A/N: I do not use historical accuracy.

King Samuel II was inside of his study, writing the sermon he was to give to the church for the coming Sunday. He was only on the introduction because his mind kept clouding with thoughts of Queen Mercedes. It had been only a week since he proposed to her but the separation felt like years. He opened the drawer at his desk and inside was piles of love letters he's written since that night. Holding said letters in his hands, the door knocked.

Quickly he shuffled them back into safekeeping and told the person to enter. Butler Blaine came through and announced that Queen Mercedes was actually there in person. He gulped and carded a hand through his hair before taking off his glasses. He got the ability to speak again after considering that Mercedes could have just made her decision after a week. Just a few seconds prior, he was impatient and eager to hear back from his love but now that it occurred to him that it could very well be bad news. King Samuel now wished that he hadn't been so hasty.

He stood up and Mercedes came into the study and closed the door. Once they got a chance to see each other for the first time in a long time for them, they both matched each other's illness.

"Mercedes…" Samuel started to say as he walked towards her. As he made steps in her direction she thought she might lose her confidence and her stomach. She did twice on the way there.

Mercedes regained her strength and asked him, "Do you take me for a fool?"

"What?"

"I said," Mercedes mentally scolded herself for letting her voice crack, "Do you take me for a fool?"

Samuel was completely bewildered, "I have no idea what you're talking about, darling. Please, what is this about?" He tried to approach her again, but she backed away tears falling.

"Lord William was right, wasn't he? You've been toying with me, haven't you? You just wanted to show that you could have me completely distracted and ignorant to your charms whilst your men take and kill our women!" Mercedes cried hysterically while Brittany's sweet presence graced the room.

"What?" Samuel said again, unable to make sense of anything he was hearing. His supposed confusion made Mercedes even more angry. What an actor, she thought.

"Didn't you hear, King? The game is over. I know that you let your sniveling men into my country so they can do away with my maids and God knows who else! It wasn't just one, was it? There were probably hundreds! You probably took a few for yourself-"

"Mercedes, I promise you, I hadn't the slightest clue-!"

"Oh, stop acting, King! I don't know what I was thinking in the first place! Coming here and thinking we could actually be friends! We were born rivals…" Mercedes said, her voice sounding far away.

"You don't mean that. You can't mean that!" Samuel pleaded. Mercedes turned away from him, feeling overloaded of his appearance. She couldn't look at him anymore without crying. Soon he was right behind her and his hands held her shoulders. Against her better judgment, she allowed it.

"Mercedes," Samuel whispered. "Mercedes, please believe that I had no idea about this. Tell me you believe me." Mercedes stood still and silent. Samuel forcefully turned her around.

"Mercedes, look at me!" He said, pouring his desperate eyes into hers so passionately. "Tell me you believe me."

She searched his face for answers and a pathway through his green eyes to what she felt in her own heart. When she found it, she softly said, "I believe you."

Samuel made a sigh of relief and kissed her forehead tenderly. He held her close to him and petted her back. Mercedes inhaled the smell of his shirt and tightened her grip. Samuel let her go and went to his desk to get more paper.

"Now, when did you hear of this?" He asked, getting his quill and ink.

"Just today."

"Do we have names? Faces to match them?" He inquired, putting on his gold-rimmed glasses.

"She only said they were Knights." Samuel stopped.

The most current Knights of the Dalton were young men who fought gallantly for the country. They were to be admired and respected. They were heroes. They were his friends. Samuel always had them in the highest regard but were all people of the kingdom like this? Corrupt and evil at their core, having an honorary title and medals as their cover. What about his family? Samuel I was a good father to them, but what was he as a King? Honorable or tyrannical? Was he something less pure and shiny than the gold sitting on his head? It was too overwhelming to think about but too relevant to ignore. He went to Mercedes and grasped her shoulders again.

"Mercedes, I ensure you that these…despicable humans will get everything they deserve." She only looked half-pleased. "Perhaps, once we are married, we can get all of the victims together and—" Samuel's thought was cut short when she walked away from him again. "What's wrong?"

"Samuel, I…I can't marry you."

Samuel let the words echo in his head as his held his chest. He felt a bullet go through his heart.

"I'm so sorry. " Mercedes sobbed.

"But..but, why?" He asked in a small voice. "I thought you said you believed me—"

"I do, but," Mercedes took a staggering breath, "by marrying you I'd feel like I'd be betraying my country."

"The Knights will be punished!"

"These Knights will be! What about the others? What about the ones that have lived and freely pillaged my Kingdom without any consequence, dying with a conscience undisturbed. And the victims? Poor souls, who never saw any vengeance. They deserved to be fought for then and fought for they shall be now."

"Mercedes," Samuel begged, grabbing her hands "there is nothing to do about the past. Here in present time, we love each other. We were made for each other."

"But that doesn't mean we should be together, Samuel."

"Don't talk like that—"

"But it's true!" In agony, Mercedes held herself. "We were doomed from the beginning, don't you see Samuel? Even if this information never came up, do you really think our countries would be happy about our union? There would probably be wars within the walls because of it. All of the fighting and rivalry. There is too much history."

"We can make a new one together!" Samuel asserted. Mercedes shook her head painfully. "Mercedes, you don't want this! I know you don't!"

"I am my country. I am my people. I want what they want." Mercedes griped. "And they want a war." Samuel fell back a step. His world was crashing.

"Mercedes, please…don't you love me anymore? Why are you doing this?" Mercedes was about to give in but Brittany was still in the room. Then, for some reason, she saw Santana's mother, Miss Maria. Then, Micah. Finally, tons of maids and other people that made the country stood inside the study, crowding her thoughts and air. They were all victims taken from their loved ones. Why, she would never understand and she couldn't save them but she could save others. Or she would die trying.

"It is my job to protect my people."

"At the cost of your own happiness?"

"Happiness is arbitrary." Mercedes noted, as the ghost of her brother Micah looked her in the face. "My legacy is forever." Samuel was at a loss for other words to say. The Queen had her mind made up and shown little signs of wavering but they were just traps. As soon as it would seem she was going to run to his arms, she would become someone else. Someone who was cold and indifferent to his tears. He came closer towards her and gently touched her cheek, for what could be the last time.

"How can you be so cold to me? Did you not tell me you love me? Did we not kiss under the stars? Did I dream it?" Mercedes shakily mouthed, 'No'.

"Samuel, this is not easy for me…"

"Don't do it, then. Mercedes, please I—I am begging you…" He leaned his head down to hers and nuzzled into the side of her temple, just the same as a horse would show affection. When it seemed no words could reach her, he began to sing soft and broken:

[Samuel]

I'll never say no to you…

"Samuel, please…" Mercedes weeped.

[Samuel]

Whatever you say or do…

Mercedes abruptly left Samuel's side and charged for the door. He realized she was leaving him and drunk with grief he called after her.

"Don't underestimate my soft words and full heart for you, my Queen!" She turned back to see Samuel's wet face. "Dalton will spread like wildfire across McKinley."

Queen Mercedes was often reminded of the powerful force that was Dalton but war was inevitable. It always is.

"McKinley will be ready for it." She informed him, as she shut the door with a slam.

That was it. She was gone. No words of scorn or love could bring her back to him. The feeling of loss mastered his body, as he put his palms on the edge of the desk holding him from falling to the ground. In a fit of rage, his started to throw things. His glasses, the quill and ink, some books. He made a war cry as his threw a beautiful glass vase. Painted in gorgeous colors of blue and red hit the wall, some of flecks coming back and hitting him.

Lord Kenneth appeared in the ransacked study, half-expecting to see King Samuel dead from the sounds coming from the outside.

"What the hell is going on?" Lord Kenneth shouted. Samuel met his Lord with an amused grin.

"It seems like you are finally getting what you want, my Lord." He replied, twirling a fire iron in his hand. "Dalton and McKinley are going to war." Without a sound, the fire iron crashed against the window and the glass shattered down.

The carriage ride back to McKinley was filled with a deafening silence. Tears quietly crept from the Queen's eyes every now and then but she was completely composed. Then, randomly she tapped the chaffeur's shoulder.

"Yes, Queen?"

"May I ask you a question?"

"Certainly, Queen." The driver said approvingly, as he inquired for their horses to move faster.

"Who was it that said, 'All's fair in love and war?'"

"I believe that was 'John Lyly', Queen." Mercedes sat back and scoffed bitterly.

"He is a liar."

A/N: Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Thanks for reading and reviews are lovely.

Songs used:

"I'll Never Say No" by The Unsinkable Molly Brown