Paul's POV

"Paul, do you think they'll come for us next?" A little girl looked up at me with her long blue hair blowing in the wind.

"If they do, I'll always protect you. I promise." I looked into her shiny blue eyes with a small smile, something I rarely did to anyone.

But this girl was an exception.

"Thanks Paul. Best friends forever?" She asked with a grin.

I grinned back which made her eyes widen in surprise but either way she still grinned. I held out my hand which she took and we played around in the garden of the castle grounds.

There were banners surrounding the castle above. The banners had the symbol of the wind on them.

"Princess! The queen calls for you!" A maid came running out into the garden.

"Alright Zoey. I must leave, Paul." She turned to me.

The maid, Zoey, had short red hair and smiled at me as she grabbed the princess' hand and dragged her away.

"Bye Paul!" She called with a smile that never left her face.

"Bye Dawn!" I waved to her while her maid friend giggled.

——

My eyes widened as I awoke gasping. Dawn. Her name was Dawn.

Realisation hit me like a wave. Dawn. The girl I met in the forest. She was the same girl from my dreams, my best friend.

How could I forget?

Flashback (8 years ago)

"Take her Paul! Take her!" Zoey cried as she pushed Dawn towards me.

Zoey ran back into the battlefield and dragged the Queen away.

"Johanna, we must leave!" I heard her speak to her queen.

"No. I must stay and fight. This war is not over until I'm dead!" She screamed and launched herself back on the battlefield with a sword in hand.

She was just as feisty as her daughter.

"Dawn, I swore to protect you. I'm bringing you to your sister Kingdom." I announced while grabbing Dawn's hand tightly, afraid that if I let go, she'll slip away.

However, she did not move from where she stood as she observed the scene before her, tears in her eyes. I then realised what she was looking at.

I widened my eyes as I watched the King of the Air Kingdom approach Dawn's mother, a sword in hand.

"Mum!" Dawn let out an ear-splitting scream, loud enough for all the warriors to stop fighting.

I stared at all Dawn's warriors, then all of the enemies. Zoey was battered and bruise with a few cuts here and there but she wasn't that badly injured. But Dawn's mother was a different story.

The queen was panting on her knees, staring at the King with hatred.

"You destroyed my kingdom, now you will pay!" She shouted and blew a horn that was so loud, that it would reach a distance miles away.

The Queen stood and glared at the opposing King.

"For my Kingdom. For Dawn!" She screeched before launching herself forward with a sword in hand.

The King readied himself, and deflected her sword and flung her backwards until she hit the wall of the castle. But what scared me the most was not the King. It was the crack after the Queen's landing and Dawn's pained cry next to me.

Before I could stop her, Dawn ran out of the safety of my arms and into the battlefield where the fighting died down and warriors turned to stare at the fallen Queen.

"Mother!" Dawn sobbed as she took her mother into her arms.

I ran towards her as I saw the King of the Air kingdom approach Dawn with satisfaction written all over his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Kingdom of the Wind has fallen!" He announced while raising a fist in the air.

His army copied him formally and let out cheers. He then pointed a sword at Dawn.

"You're next." He growled as he prepared to kill her.

I made it just in time and deflected the sword attack with my own sword. All that training from my father really paid off. I disarmed him and pointed my sword at his chest.

"She's only ten for Arceus' sake! Have some mercy." I snarled in his face.

He took back his sword and stared thoughtfully at me. Then he sheathed it.

"You're pretty good, young prince." He complimented with a stern look then walked off with all of his army following him.

I observed everything around me and almost let out a cry. There were fallen soldiers everywhere. I looked down at Dawn and she was weeping into her mother's shirt. Zoey looked down at the ground in shame. I walked to her and patted her back reassuringly. Definitely not a Paul move but it was all going to be worth it in the end.

I brought Zoey back to Dawn and sat down next to the two girls. Both had begun weeping uncontrollably. I let them mourn for their kingdom, and their queen as I sat and watched the grey sky. Rain fell and many lay in rest while many more sobbed at their loss.

"The Earth Kingdom awaits. We will bring you there soon. For now, we shall mourn for your loss." I whispered to both Dawn and Zoey who did not respond, although they had heard him.

"Rest well mother. You will be avenged." I heard Dawn whisper softly while Zoey nodded with tears streaming down her face.

"The horn didn't work." I muttered to myself as I remembered the horn the queen blew before her final moments.

End of Flashback

Dawn was a princess. She was still the same princess that I had met years ago, and now I have to find her. I remember after I had left her and Zoey with the Earth Kingdom, I had gone home to my own Kingdom where we were slowly forming an alliance with the other three.

But what happened to Zoey? None of the three other girls I had seen with Dawn in the forest were Zoey.

Before I could continue my thinking, someone interrupted. I heard them calling my name from outside my room as I got up feeling light headed.

"Paul, they've arrived and the other boys are already prepared. King Reggie should be waiting for you outside." I heard Iris speak through the door.

"Mhm." I responded with a grunt and got ready for the long day ahead.

I was still deep in thought as I walked out of my room to find my older brother standing there looking like his usual formal self.

"Brother." He dipped his head and I gave a small nod.

He lead me into the throne room and there stood many royals. I examined everyone and saw Ash, Drew, Gary and Brendan with his parents, Sapphire and Ruby. His brother, Kenny also tagged along.

I glared slightly at Kenny who glared back. From childhood, the two of us had been enemies. He was also Dawn's friend which also made me hate him even more. Even at the young age of ten, I knew he liked Dawn which infuriated me for some unknown reason.

"Is she here?" I heard Drew ask hopefully to Brendan which made my head snap up.

"Of course. She's just bringing in her belongings. She has learned everything she needs to know from us." Brendan answered Drew.

I positioned myself next to my brother and stood lined up next to all the other royals. We heard a knock on the door and it was soon followed by a voice.

"Am I still welcome here, or should I move back?" They asked.

"Come in!" King Cilan commanded but his tone was softer than its usual demanding voice.

The doors opened and in stepped a girl with green hair similar to Drew's. Her eyes purple with a hint of green and she was smirking at us all. She had a young man with black hair and glasses by her side who was looking around at everyone nervously.

"Welcome home, Amethyst." King Cilan announced with a smile, eyeing the boy beside her suspiciously.

I couldn't wait to get out of here.

Drew's POV

For the next hour, the four of us boys have been standing awkwardly while listening to the several conversations happening around us. Then a certain green-head approached us.

"Drew! My little brother." She grinned at me.

"I'm not your little brother, Amethyst." I growled but still smiled back.

"Well, I am twenty minutes older than you so I would assume that you are still my little brother." She winked.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes at her. "Now, who's this?"

I gestured towards the young man next to her. He stood protectively next to my sister and hadn't left her side ever since she arrived.

"This here, is Maximus. He was a personally assigned guard for me. Also he's now my best friend but he's pretty quiet so don't expect him to speak to you straight away." Amethyst spoke nudging Maximus every few seconds.

"You can call me Max." The boy spoke up with a confident tone.

A small smile played at my lips as I watched Amethyst glare at him.

"You never spoke to me after the first few seconds we met. The first time you actually said something was a month later. Hell the only thing you said was, 'don't forget your spaghetti'!" She yelled making both him and myself sweatdrop.

"So Max, how old are you?" I questioned the boy who no longer looked so nervous.

"I'm fifteen at the moment, your highness." He said formally.

"Don't need to call me your highness. I'm not that Royal you know." I smirked. "Got any siblings?"

I watched as Max stiffened at the word siblings. He took a deep breath before speaking once more.

"I-i, yes, yes I do have a sibling. She's my older sister." He stuttered in response.

I glanced at Amethyst to see her glaring at me.

"Maximus does not like to speak of his family." My sister warned me.

"Oh I'm very sorry." I apologised quickly to Max who was looking at his feet.

"No no it's alright. You were just curious." He said not looking back up at me. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

I looked at Max to see him leave the throne room and onto the balcony outside. I then looked back at my sister who was staring at me.

"We have a long awaited conversation." She said dragging me to a seat.

After a few silent moments, Amethyst finally spoke up.

"So how's life been since I left you guys?" She asked.

"Exhausting." I groaned.

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"We are currently under strict rules." She gestured for me to continue. I sighed. "We have received a punishment from the kings and queen."

"And why would that happen? What did you do now?" She asked with wide eyes.

"We wanted to go to the forest and look for these food thieves. Instead we found a bunch of girls who weren't the thieves at all. And we arrived back at home late. Therefore, we were given a punishment." I explained.

"Did you ever think to ask the girls about any thieves?" She looked at me.

"Nope."

She smirked at me and did my signature hair flick. I snarled at her as she continued to mock me.

"Were you too mesmerised by the girls to even remember about the thieves? Maybe that's why you arrived late." She continued to smirk while I just glared at her.

"That's untrue. One of them whacked Paul and I with a tree branch." I said in frustration as my sister continued to mock me.

Then she burst out laughing bringing all eyes and attention on us. I clasped a hand over her mouth to shut her up while everyone went back to their separate conversations.

"You- whacked on the head!" She gasped in between laughs.

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes, remembering the moment the brunette attacked us from the bushes.

"Oh no I won't. I can't wait to tell Max and Brendan about this!" She chuckled.

"What's up with that Max kid and his family anyway?" I asked changing the subject quickly.

I received an elbow in my side and I groaned in response.

"It's personal Drew. He doesn't like speaking about them. After all, his kingdom has fallen." Amethyst spoke mysteriously. "For now, myself and a girl we are friends with are his current family."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"It means, mind your own business." She rolled her eyes.

"Hmph." I grunted.

"Now you shut up. You sound like Paul." She mocked me.

"Shut up." I denied.

"You shut up!"

"No you!"

"No, you!"

"I'm serious."

"Well so am I!"

"Will you both shut up!" A voice interrupted us.

We looked up to see our father glaring at us. The whole throne room had fallen silent and everyone was listening to our bickering.

"My my, your children are so alike." Queen Sapphire said to King Cilan while scratching the back of her head.

"Brendan, how did you deal with Amethyst for so long?" I heard Gary ask Brendan who just shrugged.

"How did you deal with Drew for so long?" Brendan asked Gary who just shrugged in return.

Both Amethyst and I spun around to face the two and they just whistled like they hadn't spoken at all. I glared at the both of them while my sister did the same.

"Okay so are we all set on the plans?" Queen Delia spoke up breaking the silence.

"Yep. This ball is set." Reggie said.

"Right. Now we need to look for guests." King Ruby agreed.

I looked at the other boys who came to stand next to us. Max had also come back and was now standing next to Amethyst. I looked at Paul to see him and Kenny facing off in a glaring contest. I glanced at Gary who had his arms on the back of his neck in a relaxed sort of way.

I turned my head to peer at Ash and I slightly rolled my eyes as he had a bunch of fruits in his hand. Currently he was stuffing his face with an apple.

"So, who's this girl you were speaking about before?" I asked my sister who smirked.

Max eyed us curiously before turning away as soon as he caught my gaze.

"Her names Bonnie." Amethyst said quietly not wiping the smirk off her face.

I smirked back as I got what she was thinking.

I yawned then leaned an arm on my sisters shoulder who jumped slightly at the action as we listened to the adults speak about the ball.

—-

Sorry about this chapter. I needed to update so I added something.

Basically that is Drew's twin sister, Amethyst. She might appear in future stories. Maybe in my other book I'm currently writing.

Now we know that Paul remembers Dawn, but does Dawn remember Paul?

With the other pairs, they don't actually know each other so we'll see later in the story.

This is Amethyst by the way...

I sure hope that photo showed up because photos never show up when I put them in stories.

Okay now byeeeee!

- April

16th Feb, 2018