The Way Caraval Used To Be

The watch

Today, I woke up and was like, "You know what'd be fun?"

So, yes, I'm not done

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Dancing with your best friend feels way better than doing it with someone else. 

They were spinning for about half an hour and they weren't tired yet. They tried getting the girls' attention, but, in the end, they decided to dance together. hands locked. eyes locked. If someone else saw that, they would think it's romantic and not funny. 

The ball room was full of people who were dancing. They were all chatting loudly about random things, but, no matter if they were boys or girls, they all wanted to dance with her. They all wanted to dance with Elatine. Everyone except Japeth and Aric. They were happy they got invited.

Japeth's strong grip was making wrinkles on Aric's suit. It was the third time he stepped on his foot that night, and they were laughing like two idiots. Probably because they were drunk.

"Well, Jape, it's been a while since we had this much fun." Aric murmured.

"I know, right? We never did when we were in Arbed."

"Except for the pillow fights."

"to be honest, you were the only one having fun during pillow fights."

And they burst out loud, laughing even harder until they got interrupted.

A dark olive-skined girl was standing besides them, observing their every move. They stopped. She seemed to realize they saw her.

She smiled when she adressed to Aric.

"Can I borrow your friend?" She asked him. She already knew the answer.  You can't say "no" to Elantine.

"I guess so."

She grabbed Japeth's hand and basically kidnapped him. And, like that, flew Aric's chances of having a nice night. Taken away by a bratty princess in a pink dress with little flowers. 

What did he have to do better than stuff himself with colorful cupcakes? Red, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, they all had the same flavor, but that didn't make them worse. they were, in fact, delicious. 

"You like the cupcakes I made, huh?" 

It was a girl. he turned around. in front of him, there was a doll. Or a girl. She was so pretty he couldn't tell.

"I'd be happy to know how they taste like, but I don't. I like these, though."

She had rose gold hair and she was, by far, the prettiest girl in the whole room, but she was the only one who looked like she didn't belong there. He had been so hypnotized by her green eyes that she was wearing a servants' uniform.

"These are my cupcakes. I made them."

"Oh, I'm sorry. This may sound stupid, but I thought you were a princess."

"Me? A princess? I wish! By the way, my name's Alessandra."

"I'm Aric. I think you should stop trying to steal my pocket watch. I may be drunk, but you're a terrible thief."

Her face turned a light shade of red. She started babbling until a tear slipped down her face. He wiped it away. He couldn't stand crying.

"You know, you can have it. But it's broken. I don't know why you would try to steal it and not something more valuable, like money and jewelry." He handed her the watch. It was a worthless piece of metal.

"I- I don't normally steal. But I wanted this watch and I don't know why. You can keep it. But I think it's a special watch. See? It has the symbols of Caraval on it."

She was right. He didn't have any watch before the memory erase.

"Alessandra?" Someone yelled. Aric turned around again to see a visibly angry blonde guy. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you do it."

"I had him fooled!"

"I'm sorry, but do what?"

"STEAL YOUR DAMN WATCH!"

"What's so special about it?"

The blonde guy licked his lips before speaking. He looked like a poison bottle: pretty on the outside, deadly on the inside.

"You see that your watch is no ordinary watch, not even at looks."

He nodded. That's what Alessandra told him before.

"What do you think is so special about it?" The blonde guy laughed.

"I don't know, but I'm not willing to give it to you anymore."