Baron sat on the bench and let his head fall back, flinging wet bits of hair behind his head. It had started raining a little while ago, the amount of water falling from the sky increasing with time, and he had returned to the park, though he wasn't sure why. Here was the place he had almost thrown all his feelings off his chest to Haru.

Speaking of Haru, he relieved the moment again and again when that man in her house knelt to one knee and held out the box, Haru throwing her arms around his neck as she nodded. No matter how hard he tried to banish the sight from his thoughts, he couldn't seem to and, like a broken record, it rewound and played again.

How could he have missed it? How could he have not seen that she was in love with someone else? He supposed it didn't really matter; he would have found out eventually and it would have been painful any way she revealed it to him.

Either way, he knew he had lost her.

There was a crackle of static beside him, but he didn't bother raising his head. Gold glitter drifted into his hair and caught on his eyelashes, in seconds washed away with the rain dripping onto his face, and a ball of light illuminated the air next to his head.

"Hey," Belinda said quietly.

Baron closed his eyes. "Hello Belinda," he responded dully.

"Are you okay?"

He shrugged. No point in lying to her. "Not really."

"Did something happen?"

"You could say that."

"You wanna talk about it?"

He sighed, bringing his head forward as she landed on his shoulder. Being less than two feet tall she fit there neatly, her golden wings fluttering in the breeze. "I've lost."

"What do you mean?" she asked, panic tingeing her normally even tone. "How have you lost?"

"I've lost Haru. Even after everything I did or tried to do, I've lost her. We can never be together."

"But... but why? What happened, I thought it was going so well!"

"Looks can be deceiving because I watched her become engaged a little while ago."

"What?"

"It's too bad," he continued, a rueful smile on his lips. "I love her too. I almost told her, but I was interrupted. Again."

The normally charismatic fairy on his shoulder remained silent.

He tilted his head back up toward the sky, watching the raindrops fall onto his face and break apart, glimmering faintly on his skin. "I know why I wanted to be human, Belinda." She turned to him suddenly, but he continued staring upward. "I wanted to be human because then I would have a chance of winning Haru's heart. As a cat figurine a relationship between the two of us stood no chance, but as a human I could certainly try.

"And the nightmare you were so kind enough to bestow upon me two nights in a row? Don't give me that look, I know you did it because it corresponded much too closely with my heart's desire. The nightmare showed me my worst fear: I was afraid the fact that I was a doll and Haru a human would prevent us from ever being together." He sighed again, his voice shaking a little. "But it doesn't really matter because she's in love with someone else."

"Baron, do you know what this means?"

"My heart is irreparably broken?"

"Um... no."

"I can never be with the love of my life?"

"No..."

"I shall never be able to trust you again?"

"Okay, stop guessing!" she snapped, clapping both her hands to his mouth, which effectively silenced him. "This is probably the greatest thing you could've done! Don't you roll your eyes at me I'm not done! If a person figures out their heart's desire—because, as you know, I don't reveal it—then that person gets a completely limit-free wish! You could wish for anything you want Baron! Think about it! You haven't lost yet!"

"I don't want to win that way."

"So... so what do you want, Baron?"

Shaking his head, the sad, small smile returned to his face. "I want... I want Haru to love me as much as I love her. But I can't wish for that because if I do, it wouldn't be the same. So... so I want Haru... to be happy. I wish for Haru's happiness."

"But... b-but why?" The fairy anxiously wrung her wand in her hands and her lip quivered.

Baron stared down at his lap, thinking hard for a moment, then he lifted his head and ran his fingers through his hair once more. "Imagine," he began, "there is an exquisite sketch you wish to see brought to life with paint, but you know that you would not be able to it justice if you were to try to paint it yourself. You would just make a mess of it. So instead you would step aside and let a true artist render it in paint because even though you wish you the one to paint it, you would ultimately derive more pleasure in watching someone else do it who can give the sketch what it rightly deserves."

Belinda stared at him. He sighed. "I would rather Haru be with someone who can make her happy, let alone someone of the same species, than be with me, who can offer her nothing."

"Are... a-a-are you sure? Is t-that what you want?"

"Yes Belinda. If Haru is happy, then I don't want to ruin that for her. I'm happy for her."

Belinda looked away, biting her lower lip to hide the trembling, though in truth he wouldn't have known whether or not she was crying because the rain would've blended with any tears. "Well," she mumbled after a long moment, "I guess... I h-have to go. Grant your wish and a-all."

In another burst of glitter that didn't seem as energetic and flashy as normal, the daffodil-haired fairy disappeared.

Alone with his depressing thoughts once again, Baron leaned back and sighed for perhaps the fifteen millionth time that day. Then it took a turn for the worse when his traitorous mind brought back more of those awful memories from two years ago he wished he could forget.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"So these crackers mean that… you can marry the prince instead of me!" Prince Lune and his future bride blushed. Haru threw her arms around Yuki's neck, exclaiming, "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thank you Haru" Yuki said, returning the embrace before leaning back," and thank you for feeding me when I was a kitten. Without you I might not be alive today."

The prince turned to Haru, smiling. "So you're the girl with the fish crackers Yuki told me about, and you're also the one who rescued me when I nearly got myself killed by a truck. We both owe you our lives Haru. What can we do to repay you?"

Haru beamed. "You don't have to repay me," she said happily. "I'm just glad things turned out so well. "I guess I did the right thing after all!" The prince, Yuki, and I all joined her in the act as Muta nodded. Then a guttural, slightly maniacal laugh burbled in front of us and the Cat King came up behind his son.

"This is all very moving. I had no idea you had a bride in mind already," he said, placing his paws on the prince's slender shoulders. "You should've told me." Nodding in fake sympathy, he then turned his attention to my half-cat companion and sent her a toothy grin. "Poor Haru, you must feel like such a loser!"

Haru shrugged. "Not really."

"No, I'm sure you do. So look, I have a great idea. You should marry me instead!"

Muta looked disgusted, and my genial smile had faded. Behind the king, his assistant gasped in shock.

The Cat King, obviously proud of his little scheme, clapped his large paws to his waist. "I'll get you some fish too, as a symbol of my undying love and all that. So?"

I was surprised Haru could maintain her manners, but she did as well as an air of indifference. Impressive. "That's very generous of you," she said, " but I just want to be myself again."

The king sent her another brilliant grin. "I'll change you back, if you marry me."

Haru rose suddenly, a disgusted look manifesting itself on her lovely features. "I've had just about enough of you!" she said, her voice rising. "No one decides who I am but me, and there's no way on earth I would ever marry you!" She screamed the last phrase as the Cat King, his lavender standing on end, stumbled backward, yowling.

The king looked between his two assistants, the gray-haired cat and the floppy-eared one, as they rushed to help him up. "Was that a no?"

The grin returned to my face. I knew Haru could do it! I knew if she just believed in herself, if she just had faith, that she could do it. Besides, if I were Haru, the Cat King proposing to me would be enough motivation to encourage me to stand up for myself.

Muta stood and laughed. "So I guess you're not ready to get hitched yet, huh kid?"

Haru balled her paws into fists. "Not a chance."

"I respect a woman who stands up for herself," he continued, clapping a hand to her shoulder. "Even if she does like to stick her nose in other people's problems."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

He knew it was too good to be true anyway.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Poor Baron, right? This chapter makes me sad...