All right. Well, here we are again. How is it that I always get bored with writing my other fanfic, Shifting the Lies, but when writing this I go insane all over the poor keyboard? Wait, no...that sounded wrong. Just...never mind...go ahead and read now. O.o
Chapter Four: Freedom
Ten more days until the dance.
Halt was growing more nervous, spending more and more time training and hiding from both Crowley and Pauline, as well as Stenmin. But that was nothing new; he always tried to avoid Stenmin. He knew that he really needed to ask Pauline to the dance soon, but kept finding ways to put it off, such as: he needed a bath, he was too tired, he needed to get some food first, he needed to train very badly, he needed a new tunic, he needed to remind Crowley about something, or he really needed to go and run some errands for the baron.
Nine more days until the dance.
Halt was still putting off asking Pauline, telling himself that the answer would be no, even though he knew perfectly well that it would be a yes. He received a random beating from Stenmin that day, and also ran some more errands for the baron of Redmont, still avoiding his two friends. Yes, he considered Pauline his friend now, even though he wasn't sure how she felt about him. It was all very confusing to him; why couldn't people just be friends and leave it at that? Why did everybody have to complicate things with the matter of 'boyfriends' and 'girlfriends' among other things such as adultery and kissing? Wasn't having friends enough?
Eight more days until the dance.
Crowley caught up with him that day, and the two talked for a while. Halt was a bit glad that Crowley had forced Halt to stop avoiding him; Halt was growing lonely. That night he slept over at Crowley's apartment, and thankfully Pauline wasn't there that time. Things were very quiet, though, and they didn't pull pranks on Balinor, who seemed deeply concerned about the two of them; they were both silent part of the time, they didn't eat much, and went straight to bed afterward. Halt left early in the morning, far before Balinor had awoken.
Seven more days until the dance.
Everybody knew about the dance now, and everybody except Halt, Crowley, and Pauline had a person to go with. Very suddenly, everyone around Redmont seemed to know about the rumored relationship between Pauline and Halt, and Crowley was getting a bit sullen about the whole thing, keeping an eye on Halt at all times. Halt was still avoiding Pauline, but wondered if Crowley thought they were still secretly visiting each other. Was Crowley jealous of him? If he was, Halt had no idea what Crowley had to be jealous of.
Six more days until the dance.
Halt hated time. Whenever you wanted a day to hurry up, the time seemed to drag on, or even go backward, but when you were dreading something, time just seemed to fly by, as if everything was in fast-motion somehow. And time was really flying, for him. He had been cornered that day by boys and girls his age, and they demanded to know as much as possible about Halt's rumored relationship with Pauline. They had walked away wanting revenge; Halt had nothing to tell. Stenmin beat him that night, and left him unconscious on the floor until morning came.
Five more days until the dance.
Halt was quite seriously considering whether or not to run away. Why not? It would get him away from the increasingly jealous Crowley, the persistent Pauline, and the abusive Stenmin. But still, even when he had packed a small rucksack to leave, he felt a special need to stay here. Perhaps it was just stupidity. He knew it was. It just had to be.
Four more days until the dance.
This was so dumb. He needed to just ask her and get it over with. It wasn't as if he would get no for an answer; he would most definitely get a yes. Pauline cornered him that day, and they talked for a while before Halt stammered out an excuse to get away from her, and dashed off before she could ask why washing his hair was so important to him. Crowley tried to make him—force him—to ask Pauline, but he refused, admitting that he was too much of a coward to do something like that. When Crowley offered to ask her for him, Halt had refused that as well. He needed to ask her himself. If he ever did, anyway.
Three more days until the dance.
Halt was growing desperate. He needed to ask Pauline, but all of a sudden he couldn't seem to find her. It was like she was avoiding him now, and he didn't like it at all. It made him feel a bit hurt and lonely. Stenmin began to beat him again, leaving him with a bloody nose and slightly chipped teeth. Halt couldn't sleep that night, wondering where he would be able to find Pauline, and if Crowley knew where to find her. He probably did, and fell asleep thinking this, and for once he felt content in the knowledge.
Two more days until the dance.
He was positive Crowley was avoiding him as well. Ugh! He needed to ask Pauline to the dance now. She would have to go with Crowley if he didn't, and he wanted to at least see what a dance was like. Nobody else would ever ask him, he knew. That night Crowley came to his door to tell him that he had gotten a date for the dance, but wouldn't say who, and started to tease Halt about not asking Pauline yet. Halt tried to get him to tell where Pauline was, but every time he did ask Crowley would get slightly evasive and cryptic. "Why are you talking like a fortune cookie?" Halt demanded before Crowley left. He received no answer, and Halt didn't sleep that night, not at all.
One more day until the dance.
Halt was fed up with how Pauline and Crowley were avoiding him, and sought them both out. When he finally found Crowley somewhere near noon, he drew out his saxe knife, tackled his best friend to the ground, and demanded answers, much to the delight of the cheering onlookers. Everybody loves it when a tiny person beats up a tall person and threatens him with a messy death. Crowley gulped and began to talk. First of all, Pauline was sick in bed, and had been waiting for Halt to visit her for days now, and Crowley was actually going to the dance with a girl named Holly, one of his old friends. Halt gained quite the reputation that day.
After he was done 'talking' to Crowley, he went off the Pauline's apartment, where he was greeted by her overly sweet mentor. Lady Jasmine didn't fool him for a second when she said that Pauline wasn't here, and was actually out with her friend Crowley; Halt told her he had just come from Crowley's house, and she hadn't been there. Lady Jasmine sneered at him and told him to get lost, but he forced his way inside, not caring about her threats to go and get the Redmont guards.
"You and Stenmin would make a good couple," Halt spat at her before going into Pauline's room, nearly kicking down the door before he forced Lady Jasmine to unlock it, threatening to slit her throat with his saxe knife. She had most certainly locked Pauline in the room.
Pauline threw herself in his arms as soon as he had yanked the door open, and he would have fallen if he hadn't gripped the side of the wall immediately. Pauline was crying and telling him that her mentor had locked her in the room to try and kill her, but when Halt whirled around to face Lady Jasmine he found her gone. Guards came a few minutes later, asking no questions but instead dragging Halt out of the apartment while he shouted out to Pauline,
"Will you go to the dance with me?"
With a smile as she stood in the doorway of the apartment, Pauline cried out the answer he had been hoping for: "Yes!" Halt was dragged all the way to the baron's office, and then left there to face the baron of Redmont. Stenmin was there, as well as Lady Jasmine.
Halt liked the Baron Elrond. He was fair, kind, and a rather joking fellow, and always listened to every side of the story. But on this occasion, he was looking decidedly grim, much like Halt always was, up until this moment; right now, Halt just couldn't stop grinning. He stopped grinning when Baron Elrond said something he had dreaded hearing from when he had first come to Araluen.
"Are you Prince Halt? We have much evidence of this."
"S-sir?"
"Are you Prince Halt, young man?"
"Well, y-yes but—"
"Why did you run away from home?" Stenmin demanded, all of a sudden looking concerned. For once, Halt knew the concern was for real. But not for him; Stenmin was upset because he had been beating a crown Prince.
"Because Ferris was trying to kill me!" Halt burst out finally. "He's always hated me, because I was going to be King of Clonmel and not him, and so he tried to drown me. I got sick of it, and ran away because I knew he would either kill me or I would kill him. I didn't want to kill my twin brother, no matter how evil or twisted he was, so I ran. It was all I could go. Wouldn't you do the same?" he screamed at them.
Baron Elrond tried to calm him down; Halt was stamping his feet, yelling at them for no apparent reason, trying to explain to them why he'd had to leave, why he was so ashamed of the fact, why he'd left Caitlyn there all by herself, with Ferris. Caitlyn was most likely dead now, and it was all his fault. Finally one of the guards went to get Pauline when Lady Jasmine suggested it, and Stenmin offered to grab Crowley from wherever he was at the time—most likely with a girl somewhere. Crowley was always with a girl.
Pauline and Crowley dashed into the room in less than five minutes, took one look at the still-shouting, furious Halt, and then held him down while he struggled, still trying to explain. After a moment his struggling ceased, and finally he gave a deep sigh and was still, silent now as he merely gazed up at the ceiling. Baron Elrond was looking a bit shaken. But, like a good baron, he continued on as if there had been no disruption.
"I don't want to go home," Halt replied hoarsely when Baron Elrond told him that he would have to go back to Hibernia.
"Your Highness," Elrond said calmly, "they've been out searching for you for a very long time; even Ferris has sent out search parties. Your brother can't be King, since he wasn't the first born."
"I won't go back to Dun Kilty!" Halt cried, sitting up again. Pauline was looking stunned; she had no idea that Halt was a Prince. "You can send me back, but I'll just run away again, this time with Caitlyn. And then I'll go somewhere else, where you can't send me back again."
"Where on earth would you go?" Elrond asked the boy gently. "You can't come back here; we'd only send you back to Hibernia. The Skandians won't take you, and Gallica isn't the most wonderful place in the world. Your Highness, you have nowhere else to go."
"I'm staying here," Halt said stiffly. "I'm a Prince; you can't tell me no. I'll someday be King if I go back, and you have to do as I say."
"You're a Prince of Hibernia," Stenmin reminded him bluntly. "You're in Araluen. Here, you do what we tell you to do. And what you're going to do is go back to Hibernia where you're suppose to be. If you don't do as we say, I'll send you back dead. Do you understand me?"
"Stenmin!" Elrond said sharply. "You will do no such thing!"
"Oh, hasn't he told you?" Pauline said sarcastically. Halt shot her a pleading glance, but she went on. "Stenmin just adores beating up Halt, doesn't he? And my mentor locked me in my bedroom three days ago. She's never loved to feed me, and has tried to poison me once. If Halt hadn't come to see me and threatened to kill Jasmine if she didn't unlock the door, I would be dead in a few hours."
"What is this?"
"It's true," Crowley piped up. "Halt always has these weird bruises and cuts, and Stenmin terrifies him. Two weeks ago, when Halt got cut on his knife, he went back home to change his tunic since it was bloody and torn, and a few minutes later I came with Pauline to check on him. When we opened the door he had a bloody nose and broken tooth as well. Stenmin had been beating him up. That night I had Pauline and Halt over to sleep over at my chambers, and when they thought I was asleep they talked about Stenmin and Jasmine. Pauline got Halt to admit how Stenmin abused him all the time, and Pauline told Halt how Jasmine hated her and neglected her often."
"You were awake?" Pauline exclaimed. "But you were—you were asleep!"
"No, actually I wasn't," Crowley replied. He continued. "Anyway, Halt is always beaten up all over the place, and Pauline has been locked in her bedroom for days now."
Elrond nodded slowly. "I've heard rumors," he said. "People hear crashes, screaming, and people crying in the apartment Halt shares with Stenmin, and Pauline has been locked in a room before, two years ago."
"You believe us?" Halt said incredulously. "I thought you wouldn't, and I would be back with Stenmin still..."
"Of course I believe you," Elrond said with an understanding smile. "Now, why don't you go down to the kitchens, and get something to eat, all of you? Stenmin and Jasmine, stay here. I want to talk to you, and it will be a very interesting conversation."
As Halt and Pauline walked out with Crowley, Stenmin gripped Halt's arm and hissed, "I'm not done with you, you little bastard. God damn it, I'll find you, and you'll pay for it."
Halt merely wrenched his arm from Stenmin's grip and spat, "I'm looking forward to it."
Pauline and Crowley smiled at him, and the three left the room. As soon as they were out of sight and earshot, Halt embraced his two best friends and whispered, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
They were free.
Ahweee! Flufferiness! Well, don't think this fanfic is done XD! Cause it's not. There's still more, and Halt has to take a certain someone to the dance.
Poor Halt. I almost feel sorry for him XD!
So what do you do now? R&R of course!
Velvet out!
