01: I'm Wishing

Soon enough, word of Prince Antonio's engagement to the beautiful Antonia had spread throughout the kingdom, and there was much rejoicing amongst the citizens. From east to west, north to south, celebrations were erupting in honour of the upcoming union, congratulating the prince on finally finding a suitable match.

Antonio and Antonia were elated, of course, though they barely saw one another in the day between their first meeting and their impending marital vows. Antonia had a dress to make, Antonio a wedding and reception to set up in the palace. There was simply no time for small talk or getting to know one another-- not when true love was on the line. And that's what was happening, of course, the eternal union of their true love.

Antonio was happy, Antonia was happy, Antonio's mother was happy, the kingdom was happy. Everyone was happy and busy and planning for a beautiful wedding-- everyone, that is, except for Antonio's two best friends.

"This really sucks," Gilbert muttered, his words partially muffled by the table he was face down on. Of course, that is not entirely what he had meant to say, but for some reason, whenever he tried to say anything... unsavoury, it simply didn't come out right. It was peculiar, and he'd told Francis and Antonio billions of times about it, but they both just insisted he'd had too much to drink or he'd been hanging around in that one building with the lead paint for too long, and it really was a hassle being so awesome you noticed things others didn't. "Really, really sucks," he repeated when Francis didn't answer at first.

"Oui, it does," Francis finally replied. "I am all for l'amour, as you know, but this will be the end of everything!"

"Tonio is going to get l--" Gilbert started, only to suddenly find himself without the words to finish. Weird... weird world they lived in.

"Not just that," Francis responded, apparently knowing what Gilbert had been intending to say. "He's getting married! He's going to have a wife, and soon enough he'll actually be running the kingdom... He won't have time to hang out with us!"

A miserable cloud settled over Gilbert and Francis, and for the first time in many years, there was a small bit of the land where depression settled in. There may have been a joyous occassion coming up, but Prince Antonio's closest friends were dreading it.

"This is so unawesome," Gilbert said, taking another swig of beer. "So. Un.Awesome."

"I agree, mon ami."

At the very same moment, both men wished there was something they could do to stop this awful change about to take place in their lives. Ever since they were children, it had always been the three of them-- Antonio, Francis, and Gilbert-- wreaking havok and making their mark on the kingdom. Sure, Antonio was a prince, and destined to rule the very kingdom they terrorised so often, but that had never mattered, because Antonio had never taken his duties all that seriously. But now he was getting married... and that meant he might very well start to take things very seriously. And that just wouldn't do, for Francis and Gilbert at least.

Just as they were both making their wish, a wish for things to return to normal, for life to resume as it was, their dark cloud of misery morphed and twisted. A chill ran through the warm always-summer air, a sense of dread wrapped itself around the small abode they resided in. If anyone else were to enter the area, fear would have filled their very soul, as a mystical, magical, heavy aura was filling every molecule of air that surrounded that area...

"Eyebrows is here."

"I can see that. He's wearing the fairy outfit again."

"It's not a fairy outfit, you idiots!"

Indeed, a fairy outfit it was not, but the costume of an angel, though this particular angel did not bring about world peace, fuzzy feelings, good will toward man, or anything else holy or angelic in anyway. No, this "angel" came with the strong scent of gin, a questionable wand, and the sense that you probably shouldn't have summoned him, no matter how desperate you were.

Francis and Gilbert were sorely desperate, though, and they ignored the fact that this man would probably just make matters worse.

"Ah, Arthur, lovely as ever," Francis said with a leer, gaze fixed on a certain part of the other man's anatomy. "Want to help us get rid of a pesky young woman who's trying to steal Antonio away?"

"Why the," an eery silence filled the air as Arthur was cut off. "Why would I help you?"

"Because nobody likes you and you've got nothing better to do?" Gilbert suggested.

"Well you showed up, so you might as well," Francis added.

"...Oh fine," Arthur said, scowling at the two of them. "I never really did like Antonio anyway."

"I think everyone knows that, oui."

Arthur sat down at the table with Francis and Gilbert, and had he been in any other land, his "angelic" outfit may have ridden up and placed itseld into a most indecent position, but considering where they were, it stayed in place just fine, much to Francis' (and nobody else's) disappointment.

"So you can get rid of the girl?"

Gilbert hadn't been thinking "girl" and added this incident to his ever-growing list of odd things that happened in this kingdom.

"Of course I can." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"He thinks he's a magician or something, it's worth a shot."

"I'm a sorcerer, how many times do I have to tell you?!"

Francis grinned and patted Arthur's bare knee. "Of course, you're a very powerful sorcerer, whatever you say."

"Do you want my help or not? I don't have to do anything for you, you know."

A few drinks later, and Arthur was singing an entirely different tune.

---

Everyone always said that your wedding day was the most important day of your life. Antonia wasn't really quite sure who "everyone" was, but she assumed they said so anyway. She couldn't really remember her mother, so she had no advice to follow, and she'd never been to a wedding, but... she felt in her heart that this was the right thing to do. She loved Antonio, she'd known it from the minute she laid eyes on him, and she knew he loved her too. She'd been up hour after hour since she'd met Antonio, singing and dreaming and preparing for the wedding ceremony, and she was finally ready to embark on this most important journey called love.

After dressing herself, she exited her cottage and began making her way towards Antonio's castle. Towards the location of her wedding. Her wedding. Antonia squealed with delight, barely able to contain her excitement.

"And where are you off to, miss?" a voice came from behind Antonia, startling her slightly.

She turned around and was face with a cloaked, faceless figure.

This didn't bother her in a slightest, however, and she smiled at the mysterious person. "I'm getting married!" she exclaimed, joy filling her voice as she spoke.

"Ah, I see," the person replied, sounding just as gleeful as she was. "Then you've already made a wish at the well, have you?"

"The well?" Antonia hadn't heard anything about a well!

The person tutted at her, and thought she couldn't see their face, it sounded as if they were frowning. "That won't do at all, you have to visit the wishing well before you get married."

Now, Antonia was a very trusting woman, and if a strange cloaked person said she had to make a wish on some well she'd never heard of before, well, that made perfect sense to her. She hadn't spent much time outside of her cottage in the middle of Antonio's tomato field, after all (unless one counted her dreams), and there were probably many things she didn't know anything about. So though there was an odd aura surrounding this strange person, and though most people may have questioned them, Antonia did not.

"Will you show me where the well is? I don't want to get married without visiting it!"

"Of course, of course," the stranger laughed a bit. "It's right this way."

It was in the opposite direction of Antonio's castle, but Antonia knew he couldn't exactly get married without her, and after all, this was clearly something she had to do! So she followed the stranger, never noticing the other two figures that following behind them at a distance, until they reached a large, beautiful, ivy-coloured well in the middle of a forest.

"What do I do?" she asked, gazing down at the well's waters.

"Lean in close," the cloaked figure insisted.

She leaned in close, her gown pressing against the well's edge.

"Close your eyes,"

She did so.

"And make a wish."

Antonia smiled, knowing exactly what it was she wanted to wish for. All she wanted, all she'd ever wanted, was to live happily ever after, with the man of her dreams, her one true love...

"Have a nice trip."

Before she could respond to the odd remark, Antonia was tumbling over the edge of the well, falling rapidly towards the waters below, unable to scream for help as a bright white light engulfed her entirely.