Morg: Heyo! Second chapter here we go!

Ikuto: Is anyone even reading this?

Amu: I don't want to.

Morg: No one is making you.

Ikuto: I wouldn't say that I enjoy reading them, but I will if you want me to lie to you.

Amu: Can you imagine if Morg owned us?

Morg: Wonderful times those would be!

Ikuto: No.

Amu: There would be no end to the suffering.

Morg: Yep!

~Queen's Decree~

Amu didn't stop. Not when the guards called her to come back. Not when her mother sobbed out her name. Not even when she heard her younger sister crying somewhere else. All Amu could do was get away. All she wanted to do was get away. Away from that hall. Away from the crypt that held all of her family members that had died. Away from the body that they'd just lay to rest in there.

The ceremonies were over. Amu knew that she didn't have to stay and be strong for any of the kingdom's subjects. She was barely fifteen years old and was suddenly being faced with far more responsibility than she ever thought she'd have at her age. Responsibility that she'd never wanted this early in her life.

So she ran. Amu ran and ran until she couldn't run any further due to a combination of exhaustion and her tears blinding her. Somewhere within the royal gardens, she collapsed onto the ground and sobbed without holding back. She knew that she was far enough away from everyone that no one would be able to hear her unless they knew where she'd gone.

Amu didn't know for how long she cried until she felt a hand on her shoulder. All that form of comfort did was make her cry all the harder. It wasn't the person that she wanted it to be. It never would be again.

Once she'd settled down, Amu finally managed to look up. Ikuto was sitting on a large rock next to where she'd collapsed. "Ikuto?"

Trying his best to smile for the princess and failing somewhat epically, Ikuto squeezed the shoulder that his hand rested on. It wasn't the first time that he'd touched Amu, but it was his first time touching her when he wasn't in the process of saving her life from some threat or another. "I'm here for you. Cry all you'd like."

Sniffling, Amu turned until she could bury her head into Ikuto's thigh and just cry. She wasn't sobbing as hard as she had been before, but the tears didn't seem to stop. They poured out all the more when she felt Ikuto's hand tentatively touch her hair in comfort.

Amu had no idea for how long she cried that day. She did know two things. The first was that by the time she dried her eyes enough to see past Ikuto, the sun was setting. The second was that Ikuto had blood on him. "Are you bleeding?"

Stiffening slightly, Ikuto shook his head before moving so that Amu could sit up better and so that they were no longer touching. "No."

"There's blood on you, Ikuto. I can see it."

There was very little that ever got past Amu. There was even less that got past Ikuto. He could hear the concern in her voice, as hoarse as it was from all of her grief. "It isn't my blood."

Amu stilled. There was only one reason that Ikuto would have blood on him that wasn't his own. "How many?"

Ikuto watched as Amu's eyes fell shut. She looked as though she was preparing herself for terrible news. He didn't think there was anything else that she could be told that day that would be worse than the news she'd already received. "Two."

"Are there any more?"

Shaking his head, Ikuto shifted to look around the garden where they were hidden from sight. "No, I checked before coming to your side. There are no others in the garden and there are guards posted at all the entrances to make certain that no one else can enter until you leave."

Ikuto might not have been her knight but there was no one else that Amu trusted the way she trusted Ikuto. "Are you certain?"

Shrugging this time, Ikuto watched as Amu's eyes finally opened once more. "I am never certain, but I do know that they'd be fools to try and attack you when I am by your side."

Giving Ikuto a wry look, Amu couldn't help but feel proud of this particular guard. "They've tried it before."

"And I taught them a very hard lesson for doing so."

Amu felt better until she turned to look up at the sky. "I don't want to go back."

Moving into the pose that was taught to every guard, Ikuto stared straight ahead to show Amu that he was very capable of doing his job. "Then don't. I will stay with you as long as you wish, your Highness."

Sitting against a tree, Amu leaned her head back so that she could look up at the night sky. The branches of the tree blocked some of her view, but she was able to see the stars when they started to shine in the darkness.

Nothing had been spoken between them for quite a long time, but Amu enjoyed the silence while it lasted. Finally, she had to speak about the thing she'd been thinking for a while. "Don't tell me, Ikuto."

Standing straighter now that she'd addressed him, Ikuto turned to look at his princess. "Tell you what, your Highness?"

Looking away from the sky, Amu looked back up at Ikuto through the darkness of the night. She could make out his features even though it was almost too dark to truly see anything. "Don't tell me how often I come close to dying. I don't want to know. I don't want to hear that more people have attempted to end my life. I can't bear the thought of knowing any longer."

Ikuto understood. Amu had enough to do with death recently. He would do as she asked. "As you wish."

The silence of the night enclosed around them once more. Amu was much more willing to let it stay this time. There was very little that she wanted to say to anyone.

She didn't remember falling asleep, but Amu wasn't all that surprised to wake up in her bed the following morning.

XXX

Amu felt terrible as she made her way into her mother's office. The only reason that she didn't turn around and leave again was the fact that her mother looked worse than Amu felt. Besides that, they did need to talk. "Mother."

Looking up, Midori gave a very weak and tired smile to her daughter. "My love, how are you feeling today?"

"As if there is a hole inside of me that is threatening to swallow up all of the happiness that I have ever felt."

Wincing at that, Midori gave a nod of her head before leaning back in her seat. She felt the same hole. It was threatening to do far more to her than swallow all of her happiness, but the work that had to be done was distracting her enough for now that she was able to get through the morning. It wasn't much, but it was a start. "You won't always feel like this."

Amu knew that there was truth to her mother's words. She just didn't want to hear them at the moment. "You called for me?"

Nodding now, Midori motioned for Amu to sit in a chair. "The council has had a meeting. They believe you are too young to rule. They have moved to make me a regent until you come of age. On your eighteenth birthday, you shall be crowned queen."

The emotions flooding through her were equal parts confusing. She was relieved and yet angry to hear that this decision was made without her and so quickly after everything else that had happened. "How are you to rule when you don't have the authority?"

Midori decided to ignore the bitterness within Amu's words. Her daughter did not mean to be so blunt or cruel. She was mourning. Midori would not fault her. "Through a series of decrees. Whenever there is something that needs to be done or changed, I will make a decree. I cannot change the law. Only you can do that after you are crowned, but I can make sure that most of the problems don't get too out of hand until then."

She would have three more years. Amu would have three more years to finish learning all the things her father hadn't had the chance to teach her before everything had happened. "I have no say in any of this. Do I?"

Shaking her head now, Midori finally stood and moved to embrace her daughter. She was pleased when Amu hugged her back all the tighter. "His death is affecting us all, Amu. Take this time that I managed to get for you to live life for a little while longer before carrying the weight of the kingdom upon your back. He didn't want this for you this soon and neither do I. I will do whatever I can until the time comes for you to take the crown, but promise me that you'll do your best to try to be happy again."

The wounds were still too fresh. The loss of her father was still too raw for Amu to even imagine being happy again. He had been her guide for all of her life. He was the one that taught her everything that she needed to know about the kingdom and life. Now that he was gone she wasn't sure what it was that she should do. She was lost and there was no longer anyone to guide her.

Still, Amu held back her tears as best she could before drawing away from her mother. "Thank you for doing this. I know that you are also struggling."

Smiling through her tears, Midori cupped Amu's chin before hugging her daughter once more. "I still have you and your sister. You are made of me and your father, so in a way, he hasn't left me at all. I will miss him every day, but I know that I can get through my grief if I focus on you and Ami."

Ami. Amu hadn't thought much about her younger sister throughout the last few days. Her grief had clouded her mind. She regretted that now. "Where is Ami?"

Releasing her elder daughter, Midori nodded toward the door with her head. "In her rooms. She hadn't come out since the funeral."

Wiping her face, Amu nodded to her mother once before leaving the office. The kingdom and those types of decisions would wait for Amu. She had three years to mourn. She had three years to learn and get ready to take over the throne.

But until then, she was going to do what she could for her sister.

Knocking on the door to Ami's room, Amu waited for a minute without hearing anything. Though it was a bit rude to do so, Amu pushed the door open and entered. At first glance, she thought the room was empty. Then she noticed the lump on the bed.

There Ami was, curled up under her blankets and hugging a small stuffed doll that her father had given her for her last birthday. It wasn't anything extravagant like some of the other presents she'd received from people, but Ami still loved the doll the most.

Rubbing her sister's back, Amu watched Ami sleep for a bit. The streaks along Ami's cheeks told Amu that she'd been crying before she'd fallen asleep. She had to be so lonely and confused about everything.

Silently, Amu slipped into Ami's bed with her sister. It wasn't until she felt a pair of eyes on her and glanced over her shoulder that she realized she hadn't shut the door to Ami's room. Ikuto was there, in the doorway. He nodded once to her before pulling the door closed, leaving the two sisters alone together.

Amu wrapped herself around her sister so that she would wake when Ami awoke. She might not have been there for her sister before, but she was going to be. If her mother could get through the day by doing work, then Amu could focus her attention on her sister. The rest could wait just a bit longer.

.

Morg: While I don't enjoy writing sad stuff, I find that I'm pretty good at it.

Ikuto: What's this, are you bragging?

Amu: Sounds like it.

Morg: What kind of writer would I be if I couldn't point out my strengths?

Ikuto: A humble one.

Amu: A modest one.

Morg: Naw! That ain't me!