Author's note: Yooo guess who kicked anxiety's ass long enough to edit this chapter? That's right. Me. Hell yeah.
Anyways, I seem to have won over this massive writer's block I've been struggling with! I managed to write chapter 34 after like, months of barely being able to write one sentence per week or smth. It's a... very rough chapter, but at least it's written, so I can take fifty years to edit it if I wanna. Woop woop!
Also, we've got our first Rose POV chapter! Yaaaaaay... She's not having a good time.
Warnings at the end of the chapter.
"You're talented at lying to yourself, you know that?"
He's surrounded by darkness, cold and empty. The presence of the girl is a barely felt phantom; he can pinpoint it coming from somewhere behind him, not too far away. If he walked three steps backward he could probably run right into her.
The thought sends shivers down his spine.
"Trying to make a big deal of things with the Voice, and then Wakko and Dot..." she giggles. It echoes in the darkness "You know you don't deserve them, so why fight? The prince will be soooo much better than you at being a big brother, you should just give up. Because you can't protect them. You're WORTHLESS."
"... Am not" he whispers, entirely unconvinced of his own words. He hides his face in his knees, hugs his legs tightly "I'm doing my best, and I've done good so far. I'm a good person. I... I deserve happiness."
The girl's previous giggle turns into a full cackle, mocking him.
"Happiness?" he feels a huff of breath on his shoulder and he panics, looking around himself as if he would be able to spot the girl. Still no sign of anything other than darkness "Since when did you deserve happiness, Yakko? What did you ever really do to deserve it?"
There's a weird shifting happening behind him, something ginormous and terrifying trying to get closer, slither around him and get in front of him so he would have to confront it. He knows she's not nearly strong enough to do that, not yet. She can't force him to look at her head on.
He hates her. He hates her so, so much, he doesn't think anyone can ever stop him from doing so. He wonders why she's still here, a barely seen ghost but still kicking and trying desperately to return afloat so she could ruin his life all over again.
"... I've helped people."
"You've hurt people too."
He'd tried to kill her, and only succeeded marginally. He'd only temporarily erased her existence.
"All those self-assurances, everyone around you telling you that they believe in you, that they care," her smile doesn't slip, instead her voice distorts into a half-demonic hiss "They're all lying. They feel sorry for you. You're just a burden. After all, how could anyone ever love something like you?"
His face returns to his knees, expression pained and teeth bared in a snarl. His breaths come out in quick gasps, his words a desperate mantra "That's not true. I'm loved. I deserve to be loved. I'm a good person. I deserve happiness."
"Liar" a soft whisper in his ear "You should save everyone the trouble of dealing with you."
"I-" his voice wobbles and cracks. His lip trembles "I am... loved. I am g-good. I d-deserve ha... happiness."
"Just die already you useless freak."
Damn it. He holds his hands over his ears, clutching his eyes closed. He's yelling his chant now, even though his voice is just as weak and pathetic as before "I am good! I am loved! I deserve to be happy!"
She only cackles over his shouting, the darkness pulsing and slithering around him further. He feels her trying to close in on him, but his screaming is too loud and his conviction isn't so unstable that she can just wrap around him and strangle the life out of him.
He knows what he has to do to get rid of her, or at least, the only way he might get rid of her.
Even though it may make her stronger first, the only way to be free of her for good is to let her show herself fully... And then accept her, as much as he wants to hurl from the mere thought. It's the only way to move on. He knows that on a fundamental level.
If he wants his memories back he'll have to put up with her, and hope that she doesn't destroy him in the interim or at the end of it. Trying to kill her the same way again is out of the question, not only because he doesn't want to, but also because he has far more to lose if he does it now than he had back then.
The question is though; will his resolve hold when everything is said and done? It echoes in his mind as the yelling and laughing become a maddening cacophony.
One would have thought that Elias returning to them after being missing for seven years and fighting with Yakko being the first thing he did upon doing so would have surprised Rose. It didn't.
Ever since they had picked up the Warner Siblings back at the forest, she'd felt weird. Odd, like something was out of place and yet like she had somehow gotten something back that she'd been missing for years. She wondered if it really was true that they had never been in WarnerStock to begin with and if that was why they felt so foreign, like they didn't belong, but Rose thought it was something more than that. Something deeper, something that had more to do with their mannerisms and way of treating situations than with where they'd come from. Yakko in particular reacted very strangely to everyday things, and she figured Wakko and Dot had just adopted some mannerisms either from their older brother or from human television.
Everything had been strange since that time, and now Rose was just... expecting strange things to happen. Alexandra calling her to tell her that they had finally managed to find and salvage the diary from the ashy confines of what had once been the Milers' house being the first odd happening, and Elias appearing being the second. These had been the most interesting developments the three sisters had had in years, and that was definitely saying something considering that they were constantly trying to take down the monarchy.
As a whole, Yakko just... eluded her. She had no idea what to make of him.
How could one describe this boy? Well, paranoid was one of the first words she would use to explain whatever he was, as well as strange, though kind, snarky, and almost always smiling even when it was clear he wasn't happy at all. That and anger or annoyance seemed to be the only emotions he would show her. The only time she'd seen him acting somewhat normal had been when she'd first met him, when he'd shown what he'd been thinking. Don't get her wrong, she'd come to care for him, but that didn't change the fact that she thought he needed to calm down or else he'd pop a vein one of these days from all the stress he was under. Elias trying to convince him that Wakko and Dot were his long lost brother and sister wasn't helping matters any.
What had happened a few days before was just one more of the odd occurrences that happened around that guy. She'd been surprised at her own willingness to share the topic of her deceased friend with anyone, much less someone whom she'd only known for about three months, but... Somehow, he just had the air of someone whom you could talk to, who wouldn't judge. She figured that after playing Caretaker for his brother and sister for so long, he'd just learnt how to properly diffuse a situation, how to calm someone down and comfort them. How to listen and understand, or at least try to. She admired that side of him, hoped she could see more of it in the future.
Still, though she'd felt that same air of understanding and compassion from him while telling him about her friend, it was strange how he'd completely spaced out in the middle of the conversation. At first his gaze had stayed the same for a while, only his eyes fixing on a point to the left of her shoulder, but gradually his eyebrows had started furrowing, until he'd merely looked annoyed. She had been wondering if he'd been having a silent war with himself over the "memory topic", but that question had been thrown out the window when his eyes had changed color.
At first, it had shocked her; going from black to red eyes in a millisecond was an impressive, and unnatural, feat, but... Instead of scaring her, she only grew curious. There had been anger in his gaze for a moment, then changing to sadness of some sort, and suddenly turning into panic. She'd wondered then what this change of emotions could mean, what he had been thinking about to warrant such a reaction.
Then his eyes had changed back and it'd been so sudden she'd almost fallen out of her chair. She suspected Wakko and Dot had noticed, that they knew what had been going on, and had merely wanted to distract her by asking her to relay that one move again. It wasn't that hard to figure out really; they never wanted to practice their fighting, so it was incredibly out of character that they wanted her to teach them more.
She hadn't had the guts to call Yakko out on it until later, but she had a strange feeling that his slip up last night had something to do with it. She had no idea what it all meant, but she wasn't going to rush him, and she knew that he would tell them eventually. It didn't feel like anything too worrisome at least, so she'd let it slide.
Apart from that, being around this strange person every single day was bound to have its repercussions, as she would find out the day before.
That day had been overall shitty. It had started shitty because when she'd tried waking Yakko up she'd almost gotten a pretty solid punch in the face, though she was quick to catch his hand. He'd, of course, apologized for having woken up so brusquely, but it wasn't like she could blame him. If he did, indeed, almost have chronic nightmares, there was little he could do to prevent it.
In the end, Yakko had been tired, Rose had been tired, and this unholy combination had resulted in them bickering for almost the whole morning whilst doing the usual routine. Then had come the awful letter Star had oh so calmly presented to her. Of course, it was easy for her because she wasn't the one who had to listen to Athena rant about how Rose was avoiding her studies and deciding, instead, to follow in her older sister's footsteps into climbing the police force's ladder and getting a higher rank. But she always had to correct herself, because God forbid she say something bad about StarDust, so she stated that she was incredibly proud of the oldest for pursuing what was just.
The nerve of the woman, to talk about justice when she herself was the very illness that plagued their land, the parasite that just took and took and never gave.
Marilyn was also extensively praised for whatever new invention she made that benefited WarnerStock, but Rose? No, Rose never got any praise. She, as the technical youngest, was supposed to stay in school and stay closer to home, to Athena.
Now wasn't that the joke of the century.
She wanted nothing to do with the woman who had only given birth to her. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, Athena had always held a grudge against her for that time, because she was still convinced she'd done it. And Rose could swear on the makeshift grave she'd made for her dear friend in her backyard that didn't (and would never have) a body in it, that she had, actually, not been at fault, and the woman would still blame her.
As if the police hadn't told Athena a million times that Rose couldn't have possibly been the one to kill Robert, not with her weak body or with the alibi she'd presented, the alibi she'd faked and her sisters had backed her up on. Rose had stopped bothering. Even she didn't fully know what had happened, she just knew she hadn't actually been the one to hurt the bastard, even if she had wanted to. Let Athena think what she wanted.
Aside from that, meeting with their "mother" (and she used the term very loosely) had been horribly uneventful, filled with lies of what the three sisters had been doing in their time away from "home" (again, used loosely). The only thing that had been even remotely interesting had been that, at one point, Athena had asked them about a rumor that had been going around about three kids following the sisters lately, but Star had immediately stated that they hadn't met with anyone new and she had dropped it, thankfully. Rose didn't know who had ratted them out, but she wouldn't be surprised if the woman had a few spies that sneaked around the lower-class towns, searching for dirt on anyone they could find.
She hoped the (supposedly alive) king's meeting with them would be much more eventful than that had been, but she was trying not to have high expectations. For all she knew, Elias could have truly been delusional and have imagined the king all along. It wasn't like she'd spent enough time with him in order to make sure he was still sane. What he'd been saying had sounded pretty crazy to her, and he'd been missing, and probably had little contact with anyone, for seven years. If that didn't make anyone go insane, nothing would.
But despite Elias' claims and Yakko's awful headache that had frankly scared the hell out of her, things felt brighter. Like something good was coming. Elias being back was just the beginning, or so said her instinct.
The warm water surrounding her turned cold just as she thought of that, but instead of taking it as a bad omen, she just cursed and turned the shower off, thankful that the soap on her body had long since rinsed off. She'd spent so much time letting her mind wander that she'd probably used up all of WarnerStock's warm water supply.
Oops.
Hoping nobody in the country had to shower after her, Rose slipped out of the shower and toweled herself off, taking extra care when drying her ears because ouch they could really hurt if you accidentally yanked on them. She'd had enough of not-so-accidental ear-yanks from Athena to know that you did not want to accidentally pull on them. Not a good idea. If you ever see a warner with ear piercings, then take that person's autograph because they're metal as fuck. That shit hurts.
She grabbed her night-clothes from the top of the toilet lid she'd pulled down to safely put her clothes on it and changed. It was 6:30 am, and she was calmly walking back to her bedroom to wake up a certain strange person.
She'd been awake for about ten or so minutes, but she'd not been able to sleep until late that night thinking about the happenings of the day before.
Truthfully, she'd been surprised. She'd known that Yakko looked familiar the first time she'd seen him (way, way too familiar), but the fact that he looked like Elias had never passed through her mind. She hadn't seen him for seven years after all, and she hadn't exactly thought of how he would look like all grown up. Elias had looked almost like a mirror image of Yakko, but there were still some subtle differences that made the package. Elias' figure was rougher, while Yakko's was softer, thinner, almost lanky. Yakko's eyes were also leaning downwards more than Elias' were, so the prince's eyes looked stronger, and Yakko's looked... kind of sad, now that she thought about it.
They looked eerily similar, and that could not be a coincidence. There was no way. Now, the question was why? Elias didn't know Yakko, so they couldn't be close family, right? Maybe they were really distant family? She was glad Yakko had at least a clue to his past now, but what were they to do from here? Grab the Warner family tree and search for him in there? She didn't think anyone kept those anymore, sadly, but they could search the birth records, right? Hopefully they would find something that could lead him to find out who he was. She was determined to help him with that, if she was allowed to.
Speaking of who he was, right now he was being a lazy bum.
"Yakko, I'm not going to shake you gently again. Either you get up, or I'll throw you off the bed."
"Nooooooooo, five more minutes" he groaned, and slowly, as if asking for her pity, rolled to his other side "... I'm so tired, Rose."
Well that was bad news.
"My threat is still valid."
But she was not a sympathetic kind of girl and she never would be, let alone that particular day.
"... Pwease?"
She almost laughed out loud at the high-pitched, purposefully cute exclaim, but she had to maintain a harsh front as the leader. She would not tolerate laziness.
Crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow, she smiled slyly at him "It didn't work for Dot and it won't work for you."
"Drat" he sighed, and sleepily, the kind of sleepy when you've slept so badly you might as well have pulled an all-nighter, turned back around to face her "You're heartless."
There were deep black half-moons under his eyes that went along with said eye color, and he was slowly trying to blink the sleep away. She almost felt a little bad until she noticed that he had the white shirt she had lent him on backwards.
What a dork.
Rose huffed, trying not to snort at his appearance "I'm not heartless, I'm training you."
"Training can wait, can't it?" he yawned, and his hair was in such a state of bed-headedness that it spiked up near his forehead in a way that reminded her of Elias. Yeah, there was no way that them being so similar was a coincidence.
"If you don't mind getting hurt when someone inevitably attacks you, then yeah, training can wait" shrugging, she walked over to the cupboard to grab a cloak, ignoring Yakko's huff. She particularly liked the stamp at the back of it depicting a chained dove; it showed how their freedom was kept from them by the chains of Athena's rule.
"I defended myself pretty well against The Little Prince, in my opinion" his mouth was down in something between a pout and a scowl.
"Ah yes, you looked majestic while a weakling like Elias pinned you to the floor" with a roll of her eyes, she started walking out of the room, snorting when Yakko immediately got into action and leaped out of the bed to follow her out, only to then wobble dangerously on his feet because of his sleep deprivation.
"You didn't see the whole fight! I was doing great 'till he took me by surprise" he was trying to keep some of his dignity intact, but so far every fight he'd had with anyone had resulted in his loss. She needed to train him more on the offensive if she wanted him to successfully beat someone sometime soon.
Throwing a sarcastic smirk his way, she replied "Sure you were."
Yakko grumbled at that, deciding that Rose was partly right and that he should stop complaining, thankfully. He wasn't usually one of the whiny ones, he followed orders exceptionally well, but sometimes he was too cranky to do whatever she asked for the first time she ordered it. He would sometimes make a comment before actually doing it.
"Anyway" he scratched the back of his neck, trying to find a change of topic when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything else "We're supposed to go see the king today, aren't we?"
Rose hummed in response.
She was contemplating on leading him on a little bit to crush his hopes of seeing someplace new later, but she didn't feel like making him suffer too much that day. The day before hadn't been exactly kind to him.
So, she decided to say it outright "We're going. You're staying."
The second set of footsteps stopped walking suddenly and Rose knew Yakko had stopped in his tracks if for a second.
"... What?"
She contemplated sighing because she knew he was going to be upset about this, but instead, she explained as well as she could "I'm sure you know the dangers of going to the castle ruins to meet up with Elias and the king. It's already plenty dangerous for us three, since we could be charged for treason if we were found out."
She continued walking through the corridor, and Yakko hurried up to walk alongside her, his expression one of annoyance "You three are in an even worse position because you guys are practically new here, and as far as we know there're no real records of you having ever even been in WarnerStock. You could easily be considered spies if anyone catches you, and you guys aren't ready for such a danger. We still need to work on your sneaking, and develop a plan in case you ever get caught."
"But when will we be ready? We've been in this place for three months without doing anything" Rose could tell Yakko was getting increasingly frustrated and wanted to protest more than he was, but she wasn't going to change her mind.
"Yakko, this is for your own protection-"
"Rose. Being cooped up in here for three months has already driven us half-insane. Are we so under-trained that we can't even go talk to someone with you?"
She tried not to groan. Was he really going to ruin the day? Already? It was still only 6:50. Though, considering the date, her day had already been ruined way before it'd started. It was just Yakko's luck that he had to try and be rebellious when Rose was in the mood to punch someone.
"Look, I know it's annoying, I've been through this too. You don't think we became soldiers in a day, do you?" she tried reasoning with him, and when she turned her head to look at him his annoyance had diminished a bit, but not by much "But we can't-"
""Can't put you on the battlefield without any training" I know, we already talked about this" he groaned as he repeated the words she'd probably told him and his siblings a lot.
"If we've already talked about it, why do you need me to repeat it?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Maybe because something should have changed from the last time you said that to now?" the frown on his face was tired "Shouldn't we be at least a little bit better? It's not like I want to start fighting people, I just want to do something."
Rose understood his point, but he also had to understand hers. She couldn't take them along. It was too risky, and she wasn't about to have them killed for treason just because of a whim.
"You've been getting stronger" she tried keeping her calm, putting the blue cloak over her shoulders, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. She knew the siblings were getting incredibly restless, but she hadn't been able to find a mission for their category as of yet. She needed to find something somewhat easy to start with "But that doesn't mean you're ready."
Suddenly, Yakko was in front of her, his expression serious, and Rose was forced to stop walking so she wouldn't crash into him "But we are ready. We're ready for the next step."
Oh, really?
With a roll of her eyes, Rose elbowed him and walked past him, hissing out "You'll be ready when I say you're ready."
"You're just scared that we'll get hurt."
And she stopped in her tracks. Her fists tightened.
That was it. She was done with him thinking that he could do anything if he truly wanted to; that was the kind of mindset that killed people. She had to properly tell him off, or he would keep questioning her.
She was the leader, and he was supposed to listen to her.
Turning around to face a frowning Yakko, Rose growled lowly and walked forward toward him, until they were face to face. His eyes widened slightly at her sudden aggression, but he stood his ground.
He was stubborn. She fucking hated when they were stubborn.
"You have no right to call me out on that. You know who's the one who's most scared around here? It's you. You're the one who thinks that just because you're walking closer to the goal, that things will be over faster, that your family will be out of danger quicker" her words were a snarl, meant to be a punch in the gut for him.
She knew it was a low blow. She had meant for it to be a low blow.
The words worked their magic, and Yakko walked back a few steps, looking like he was feeling guilty for having said what he had. He was most likely feeling like quite the hypocrite, but Rose wasn't done "You know what the next step is? The battlefield. You could be found out and killed at any moment. Is that what you want? Going out into the wilderness with only a stupid flashlight in your backpack because you were too damn impatient to pack your other tools?"
"No..." he murmured the words as he turned his gaze to the side, looking ashamed, and for a moment she felt like a mother chastising her child. This, however, was a much more serious matter.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming herself down. Though she was annoyed with him, he didn't deserve to be yelled at. She could afford to tone it down a bit.
Rose then turned to look at Yakko with a tired expression "I did say that we've never been caught so far, but we aren't the only ones who have been trying to take down Athena. Other groups have tried before."
When she didn't say anything for a while, Yakko asked in a low, timid voice that she wasn't used to hearing from him "... What... happened to them?"
She gritted her teeth "They were caught. All of them. And you want to know what Athena did to them?"
His expression showed he really didn't, but she didn't give him a choice.
"She hanged them in Artemis' square. Just to make a point" it'd taken her months to get the image out of her head.
She didn't want the siblings to end up like that. She didn't think she would be able to take it. Somehow, in the few months they'd been together... They had become part of the team, and she'd gotten attached.
She... really shouldn't have gotten attached. She'd thought she'd learnt her lesson after her friend, but she clearly hadn't.
Yakko didn't retort and Rose kept going, albeit almost quietly and with an air of sadness "Getting cocky will result in death. Thinking you're ready when you're really not will kill you, so keep that in mind next time you're feeling impatient."
That'd been a bit harsh, but Yakko looked like he wasn't ever going to bring the matter up again and that was what mattered... right? His ears were low, and his eyes were glued to the floor as he wrung his hands, avoiding her gaze.
Oh well. He'd get over it.
With that, she deemed the conversation over and turned back around, walking over to the large door that led to the outside, where her sisters were waiting. Yakko didn't follow, but she hadn't expected him to.
Her last remaining effort into trying to keep this day from being awful ruined, Rose stood in front of her sisters, still distinctly angry. Marilyn and StarDust also had a cloak over their shoulders, the same as hers. They looked annoyed with her, but there was an understanding in their eyes that prevented them from doing anything more than scold her.
"Did you really need to be so harsh with him?" Marilyn sent her a disapproving look as StarDust put in the code to open the metal door. The oldest didn't look too happy with the way she'd treated Yakko either.
"He needed to be put in his place" Rose huffed out, crossing her arms. She truly was doing it for his own benefit, not hers "We can't have him thinking he's hot shit and getting himself shot."
"I agree with Mary. Such a speech was unnecessary" StarDust, yet again, glared at her for the bad word, but shook her head for another reason "There were other ways to discuss the matter."
"Well excuse me for not being a good mother!" Rose threw her hands in the air as the door moved up, her gaze disbelieving. Didn't they understand that such an attitude was dangerous? "I can't deal with overconfident brats."
"You don't need to be a good mother, just a good friend" Marilyn actually, honest to God, sent her The Glare of Death, and Rose could have sent her a shocked look back if she wasn't so busy trying to comprehend what had just been said to her.
"Seriously? You're taking his side?" she exclaimed, irritated, as they walked through the tunnel. She couldn't be serious. Rose had just done what she'd considered necessary "He needed to come down a peg!"
"Yeah, a peg. You shot him down from a thirty story floor rooftop and he fell face-first onto the asphalt" when she realized what she'd said, she quickly backtracked, looking upset "Um, bad analogy there, but you get my point."
Well... Maybe her twin did have a point.
Marilyn sighed at her obliviousness, walking forward with StarDust and leaving an annoyed Rose to follow them "I get that this is a bad day for you, but you didn't need to take it out on him. You're sending mixed messages, considering what happened yesterday."
Rose could have groaned to the heavens. She did care about the little dweeb, she didn't want him to be hurt. And that was exactly why she'd done what she did!
"I'm his coach, I'm supposed to put him down every once in a while, but I'm also his friend and I'll be there if he needs me" she huffed out the words, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt that suddenly washed over her. Maybe she should have been a little less strict...
"Still. Apologize to him when you get back."
Rose, with a sigh, was actually considering following Marilyn's advice.
Neither of them said anything else, so the three walked through the tunnel until they reached the dead end. Rose punched in the code to open it and her thoughts wandered.
She still felt like she'd done the right thing. Sure, Yakko might be upset for a while, but he'd be fine before they got back from meeting the king and Elias at the ruins. It was better than having him be overconfident and getting himself killed after all.
- Sometimes, to protect someone important to you, you have to keep them from doing stupid things by yelling at them. Get it through their thick head. -
Keep them from doing stupid things...
Her persisting annoyance slowly dissolved into a deep feeling of melancholy, and she slipped her hand into the pocket of her dress, clutching at the diary there.
If only Rose had taken her away when she'd had the chance... If she had stood her ground, yelled and dragged her along, she might have still been alive, and Rose wouldn't have been left with just a diary to remember her by.
She didn't want to lose anyone else because she wasn't strong enough. If she had to be mean, she would be.
Though... She might apologize when they got back. Just for Yakko to know that she wasn't really angry at him.
With this conclusion, she jumped out onto the grass below, turning to look at StarDust and Marilyn. There were menacing black clouds hanging around the sky. She hoped it wouldn't rain.
"Come on," Rose then motioned for her sisters to follow her outside the mountain "We've got a king to meet. Or the hallucination of one, anyway."
When they reached the ruins, it started raining.
Her and her big mouth.
The excessive droplets of water and the thunder that was resounding around them contributed greatly to the gloomy appearance of the once magnificent castle. Athena had had it demolished the moment she'd become queen, which was a shame really; it had been such a beautiful image of class and elegance, yet it had held an air of humility, like it had wanted to be closer to the people. Athena had probably considered the sight of the ruined castle empowering, as if it were some kind of twisted symbol of the time in which she had won over William seven years before.
Had she mentioned that her mother was fucked up?
The three sisters calmly walked over a multitude of rocks that had once formed the impenetrable walls of the building, their hoods over their heads not only to hide their faces and thus their identities should someone spot them, but also to shield them from the rain. Rose couldn't help but look around in slight sadness as she observed the destruction that her mother's pride had caused first-hand.
As they walked further into the ruins, where some parts of the walls had survived and still stood tall, they spotted red. A person, covered in a red cloak, was hiding between two of the few stone walls, a makeshift roof made up of a wooden door above them.
"You came after all" the figure spoke, and it only took Rose a moment to listen to their voice over the rain and thunder to know that it was Elias.
"Yeah, we chose to listen to your ramblings for some reason" Rose shrugged at him as she slid the hood off her face, and Elias did the same. Honestly, she was in such a bad mood at the moment that she would take it out on anyone she could.
"... Right. Anyway" Elias sighed at the insult, merely sending Rose an unamused look "The entrance is right over there, come on."
The Milers, though hesitant, followed the prince a few steps forward, where the makeshift cave became darker as they stepped further away from the wasteland outside. Rose was surprised to see that some of the golden paint on the walls was still visible under all the grime.
Elias, flashlight in hand, guided them further inside until they reached a stone wall that blocked their path. Neither of the three sisters bothered to ask where the entrance was, as they were well acquainted with secret trap doors that opened with the push of a hidden button.
The prince felt around the wall for a few moments, putting an ear to the cold stone. Eventually he pushed a particular stone, and with a triumphant "aha!", a noise of a mechanism working could be heard.
"You might want to step back."
As Elias said this, Marilyn made sure to move StarDust and Rose to solid ground, the part of the floor they had been previously standing on moving to reveal a black hole big enough for them to fit through. At first Rose was worried that they would have to jump down there and possibly break their legs, but luckily a moment later stone stairs slid out of slots in the walls of the seemingly never-ending hole, allowing them a way to walk down.
"Right this way" the prince signaled to them to follow him with a mere shake of his head in the direction of the hole, starting to walk the first few steps down.
The sisters looked at each other, and while StarDust and Rose merely shrugged, Marilyn muttered a "cool" under her breath.
The youngest Milers followed her sisters and Elias down the stairs, trying to stay as close to her oldest sister as possible when she heard the opening to the cave closing behind her. They were surrounded by darkness and their only source of light was Elias' flashlight. Great.
They went down the creepy-crawly cave, the only sounds being dripping water from some of the holes in the ground above them and their steps as they walked deeper and deeper. Eventually, Elias stopped in his tracks in front of another stone wall.
As he went to try and open another doorway, the prince gave Rose the flashlight, asking her to illuminate the wall as much as possible. She shrugged and did as he asked, though she didn't know how that was going to help.
"Can we go faster? This place creeps me out" Marilyn shivered and only looked embarrassed at her cowardice when StarDust put a protective hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to find the stupid button to open this" Elias muttered under his breath, though in the silence it was loud and clear, as he touched along the wall again "I don't know why father insisted on all these secret buttons. I mean, if they managed to figure out how to open the first door why would they have trouble with- Finally!"
The prince cut himself off as the sound of rumbling filled the cave, and the stone wall in front of them started retracting itself to reveal an open doorway that led into a stone hallway. Elias, with a thankful sigh, gestured with his hand for them to follow him inside. The sisters, still unsure of what they would find in this secret space, did so.
The first thing Rose noticed upon entering the room at the end of the hallway was the expensive floor under them, but it wasn't the most impressive thing in it. Artifacts that were believed to have been stolen from the castle were scattered artistically around the room like they had never been touched. Famous paintings of the royal family were hanging from the golden-colored walls, traces of silver slipped into the intricate designs that could only be seen if you looked closely. Further ahead was a long dinner table, and delicate chandeliers hung from the ceiling. It seemed that even in captivity, the royal family couldn't live without their luxuries.
She could frankly hardly believe it, yet what surprised her more than the hidden royal living room was the one person sitting at the very end of the table, calm and without a single mar on his face.
It was the king. William was alive and sitting right in front of them.
"Welcome back, son" the man greeted Elias with a jovial smile, and the prince sent him a soft one before practically running over and hugging the king tightly, betraying the fact that, really, he was just a big softy.
"I'm home, father" one could tell they both used titles like those merely because they were royalty. They seemed pretty united.
When they both let go, William directed his gaze to the three sisters, his wise black eyes lighting up "And you three must be the Freedom Squad, correct?"
"... Yes, sir" Rose's voice was quiet as she regarded the monarch in front of her, shocked out of her skin.
"Oh, you needn't use such formalities with me" the king shook his head, sending the Milers a smile "After all, you three are princesses. To you three, I'm nothing more than William."
"With all due respect sir," StarDust began, doing a small courtesy "We are illegitimate princesses. We do not deserve to speak to you in such a casual way."
Marilyn elbowed her sister and sent her a look, mostly because even she realized when it was rude to be too formal. Beside his father, Elias rolled his eyes at the oldest's words, but the man merely laughed.
"And so respectful too! But, I digress" standing proud, William directed them to the table with a grin, accentuating his five-o-clock shadow "Please, sit down. We have much to discuss."
With that, the king and the prince sat down and the three sisters followed, Rose trying not to look like a fish out of water.
This was... not what she'd been expecting at all.
Warnings for this chapter: (At the beginning) A character being told that no one loves them and to die. Heavy stuff, but that part is extremely short. I think the rest of the chapter's fine.