Eating Souls, Act One: The Beginning

20: You can't be the princess! : More nightmares?

Amy smiled patiently as the blonde weapon dug in the dirt, "What are we looking for again, Patti?" Being invited out by one of Kid's Weapons was a huge deal to her, and she didn't want to mess this up. If Patti liked her, then that would give her an excuse to see Kid more often.

Not to mention that she was still the was currently considered the High Witch of Death Coven. Having a good relationship with Death the Kid, or at least with his Weapon, could go a long way to making bridges.

"I don't remember!" Patti grinned back, holding up a stick half covered in mud, "Let's go build a sandcastle and jump on people!"

"That sounds like fun," Amy admitted. She really did like this weapon. Maybe she should try to be her friend for real, instead of just using her to get close to Kid? "Let's go!"

The two locked arms and skipped to the outskirts of Death City. They found the remnants of a castle built before. Half of it had collapsed back into the sand from which it had been built and most of it was corroded and disfigured. The only thing that was still standing tall and intricately detailed was the tower. Amy assumed it had been the highest one. She wasn't sure why it out of everything was still intact.

Patti ran right up to it and began reforming little swirl patterns in the wall, "This is my castle! Let's build up all around it!"

"That's gonna be a big castle," Amy told her, examining the tower more closely, "Hey, Patti, why doesn't it have a door?"

"Because, silly, there's a princess trapped at the top of the tower." Patti patted the wall firmly into place. She moved several feet away and started a new mound of sand, "She was a really pretty princess with super long red hair."

"I see." Amy helped her form something that started to become a 'wishing well'. "Is there more to the story?"

Patti nodded, carving out individual stones, "The princess had a prince, and they were happy. The prince loved the princess's long red hair. That made the Princess happy at first..."

"At first?" Amy prompted, beginning to sense that there was more to this castle and story than just what she could see. She formed the roof of the well carefully, and drew magic ruins into it to keep it from collapsing.

"The princess and the prince were both great fighters," Patti explained as she detailed the wood holding up the cone-shaped roof, "They lived in a kingdom constantly at war. One day, during a fight inside their city, the princess began to fear that her prince loved her hair more than he loved her. So she cut it all off!"

"All of it?" They moved on, beginning a small garden made of sand. Amy ran her fingers through the sand, wondering how much of Patti's story was true, and how much of it was her imagination...

Patti nodded enthusiastically, "ALL OF IT! Well, she still had some, but one side was longer than the other... NO THAT FLOWER IS TOO LITTLE YOU GOTTA MAKE IT BIGGER!" Patti flung her arms out to demonstrate the size the flower should be. The look on her face was so serious that Amy had to giggle.

"Okay. What happened then?"

"THEN THE PRINCE KILLIFIED THE DEMON IN THEIR CITY AND TOLD THE PRINCESS THAT HE LOVED HER EVEN IF HER HAIR WASN'T SYMMETRICAL!" Patti did a little dance, "And then they were happy again..."

"I feel like there's a but." Amy put the finishing touches on the giant flower and started forming a bench. Gentle runes coaxed the sand to run smoothly under her fingers.

"No! Ew!" Patti made a face, "butts are icky!"

Amy laughed, "that's not exactly what I meant. I like this story, though. Are you going to tell me why the tower doesn't have a door yet?"