It Was All Arranged [R. Sakamaki]

A New Journey

A year passed until everything had finally calmed down. Successfully, Athena had managed to heal the Kingdom and she donated towards stronger buildings being built and food being delivered to the poorer villages weekly. The Kingdom adored Athena as its Queen and Athena adored her people.

After the loss of her baby, she'd thrown herself into improving the Kingdom as best as she could. Reiji had become her consort, Laito was still a part of the royal courtiers, Kanato had been promoted to Event Planner with Teddy as his co-Planner and Ayato and Subaru had been left as Generals of their armies.

After a week after the death of the Cruel Prince, Athena had taken a deep breath before teleporting back to the home she'd shared with Ruki. Reiji went with her.

-_-_-_-

A wave of sickness had washed over the half-blood as he turned in his sleep, moving to wrap his arm around his girlfriend… who wasn't there. He'd jumped up, eyes wide as he looked around the room frantically. She was nowhere to be seen. He glanced at her Teddy, frowning as he pushed himself from the mattress. "She always takes him to the bathroom…" he murmured, dragging a hand through his hair as he stumbled through the hallway, searching for her. He checked the bathroom - she wasn't there. He checked the kitchen - nope. The living room, the balcony, even the cupboard. Nope. Nowhere to be seen.

"Athena?" He yelled out, fishing his phone from his grey joggers' pockets and scrolling through the contacts to find her name. He dialled the number quickly, tapping his foot as his phone went to voicemail. "Fuck," he muttered as he looked around the sunlit apartment desperately.

Ruki had decided to search the shopping centre which she would regularly walk to some mornings. She wasn't in the garden shop or the grocery store or the bookstore or the antique shop. His last bet was the clothing store - perhaps she'd been looking for new clothes to wear during her pregnancy?

He walked around the maternity aisle with a sullen expression upon his handsome face. She wasn't there.

"Excuse me, Sir?" a soft voice asked and Ruki turned to see a small blonde woman.

"Yui?"

"Ruki?"

"What are you doing here?" He asked, looking down at the pink pram she pushed. Yui was dressed in a pair of high-waisted jeans and a warm pink raincoat with her curls tied into a ponytail. She wore small studs in her earlobes and minimal makeup on her pale face.

"Shopping…" she said, adjusting sleeping Sayori's blanket. "Why are you here… in the maternity section?"

"I… uh," he cleared his throat, "I'm looking for Athena."

"So it's true?" Yui frowned as she took a deep breath, "She abandoned Reiji for you?"

"I…"

"It's her life," said Yui, "you'd have better luck looking for her in the chinashop."

"I've looked everywhere," said Ruki, "please help me."

"She chose to leave us all," said Yui, "I don't see why-"

Ruki grasped Yui's shoulders as he stared into her wide eyes. "She's pregnant and scared, Yui. She's been missing since who knows when? I'm scared something's happened to her."

"She's pregnant?" Yui's eyebrows shot to her hairline, "She moved on fast-"

"It's Reiji's," he said, removing his hands from Yui, "I'm sorry-"

"Ayato has been missing too," she said sadly as she looked down at little Sayori, "Sayori's not very well - I'm not sure what to do but I can't look for him, she needs my full attention."