Kings and Queens: Total Drama

Dictation Distress: Chapter 1

((Synopsis: Queen Jo receives news from her servant Cameron about her army's incompetence, and takes the news...poorly.))

"Your Highness, I'm afraid I have some bad news." The scrawny servant rushed into the main hall and towards the throne, where the Queen sat upon the gilded chair. Her golden crown laid crooked on her head, shoving her dirty blonde hair into different directions all at once.

She, however, was unfazed by this, half heartedly glancing up from her sketchpad. The boy kneeled down, bowing his head until she lazily motioned for him to stand. "What is it now, String Bean?" she snarled, gaining an intimidated sigh from the messenger, "We just received the results from the latest military report."

The Queen cocked an eyebrow at him, swinging her legs to the front of the throne and straightening up, "Is that so? How is that bad news? Gimme the papers!" The boy fearfully stretched his arm out, and she snatched the paper from his hand. Her eyes skimmed the pages intently, only for her face to scrunch up in displeasure.

Her grip on the paper tightened, crinkling the sheets and tearing the edges as she roared, "Are you kidding me?!" She launched the stack across the room, separate sheets flying in different directions as the messenger scrambled to collect them.

She clenched her hands, screeching in fury, "How is this even possible? Our soldiers are the best in the country, what could have made them become so incompetent?!" The Queen pulled her leg up and kicked the throne, hopping on her foot in an enraged and painful state.

She stood herself tall, breathing heavily and shaking from head to toe, so she sat herself down. The servant hastily organized the pages back into a pile and approached her, "I believe I know why the results are...subpar at best," gaining her attention. She eyed him, urging him to keep talking, "Well, explain, Brainiac!"

He adjusted his glasses, "Well, according to some other reports, my best guess would be that, well, due to the intervention of Lord Lightning, the soldiers have somehow been influenced to slack off and act as if they were the Lord. By that, I mean brain dead." The Queen growled angrily, "For crying out loud! That muscle-for-brains bastard is so going down!"

She began to storm off, but not before her servant stopped her, "Lady Josephine! Don't you think that your quarrel with him might be the real cause of this mess?" She stared down at the dorky boy and shook her head, "Well, he's the one that started this whole mess, and I refuse to lose to someone like him!"

She shoved the boy aside, yelling at her, "And how many times do I have to say, it's Jo! Not Josephine. Get it right, Bubble Boy." She burst from the main hall, roaming the castle in a blind fury before trailing out towards the barracks. Cameron chased after her, attempting time and time again to calm her down, to no avail. "Jo, seriously! You need to rethink this! What if this is what he wanted?"

Queen Jo immediately dismissed his notion, "There is no way he'd manage to pull that off! He's barely even able to write his own name, let alone create an actual strategy. That is why I always win." She slammed the giant dorm hall door open, making it swing off of its hinges.

"Attention!" she called, only to be greeted by complete silence, "Where the hell are they?" She turned to Cameron and he shrugged. They then scoured the area for the missing soldiers, eventually searching the entire castle. Several other staff members stared warily at the two of them, Cameron waving them off reassuringly every time. They halted outside the castle gate for a break, only for Cameron to slam his palm to his forehead.

"What? What is it?" Jo questioned him, and he replied, "I completely forgot. Lord Brick took the whole battalion with him to his conference with Lady Heather!" Jo stared blankly for a few seconds before slapping herself in the face as well, "No duh! God, all this crap distracted me from that! Stupid Jo.."

She started muttering to herself, "The one time you're left alone you start breaking shit and making people go deaf from screaming. What the hell, Jo, this is why Brick doesn't like leaving you alone. You're a liability, Jo, and you know it."

She went on and on, slapping her face repeatedly until Cameron feebly clutched her arm to stop her. "What are you doing? You'll give yourself a concussion!" "That doesn't matter, I fucked up!" Jo admitted, her face growing red from her assault, and he snapped.

"Are you kidding me?" Cameron retaliated, slapping her clean on her left cheek, genuinely surprising Jo, "You're the powerful ruler of a successful country, Jo! I've been in your service for a long time, and I know you despise failure, but this is ridiculous. You're better than this! You need to calm down, recollect yourself and think of a way for you to fix the damage Lord Lightning has caused!"

Jo stood in front of him, rubbing her face as she sighed, sinking to her feet and leaning her back against the castle wall. "As usual, you're right, Nerdling. God..." she muttered, distressed, wiping her eyes before they could betray her by crying.

Cameron sat down next to her, hugging his knees with one arm while placing the other on her shoulder. She held her face in her hands, groaning in irritation, "They aren't going to be back for another week!" she huffed, "What am I supposed to do until Brick returns with those idiots?" "Maybe we can work on a new training regiment for when they get back," Cameron suggested, and Jo eyed him skeptically, "You're up for it?"

He nodded, "If it will help improve our country, I'm willing to help you," making her mouth curve into a cocky grin, "Well, way to go, Four Eyes! You've officially won points with me." She sprung back to her feet, awkwardly bending a hand down to help him up, "Well, what are we sitting around for? We've got work to do! Move it or lose it, Scrawny!"

Queen Jo dashed off at a swift sprint back to the barracks, the wind blowing her crown off of her head. Cameron bent down, clutching the golden crown in his hand. "Lady Jo, wait up!" He took his sleeve and wiped the dirt off of the shiny exterior, the sunlight glinting off of it and into his eye.

Shocked, he shook his head furiously, his glasses falling off into the dirt. He fell to the ground, blindly navigating his hands across the ground. Suddenly, a grayish figure stood in front of him, holding his glasses in front of his face. "Geez, Nerdling, if you wanted me to slow down you should've spoken up," Jo said, smirking pridefully down at him while Cameron slipped his glasses back on.

He gave her a smile in return, handing her the crown back, "You dropped this when you dashed off. You don't really seem to care what happens to it." Jo grasped the crown, lazily throwing it back onto her head, it falling to the side almost immediately.

"That's because I really don't. I don't need a dumb crown to prove I'm in charge around here. They all know I'm the boss," she bragged confidently, making Cameron chuckle awkwardly, "You're right about that, for sure." "That's the spirit! Now come on," Jo ordered, pulling him to his feet and starting to jog at a moderate pace, Cameron managing to follow close behind.

"We've got work to do."

*Words: 1271*

((Okay so, some context for this. I figured out some sort of Royalty AU that the main antagonists/protagonists are all kings, queens, and servants, kinda like Game of Thrones but not as violent. This one is something I thought of earlier today...and I managed to write it out. Hope you enjoyed :V I'll totally write more for this. ~Kay☆))