Royal Blood

Chapter 19 The Ball

It was a big day for the team. The shadow king was defeated, the land was safe, they were to be crowned princes and princesses, there was going to be a ball. Luna twirled in her dress, a bold red dress that was short in the front and long in the back. She'd always dreamed of going to a ball and being a princess. Who knew she would one day do both?
As fast as she could go in her heels, she ran over to Amber's room and knocked on her door, "Amberrrrr!" She sang, "Are you reeeeeady?"
From the other side of the door Amber grumbled, "Do I have to wear a dress?"
"Well duh! Now let me in before I force my way in with my heels."
The door opened to reveal Amber's room, dresses scattered amongst the bed and chairs, "I'm not a big fan of dresses. They kept bringing more when they saw I wasn't digging the dress idea. I didn't want to be rude and send them away either. They're going to bring another batch now. Old ladies travel fast..."
Luna laughed, "Just try a dress Amber. You'll look so pretty. Let me do your makeup, you aren't even half ready yet."
Before Amber could protest, luna already threw the dresses on the bed and her in a chair. Halfway through, the maids had returned with another five dresses. Luna skipped to the ladies, "Thank you! Now let me see... Oh! I love this one. Amber is indecisive but this dress is perfect. This will do ladies! Before you leave." Luna opened her little purse and pulled out a few gold coins, "A little extra for your time."
The little old ladies were grateful for the extra pay and left the girls to get ready.

The boys all stood in the halls, Jake, Zane, and Milo all dressed in the finest clothes. Each with cloaks in their power color, Milo green like the trees and the grass, Jake silver like frost, and Zane, blue as the sea and the lakes. Kris had no cloak but, he wore a black tunic with gold designs and black pants.
"I don't get why we're dressed like this. This is some medieval type stuff." Zane said, adjusting his collar.
"Its traditional wear. Don't worry, after coronation you can change to the standard suit and tie. The attire is quite beautiful if you ask me." Kris responded, still marveling over the clothes he was given. He never had such fine clothes in all his life.
"What is taking them so long?" Jake paced around, excited to see Luna and also concerned. Raising her spirits has been difficult since the death of the child and he didn't want to leave her alone too long.
From Amber's door, Luna knocked the shave and haircut knock, Jake knocked on the door twice to finish it. The door cracked open and Jake could see Luna's eye and nose, "Ready boys? Better get Kris a chair."
Jake laughed and opened the door for the ladies. Out came Luna looking the most stunning he'd ever seen her, and behind her came Amber, shy about how she looked, but she looked amazing.
Kris' breath was stolen from his lungs. Out came Amber in a short white dress, decorated with black swirled designs. He never imagined Amber wearing makeup, but she still looked as beautiful as the jewels decorating her neck and wrists.
The boys all stared in awe at the girls, they'd never seen them look so elegant until now.
"I think," Jake began, breaking the silence, "that we are ready to PARTAAAAY!" The group cheered and hooked arms, excitedly making their way to the main ballroom.
As the group turned a corner they nearly bumped into an old hunched man
* * *
There they stood in front of the people. All cheering and celebrating the long awaited return of their rightful rulers.
"Amber." Milo turned to her, a curiosity bugging his mind since they stopped the shadow king, "how did you know that i was supposed to kiss Jake?"
Amber laughed, "To be honest, I didn't know for sure. It was a theory. But since we got here, almost everything we ran into was like the stories we all read growing up. Fairy tales and more. But there was always something different about this reality and the books, a twist some would say. So I thought back to all those fairytales we read as children and the movies we watched and true love's kiss was a common ending for these stories. So i thought to myself, 'what if it wasn't limited to the love of someone you would date or marry, but also family? The one thing we all didn't have except for you two.' I didn't know if it would work but it was worth a shot."
The music began and the crowd became silent. 5 servants walked out in front of them, carrying pillows of the finest velvet and each with one crown on top. Milo's a crown of pure gold, with designs of all 12 power symbols made out of emerald. Jake's a simple silver crown with sapphire snowflakes on the tips of the points. Zane's crown, silver with gold designs of the symbols for water and lightning. Luna's crown, small and simple, a gold band coming up to one point at the top, sitting on that point, the symbol of the lady of light with each tip of the sun covered with a tiny diamond. Finally Amber's golden crown with rubies to make the shape of the phoenix.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Your royals have returned!" The room roared with cheering and applause.
The music began once again and Jake turned to Luna, "May I have this dance, Milady?"
Luna blushed and nodded. The two began to dance,  each stepping in time to the music. With that, the crowd began to dance with their partners. Even though it had been over 15 years since the shadow king took over, it was like he never existed.
    There was an old man, cloaked and hidden in the corner. no one noticed him as he made his way across the great hall around the dancing people. In his hand he held a small orb that when opened, would trap anyone the owner wanted to trap. The old man sneaked his way up onto the stage and created a large, loud, burst of shadow from what little power he had left. The dancers immediately stopped, some screamed, some gasped, and all stared in horror at the stage, afraid of what may have returned to him.
    "Shadow king!" Jake hissed, "What do you want. You don't have enough power to take us on again."
    The former shadow king began laughing like a madman. The entire hall was silent as his mad laughter echoed through the hall. "You think you may have won! But I don't need the shadow power to get rid of you 5!" He laughed again, "I'll get rid of you just as easily as I got rid of your parents!"
He opened the tiny orb and aimed it at the group. A strong wind began pulling them in. The royals desperately tried to hold onto something and use their powers to hit the old man, but their efforts were useless for they only ended up being sucked into the orb.
Dennis was at the table where the food was arranged and immediately dropped everything he was holding. Luna may not have been his girlfriend anymore, but he wasn't going to let this guy make any more lives miserable.
At full speed he pushed through the people and jumped on the stage and knocked the old man down with all his force, "Kris! Get the orb! I've got him!"
Kris saw his chance and dashed for the orb that already began pulling in the decorations around them. He closed the lid and pulled out his sword, holding it less than an inch away from the shadow king's throat, "Move, and I'll kill you right here, right now." He threatened, acid dripping from his voice.
Luna grabbed the orb and turned it on the shadow King.
"You little prissy bit-" he began but was cut if as he was sucked into the orb.
"I didn't catch that." Luna said closing the orb.
Jake ran to Luna, checking to see if she was hurt, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"
Luna waved his hands away, "Yeah I'm perfectly fine." She chuckled, "Let me check everyone else."
Jake sighed in relief, and turned to Dennis who now shrunk back and began letting himself down off the stage. Jake ran over to him, "Hey Dennis, wait up."
Dennis turned, surprised Jake was speaking to him on such a friendly level, "Yeah?"
"Thanks." Jake stuck his hand out to him, "I know we've never really liked each other and you did cause us a bit of trouble here, but thanks. You saved our lives there."
Dennis was touched at how Jake was being friendly to him even after all these years. "Psh." Dennis tried to play it cool, "I wasn't really doing it for you guys. I just don't want to see that shadow king come back."
Jake sighed and chuckled, "Thanks anyway, Dennis." He patted his back and ran back to the stage, "Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to our brave friend here, we can now return back to what we were doing. The shadow king will no longer be a problem now that we will know where he is."
The crowd cheered and the music played again, now more upbeat and now almost swing jazz sounding as other instruments came onto the stage.
Luna took off her heels, and grabbed Jake's hand, "Let's dance!"
Kris stood confused as Amber began dancing trying to show him what to do. Step step, step step, spin, kick. Kris attempted and they laughed together as how clumsy his steps were.
Milo spun and dipped Serina, smiling at each other as they made funny little expressions to the song.
Zane did funny dances and expressions to the music, causing a group of girls to laugh at how goofy he was being.
When the song ended, the sound of fireworks went off from the outside. The guests excitedly ran out to watch the colorful array of shapes and explosions.
The night now became quiet only to hear the sound of the fireworks going off in the sky.
"You know," Luna began, "This is a really romantic setup."
Jake and Luna began to dance to the slow song playing in the background, "Really, then is it totally okay if I do this?"
With that he pulled her into a soft kiss the fireworks going off in their heads as well as in the sky.
"Look at those lovebirds," Amber said, "About time." The group laughed and continued to gaze at the sky, watching the firework dragon fly through the sky, bursting into colors of reds and oranges.