Jester stood in the Great Hall. Everyone had been gathered for a ball. Jester had no idea what they were celebrating. But he didn't care. This was the night. The night he was finally free. Free from everything. Everything that had been wrong in his life was going to disappear, and all because of today. Jester was now 19, and he had begun thinking it was long time he stopped being a Jester. He was far too old to be dancing around in a blue outfit and a hat with bells.

Jester looked over at Jane. Her mother had finally gotten her to wear a dress. They had been fighting for days about it. Jester didn't say, but he found it childish for Jane to be fighting about this. It had been fine when she was little, but now she was 17. It was embarrassing for her mother and father, and it made her look like a child. She said she wanted to be taken seriously, but having a temper tantrum about something so small wasn't the best choice.

Jane walked over to Jester and grumbled. "I can't believe my mother. I am to be knighted in a few weeks. How can she do this?" She muttered. Jester silently mimicked her, moving his lips to the words she was saying. Jane didn't notice. She was to busy flashing death-stares to her mother. Jester wished she would just admit she liked wearing the dress, though he could speak compliments about it. Jane didn't look very flattering in a dress. She had started developing, but she didn't have much, so her dress was severely flat. Her face was covered with freckles and she barely had any eyelashes. If she had been wearing a tux, he could have easily mistaken her for a man. The death-stares didn't help her appearance either.

"Come, Jane. Your mother loves you and you know that. She just wants to find you a respectable suitor." Jester explained softly. Jane turned and stared at him in shock. Jester knew that no one had ever brought up the subject with her. Most people who knew Jester and Jane would think that Jane would shyly agree and then walk off, But nope.

"You're taking her side!" Jane said raising her voice slightly. "I came over here to have you tell me I was right, but I guess that's a bit too much to ask of my friend." Jane said a little louder and stormed off. Jester just stood there.

'That's why she came over here? To have me tell her she was right. Why would I do that?' Jester thought shaking his head. He usually agreed with what Jane had said. Actually he always agreed. He would hear people whispering about him being sweet on her. When they did he would just blush and walk quickly away. But he didn't agree with her on this. Even though everyone else seemed to.

Jester walked over to a servant that was holding a tray of drinks, and took a glass of red wine. The servant glanced at him.

"You don't want to drink to much. Tonight's the night" The servant said and Jester rolled his eyes.

"It's just one glass. Besides," Jester said adjusting his jacket. "The drunker the better." He added. The servant laughed and then turned his attention back to the rest of the guests.

Jester glanced at the clock. It was almost time. Suddenly the doors to the Great hall slammed open. Tons of people wearing dark clothing, holding swords, and other weapons stormed into the room. They pointed their weapons around the room surveying everything before grabbing everyone in sight and starting to tie them down to the chairs scattered about the room. Most of the servants then pulled off their red outfits to reveal the same black outfits and pulled swords out of the hilts of their belt. The servant that had been talking to Jester flashed him an evil look, before grabbing him and tying him to a chair. Jester would have screamed at him if he had been able to breathe. Almost everyone else screamed. Except for Sir Theodore, Gunther, and Sir Ivon. Jane did scream, but quickly recovered herself. The Knights and Knights-to-be pulled out their swords. But it was no use. There had to be about 20 of the people in black, and there were only 4 of them.

Soon enough everyone in the room was tied down to a chair. Jester was placed next to a portrait of the queen. The dining table had been destroyed and moved out of the way. The men in black had barely spoken except for "MOVE" and "Stop screamin' or I'll give you somethin' to scream about!"

Jester looked around. People looked scared, but they were quiet. The servant who had been talking to Jester walked over and looked at him. Jester flashed him an evil look. The man in black finally spoke.

"Sorry if I hurt you, it's in my job description to hurt people." He said calmly. Even though his voice wasn't loud, it was the only one in the room, so everyone could hear it. All eyes were on Jester and the used-to-be servant. Jester glared at him.

"Well, I can't argue with that, John." Jester said smiling something more like a grimace before the man apparently named John, cut the ropes around him and gave Jester a hand out of the chair. Jester then took off his blue coat to reveal the same black clothing as the intruders. Jester looked around the room. He could see peoples shocked faces. But the one he wanted to see was tied down to a throne on a stage.

"Jester! I-Is this some kind of joke?" The king asked in a voice that told him he doubted it, but hoped. Jester laughed. But not his normal laugh. This one was cold and sinister, and showed no humor.

"No! This is all very real." The man in blue replied, but his voice had changed. It was not his happy-go-lucky voice. It had been replaced by a cold, sinister, masculine one. Everyone in the room stared at him in awe.

"W-What? Why?" The king asked his face falling. Jester didn't answer. He turned and walked about the room, observing everyone in it. Taking in their panic stricken faces. The royal children weren't there. They had gone to bed hours ago. And from the look on some people's faces, He could tell they wished they had as well. Jester smiled this sinister smile again.

"I asked you a question!" The king exclaimed, forgetting that there were men holding weapons at his face, and that Jester wasn't under his control. Jester spun around, Furious.

"Excuse me! I didn't think you would be that eager for me to finish my conversation. Because when I finish all of you are going to be toast! My mistake!" Jester said walking towards the king. "You really think I would spend 9 years a pathetic, lowly Jester? No. I had far bigger plans." Jester said stopping a few feet from the king. "I wasn't always like this. Up until I was 14, I was as happy as could be. But then things changed. I met up with a few of the people here. Actually they kidnapped me. I had overheard their plans to invade this castle and they didn't want me blabbing. I eventually got away. But what did I find when I got back? No one had noticed I was gone. I had been gone 5 days, but because my services weren't needed, no one cared where I was." Jester said angrily. "I stayed for a while and observed everything. I thought about my life and how invaluable it was to all of you. So after a week or so, I went looking for the men that had kidnapped me and I offered to join them. They gladly accepted, and because of my knowledge of the who, what, where, when, and why of this place, they decided I would be the one in charge." Jester continued. He could see everyone's expression. They were all blank. No one knew what to think. King Caradock sat there, still taking it all in.

"But you can't even hold a sword." Someone called from behind Jester. He turned around to see a raven haired knight looking very flustered.

"Of course I can hold a sword. In fact I'm the best swordsman in this room." Jester said, staring his cold, bleak, grey eyes into Gunthers. "The last time anyone asked to see my sword skills was when I had to duel Sir Ivon. But, once again, no one had any faith in me. Everyone believed I would fail. I didn't feel like wasting my time, showing you all my skills then. So I used humor." Jester said, not blinking, not breaking eye contact. He could see Gunther starting to squirm. Jester pleasured himself in the ability to make Gunther look terrified. "But don't you doubt that I could easily slice your head off your shoulders, whether you were tied up or not!" He added before beginning to stroll back to the king.

"B-But what are you going to with us?" Caradock asked trying to hold in his fear. The cold smirk appeared on Jesters face again.

"What all the great ones do. I'm going to leave you hear, all tied up. Then I'm going to set this building on fire, and I am going to listen as you all scream until your sweet blissful death eventually comes." He replied coolly. Even though he was only looking at the king, he could see everyone's faces turning white.

"You have a tiny grudge against us, so you are going to burn us!" The king exclaimed. "Why didn't you just tell someone how you felt. There is an easier way to do these things!" He added. Jester just laughed.

"You think I'm doing this JUST because of a grudge. You think you are the first kingdom I have destroyed! When I get news from my parents I also get news of the latest attack on foreign kingdoms. All of them my doing!" Jester yelled. "You really think I would spend my whole life being your little servant boy, being your baby-sitter, A lowly Jester! No!" He continued his voice getting louder.

"Y-You…What about the Children! Have you no mercy!" The king said horrified, after it finally set in that Jester was actually planning on doing this horrible thing.

"Oh, I do take pity on the royal children. Even though they are no longer children. They are teenagers, and are fully responsible for there actions. But still, they never really did anything to me, except be children. So, I have just simply left them sleeping in their rooms. When I burn this place down, if they wake up and escape, I will not stop them. If they can't get out, Not my problem" Jester explained as though it was the kindest thing he could do on his part.

"Jester, Please, This isn't you!" Said a very confident voice. The voice belonged to a red-head who was tied up in a chair and stationed next to the other knights. Jester was getting tired of having people interrupt him. He walked over to Jane, angrily.

"How dare you tell me what I am and what I'm not! You never even cared about me. I was just your errand boy as well, to you and your precious Dragon!" Jester yelled. Jane suddenly thought of something. Dragon! But her few happy thoughts were destroyed.

"Oh, and don't count on dragon coming to save you. He was the first one we got." Jester said contently. Jane looked up at him.

"But how. Dragon would never betray the king, but nothing can kill him so how did you-" Now it was Jesters turn to cut Jane off.

"Actually you are wrong there. As I was one of you closest companions you trusted me with the knowledge that your Dragon sword has the ability to kill a dragon. All I had to do was, go into your room and grab it. It was really quite simple." Jester said smirking at Jane. Jane looked as pale as a ghost.

"You killed him?" She asked terrified. Jester couldn't believe her. She was tied up to a chair in a room he was going to set ablaze, and the thing that scared her was dragon being dead!

"No I didn't kill him." Jester said reluctantly. "I just backed him into a cage and I'm going to use him for some of my other raids. He will prove useful I think." Jester continued.

"No! You will not make dragon an accomplice to your crimes!" Jane cried out. Jester slapped her.

"Would you shut it!" Jester said, not really asked. Jane looked close to tears. "What, are you going to cry now! Never been slapped before huh? Well it's about time someone did. You defiantly deserve it!" Jester said slapping her again. "Now shut up!" Jane lowered her head to hide her tears. Jester just scoffed and walked back towards the king. "So, anymore questions?" He asked turning around a facing the sea of horrified faces. Everyone was too scared to say anything. "Well then, I guess it's time." He said contently as he walked over to a wall and grabbed a barrel of alcohol. "Did you know that alcohol is flammable. I just thought it might make this quicker." Jester stabbed the barrel and tore it open. The murky liquid flowed all around, quickly covering the ground.

Everyone suddenly realized they had but a few moments left. People began pleading for mercy, begging Jester not to. The rest of the servants began knocking over glasses of wine, beer, and any other flammable liquid. Then they all started to leave. Jester was the last one out, he slammed the door shut behind him, their please and cries for mercy could still be heard though. The rest of the men in black were surrounding and covering the building with every flammable substance they had been able to get their hands on. Everything was ready. He pulled out a match, but stopped

He thought back to all his years here. These people had been his friends, his family. Did he really want to kill then just for a few mistakes they had made. There were other kingdoms, richer, better kingdoms that he could invade. He rolled around all his memories, the good ones, and the bad ones. He listened to their cries from behind the locked doors, and he made a choice.

Jester turned and began walking away. John followed him. "What is it sir?" The undercover servant asked Jester. Jester kept walking, listening to everyone; the cries had turned into screams. After a few moments, he spoke.

"It's to bad. I kind of liked these people." He said, and with that he struck the match, and tossed it behind him erupting the entire building into large red flames. He didn't see however, for he had already gotten on his horse, and fled into the night.

The End