Stage 12: The Rose's Vengeance

Part One: Exiled

'Dear Sir or Mademoiselle or to anyone that obtains this letter—

Hello.'

Robin started to skim through this very weird introduction of this letter; fingering every single thing he read in about two seconds (he tried to look serious in front of the other Musketeers and the Royal Staff…but he was actually trying to avoid the room full of angry stares).

"Andddddd why did you make me read this again my Queen?" Robin asked with a confused, shy look on his face.

Queen Marie made a fake, smug look and said, "We found this outside along with Miss D'Costa after she had shed inches of blood…it appears she's been getting these strange notes everyday…keep reading."

Robin stammered and pressed his lips together and continued reading on. He placed his entire left arm on the desk and ran his fingers through his mousy burnt-orange hair (he tried to avoid the angry eyes totally).

'I know this may seem a little bit on the unprepared side, but I will keep dropping by every night leaving notes like these for the Rose you picked. All I ask is that she sends a simple response and I will stop sending these. So on and so forth. Please, if you are the Rose Girl, please respond. To anyone else that gets this letter, give it to Rose Girl I have some urgent news for her.'

Hmmm… Robin thought after recognizing that this letter was written by an anonymous person. He scratched his head and said to the angry crowd (with a serious look and his eyes closed)

"This has nothing to do with me. This letter." Robin answers professionally and confidently.

However, a royal official rises from his seat and places both hands on his desk (he tried to avoid getting upset) and says, "I beg your pardon but…I feel as if you haven't thoroughly explained yourself yet. I think you ought to restate whatever you just said."

Robin, rolling those innocent calm blue eyes of his, calmly places the note on the corner of his desk, says, "Fine. What I am trying to tell all of you is that, this is not my letter. I haven't seen this letter when I was with the girl. So if you think trying to rat me out with a personal letter for a maid or a lady-in-waiting or…whatever position she's in…you guys are so wrong."

The royal official, however, he doesn't seem to be amused with what Robin said a few moments ago. Trying to avoid screaming again, he pretends to clear his throat and gives Robin a sharp glance.

Robin does not seem to care really. He shot the official the same look in return.

"Young lad, what kind of crap are you pulling out among us? Have we done any wrong to disturb you? I mean, we are just a bunch of good, kind people that take care of each other…as a family actually. If you are telling us…people who were on this earth before you were born you're the one who's sadly mistaken. Besides, it's not just me, but this entire room saw you with that girl, and that there was nobody else around to give her a letter but you."

The official seemed to make his argument clear, and he seems content with his choice of words. However, this angered Robin a lot and so he kicked his chair away from him and slammed his desk with both of his hands with a lot of force input.

The entire courthouse went completely silent.

"Now you listen to me." Robin eyes the official as if he (Robin) was a hawk waiting to watch his next prey (the official) about to make a mistake and become his lunch.

The official gives him the "I-don't-care" smile; he pretty much assumes he has this argument in order.

Robin grinds his teeth for a split second, and then continues, "If you people think that I have a lot to do with this letter, you guys are all a bunch of heartless liars! Especially you, Mr. Royal-Official-Who-Doesn't-Even-Have-A-Name, you are such a bloodthirsty damned snake! You tell worthless bullshit that doesn't even have anything to do with me! You just won't let me explain myself for God's sake! And if you have recognized the handwriting, that isn't even mine! My cursive handwriting isn't as perfect and flawless as written in this piece of paper!"

"Well at least I don't go in people's way and shooting them in the heads with a flintlock pistol whenever I so please!"

Robin makes a fist and you could see the bones shaping up on the top surface of his hand, "…"

"Yeah kid, that's what I thought. No matter what happens the adults are always right, and the kids are always wrong. Always. Don't think you can win in this little game of chess, because…you can't win. I will always have the winning piece kiddo, don't you forget it the next time you try to rub your smug face in people's businesses."

Outraged, Robin's eyes widened and he ran towards the official unarmed.

"You… heartless…BASTARD!"

The official turned around and then Durand and D'eon emerged from the crowd and grabbed both of Robin's arms trying to hold him back from being beaten again.

Robin, in such a tremendous outrage, trying to break through from his fellow musketeers' grasps but he couldn't. If he tried harder they would hold him tighter until he broke into fresh hot tears.

"You miserable son of a bitch. You dare to try to bring me down? That's so pathetic and unruly of you to do that to somebody older than you!"

"I don't give a fuck about age!" Robin roared at the top of his lungs. "What's with you and your love of telling every child or teenager in the world that we are all so brainless and stupid? That's what's being so unruly! It's no wonder that teenagers these days are becoming rebellious! Adults just don't give shit about what happens to us or what they have to say because there is always some fucking life story behind every one of them!"

The whole courthouse's sudden uproar died down. No more angry stares but one. The royal official seemed to look really fumed about it now.

"You bloodthirsty brat, you…swine! I hope they punish you real good, I hope they strip you from your current status; you deserve to live in the slums with the dirtiest bitches known to man! The Bastille is where you belong!"

Suddenly, Robin broke free from his friends' grasps (but only for a few seconds like two-three seconds) and then he started screaming.

"I HOPE THEY STRIP YOU FROM YOUR STATUS! I HOPE THAT ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD THROW STONES AND BRICKS INTO YOUR WINDOWS, BREAKING ONE BY ONE UNTIL THERE ARE NO MORE WINDOWS LEFT TO BREAK! I HOPE THAT ONE DAY THERE IS A GUILLOTINE READY AND HAS YOUR NAME SIGNED IN DIRTY BLOOD! IT WOULD BE ME SERVING YOUR HEAD ON A SILVER PLATTER, THAT'S RIGHT, ME!"

Now Robin seemed content with his point, however, Robin felt a huge kick into the spinal cord, and then Robin winced in pain and sank a little, with Durand and D'eon still holding him up and very tightly.

"That's enough Robin." Durand answered with a low tone.

The official had nothing else to say but gave Robin a smug grin. He considered not letting Robin's words sink into his heart. He knew that it would mean a sign of weakness.

So, what did he do now? With a flip of the cape, he and some supporters of his own left the room in an ordinary fashion. Making things super obvious, they pretended that the Musketeers didn't exist.

And the Musketeers watched those men until the two large marble doors closed from behind them.


Just a few hours later after the courthouse mishap, far more…stranger things have happened to the Four Musketeers.

First of all, some of the noblemen that hang around in the courtyards all day with Teillagory would do absolutely nothing (other than play meaningless card games and drink glasses of wine for a living) decided to spend their day by themselves without Teillagory joining them and instead given him such uncalled for names. The most popular one they've used so far is "Bloodthirsty Barbarian". (Pathetic isn't it?)

Second, some of the ladies that would usually follow Durand decided to avoid him when he goes on his daily stroll in the main hallway. Durand felt uneasy with all of the glares of the Ladies-In-Waiting.

Third, when D'eon came to visit his newly wedded wife, Anna, even she appeared to look uncomfortable to see him. Sylvia and the others grabbed Anna by the arm and escorted her downstairs even without saying a word to him. D'eon could've sworn he heard Sylvia say, "You bastard child!"

Finally, there has been so much scribbled hate mail sent into Robin's estate, his own headquarters in the palace ever since he was adopted into the royal family. After Robin read one of the letters, his heart sank, and decided then and there to let the letters sit and collect dust.

This kind of thing brought tears to Robin's eyes. He had a feeling in his gut all along that whatever Durand told him a couple days ago…is right.

"What's up with you Robin?" Durand answers with a serious tone, he literally sounds like Robin's father or something. "Ever since our reunion as the Four Musketeers, you've been acting quite different lately…you weren't even the same Robin that I remembered before after when we went our separate ways."

Robin sank into a chair and run his hand through his hair. A tear that he tried to hold back was released too fast and it streamed down his face and it kept going and finally reached his hand, and then the arm…slowly going and gone like that.

For a few minutes he posed like that, until there was a knock at his door.

"Come in…" Robin answered so softly that even a wind chime could block the sound of his whisper.

However, that person wanting to come in heard him well and opened the door.

Robin removed his hand away from his face; there was now a pink hand mark on his left cheek. His eyes blurry and deep into despair…

When he came to, Robin looked up at the person and said, "M…my queen…Queen Marie…"

Queen Marie didn't say anything, but she did walk up to him very slowly.

Robin looked down at his feet, his bangs shrouding his face.

But then he felt fingertips gently pressed onto his forehead, and brushing the bangs away from his face and behind his ears.

Robin looked up, his eyes still glistening, his tears becoming dry within seconds. And then, the Queen wiped the fresh tears away with her thumb.

"Why…"

Robin answered to her with a whisper. Queen Marie looked at Robin with a tiny smile on her face, meaning "Everything's going to be fine dear…I'm sure of it…"

Robin looked deep into the wise eyes of the queen. Even if he felt shunned by the rest of the staff and royal family…he still feels like there is a little bit of hope and love…

And Queen Marie is giving it all, just like a true mother would've done.

Breaking the silence, Queen Marie says, "Robin…I fear like there has been some word about trying to get rid of you for good for what has happened last night…"

Confused and smitten, Robin looked at the Queen if she was being serious or not. She gives a small nod meaning that she is being serious, so Robin decided to not talk but listen to her instead.

"Robin, I fear that things would get worse for you and the other Musketeers if you stay here in the palace any longer…you have to go somewhere…a little farther from here, where nobody could ever find you…anywhere is fine but not inside of Paris, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Robin nods, feeling uneasy about what's happening now.

"Okay…good. Because…I've already got some of my ladies to pack your things and your friend's things as well. Yes, it did take some time to get them to help me, but I least I pushed for you. All I have to say is…you should just leave for now until things have settled down. Crazy things happen here believe it or not."

"Yeah…I've noticed…" Robin says with a sigh.

Queen Marie doesn't say anything else but tosses him a blue cloak.

"You may need this…especially since you'll depart in an hour…before people start to wake up."


Meanwhile…

Somewhere outside the courtyard, there was a rustle in between the bushes. A head full of leaves and silver hair emerge out of the bush.

It was the young teen from a few hours back. When he came to, he checked to see where was he been the whole time.

"Damn…" He whispered to himself, "I…"

"I'M ALIVE! YEAH-HAH!"

He got out of the bushes and skipped around (he was a hundred percent oblivious to what just happened when he was knocked out) and danced like a lunatic, he did it all.

Right in the middle of the young teen's merry moment, Anna was out on a stroll for some fresh air, and then she glanced over the young teen and looked stunned.

Where did he come from? Anna thought, looking very surprised and confused. I don't recall ever meeting this person before…and he has a crown of leaves on his head…?

The young teen continued to dance and skip all around the courtyard and then when he decided to take it easy he opened his eyes and looked towards Anna.

Shittttt, I've been caught!