Well...

I decided to upload my oldest completed sorry about gay dudes that is at least sort of decent. If you don't want to read it, just ignore this post. :)

(I apparently wrote this in 2007, so no judgy judgy, OK?)

Also beware! It's 16 pages in word. And divided by chapters somehow. Ready go!

Ok, so I have a story to tell. All those who have little hearts and low tolerance should not read this story for it contains me, a man, being in love with a prince. I always liked to spend my time just thinking about fairytales when it came to my Prince. I always thought it was an irritatingly repetitive story; the Prince finds a fair maiden and they fall in love, and they live happily ever after, only after the Prince rescues the Maiden from some horrible fate. This story is not about that. It may contain an irritating maiden, but when given a chance, she’s not so bad.

However, the story I’m about to tell is my story. The story of one of the people who aren’t important or necessary in fairytales, but are always there. My job was the Prince’s servant. His personal servant, like maybe a handmaiden, I guess. I just don’t like the word manservant, ok? Don’t bug me. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes…Now where should I begin my tale?

“Ok, Thor shall be my new servant!”

“I-it’s Thaddeus, S-Sire.”

“Oh, really? Are you sure it isn’t Thor?”

…Ok. So that wasn’t the best place to start, but yeah. That’s my name. Thaddeus…So anyway, now that we know what happened back when the Prince and I met, let’s skip forward a bit.

“Hey Thaddeus!” the Prince whined, and I tried to ignore him. I really did. I was trying to read, and the story was just reaching its climax, but he interrupted me. I sighed and glanced up at him. The only thought in my head was, “Oh god.” “Does this look ok? My parents set up another ball, and I thought…I should pick out my own clothes tonight!” I just stared at him and then clicked my tongue. He frowned. I pulled off his painfully and blindingly purple makes-him-look-like-a-box shirt and he gasped. “What? What’s wrong with it?”

“Prince Erastus,” I said, “Do you want to scare away all the candidates for your marriage?

“Hm…I don’t think mom and dad will like that, will they?” he asked.

I smiled at him and muttered a soft agreement before asking, “Sir Prince, do you mind if I look through your clothes and pick something out for you?” It was a relief that he was wearing plain black pants and boots, but I set out to find something attractive for him. And trust me, I can tell what looks good on the Prince. Anyway, I picked out a blue shirt for him. It perfectly showed off his butt, and successfully displayed his miniscule muscles. It had a collar and a small waist…I remember it like it was yesterday. He looked stunning in it; his cyan hair shone brightly—what? Cyan? It’s a light blue color. Yeah. It’s his natural hair color. Leave me alone! Back to the point…What? Don’t believe me about the hair? Well guess what color my hair is! It’s purple. Purple and blue. Naturally purple and blue. What style? Well it’s like…there’s one chunk of my bangs that’s longer than the rest of my hair. It reaches my chin, but the rest of it just goes to my ear…Hey! Don’t distract me! Back to my Prince…Now I lost my place. You happy? Damn distracter…

Um…Yeah…. He looked stunning in it, it brought out his deep blue eyes and his cyan hair shone brightly and blew in the wind…I couldn’t say why the Prince had put a fan on the top shelf in his armoire, but it added to the drama. Or whatever. Oh! His haircut was like…Short and flat…Like a fox! Ehm –cough- anyway, so the time of the ball came. I sat by the Prince and walked around with him, and he would often lean down to me and say such things as, “Ha, look at that lady waddle,” and “How old is he, 201?” now I realized these things weren’t funny, but I laughed anyway to be polite. At one point, he just walked up to me and said, “Colon.” I still don’t know why…I gave up on figuring him out long before that day, though, so I didn’t think too much on it. The ball eventually ended, once again without a hitch, and the King and Queen angrily scolded Prince Erastus.

“Erastus why can’t you just find a girl and settle down!? There were plenty of fine girls here tonight!” the Queen shouted.

“But those weren’t the right girl,” Prince Erastus insisted. “I want to wait until I find the perfect girl for me.” I knew I shouldn’t have been listening, but my Prince had told me it was my duty to eavesdrop, so I went along with it. There was a lot more shouting that I don’t care to discuss, and then I entered the room. Erastus glanced up at me and smiled.

“Hey Hurkey Turkey,” he said, and I walked over and sat next to him.

“You ok, Sire?” I asked, wanting to console him but knowing I wasn’t supposed to touch him. Especially not when I could be seen.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, his eyes were glazed over with tears, so I could see that he wasn’t ok.

“Cheer up!” I cheered. He glanced up at me.

“Aw, you’re the best friend a guy can have, Thaddeus,” he said, and then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up to his room. “Thaddeus, I have a favor,” he said, in all seriousness.

I stared at him. “You know I’m your servant, right? There’s no need to ask.”

“Pickle juice,” he said, wide-eyed.

“What?” I asked.

“Huh?” he replied.

I stared at him for even longer, and he coughed, but finally said something else. “Will you find me a perfect girl so my parents will leave me alone?”

“What?” I asked, shocked slightly. Why was he asking me this? I couldn’t tell attractive girls from butt-ugly girls. How was I supposed to know which girls were attractive, anyway? I mean…Did it have to do with hair color? Maybe with breasts? Who knows? I certainly didn’t, but I had trouble finding a reply. I finally found a good reason, so I said it, “My taste surely is not the same as your own, Sire. I do not believe it is a good choice to ask someone such as me to pick out a woman for you.”

Erastus sighed and fell onto his bed, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But Thaddeus, what should I do? I just can’t find the right girl.”

“Pardon the impudence, Sire, but maybe you just need to keep looking. I am sure you will find a girl who truly appreciates how amazing you really are,” I said, a pang of regret and a hint of remorse following the suggestion. By this time, I was already desperately in love with the Prince and didn’t truly want him to find that perfect girl, out of the fear that if he found her and married her, he’d no longer want me around.

“Hm…Hey Thaddeus, what’s ‘impudence’?” Erastus asked, smiling and flopping back so he was lying down. He was so adorable that way…I wished I could just crawl up next to him and snuggle in, but I knew I couldn’t. “Sounds familiar.”

“That’s because it was in your last lesson, Sire. Impudence is rude behavior,” I explained, smiling at him while he wasn’t looking. He sat up, and I tried to dash away my smile, but he caught it.

“What? You think my inattentive stupidity is funny?” Erastus asked, and I wished I had realized his angry tone was masking his amusement.

“No, no, I just…please forgive me my impudence, Sire,” I apologized, making a fool of myself. I gasped as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down into his bed. He began to tickle me, and I tried to push his arms away, but he refused to stop, and I couldn’t stop giggling. Once he finally rolled off me, I was too exhausted to get back up, from all the nonstop laughing.

He lay sideways, staring at me, and smiled. “You know, you don’t have to hide your smiles from me. You’re not my slave, you’re my friend.”

“Servant,” I insisted, rolling off the bed before Erastus could tempt me any further.
Erastus sighed, “Thaddeus I wish you’d just stop being so uptight.”

“If your parents caught us being so chummy you know just as well as I do, Sire, that I would be thrown out of this castle, likely out of the entire kingdom,” I explained, and he frowned in agreement. “And I can’t risk living on the streets again just for a friendship with a Prince who will just forget all about me when he gets married.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” Erastus asked, standing up. I dared not to turn my back to him, no matter how much I wanted to. He lifted his hand and rested it on my head. (Not before I flinched…I’d known him for a long time, but I never trusted royalty. No matter how much I loved him, I’d been a commoner; our monarchs weren’t exactly the most attentive.) “Don’t worry, though. You’re the only servant I’ll ever want.”

Throughout the next few days I avoided Erastus like the plague, but it was tough, considering I was his servant and I was required to wait on him hand and foot. He finally demanded to me one day that I tell him why I wasn’t talking to him.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I guess I just feel like…,” I tried to explain, as he had me pinned against the wall and my heart was racing a mile a minute, “somehow us being so close violates the Master-Servant relationship.”

Erastus just stared at me for a moment; I thought he was mad. When he spoke, though, I realized he wasn’t. “You worry about the weirdest things, Thaddeus. We can still be friends, even if you are my servant.” Our faces were inches apart by this moment, and I let my eyes fall shut as I felt a sharp twang in my heart. When his lips were so close to mine, I just wanted to close the distance between us…Just a couple inches and our lips would make contact. Just a little courage and I could do it. I was going to do it, I was. Then I wouldn’t feel like I was hiding anything from him anymore.

“Sire!” I cursed the Page who yelled that. Deep down somewhere, I’m sure I thanked him too, though. “There’s someone here to see you, a beautiful woman has come to meet you…Oh, Sire, I’m sorry for interrupting…” He looked like he was about to throw up, and Erastus walked by him coldly.

I walked over to him, and he looked at me with scared eyes, “Don’t worry. You didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Are—are you sure?” he asked.

I smiled at him, “Positive.” We both began walking, and I took a second looked at the frightened youth, “Your name is Lysander, right?”

He swallowed hard and answered fearfully, “R-right. Who are you?”

“I’m Thaddeus,” I replied, smiling at the poor boy. “You’re the new Page, right?”

Lysander nodded twitchingly. I wanted to grab his head and steady it, but I held myself back. I pulled Lysander with me to wait outside of the room that Erastus had gone into. Lysander looked at me, panicking, and I smiled. “I promised Prince Erastus that I would eavesdrop for him,” I explained, and Lysander attempted a smile. It ended up more like a grimace. I stifled a laugh and listened in.

“May I introduce to your royal highness, Lady Hebe Effel,” a loud squire introduced to Erastus. I pushed up further against the door, and waved Lysander away. He swallowed hard again and shook his head, so I shrugged and tried hard to keep listening in.

“Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty,” she said, in a quiet voice.

“I…,” he trailed off. “Named Erastus I’m a horky tork dork.” My heart felt ripped in two at that moment. He’d obviously found a girl who struck him stupid. More stupid than he normally was, that is. I guess I must have sighed loudly, because Lysander patted my shoulder gently. Hebe giggled quietly and I had to do all in my power not to storm in the room at that very moment.

“Is it ok with Your Majesty if I stay in Your Majesty’s house for tonight? I am afraid that I’m weary from my travels and I do need a place to stay,” Hebe said, and I latched my hand onto Lysander’s shoulder and squeezed.

I didn’t even notice him wince as Erastus replied, “You stay here?”

“Yes, Your Majesty if that is all right with you,” she replied.

“Yeah, that good,” he struggled out. The door started to open, and I grabbed Lysander’s hand and pulled him out of sight. This was where I got my first glimpse of Hebe—she was definitely pretty, with curly brown hair and glowing brown eyes. She wore an elegant gown a peasant couldn’t possibly have acquired, proving she was no commoner. Her face looked innocent enough, and she trod along behind my baffled love as he led her to the guest room. I huffed and stormed back to the servant’s quarters where people like Lysander and I slept. I barely noticed him trailing closely behind me, that is until I slammed the door shut in his face. He squeaked and I opened it in surprise.

“Sorry Lysander,” I apologized softly, and he walked into the room.

We were silent for a moment before he spoke, “I can go if you want.”

“Nah,” I replied, beckoning that he sit down next to me on my tiny bed.

I looked over at him, and he stared back at me. I realized at that moment how incredibly empty his green eyes were. Along with that emptiness, the only other thing I saw was fear. I felt the sudden urge to hug him, but I stopped myself and continued to look him over. He wore what were basically rags, and I could see his bones poking out from his visible skin quite profusely. Sun-kissed blonde hair fell over his face slightly in an untidy cut, looking like it hadn’t been washed in a while. I couldn’t stop my hand from caressing his face gently, seeing how sunken his cheeks were. He closed his eyes and collapsed into my arms. I noticed how shallow his breath was quickly, and I swept him up bridal style; he lay limp in my arms. The sudden occurrence came as a shock as the boy I barely knew passed out. I ran to the only place I could think of—Erastus’ room.

He was in there with Hebe; it looked quite like I had interrupted something, as they were standing compromisingly close, though I'll admit it was more likely than anything that Hebe had slipped and fallen into him. I stifled my tears at the sight and held up Lysander, desperately hoping for help, and realizing that my arms were about to collapse just from the weight of this severely underweight boy…I’ve never been very strong, alright?

Hebe ran over, asking what happened. I told her that he just collapsed, and she did some magic-y seeming first aid, and he blinked a couple times.

“Ooh,” he groaned.

“What, do you not feed the servants around here!?” she yelled in a fierce tone at Erastus, who faded away.

He looked at me pleadingly, and I decided to grant his wish. “No, we’re fed quite well and our beds are quite comfortable, I assure you, Miss. You see he is new here and as such just came in off the streets. Unfortunately, I now recall that on the streets people who look like him are not uncommon occurrences. In fact, for the common folk, especially orphans as I’d guess he is, this is very common. In fact, most orphans starve to death.”

“Are…Are you serious?” I could hear Erastus mumble as Hebe shrieked in disapproval.

“You can’t possibly be serious!” Hebe shouted. The anger was rather unbecoming of her soft features. “You!” she demanded, pointing an angry finger at Erastus. He looked like he was shriveling up and dying. I crouched down and looked at Lysander. He was breathing deeply; gasping for air in fact.

“A-ah! Ah!” I said, rising and pulling on Hebe’s arm gently.

“What!?” she hissed, and then noticed Lysander. She gave him some kind of magic kiss of life, and his breathing steadied for whatever reason. I watched as she turned on Erastus again, and shouted her lungs out about bad living conditions and such.

I couldn’t take much more, as Erastus had this “I’m a puppy who’s just been kicked multiple times” look, so I stepped in. I knew it wasn’t my place as a servant, but I didn’t care when it came to Erastus. “Please stop yelling Lady Effel. I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation, please hear him out.”

Erastus smiled at me, and Hebe frowned and said, “Ok, fine. Why haven’t you done anything for these people?”

“Whenever I talk to my parents about it they say not to meddle in their business, and that I can do what I want when I take the throne, but until then I have no business telling them how to rule the kingdom,” Erastus explained. Even I didn’t know that part. I really did hate the King and Queen with a passion; they were horrible at taking care of the citizens of their country, but the citizens were too weak and frail to do anything about it.

“Oh…,” Hebe mumbled. “Sorry for yelling at you, Your Majesty.”

I glared at Erastus as he said, “Please, call me Erastus.” He’d never said that to me before. It made my chest hurt. I clutched it absently as Hebe gave him a warm smile. She then turned to me, and I quickly bowed my head.

“And who might you be?” she asked. I almost snarled in rage that Erastus hadn’t mentioned me yet, but I answered her.

“My name is Thaddeus Kavanagh,” I said, bowing deeply.

“Ah. Yes, well it seems you already know, but my name is Hebe Effel,” she introduced, curtsying politely. “I came here because my father wishes me to learn what it’s like at this castle. So if you’ll have me…”

Here we have the maiden. The beautiful, sweet, caring maiden I hoped to hate. Somehow she won me over, so I simply mumbled, “You don’t need my approval.”

She smiled a heart-warming smile, and bent down to Lysander. “And who’s this?”

“He’s Lysander…Melbourne is his last name, I think,” I informed her, and she looked up at me. I only knew because I'd heard the Royal Majesties speaking about him.

“Can you carry him back to wherever he lives?” she asked sweetly. I looked down at my arms. They were wimpy and not made for carrying anything more than 30 pounds, even if he wasn’t much more. I gave her a “pity me” face and she sighed.

“I can walk,” Lysander heaved. He scrambled up, and I noticed how awkwardly his entire body moved and how shaky he was.

“No, why don’t you just stay here?” Hebe asked. I silently agreed. He needed food, and he needed it quick.

“I can’t!” Lysander shrieked as his eyes filled with tears. Ok. I was, officially, confused. I would be glad with such an offer. “I can’t just leave Claude all alone out there! I have to find him!”

“Who’s Claude?” I asked in my confusion.

“My little brother!” he screamed. “He’s still on the streets…I promised him after I got food I would run out and find him…I’m sure he’s still waiting for me somewhere.”

“Oh…Oh!” Hebe shrieked. “We have to find him! How old is he?”

“He’s eight,” Lysander mumbled. I then started wondering just how old Lysander himself was. He couldn’t be over 12, but he looked about 10…

“How old are you?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself. He collapsed on me, so I figured I had the right to know.

“13,” he mumbled softly, as if he was in pain. I was still surprised by his age, though.

Hebe obviously picked up on it too, because she said, “Look, we’ll find him; you need to stay here and rest.”

“No, you don’t know what he looks like, and I told him not to trust strangers,” Lysander replied. “Now let’s go while I can still move.”

So we set out onto the street. Erastus had offered to come along, but I pleasantly explained, and was reassured by Lysander, that he’d likely be killed if he went out onto the street. The people there may have been weak, but they were also incredibly hostile. We searched for the kid, but I ended up hauling Lysander back, and Hebe hauled back a kid who was half-dead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claude was just as skinny as Lysander, and you could clearly make out all his ribs. I watched a heart-wrenching scene, as Lysander sobbed by Claude’s side for days straight, and Claude wouldn’t wake up. Hebe stayed to help take care of them, and Erastus found the best doctor he could, but he explained to us that if Claude didn’t wake up he couldn’t do anything to help. In the meantime, he was practically forcing Lysander better, and it was somewhat relieving to see him gaining weight back. After a couple days, Claude finally woke up, and Lysander hugged him and wouldn’t let him go no matter how many times the doctor insisted that he should. I finally had to pull him off his little brother. Within a week, Claude was up and running around, with the energy any eight year old should have. During that week, I talked to Lysander a lot, and developed what I would call my first “friend” not counting my Prince. Erastus himself had spent a lot of time with Hebe throughout that week, but I was ok with that. Hebe was sweet. Like I said, not an irritating maiden when given a chance. Hebe knew more about how to heal Claude than any of the doctors, so she spent her extra time with him. I still had to spend a lot of time with Erastus, but I also would talk to Lysander a lot at night. On one such night somehow we got on the subject of how exactly each of us had ended up at the castle.

Lysander and I, I had realized, slept right across from each other. He told me sadly, Claude sleeping on his chest, that he had sneaked into the castle and gotten caught, so he had been turned into a Page since they needed one. He was just trying to get food for his starving brother and himself, but he was scared of disobeying the King and Queen. I finally inquired about his family, and he sighed deeply. “My parents were killed by some soldiers when they tried to stand up to them…They captured my older brothers, but I just took Claude and never looked back because all of them told us to run.” Somehow his simple explanation was a little less heart-wrenching that it would have been had he showed any emotion as he said it, but I still felt really bad for him.

“Older brothers? You think they’re here somewhere?” I asked under my breath.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled softly. I reached out to him, and his hand met mine. I could tell he was smiling, and we pulled our hands back to our beds.

“Would you go ta sleep?” another servant asked, and I frowned. I think it was the cook.

“We’re just talking,” I replied indignantly.

“An’ actin’ all lovey-dovey,” he said angrily. “I should tell tha King and Queen about your little romance, you’d be executed before you can say ‘I’m scum.’”

“Shut up,” I ordered. Lysander was the only one who knew the way I felt about Erastus, and I planned to keep it that way, since love between two males was so forbidden it was practically unheard of. And for his information, Lysander and I were just friends. Therefore, I told him that. “Lysander and I are friends, but I’m sure you can’t understand that because you have no friends and you never have.”

The cook scoffed but didn’t reply, probably because I hit the nail dead on. I could barely see it in the dark, but Lysander had started gently stroking Claude’s hair. Claude spent half his time sleeping, but Lysander barely ever let the young boy out of his sight, which caused him to do less work than the King and Queen would have liked. I could see their anger building up, but Lysander was such a suck up that they let his slight absence slide. We hushed up for the night, and the next day, to my surprise, Erastus asked about Lysander and Claude. By this time, I had taken note of how silent and less of a dork he had been lately.

“So the new Page, Lysander…,” he muttered. “Most people are like him?”

“Most that I remember, Sire,” I replied, bowing politely. Erastus sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“And my parents, King Harold and Queen Estelle, they know this?” he asked.

“It’s hard to ignore,” I informed him, and he frowned at me.

“So I guess…You think I can do anything to change it?”

“I don’t really know, Sire,” I admitted, and he sighed again.

“So that Lysander boy and his brother, they’re ok, right?” he asked. He hadn’t seen Claude yet, so it was no surprise to me that he didn’t remember Claude’s name. It was funny to me, though, how different Claude looked from his brother. He had shaggy hair, just the same, but it was a caramel brown color, and his eyes, unlike Lysander’s, were a brown color that twinkled when he was happy. Apparently Lysander was never happy, because I never saw his eyes twinkle, and he still constantly shook in the presence of Erastus or the King and Queen. I myself rarely even saw the King and Queen.

“For now. Lady Effel has done very well getting them back to full health,” I said. He frowned.

“Speaking of Hebe…,” he muttered. I hated it when he said her name. I quelled the anger in my gut and listened to him “My parents want me to marry her…”

“O-Oh?” I mumbled, at a momentary loss of words from the shock, and then regained my composure. “And do you want to marry her?”

“Well…I do, but…,” he mumbled. It was too bad he didn’t realize that those words had shredded my heart into many pieces.

“…But?” I struggled out, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.

“But I still don’t know if she’s the right girl,” he sighed. “I mean she’s nice and pretty and she cares about people, so I should want to marry her, right? And even you seem to approve of her, that’s amazing…So why don’t I want to marry her?”

“I thought you just said you wanted to marry her? And you’re right, she’s perfect, you should marry her,” I encouraged despite myself.

“Yeah…Yeah you’re right!” he exclaimed, and then he did something I didn’t expect him to. He pulled me forward and hugged me. I was content with sitting there in his arms, but I noticed that he wasn’t letting me go and cleared my throat. There was nothing in my throat, mind you, I did it because him holding me made me want him more than ever, and raised my hopes more than I wanted it to. He pulled away from me, looking embarrassed. I smiled at him, a forced notion, and he tittered before changing the subject.

“So would it so happen that Lysander has a brother?” he asked. I was surprised, but nodded vigorously.

“How did you know that!?” I asked. I didn’t mean to shout, but if I could find Lysander’s brother then he would be really happy, which would make me really happy.

“Well I noticed a couple days ago that one of my parent’s servants looks suspiciously like Lysander,” he said, smiling. “I can get him for you if you like.”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed. I realized how rude I sounded and said, “Er—I mean…Yes, Sire. If it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Of course not!” he yelled, holding up his fist. “I’ll get him now, you wait here!” he exclaimed. He didn’t know where he was going. How did I know? He ran the opposite direction of the throne room, where the King and Queen undoubtedly were. I headed toward it and waited patiently outside for Erastus to realize it. While I was waiting, I looked around at the long hallway. It was made of brick, and instead of windows, it had many arches letting the light in. I always thought this hallway was unsafe, but this was the way the King and Queen wanted it. Besides, they had squashed any rebellion with their lack of compassion for the common folk, resulting in the common folk becoming very weak.

“Thaddeus!” I heard the voice of none other than Erastus shout. He came into view at the end of the hallway and shouted in an annoyed but playful tone, “Why didn’t you tell me I went the wrong way?”

“Well, you were gone by the time I left your room,” I replied simply, and he ruffled my hair and walked into the throne room. I fixed my hair as I listened absently to the commotion in the throne room, and then Erastus came out of the room, looking dejected, and gave me a pout.

“They won’t let him come,” he whined. “But I figured out his name!”

“Good, Sire, what is it?” I asked. He grinned at me.

He made this “I’m not gonna tell you” face. I reached my hand near his face; I wanted to sock him one. I pulled back my hand and glowered at him. He finally relented and whispered, “It’s Liam.”

“Liam, huh?” I muttered. “I’ll ask him what his brothers’ names…” Then it occurred to me. He had said that he had older brothers, didn’t he? Even if this was his brother, what about the other one? Or two? Or however many brothers he had? I sighed as I walked away, but Erastus grabbed my arm and I stopped. Shit…I had forgotten about him. Not a very good thing.

“Where are you going?” he asked as I flitted back around.

“Nowhere if you don’t want me to, Sire,” I replied, bowing my head.

“Saying it like that makes me feel bad,” he whined, and I noticed he had yet to let go of my arm. “I was thinking that I could probably get Liam to come if I told my parents that I wanted to marry Hebe…”

“Ok,” my heart was already in shreds on the floor, so this affected me a lot less than I expected. “Does Hebe know?”

“Well she told me that’s the real reason her father sent her here,” he replied, “and she said she’d be ok with it.”

“Ok, so go tell your parents, Sire, I’ll wait outside for you,” I replied, and then frowned when he frowned.

“But Thaddeus,” he whined, “I don’t want to go without you.”

“Huh?” I mumbled, but he had already pulled me through the door. I hated the King and Queen; have I mentioned that? They sat in their throne seats, pruning themselves and yelling at all the servants, more like slaves, to do everything and anything that they wanted. They stopped with their orders when we entered the room.

“Didn’t we already tell you that Liam is a criminal and our property, so you can’t—Oh joy, you’ve brought in that filthy servant of yours,” the Queen said sarcastically. I ignored her and glanced around the room, searching for Liam. I finally spotted a tall and skinny boy with sun-kissed blonde hair and empty green eyes. I tried to wave at him, but Erastus immediately pulled my arm back down and glared at his mother. I bowed deeply in the King and Queen’s presence.

“He isn’t filthy,” he hissed. I smiled at how sweet he was. It made two of the pieces of my broken heart rejoin. “And I came here to make an announcement,” I could hear him swallow, and then the words flowed smoothly from his mouth, “I’d like to get married to Hebe.”

“And why didn’t you bring her here with you instead of this filth?” King Harold asked. I held in a snarl.

“She’s busy right now. But as soon as I get married, I get control of the kingdom, right?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“That’s right,” the King replied.

“This is glorious!” the Queen cheered. “Let us celebrate! We shall tell everyone! I shall have the invitations made, and the wedding shall be in a week. Tell Hebe—I mean, your fiancée that your wedding is in a week.”

I frowned and Erastus pulled me out of the room. He grabbed Liam as well and then pulled us to the door outside the servant’s quarters.

“U-um, Your Majesty,” Liam struggled out, shaking in a way very much like Lysander had when he first met Erastus. “Do you need me for something?”

“There’s something I want you to tell me,” Erastus said. I looked around for Lysander or Claude; neither was around. I sighed as Erastus asked what he needed to ask, “Do you have a little brother?”

“Sure, I have two,” Liam replied, “but Your Majesty, what does this have to do with—?”

Erastus interrupted him loudly, “What are their names!?”

“Your Majesty what does this—?”

“What are their names!?” he repeated.

Liam swallowed hard, “Lysander and Claude.”

“Ohemgee!” he gasped. He turned on me. “Is that the little one’s name?” he asked.
I nodded, “Yes, Sire.”

Liam gasped, “What? My little brothers…Where are they?” He was looking straight at me, and I shrugged. Before I finished with my shrug, though, Liam had a small boy in his arms and another staring at him through tears.

Lysander gasped, following Claude’s example and throwing himself on his older brother. “Where’s...our brother?” the frail 13 year old asked.

Liam looked sick. “I…Do you think we can sit down so I can explain this? I'm Liam, by the way.” I wondered for a moment why, if his brothers recognized him so instantly, he had to tell them his name. Lysander pulled away from Liam and pulled him into the servant’s quarters. Did I mention this place was for the Prince’s servants only? That was probably why Liam and his brothers hadn’t seen each other yet. Erastus and I followed them inside the little shack that some of us servants lived in, and we sat on my bed while Liam settled in to Lysander’s bed. Claude sat in Liam’s lap, and snuggled close to him. Lysander sat next to Liam, leaning on his shoulder.

“So where’s Alpheus?” Lysander asked. Liam once again had that sick look, like he was going to throw up on all of us.

“He’s…Dead, Lys,” Liam choked out.

“What?” Lysander muttered. He didn’t seem like he believed it. “No…No! Didn’t he promise you he’d never leave you?”

Those two pieces of my heart that had come back together fell apart as I watched Lysander start to sob. Claude looked confused, but seemed to get the gist of it.

“Alfy is gone?” he asked, leaning up from Liam’s chest and looking straight in his eyes.

Liam turned his head away but said, “Yeah, Claude. He’s gone.”

Claude started sobbing at the confirmation and buried his face in Liam’s chest again.
“But you two are—were identical twins,” Lysander said, he still seemed to be in denial. I finally understood his confusion on the sight of Liam: this Alpheus person was his twin. His identical twin. How heartbreaking. “How could he have died?”
“Well…When we were captured we were thrown into a prison cell. They barely fed us and the water was dirty, but we were together, so it was ok,” he murmured softly. I could tell by the inflection of his voice and the look in his eyes that Alpheus must have meant a lot to him. “And then the King and Queen caught word of what we had done and summoned us to be brought to the castle. They bargained with us to let us live as long as we promised to be their servants for life. So we promised…We weren’t stupid…And we didn’t want to be separated. But one day the cook accused us of stealing from the castle’s food supply and we were summoned to see the King and Queen again.” I gasped, knowing well what the punishment for stealing was. I looked over at Erastus, who was somewhere between scared lifeless and depressed. Either way he was extremely pale, much more so than normal.

Liam continued his tale, “But in actuality, neither of us had eaten much of anything in over a week because that same cook was eating all of our shares…The only two meals we had gotten, I had given to him. Therefore, when they told us that you get 40 lashes for it we both knew I would never make it through, having not eaten in so long, but I knew that he wouldn’t either. We tried to explain that we didn’t do it, but the Royal Majesties,” he said the words with very noticeable contempt. I glanced at Erastus, who had given way to crying silently. I slid closer to him and continued listening to Liam’s story, “wouldn’t listen. So then, Al said that it was only he who stole from the kitchen. I saw the damn cook’s face fall, but their Royal Majesties believed him, and I had to watch as they whipped him. He cried out in pain each time…It was torture! And all I could do was watch, because they were holding my arms back…I couldn’t stop crying as it happened, but I had to hide that from everyone else in the room. They would have punished me too, and all Al did would have gone to waste. They just left after they finished, and Al was just lying there on the ground. I ran over to him, and looked at his bloody mess of a back. He groaned at me, and I hugged him. I could feel him shaking, and I had watched him sob as they whipped him, and then he pushed me back.

“‘When you see Lysander and Claude tell them that I love them, will you?’ He asked of me as I began to sob,” I noticed, though, his severe lack of tears at the moment even though both of his little brother’s eyes were overflowing with them. “And then…Well, I…”

“Just tell the rest,” Erastus choked out.

Liam glared, barely visibly, at him and continued, “Yes, Your Majesty.” He said, the same contempt showing up. He sighed deeply and continued his story, “And then he said, ‘I love you Liam, and I always will. Please never forget me…Please don’t cry, I’ll always…You know…be with you…at heart…And all that ridiculous…Mushy stuff…’ And he leaned up and kissed me on the cheek before he fell back down, and I whispered that I loved him too. He smiled and gave one last squeeze to my hand before going limp. I wasn’t stupid, so I checked for a pulse…And since he didn’t have one I began sobbing uncontrollably, but then I remembered what he had said, and wiped away my tears.”

“Oh…my god,” Erastus muttered, crying almost as much as Lysander and Claude. “I’m sorry,” he choked out. I patted his hand, and he grabbed mine and squeezed it.

“How can you even say that!?” Liam roared. Lysander grabbed his hand and squeezed it, shaking his head in his disapproval at Liam’s anger. Liam sighed and explained, in a low but somehow chilling voice, “Look, Your Majesty, it’s just…Alpheus was my life. He was all I had left. And then because of your parents, he was taken from me…Look at the suffering they’ve caused…! Are…Are you crying Your Majesty?” he asked.

Erastus sniffled and wiped away his tears, “Will it help if I admit it?”

“Well, it’ll help others if when you become King you do something about all the suffering,” Liam replied, his arms around his two younger brothers.

“Yes, that’s why I have to marry Hebe,” Erastus replied. The little pieces of my heart were put through a shredder. When they came out, they were alone and confused…I suppose Liam must have felt that way after Alpheus died, too. I had no inkling of how that felt, because I’d always had someone with me. Before I had Erastus, I had my parents. They weren’t anything special, but they were there, and they loved me. That was all that mattered to me…As long as I had someone who I loved, who cared about me in return I was ok. But that feeling…The way Liam must have felt every day since Alpheus’ death…I squeezed Erastus’ hand at the thought, happy he was by my side.

“Well I’ll be glad if you think you can save this hellhole of a kingdom, excuse my language, Majesty, but I can’t take this anymore,” Liam muttered, as his siblings drifted off to sleep in his arms. He seemed to be a bit bolder than his brother was. I didn’t really mind, and it appeared Erastus didn’t either.

“Please, you don’t need to always call me ‘your majesty’ and ‘sire’,” he looked at me, and then looked directly in my eyes. “If I’m going to become King soon anyway, call me Erastus. My kingdom, my rules.” He insisted. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking from the look on his face, but the tearstains probably made it look more desperate than it was. Turning to Liam, he hoped for approval from him as well. I guess he knew he had my approval.

“All right,” Liam agreed. He gave Erastus the first smile I’d seen, and then a tear streaked down his face. Followed by another…And another. Before I knew it, he was sobbing silently.

“Liam…,” I mumbled, and he looked up at me.

“I d-didn’t catch y-your name,” he struggled out.

“It’s Thaddeus, Thaddeus Kavanagh,” I introduced myself, and he attempted to raise his hand to shake mine, but it was too shaky for him to manage.

“I’m Liam Melbourne,” he replied, then let his head fall and continued to cry quietly. I stood up and walked out of the room, pulling Erastus with me. I figured Liam wanted to be alone at this bittersweet moment. A reunion and the recollection of the most painful moment in his life, I mean.

Hebe, who sighed in an almost depressed way, met us outside. “So we’re engaged now, huh?” she asked Erastus, and he nodded. “Were you crying, Prince?”

“Yeah,” Erastus admitted.

“Was it because of that boy’s story?” she asked. It finally dawned me that she must have been listening to Liam’s story. Erastus nodded, and Hebe frowned. “Then we really do need to get married as soon as possible,” she mumbled, “so then maybe this rotten kingdom can become a thriving wonderland.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week went by fast; I was running here and there and doing many things for both Hebe and Erastus. Liam had switched over to being Erastus’ servant, and just like how Lysander wouldn’t let Claude out of his sight, Liam wouldn’t let either of his little brothers out of his sight. I later asked him how old he was, out of curiosity, and he was actually older than I was. I was 16, and he was 17. (Oh, Hebe was 17 and Erastus was 19, btw…Er, by the way) The only parts I can pick from my brain and separate from everything else are the times that I was pulled off to the side by Hebe and later by Liam.

“You know, Thaddeus,” Hebe said, sighing and sitting down next to me. I had been yanked aside by her and we were sitting inside a shed on the royal grounds. A stream of light shafted in, but otherwise it was considerably dark. “I’ve been wondering something…”

I realized she was waiting for me to confirm that she could ask the questions, so I said, “Yes, Lady Effel?”

“Are you in love with Prince Erastus?” she asked. It sounded like pure curiosity, but I couldn’t know for sure.

I also couldn’t keep myself from blushing as I replied, “Why do you ask?”

“Because, I…I just need to know, ok?” she mumbled. Standing up from her slouched position and looking right in my eyes.

“…Yeah, I’m in love with him,” I admitted, “but I can’t help who I love…I never planned on acting on any of my urges!” I held out my hands defensively and then realized she was smiling.

“I thought so,” Hebe mumbled, and ruffled my hair. I hated it when people did that…I straightened out my hair, and we both left the little shack.

“Why did you…?” I mumbled, and she grinned at me.

“I just really wanted to know,” she replied. “Because…Well, you’ll see,” she winked and ran away, and I frowned and walked back to Erastus’ room, where he was picking out what to wear for the wedding.

Later in the week, Liam pulled me aside and said, “Thaddeus, I just wanted to say…Thank you.” I looked at him in a confused way, and he nervously raised his arm to the back of his head, “I mean, for helping me find Lysander and Claude. And for being so understanding about Alpheus.”

“Oh no, I don’t really understand how you feel, it must have been so hard,” I replied.

“See that’s why!” he exclaimed. I had never thought of myself as understanding before. I had never thought of myself as much of anything, truthfully. “But…If it weren’t for you and Miss Hebe, Lys told me he and Claude might not be here anymore. So, um…” he held his hand out to me in an awkward gesture. I grabbed it and shook it, then glanced around before quickly pulling him toward me. I gave him a quick hug and then hastened a hasty retreat. I glanced back at him during my retreat, and he gave me a small smile.

Before I knew it, it was the day of the wedding. I could no longer feel my heart beating in my chest, but I think that was because I chose to ignore it…Anyway, I was in the wedding, much to the King and Queen’s disdain, so I stood and watched Erastus as he fiddled with a bowtie. He couldn’t seem to tie it, so I grabbed his arms and pulled them down, then tied it for him. As soon as I finished I sighed, but didn’t pull down my hands.

“Sire,” I said.

“Erastus,” he corrected. I sighed and shook my head, raising my hand to his cheek.
“Well Erastus, I just hope you’re happy,” I said, and forced a smile. “All I wish for, for you and Miss Effel is happiness.”

“Thaddeus…Thank you,” he replied, grabbing my hand and holding it. My heart started beating again as he held my hand, and I stared up into his eyes. They were so, so beautiful. I must have looked a damn fool at that moment, but I didn’t care. My happy time was interrupted when Erastus pulled away, and I could swear I saw a blush on his face. Lysander barged into the room and twitched his head before bowing deeply.

“My-my apologies, Sire,” he breathed, “but the King and Queen told me that they grow tired of waiting.” He bowed again and left the room, I would guess he collapsed outside the door since he was so out of breath. I failed to notice the odd hint of something strange in his voice.

“So this is it…,” Erastus breathed. “I’m really getting married today…”

“Yeah,” I replied, smiling when Erastus glanced my way.

“I…Guess I should go,” he said. But he didn’t go. He just stood there with his back to me in his room. Suddenly he turned around, and he looked at me with such a serious look that a chill went down my spine. “Thaddeus, you love me, right?” I was shocked. I couldn’t even move as he walked over to me. I was frozen in place. I expected him to hit me or something, but he just stared at me.

“Who-who told you?” I finally struggled out.

“So it’s true then?” Erastus asked. His dork-cheerful face had returned, and I was slightly confused.

“I…I…,” I could feel my face burning and my eyes filling up with tears, and I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be rejected. No matter how cheerful Erastus looked, this was the day of his wedding. And he had to get married…For the sake of families like Lysander, Liam, and Claude’s.

“Don’t cry Thaddeus,” he said. “I’m sorry, I made you cry!” Frantically pacing around the room, he looked like such a fool. I couldn’t help the smile from appearing on my face. He squished my face and I frowned. “Look, I gave you the wrong idea. I love you too!”

My heart skipped, and I asked, “What?” This was unbelievable. I had to be sure.
He just leaned down to me, and pressed our lips together. I responded by wrapping my arms around him and pulling myself closer to him. It was simply…Amazing. The feeling of his lips pressed against mine, his lithe body pressed up to me, and his warm tongue in my mouth…I could have died at that moment. As we pulled apart, he whispered a sweet, “I love you. Do you love me?”

“I love you,” I admitted, looking into his eyes. He stroked my cheek lovingly, and I sighed contently, leaning my head against his chest. We stood there for a while, until a faint knocking echoed on the door and it clicked open. I jumped away from Erastus, and Lysander looked up at me, having fallen through the door after it was opened.

Hebe stepped over him into the room, and frowned.

“It’s bad luck—” I started, but Erastus shushed me.

“Our wedding’s off,” Hebe stated plainly. “Good thing you’re already King.”

“What?” I hadn’t heard of this. I guess I missed it. Something inside me told me that this event transpired during the time Hebe pulled me aside to talk to me.

“But yours is on,” she said, looking to me. I noted that she clearly wasn’t wearing a wedding dress. In fact, she wasn’t even wearing a dress. She was wearing pants; the big poofy kind Erastus liked to wear. That proved Erastus was King. A girl wearing pants, that is.

“Whose wedding?” I asked cluelessly.

“Yours and King Erastus’ of course, silly,” she said, grazing my arm lightly with a fist.

“But…We’re both…huh?” I asked. At this point, I was officially confused.

“The King there changed the laws as soon as he became King,” Hebe explained, “same-sex marriage is completely allowed now, so get going!”

And so…I married Erastus and now I’m the Queen…Shut up. It’s better than manservant is, if I do say so myself. Since then, Hebe got married…To her best friend, a cute girl name Harriet. Hebe is now the number one adviser for Erastus, a position no woman before her held. The citizens in the kingdom have gotten a lot happier and livelier since Erastus became King, and the senseless violence has ended, not without a few years under the belt. Oh, and speaking of common-folk—Liam helps Hebe; I can see he hasn’t gotten over Alpheus in his eyes, though. I can understand that one, though. He lost the most important person in his life…It must have been tough on him. Lysander and Claude work for us too…They’re older now, cut me some slack. Lysander’s now 19 and Claude is 14. Lysander is head cook; we had that old cook fired in a heartbeat. Claude likes to help people. Erastus is surprisingly ok with letting Hebe and I run the kingdom more than he does, and I never forget to be grateful to him for it. Some of the citizens resent the fact that two men and a woman who has no regard for men’s pigheadedness rule their kingdom. Harriet spends most of her time at the castle as well, and I’ve gotten to know her over the years. She’s a lot more reserved and quiet than Hebe is, but apparently for good reason. Her father treated her like dirt her whole life for being a woman. I hadn’t ever realized how badly women were treated in our society…Anyhow, there are apparently magical beings living in our kingdom as well…Who would have guessed? Like…I don’t know. Mages and wizards and turtles and…Of course, turtles are magical! Shut up. Now I lost my train of thought again.

Oh yeah, I talked to Liam about his brother again…It almost broke my heart just to listen to him talk about it, though. He described losing his twin so painfully that I don’t want to repeat it, but basically, he said he felt as if a part of him had died that day. He told me that he was happy because Alpheus was in his dreams and his heart would run back to him, but then each day when he woke up and realized he was no longer there it felt like his heart was ripped out against its will so it clawed his insides on the way out. According to him, having Lysander and Claude helped ease the pain, but it certainly didn’t eliminate it.

…Was I talking about magic before I got distracted? Oh yes, the charming people I recounted this story for last were magic. There was a good-looking boy and his pallid friend. However, this story has nothing to do with them, so…Well; this story is the only fairytale I care for, actually. It’s My Perfect Fairy Tale…Even if it’s not a real fairy tale. Oh yeah! I was talking about magic, eh? Apparently the previous King and Queen had spent most of the time that I couldn’t figure out what they were doing covering it up, but now they were free to do as they pleased…But hopefully not kill. Oh, and the King and Queen have long since passed away, but we had them thrown in the dungeons first thing after Erastus and I got married. The kingdom reshaped itself, and I found the perfect spot to stay—right in Erastus’ arms. It’s quite comfy there. I still love him with all my heart, by the way. He’s my dorky King…The end.

Chapter 16: War, Tears and Secret Santa

Chapter 16: War, Tears and Secret Santa

After Rashida and Kip broke up, Miss Allberry's class became tense and uncomfortable. Blue no longer enjoyed it, because the two of them weren't even mean to each other. They were just sad to each other, which made Blue sad. This made Improv her only fun class, but to her horror, Mr. Paddington (as he'd started insisting they call him for “official business”) reminded everyone finals were fast approaching. This Blue could deal with. The realization that she wasn't taking any classes with Hammy the subsequent semester made Blue downright depressed. So she spent the first week of December feeling sad. Then it occurred to her that winter break was coming up, and that meant going home where she had very few friends.

Life sucked.

The second week of December she just stared at the wall in her room and thought about how it was cold outside. Malik, as the good boyfriend he was, tried his best to get her to stop, but she didn't really care that much. Eventually, after considerable amounts of sad mumbling about weather and classes and winter break, Malik was pretty depressed as well, especially after he convinced her to move her sadness party to his room. It didn't help that Kip spent most of his time sighing and ostensibly thinking about whether Rashida was worth changing his religion over. Teddy was off who knew where, in some sort of Honeymoon stage with Pablo, so this left Blue, Malik, and Kip to mope in Malik and Kip's room nearly constantly.

“And tomorrow...I bet it'll be cold tomorrow too...San Francisco was never this cold...It was...It was never this cold,” Blue mumbled, glaring outside from her place on the floor.

“The Midwest is always this cold,” Malik mumbled, “it's colder than this, actually...Horrible...”

“My home planet doesn't have atmosphere,” Kip stated, and Malik and Blue managed to laugh.

“Oh, Kip...Why did Rashida give you up?” Malik asked, then realized he shouldn't have.

“BECAUSE I SUCK!” Kip declared, before burying his head in his pillow. Blue and Malik glanced at each other, but neither moved to comfort him.

“I suck more,” Malik mumbled.

“I suck the most!” Blue declared, as if it were a competition that she needed to win.

“No, you don't, you're awesome. I suck, because...I'm so goddamned nice. I should...I should go out there and kick something,” Malik replied, and then kicked at the air as if he was practicing for his clear future of puppy kicking.

“I like how nice you are,” Blue replied, and Kip groaned from his place on his bed.

“SHUT UPPPPP,” he whined loudly. “You two are my sadness complainy time buddies, not my flirt with each other and don't include me buddies! So either keep complaining or leave my room of complaining!”

Blue and Malik were silent for while, and Kip groaned again. “Just get out of here,” he dismissed, “and bring me hot chocolate when you return.”

“OK,” Blue agreed, standing up with a slow pace and dragging her feet as she left. Malik sighed deeply as he stood and mumbled something about marshmallows, which Kip refused with a look of terror. Once Malik and Blue were outside, they realized they had nowhere to go and weren't entirely sure why they left in the first place.

“Do you want to...Walk outside? Might as well...Nothing better to do...,” Malik mumbled, and Blue shrugged.

“I'll get my coat,” Blue's coat was nowhere near thick enough for the weather, so Malik went back into his room and offered her Kip's coat (“Why would I need it? I HAVE NO LIFE”) which was far too large for her. Once she was dressed properly for the weather with a hat and gloves (also Kip's, and also incredibly oversized) Malik made sure he was prepared for the weather as well. Blue looked, frankly, adorable in oversized clothing, but Malik contained his admiration.

Looking outside caused him to grin despite how upset he'd been previously, “Snow!”

Blue blinked at the snow, already a few inches deep, and grinned too, “LET'S PLAY!” She bolted outside at a speed Malik couldn't keep up with, and by the time he was outside, she was nowhere in sight. A snowball (or some attempt at a snowball that fell apart midair) hit his back, and distinctly non-Blue giggling commenced. No one was in sight, which worried Malik only slightly.

“If you want your girl returned to you,” a deep voice Malik knew was Teddy's despite how far from his regular voice it was, “you will agree to form a team of special agents to compete in a competition known as a 'Snowball Fight.' Should you refuse this request, the girl will come to an early end in the...Well, we can't really bury her at this point. The ground is frozen...We'll store her dead body in the freezer until Spring and bury it then...Yeah...Well...You got the threat! Make the team!”

Malik waited for a moment, then decided he might as well play along, “Can I have confirmation Blue is with you?”

Teddy (with a coat so large he resembled Blue in Kip's coat) emerged from behind a bush then, pulling a delighted looking Blue with him. “Hi Malik! ...I'm a hostage!” Blue declared, and Teddy sighed and shook his head.

Malik looked at Teddy, laughed, and turned back around. Teddy shouted something about not asking Alec for help because that would be cheap, so Malik headed straight for Blue's room. Alec agreed to help at the prospect of humiliating Teddy, but proceeded to insist they wouldn't need any other team members. Malik wasn't so sure, so he asked around. Kip, as he expected, mumbled something about Rashida being there or not, and then claimed to be a “conscientious objector” either way. Rashida turned down the offer, citing hair concerns and a lack of the proper winter gear for playing in the snow. Austin questioned his sanity and explained to him that snow was cold. Gerda laughed at Malik's proposal, said something about pacifists, and lent him Hakan. The Native American boy was especially excited about rescuing Blue, since, “Gerda never gets kidnapped or anything. It's like she doesn't want to give X the chance to rescue her.” Kendall wasn't in she and Teddy's room, which really didn't disappoint Malik too greatly. Pablo would be a waste to ask, though he sent out texts to a couple others, including Estela and his Improv partner, hoping he'd make more than a three person team.

When they walked back outside, Alec explaining some sort of master plan Malik didn't listen to, they were met with an ambush. Hakan shrieked and started windmilling handfuls of snow in every direction, declaring, “X's Blizzard Attack!” as he did. Alec and Malik took the time to find cover, and Alec revealed how quick his mind worked.

“There are four of them,” he said, and then listed, “Theodore Albrecht, Pablo Martinez, Estela Hernandez, and Kendall Driessen. The latter does not pose a threat. The other three have individual strengths we must be aware of. The goal is to rescue Blue Berkowitz?”

Malik nodded, “I'm not actually sure of the point...”

“Hakan stop for a minute! We need to talk to each other!” Teddy shouted at Hakan, who ceased snow flinging for a moment to eye Teddy suspiciously.

“Malik Green, reveal yourself! We must speak of the terms of this battle,” Teddy commanded, and Alec shoved Malik into the open, where he slowly approached his opponent.

“State your terms,” Malik said in a very serious voice.

Teddy responded in an equally serious voice, “It's like capture the flag. Blue is the flag...Except we don't have a flag...HEY! PUT HIM BACK WHERE YOU FOUND HIM POTTS!”

Alec shook his head, holding Pablo sufficiently hostage, causing the Asian teen to whimper then shout, “Teddy, I can't get away! Go on without me!”

“You're way stronger than him, just—,” Teddy didn't quite get to instructions before Alec hit Pablo somewhere in the neck. Fury filled Teddy's eyes as Pablo slumped to the ground and crumpled into an unconscious heap, “This was for FUN, Potts. And you're paying for his doctor bill to make sure he's OK...And you're responsible for cleaning him up if he peed himself.”

“Wait that was horrible!” Malik scolded, and Alec shrugged.

“He tried to escape,” that much was sort of true, “I have certain reflexes that I can't control when threatened.”

Pablo stirred for a moment then, made some attempt at standing, waved his hand around, and declared, “I'm fffffine! D-don't worry! Play the...game.” After this, he lay his face in the snow, and Malik took pity on him and leaned him against a tree.

“You see?” Alec said. Teddy sighed, then held up his hands in a “T” shape, signifying a time out. The blond, wearing what Malik recognized as one of his father's old coats, bounded over to Pablo and knelt down next to him.

“Are you really OK?” he asked, and Pablo nodded.

“Peachy,” he said, and then scowled, “well, a little dizzy. I think I'll just sit here. Seriously baby, you were so excited about this. It'll still be fun.”

Teddy sighed, nodded, and gave Pablo a small peck to the side of the mouth before retreating back to his side of the yard they were situated in. “Fine,” Teddy said with a glare, “we'll play your dirty tricks way. So it's basically capture the flag with people instead of flags. We're going to have to carry Pablo, though, and trust me he's not all that light. For me, anyway...though Estela has some pretty nice muscles, she might be able to...ANYWAY back to the point! So I'm going to go ahead and advise Blue she should not come with you willingly. Fair trade off. If you get hit by a snowball you get a thirty second penalty where you can't move. After that you have to return to your own base.”

“Fine,” Alec agreed. Hakan was kneeling next to Pablo, asking him in a moment of strange composure whether he would like anything while he sat on the ground. Alec kicked his leg sharply, and Malik could only hope Hakan didn't mutiny and jump ship to Teddy's side due to Alec's behavior. His hopes were dashed immediately.

“X doesn't like you!” Hakan declared, whirling a fistful of snow at Alec and making a run for Teddy's side. That meant it was, Malik noted, two versus four, which seemed entirely unfair. Luckily reinforcements in the form of Jennifer, his improv partner, showed up just as Kendall declared herself tired and left Teddy's side. Three to three was odds Malik was comfortable with.

Suddenly, and before Alec finished explaining to Malik and Jennifer his plans, Hakan and Estela came swooping into their camp where Pablo was lying. The three on the opposite team (“Operation: Liberation (of Pablo) and Capture (of Blue)”) were hit with snowballs and stayed still as per the rules. The game would have ended quickly if Estela and Hakan hadn't struggled greatly with lifting Pablo. It wasn't that he was too heavy, no, Hakan was just too excited about it to hold Pablo steady.

“X has dreamed of this day since X was young. X didn't think X would be rescuing a male, X always pictured a damsel, but this day is a proud one indeed for X!” Hakan declared, as Estela chastised him and told him to focus.

“Hold him steady, we only have thirty seconds,” she said, in that tone of hers that said she didn't take anything too seriously. Hakan got overexcited still, and in the excitement tried to run, before telling Estela he was going to. Her grip on Pablo was efficiently ended, and the young man hit the snow covered ground with a groan.

Snowballs hit the two of them in the next moment, and Hakan cursed as Malik and Alec carried Pablo back to the tree their home base was built around. The fight was epic in every sense. By the end of it, both sides agreed to a peace armistice, and signed it in the snow. Blue returned to Malik, Pablo returned to Teddy, and all was right in the land. Teddy took Pablo to the school's doctor just to be sure he was OK (though as the day wore on he steadily became more mobilized and made a run for it a couple times by the end) and told Alec he'd lost one of the favors Teddy owed him for hurting his boyfriend. Alec scoffed at him but didn't protest, before returning to his dorm room.

While Teddy and Pablo were at the doctor's, Blue, Hakan, Malik, and Jennifer drank hot chocolate with Kip as they recounted the battle to him. He sincerely doubted it was, as they claimed, as intense as a real military battle, but the distraction seemed to cheer him up. Once Teddy and Pablo returned, Pablo with a clean bill of health and plans to extort Alec since he didn't rat him out (which, Teddy warned him, was a bad idea), Teddy suggested they have a Secret Santa gift exchange among their group of friends. He claimed he'd already asked around, and though Kip nodded along, the others looked confused. When Jennifer spoke up Teddy seemed surprised, as if he'd forgotten the girl from outside his immediate group of friends was there. On a whim he decided she should play too, and then ran off to gather everyone who was going to participate.

Once everyone was gathered Blue finally understood what a Secret Santa was (“like Hannukah presents?”), and she got to drawing a slip of paper from Kip's old fishbowl. According to Kip, the fish had been living happily in a coffee cup next to his bed for some time, and Malik expressed relief that Kip didn't have something else that was moving in his coffee cup at night. The drawing went as such:

Blue: Hakan (“Heehee,” she declared, with what she thought was a sneaky glance in his direction.)

Malik: Kip (“Works for me, but it might be a little easy to guess, all things considered...”)

Teddy: Kakahi (“I...probably should have remembered who I asked to participate, huh?”)

Kip: Blue (“Hm. I...I bet this'll be fun.”)

Pablo: Gerda (“...Uh...”)

Rashida: Pablo (“I may use my phone-a-friend for this.”)

Gerda: Rashida (“What is the gift limit, again? So I may...Plan.”)

Kakahi: Estela (“...I rigged it,” followed by a grin and a delighted skip away from the fishbowl, and protests that she didn't actually rig it from Teddy.)

Jennifer: Malik (“Thank God!”)

Estela: Teddy (Silence accompanied by a shrug and then an appreciative mumble to Teddy for organizing the group.)

Hakan: Jennifer (“X doesn't, um...X doesn't plan on giving away what X drew! ...But X may need help.”)

They would exchange gifts in the last week of classes, which also happened to be finals. Time flew by and soon Blue was sitting in her last Improv class, bursting into tears. Her tears sparked tears from Teddy, and his made Hammy cover his face and turn around to compose himself. When he was facing the class again he sighed and gave them an improvised speech, because it was kind of his specialty.

“Friends, students, emergency house cleaning units,” he began, winking at Blue, Malik, Teddy, and Estela, “we gather here not to mourn the end of something, but to celebrate its happening! Regret not what was lost, but cherish what was once had and what was learned from it. You are young, you have so much left to do, don't let you lives end here. You will go on from this day and be strong. You will achieve all your dreams and ride a unicorn throughout the skies for the rest of your days.” Blue perked up and asserted that the unicorn was named Uni before Hammy went on. “As your teacher, I have watched you grow and blossom into brilliant young men and women who sit before me today. It is with great honor that I tell you I have seen the future, and every one of you ends up somewhere over the rainbow, where dreams that you dare to dream really do come true, where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops, where bluebirds fly. Someday, you will all be,” he took a dramatic pause, and everyone in the class was smiling, “somewhere over the rainbow...On unicorns.”

Applause erupted throughout the small group, with catcalls and “ow-ows!” thrown in by a student Blue knew affectionately as “that straight guy with the man crush on the teacher named MCS for Man Crush Student.” Hammy bowed and clutched his hands to his heart, and before long everyone was laughing.

MCS (the same who had been nearly banished when Hammy spoke of his “engaygement”) asked if he'd been watching The Wizard of Oz, and Hammy told him he'd watched it for his very first time a week previous. Chaos engulfed the group for a time as many scolded Hammy for never having seen it before and threatened to “revoke” his gay card. This spawned him asking Teddy if being gay had requirements, causing Teddy to shrug.

“Yeah, basically,” he said in his best “gay lisp” imitation.

Hammy rolled his eyes and grinned, “You all ready for the final exam then?” As his sentence finished the room fell silent.

“Final exam?” MCS asked. “What chu talkin bout HP?”

“Yeah, I told you about it a couple weeks ago,” Hammy said with a completely straight face. “It's cumulative. You haven't been studying? I offered you all study guides but you turned them down, remember?”

MCS frowned and looked around the room, but realized at that moment everyone but him seemed to be in on the joke. “Ha ha,” he said sarcastically, before glancing at his desktop in shame.

“No, like I said, we won't be having a final exam, but don't tell the other teachers. Some of them are all pissy about making tests and grading tests and really if it's so much work why not just let the students off the hook? But I digress. Since this is our last class period together and most of you aren't taking another class with me next semester—whether you secretly despise me or just didn't have time I may never know—I thought I would give you all something in the holiday spirit and as a 'Don't forget your coolest teacher' gift.” Blue grinned and kicked her legs in happiness as Hammy pulled a backpack up from under his teacher desk. “Each gift is individualized,” he explained, “but I made them myself so they're kind of, well...You'll see.” From his backpack he produced a plastic bag, the contents of which he dumped on his desk.

As soon as he held up the first gift Blue and Teddy exclaimed in simultaneous delight, “Shrinky Dinks!”

“A highlight of my childhood,” Jennifer mumbled, and for the first time Blue thought she might be sort of cool and not a man stealer at all like Blue figured she was. Since she and Malik were improv partners and all. It didn't matter, really, that Jennifer had a boyfriend already and they were disgustingly cute to be around, Blue was pretty sure. Until the Shrinky Dink thing, when she decided to reevaluate Jennifer, or Jenny as she apparently went by.

One by one Hammy called up the students and handed them their surprisingly well drawn Shrinky Dinks (“Reg is a graphic designer.” MCS : “Gay.”) and everyone appreciated them. Blue's was a unicorn who looked just like Uni, and after she interrogated Hammy to make sure he hadn't been reading her mind with his gay powers (she was sure those were a real thing) she squealed in delight and planned to take her little Uni everywhere. With each person's Shrinky Dink there was a note, and Blue read hers while the rest of the class received their Shrinky Dinks.

Dear Blue Berkowitz,

You know your initials are BB? I just now noticed that. Seriously though, Blue, you're a funny little weirdo in the very best way possible. Never change too much...I mean, you might have to change a little, I think that's normal, but...Keep on being you. You're a pretty cool kid. I drew this Uni character of yours because Teddy told me you have a poster of her in your room and seem to daydream about her a lot. I hope you appreciate it. Merry Chanukah Hanukkah Hanukah Han…however you spell the holiday you celebrate!

Sincerely,

Hamilton Paddington (Soon Harris ahh!)

P.S. Don't forget to RSVP to my wedding. It's important that you do that if you're planning on coming. (Which I would like. Reg is going to have tons of guests and I’m going to have like two)

Malik got a picture of Vaporeon and laughed.

Dear Malik Green,

Your personality gives me hope that not every good looking dude with nice abs other than Reg is a douchebag. I’m sorry I just called you good looking…That was inappropriate of me…Let me start over. You’re an awesome dude. Loosen up a little sometimes, though. I know once Blue showed up you started acting a little sillier, but trust me being stupid and silly is awesome. Never forget you’re awesome. Yayyy! I’m so cool, acting like I’m so much older than you and know everything. Seriously though, stay golden, Malik Green. So I drew you a Vaporeon because of that argument we had where you insisted Vaporeon was the best Pokemon in Pokemon Stadium. I still disagree (My Jolteon would shock your Vaporeon dead), but I hope you like it. You should come to my wedding, Reg thinks you’re cool (so do I). Merry holiday you celebrate! (I’m not really sure if/what you celebrate, Teddy tried to explain and I got confused.)

Sincerely,

Hamilton soon to be Harris

P.S. I quoted a book in there. Did you notice that?

Teddy was the last to receive his Shrinky Dink, and seemed surprised that Hammy gave him one at all, considering he admittedly helped Hammy come up with ideas for the other students in the class. What Teddy received was a mustache necklace.

Dear Theodore Albrecht,

That’s seriously your name? Haven’t looked at the roster in a while, sometimes I forget nicknames aren’t real names. So, Teddy, getting to know you this semester has been a privilege. I feel like you really are my little brother sometimes, but also like you’re my teacher or mentor or something. I know I’m the older one here, but you and that genius brain of yours definitely know far too much. But that’s part of what makes you you, so don’t change it! I give the same advice to everyone on these things, you know? In many respects you’re my third best friend (after Reg and Today, of course) and I consider you to be pretty darn cool. This mustache is so you can look like your uncle. The principal is your uncle, right? I hope so…You two don’t have much in common, but I always like to pretend to have creepy mustaches. Also, be careful because one side of it will get black on your face if you rub it around. Merry Christmas! (Even if you don’t support the reasons for celebrating it.)

With love (but in a platonic non-creepy way),

Hamilton come-up-with-a-new-nickname-for-me-please Paddington (but Harris soon)

P.S. RSVP to my wedding officially! Verbal confirmation isn't enough or something, I don't know...

Everyone in the class passed around their gifts so the others could see them and thanked Hammy, and everyone laughed when MCS protested his gift, “This is you! You drew yourself and gave it to me?”

Hammy nodded, “Did you read the note?”

MCS read the noted aloud, “’Dear Matthew Charles Sylvester,’” Blue guessed that was what MCS actually stood for, “’Your name is just three first names put together. Seriously? What’s up with that? You should go by Matty C. I think that sounds like a rapper, and it makes sense since you’re such a fan of rapping during class. You’re probably the kid I have the least in common with in this room, but I’ve grown to appreciate your insecure masculinity. We all know you have a crush on me, so stop pretending you don’t. I drew you a picture of me so you will always treasure those days during your senior year when you took improv with the best damn teacher on the planet and developed a man crush on him.’” MCS didn’t finish reading the letter but instead protested, “I don’t have a man crush on you.”

“Yes you do,” the rest of the class replied. Silence fell over them afterward, until someone finally mumbled, “That was creepy.” MCS quieted for a while after that, and held his little “HP” (as he called their teacher) Shrinky Dink, staring at it.

By the end of the class MCS was crying and finally admitted to his man crush. The class had one final group hug, and Hammy explained that they were just being overly dramatic and he would surely see them all after break. MCS was taking whatever class it was that he taught in the spring semester, but he still ended the class sobbing into Hammy’s shoulder.

Finals week came in a flash, and the first gift Blue received for Secret Santa was a single sock. She laughed as she stared at the note, which read, “Other sock to come tomorrow. How incredibly poor I am is your hint today.” Teddy got a rainbow flag pin, and immediately attached it to his clothing. His clue said, “I’m no good at clues. You’re going to figure it out anyway, aren’t you Teddy?” Malik received a slinky and a clue that said, “We have a class together.”

“Your Secret Santa took the clues seriously,” Teddy informed Malik, who raised his eyebrow at his friend.

“And I suppose you know who it is,” he replied, and Teddy nodded.

“Of course, I know everything after all,” he stated, with a cheeky grin.

“Enlighten me,” Malik replied, as Blue put her one sock on and smiled in excitement for the other sock to complete the pair on the following day.

“That would ruin the fun,” Teddy insisted. During finals week they had different schedules and only had to go to class for tests, so the group watched movies that morning and waited for Pablo to join them after he finished his one test of the day. Blue, Malik and Teddy all happened to be test free.

On Tuesday, Blue received a matching sock and a clue that said, “Blue, do you know my name? Sometimes I wonder.” Teddy got chocolates and his clue said, “You know who I am. Enjoy the chocolates.” Malik got play doe and a clue that said, “My eyes are brown.” This day Malik and Blue both had tests to take, along with Pablo, and Teddy decided to spend the day hanging out with Kip.

“And so, dear Space Invader, that is why Resident Evil 4 is the best horror first person shooter ever,” Teddy concluded, and was greeted by a warm smile, to his surprise. Of all the roommates he and Malik had had since freshman year (a total of 5, since one of their roommates had switched at semester sophomore year) Kip was Teddy’s favorite. He never imagined this fondness might actually be returned.

“Thanks for all the crap you do for me, even stuff I don’t notice,” Kip stated blatantly, and Teddy grinned. “I would have failed my classes without you.”

“I hardly do anything for you, but I’m happy you appreciate it,” he responded, settling in to play two-player Resident Evil 5.

Pablo showed up and tag teamed Kip out eventually, and Teddy’s favorite roommate of Malik’s left to take a final of his own. Pablo died in the game and Teddy yelled at the TV in frustration so much Pablo decided it was time to stop, and carefully removed the Xbox controller from Teddy’s grip. Once Teddy’s video game rage was quelled, he stared Pablo down with shining blue eyes, and the Asian grinned. Teddy didn't grin back, and challenged Pablo to a different game instead. Later Malik and Blue joined in and they played Kinect games between study times.

On Wednesday, Blue received barrettes for her hair, and a clue that said, “My name is(n’t) Inigo Montoya, but I did introduce myself that way.” Blue tried to remember her introductions with the members of their Secret Santa group as she secured her hair back with her bow barrettes. Teddy received jewels meant to help with bedazzling, and a clue saying, “Pablo told me you needed more of these.” Malik got a candy bar, and his clue said, “My hair is brown.” For most of Wednesday they studied and lazed about, only leaving Malik and Kip’s room to sleep, eat, and go to tests. Blue made Teddy go shopping for presents for people and then help wrap them. After he “went too far” with his bedazzler he was taken off the assignment and sent to think about what he did.

On Thursday Blue got candy canes and a clue that said, “I ran out of gift ideas. You can make these things into spears if you eat them right. Have fun.” Teddy got a keychain with the classic actor masks on it with a clue, “I don’t think you have a car, but…I hope you like this anyway.” Malik got a magnet with a picture of a cheetah on it. “I am shorter than you. (Also sorry this gift is so random).”

This also happened to be the day they had their “final” in Miss Allberry’s class. Miss Allberry didn’t have the impromptu speech prowess of Hammy, so she read off a sheet of paper, “My dear collection of various students, I have you all in the same class next semester and then some, but I will miss you over the break. You’re all cuties and I’m glad you took my class, even you, Ginger. Let us commence the test!” Miss Allberry handed out a paper test, which was more of a joke than a test. The questions included such thinkers as, “If you’re acting, what are you doing?” and “If I have four apples and you have two, how many apples do I have?” The second question was tougher, since four wasn’t an option, so the class assumed the answer must be “Six, I’m the teacher all apples belong to the teacher!”

At the end of the class she read the roster of additional students for the following semester, saying she'd scoped them out personally, “Estela Hernandez AKA Hispanesbian,” Blue, Malik and Teddy all smiled at each other, “Hakan Harjo AKA Big Chief Extreme,” Gerda smiled and nodded her approval, “Pablo Martinez AKA Mindfreak Asiamexican,” Teddy grinned and gave the teacher a thumbs up, “Evan Connelly and Ewan Connelly AKA The Twingers,” Austin groaned and mumbled that those were her brothers, “someone by the name of Kakahi Verda...I only met her once. Her nickname is Green, because she has green bangs and front of her hair and stuff.”

“That's going to confuse me,” Malik mumbled, as Kip blinked and checked his ears.

“What's her nickname going to be?” he asked Teddy, who laughed.

“Forget it. It's the same word as Malik's last name,” he explained, and Kip frowned but nodded in understanding.

“Kakahihi is coming to our school?” Blue gasped in a delayed manner as Miss Allberry's words sunk in.

“I wonder what department she's in,” Malik mumbled, and Blue nodded to agree with the pondering. Miss Allberry cut off any further discussion.

“I wasn't done!” she protested, then looked back at her sheet of paper and read the final names, “Jennifer Caffrey AKA Jennay and Kendrick Driessen AKA...Uh...I only met him once. He looks like a normal white boy...but sort of like Justin Bieber...So...Justice Beaver it is! Kendrick Driessen AKA Justice Beaver.” After that she dismissed the class with gifts of cookies (she claimed to have cooked them at first, but eventually admitted to only decorating them, not cooking them; Hammy cooked them) and they went on their way for more tests.

On Friday, Blue got a scarf, “I bought this while it was on sale. Blue, have you figured it out yet? I'm not an alien.” Teddy also got a scarf, “You like scarves, right?” Malik received a card game called “Quao” and stared at it, “I go by a nickname.” They met up with their Secret Santa group to guess names after they all finished with their finals, and Teddy started off the guessing.

“Estela,” he stated, and then asked, “if people guess wrong can I guess for them before their Secret Santa reveals him or herself?” The group agreed, and Blue guessed next.

“It's...It's...Kakahihi!” she shouted, and Kakahi laughed at her.

“No, Blue. Kip had you,” Teddy corrected, “and his clues were pretty obvious...” Blue shrugged it off and continued making spears out of the candy canes she'd received.

Malik guessed next, “Jenny?” Jenny nodded, and Malik thanked her for the gifts. After his thank you, Blue and Teddy both piped in that they'd meant to say thank you but forgot and thanked their respective Secret Santas. They went down the line guessing until everyone knew who their Secret Santa was, and then proceeded to play a Christmas themed game of Mafia. Somehow, as always seemed to happen, Gerda and Teddy were in the mafia and the mafia won. They watched movies and most of them feel asleep in the lounge, tangled up with their significant others and each other, not even thinking about the fact that they'd only have one more day together before break.

So there is actually one more chapter before the end of the semester. Also, would you be interested in a bonus chapter about Hammy/Reg/Today's Christmas? I was considering writing one.

New Story Prologue(?)

“If you had just one wish, Mama, what would it be?”

“I would wish for you to be healthy. What would you wish for, Maya?”

“I would wish for Mama to be happy.”

Life wasn't fair. Of that, Susan Gerhardt was certain. The day her daughter's physician told her she had an incurable disease, life seemed to halt. When Maya Gerhardt was diagnosed with a terminal illness bound to end her life before she turned twenty, she was only three years old. At the time, seventeen years seemed like plenty of time to live and grow, to learn. More importantly, time to find a cure, as Susan was sure would happen. Unfortunately, as she watched her now seventeen-year-old daughter, those years seemed incredibly short. They passed by so quickly, of course a cure hadn't been found. It was only a couple weeks ago that she was a three-year-old receiving the disheartening diagnosis, right? When she'd heard the verdict, heard her daughter was going to die so young, Susan had been convinced it was a mistake. There was simply no way someone as perfect as her daughter would have this disease. Even after fourteen years, she still held on to some small amount of hope. Hope that what was wrong with her was something else entirely; hope that a cure would be found. A cure could be found any day, after all, couldn't it?

Maya was less convinced. Her entire life, she dealt with the fact of her demise. “Terminal” was the word she heard over and over. When she was young, she hadn't understood what this meant. This strange word, “terminal” which made her mother so upset, seemed just a word to her. It was a hard one to spell, at that. While she laughed at her inability to remember whether the “m” came first or the “n” her mother cried. When she first had it explained to her why she spent so much time in the hospital when other kids got to play outside, death didn't mean much to her. As she aged, and her father passed away, she began to understand what death was. It meant you left and didn't come back. At first she was scared, of course she didn't want to die. For a time she wrestled with the fact, tried to learn to accept it. Twenty years of life wasn't such a bad run, she finally decided. As long as she made her impact and did something meaningful in that time, dying early would be acceptable. It had taken her a long time to get to “acceptance,” as her grief counselor described it, and by age seventeen the sad truth was completely clear to her. If by some miracle a cure was found, of course she would be happy. That wasn't a real possibility though, and she'd come to accept that.

If one looked at Maya, it was clear something was wrong with her. Eyes of a brilliant green were the only part of her that seemed to have any life left in them by the age of seventeen. Her body was thin, cheeks sunken, skin pale, brown hair lackluster, and she'd only grown to a respectable but short 5'0” tall. These factors combined guaranteed she looked absolutely sickly. It was for this reason she hated leaving the comfort of her home; everyone looked at her with pity she didn't want. If she didn't pity herself, why should they pity her?

Despite her disdain for such public humiliations, her best friend since she was watching the other kids play on the playground often tried to coax her into going out and doing activities. “Live while you can, right?” she'd always say. Anna was someone who was very self-assured. Maya wished she could live life the way the other young woman did. When Anna was Maya's age she decided to join the military, leaving the only question which division of military she would join. She'd settled on the Marines, which suited her well. Anna had a zealous love for adventure, which was probably why she and Maya complemented each other so well. When Maya was unable to be physically active, to experience something as simple as getting lost in the woods, Anna did it for her. In many ways, Maya lived vicariously through her best and only friend. The road ran two ways, as Maya's job was to keep Anna's enthusiasm in check, to guide her from a cell phone out of the woods Anna swore had no distinguishing characteristics.

After basic training, Anna was different, if only more restrained and disciplined. This didn't stop her from insisting that Maya accompany her to whatever place she was fascinated with at the moment. On this particular day, this was a public auction, to benefit those with cancer. Of course she mumbled a bitter obligatory grievance that orphan diseases, as Maya's was, only rarely received the proceeds from auctions of such large magnitude.

Waving around the article she'd printed from the Internet, Anna did her best to persuade Maya to join her, “It's so ridiculous what people will spend on some things! That's something you have to see in your life.” Her words reminded Maya of why she always ended up going along with Anna's stints; she should live while she still had the chance. Anna knew Maya felt this way, and used it to her advantage to attain her friend's company. After Maya agreed, the only obstacle for Anna to tackle was Susan Gerhardt, Maya's very protective mother. Of course Anna understood the reason the woman was so careful with her daughter, but they'd fought on more than one occasion about Maya making good use of the time she had instead of trying to extend her life by a few trivial minutes resting.

Convincing her mother wasn't as hard as normal, since Maya's health had deteriorated in the previous months. The woman's mind wasn't in a good place, and though Anna felt bad taking advantage of her weakened state, she was sure Maya appreciated the things they did together. With the decision made and first aid training in her back pocket, the girls prepared for the auction.

Anna was a tomboy, preferring to wear pants instead of skirts or dresses to formal events like the auction was. In preparation for Maya to say yes, she'd already brought a pair of khakis and a collared blue shirt to wear. As she changed into her formal wear, Maya reflected on her closet of options and pondered Anna's muscular build. The two had no qualms with changing in front of each other, so Anna shed her clothes while Maya stared at her closet. From the mirror, Maya caught view of her friend's body, and wished not for the first time that she could maintain any amount of weight. It was hard to maintain weight, however, when one had no desire to eat at all, and eating much made one sick.

Once Anna was fully dressed, she aided Maya in the decision process, and the pair decided Maya should wear her nicest black dress. Add in a pair of black tights, black boots meant to hide how thin she was, and a silver shrug, and Maya was dressed. They admired themselves in the mirror, and Anna joked, “We're looking fine. Those stuck up rich dudes are going to be wanting our hot bods tonight.”

Maya knew better than to argue; knew better than to protest “I have no body to want” or “I'm not wantable” because if one thing set Anna off, it was a lack of self-esteem. However, when no male she'd ever met had ever expressed interest in becoming more than friends (or even becoming friends, for that matter), it took a toll on Maya. Sure, she was terminal and maybe they didn't think she was worth it if she was just going to die off before the good years, but love wouldn't care about that, would it? More than anything, she wanted to kiss someone just once before she died. With her limited social circle, though, the only option she had was Anna. While Anna might have been perfectly willing, Maya insisted the person who kiss her be someone who felt romantic love for her. Preferably male, she said, and Anna resolved to find someone for her. That was a few years back, and no such luck yet. Maya had more or less given up.

“Our hair sucks,” Maya countered, and Anna scowled at her. As always, Anna's hair was pulled back tight on her head into a bun, a military grade hairstyle. Maya's hair was in a loose bun as well, without much effort given to its upkeep. If no one was going to see it, why bother making it look nice?

Anna protested, “I'm pretty sure this is going for refined nowadays...Maybe not that.” She motioned Maya's mop of hair with a chuckle, and went to find Susan to help tame Maya's unruly locks. Finally they were ready, decked out in fancy clothes and practicing their confidence to make them look like they belonged at an auction where hundreds of thousands of dollars would be spent. Once Anna was satisfied with Maya’s “swagger” she guided her out to her car, explaining on the way that the auction was an event you showed up for when you wanted and left when you wanted.

The way Anna drove made her military training quite evident, she was somehow both incredibly cautious while being aggressive. If she ever met someone else at an intersection and there was a question of who should go first, the answer was always Anna. Maya didn’t really mind, but sometimes Anna pushed the speed limit a little far and this concerned her friend. Being ill her entire life, driving fast wasn’t something many of her companions allowed her to experience, so she never complained when Anna did it. Still, as they flew past every other car in their path, Maya had to wonder if her choice of friends was exactly safe. Dismissing the notion quickly, she turned the radio up and listened as Anna shouted along with it, admiring Anna’s lungs. Most kids her age, she realized as she did so, didn’t ever think of something like admiration for lungs, but Maya’s lungs were one of her biggest problems. The doctors she’d seen told her the most likely way for her life to end would be due to lung issues. In her lifetime the number of lung infections she’d had was astounding.

Once the song, some pop song Maya was convinced she’d heard at least three other times by different artists, came to an end, Anna shot her a brilliant grin. “You ready for this?” she asked, and Maya tilted her head in curiosity. Suddenly the car made a screeching noise, and shot off at top speeds on the stretch of road they were on. From where she sat, Maya could see the speedometer climbing: 70 mph…80 mph…90 mph, and it was only getting higher. The panic in Maya’s face at the action made Anna laugh, but she slowed the car down and drove a more reasonable speed for the rest of the trip.

The auction was held in a large hotel conference area. Maya felt as out of place as ever as she stared at the many overdressed people. In fact, both Maya and Anna wondered whether there had been a more posh gathering of people in the history of the world. Men in tuxes strutted about, chattering with women dressed in gowns probably worth more than Susan Gerhardt’s house. “Feeling a bit out of place,” Anna voiced next to her, and Maya breathed a sigh of relief that her friend was experiencing the same emotions she was. Despite this, Anna happily greeted a few older gentlemen and chatted with them for a time, while Maya stood and wondered why she’d agreed to come along at all if Anna was going to ignore her. Soon they were separated by a decent sized space, and Maya leaned against a wall and looked around the room.

As she brooded, she noticed an attractive young man approaching her. He stood as a stark contrast to many of the others in the room, who were mainly older gentlemen with the occasional older lady in the mix. Why this young man was making a beeline straight for her she couldn’t say, but as soon as she met his eyes her heart beat faster. Averting her gaze as quickly as possible, she set out to find comfort in Anna. Before she reached Anna the young man reached her.

“Hello,” he said in a deep voice. Maya fixed her gaze firmly on his chest, which looked well-muscled even under his tux, she noted, and figured he must be talking to someone else; best not to respond and make a fool out of herself then. Surprisingly, the young man repeated himself, and Maya looked up at him and felt her face flush.

“H-hello,” she stuttered in response, and the man’s face changed into a small smile.

“My name is Miles,” he said in a warm voice, “Miles Johnson. What’s your name?” Maya couldn’t understand why this man was speaking to her, but she squeaked her name out.

“Maya Gerhardt,” she mumbled, looking up into Miles’ eyes. As she did he looked behind her at someone who was passing by, and the expression in his eyes changed before he returned his gaze to her. The first time she saw them she’d been struck by their beauty, this time she was struck by how they captured some dark thing inside of him. They seemed to mask indifference and a hint of hatred from the world. Behind the hatred there was something deeper as well, but much more skillfully hidden. Something so hidden Maya figured even he might not realize it was there, but before Maya had time to decipher what it was he blinked and it vanished. The expression on Miles’ face changed as she stared into his eyes, as if he guessed what she was thinking.

“I haven’t seen you at an auction like this before,” he stated, with every hint of warmth he’d previously spoken absent.

“My fr-friend just brought me here…It’s silly, I…I better get back to her,” Maya babbled, before bowing her head and running back to the comfort of Anna’s side. As she went she could feel Miles’ eyes on her, and felt distinctly uncomfortable and mildly threatened. Anna looked at her with a grin and asked what she thought of the man who’d approached her. Maya’s quick head shake and tense body language eliminated him from Anna’s possible options for her friend’s first kiss.

“What was he like?” she asked, turning her attention back to her friend. “I mean, was he rude or something?”

Maya shook her head, “No, something about him sort of just…Gave me chills. Like, I guess…It felt like what I imagine looking into the eyes of a murderer might. He was perfectly pleasant, but, I…he didn’t seem trustworthy.”

Anna nodded as Maya spoke, “Well, you’ve always been a good judge of people. If you think he’s suspicious he just might be.” It was at that moment Anna made a silent resolution to watch the young man and make sure he didn’t cause any trouble. The older men Anna had been talking to cleared out, and she quickly recounted what they’d told her. Not only had one of them spent $10,000 on a pair of cufflinks that month, another had bought a yacht for his toddler. This one, as Anna observed, walked with a woman much younger than him on his arm, and Anna made a joke that she was most likely a trophy wife and a gold digger. Anna also learned the next item to be sold in the auction was a lamp, but as soon as they tracked it down by number, displayed proudly on a pedestal meant to be sold after a fifteen minute break, she declared her information a lie.

“How is this a lamp?” she asked, glaring at the strange gold object which looked to her more like a strangely flattened teapot.

Maya shrugged, “I guess it’s a lamp in the sense of a genie lamp, you know? I always wondered why the called them that, actually…Do they light something up?”

“I don’t know. They’re just liars, calling it a lamp. Lamps light things up. This is…A pot at best,” she said, before the pair realized they were being watched.

Miles approached them slowly, “It’s called a lamp because it would have traditionally been used as an oil lamp. You should quiet down now, the host is speaking.” Maya nodded and Anna wrinkled her nose as they turned their attention to the front of the room, where a decrepit old man was speaking into a microphone. To be more specific the old man was attempting to speak, but it was clear he’d been a smoker in his early years because his voice was constantly strained as if he needed to cough. Once he finally did cough, to Maya’s relief since she was beginning to feel sympathy throat tickles, nothing changed. To Maya’s left, Anna grew increasingly frustrated at the man’s mundane words about everyone gathering together for a good cause. Instead of listening she glanced toward the pot to ponder it and noticed Miles staring it down, with an open shoulder bag with a piece that looked conspicuously similar to the lamp inside. As soon as it occurred to her what Miles was planning, he snatched the real lamp and replaced it with the fake one. The movement was so swift Anna doubted she would have caught it if she hadn’t been watching for it. As quickly as he’d made the trade, Miles glided away quietly, so as not to bring attention to himself, but Anna followed. It took Maya a moment to notice her friend had left her side, and when she glanced around the room she spotted her stalking Miles out a side door. Maya followed hastily, but felt a wave of tiredness wash over her at the same moment. Her lungs felt constricted, but she pressed on anyway, wondering what Anna could possibly be doing following a man Maya believed to be dangerous.

“Where are you going with that?” Anna asked once she and Miles were alone in an alleyway next to the hotel they’d been in. She slowly approached him as they spoke.

“Where am I going with what?” he asked with a sick sincerity to his voice that made Anna almost question what she’d seen.

“You stole the lamp, put it back,” she ordered in an authoritative voice.

“Brave, aren’t you?” Miles mumbled, mainly to himself. “I won’t put it back. I’m going to leave now, so please return to the auction. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Oh really?” Anna questioned, now standing next to him. In a flash of movement she reached out and grabbed his bag, pulling the lamp from it and giving him a smug grin. His shocked face and her smug grin both didn’t last long as he became enraged. Before Anna knew what was happening, Miles had her in a sleeper hold and growled into her ear.

“Don’t do that,” he snarled in a whisper, holding Anna steady. For the first time in a long time Anna experienced fear, and in a panic flailed until Miles’ hold on her caused her consciousness to slip away.

A gasp brought Miles’ attention to Maya, who stumbled into the alleyway and collapsed completely. Contrary to his earlier behavior, he walked over to her and scowled. He crouched by her side and gingerly helped her to turn over as she went into a coughing fit. The lamp fell from his grip as he wondered what to do and it landed by Maya’s side. She wheezed deeply, and missed the complete change in Miles’ demeanor as he panicked over what to do.

“OK, you can’t die or anything. I don’t want to be a murderer! Never that, I told him never that,” he mumbled desperately, and Maya shook her head, trying to tell him she’d be fine. As she coughed she waved her hand to tell him to forget about it, still feeling herself quivering in fear at his cold presence. Her dismissal didn’t deter him as he ran off to try to wake Anna, leaving his things behind. Maya coughed again, and after her next cough lowered her arm, brushing the lamp in the process. Miles pointed wordlessly at Maya when Anna awoke, and both stared in awe at the lamp. The object was glowing as it lay on the ground by Maya’s side, and then began floating up completely on its own.

Maya’s coughing slowed and stopped as the lamp’s shape began to change, and a golden humanoid shape grew in its place. Within a few seconds green eyes blinked around at the group.
“Well, it’s been a while. You’re…very clean looking,” he complimented them all, as Anna and Miles rose to full standing positions and approached the strange man. “Oh, you’re giants too! My superior height is…,” he trailed off as Miles approached, comparing their heights to each other. The strange man was slightly shorter, and he wrinkled his nose, “Not so superior anymore. Uh, I guess people have grown since the last time I woke up…”

“What the hell are you?” Miles asked. The man tilted his head and glanced at Anna, then down to Maya. He offered her a hand to help her up and smiled when she took it and stood. He took in her height.

“You’re the right height for a woman,” he said calmly. He then looked at Anna in her 5’7” and mumbled, “You’d be a little tall for a man…”

“Are you seriously talking about how tall we are instead of explaining who the hell you are?” Anna asked, and the man turned to look at Maya.

“Sorry,” he said, “but neither of you woke me from my slumber, did you? That was this young woman.” Maya smiled at him and laughed in disbelief.

“Are you a genie?” she asked, and the man shrugged.

“Define genie. I’ve been known as a djinn, is that word the same word?” he asked in response. Maya nodded and confirmed that the two terms were equivalent as far as she knew. “What language are you speaking to me in?”

“English,” Maya mumbled, with a clear question in the inflection of her voice.

“Like England? Is this England?” the man asked, looking around the alleyway and scowling deeply as if unimpressed. Maya shook her head.

“It’s the United States of America,” Maya informed him, and then laughed at his subsequent confusion.

“That’s a new one,” he stated. “I guess the protocol would be to tell you I am a—what was the word? Genie? I am a genie, and I am here to grant you three wishes…The two staring at me are making me uncomfortable…” The genie turned to Miles and glared, “Do you need something?” Anna moved to Maya’s side to check on her as the two males had a stare down.

“Do you ever change back to a lamp?” Miles asked, and the genie laughed.

“Well now that’s a look I recognize,” he said. “Your desire to sell me, however, will go unheeded. Until I fulfill this young woman’s wishes I will not leave her side.”

“What if someone just, you know, took you?” Miles asked.

The genie laughed again in a good natured way, “Are you going to kidnap me, Malus? Forget it. Go home.”

“What did you just call me? It was…very almost my name,” Miles mumbled, and the genie shrugged.

“Forget it,” his dismissed. “Your presence is unnecessary. You will be unable to steal me, despite the devil in your eyes. You know, the way you present yourself is fascinating to me. It isn’t as if your soul—.”

Anna cut him off before he finished his sentence, “Don’t talk to the scum who tried to steal you. Talk to the saint you’re supposed to be granting wishes to.”

“Sorry,” the genie replied, barely concealing his rolled eyes. “First of all, what is your name?”

Maya obliged him and told him her name quickly, then asked, “Um…So this might be a strange question, but do you have a name?”

“Of course,” the genie replied with a genial smile. “My name is Melchior.”

“Just Melchior?” Maya asked, and Melchior nodded.

“Just Melchior,” he confirmed, as Miles attempted to sneak up behind him. “Malus,” he said in a lightly threatening voice, stopping Miles in his tracks, “as I said, kidnapping will not happen.” Melchior took a step away from Miles and turned to face him. “You will leave,” he said, looking deeply into the eyes that had so frightened Maya. Miles stared Melchior down and Maya almost believed the two males were going to fight, but Melchior’s sudden grin made her doubt that thought.

To Maya and Anna’s surprise, Miles roughly picked up his shoulder bag from the ground and gave Melchior one last glare before turning to leave. What the pair missed was when he tossed something very tiny and sticky onto Maya’s back. Melchior saw it in, but simply blinked in confusion, not sure what the item could possibly be.

“So, get to it,” Anna said, and Melchior held his hand out to halt her.

“Patience,” he growled in a way that was still oddly good natured. “Maya, do you have a first wish in mind?”

“World peace,” Maya deadpanned back. Melchior looked taken aback, and Anna immediately glared.

“W-well,” Melchior replied. “Would you like to return to your home and think it over for a while?”

“No, I’m sure,” Maya replied, causing Melchior to frown.

“World peace is a very complicated wish,” he said. “Perhaps we should go somewhere more comfortable and private so I may explain?” Maya nodded and began to walk toward the parking lot, but Anna held out her arm and stopped them.

“Don’t you think you might draw a little attention, wearing that outfit?” Anna asked, and Melchior glanced down at his body and frowned. The young looking genie was wearing a pair of dark brown harem pants with a golden band at the top. On his feet was a pair of golden shoes which came to a distinct point, and his chest was mainly bare. Around his neck sat a golden collar reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian jewelry, and gold bangles were on both of his arms. His ears were adorned with golden earrings, halfway covered by his dark brown hair. Though his eyes were green, his skin was tan and his complexion dark.

“I guess my clothes are a little different, I should get new clothes, then...,” he trailed off as he stared at his body. He wore no shirt so his toned body was very visible, and he stared at it as if he hadn’t seen it in quite some time. His focus was taken up by his flat stomach, which distracted Maya as well. Anna snapped her fingers to bring their attention back to the present. “Oh!” Melchior gasped, “Right, uh…It’s not a problem. Those who didn’t witness my first transformation can’t see me. I’m like a spirit, I guess. No reason to worry.”

With his assurance the group walked back to Anna’s car, which Melchior eyed suspiciously. Anna regretted inviting him inside when he spent the better amount of the car ride trying to claw his way out of the back seat and telling her she was going way too fast. At one point he opened the car door, causing general panic to pass between Maya and Anna and subsequently Melchior as well when he realized he could fall out at any moment. After the “door incident” Melchior quieted down, but when Maya glanced back at him to check on him she realized he was letting out a steady stream of what may have been either curses or prayers and was probably three shades whiter than normal. To her credit, Anna wasn’t speeding quite as much as usual, but Melchior didn’t really know the difference. Once they were back at Maya’s humble home, he all but flew out of the car and made an attempt to hug the ground, alluding to his belief that he wouldn’t ever get to walk on it again after riding in Anna’s car.

“I promise never to take advantage of you again,” he whispered to it as Anna walked by and rolled her eyes. Maya smiled at him, somehow not bothered by his hysterical behavior, and invited him inside her home. Melchior stood on shaking legs and followed Maya, admiring the modern landscape as he went. “Wow,” he mumbled, then grinned at Maya. “This is where you live?” he asked, and Maya nodded. “It’s beautiful.”

The house was, by modern standards, nothing special. Susan Gerhardt rented it from one of her college friends sympathetic to her situation, so she got a good deal off it. The house was fairly small, with only a ground floor and a basement. Maya and her mother’s rooms were on the ground floor, so Maya wouldn’t have to climb stairs on a regular basis. They had a part time live in nurse as well to take care of Maya, whose room doubled as an office area. Susan worked from home so she could spend as much time with her daughter as she needed. The outside of the house was painted a dull brown, and looked as cozy as it felt inside. Maya had never once considered it beautiful, but she wondered why she hadn’t once Melchior said it. In another time she would have certainly been considered to be well off.

Maya and Anna walked inside the house and up toward Maya’s room, but Melchior stopped outside it. “Sorry,” he laughed uncomfortably, “but you’re really all right with a man entering your room?”

“What kind of culture do genies have?” Anna countered with a tilt of her head. “Of course it’s fine.”

“Besides,” Maya added with a genial smile, “you’re not a man. You’re a genie.” A hint of emotion too quick for Anna or Maya to recognize flashed across his face as he stepped inside, and Maya wondered if she’d said something wrong.

“Right you are,” Melchior said, glancing around Maya’s room carefully. Each step he took showed how out of place he felt, hit by more than culture shock; after all, the last time he’d woken everything looked completely different. From his eyes the floor was immaculate, the walls were somehow holding up unfamiliar sheets of paper as if by magic, and strange machines littered the area…It was intimidating. The genie sat on the floor and gazed around the room. Luckily Maya’s nurse, Heather Richards, wasn’t there at the moment to see Maya and Anna talk to someone only they could see. Melchior also didn’t seem to be completely there with them, at least in his mind.

“How is that staying up there?” he asked with a deep scowl on his face. What he was talking about, the girls realized after following his gaze, was Maya’s poster of a baby sea turtle sitting on a beach. “Some sort of sorcery?” he mumbled to himself, standing from the ground and approaching the poster. He reached for it and nearly pulled at it, but Anna spoke up.

“It’s called sticky tack,” she explained, “not sorcery. And definitely not easily fixable if ripped.”

“Oh,” Melchior mumbled as he lowered his hand from the poster and looked dejected. As soon as his dejection came it passed and he continued to survey Maya’s room while Anna attempted to convince Maya she should wish her disease away. Between arguments of “How selfish would that be when I have the chance to do something great?” and “What would your mom think if you told her you passed up a chance to get better?” Melchior became overwhelmed. Maya’s room was fairly small, fitting with the small house she occupied, but it had quite a lot inside it. On a desk in a corner of the room sat a desktop computer, which Melchior eyed suspiciously as he walked by, giving himself a tour. The walls were painted a pastel violet, and Melchior inspected how perfectly well covered they were. She had a double bed with a comfortable mattress causing the genie to wonder whether she might be royalty while standing from it in alarm; he’d practically been swallowed up by the soft fabric covering it, after all. Panic only seemed natural, but there was no time for it. Something on Maya’s desk was moving, and he hit it off the desk in fright before leaning down to inspect what turned out to be some sort of bird toy and not a giant bug that was brightly colored.

Melchior walked back to his comfortable place on the floor then and decided to stare at his hands until Maya was ready to speak with him so he didn’t accidentally break any of Maya’s things. By the time Anna was deterred and stopped commanding Maya to wish what Anna wanted, Melchior had his face buried in his hands and was whimpering slightly.

“Are you OK?” Maya asked as Anna bit her lip and sat on Maya’s bed, looking annoyed.

“HAHA!” Melchior replied much too loudly. “Of course I’m OK. I’m here to help you, not get confused by all your stuff!” Melchior’s eyes betrayed what he was truly feeling then, and Maya almost laughed at his expense when she realized he looked scared of the objects in her room. “Anyway, there are a few things I have to tell you before you make a wish—I still don’t recommend ‘world peace’ by the way. Though I won’t—can’t—stop you if that’s what you truly desire. So, there are certain things my magic won’t allow me to do,” he said, preparing to continue on, but Anna interrupted.

“No extra wishes, can’t bring someone back from the dead, can’t make someone fall in love?” Anna interjected jeeringly, and Melchior seemed surprised.

“Well, yes. How did you know?” he asked, and Anna shrugged.

“Just that smart,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she spoke.

“Well that’s not it, of course. I cannot kill. I can only use my magic to do things related to your wish,” he explained, looking at Anna as if expecting her to have something to say on the matter. When she didn’t speak up he went on, “and the first two things the light haired woman said," Anna interrupted with her name then and he went on, "the things Anna said are self-explanatory, but…it isn’t only matters of love which I can’t control. I can’t make people’s opinions change—violates free will, I guess…Or so I was told. All I know is that I’ve tried, but it has never worked and it can’t ever work. There are laws of magic use, and if I violate them I am severely punished and the magic is undone.”

“Oh,” Maya mumbled, and then frowned as she sat next to Anna on her bed. “So why don’t you think world peace is a good idea?”

“Hm, yes…,” Melchior replied, pausing to put his thoughts into order. “World peace is a wonderful concept and I believe in its possibility. However, when faced with the decision of what must be changed to attain world peace I run into the issue of being unable to impede free will. More so than that, what would be the best way for the world to work is purely subjective. What I believe world peace is meant to be, then, may be entirely different from what you believe…As I imagine it is. Different cultures, as you and I come from, will see world peace in a different light. Some might not even desire world peace, and unless I was able to kill them or change their opinions their persistence might make world peace impossible, even in mostly peaceful times as it appears to me you currently enjoy.”

Anna snorted at this comment from her place on Maya’s bed, and Melchior tilted his head. “You disagree that your times are peace times?” Anna mumbled a confirmation, and Melchior frowned, “Well, I should have to research that statement.” After another pause he turned to Maya and smiled, “You do not have to make your decision yet. You have three days before you must make your first wish. On that note I must inform you, if you do choose to go down the path you have suggested, you will not receive two more wishes. A wish of world peace counts as all three of your wishes.”

“Um,” Maya mumbled, looking down at her hands, “Melchior, right?” The genie nodded. “Melchior, I—I’m sure of what I want,” Melchior nodded somberly, both knowing his words hadn’t changed her mind in the slightest, “but before I want to make sure—will you try your best to fulfill it?”

“Of course,” Melchior quipped. “I’m bound to do whatever you wish.”

“And what if you do try your best, and…You just can’t do it? Does something bad happen to you?” Maya asked quietly, and Melchior’s unfortunate nod caused her to scowl and make her sunken face look more pointedly so. “What would happen?”

“Since it would be the fourth wish I failed to fulfill, I would once again lose a portion of my magic, and be one wish away from being stripped of my powers completely. However, since it is such a big wish, and since I would likely have to use a great deal of my power to fulfill part of the wish if it is attempted, I would be likely to lose all of my magic when the wish went unfulfilled,” he iterated, and Maya tilted her head to the side.

“What would happen if you lost your powers?” she questioned, causing Melchior to sigh.

“I would die,” he stated clearly, and Maya scowled.

“Um, well…,” she mumbled, as she tried to think of a solution, “could I change the wish before it becomes officially unfulfilled—if there’s an official ‘unfulfilled’ time, that is—so that you would have fulfilled my wish by doing whatever it is that we accomplish?”

Melchior stopped to ponder this thought as Anna nudged Maya’s leg, as if telling her to ask something important. Maya couldn’t figure out what that important thing might be, and before Anna opened her mouth to speak Melchior stated, “Yeah. That should work.”

Anna glared at Melchior and asked, before Maya could say anything, “Why does this wish take up the cost of three wishes? That’s so stupid.”

“Well, it’s about exchange and balance,” Melchior said. “Only a certain amount of my magical abilities will work for a single master. The person who receives the wishes is able to make either three wishes or wishes that use up as much magic as three wishes would average.” Anna scowled at him, and he shrugged sadly, “I don’t control the rules of magic. I wish I did, but that is beyond my scope of influence.”

“Well then,” Anna huffed at him, “once Maya is finished with her wishes, will I be able to make three wishes of my own?”

“Conceivably yes,” Melchior responded, and continued on with contradictions to Anna’s dismay, “however there are specific rules as to who can wake me from my slumber in the lamp. Only those with a ‘pure heart’ can awaken me. To be honest, even I am not sure what constitutes a pure heart. Secondly, I will most likely not have much magic left with which to grant your wishes. After a successful wish we gain magical powers; however it will likely only be enough for one wish.”

“That’s stupid,” Anna declared, and Melchior smiled at her.

“You’re quite refreshingly direct,” he laughed. “Not that I don’t agree. Like I said—if I made the rules they’d be different.” Anna nodded and wrinkled her nose, showing her distaste for what bound the genie’s powers. Melchior turned to Maya then, where she sat on her bed, psyching herself up for her wish and smiling broadly. “Would you like to make your wish official?” he asked, and she nodded. “Then you must say the words ‘I wish…’ with what you wish for.”

Maya grinned through her words, “I wish for world peace.”


There you go. The first chapter (or a prologue?). Tell me what you think? I know it got a little long. I just figured this was the best stopping point I could think of...Yep. :)