Chapter 2: The Prince(s)

The Sunny Kingdom's pink and yellow balloon glides across the sky. Poomo was worried for both Fine and Rein. He never remembered the twins being separated aside for the time when they all got lost in a maze but even that incident was just in a short period of time. This will take almost a whole day and he knows that the sisters will be anxious without their other halves on their side. The fairy who was driving the balloon glanced at Rein, ready to offer a happy joke or something but what he saw was a blazing fire of pure determination.

"P-p-pumo?"

"I'll find that flower for sure!" Rein declared as she fist-pumped the air, "Poomo!" she said while pointing at him.

"Y-yes!"

"Drive faster, please! The sooner I get the flower, the sooner I'll be with Fine".

"This is the fastest that we could get-pumo".

"Is that so...? Then hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!" Rein chanted. Unfortunately, instead of getting motivated, Poomo only got irritated, "I am hurrying it up-pumo!" he shouted.

Suddenly, they noticed that no one was driving the balloon. The ride went bumpy as the balloon made a swirling descent on the ground. Poomo and Rein could only shout in horror as they continued to go down, down, down. Soon, they crashed at the side of the Wind Kingdom's palace where Bright, Auler and Sophie was already waiting. The group kind of expected this was going to happen.

The door opened and the stairs was out, revealing Rein and Poomo who were too dazed by the impact.

"Why do we always crash-pumo?"

"So...dizzy..." Rein said. She then became aware of a hand extended towards her direction.

"Princess Rein, are you alright?" said a voice that was all too familiar in her ears (because she always have dreams about him where he would call out her name. Heck, she could even imitate his voice!). The prince's tone was both honey and sugar. Deep and strong. Compassionate and kind.

"B-B-Bright-sama!" she exclaimed. Rein quickly pulled herself together or else all her preparations will be for naught; "I-I'm fine, thank you..." she said but her stand was wobbly and the next thing she knew, she was falling. She stood so fast that her head wasn't able to cope up. Interestingly, she didn't hit the floor.

She opened her eyes and saw Prince Bright's face above her. She could see the strands of his dark blonde hair and the light in his caramel eyes. Alongside with this, her mind registered two gentle hands that were supporting her back and waist.

"Are you sure, you're alright?" Bright asked again, concern clouding his beautiful breath-taking eyes. The princess could only manage a nod this time.

"Hang in there!" then said a voice. They turned around and saw Sophie cheering Poomo as he regained his bearings.

"Huh? Where's Fine?" Auler asked.

Instantly, Rein's posture began to slacken and Bright fought the urge to touch her again. It was out of etiquette, especially for a prince to hold a lady without permission. Sometimes he just wanted to act normal, act like a common boy but the pressure is there... to be the perfect prince everyone loves. Not that he didn't like it, that was his nature after all, being a "goody prince" (as Shade had called it). Its just that sometimes... he wanted a break from it.

"Fine was not feeling well... so I went alone..."

Shock was the least of their feelings when the group heard it. The twin princess of the Mysterious Planet... separated at least for half of the day? Bright took a worried glance in Rein's direction.

"Alone?" Sophie repeated, "Alone you say...?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Auler suddenly said, feeling responsible for what had happened.

"No, no, it's not your fault... besides, Fine really wanted to help you, so I'm going in her place," Rein explained, still wearing a smile on her face despite the situation.

Bright cannot help but to smile as well, "She'll be better in no time, don't worry," and before he could think of it, he patted her head. It was soft... like a kitten's fur...

"Uhmm!" he took off his hand, "That was rude of me. Please forgive m – "

Rein shook her head as a blush on her cheeks formed, "It's fine... I actually felt relieved hearing those words from you, Bright-sama."

"Rein..."

"So!" she turned to Auler and Sophie who were quietly observing the scene, "What's this rare flower you speak of?"

"It is called the Sky Flower," Auler said.

The Sunny Kingdom's main town was bursting with activities. Merchants laid their items from different planets all across the universe, street dancers and musicians performing their talents and vendors displaying all kinds of fruits and foods. Fine cannot help but stare at the variety of sweets before her. She can't decide what to eat first! Cakes? Chocolates? Macaroons? She was literally drooling with delight. The red-haired princess was about to buy a dozen donuts when she heard a shout.

Fine turned around to see three men bullying a kid. This made her angry. The donuts now forgotten, she stomped across the street and headed for the gang.

"Hey!" she shouted as she stood between the kid and the hooligans.

The three men looked at her.

"Stop that!" she ordered.

"Whaaaat?" bad guy #1 said, "And who are you to stop us, 'lil missy?"

"I am Princess Fine of this Kingdom and you should do as I say before you get into some serious trouble!" she proudly lifted her chin. This was the first time she's using her title to break away from a pinch like this but that's all she had now. No, that was wrong. She had more than that title – her experiences with Rein proved that. There was a deeper power than the Prominence, a deeper power than the Black Crystal, a power that lies within each and everyone else. The power to do the right things.

The gang laughed, breaking her thoughts.

"You?" bad guy #2 pointed at her, "a princess?!"

"No way!" bad guy #3 said.

"Now run along if you don't want to get hurt," bad guy #1 stated, "I'm warning you because you were such a great entertainer...pffftt...princess," he mocked.

Fine stood her ground, blocking the kid from them.

"Oh then you'll be sorry," #3 bellowed as he swung his fist. The princess ducked it successfully, lowered herself to the ground and leaped off to connect her head to #3's chin. He yelped back in pain. It pays being an athletic person.

As #3 was still in torment, #1 and #2 was going for her in opposite directions. She panicked for a while and then she let her instinct take over, flooding her senses with the adrenaline to conquer the situation. Fine jumped out of their range and the two hit each other to their ugly faces.

"Hehehe... Lucky," she mumbled. Suddenly, the kid tackled her, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Onee-chan!" he said.

"O-oh! T-that was nothing," she replied. Embarrassed by the gratitude, she smiled awkwardly.

Then there was a gasp, "Onee-chan!"

She turned around to see #3 lunging for her. She was not gonna make this time. Fine closed her eyes in anticipation.

"Huh...?"

When she opened her eyes, she saw a boy wearing a black trench coat paired with a hat, accompanied by a shirt with a yellow tie complete with pants and boots. His dark violet hair was unmistakable and his blue eyes were unreadable. If you have a wild imagination, you could hear the background music similar to the ol' West whenever this particular character appears.

"Shade!"

The prince of the Moon Kingdom held #3 with his whip – tighter, tighter, tighter, until he shouted that he gives up. The sorry bunch went for the run but not until shouting insults on Fine. Shade gave them a last taste of his wicked whip. The kid went up to them and thanked them again before going home.

Fine looked at her saviour, "Thanks... again".

"I just did what anyone else would do," Shade said in a manner-of-fact way but when he saw that Fine's mood changed he added, "You were handling yourself pretty well back there".

This made her grin, "Yeah. I thought so too!"

"A princess fighting the bad guys," Shade shook his head with an amused smile, "How will a prince ever earn his credit?"

She coughed, "Well, you did save me back there, so..."

"So..."

"I'll have to return the favour. 'As a token of my gratitude' or whatever the book says about when a prince saves a princess," she said as she pulled his hand, dragging him from stall to stall, "So, what do you want to eat?"