Forget Me Not: Princess and the Pauper AU

The Princess: Chapter 2

            Alex stood on the balcony to her room, looking off to the sunset. She let her blonde hair down from the insufferable bun they had her wear all day, and now with it down, it flowed in the wind, relaxing her of the busy day she had. It had been a month since she was told to marry the prince. She didn't complain, though. He was handsome, nice, and an honorable gentleman. She didn't love him, but they both benefitted greatly to one another. One of those benefits meant a fresh start.

           She graduated from a prestigious academy just two years ago. But she could still remember the awful treatment and the corruptness of it all. It was a private school, giving classes to children 8 years old and up. It only had 8 students, until 4 years ago, of course.

         They were all the same age, supposedly. One student had faked their age. They were 18 when the rest of the student body was 16. This caused too many problems that still haunted her. When they expelled the student, Alex just thought they took away her right to go to school with them. How naive can anyone else get?

      Today she realized they took so much more away from that student.

       She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Thinking negatively brings more unstable energy. She learned that when she first had to practice her powers. She was able to create portals to other universes, so people always dubbed her as the "Powerful Alexis Sawyer". She didn't feel powerful, though. She felt helpless and unworthy of any status. She wasn't any different than any of her classmates.

        That's why she accepted to marry the prince. Then she would have a reason for people to bow to her, or to give her gifts or do anything foolish like that. She was born with status, but she could still try to earn it the right way.

       The prince was marrying her because of her abilities. With power like her's, the kingdom could be able to gain much more information and goods from other worlds. She didn't care if the kingdom wanted these things for their useless wars or to make the rich richer. None of this would affect her anyway; all she had to do was open portals, sit at her throne, and look pretty. It may wear away at her dignity, but if that's what she must do to feel complete in this society, then so be it.

    A knocking sounded on her bedroom door. She turned her head towards the sound, annoyed that her only relaxing moment that day had already ended. She was still in her gown from that afternoon. It was a simple lace dress with sapphires. Apparently, it was supposed to symbolize her "purity". Please.

    She walked towards the door, which had stopped knocking, and opened it to reveal the prince himself. He was much shorter than her, with light hazelnut hair and freckled skin. His presence always brought her a smile; he was always so cheery and polite. His whole family was the same way, but his whole family was just mere figureheads anyways. The academy was the actual government.

     "So, beautiful future wife, would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight? They have your favorite~" The prince was just as charming as ever. He always took the chance to flirt and be as extra as possible for her. Perhaps it will only last until after the wedding, but at least she could tolerate him to a degree.

     But she was hesitant to go with him. Every time she was invited to dinner, she would always get a lecture from his mother and a long rant of advice from his father. They may be nice, but they sure could talk an earful.

     "Uh, well, I dunno... uh, wait, what do your parents want to talk about tonight?" she avoided eye contact. It's hard for her to say no to someone as nice as him.

      "Oh, you know, the usual blabber."

      "Thought so..."

     "But we still have your favorite!" he did make a good argument. Whenever he says "your favorite" he usually gives her something she's never heard of before, but it turns out to be the best things that's grazed her lips. Well, second best, but the food is still great. He must have noticed a pattern with her favorites, and it couldn't have been difficult. She always liked sour and spicy foods. Basically, anything that made her mouth tingle always spiked her interest.

        She sighed in defeat and agreed to see him at dinner. But instead of just leaving her to her room to tidy up, he grabbed her by the arm and made her follow him to the Great Hall. She knew he was spontaneous and compulsive at times, but this was a bit too much. If she came into that room with her hair the way it was, and not even in a dining gown, she'd get all kinds of lectures from his perfectionist mother.

     She skidded her feet, making him stop. He turned around, very confused. She motioned her hands around her hair and dress to signal she wasn't ready.  It took a second for the light bulb to hit him. When it did, he made an audible "Ooooh", and let go of her arm. Without another word, she rushed towards her room. Even if he was being a complete dunderhead, she still didn't want him to wait on her long.

      She slammed the door behind her accidentally, but she still kept rushing to get stuff done. When she was done she rushed to the mirror for a quick second. She got into a more elegant white gown. The skirt of the dress wasn't too poofy, but rather, it was long and flowy. The top of it was laced with sapphires and pink lilies were planted on the skirt to make it look more vibrant. It had long sleeves to make her look more modest, and the only skin showing beside her face was a cut out for her birthmark at the stomach. She looked ridiculous with all the white, but she didn't have time to criticize the gown. She knew the prince, and there's a big chance he's outside her door waiting on her.

     She put her hair in a bun, which wasn't as good as the servants did, but it should be fine. Finally, she headed out the door, and not to her surprise, the prince was waiting by the door for her. He made a face of disapproval at her dress, not being able to like it either. But instead of criticizing, he shrugged and offered his hand so he could walk her there. She accepted, and together they walked to the Great Hall.

     It was quite a long way, which made an awkward silence. Finding it unbearable, the prince teased, "you're wedding gown isn't going to be like that is it?" Alex chuckled, but what he said made her think back to this morning. She was bored and decided to check on some of the wedding arrangements so she would be prepared. But that morning hadn't prepared her at all for such a familiar face to appear.

     The prince nudged her a bit with his elbow, still keeping a tight grasp on her hand. "You okay?" he looked back at her with a worried expression, trying to get a little smidge of eye contact. She turned away, embarrassed that she had blanked out. Not willing to give up, he followed her face, circling her and making them both giggle at the sort of game.

     Determined to see her beautiful face, he grabbed her by the arm and pinned her to the corridor wall. He only really did it to be playful, but when he figured out what he had done, his face faded into surprise. He was shorter, but Alex had shrunk down in shock. Neither of them realized how much their hearts were beating that moment. They were completely paralyzed in each others' touch. Prince Cody wanted to let her go, but something in him didn't have the heart to. Alex knew that his grasp wasn't strong and she could easily free herself, but she didn't want to. They wanted to be there forever, just looking into each others' eyes as if they were the only ones in the whole palace. The whole world.

     Alex's lips grew warm as she realized Cody had kissed her. He moved his hands from her arms to her waist, embracing her warm body. Soft heat rafted from their mouths as they enjoyed their time with each other. They embraced each other for minutes, perhaps ten at least. But pulling away was still so painful. They both longed for each others' touch, but the King had to be growing impatient by now.

     When they finally entered the Great Hall, a gasp of surprise came from the Queen, who looked shocked at Alex. In a panic, Al examined everything. Her dress was still intact and she didn't even have makeup on, so there couldn't have been a smudge. Then she realized. Cody had taken her bun out. Her panic resided, but she still had to get a long lecture from his mother on the arts of modesty and etiquette throughout dinner.