Pierre sat next to Chocolat and stared at her. Her flawless red hair now covered in red rose petals, her soft face without a single line, and her sweet chocolate smell that is still so strong even over the roses. He moved a strand of her hair away from her ears then lightly kissed her forehead as he remembered some of the things they went through when they were kids. But as he remembered the way she laughed the image of Glace suddenly popped up. He took in a sudden breath then turned his head towards the door to see that it was Corne Meilleure, still alive and well.

Pierre stood up and walked over to Corne, "still kicking old man," he asked with a smile.

"All the better with age," he said hugging Pierre then held onto his shoulders while being just a few paces back, "where's Zakuro gone off to now? She should be showing our guests around but instead she's hiding yet again because she froze a corner block of la Ville Violette."

Pierre shook his head just a bit before he looked back up to Corne, "her Noir energy is growing by the day, but if I remove her Noir heart then she'll have to live in the Underworld."

Corne sat down next to Chocolat and held her hand, "maybe so, but if Zakuro uses that power on Chocolat – will Chocolat wake up?"

Pierre walked to the door while he looked at Corne one last time before he closed the door behind him, "it's hard to say; Chocolat used the Fire Crystal to wake Glace and Zakuro might be able to wake up Chocolat with it but there's a slim chance that Zakuro will sleep as well."

As Pierre walked around the palace Surge was using his magic to hold something down. Pierre went over and saw it was the Host Club being tied up again while Ichigo and Zakuro were nowhere to be found. Pierre held up his hand as he pointed it to Surge as he called on his spell, "Congelation!"

Surge fell to his knees as he held his arms close to his body. The rest of the guards let the group go as Pierre stared at them. Tamaki was the first to get up as he went right over to Pierre, "sensei! Zakuro and Ichigo left us with Shunko and he -… "

Before Tamaki could finish Shunko interrupted, "humans can never be trusted Sire, ogres are only trusted because of you and the Queen," he finished bowing next to Pierre. Tamaki was being held back by the twins until Pierre blasted Shunko with his ice spell then turned to the club, "where are Zakuro and Ichigo?" The twins finally let Tamaki go as Honey stepped up to Pierre, "Zaku-chan and Ichi-chan went somewhere with a pair of twins, somewhere to meet someone called Vanilla in the Piman Mountain for another exam."

Pierre turned on his heel and began to go off in the direction of Piman Mountain, but as soon as he started to go Hikaru almost fell off the side of the building trying to catch Pierre. "What are they doing now Pierre-sama? Zakuro told us to tell you that she wants us to be there for whoever wins. What does she mean by that?"

Pierre looked in the direction of the mountain, turned back around, and snapped his fingers. His assistant, Juiliet, came from somewhere guiding two big black birds pulling a carriage. As Pierre opened the door for the club to get in they just stared at it until Poivre came up next to Tamaki and patted his shoulder.

"Chocolat and Vanilla had to do the same thing once, Chocolat won that time so Zakuro is almost sure that she can win it as well, but Ichigo has the upper hand that Chocolat did." Tamaki looked at him for a second until Poivre turned back into Duke and sat on his shoulder, "besides Zakuro will be happy that her friends came to watch an exam take place, and with the carriage being pulled by Clanu birds we will be there in no time!"

Tamaki turned back to Kyoya, "should we?" Kyoya pushed his glasses before speaking, "a lot better than being around here with these people that don't like us." Tamaki took a breath and walked over to the carriage with everyone else right behind him. As everyone sat down Pierre sat next to Haurhi, snapped his fingers again making the carriage move.

Pierre stared out the window until Kaoru started talking, "sensei why did Zakuro-san go to see Vanilla-sama?" Pierre stared back at him, looked down for a second then explained, "Vanilla is Chocolat's best friend. Vanilla was the princess at the time because her mother, Candy, won the time before against Chocolat's mother, Cinnamon. It was Cinnamon and Candy's wish that the two go against each other in the next round for Queen. Even though Chocolat saved the Magical World, Vanilla took over and became Queen."

Honey spoke up from Mori's lap as they sat in a corner, "Zaku-chan says that Vanilla-sama gave up the throne to Chocolat-sama!"

"That's true," Pierre said leaning back, "after the title of queen was decided we all went back to the human world to finish up our school work. By then Vanilla didn't want the title and gave the crown to Chocolat at the ceremony. After a year or so both Chocolat and Vanilla were due with children, the Magical World had parties every night until they were born. Vanilla had twins, Ichigo and Shunko, and Chocolat had Zakuro. Zakuro is older by a month and Shunko is older than Ichigo by a minute, that is the reason why Zakuro teats Shunko with little respect because he thinks he can do whatever he wants with Ichigo."

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other, smiled, and turned back to Pierre, "we're not like that! What else happened to them sensei?"

"Like her mother before her, Zakuro took care of Ichigo, just like Chocolat took care of Vanilla when they were growing up. Vanilla was the princess so she was never allowed to go outside the castle unless it was because of their school work. Vanilla was the outsider and Chocolat was the popular one. Their bodyguards, Woo and Soul, were always around Chocolat because they loved her. Everyone loved Chocolat but she never loved anyone back - but she loved Vanilla as if they were family. Candy loved Chocolat because it was Cinnamon who wanted Candy to help guide her as well. Candy and Cinnamon planned everything when they were in the human world to become queen and executed it when Cinnamon had Chocolat. Chocolat is older than Vanilla, that's the only real reason Zakuro loves and cares for Ichigo. If anything or anyone should ever try to hurt Ichigo then Zakuro will do everything in her power to make sure she stays safe from any harm."

Haruhi spoke up this time, "so why is Zakuro-san so mad all the time? She said it had something to do with her mother a long time ago, what happened?"

Pierre began to blank off when the carriage stopped moving as Woo began to bang on the door as he opened it up, "Ichigo is in the lead with Zakuro giving her a heads start. Zakuro is so careless at times right Pierre?"

Pierre smiled at Woo as Soul held up a hand to wave at them, "behind again slow poke!"

"But this time the ones in the exam are the kids," Pierre said walking up to Soul then turning to greet Vanilla, "Ichigo is exactly like her mother, kind and gentle, how is being Queen going for you," he asked as he kissed her hand.

"Quite well thank you," she smiled as she waved with her other hand to the club as they got out of the carriage, "it's nice to see that Zakuro has friends for who she is and not what she is."

As the club got closer they saw how lovely Vanilla was. Her purple eyes glittered as her shoulder length blonde curls were tucked into a nice pulled back bun as some strands of her hair fell around her face making it look fuller even though Vanilla kept her hair short as the years went by. She was wearing a flowing ice blue dress with a white high collar with a diamond necklace holding a flower shaped pendant in the middle.

"It's nice to meet all of you," she said as the club came up to the adults, "Zakuro is letting Ichigo win this round, it should be over in no time."

They all turned back to see Zakuro heading towards the top – climbing all the way with Ichigo way ahead of her climbing as well. Zakuro stopped for a moment, looked down, and waved at the group. The boys waved back as they cheered for her until she turned back around.

"I remember when Chocolat-chan saved me from one of the cliffs that almost broke off from under my feet. She wanted me to have the Mandragora that we were hunting for, but I was about to hurt it – and us if I kept pulling on it, until she used her Dance Candy that made it come out," Vanilla said smiling at the girls as they reached the top of the mountain, "Chocolat won that exam but with the way things are already going Ichigo will win this one if Zakuro lets her."

The boys stared as Haruhi kept staring at Vanilla, "how long has Zakuro-san's mother been in that coma stage? Is that why Zakuro-san is so mad all the time?"

Vanilla looked over at her as her smile disappeared, "Chocolat-chan is alive but her body and soul have been separated since that night when the girls were about 5 years old. Chocolat-chan used all of her power to put out a mysterious fire that nearly took Ichigo's, Soul's and my own life – not to mention taking down our burning house! Shunko was with Woo visiting his newborn cousin while Ichigo was at home resting from a fever. Chocolat-chan was found but her soul was lost …"

Vanilla looked up at Zakuro who was holding onto Ichigo now, "… Zakuro was never the same since. Her power went crazy and her mood swings would destroy, freeze, and die off places in Le Royaume," she stopped speaking for a moment to glance over at Pierre who was still staring at Zakuro, "that was until Pierre gave Zakuro a Noir Heart. Because her energy was mostly made up noir, the heart helps with her mood swings and she stopped feeling."

Pierre looked at Vanilla now, "Chocolat's soul is lost somewhere and Zakuro knows it since we told her after she learned how to control her emotions with her Noir Heart, that's the reason why she's always mad and why she keeps running away from me. But if you ask me," he said looking back up at the girls coming down the mountain, "she really changed when she turned 12 to compete against Ichigo as Candidate for Queen."

Zakuro and Ichigo came into clear view as Ichigo held onto the Mandragora, "mother I got it! I got the Mandragora!" Ichigo ran over to her mother and held up the Mandragora as Vanilla patted her daughter's arms, "I'm so glad you got it!"

Back at the palace Vanilla stood on the second row of the throne levels holding a golden box for Ichigo as Zakuro stood on the first level watching Ichigo claim her prize. Pierre was back at the top level watching the awards take place, then once Vanilla was finished she tilted her head towards him as he stood up and annouced something new.

"As you all know, there are live mortals in our realm," he said staring down at them as Zakuro walked up next to Ichigo on the second level, "our Princess used up her own magic to make it happen." The room suddenly buzzed with talk as the club slowly walked up some of the stairs to the next level as Zakuro moved her hand for them the wait just a bit. "Zakuro has even used a spell so that they may watch us take the hearts of thier fellow humans, but doing so she is also using up her Noir energy to grant them that power. The more she is connected to them the less likely she will be of freezing another corner block of the town."

Everyone hushed right away as soon as they heard until Zakuro spoke up, "but as always my emotions are linked to this spell I put upon them, and the more pain that everyone puts on them - the more it comes back to me;" some of the people began talking about the corner that she froze earlier because of how her friends were being treated, "so if you all don't mind me saying, treat them with the respect that you have for me your Princess, and the more power I will lose."