“Dark, you dress yourself to impress.” The ebony queen smiled. Condemned and Darkmoon stood at the end of the dining table dressed in fine tuxedos. Darkmoon wore a blood red dress shirt, black tuxedo pants, black and red vest and tie, slightly covered from his overcoat and slick black dress shoes.

She turned her attention towards the author, for Condemned’s attire, it consisted of bright white dress pants, red dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a white vest, white tie, and last but not least, black work boots. “Kind of different, but that somehow looks good as well.” She chuckled.

Both of the guys smiled at her compliments and thanked her. Almost simultaneously, they sat down near the queen. She looked to one of the changling guards and signalled for the meal to begin. Instantaneously, numerous chiefs came barreling out the kitchen doors, serving out fine dishes. To Condemned’s surprise, he found some dishes that mainly consisted of different types of meats. Pork, beef, chicken, lamb, everything. He could barely contain himself at the sight, being stuck in a world of vegetarians.

He gulped,“Queen, is that... what I think it is?”

She looked to Condemned with a wide smile,“Don’t you worry, it’s a meat substitute. There is no trace of real meat from an innocent creature. Us changlings do not feed in this manner, but off of emotions as you are no doubt aware.”

The author thought to himself in silence,‘Damn it. So, so, so close.’ He turned his attention away from the food and focused on Dark. He had noticed that the guardian was being rather quiet. “Do you have anything to say? Any questions you’d like to ask the Queen?” He asked.

“Well, what’s there to ask?” He said with a lopsided smile.

“Come on, just say something. Tell her about yourself, or ask about her.”

Darkmoon looked to the queen with a small smile and asked,“Would you like me to... tell you a bit about myself? That’s.. if it’s ok with you, that is.”

The ebony queen gave a little chuckle at the uneasy tone of the guardian. She leant against one of her hands with her elbow resting against the table,“I would love to.”

“Alright.” His smile grew a little bigger,“I’m from this place called,‘Earth’. and...”

As his story grew on, Condemned noticed that with each changing topic, the queen drew herself that much closer to the taletelling Darkmoon. She moved from her chair at the end of the table, to the next chair, and then the next, but she stopped as she finally reached the chair right beside his. Their smiles, their laughs, and their words mixed together so perfectly. The very sight of them together once again in the eyes of Condemned brought a more than cheerful smile upon his face. Their continuous storytelling continued until they both glanced over to the author as he was taking large bites out of a false steak.

“Having a good time are we?” Asked Dark with a grin plastered across his face.

After swallowing his food, he looked towards Dark with a disappointed sigh,“It’s.. just not the same.”

The queen spoke up,“So, both of you are carnivorous creatures then?” She asked, achieving a nod from the both of them. “Is this a common thing on your ‘Earth’?” Once again, a nod.

Dark looked to Chrysalis and said,“But we’re not all carnivores. Most of the worlds inhabitants are a varied bunch. Some prefer meat, others vegetables, and then a mix of both.”

“Oh.”

Once the dinner finished and the dishes were lifted away, Darkmoon and Condemned were lead to the inner garden of the castle. The sights were incredible, the soft, lush grass, the clear night sky with the glimmering stars hanging within it, and the sight that only Condemned seemed to notice. The Mystic Mountain. The very sight sent a small sensation of sadness throughout his mind as he remembered a memory.

“Just a little further.” Daylight whispered into Dusk’s ear as he lead her towards their destination, his hands covering her eyes as he guided her along their way.

“Are we almost there?” She asked with a bit of excitement as she was lead, a grin plastered across her face.

“Almost.” As they finally arrived, Daylight lifted his hands away from her eyes and said.“Here we are.” The mare looked around and seen a small picnic blanket laid across the grass. A bottle of wine and two wine glasses rested within a picnic basket as a rose sat in the middle of the blanket, waiting to be picked up and to top it all off was the sun as it was just kissing the horizon, bringing about the night.

She glanced around and seen that the area looked somewhat familiar when she caught sight of the hive beneath them. “It’s our one year anniversary, I wanted it to be special. So what’s more special than a glass of wine, with a rose for a pretty lady on a mountaintop as they watched the sunset?” She looked to Daylight with a bit of tears in her eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. It’s just that... this is so perfect.” She buried her face within his chest and she wrapped her arms around him. A smile came over the author as he held her within his embrace, cherishing each moment as they stood holding each other.

As Condemned’s memory was set to the side, he caught Chrysalis staring at him. Lost in thought. He had no knowledge as to what he had done to earn her gaze, so he asked. “Is something wrong, my queen?”

“Not for me, but it seems for you. What’s wrong?” She questioned.

“Ah, nothing. I was just thinking.” He told the ebony queen as to subside her curiosity.

She looked to him for moment longer before speaking again,“Something is wrong, or else there wouldn’t be fragments of tears in your eyes.”

“Just thinking on the past, I guess.” To the queen it was just a statement, but to Condemned, he himself wasn’t to sure. Being sent into the past but remembering something that happened within the future was rather confusing. Was it a memory? Or just a thought? But this didn’t mean anything to him. He was there, and most importantly, she was too. It was real, to him.

As the night drew on, Dark and Chrysalis stood side by side as they leant against the guardrail, overlooking the dark field before them. They sent playful jokes towards each other, and laughing at the others small playful gestures towards the others. Condemned rested upon the wooden bench that sat near the two, his eyes were slowly growing weary.

“Sir Condemned, join us, would you?” Without any say, the author stood from the bench and joined their small conversations. The chats they shared for the next ten minutes were menial but enjoyable. Even he began to warm up to the both of them, but to him it just wasn’t the same. The two that stood before him, he knew them, but the old them is who he knew. But as they talked between each other, Chrysalis caught a glance at something within Condemned’s vest pocket. “What’s that?” She asked as she pointed towards it.

The author took hold of the watch that lead him back through the fabric of time and held it out towards the ebony queen. “This? It’s just a watch.” But something seemed off as he held it. He didn’t pick it up before as he got dressed, but something was different with the watch. It wasn’t the motionless, rusted piece of junk he had before, but a shining, golden watch that’s tick seemed to echo throughout the air. “...Strange.”

“What’s strange?” Dark asked as he watched over Condemned.

“It’s...different.”

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next! A big thanks to AhugeAcidTree for proofreading again.

Keep it cool, Condemned.