Things were awkward between Nikki and Max now.

Ever since their almost-kiss in the forest a month earlier, they'd been skittish around each other. They thought that it wasn't as obvious as it was to their fellow travelers, who, of course, picked up on the romantic tension you could cut with a sword. Gwen watched from the sidelines, intrigued by the fact that her adopted son appeared to be falling in love—and with a princess, at that. David was concerned by the fact that Max was avoiding Nikki. Jaspar was ready to watch it all go down. And Campbell didn't give a fuck.

Neil still felt a little guilty for interrupting their moment, and he was trying to do everything he could to make up for it—whether it be by volunteering for babysitting duty or by giving them opportunities to hang out together. Nothing seemed to work, since neither seemed willing to be alone with the other. It was endlessly frustrating to the alchemist, who had watched Nikki be miserable for the past ten years and only wanted her to be happy…

"Are you sure about this, Dad?"

Neil looked up at Carl, the royal philosopher. Carl was taking his four-year-old son to meet the king and queen at Their Majesties' request. Their three-year-old daughter needed a playmate and they wanted to meet Neil in hopes he'd be suitable.

"King William and Queen Candy will love you, Neil! I promise."

Neil bit his lip as they entered the throne room. King William and Queen Candy were sitting in their usual spots, Princess Nicolette on the queen's lap and sucking her thumb.

"Your Majesties," Carl greeted them, bowing. Neil followed his father's example.

"Is this Neil?" Queen Candy asked, lifting her daughter so she could stand up.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Bring him here."

Carl led his son by the hand over to the queen. Princess Nicolette looked at Neil and tilted her head.

"Go on, Nikki," her father urged. "This is Neil. He's Carl's son."

"William, her name is Nicolette—a lovely name for our little angel," Candy insisted.

"Nicolette is too long a name for her, Candy."

While the royal couple argued (and Carl attempted to mediate), Nicolette (Nikki) toddled closer to Neil and looked him over. He took in her puffy green hair, her magenta eyes, the dirt smudged on her cheek, the bandage on her elbow, and the mud at the hem of her dress. She wasn't what he'd expected when his father told him they were going to meet the princess of Lilac. He'd expected a little prissy girl who wouldn't want to play games or go outside at all.

"I'm Nikki!" she told him, smiling widely.

"I'm Neil, Your Highness." He bowed and she kicked him in the shin. "Ow!"

"Don't bow. You're my friend. Friends don't bow."

Candy stopped arguing with her husband and Carl when she heard her daughter say that. A smile spread across her face.

"Thank God. She didn't turn him away."

"Come on, Neil!" Nikki grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the garden. "Let's go outside!"

"Do you ever think about growing up?"

It was four years later. Nikki was seven and Neil was eight, meaning that their friendship had endured for that amount of time. Neil nodded at her.

"I'm going to be an alchemist. My mom said I can start an apprenticeship when I turn ten. What about you?"

"I'm going to get married and become a queen."

"You're seven. Why are you thinking about marriage?"

"Because Mommy says I'm getting married when I'm sixteen. I'm marrying the Prince of Woodland. It was all arranged when I was six."

"Wow. Lucky you."

"What does an alchemist do?"

"They search for the Elixir of Life, which makes you immortal."

"Sounds lonely."

"Who knows? If I'm good enough, maybe I'll become the royal alchemist and live in the castle full-time!"

"And then you can make the Elixir of Life for me and my husband!"

"Yeah!"

"Nicolette! Neil!" called Queen Candy. "It's time for your lessons!"

"Race you!" Nikki was up from the grass first, running for her mother.

"Hey! No fair!" Neil scrambled to keep up with her.

"Say your goodbyes, son."

Neil looked from his father to Nikki, who was dressed in a modest cloak. She was twelve now, and beginning to grow into a young woman. Her hair wasn't as puffy as it had been when they were toddlers and was braided tightly against her head. Her expression, however, was grim. Today she was leaving for boarding school in the kingdom of Flora, where she'd be taught to be a proper lady rather than the tomboy he knew and loved as a sister.

"Bye, Nikki," he sighed.

"Bye, Neil." She gave him a hug. "Don't burn down the castle."

"Not without you."

Nikki smiled as she was led to the carriage, but that smile faded as she waved out the window.

"A couple years there will do her good," Queen Candy told Neil and Carl. She was the sole ruler of Lilac, taking on the role after her husband's poisoning a couple years earlier. "It's where I learned to be a proper lady. They'll fix her."

"She's not broken," Neil murmured.

Nikki was Nikki, not a lady. There wasn't anything wrong with her. Sure, she drank his tonics sometimes without permission, but the most they did was make her sneeze or laugh uncontrollably. She liked to be outside in the dirt and play with animals. She was always asking if she could wear tunics and leggings instead of dresses. None of that made her broken or sick in the head. She'd always been that way. But no. According to society, Nikki was bad and needed to go away for a while. A tomboy was a bad princess and needed to be turned into a proper lady.

And now he was without his best friend because of their stupid rules.

"Now announcing, Her Royal Highness, Princess Nicolette Clarisse Amelie de Gardenia of Lilac!"

Neil lifted his head at the sound of Nikki's full name. He was sixteen now, and it had been a full three years since he'd seen his best friend. She was at the top of the stairs, wearing a lilac-colored gown with her hair in an elegant updo. Her jewelry was made of diamond, sparkling in her ears and on her neck and wrists. She carried herself with an air of elegance that made her almost unrecognizable as she descended into the ballroom.

She didn't look fifteen; she looked twenty-five.

He couldn't get through the crowd to talk to her, but he could hear her voice and laugh. It was all different now. Whereas before, she'd had a laugh that made you think you were actually funny, now she sounded more… pinched and reserved. Her voice was smooth and silky, like butter, and her vocabulary was more befitting of her status.

In other words, she'd gone from Nikki—his try-anything-once, let's-have-fun-before-we-die best friend—to Princess Nicolette Clarisse Amelie de Gardenia. A complete and total snob and somebody he didn't want to associate with anymore. He chose to abandon the party and headed outside, onto one of the empty balconies.

"Neil."

Shit. She'd followed him. He turned to see her looking concerned.

"Why haven't you tried to talk to me?" she asked.

"Forgive me, Your Highness," he replied with a bow. "But you were—"

Suddenly, she kicked him in the shin.

"OW!" he yelped, clutching his injured leg. It hurt even more due to the stiletto heels she was wearing. "What was that for?!"

"I told you—we're friends, and friends don't bow." She crossed her arms and he could see the girl he'd grown up with—just in an older body.

"What about 'being a proper lady'?"

"I'm only doing it to get Mom off my back. After tonight, I'm back to being plain old Nikki."

"Oh. Until you're sixteen, you mean." Her face fell.

"Yeah, about that… I don't want to get married anymore."

"But… that's all you could talk about when we were younger."

"I know, but I realized something when I was at Miss Priss's. If I get married, I'll lose any freedom I have. I won't really be a queen like my mother. I'll be expected to be at my husband's beck and call and just have babies all the time." She looked up. "I don't want to be a mother or a wife yet. I'm not ready."

Neil gave her a hug.

"I missed you, Nikki."

"I missed you, too, Neil."

"I'm sorry you have to do this."

"Hey, can you promise me something?" They broke apart.

"Sure, what?"

"Promise me that you'll do what you can to try and stop the wedding legally."

"I promise."

And he'd kept that promise. However, he had only found one legal way around the marriage issue, and if Nikki and Max didn't get over themselves and stop with the awkwardness, then they wouldn't be able to do it.

The only legal way out of the arranged marriage was for Nikki to marry somebody else.

Max was her way out.

"This isn't good."

Nikki shivered as she walked through the forest with Max. They'd been on their way back from picking up supplies in town when they'd spotted Lilac soldiers on the road. Max had made the decision to disappear into the surrounding woods, but now they were hopelessly lost.

"I'm sorry," Max sighed. "I should've kept an eye on where we were going."

"It's not your fault. You were just trying to get away from those bastards."

Nikki bit her lip as they continued onwards, hoping to find their way out. She'd heard rumors about this forest—that the few magic-users who were left lived within its trees, going mad from isolation. It was enchanted, people said. Not safe for normal humans. Full of fairies and elves and what-have-you.

Luckily, she and her companions weren't normal humans.

"Nikki?" a man's voice called, faint within the dense wood.

Her heart stopped for a moment.

Daddy?

"Hello?" she called back, stopping and facing the direction from which the voice had come.

"Nikki, what's wrong?" Max asked.

"I thought I heard…"

"Nikki! Come here!" the voice said.

"Dad?"

"Nikki, it's not your dad," Max told her in a panic.

"I'm right here, Nickname! Come find me!"

"Daddy!" Nikki scrambled over the fallen log in her way and felt Max grab the back of her tunic. "Max, let go!"

"Nikki, that's not your dad. Trust me—this forest fucks with your head."

"Nickname, come to Daddy!"

"My dad's the only person who called me that and the only person besides me who knows me by that name. It has to be my dad."

"Nikki, your father is dead. You told me that yourself—that he was murdered by poison." He gripped her shoulders so they were eye-to-eye. "It's. Not. Your. Dad."

"Get off of me!" She wrenched away from him and managed to get over the log.

"Dammit! Nikki!" Max leapt over the log with ease and ran after her as she ran towards the voice.

"I'm coming!"

"Fucking elves…" Max muttered as he ran. "I swear, Nerris better tell me how to block this shit out next time I see her."

Nikki stopped in a clearing, looking around for the source of the voice. Max caught up with her, panting.

"Jesus Christ, you're fast. So, if it was your dad, where the fuck is he?"

"I… don't know."

"Stupid humans!"

Max put a hand on his dagger and Nikki did the same.

"You shouldn't be in these woods!" the voice giggled. "Dangerous!"

"Very dangerous!" a second voice echoed.

"Humans are so foolish!"

"And they're so expendable."

"Easy to read their minds."

"Find who they've lost."

"Find who they want to see."

"Who they want to hear."

"Come out, you fuckers!" Max yelled.

"As you wish, human idiot."

From the trees came two people. Max froze. They looked like David and Gwen, but paler and blonde. They had matching grins and white clothing, with the man holding a jagged knife in his right hand. The woman had a needle and thread.

"Hello," the man stated, cracking his neck as he tilted his head. "I am Daniel."

"I'm Jen," the woman added.

"What the fuck do you want?" Max asked, making himself a human shield between Nikki and the pair.

"We are Children of Zeemug," Daniel replied, staring unblinkingly with his haunting grin. "And all we require is human blood."

"Oh, but Daniel!" Jen giggled. "The girl isn't just human—she's also of royal blood. Much more valuable."

"You're right, Jen."

Quickly, Jen thrust her needle forward. It hovered in the air before flying around Max and Nikki, tying them together with the strong thread. Max struggled to get free, Nikki doing the same as the Children of Zeemug laughed.

"Nickname!" Daniel called, perfectly mimicking the voice of the late King William. "Come here!"

"Oh, God," Nikki whimpered. "Max, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. These fuckers must be who make this forest so dangerous to travel through. Mimic the voice of someone you've lost to lure you in before they strike."

"How perceptive, Max," laughed Daniel. "We read the emotions of humans and act accordingly before we spill their blood in the name of Zeemug!"

"I'll get the wine," Jen offered, going into the forest. Daniel followed her, intending to get the candles for the ritual.

"We're getting the fuck out of here," Max hissed to Nikki. "Can you reach your dagger?"

"No."

"How about mine?"

Nikki moved her arm as much as she could, her hand brushing over Max's torso as she managed to grab the handle of the blade. She began sawing through the thread. It snapped after a minute of trying and they were free.

"Run!" Max told her, grabbing her hand.

They picked up speed as they went back the way they'd came, branches hitting their legs and faces. Neither cared. Then they heard Daniel and Jen screaming in fury from where they'd left them. The two teenagers kept running, desperate to get to the road. Nikki ended up spotting the dirt path and they landed in a tangle as they tripped over the edge.

"You little rats!" Jen hissed, flying towards them. She looked demonic as she flew, but was stopped by the edge of the road. An invisible barrier stood between the teenagers and the Children of Zeemug.

"Leave them, Jen," Daniel sighed, approaching the barrier. "Nerris the Cute's barrier still holds firm. We'll break free one day."

They vanished into the forest, Max and Nikki still lying in the dirt, panting from the effort it had taken to make it there. Then, the princess and the thief looked at each other and started laughing in relief.

"We made it!" Nikki gasped, hugging Max.

"Thank God," he murmured, hugging her right back. They sat there for a minute before Max stood up, helping Nikki to her feet at the same time.

"Thank you for following me," she sighed. "I probably wouldn't have made it out, otherwise."

"You're welcome." Nikki stepped a little closer.

"You know, in fairy tales, this is where the princess rewards her rescuer with a kiss."

"Isn't that a little cliché?" Max asked, smirking as he moved closer to her.

"I don't mind being a little cliché sometimes."

She and Max closed the gap completely, their lips meeting in a kiss that was a month overdue. A spark went through their bodies that made them not want to stop at all, but they eventually broke apart.

"That was…" Max said, his voice trailing off as he tried to think of what to say.

"Amazing?" Nikki finished.

"Perfect." She jabbed him in the arm playfully.

"Your sister was right about you, Sir Max."

"Then allow me to assist you, Your Highness." He did a mocking bow and grabbed her hand. "Shall we return to the castle?"

"We shall!"

Lizzie looked up at the sound of Max and Nikki's voices. She smiled and ran to meet them, only to find Max and Nikki kissing each other by a tree. Her eyes lit up.

"You love each other!" she squealed, interrupting them.

"Hell yeah we do, Lizard," Max replied. Nikki blushed and shoved him playfully.

"So now you can get married and Nikki can really be my sister and you guys can live happily ever after!" Max and Nikki glanced at each other and Lizzie knew they were thinking the same thing. "Yay! I'm going to tell Mommy and Daddy!"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Nikki spoke up. "Lizzie, it's not that simple."

"Yes, it is! You love each other, so you get married!"

"Lizzie, Max and I can get in big trouble for being together. My mom won't like it and she's offered a lot of money to have us brought in."

"Oh." Lizzie's face fell. "But… you're still gonna be my sister, right?"

"Of course."

"Okay, then."

Neil walked by as Lizzie skipped back towards the campsite and looked at Nikki and Max.

"It's about damn time," he commented.

"Shut up, Neil," Max muttered.

"Why were you so determined to have us together?" Nikki inquired, tilting her head.

"Over a year ago, I made a promise. I promised I'd find you a legal way out of your marriage to Prince Edward. And I did."

"You did? What is it?"

"There's only one way: you have to marry somebody else and… consummate your marriage."

Nikki tilted her head, having no idea what that meant. Max, on the other hand, turned bright red.

"What does that mean?" Nikki asked.

"It means you have to have sex with your husband on your wedding night," Max stated bluntly.

"Oh. Oh!" Nikki turned the same shade of red Max had. "I don't know if I'm ready…"

"We have time," Max sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "We won't do anything like that until you're ready."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

WHOO!

So, yeah, that's the big thing with this story. Max is Nikki's way out of her arranged marriage and that's why Neil is so for them being together once they show chemistry. Speaking of Neil, the beginning of this chapter is the first time I've really gotten into his head. I wanted to explain why he was so close to Nikki and why he's sticking around. They've stuck together this long, so why not keep going?

Yes, I made Daniel and Jen mythical creatures. Deal with it.

And author's notes will be done every three chapters, so the next one won't be until chapter nine.

So long and thanks for all the fish!