Rifts

Part 35~King Shiobas

Standing before the castle, Solar took a deep breath. "I really don't want to do this."

Marco chuckled, keeping his arm firmly around Solar's waist. "Hey, it'll be okay. Worst comes to worst, we blast ourselves out and go home."

Solar chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. Let's do this." Solar walked forward, knocking on the doorbell.

The door opened slowly as the servant stared at Marco and Solar. "What do you want?"

Solar gulped, stepping back nervously as Marco sighed. "I am Princess Marco Turdina, and this is Prince Solar Mothin. We request an audience with majesty, King Shiobas."

The servant hummed, turning around and walking away. Solar looked to Marco for guidance as he shrugged, leading Solar through the castle. The servant stopped in the throne room, sounding his trumpet. "Presenting Prince Solar Mothin of Mewni!"

Solar frowned, looking at Marco in confusion as the servant walked away. Marco shrugged. They bowed before the thrones. "Your Highness, thank you for this meeting."

"You are welcome."

Solar lifted his head in confusion. That wasn't King Shiobas. Instead, the queen sat, her head held high. By her side, the princess looked almost bored. She had blue hair, scarily similar to Solar's and a decorated golden crown.

Solar frowned in confusion, gulping as he stood up. "I apologise, but I was hoping to speak to the king."

"Well, you have the queen." The queen raised her head as Solar gulped, growing nervous.

"I'm sorry; I did not mean to offend you, but I feel like this is going to keep getting worse." Solar took a deep breath. "I'm on a quest. I'm looking for my father."

"Your father? You believe him to be amongst our people?"

Solar scratched his arm, hissing a little. "Kind of. We believe my father... we believe he is... King Shiobas..." Solar lowered his head as the queen stood up, her chair scraping against the floor.

"Get out."

"Queen Shiobas, I understand you are upset." Marco stood in front of Solar protectively. "Solar doesn't want anything from your kingdom. We just want answers."

The queen stepped forward, taking each step to look at Solar. "Maybe you don't understand me. What you are suggesting is that my husband had an affair, had you and didn't tell me about any of this."

Solar gulped, cowering behind Marco as Marco kept his arm out.

"Now, get out."

"Yep. We got it." Marco grabbed Solar's hand, pulling him from the castle. "Well, that went terribly. You okay."

Solar sighed. "I think so. I guess... I guess we're never getting answers."

Marco frowned, pulling Solar into a hug. "I'm sorry this was a waste of time."

"No, no, no, it's fine. I think... I think I was never meant to find out, but this was the closest I've ever gotten. That's thanks to you. You did amazing, Marco." Solar leaned into Marco as he smiled. "Hey, Marco? Since I'm not getting answers from my dad, can I get an answer from you?"

Marco blinked. "If I know it, I'll answer any question you have."

"Why do you like being called Princess so much?"

"What?"

Solar chuckled as he looked at Marco's dumbfounded face. "Of come on. You told me you preferred princess over queen, and all day, you've been introducing yourself as ' Princess Turdina.' And you can't just tell me this is a distraction thing or because of who we're visiting because you've done this before. You even seek out dresses when you're in a bad mood."

"I... I don't know. I wish I could give you a proper answer, but I'm not sure."

Solar smiled, taking Marco's hand. "Marco, it's okay not to know. I just want to know because you're so amazing at making me happy; I wouldn't want to do anything that made you unhappy."

"Solar? What are you talking about? What would you do that makes me unhappy?"

"I don't know... It's just if you prefer being a princess... are there other things you prefer?" Solar smiled as Marco tilted his head. "Like, would you prefer to be my girlfriend?"

Marco blinked as he laughed. "No, no. It's not like that." Marco took in a deep breath. "I don't know why I like dressing up as a princess so much, but... It's like your skateboarding." Marco held up a hand as he tried to explain. "You can't really explain why you like skateboarding so much, but that doesn't mean you don't like it or that it changes who you are as a person. I like wearing dresses. It's as simple as that, so if it's all the same with you, stick with boyfriend. Girlfriend definitely doesn't feel right."

Marco laughed as Solar grinned, chuckling with him. "Alright, you can stay my amazing, extraordinarily supportive boyfriend."

Marco chuckled, cupping Solar's cheek as he lifted Solar's head, kissing his lips. Solar hummed, giggling as he pulled away.

"What's got you so happy?" Marco tilted his head fondly as Solar grinned.

"I want to skate now."

Marco snickered, covering his mouth. "Then let's go skating... Though I must warn you, I am terrible at it."

Solar bit his tongue, suppressing the urge to laugh louder. "I remember. You were so bad."

"I know."

"Like so, so bad."

"I get it."

"Like so, so, so bad!"

Marco laughed, trying to cover Solar's mouth as he laughed louder. Solar stood up, holding out a hand.

"How about I teach you?" Marco grinned, taking Solar's hand. "I saw a skatepark around the back." Solar pulled Marco up, leading him around the castle. Solar grinned, pointing his hand at the floor. "Let's see... Eclipse Skateboard Summon!" The purple blast shot out of his hand as a skateboard formed on the concrete. "Ready to have a proper lesson on the ways of skateboarding?"

Marco grinned before he sighed. "I'm gonna have to take off the dress."

"Probably. Shame, it does look good on you."

Marco grinned, throwing the dress to the side before he climbed on. Solar climbed on after him, wrapping his arms around Marco's waist. "Just hold onto me. We'll be fine." Solar pushed the skateboard forward as Marco stumbled, almost falling off already. "Seriously?" Solar chuckled as Marco huffed.

"Well, sorry, I only have one arm right now; balancing is kind of hard."

Solar laughed as he tried together, almost dropping Marco this time. "Yeah, this isn't working."

Marco laughed, stepping off. "Yeah, I think I'll be better sitting there and watching you."

"You just want to watch me, don't you?"

"Can you blame me? This is when you're the hottest." Marco grinned, taking a seat as Solar blushed. Marco grinned, motioning for Solar to continue.

Solar finally recovered, sighing softly as he kicked off, happily exploring the skatepark to its fullest without Marco.

Stepping closer, the princess stopped in front of the skatepark. "You're still here..." The princess paused, taking a breath. "Can we talk?"