~Hailea's POV~

My maids come early the next morning.
"Up Princess. Today is the day you must show the castle that you are ready to take the throne." One says. I don't move. I had no energy to even speak. Tears slide down my face, and my maids look at me.
"Oh dear this won't do. What is wrong dear?" The head maid, Allison, asks. I just cry harder. She sighs.
"Tell her father that she is unable to present herself today." She orders another maid. I hear my door open and a voice.
"Is Hailea in there?" The voice asks. It's Melody. I get Allison's attention and tell her to let Melody in. Melody rushes over to my bed.
"Are you alright?" She asks. I shake my head.
"I haven't told you the story." I tell her. She looks at me quizzically, and I take a deep breath, then tell her everything with the special wall that comes with soul mates.
"And so Kirby just left....but the problem is....I love him." I admit to her. She takes my hands and looks at me.
"Hailea, if it's meant to be it will happen. Kirby is one guy, and just because that's special wall went up, doesn't mean Philip is your soul mate. It can also happen when the caster has immense power." She says to me. I nod slowly, the words sinking in.
"Now, let's go show these losers that you are your own person and can't be told what to do." Melody laughs and helps me out of bed, and into a gorgeous dress. She was in one also, which was weird. She usually hates dresses, and skirts. She notices me staring and sighs.
"I didn't want to and I hate it but they said I have to." She groans. I smile apologetically, then we walk out of my room and find Serena. All of us looked like we could be real princesses.

[Outfits: www.polyvore.com/hailea_melody_se... ]

We enter the throne room, and find Eddie, Drew and Philip already there. Kirby was nowhere to be found. My heart sank. Melody and Serena trek over to the boys, as I walk up to my father on the throne. He gestures for me to sit in the smaller throne in between two large ones. I oblige, and watch as people file into the throne room, while it is being filled, a woman with stark white hair and a dark grey and black gown, sits in the throne on my left.
"Oh Hailea, this is Isabella, your step mother." My father says and smiles at her. I nod my head to her.
"Pleasure to meet you." I say to her. She sniffs disdainfully but nods in return. As the fanfare if trumpets blares, everything goes silent. A page appears in the center of the room.
"Before we begin welcoming our princess, we must present to her a criminal, that she must deal justice to, and prove that she will uphold the rules and laws of our people!" He announces. I turn to my father.
"You didn't say anything about this." I say. He nods.
"It was a last minute idea. BRING IN THE PRISONER." My father tells me then shouts to the room. Someone who was battered and bloody was paraded towards us, and when they got closer, I realized who it was. My heart stopped. It was a woman, and something in my brain clicked. The woman was my mom, my birth mom that is. She is led to a platform on the side of the room that was raised to where everyone could see. The page turns to the thrones.
"This woman, Iris, has been convicted of kidnapping the princess, and hiding her away. We have also discovered she changed the name of the princess, to hide her. The princess' real name is Zinnia." The Page proclaims. Everyone turns to me, to see what I will do. I gulp, stand up, and take a deep breath.
"This woman, is not guilty of any crime. She was doing what she thought was right for me at the time. Nobody can blame her for wanting the princess to grow up in the world, so that she may get to learn all about how it works. Iris shall go free." I decree, and the crowd cheers. My friends all nod and clap. I sit back down, while my father glares at me furiously. More trumpets sound, and Allison slowly advances towards the stage, holding a pillow with the crown I saw when I got here on it. As she approaches, the page starts reading off of a scroll.
"People of the Shadow Organization, may I present to you, the girl who will lead us into prosperity, your princess, Zinnia!" The Page finishes as the tiara is placed on my head in front of everyone. I sit down, and the ceremony finishes. When it's just my friend, my parents and I left, my father slaps me.
"You stupid girl! You were supposed to execute the criminal!" He shouts. Melody rushes over.
"She did what she thought was right! Just because you don't agree with it doesn't make it the wrong choice! A good ruler shows mercy as well." Melody glares at him. This makes my father even more enraged. He snaps his fingers and guards grab Melody.
"Send her to the dungeon with the other one." He commands, and they all disappear. I peel off my shoes and run to my room, not caring who follows me. Entering my room, I slam the door shut, then collapse into tears. What could I do? There's no way I can learn to use my powers, and my best friend is in the dungeon. Oh Kirby...where are you?

~Kirby's POV~

I can hear the ceremony even down here in the dungeon. I sit against the grimy wall, tears refusing to fall. She probably thinks I hate her. Suddenly, someone is thrown into the cell with me. They turn to look at me, and I realize it's Melody.
"Kirby?" She asks. I nod.
"Why are you down here?" I ask her.
"I kind of told off the king. But he slapped Hailea, well, Zinnia, and I wasn't going to let anyone get away with hurting her." She explains.
"Is she alright?" I question.
"I don't know. Her father is really mean to her, and on top of that her heart is broken." She tells me.
"What happened?" I ask another question.
"She's in love with you Kirby, and you left her because you don't think you can be with her." She looks me dead in the eye. I turn away, as the tears spill.
"She has a soulmate. I can't get in the way of that." I whisper.
"You idiot. Don't you realize her wall was made up of ONLY Darkness? That means her soulmate is a Darkness Wielder. Not a Light Wielder." Melody angrily says to me. I clench my fists. I have to make things right.