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goldenworldsabound · 6 years

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Royalty AU: Hailstorm II

Sequel to The Hailstorm

All too soon it was time for snuggles to stop and for the Princess and her guards to prepare for the ceremony. The dress she typically wore for occasions like this was complex and difficult to wear, so Urbosa guarded Wendy as two maids assisted her in getting the dress on, while the other three guards attended to other matters.

Spock had been asked to discuss something with the King in his position as an advisor. He was glad for the distraction away from the thought of the ceremony. Spock liked these the least out of anyone. So many citizens, each a melting pot of emotions that would feel like an onslaught against him...the people in the castle tended to guard their emotions better. The royalty was obligated to, for appearances’ sake and formality, and the staff were required to by the royalty. Spock was grateful for this within the walls of the castle, but he always needed to brace himself outside of it.

Shizuo simply hated crowds. He couldn’t say he enjoyed any part of being in front of a large group of people. And the more people, the more danger for the princess, and the more likely it was that someone would set him off. He had embarrassed her once before with his inability to control his temper, and he was scared of doing it again. As he mentally prepared, he ironed and prepped the elite guards’ formal uniforms, and polished the weapons they’d each be carrying. In his case, it was mostly just for show, since he really didn’t need a weapon to be effective, but that wasn’t common knowledge. The citizens didn’t know much about him, so to see a guard without a weapon would be odd for them.

Mizuki was calling in a few favors with the local crime lords. It was generally agreed that they would not do anything disruptive during the royal ceremonies - that was one of the conditions that allowed these criminal organizations to continue to exist, and to occasionally make deals with the castle, through Mizuki. Mizuki had come from a group like these before he’d joined the royal guard, so he knew his way around them, but he made a point to make it clear to them that he owed them no favors, and neither did the royalty. Checking on them before the ceremony was a formality, since they typically played by the rules he had set in place, but also a chance to find out if anything new had popped up that they should be wary of. As for the ceremony itself, he found it amusing, but was mostly apathetic.

Urbosa didn’t have time to do anything, but she spent some time with her thoughts as Wendy huffed and sighed as she was shoved into the formal dress. She didn’t mind the ceremonies. She had been a high ranking general, after all, and for someone in her position there was always ceremony after ceremony to attend to. The organization and formality of it was comforting in a way. She’d spent most of her life in some form of military service at this point. Of course, ceremonies with the Princess as a focal point were a bit different, but many of the principles still applied.

And the Princess herself? Despite her grumbling about how difficult it was to put on and wear the formal dress (it was really quite a pain), and her total exhaustion given the events of the past three days, she seemed pleased at the prospect.

If you asked her about it, and the guards had, she would say something like, “It’s my duty to protect the citizens, and it warms my heart to see how grateful they are.” Her words sounded sincere each time, her smile big and warm. And she couldn’t deny that she liked the attention. She felt a bit bad when people brought gifts - she almost never had a use for them, and she was certain it had been a lot of effort for the gift-givers. But even so, the ceremonies were part of life for her, as the Princess. There was never a shortage of formalities and meetings and ceremonies to attend to. But this one was all about appreciating her, which made it different.

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There were always those who showed up with intention to harm the royal family. That was just the way it was.

As the princess gave her warm and heartfelt speech about how happy she was to protect the citizens, one such person hurled a small rock at her direction from the front of the crowd.

Mizuki and Urbosa were the most seasoned fighters and reacted the quickest to the situation. Mizuki swung out his cane in front of the princess, knocking the rock away. He grinned as he saw that Urbosa had already jumped off the stage to hold up the offending man by the collar, glaring at him silently as he struggled in her grasp.

Shizuo moved in front of her protectively as Mizuki lowered his cane, looking out across the crowd for any further troublemakers. These people rarely acted alone...ah. There was one, and there was two. Nodding at Spock, he jumped off the stage as well, stabbing his cane forward and stopping just short of the troublemaker’s neck. The man had been running toward the stage but he stopped now, sweating and looking a bit terrified at the smirk on Mizuki’s mouth.

“I wouldn’t recommend trying anything.” Mizuki hissed, opened his scarred eye (revealing a fake eye that fell squarely in the uncanny valley) to glare menacingly at the man.

In the meantime, Spock had slipped through the crowd and come up behind the third man, using the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the man’s shoulder. He collapsed to the ground.

A squadron of regular guards ran out to assist with the arrests, allowing the elite guards to return to the stage, gathering around the princess once more. She nodded to each of them, smiling a bit. They were so incredibly effective, she never felt like her life was in danger.

She was ready to speak again, but some words of the whispering crowd were beginning to reach her and what she heard amused her enough that she listened for a moment.

“Who is that guard with the scarred eye? He’s scary! But I heard a rumor that the Princess has a thing with him…”

“What, no way! I’m pretty sure I heard that she and Urbosa take long walks in the garden where no one else can see, it’s gotta be her the Princess has a thing with.”

“But did you see the way that blonde one moved in front of her? That felt like more than just protecting her…”

“She and Spock are obviously closest, he never touches anyone with his skin if he can avoid it but I heard he willingly lets her touch him! That’s a big deal for a touchpath, right?!”

She suppressed a giggle, and then cut off the crowd’s rowdy talk by raising her hand and clearing her throat. All attention was back to her.

“Thank you to my elite guards for protecting me.” The four guards bowed their heads to her. The crowd clapped.

“I am honored to have had the chance to protect my wonderful citizens. Please join us inside the castle hall for a celebratory feast.”

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The Princess and her guards watched the throngs of people moving about in the castle hall, eating food and chattering. Again she could hear the occasional comment about which guard might be her lover, and she smiled a bit with each one.

The King, the Queen, and the Princess, plus each of their sets of guards were on a raised platform at the end of the hall, safely out of reach of any of the guests. The King and the Queen did not react as favorably as Wendy did to guests gossiping about their daughter and her potential illicit love life. She could see their faces darkening as the words wafted up to them.

She didn’t mind, and she’d learned not to mind her parents long ago. She’d never developed the close relationship with them she was sure they would have liked.

There wasn’t much for them to do up there. They’d eat specially prepared food after the fact. Wendy found herself getting distracted with the conversations of the guests. Oh, here were two arguing over which guard she’d go for...she stifled a giggle and a smile at their thoughts. No, that line of reasoning was all wrong, and she enumerated for herself some of the reasons she loved her guards so much.

It wasn’t that she had a thing for blondes that made her love Shizuo. It was the way with which he cared for her, completely losing it over the smallest things. The way he was shy about romance and love. And he had a boyish cuteness to him as well.

She almost giggled at the idea that Mizuki was a part of her rebellious phase or some such nonsense. Certainly he looked intimidating, but that devilish smirk never failed to charm her. That intimidating aura was always used to protect her, and he looked out for her even if it meant risking insubordination. And despite his roughness, he always regarded her gently.

People seemed confused in general over why she’d choose Spock. Because of his intelligence, they mused. He was so much more than that. The feelings of love and care that flowed out of him when he touched her couldn’t be described. He was gentle, and she loved his high cheekbones and the way he’d blush green when she approached him with romance.

Of course, people were actually pretty spot on about why she’d been initially attracted to Urbosa. Urbosa was exceptionally muscular, and very easy on the eyes. She held herself with the most confidence out of the four. She was well known by the citizens for her heroic deeds as a general. But Wendy knew that she was also an absolutely doting lover, strong but soft, extremely compassionate and kind.

Wendy wished a little bit that she could simply yell to everyone, “I love them all! They are beautiful and wonderful and they are mine, and they love me too!” Put those rumors to rest, see the shocked looks on everyone’s faces. A part of her wanted everyone to know how much she loved them. But of course she couldn’t do that. It was inappropriate for a Princess to be caught in such a scandalous position. She dreaded the potential day that a suitor would approach her, or worse that her parents would approach her about marriage themselves. She would put it off for as long as she could.

She frowned for a moment. In fact, she was a bit old for an unmarried princess now, wasn’t she? That didn’t bode well…

She realized suddenly that all the guards were inconspicuously eyeing her since she started frowning. She smiled warmly, leaning her head back. She’d figure something out, if she had to. She wouldn’t lose them, at all costs.

#royalty au #fic

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