Chapter Text
“How could you do this to me!?”
“Miranda, We—”
“No!” The princess of the Merkingdom stomped her foot in defiance. “We’re supposed to be family! Family doesn’t betray each other like this.”
“Miri! Chill out.” Bellanda warned through gritted teeth.
The mermaid bit her lip, holding back the tears she knew her family were sick of her using. She stared up at the five monarchs sitting on their glistening thrones above her. King Vanderbilt, and to his right, the Queen, stared down at her with cold, aloof eyes. To the queen’s right was Amanda, and Bellanda beside her. The two princesses looked down at their sister with pity, clearly wishing to say something to ease the tension, but not knowing what to say.
On the King’s left side, Laudanda Vanderbilt raised her chin, giving the young mermaid a disapproving glare.
After a moment, King Vanderbilt rose from his throne.
“You heard me well, girl. You will follow my orders and obey. Understood?”
No. I don’t understand. I’ll never understand you just like you will never understand me.
“Yes daddy—”
“Yes, your highness.” Corrected the queen with a pointed finger.
“Y-Yes… your highness.” Miranda squeaked out.
The king waved his hand, signaling her to be dismissed. Before the royal guard could escort her out, the young damsel turned on her heels and ran out of the throne room, out of the castle, and out of the Merkingdom; just as the king decreed.
-
The Merkingdom King and Queen have no less than 5 daughters. The 5 jewels of the Vanderbilt Crown.
The first daughter is Laudanda Vanderbilt, heiress to the throne. The Master Diplomat of the Merkingdom court. She commands with wisdom.
The second daughter is Amanda Vanderbilt, of the modest beauty. The High Priestess of the Merkingdom’s main religion. She commands with love.
The third daughter is Bellanda Vanderbilt, of the merciless fist. The Chief Commander of the Merkingdom’s armies. She commands with fear.
The Crown of the Vanderbilt family is sculpted to perfection, each gem shines with flawless beauty, reminding the kingdom of the unyielding authority it possesses.
If only it has the means to shine light onto the entire realm; instead of on itself.
-
Three Days Later…
-
“Miranda, can you pass me the salt?”
“Sure thing!”
“…”
“…”
“Erm… Polly?”
“Yeah?”
“Which one’s the salt?”
“Never mind Boo… I’ll get it.” Polly said as she reached her body over the mermaid’s counter space, grabbing the salt container.
Miranda patted down her ugly little cooking apron and sighed. If she would have known Cooking 101 would be such a difficult class, she never would have had her serfs take this class for her.
Ah, but that’s right. They weren’t taking this class for her anymore.
Miranda shifted her eyes to the rest of her classmates. Their meatloaves (made with meat from questionable sources) released steam and scrumptious aromas as they cooked on the stove tops throughout the classroom.
Miranda’s loaf, however, was as cold as a chunk of ice.
Whatever animal this used to be, Miranda could swear she could still hear it whining.
“Polly, my meals have never looked this gross before!” Whined the princess, “What could I possibly be doing wrong!?”
Polly glanced over at the girl’s meal as she reached into her purse and sprinkled cocaine on her own piece of meatloaf.
“Well, you could probably start by turning your heat on.”
“O-Oh! Of course!” Miranda squealed with embarrassment. She flicked the dials of the oven to the right, not really knowing what they did but figuring ONE of them had to be the heat.
“Gosh… this is so much work! I dare say I’ve never done so much labor in my life!”
“Yeah boo! Probably because it’s usually your Dolphin servant who takes this class for you, but what do I know?”
Miranda’s face immediately dropped. “Right… too bad Mr. Flubbers doesn’t work for me anymore.” She said with a solemn sigh. She tugged at her poor-people’s apron, clearly thinking over negative thoughts.
“Why? Did he die or something?” Polly leaned her elbow on the counter so she could rest her head against her chin. Normally, the heat of the stovetop would be too hot for anyone to rest their arms on, but since Polly didn’t have any skin, she was fine.
“Well no… b-but… well…”
“What? Spit it out girl.”
“It’s complicated! Okay?” Yelled the princess. “He doesn’t work for me anymore…”
“Hmmm… you know, now that I think about it, I haven’t seen you with ANY of your serfs the last few days.”
Miranda froze. A million thoughts and excuses ran through her head, but no words came out.
KA-BOOM.
Before Miranda could speak, her stove exploded in a blast of fire and meat. Monsters all around her ducked their heads to avoid pieces of burning beef flying across the room. As Miranda shrieked at the intense flames in front of her, their teacher, a centaur, rushed over with a fire extinguisher in hand.
“Haha… that was cool. Er- I mean hot.” Polly giggled to herself.
“O-Oh dear! I’m so sorry, please don’t be mad, Professor Centaur! I really don’t need to be punished anymore this week!” Cried out the princess. She even through in her best puppy-dog eyes in order to increase her persuasion.
The teacher stoked out the flames after a minute or so before turning his attention to Miranda. “This old thing? Don’t worry Ms. Vanderbilt, this school gets set on fire practically every day, you’re not gonna get in trouble for this.”
“Oh! Thank goodness!” Miranda said with a sigh of relief.
“Ah, by the way, do you have your homework from last night? You didn’t turn it into my desk when class started.”
Miranda deadpanned. “O-Oh… right… you see… I didn’t do it—”
“DETENTION!”
“W-What!?”
“Ms. Vanderbilt! We take education very seriously at Spooky High. As punishment, you can go to detention after school and finish your assignment there!”
“B-But Mr. Teacher! I only forgot because my serf didn’t remind me to—”
“No excuses.”
Before Miranda could say anymore, the teacher handed her a detention slip and galloped away, leaving Miranda to wallow in her own self-misery and burnt meatloaf.
-
Miranda had never had detention before.
Actually, most monsters at Spooky High have never gotten detention before.
For being such a prestige High School, there weren’t many rules that were enforced. Students could do anything from arson to murder and get away with it with just a slap on the wrist. Miranda unfortunately didn’t get the memo that missing homework assignments were apparently what broke the straw for earning detention’s in this school.
While all of the other students left campus at the end of the day, Miranda sat, alone, in the detention hall, while the teacher on duty snored quite loudly at the front desk.
The Culinary 101 homework assignment from last night sat on Miranda’s desk. It was still completely blank, save for her signature in the top left corner written in a sparkly pink pen color.
Question 1: List at least three ingredients for the sauce made with a meatloaf.
“This is cockamamie.” Miranda groaned to herself. “How on earth am I supposed to recall one ingredient? Let alone three!?”
At the rate she was going, Miranda would never be able to finish this assignment. Not to mention, the teacher’s obnoxious snoring was quite disruptive to the mermaid’s thought process.
Miranda was about to tear the paper into tiny little shreds before she heard the door open as someone entered the room.
Brian Yu stepped into the detention room, eyes closed as he bobbed his head to the music in his headphones.
Miranda eyed the zombie curiously as he sat down at the table next to her, kicking his feet up on the desk and mumbling the song he was listening to under his breath.
There wasn’t much that Miranda could be bothered to remember about Brian, but if there was one thing she knew, it’s that he was rude. I mean, seriously, not once has he ever bowed down in respect when she walked past him in the hallways. Miranda would have had him executed a long time ago if he wasn't already dead.
Despite not thinking very highly of the zombie beside her, she glanced over at him. She desperately needed help with her culinary homework, and she wouldn't dare ask the snoring teacher at the front of the room for any assistance.
“Um, excuse me?” Miranda asked sweetly.
No response.
“Hellooo? Zombie boy?”
Nothing.
It was only when Miranda tapped his shoulder that the zombie’s eyes snapped open and he looked at the girl with a somewhat-surprised look.
“Oh. How long have you been sitting there?” He asked as he pulled off his headphones.
“Since before you got here, mister!” Miranda said, puffing out her cheeks with annoyance.
“Oh, okay.”
Miranda sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“Anyway, I need your help, if you would be so kind. I’ve been working on this impossible scripture for HOURS. If you would be so kind as to review my progress?”
“Yeah whatever. I’ll take a look.” Brian replied as he took the paper off her desk.
A few moments passed of Brian casually looking at the paper while Miranda sighed a breath of relief, finally being free of her duties.
“So anyway,” Brian said after a minute, “What did a monster like yourself do to get stuck in detention?”
“You’re looking at it.” Groaned the princess, pointing a finger to the paper in Brian's hands. “I forgot to turn in that assignment and got detention for it! I’m being punished so cruelly!”
“That’s tough.” Replied the aloof zombie.
“Indeed.” Confirmed the mermaid.
Another minute of silence passed.
“If I may ask.” Began Miranda, “What did you do to get detention?”
“Oh, I didn’t do anything. Sometimes I come in here when I don’t want to deal with other people.”
“O-Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t know I was intruding on your little hideout!”
“Don’t sweat it.”
Miranda gave the zombie a queer look. His eyes remained focused on the paper, but she couldn’t tell if he was actually even reading the assignment. In fact, she couldn’t tell if he was thinking anything at all. Miranda had heard plenty of rumors about this zombie and how easily he lost himself on cloud nine.
“By the way, where are your little servant helpers? People usually get harpooned when they sit this close to you.”
Miranda winced, and felt her body shake at the question.
“Well… you see… they were taken away from me.”
For the first time, Brian took his gaze off of the paper to look at Miranda with dark, steely eyes. The stare made Miranda shiver from the seriousness.
“What do you mean?”
“My father decided I need to spend time without them.” Sighed the defeated princess. “He declared that I’ve grown too attached, whatever that means! He basically left me out to die by myself. He took everything from me and won’t let me come back home until I’ve ‘proven myself’. Gosh, daddy is so cruel!”
Brian nodded as Miranda went on to explain her situation. For the next six months, Miranda would have to learn how to survive on her own. For too many years she has abused the powers she has been given by her royal status, so the Vanderbilt family decided they couldn’t have her continue being a member of the family if she couldn’t lead the kingdom with the same authority they did.
“I find it impossible to believe I can meet their demands in just six months. It’s practically impossible for any monster to do! Especially if I have to do it all alone.”
“Then don’t do it by yourself.”
“What?”
Brian kept a straight face as he leaned back in his chair. “I’ll help you out. I won’t just things for you like your servants did, but I know a thing or two about looking out for yourself. I can give you a few pointers. I’ve been looking for something new to do recently anyway, so what do you say?”
Miranda had to sit for a moment as she processed the proposal. It was absurd really, taking help from someone who was practically a stranger. However, Brian seemed genuine enough, and Miranda would be a fool to believe she could pull this off on her own. It’s not like Brian would be her new serf, he would just be her… assistant. Yes, an assistant wouldn't be breaking daddy's rules.
“Sounds delightful! Oh Brian, you are my hero—”
“On one condition.”
“Huh?”
Brian folded his arms over his chest. “You don’t think I am going to do this for free, do you? I would need some sort of payment for all the help I’m giving you.
Miranda, repeating the zombie’s posture, folded her frail arms over her figure as she prepared to negotiate terms.
“Ah… I see. Well, I suppose after all of this I won’t be needing my serfs as much as I used too. I suppose we could arrange a little black-market slavery trade, eh? I could lend you a couple serfs to be your personal servant’s for a while?”
“Nah, I don’t need all that. We can figure out the terms of our deal later. For the meanwhile, let me think of something you can pay me for and I’ll let you know when I decide.”
“Deal!” Miranda grinned, offering her hand to shake on their deal.
Brian smirked and shook her hand. His hands were large, and rough, but they also felt cold against Miranda’s skin.
Suddenly, an alarm went off, signaling that an hour had passed, and that detention was over. As the two got up from their desks, Brian turned towards Miranda and spoke.
“We’ll start tomorrow. That sound good?”
“Ok!” Miranda beamed, already excited at the prospect of having someone to work for her again.
Right as Brian turned to walk out, he stopped. He took the homework and handed it to the princess.
“Oh yeah, here’s this.”
Miranda took the paper and eyed it carefully. Each question was answered fully. Brian even made his penmanship look somewhat similar to her own. Maybe Brian wasn’t as useless as she initially thought. He might just be the perfect assistant after all.
Miranda smiled to herself before sliding the paper into her bag.