Behind his sister's throne, on a shelf with a massive pillow, Dandelion sat. His bronze eyes watched through the window across from him. Streaks of sunlight caught his golden hair as the sun rose. His tail was coiled under him, its tip a tuft of golden hair just like that on his head, and beautiful golden moth wings extended from his back. Luscious golden hair rolled down to his chest in slight waves, contrasting the two sharp black horns that rose from the top of his head. Elegant black silk was woven tight to his muscular body, cloaked shirt latched to a collar around his neck that was studded with emeralds. His sister insisted that her favorite subjects, of which her brother was one, wore collars with emeralds to match her emerald necklace, the Emerald Eye, which hung around her neck at all times. His caramel hands and face stuck out of the shiny dark clothing he always wore, per order of his sister as usual, making him a beautiful portrait of gold, black, caramel, bronze, and emerald.
The shadow of the guillotine in the sunrise window always landed on Dandelion first thing in the morning. As the sun rose, the shadow would slide down from Dandelion to his sister, Queen Buttercup, on her throne. She rarely left her throne. Ever since their zether, Zueen Golden, gave Buttercup the Emerald Eye and disappeared, Buttercup had held onto the throne and the Eye that made her Queen almost desperately. His sister slept on her throne, and Dandelion, being the loyal guard he was, slept on his pillow on the shelf behind her every night, ready to defend his sister from harm. A battleaxe was fastened to his belt on one side, a bow on the other. A quiver of arrows hung behind the bow, and in the wall behind Dandelion, more arrows could be found. It was otherwise a rather barren wall, Dandelion thought, in serious need of some decorations. He supposed, grimly, that he was Buttercup's decoration, a matching figure of menacing to the Queen's figure of grace.
Dandelion and Buttercup were born from the same flower and looked very much the same, aside from small details that distinguished Dandelion as a he and Buttercup as a she. Those details included his broader shoulders, the hair that grew on his face (which she insisted he kept cleanly shaved), and his two horns. Without the horns, if one didn't look closely, they might appear to be identical.
His sister, however, wore the luxurious robes of a Queen. Golden and emerald fabric wrapped around her, the finest silks and velvet, and a crown of gold and emeralds adorned her head. That was not what made her Queen, however. What made her Queen was the beautiful, mysterious enchanted necklace around her neck. Its exact enchantment was unknown, but what was known was that it was the last item enchanted before Zueen Golden's disappearance. It was a large emerald, which matched their maker's eyes, wrapped in silver and gold chains. The necklace had belonged to their maker, Emerald, who had been married to their zether, Golden. Originally, the necklace was made and enchanted by Golden zerself. When Emerald died, their zether had grieved over it excessively, then taken back zer necklace and given it to Buttercup. After that, Golden disappeared. Zer body was never found.
Dandelion and Buttercup had an older sister, Nightshade, but she had been imprisoned for the murder of their maker. It was unclear exactly how Emerald had died, but Buttercup convinced the kingdom that Nightshade was the culprit. Perhaps the people were quick to suspect Nightshade because she supposedly had the ability to read minds, inherited from Emerald itself. Neither of the twins had inherited Emerald's ability to read minds or Golden's ability to enchant objects, but both of them had the power over flames.
The palace was built into the treetop of the highest tree in the valley, facing the sunrise, with a guillotine embedded in a window over the massive doorway. The throne room was the front of the palace, but the palace went further back into the wood, with kitchens and bedrooms and all kinds of rooms that were nearly never used by Buttercup or Dandelion, since Buttercup clung to the throne like it would be ripped away from her if she wasn't touching it. There were stairs encircling the tree all the way down for the line of petitioners that Buttercup invited in nearly every day. She almost never genuinely made any changes to the way she ran things, but she liked to invite subjects in so that she would appear to be a just and fair Queen who listened to her subjects.
Dandelion loved his sister greatly, even if she... wasn't quite...
The Queen liked to watch executions; hence, the guillotine in the window across from her throne. There were stairways on either inner side of the massive arching doorway, each leading up to the guillotine over the door. Guards lined the walls, from either side of the guillotine, all the way down the stairs, and around the room. A row of guards stood below Buttercup where she was perched on her throne. There were no stairs up to the throne, nor the shelf behind it, since both Buttercup and Dandelion could fly. It made them more imposing, that's what Buttercup said. There was a door on both sides of the wall that housed Buttercup's throne, framing the bottom of the massive luxurious seat.
There were executions daily. Most of the people that went to petition to the Queen lost their heads, but it was still worth the risk on the chance that they may make real change in the kingdom. Of those that weren't executed, Buttercup often did something about their request. She would make a decree to the messenger stationed by the door, who would run to the back rooms, enter the council room, and inform them of the decree. From there, the Queen's council, which were old fairies from Golden's reign and a few new ones handpicked from the Queen's guard, would write it into a law, which would be sent out to all the towns to be enforced. The council members lived in the palace, in rooms unoccupied by Dandelion and Buttercup, and had access to all the servants and staff that the Queen had access to, which kept them loyal, though no one would dare defy the Emerald Eye. The council members appointed fairies to visit each town and check if they were following the laws properly. If not, they'd be taken into custody and punished.
Buttercup's favorite punishment was, of course, execution. It mattered very little what the crime was. She absolutely adored a good show, which was blood on her guillotine and bodies and heads falling down from the top of the tree to land in the masses below.
Well, whatever his sister was, Golden gave her the Emerald Eye, so she was the rightful Queen.
Like they had done since they were very small, whichever twin awoke first got to wake the other twin. Today, that was Dandelion. He leaned over her throne and poked the top of her hornless head with the butt of an arrow. When she stirred, he put the arrow away and called her name. "Buttercup, wake up! It's morning!" Only Dandelion could speak to the Queen like this, and Dandelion was the only one who ensured that the Queen was punctual and had the gates open just after dawn.
"Dandelion..." Buttercup grumbled, rubbing her face with a caramel hand. If anyone else spoke to Buttercup the way Dandelion did, they'd be executed. But Buttercup loved her brother.
"Buttercup..." Dandelion grumbled back playfully. His sister let out a long, wistful sigh, then stretched. She pulled her crown off the top of the throne and stared thoughtfully into the jewels. She placed it back on the top of the throne, presumably because she hadn't yet brushed her hair, and held the Emerald Eye in her hand for a moment. She never removed that necklace. After wiping the sleep from her eyes, Buttercup suddenly snapped upward and began barking orders at top volume.
"Breakfast! I want a roasted minnow and a raspberry to share with Dandelion. And have the servants come freshen us up!" Buttercup didn't look at anyone in particular, but the messenger immediately scrambled out of the room. "Chop, chop!" Buttercup called after them gleefully, her tail playfully pointing to the guillotine. "Or else, chop, chop." Servants swarmed into the room. They had about half an hour to get Buttercup exactly what she wanted before the heads start rolling.
Of course, Dandelion pitied the servants. Yesterday she killed two, so they may be safe for two days, perhaps more. She beheads a servant every other day to keep them behaved. Still, they got to live in the palace and ate almost as well as the Queen, so their lives weren't too terrible, if the guillotine looming overhead could be ignored.
She would never execute Dandelion, her beloved brother, whom she only wished to be happy. He composed himself as servants fluttered around him and Buttercup, quickly and efficiently brushing their long hair, washing their faces, polishing Dandelion's horns, and bringing them a new set of clothes for the day. Dandelion merely had to hold still, and he was very quickly put in a new outfit and completely groomed over. His servants applied makeup to his face in complimentary colors to the Queen. From below, they would appear picturesque and imposing and perfectly beautiful. His collar, however, remained unchanged.
Buttercup fluttered her wings as a servant carefully painted her face to be gorgeous and enchanting. Other servants had to carefully dip out of the way to dodge Buttercup's wings, terrified of upsetting the Queen in any way. "How big is the line today?" Buttercup asked the servant.
"Your grand majesty and highness," the servant began, dipping her head to dodge Buttercup's eyes. "The line stretches all the way to Warmton."
"Great." Buttercup rolled her bronze eyes. The servant resumed applying her makeup.
As soon as the servants had finished their makeup, platters of food rushed in. A plate of roasted minnow and pieces of raspberry was presented before each of the twins, and Dandelion eagerly began digging in. Buttercup suspiciously inspected her food, glanced up at Dandelion, and said: "Let's switch plates."
Buttercup was constantly paranoid like that. She always switched plates at every meal and Dandelion was quite used to it, but she always waited until Dandelion had eaten a few bites of his own food before switching plates. If someone wanted her dead, Dandelion would die in her place. He had always protected his sister. If either plate was poisoned, both of them would die, or Dandelion would die in her place.
Dandelion passed her his own plate and took hers, then eagerly began eating again. More food for him. Buttercup didn't eat much anyway; she daintily began picking at what was formerly Dandelion's plate.
When the royal twins finished eating, servants quickly took the platters away. Buttercup composed herself, then glanced around the room, ensuring everything was as intimidating as it could possibly be. When the last servant took the last plate out of the room, Buttercup sat up straight and turned directly to the door. "Open the palace gates!" She declared loudly.
With the loud sounds of massive gears turning above, the doors to the throne room swung wide open to the public. Fairies gasped and fluttered backward in the doorway, seemingly uncertain whether to bow or form a line and attempting to do both at once.
The first fairy nervously entered the room, eying the guards with their spears on either side of the room. Ze had mossy green fur with purple spots and one single green horn protruding from the top of zer forehead. Ze had bat-like wings and zer purple hair was braided into zer fur messily, almost as though ze had rushed to look presentable last moment. Ze wore a plain brown mouse-leather suitdress, a common outfit among commonfolk. The green and purple fairy bowed deeply, zer horn nearly touching the floor as ze bent. "Your majesty," ze began. "I am Plum. I come to you from the town downstream from your city. Our water is polluted from the waste of the fairies below your palace," ze complained, "I come to you pleading to do something about the pollution."
"But things would be so terribly inconvenient for my citizens if they couldn't just dump their trash in the river. Where else would they put it?"
"Please, your highness," Plum begged. "Our water has become undrinkable."
The Queen sighed and thought long and hard about zer request. "Fine," she grumbled, turning her head towards the messenger who stood by one of the doors below her. "Go tell the council to make a law prohibiting dumping waste in the creek."
See? Dandelion thought to himself. She can be a good Queen. She listens to and takes care of her fairies. This was part of a long, ongoing argument he seemed to be having with himself.
Plum bowed again, then anxiously turned tail and skipped out the door. Ze seemed to be relieved to be away from the Queen so quickly. As soon as ze was outside, ze leapt from the balcony and opened zer bat-like wings to glide down to the forest floor.
The next fairy had milky white skin and no hair whatsoever, but small pink freckles dotted their body. They wore a warm-looking robe, which covered their wings, in shades of grey. "My Queen," they bowed deeply, "There is no food in the peaks and winter is rapidly approaching the valley. How will you feed everyone? Have you begun to stockpile food?" They worried aloud.
This fairy was already rubbing Buttercup the wrong way. Dandelion knew his sister well, and while she would appear polite, she was quite aggravated. Firstly, she hated the cities at the peaks of the mountain, because they seemed to think Xing Frostbite made a better ruler than Queen Buttercup. So high up the mountain, it was easy to forget who held the Emerald Eye. Secondly, doubting the Queen was one of her biggest peeves. It may only be her first year of rule, but she expected the Queendom to have more confidence in her.
"Don't live in the peaks if there's no food there," Buttercup commanded. "It completely baffles me why any fairy would live somewhere so barren. Frostbite can't feed you."
"Well, neither can you," mumbled the fairy, but Buttercup heard.
"Is that a way to speak to your Queen?" Buttercup sneered.
The fairy clenched their fists, then bravely and angrily glared up at her. "Frostbite is my Xing!" They declared.
"Funny!" Buttercup snapped. "You just said I was your Queen. Frostbite only rules the peaks because I let xim. If you come down from the snowcaps, you are my fairy, mine!" She bellowed. "Off with your insolent head!" She laughed. Dandelion wished she didn't behead so many fairies, but at least she was happy.
"You don't deserve to be Queen!" Screamed the fairy as a guard seized their arm and dragged them up the stairs to the guillotine. "The Emerald Eye is a hoax! It doesn't do anything!" They screamed frantically, struggling away from the guard, only for three more guards to pounce on them and force them up the stairs. As if to object to their statement, green electricity rippled across the Emerald Eye on Buttercup's neck with a small zipping noise. Dandelion remembered his maker wearing that necklace. Back then, it was just Emerald's favorite necklace. Golden only enchanted it right after Emerald died.
The Emerald Eye always made Dandelion mournfully remember his family, before Buttercup became power hungry. Their maker, Emerald. It could read minds. It was a tall fairy with ebony black skin, two horns, bat wings, and a curly beard. It had eyes that were greener than anything, except for the emerald that Golden had given it when they married. Emerald was named after its eyes and was given the Emerald Eye after its name. Emerald was kind, loving, forgiving. It was never angry. Their zether, Golden, had the ability to enchant objects and wield flames. Ze had the palest white fur and a single white horn on top of zer head. Ze had long golden hair and eyes the color of tree bark. Golden had united the fairies of the valley under zer rule, but ze had disappeared after giving the Emerald Eye to Buttercup. And then there was Nightshade, their older sister. She had ebony black skin with white freckles like stars, her maker's green eyes, and curly black hair that she usually kept in tight braids. Nightshade had immense power. She could not only read minds, but also enchant objects. Most fairies feared Nightshade. She was quiet and seemed to know everything. Buttercup used this to her advantage, blaming Nightshade for their maker's death. No one trusted Nightshade, and now she was imprisoned in a cave on the other side of the mountain for her crime of killing Emerald.
The white and pink fairy was led to the sunrise window, their head thrust into the hole. "You'll see-" They wailed, stopping midsentence with a bloody sputter. Their body went limp. Fairies screamed below. The guards flung the rest of the corpse out the window, encouraging further screams.
The next fairy in line sucked in a breath shakily. This fairy had blue-green fur and a loose fish-scale dress. Zer tail peeked out of the bottom of zer dress, brushing the floor. Ze had to be only recently matured, barely an adult. Zer wings were similar to that of a dragonfly, but looked harder and firmer, less likely to fall apart in the water. Ze had one spiraling horn on the top of zer head and deep blue eyes, zer face framed by straight black hair. The strangest feature was the pattern of furless skin under zer eyes and across zer nose, which was much lighter than zer fur, like a lighter blush.
Ze looked younger than Crow, but old enough to be an adult. Crow was the youngest on Buttercup's council, formerly a guard, handpicked by Buttercup herself.
"Your- your high-" ze stood at the base of Buttercup's throne, looking nearly vertically to where Buttercup was perched, "-ness..." Ze fluttered zer dragonfly wings to steady zerself. "I am Aquamarine, sent to you by the starving fairies of the pond. The pollution and overfishing from your Queendom are causing a shortage of fish for the rest of us. We've asked for something to be done many times and only today have you announced to try to curb the pollution, and it's too little too late. I demand that you do something to ensure we don't all starve to death this winter!"
Buttercup uncrossed her legs and lashed her tail with obvious irritance. "Tiny fairy." She began, examining her nails rather than bothering to look at Aquamarine. "You are lucky that you are adorable. If you were any uglier, I'd have your ugly head for raising your voice against me, Queen of the fairy world!" She announced, raising her hands to produce a curl of flame in each. "Guards, show this child out!"
"No!" Aquamarine yelled directly into the face of the guard that came to retrieve zer, who flinched with surprise at her passion and hesitated. Aquamarine took that opportunity to turn back to Buttercup and risk everything. "Fairies will starve! Your fairies! Do you even care? About your fairies? A Queen should care about the lives she governs. A Queen should care about her fairies!" Zer wings flared open and the light patches under zer eyes began to glow brightly. Fairies in line and around zer murmured in surprise and suspense.
Dandelion listened very hard and, worriedly, he thought he heard "maybe ze should wear the Emerald Eye..." He looked down at his sister nervously, fumbling with the keyhole on his collar with one hand. He might have to get off his pillow for this. His other hand brushed the handle of his battleaxe.
"Oh!" Buttercup said in surprise, flaring her golden wings. She hopped off her throne and gracefully landed in front of Aquamarine. The smaller fairy, who really was only a head or so shorter than Buttercup, stepped backward into zer guard. "You are absolutely adorable!" The Queen hissed, placing one hand on Aquamarine's face to cup zer chin and mouth. "So full of surprises... Does anything else glow?"
Aquamarine visibly shivered, unable to open zer mouth to speak. Buttercup's hand tightened slightly, fingers digging into zer neck. Aquamarine slowly lifted zer wings to their highest point, and spiraling patterns across the surface of zer wings lit up brightly.
"Oh! So cute, I can't have you out in the pond, where your flawless beauty could be damaged!" Buttercup ran her fingers down Aquamarine's neck and gills flared underneath zer fur. "If the other pond fairies glow like this, let them eat from our royal reserves." She decreed. "Let Aquamarine's fairies eat!" She announced, tossing her arm around Aquamarine's shoulders. "As for you," she murmured, looking Aquamarine over thoroughly, then turning towards the messenger. "Get me another collar like Dandelion's!" She demanded, then pointed towards the wall behind Dandelion. "And I want an aquarium in that wall by sundown tomorrow. I wouldn't want to separate Aquamarine from zer beloved water!" She laughed, and Aquamarine silently glared at her with pure loathing. "The line for the rest of today and possibly tomorrow will be closed for construction." Buttercup waved a caramel hand dismissively to the door, and guards pushed back an enraged crowd. Fairies sent glares toward Aquamarine as the doors rumbled to a close. Buttercup still had her arm wrapped around Aquamarine, her hand carefully holding zer neck.
Dandelion realized that his sister intended to keep Aquamarine as a pet. But... why? What use was a glowing water fairy? Well, at least Buttercup didn't behead zer.
Buttercup led Aquamarine over to the wall that housed her throne and the shelf above it where Dandelion sat. "Up," she commanded, pushing Aquamarine into the air and towards Dandelion. Aquamarine awkwardly fluttered zer wings with a buzz and landed beside Dandelion, Buttercup following zer quickly with a single flap. Both of them stood on the shelf beside Dandelion's black pillow.
A servant rushed through the servants' door with a black collar studded with emeralds. "Up here," Buttercup called, and the servant rose up to deliver the collar to the Queen. She snatched the collar and in a single motion quickly turned and placed it around Aquamarine's neck, clipping it in place below zer gills before ze had time to react. Aquamarine froze with shock and stared at the Queen while she locked the collar in place with a little black key on a little black chain behind the Emerald Eye. "Stay here." She commanded, placing Aquamarine next to Dandelion on his pillow.
"Why?" Aquamarine snapped. Dandelion had never seen someone question an order from Buttercup before. And, judging by Buttercup's face, neither had she.
"Excuse me?" Buttercup snapped back.
Aquamarine flinched, backing up into the wall behind Dandelion; the wall that Buttercup wanted turned into an aquarium. Aquamarine's little gills flared again. "W-why- are you- doing this?" Ze squeaked.
"Instead of beheading you?" Buttercup giggled. "I wanted a new pet. And you're a rebel rouser." She murmured quietly with bitterness in her voice. "I can't let rebel rousers wander the land unattended, but you're too cute to kill. Besides, this way I can make an example of you: a rebel turned into the Queen's pet." She snorted with laughter. "So, I'll just keep you shut up underwater." She patted Aquamarine on the head behind her horn and leapt down off the shelf with a graceful glide of her wings. "Where is the construction crew?" She demanded as she landed on the floor and stomped off through the door that led to the rest of the palace.
When Buttercup was out of earshot, Dandelion bumped his elbow with Aquamarine's arm. "So, uh, hey." He said, in what he hoped was a friendly tone.
"What do you want, Queen's pet?" Aquamarine replied with animosity.
Dandelion was taken aback. Is that what the Queendom thought of him? "In case you haven't noticed, you're a Queen's pet now, too." Dandelion said matter-of-factly. "And I know she may seem cruel, but... she wears the Emerald Eye because, - well, she must be the rightful ruler of this land. We have to trust Golden's enchantment."
"Golden was your zether. Do you really think the Eye can kill zer own children? I don't think so. Even if it's supposed to judge a good leader, it probably can't harm descendants of Golden."
"Oh." Dandelion said, feeling stupid. Did his sister deserve to be Queen? "That... makes sense." They sat in silence for a moment. Was Buttercup a bad Queen? Dandelion knew the answer, but he refused to believe that his sister, who he grew up with, could be a bad person. She had always wanted to share things with him. She'd always clung to him. She was afraid of the dark growing up. She loved to draw pictures of her family holding hands, she liked riding squirrels through the treetops with her brother... Dandelion knew everything about her, or at least he thought he did. This woman... this wasn't her. She couldn't have turned into this sort of Queen. That just wasn't the Buttercup that Dandelion knew. Surely, she had very good reasons and very good intentions. She wasn't a sadist. Maybe this was her way of guaranteeing the loyalty of her Queendom. Maybe she was making poor choices because she was alone, and afraid, and couldn't handle the pressure of being Queen alone. The responsibility of the entire Queendom had suddenly been dropped on her when Golden disappeared, and now Buttercup bore the burden of the lives of thousands of fairies. She had to be under so much stress. That's the only reason his beloved sister would possibly behave this way. If that was the case, and Dandelion was sure it was, she needed him now more than ever. She needed someone to stand by her loyally and be there for her. She needed someone to depend on, then she'd return to her normal self. He couldn't turn on his sister. She was good, deep down, and he knew it. He'd grown up with her. He'd saved her life. This wasn't her. "Hey. I'm sorry about my sister."
"If you were really sorry," Aquamarine hissed, "you'd stop her from being Queen."
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