Cinderella After Midnight

{ Midnight }

The last days had passed faster than they boys wished. Now what they had feared was becoming true. There were only a few hours left until Rory's execution.

In their friend's cell Kris and Liam were staring in the air with lifeless eyes. Surely, they were overwhelmed by various emotions. Anxiety, sadness, fury. Yet undoubtedly guilt was the feeling they'd never be able to get rid of. Never in their lifetime. They couldn't the real murderer. They couldn't persuade the King to delay the execution either. It turned out the reason to bring the execution forward was an official visit. The Princess' husband – the King of an allied Kingdom – will arrived at the castle next week. And there was a mythos that the King family had believed in for centuries. It said that if noble blood flowed while two Kings were in the same castle, a terrible war would happen between two countries.

Since last night, Kris and Liam had stayed with Rory. They didn't know what to talk about in such a situation, but it was just clear that they must stay together right now.

"Where is Amelia? Doesn't she want to see this old man one last time?" Rory asked, laughed at his own joke, while the other boys didn't show any reaction and only looked him in disbelief.

Off all people, how came that Rory was the one being so fearless? It was as if he had resigned to his fate.

"She has been in the kitchen since yesterday and cooked none stop. No one could get her out there." Liam explained.

"Poor girl, she makes me feel so sorry." Rory's statement caused Kris to jump up in anger.

"Seriously? Is that what you're thinking now? Shouldn't you worry about yourself? Stop acting like you're not scared. Do you think you're brave when you do that? That's so annoying." The Prince yelled loudly in frustration, rushed out of the cell, leaving his shocked friends behind. However, as soon as he reached the stairways, someone bumped into him hardly.

"Amy," said Kris surprisingly. "You here?"

"Isn't it improper to behave like that, Kris?" Amelia asked with a serious expression, but very soon she looked softer and held Kris's hand gently, leading the Prince back to Rory.

"Don't be like that on such a day, please." She said with a sad voice.

It was a mystery how Kris would do everything this girl asked for. Maybe it was her gentleness, her puppy eyes or her soft touch.

"I heard that you guys haven't eaten anything yet?" Amelia asked as she entered the cell with Kris and just like Rory, she acted like nothing bad was going to happen. However, her red and puffy eyes were something she couldn't hide.

"Hello, Amy. It's so nice to see you," Rory greeted, forced a smile that, however, faded immediately.

"What is this sweet smell? What do you have there, Amelia?" asked Rory, pointed at the small bag in Amelia's hands.

"This is my special cake. I baked it for you. There is a secret ingredient."

"Banana? "Rory interrupted before Amelia could challenge him to guess.

"How did you...? I used banana instead of eggs. I worked very hard to preserve its scent."

"I knew this scent," murmured Rory and Amelia shook his head.

"No, it can't be. I baked it by a recipe which my mom created and I haven't baked for years. Stepmother doesn't like sweet."

"But I did smell this before, when I... when I passed by the library and found ... your mother." Rory said while the others listened to him with widened eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Kris asked impatiently.

"I almost forgot this. When I entered the library, there was in fact this sweet scent of banana, but as soon as I found Amy's mother I didn't pay attention to it anymore and I forgot about it completely." The older boy told his friends.

"But everyone knows it's forbidden to eat in the library. Besides, you said there wasn't anybody but you and her." Liam questioned thoughtfully.

"Yes, and I didn't see anyone else either," answered Rory.

"Does that mean someone was there before you came and instead of helping, he ate banana cake?" The Prince questioned. "That's nonsense, if that's true, that person must be the killer.

"No, what if there was a witness?" Amelia asked.

"Another question would be, why has that person kept silent all the times?" Liam added.

"You guys forgot that it wasn't any banana cake, but a special cake that only mother knew its recipe. Rory, are you sure that it was the same scent?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, I am. I don't joke when it comes to foods," answered Rory, laughed alone.

Amelia, in contrast, was deep in her thoughts. Slowly, everything started to make sense - the sweet scent, the open locker door, the missing medallion and the mysterious thing in the locker... An assumption that could explain everything came into her mind and she paled.

"I think I understand what happened," said Liam suddenly and Amelia bit her lower lip nervously.

"You do?" Kris asked with shining eyes.

"It's just an idea, but it would explain all of our questions until now. The locker door that was suddenly open and the missing medallion, do you remember what we said about that?" Liam asked.

"Yes, we said that the killer came back for the medallion and found something in the locker that was so important that he had to take it with him." The Prince answered and in the same second, he thought he knew what Liam was trying to tell them.

"Wait a second; do you mean in the locker was indeed a witness?" The young Prince questioned unsurely.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking. And I think it has to be a kid, since the locker is quite small. It would also explain the sweet scent Rory smelled, even though everyone knew it was forbidden to eat in the library," explained Liam and all of sudden a small light of hope appeared.

"But why should a kid hide in a locker and how came that he or she had Amelia's mother's cake?" Kris asked thoughtfully. The more they found out, the more questions came up and time to solve all those problems was something they didn't have.

Silence filled the room for a long time, until Amelia broke it.

"Because ... mother had promised him to make his favorite cake on his birthday .... and because it was a stormy day and he always hides in a closet when it thundered." She said with a cracked voice as tears started to form in her eyes.

[AN] I know I haven't updated for ... centuries. I'll try to make it up by update the last chapters every week. Hope you liked this chapter.