Dawna: 24
Pixie: 20

It was like a time bomb set into motion
We knew that we were destined to explode
All Time Low; Timebomb

It was the night of the Queen's twenty-fourth birthday. People were gathering themselves outside the castle walls; waiting for their Queen to welcome them in her palace. It was mostly nobility or very rich guests who wanted to catch a glimpse of the most important woman in the realm.

None of those people matted to the pale woman; no one except for her newfound friend. Pixie and she had been drinking tea every other day and they took long walks together. They talked mostly about Loöys and small things, yet the Queen enjoyed it. The dotted woman was clever enough not to talk about politics or deep subjects. Dawna had invited her weeks ago in the hope that she would attend the festivities. Yet, part of her expected her not to come. The villages were celebrating her twenty-fourth birthday as well, which meant that there would be lots of smaller parties throughout the villages. Plus, Pixie was not one to leave her husband and new-born alone for too long.

'You look absolutely magnificent!' a voice called out loudly. 'You do look very good in pastel yellow, but I am sure that no one has to tell you that.'

A smile appeared on her lips as she turned around. 'Thank you, auntie.'

On top of her head the Queen wore a large, golden grown and her white hair decorated her shoulders with small waves. Dawna looked like a true masterpiece once again. Secretly, she hoped that it would impress a certain someone.

'Do you think that she is going to come?'

The pale woman raised her eyebrows before looking at the other woman. 'Who?'

'Oh please, the girl from the village. Pixie, was it not?' Delphi asked before checking her honey blonde hair in the mirror. 'You can just tell me how you feel. The two of you have been secretly meeting ever since that dinner.'

'It is not really a secret if you already know it,' Dawna spoke before opening the door. 'Are you coming or not?'

The party had started with the colourful light of fireworks that formed the number two followed by the number four. Everyone was in a good mood that particular evening. Men had come to make small talk with their Queen, women had complemented the pale woman with her appearance. It was one of those formal nights again which were made to create deals and secure the friendships the palace had with the nobles.

'I must admit that the fireworks were a bit much,' a voice broke the boring conversation in which Dawna had been in. 'But then again, it's very you.'

A satisfied smile formed itself on her lips automatically before her lips excused herself from the important man. Slowly, the pale Queen turned around and faced the dotted woman who was dressed in a simple, long red dress that fell on the ground. It was not much, yet the Queen knew that either she or her grandmother had spent many nights sewing it.

'I am glad to hear that you saw that part,' the white-haired woman spoke. 'Nice dress. Handmade I suppose?'

The other woman looked at her dress before turning to her Queen again. 'Yes, I made it myself,' her voice spoke before she shook her head slowly. 'With a little help from my oma, obviously.'

'Obviously,'the pale woman spoke while a smile tried to break through on her lips.

'Your dress looks very expensive. Is it handmade too?'

'Probably,' Dawna shrugged. 'I never checked though. Now tell me, how is little Loöys doing?'

Pixie took a step closer and allowed the pale woman to take in her scent. 'Well, he is still crying a lot, eating a lot and pooping even more. Are you sure that you dont want take a diaper change shift?'

'Quite positive about that one, actually.'

The dotted woman laughed softly, causing the other womans heart to be filled with the sound of it. 'So, are you enjoying your birthday party?'

Dawna rolled her eyes before straightening her dress. 'If all those people would not be so boring I might.'

'Where did all the interesting people go?'

'You tell me.'

'Then what am I doing here?' the dotted woman asked. 'Why did you invite me?'

A mischievous smile formed itself on her plump lips as the pale woman offered Pixie a hand. 'I needed someone to dance with, obviously.'

During one of their many talks Pixie had made it clear to her that she hated dancing. Especially formal dancing. On her wedding day she had refused to do the opening dance with her husband. Dawna had promised the other woman there and then that she would teach her how to dance and the pale woman had kept her word. With slight yet joking force the two had danced and danced together until the stars made room for the sun again in the morning.

'Obviously,' the dotted woman responded, smirking proudly when Dawna pulled her brow in. 'However, that doesn't mean that I will do it.'

'If one of these people even tend to laugh at you I will make sure that they will burn even beyond this world, you do know that right?'

The woman with the dark eyes nodded before her teeth started to torture her lower lip. 'That's exactly what I am afraid of.'

'You with your stupid moral code.'

'You without your moral code,' the dotted woman spoke before rolling her dark eyes and placing her smaller hand in her Queen's. 'If anyone laughs you will just remove them from the party. No one will die tonight, alright?'

A sigh left her plump lips. 'Where is the fun in that?'

'If you promise me that you will not kill anyone tonight, I will dance with you.'

'Fine,' the pale woman spoke with a childish whining voice. 'I promise, mother dearest.'

Once again, Pixie rolled her dark eyes before she allowed Dawna to take her towards the dance floor. Everyone stepped aside for the pair as they walked to the middle of the floor. The pale Queen nodded towards the orchestra before they started to play a soft tune.

Soon, the two were dancing and mostly laughing. If it was not for the hours they had practised together the two would have fallen over each others feet. Yet, they both knew what to do and how to react to the other persons body.

For the public eye, it looked as if they had been dancing partners for years and years.

'No one is laughing yet, right?' the dotted woman asked as she made a small pirouette.

'Of course not,' the pale Queen reacted. 'I threatened them before you arrived.'

'You didn't!' Pixie shouted as she tried to loosen Dawnas grip on her; in which she miserably failed.

A soft laugh left the oldest womans lips before she pulled the other woman closer.

'Just joking,' her voice whispered in a singing tone. 'I might have put something in the drinks, however. None of these people will remember anything from tonight unless all the happy and crappy things that they want to tell themselves.'

'Why would you poison everyone?'

'Well not everyone, obviously. You have not drunk it, right?'

The dotted woman shook her head before she took a step away from the Queen and took over her dominance. 'I knew you would do something.'

'Look who knows all my secret tricks,' the white-haired woman spoke somewhat proudly. 'I suppose it is not really a trick anymore now you know the truth. So, are you going to run away from your evil Queen now?'

'Quite the contrary,' the woman with the short dark hair spoke. 'I might even drink some of that stuff you are feeding everyone. Perhaps I will forget about your terrible dance-moves then.'

'Oh, you are good,' the pale woman laughed. 'I should keep you.'

'As a pet? Fine, give me a little blanket and a collar and I will join Looky.'

'He does have the best place in the realm; my lap. Many people would kill for it.'

'Really?' the dotted woman asked before forcing her to make a pirouette. 'Who? I am sure that they havent been born yet and that they will never be born.'

The pale woman could not help but laugh before the music faded away; telling the both of them that their dance was over.

'Come on,' Dawna whispered. 'This party is boring anyways.'

'Aren't you supposed to make allies and everything during this party?'

A frown appeared in her head before she shrugged slowly. 'No one will remember, and besides, if they ever choose to make a move against me or my family, I will personally make sure that they will never see the sunlight again. They are only here to feed their own egos with the thought that I found them important enough to invite.'

'It's sad that they won't remember the evening.'

'Like I said; they will make their own version of this night. Most of them will think that I spoke to them for longer than a moment and worst-case scenario someone will think that I actually agreed to marrying one of their pig sons.'

'Would that be so bad? Marrying someone new, I mean.'

As they reached the balcony and insane laugh left her plump lips as she shook her head. 'Are you actually suggesting that I get married again? Not everyone can be as lucky as you and find the love of their lives, or whatever that shit means.'

'Aren't you lonely than?'

'Of course I am not; I got everyone I need right here.'

'What happened to your first husband anyways?' Pixie asked curiously. 'Allow me to make a wild guess; he didn't die because he suffered from a deadly disease or because his heart stopped or anything. My guess is that a certain Queen had grown tired of her husband.'

Dawna grinned as the imaged of her screaming husband filled her mind. 'Something like that. Let me just say that he was louder in the dungeon than he had ever been in bed.'

'So you murdered him?'

'Murder, murder, murder,' Dawna spoke in a humming tone. 'What does it actually mean?'

'Well according to the dictionary murder means the unlawful premeditated of one human being by another. So, there is your definition.'

'How can you be so sure that I am human?'

'Well, aren't you?'

'Funny creatures: humans. They always tend to make others believe that they are the best thing that could have ever happened to the world, yet they destroy it by building castles and villages. People are rather selfish too, you know. I am sure that there is not one soul in there that would kill another if it meant that it would save themselves or their loved ones. Humans are just like other animals, only they can walk on two paws instead of four or more and they can think and remember things for longer than a few years.'

'What makes you think that you are not human?'

Dawna shrugged before her bright blue eyes met dark brown. 'To be human one must show the better qualities of humankind, such as kindness. I do not do kindness.'

'Saving my son and me was kind of kind,' the dotted woman replied. 'Or did you have another motive for that too? Is my son now brand marked by you and are you going to brainwash him?'

'I cannot believe how soon you can figure me out; it took my therapists years to get through to me and here you are, a simply girl from the villages who can unlock any secret.'

Both their laughs filled the chilly air before Pixie turned back to her Queen.

'You never told me that you saw therapists?'

'Well, you know, after a rather traumatizing childhood some thought that I could be saved. Or at least they thought that there was still a little sane part in my brain.'

'There isn't?'

'I am sure that somewhere, deep down my brain there is a sane part. Everyone has one,' the pale woman shrugged. 'However, I do not wish to seek it. Many people think that my childhood had turned me in the person I am today, and they are all wrong. Sanity is weird and something I am not looking for. Why be a boring grey fish in a grey sea when you can have all the colours of the rainbow? Besides, what does it even mean to be sane?'

A short silence fell since neither one of them knew the answer to Dawnas question, causing the two women to simply stand next to each other. The sky was filled with the most beautiful and bright stars that seemed to shine for the two of them. It did not matter that none of them had anything to say because Dawna felt heard for the first time in years. Pixie seemed to fuel her engine with an oil she had never seen before. The dotted woman challenged her and was not afraid to take a risk. It was weird how the pale woman wanted so badly to trust the other woman, especially since they had only met around four months ago.

'Do you sometimes wish that you could take it all back? Every bad thing that ever happened to you and every person you killed?'

'No,' the Queen answered. 'All those things made me who I am today. My life may have been a living hell, but it is my hell. I know how to dance with the right demons, and I know how to survive on my own.'

'It must be lonely in that hell though.'

'Not at all,' the pale woman answered. 'It is never quiet there.'

All of a sudden, a guard burst the door open with a loud bang that immediately caused them both to look up. The man was sweating badly, and his face had an abnormal red colour underneath the surface.

'Your majesty I'm so sorry,' the man stumbled before he turned over to the other woman. 'Lady Pixie I am even sorrier to inform you that your husband has been found dead in his chambers this evening.'

'What?' the dotted woman asked. 'What are you talking about? Dawna, what is he talking about? What is happening, I dont understand. What is happening?'

The dotted woman was clearly in shock as she demanded the guard to speak again. Her face had become awfully pale and her hands were shaking. The Queen was rather curious to know what had happened and shared none of the shock and pain the other woman felt.

'I'm sorry, my Lady, your husband is dead.'

'No, no, no,' Pixie mumbled as tears started to escape her eyes. 'No! You are lying.'

Before the pale Queen could stop herself, she grabbed the other womans hand before her other hand slapped her cheek loudly.

'Now is not the time to have a breakdown,' her voice warned the other woman. 'We will go to your place and check this fact ourselves. Then, and only then can you break down, just not in front of your son. Okay?'

The pale woman felt little sympathy for the other woman, especially since she had killed her own husband. Yet, part of her forced her to support her newfound friend by being there for her. So that was exactly was she was going to do.

'O-Okay,'Pixie whispered softly before she allowed Dawna to wipe away her tears. 'Okay.'