Crownless

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Summer vacation
~

Aurora swam to the shore, pulling all the trash she collected with her. She was absolutely disgusted at how people just threw everything in the ocean, only for the beautiful sea creatures to get caught in them or get injured. Sometimes these trash cause extinction of the marine animals.

She threw the bag of trash in the bin nearby, which was sadly empty, due to people considering the ocean as a better candidate for a trash can.

As Aurora was about to jump back into the water to clean it out more, a news reporter suddenly came to her side, blocking her from the water.

"This just in, princess Aurora is back at the local beach again to clean out the filth that is left behind by the people." The anchorwoman said looking directly at the camera, holding her microphone in hand. Aurora was startled but maintained a calm demeanor just as she was taught.

"Your highness, what made you do what you are doing now?"

"Well, it's because I care about nature." The princess spoke confidently to the camera. She always felt nervous being on TV, but when she's talking about something she's passionate about, she's confident and proud. "If someone doesn't clean the water out, it'll only get worse, to the point that all marine animals die a dreadful death. Imagine drowning in trash? You wouldn't like that, would you?" She stated more than asked. The newswoman nodded, agreeing with the princess.

"I'm honestly disappointed to see our people pollute this much. It truly breaks my heart. Which is why I took it as my duty to take care of it, and soon there will be consequences for whoever pollutes our planet. I'm having a meeting with the royal court about this today, actually." She informed the people, warning them about the -soon to come- punishments. She then continued to talk about the dangers of what the human race causes the only home they know; Earth.

"Have you ever seen how a kid's face lights up when they see an animal of some sort? Imagine taking that away from them. If people continue to throw their trash wherever they can, future generations won't have a chance to see these beautiful creatures. We're all humans, but lately, I haven't seen any humanity." She sighed in disappointment, "Please, don't throw your trash anywhere near nature, there are trashcans around every corner, so why throw your garbage places that cause major damage? I beg you to stop. When I swim here to make sure the sea animals are okay, my heart shatters to pieces, seeing some of them injured, or stuck in plastic bottles. It's not fair to them, because quite frankly, they took care of our planet more than us humans."

"I understand what you mean, your highness. You're right. We should all stop this monstrosity, and instead start cleaning what we left behind" The woman agreed.

"Save the planet while you can, it's not here for much longer if we continue our filthy ways. Together we can save earth. Please, find your humanity, and help clean the environment. Your future, your choice." She said her last words, fiddling with her rose gold necklace, bidding them goodbye before jumping into the water once more to complete her mission.

'We're all humans, but where is our humanity?' showed on the screen

Calum groans, putting his head into his hands. He grabs his phone as he curses under his breath. Dialing the all familiar number, he waits for them to answer.

"Hello?" Ella's voice came through the speaker. Calum's mouth twitched upwards a little before remembering the situation on their hands.

"Hey, Ella..."

"What's wrong, Cal?"

"Aurora." He stated. "She's on the news. Her speech about pollution is going viral. Multiple news sources are broadcasting it. Hell, she's trending on twitter!" 

He heard her groan on the other side of the line. 

"Not again!" She grumbled.

"Again?" He questioned.

"She always does things like this and it goes viral but the royal social managers always get everything in order. I'll call her sisters now."

"Oh wow. Wasn't expecting that." He chuckled.

"She's real passionate about nature I guess." She laughed. "And can we talk about how she never took off the necklace Chris got her?"

"I know right!" He exclaims. "I swear they're too blind to see how in love they are." He sighs in frustration.

"Tell me about it." She snorts. "Alright, I gotta call them now. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Ella." He smiles.

Calum sighs dreamily as he slouched on the couch. His mom walks in the living room, placing a tray of food on the dining table in the far side of the room.

"Was that your girlfriend?" His mom teases.

"Girlfriend? Ew. I thought you said girls have cooties?" Calum's 9-year-old brother, Dean, said.

"They do!" Calum rushes to exclaim as his mom laughs in the background and he sends her a playful glare.

"What do cooties do?" He asks innocently. Calum sighs but then smiles, opening his arms so his little brother can sit on his lap as he explains to him.

"Well, cooties will make your heart beat really fast, and you'll feel hot and look like a tomato, you'll stumble over your words, you'll stay up all night thinking about the girl that gave you cooties. And no matter what, you can't get over it, at least not easily." He finishes.

A thud is heard as something drops to the floor. Everyone looks to see Calum's 16 year old brother, Parker, who had a shocked expression on his face. Turns out he dropped his -thankfully empty- soda can.

"Well, shit." He says. "I think I got cooties."