The king of the Jabberwock Isles was well-known for being lucky. He'd managed to talk his way out of wars with both the mountain-based country of Hope's Peak and the most powerful, fastest growing nation in the world, the so-called "Empire of Despair". He had saved the kingdom from famine twice, and secured it's citizens safety through an incredible foreign policy and an alliance with Novoselic. He was old and wise, and in his old age was becoming increasingly more and more fascinated with the concept of hope. In fact, he wanted to be remembered as the king who brought hope back to the Islands, and most of his subjects were happy to remember him as such (though a few would rather he was remembered as the king who wouldn't shut the fuck up).

However, even though he had done a number of good things, King Komaeda never married, and never produced an heir. He often spoke of picking someone at random, of leaving the choice to luck, since fortune had favoured him so many times before. He wasn't to know that Empress Enoshima had had her eyes on the Jabberwock Isles since she had brutally executed both the entire Royal Family and the entire government of her own country, leading a rebellion that had virtually no cause, other than to get her into power. Years of peace had made the king weak, and due to his age he was in no position to lead anyone into battle. Empress Enoshima was tall, young and fit. Her army was the largest and strongest, and, if she really wanted to, she could end her ongoing war with Hope's Peak in a matter of moments.

The thing was, she didn't really want to. Empress Enoshima thrived on the despair of others. It would be incredible to expand her empire, it would be thrilling to walk over the dead bodies of it's royals, it would make her heart stop with joy to hold Queen Kirigiri, that damned pest, and make her watch the execution of her advisors and chancellors before eventually killing her, but it would also be fun to imagine Kirigiri spend late nights surveying maps, her ever-present, ever-loyal Naegi beside her, General Oogami apologising for the loss of life their latest battle had caused, Chancellor Togami ripping his hair out at how much they were spending to fund this war. Enoshima liked to imagine Kirigiri's hopelessness; the woman who had rose to take her father's throne, who'd been taught nothing other than how to rule, lost, desperate, with no father to go crying to, no one older or more experienced to help guide her.

Enoshima thrived on the despair of others, so she couldn't quite bring herself to deal the final blow in obliterating those shitty mountains, and wiping it's officials off the face of the Earth, because she took too much pleasure in imagining how said officials were suffering at present. Commander Ikusaba, leader of Enoshima's armies and also her older sister, frequently reminded her that victory was well withing their power, but the Empress merely brushed it off. No, she was not yet done with Hope's Peak. She would see others fall first.

Her plan was to infiltrate Jabberwock from the inside, and then invade Novoselic through Jabberwock. Oh, would that fuck them up. The Principality of Novoselic was generally well-liked. Poor Princess Sonia. She'd have no idea what was happening. Her armies would fall in seconds. She'd believe that her own allies had betrayed her. What an unfortunate turn of events. Hope's Peak would feel obligated by it's appallingly high moral code to get involved, and to help little Novoselic out. That would be when Enoshima would strike. The armies of both Jabberwock and Novoselic would turn on those purple-clad knights, and they'd fall. Queen Kirigiri and her council wouldn't last much longer after that. It was such an ingenious idea, Enoshima thought, that also generated enough despair that she wouldn't feel any sense of loss when it was carried out.

However, this plan relied heavily on whoever Komaeda chose as his successor, and their co-operation. It didn't matter to Enoshima whether that co-operation was unwilling or unknowing. She just needed them to go along with whatever she wanted them to go along with, a silent puppeteer, her presence unknown and unwanted.

There was a chance that whomever she sent to infiltrate Jabberwock would be found out and executed, but Enoshima was more than willing to take that chance, just as several of her subjects were willing to die for her. All she had to do was wait.

...

Nanami Chiaki was not anything particularly special. She was good with a bow and a sword because she saw fighting as nothing more than a game, but she could go nowhere with that skill due to the fact that Jabberwock didn't have an army, nor did it feel it needed one. The King could avoid wars with his words, and were they to be invaded Novoselic would step in and sort it out.

It had been more than a little shock when she had been selected by the Royal Guard, the closest thing Jabberwock had to a military. She had first assumed that it was due to her interest in joining, but was quickly told that, of all the citizens of the Jabberwock Isles, she alone had been selected by King Komaeda to rule after him.

That had been the last thing she'd expected.

King Komaeda seemed nice enough himself, and claimed that Nanami "filled him with hope", but she had her doubts. She was far too young to take the throne, she wasn't smart enough or strong enough and had little faith in her ability to rule anywhere near as well as Komaeda had. The Military Guard did their best to reassure her that she'd one day be able to take his place, that King Komaeda wouldn't necessarily die that year, or the following, or the decade after, that she'd be properly raised and taught and would one day be everything he was as a leader. After all, it was his luck that had chosen her. Despite this, she was still scared. She had no faith in herself, and the Military Guard didn't help with that.

There was one person, however, who did make her feel like one day she would rule successfully.

Hinata Hajime worked in the castle kitchen, and Nanami had met him accidentally. She disliked the clothes she was expected to wear when attending lessons, and had been planning to sneak down to the servants quarters to steal some of theirs, when Hinata, who had overslept, turned the corner and the two collided.

"Watch where you're going!" he'd yelled, rubbing his head. Nanami had made hand signals in an attempt to get him to quiet down, but he carried on yelling. "Who do you think you are, running around corners like that?! Are you looking to get hurt?! You know what some of the servants in this section are like, you'd've been in real shit if I'd been a member of the Royal Guard on my way back from punching some scum into a bag of bones."

Nanami would have been in some shit, and she still stood a chance of getting into it if Hinata hadn't shut up. She whispered, "I understand your point, but please, cease your yelling. I'd hate for us to attract any more attention."

"What?" His words had the slightest hint of an accent, but he spoke as though he'd been speaking this language his entire life. "Who- ?" He began to ask, but his eyes travelled from Nanami's face to her dress to her face again, and then widened in realisation. "No..."

She smiled guiltily. "I'm sorry for bumping into you like this, good sir. It wasn't my intention to be seen by anyone, much less to find myself hitting someone like this. I do hope I did not hurt you too badly?"

He shook his head, transfixed. "No, no, not at all. I just... I can't believe it's you! I mean, I've seen you when you've made public appearances and there's a portrait of you and the king that I pass every now and again but... but you're a lot more beautiful than anyone makes you out to be."

Unsure what to say, Nanami chewed her lip, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Thank you," she said, eventually. "And I am sorry for running into you like this."

He shook his head. "It's no problem at all. I'm Hinata Hajime. Why are you down here? Shouldn't you be learning or studying or sleeping?"

Nanami wished she was sleeping. "To tell you the truth, Hinata-kun, I'm presently trying my best to avoid attending my lessons. I find them dreadfully boring."

A smile crept over Hinata's face, and he ran a hand through his messy hair. One strand of it stuck upwards in an impossible seeming manner. "Would you like me to show you what we do to avoid doing things that are "dreadfully boring"?" Nanami, of course, would have said no, if he hadn't added, "We play this game-"

"Teach me it," she'd demanded, her reaction almost instant.

Hinata laughed. "With pleasure."

...

King Komaeda died peacefully, in his sleep, a few years after Nanami had met Hinata. She was crowned at nineteen, the youngest Queen the Jabberwock Isles had seen coronated. Her first few acts only served to strengthen the alliance with Novoselic, as Princess Sonia took an instant like to her, and approved of Nanami's aims to re-militarise Jabberwock. The idea was that now, Jabberwock could aid Novoselic, were it to be attacked, and that Jabberwock could finally ally itself with Hope's Peak and send them troops to help them in their never-ending war with Enoshima's Empire. Nanami had huge plans for Jabberwock, and her subjects were ready for this change. They felt naked without Komaeda's luck, and trusted whatever Nanami would do would keep them safe, and keep that luck alive.

However, there was one decision that Nanami's subjects didn't approve of, and that was to promote a kitchen boy to the Military Guard. Nanami explained that she needed someone she trusted to head it, now that the former members of the Guard were enrolled in the army, but Commander Kuzuryuu and General Pekoyama still insisted they could protect the country and their queen at the same time.

Nanami ignored this, of course, and every night she would hold meetings with Hinata Hajime, head of the Guard, and he would escort her to her sleeping quarters, and he would offer to watch over her that night, and stand guard outside her rooms, but she would instead glance left, then right, and invite him in and the two would talk and kiss and make each other promises they probably couldn't keep, because Hinata Hajime was the only person the Queen would trust with her plans, with her most intimate thoughts, with her heart. And that was exactly how Empress Enoshima wanted it, because if Hinata Hajime found reason to attack Novoselic, then Hinata Hajime would make it clear to the Queen that this was how he felt. Because it was Hinata Hajime saying it, the Queen would trust him. Because the Queen trusted him, Empress Enoshima's plans would blossom and bloom and flourish.

Because of Hinata Hajime, Empress Enoshima had the world in the palm of her hands.

author's note: i wrote this in school yesterday and i had no idea where to go with it so i just made this and im sorry that its not much.
the ending is ambiguous so you can decide whether junko takes over the world or whether hinata is really in love with nanami and confesses.
ye ah originally it was going to have jousting and shit in it but i really hate the medieval times because medieval england was fucked up so i didnt want to write about it that much. apologies for the late upload, i had friends round yesterday and it would not have been sociable to write during that.