A Different Ending

P.S I'm changing the thoughts into this so it's easier to read.

Chapter 16. Chaos In Alexandria

There was another short pause before a serious stern voice replied from inside the queen's locked chamber.

"No I already said! I want time alone! Go away!"

The young maid sighed tiredly, finally accepting defeat. All morning from sunrise many people had tried to urge the depressed queen out of her dark quarters to serve her breakfast and tea, or at least get her out of the gloom. But to no avail. The heart-broken mother was persistent and stubborn and flat-out refused to be fed or seen whatsoever. She wanted time to herself, but there we also many other people who needed her time too. The maid straightened her white uniform skirts before running down the gleaming marble staircase and walking quickly back to the dinning room, knowing that she would be scolded again. Sitting at the other end of the rosewood dinning table laden with colourful fruit platters and bowls of porridge sat Princess Carol, chuckling good-heartedly as a young waitress happily feed the toddler fruit mush. Everyone in the room stopped pacing the dinning room floor worriedly and stared at the suddenly panicking maid. Even Carol, who didn't know what the real fuss was about had stopped laughing to stare confused at the nervous girl. The maid with the uncomfortable news whose name was Sarai fiddled with her white apron shakily, nervously clearing her throat to report the news.

"Her Highness…has flat-out refused…to leave the chamber and wishes…to see no one…except family and fiancé…for the whole…day." Sarai shyly piped out, wincing as she heard everyone sigh, very frustrated. A middle aged man dressed in a simple blue tunic and cotton robe grunted louder than everyone else in the room.

"Many need to see Her Highness very soon! We cannot hold them off any longer!" He explained desperately, wiping sweat from his oily forehead. People's heads nodded in agreement, sighing tiredly.

"I cannot keep warming up the porridge! It will ruin the fresh taste! Now the fruits are turning yellow! Third round of fruits gone to waste!" The short head chef of the famous Alexandrian kitchens exclaimed urgently, pointing at the yellowing fruits and cold porridge on the dinning table. Other chefs in the room nodded continuously, mumbling endlessly about neglected food.

"We know this is all very urgent but you must remember: Her Highness has just suffered a very hurtful argument with her daughter and truthfully she would have been worse if it weren't for her strong character. She's suffered hard blows like this before and she just needs to talk herself through the pain. She needs to be alone." Freya interrupted strongly, putting meaning into her speech to protect the queen, her companion Dagger. Everyone stopped their complaining for a few moments and thought meaningfully about the hurtful incident that had happened last night. They all went silent as people looked guiltily at each other, regretting their previous complaints. Vivi smiled in admiration at Freya, awed that she could make such a meaningful speech and secretly hoped he could do such things when he was older.

"The fruits may yellow and the porridge may go cold and stale, but there is always plentiful porridge and fruits in the Alexandrian kitchens!" The head chef exclaimed proudly, waving his soup ladle around at everyone. With a smile he ran back into the kitchen with the rest of the chefs chattering busily. The minister in the cotton robe smiled cheerfully.

"If Her Highness does not want to see her visitors then, so be it! They will wait for Her Highness until she is content enough to speak with them!" He announced strongly. The people nodded, satisfied that all problems had been settled with. Just before everyone scattered off to do their own things, a shy voice piped up from the back of the room. Carol stopping her gurgling and stared confused at the new speaker along with everyone else.

"Wait! W-What about Princess June? Why is she not awake yet?" A young shy waitress asked nervously, not being used to 20 people staring at her at the same time. People looked around the room, looking for the princess. But, just as the young girl had said; Princess June was missing from the breakfast table.

"Don't worry everyone. I let the princess sleep in today because she was crying all night, I was sure she would have slept quite late. I'll go wake her now, it's about time anyway." A middle-aged woman dressed in a warm cotton robe like the man's walked forward into the entrance where all saw her. The young girl sighed deeply; glad the attention had shifted from her to someone else. The kind-looking woman walked out of the dinning room and out into the Main Hall. Up the marble staircase she went to the princess's chambers. Knocking gently on the dark rosewood door the woman called softly out to the sleeping princess.

"Princess, wake up now."

No answer. Not even a sound came back from the call. The woman was slightly bothered and tried again.

"Wake up princess. It is already well-into the morning now."

No answer again. This time the caretaker became worried, and slightly panicky. She calmed herself and tried calling again. Maybe the princess was sleeping very deeply and didn't hear her calls. She spoke again, this time slightly louder.

"Your highness, please wake up now. Breakfast is already ready for you."

Once again there was no answer. The lady, named Maria panicked. Quickly she thought of what could have happened. Trying to push the horrible thoughts away she settled on the task ahead and tried weighing the good and bad about going into the princess's chamber without permission. In the end she admitted that she needed to and tried turning the golden doorknob nervously. It wasn't locked. Thank goodness Maria thought thankfully and quickly but quietly turned the doorknob and entered the room.

She stood in darkness for a while, surprised that the windows had been closed so tight with heavy curtains shutting out any light from coming into the room. Slowly and gently she crept through the room, careful not to disturb anything from its place to reach the nearest window. With a soft clink, she pushed away the cotton curtains, opening the room to sudden brightness. When the whole room was filled with bright blinding sunlight, Maria moved over to the princess's ruffled bed, staring at the mountain of misplaced pillows and blankets everywhere on the bed curiously and slightly suspiciously. Like all the royal family, June was a very peaceful sleeper and rarely Maria had to actually make her bed because it barely moved in the night. Something was wrong.

Dismissing the thought from her head, Maria smiled kindly and walked over to the princess's bed, pulling some pillows gently of the sleeping girl. Removing one pillow at a time slowly, Maria started wondering why the princess June had taken so many pillows out of the cupboard. And soon she knew why.

The wise minister sitting comfortably in an armchair in the dinning room shot out alertly as soon as he heard Maria the caretaker's call. What! The princess…MISSING! The woman cleaning up Carol's breakfast stopped work immediately and gasped shocked.

"Princess June! Missing!" He exclaimed worriedly, running up to the panicking woman coming into the room and holding her shoulders firmly. Maria nodded vigorously, gasping to remain calm.

"Truly Sire! I checked the bed, she was not there! The whole bedroom and hallway, she's not anywhere there either!" Maria frantically reported, puffing for breath. A young kitchen hand ran up to them, urgency in his eyes.

"Care to the fainting woman quickly!" The minister ordered hurriedly, pointing at the young man. The boy nodded and helped the sweating woman to her room. Other people were starting panic endlessly. The word of the princess being missing had spread like wildfire through the workers and they started running to all the corners of the castle, yelling out "Princess June!".

The minister started sweating again. Taking out his small white napkin he dabbed his forehead of sweat as he yelled out orders.

"Weimar, tell the guard's of the princess's disappearance and tell them to look out for her. Do not let any of this information be known to the public!" Weimar who was currently flirting with a maiden from the kitchen shot upright and quickly replied, "Y-Yes, Sir!" and ran out of the castle hurriedly. Freya and Vivi, the queen's closest ministers ran up to the man, serious looks on their faces.

"We're going to scan the Alexandrian perimeter for June. We'll be back before nightfall, don't worry." Freya explained hurriedly, waiting for an answer. The leading minister nodded vigorously and the pair of experienced companions ran out of the castle swiftly. He then turned to Sarai.

"Sarai, go tell the queen about the disappearance." The young lady gasped, about to object shyly but the man held up a hand for silence and stared at her sternly. She blushed, embarrassed at objecting an order and ran up the marble staircase. Arriving at the queen's chamber door again she urgently rapped on the door.

"Your Highness!"

From inside there was a deep sigh of frustration. Hearing heavy footsteps approaching the door from inside, the door suddenly swung open to present a stern and frustrated Dagger staring at the maid impatiently. Sarai gulped nervously, the first time she'd seen the queen this annoyed.

"Sarai, what do you want this time?" Dagger asked tiredly, sighing deeply and softening her gaze. Sarai really felt sorry for the queen and really didn't want to report such disturbing news, but an order was an order and needed to be fulfilled.

"Your Highness, Princess June is missing from the castle!" Dagger froze in shock, her jaw dropping numbly. She took irregular breaths and held onto Sarai's patient hands desperately as she tried to process the information through her mind.

June…June my darling…I'm so sorry…! It's my entire fault!...Oh…what have I done…?

She could be in…trouble! She could be anywhere! I'm such a bad mother! How could I let…all this happen!

But deep inside…I knew something like this would happen! I could have stopped this!

Endless rivers of tears were pouring out the queen's eyes and she wept uncontrollably. Sarai, not being used to her highness holding onto her hand and crying stiffened sharply, holding her breath. After a while, Dagger slowly looked up at the frightened maid and gave a small but reassuring smile. Sarai lightened slightly by this but was still cautious. She gently helped the queen up from her knees and helped her smooth out her ruffled pink skirts. But it didn't matter, because before the maid knew what was happening the queen had run down the stairs hurriedly and flung herself into a certain monkey tailed man's arms. Dagger cried bitterly onto his chest, his hands reassuringly rubbing her back and stroking her hair. She knew he probably already knew and saw no need for an explanation.

"June…June…she's….she's…" She muttered hopelessly, staring at the exit of Alexandria Castle from where she would have escaped from.

"I'm so sorry Dagger…I never knew I would cause…so much problems…" He muttered sadly as he comforted the weeping highness, keeping his own feelings in check. Dagger drew away from her fiancé, shocked that he thought it was his own fault the princess ran away. She shook her head violently, indicating that he was completely wrong.

"No…don't blame yourself for my problems Zidane…because you are not the one at fault here…I knew she would attempt to run away…but yet I didn't stop her…I broke h-her heart deeply…I'd be glad if she chooses to remember me still…" Dagger admitted slowly, every point adding to more tears. Zidane pulled her into his embrace, stroking her back comfortingly, knowing the same hurt she was experiencing.

"It's not all your fault. She will be found. Vivi and Freya are looking for her now. Minister Cleon has sent out scouts in every direction from Alexandria Dagger." Zidane stated, smiling cheerfully. Dagger smiled back and suddenly stood upright, an excited smile lighting up her dull facial features. The answer had hit her hard and woke her up from a dizzy like daze.

"I know where June is!"