It's game day Penn State, get up!

This is kind of a shorter chapter, just so you know.

"She needed a hero, so that's what she became."

It was strange. It should have seemed like the world was falling apart but everything was normal. Sure, Maxon was working longer hours but he was still insisting that I work shorter hours. I gladly obliged to stop working before dinner but then would take work back with me to our room while he ran off to another meeting with the war council or security or with an ambassador from our allied countries.

But it was there. Everyone could hear the bomb ticking. The hard part was figuring out when it would explode. There were a few warning bursts though and each one made us more uptight than before.

The final sign that something big was happening came two weeks after the assassination. Maxon had only just come to bed and he appeared to be asleep but as soon as someone knocked on the door he jolted out of bed like he wasn't asleep at all. I shifted the pillow tucked under me at the sound and tried to go back to sleep. I thought I had succeeded until seconds later I felt Maxon shake me awake.

"Mer, wake up," he was saying, his hands gently shaking my shoulders.

I struggled to open my eyes. The fatigue of my first trimester was starting to wear off but it plagued me from time to time, especially in the middle of the night. "Wha's hap'ning?" I mumbled.

When I finally opened my eyes fully I saw that Maxon's face was worried, maybe even a little scared. "There's a crisis," he answered vaguely. "I don't know much else but the advisers asked to see both of us."

He walked over to my room as I slowly got out of bed, stroking a hand down Fitz's small back. Maxon soon came back with a simple dress and a bra for me to put on. I quickly changed and we walked together down the hall to one of the conference rooms where most of the advisers were gathered.

"What is the meaning of this?" Maxon asked, clearly perturbed to be dragged out of bed at this hour.

Carter looked away from the TV which was lit up on a blue screen. "Your Majesty, we received a video message from Kellan Slep. Would you like to see?"

Maxon rolled his eyes. "No I want to sit here and knit a scarf," he answered sarcastically.

"It's graphic," Carter warned in a dark voice, pressing the Play button on the remote. Everyone in the room turned to the TV and after Aspen turned the lights off Maxon put his arm around my waist.

"To Illea and it's allies," Kellan's voice began, "you think you have rid yourselves of conflicts with us." Images flashed up on the screen of an army marching down the street. "But this war is far from over. If you do not return all previously owned land to us in New Asia, your people will be killed. I now speak to King Maxon only: you may be done with your father but you still have me to deal with. We have people here that belong to you and we don't plan on giving them up anytime soon unless you do what we say." Then the image of an emaciated man in chains flicked up on the screen in time for a soldier to put a bullet through his head.

As the TV screen went dark, Maxon and I were both too shocked to even move. He didn't even care to remove his arm from around my body. I held my breath, trying to get rid of nausea that had grasped my stomach.

"When did you receive this?" Maxon ordered.

"Just a few minutes ago, Your Majesty," Adler answered.

Maxon nodded. "Have you traced it back?"

"We're working on it," another adviser reported.

"King Ferdinand was the one to alert us about the video," Aspen added. "Queen Victoria believes that the victim is one of her citizens but we probably won't have any confirmation until morning."

Maxon stepped away from me, taking this in. My body had finally regained feeling but I was left with a cold, dead feeling. I wrapped my arms around me, hoping to warm myself up. Maxon noticed. "Someone call for a maid to bring hot tea and coffee up immediately as well as some fruit and pastries. Everyone else, please take your respective seats."

I did as he said, knowing that King Maxon was no one to really argue with. Everyone had just taken their seats when a maid bustled in and walked straight toward me after curtsying. I frowned, not understanding what she could be coming to me about at this hour. "Yes, Lakey?" I addressed her quietly, extremely aware of the advisers watching me.

"There is a situation in the foyer that requires your attention, Your Majesty," she reported.

I nodded and excused me. "Sorry gentlemen. I'll be back shortly." I followed Lakey down to the foyer where Queen Oyun was waiting for me. I stopped short. I had only talked to her on the phone a few times so it wasn't completely awkward to see her but she had shown up completely unannounced and dressed in pants. "Queen Oyun," I greeted.

She smiled sadly. "You and I both know that I'm not Queen anymore. I'm just Oyun now." She paused and collected her breath. "That's why I'm here. It seems that Kellan has made me unwelcome in my own country. You're the only friend I had to run to."

"Of course," I said, walking up to her and hugging her.

She started crying into my shoulder. "I just miss Don so much. I know he wasn't much of a husband these last few years but he was my husband."

I pulled back and looked at her evenly. "Where's your son?" I asked, hoping that he was safe.

"He's fine. He's been at school in Italy for a year so he hasn't been in New Asia for any of this. The Italian royal family is looking after him. They are big fans of Illea and when they heard that we're allies they were more than happy to help." She shook her head. "Well I guess we're not allies anymore."

"You can't help that," I told her, seeing the difficult position she was in. "Come with me. I'll help get you cleaned up and in an outfit more fitting for a queen." I walked with her, our arms linked together, up to one of the guest rooms on the second floor and called Mary and Paige down to help her get her changed.

I decided to hold off on telling her about the baby until a later time, not wanting to say something that could upset her. She informed Mary and Paige that she wanted to take a nap so they politely excused themselves, curtsying as they left, and went back to their work. "Are you sure you don't need anything else?"

"A few hours of sleep in a suitable bed will do for me. Thank you. I'm sorry for waking you."

I glanced at the window, noticing that the sun was finally starting to rise. "It's nothing, we were already awake dealing with the mess that the world has turned into."

She laughed but there wasn't much humor in the sound. "Well thank you again for all of your hospitality."

"It's my job. Let me know if you need anything else. If you change your mind about breakfast, we'll be in the Great Room at nine."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I shut the door quietly, slowly meandering back up to the third floor to maybe sleep for a few more hours. I put a hand on my stomach, aware of the fact that we won't be able to keep this baby a secret for much longer. Right now it may look like I put on a bit of weight but in a matter of weeks it will be clear that I am pregnant.

I collapsed back on to my bed in my suite and shut my eyes. The door to my room opened and I assumed it was one of my maids wandering through picking up the room or getting something ready for the morning. That's why I jumped a mile off my bed when I heard Aspen's voice.

"You didn't come back to the meeting," he stated.

I sat up abruptly which only resulted in a head rush. I put a hand to my forehead. "Jeez, don't you know not to scare a pregnant woman?" I put a hand over my heart.

Maxon walked through the door, nearly bumping into Aspen. "What did you do?" he accused lightly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He sat next to me and put an arm around me. "Anyway, as Aspen was saying, you didn't come back to the meeting."

"Yeah, well we have a visitor in the palace for the foreseeable future," I told the boys.

"A visitor?" Aspen repeated, his eyes flashing. "How don't I know?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because you were in the meeting. It's Queen Oyun, from New Asia."

Maxon frowned. "And she's staying?" he clarified.

"Yes, she's staying. She's not exactly welcome in New Asia anymore and I'm really one of the only friends she has. I can't just throw her out on the streets," I explained.

Aspen and Maxon shared a long look. Maxon and I had mastered the silent communication I had first seen between Georgia and August but he and Aspen spoke a different language. Aspen then looked at me. "She can't stay," he concluded.

"What?" I shouted, not bothering to keep my voice down. "Why not?"

"She's dangerous," he said simply.

I sighed exasperatedly and looked to Maxon for help. He just put a hand on my knee and shrugged. "Aspen is right. We're declaring war on New Asia. We can't have a New Asian citizen in the palace," Maxon told me.

"She has nowhere else to go!" I exclaimed, not believing what they were suggesting.

"New Asia has plenty of allies in the Middle East and Africa. Why are we the ones she ran to?" Aspen asked.

I knew he was looking for my honest opinion. "Because I'm closest to her in age. We're both young queens. This is probably the last place Kellan would look for her."

Aspen sighed. "Even if that's the case, he will still be looking for her. He killed her husband; he'll want to kill her too. That puts everyone in the palace in danger."

"Everyone," Maxon emphasized. "Including our child."

I shook my head. "She's not a danger to us," I refused. "There's no way."

"Think about it, America," Aspen told me, "she came and you immediately offered her food, shelter, and clothing in her country's greatest enemy's palace where she'll spend time with you and where you will divulge all of our secrets."

"Then I won't tell her anything. I can keep a secret, in case you two haven't noticed."

Aspen rolled his eyes. "Half the staff knows about the baby America."

"What? How?"

"The maids like to talk," Maxon explained, sounding like he couldn't believe that I didn't know that. "Look, it's late, or I guess early, and we're all tired. Why don't we get some sleep and continue this conversation in the morning?" Aspen opened his mouth to argue but Maxon was quick to cut him off. "One night won't hurt." He put his arm around my shoulders as Aspen finally conceded.

"Okay. I'll see you both later this morning then." He waved and exited the room.

Maxon turned back to me with an expectant smile on his face. I was amazed at how relaxed he was with all of this going on but I remembered his mother saying that he always dealt with the stress of the job by laughing it off. I recognized the smile well and pushed him away gently with my finger. "Can't you wait until morning? I'm tired."

He sighed dramatically and collapsed back on my bed, an arm slung over his eyes. "I guess. But you have to promise."

I rolled my eyes. "We'll see how I feel in the morning." I crawled up to the top of my bed and tucked myself in underneath the comforters, too tired to bother changing my clothes.

Maxon left and came back in his underwear with a t-shirt on. We lay on our backs side-by-side, staring up my white ceiling, our breaths being the only sounds in the room besides Fitz wandering around by my balcony doors. "What are we going to do?" I finally whispered, holding the blankets up to my chin.

"I was hoping you would have some ideas," he admitted. "I would love to just bomb the hell out of 'em and call it a day but that's already been done." He paused. "We have nothing else to give them. We gave them so much with this last peace treaty."

I frowned and then turned on to my side. It was just barely light outside but it was still dark in my room. I had to use my hand to get a gauge of where Maxon was but I could tell he was looking at me. "Then we don't give them anything."

He squinted his eyes, clearly not sure of what I was talking about. "What?"

"They may want something from us but that doesn't mean we have to give it to them." I paused, looking for an example. "How many girls came here to the palace hoping to marry you?"

"Mer…"

"How many, Maxon?" I pressed.

He sighed. "Thirty-four. Not everyone wanted to marry me."

I smiled. "And how many did you turn down?"

"Thirty-three."

"Only one could win," I reminded him. "Only one country can win this. We decide who is going to win and we decide that it's going to be us. We've given them enough already; it's time they give us something."

"When did you get so smart?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

I smiled too. "Maybe you rubbed off on me," I answered simply, resting my head on his chest and falling asleep to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

Hope you liked it! sorry, i'm kind of in a hurry this morning. thanks for all of the reviews guys!

keeperfan123: hope it lived up to your expectations!

The Selection Fangirl: you'll see what happens.

prnamber3909: i know. i was pretty shocked too.

NalissaPatali: i love when i'm writing and that happens. like, how did the music gods know i needed to hear this song right now?

Melody: i would like to thank you for your continued support for my story. i looked back and saw that there is another person with the name Melody who has been reviewing so if that's you, i would like to thank you. i would also like to thank you for your concern over the college-level class that I am taking and that I am paying for and where my professor just happens to be a bestselling author. i understand that when you're fifteen and what, a freshman, you have so much free time on your hands that you are able to worry that much about other people's educations. i really appreciate that. but look. i have my own writing style. i can't make you like that. i don't like John Green's writing style so i choose not to read his books. i don't write him a review saying that i'm more mature than him and that i am a better writer. i would certainly hope to be able to back that up someday but i would at least sign my real name so he could look up my work to see if there was actually any truth to whether or not i am the better writer. so thank you for your advice and now i would like to offer up some of my own: this is FanFiction. okay? Not everybody on here writes like Shakespeare and Faust (do you know who Faust is? i don't remember him being part of the ninth grade curriculum). everybody has the right to write however they want, in whatever style they want. i'm not trying to mimic Kiera Cass because that's stupid. that's the same as dressing like everyone else just to fit in. the stuff i put on here isn't my real, true writing. you'd probably have a much different opinion if it was. Like i sing opera, right? Are you going to tell me i'm a bad singer after hearing me sing a One Direction song? no. This is somewhere where people are able to take a break from their normal writing and be bold or daring in what they write. thank you for your time in reviewing, oh wise one. despite the fact that i've fallen in love, had sex, seen someone die right in front of me, lost many close family members to death, and gone through a whole lot of other stuff in my life,(and i do recognize that going through stuff doesn't mean you're more mature but it's ultimately what you get out of it) i only hope i can be as mature as you one day.

p.s. if that wasn't formal enough for you i can send you the one in Olde English in the next chapter.

Weatherbug02: yeah sorry this one wasn't as fast but i was just so busy this week! that also explains why it's a little shorter.

Parisismydream: london is my dream ;) i've actually had that part written since May. i had to change it a little bit but it was one of the first things i wrote for this story.

Theoneforever: yeah he wasn't a nice guy but the guy who is now king...he's scary.

winterprincess: yeah i'm hoping that the Heir clears that up for us.

thanks guys!