Dawna: 23
Pixie: 20

Love is the illusion of a child and the parent of disillusion - Miguel de Unamuno

'Auntie, must I really go?' the whining voice belonging to the Prince's asked impatiently. 'The people can live without seeing me for one day.'

'No, no, my sweet girl; you must go.'

The Queen would visit another important building in the villages that day. Dawna had visited over two hundred places in over a year. To say that she had grown bored meeting all those unimportant citizens who always asked her for more food and better living conditions. The pale Queen hated it; she hated having to meet all those beggars who secretly disposed her for her wealth.

'Pray tell me aunt; where will I go today?'

'The hospital,' Delphi answered, causing her niece to roll her unnatural blue eyes in annoyance. 'But not the entire hospital, obviously. We are going to pay the midwifes a little visit.'

Directly, the little colour that was left on her face disappeared. Dawna had not been in contact with children, midwifes or the hospital ever since that horrible day. Something in her simply refused to go through the large doors that led to either pain or happiness.

'No,' her voice hissed angrily. 'I will not go there; they can have their babies without me.'

'Come on now, darling, why will you not pay them a visit?'

Dawna rolled with her beautiful eyes as a dark and unpleasant feeling settled in her stomach. There were so many reasons why the Queen refused to visit women who would be given the joy of becoming a mother. She envied every one of them; she envied every child that ran around the castle because Dawna should have become a mother of a running child herself.

'You know very well why, auntie,' the young Queen hissed.

'Not going there is a dangerous thing. Or do I need to remind you of everything that can happen when you do not convince more citizens that our monarchy is a good thing?'

Once again, the pale woman rolled her eyes before standing up from her comfortable sofa. Looky meowed angrily as his small body made contact with the ground.

'Fine,' the Queen sneered before straightening her back. 'On one condition: you are coming with me auntie.'

A smile found its way on her thin lips as she nodded her slim head. 'I would not want to miss it for a thing, my beloved niece.'

Hours (and a lot of complaining) later the two arrived at the local hospital. A line of cheering people was waiting at the door to welcome the two royals with flowers and lots of compliments. Many people called Dawna a forceful and fearless Queen and some just looked at her with interest. The young Queen did not care about any one of them; she was here to visit the ones who were bearing children.

'My Queen,' a woman greeted the two women as they entered the large building.

The hospital was painted in a bright yellow colour and had large pillars to support the roof. The windows were painted in different colours wherefore the building had a happy feel. There was no sadness and no pain; even though hundredths of people died there every year.

'We are honoured with your holy presence,' the midwife continued. She had very dark hair and a yellowish skin with think, brown eyes. 'Please, follow us to the right wing while I tell you a little something about the building itself.'

The rest of her words did not reach the Queens spirit. Her eyes kept looking between walls as a strong feeling of anxiety settled in her stomach and spread through her bloodstream. Suddenly, the images of that horrible day filled her head as her heart started to beat faster.

Once loud screams followed by crying sounds filled her ears, she could feel the tears burn in her eyes. There were over fifty rooms that were separated by a thin paper wall. In each and every room lie a woman accompanied by family members or dear ones as pain filled her body. Once again, the Queen felt envy creep in her system.

It should have been her who got a happy ending; not them.

'Around twenty women are almost ready to give birth as we speak,' the midwife explained. She must have said her name at some point, but Dawna did not care enough to remember it. 'Some have a rather complicated birth; for others it is rather easy.'

The pale Queen had a little experience with horrible births. However, it was the ending that haunted her in her sleep.

'How long do these women stay here?' Delphinium asked curiously as her amber eyes watched around the place.

The desperate cries of woman in pain echoed through the room. There was so much pain, yet so much happiness in this room. The young Queen wanted to have it all over again, minus the unhappy ending of her story.

Her aunts question would never be answered; a loud and desperate scream filled the air followed by the scared cries of a young woman.

'Please, you have to believe me. My baby is dying! Please, believe me. Please.'

The mothers words cut through her soul as a sharpened knife. Suddenly, the Queen felt a rush of adrenaline kick through her veins as her mind followed the sound to a certain room.

'Excuse me for a moment,' Dawna mumbled politely before her feet took off.

'No! No, listen to me!' the womans voice sounded again; louder this time. The voice became louder the more the pale Queen focused on the sound of it.

The desperate woman pulled Dawna towards her without realising it and the pale woman could not help it. Flashbacks of the day she lost her true love filled her mind as her ears caught the scared cries in the air. Someone was losing her child and the Queen refused to stand on the side-lines.

It was strange how the cold-hearted Dawna suddenly cared about a strangers wellbeing. Normally, it left her cold how the citizens were feeling and doing. On paper and in the spotlight, it seemed as if she did care, but the truth was different.

The Queen entered the room of the crying woman without hesitation and was faced by ten worried looking eyes. Dawna wasted no time introducing herself or paying attention to the shocked looked on the citizens faces as she rudely pushed over them midwife and rushed towards the womans bed.

The woman had a darker skin with small white dots that decorated her skin. She had short dark hair and deep brown eyes that matched her face perfectly. Her round head was covered with sweat and the sight was not pretty, yet the pale Queen had to take a moment to appreciate her features.

Next to her sat a young man with a dark skin and brown eyes as well. On the other side of the bed sat two women: an older woman in her late seventies and a woman in her mid-forties. Everyone looked at the pale woman in shock as she pushed away the man and took a seat next to the woman in labour. The only person that did not seemed to be in awe was the crying female herself.

'What is wrong?' Dawna demanded with a loud voice as bright blue met dark brown.

'M-My baby,' the woman stuttered. 'I'm l-losing my baby.'

Tears decorated her already coloured cheeks as her hands found their way to her stomach.

'Help me,' her weak voice begged. 'P-Please, my b-baby.'

Her weakness, the tears and the fear in her eyes all brought the trauma back as Dawna could feel her heart ache. Panic filled her veins as she noticed how the other woman suffered. No one believed her when she had begged for help, just as no one had believed the pale woman.

'How long has she been in labour for?' her voice asked no one in particular.

'Her waters broke around seventeen hours ago,' a male voice answered, but the Queen could not care less about who answered it.

A soft curse left the young womans plump lips. 'What do you think is wrong with your child?'

'I d-don't k-know.'

Doubt crossed her mind before her blue eyes found the pair of brown ones again. 'May I feel for a second?'

The woman with the short dark hair nodded without hesitation as she removed the blanket from her tummy. Slowly, the Queen placed her cold hands on the warm skin as a shiver went through her spine.

Her blue eyes seemed to be able to see right through the skin as she closed them. The baby was a little boy, but he was struggling. His small head was at the top of her uterus, while his bottoms were situated at the entry to the pelvis. The baby boy was lying in a breech, which meant that he could never be born. Not like this anyway.

'It is a boy,' Dawna suddenly spoke as she opened her blue eyes again. 'But he is in breech presentation.'

Her words caused the people in the room to take deep breaths before the young woman started to cry desperately. 'Please, my Queen, please safe him.'

A single tear escaped her eyes before she places her hands back on the warm skin.

'This might tingle or hurt, but I will do whatever I can to safe your boy.'

Dawna kept her word. An energy seemed to flow through her hands into the other womans body. The pale woman could feel the baby turn together with her hands as a satisfied and tired feeling filled her body. However, she had to keep going. This baby would not die; not today at least.

'Alright,' the white-haired woman spoke. 'That will do it, all you have to do is push.'

'I-I can't, Im too t-tired,' the young woman with the dotted skin cried. 'I'm t-too w-weak.'

Dawna grabbed her hand as one of the women grabbed the other. The midwife had placed herself between the womans legs again; the man stood behind the nurse.

'Listen to me,' the young Queen spoke with a stern voice. 'You can do this, alright? A few more minutes of pain and your life will be filled with the biggest joy of your life. This boy will give you all the love you will ever need, so do not give up on that. Take my power, take it all and bring this little boy on this earth safely.'

The darker woman nodded as she accepted Dawnas offer and squeezed the Queens hand. With the last power remaining in her and the Queens help she pushed and pushed until a loud cry filled the room.

'Congratulations!' the midwife cooed happily. 'You have a healthy looking baby boy.'

The young woman broke down as the nurse places a red and bloody child on her chest. Dawna quickly left her side, making sure that the man could sit next to her. Seeing four people and a beautiful healthy baby together in a room filled with the greatest happiness in the world caused her heart to ache so badly that it felt as if someone had taken it.

'Hello, there,' the young woman spoke. 'Hello, Loöys.'

Hearing his gorgeous name caused a sharp pain to slide through the Queen and before she knew it her feet had carried her outside the room. The young Queen placed her back against the wall before she fell on the ground. Tears started to escape her eyes as pain seemed to take over.

It should have been her; she should have been given a happily after ever with her baby girl. How was it possible that she managed to safe this baby but not her own?

Loud and broken sobs left her lips as the pale woman felt a pair of arms closing her in.

'It is okay, darling,' the familiar voice of her aunt whispered. 'You did an amazing job and I am so proud of you.'

'W-Why?' Dawna asked. 'W-Why did t-they take m-my baby?'

The glue that had tried to keep her heart together had been dissolved; causing her heart to break all over again. All the hurt, all the tears and all the desperation finally were set free as Dawna cried and cried.

This day should have not ended like this. It started as an ordinary day but had ended as the day Dawna had feared the most: the day she would break down. Her walls were not high enough to stop this pain from streaming through the creaks as her ears were filled by the happy sounds that came from the room.

Nothing and no one could have prevented this from happening. Dawna had been strong for far too long and now it was time for her to cry her heart out. The pale woman hated every second of it but could not help it.

She had lost her mother, her brother, her baby girl, her fake husband and her father. It was a miracle that her heart was still beating normally.

It was hours later when the Queen felt stable enough to leave the hospital with a brave and strong look on her face. Only a handful of subjects were aware of her breakthrough and those who knew were informed to not tell a soul about it. Unless, of course, they wished to die a miserable death.

'Come on, sweetie. We will be home soon.'

It was only when they left the building that her bright blue eyes spotted him: the man that had been haunting her dreams ever since that horrible night. He still had short red hair, only now the red was accompanied by grey strand of hair. He still had a round nose and two big brown eyes. However, the one thing that really gave him away was the small scar between his thick eyebrows. There was literally no doubt that this was him: Semual. The man that lured Prince Damien and Dawna to a trap that led to her brothers death. He was partly responsible of her beloved brothers death and had haunted her dreams for years. The pale Queen had searched everywhere for him; she had been to every village but had never even caught so much as a glimpse of him. Until now.

Now he had carelessly walked into a trap that would lead to his death.

Her cold and bright eyes forced the man to fall down on his knees in the long grass. She had broken his kneecaps, causing the man to suffer immensely. Anger rushed through her veins as Dawna let go of her aunties hand and walked towards the traitor with no mercy in her mind.

The pale woman had dreamt of this moment ever since that night; she had dreamt about ways to make him suffer the way she was. It was her mission to make him feel the same aching she felt every day.

'Dawna? Where are you going?'

The young woman did not answer as she reached the aching man. Tears were making their way down his cheeks as she grabbed a handful of his red hear in her fist.

'Hello, dearie,' her angry voice hissed.

All of a sudden, panic showed itself in his eyes as he noticed the Queen. 'I think it is safe to say that you remember me, right?'

The man nodded slowly as he whined in pain. 'Please,' he begged weakly. 'Have mercy.'

A smile crept upon her lips as an insane sounding giggle left her lips. 'Mercy? I will show you the kind of mercy you showed my brother.'

It took Dawna a blink of her blue eyes to make the man lose his consciousness as he fell down on the damp grass. Perhaps they were right; perhaps after the rain did come sunshine. Or at least it did that day.