The queen sighed. "How long have they been waiting?"
"Since this morning."
The queen waved her hand. "They can wait a little longer. I just saw a delegation."
Sorbet grinned and made a mock curtsey. Now that death and taxes were a thing of the past, the only certainty in the queen's life was Sorbet smirking at whatever she said. "May I at least go ahead and tell them you'll see them in an hour or so?"
"Fine. Do it."
"Who should I introduce you as?"
The queen absent-mindedly tapped her finger against the throne. "Doesn't matter. Marmalade's fine."
Sorbet's grin widened. "You really are fond of that name, Your Majesty." And without further ado, she snapped her fingers and vanished from the room, no doubt reappearing behind the double doors that led to the throne.
The queen yawned. She supposed she liked the name Marmalade more than most of the others, seeing that she had used it for the better part of the month now and was yet to tire of it. Not that she wouldn't dispose of it in time: one of the simplest joys in her life came from seeing the befuddled faces of her subjects when they were expecting to meet Queen Vanillina and were instead introduced to Queen Caramel. And really, whatever name she chose for herself at any given time would hardly ever be used: it was like they were the title and "your majesty" was her actual name. After all these years, after so many names and so few people calling her by any of them, she wasn't even sure which one had been her original name...
"Say, Cube," she said suddenly.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" Cube, who had been standing in attention behind the throne, shuffled forward. The buttons of his neat, but simple uniform gleamed even in the scant light of the throne room.
"You wouldn't happen to remember what my name was? My old name, you know, from before..."
Cube frowned. "Yes, Your Majesty? Which name do you mean? The name you were given when you were born, or the name you were given by "
"Either. But don't say them." The queen raised her hand for emphasis. "I don't want to hear them now. I just wanted to make sure someone remembers them so that they won't be lost."
Cube bowed. "I'll do my best, Your Majesty."
The queen slumped back onto her throne. "Good." She really shouldn't dwell in the past. On some days, it was easier to keep in mind than on others. On a dull, monotonous day like the day ahead of her, it was nigh impossible.
Sorbet chose that exact moment to return. "The delegation is beyond ecstatic to be able to meet you after such a short notice."
The queen rolled her eyes. "Good for them." She sat up and yawned again. "I'm going to have a light snack before I see them."
"As you wish," said Sorbet, as always.
The queen raised her index finger to her chin and began to think. "I want...start off with a raspberry sorbet, with some vanilla in it. Then caramel ice cream with cherries and whipped cream...some fresh pastries with blackcurrant jam..then macaroons with chocolate on the side...cr me br l e...and then a strawberry cupcake and vanilla tea. The sweet kind."
"The one made into sugar water? Of course, Your Majesty." Sorbet left again to relay her orders.
The queen smiled briefly and stretched her arms. Thanks to magic, it wasn't like she was ever going to run out of resources, and since she could never get sick or gain weight, it didn't matter what or how much she ate. In other words, there was no reason to ever hold back or to eat something that didn't placate her sweet tooth. As boring as her life could get, at least she could spice it up by coming up with the most varied dessert combinations possible and having them served to her on silver platters (or like on one spectacularly boring day, on meringue platters). Today, she had gone with old favourites: most of the things she had ordered she had been eating for as long as she could remember. Perhaps even longer.
"Cube," she said, "did I like sweets as a child?"
Cube nodded. "Perhaps not to the extent you like them nowadays, Your Majesty, but you certainly enjoyed them." He hesitated. "But from what I can remember, you didn't eat them very often at all."
The queen frowned. "Why is that?"
"Your I mean, you were concerned about having cavities and gaining weight, Your Majesty. Therefore, your limited your sweets intake to only a select few days of the year."
The queen's frown deepened. She couldn't remember any of this. "That sounds so boring. Did I complain?"
"Not very often, Your Majesty. Of course, you were fond of many other foods which you were offered far more often than sweets."
"Uh huh." The queen leaned onto her arm. "Tell me, what was my favourite treat back then?"
Cube paused to think. "Overall? Probably cake, Your Majesty."
The queen nodded. "Cake's good." She considered adding a chocolate cheese cake to her order. Had chocolate been her favourite already then? Suddenly, in a moment of inspiration, a fragment of a memory popped into her mind.
"You baked me a cake once," she said slowly. "And it wasn't for my birthday."
"I did?" There was a flash of recollection in Cube's eyes, and for a brief moment, a quick smile illuminated his face. "You're right, Your Majesty. It was a return gift on White Day, just before you travelled to Africa."
The queen pouted. She couldn't remember anything else beyond the initial details. "How come you remember so much more about that time than I do?"
"I don't know, Your Majesty. If it would please you, I can share what memories I have of Earth with you."
"Maybe some other time." She wanted to try and remember them on her own first, and, failing that, so save those memories or a day even duller than the present one. She leaned back, pondering. "So, I gave you something for Valentine's Day? That was how it worked, wasn't it?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. You gave me an obligation chocolate." Cube smiled again. "It was very considerate of you."
"Huh." She couldn't quite remember that part, but it sounded about right. She had never tried to actively forget anything, not after the first few years, in bouts of desperate homesickness, but it all had been washed away by the waves of time all the same. By now, what little memories she had of growing up were like faded photographs in a damaged picture album: vague, sporadic, and often difficult to make out. The pain of glancing at them was gone, but she was afraid that if she kept digging deeper and actually discovered something she had long forgotten, the agony would return tenfold. She wasn't quite sure what sort of unpleasant feelings she kept pushing away from her conscious mind, but she knew she didn't want to find out, not when there was nothing she could do to change the status quo beyond ordering a different kind of parfait each day.
For a queen, her power was shockingly nominal: while she technically ruled over all of Hell, any changes she attempted to make to her realm where impermanent at best. The five dimensions were locked in a century-long stalemate, and all attempts to end the raging war had proven futile. What was she to do, then, but to attempt to pass the time as well as she could?
Absent-mindedly, she looked around the throne room. Sorbet had returned, inspecting some sort of an announcement with a calm face, possibly meaningless news from the front line. Cube looked equally calm. Boredomville, population 3.
It was like picking on a scab, but on days like these she couldn't help it. She plunged deeper into her memories, seeking out both what she already knew of Earth and what she had forgotten. The fragments were all different, but now that they had no bearing on her current life, the queen saw them all in equal light, interchangeable.
There was the time her class had finally won the sports festival...The times when she had gone see a film on Sundays...Viewing the harvest moon...The trip to South America...The time she had gone to see Hiroko's big show...The time she had been ill for a whole month...Warm, comforting arms that shielded away all the evil in the world...Adventures both won and lost, more often lost than won until she practising Kendo...finding a stray kitten...her eighteenth birthday, when all her friends had shown up for one last time, including her secret crush to whom she had never said a word about her feelings, not a word, about that bubble of happiness she could summon up whenever she was feeling low...Job offers...opportunities long, long lost.
She could shake away the ghosts of the past, but she could never go back to the time when she had just been a human girl living with Cube and...that person.
Sometimes, she wondered. What would have become of her if she hadn't given Sorbet the time of the day? How different would everything have been? Would she have been happier?
She tried banishing the thoughts and grabbed Cube's wrist. There was no point in regret. She owed it to herself to make the most out of her current situation. Dwelling in the past for too long only risked what chance for happiness she had right now.
And yet...
"Your Majesty?" Cube blinked owlishly at her. She could see Sorbet grinning in the corner of her eye.
"Hey, Cube..." she said quietly, leaning forward to grab the back of his head with her spare hand. His hair wasn't quite as soft as she had always imagined, but still soft enough. "Why don't you call me Young Lady again, like you used to?"
Cube's cheeks flushed. "Because it wouldn't be proper, Your Majesty. Why do you-"
"That sounded like an order to me, Cube," Sorbet quipped from the other side of the room. She had placed the announcement on a table, her full attention on the queen and Cube.
The queen smirked. "Indeed. Come on now, Cube."
Cube bit his lip and bowed his head. "Of course...Young Lady."
"Again."
"Again, Young Lady?"
"Again." The queen ran her fingers through his hair. "Always, unless I tell you otherwise."
Whether Cube was looking so uncomfortable because of her hands or her words, she couldn't tell. "Of course, Your- Young Lady."
"Good." And without further hesitation, she pulled Cube's head closer to hers and planted her lips on his.
Cube's eyes widened, and she could hear Sorbet chuckling further away. She ignored them both and kept going. After all, what was the point of being the Queen of Hell if she couldn't at least get some sugar out of it?