A/N: Hope you enjoy it ... Thanks to all!

Thank you to my reviewers of "AestheticNarcissist", "BoleynofAragon21"and "ladyjax999" for the last three chapters. You girls are great!

Mad world: Beginnings

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." -Bertrand Rusell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1950)

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(1534)

July 6th.

Whitehall Palace.

Her caution over the discovery that her son somehow knew of her little kept secret, let Katherine to her awful sorrow and helplessness as she was left to battle this crisis alone. Thomas would not be able to visit her, not after her son and the rest of the Court knew what he and she had done under the noses of England's nobles.

They had not only made a mockery of his Court, in Henry's opinion, the King of England; but also to the nobility whose minds were dead set on ruining their reputations from day one when they did not pledge their allegiance the Head of the newly created English Church, Henry the VIII.

It was so unfair, so hypocritical that here Katherine was fighting for her right to live apart from the very son that had wanted it so, and now that very same young man was fighting for the world to acknowledge his will that no one -not even his mother, was exempt from it. In his mind his mother Katherine of Aragon, would never be exempt from his watchful hawkish eyes, as he felt he had never been exempt from hers when he was a child.

So many years had passed for Henry and so much had happened in that time, for him to be aware of his real surroundings. Now that he was more mature and grown up; he started to see the friends he was surrounded with. Their gay faces, their fretting and their favors, all a cover up for something else, something more sinister in Henry's mind.

One that could mean for him his ultimate reign and hold as the Heir to the Tudor Dynasty.

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Katherine upon arriving to Court, had never been so conspicuous of her son's absence. It was protocol that he came here to receive her, to greet her no matter what. Yet, he had abstained himself from doing so, and that could only mean that he either did not wish to see her or that he had worse plans ahead for her.

July 3rd.

Locksley States. Near Scottish Borders.

A mental picture of her father struck through Margaret as she lay in bed, being bled out from the infection that spread through her as consequence of her latest miscarriage.

After Mara Locksley-Roper More, the daughter she bore to George Locksley her present husband; she had bed him for several occasions in the hope that he could beget a male heir from her womb. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for him, she had not done so and in the third month of her pregnancy, she had miscarried her second child. It had been the much-awaited boy that the Duke hoped he could get from Meg.

The duke however; after the miscarriage that left his wife in a terrible state of fever and sickness, did not feel any less pain for her as he felt for his dead son. He had been his pride and his hope, and within him he felt that Meg had robbed him from it.

George Locksley walked into the room where his wife lay, her head still clutched in pain and her figure contorted with sickness and signs of a low fever.

"Let us be honest Meg, for once, and be done with this pretence. Henry will soon try to get rid of your father's lover ... yes I know Margaret, it was not easy to not do so. Anthony has a great and feeble mouth when it comes to be miserable." -He said. At the mention of Anthony, Meg lightly sobbed knowing that now more than ever, her son had accused her in public with his Governess of being guilty for killing of his half brother. He hated Mara, and made no attempt to hide it away from the rest of the Household.

Sometimes it seemed to Meg as if Anthony was proud of his hatred towards Mara.

Her husband Locksley not aware of her thoughts, saw it fit to continue his talk. "After he finishes with his mother, he will put the punishment of branding to your father, and then possibly whipping ... to further his humiliation in Public. Is that what you want Wife?"

Meg hushed him as she kept clutching her head in severe pain.

But Locksley, further approached her, and tore her hand roughly from her hot forehead. "I know you do not love me. And that you think that I do not love you, but you are wrong. I am not all that heartless as I appear to be a bastard. Believe me Meg I am not!"

And with that Locksley left, leaving Meg more astounded than ever about her husband's newly revealed face.

(1534)

July 6th.

Whitehall Palace.

Henry VIII watched as his guards brought his richly clothed parents into his rooms. On the left side of his desk were the both of them, Katherine of Aragon and Thomas More, silently pleading to him, each in their own way for his absolution and pardon for their sins. However; in advance their minds knew at once that by their son's look they could not achieve such thing, much less forgiveness coming from a son that had thrown away their love years ago, while theirs was still kept for him in their hearts.

Sardonically Chapuys who was brought into the room seconds after, watched the two lovers strolling together in their pleas for the King's pardon, their son.

He already knew at this point who Henry really was. And was not afraid to keep it a secret, not because he had a deep love for the King as his parents did; but because he owed it to his Lady the Princess Katherine to do so.

"Henry please listen! I know this is hard for you ... but me and your mother both agree that it would be easier for all if you just don't say anything regarding our matter!" -Thomas said attempting for his son to see his reason.

"Oh so it's Henry now and not Harry! All of you tried to attempt to lock me down in your little schemes but had it not been for me conceiving a son with my first wife! I would not have seen through your lies Thomas ... you are no more father to me than you are to Elizabeth!"

Katherine's stoic figure shattered as she heard her son utter those hurtful words to his father.

For the first time since she arrived she decided to speak up against the man she gave her life a blood for, a man she now knew was not worth fighting over his protection and love. He was much a Tudor sadly to her judgement. "Henry, here you come and invite us to humiliate! Is that what you want from us, humiliation? ... have we done you so bad in this life Henry that your conscience cannot let go of the fact that you are our son, do you really resent us so?"

The Ambassador watched as the young man's emotions shifted from his mother to his father. And whatever last resource he had at his disposal (that Chapuys was sure he did), Henry would not tell easily. On the contrary he would make everybody guess until he would surprise them, and send his father and mother to a public ceremony of humiliation, where their names and reputations would forever be more tarnished than what they already were.

It would have been easy for Katherine to confront her son with adultery, malice and his many other sins, but the thought of naming him as such in front of his father and her Ambassador was too much to bear for her. She had to look for other ways, but unfortunately, Chapuys saw no other ways but her to confront him further now than what she already started with her reprimands seconds ago.

Naturally Chapuys on the other end of the room, watched as the three of them engaged in dangerous conversations, and his worry turned to alert. Knowing that if any of them would let their tempers go loose, especially the King; there would be hardly anything left of them to defend their selves by.

Their screams and insults were already getting out of hand, and too loud for the people outside guarding the door to hear. One thing was certain for Chapuys. If any misguided peer announcedthis to Anne or send an indirect sign that this had got out of hand, he would not only sign his own death warrant, but also the deaths of all the people involved as Henry's supporters to the throne.

The King who had emerged prior to his eight birthday as monarch and head of the Tudor Dynasty, hardly bore any known resemblance to the cheerful and shy Prince Arthur Tudor of Wales, who died so young in his fifteen years of life, shortly after wedding the now Princess Dowager Katherine of Aragon. This young man, close to his mid-thirties was a lion rampant. He had swept aside most of the opposition abroad with an ease that at time had surprised even his cousin, the Emperor Charles and other Kings of Europe, who all swore when they met him seven years ago, that he was no more violent than the saints in heaven. They had not the slightest idea that the young innocent man in their late twenties who they once met, so young, innocent and full of life and goodness in his heart, was now merciless tyrant on the eve of torturing the people he was supposed to held most dear to his heart, his parents.

Henry's image was no longer golden as the sun no longer shined brightly on England. The days that lay ahead for them were to be full of red scare and witch hunting brought on by the Country's own leader, His Majesty, Henry.

A strong male shout that came from within the room interrupted his thoughts. -"I doubt Henry that I am merely Your Majesty's humble servant. You want me to kneel at your feet? Then fine! I will kneel, but don't think you can just yell like this and not think through the consequences Harry. If you want the people to know that the King of England is incapable of keeping his word to be just ... then do it! But don't count me on it!"

Thomas More after finishing his account of the facts to his son, knelt before him.
In his heart the ex-Chancellor reluctantly pushed away all thoughts of comfort or grace for his son. The man standing in front of him, seeing his father humiliate himself, as he begged like an animal; was not his son. He was somebody else completely, feeling revolted for the two people that gave him life, he was capable of course, to carry out punishment to them.

Chapuys turned to Thomas More with an astounded face, never before seeing this angry glare in the one ex-Chancellor that served England with justice and humility.

"I cannot grant that father. You and mother will be taken to trial where all of your sins will be revealed. Perhaps you should ask Katherine what she has been hiding from you for so long ... Did she tell you what your last night produced?" Henry taunted as he turned a bland innocent face to his father.

Thomas More shook his head at his son's taunts, knowing with certainty that they could not be true.

He turned to the Princess Katherine, who remained silent with horror at her son's last sentence. In that moment the ex-Chancellor who had kept his head tight on his bull neck, knew that Henry's taunt was based on a horrible truth, once again kept by Katherine and his granddaughter Mary, making him look a fool greater than what he already was.

"No." -He said, attempting to launch a grin to his son. But failed miserably as he saw his first wife's face fall in shame, turning away from his sight.

The Ambassador infinitely preferred to be thrown at the mercy of the Spanish Emperor and his ruthless politicians than to be cloistered now in an austere room where the humor of the three people involved besides him, equaled that of the room's austere presence.

"I am sorry." -The Princess Dowager said stoically, moving off to the long-narrow corridor from outside her son's Chambers after she exited the room. The Guards standing outside did not dare to question the King over his mother's shock and her behavior, they merely responded with nodding their heads with monotone looks, as their King commanded them to keep guard and prevent anybody from entering the room at all costs if necessary.

"The Devil revealing sin through your woman, eh Father?" Henry said with a grin. He and Thomas had once been good friends.

All that was left of that friendship however, lay shattered by the demons of lust and deceit.

July 9th.

Chelsea State: More Household.

Cecilia Heron-More lay seated on the far end of the corner of her father's study. She knew that her father was not present at home with Alice the moment she had arrived to Chelsea. But her reasons to keep on waiting in the old House, where of other matters besides visiting her parents.

Her family was gone and along with them, their dignity, shattered in million pieces as her father was scheduled to be punished in a public ceremony with branding and whipping. At least Katherine's body she thought sardonically, would not suffer the same fate as him, but it was unjust in the extreme to reflect that her father might well be excused had it not been for the fact that he lacked political allies in the matter, while Katherine did not.

Lady Heron could never feel more frustrated and helpless. For the first time, she felt the heavy weight her father's shoulders had to carry on her own. Returning to her father's chair, she set forth a male servant of her father's to run an errand. The servant loyal to her father was not so loyal after she paid him with a large pouch of silver coins, meant to keep his silence.

"Elizabeth must be warned." She silently said, to one in particular as she flexed her thin skeleton finger together.

July 10th.

Public Ceremony: at Traitor's Gate.

In the very nature of things, Thomas had always been much of a friend and mentor as he could to Henry. Now he was to be cleansed by his son, and unlike other men who prayed for the downfall of their enemies, including their sons if they are who committed the harm against them.

Thomas More had none of that.

For his son's sake he rejoiced with the knowledge that despite the trial's verdict, Henry had not been involved with the accusations of adultery which could only mean that for the moment and even years to come, Henry's position as King of England and heir Protector to the Tudor Dynasty would remain intact, no matter what.

Thomas looked away to his son's window, on the other tower next to the one known as the "Traitor's Gate". His poor eyesight could barely allow him to caught sight of his son as he was seated in his chair looking from his window, waiting for Thomas' punishment to begin.

A/N - Hard writing this for me. And next chapter will be the whipping and the branding sorry for this guys, it will be hard but then again it serves to the purpose not only to hate Henry more LOL but to see just how much you are willing to pay the price for a person that might no longer be worth loving, but he is your son and you love him nonetheless not to speak out, and to protect your grandsons who are still innocent and pure, regardless that you could get stung in the process.

I want to thank in part reganx for some of this marvelous idea of branding.