Guards stood by the castle gates as a tall figure of a woman in a long, black dress approached them. A scarf over her head and a white mask over her face. She walked in heels, a loud noise against the stone, cracked as she walked on them. Holding a cat by her side, that looked around with unbothered eyes. 

The guards opened up the doors at her entrance, soon followed by whispers and murmurs. A little girl, almost half her size, followed her. Her face barely unnoticed with burns on her skin.

"She's here."

"Who is?"

"The woman with no face."

"Who's that?"

"You don't know?"

"I wonder who she killed this time."

Silence.

She walked past the gates, welcomed by a few more guards and was led inside.

"Victor, we have a guest."

Seven made a little bow to the king and wouldn't dare meet his gaze. King Victor, sat in a hall, staring at the cup he held in his hand. He ignored Seven for a few seconds as he munched on his food, before he finally looked up.

"Let her in."

"But you didn't ask who it was."

"I know who it is," He grabbed a napkin and wiped his lips as he got up from his chair, "So you're finally here."

Immediately, the doors opened with a large sound against the floor. She bowed like the rest of the guards, her facial expression unnoticed, but her arms and posture radiated confidence and had an aura of such calmness. In complete contrast to some of the guards whose legs were shaking as they were ordered to leave the room.

He smiled.

Seven stared at the woman with curious eyes as Victor walked towards her with an almost grin. He had never seen the King to be so welcoming or as accommodating towards anyone before.

"You didn't tell me you were coming, or I would have prepared a banquet."

"There is no need for that, your Highness," she shook her head and made her way to sit in one of the chairs in the dining table. Victor opened a chair for her and held her hand to sit her next to him. His eyes gleamed. 

One would wonder why the King would be so affectionate towards this strange woman, or if he was simply being polite. None of which seemed likely and this didn't puzzle anyone more than Seven, who quietly observed the peculiar encounter.

"I hope you had a pleasant journey."

"I have, thank you. I just wanted to check on you, see how things are going with the library."

"We have made immense progress because of you."

"I have brought some books and my slave girl with me, it was due to her talent that they could have been translated from Ancient Azelic."

"You are much talented yourself," with hints of flattery in his voice, to which the woman merely nodded.

Seven poured them both a drink, red drops of liquid splashed into their cups.

"So Gloria," Victor's eyes darkened, "What else brings you here?"

Seven's hands started shaking and the cup nearly spilled from his fingers, leaving a little trail of liquid that flowed down the white tablecloth and down the woman's dress. The King glared at him, but she calmed him down before the situation escalated any further.

"It is alright, no harm done," she wiped her dress with another napkin, "Actually your Highness, you know I am a straightforward person. I did have a favour to ask."

"Tell me."

"It is one of my slaves. She stole a beloved piece of jewellery from me. A gold emerald necklace."

The King placed his chin on his hands and listened intently, "absolutely atrocious. Such criminals must be burnt alive. I can recompensate you with a palace of gold and emeralds if you wish."

"I have my own ways of punishing my girls, your Highness. And I have plenty of gold, that is not the problem," she held onto her slave girl, squeezing her arms tightly and pulling her away from him, "It is because she has dishonoured me, and I would like to punish her myself."

"How can I help you?"

"She has escaped. And I need your help to find her."

"You ask me to send my guards to look for a mere slave girl?"

His voice monotone, Seven could pick up the slight changes in his tone and facial expression. This woman would be insane to think that the King would bestow such favour upon anyone, no matter how much they favoured them.

"I would never ask of such a thing, to waste your precious resources on a girl," it seemed the woman was slightly offended by the idea, "I was just wondering if I can use the Blue Portal."

"The Blue Portal?"

"Yes."

The Blue Portal was hidden, deep beneath the castle grounds and not even Seven had knowledge of where it was. From what he understood, it was one of the strongest portals to have been made and it works almost like a tracking device. 

The King would barely use it now but back in the time when his Queen lived within the castle walls, he would carry a little strand of her hair and he would know exactly where she was. Seven always thought it was due to his unhealthy possessiveness, that lead to the poor Queen's suicide.

"I guess I can make an exception for you. But you would need something of hers, strong enough to get her locations in the portal."

The woman's mask tilted slightly. Although her eyes couldn't be seen, it was clear that a smile appeared in her face, "Oh I do. I have her name."

"Reina..."

"I just don't understand. How can I not remember?"

Reina rolled around the ground, her feet in he air, her hair a mess which she no longer cared for. It seemed like she was stuck on an island with a little boy who seemed to not understand this world any better than she did. 

So much for wanting to go back to Earth. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, this was not the first time she acted impulsively during stressful situations.

The boy seemed to have lost his curiosity towards her and is now in his own little world, playing with some dead fish on the ground. He moved his head from side to side and stuck his tongue out in a mocking way. Was he mocking the fish? Was he mentally insane? Who knows.

"Hey um...I have a question," Reina stood up and sat beside him, "I was pushed by this fox in a river, and he said, 'do not let the darkness approach you.'"

She copied a deep voice, placing her hand by her throat, "what do you think that means?"

The boy stared at her, unimpressed.

"The weirdest part is, I heard that message before, somewhere. I know it. I just don't remember..."

"You no remember you name. You weird," the boy finally replied.

She rolled her eyes again, "Gee thanks. You don't even have a name."

The boy looked slightly hurt, at which Reina couldn't understand why, "we no have name because not allowed. King takes our names."

"How can someone take your name?"

"He sometimes take names, sometimes take face. He took my name, but not face. That why I no have mask."

Reina paused for a while to try and examine the look in his eyes. There she was, worried about her own problems again. And in the process, she managed to be inconsiderate towards someone who practically saved her life, "I'm sorry. I'm just a little stressed."

They both sighed.

"You want fish?"

So they both sat down and started cooking some fish. Reina watched him as he started a fire with a few interesting looking rocks. The fire, strangely enough, felt cooler than the sun shining on her face.

 She watched him as he placed the food on it and among the smoke and the sound of flames, a delicious smell filled the air. It was probably because Reina was starving and her stomach growled so much that she took the biggest bite, despite it nearly burning her tongue.

"This is great!" Reina said as she took another bite, "Say, how about I give you a name?"

The boy's ears perked up, "Really?"

"Yeah, are we allowed to do that? We won't get in trouble, right?"

The boy shook his head, in a new level of excitement that was not there before.

"Okay, what do you want your name to be? What do you like?"

"I like fish."

"Okay, but I can't call you fish."

"I like turtles, sea, sun, sleeping."

"Okay."

"I like you."

"Okay, okay. How about- Oh that's sweet, I like you too," Reina smiled, not realising a slight blush on his face, "Anyway, where were you born? What was the place called?"

"I not born."

"Of course you were born."

"I not know where."

"Oh."

They sat and fiddled with some rocks and sticks.

"How about Azulonia? I find you there and I be born there," the boy suggested, tilting his head to the side.

"Um, okay sure. Then you can be called Azul."

If Reina wasn't going insane, she could have sworn that the birds chirped slightly louder the moment she said his name, almost growling. And the ground shook which she brushed it off aside, and assumed to just be the tide of the waves. They were riding on a large turtle after all.

"I like it!" The boy jumped and completely forgot about the fish he was eating just a few seconds a go, "you my master now."

Reina laughed and jumped with him until-, "wait, what?"

"I serve you now."

"Um...No you don't."

The boy stopped jumping and looked disappointed, "you not like me?"

"I do... But I thought were friends."

"Friends? We friends?"

Reina nodded. The boy returned to its joyful dancing and started making whistling sounds with his mouth. The excitement was however, short lived until the tides grew bigger and splashed them both over their faces. 

She turned around the before them, another large beast, with black tentacles swimming within the water plunged towards them. This time, it was definitely not a friendly turtle. The turtle screamed at the sudden attack and the boy, now Azul, panicked at the sight and started running, taking Reina by the hand.

"This not good, must run!"

But there was nowhere else for them to go. They were surrounded by the large tail like organs of this octopus like creature. Except it wasn't exactly really an octopus. Not based on its pointy teeth and its sharp claws sticking out through its arms. 

Finally, one of the tentacles wrapped itself around Reina and Azul, pulling them deep into the water. Through the foam of the sea.

"Is okay! I help you, you breathe now!" Azul screamed, bubbles frantically spewing out of his mouth. Reina gasped and to her surprise, he was right. There was a large bubble wrapped around her head and the water didn't reach anywhere near her face.

They were thrown into large metal bars, and the cage closed in on them.

"Let us go!" Azul screamed, but the monster screamed back with twice the volume, leaving them both shaking in fear.

"YOU ARE IN MY TERRITORY. THE QUEEN'S FORBIDDEN TERITORRY."

It screamed. Azul looked at the octopus like creature, confused, "But I live here..."

It shook his head, "Not you," pointing towards Reina's directions, "You. How do I know you're not sent by the King of the land? Sent to destroy our seas?"

Reina overwhelmed by the whole situation, took a few deep breaths, (still shocked by the fact that she was able to do that within the water), she spoke to say something but was let down by the Queen Octopus.

"But I'm not...I'm not here to harm anyone..." Reina could barely whisper.

"Doesn't matter. You are a human and you do not belong here."

Reina barely had the energy to explain this misunderstanding, especially since no one seemed to be listening to anything she said. She could only fear the worst and became increasingly worried for poor Azul who was dragged along with her mess.

"Besides, what is your name human?" She asked, holding a spear in her hand, pointing directly in her heart. Reina turned into Azul's direction and could only whisper.

"I know this may not be the best time, Azul. But how about you give me a name too? Until I remember my old one?"

Azul, still as a statue, clearly terrified by the Queen Octopus, stared at the spear and back into Reina's eyes "Anything I want?"

"Anything you want."

"Fish."

Not the name she had in mind, but it was decided.

Reina was now a fish.