts Academy together. We were even in the same intro to Visual Arts class... it was you're second time taking that class, I believe" she said, leaning back against the table.

How stupid am I in this world, Artemis thought to himself, suppressing a groan. Was it even possible to fail such a beginning level class?

"Even so," Artemis said, "we are to be married soon, so don't you think you should speak a little nicer to me?"

Alicia suddenly broke off into a fit of very vivacious laughter. She doubled over and fell to the side, laughter racking her body. Artemis sat where we was, a bit taken aback.

"Nicer?" Alicia asked finally once her insane laughter stopped, "that was supposed to be a joke, right?"

"Of course it wasn't," Artemis asked, "I don't understand why you felt the need to laugh like a madwoman."

"That's just my normal laugh," Alicia huffed, "though I don't really see how you could have said that with a straight face".

"That I wanted you to speak nicer to me? I don't see what is odd about that statement". Artemis said, becoming increasingly confused with the whole situation. He looked up at Butler, but the large man was just looking at his feet, nervously.

"Do you not remember what you said to me last week when I came here?" Alicia asked, leaning forward a little.

"Truthfully, no I don't," Artemis answered, bluntly. He expected Alicia to get livid. He didn't know much about women, but he knew enough to know that forgetting about conversations usually made women upset. But surprisingly, Alicia just nodded her head.

"As expected of someone like you," she sighed, "I guess I should help you remember, then". Slowly she stood up and turned around, tucking her hair back into a high bun and putting an arrogant expression on her face. She walked over to Artemis in wide strides.

"Look here, girl," she said, deepening her voice. She moved right in front of Artemis and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him so that he was scant inches from her face.

"I know that I am the charismatic and handsome prince that everybody is fighting to be with." she continued, "I also know that a pauper like you is probably super thrilled about getting the chance to marry me. But let me tell you. I can't stand girls like you, and I am only marrying you because I don't have any other option left and my mum won't get off my back. So this marriage will mean nothing. Once it's done, be sure to stay out of my life from that point on."

And with that, she released her grip on his shirt and stood back. Her face then broke out into a wide smile.

"How was that?" she asked eagerly "I've always been number 1 at impressions".

"Did I really say that to you?" Artemis asked. Alicia just nodded her head, unpinning her hair.

"You most certainly did," she said, "you can even ask Butler, he was there". Artemis once again turned to the large man, who looked even more nervous.

"If I really did say that, then why do you look so cheerful about this whole thing?" Artemis continued. Alicia just shrugged.

"That way works fine for me as well," she said, "it's not as though I was looking for a happy married life with you, anyway. It will probably be for the best if we just stay out of each others way once we get married".

"Do you really dislike me that much?" Artemis asked, leaning forward. Alicia turned towards him, a grin on her face.

"No I don't, Crown Prince," she said slowly, "because to dislike you means that I would have to actually have to feel any sort of emotion towards you, and that requires more effort than I am willing to put into this relationship".

Artemis was a bit taken aback by the girl's words. He knew that they weren't aimed at him, but rather the person that he used to be in the world. He also knew that he should care a bit about whether or not the eccentric girl in front of him disliked him. But still, the blunt nature of the girl's words was too much like his own. It put him slightly off guard.

Suddenly, a man in a suit entered the room.

"I am very sorry to interrupt, but Lady Holly is outside and would like to speak to the Crown Prince," he said. Artemis winced a little. After this talk with Alicia, the words 'Crown Prince' sounded like an insult, no matter who said them.

"You better go, If Lady Holly is calling you," Butler said softly, "she must have something important to discuss with you". Artemis nodded his head. He knew that Butler was just trying to escape the tense atmosphere that had enveloped the room. And truthfully, Artemis wasn't all to eager to continue to stay around Alicia at this time either.

"I will taking my leave, then" Artemis said, standing up. Alicia stayed seated on the floor and nodded her head.

"Until we run into each other again, Crown Prince," she said, smiling. Artemis shook his head. He didn't quite understand how the girl could still smile after everything that had happened. Maybe she really didn't have any emotions.

Without another word, Artemis left the room and his odd fiancée behind. He walked down the hallway, his eyes once again catching the captivating piece of pottery that he had seen on the way to Alicia's room. The boy turned towards Butler.

"Take this piece and move it over to my quarters," he said, pointing to the bowl, "Such a work belongs with someone who will appreciate it, not with some strange, emotionless girl".

"Of course, your highness" Butler said quickly, motioning for one of the suited men present to move the bowl. Artemis nodded his head. He didn't know quite why, but by moving the bowl he felt as though he had won some small victory over Alicia.

Silently the boy made his way outside, to find Holly waiting for him, looking a little green in the face.

"I don't understand why they won't let me ride the helicopter here," Holly said, glaring at Butler as he walked out behind Artemis, "the gondolas are making me sick".

"But Lady Holly always…"

"I know I always enjoyed the gondolas," Holly said, interrupting Butler. It seemed as though she used to enjoy many things that she didn't quite now.

"Did you visit your husband?" Artemis asked, looking down at the elf. Holly nodded her head.

"Yes," she said, "and Trouble gave me a couple pieces of useful information".

"Trouble Kelp?" Artemis asked. Holy nodded her head. The boy mused over the thought for a few seconds.

"Better than Root or Mulch, I suppose," he said finally. Holly blanched. She hadn't even thought of the possibility of her husband being Mulch.

"Are you trying to make me throw up by putting disgusting thoughts in my head?" she whispered furiously at him, "I am already queasy from the boat ride over here".

"My apologies," Artemis said, "but what is the information that Trouble gave you?"

"Well the first is this," Holy said, thrusting A Complete History of the Lion Kingdom into his hands. Artemis looked at the book and smiled slightly. That was highly useful.

"And the second thing," Holly said, smiling widely, "well I think I jut might have found a person that can get us out of this dimension".

A/N: Okay, how was that? I am really enjoying writing this story, and hopefully you are enjoying reading it as well. As always, I appreciate any comments, concerns, thoughts-- anything that you have to say about the story. Gracias y besos!!