And here is the ninth chapter! Not much to say, except happy early Fourth of July because I won't be updating so quick. And now review time (already)!

SGJBMCfan98: Yes, I meant that episode just to illustrate how far we already are in the POK-universe, and thanks!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

Eventually, after a lot of thinking, Lanny had decided that it probably would not hurt much to go back for one day, just to see how hard they would hit him. If it was more than usual, he would want to be home-schooled. If not, or just as much, he would stay. But only because Herald asked. And because Yama asked – the fish claimed to have almost no privacy left since Lanny decided to quit school. If anybody would ask, he wanted to go back because he wanted to be well-educated. The truth is, Herald did have a point: Lanny had changed. His best friends was a fish and his new hobby was to kill the kings. As Herald would have put it, Lanny had become creepy.

He was not creepy. Tarantulas were creepy (the people, not the spiders), the Oracle was creepy, Atlantis was creepy and sometimes Flaji could be counted creepy, too. But him, crown prince of Kinkow, creepy? Don't make me laugh! He just was a bit different than the others, nothing more. But that 'different' might be why Teagan picked him as a target, and nobody else even though that started way before he knew his cousins or thought Yama to be his best friend.

That morning, he also crossed the kings. He hoped they would not notice them. Why would they, they were too busy to… to do something incredibly stupid, he guessed, to notice him. And yet, somehow, they did notice him that Monday morning, at a moment when they should be asleep. "Hey, Lanny!" Brady called out, "Where are you going?"

"School," he replied, not even turning his head to look at the two kings. He had only heard Brady so far, but Boomer couldn't be too far away, too. He was almost out of the gate, but he stopped because he was about to ask the Kings why they were up so early (if you considered eight o'clock early). At the last moment, he decided not to and instead just made way to school, hearing how one of the guards followed him for protection. The prince was always escorted to school by him, because he had to pass the jungle – it was a route used a lot, but you could never be sure with the young prince travelling alone.

He felt how he stepped into an unknown liquid, and cursed in a way a prince should not curse. He held up the foot which stepped in the liquid, and studied it. Eventually, he came to the conclusion this wasn't too fresh, probably lying here from before the weekend. It was cold, a bit hard too, but still liquid-y. The only problem he had was when he realized it wasn't natural – yes, it was, but it belonged to a person. Something happened here, over the weekend, and a someone got hurt and was probably killed, looking at the amount of blood he left behind.

Lanny decided to ignore it for the rest of his life, and continued to school. The last part, Lanny walked alone – the guard knew Lanny didn't like this whole 'guard guarding him outside palace' thing, but they still placed one in the school. Lanny never knew of this, because this guard was disguised as the janitor it didn't need.

When the young looked around, he saw no danger situations. Teagan was talking to Rean at one side of the playground, while Karell and his brother Vic were hanging around at the other side. Nothing to be worried about, yet. There was one thing that really stood out: he didn't see Herald anywhere. Normally, Herald was always early, but so was Teagan. And each time Lanny would go to school and his eyes crossed Herald, the boy would nod. As to tell him he had the support he needed whenever Teagan wasn't around.

He was still wondering where Herald was when the brothers Vic and Karell Calpaño saw the young prince and came his way. Lanny did not notice them until they stood right behind him. Vic scratched his throat, loud enough for Lanny to hear, turn around and already slightly cower in fear. The brothers laughed at his reaction.

"Prince Lanny! What an honor!" Karell started, "I hadn't thought our humble school would be visited by the one and only prince of Kinkow!" Vic just smiled in a dumb way; in thoughts, Lanny compared Vic with the Hulk – that green guy and Vic were both big, strong and dumb. Lanny balled his fists, and straightened his back.

"I've decided to go back to school," he said, a little less nervous than first thought, "And where is Herald?" The faces of the brothers dropped, and Lanny felt something was wrong. Vic scratched his head, and suddenly Karell tapped his feet. Lanny watched for half a minute while they were doing this – he'd recognize these signals anywhere, thanks to knowing them better because of their almost-daily activities. The brothers were nervous or afraid. Or both.

He could risk it. I mean, the last time Lanny glanced quickly over his shoulder, he was still talking to Rean and hadn't shown any sign of knowing Lanny came back to school. He scratched his throat (silently) and then repeated his words, a bit louder than the previous time.

"He… won't be coming. Like, never again." Lanny looked at them, confused. Herald tried to get Lanny back to school and when he was, he had to find out Herald himself wasn't present at all. Something must've happened.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?" the young prince asked. The two brother looked at each other, and probably possessed some form of telepathy, because it seemed as if Karell asked permission of his older brother to tell the prince what happened, and Vic nodded, giving Karell this permission. Automatically, Lanny put one step back. Something was about to happen, he just felt it. His instinct was kicking in, telling him something bad was about to happen/had already happened.

Finally, he had discovered one good thing came forth from being bullied: he now had a nose for danger.

"I don't know the details, Rean was with him when it happened. They had gone to the palace for some reason, and came back. Then, there was… someone, I think, or it could've been something. Rean assumes it was a Tarantula person. Anyway, that thing attacked the two and Rean had to be taken to the shaman. I don't think there was any hope for Herald."

Lanny's heart was wrecked. Herald, his best friend, his best human friend, gone? That couldn't be true. Those guys were lying. It was his first time back at school, they were trying to scare him so he'd be an even easier victim to pick on. He would appear somewhere from his hiding place, trying to subtly make sure they wouldn't hurt him too much. He always did, so he would now.

"Wait, did you say he went back from the palace?" the two brothers nodded, and then left him for Teagan and Rean. Lanny did not go anywhere else. When the Calpaño brothers had left the prince, Lanny just stood there until the bell rang. His brain could hardly believe the situation, and Lanny himself too, as his best weapon started connecting the dots.

Herald came to visit, but Rean waited outside. Herald was sent away, and went back with Rean. Something attacked them, resulting in Herald's death. Lanny told his friend to get out. Herald was sent away, and died. Lanny indirectly was the cause. Lanny killed Herald. Technically, it was that Tarantula person, but if Lanny hadn't sent his friend away, Herald would have been waiting for him out here.

He felt how a piece of his heart just turned to a black hole, which Herald's presence had filled as a friend. Now Herald was gone, and it all could be his fault, he was astonished. Was this really how it felt when you killed somebody? Because if it was, Lanny officially did not like killing people, which could be a problem for his plans to become a king. Then, realization hit him.

Herald was gone… and it was all his fault…