Hello again, everyone!
I hope you enjoyed the second chapter!
Even though Aisha cried for hours until she fell asleep, today was a brand-new day for her. Her cousins had their afternoon activities, and she figured she would take up Adrien's offer and meet his friends. Having an eidetic/photographic memory, Aisha memorized the names and faces of his friends. She hoped they would like her back.
"I only want them to be mine, mine, mine. Dreaming about them at the nights! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! You know I love unicorns. And nothing makes me feel better!"
The song ended, and the small group of friends gave Kitty Section a quick round of applause.
Nino stopped filming them on his camcorder. "Best one yet, dudes and dudettes!" Everyone turned their heads to see what Nino was now pointing out.
"No way!"
Adrien was getting out of his family's backseat vehicle and helped Aisha out.
"It's the Princess!" Rose giggled as the two approached the Couffaine houseboat.
Adrien waved to his friends. "Hey…"
"Hey."
"Hi…"
Alya crossed her arms. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your royal friend?"
"Everyone, this is Princess Lalla Aisha of Nikenobia."
The gang bowed and curtsied, which was sweet on Aisha's belief, but it made her less worthy of it.
"Hello, everyone," one by one, she pointed out, "Nino, Alix, Zoé, Rose, Juleka, Kim, Max, Mylène, Markov, Ivan, Luka, Nathanial, Marc, and Marinette. A pleasure to meet you all. Adrien's told me such great things about you. Oh!" She opened a box containing fried donuts. "I bought a snack from my homeland: puff-puffs."
Everyone eyed them and grabbed either one or two—Adrien had a couple earlier during the drive up.
"Mmm…" Alya licked her mouth. "Tasty."
Max ate one. "Scrumptious."
Juleka smiled. "Nice…"
"These are really good," Marinette snuck a couple in her bag for Tikki to try.
"Yum-my!" Nino exclaimed. "So, Your Royal Highness…"
"Oh, you don't have to with the formalities," Aisha politely insisted—she still didn't feel comfortable after what happened last night with her father. "Aisha would be alright."
While getting ready to perform their next song, the gang got Aisha to settle in, and a few surrounded her. "So, Aisha," Zoe Lee, Chloé's maternal half-sister, began asking her a question. "What's it like to be a princess?"
Rose tittered. "Yeah. Do you get to wear beautiful gowns and jewels?"
"And go to fancy parties and events?" Mylène asked as well.
Aisha sighed heavily. "People think that being a princess is wearing pretty clothes and jewels, going to fancy parties…kissing the prince…" She had a moment where she wanted to cry but concealed it. "Living happily ever after. But it is more than that. It is a real job to care about the people of your country. And…it can be a lot. Right from birth, I was brought up to be the 'perfect princess.'" She almost felt defeated when she said that.
Nino stood straight, held his head high, and held his hands behind him. "Looking like this all day long."
"Like, standing up straight, smiling, and laughing at jokes you thought were dumb and stupid," Alix commented. "Saying 'yes, ma'am,' 'no, ma'am,' 'yes, sir,' 'no, sir' all the time," she stuck her tongue out at that last sentence. "Eugh. It must be exhausting."
"That's part of being royalty," Aisha nodded. "And yes, it is exhausting."
Kim added, "But you get to live in a big palace and have lots of people waiting on you."
"Even living in a palace with staff waiting on you hand and foot is like living in a gilded cage, and you're one of the prisoners," Aisha commented.
Adrien related to that since, for all his life until recently, he was never allowed out of the house and only even allowed out except for photoshoots and business-related events.
"Your every movement and thought is under constant scrutiny and control. Never having a say in your decisions, always being told what to do, your whole life schedule and to…be seen and…not heard…stay in your place and…stay silent…" Aisha felt a lump in her throat, which grew every time she stopped. "Excuse me." She dashed to the nearest bathroom, worrying everyone.
Marinette heard distant crying from one of the bathrooms below deck. She had her back against the wall when she heard someone come out. She turned to see who it was, and it was Aisha drying her tears off with her wide sleeves, sniffing a couple of times, mustering herself up, and taking a couple steps when Marinette slid in her way.
"Hey…"
Aisha jumped. "My goodness…"
"Ah," Marinette scared herself. "Oh, sorry…" she chuckled nervously. "I don't tend to do that or make people jump. Well, I usually do tend to trip and fall all the time, even when waking out of bed and falling down the stairs. Like seriously, my mother has to set up a laundry basket at the ends of our steps so I land safely and I don't break my butt."
Aisha giggled. "I take it you're as clumsy as an ostrich."
"Yeah, I guess you can say that…" Marinette snickered to herself before noticing how red Aisha's eyes were. "Uh…are you okay?"
Aisha inhaled and exhaled again, fidgeting with her fingernails. "There's a reason why I'm here…"
"I'm all ears…"
Marinette felt chills. "An arranged marriage?"
"It's a tradition for the princesses and sometimes the heirs to the throne in the royal family," Aisha explained. "Even my parents' marriage was arranged," she looped a braid behind her ear. "My mother said love will come, but…but I just don't want that. And among other things…always being told what to do all the time, having no say in what I want, staying in my place, being seen and not heard unless spoken to, everything I do is controlled and scrutinized, I just…couldn't take it anymore. So, I decided to come here to Paris to live with my Uncle Chi, my Aunt Geneviève, and my cousins, Aliko and Sarah."
"Whoa," Marinette gasped. "Who are you arranged to marry?"
Aisha groaned. "Prince Adofo, the crown prince of one of our ally countries, Madakara. To say he's insufferable is an understatement."
"I know some pretty insufferable people," Marinette agreed.
"I don't love him!" Aisha declared. "And I never will. And when I told my father this, he…" She threw her arms around her body. "He called me a disgraceful disappointment and told me to stay away for as long as I want to. I can't go through with it; I just can't and…because my heart belongs to someone."
Marinette gulped, but her eyes turned to worry when she saw how Aisha's mouth quivered. She covered her eyes with her clutched fists again, got up, and ran away.
"Wait, Aisha!" Marinette tried to catch up to her, but she was faster, immediately taking off. She hunched her shoulders a bit, and Tikki came out when the coast was clear.
"Poor girl…"
Marinette agreed. "Yeah. I feel so bad for her."
Even the group was concerned about Aisha when she ran past them and off the houseboat, hiding behind a corner by the Seine.
"Father! I cannot! I won't! I will not, nor will I ever…"
King Umar barked, hissing through his teeth, and banged his fist. "I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH, YOUNG LADY!"
Aisha flinched—this wasn't the first time she got her father worked up like this, but this was the first time he's made her jump like this. "And not another word about this. It's been decided, and not another word about it."
Through tears, Aisha held her head up and turned, ready to leave her father's office.
"You don't ever leave until I tell you to," Her body jerked back when she felt a tight grip on her hand.
"You are a princess. You best stay in your place when you speak to me like that. And know it. The prince is your betrothed, and you will marry him in the near future. And if you don't go through with it when the time comes, you will be a disgrace to this family. To this country."
Her father glared her in the eyes and said, "Even if I have to force you..." he yanked her gold ring that bared the family's crest on her right hand and threw her arm down. "Now…you are dismissed."
Sniffing her nose, she wiped her tears with her hands and stared at her gold charm bracelet that had her country's flag on it, making her cry harder again.
"You're a disgraceful disappointment."
"I am a disgrace…" she continued sobbing after falling to her knees.
Somewhere deep down in the Agreste mansion, there was a sizeable dome-like room with a window that had a butterfly or floral design window.
A masked man was dressed to the nines when wearing the activated Butterfly Miraculous, surrounded by flying butterflies once the window shuttered open.
"Ooh," Shadow Moth got this whenever he sensed a negative emotion. "A young princess…even thousands of miles away from her homeland, feels so guilty for leaving. And yet, if she goes back there, she'll be subjected to failure, disappointment, and total obedience when all she wants is to be seen and heard. I have a feeling this is going to be a gooood one…" Shadow Moth relished this moment as the Akuma charging when a butterfly flew into his hand, plucked an amok feather from the hand fan of the Peacock Miraculous and watched it turn blue. "Fly away, my little Megakuma, and evilized that royal heart." He laughed manically once the Akuma and amok flew out.
Aisha had her back pressed against the stone walls and her legs folded up, her head down as she continued sobbing when a black butterfly and blue amok flew into her charm bracelet.
Soon a dark purple mask appeared on her face, and a man spoke right in her face.
"Princess Lalla Halina, I am Shadow Moth. Now let me ask you this: do you want to be seen and have your voice heard? Have a chance to tell people what to do instead of the other way around?"
Aisha answered with eager delight and had a wicked smile on her face. "More than anything."
"Then I'm giving you the powers to make people obey you and have your voice heard, but in return, you must do something for me…"
"Bring you Ladybug's earrings of creation and Cat Noir's black ring of destruction," Aisha guessed correctly. "Yes, Shadow Moth."
A black cloud with purple translucent highlights formed around her.
"What a smart young lady you are…" Shadow Moth smirked.
A/N: Again, let me know what you think of the story...
