…

Fortuna crossed her arms, staring straight at her parents with an almost rebellious look on her face. Scratch that-it was a rebellious look that she wore.

"Fortuna," began her mother, not even bothering to try and hide her emotions. Even a nitwit could figure out that the queen was royally pissed. "Why…oh, my darling daughter, why did you bring home a criminal? We never gave you the permission to oversee something like pardoning those arrested. You must request a higher warrant to do something like that, my daughter. Think of how it makes us look if our daughter brings home a criminal, especially one so close in age. The rumors-oh, the rumors!"

The lavender-haired youth was better at concealing her emotions than her mother-far much better. However, when her temper was ignited, it became much more difficult to keep up an emotionless façade.

"Mother," she said as calmly as she could. There was a hint of tiredness in her tone; they had been arguing about this for hours. "I am, of course, aware of what the rumors may say about this sort of situation. However, they are merely rumors. They are simple to squander and squash-if the person doing it is capable enough, of course."

There was a snarky tone to that last bit and her mother frowned. Fortuna did her best to reel in her temper. "And Father did give me written permission to oversee this little incident at the village." She pulled out a wrinkled piece of parchment from her corset, making her mother grimace at the unladylike mannerism. "I have it here with me as well, if you need any more proof, Mother."

Fortuna held out the parchment, but made no move to get closer to her mother, who had little choice, but to step down from her throne and take it from her daughter.

I, King Heelo Loketa of Melodia, grant my daughter, Princess Fortuna Loketa of Melodia, the authority to oversee the incident involving the collapsed mines and missing villager. Any criminals found and detained are permitted to fall under punishments she deems suitable.

The queen quickly read over the warrant and shot a look at her husband, who had wisely remained silent throughout the ladies' rather heated argument.

"I see," was all she said before she handed back the parchment over to her daughter.

Fortuna couldn't help the small smirk that formed on her face. As much as she wanted to boast, however, she knew she could not.

"Mother, I understand your concerns but I am not a child anymore," said the princess, putting the parchment back in her corset. Her mother cringed this time. "As queen, I will be trusted to handle everything that happens in this kingdom and I assume it would be wise to begin with smaller assignments such as this. There will be more difficult challenges in my future as queen, but I will overcome them. That being said, if I believe that this former criminal deserves to be pardoned, I expect my own mother to have faith in me. If my judgment is clouded and I am proven wrong, then I shall face the consequences. Allow me to burden my own troubles and solve my own problems."

She lifted her chin in a defying manner as she finished speaking, looking at her mother with a calm but challenging posture. Only Amu, who stood right next to the princess, could see how nervous Fortuna truly was. The lavender-haired girl had never truly stood up to her mother like this; sure, she had blown up at the queen when she was being irritable, but this conversation certainly held more weight than the one about whether or not Yamada was toying with her heart.

The king cleared his throat, noticing his wife gape at their daughter with an expression that made her resemble a fish out of water. He finally stood from his throne; for once, he did not have a nonchalant posture. He looked like a king-the kind people respected and yet feared at the same time.

"I think that is quite enough," he began. "Ruby, you have expressed your understandable concerns on the matter. Fortuna, you have made your impressive points loud and clear. I suggest we all retire to our chambers before words are said-words we cannot take back."

He gave his wife a pointed look, knowing how frustrated she got whenever she didn't get the last word, and gestured towards the exit. She gave him a cold look but strode out of the room, her blonde curls whacking her daughter in the face.

"Rude," muttered Amu, crossing her arms as she glared at the queen's retreating back.

When the doors slammed shut and her mother disappeared, Fortuna finally relaxed her shoulders and gave her father a grateful look. His expression softened as he walked over and gave the young princess a hug.

"My dear, while I understand your points given, I also cannot help but share your mother's concerns about what happened today," he began. "I trust your judgment about this Johnny fellow, of course, since you have always had a certain instinct about these kinds of things; however, I hope you understand that your mother is simply worried about you. Being kidnapped after walking into a dark cavern all by yourself? That is simply too dangerous, even for a risk-taker like you, Fortuna."

Fortuna sighed. "I know it was foolish of me, Father, but I am alright. You would think Mother would at least admit that my rebellious nature came in handy today. If I had not taken those self-defense classes that she protested against, I would not be standing here with you. If I allowed myself to stay on the short rope she holds, I would not have even gone into that cavern. And if I had not gone into the cavern, I would not have been able to save James!"

Her father patted her arm. "I understand, Fortuna, but please…promise not to do something so risky like that. I know I cannot stop you from jumping off horses and running through the woods with screams like a banshee, but please refrain from journeying into the dark, unknown without at least one guard. May is a wonderful princess, but she would never be a suitable queen-she'd most likely free all of our prisoners and make them do community service in exchange for their freedom, and without a guard or two as company."

Fortuna laughed. "Most likely," she agreed, thinking of how simple-minded her younger sister could be. "I understand, Father. Thank you for being so calm about all of this. If Mother was more like that, perhaps we would get along more."

"Your mother…can be quite difficult," agreed Heelo. "However, she means well. It is late, you know, and the day seemed to have dragged on. Please go and get some rest before I begin to wail about how you brought home a boy." He winked. "Especially when your fiancé is already in the castle."

"You are right, Father," said Fortuna, yawning. "Perhaps it is best that I retire now and discuss certain issues with Johnny tomorrow…" She paused. "Did you say my fiancé was in the castle?"

"I did." Heelo could not help the smile that formed upon his face as he watched his daughter's light up. "His room is directly above yours." When she was gone, he sighed sadly. "My little girl is all grown up…"

Fortuna squealed and threw her arms around her father, quickly wishing him a good night, before she sprinted out of the throne room. Amu, baffled, quickly followed.

On the way to her room, Fortuna passed by several maids who giggled. She paid them no attention as she approached her room and spotted the handful of guards nearby.

"Leave," she exclaimed, shooing them. "Leave, leave, leave!"

The guards exchanged amused looks before bowing and obeying her frantic request. She stood in front of the doors, fixing her hair and smoothing her dress, before she calmly opened the white barrier between her and her beloved.

Her eyes sparkled brightly as she spotted the lone figure standing at the window, his back towards her, and, breathlessly, she whispered, "Yamada…"

The young prince turned around and his face lit up as a large smile formed on his rather handsome features. The setting sun cast a beautiful glow on his maroon colored hair that always seemed to look as if he had recently rolled out of bed and his dark green eyes glowed with such radiance and joy.

"Fortuna," he whispered back, almost as if a noise any louder would disturb the connection they shared.

Fortuna's eyes filled with tears and she choked back a sob.

"Yamada," she cried, racing towards him.

He met her halfway, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around in the air as they laughed. After a few moments, he placed her back down on the ground and he barely had time to breathe before her lips connected with his.

"Fortuna," began Yamada when they parted. He cupped her face, looking solely into her eyes with the look only those who knew love would understand. "Fortuna, my love, I feel as if it has been decades rather than months since we have last seen each other."

"I feel the same," replied Fortuna, covering his hands with hers. "Each passing day had become harder and harder to bear. It was pure agony…oh, and the things my mother would say, making me doubt even the things I knew I was certain about! But that is not important now, Yamada. How are you? How are things back home? The war…the war is not over yet, is it?"

"Calm down, Fortuna," said Yamada, laughing at his fiancée's enthusiastic behavior. She was always claiming to be an independent woman with little regard for others, but she was also a small child with the stubbornness of a mule. And he loved her for it.

Fortuna blushed. "Sorry…but is the war over?" She looked at him with large doe eyes.

Yamada kissed her. "Yes, my dear; there will be no wars, not for us at least. As for your other questions…I am quite alright, especially now that I am back in your arms. Back home, my father was overjoyed to finally prepare for the wedding while my mother all but pushed me onto my stallion to get here." He smiled teasingly. "I swear that at times, they love you more than me."

"Oh, do not be silly," murmured the princess. "They just want us married before I come to my senses." The smile on her lips took any sting out of her remark and he kissed her again, shaking his head.

"I wonder when that will happen," he replied. "My brother still insists that he would make a worthier husband."

"A worthy husband," agreed Fortuna. "But not for me; you are the only one I would consider walking the aisle down for. Perhaps we could set him up with Jewels and her mother can stop trading goats."

Yamada laughed. "Does she still do that? And I do not believe Jewels would mind all that much. She's a princess in all but blood, you know."

"Oh, I know," remarked Fortuna, rolling her eyes. "But enough about her! How long are you staying?"

Yamada kissed her again, though this time it was more of a lingering kiss that promised something else. "Long enough, my love…"

Amu, as dense as she was, was not stupid and her cheeks turned a brilliant red. She pointed at the door as she backed away, pointlessly stammering, "I-I think I'm going to go and…and take a walk. Yeah…"

She sprinted out of the princess's room. Sure, she had felt a connection to Fortuna, but whatever the bond was, it wasn't that close! Not by a long shot!

All of a sudden, Amu slammed into something and crashed to the ground with a loud "oof". She groaned, rubbing her head, and looked up to yell at whatever had gotten in her way like that.

Whatever foul language she had intended to say died before ever even leaving her mouth as she stared wide-eyed at a translucent spirit looking down at her. The spirit had no particular form; every time she blinked, it looked different. It held out a hand to her and Amu stared at it with a petrified expression.

Come. I shall not harm you, little one.

A soothing voice whispered in her ear. As soon as she heard it, Amu immediately felt a wave of calmness roll over her. She felt the same thing she did upon approaching Fortuna the previous day. She could trust this spirit.

Amu grasped the translucent hand held out, surprised to find the hand ice cold as it hauled her to her feet. The spirit turned and began to float down the hallway.

This way. There is something you must see.

Amu bit her lip and quickly followed the spirit. It disappeared through the heavy stone doors and the pinkette chased after it. Instead of finding herself in another empty corridor, Amu gasped as she gaped at the ominous torch-lit cave she now stood in.

"W-What?"

How does one describe a cave? Well, a cave certainly didn't give off a joyous feeling; that much was obvious. It was depressingly dark and damp. Amu wasn't sure she wanted to know what liquid coated the walls. Actually, was that writing on the walls?

Little one; do not get distracted. Come hither.

Amu turned to the spirit; no matter what face it had, it was clearly annoyed. She blushed and jogged over to it as it began to float away. The seamstress was quick to follow.

"Um, out of curiosity," she began. "D-Do you have a name…?"

The spirit did not answer for a few seconds.

You may call me Willow.

"A-Ah, okay…Willow…my name is Hinamori Amu…"

I am aware. I am also aware that you do not belong in this time period. You are curious as to why you were brought here after a certain incident back home. I am here to explain.

"O-Okay," replied Amu quietly. "A-And what about my connection to Princess Fortuna? Why am I so attracted to her?"

Willow let out a small chuckle, her ever-changing face finally sticking with one appearance. She now had the body of a small, fair-haired girl with a pale complexion.

I am here to help you with your fate, little one, not to assist in your love life.

Amu blushed fiercely. "N-No, that's not what I meant!"

I do not judge, little one. Come here, to my home, and I shall tell you more of your connection with the princess. It is a long tale.

Willow led the still flustered seamstress over to a beautiful crystal lake that looked truly magnificent in the dark cave. She raised her arms and the water rippled until the image of Fortuna and Yamada embracing lovingly appeared.

Your time here is limited; the spirits could not allow you to stay with the princess any longer than that moment so I offered to explain everything to you. After that, you will return home to your beloved fiancé.

Amu nodded, albeit confused, and peered into the water, which rippled once more to reveal Fortuna and Johnny standing inside the dark cave.

After a…tiring night with her fiancé, Princess Fortuna prepared to return to the mines with the former bandit, Johnny. Against the guards' protests, the princess ventured into the cave with only young Johnny as her companion. They were quite far from the entrance when the earth shook once more, again closing up the cave. The two of them were alone and trapped in the cave.

The image changed to the pair trekking through the cave with only a dim torch.

The princess then decided to go on instinct and led them down a seemingly random path, as if someone was leading her somewhere. After a tiresome walk, Fortuna and Johnny found themselves in an odd clearing not too different from the one we currently stand in.

The water rippled and Amu saw the pair standing in front of a cave wall that had strange writing on it.

It was Johnny who noticed the inscriptions. Having traveled to various lands, he was fluent in several languages and recognized the writing as one of the dead languages from an old kingdom. Fortuna, who had studied some of these languages, recognized her name written but could not decipher the rest. She requested that it be translated for her.

Johnny hesitatingly did as she asked.

Born from the light and joy, the lock protects all beings in its domain

Without question, with no selfish motive or desire, the lock sacrifices its own happiness for others'

Born from darkness and sadness, the key helps protect the lock.

No happiness can be felt, nothing but loneliness and misery as it takes it in all the pain aimed for the lock

There were only two in the world who had the power to break the curse set upon from a tragic accident

A witch and a warlock from opposite ends would be the ones to save the world but there was a price

For they had the power to resolve the problem and the power to make it unfixable

Bring forth the Fortuna and Drakon, the Light and the Dark

End the misery the witch and warlock will, but at a terrible cost on each end

If not resolved, thousands of years of war and darkness will reign

Innocent people will die and the truth will be clouded time and time again

Bring forth the witch to release the light and bring forth the warlock to trap the darkness

End this reign of terror before all is lost

Amu lost all color as she stared at the water in horror. Willow closed her eyes.

It was a prophecy, you see, little one. Princess Fortuna was a witch who was destined to save the world. And she failed, dooming the world to an endless reign of darkness in the future.

And now that future is your present, Hinamori Amu.

…

I do not own Shugo Chara!

*sobs* I am so bad at these prophecy things so I am just going to apologize right now. That was the reason this took so long. I just could not figure out a way to make this all cryptic and pensive yet not totally impossible to figure it out but I gave up and I think it's so obvious now and I…I am just a hot mess and I'm sorry.

Anyways, I apologize (again) for not updating sooner. Finals and all…ARE OVER TOMORROW!

I took my Chemistry and Geometry standardized tests so I was exempt from taking the finals and my Comparative Politics teacher was going away for finals week so we took that final earlier but the OTHERS…

Monday:

My Driver's Ed final (what is an expressway? What sign is red, white, and blue? Why?)

Tuesday:

(Exempt from my Chemistry final, my friends and I walked to Starbucks and then Subway. It was awesome but REALLY hot. Almost got hit by a car; no big deal. Thank you, to my friend-who-will-remain-unnamed for stopping me from running across the street like an idiot)

I also had to take my Spanish 3 final. Gross, totally failed that.

Wednesday (today):

I had to take my English final. 200 questions in two hours, all multiple choice. It was okay…except I don't know shit about poetry, but it wasn't a HUGE part of the final, only 40 or so questions…

Exempt from my Geometry final, my friends and I sat in the cafeteria until dismissal for another two hours where I ended up reading at least 100 pages of City of Heavenly Fire.

Tomorrow (last day!):

I have my Latin 1 final…that should be pretty fun and easy and THEN I AM FREE FOR THE SUMMER

EXCEPT FOR ALL MY GROSS SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS

*cough*

Sorry, you probably don't care about my finals…

Next topic…

Books!

Yes…I mentioned it a few lines ago but I'll say it again. I started reading City of Heavenly Fire, the sixth and final book in the Mortal Instruments series. I have to finish it by the 24th of June because it's a library book and there are, like, eighty other people (not exaggerating!) on hold for it so I know I'm not going to see it again for at least six months and I need to finish it NOW and yeah…

Anime!

I have such a long list of anime and manga to read but I keep procrastinating…oh, but those who had reviewed for my request in chapter 10, thank you but I had already seen those that you mentioned. I appreciate you offering some animes though.

TV shows!

Got really into Once Upon a Time…

Movies!

DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. I HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK. I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS BUT DON'T YOU DARE PUT ANY FUCKING SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS. I WILL HATE YOU IF YOU DO.

I also need to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 so don't say anything to me about it right now please…

I DID see Maleficent and Angelina Jolie is just amazing; that movie was incredible and I recommend you go seeing it. Her daughter played young Aurora because all the other children were too scared to approach Angelina and I just found that too adorable!

What am I forgetting? Oh, yeah! This chapter!

So a bit more about Fortuna's life is revealed. I was originally going to have it play out like an actual story but then that'd take forever so I decided that doing the whole flashback thing would work out fine too.

Please keep reviewing and telling me your thoughts! They really do help me put together the next chapter and I like hearing what you think will happen next, especially when you're either close to the truth or so far off I find myself amused.

Well…until next time, which is hopefully sooner than this time!

(I just confused myself; sorry…)