Interlude: Taking charge for the first time

Fien's POV

Even though the spectacle on the stage had been really exciting, I was glad when I saw Tory appear again to announce the second part of the ball. Maura and I immediately partnered up. We got into the starting position and I looked into her deep dark eyes. I noticed her blushing, and I sense I wasn't fairing any better myself. My eyes fell on her lips, the lips that gave me my first kiss a little earlier. Maura, my girlfriend. It was really starting to sink in. Just like Claire, I had become like one of the main characters in a yuri-novel. One of those that get lucky. So I felt I needed to up my game and start acting the part more.

The music started, and so started our waltz. I really loved dancing the waltz. It was just like in those beautiful stories. 1,2,3 swirl, 1,2,3, swirl, while gliding over the dance floor in this beautiful ballroom.

Maura and I were having the time of our life when suddenly the unthinkable happened.

The queen, who was dancing with Anna had ended her waltz in a very suggestive position. I couldn't really tell if they had kissed or not, but it was certainly possible. I imagined what it would feel like if someone else did that with Maura. The idea horrified me. I hoped I would never have to witness something like that.

But the worst was yet to come. Claire stood there next to them.

While we were all still looking astonished at what we had just witnessed. Claire had confronted Anna and walked out on her. We all could see that Claire was devastated. I wanted to get angry at Anna who was still in a compromising position with the queen when she suddenly slapped the queen.

I blinked my eyes. Did this really just happen? I pinched my cheek to see if I was awake. Yes, Anna really slapped the queen. “Why did you have to do such a thing! I will never forgive you if she leaves me!” Anna shouted before going after Claire.

The queen was rubbing her cheek where it hurt. I could see she was preparing to leave, but I was not about to let her. I looked at all the other girls who were still staring at what had just occurred.

“What are you all staring at! We got an emergency Y-file on our hands. We need to make the yuri beautiful again. I'll never forgive myself if they break up tonight.”

I noticed the queen was leaving. Queen or not, this would not do. I stepped forward to the queen and stopped her. “Where do you think you are going?” I asked her. I was furious at this woman. Had she any idea how much work we put in getting those two together?

“I am the queen; I go anywhere I please.” She answered me coldly. Clearly not willing to talk to me.

“I might be a foreigner, but where I come from, if you create a mess, the least you can do is help to fix it.”

For some reason, she started to be humored by me. “Little girl, I am helping by removing myself from the picture. I think Annya's answer to my question was pretty clear. ”

“I might be small, but I don't see any reason to laugh at this moment. This is an emergency and since we don't have Claire to help us, I will really need all the help I can get because I am not a yuri genius like her.”

The queen looked around for help, so I decided to use my secret weapon. I looked up to her with the cutest puppy eyes I could muster.

“P-please?”

Maura Valerie and Mia seemed to know the drill, and almost instantly joined me and said “Please, your majesty?”

The queen clearly did not know what was happening. Elodie and Eline, Therese, Eve, Tina, and even Elsa joined us in our cuteness attack on the queen. “Please!” They all said with the cutest begging face they could make.

Even the queen's strong defenses were no match for our final joined attack.

“F-Fine! I get it. Just stop!” The queen said, holding her heart to recover from our attack.

“Thank you!” I said cheerfully with a bright smile on my face.

I started to think about what Claire would do. We needed to match this with a situation from a manga or a novel.

“Maura, please ask your mother where Anna and Claire are now. We need to find them.” I hoped inspiration would come as soon as we knew more.

We stepped out of the ballroom in a group. It seemed like the music was over after this incident. Tory looked really shocked at the sight. Maura brought us to a room with video surveillance. Mom said we could use this.

Valerie, who was Lyst security staff now, logged in on the system and started to look for both of them.

“I can't wait for this,” Mia said. She ran outside to look for them in person.

Before Valerie could find them on the system Mia returned with Anna. Anna looked completely devastated. I gave the queen another angry look conveying the message “See what you did.”

She walked over to Anna and said “I'm sorry Annya. I will do my best to fix things. I did something wrong, but Trixy will try to fix it like she always does.”

Anna looked at her and started crying. “I couldn't find her,” she said. Trixy immediately hugged her and let her cry on her shoulder. She patted Anna and said “I'm sorry. I am sure we will find her and then we will fix things for you. You know I only want to see you happy.”

I shook my head. To get my mind on alert again. This view was amazingly cute with enormous big sister yuri vibes coming off from it, but it was not the sight we wanted to see right now.

“I found her!” Valerie said after a while. “I just don't know where that is exactly. But it should be somewhere in the garden next to the pond according to her GPS tracking necklace that was in the system. I am matching it with the camera images.”

“How could I forget? I gave her that necklace myself.” Anna berated herself.

Claire seemed to be sleeping on a bench in the garden near a pond.

“That's the bench where I was earlier. I can take you there.” the queen then said.

“Just a moment,” I said, stopping everyone in their tracks. “We need to consider our angle. Anyone got any suggestions?” I saw the lake, the reflected moon, it was just too perfect. This reminded me of one of the most famous yuri mangas out there. It even had an anime. Strawberry Panic!

“Are you all seeing the same scene I am seeing?” I asked the other girls. Everyone nodded eagerly. Only the queen didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

I took out my phone and quickly located a scan of the scene I was thinking about and showed it to the queen. Her eyes grew big immediately.

Elodie and Eline started unpacking their camera and sound system.

We quickly went over our plan and when we finally agreed on every detail I made sure to give a little speech like Claire always does.

“We will only get one chance at this, so let's not mess it up. We were all reminded this afternoon what can happen if yuri fails to blossom.”

Everyone nodded. I could see they knew this was serious business. Maura took my hand and gave it a little squeeze to show her she would support me. That little gesture really powered me up.

“Let's go and make the yuri seeds blossom!”

“Claire, this is the best I could do, I know I am not on your level, but I really did my best. I hope this will make you proud.” I whispered to myself.