Alisa

I get to my room as Prince Luke and Traci head out for their date. I walk inside, turn to shut the door but Prince Chris enters and shuts the door before I could even react or say anything. "Um, Your Highness? What may I help you with?" I ask, nervously. "Call me Chris, please. My name is Chris," he says. "Chris, what did you need?" I asked. "I need you to talk to me because I need you. All of you," he says. I shake my head No. "No, we don't have anything else to talk about. We already talked before you had to leave," I said. I head to my closet to pick out my tank top and pajama bottoms. "I need to change. May you please leave?" I say. "I'll turn around, but we still need to talk," he says, turning around. I sighed. I undress and change into my nightgown. "I'm done. You may turn around," I say. He turns around to face me.

"I have feelings for you, Alisa. I know it might be bold of me to say bluntly, but it's the truth. You may not think you deserve to be loved, but you are one of a kind and a true queen. And I want to make you mine wholeheartedly," he says. My heart beats faster and he smiles. He starts to come closer to me and I back up until my back hits the wall. "Alisa, you deserve love and I want to be the one to give that to you. You're one tough cookie and I want to be there for you," Chris says. I smiled. "Do you really mean that? Because I have something I need to tell you," I asked.

"What is that?" he asked, looking at me with a serious face. "Um... I have feelings for you as well, but I was afraid of how to let you know first. I'm sorry," I said, shyly. "Don't you ever apologize about how you feel. I'm truly happy," he says, coming to hug me tightly. I look up at his face to see him smiling at me and looked away. He chuckled. "Why do you look away when I smile at you?" he asked. "Because you should not be looking at me like that. Not after what had happened to me and my sister. Royalty and regular people shouldn't be together. And, yes, I do know about your mother, but look at how great she is, compared to us," I say, backing up from him. 

"Well, did you also know that she was also abused by her past boyfriend and ex-fiance before my father found her and pursued her until she became the Queen? I found out by my father earlier this week, as I had talked to my father about how to tell you how much I really want you and nobody else," he says. I covered my mouth to keep my gasp to myself. "You asked your father how to pursue me? I'm sorry about your mother. I had no idea," I said. "Don't worry. I had no idea either. I guess they don't like talking about it much," he says. 

~Phone Rings~

'Dad? What's up? Alright, coming right now,' he says, before hanging up the call.

"Excuse me. My father needs me right now, please stay here," he says, before heading from the room to see his father. A few minutes after he left the room, I heard yelling and things sounding as if they were being thrown all over the place. I headed to where the sound came from. It was between Prince Chris and Luke, their father, Destiny, Tiffany and their father. I stood beside the door quietly, as to not let them see or hear me. Traci walked towards me and waited on the other side. "Dad! Why are they here again?! We're not marrying them," Prince Chris yelled. "Son, you have too. Our family has had these marriages planned since birth. Plus, the background of Alisa and Traci, wouldn't stand with the people here." I look at Traci, who just sighs. The Queen enters the room from a secret door in the back and says, "Honey, what makes those lovely women bad for my sons? Because they're not royalty or because they were abused? Don't forget I am just like them and I should have said so earlier." 

The king says, "But, you're different. You didn't work in a nightclub as they did." The Queen clenches her fists. "Oh, that's the issue here. Instead of wanting our sons to be happy, you'd rather have them miserable with these two women they don't want? Fine, you'll be sleeping alone for a while and I will be planning to leave from being Queen," she says. The king gasped in shock. "Dear, please do not say what you don't mean. Our people love you," the king says. "And I love Alisa and Traci, as if they were my own daughters, ever sine I saw how much happiness they bring my sons. Excuse me," she says, heading towards us. "Oh my. Did you two hear all that?" she asked. We just nodded. Prince Chris and Prince Luke turn to face us in unison.

I see the look on Prince Chris's face and it looks like a look of want. I sighed. "Traci, come on. We can't stay here anymore. Sometimes it seems people tend to show their true colors," I say. She nodded. We curtsy and head to get our things. "Girl, I thought we actually might have found a home away from home and love, but we were wrong. We need to go home to our parents," I say. "Oh, my dears, about that. Your parents are gone. Their home was burned down to the ground and sadly they didn't survive," the Queen says. I turned to face her. "Don't say that. You're lying. Please, don't say that," I plead, looking into her eyes, for any falseness behind that.

"My dear, I wish it was not true. But, it is; your parents' bodies are in the morgue, and you both have to go and identify them," she says. I hold back the sobs that want to escape out of me and ask, "When did this happen? Who did this? When do we need to go?" I hold my arms across my chest. Traci holds onto me for balance. "It happened the day that Princess Destiny and Princess Tiffany brought Michael and Charles here. The police have also named them as the suspects in this homicide. And, you need to go as soon as you can," the Queen says. We turn around fast and run outside to find it raining. "Their bodies are in the morgue in the palace basement, please follow me," the Queen calls out. We follow her as asked. 

Prince Chris and Prince Luke are behind us. We arrive to explain who we are to the worker. They take us to the names. We pull out the container/slot they are in. Luckily, their faces were recognizable. It was them. Our parents. Dead. Murdered by those two abusers, Michael and Charles. They will suffer for this dearly. Traci breaks down crying that she faints. I catch her, as Prince Luke comes to help hold her. "No, I got her. Thank you, Your Highness," I say. "Don't change on us please. We are here for you both no matter what," Prince Luke says. I look at my parents and wipe away my silent tears. Tears that fell down my face, but made no sound from my lips. I see a note sticking out my mother's shirt and pull it out. I open to read it. 

It reads, 'My darling daughters, we wrote this note together in the time we knew and realized we weren't able to escape. Your father and I love you and Traci very much. You were the light in our darkest days. Ever since you two were born, we never wanted to let you go or let you grow up. But, we knew you both had to grow up to be strong, beautiful women. When we saw you being abused by Michael and Charles, we couldn't stand it. Your pain was our pain, even if you didn't realize it at the time. We are sadly not going to be here to see you both walk down the aisle on your wedding day, but whoever gets to marry you, let them love you and let them know that they found a gem that no one can ever destroy. We love you and we will always be with you, in spirit and mind. We will be watching over you two. Love, your mom and dad.'

I close the note, place it in my pocket. I get up, with Traci still in my arms. She slowly starts to regain consciousness and turns away. "Please, close the slots back for us. We will be having the funeral later this week on Saturday afternoon. If that is okay?" I say to the worker. The worker nodded and says, "I am so sorry for your loss. No one has to go through what you two did." I nodded and mouthed, 'Thank you. We appreciate you.' The Queen comes over to us and pull us into a tight hug. "We will help you organize and plan the funeral," she says. "It's alright. We will handle it. We had planned where we would bury them if that time came, but never thought or imagined it would be so soon," I say.

Prince Chris just stares at us, with tears in his eyes, but he does not let them fall. "Oh my. We can't imagine your pain. We are so sorry for your loss," I hear Princess Destiny say. She walks into the room, followed by her father and her sister, Tiffany. I have had enough of her. Enough. I quickly storm over to her and slap her on her cheek. Loud as it echoed. "Why did you slap me?! We came to apologize to you on your loss. It's not like we had planned it or anything," she says. She must have realized what she said, as she covers her mouth rather quickly. "What did you just say?! Destiny, you planned to have her parents murdered?!" her father shouted. "She and her sister were going to take our husbands away from us! Plus, I never thought or imagined they would actually do it," Princess Destiny cried. 

"Tiffany, did you have a hand to play in this?" their father asked, looking at Tiffany. She just nodded in silence. He screams out of anger. Their father turns to face me and  Traci. He walks over to us, takes our hands in his, and gets on his knees. "My dears, please forgive me. My daughters have committed a huge treason against you both and caused you both a great deal of pain. Please, forgive me," he pleaded with us. "It's alright. We forgive you, but it is not your fault. They did what they did out of spite and jealousy of my sister and I. Don't worry, we will not be pressing any charges against them, as they are your daughters. We would rather pay evil back with kindness," I say, with a smile. He gasped and breaks out in tears. "Please get up off your knees. It is alright. You know you raised your daughters well, but the world got to their heads. It happens," Traci says. He stands up slowly and hugs us. Princess Destiny and Princess Tiffany stand there in shock and cannot believe what we just said. 

"Are you sure about this, Alisa?" Prince Chris asked. "Yes, we are. Please, excuse us. We must be leaving now. We have a flight to catch," I say. "Where are you going?" Prince Luke asked. "We have not yet decided, but we will let the wind guide our path to a new life. We do love you and wish you both happiness, with whomever you decide to marry. You all showed us great kindness and that love after pain does exist. We thank you for that," I say. Traci heads out the room and Prince Luke follows suit. I started to head out, but Prince Chris takes a hold of my left hand and turned me to face him. "Don't leave me, Alisa. You complete me. I won't live without you by my side," he says, while pulling out a beautiful gold ring and getting down on one knee in front of me. 

"When I first met you, I knew I wanted to keep you safe. I'm not big on words, but I want to ask you this one thing: 

'Will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?'" he asks. 

I cry out, "Yes, I will. I don't know how or what I'd have done without you. I love you." He places the ring on my ring finger, gets up and kisses me. Traci screams out, 'Yes!' and runs back with Prince Luke on her arm. "We're engaged!" she cries out. "So are we!" I yell back to her, happily.