A mysterious hooded figure... Just who is this
"Magazerent" that Queen Erisel is reporting in to...and how does she have so
much power that even queens must do as she says...? Final Judgement?! Somehow, I don't quite like
the sound of that... A black-tie affair. Guests arriving from all
over for the Royal Ball. Guess what he's talking about. Yes, he still wants
to know about who Gunberd really is. And now, wearing the latest styles from Paris, it's...
Yuushi and Kokoru show off their new gowns for the ball. Now THAT is what I call a ball-gown! Plain
white cotton and kiddie-fied pink ribbons for a _royal ball_? UH-UH! For me,
it's flash and glitter all the way, baby, or I _walk_! ;) Miss Scarlet in the ballroom with a knife. No, seriously,
I just wanted to show a nice long-shot of the whole ballroom. "La, sir!" Erumina is the belle of the ball. (Which is kind
of disturbing if you consider that she only _appears_ 10 years old, physically, but let's
not go there...) "Lookin' GOOD!" Grenda, meanwhile, in the dress her _mother_ sent
(which she automatically thought must be so wonderful, while throwing her FATHER'S dress
away instantly)_thinks_ she's just as popular as Erumina...but, er...isn't. :P Notifying the Queen. It seems Prince Arc is up to his usual
tricks again, and is currently not to be found. Frederik, Arc's personal retainer,
tells Her Majesty about it. Well, frankly I don't blame him, but... (rolls eyes) All right,
_Teppic_, you can come back in now. (Wonder how many of you are going to get THAT
one...? ;)) "Geez! I can't turn my back on you for a minute!" Yuushi catches
Arc in the act. Don't fall, Yuushi! And then quickly loses her balance, on this narrow
balcony. I got you! Arc catches her, thank goodness. Awww. And she looks really _scared_, too. (Of course she LEAPS off of
him, all embarrassed, a second later. :P) Well, lookie who decided to show up? Who could THIS little
pink-haired pixie be...? Nature sorcoress, yes. Ballroom dancer, no. A CLUMSY little
pink-haired pixie, too. :P Where could he be...? Frederick is still searching for his
charge, and then remembers something that the Prince used to like to do when he was a child...(Wait
a minute, Frederick was working here when Arc was a child?! But his _face_ looks so young...I just
figured he was one of those many "young but with silver hair anyway because it looks cool" people that
you see all over anime. If he was around that long ago and still looks like this NOW, then my _next_
question is...is Yuushi not the _only_ person in this cartoon with a servant who is a different race
from themselves? Maybe Frederik is a demon? Maybe he's kind of supposed to represent Raphael?
Hmmm...) "Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" You used to do THIS all the time, as
a child? Do you know Princess Alena by any chance? ;) (Another "let's see who gets it" one...) Yep. He was right. Sure enough, Frederik was waiting right nearby the
bush that Arc and Yuushi landed in. Never try to trick somebody who's known you all your life!
(waves finger). "Okay, you can go...but be home by morning, young man!" Arc explains
that there's something important he needs to do, to find out...and Frederik allows him to go ("As if
I had a choice.") By the way, I know this is a rather "gratuitous" picture of Frederik, but c'mon, he's
like totally _beautiful_, and is a minor character so he doesn't show up often. Humour me. ;) Yuushi does a proper curtsey to Frederik, and then Arc yells at her, "What are
you doing?" I dunno, I think that considering servants as being worthy of cursteys/bows _too_ is a NICE
thing, not _bad_...(And Frederik had this look on his face like he kind of liked/approved of her, and
keeping on the good side of the servants of the person you want to marry is never a bad idea, _either_.) Read any good books lately? A nice shot of Papa, alone at home, reading. Bumper silliness. Arc plays the mandolin or whatever that is for Yuushi, thinking
they're alone, and then Frederik pops out of nowhere and says "My, my!" thereby embarrassing them to
death. :P Flashback! Arc shows up with _proof_ from the castle records that says Yuushi's
"Papa" is actually Gunberd, the great hero who restored the Eternal Tiara. Papa _tells_ nothing of the
following story to Arc, he just _thinks_ it...but WE, the audience, finally get to find out what _really_
happened between Gunberd and Erisel. Anyway, here is young Gunberd, showing up for his first day at work
as a Royal Guard. And as a side-question--doesn't this guy EVER open his eyes?! Princess Erisel! And she requested him _specially_ for the job, (raises
eyebrows), my my. ;) "Princess! This is NOT in my contract!" Bored on a long journey, Princess
Erisel tries to strike up a conversation with her bodyguard--who--very flustered--is having none of it. Tee-hee! The Princess and her lady's maid share a giggle over how "cute!"
Gunberd is when he's embarrassed. I want you to meet a friend of mine... Gunberd introduces his lady to an
old friend, Drago-Sama. (Notice that this means that he knows Drago-Sama from before he adopted the
daughter...same as how the father knew "the old dragon" from the Western Desert from way back, in the
_game_.) Is this "meeting cute" or WHAT? Oh, oops, hee-hee... They walk hand in hand through the flower garden, as the relationship
progresses... Kiss the girl! And finally, they kiss. Awww... "They have arranged a marriage for me..." says Princess Erisel sadly,
explaining why this is the last time she and Gunberd can meet like this. Gunberd says there is a chance,
though--he may just be a commoner now, but if he were to restore the Eternal Tiara, then he would be granted
the status of a noble. "Please, take this before you go!" And yes, that IS the same sword that Arc has
later on, very good...! (It also, when he holds it up, has four odd little round indentations in the blade,
in a vertical line. What, are those slots to put _Materia_ in, or something?! :P) Confident, isn't he? Whoah... The Quest Starts He goes through Heaven... She waits for him... and much to the consternation of her family, too. He goes into Fairyland... By the way, sorry I didn't get pictures of all
_five_ parts of the quest, but most of them went by so quickly/were too hard to see where he was, exactly,
to bother with screenshots. The King falls ill. Oh, dear. Guilt upon your head... Erisel's mother, the Queen, begs her to honour her
father's wish--to marry the man they've chosen for her. "Forgive me, Gunberd!" Crying, Erisel throws his engagement ring away. Oh,
_geez_...(sniff) And he completes the Tiara! but just a _little_ too late! Man, this is
the stuff of _classic_ tragedy here. Gunberd presents the finished Tiara and recieves the praise of the King, as well as
a medal showing that he is now of noble rank. BUT... "Oh, I guess you haven't heard, huh?" Who should walk in but Princess
Erisel...and her _fiancee_. (Or possibly husband, but it looked more like an engagement ring to me.) Poor
Gunberd... He stomps out, thrusts the magic sword that Erisel gave him into the drawbridge, and walks away.
(And that's how Erisel got it back so that she could give it to Arc, later.)
A bit after this, he's fighting bad guys of some kind in a forest one night, when he comes across a little
baby girl, surrounded in a glowing light...and we've caught up. More or less. "Your father was a king to the end." WAS, mind you, as in, he's dead now. As
in...no...sorry, I'm _not_ your father. He doesn't tell him anything more than that...but at least the main
question that was bothering Arc all this time has been answered. Though not the way he would have wanted... How gallant. Arc puts his cloak around Yuushi's shoulders, and pretends not to
know what that special flower she's got pressed in a book is. "Ever wonder about what your real father might have been like?" says Arc, as if it
was just a passing, idle conversational whim, and not something he'd spent years researching. Yuushi's answer is
that no, she hasn't even wondered that, because to her, "Papa" _is_ Papa. She's never known any other. A Royal Family portrait. A childhood memory of Arc's...and as you can see, his actual
father DOES look enough like Gunberd/"Papa" to be mistaken for a younger version of him, so you can see why he was
kind of thinking that all this time, _but_... Don't overdo it. He may be mocking her, but at least he does it _elegantly_... ;) Dancing under the moonlight... And so, Yuushi DID get to dance with her
Prince, after all.
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