Last chapter, Spamano. This chapter, Gerita. I never write anything else it seems. Can you believe how fast I'm updating? A new record for me! But writing this story is super fun because I get to watch the Princess and the Pauper like, religiously ^.^
In other news: Has anyone read a Ferris Bueller's Day Off with the Bad Touch Trio? I'm writing one but I really want to read what some other's have written too because that movie was awesome!
We're halfway through (I think) so... Enjoy!
The palace walls loomed ahead of Feliciano, exciting him to no great end. It had taken hours of traveling, but it was worth it. If he was right, Ludwig would already be waiting for him. There would be feasts in celebration of his return and those terrible, awful people in the woods would be sentenced to death and he would sleep in his nice warm bed again and-
Oh how had he missed the life of a prince. Feliciano was so distracted the thought of his impending marriage to Prince Antonio didn't even cross Feliciano's mind as he pulled up to the gate.
A guard spotted him immediately, and drew his weapon. "Who goes there?"
"Prince Feliciano!" the tired boy yelled. He just wanted to be home.
Silence, then a robust laugh broke through the air. "Ahah! That's rich! And I'm Prince Sadiq, from the faraway land of nonexistia" The laughter continued, and Feliciano straightened, indignant.
"Excuse yourself mister, but I am the crown prince and I demand that this gate be opened immediately!"
Sadiq's face appeared along the castle walled and he glowered at Feliciano. Apparently he didn't take well from being ordered around. "I'm not joking kid. The real Prince Feliciano is safe and sound in his quarters. Now move along."
The real Prince Feliciano? Who was he talking about? Feliciano didn't know, but he was determined. "No!" He shouted. "Open this gate-" A burning torch was thrown at his feet and the horse pulling Feliciano's carriage startled, throwing its rider and the cart backwards. Feliciano frantically tightened the reigns and held on for dear life. "Whoa boy! Slow, please!"
"I won't miss next time"
Feliciano looked up at the man desperately. All he saw was the faceless mask that all palace guards were required to wear. His eyes were unforgiving. Dejected, Feliciano steered the cart away, letting the castle lights glow and fade behind him as he drove into the darkness.
He rode until the faint outline of the village glowed in the moonlight. Where was he going to stay? What was he going to do?
A thought occurred to him. Romano could help!
Reinvigorated, Feliciano whipped the reigns and within seconds stood outside Madame Albetta's Embroidery. "Stay here" He whispered to the trusty horse as he slipped out of the cart and tied it down to a nearby post.
The shop was dark and empty, but Feliciano noticed a small light from a window near the street floor. It must have been the same one Romano crawled out of the first time he met him. Feliciano crouched low and knocked on the glass.
A curious pair of green eyes appeared, staring at him through the window. "Bella?"
"Prince Feliciano!" The girl cheered, opening the hatch. "What are you doing here?"
"I'll explain what I can... but I don't really know what's happened. Is Romano there?"
Bella shook her head, clearly worried. "I had hoped he'd be with you. He's been missing and the Madame is very upset. Come in, come in!"
She moved away from the window and Feliciano shimmied through. It was an easy fit, but awkward to wiggle around so. Finally he pushed himself in and collapsed on the floor. Bella giggled at him before helping him up.
"Don't you have a door?" Feliciano asked.
"We do" Bella admitted. "But it's through the store and the Madame is on the prowl tonight. I was almost worried she would lock me in. But that doesn't matter! Tell me everything you know- Maybe I can help" And so Feliciano did. He tried to pick the shortest explanation he knew, but he couldn't help but get sidetracked when telling stories.
"And then I came here." Feliciano finally finished, after ten straight minutes of talking.
Bella shook her head, as if trying to convince herself the explanation was finally over. "Oh you poor thing." She said. "You know, I bet I-"
BANG
A door, presumably leading to the dress shop, banged open, revealing a livid old woman in a boisterous blue outfit. Her sneer could curdle dairy. Bella winced. "Oh no..."
"You there! Child!"
Feliciano looked around bewilderingly. "Me?" He asked, pointing a finger to himself.
"Yes you!" The woman descended the stairs, her heavy footsteps getting louder and louder. When she was close enough, she reached out a hand and knocked the backside of Feliciano's head. "You think you can just run off and leave such a highstanding debt? I'll have you working here for the rest of your life, I will! The nerve of such insolent children! No wonder your parents left you! I would leave you too, if I had a choice, Romano"
Feliciano cried out, tears springing to his eyes. That had really hurt! "I'm not Romano! I am Prince Feliciano, of the Kingdom of Italy. As your royal sovereign, I demand that you never touch me again"
The Madame, presumably Madame Albetta, laughed long and loud. If Feliciano close his eyes, he could pretend it was the royal guard all over again. "Royalty? you? Clearly the real world didn't teach you manners. I'll touch you however I want"
She reached up a hand to slap him again, but Bella intercepted her. "Leave him alone, Madame. He tells the truth" Feliciano quickly took cover behind the blonde.
"Hmm" Madame Albetta sneered. "How unlike you, Bella. Fine, I'll leave him. But you two won't be leaving until all this fabric has been made into dresses." She gestured to around the room, where piles of cloth were stacked as high as mountains. "And if you ever cross words with me again, oh dear Bella- you're fired."
She turned and stormed out, locking the door as she went.
"She was horrible!" Feliciano gasped.
"Oh yeah, you haven't seen anything yet" Bella said flippantly. Despite her words, she looked troubled, like she had made a big mistake. She shook her head to rid herself of any weighing thoughts. "Looks like your stuck with me now"
Feliciano stood, and moved to tour the work benches and towering fabric. "I wish I knew how to sew"
"It's super easy!" Bella exclaimed. "You just take- Is that a cat?"
Sure enough, staring down from the window, now the unofficial door, was a sweet calico cat, pawing at the glass. "Bacio!" Feliciano cried, running to the window. "Here kitty!" The kitten jumped to the floor, purring at the prince's feet. "I missed you soo much!" Feliciano cuddled his cat tight to his chest, feeling happy momentarily. "Did you come from the castle?"
Bacio mewled, as if to say, yes!
"You know" Bella said, eying the feline with some interest. "that cat looks very well trained. If you work with me, I think I might have a solution to your castle problem..."
[=]
That night, Arthur Kirkland arrived back at the palace for the first time in months, eager to put his plan into effect.
"Your Majesty!" He called, intercepting Queen Katerina in her throne room. The Queen froze, looking around wildly. When she spotted him however, her smile grew ten-fold.
"Oh Arthur, you're back! I had almost forgotten you've left"
Arthur's smile dropped. Typical of the queen. You work with her for seven years and have nothing to show for it. He forced himself to draw a smile. "Right, yes. No matter! I've come to give you my condolences for your loss. I just heard the news-"
Queen Katerina turned to him. "What news? What loss?"
"The missing Prince...?" Arthur tried, beyond confused. Did the Queen not notice her son gone?
"Feliciano's missing?" Queen Katerina exclaimed, horrified. "Guards! Search the castle. Watch the doors! Close the gates-"
"Mother?" A tentative voice asked.
Both Arthur and the Queen looked up to see Romano, cleverly disguised as Prince Feliciano, in the doorway. King Antonio not too far behind. Queen Katerina heaved a sigh of relief, like a weight had just fallen off her shoulders. Arthur, not so much.
"Who is that?" He demanded, gesturing wildly to the two in the doorway.
"That," King Antonio cut in, irritated for some reason. "Is Prince Feliciano, and you should respect him as any member of the royal family.
Arthur glowered at Antonio. "I fail to see why you care. Or why you're here at all. That bloody frog isn't here too, is he?"
"Francis is in the dining hall. Perhaps if you were preforming your duties properly you would have been around to see us introduced"
"Why I never-"
"Enough!" The Queen interjected. "No more arguing. Prince Feliciano is safe and sound, as you can very well see. I do not appreciate the scare, Arthur."
Arthur watched the faux Feliciano with suspicious eyes. Romano stared back at him evenly. "My apologizes your majesty. I must have been misinformed"
The Queen brightened, seemingly happy everything had worked out. "Now then. If we could all move along to the dining all. I believe dinner is to be served." The rooms occupants started toward the hall, but Queen Katerina caught Arthur's arm as he turned to leave. "Arthur, before you go, could you be a dear and run this declaration to the castle guards? I forgot to have it delivered this morning."
"Certainly" Now he was reduced to a simple errand boy. The nerve of this kingdom's royals! When Arthur was king he would have them run errands for him. The Queen's adviser took the envelope and began the other direction, headed for the courtyard.
He hadn't made it ten paces into the night air before a blurry shape shot by him, almost knocking him off his feet. "Hey!" He yelled, snatching at the creature before it could topple him.
It was a calico cat, not unlike Prince Feliciano's own. The cat pawed at him, but Arthur paid the claws no heed. He was too focused on its collar. There was a note attached to it.
"Madame Albetta's Embroidery?" He said aloud. What did that mean? He took the note in his palm and let the feline go. There was somewhere he needed to investigate.
[=]
"I don't think I'm cut out for dress making" Feliciano admitted, ruining the stitches on the third gown he tried. He held the shimmering fabric up for inspection.
"You're not the only one. Romano managed to ruin an outfit a day because he worked too fast or too vigorously. You should of heard him curse" Bella smiled. "What a handful"
Feliciano nodded, but tried again. The needle went through the dress and into his finger, drawing blood. "This is too hard!" Feliciano whined. "Ow ow ow!" He put down the fabric quickly and scooted as far away from it as he could.
"You don't have to help" Bella said graciously. She was right. Feliciano was being kind enough to try, but Bella could only watch as yards and yards of fabric were slowly destroyed. "Here, why don't you watch from the window to see if anyone from the castle got your note and is on their way?"
"Good idea!" Feliciano chirped, suddenly chipper. He went to the little window, standing on his tiptoes to see out. Nothing was said between the two, and the only sound was Bella's needlework, transforming beautiful gowns under her expert fingers.
For a while, there was nothing to be seen. Then, in the distance, Feliciano could make out a faint light of a carriage. He held his breath. Oh please oh please be someone for him!
The carriage drew closer, and the Queen's adviser jumped out. "Arthur!" Feliciano cheered. "You've come!"
The blond man looked around wildly. "Who said that?"
"Me!" Feliciano creaked open the window and stuck his arm out, waving it around. "Over here!"
"Good God, is that you, Feliciano?" Arthur asked, moving closer.
"The one and only!"
"Come out then, right this instance! I have to take you back to the castle immediately."
"But-" Feliciano cast a desperate look at Bella, who was too absorbed in her work to notice anything. "Let me say goodbye"
"No time!" Arthur said. He tugged on Feliciano's arm, eliciting a cry from the boy. "Everyone's been worried sick"
Feliciano closed his eyes. This was important, he had to go. Steeling his nerve, he pulled himself up and through the window. Arthur rolled his eyes at him.
"It isn't that big of a deal" He said. "Come on, we have to get to the castle before midnight."
[=]
Feliciano should of noticed something wrong when they didn't take the direct road to the palace. He should of noticed something wrong when Arthur refused to answer any of his questions. He did notice something wrong however, when the carriage stopped outside the abandoned mine shafts.
It looked much more ominous at night.
"Why are we here?" Feliciano asked through chattering teeth.
Arthur looked at him, an eerie smile on his usually scowling face. "This is your final destination, your majesty."
"What do you-"
Feliciano didn't finish his question, because right then, Arthur pushed him out of the carriage, binding his hands in the process. He kicked and fought the whole way, begging and pleading that he had family in "where ever it is that you're from! The land with all the sad, scary people!" but to no avail.
Finally, Arthur manged to get him to shut up in the deepest part of the quarry.
"God! Do you ever stop talking?"Arthur snapped, bolting the make-shift cell door. A muffled, whiny voice told him that no, Feliciano did not. Despite this, Arthur decided that for having held out on his grand, evil speech, explaining his motives and plan in a classy yet elegant manner, now was as good time as any. He began, using grand hand gestures and just the right amount of evil laughter. One can easily go overboard with the mania.
Meanwhile, Feliciano was pounding on the door. "Let me out!" No response, except that maybe Arthur spoke a little louder to be heard over the noise. After more fruitless knocking, Feliciano sank to the floor.
This was the third time he was detained that night. There had to be some kind of world record for that.
Unable to do much more, Feliciano flopped around so that his back was to the door. Doing so gave him that perfect view of the cell he was stuck in. Jaded stone made up the floor, with stalagmites jutting up to the ceiling. There was movement in the corner, and Feliciano lazily looked in that direction.
There was a burlap sack. How odd. Tired of hearing Arthur talk, the crown prince got to his feet and walked to the bag. He poked the side, and the bag shook, flopping on its side.
Feliciano dove behind the nearest stalagmite, screaming all the while. The bag kept convulsing, yelling some oddly German words in his general direction. Was this how it all ended? A giant bag monster would eat him whilst screaming things like, "Feliciano, du Dummkopf! Lassen Sie much aus dieser Tasche!"
Finally, the bag monster shook so hard that the top of the burlap sliced open on the sharp floor, allowing Ludwig to stick his head out.
"Ludwig?" Feliciano whispered, eyes sparkling. Ludwig muttered something, but Feliciano was already in flight. He tackled him with all his might, knocking them both to the floor. "Oh you're here! I'm so happy! I thought I was going to die alone and never see your face again and tell you that I love-"
Feliciano's face reddened and he promptly quieted. So much for that secret. Ludwig sat them both up, torn between fixing his hair and sending a questioning look to the boy in his arms. "That what?" Ludwig prompted.
"That I love you" Feliciano said. He avoided Ludwig's eyes. "Sorry"
Ludwig stared at him for a long moment. Finally, he spoke up. "Don't apologize. I, uh, l-lo-love you too, Feliciano."
The shine in Feliciano's eyes intensified as he stared wordlessly at Ludwig. Suddenly it didn't matter that they were trapped in an abandoned mines. It didn't matter that he was a prince and engaged. All that mattered was Ludwig feeling the same way about him as he had always hoped.
Feliciano tilted his head up, and their lips met for the first time.
Perhaps things would get better from here