Author's Notes and Disclaimer: I don't own Threads of Fate. There. And now for a little humor AU fic that switches everybody around.

In a galaxy far, far away, or probably just in another dimension, there was a vast world where magic and power abounded. Indeed, this world was so vast that we would not need to see all the places in it and instead only see about a dozen or so of them with a couple of towns in between. But I digress.

Now, in one of those towns, or rather a small, but very, very, powerful kingdom, there lived a princess and her sister, who would technically also be a princess. But she was not the crown princess, so she was just a lesser princess. Now where was I? Oh yes, the town was named the Kingdom of East Heaven, for reasons that are far above the capability of most mortals to understand, so there's no use mentioning them.

One day, the elder, but rather still naïve and dare I say bratty, princess came down to eat dinner, only to find the kitchen and the dining room being destroyed by a rather large, gooey, jelly monster that spouted fire out of it's head. The staff were running around in abject panic, as such ignorant commoners were wont to do whenever there was a real crisis, and worst of all, the food was being burned!

"What the expletive is going on here?" cried the indignant princess, red eyes and hair flashing in said indignation.

"Now, now, Princess Mint, a lady should watch her language." So said the wise old man who was the only other human in the room not running around with their clothes on fire.

Princess Mint huffed. Clearly she thought that in lieu of the situation, she should have been forgiven for her use of harsh language. But that is neither here nor there, nor anywhere else for that matter.

The fire-jelly-goo monster that had been rampaging inside the hall sighted the old man and the young girl having their conversation by the entrance, and oh-so-casually tried to lug its weight across the room. Finding that too hard, it settled for transforming back into its true form. A light surrounded the monster, and mere milliseconds later, a boy appeared in its place.

Mint took out her Dual Haloes, which she had begun to carry around ever since her sister tried to hit her over the head with a frying pan, and charged them up with her magic. As soon as the light cleared, she aimed at the boy and began to observe him critically, trying to find any weaknesses. Her eyes took in the slender frame, the patched outfit, the make-shift but seemingly enchanted bits of armor, the shoes which were so horribly out of fashion but fitted the persona of the wearer nonetheless, and finally, the unique weapon which the boy carried around; it was larger than a long sword, being almost as tall as the bearer, yet broader than a broadsword with it's circular edge.

'That's so tacky,' she thought.

Then she saw his face, and was instantly awash with a feeling of giddiness. Now contrary to popular belief, Mint was still a girl, even if she seldom acted like a proper one, and being a girl, her mind reacted in the same way that any sensible girl would when faced with a cute guy. The boy had the most gorgeous black eyes, with a face so cute it should have been on a girl, and shining silver hair, which was unfortunately covered under that silly hat. 'Ah well, we can work around the hat.' And that mouth, ooh, that soft curving mouth that. . .

Mint mentally stopped herself from going any further. It just wouldn't do for a princess and future grand poobah of the world to be caught drooling. Besides, just because the boy was cute didn't mean she was going to forgive him for roasting the dinner when she was so hungry. Already she could feel the pangs in her stomach, but she could take care of that later.

"You who seek to threaten the sanctity of East Heaven's Royal Palace!" spouted the words from her mouth, even as her mind rebelled against the aristocratic tutor who had made her speak in such gibberish. "How dare you do such damage? Begone, or I shall be forced to kick your butt!"

And the boy replied. The soft lips that were set in a perpetual cute frown opened and the words flowed like honey to Mint's ears.

"Excuse me, but do you have the Book of Cosmos? If you do, please just give it to me. I promise I won't hurt you or anyone else. I just want to fulfill my duty."

Upon hearing of her sister's book, Mint remembered her sibling with the nigh-eternal annoyance that came with the memory. The memory of how her sister always flaunted that book just because she couldn't use any magic of her own. The memory of her sister's annoying laugh with her palm held to her mouth. The memory of the dreaded frying pan that had caused such an immense tragedy. Yes, Princess Mint of the East Heaven Kingdome was feeling pretty vindictive right now.

She lowered the haloes and looked at the boy.

"You want the Book of Cosmos?"

"Yes."

"You want to take it away?"

"Yes."

Mint grinned as a plan began to form in her mind.

"What's your name, boy?"

The boy hesitated for a moment before speaking in a halting fashion.

"I. . . I am . . . I am he who is called the Blade Master."

And lo, did Mint fall down flat on her face.

"Wha. . . wha. . . what kind of ridiculous name is that?"

The boy cringed momentarily before her words, and he lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, my name is actually Rue, but could you please call me Blade Master? Duke would not like it if he knew that I told someone my real name instead of the part I played."

"Duke? Who the heck is Duke?"

"He's kinda my master in the theater arts, and my self-proclaimed rival." Rue explained. "Anyway, can you please just tell me where the Book is?"

Mint rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but you gotta do something for me first. I want you to-"

Whatever plans Mint wanted to impart to Rue were doomed to failure when the doors behind her suddenly slammed open, smashing into Mint and throwing her across the room, over the table which was still on fire, and crashing into a large quintuple layered cake. To make matters worse, it was pumpkin cake.

"Yahhhh!"

Fortunately for Mint, the occupants in the room were too distracted by the newcomers to notice her humiliation. Into the room strode a dozen Royal Guards, complete with armor, swords, and shields. They surrounded the wary Rue in a semi-circle. Once done, their leader came forth and strode into the room. Her hair flashed with royal elegance, and her nose bobbed with every step with royal dignity, while her ridiculous headdress swayed like an upside down anchor with royal pomp. Her voice, when it was heard, spoke of volumes of the authority and the many hours of gossip that this particular lady had engaged in.

"Hohohohohoho! So you thought that you could break into the Royal Palace without consequences? I am Princess Maya of the East Heaven Kingdom and I demand that you identify yourself post haste!"

Of course by this time, Rue had taken the guards, the newly arrived princess, and the relative pandemonium that was being caused by the spreading fire, and had decided that perhaps it was enough for today. He didn't want to cause any harm to anyone, and he could always come back for the Book of Cosmos later. Of course, he couldn't have known that the princess who had strode so confidently into the room was at that moment, bearing the Book of Cosmos.

'My, he's cute.' was Maya's only thought just before the cute boy in front of her transformed into a Pterodactyl, and flew up. Dumbfounded gazes could only follow the flight of the winged reptile as it flew up and began to head for a window.

"I command you to halt!" was Maya's demand just before she pulled out the Book of Cosmos and aimed it upwards. The bolt that emanated from the Book tore through the air and utterly pulverized the ceiling of the hall. Rue was startled, but managed to keep flying and escaped through the rather large hole that had been created. Meanwhile, the Royal Guards had joined the other staff in abject panic as the roof began to fall on their heads in bits and pieces.

Mint emerged from the pastry that had terrorized her so, only to witness the scene of the Royal Guards and servants running around screaming, bumping into each other, getting up again and repeating the whole process, despite the fact that the roof had already stopped falling.

"Shut the expletive up!" she shouted, and everyone indeed immediately shut up, except for one old man who made his way to her.

"I believe you should take a look at this, Princess Mint." he said with such gravity that Mint almost forgot to wonder where he had been in between talking to her when she first came in and the present.

The thought was immediately banished from her mind when she saw her sister lying on the ground under a piece of rubble. A piece of marble had hit her on the head, while another had pinned her by her stomach to the ground. It was clear to everyone present that she was on the verge of death.

Several thoughts and emotions ran through Mint's mind as she witnessed her one and only sister dying in front of her. How she didn't really men for Maya to die. How she was feeling just a bit happy at not having a pompous, arrogant, overbearing, narcissistic sister around. How she was going to explain all these to their father, who apparently had decided that having his castle attacked, his daughter injured and dying, and his staff and guards driven to thrown into disarray was enough reason for him to make even a brief appearance.

In the end she settled for kneeling down, and taking Maya's hand into her own.

"Maya? You're going to be all right. You know that right?"

Maya's eyes fluttered open and she looked at her elder sister with something akin to pity.

"My dear sister, even in this last moments of mine, you still can't say anything right."

And while Mint was contemplating on whether she should just finish off Maya then and there, the younger princess died. Then to Mint's consternation, a soft pink glow began to surround Maya's body. The glow shifted, then rose up, and went to Mint before disappearing around her like mist.

Suddenly, Mint was feeling oddly queer. A sensation in her right hand made her look down to spy the Book of Cosmos sitting oh-so-innocently in her right hand. And then a voice that was not her own spoke into her head.

"What am I doing here?"

"Ahhhhh!" cried Mint. "Maya's voice is in my head!"

"Hmm. . ." said the old man who had been standing to the side up to this moment. "It seems as if Princess Maya's spirit has gone into the Book of Cosmos and possessed it. Since the Book needs a mediator, it has attached itself to Princess Mint, henceforth connecting a bond between their spirits."

Mint turned slowly to face her grandfather, too much in shock to utter more than a single syllable. Then the moment passed.

"You mean Maya's gonna start haunting me now?"

"Yes."

Mint dreaded the next question, but decided it had to be asked.

"Until when?"

"Until your death, or until she is resurrected."

The silence that followed was only broken by Maya's voice inside Mint's head.

"Well that's unfortunate. Oh, why couldn't it have been anybody else instead of my sister?"

"No, no no." muttered Mint.

This wasn't possible. It couldn't be true. Dead people were supposed to stay dead, not go into your head and start talking to you like some kind of psycho, well, voice in your head. To make matters worse, this was Maya in Mint's head.

Just when things couldn't seem to get any worse, a new voice invaded Mint's thoughts.

"WhO DaRes dIstuRb the SlUmBer oF the grEaT AtEnaCius?"

"Oh hello. My dear sister, may I introduce you to the Aeon who created the Book of Cosmos, Atenacius."

Mint did the only thing any girl would do in her situation. She ran screaming from the room. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her subconscious gave a small thanks that at least, there were no pumpkins after her this time.

Author's Notes:

Watch out for the next chapter, wherein we get to meet Ruecian and see him try to make followers out of a trio of circus performers. Also, we find out just how much insanity commences when Duke has too much of an influence over Rue. All in the second chapter of Tangled Threads.

. . . Expletive! won't let me use brackets around the words! Guess I'll have to content myself with "expletive" and "relic".