Ocean Drops

Disclaimer: Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime and its characters belong to their respective owners. In other words, I don't own them.

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In Moon Kingdom, a small candy shop sold an exclusive confectionary delicacy, Ocean Drops. The candies were made out of color-tinted sugar crystals and shaped like various aquatic animals. They were quite popular everywhere in the Mysterious Planet, but it was only that one particular store in Moon Kingdom that sold them. In addition, the owner of the store refused to export them out of their kingdom.

"Reeiiinnnn! Poooommoooooo!" Fine blared.

The redhead was skipping through the streets of a small shopping district in Moon Kingdom. Rein and Poomo sluggishly followed the suit, still half-asleep. Then again, it was seven thirty in the morning, and the twins were permitted to sleep in today. Out of anxiousness, Fine had slept early, thus her spirits were as energetic as ever. As for Rein and Poomo, things weren't quite that fortunate for them.

"Fine..." Rein yawned, "Why did you drag us this early to Moon Kingdom? It's too early. And..."

"And?" Poomo and Fine simultaneously asked.

"I was dreaming about Prince Bright!"

"Oh," Fine snickered, "Well, you see..."

"Ahhhhh, Prince Bright!"

Rein clutched onto Poomo's two paws and starting softly singing a love song she learned from Camelot. She then swung Poomo's petit body in the air, much to his dismay. Many people passing by couldn't help but chuckle at the lovesick princess' antics. Fine had always found Rein's fangirlings mildly amusing, but she felt embarrassed at what her sister was doing right now.

"Rein, stop it!" Fine cried. "We won't be able to get those Ocean Drops at this rate!"

"Ocean Drops?" Rein curiously asked. "Are you talking about the candies our parents bought us when they had a meeting with Moon Maria?"

"Yep!"

"Princess Fine, that's so unprincess-like of you." Poomo interrupted. "Cutting someone else's beauty sleep is unforgi-"

"Oh. My. GOSH! Fine," Rein squealed, "Let's go find that store right now!"
"Okay!"

"Princess Fine… Princess Rein…"

Unlike before, Rein was awake and chipper as possible. In fact, her energy level seemed to have surpassed that of Fine's at the moment. Fine assumed Rein loved the candies as much as she did, but that was definitely not the case. Deep inside Rein's head, a plan was in the making.

Being the hopeless romantic she was, Rein knew the myth the Ocean Drops harbored. It said that if you and your lover eat one Ocean Drop from the same batch, the two of you would be destined to be with each other forever. She had planned to take a few of the oceanic confectionaries back to the castle, and somehow get Bright to eat one with her. She didn't have a plan on how she'd achieve this, but she thought it'd be best to find the candy first before moving on.

"Finally," she thought, "Prince Bright and I can be together… forever."

"Rein, wait up!" Fine and Poomo shouted as their optimistic comrade quickly sprinted in the busy streets.

"Welcome to Lunar Confectionaries!" a plump blonde woman greeted the twin princesses and their animal sidekick. "How may we help you today?"

"Um, we wanted to buy some Ocean Drops." Fine answered.

"Oh… Well, I'm afraid we're out of stock, and we currently can't make more."

"WHAT!" Rein shrieked. "Bu-but you-"

"I apologize. We're out of refined sugar and corn syrup, which are very important for making Ocean Drops. If you girls had arrived earlier, you may have gotten our last packet. My partner has gone to the main town to get some, so we should have new batches ready next week."

"Next week..? We don't have that kind of time, though."

"I see… I'm sorry, girls. Maybe next time?"

The girls shook their heads at the woman and sighed in disappointment. They slowly walked down the sidewalk, both discontent for extremely different reasons. There was one odd thing that happened around this time, though.

Something in Rein made her lag behind Fine and Poomo. It was more like the hope that some miracle would happen. While life was no fairytale, having hope about something wonderful happening wasn't a crime.

It was at this moment that Rein struck some luck. A small blue silk pouch fell on Rein's blue top hat at a rather fast velocity. Rein immediately grabbed the pouch, amazed by its color and texture. She then carefully opened the top, happy to see the contents.

The pouch was filled with a large amount of shiny Ocean Drops. She sniffed each candy, each having the unique aroma of the ocean. She tried looking for the person who threw her the Ocean Drops, but she had no luck. Finally, after hearing her two traveling companions calling for her, she ran out to the village's main area to return to her home. Before she could run to them, however, Rein popped a small dolphin-shaped candy in the mouth and tied the pouch by her Sunny Luce.

Although strange miracles can happen in life, someone had thrown the pouch to Rein deliberately. The young boy stood in the darkest corner of the city, which made his trademark navy blue suit and hat blend in almost perfectly. His blue eyes stared thoughtfully at Rein, and his teeth were occupied in chewing up a peculiar candy. After he could no longer taste the sweetness of the candy and smell the temporary aroma the candy gave his fingers, he made a quick glance at the girl again and walked away to his home.