Redhead Butler trembled as the queen stormed into the room. Attempting to not become the source of her anger, he politely bowed before her. "Q-Queen Virginia." His fear was blatantly obvious; the queen noticed immediately.

"What's happened, Robert? Has November not set the table correctly?" Virginia scowled, adjusting her tiara.

"Um... uh, worse. November; she's gone missing." Redhead stuttered, attempting to back away from Virginia before it sunk in.

There was a long pause. Lightning and thunder was crashing in her eyes, but the sparks fizzled and burned out. Drops of rain were waiting to fall; Virginia sighed, keeping her composure.

"Have you checked the entire palace?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am." He gulped.

"Very well then." Her voice boomed. This girl was far too much like her father. "Get Victoria in here."

The lady appeared within a minute, fiddling with her fingers. Her nerves were more concealed than the butler's. 'Poor, young, vulnerable November. I could never blow her cover... she wants the best, and only the best.' She thought, taking a deep breath and ready to face the queen's wrath.

"Do you know anything about November's disappearance?" Virginia asked, death-glaring Victoria. She looked into Victoria's dark brown eyes and analysed the rest of the dark-skinned woman. 'You know, for one of my butlers, she's actually kind of pretty.'

"No, I've heard it from a few of the butlers, but that's all." Victoria replied, remaining calm despite the rhythm of her heart competing with that of a heavy bass song. Thud. Thud. Thud. She expected that Virginia would see right through her.

"As you're one of my most trusted butlers, I'll take your word for it." The Queen paused, taking the situation into considering before deciding that Victoria was telling the truth. "You may leave."

The female butler let a small sigh of relief escape from her lips; she stayed for a second, sending a respectful nod towards Virginia. "She'll be okay."

"Leave."

Victoria sent one last look towards Virginia, before deciding to obey her orders and leave the room. Small droplets of rain began to fall from the sky; the fall wasn't harsh nor angry. These drops were delicate, gentle - as if falling too hard would ruin the magnificent, bright green nature.

'You should have kept a closer eye on her!' She paced around the room. 'You should have seen that that's why she's been so smartass lately. But great work Virginia. Now, maybe you've lost two.'

She wiped the rainfall from her eyes, and let the clouds sink in. She clicked her fingers again, summoning a large group of butlers into the room in which she was. They all eyed the maroon quilted walls worriedly; the room was growing darker, and Virginia seemed to be losing patience.

Snapping out of her zone-out from the world, she faced the butlers who had entered the room. She wanted her daughter back, and she wanted her daughter back now.

"You lot will be searching for November. Return her to the castle." She paused, setting boundaries for the men who were to go and search. "Unharmed."

Virginia made sure to make that point very clear, sending a glare to all of the butlers surrounding her. A gulp could be heard from Robert, affectionately referred to as 'Redhead Butler'. He knew that he wasn't on Virginia's good side anymore.

All too intimidated to disagree, the army of butlers either nodded or muttered a timid 'yes'. Following the echoes of yeses was Victoria stepping up to Virginia. Remaining unafraid, she looked into Virginia's eyes - she understood that Virginia felt pain, although probably in some messed up way.

"My Queen-"

"Don't speak unless you're spoken to." Virginia snapped, her deep voice echoing among the room. Victoria always liked the voice, it held authority and power.

"I'm sorry, but there is something I have to say." Victoria lowered her voice to a whisper. "It's quite important. I'd rather have this discussed in a discrete matter, but if you must keep the butlers in here that will be fine."

"Okay." The queen reluctantly agreed, rolling her eyes. "All of you but Victoria, scram." She shooed the crowd of servants away; they all felt a sense of relief, hurriedly exiting the room at an incredible speed.

"What do you want, Victoria?"

"Well, you do know how November had been talking about going into the average world?" Victoria inquired. Virginia cringed at the memories; November was always so annoying and stubborn. She refused to believe that there was anything but good out there.

"I already know that she's out there, where else would she be, bonehead?" Virginia bitterly laughed. She could tell that this conversation was going to go nowhere.

"Yes, I know that, my queen, but I think that maybe you should let her stay there." Victoria objected.

"With those awful peasants?" Virginia sneered, picturing her daughter as an average-classed girl. Seeing November skipping out of a public school happily would have been too much for her to bear. "No, no way."

"There are plenty of things back in our world to worry about. Don't you forget that I was raised there, and I was raised right." Victoria scowled, daring to glare at Virginia.

The stormclouds circled around both of them; the tension could not have been cut with the sharpest of knives. Virginia opened her mouth to protest, but the butler interrupted her before she could begin.

"Not everybody there is the piece of shit that you have tried to make them out to be. They are real people with real problems, just like you." Victoria continued.

Virginia kept quiet.

"People in those areas worry about losing their homes, their lives, not finding food. They care about the things that matter, and they damn well don't lose sight of it." Victoria kept ranting, her eyes beginning to water.

"I lost my mother and father to a stupid virus, it wasn't them that had done anything wrong. They were beautiful people." She told Queen Virginia.

"What does that have to do with the point I'm making?" The queen asked, finally forming a reply to the points Victoria was making. She knew she was right, but it felt so wrong to be on their side.

"The point is, my parents were lower-class and they were perfectly fine people."

"You're just too shallow to even look into them, and you automatically assume that because they have less money, they're less worth." Victoria shook her head disapprovingly. "They have hearts of gold."

"Then tell me why they killed Peter." Virginia scoffed. "Tell me why they hunted down the man who tried to help them. Everything could be different right now. My husband would be alive, we'd be... kind of... on good terms and my daughter would be safe." Victoria was the only butler who knew about the death of Peter. The others would never dare to ask.

"Because in a group of people, there's always going to be a 'good side' and a 'bad side'." Victoria snapped. "And those 'bad people' could really have just been mad because you took away all of their rights."

"How dare you speak to me like that!?" Virginia exclaimed. Victoria was going to pay.

"Face the ugly truth." Victoria once again lowered her voice to whisper. "November just doesn't want to end up like you. A shallow liar. You didn't hate them because they killed him. You've always hated them. You..."

"I gave them a chance. He was that chance. Look what happened. You can fucking kill me if they're going to take my daughter too."

"Get over yourself and let go of the past, Virginia." The butler tried to storm out of the room, but the Queen stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't leave. Queen's orders."

The two stayed silent for a while, until Virginia clicked her fingers to bring the other butlers in.

"Wh-What are you doing Virg-"

"Take her to the dungeon."

"The dungeon?"

The dark, black room: the punished were confined by chains and handcuffs, and kept in the darkness until Virginia decided to let them leave.

"Virginia, what did this woman do to deserve..." Redhead butler paused, his face going pale. "The dungeon?"

"Blasphemy. Disrespect. The list could go on, but we'd be here a while." She shot a glare at Victoria.

"Go on, we do not have the whole night." Virginia clapped her hands, giving the butlers a sarcastic look. They nodded and harshly dragged Victoria down the stairs, ignoring her violent protests. Her yelling could be heard all the way down to the bottom.

The remaining butlers in the room were Virginia's toughest, and she nodded at all of them in approval. These were some of her finest men; they could bring back November without a shadow of a doubt.

"Now, the job for the fifteen of you." She announced, making lingering, intimidating eye contact with each of the butlers in the room. "Is to find my daughter."

"The world of the other classes is much bigger than the perimeters of the castle, it might be a difficult task." One of the butlers politely informed her.

"Maybe, but this is my daughter." Virginia snarled at the butler, raised her voice slightly. "And nothing in that stupid world out there is going to stop you from finding her. Got that?"

There was a long silence in the room. Each of them eyed one another briefly, fear in their eyes. Were they going to be questioned? Would they be killed? How would Virginia react if they turned up without November? None of the questions were to be answered. All was still until one of the fifteen butlers spoke up.

"We'll be on our way."

The closing of the door echoed throughout the entire palace, and Virginia sat back in her lavish, golden throne. Satisfied with the decisions she had made that evening, she lifted her diamond chalice and sipped on one of her favourite drinks.

"November, you're coming home." She cackled. "I hope you haven't been involved with any boys over there."

The pond became a silvery, moonlit presence of water. All signs of sunlight had disappeared, and constellations were scattered across the sky. November noticed that every single star shined brighter when she was so much closer to the sky.

"Well, November, it was lovely meeting you." Rebecca grinned. "I really hope we get to see each other again."

"Yes, I should be going to one of the public schools here soon. I really am keen to begin." November nodded, kicking a rock beneath her foot. The stone gently swam across the pond, the wind slowly sending it adrift.

"You should come to ours." Rebecca suggested with a smile. "It's not the best, but it will be the best if you live it with us."

"That's very kind of you." November giggled, smiling as she noticed the pretty little freckles dotted across Rebecca's nose. "If nothing goes wrong, I should be there tomorrow or the day after."

November had only been here for half of the day, and she already felt like she had finally found a home where she belonged. Everybody was so loving and accepting, especially Rebecca.

"That's good." Rebecca smiled, walking slowly back to her treehouse. It was a well-structured wooden house, balanced on stilts. A small window was situated in the middle, through which November imagined would be the most spectacular view of the little town. This... this was the treehouse where Rebecca managed to live life every day, even without parents.

"I mean, I never had a dad but... it looks impossible to live without parents. How do you live without a mom and a dad?" November asked, curiosity resonating within her tone.

The clouds in Rebecca's eyes slowly parted, revealing past years of rain and storms and fires.

"I don't live, November." She stared up at the once family-filled treehouse she now lived in alone. It used to be a home, where her and her parents laughed together. It never felt like a home anymore, just an empty house. There was no family there to love.

"I just survive."