Royal AU: Gramorr never happened, the twins are actually Iris's cousins, royal shenanigans ensue

Vignettes, drabbles, one-shots, interconnected chapters, whatevers

Shamelessly Talisto

Chapter 1 - Ghost

Mephisto couldn't remember when was the first time he heard of Talia being able to see ghosts. He only remembered that he was ten when he 'officially' learnt about it, that is when they met the princess for the first time since her apprenticeship started.

Nevertheless he and Praxina had teased the hell out of the blunette princess, at least until Carissa had enough and threatened bodily harm if they didn't stop it - plus Izira had been glaring at them too which they both knew would not end well if they didn't stop-, so they had ceased with it. Not saying they hadn't brought it up every once and again but it was slight and in good humor.

(On the other hand, both him and Praxina - and Prax could be scary as hell if she so wanted - brought hell upon those who tried to bully her about it, after all it was their privilege.)

They were fourteen the first time he witnessed it. There was a hunting in a prominent house of Ephedia's kingdom and the younger Xerian princess had been brought to the castle to cast the spell necessary to stop the apparition. It had been fairly formal, nobles flocking to watch the young girl perform a unique spell like she was some kind of attraction. It left him with a bad taste - and Iris and Praxina too who were present at the time, as he later learnt - and at that moment he resented her powers. When he asked the princess about it, she shrugged though a scowl marred her features.

"I'm doing this for those who couldn't move on, not the idiots who are scared." It seemed a bit rehearsed like she had been telling herself the same thing trying to convince herself but the determination glowing in her eyes told a different story. He nodded in understanding and offered Praxina and his services anytime she felt like revenge should be extracted. Praxina said not to make promises in her name but agreed none the less, as did Iris, and later on Auriana, Lyna and Carissa when the twins brought up what happened.

He was sixteen when he first learned what that particular sentence really meant. They were all visiting Volta for a few weeks during the summer, this time with some prince from Earth joining the club - he was arranged to marry Iris and while there were a few meetups and playdates before this was the first time they would spend a longer interval together. They, meaning Auriana, Carissa, Iris, Lyna, Praxina, Talia and himself as well as Nathaniel and few friends of his - Doug, Matt and Zack -, were lodged into one of Auriana's family's summer home. It was small compared to the noble castles nearby, but could still easily house twenty people plus the help.

The weeks went quickly and it seemed Iris wasn't the only one who hit it off nicely with her beau - Auriana and Matt became inseparable (it was so disgustingly sweet he thought he might get sick one of these days) while Doug seemed stuck between Carissa and Lyna (Mephisto didn't blame him, those two could be ridiculously hard to read sometimes) and even his sister seemed to take an interest in Zack (kinda creepy, plus he had to intimidate the guy too). So with all the heart-eyes going around he was left to seek out the Xerian princess as she was the only one besides himself not drooling after someone or other at the moment.

So it was under these circumstances that one night he sneaked away from his sister, cousin and their equally starry eyed friends in search of the blunette in hope of a decent conversation that did not involve boys - or at least not in the way it did with the above mentioned ladies.

He found her in the gardens, her back to him as she sat upon a marble bench illuminated by the moon. He took a deep breath as he took in her glowing form and felt his heartbeat quicken as her serene voice reached his ears. The melody was unfamiliar and he couldn't yet hear the lyrics but it suddenly felt like his heart had been wrenched out. He took a few steps closer to hear it better but stopped short his hand going to his mouth and covering it in an attempt to muffle the quite undignified scream that tried to leave him. Because not a foot before him a ghost stopped, looking through him as if he weren't even there - but it was enough to give him a heart attack, he never saw a ghost before - then flew back to his princess. That was when he realised it was not the moon that made her appear to glow, but the magic that came with her singing and created a circle under her and that her song turned out to be a spell all along.

He gulped as he stepped closer - he really didn't like ghosts, okay? - trying to get a glimpse at Talia's face as the spirits in the area gathered around her and with a light glow slowly dissolved into nothing. The magic circle under her disappeared and the glow died down, the Xerian princess finally opening her eyes before whipping her head around - he stepped on some fallen branch - her questioning gaze falling on him.

"Mephisto? What are you doing here?" her confusion quickly turned to a frown as he went about trying to find her and then he found her but she was surrounded with all these creepy ghosts and it was cool by the way but he was still majorly grossed out by all the spirits. His rambling was met with a hissed "And I thought you were better than the rest of them," and a "Just what do you think they were before they died? I tell you what, they were humans!" before she stormed away. She did not come out of her room the next day and gave him the silent treatment for the rest of their vacation.

He only learned after getting home from Iris what was the source of Talia's anger. Apparently, her late nanny, who had moved to a noble family to carry on her work, had died. And because of the ill treatment the family bestowed upon her she couldn't rest in peace and haunted the noble's castle. Needless to say, it was Talia who had been brought to cleanse the place and she only realized who she was using her spell on when the apparition changed back to her original form with a terrified scream.

When Iris questioned how could he have forgotten this, they were there dammit, it was Praxina who came to his defense against their cousin, reminding the crown princess they were otherwise occupied with family matters and thus did not join her for that particular trip. Iris coloured when she realised the truth of the statement and apologised for not telling sooner.

Mephisto himself swallowed his pride and apologized to Talia explaining he didn't know about her nanny. She accepted the apology and even given her own for getting so angry at him but she still made sure he did not see her performing any ghost related spell - if she could help it that is.

He's now nineteen and it's Iris's birthday party, which meant a lot of guests from a lot of kingdoms that needed attending to and really he should be saving Praxina from obnoxious and boring old men and not stalking his favourite princess into the relative privacy of the royal gardens (he really wanted a dance but she kept slipping away from him). When he finally found her she was singing under the moonlight and a feeling of deja vu encased him as he inspected the magic circle and the incorporeal glowing forms flowing before her.

As he went closer his heart came to a stop - the ghost were just children and while Talia's eyes were closed tears clearly glistened on her face. Without thinking he closed the distance between them grabbing her hand and intervening her fingers with his, earning a confused frown as her eyes snapped open and she turned to him as he stood beside her, gaze firmly on the children and a warm smile splitting his face (it didn't reach his eyes. These were just children.)

The Xerian princess never stopped singing and Mephisto could feel her intense gaze fall from him. He squeezed her hand in reassurance and her singing grew stronger just like the circle's glow and the children disappeared with heartfull laughter (he never heard the sound of the ghosts before).

He stood for a few seconds, his mind drinking in all that happened, before he cautiously turned around to his princess. There were tears rolling down her face and she seemed to be trying to hold back sobs that were desperate to break free. Her hand squeezed his, her free one balling into a fist as she tried to repress her shivers. It took him all but a moment before he enveloped her in his embrace and another before she finally let herself cry into the soft material of his shirt. He kept murmuring reassurances into her hair while wishing he could be holding her under different circumstances.

Afterall he had a crush on her for circa three years, though he hadn't exactly realised it until the Kyle fiasco that thankfully didn't work out and on hindsight probably both Praxina and Iris had to do with that - not Auriana, she was pretty set on them being true loves, though when the redhead finally learnt of his feelings she had no calms supporting him. Nevertheless, he had been pining after her for the last two years and just couldn't find the courage to ask for her permission to court her. Or to put it another way; he was a coward. And it wasn't like he had no opportunity, the girls made sure he had chances left and right but he seemed to screw it up royally every time. Not to say he wasn't flirting incessantly but it seemed she just learnt to accept it as a new quirk of his (not that it stopped him, but still).

And now, here he was comforting her in a secluded part of the garden- wait, scratch that. He could hear several people getting closer and without thinking he teleported them to her balcony - it was pretty handy she always stayed in the same chambers during her visits. But the sudden change had brought her out of her discomfort and she pulled back slightly trying to inspect her new surrounding.

"Why have you brought me here?" Talia questioned as her gaze fall upon his olive orbs and the burgundy haired teen felt a blush creep up his neck and reach his ears as he took in her face. There were still tears glistening in her eyes, a vulnerable expression crossing her face - and that was a rare sight to be bestowed, mind you - her golden orbs glowing as she kept gazing at him probably waiting for an answer. An answer he couldn't give as he was way too mesmerized to process anything, really.

So he just went on instinct and pulled her close once again, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead and holding her long enough where it was strictly not appropriate even between friends. He felt her hands push against his chest and his heart fell as he complied to her wishes, his hand falling limply to his sides. He felt too embarrassed to look her in the eyes and opted to turn his gaze on the railing of the balcony. A 'tsk'-ing sound had brought his misery deeper before there were warm hands encasing his burning cheeks and yanking his face down to meet his princess' soft lips.

It took him a few seconds to process what was happening but it was enough time for Talia to pull back, it seemed this time it was her turn to avoid his eyes as a scarlet tint colored her cheeks. He felt a happy grin split his face as a chuckle broke from his mouth and before she could question him he brought her back into his embrace crushing his lips into hers, the smile never leaving his face.

He felt her lips move against his as her hand wandered up to play with the hair at the nape his neck while her other hand disappeared into his violet tresses. His own hands had slowly moved to her waist between her gentle kisses, her smile stretching on her face as neither of them could stop laughing. As they pulled apart for air he opened his eyes drinking in her rosy cheeks and still closed eyes as she took fortifying breaths before he kissed her again, nibbling at her bottom lip playfully. He felt her smirk into the kiss before granting him entrance and he deepened the kiss without preamble, too intoxicated on her taste to care about much else. His hand wandered up to hold her neck and intervened his fingers in her teal locks before it went to caress her face while her fingers raked through his hair eliciting a hiss from him and a chuckle from her.

Too bad everything had to end as their kissing session was brought to a sudden stop as a shouting voice emanated from Talia's chambers. And seeing as they recognized the voice as Izira's the two reluctantly pulled away, faces glowing a scarlet hue and gazing into each other's eyes, before Talia took a steadying breath and told him to go before Izira found him and skinned him alive (pretty overprotective big sis there).

He threw a glance over his shoulder before turning back to his princess and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips before teleporting away into the safety of his own room. He collapsed on his bed with a giant grin splitting his face, cheeks still burning as he tried to process what just transpired. (He kissed Talia! And she kissed him back! This was honestly too good to be true!)

In the end he came to the conclusion that he could take on ghosts any day if it meant spending time with his favourite princess (and that his chances of courting her kinda skyrocketed) before he headed out to save Praxina from obnoxious and boring old men.