Arrivederci

by Anna Haagenson

The kingdom fell to ruin in her absence.

Now here she was, 13 years later, ready to fix things.

The only problem was…

Everyone was dead.

PROLOUGE

Wasn’t she the fairest in the land? The greenest eyes, brightest smile, richest skin. Always well dressed, but not dressed to prideful. Always humbled herself in dressing similar to the public, but always fancier, to set herself apart. She’d have a simple grey dress that trailed down to her feet, touching the ground, but not covering it. It had a delicate and beautiful design, yet simple.

She prided herself with knowing the people of the town, making sure that she was down to earth and not with her head in the sky. She knew everyone, and everyone knew her. She took the time to get to know the people of her kingdom, to learn their names and learn their hobbies, to make them feel special that the queen knew them. No one was spared from her kindness.

Even the people in the dungeons wer able to experience her kindness! Yes, they weren’t in the comfort they might have been before they were arrested, but they always got 3 meals a day. Never once were they left hungry. Even those on death row got a glimpse of luxury. They got a choice of whether or not they were to be executed publicly, and most of the time, they were executed privaetley and painlessly.

That’s to say if there even were any criminals on death row. There was hardly anyone that wanted to break the king and queen’s laws. The people here lived in near-paradise, why would they want to ruin that?

That was until the queen left. No one knows why, not even Zaion, her advisor, whom she always spoke with.

She was last seen wearing a lovely lavender dress with a blue and gold shawl that had golden clasps, bright blue shoes, and a rose hairpiece, her hair tied up in a braided bun.

My brother, if you see her, please tell us or bring her back. We dearly miss her.

M####

CHAPTER 1: The Queen’s not-so-glorius return

   Walking back to the castle was… a journey, to say the least. There were overgrown plants everywhere, crumbling buildings that could get knocked over with a small gust of wind, and an eerie aura to the whole place. She jumped over an overgrown root and looked around. The once bustling city was now devoid of all human life. She kept walking until she found the town square. Looking around, she could barely recognize it. She thought back to the simpler times when there was life here. She sighed and shook her head. No use dwelling on the past. She needed to move forward.

She made her way out of town square and headed up the hill to the castle. The castle was on a hill, not only to overlook the wondrous people of their nation, but to see far beyond, to see any threats that might come their way. It was a steep hill, so to say she struggled climbing up it would be an understatement.

When she finally reached the castle, all she could do was gasp at how time had treated it. The once glorious, once shining castle, now reduced to a crumbling structure that was the ghost of once was. She took a tentative step forward and entered the castle, careful to not step on any loose rubble or touch anything that would make the castle fall apart more. She looked around, noticing how some of the hallways were caved in. She decided to head to the throne room, carefully manuvering around the rubble.

She walked into the throne room and was immediately showered with light. She looked up and saw that most of the roof had fallen into the throne room. The thrones themselves were relatively untouched. She was somewhat surprised, and decided to take a closer look.

As soon as she took a step, the room began to rumble. She looked around to see if she could spot the source of the noise, to no avail. She took another step, and the room shook even more. She took a hurried step backwards, but the shaking didn’t stop. Then, some cracking noises filled the room. She looked around, desperately trying to find the source of the noise. She looked up in enough time to see an unbroken part of the roof start to fall. She didn’t look in enough time to move, however, as the 10,000 ton piece of brick fell straight onto her.

Or would have, if it didn’t get violently knocked off course at the last second. She blinked, looking around in shock. She didn’t see anything that could have done this. She was alone, at least she thought she was, but there was no one around to prove her otherwise. This was too big of an event to blame on the wind, however. There was someone, or something, in here with her. Now she just had to find out who or what it was.

“Hello…?” She called out. No response.

“Is someone here?” Nothing.

“Please come out! I’m not going to hurt you, I promise!”

Try as she might, no one responded to her calls. She sighed. She knew someone, or something, was here. She was determined to find it.

The aura in the air as she crossed the room was unnerving. She knew something was off simply by listening to the way the wind blew. It was a silent noise, but when you heard it, it was a whistling noise, like an arrow finding it’s mark. The air spoke of danger, of some old tale that hadn’t been told. It smelled of sorrow, of a tragedy that could not have been avoided. A breeze whisked past her ear and sent a chill down her spine that had her quickening her pace to the thrones.

When she reached the thrones, it was safe to say she was more than surprised. She had no idea how the thrones had managed to stay intact all this time. The golden frame shone brilliantly in the sunlight that shone in from the still caved in roof. The velvet glistened, still soft to the touch, the cushion inside was still intact and comfortable. The beauty of the thrones begged the question: How were they still in tact? The castle was physically crumbling around her: The walls had multiple holes in them, the stone and brick was all worn down and crumbling, the ceiling was as good as gone, and even the floor had plants sprouting out of it. She spotted a small tree growing in the middle of the room and wondered how long it had been there.

She glanced at her throne, the queen’s throne, the one that sat right next to the king’s throne. She stepped over to it and touched it. It was solid, it felt cool, it was real. Her mind wasn’t coming up with some sort of reminiscent hallucination (her advisor certainly would have said it was a possibility). It was real. She sat in the chair and was brought back to memories before she left. Balls being held in the castle, people dancing and cheering. Watching as the stableboys ran around playing tag, as the stablemaster tried to chase them down and scold them. Watching as the jester put on a show. Watching as the knights informed them of anything and everything that went wrong so they could fix it. Listening as her advisor told her the best course of action. Posing as the castle creator painted her portrait.

She sighed and stood up. If only her advisor were here now. But, he wasn’t. She decided to keep exploring the castle. She left the throne room and walked the halls to her personal quarters. They also led to her husbands quarters, whom she missed dearly. Her husbands quarters were before her own, and she stopped as she passed by them. She decided to take a look inside, to see the state of them now.

She took the doorhandle and gently swung the grand door open. She remembered that her husband’s quarters were simple, and always clean. They had a king bed on the right wall, the side of the bed pushed against the back wall next to the window so he could look out at the stars before he slept. He had a bathroom in the back left corner, and a dresser on the left wall. His closet was in the front right corner. His front wall was simply covered in portraits. He did some art, yes, but the castle creator absolutely loved to paint, but he had no where to put his paintings, so the king allowed his paintings to be hung up around the castle. The king kept his favorites.

Yet when she opened the door, she was not met with the beautiful, clean room she remembered. The outside wall had caved inwards, the ceiling was breaking at the seams, the bed was covered in rubble, the bathroom was destroyed, the closet was filled with rubble, and the dresser had fallen over on it’s front. The only thing that stayed the same was the wall of paintings. They looked as if this ruin wasn’t even in the room. They looked as beautiful as the day they had been painted. She took a few seconds to mourn the room, before she left to see her quarters,

She walked to the door of her quarters, preparing herself for the destruction she would see inside. Or, at least thought she would see, because as she opened her door, Her quarters were exactly the way she remembered them. She blinked and rubbed her eyes a few times, but the room never changed. She walked inside, looking at the dresser, bed, nightstand, walk-in closet, bathroom, the seat underneath the window, even the chandelier; It all looked untouched. It was as if the castle wasn’t crumbling around her. She walked around and touched every item, every area, everything, and confirmed that it wasn’t a hallucination. She pinched herself (ow). It wasn’t a dream (she could practically hear her advisor saying “how peculiar”.).

Why was it that all of her things were untouched, but the castle was literally falling at the seams?! This was peculiar, peculiar indeed. She decided that she was going to figure out what was going on.

“You like the room, I see?”

Turns out she wouldn’t have to search for long.

CHAPTER 2: A Change in Perspective

Have they been following the queen ever since she came back? …Yes. Is that morally wrong? Not in their case, no. They were known as “The Royal Four”, although none of them were of royal bloodline. You had Raymon, the lead knight, Zaion, the queen’s advisor, Saurmont, the castle creator, and Treyon, the jester. They had watched over the queen when she returned, Zaion the most. He and the queen had been close when she was still here, so he was literally hovering over her with every step she took. Saurmont had tried to talk to her, but it seemed she couldn’t see them. Seems fitting for the four ghosts.

Ah, yes, the four of them were ghosts. There had been more, but everyone else had eventually moved on. These four stayed, though. They had developed a brother-like bond, and they weren’t willing to give that up quite yet.

They followed her as soon as she stepped into the palace walls, never once leaving her side. They had started to panic when the rumbling noise started, just as much as she did.

“ZAION! WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Raymon called out to the advisor.

“THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE REMAINING PEICE-”

“ENGLISH, ZAION!!” Treyon shouted. The three of them didn’t always understand what he said. Plus, it’s not like they had time to decode what he was saying!

“SIGH, THE CEILING IS GOING TO FALL ON HER.”

“WHAT?!” The three of them exclaimed, looking back to the peice of ceiling that was just about to break.

“RAYMON’S GOT THIS!” They watched as the ceiling finally broke and the queen stood staring up at it, parylized in fear. Just before the piece hit the queen, Raymon ran at it and punched it out of the  way, a thing he wouldn’t have been able to do, were he still alive. Treyon let out a high pitched whistle.

“I’ll never get bored of seeing you do that.”

“I’m so painting that when I get the chance!” Saurmont exclaimed. He was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Hello?” The queen called out. All attention turned to her. She was still standing where the ceiling was about to fall on her. They all exchanged glances.

“Is someone here?” The queen glanced around, her eyes just briefly passing where the four were standing. Raymon sucked in a breath and walked over to her.

“Your majesty, I-” He kneeled and started to talk, but was cut off by the queen’s frantic calling.

“Please come out! I’m not going to hurt you, I promise!” Raymon’s face fell. Treyon placed a hand on his shoulder.

“She can’t hear or see us, bud.”

Zaion sighed and watched as the queen walked over to the thrones, following behind her. Such fine pieces of furniture, if you asked him. Made out of pure gold from the mines of Drebgoh, fitted with the finest fabric one could hope to procure, simply existing was a marvel in and of itself. He watched as the queen lowered herself onto her throne. He walked right in front of her, and for a moment, it seemed like she was looking straight at him. But, alas, her eyes weren’t following her movements, and it seemed that a glaze had come over her eyes.

“How peculiar…” He muttered to himself. The queen got up and started heading to the king and queen’s quarters.

“Guys, she’s moving! Let’s go!” Treyon seemed to be the only other one that noticed, and Zaion was glad. He never really liked being the center of attention. He followed Treyon, with Saurmont behind him and Raymon picking up the rear.

The queen stopped in front of the king’s door. She seemed nervous to enter the room, her hand hesitating in reaching out to the handle. She eventually opened the door, letting out a small gasp as she looked inside. Zaion followed her as she walked inside. She stopped when she noticed Saurmont’s paintings. Saurmont walked inside and let out a little squeal of delight when he noticed the queen was looking at his art.

“I’m so glad she likes it! It took me forever to paint them, and even longer to preserve them!” Zaion patted his head.

“You did great with both things.”

“Thanks, Zaion!” Saurmont beamed wide. The queen walked past (more like through) them, so they turned and followed behind her. Zaion was probably the most nervous for the next room. He had spent a long time trying to preserve the queen’s room for when she finally arrived.

Saurmont took the lead, followed by Treyon and Raymon, Zaion following at the rear this time. He watched as the queen walked into the room, followed by the other three. He held back a little bit. He was nervous, as he was the one who awaited the queen’s return the most. He and the queen were the closest when she was here, so when she left, he was devastated. He didn’t even know why she left. He figured he would ask her if he ever got the opportunity to.

He sighed and started walking towards her room, taking slow and careful steps. It took him back to the days when she was here, when she’d call him to her quarters just to hang out. They’d solve puzzles, chat, sometimes draw (she was better at it than he was). He reminisced over days that were long gone, over days he longed to have back.

He felt a tug. Not on his person, not like Saurmont was trying to drag him into the room, no, this one was different. He kept walking and the tug got tighter. It was in his chest area. He kept walking, slightly picking up the pace and walking into the room, when he realized the tug was around his heart. He stopped and looked at the queen, glancing around her room (that he had managed to preserve) and his heart welled up with joy. Oh, how much he missed seeing her.

He walked towards her and the tug yanked one final time.

“You like the room, I see?”

He tugged back.

CHAPTER 3: We Meet Again

The two stared at each other, Zaion with a dumb smirk on his face that would fit Treyon’s face better than his, and the queen with her eyes blown wide in shock. She saw his purple dress shirt fitted into his black pants, his fancy dress shoes that he always kept polished, and his white-framed round glasses. She saw his milk chocolate skin that matched her own, his blue eyes that always looked purple. Treyon, Saurmont, and Reymon shared similar expressions with the queen. They sat in silence, no one daring to move an inch.

“Wait- she can see you?!”

Of course, Treyon would be the one to break the silence.

“Yes,” Zaion turned to look at Treyon. “I believe she can hear and see me.”

“Does that mean she can see and hear us?” Saurmont asked, excitement written all over his face. Zaion turned to look at the queen, who locked eyes with him once again.

“Who are you talking to?” She asked. Zaion saw saurmont visibly deflate out of the corner of his eye.

“Treyon, Saurmont, and Reymon are all here, your majesty.”

“Oh- please don’t use that title with me. I’m not sure I desere it after leaving and… all of this,” she gestured to the window, showing what outside the castle looked like, “happening. What did happen, if I may ask?”

“Ah, yes, that. For this, you might want to sit down, my que- er-”

“Just call me by my first name, I don’t mind.”

“Alright. For this, you might want to sit down, April.”

She sat down, and Zaion sat down in front of her. Treyon, Reymon and Saurmont all moved to fill in the gaps of the circle, Treyon sitting between Zaion and the queen April, Reymon sitting on the other side of April, Saurmont sitting between Reymon and Zaion.

“Alright. So, after you left, about 10 years ago, we were attacked. This army came from the south and broke down our doors, riding on magic-powered devices. We held up a fight for as long as we could. We managed to take a majority of them out, but the main one was a struggle to fight with. He had all of these weapons the likes of which no one had seen before. We fought, and we fought, and we fought, but to no avail.

“The king didn’t want all of us to perish, so he surrendered. The main attacker came in and became the new king. His name was Lerois. Lerois made changes around here. Increased taxes on the town, increased defence, Saurmont wasn’t allowed to do his art anymore, he fired Treyon, I was forced to always be at his side, and Reymon was stripped of his position and forced to become a lowly private. It was safe to say that no one liked the new tyrant, but we couldn’t fight against him.

“Eventually, the true king fell ill. He was still permitted to live in the castle, but he was moved to a servants room. Most of the servants had died already. The king had called us to the room, and Lerois allowed us this one thing. We went to the king, and on his deathbed, his final wish was for us to await your return. His final wish was for this kingdom to right itself, with you as the head. His final words, were ‘Make sure to tell April I love her.’ He died a day later. We suffered 4 years of Lerois tyranny. 4 years too long, we decided. So, I was appointed to do something… drastic.

“We all knew that Lerois could protect himself. An assasination plot was near impossible. We needed a way to get rid of Lerois once and for all. So, during the night, on the first day of the 5th year, I went downstairs to where the lab is. I took some nitroglycerin and a new magical compound we discovered Lerois had called “Maxryint”. It is extremely lethal and dangerous, however, only when mixed with explosive chemicals.

“I managed to create a bomb using the two chemicals.” He sighed. “As soon as I mixed the two chemicals, the bomb exploded. The explosion wiped out the entirety of the living beings in a 500 mile radius. The buildings, however, were left alone. They began to erode with time.”

“Wow… How are you still here, though?” April looked confused, if not perplexed.

“The magical compound in the bomb caused us to essentialy become ghosts. Most of the city people moved on after a few months of being ghosts, however. I’m not exactly sure how being a ghost really works, for that, you’d probably have to ask Saurmont. Lerois was the one who stayed the longest, mostly out of spite, but he left just over a year ago. We stayed solely because we knew that at some point, you’d return.”

“You stayed, just for me?” Her eyes were wide in shock, tears lining the corners of her eyes.

“Of course! We didn’t want to disobey the kings final wishes!” Saurmont piped up beside him, but by the look on April’s face, she still couldn’t see or hear them. Zaion reassuringly patted his head and spoke for him.

“Saurmont brings up a great point. We didn’t want to disobey the king’s final wishes. However, it does bring up another question. Why did you leave in the first place?”

April shifted. “Well, uh- see…”

Raymon put his hand on April’s shoulder, and even if she couldn’t feel it, it was still there. “You don’t have to tell us until you’re ready, April.”

Zaion smiled and reached for April’s hand, holding it in a firm grasp. “Raymon’s right. You don’t have to tell us until you’re ready.”

April shook her head. “But you deserve to know! You spent the entirety of your dead lives waiting for me to come back! It’s not fair if you don’t know why you had to wait so long!”

“Take your time. If you can’t talk about it, that means you aren’t ready to. And plus, it’s not like we’re going anywhere. We have all the time in the world to hear about it.”

April sighed. “Thank you. I do have a question though, how can I see you? You explained the ghost thing, but not-” she waved in his general direction. “This whole situation.”

“To be honest, I don’t know either. Probably something to do with the whole magic thing.” Zaion shook his head. He was never the biggest fan of magic.

“I wish I could see the others, though.”

“They wish the same thing.

CHAPTER 4: A Time to be Seen and A Time to be Heard

It had been a week since April arrived. They started to help her clean up the kingdom and make it liveable again. Saurmont would help decorate the castle, Raymon would do the heavy lifting, Zaion did most of the light lifting, and Treyon bossed them around (mostly because he didn’t want to do any work). It was always funny for them to look over and see April’s baffled face whenever a big pillar appeared to be leviating. They had so far fixed up a majority of the castle. After the castle, it was onto the town, then to the defences around the town.

Zaion still couldn’t stop thinking though. How come he was able to be seen and heard by April, but no one else was? He thought back to the moment he was able to first say something to her. There was that… feeling in his chest, that something that drew him to her. He wondered what exactly it was, and why hadn’t any of the others felt it. He supposed the confusion was evident on his face, because Treyon had approached him.

“Hey, bud, what’cha thinking about?” Treyon put a hand on Zaion’s shoulder as Zaion sighed.

“I’m just confused- why can April see and hear me, but she can’t hear or see you guys? I don’t get it… I mean- the only thing I’ve got is a theory about the magic we were blasted with. I felt a tightness in my chest, something tugging me towards her. I… metaphorically tugged back, and was somehow able to talk to her. But- I don’t know what it was! Or- or if it’s repeatable! Like- will you guys be able to talk to her if the same thing happens to you? Will the same thing happen to you? Will it be something different? What if you’re never able to talk to her again? What if-” He was abruptly cut off by a hand slapping over his mouth.

“Woah, woah, I think that’s enough thinking for today. I get it, you’re nervous and scared, but I have a feeling that this will all work itself out, ok?” Zaion nodded and Treyon took his hand off his mouth.

“I just- I don’t want to be the only one she can see. It breaks my heart every time I look at Saurmont and see him looking at April. I know he wants to talk to her again, to have their creative geniuses working together again, but I don’t know how to help him…”

“Zee.” Zaion looked at Treyon. He had used a nickname they had come up with in their time of bonding. Yeah, the four of them had gotten close, like brothers, but these two had gotten the closest. Like twins. “It’s not all on you. This isn’t something you can magically fix or logic your way out of. Sometimes, you just have to let things fix themselves.”

“And what if they don’t get fixed?!”

“Then at least one of us will be able to translate to April what’s going on.” Zaion sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am! Now, come on, I think Ray-Ray needs our help.”

“Ray-Ray?”

“Yeah, Raymon!” Zaion chuckled at the childish nickname.

“I swear, you act like a child, Tee.”

“Right back at ya, Zee.”

—

Saurmont had gotten into painting more things to pass the time. This time, he had decided to paint a portrait of April in the newly re-built castle. He sat on the grass outside the castle, mindlessly painting and looking up every few minutes to look at April, who was sitting in the garden, on a break from rebuilding to soak up the sun. She looked so peaceful and so happy, her brown curls flowing in the wind. He smiled and started to paint more. He was putting every fiber of his being in the painting to make sure it looked pretty.

He was so very proud of how his drawing turned out in the end. It captured not the queen, but April, the young woman who sat in the gorgeous field of flowers that ran for miles, the bright summer sun shining down on her milk chocolate skin and pearly white smile, her brown curls waving all around as if they were dancing, her hazel eyes shining in the light. He looked down at the drawing and smiled, walking over to where April sat.

His hands shook with excitement. This was his best drawing yet. He was ecstatic to show it to April, his heart swelling with delight. Everything in him just felt light, like he could fly if he wanted. He reached where April was sitting and sat in front of her. He knew she couldn’t see him, but he had to show her his painting. He sat the painting down in front of her, and he watched her look down at the drawing and gasp.

She picked up the drawing and brought it to her face, squinting and examining every fine detail and every little thing that went into making the drawing. Saurmont rocked back and forth in excitement, seeing April’s face light up every time she comes across a small and complicated detail. His grin was as wide as possible, excited with what she’ll say, and what her reaction will be.

What he didn’t expect, however, was for her to lower the painting and look straight into his eyes. He stopped rocking, locking eyes with her. He was shocked, because usually whenever she looked in his direction, her eyes never focused on him, always flitting over his face, like she was trying to find his eyes. They sat in a bit of a stunned silence, Saurmont not daring to say anything because he didn’t want this moment to go away. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he noticed April’s had filled with tears, and her smile had grown wider. She set the drawing down and put her hand on top of his.

“Oh, Sunny, thank you! This is beautiful!” He sat, even more in shock, before he realized what was happening and his smile spread from ear to ear. This meant that she was finally able to see his cute brown eyes, his medium-length brown-almost-black hair, his dark chocolate skin, and his favorite orange beret and matching orange jacket, a golden shirt hiding underneath.

“I’m so glad you like it!” He lunged forward and tackled her in a hug, feeling like a kid once again.

CHAPTER 5: Secrets to be Revealed

It was about a month in to living with April that they finally finished the castle. They all had watched as Raymon pushed the last pillar into place, securing the castle from any more damage. Saurmont stood and smiled at it, nodding in approval. The palace was finally back into it’s beautiful previous state, the floors no longer holding plants, sunlight no longer leaking in from the roof. Each room was restored, each hallway brought back to the old corridors they knew. And yet somehow, they felt brighter. They felt more alive than they had in years.

April had called all of them into the throne room, sitting on the still untouched throne. The throne room really got back it’s shine, the chandelier casting the room in the glorioius yellow hue that would be present during balls. The floor shone a beautiful pearly white, gold lining the spaces between the tile. She watched as Zaion and Saurmont walked in, assuming that Raymon and Treyon were following behind. Zaion opted to stand, Saurmont sitting cross-legged with a Raymon-sized gap between him and Zaion, and she noticed Zaion’s right shoulder dip a bit, so she could only assume Treyon was leaning on it.

She took a breath. It was about time they knew the truth about why she left. She wasn’t sure if she was really ready, but she didn’t know if she’d ever truly be ready. She felt their eyes on her and told herself that it was now or never, that either she told them now, or it would be a secret she’d have to take to her grave. She decided to speak.

“I bet you all are wondering why I called you here. Well…” She took a breath. “I’m finally going to tell you why I left for 13 years.”

She watched Saurmont tense up and could only imagine Treyon and Raymon did the same.

“There’s really no easy way to say this. I had gotten a letter in the mail. It was from my real hometown. It was from my sister, informing me that my parents died.” She watched as Saurmont supposedly reached at air, but watching him close his fingers around it meant that he was probably holding Raymon’s hand. “I decided to go and visit, but I come from humble upbringings, so I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. I arrived in my hometown a few days later, reaching the address my sister had left on her card. We exchanged greetings, and I settled in. I expected to only be a year, but it took 4 years to arrange a funeral.

“I tried to convince them to shorten the time, but they wouldn’t listen to me. My sister, my brother and I got caught up on old times during the four years I spent there. But, not long after my parents funeral, my sister fell ill. She too eventually died after three years. Again I had to wait four years. It then took me two years to get back.

“I wish I had come back sooner, but I just couldn’t leave my family. I’m sorry.” She finished her story and stared at her hands. The four of them were so quiet that she wasn’t sure they had even heard her. It wasn’t until she felt a large hand in hers that she finally looked up, locking eyes with Raymon. His blue eyes lulled her into comfort, seeing his short brown hair, his muscular stature, that all to familiar knights armor. She smiled, tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she lunged forward to give the giant a hug.

She felt Saurmont hug her on her right side, and felt Zaion place a hand on her back. She spared a glance to her left side where she imagined Treyon to be. Oh, how she wished she could see and feel all of her friends again. She truly didn’t know what she would do without them.

She pulled out of the hug and sighed.

“I’m sorry-” She had started, but got cut off.

“Don’t be sorry. It was something that was out of your control, and we don’t blame you for that.” She felt Raymon put a hand on her shoulder. “To be honest, I expected it to be something worse than that, like you had gotten kidnapped or soemthing. It sounds wrong, but I’m glad it was something like that, where you could at least see your family again.” She looked up at him and saw him smile. She smiled back.

“Yeah. We should probably start working on the town now, though.”

She was met with silence, and looked around to see them all staring at the space to her left. Raymon and Saurmont eventually laughed, Zaion shaking his head. She frowned, clearly missing something. Saurmont turned to look at her, noticing the frown on her face.

“Oh- uh, Treyon just said that ‘since we already finished the castle, we should take a day or two to just rest’, but he said it super dramatically.”

She huffed a laugh. Yeah, that definitely sounded like Treyon.

“Alright, I agree. We really should take a few days to just take a break from working so hard.”

She received responses of agreement and smiled.

“So it’s settled! Why don’t we all head to bed now, and then gather in the morning to decide what to do?”

They all nodded, and she nodded back.

“Well, goodnight!”

She turned and walked off to the queen’s quarters. It reminded her of the first day she arrived, checking the king’s quarters and seeing it destroyed, then walking into the queen’s quarters to see it perfectly maintained. She learned soon after that it was Zaion who kept the room in tact. She smiled at the thought and opened her door.

She stepped inside and looked around at the spacious room, bringing back not only recent memories, but memories from the past, memories from when she first arrived here.

She walked over to the closet and got changed, walking over to the bed and laying down. Tomorrow would be a fun day. And the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.

CHAPTER 6: Three Down, One More to Go.

   During her time as queen, Treyon liked the queen, sure, but he never really like liked her like everyone else did. To be honest, he never really like liked anyone, really only making acquaintances, never friends. Yeah, he was the Jester, it was his job to make people laugh and put on a show, but he never really liked his job in the first place. He liked being funny, but he didn’t like the mockery that followed the job.

So yeah, he never really liked the queen. That was, until she left. The chaos that followed her disappearance really made him realize how much the kingdom needed her. When she returned, he was so extremely relieved that she was finally back. When Zaion somehow revealed himself to April, he felt a pang of jealousy, but he’s pretty sure everyone did. When Zaion came to him about his troubles, though, he sympathised for him. That made the moment that Saurmont and Raymon revealed themselves to April a bit easier to bear.

He only wondered now, when was it his turn? By now, it had been two, almost three months since Raymon revealed himself. Why was it talking him this long to be able to reveal himself to April? He didn’t get it. By this point, they had already finished a majority of the town, only about a block or two to go, and right now he was sitting on top of a house because he didn’t want to do anything to help.

He could tell it was Raymon that sat next to him just by the way he sat. Legs out, dangling over the roof, his elbows on his thighs and hands holding his head. Treyon sighed and looked over at him.

“What.”

“What, what?” Raymon looked at him.

“I mean, what are you doing here?”

“Just checking up on you, seeing how you’re feeling.”

“I’m feeling fine.”

“Really? Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Yeah, well, I am, so.”

“So?”

“So leave me alone- stop nagging me!”

He heard Raymon sigh and looked back at the sea of houses.

“Treyon… I know it’s hard that we’ve all revealed ourselves to April, but I promise you will be able to as well.”

“How did you do it?”

“I felt a need to comfort April. That’s kinda just how it happened. My heart ached as she was telling the story, so I comforted her.”

“That sounds too easy.”

“Maybe it is, but it’s all there is to it.”

“You sure? Just- a simple feeling?”

“Yep. And I know yours is going to come soon.”

Raymon patted Treyon on the back before he left back to the group. All Treyon could do was sit and hope Raymon was right.

—

And, yeah, Raymon was right, because a few days later, Treyon got the feeling.

It started simple. The boys and April had taken to hunting to get their food. They didn’t want to travel 2 weeks in order to buy food because the boys couldn’t exactly buy anything, being ghost-ish and all, and they didn’t want to re-introduce the queen yet until they finished the town. So, hunting it was.

They had managed to get some pretty good game, although it usually always ended up being Raymon, Treyon and April going. Saurmont and Zaion stopped going because Saurmont couldn’t handle looking at a dead animal, and Zaion hated how they smelled.

They had gone out hunting and had gotten a few birds, rabbits, and squirrels, but not really anything big. It wasn’t until they walked further out to the field that they noticed some deer grazing around. Raymon spotted them first, putting a finger to his mouth and guesturing for them to get down. April followed, yet Treyon didn’t. He was still a ghost, why did he need to hide?

He followed as Raymon and April creeped up to the closest deer, Raymon docking an arrow and firing at the deer.

He missed.

The deer turned to look at them, but being a ghost, or only visible to April, the deer only saw April crouching on the ground. So naturally, the deer ran at April. Being too caught in shock, April didn’t move, and Raymon wasn’t as close to her as Treyon was. Treyon knew that the deer could easily take her out. He got a feeling in his legs that told him to run, to protect her, to make sure she was safe. He gripped the hilt of the sword that he decided to bring with and ran, sliding in front of April and swinging his sword in enough time that he slashed across the deer’s face, making it rear back in pain and run off.

Treyon stood there, holding the sword with a white-knuckled grip and breathing hard. He was able to collect his bearings when he felt a hand on his, turning to see April holding his hand. He dropped his sword and fell to the ground, hugging her in the process. She stroked his surprisingly long blonde hair, touched his tan skin, brushed over his blue dress shirt that fell over his black dress pants with his black dress shoes.

He pulled back out of the hug and looked into April’s shining green eyes the same way she looked into his baby blue eyes. He smiled.

Yeah, they were gonna be fine.

EPOLOUGE

It has been 6 years since the queen came back. The town is now livelier than ever, shops on every corner, people everywhere they turned, and they knew they had one person to thank: Queen April. There was a statue made in her honor in the middle of town square, four smaller statues surrounding hers, dedicated to the four ghosts that had stayed and help her rebuild.

Zaion became a world-renound scribe, his works being recognized as far as the setting sun.

Saurmont became an artist, a sculptor, a scribe, a poet, a musician, anything creative, he’s done it.

Raymon was content staying captain of the guard.

And Treyon became the new king. Don’t let that fool you, however. He and the queen were not in a romantic relationship. He was simply the only one the queen felt fit the position.

And all was well.

THE END <3