I lay in my bed in the late afternoon. I held my pillow to my chest, just trying not to cry. All I could think of was the events of the past few days.

Though our mother had only just passed a short time ago, it seemed that the other royals were already debating over who should take the throne: Me, or my brother. It seemed that our mother hadn't chosen which of us should be her hier before her passing. As if that weren't bad enough it seemed that the rivalry between my brother and I had only gotten worse through all of this. It's not like I'd expected it to get better, but I hadn't thought that it could be any worse.

We haven't been on friendly terms since we were very young. It's sad though, because neither of us wanted to drift apart. We used to be inseperable, then, well, stuff happened. I can still remember back to when we were five.

Like one time when mom had been teaching us some simple magic. She was showing us how to make snowflakes. She told us to focus our magic and emotions on what we want. That was when mom had first taght us that no two snowflakes look alike.

Or once when we had been making snow angels and had heard something from near some snow cherry bushes. We had jumped up and went to investigate the sourse of the sound. When we looked around the bush we saw an adorible snow puppy. We ran over to him and played with him, we even named him. His name was Barkalomule, he was so friendly. Afterwords we had tried to sneak him into the palace, but mom had caught us. Thankfully she didn't make us let the puppy go, she thought it was too cute to watch us play with him.

Oh, and there was that one time when we were little. We had pranked Keith by strategicly setting up a bucket of glue and a bag of feathers. We had run away laughing at our mischief. But, in the end, our mom had found us and scolded us. We were also not allowed any desert for a week. It had been worth it.

But then, when the royals started visiting they would bring their children with for play dates. I hadn't liked Barron much, but I loved spending time with Skye. After a while I'd started begging to visit her, just as Azreal had started asking to visit Barron. We hadn't known it at the time, but that was the start of our 'falling-out'.

Just as I was thinking this I heard a knock at my door. I perked my head up before crawling out of bed, though still holding my pillow, and walked towards the door. When I opened it I saw Skye giving me a sad smile.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey."

"How are you holding up?" she asked as she watched for any signs that I could break. I sighed and turned my head down to the side.

"I'm as good as can be expected."

"Need a hug?" as she asked this she opened her arms. I didn't hesitate to take her up on the offer and dropped my pillow. I couldn't hold back any more and just cried. As I cried she rubbed comforting circles on my back while saying that it would all be all right.

She stayed with me til my tears dried up and I was left exausted. She then helped me into my bed. I passed out soon after my head hit the pillow. I still felt exausted when I woke the next day. I felt that way for several more days and didn't leave my room until I was made too.

I was made to get up and get dressed by the maids. They apparently didn't think that I should be wallowing in my misery and so I was made to go to the training grounds. Once I got there I saw Azreal looking just as miserable as I felt.

Keith was there as well to tell us that we were going to spar with the wooden swords again and then our magic instructor, Lenor, would come and we would practice what we'd last learned. The sparring didn't last too long however.

The sparring was basicly us just clashing swords for a few minutes before I ducked down and kicked his feet out from under him. Just from that I knew he wasn't even trying, not that I was really trying either. I had just wanted it to be over with, but it seemed that my winning pushed him a little.

It showed when Lenor had gotten to the training grounds. Lenor was a beautiful young woman with long legs, pale skin like every one that lived in the snow kingdom, long light green hair that was always tied in a brade, and lovely dark green eyes. Normally Azreal would be showing off the second he saw her, if only because he thought it was fun. But he'd done nothing of the sort. He usually would at least smile at her, but instead he was just glaring at everyone and everything that he saw.

He was too angry and frustrated to even concentrate, and as a result his magic backfired on him. His whole face had been covered in what appeared to be redish-green soot. We were excused after that. I had gone straight back to my room and Azreal had gone straight to the restroom to was his face.

I had gone back to lying in my bed, returning to my own misery for a while and reliving old memories.

The sound of Azreal's chuckling mixing with my own giggles as we ran around in the snow with mother watching. The times when we built igloos and used them as our club houses; they always collapsed after a while, but we would just rebuild. It was mom that taught us how to make those igloos. She also taught us how to make snowballs, and we had had so many snowball fights after that.

"Hey Ary, let's make a promise!" Azreal had exclamed. I giggled and nodded exitedly.

"Okay Azy!" and he smiled, his eyes lighting up like they always used to back then.

"Let's promise to always be friends and to always be there for each other!" and I nodded, once again saying okay. Azreal had lifted his arm, his hand was almost a fist but he had his picky extended out. "Pinky swear!"

I brought my hand up to my face and looked at my finger sadly before just looking at the ceiling. "We broke our promise, didn't we? And we even pinky swore." Just then I'd heard the sound of a door slamming shut. Azreal.

I sighed. "Poor brother, you must feel so alone right now." I looked once again at my pinky finger. "But, you don't have to be." and with that thought I'd smiled. It had been my first real smile in a while, at least, that I didn't have to force. I nodded to myself before climbing out of bed and leaving my room. I walked down the hall til I reached Azreal's door and knocked.

"Go away!" I frowned, but that wasn't going to stop me. I grabbed the knob and opened the door a little.

"Azy? Can I come in?" I asked, trying not to tick him off any more then he already was. He looked up, I think he was surprised that I'd called him by his old nick name. It had been so long since we had last used those nick names. I think it was a good thing though for me to call him that, otherwise he might not have let me in. I walked over and sat next to him on the bed.

"So, how are you holding up?" I asked.

"Fine." he mumbled, but he still sounded angry. I looked down and saw that he was balling his fist and frowned.

"It's okay. I miss her too." I said, trying to show him that he wasn't alone. I reached out and put my hand over his. I thought it would be comforting, but it seemed to make him snap.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled as he jerked his hand away and leapt off the bed. He turned and sent me a death glare with more hate then I'd known existed. "You think you know what I'm feeling? Ha! As if! I bet you aren't even sad over that! You're just upset that mom didn't make you her heir!"

At that I jumped up and smacked him. I was beyond furious. "How dare you? She was my mother too! Of course I miss her! I loved her! I loved her just as much as you did!" I screamed.

"Yea right! This is all your fault!"

"How is it my fault? She was sick!" He didn't calm down, but the way he talked and moved slowed slightly. They were still filled with hate though.

"I bet you wanted this."

"What?"

"You wanted her to die so you could take the throne. That's it, isn't it!" Azreal yelled.

"You're insane!" but he just smirked and continued like I hadn't spoken.

"Well, if that's your game then you're going to lose. I'm going to get the throne."

I didn't know what took over me. But I glared daggers at him as I growled out "Over my dead body." before storming out of the room, making sure to slam the door as hard as I possibly could. I continued on my angered rampage as I walked back to my room. Once back in my room my mind was clouded by memories from when I was just a child; but unlike the eirlier memories these were not happy.

The sound of Azreal's chuckling now mixing with the obnoxious laughter of Barron as they ran away, leaving me covered from head to toe in green paint. The sound of their annoying snickering as they read the diary that they had stolen, my diary. The way they'd pointed and laughed as I was literally stuck where I stood thanks to glue and the melted soles of my shoes, curtasy of Barron and his summer magic. And so, so many other things.

Why did I even bother trying to be nice to him? It was Azreal that had first broken our promise. It was more his fault then mine that we were no longer close. I didn't start this fight, but I planned on ending it.