00; amaranth

to be in distraught | to be in comfort

...10 YEARS LATER...

The blonde scanned the contents of the parchment before eyeing the trembling brunet kneeling before her feet. She knew this day would come but she did not think it would come this soon. She had spent many sleepless nights contemplating over her decision and steeling her resolve.

Closing her eyes, she crossed her legs and brought a hand to her forehead to rub her temple. She hoped her son and his friends did not mind her decision. If anything, she hoped the consequences that came out of her decision would befall on her instead of them.

She finally opened her eyes and looked down at the shaking brunet with apathetic eyes. "Messenger, it looks like it will be early, but I will attend the ball being held at your country next month. Just tell that redheaded prince of yours that we will be holding our alliance meeting early. That and I will be bringing the ambassadors with me."

The brunet flinched at her indifferent tone but nodded. He slowly stopped trembling as if a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders. "Thank you, Your Grace."

The queen inwardly cringed at the formality of her title but nonetheless smiled in response. "No problem, I just hope my whimsical attitude has not upset your prince too much."

The brunet smiled weakly. It was true that there were other messengers before him who came before the blonde asking for her reply.

Every time, she had said no, but the young prince was persistent for some odd reason. That very reason could be the fact that Aquae was the only country that would not be allied with Cruor. Even the late king and queen were unable to persuade the blonde to join their alliance. This also happened to the be the first time the blonde queen decided to hold an audience with the young prince. Then again, the reason why she agreed this time was because if she did not accept this time then the prince would personally come himself and ask her.

The blonde queen looked up from her seat and made eye contact with the two men stationed at the end of her throne room. She smirked to herself when she saw them suddenly tensed. "I have personal matters to talk about with the Cruor messenger. Don't come in unless I call for you."

One of the guards wanted to refute but the sharp glare from his queen sent his way made him cower. The two guards looked at each other before nodding hesitantly.

When the two towering doors were slammed shut, the brunet let out a deep breath he did not know he was holding in. Instead of kneeling, he resorted to sitting on his bottom with his legs stretched in front of him before pulling them in to sit cross-legged. He let out a small chuckle when he caught sight of the blonde queen slouching in her throne.

"What does that changeling brat have against me? Goodness gracious, it's like he can't take a no," the blonde complained, ignoring the fact that she was acting in an undignified manner for a queen.

Furihata awkwardly smiled as he listened to his childhood friend rant about his future king. "Alex-san, you have to stop calling him that. What if it slips out one day in front of said person?"

Alex simply shrugged. "I wouldn't care. It's a simple nickname. He's so outerworldly that it shouldn't bother him. After all, he's an emperor, right?" The blonde rolled her eyes as she sought out a more comfortable position in her chair. "Anyway, tell me. Did they find about my relation with you that they sent you out of all people?"

"Fortunately, no one has found out but Aida-san was quite boastful during the council meeting, saying that it would be her one of her men that will convince you to come to the ball…" Furihata shivered at the memory when his brunette captain picked him out of the crowd at random. She even tried to tell him to bribe Alex to go to the ball or else he would have to participate in certain activities that would surely traumatize him in the near future.

Then again, Alex was no better. He remembered she used to constantly shower him with her over abundance of affection. Nonetheless, he was not the only victim to her odd quirks. He did not know if he should consider himself fortunate since the blonde queen in front of him happened to be the same girl who would babysit him with two other boys when they were younger before he moved to Cruor.

"I see… Well then, it's time for my break, so is there anything else you need from me, Furihata?" Alex stood up from her throne and walked over to the brunet's side and held out a hand to help him off the ground.

Furihata snapped out of his train of thought and gladly took a hold of his friend's hand. Dusting the dirt off of his pants, his expression slowly became solemn. "There is one question I want to ask."

Alex noticed the tone of her friend's voice and became attentive. "If it's something I can answer, then of course."

"Were you being serious when you said that you would be bringing the ambassadors over?" Furihata was surprised at how struggled his voice sounded like.

"I did say that, didn't I…?" Alex looked at Furihata and simply smiled. "It looks like there's going to be one heck of a journey ahead of us."

Furihata's eyes widened. "Wait, are you being serious, Alex-san? I think I understand why you agreed to come to the ball, but is it necessary to bring him along with them? No offense, but it has been at least a decade since then and to suddenly come back now?"

Alex sighed, knowing that Furihata was trying to convince her to change her mind. "It was bound to happen anyway, I can't keep him here forever. His place is not here. He was not mine to begin with."

"But you think of him as your son, don't you?"

"That's exactly why. I was not the one who decided this decision. It was he himself. He wants to do this despite the dangers." She gave him a look that dared him to break her resolve. "I want to respect his wishes and I will not hesitate to help him if he wants it from me."

Despite seeing the sad expression on her face, Furihata could see that Alex was determined to go through with this. "Alright, but I don't know how the young prince would react…" he muttered to himself. He could imagine the entire royal council flipping over in shock.

"What happens, happens. There's nothing we can do about it."

Furihata sighed before looking Alex. He dug into his pocket and took out his pocket watch, flipping it open to see what time it was. "Well, I have kept you away from your break long enough. Until then, Alex-san?"

Alex smiled at her friend as she pulled him into a quick bear hug, smothering him into her chest. "I've missed so much, Furi."

Furihata blushed at his old nickname but nodded quietly. "I missed you too." When he was released from his hug, he gave her a quick, hesitant peck on the cheek before directing himself out of the throne room.

Alex continued to wave goodbye until the double doors were slammed shut once more. The smile dropped from her face and was replaced by a tired expression when she heard her stomach rumble. "Time to go get something to eat then."

As she walked down the corridor to find one of the servants, her eyes lit up when she caught sight of a small pup running up to her. It started to bark up at her until she bent down and scooped the small furry animal into her arms, laughing when it started to nip at her fingers.

"Ah, there was where she went."

Alex looked up from the small pup and beamed at the young man standing before her. He looked slightly disheveled as if he was running about looking for someone. "Were you looking for Azu?"

The teenager nodded as he slowly took the small animal out of Alex's grasp, sighing when he heard it whimper. "She got away when I was training with Kazunari."

Alex looked amused as she walked beside the young pale man down the corridor to who knows where. "I didn't know you were on a first name basis with Takao."

"We're not. I just happened to lose a bet to him."

Alex let out a small laugh when she saw a small pout on the teen's face. "Hey, let's go get something to eat. It's been a while since I last ate. You know what, we should go get everyone and eat together. It's been awhile since we last did that."

The teen stopped walking and looked at the blonde woman with concerned eyes. "Is there something bothering you, Alex-san? You seem rather distracted."

Alex tensed for a moment before sighing. This boy was really observant. "I just miss the old times. Plus, is it wrong for a mother wanting to eat lunch with her son and his friends without questions being asked?"

He looked at her before sighing, this time a small smile replacing his earlier frown. "Well then, let's go get the others."

Alex smiled as she walked up to the slightly shorter person and looped an arm around her son's as she placed her head on his shoulder, pulling herself closer to his warmth. "I'm so lucky to have you as a son, Tetsuya."

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The story can finally begin.

EXTRA NOTES:

I don't know what to say but that I'm grateful to every individual who has read and reviewed my story. Just thank you for you are amazing people. The direction I wanted to take had to scrapped or else it would drag the story out even longer. So I decided that throughout the story, I will try to fill in what happened to our characters during that duration.

If anyone is wondering, there is two fictional countries starred in this story: Aquae with Alex and Cruor with Akashi as their leaders. If there are any questions you may have, then don't hesitate to ask. I'll try not to give away too much.

Once again, thank you reading and I hoped I didn't disappoint too much with this chapter. It's been awhile since I've done some creative writing since all I've been doing is analytic and straightforward non-fluff pieces of writing. Please review and tell me what you thought of it.