Once upon a time, there was a princess who donned a fur patchwork coat and ran away into the woods. Tired from her journey, she fell asleep in a tree hollow and was found by a king and his hunt the next morning. Charmed by her strange appearance, the king had her live in his castle and work as a kitchen servant.

One day, there was a ball and the princess-turned-servant begged the head chef to allow her to go. She was allowed, but only for a little while, and only after he broke an entire breadbox over her head. Cleaning herself up, she donned a walnut shell dress– the golden one which shone as brightly as the sun– and she danced all night at the ball with the king. Right before she had to leave he stopped her to say: "Wait. You are so interesting, yet I've heard nothing about you. First off, where are you from?"

"I am from Breadbox," the girl answered, bowing and leaving to return to the kitchen. Seasoning the king's soup with the salty spice she had once learned to blend, she dropped in one of her mother's treasures as well and the king found it.

The princess carried on like this ball after ball, seasoning and dropping each of her treasures into his soup until he found her and married her. But, was she truly a wise and wily princess– or was it all just a happy accident?

Duck held a fist to her chest as the familiar-sounding footsteps drew nearer and nearer. I need to get out of here and get back to the royal kitchen before I burden the chef! she thought; But at the same time, someone I know is coming right through that door. Ooh… Who could it be?

After what seemed like two years, Pike appeared just as surprisingly as her footsteps– her serious face softening when she saw Duck standing before the giant clock pendulum's doorway. "Duck!" Pike said, grabbing the girl's shoulders. "Were you granted a noble position yet by the King?"

"A wha?"

"I mean, were you made a Queen or something?" Pike rushed, shaking Duck slightly.

"Uh. No, I was just showed that thing over there." Duck faced the big glass barometer hanging in the center of the room. "I was told it was being filled up with everyone's patchy memories… The King said I filled it up quite a bit."

"And so you did." Pike inspected the glass wondrously from afar. "It wasn't nearly that full when I saw it this evening." She then inspected Duck. "Speaking of this evening, why did you come through the woods alone?"

Duck pointed to herself. "I wasn't supposed to?"

"No! In the note I said I'd be waiting in the town square for you– you know– so we could walk here together. I waited all evening until I finally gave up." Pike closed her eyes solemnly. "Still, I'm relieved you somehow managed to show up. I was sure I'd be in big trouble."

Ignoring the last part of her friend's statement, Duck rifled through her pockets for the note.

"Hm?" Pike emitted. "What are you looking for, Duck?"

"Your note!" Duck said. "Though, it seems I no longer have it."

"That's kinda surprising, considering how my notes are very reliable these days. Especially in school. It's how I became class rep after all."

"Hm…" Duck pondered. "Oh yeah. I need to get back to the royal kitchen now, I think they're looking for me because I goofed up and all!" She clapped her hands together. "Then I need to go back."

"Oh man. Let me guess." Pike grinned knowingly. "Was that YOU who dropped that big 'ol gold ring into the King's soup?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"I'm sure you didn't. Come on, let's hurry before the King fires the chef. Literally." Pike grabbed the girl when she tried to go out the pendulum doorway. "Hold on a moment, you won't make it down there before the King does if you go the same way as him. I know a shortcut."

Duck's eyes shone at this. "A shortcut?"

"Yes, come over here. Come on, don't be scared." At the far end of the room, Pike squeezed Duck into a very small elevator in the wall. A dumbwaiter.

"This is the shortcuwww?" Duck muffled out, smashing her face into her legs upon being compressed into the tiny space.

"Yup," Pike said, closing the dumbwaiter's doors. "It's a straight-shot to the kitchen from here. Hold on tight and keep your hands, arms, legs, and limbs inside the vehicle at all times." She took ahold of the dumbwaiter's rope.

"Uh," Duck emitted, balking at that last thing Pike had said. "This won't hurt at all, will i–"

Pike let go of the rope and listened to her friend scream all the way down. "Oh wait. Was I supposed to hold onto the rope?" she thought aloud. "Hm, too bad Lillie isn't here."

Down and down Duck fell, her screams being swallowed up by the roof of her own mouth. When her falling subsided, it was with a spine-shattering crash that thankfully did not shatter her poor spine. "Ooh," Duck groaned, shushing up when she heard voices outside her little box.

"I am the King," Femio's voice rang out; "This wondrous tower, these wonderful things… They're all because of me! How could you betray me when all I asked for in return is total devotion? Is that too much? Am I a sinner for expecting such things? Am I getting ahead of me self? For shame!"

"No, Your Highness!" the pig chef answered. "I simply–"

"Enough! I won't take any more excuses, especially concerning that girl. I just can't bear it." The King sobbed lightly. "I'm afraid you don't love me anymore."

Upon hearing this, Duck opened the dumbwaiter door slightly and peeked out, catching a glimpse of two shadowy figures flickering through fiery light on the adjacent brick wall. With an outstretched hand, the King's shadow grasped the chef's, of whom began to squeal and shrink in size– smaller and smaller– until he became simply a tiny squealing creature in the King's grip.

Gasping, Duck placed a hand on her heart and felt something stuffed in her dress bodice. Trembling, she reached in and pulled out the magical starry hat which turned her duck-to-girl. "How'd this get in here?" she asked, noticing a bit of fur sticking out from it. Pulling at it curiously, the entire patchwork cloak came out, which was exactly what she needed. Slipping it back on, she lost her balance and fell out of the dumbwaiter in the process.

"Who's there?" the King asked, startled. A piglet squirmed in his hand.

Duck gulped at this. Did the King do that? she wondered; Does this mean he has powers? "M-me, Your Majesty," she said, curtseying. "The new girl that was brought in here today. I made your soup."

"You did, hm?" The King tucked the flailing pig under one arm and arrogantly smiled at Duck. "My exquisitely dressed senorita, though I am distracted by your feminine charms, I must return to the subject in vogue and ask if you, perchance, dropped anything of value into my chicken noodle soup this evening."

"No, I don't believe so," Duck answered, curtseying. "But if I did, I'm very very sorry. I was in charge of handling the soup after all."

The King held his palm to his forehead. "I see. Then if it's like this, I can't remain angry at such a lovely diamond in the rough. Here." He tossed the pig at Duck. "Please release him back into the wild so he may live as his instincts dictate."

Duck fumbled to catch the little pig. "Him?" she asked, an eyebrow twitching as he snorted at her in response. "Will he be ok out there all alone?"

"Of course! Once released, he will become a fierce boar. It's his natural state." The King began unbuttoning his shirt, much to Duck's chagrin. However, he simply revealed a necklace full of keys, from which he plucked one. "Please take this key here with you and let the pig out through the side door in the study."

Duck took the offered key with uncertainty. "The study?" she asked.

In that moment, the servant girl with the pasted-on mustache dashed in. "Sir, the one with the Queenly memory is missing from the Weather Room," she reported, saluting to the King. "I've deployed the others to scour the grounds for her."

"What? But I haven't even made her my Queen yet!" The King cried, running his fingers through his hair dramatically. "I must find her immediately!"

"Excuse me Your Highness, please pardon my rudeness," Duck interrupted, "but where's the study?"

"Oh yes, oh, just go out down the hall over there until you find a big room," the King said, gesturing at a door and excusing her. After he left with his mustachioed servant, Duck left out the door and went down the long long hall until she found a grand doorless room with towering shelves on every wall and an abundance of colorful books.

"Wow…" Duck uttered, holding the pig in her arms as she wandered about the shelves. "There's so many books! I bet Fakir would find this place very interesting– huh?" She stopped. From the corner of her eye, a light flashed at her and caught her attention. Coming nearer, she discovered it was simply a book with a polished tin spine. "How novel," she said, reading its title. "An Entire Collection of Abridged Classics by C.M. IV. Hmm. Well that's kinda vague." She held the pig in one hand and pulled the book out with the other. "What kind of classics? From what era?" She searched the book's cover as much as she could but could not judge anything. "Well…" She glanced around shiftily before tucking the book into her fur coat. "The King has so many books, surely he won't miss this one. Also, I'll return it right away just in case he ever does! Yup." Satisfied with her illogical reasoning, she focused back to her assigned duty, located the big glass french doors at the far end of the study and let herself out with the King's key.

Putting down the pig after stepping foot outside, Duck watched as he turned around just long enough to smile at her and run off into the bushes. And so, just like him, the girl wandered off into the forest once again.

Traversing the Black Forest, the knight stood still when he heard sounds in the bush behind him.

"Who's there?" Fakir demanded, his hand clutching the hilt of the sword he'd brought. No sound answered him so he approached the bush wearily and looked over. Coming out from the top of the bush was– oddly enough– a bit of red cloth. Upon closer inspection, he found it was a cape or cloak. He stood back. "You, I know you're in there," he said. "You've been following me ever since I left your dorm, haven't you?"

A cry finally answered. "Aw, how did you know?" Lillie's voice said. She poked her head out and removed her red hood to reveal her frizzy blonde head. "I thought I was super quiet, too." She pouted.

"How troublesome. What are you following me for?"

"You're going off to go battle, right? I just wanted to witness the epic and vicious outcome!"

"Battle?" Fakir grimaced. "What are you going on about? I'm looking for Duck, I don't have time for this–" Another sound rattled in the bushes up ahead and the both of them jumped.

"Oh my, I'm so scared." Lillie trembled. "How exciting!"

"Shh, don't move." Fakir went further up ahead to investigate the newer shubbery-sourced sounds. Lillie, however, didn't listen to a word he'd said and followed right behind him all the way.

"Not again!" a small voice whispered behind the foliage, followed by a hush and further whispered and yet indeterminate words.

Fakir scoffed sharply and completely lost it. "What. Is the WHOLE GIRL'S DORMITORY FOLLOWING ME?" he yelled, causing two figures to topple out of the bush before him. It was Duck and Pike, groaning and writhing in pain since they'd managed to snag a few branches and even each other on the way out.

"Quaaaaa," Duck said.

"Ow, my esophagus," Pike cried.

"Duck? Duck!" Fakir said, bending down beside her. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"I'm ok," she answered, dazed. "The King gave me a key to go outside, to let the pig out, and I got lost at some point, but Pike found me and she's walking me home now ok."

"The King? Escape? Tell me everything."

Pike, after taking her eyes off of the two, discovered Lillie standing behind Fakir. "Huh?" Pike said, pointing at the girl. "What are YOU doing here?"

"Fakir was making a ruckus trashing your room so I came along with him to see the lovers battle," Lillie said, cradling her cheeks. "Oh yes!"

"Wait, you were with Fakir?" Pike glanced between her and him incredulously. "Fakir! Are you cheating on Duck?"

"Ah!" Lillie gasped, scorning him. "How could you?"

"Hey, don't act so surprised! You're the one he's with!"

"Cheating?" Duck warbled, thoroughly confused by her old friends' nitwit antics.

"Enough nonsense!" Fakir snapped, silencing the two. "You idiots need to stop following Duck and I. Furthermore, you need to stop pulling her into your dangerous schemes." He crossed his arms.

Lillie stared up at him in absolute wonder. "She?" she repeated him, alluding to Duck's gender.

"Oh sh–"

"–Duck's a GIRL?" Lillie cried out, writhing in bliss. "A girl, disguised as a cute boy, roommates with another cute boy– did you always know? Or did you discover her one day and blackmail her into being your love slave? Oh, how incredible! So steamy!"

Pike shook her head. "Sounds like a trashy love novel," she commented.

Fakir grasped his reddening face in disturbed humiliation. "Shut up!" he spat. "Stop jumping to conclusions! Not another word, or else." His eyes pierced through the two and immobilized them with icy fear.

"H-hey?" Duck said, butting into the very conversation about her. "Pike? Lillie? I don't know if you remember this any, but you two were always my best friends in the past, so, um… Could you keep this all a secret please?"

"I'll take this secret to the grave!" Lillie blurted; "Just as long as I get to see all the sweet action!"

"Come on, you don't really want to see all that, do you?" Pike asked.

"Idiots," Fakir sputtered, pulling Duck up by her wrist and leading her away. "Come on, we're going back. It's almost morning and I didn't get any sleep thanks to you."

"Oh, sorry…" Duck said, lowering her head. "If it helps you catch up on sleep later, you don't have to do my essay, I'll do it myself."

"Hmph. What is with that coat you're wearing? Did you take those walnuts in my desk?"

"I thought they'd be useful!"

"And I bet they were."

Pike and Lillie watched, dumbfounded, as the knight and the girl wandered away. Knowing they were sleep-deprived as well, they followed and eventually made their way back– their tired bodies nestling into their own beds by the time the sun rose.

~One can't judge a book by its cover but they can certainly discover it by so. What secrets does its mysterious contents hold?~

Fwfff, sorry for the stupidly long wait. I brainstormed on this after re-watching the whole series on Netflix and managed to whip a new chapter up. Hope the magic stays. *Crosses fingers*