One: Of Kings and Queens

01 – Of Kings and Queens

The violet eyes scan the perimeter, arms crossed over his chest. His black top revealed a sculpt chest, his dark pants reaching his ankles. The youth was barefooted as well, feet planted on the rich soil. In his right hand lay four cards, worn out from time.

“The rats of Cardverse,” he spat, lips curving up in a cruel sneer. “…and their pitiful kingdoms.” The deep voice held malice, the intention to harm. It did not match the seemingly kind shade of mauve in his eyes. His left hand moved quickly, throwing each of the four cards down to the ground as he mentioned a name for each.

                                                     

“Ludwig Beilschmidt, King of Herzen.

Arthur Kirkland, King of Spades.

Francis Bonnefoy, King of Diamants.

Antonio Carriedo, King of Tréboles.”

Brandishing a sword from his hilt, he played with the blade for a moment before stabbing each of the cards in the center with twisted glee. Platinum-colored hair shone in the soft moonlight radiating on the hilltop overlooking the vast land.

“Swine of Cardverse,” he said to himself, “scum of Kings.” He focused his eyes on the moon, digging deep into the fallen cards without any notice. “Bring to me those four missing queens.” A malicious grin played on his lips at the thought.

“I’ll have them all.”

* * * * * *

“Elly!” a young brunette of the age eleven looked up, a few loose strands of hair falling into her face. In front of her stood a taller girl with wavy black hair that reached her shoulders, grinning widely and holding something in her hands. Elly couldn’t make out what it was at the moment. “Elly, come and play with us!”

“What’s taken?”

The other scrunched up her face in deep thought. “Um…oh, Hearts went to Rianne. Diamonds went to Reese. I claimed the Clovers.” Her voice rose in pitch at the word Clovers, “which means that you end up with…”

“I end up with Spades.” Elly ended. The girl nodded. “Of all things to pick…why the Clovers, Tricia?” Tricia merely shrugged, twirling what was seen to be a four-leaved clover in her fingers.

“Hearts are too mushy and Diamonds are overrated.” She replied. The brunette rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Plus, Spades aren’t my type.”

“Which left you with the Clover,” she said dryly. Tricia smirked.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Jealous of a stupid Clover thing, sure.” When she said that, two girls ran over to them. One had long, chestnut shaded hair with red eyes. The other one had long black hair and green eyes. The one with green eyes bore a drawing of a heart on her right forearm. “Rianne – really – you picked Hearts?”

She blushed.

“I got the first choice,” she mumbled. The other girl made a small noise. “Reese made me do it.” The one named Reese merely shrugged.

“I don’t get it. Why are we Queens?” immediately, Tricia defended the idea.

“Queens are awesome, okay? They don’t do anything in the fairytales I read,” Reese muttered something about an eleven-year-old girl still reading those types of stories, “and I want to change that! So does Rianne,” Tricia added.

Elly had the bad feeling the green-eyed girl was forced.

“I made Reese give in to the idea, and all we need is your consent?”

“Eh…? Why my consent, Tricia?”

“Because the last time we did something without everyone’s consent,” Tricia shot Reese a small look. “Someone ended up with a burn on her arm and another ended up with a sprain.” Reese’s eye twitched.

“That was an accident!” she growled.

“Accident, yeah right!”

“You’re just clumsy!”

“Excuse me, you have no common sense!”

Elly groaned. This always happened between the energetic Tricia and the rule-abiding Reese, who argued over the most trivial things ever. Rianne gave her a sorry look and sat down next to her on the wooden bench, hands folded over her lap like a proper lady. Elly wasn’t sure if it was her ladylike behavior, or how her family raised her. Either one seemed very likely at the moment.

“Queens,” Rianne mused.

“Yes. Queens.” She shuffled for something in her skirt pocket, and pulled out a slim blue stick, almost six inches in length. Elly blinked. “What’s this for?”

“I have no idea,” Rianne handed the stick over to Elly, who just stared at it with a neutral expression on her face. “I just found it nearby.” After saying this, she took three more out of her pocket, which differed in color but stayed the same in terms of length. “Tricia said the sticks were…” she struggled for a word. “…swords.”

“And I have the blue one because…?”

“Red is for Hearts. Green is for Clovers. Yellow for the Diamonds. Blue for Spades.” Elly repeated the sentence in her head. It seemed to make sense. Though she knew Rianne preferred green and Tricia yellow, they had to at least stick with the logical and somewhat realistic color assigning.

There was no scientific basis for that, Reese would argue.

It felt right, Tricia would snap right back.

Yes, that felt right.

* * * * *

Now, Elly la Cruz is seventeen-years-old, with her still brown hair reaching her elbows. She no longer adores the color pink but blue and orange; though still has the same three friends by her side. Silently, she replays the memory in her head. So many changes had gone by in the last six years, not only for her, but for all of them.

Strict and foreboding Reese la Paz was not so strict anymore, but preferred sticking to the scientific basis of life and all of that. Over the years, she had gotten braces and later changed to retainers, and recently had them off a week ago. Her hair was still the same color, but now reached her shoulders.

The enthusiastic Tricia Amor remained the same, only increasing in energy. She had tanned over the years and preferred it to the fair-skinned color she saw everywhere, and gained a massive growth spurt in sixth grade, now reaching five feet, nine inches. Having rarely cut her hair, it now reached her middle back.

On the other hand, shy Rianne Naven has grown out of that shell but later proves to be the shortest of the four. She gained a love for music at seventh grade, and now aspired to be a pianist. Her black hair merely grazed her thighs at this point, but she wanted to have it cut to her middle back like Tricia.

In the memory, they were in Rianne’s backyard.

In the present, they were in the very same place.

“Hey, hey, do you remember that game we used to play as kids?” Tricia asked, munching on a slice of watermelon. The summer heat, for once, took over the usually pouring Manchester. “The one with the cards and stuff…” she gulped down the fruit, soon taking another bite. Rianne nodded.

“Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clovers?”

“Yeah, that!” Tricia put down the watermelon on a clean plate. “God that was fun. Reese hated being a Queen,” she snorted. “But we all forced her into it, eh, Reese?” from behind, Reese merely nodded. “…hey, do we still have those sticks Rianne found?”

“Mine’s at home,” Reese said wearily. Elly nodded.

Tricia made a noise that sounded like a sigh. “Darn. I did, too.” Her eyes lingered onto a tree, and she blinked. “Oi, Rianne, how long has that tree been there?” she pointed to the large oak tree nearby, and Rianne merely thought for a few seconds.

“It was already there when I was born.” Tricia stands up, dragging Elly with her. The latter demands to know what she’s doing, and Tricia just laughs.

“Check it, Elly! Maybe there’s some rabbit down there with a golden watch, running to the bloody Wonderland.”

“I am over that phase, thank you very much!” she protests. Tricia makes her look inside the tree (there was a hole in the middle), still laughing.

“Oh, come on!” she replies cheerfully, not noticing her moving hand. “Just a peek!”

A slip of the hand.

Elly falls inside with a yell. Rianne and Reese rise to their feet quickly, the former spluttering and the latter starting to scold Tricia, whose eyes widened as she stared at the tree in major disbelief.

“Tricia Amor, you idiot!”

“H-Hold on,” she stammers, “Elly is just inside, right? ELLY!” she then yells, peeking in. “Are you in there or something? I’ll pull you out, just answer already!”

There was no reply.

Rianne panicked.

“Tricia, get her out of there!”

“I’m trying! My hand can’t reach hers – oi, Elly, get out of there already!” huffing, Tricia got her head out of the tree and pushed the sleeves of her shirt back, rolling up her pants as well. “Tsk – I’m getting inside that thing.”

“You might squish her,” growled Reese.

“Don’t care, if I don’t come back in five, get someone to get us out!” as soon as those words were uttered, Tricia leapt in. Reese gave Rianne a stern look.

“We have to get your parents.”

“They’re not here! They left us for the day, remember?” Reese cussed.

“Get your phone out, then!”

“It’s upstairs – oh bugger, screw this.” Rianne climbed into the tree without thinking. Before Reese could react, her friend fell down, just like Elly and Tricia.

“…oh hell, I’m going to regret this, aren’t I.”