by
Rebecca
(anonymousfanficer@yahoo.com)
Niles is sitting on the office couch, duster in hand. His eyes close, he slowly looses his grip on the duster, and it falls from his hand.
Niles awakens, or at least thinks he awakens, in a large room on a bed. He looks up at the ceiling. It’s nearly pitch black except for the candle on the end table next to him. He can hear bells ringing loudly outside.
"Where am I?" Niles says aloud quite confused by the whole predicament. He gets up from his bed and grabs the candle and starts to look around. The entire room is completely made of large gray stone. There is a bed, a dresser, and an end table in his room and nothing more. The furnishings look fairly nice, but worn down. After a few moments of exploration he finds a window. He holds his candle out the window and accidentally drops it. The sun is rising now, just barely above the horizon. Niles can just make out the shapes before him in the dim morning light. It’s a long fall to the ground below. He can see a large wall surrounding all of the building that he’s in and it’s quite a ways away. There’s a large gate as part of it and it’s open. A large procession of horses with riders are coming through it. They are all riding closely together, except for one who rides several feet ahead of the rest; a highly armored person on an extremely large black horse. The bells are still ringing loudly.
All of the sudden the door to his room slams open.
"Niles?! Hurry! She’s here to see King Sheffield! Hurry! We have to go meet them outside to offer the proper respects before they reach the castle." The Woman behind him says. Niles knew that voice anywhere! That’ Fran!
"Fran?" He says turning around. ‘What a get-up she’s in!" Niles thinks. "She looks like she’s at the Renaissance Fair!"
"Fran, what? We need to hurry!" Fran says grabbing him and dragging him into the hall. She pulls him through endless corridors and into a main hall and then outside. There are quite a few other people outside.
"It sure is cold…" Niles says to Fran.
"Especially for you!" she says with a grin. "You’re still in your pajamas!" Niles looks down and sees that indeed he is. He looks up again and can see the group of horses approaching. They are close now. He can see the leader of their group. The horse is quite beautiful. It’s coat is a crisp dark black and it’s mane is braided along with it’s tail. It has a large worn blood red cloth draped around it with some symbols on it that he can’t make out from this distance. The rider looks, if possible, even more magnificent than the horse. He can’t tell whether it is a woman or a man from this distance, but he can see that the person is wearing chain mail and a breastplate with a blood red tunic under it all. They are also wearing a helmet with a large red feather on it hiding their identity. The entire procession soon arrives right in front of the group of people stopping only a foot away from the crowd.
The person upon large black horse removes their helmet revealing short blonde hair and an exquisite feminine yet strong face.
"I demand to see Maxwell!" she says harshly. "Immediately!"
‘CC?!’ Niles thinks. ‘Her!?" He could see now the symbol on the horse’s cloth now. It could clearly be seen as CCB, Chastity Clair Babcock. Fran runs up to her.
"Welcome to the Sheffield Castle. May I please escort you to the main room where he will be with you shortly" Fran says nervously as she holds her hand up to CC to help her down. CC dismounts the horse, not taking Fran’s hand for help, and handing her horse’s reins to a Sheffield stable boy.
"If you so much as," CC says to the stable boy. "Harm this horse in any way what so ever I will torture you until you wish I had killed you, boy."
"Now, my guards, accompany me inside and leave your horses to the stable." She shouts in the direction of her many men upon horses. CC walks off leaving Fran behind.
"Please let me show you the way." Fran says forcing a smile.
"I know the way…" CC says speeding ahead of her even in her heavy armor. Fran struggles to keep up with Niles following close behind her. They enter the castle’s main room. The group of guards and servants soon follow.
"Where is he?" CC says to Fran.
"He’ll with you in a mo…" Fran says just to be cut off by CC.
"Maxwell!" CC screams. "Maxwell! I’ve come to pay you a visit!" After waiting a few moments for him to appear she sprints up the stairs and down a corridor with Fran, Niles, the guards, and various other servants trying to keep up with her pace.
"Please Miss Babcock! He will be with you shortly!" Fran shouts ahead of her only to receive no reply. CC stops in front of a large door pulling it open and entering. Inside she finds Maxwell pulling on a shirt.
"Always late to wake, Maxwell?" CC says jokingly. "You knew I was arriving promptly at five thirty! Unfortunately, I do not have time to spare." Maxwell looks up at her with his shirt now on.
"I’m sorry, but I didn’t wake up as early as I had planned. I had things on my mind and could not sleep." Maxwell sputters out.
"I do not care, let us get to the matters at hand. Pick two of your associates to accompany you in this meeting and I shall pick two of mine." CC instructs as she motions over two of her nearest guards.
"Fran and Niles." Maxwell says as he motions them inside the room. "Oh and please close the door behind you." CC and Maxwell sit across each other at a large beautifully carved wooden table. Fran and Niles sit in chairs on the other end of the table opposite the two guards.
"Now Maxwell both of our families have been great allies for as long as I can remember, but I am taking over the family castle, now, with my father’s and brother’s deaths." CC says preparing to droll on more about the "circumstances" of their deaths.
"You mean you how you killed them to gain power?" Maxwell says without thinking. CC’s eyes narrow.
"Oh, are you ever so certain you would like to accuse me of such a dreadful thing?" CC says leaning forward in her chair with her viciously angry eyes staring into Maxwell’s.
"Oh…uh…I was merely joking, poking fun is all" Maxwell says nervously.
"And joking about a family death is funny to you, Maxwell?" CC leans back in her chair relaxing now that she has the upper hand of the situation.
"Let’s just drop it, now what do you want?" Maxwell says in frustration. CC smirks and leans forward yet again preparing to speak.
"Now, Maxwell, as I said before both of our families have been allies for a very long time. I’ve come to power and I have some issues we need to address. First is that I require some sort of payment for that fact that your servant," she says as she looks at Niles. "Put something in my food that made me sick for several days in my food!"
"I’m sure Niles would never do that!" Maxwell says in his friend’s defense.
"Oh, I’m quite sure he did. He is lucky that is was your wish not to kill him!" CC says with a haughty laugh. "Now I think a few horses will be good payment?" Niles gulps. He has no doubt she will kill him without a second thought.
"Now hold on a second! A few horses, how many is that exactly?" Maxwell says.
"Never you mind! I have something more pressing to attend to that concerns you anyhow. That was just something I wanted to inform your servant of." Maxwell nods and reclines into his chair.
"What I wanted to ask you is, well now that I’m the queen of all of Babcock castle, …perhaps a marriage between us?" CC says smiling her most innocent looking smile. Maxwell’s eyes nearly pop out of his head and he begins to sweat.
"Uh…I umm…" Maxwell blurts out.
"Now, Maxwell, we’ve known each other for practically forever and you aren’t married…and I’m not married." CC says leaning in close to Maxwell.
"I don’t think I’m ready for such a commitment…CC." Maxwell says coyly sinking deeper into his large chair. CC looks down getting a dark expression on her face.
"I was afraid you would say that…" she says still looking down. "It’s too bad really. It would’ve made everything ever so much more easy, but I won’t let anything stand in my way. Your castle has been a bother for so long. I’ve never seen what our family saw in helping you. Your castle can barely function without our assistance. I was hoping to make it so I wouldn’t mind helping your pathetic excuse for a castle, but I guess you aren’t ready and I am unwilling to wait."
"What do you mean?" Maxwell says.
"I mean to say that you have better hand the castle over willingly…unless you’d rather die fighting for it!" CC says looking back up sporting a deliciously evil grin.
"But it’s been in my family for yea…" Maxwell tries to say.
"It doesn’t matter to me. Marriage or I take over whichever you prefer!" CC says slamming her hand on the table. Maxwell hangs his head.
"Marriage…" he says. CC smiles radiantly rising from her chair. Fran looks at Maxwell with deep concern and worry in her eyes.
‘What? No!’ Fran thinks. ‘How can this be?"
"Let’s Go!" CC says to her guards. "As for you, Maxwell, the wedding is tomorrow at noon. I will be here at eleven. I have no time to wait for such things so you had better be ready. You should be happy. This will benefit us both." CC says as she and her guards leave closing the door behind them.
"Maxwell?!" Fran yells to him.
"I know, I know." He says hanging his head.
"We were supposed to get married!" Fran says on the brink of tears.
"I can’t not do this...I can’t loose this castle…it’s been in my family for years…" Maxwell mumbles.
"I’m more important than this stupid castle aren’t I? You love me don’t you?" Fran says with a small tear falling down her face.
"I just can’t…" he says. Fran runs out of the room crying slamming the door behind her.
"Sir! What are you thinking?!" Niles says getting up and walking towards his boss.
"I don’t want to marry her…but I can’t loose my castle…we’ll never win against her and I’m not going to just write away the castle, who knows what’d she do to us if I didn’t marry her. All of our guards and soldiers here are under her command."
"But you just can’t sir!" Niles says forcing Maxwell to look at him. Maxwell shakes his head, gets up, and leaves the room.
‘What is going on?! He can’t marry CC!! He has to marry Fran! He’s not right for her!’ Niles thinks as he watches Maxwell leave the room. The rest of the day went slowly and Maxwell and Fran refused to talk to anyone. Niles could barely sleep with all of the worries weighing on his mind. He awoke the next day at ten in the afternoon. He decided to wander around the castle observing the many servants preparing for the wedding. All of the rooms were being lavishly decorated with streamers and other things one would see at a wedding. Soon he could hear the bell ringing announcing Miss Babcock’s arrival. He ran outside to see her. He was not the only one that wanted to see he, though. He had to push ahead of the crowd of servants and townspeople to get to the front.
‘She looks absolutely beautiful…" Niles thinks to himself. She is riding the black horse and has the group of guards behind her as before, but now she is dressed differently. She now wears a long pure white wedding gown with a long train that hung over her horse’s rump. Her veil is also very long almost reaching the end of her train. Every bit of fabric in the dress has elaborate designs all over it. The horse no longer has it’s battle torn red cloth on it, it now adorns a beautiful lacy blood red cloth across it’s back along with pure white saddle, harness, and reins. Now instead of the initials that the cloth’s side had once bourn of CCB, it now read CCS. She rides in and dismounts from her horse. Two of the guards get off of their horses and hold up her dresses’ train. She walks up to the castle with storm clouds behind her.
‘There is sure to be a storm.’ Niles thinks to himself. ‘She looks so…beautiful.’ With that last thought a streak of lightning and a crack of thunder could be seen and heard in the distance. CC and her group of guards enter the castle as the stable boys come take their horses to the stable. The servants that had gathered in front of the castle to greet her now returned to the castle and the townspeople returned to their safety of their homes.
"Maxwell mustn’t see me before the wedding. I’ll be waiting in the guest room on the second floor. You guards make sure everything is going well and report back to me on all of the things I told you before we got here. OK?" Niles heard CC say to her guards as they nodded to show their comprehension. CC walks up the stairs to the room.
‘I can’t let her marry him!’ Niles thinks to himself. ‘There must be a way!’ The rain was now pouring outside the castle and thunder was booming in the distance. He then thought of the only thing he could possibly do. He followed her up the stairs and to the room seeing lightning steaks whenever he passed a window. Knock, Knock!
"Who is it?" CC calls out through the door.
"I’ve come to report." Says Niles trying to disguise his voice.
"Come in!" she replies. Niles enters the room and finds CC sitting in her chair straightening her hair in front of a mirror.
"You!?" CC yells as she notices his reflection in her mirror.
"Just wait! I have something to tell you!" Niles desperately yells back. CC reaches for something on her leg and pulls it up into her sleeve. She rises from her chair and turns to Niles.
"Oh and what is it?" she sneers looking at him. He quickly walks over to her, presses her up against the wall and kisses her before she can react.
"I love you, CC. You can’t marry Maxwell. Marry me!" He whispers into her ear. CC pushes him away and her eyes narrow.
"I’ve been waiting to do this for so long." CC says into his ear. CC let’s the object in her sleeve drop down into her hand and a smirk washes over face.
"I’ll never marry a servant!" she yells at the top of her lungs as she stabs him in the stomach with the dagger from her sleeve.
Niles is suddenly and brutally brought back to reality. He gasps for air. His eyes snap open and adjust to the light. He wakes to see CC laughing her deliciously evil laugh sitting at Maxwell’s desk with her hand cocked in the air. He looks down at his stomach to find a paper airplane in his lap.
"Wouldn’t want me to tell Maxwell about you sleeping on the job would you?" CC says in-between laughs. "Oh, your expression was priceless!" Niles looks longingly in her direction as he thinks over his dream.
"What’s wrong Butler Boy?" she asks.
The End
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