The Switch

Tag

*Raina's P.O.V*

Mother is very insistent on carrying me. Even though my legs work just fine and I can easily walk, she seems concerned about me fainting. I only do that every once in a while though so I had no idea why she was acting like it was such a big deal! She acted like I was a baby that needed to be carried, which I wasn't.

Anastasia got away with just having to hold her hand, something that she rubbed in my face by sticking her tongue out at me every chance she got. I huff, hiding my face against Mother's shoulder. Maybe it was a bit childish of me to hide but I didn't know what else to do besides that.

"Mmm, what's wrong darling," Mother asks as she presses a kiss to the side of my head. I shake my head, not wanting to talk. She hums softly, turning her attention to Anastasia. I only know that she is talking to her because Anastasia is so quick to respond.

"Mother, you walk so slowwww," Anastasia gripes after a moment, squealing a second later.  I peek out of my hiding spot to see that Father has scooped her up and is holding her in his arms. I giggle slightly as he tickles her, making her try and squirm out of his hold.

"Oh, now who is moving slow? You're not even moving at all now," Father teases as he holds Anastasia and refuses to set her even when she tries to throw herself out of his arms. He finally sets her down after a while, letting Anastasia run to hide behind Mother. Mother uses her free arm to reach behind her and comfort Anastasia.

"Father is mean, I want a new one," Anastasia mutters against Mother's back and Mother laughs, smiling slightly.

"What are you laughing at? What did she say?" Father asks, huffing when Mother shakes her head and refuses to tell him. I find that kind of funny but I am not going to tattle and tell him either, even when he tries to bribe me with sweets. It would work sometimes but this time wasn't one of them. I liked Anastasia more than candy so he would just have to find someone else to tell him the secrets.

"Can I get down? Not going to faint," I assure Mother who still seems reluctant to set me down. She hesitates for a moment before setting me down, holding me close for a moment as she kisses my forehead.

"Just....be careful baby," Mother says as she smooths my hair back so it's not in my face. I shake my head, darting behind her to hide with Anastasia. Anastasia raises an eyebrow when she sees me.

"Tag, you're it," Anastasia says suddenly as she tags me, making me flinch in surprise at the sudden movement. I stare at her with wide eyes as she darts away, much quicker than me since I was still frozen in shock. I take off after her, hearing Mother sigh at how quickly we ran off.

Anastasia knows the halls much better than me, so it's no surprise that she is much quicker than me and easily disappears. I pout slightly, looking around to find her. The only thing I can think of is to check the rooms nearby so that's what I do.  I knock on each door, not getting a response from most of them. The one response I do get is Nanny opening the door.

"What are you doing?" Nanny asks as she raises an eyebrow. I shake my head, deciding that Anastasia wasn't here and not wanting to answer questions. I squeak when Nanny grabs my sleeve before I can run off, making me pout at her.

"What are you looking for Raina?" she asks, making me pout slightly as I look at her. How did she know which twin I was? That wasn't fair! I was supposed to be able to confuse her by not letting her know who I was.

"Looking for Anastasia, we're playing tag," I mutter in defeat, a small frown on my lips. Nanny chuckles after a moment, letting go of my sleeve.

"Go on then, I think she would probably head to the throne room. A lot of open space," Nanny says, making me nod my head. I take off down the hall, turning around after a minute and heading back to her.

"Forgot where the throne room is," I confess, earning a small smile from Nanny. She takes my hand, guiding me down the hall. We have to go down several sets of steps, Nanny being careful to not let me rush down them even though I would have been totally fine to do so. We finally reach the throne room and she pushes the door open.

I step into the room, huffing when I see that Anastasia is indeed in there. She's sitting in one of the thrones, laying back against it with a small smile on her lips. She grins when she sees me, a small smirk on her lips.

"I'm on base," Anastasia says, crossing her arms over her chest. I glare at her, crossing the room until I'm right in front of her.

"You can't stay on base," I stomp my foot.

"Can so," Anastasia argues.

"Can not," I disagree, glaring at her with a frown on my lips.

"Well then you can't puppy guard, you have to go away before I get off base," Anastasia declares, making me pout. I take a couple steps back, rolling my eyes when she gestures for me to go farther. I keep backing up, stopping when she gets off of the throne. She doesn't just get off of it like a chair though, she climbs over the arm of it and takes off running. I stare at her with wide eyes for a second before chasing after her.

I don't really care about my own safety so I don't care when I round a pillar that she is hiding from and hit my elbow in my haste to tag her. All I know is that I have succeeded in tagging her so I quickly back up and run off. Unlike Anastasia though, I don't try to use the thrones as base. I use them to climb up on and try to stay out of her reach, not caring about how high up I am as I taunt her by pretending like I'm going to climb down before pulling my legs back up before she can actually tag me. Maybe this game was more fun than I thought.