Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Newtopia.

Ah yes.

The said place to make your dreams come true.

Newtopia was the capital city of Amphibia. It was the place where King Andrias, Amphibia's monarch, lived.

It was highly guarded and defended by its own military force known as the Newtopian military.

Having every soldier trained live with experience.

Anne always dreamt of going here.

Working here as a knight! Serving for King Andrias just like many others.

She might even be the first Plantar in a while to serve as a knight in Newtopia (Amphibia) from her late ancestor Polliana Plantar.

She'd always dreamt of becoming a knight when she grew up.

And here she was! Finally one.

Knights were payed quite greatly especially when you served for the king himself.

Most of the times being a newbie at the job they'd make you guard the walls of the city or the castle but Anne was somehow an exception.

Not even being 8 months in her job she was assigned to guard the princess.

Anne had no problem with it whatsoever other than why couldn't it have been someone else than her? For starters, there were many people who could've taken her place, especially in terms of strength and skill. They would have done much better than her, to be honest.

But Anne wasn't about to complain either even if she didn't want the job herself, after all guarding the princess was a great honor for a knight like her and it'd paid her a great amount of money too. 

So instead of complaining or asking for another position, Anne did what she would usually do.

Pretend that everything was perfectly fine even though they were obviously not.

And so, Anne spent most of her days pretending nothing was wrong and keeping her head down, only looking out of the corner of her eyes when the princess talked about something interesting to her or when she caught the princess watching her, with a small smile on her lips.

All was going well, just according to her plans.

That was until the princess decided to strike up a conversation with her, one night.

-

"Hey"

"Hm?" Anne hummed absentmindedly without turning her face towards the princess, her gaze focused onto the wall next to her.

"What's your favorite flower?" The princess asked. 

Her voice was laced with curiosity and excitement, emerald eyes sparkling with pure joy.

"I-It's dandelions, Princess" Anne stuttered to reply.

She wasn't expecting the princess to strike up a conversation with her tonight.

 
She thought that the princess would've preferred to talk to her father or any other nobleman and not her.

"Oh" the princess seemed disappointed "I don't know what those are"

'Then why are you asking me about them then?' Anne wondered.

"Dandelions are flowers that bloom in spring, Princess" Anne replied.

"They're bright yellow flowers that seem to spring up overnight to create a cheerful floral display" Anne added "they symbolize a lot of things like growth, hope, and healing.

Anne looked at the princess through the corner of her eye, noticing that her brows were furrowed in confusion.

"If you want, I could bring some of them sometimes, to show you what they look like" Anne suggested.

"Really?!" the princess exclaimed, her whole face lit up as if she hadn't been expecting the offer.

Even Anne herself was surprised. 

She expected the princess to  reject the idea immediately, maybe then turn around and leave to sleep.

"Would you really do that?" the princess asked, her smile growing ever wider.

Anne nodded shyly, not knowing how to respond otherwise.

"Thank you so much" the princess thanked her.

The words made butterflies erupt inside Anne's stomach, it was like a warm embrace of sorts, the princess's voice making everything around her seem much more brighter.

Anne wasn't sure what exactly happened or whether it was just her imagination but the princess suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around her waist, hugging her tightly as she buried her face into Anne's shoulder, sobbing softly.

Anne was flabbergasted; she felt her body grow warmer than before. 

She knew this type of action was reserved only for family members or close friends, yet somehow it made her feel...safe? weird.

Anne gently patted the princess's back, unsure of what to do with her hands.

The feeling felt so nice to her that she wanted to stay like it forever. 

Her heartbeat started beating faster but not in fear; it was almost comforting, It felt safe.

A few tears fell from the princess's cheeks, landing on Anne's arm. She wasn't sure if they wet her uniform because of the princess's crying, but somehow it felt nice anyways.

but wait..was the princess crying on her shoulder?

Before Anne could ponder this further the princess let go of her and moved a little bit away.

"Ahem sorry about that..." the princess said awkwardly "it must have been because of your kindness"

Anne chuckled quietly and shook her head "it's okay, really"

She noticed that the princess smiled slightly which made her feel slightly better.

"Now I'll get some rest" the princess announced "you should get some rest too, My knight"

She bowed respectfully towards Anne and walked away, leaving Anne alone.

"Your Royal Highness!" Anne called out after her.

The princess turned around and gave Anne a questioning look.

"You can call me Anne" Anne told her.

The princess blushed a little, she smiled again and nodded "thank you, Anne"

Anne nodded back and watched as the princess went back to her room.

Anne sighed, leaning against the wall.

'I hope the next time we talk again, it won't be so awkward and sudden' she thought to herself.

She decided to think of this conversation in a different perspective.

Maybe, she should take the opportunity to see the princess again.

If she had the chance to do so that was it, she's just filling up for the guard in charge of her right now.

her position wasn't meant to be permanent but just temporarily after all.

Chapter Text

Anne sighed.

'How did it come to this?' Anne thought.

After that night with the princess, the guard in charge of guarding the princess came back and with that Anne couldn't exactly give the princess the dandelions she mentioned she'd show her sometime.

But it was fine, Anne had managed to send off some dandelions to her through another knight, to show her what they're like.

Coincidentally, the guard in charge of guarding the princess had just suddenly quit out of the blue, leaving the position vacant.

Once again.

But for some reason, the king had choose Anne again to fill up the position until someone fit for the job appeared that was.

Anne was a little bit upset, the fact that she had been given the duty again and that she had absolutely no choice was a bit infuriating but she decided to keep her feelings aside for now. 

After all, she was here to protect the princess (not to complain and all of that stuff) and the best way to do that was simply remain calm and collected.

So Anne tried to focus on the task at hand, she was standing guard at the princess's room again.

It was late and the sky outside was dark already.

As she stared down at the guards who were walking up and down, patrolling the hallways around the palace, Anne could not help but wonder, what was princess doing right now? why did she decide that night that she wanted to talk to someone like me?

Anne sighed once again.

She was getting nowhere with these thoughts, she needed to stop thinking about them and focus on her job.

So Anne took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind.

She opened her eyes again and looked at the door of the princess's room.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from within it, causing her heart to beat slightly faster.

She waited a moment for them to die down and then there was another sound.

Footsteps.

Again, louder than before, but softer.

Someone was approaching the door of the princess's room?

Was it the princess?

Anne stood still, waiting for the person to open the door.

The footsteps stopped and Anne held her breath.

There was silence for a few seconds before the door slowly opened.

Anne gasped.

Standing in front of her was the princess, wearing a simple white dress.

The moonlight shone behind her, illuminating her body and allowing her to shine brightly.

The princess gazed at Anne with such a radiant expression on her face that Anne felt her face heat up.

"P-princess?" Anne felt a drop of sweat go down her face as she continued to look at her.

"Princess?" 

Chapter Text

"Anne!" The princess whispered "what are you doing here?"

The question made Anne snap out of her trance.

"I uhm... surprise?" Anne answered, her mouth hung open.

'What did I just say?' Anne mentally slapped herself.

The princess stared blankly at her for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Anne blinked, confused as to why the princess was laughing. 

Did she find the idea of her surprising her, funny? Maybe.

The idea of a knight surprising a princess is funny in a way.

"Sorry!" The princess apologized, wiping off a tear from her eye.

"I just didn't expect to see you again" The princess added.

"Neither did I" Anne replied.

The two girls locked eyes with each other for awhile, both lost in their own world, unaware of the passing time.

"D-did you want something?" Marcy suddenly spoke, breaking the awkward silence.

"I should be the one asking you that" Anne replied, a smirk appearing on her face.

"After all, shouldn't you be asleep, dear princess?" Anne raised a brow at Marcy, tilting her head as she did so.

Marcy chuckled nervously, looking anywhere but Anne.

"well..yes" she admitted "that's actually the reason why I'm out here..."

Anne smirked even more now and leaned closer to Marcy.

"So, you couldn't sleep huh?" Anne said.

Marcy avoided her gaze, blushing a little while nodding "yeah"

Anne looked at Marcy, smiling.

her heart starting to pound even harder in her chest.

she tried to distract herself by taking a deep breath, hoping to slow the beat.
It worked somewhat.

Anne looked back at the door of the princess's room and sighed.

"Why don't we go somewhere else?" Anne suggested.

Marcy snapped her head in Anne's direction with an eyebrow raised "where would we go?"

Anne shrugged before an idea popped in her head.

"We could take a stroll around the royal garden, if you'd like..." Anne offered.

The princess considered Anne's proposal for a second before nodding slowly "Okay"

They both stood in comfortable silence for a couple more minutes before heading down the corridor in the opposite direction the guards were currently walking.

Anne kept her gaze fixed on Marcy.

"Shouldn't you be wondering why I was outside your chambers, Princess?" Anne tilted her head at Marcy.

Marcy smiled sweetly and shrugged.

"It slipped my mind and besides that, it doesn't really matter to me" the princess answered.

"Why not?" Anne asked.

"It's because I like spending time with you, Anne" Marcy replied.

Anne blushed a little bit, looking away shyly.

"I mean...me too" Anne mumbled under her breath.

"Oh, Anne!" Marcy exclaimed in realization "We're almost to the garden"

Anne smiled widely when she saw where Marcy was pointing at.

In the middle of the garden sat a large pond.

As they got nearer, they noticed how the water glowed beautifully under the light of the moon.

It looked like something out of a fairy tale book. 

A pond filled with sparkling water, surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees.

Anne couldn't help but smile widely, the sight really was beautiful.

Marcy let out a small laugh "It's beautiful, isn't it?

Anne gasped at the pond's beauty before looking back at Marcy.

"Yeah, it is" Anne agreed.

"Do you want to sit?" Marcy asked.

"Sure!" Anne replied almost instantly.

Together the two of them walked towards a spot by the pond.

Once they reached the spot, Anne let out a gasp in awe at the breathtaking scenery, she sat down slowly beside the pond with Marcy next to her.

"Hey, Anne?" Marcy began.

"Yes?" Anne answered.

"Will you tell me a story?" Marcy asked.

Anne tilted her head at Marcy.

"What kind of story would you like to hear?" Anne asked.

"Anything!" Marcy replied.

Anne smiled and started to think of a good story that could catch Marcy's attention, she racked her brain quickly.

Her face lit up as an idea came to mind and she grinned.

"Alright! I'll tell you a story then.."