• Chapter 1




    "Did you hear that he's getting married?"
    "Yes, to Lady Paula, I believe her name was."
    She stopped as she heard the all too familiar name of her old playmte.Thats good that shes getting married.She always wanted to get married.I wonder who shes going to...
    "Yes, and to Leutinent De'LaCor."
    No.
    Tears welled in her eyes.It had been over a year since they had last seen each other.Of course, they still saw each other, but from far away.Never talked face-to-face.She had known that eventually he would go on and marry someone, settle down, have a family, and live happily.
    But never so soon.
    Now her childhood playmate and fellow companion in coming out when they both had their Quinceanera's, and her old love, were going to get married, and be everything and have everything, she could have had with him.
    So she ran.She didn't know where, but she ran as fast as her legs could carry her in her much too long gown.She ran past the orchards where they would dance through, past the fountain where they had first kissed, past the small bench where they had talked for hours through the night of their future together, and finally came upon the tree.
    The tree where they had first met as children, where they had, had fun and climbed, torn clothes here and there, where he had caught her that fateful day that their lives had changed.Where he asked her to marry him and give up her royal upbringing to go to New Spain with him.
    And she cried.And cried.
    Because finally, after everything, she had lost him.


    The saddest thing is you could be anything, that you could want
    We could've been everything, but now we're not.
    Now it's not anything at all.
    The hardest part was getting this close to you
    and giving up this dream I built with you.
    A fairy tale that isn't coming true.
    You've got some growing up to do.



    She would of given anything to have him back.She needed him, needed him like she needed air.And yet, when she thought back to last year, to what she had known was going to happen, 'That is the way things are meant to be'.Fate had decided everything, but did that mean that she had to die inside because of it?


    I wish we could have worked it out.
    I wish I didn't have these doubts,
    I wish I didn't have to wonder just what you are doing now.
    I wish I didn't know inside
    That it won't work out for you and I.
    I wish that I could stop this wishing and just say my last goodbye.



    Every little thing that had made her love him, his eyes, his smile, his personality, the way he would look at her.It was all going to be for someone else now.How was she supposed to feel?Happy that her best friend, lover, and closest confidant was going to marry her lady-of-the chamber.


    After all the things you put me through,
    tell me why I'm still in love with you.
    And why am I, why am I still waiting for your call?
    You broke my heart, I'm taking it back from you.
    And taking back the life I gave to you.
    Life goes on before and after you.
    I've got some growing up to do.

    I wish we could have worked it out.
    I wish I didn't have these doubts,
    I wish I didn't have to wonder just what you are doing now.
    I wish I didn't know inside
    That it won't work out for you and I.
    I wish that I could stop this wishing and just say my last goodbye.



    "Queen Hillary."
    She stopped crying, as she heard the all too familiar voice.The one voice that had relaxed her, made her mad, made her cry, made her get chills through her body.It was back.
    Without a word she turned around and looked at the one person who had given her a beautiful view of the world, and had also destroyed it.
    "Yes," she said as coldly as she could manage.
    He looked at her.Looked at her, not as the Queen they both knew she was, not as his superior, not as the woman who had given up their love...but as the girl who had ran through the vineyard without a care in the world, as the young woman who had acted like a lady when she was about to come out but wouldn't care about ettiquete in the privacy of close friends, as the young woman who danced in the rain.
    And as the woman who he loved, still loved, and who had said, "I love you,"
    back to him.
    She saw it in his eyes, and he saw it in hers.
    They had never stopped loving each other.

    It's time i said my last goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    It's time i said my last goodbye

    He walked up to her and took her hand.
    "My love," he wispered to her.
    She shook her head at him.No, she was not his love, she was his superior.His Queen, whom he served.Not the love of his life, because now that was Lady Paula.She cringed as she thought the very name of his true beloved.She cringed inwardly as the next few words left her mouth.
    "I am not your love.Lady Paula is your destiny, so why do you come to me Leutinent?Have you forgotten your place so quickly?You serve for my army, and for my leisure; to protect the royal family."
    His eyes hardened into two green stones, "I was certain that you would assume that my marriage to Lady Paula is one of convenience, your magesty; not one of love.I saw you run from those vile women you seem to call loyal, though who knew you were there and knew your relation to Lady Paula and myself.I heard what they said, and I followed you.You cannot say that you do not still love me, because I see it in your eyes," with this he cupped her right cheek with his hand, "So don't lie to me anymore Hillary.You know as well as I do that you don't want to be part of this anymore....."
    SLAP!
    A huge red handprint was now visible on his face for all to see.And she stood before him, shaking and with tears running down her face, staining her make-up no doubt.
    "Whatever it is that you felt for me at one point Leutinent, you cannot say the same now for you feel something for Paula.We are no longer children Kaname.We can not run joyfully through the vienyards anymore!And it can never be the same, because YOU AND I STAND ON EITHER SIDE OF THE RIVER!You can not stand on my side, and I will not stand on yours.What made you think that I would want to?!"
    Silence.

    I wish we could have worked it out
    I wish I didn't have these doubts
    I wish I didn't have to wonder just what you are doing now
    I wish I didn't know inside
    That it won't work out for you and i
    I wish that I could stop this wishing and just say my last goodbye

    She was shocked at the vile things that had come forth from her mouth.She couldn't believe that she had said that, and from the look in his eyes, neither could he.The hurt look on his face, made her realize that she had destroyed something inside.It cut through like a thousand cuts against her skin, that look.
    So she ran.
    Ran for the safety of her royal blood.
    Ran for the safety of thousands of people watching her.
    Ran for the privacy she could seek from the secret room next to her chamber.
    Ran for the safety of her position in life.
    Ran to escape that look that had cut through like a knife.
    And as she kept running, she could only see the hurt look on his face, the tears blurring her vision doing no amount of good to blur the look.She squeezed her eyes shut and wiped the tears away.



    Though all too soon, she came upon the base of the tree.
    The Tree of Love and Wisdom.Planted on the day she was born, would be cut down and used to furnish her future children's room once she married and became heavy with child.
    The tree that had offered solace and comfort to her when nothing or no one else could.
    She dropped to her knees and rested her head against the soft bark, and let the sadness and tears overwhelm her.
    "Please good tree, tell me what the right thing to do is.Tell me I am wrong, the advice that you bring.Give me your wisdom as you have given me through all my 19 years.Give me the truth that you hold.That only you can give.Please!" she begged, as sobs racked her body.
    Love him, she heard a voice say.She looked up at the tree with astonishment, and could see a few buds begin to bloom.The beginning of a new life, while the old flowers had withered and died already.
    "Hillary," she heard a voice say.His voice.She kept her head up and closed her eyes, feeling the warm rays of the sun on her face.She was about to turn her body, when she felt two arms come around her body and one hand cup her face to turn it to the same, warm, familiar lips that she had missed for so long.
    She let herself be nothing but to be in that moment.She didn't need to be a Queen, she didn't need to Hillary Cortez; ruler of Spain.
    The only thing she needed to be, was to be in his arms.


    It's time i said my last goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    It's time i said my last goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    It's time i said my last goodbye

    The sunset loomed over them, letting them be not individuals, but to be one once again.