The Prince and the Pauper

~Chapter Nine~

Runaway

The next morning the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the alarm bell ringing. The kingdom heard the bell loud and clear and yet no one knew why it was sounded. The Queen walked around the throne room. Pacing the floor she didn't know what to do. She had the Princess coming soon and her son gone. She sat in her throne and cried.

"Your Highness, your Advisor has returned," a royal guard appeared to her from the entrance of the room.

"Oh, good, show him in!" the Queen called out.

"Yes, Ma'am," the guard gave a quick bow and went off to retrieve the Advisor. When he came back a few moments later the silver haired man, however young, approached the Queen.

"Your Highness," he bowed. He came closer and his stone still face showed no emotions. Held his book in hand, as always, and studied the area for a moment. "I've heard about your son going missing, did you find out why?" he asked.

"No, we checked his room but there was no sign of a struggle, the guards say that it might be a runaway, which is actually common these days with royal members but I'm still not convinced."

"I see," he opened his book with a grin, 'It seems everything is going as planned,' he gazed at the queen, "Listen to me, I'll check the Prince's room, have guards check the south boarder of the kingdom, if he ran away he probably went south, most royal members that ran away ran to the south, for what reason I'm uncertain but that's mostly a good place to start."

"Thank you Zexion, I don't know what I'd do without you," the Queen rose, "Guards!" at that moment seven guards stood ready for her command, "Start heading south and look for my son."

"Ma'am!" they all gave her a solute and were off.

"Zexion, please inform me of anything you find in his room," the Queen requested.

"Of course, Ma'am," he bowed and walked off.

Zexion kept his eerie grin on his face as and he walked off to Riku's room. Upon arrival he heard two teens talking. He waited in the hall and listened to them.

"I don't believe he ran away, it doesn't make any sense," a boy said.

A girl replied, "I know, he doesn't even know the outside world well, he couldn't have ran away."

Groaning the boy answered back, "Listen Namine, we have to find him, I think he's been kidnapped I know there's no proof but I don't think he ran away."

"I know," she said.

"Okay, I'll check the café from last night, and I'll ask around," he then came dashing out of the room. Although the blonde had ran pass Zexion he didn't see him. Zexion watched him leave and walked into the room. He walked by the teen girl of white blonde hair and examined the area. He checked the floor, he checked the walls, he had to make sure that the idiots didn't leave a mess of any sort while kidnapping the prince. He found nothing near the doors, near the windows or near the pillars but he had a feeling that there was something in the room that could turn the plot into ruins.

"Zexion, what are you looking for?" Namine asked him.

"Well, I'm making sure that he guards didn't miss anything," he answered standing up from examining the base of a pillar.

"Oh, I see, well, a royal guard and I don't believe the Prince ran away, we believe that there's a chance he was kidnapped."

"I see, I'll tell the queen after I'm done with this room. I must finish this before I do anything else," he said. As he said that he found some blood near the pass of another pillar. "Now, please leave, I must do this with very little interruption."

Namine gave a nod and was soon gone. With that Zexion opened his book and casted a spell on the pillar, removing the blood. He sighed as his work was now done. He was glad that the royal guards had somehow missed that. He closed his book and turned away. Passing the desk he paused, something told him to look around. He went with this feeling and searched the desk, he found a small stack of paper. They were all written on and each one was dated. Zexion read through them and found one to be useful. He grinned and rushed out of the room, obviously to seem worried.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" he called out. He ran into the throne room with the note in his hand, "I found the proof! You're son has run away!" he waved it. He handed it to her.

She grabbed her glasses and opened the letter. She read some of it then gasped. "What does it say?" Royal Guard Roxas asked.

"It reads…. It reads…" the Queen couldn't bring herself to read it out loud, and based off the size of the paper it wasn't much to read.

Roxas took the paper and read it out loud for the whole room to hear. Before he could begin a guard interrupted with a bow and some news. "Ma'am, the Princess is here," he announced.

"Oh… what should we do?" she lowered her head.

"Let her in," Zexion said to the guard. The guard went off and brought the Princess and her escort to the throne room. "Now read the note, they have a right to know about it."

Roxas sighed, "Dear Mother, I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but… I don't want to marry the princess; I have feelings for someone else. I am sick of the royal life, I don't feel like I can be myself. I'm running away, and by the time you find this letter I'll be long gone, I don't care about marrying someone I don't know and I don't want to. I don't like having everything done for me, I don't want to be pampered and treated like a perfect pet. I want to be free I'm sorry that it has to end this way, but I have to do what my heart tells me… good bye mother," Roxas handed the note back to the Queen and closed his eyes with a load of worry.

Zexion, hiding his grin, "Your Highness, allow me to send out more guards," he offered.

"Please do…" she answered back.

Zexion turned away with a grin, 'Everything is falling in place. Even the letter, which is interesting to me, is helpful. I didn't have to use magic to make it. It seems that the prince doesn't like the treatment of the palace. I wonder if he's enjoying his treatment now.'

Namine watched as Zexion walked away. She was now convinced that there was something odd going on. She held back hear tears, and walked away.

"Your Majesty, it may be possible that the neighboring kingdom did this, we've always had rivalry with them, it's possible they're taken this step," a royal guard whispered to her.

"It's very possible…" she whispered.

"Would you like to send massagers?"

"No, just leave it alone and search for more information as to where he could be."

"Yes, your Majesty," the royal guard bowed and the rest followed him out except Roxas.

"Sir, Roxas?"

"I'm fine your Highness," he walked away from the throne and then bowed. After a slow rise he walked away.