A/n I'm sorry for not updating in ages! I have no excuse... Just loss of motivation...

Chapter IV: Sweet or Sinister?

The Royal family gasped, a sound of shock leaving their lips as their carriage had stopped at their destination. 
The Kingdom of Lotia.

There were only two Elven kingdoms, Lotia and Osa, Princess Seladon's being Osa.

"Woah..." The young princess' eyes widened in awe as she stuck her head out the window, only to be immediately pulled into her mother's lap, "Seladon, this is where you have to act like a lady, respectable and elegant."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the impossible request the young girl flicked her hair over her shoulder in slight sass before nodding her head in understanding, "Of course mother."

She was the first to step out of the carriage, getting a little too carried away with her independence, her parents following their daughter, keeping a close eye on her, fearing that if they looked away for two seconds she would run away.

"Welcome, King Rayner and Queen Angelita, welcome to Lotia," A plump, man of average height bowed his head in respect, his hair a musky grey and his eyes closed in respect, "follow me, the royal highness' are waiting for you in the garden." He was not at all phased by the three guards surrounding Seladon and her parents, instead, leading the family to the garden.

Seladon's blue eyes wandered, taking grasp of every nook and cranny the castle had to offer, she gave her head a slight nod, approving with the choice of decor displayed on the walls, "Very pretty..." her mouth slightly opened and she voiced her opinion quietly to herself.

The man who guided them to the garden gave one last bow and bid his dues before he left to partake in his duties. Seladon watched as her parents greeted the King and Queen of Lotia with respect and she followed suit, bowing her head down and performing a curtsey.

"Welcome, we are pleased to finally be acquainted with you." The Queen spoke, her hair purple, looking to be dyed shone in the sun as she spoke to Seladon's parents before looking down at the said child.

A smile on her lips as she crouched down to the eleven-year-old's level and opened her mouth, "You must be Seladon, very pretty," Her eyes closed and her lips curved up in a polite smile, "my son, Markus, he's hiding behind the daisy bush," her tone became more hushed as if she was whispering a secret to Seladon, "he's very shy but he'd love the company."

Seladon nodded in acknowledgement, her eyes wandering and wavering around, looking for the said daisy bush before the Queen of Lotia pointed at a particular location with a wink.

The young princess stepped away from her parents, giving them a look as if to ask, 'is it really okay if I leave?' 

Upon receiving a nod from her father Seladon was on her way, her feet colliding with the stone pathway, her shoes clicking, alerting anyone nearby of her presence.
"Hello?" She spoke, now in front of the said bush, the beautiful white flowers glistened, having been freshly watered.

Seladon let out a small huff, her eyes locking on a figure hiding inside of the flowers, sitting on her knees the young elf began parting the flowers, in an attempt to uncover the hiding silhouette.

"EEK!"

Seladon jumped back in surprise, it wasn't her that had screamed but whoever it was had given her quite a fright, her knees scraped against the pavement and she fell forward, landing inside the flower bush. "O-Ouch..."

"A-Ah I'm s-so sorry!" A young boy, looking to be her age stood as still and stiff as a deer stuck in headlights, his hair a shiny silver and his eyes a brisk blue, "Let me help you!" He had flushed cheeks as he held his hand out for Seladon to grab.

"It's okay..." The young princess intertwined her hand with his, causing the poor boy's face to redden at the contact before recollecting himself and pulling her up to her feet.
"I'm Seladon, what's your name?" She broke the silence, gently shaking her hand out of his grasp.

The young boy twiddled his thumbs, looking anywhere but Seladon, it was as if he was scared of her, "I'm Markus..."

"Well Markus," Seladon stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders, the height difference between the two was almost nonexistent, "You don't have to be so worried, I won't hurt you." She offered a kind smile, stepping back and removing her hands from his shoulders. allowing him to have his personal space back.

His blue eyes slowly locked onto Seladon as he took in her appearance, "You're pretty..." Mumbling under his breath his face exploded in a crimson hue upon realising what he had just said, "W-Wait I mean you're... you're!" his eyes darted around in sheer panic before landing on her left knee, "hurt..."

"Huh?" Seladon looked down at her knee, "Oh, it appears I am..." 

"I'm, so sorry!" Markus dropped his head in a bow, his eyes burning, a few tears prickling the corners of his eyes, "If I wasn't so shy I wouldn't have overreacted, you wouldn't have gotten hurt and I-"

"Woah, Woah, stop!" Seladon placed her index finger over the boy's lips to silence him, "Raise your head please." The boy slowly raised his head, unable to look into her eyes, small sniffles came from his nose.

Seladon reached her arms out, leaning forward and embracing the boy in her arms, "It's okay, I don't mind, it was an accident!" she rubbed circles in his back for a good ten seconds before going to pull away.

But before she could she felt two arms wrap around her torso. Markus hugged her back as he sniffled into her chest, "I'm sorry, this is why I don't have friends..." he muttered under his breath, "If not because of my title but because I'm not strong and confident like all the other boys, I'll get made fun of."

Shaking her head Seladon let out a small sigh, she knew about toxic gender norms back in her previous life. How men weren't allowed to cry or show any kind of emotion without being labelled weak, was really unfair and it irked her how it also took place in this world.

"Everyone is allowed to feel things, everyone's allowed to be sad, emotional, weak regardless of gender. Your gender doesn't define you."

Markus let out a sniff before removing his arms from Seladon's torso, resulting in the two breaking the hug, "Thank you," he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, "Can I at least clean your wound as an apology?" He asked meekly as Seladon wouldn't let him apologise for accidentally hurting her.

"Of course!"

"And one last thing, princess Seladon."

"You can just call me Seladon."

"Right... Seladon, will you be my friend?"

Seladon's lips curved upward in a smile as she nodded her head in eagerness, "Of course, I will!"

All her thoughts about the marriage set in stone for the two of them completely slipped their mind, they didn't even think of it once during the whole encounter. All they thought of was their new friendship and how happy it made the two of them.

♡ ♡ ♡

"That wasn't so bad now was it my dearest?" Queen Angelita flashed her daughter a smile, however, the young girl winced when rubbing alcohol had made contact with the open graze on her knee.

"No, it wasn't." She spoke with clenched teeth, being a complete crybaby with pain.
Seladon was grateful for the young prince attending her injuries but he lacked knowledge, applying some antibiotic cream to the wound and a bandaid. 

Angelita apologised to her daughter about the pain she had put her through by wrapping her wound as she placed the bandage around her knee firmly, "You're so strong, my Seladon Abel." 

"Thank you..." The young elf muttered with pink cheeks before deflecting her embarrassment, "Can I go play now? Outside that is?"

"That depends, will you run away?"

Seladon shook her head, "No," and placed her left arm behind her back, mocking a stretching movement but what her mother didn't see was her index and middle finger crossed together.

Catching her mother's trust Seladon ran out the door, venturing into the withers. She snuck past countless guards as she was on a stealth mission not to be caught.
Her eyes widened once she had come into contact with the transparent dome, keeping everyone inside safe from the outside world.

Seladon went through the barrier, once again leaving her kingdom, having a fascination with exploring.

"Should I visit Alton again?" She recalled her merman friend, her lips puckering into a pout when she thought about how lonely he would be by himself.

She roamed the forest, searching for the lake she had found Alton the first time, only to stumble into something sturdy, "Ah!" Startled, Seladon let out a noise, clenching her eyes shut as she lost her balance, not wanting to see herself fall.

Only her fall didn't come.

She slowly opened her eyes only for them to widen, a blush on her face when she had come to the realisation she was in someone's arms.

"O-Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to run into you!" She removed herself from the strangers grasp and bowed her head down. Her eyes however weren't looking at the ground but were staring at the boy in front of her, his dusk red eyes caused a chill to slither down her spine, his silky, wavy black hair looked perfect and soft but there was one thing which stood out to her the most.

He had wings.

Two, small black, fluffy wings.

"Tch," The young boy spoke, "You should be sorry! Do you even know where you are?" He crossed his arms over his chest and have a small huff.
Seladon lifted her head and stared at the boy with a raised eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

An irk mark appeared on the boy's forehead, his wings frilled up, similar to a feline's fur when they are aggravated, "Hah? Excuse YOU? You're the one who needs to be excused, you're in my parts! Everything here is MINE!"

Seladon was blatantly shocked with his attitude, "I'm sorry, how old are you?" Her question seemed rhetorical and laced with confusion. Just who did this boy think he was?

"You don't know who I am?" He scoffed, muttering a few curses under his breath in a language Seladon wasn't at all familiar with. She was tempted to tell him, 'Excuse me, let's keep it in English yeah?' but she was afraid he would explode in anger so she kept her mouth shut.

Her silence was enough to answer the young boy's question, he opened his mouth to speak, arms still over his chest and left eye twitching, "Tenebris but that's Prince Tenebris to you peasant." 

"Prince?" She questioned curiously, "What kingdom are you a prince of?"

"Your ignorance is disgusting!" He pointed at the young elf, "Just where do you belong, clearly they don't teach you shit where you're from!"

'Woah...Language...'

Seladon slowly nodded with wide eyes, confused yet curious, "Uh, huh that didn't answer my question."

"Tch." He tsked, "Literally useless," he rolled his red eyes before looking Seladon up and down, blatantly judging her, "Prince of the Demons because you obviously can't tell!"

The young elf's eyes widened and she took a small step back, she had heard stories of demons and how they loved to cause chaos and destruction, especially to her race. You see, Demons weren't fond of elves at all, as they were the type to promote life, nature, kindness, they were polar opposites.

Seladon gulped her fear away, determined to not let this demon get his way, "How old are you?"

"I'm thirteen."

"Oh cool! I'm eleven!" She replied to his dry response with enthusiasm, "Um, anyway, I'm sorry I got in your way, I'll just be going now." She stepped away from the young boy only being stopped in her tracks by a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, that's a no. You see, this is my turf, everything here belongs to me and I don't need you fucking anything of mine up. So I'm coming with you to make sure you don't try anything funny."

A sigh slipped Seladon's lips however she gave a small nod, "Uh-huh, yeah sure whatever floats your boat, your highness." She spoke with hidden sarcasm and was relieved the demon didn't pick up on it.

Seladon sat down at a lake, finding the home of her merman friend and her tag along followed her actions, "Why are we here?"

"I'm visiting my friend." Was her response, as dry as his question.

The water in front of the two began to whirl as if there were a whirlpool underneath, however, Seladon wasn't worried. Her smile just grew bigger.

"Hey, Alton!" As soon as the words left her lips a figure jumped from the water, mimicking a dolphin's actions before plopping back in with a splash. Seladon giggled and shielded her face from the droplets of water and Tenebris scoffed.

The merman boy tread water, his upper body surfaced as he swam to the edge of the lake, resting his arms against the dirt, "Hi Seladon!" Alton's accent was still heavy but his English skills had improved drastically, even Seladon was impressed.

"How have you been?" The young elf smiled at her friend, genuinely curious about him as it has been a few weeks since they had last spoken.

"I missed you...who is this?" Alton's smile faltered as his eyes landed on Tenebris, his eyes narrowing slightly, waiting for Seladon's response.

"Oh um..." She hesitated, the hesitation made Alton nervous, he already didn't like the fact that Seladon had someone else with her, for all he knew Seladon was his friend and his alone, nobody else could have her.
"This is my friend Tenebris..." The way she spoke made it clear she was unsure of what she was saying as she tucked her hair behind her ear to calm her nerves.

Unknowingly to her, she had just exposed herself to Tenebris in the process.

As she had moved her hair behind her ear, this resulted in her pointy ears which was the trademark of her race being put on display to the demon beside her.

Tenebris' red eyes widened as they locked onto her ears, curious as to why an elf was out this deep into the forest, being one of the most vulnerable and important races it was stupid for them to leave their protective barrier.

His lips curled into a small smirk, "Yeah, we're friends, why, you jealous? because you're going to see a lot more of me from now on."

Tenebris had a plan.

A plan to use Seladon to get into the barrier and cause destruction over her race.

A plan to make his ancestors proud when he does the one thing they could not.

And nothing was going to stop him from achieving his goal because he always, gets what he wants.

//End Of Chapter//