Rebirth (A Remington Leith AU)

Prologue

It was a normal day in the kingdom of Apollonia, as the king was preparing his daughter - Princess Lillian - to be wedded to her betrothed suitor, the young Prince Remington from the kingdom of Catharsis. The wedding would not happen for another week, yet the king was most anxious to have this event be done with so that the two kingdoms would unite and create a stronger kingdom altogether for the welfare of their citizens.

The king paced around his quarters that morning as he pondered at how things might turn out once the marriage is complete and successful, and if his daughter would still manage to take care of herself once she starts living in a new home within a new castle. These thoughts continued to plague his mind until a staff member interrupted him to say, "Your Majesty...it's your daughter, Princess Lillian..." This frightened the king as he asked, "What? What's wrong with her?" The staff member hesitated before answering his question, then did so in an apprehensive tone, "She's not in her room...nor anywhere on the castle grounds."

The entire castle was buzzed with concern and worry as the king sent out his best men and women to try to track down his daughter and find out whether she's alive or something tragic may have happened. Everyone was instructed to make sure that no one outside the castle grounds - not a single citizen - would raise suspicions of the princess's disappearance and try to find her as quietly as possible.

The search had gone on for four days, which made things more tense and stressful as the wedding day was inching closer and closer with every second the princess was still not found. The king was starting to feel dread not only for this wedding, but that his daughter might not ever be found.

He started to think...maybe she didn't want to be found if she was still alive. What more could he do? He had an obligation as a ruler of his kingdom yet he never want to fail his own daughter. But if she wasn't alive, then he wound end up carrying the guilt that he could not protect his daughter from whatever outside force must have taken her from him.

Three days before the wedding, the king was so close to losing hope that his daughter might ever be found again, that he was preparing himself to tell the truth to the kingdom of Catharsis. Just as he was about to write his letter, the captain of the Royal Guard burst into his office with news.

"I think we've found her, Your Majesty..."

The king's hope for the two kingdoms' future was restored as the captain explained how they found her far out near the border of the kingdom and was with an older peasant woman in a small cottage. This confused the king as to why his daughter would stay with commoners almost outside his kingdom.

That is, until the guards entered his castle and brought in a girl who they believed to be the missing princess with the woman she was with. The king was overcome with shock and disbelief of what he was seeing. The girl who looked just like Lillian, was actually...

"...LUELLA..."

The girl, Luella, was surprised to learn the king knew her name when she hadn't even spoken yet. She asked him, "How do you know my name, Your Highness?" The woman took Luella's hand in hers tightly as she led them both to step closer to the king and state in an emotional tone, "Because, Lulu...the king...", the woman placed her hand in the king's own, much to Luella's surprise, "is, in fact...your father."

Luella turned to her mother greatly shocked at what had come out of her mouth when she realized what was about to come, "That would make you and Princess Lillian..." Her mother didn't need to say it as Luella quickly understood and said it out loud.

"Twin sisters..."