Warning: this story contains mature themes such as racism. You have been warned.

His memory was hazy. He didn't remember much about his past life. He remembered he was struck down at some point in the night near...well he didn't remember that either; it was hazy. However, he remembered its shape being either a square or a rectangle.

            He had no recollection of a face; however, he knew he was in her room when he died. And now...there was no body in her room.

It had to be her.

            Who else would be in her room at night? She would have woken up by the sound of his deafening scream as he struggled to stay awake, nearly poking himself on something sharp. In fact, he was impaled with something sharp: a sword. And who gives out swords? The reptilian princess, that's who.

Everyone else respected him but her. She...she always ignored him when he tried to protect her. It was his job, and yet she ignored him like he was nothing but dirt. So that's why she was his number one suspect. That's why he was looming ominously over her as he purposefully haunts her. It seems as if she was either ignoring him again like she did when he was alive or couldn't see him.

Can Princesses even see ghosts? Is she even smart enough to see one?

He follows her everywhere in the castle: the dining area, the training area where a friend of his and her sister were currently sparring, the stable, everywhere; except the bathroom. He refused to be that kind of knight.

Plus, who wants to look at scales? Disgusting.

In this world, humans and monsters got along pretty well. However, when the Knight was born that changed. Reptiles overthrew the humans and the world started all over again from the nice progress it had been doing as a democracy.

The Knight might be remembering this wrong, but he remembered when there was a President, a human king or queen, a representation of all things good.

Monsters? What good are monsters who make them their slaves? Sure they—

AHHH! She's already up the stairs!! The ghost floated through the floors with a smirk. Perks of being a ghost, Heck yeah.

He was just in time. She opened a book with a scaley hand, and the ghostly knight tried to read the cover before it was abruptly shut on him. Then again, he couldn't read, so he didn't even know why he tried. Not being able to read was a curtesy of the sudden dinosaur revolution.

            "Aww man," He complained. He really wanted to see what she was reading. "What a buzzkill."

"Shut up, Knight. You do realize I can see and hear you, correct?" The princess inquired as she put the book away. It read: How to Get Rid of a Ghost. The knight's heart jumped inside his chest. "Also, why are you trying to read a book? You can't read."

"I know what the title says," he rebuttals with rebellion. Though she taught him how to read that. "Are you trying to get rid of me? And here I thought you couldn't see me, witch."

            She didn't answer him, instead her gaze traveled to the window. What's so special about a window?

            So that's the game she wants to play, huh? She really doesn't want me around, huh?

            The Knight floated around the room, picking up a strange metal object, managing to not faze through it. "What is this?" He inquires. It was about the size of a sword, the Princess's sword. He put it back before trying to swipe the book out of the Princess's claws. She retracts immediately, teeth bare for him to see.

"Don't just touch everything in my room!" She looks away, whispering almost inaudibly, "You're tampering with the evidence." He didn't respond, pondering over what she was saying.

Tampering with evidence? What did the Princess know?

When was the last time he was in this room? It felt so long ago, yet so recent. Why had he been in there? He couldn't recall.

Yet, the idea the Princess knew something and mentioned evidence. Either she managed to find evidence, which was questionable to the Knight how and why she would be looking for said evidence, or she was keeping this evidence here for someone. But if that was the case then who?

He floated on a bright red carpet, glancing at it. It appeared matted.

"What would you classify as evidence?" He asked her as he floated down to stand on the carpet. The Princess eyed the carpet as well. "That carpet was purple," she informs him.

He looks down. "But it's red," he notes.

The Princess sighs and face palms. "Well, it was supposed to be purple. You were killed here." She then swats her arms at him. "Now get off that carpet."

He obeyed. She was still his ruler and he hated that.

            "So why are you here? You clearly have some sort of afterlife thing going on. How can I help?" She offered with a friendly smile, though she did appear to be tired of something.

            Why is she offering her help? She's a princess, she's not supposed to offer me help. That's...weird. Then again, she doesn't usually talk to me. But now that I'm dead she's talking to me just fine.

            But he had been haunting her for weeks. Perhaps she just got tired of that and is offering him help—Or perhaps she's offering to help so I'll leave her alone...Humph. It'll take more than just the afterlife to convince me to leave!

            But if she was offering her help....

            Did she kill me? His doubt started to show. She acts like she doesn't know why I'm stuck here. Perhaps I shouldn't jump to conclusions? For now, he wouldn't accuse her. That wouldn't be very noble of him. Then again, he was never really all that noble in the first place.

He raised his eyebrow, though, still a little unimpressed and angry at his death. "Yeah? How can you help?" He inquires, confusion alight on his face. "I'm already dead. I don't see what a reptile like you could do to help in my death."

She frowns, making the Knight shiver. There was something in that frown that just unsettled the Knight, and he didn't know why.

The princess' tail swished left and right from underneath her dress in thought, her tail curling slightly. Her head was angled at the floor in complete silence. For a few moments the knight found himself just floating there as she prepared herself to speak.

"Look, I know we never got along," she began. The Knight's fists clenched and glowed slightly red in anger. That's true.

            "What are you getting to?" He asked, not wanting to waste time on useless small talk. Why talk when you can find out who killed you?

Her feathers folded down as his voice raised. He stayed silent, trying not to upset her even further. He was still a knight after all. He shouldn't allow his anger to take over.

"Do you think it was me?" Her voice was hushed in a whisper, sadness evident in the way she spoke. The Knight stiffens.

It was obvious he didn't like her, so was it obvious that he blamed her?

Should I lie, or should I tell the truth? Even so hating her, he didn't want to accuse her of something she might be innocent of. He was killed in her room, however there was just something off about the way he was killed.

"It might've been you, but I can't remember." He frowns sadly, trying to make her forget he just confirmed her of her suspicions. At least with the truth, she knows he doesn't fully know himself. "It's just a hunch. I only saw someone who had a similar body shape and size."

Her voice suddenly became louder. "Why do you think it was me?!" There was clear desperation in her voice.

            The Knight yelped in fear, floating through the floor for a brief moment. Her outburst was not unexpected; however, the Knight was hoping she would take it better. He felt guilty for his accusations, but someone had to kill him.

            But I shouldn't blame her. She has every right to be upset and demand from me why I think it's her.

He sighs, feeling heavy despite being a ghost. "Well, we hate each other, right?" he stalled. She groans in annoyance. Was that all he was to her—an annoyance? He decided to continue regardless. "So it wouldn't be too farfetched if I thought you killed me because you hate me."

            "Is that what you think?" Her voice was whispering...again.

Why did she keep changing octaves? She should just speak normally. I'm not an animal like her and her kind. There was also just something about her being a reptile that unsettled him. He couldn't imagine a creature like her being royalty. And he was one of her knights: a human.

"I've seen the looks you've given me and my people, Knight," she admits, a cold gaze striking him with intensity. He hated it. She then frowns, making him feel guilty once more. "I know how you feel about us. Why are you even here, then? You're obsessed."

The Knight wasn't sure if she was trying to flatter herself and her dinosaur people, or what. Either way, she was insane, he was sure of it.

He was at a loss for words. He didn't even know where to begin in order to move on. How could you disconfirm something that was true? And his guilt wouldn't ever let him out of this nightmare he so desperately wanted to escape.

The Princess groans as she facepalms. "Look, Knight, we've treated you well at this castle. And you thank us by blaming the first dinosaur who you are racist against?"

"I am not racist, you annoying Princess!" He roars in anger.

            He really needed to control his temper, but how could he when this Princess was making false accusations against him? It was supposed to be him who was blaming her for something, not her blaming him. He thought she was better than that.

            "It doesn't matter. I didn't kill you. Maybe you should be looking at your own species. Perhaps then you'll learn." Her eyes shifted over to the side towards the window for a brief moment before they looked back at the ghost knight.

            A minute of silence surpassed before a sudden knock at the door spooked the knight. Not wanting to be seen by anyone, despite probably not being able to be seen anyways by anyone other than the princess he served, the knight vanished. Probably for the better.

The princess rushed to open the door. She was face to face with a stranger with a strange, hunched back. They were accompanied by a human whose face was covered by knightly gear.

The first person was covered by a hood, so the knight couldn't see their face. The second person on the other hand was his knight friend, Sue. But something felt off about one of these two. The Knight felt uneasy as he strayed closer to the Princess than he wanted.

Why the hell is the Princess so popular right now?! I want to ask her questions! Damn am I a brat.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my castle?" The Princess inquired, arching her eyebrow as she glared at this stranger; she nodded towards Sue. She stood her ground well. The Knight had to admire that at least.

The stranger took a bow, covering their face with strange garb. "Good day m'lady," the stranger politely said as they took a bow before entering her room without her permission. The princess backed up slightly, looking back expectantly.

            Should the Knight reveal himself? Nah. He would watch it play out while standing next to this window that had strange whitish-gray goop on it. He immediately got grossed out by it, deciding that perhaps he better not stray too far from the person he was meant to haunt.

            "Sorry for the sudden intrusion into your room, but perhaps you've seen any clues nearby?" The stranger took off their strange garb to reveal a feathery dinosaur-like creature. They—er he going by their voice—reached into a satchel they brought, wrapping their paws around something before unveiling it to the princess like it was some form of magic: a magnifying glass.

A detective? Did she contact this detective? How? I was with her this whole time!

The strange dinosaur puffed out their chest as their back straightened up from the hunchback position it was in before continuing. "Ta Da! I think I can help you solve this mystery. I am a detective! I can figure out how your knight died!"

The Princess nodded, a hint of remembrance in her eyes at the detective.

Wait, did this detective actually get employed by the Princess to solve his murder?!

The Knight got mad. He wanted to solve his own case.

Still curious about this scenario, the Knight stayed hidden. He was ready to make an appearance soon.

"Why are you here?" she wonders as she eyes Sue for a second. Sue, the brown-haired human knight, wasn't paying any attention to them. Her eyes were on the window.

For a brief moment the Knight could see something unexplainable flash through her eyes before her gray eyes locked with the Princess, a strange hatred in them. She was acting strange.

"I brought someone here who wanted to speak to you. He tried to sneak in. His name is Bailey, and he claims to be a detective. No one died here, yet he claims someone has."

The strange dinosaur lifts a claw to speak. "A-Actually," they begin in a stutter. "Don't care. You're now a guy. Deal with it, big baby," Sue responds in a monotone voice.

"Why are you here?" the Princess repeated. The Princess' eyes locked firmly on Bailey who fumbles around with his magnifying glass.

The Knight floats underneath, floating closer to the Detective. "I am here to help, remember?" The strange detective shudders. He then looks around.

The Princess' sharp gaze reached the floor and the Knight floated back over to her, seeing only darkness as he did so.

"To investigate the murder of one of your Knights." The detective tried to probe her memory. Did she actually hire him? Sue did claim he snuck into the castle. She must've caught him like how a knight was supposed to.

Unlike me.

The knight found it odd a stranger would break into her castle to offer their help to her. Not only was it weird, but it was also suspicious of them. In that case, is it him? Or are we still missing something?

The Knight poked his head up from the ground every now and then to see things, now looking intensely at the windowsill. Did that goop have anything to do with his murder? How about the sword? Perhaps if the Knight continued to look at the evidence, he would be able to figure out something?

As he past his friend Sue, he could feel her shivering. "Why is it so cold in here?"

He ignored the Princess' excuses and poked his head out to look at the goo. As if on cue, the Princess and everyone else joins him. What was with this strange goo?

Bailey approaches the goo, being halted from stepping on the carpet in the process by the Princess. She really didn't want anyone tampering with the evidence.

"I'm glad you called. You sounded distressed. There's definitely blood spattered on the floor," he notes as he writes down what he's looking at with pencil scratch. He drew something that looked like a weird square. He definitely wasn't an artist. He fumbles some more, an awkward-and-nervous smile on his face as he turns red.

Who let him become a detective? He definitely isn't trustworthy around evidence and bodies. Why was he even hired? These were meaningless details; however, the Knight couldn't help but wonder how a guy like Bailey had ever become a detective.

"That's dye," Sue dismisses as she avoids the carpet. She glared at it like it was her worst enemy. "And I thought your room had a purple carpet," she notes.

The Princess seemed confused but didn't bother to comment on the specific note. Did the Princess have a closer bond with Sue than she did with the Knight? He never got to go in her room. At least, not until he heard a sound coming from the room and got....

He didn't remember. All he knew was he came in here the night of his murder and that was it. He didn't even know what he heard.

But the window was something he was curious about.

"What happened here?" The detective jots down more notes, dropping his pen after he quickly wrote down what he noticed.

"Goop," Sue visibly shivers. "Someone snuck in likely."

What? How'd she get to that conclusion right away? Though it does look like someone, or something snuck into the Princess' room. But why?

The dinosaur-like lizard fiddles with his claws as he patiently looks up at the princess, awaiting the Princess' response with a soft smile. He rubbed a clawed digit on his magnifying glass, tongue sticking out weirdly. "What do you think, your Majesty?" He tips his head in curiosity.

            At this point, the ghost Knight was tired of all this time wasted. He popped his whole body out of the ground and groaned, "Aren't you the detective? Why are you so bad at you job?"

            Immediately, Bailey screams and runs off. Sue follows him, and the ghost Knight decides to join them, floating alongside the Princess as they follow suit in order to explain things to them so they wouldn't freak out further.

As the made their way downstairs, the Knight froze, recognizing Sue and her twin sister as they climbed up the stairs. Distress was on the two's face.

"Uhm, Princess, Coworker that's now a ghost, have either of you seen a white eel-looking shapeshifter?" Sue asked.

"I thought you went with that weird detective Bailey. Didn't you run away from my ghost?" the Knight inquires, feeling stupid. Was there something he missed?

A loud high-pitched scream erupted, and the Princess and the Knight exchanged glances. There was the scream, Bailey's scream. It reverberated through the walls, echoing for all to hear. Immediately, the Princess, ghost Knight, Sue, and her twin sister all dash over to the source of the scream in the middle of the hallway.

A strange eel-looking creature was seen digging her claws into the detective's face, causing mass panic and alarm as the lizard's face began to peel off in large chunks. Bailey screeched in pain as he yelps for help. However, by the time he screamed once again, his throat had been grabbed by the strange eel-like creature, teeth sinking into his rough skin with surprising ease.

Somehow Sue had a bow and an arrow, aiming the bow at a strange white creature who leaked strange mucus-like substances as she, maybe they, attempted to change into the strange detective. Quick timing it, the artillery sped through the air like a zebra and plunged itself deep into the gooey flesh of the strange imposter before the tearing of rough flesh could happen, making the eel-like creature screech loudly before collapsing below.

"So that wasn't you?" the Knight asked, feeling dumb. Maybe he was dumb. "No, if you paid attention—" "You know he doesn't pay any attention Sue. That's why he didn't bother to remember it was the eel who killed him." Sue's twin sassed.

The stranger roars with defiance as the two identical females approached with glares in their eyes. "I thought I smelled something fishy. Pretending to be my sister. How despicable." The two shared green eyes.

Perplexed, the Knight wonders why he never noticed the green eyes as he watches the creature attempts to change, dust and goop swirling around her. The pink creature coughs, her attempt ending in failure as she was weakened just enough to inhabilitate her transformative powers.

"What are you weirdoes on about?"

"You killed him," Sue accused. The weird creature shrugs. "Well yeah, I killed him. I shapeshifted into the Princess he hates so much. How do you like them beans?" She turns her hating-and-dull eyes towards the Knight while the detective laid there, needing some medical assistance. "And now, I've killed someone else. What are you going to do about it?"

"I am not dead yet!" Bailey protests. He reachs out for something before dinosaur claws retracted with nothing inside them. "But I sure would love a hospital."

"I sure would love to be alive," the Knight mocks.

And with that, the attention to Bailey the detective went away. So, they're all murderers now, nice. Sue's twin dug more holes into the creature with a sword.

"Where did you get that?" the Knight asks, seeing older blood stains on the pointed edge of the sword. "I found it."

Dammit another thing I neglected to pay attention to.

Before he could think anything else, a demon—er a skeleton appeared in front of him with a brown tabby cat with a floating disk above her head by his side. Only this time, only he and the Princess could see him. However, that was when either the most likely shapeshifter or Bailey died. The Knight wasn't sure who it was. But it wasn't important. He didn't value either of their lives.

"Ack! Death!"

Why was the Princess surprised? Wait is she dead too? Or is this strange skeleton just a jerk? "Hey, I was watching that," he whines, feeling the Princess' hand swipe right through him as if to say that's not important.

The cat hisses as Death sighs in annoyance. "I am here to bring you to rest."

"Yeah, no. I think you got the wrong person. The Princess is alive," he informs like the skeleton was stupid.

The skeleton groans. "I was going to give you two time to say goodbye." "What? I hate her. Well goodbye, I guess." The Knight dismisses the Princess with a wave like he was the royalty here.

"So, a shapeshifter killed me?" The Knight tried to grasp. The skeleton face palms, the cat joining as he shouts, "YES!"

"So, am I going to heaven, or hell?"

"..."

"Heaven or Hell? I'm fine with either, not gonna lie. To be honest I deserve Hell," the Knight remarks. The skeleton groans before smiling.

"Yeah. You're going there," he winks as the Princess watches. "Enjoy."

"Uhm, goodbye for real this time Princess?" the Knight questions as the skeleton opens a portal under him, sending him to a strange place filled with fire.

He landed on a grumpy demon. "DEAAAAATTHHH!"

Laughter could be heard from the portal as both the Princess and Death gave their own demonic laughter to the portal. Yeah, I suppose I deserve that.

End note: This might end up being a part of a different stories world. It's kind of the plot that leads up to a different plot. Although I could technically also add the death's story to be a part of the world as well. Technically all these stories are kind of linked, just not the same storyline or probable world. Except two of them. This is one of the two. And yeah. I have a habit of making characters be not as likable because I don't honestly don't like characters who are way too liked. Plus it makes the story way more interesting for me to write a knight who's racist than it is to write a knight who's in love with the princess. Plus that's already been done countless times.

Anyways let me know your thoughts on this one. Could definitely be improved, but I still like the aspect of racist knight and all.