Alterra(RoyaltyAU)

Their majesty’s (Angelo’s) POV.

I tried to reach out and scream for him to come back. My mouth was open, but no sound came out. Suddenly hands came from behind me and covered my face, blocking my vision and suffocating me.

I woke up suddenly, my nightmare replaying in my head. I look to my left to see Barb, my beautiful husband, drooling on the pillow and smiling in his sleep. I let out a sigh of relief and grinned to match his, he was so lovely like this.

I reached out and caressed his red and black bangs; pushing them away from his face. He stirred slightly and opened his eyes, “Babe, what are you doing up?”

At my expression; a look of understanding crossed his face. He put his hand on top of mine and nuzzled my chest.

“Hey.. it’s alright,” he said, looking up from my chest and into my eyes. “It’s all over now baby, you can go back to sleep.”

I nodded and held him closer to me. Closing my eyes, I imagined a perfect world. For us, and for our kingdom.

As a tear slips from my eye, silently hitting the bed, I thought about fate and destiny and perhaps, if regardless of the choices we made; this outcome would have been the same...

♚♚♚

13 years before...

The king’s (Barb’s) POV.

“Your Majesty! My King! Monsters have stormed the city, the city troops have requested backup!” The messenger shouted, something about a monster invasion.

I sighed through my nose. The messengers these days had no proper training.

I shut my sketch book as loudly as possible to get the boys attention. He looked towards me suddenly, frightened by the loud noise.

Well, at least he had stopped shouting.

“Report,” I commanded.

A guard stepped forward and summarized the situation in Vernice.

As soon as he said the name Vernice, I started paying attention. The military training in Vernice was top notch and known across kingdoms. If they were overpowered this quickly, then these monsters were more dangerous than I had originally thought.

Reaching a decision, I placed my book down and stood up.

“Bring me my scythe and armor.”

The room reacted instantly. I whistled for my spirit guardian and he slithered into my shirt, sitting snugly beneath my breast.

Angelo stood up next to me, asking for his own armor and sword. He called his guardian, Fenris.

“You’re dismissed,” he offhandedly said to the messenger and guard.

The messenger had then retreated, and the guards went to ready the special troops for battle.

“Joker,” I spoke while fastening my armor on.

“Yes, my king?” Joker asked, appearing to my left seemingly out of nowhere.

Over the years, I had gotten used to his ability to travel through the shadows. Joker has been my loyal servant for many years. Ever since he showed up in my bathtub crying that his parents were bullies and begged me to make a contract with him, he had been under my command.

At first, I adamantly refused and made to have him arrested but somehow, he escaped and continued to pester me.

Eventually, he became friends with my two daughters; Kaycee (the oldest) and Kyra (the youngest). After complaining to them, my youngest; Kyra, had come crying to her parent about me being “mean” to Joker.

After that my husband begged me to make a contract with the boy so that Kyra wouldn’t continue to cry. I decided it was worth it, she barely even wanted to talk to me.

The next day, the Joker had officially become my shadow.

Weeks later, we found the Joker’s real identity. It turns out he was Prince Kamyliah from the Silver Moon Kingdom. Which frankly, was kind of awkward to deal with.

The effects of the contract couldn’t be reversed, and he refused to go home.

Stubborn kid.

So, the king and their majesty had come here to pick him up. Strangely enough what started out as a misunderstanding resulted in all of us becoming close friends.

Joker was allowed to stay on the condition that he came home every full moon. As he got older and matured, I kept expecting him to regret his decision, but his devotion only increased.

Smiling, I looked at him, now 10 years older with his half and half mask covering his laughing smile and braids pulled back into a ponytail. He had grown so much.

“Where are my daughters?” I asked him.

“Playing with that new game that my father conjured.”

“Cards Against Humanity?”

He nodded.

“Yep, we didn’t know how to play it at first but after Vinh translated the instructions we caught on pretty quick. It’s actually quite fun!”

I tilted my head and smiled.

“I see, tell them to dress in their armor and meet us at Vernice, be prepared, the monsters there are something different.”

He nodded and disappeared. Presumably to get the girls.

Angelo came up next to me in the space that the Joker had vacated.

“Are you ok?” he asked, wrapping his arm around my waist.

I nodded, “Just... worried.”

He looked concerned, “What for, darling?”

I thought about it briefly, answering carefully to not worry him. “I just have a strange feeling that something bad is going to happen....”

He looked at me, concern flashing across his face for a brief moment before he smiled and kissed my cheek.

“Don’t worry, i’m sure nothing will happen. Plus, if anything bad does happen I know you’ll protect me, honey.”

I smiled, leaning into him and let the strange feeling fade.

He was right. It’ll be okay.

♚♚♚

Joker’s (Kamy’s) POV.

“Hello loves!” I called out to the two girls as I approached them.

My angel looked back to see me and stood up, arms open wide. I ran up to her and picked her up kissing her beautiful face.

“Ew, gross! get a room,” I looked over to see my good friend Kaycee, her tongue out teasingly.

“What, are you jealous?” I smirked.

I tackled her and tried kissing her face as well. She punched me in the face.

“Owwwwww!”

She crossed her arms. “Shut up, you know that didn’t hurt.”

I massaged my jaw and laughed.

“You’re right. It didn’t, because you hit like a bitch.”

Her nose flared and she tried to hit me again. I dodged, laughing hysterically.

Kaycee chased me around, trying to land blows while Kyra chased us around, laughing and trying to get us to stop.

Finally, we had gotten tired of our scuffed game of tag.

I got down to business and told them about the situation in Venice. They instantly asked a million questions that I didn’t have the answers to, so I just laughed and walked away.

“Come on, loves!” I turned around to face them again and tilted my head, my mask now hiding my smile.

“We’re going to war.”

Ch. 1 End

♚♚♚