My wife and I had lived humbly ever since we left everything behind us.

We have traveled, but we are not finished yet. We have many homes, yet none of them are permanent. But just yesterday, my wife ran into the house with a piece of paper in her hand, with her sleeves folded up to her elbows and her apron wet with the laundry water.

"What happened?" I asked. "Banica, what happened?"

Without a word, Banica ushered Arte and Pollo into the house and hastily locked the doors as they shut the windows as well. I stood from my seat, wondering what could possibly be so serious that would make her so distressed, but before I could even ask a third time, Banica thrust the paper down onto the wooden table on which we would always have our meals on for the duration, and it was all clear.

There were only a few words on the paper, and I saw that it was all it took to make us panic.

'Return immediately.
-Juno Beelzenia.'

Carlos

On February, EC 312, we ran for our futures. We chose another way out, another way to live.

We went to the port and sneaked into one of the departing ships, yet I remembered that it was easier said than done at the time. We were two children of fifteen years, and neither of us had a healthy bodily composition fit for sudden strenuous physical activities. We weren't ordinary children; Banica was the daughter of one of the Five Dukes of the Beelzenian Empire, and I was the Third Prince of the Kingdom of Marlon, yet the weight of our titles didn't serve to support us, but hindered us instead in our childish yet ambitious pursuit of happiness.

The port of Jamet was a last-minute plan, admittedly, but we managed to run undetected. We managed with the help of sailors allowing us to sail with them, expressing their amused interest in us wanting to see the entirety of the world. Banica herself was rather enthusiastic, and while she had regained color and spirit in her face, I was also pleased at the fact that she gradually- ah - lost weight in the process as well.

But as for me, I got sicker on board. The seas were no good for me, it seemed, despite me being a prince of the famed kingdom of the seas. However, once again, the sailors did much- or did the best they could, in fact. They gave me all sorts of elixirs, all sorts of medications, all sorts of dreaded traditional medicine that only Banica had the stomach to swallow, but that was all and that was it.

Until we reached Elphegort.

I remembered the day that Banica ran to me and excitedly exclaimed: "Arte and Pollo are here, and I've found someone who can help you!"

It was a miracle, this discovery. I became as healthy as Banica, and the four of us: me, Banica, Arte and Pollo traveled with the sailors who allowed our voyage to happen from the very beginning. We were like a large family; we celebrated birthdays, we observed cultural holidays, and the time came when Banica and I eventually married. It was surreal; no one ever realized that we were gone, or maybe they did, but they saw that this was of no importance. We were of no use to anyone back where we came from, but we were of use to each other and everyone else here.

But this letter was threatening to quash our dreams to the ground.

"We can't leave," Banica pleaded, her brown eyes looking around wildly. "We absolutely can't leave. Carlos, we can't leave!"

"But they know where we are!" Pollo retorted back, looking as panicked as Banica was. "Arte, do something!"

"We'll just have to leave..." Arte began quickly.

"...and we'll have to tell everyone," Pollo finished, just as quickly.

"But this is not what Lady Banica wants," Arte shot back, glaring at Pollo. "Don't you know anything?"

As we expected, Pollo ended up taking half a minute to register the fact, and he ended up nodding slowly while slowly saying a well-formulated: "...Oh."

Banica shook her head and sat down; I presumed that she had forced herself to calm down in the shortest time possible. She drummed her fingers on the table in deep contemplation, considering the situation as best as she could. We all knew that leaving the people who had cared for us, who had traveled with us, who taught us how to live, to love, to fight, to appreciate the very world itself was out of the option entirely, yet we knew that due to our noble lineages, we couldn't drag them into the same trouble that we had.

"...We have to lie to them," Banica said. Her voice sounded strained.

"Lie?" I asked.

"We have to tell them that we're going somewhere- I don't know what exactly we're going to have to say..." Banica continued, "but we need to tell them that we'll be back. We'll definitely be back. We'll escape again if we have to. But we have to go back for now."

"But you don't want this, Lady Banica," Arte said, frowning as she went over to Banica, holding her arm gently. "We can do something. You don't have to leave."

She shook her head. "This is the only way. We'll be back, of course, won't we?"

"Of course we will," I said, as I wanted nothing more than to console her, and myself. "We'll come back. We'll tell everyone that we have to do something rather important- I don't think we can bring ourselves to lie to them about what we could possibly do, otherwise they won't ever trust us again," I laughed.

Banica hit my arm with a nearby cloth. "Our names aren't Joseph Crim and Maylis Crim, mind you," she grinned.

There's that as well. We've lied about our names. As I realized the fact, I ended up laughing even more, and even the twins started to join in the laughter.

It should've been easier on Arte and Pollo; they never had to fake anything, mainly because none of us knew what they even do, or where they came from, or who their parents were, or what were their last names. They seemed to know exactly what they were doing; most of their motivations stem from serving Banica with their utmost loyalty, but it was a little complicated when it came to me. I wasn't too sure, but before I could think a little further, a knock came at our door, revealing none other than one of our friends, Olivia, who smiled at us and pointed outside.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're going off again! We're going to Beelzenia!"

Our Futures
Chapter 1

A/N: This is yet another AU- of course, this is almost in the same category of je ne regrette rien, according to Maguro. Instead, this centers on a possible take on Banica Conchita's and Carlos Marlon's relationship, mainly coming from the idea that Carlos may have entertained the notion of travelling the world with her and accepting her for who she was in the engagement party.

She also says that the chapter mention was intentional; she wanted it to be at the end of each chapter.

-Nairo