Alone No More

Ralsei walked by Kris's and Susie's room on his way to the third floor. Despite the awkward box in his paws, he couldn't help but stop and smile at the closed doors. His two friends left a good while ago, but their memory stayed alive in the halls. Now picking up with a tune, the prince carried on with his duties to the next floor, only having to dart into the wall to allow Lancer to speed through on his bike. "Lancer!" He yelled. "No riding inside the castle! Take it outside, please."

All he heard was overjoyed maniacal laughter as the bike plowed down the stairs. Ralsei shook his floppy ears and carried on. Finally, he stopped and dropped the box next to a door. He reached for the knob before a voice stopped him. "Yoo Hoo!" And Queen came around in front of him despite him not knowing he was being followed. Ralsei yelped, but the woman didn't comment on his surprise. "There You Are, Prince-y! Is My Room Nearly Finished? The Popups and Werewires Ended Their Little Game (Trivia) And Now I Am So Terribly Bored."

The Dark Prince covered his annoyance with a warm smile. For the time being, she's been staying with some of the other denizens from the Cyber World in Castletown. The cramped space and drama made her more persistent in moving into the castle every day, but Ralsei, no matter her teasing, ever once reminded her that the room she demanded for each day was in Ralsei's own castle. True, some of his roommates were noisy and often found trouble to stir up, but their voices within his halls were a welcome change compared to his life before. His life before... Ralsei shook his head again to chase the thoughts free and once more reached for the door. "No worries! I'm nearly done. Take a look." He finished by swinging the doorframe open and stepping back to allow Queen to step inside.

Without a word, she walked into the center of the room and stopped, turning her head from side to side and placing her hands on her hips. A wide computer monitor lined the far wall so she may be free to explore her old computer functions. The far corner lined her favorite traps she loved to use to capture Ralsei and his friends, and the bed, queen-size of course, huddled under soft curtains to give the illusion of a wider space once inside.

Ralsei, ruffling the fur on his arm, stepped inside behind her. "...What do you think?"

"Mmn," Queen muttered for a second before turning to him, her screen still marked as "PROCESSING," "Doesn't Compare To: My Lovely Mansion At All, But I Suppose It Will Be Better Than Living With So Many Of The Popups... Always Pulling Up So Many Screens!" She laughed, her screen changing to "LMAO." "The Swatchlings Would Get So Much More Done Around Here If They Weren't Always Clicking On Ads For New Vacuums!" She paused for a moment, allowing Ralsei to breathe a sigh of relief as she seemed to accept her new room at least. Finally, her expression relaxed as she addressed her next question. "May I Ask, Who's Room Is That Next To Me?"

"Oh, that... That is Rouxls Kaard's room."

Queen shot a step back before howling with booming laughter and slapping her leg. "Oh? No Kidding? Really?" Her undetermined, but humored, expressions continued as she left poor Ralsei hanging by the door trying to make something of it. Just as she calmed down enough where he thought she would elaborate, she fell again into laughter. "I'm Surprised He (The Fool) Is Moving Right Next Door! Do You Know How Many Puzzles He'll Be Setting Up In Your Castle Soon-To-Be-Mine?"

Ralsei pondered as he looked over her "TRUE" setting, not knowing how to tell her that not only has the duke already set multiple puzzles throughout the castle, but so many of Ralsei's other quirky roommates already made themselves right at home within his walls. Pretty much the only ones not causing an uproar within his castle were the subjects, (and that had exemptions,) and King Spade in the dungeon who always kept to himself even in the presence of visitors.

Ralsei smiled meekly and scratched his ear, but Queen beat him to saying something first. "Why Can't You Swap Him For That Other Room Down The Hall?"

The prince shot upright. Did she really have an issue with being a room away from the Duke of Puzzles? He froze for a second and waited to see if she would wave it off, but she met his astonished look. "Er, that's my room, so... I would have to move him to a different floor... And that would take a lot longer to get him settled."

Much to his surprise, his answer changed the subject. "That Last Room? That's Yours?"

The change didn't comfort Ralsei any more than the last topic. "Yeah," He answered simply. "But it's not done yet. I'm afraid it'll be the last one to get done."

Still smiling, the Queen paused and pondered Ralsei's answer. Question Marks began flooding her HUD before she pushed past him with a firm arm. "Why Do You Need To Renovate Your Own Room? What's Wrong With It?"

Ralsei spun around and reached to stop her. "WAIT!" But it was too late. Queen kicked open the door and went inside. Ralsei darted for the door and stopped before going in. To his dismay, Queen already stood looking over his posters, books, and dust-coated furniture. His face grew hot.

At random, she picked a thick hardcover simply titled, "The Prophecy," and flipped through its contents. "When Was The Last Time You Were In Here? Running Coughing Protocol." As soon as she opened it, she dropped the book and turned her attention somewhere else. White fur covered the blankets on top of the bed, but it looked like no one slept under them for a long time. "Do You Even Sleep In Here, Bro?" She asked as she grabbed a few of the scattered journals and patted the hair and dust off them. When she finally realized she didn't get an answer, she looked for Ralsei at the door.

He still stood there like a deer in the headlights. His jaw was agape, his eyes wide and pleading, and his paws still extending for every journal she touched. Queen's confusion fell and reprocessed into something different. Maybe she shouldn't have barged in so quickly without his permission... Clearly, she uncovered something he didn't want to share, though she's never seen him so closed and terrified before.

Ralsei wanted to brush it off. Oh, he wished he wouldn't make a scene, but tears were already bubbling in his vision. Finally, he broke and fled, crying as he ran. Queen pursed her lips and turned back to the journals. With each poster she spied on the wall and entry she glanced from the open binders, the more frustrated she became. Something about this went further than it first appeared, but she couldn't read it as easily as she could read Noelle's online searches. Unlike any of the Lightners, she didn't have Ralsei's thoughts typed clearly on an engine for her to categorize. That turned into a temptation to take a further peek around the room. Something about ACTs... Something about TP... Something about... Waiting? Waiting for what?

She did carry data of him saying he was once a prince without subjects and how different that changed with so many new friends living with him. Queen never once thought to look deeper than that. These entries depicted a lonely prince waiting for a spark to change his life. Inside, he kept mentioning some kind of "Prophecy," but the more she read, the more it became clear that Ralsei dreamed more about the company this legend of heroes would bring about. That's why having so many rooms to clean but his own made him so happy. Why, no matter how many people he had to cook or host for, he never once complained.

She set the last journal down and returned to the bed. If he never set foot once in this room since he worked on theirs, where did he sleep? How didn't she notice this before, and why did it seem so hard for him to even set foot here? Was it that bad of a memory, living in this castle alone? A thumping on the other side of the wall caught her attention and she poked her head into the hallway. She saw no trace of Ralsei, but she refused to ignore the situation at hand.

Closing the door behind her, Queen went one door over and knocked until she heard clearance to come in. And here she thought Lancer's room was a mess! A tile here, a switch there, and most of his furniture pushed to the end of the room, Rouxls Kaard knelt in the center, working on some kind of puzzle of his, as usual. Queen strode over to the working duke and stared down. When he looked up, he froze in his place, not expecting her to be his company this time. Queen smiled at his bewilderment. "What Are You Doing?"

Rouxls stammered for a moment, but finally stood up and cleared his throat. "Nevere did I thinkest I wouldst be in thine company this morning, Mine Queene. For I am ever hard at work, perfecting mine arte and crafting the most impossible-"

Queen cut him short. "Never Mind. I Wanted To Ask You If You Knew Where The Prince Is Sleeping."

The duke pondered for only a moment. "Didst thou findst the young sire sleepingeth in a hole-"

Again, she cut him off. "Not Lancer! Prince Ralsei!"

Rouxls shrugged. "Ist he not sleepingeth in his own bed at nighte? I know naught, Mine Queene."

Queen pressed her hand to her face. "Thank You. You Have Been Most Useless. I Shall Go And Find Someone Who Knows. In The Meantime, Stay Here. I May Need To Find You Again."

Bossy command or no bossy command, Rouxls Kaard was happy to obey. He stood straight and saluted her. "At thine service forever whenst ever thy needeth me."

Queen gave a howl of laughter and slapped his shoulder before darting away to her next destination. Rouxls returned to his puzzles after taking a moment to rub his sore arm.

Queen stormed down the stairs, aiming to return to the first floor. She couldn't help but stop before Kris's and Susie's empty rooms. Those two know Ralsei better than the rest of the Darkners here. If only she could ask them about Ralsei's odd behavior. Unfortunately, she doesn't know when they might be back. It could be as soon as tomorrow or as long as several years. She pouted and tapped her foot as if the doors had some explaining to do. She may be too proud to admit aloud, but she dearly wished the lightners would return soon. She held on to her hope that she would see Noelle again with them... Her gaze fell on Lancer's door... The round boy also claimed to be a part of the Lightners' team. Perhaps he knows more.

"Lance-y Poo," She sang as she knocked and peeked inside the room. No one answered. Her preceptors picked up freshly dug soil, but the room sat still. "Ah, he's probably outside if he listened to Ralsei. That boy can't be too hard to find." She finished with her decision out loud and stormed once more to the first floor. As she passed by the Cauldron to reach the front gate, she paused just long enough to give the cleaning Swatchlings a thumb-up before leaving. A gust of fresh air greeted her as the door opened. She kept walking past Trashy and Nubert as they rolled the little ball to and fro around the stone patio.

What used to be an empty Castletown now bustled with city life in a rich mix between the card and the cyber Darkners. Queen meandered aimlessly through the streets. The lights in the windows were a stark contrast to the darkness spilling into the sky. She avoided the distraction and searched for a short spade boy among the crowd. Still walking and focusing too hard on every face passing by, she nearly crashed into a struggling Swatch carrying too many stacked boxes for his new cafe. He accused himself and carried on, but someone else soon took his place. "Queen!" cried the popup as he huddled too close to her feet. "Where've you been? The Werewires wanted to go to the club in town. It was a lot of fun until they wanted to have a dance-off. They're cheating! They're cheating! Queen! Tell them to knock it off!"

Frustration bugging at her circuits, Queen folded her arms and scoffed. "Are You Telling Me You Guys Are Losing To A Bunch Of Werewires? I Wasn't Aware You Could Cheat In A Dance-off. Anyway, I'm Looking For Lancer. Have You Seen Him?"

The popup began muttering an indecisive answer. Queen didn't need his answer anymore anyway. She could see the card prince pedaling his bike away from the bakery with a cookie clenched in his teeth. A fire burned a path behind him as he sped away, but Queen was already on his trail.

She began calling to him as she rounded the corner of a fix-me-up empty building where he disappeared, but she didn't have to. Lancer was now lying with his back on the ground, working on the bottom of the pedals as if the boy was a mechanic tuning his motorcycle. Queen couldn't for the life of her know what he was working on and why, but that hardly mattered to her. "Lance-y Poo!" She called with a grin and approached. He stopped and looked up at her. The cookie she saw a moment ago was gone, replaced with a toothy grin and a protruding tongue. "I Wanted To Ask You Something. Have You Ever Seen Ralsei's Room?"

He thought about it for a second and then bounced up to his feet. "Nope! The little peach never wants me in there." After a second, he turned his head and scrunched his face. "Why do you ask?"

Queen paused and looked up at the dark sky. Her working circuits spun with all of the new thoughts and brought back "PROCESSING," on her HUD. She rested her chin in her hand. Her processors picked up the burning rubber from Lancer's bike tires, but she continued with the pressing matter at hand. Her HUD wiped blank as she spoke again. "It Seems Like Our Beloved Prince Is Avoiding His Room While Trying To Busy Himself Around It. Do You Happen To Know If He Sleeps There At Night? (Or Steps In There At All?)"

"I know the little guy likes to sleep on the sofa past the throne room." Lancer finished with a grin and held his short arms out on either side of him. "But he has all that soft fur! It's probably comfy for him to sleep wherever!"

Lancer expected a more energetic response from her, but Queen trailed her gaze elsewhere. This only confirmed her suspicions. Lancer brought his arms closer to his chest and shifted to her other side so she was facing him. Perfect timing! She just found a new idea. Queen leaned over the boy with a brightening smile on her face. "I Tell You What, Boy. We're Gonna Give Our Toothpaste Prince: A Surprise."

Any worry Lancer had for her dissipated and he bounced up and down. "Oh! Oh! I love surprises! What are we doing? Filling the sofa with popping candy? How about putting worms in his hat? I saw the Coat Rack holding it for him. I'm sure he'll let us borrow it for a Darkburger or somethin'."

"Even Better," Queen chirped. "Come With Me, Round Boy." She turned and wove her arm, gesturing Lancer to follow. Still dripping with excitement, Lancer hopped on his bike. It roared in flames behind her, but Queen didn't look back. Too fast to stay behind her, Lancer drove around the corners of buildings and pedaled in circles around her as she made her way back to the castle. Trashy and Nubert were still playing ball. The round pink guy didn't voice a complaint. It wasn't clear if he enjoyed it or not.

Finally, Queen reached the door and Lancer pulled up behind her. He almost brought his bike inside but ditched it at the front when Queen pressed a finger to her lips. The castle was as if she never left. A few of the Swatchlings lingered, sweeping the floor around the cauldron in the center of the room. The smell of disturbed dust clung to the air. The cyber woman pursed her lips together. No sign of Ralsei... Was he going to show his face again at all that day? Queen shrugged. If he didn't, well, at least they would have plenty of time to work without revealing the surprise. She pointed at the stairs and Lancer wobbled behind her.

The two traversed the flight of stairs until she stopped at Rouxls Kaard's door once again. Lancer pumped his fists and moved beside her as she knocked. "We gonna get Lesser Dad on this too?! This is gonna be great!" Instead of hearing the voice from inside like last time, the duke came to the door and peeked around the frame of the door. Lancer bounced forward. "Lesser Dad! We got an idea to surp-"

Queen silenced him with a hand over his mouth. "Not Now, Lance-y! You'll Spoil It." She waited as Rouxls raised a brow and moved beyond the open door. "Have You Seen Ralsei Since I Left?"

He folded his arms behind him. "Not a soul stirreth in thine absence, Queene."

"Perfect!" She hummed and slid a door over, giving it a slight knock just in case, though there would be no chance Ralsei was in his room now. Just as she thought, the room was barren and the journals were left strewn in the same places she had them last.

Rouxls and Lancer followed in behind her. "Oo, this is basket boy's room?" Lancer chuckled. "What a nerd!"

Rouxls took a quick glance around before he settled on the waiting Queen once more. "Queene, why arteth we in Prince Ralsei's room?"

Queen brightened and wove her arms before Lancer and the duke as if she presented a showroom. If that showroom was covered in dust and books all over the shelves and bed, making the soft green walls intimidating like it threatened to close tight around them. "Our Green Prince, Who Lovingly Took The Painstaking Dedication And Care In Making Us Feel Welcome In: Our Own Spaces Has Neglected His Own. I Came To Realize That He May Fear It Because It Reminds Him Of A Time Before Our Arrival. I Thought It Would Be A Sweet Surprise To Tidy It Up For Him."

Rouxls slumped and held his dark arms out before him. "But Mine Queene! Wouldn'st the subjects be a better fit for this taske?"

She planted her hands on her hips. "Hoho! They Would Be Able To Clean It Up All Right, (Quick n' Clean!) But Neither The Rudinns Nor The Swatchlings Can Give It That Special Touch I'm Looking For. Are You Two In?"

Confusion merely occupied the duke for a moment, but it quickly faded to a warm honor to work beside Queen. He would be unable to refuse. And Lancer, well, his energy remained intact. Queen's HUD changed to "NICE."

Working alongside Rouxls and Lancer brought greater joy to Queen than she first thought. Sure, the space within the room became tight at times from having three people bounding from one corner to the other, but with her new family beside her, cleaning the room didn't feel like a chore at all. The other two must have felt similar judging by Rouxls relaxed eyes and Lancer posing as a tough guy or hero as he cleaned. Once they finished the dusting and organizing, they felt more open to their voices, which they first kept hushed in fear of possibly alerting Ralsei.

What started quiet blew up into songs, jokes, Lancer mimicking the sound of the vacuum, Queen playing her mixtape, and both Lancer and Queen laughing at how Lancer's cartoon splat sound collection annoyed the duke of puzzles. Once everything was tidy, it was time for them to decide what personal touches to add to the room to make it home-y. It was during this personalization that a few disagreements turned to bickering. Confetti would be counterproductive, and so was Lancer's idea of falling pastrami. Would a welcome banner be too cliché? It didn't help that everyone in the room had vastly different ideas of personalization.

After being gone for a good chunk of the day, Ralsei set his feet marching directly to Queen's room. He couldn't hide from her forever, nor did he want to. For the longest time, though, he didn't know how to approach her after that awkward encounter. He finally came to the wide frame and paused. He took a moment to suck in a breath and let it puff out his chest and swap out his pitiful face for a tougher one. First, I'm going to apologize for running off, he decided, gathering his goals. Then, I will explain why it bothered me the way it did and... Should he be firm in telling her not to break into his private space again? Well... Maybe I won't have to. I don't want to worry anybody... Ralsei tried to keep his furry chin from trembling as he raised a paw, but then a sound from down the hall alerted his attention. He turned his head.

It came from his room, but why? Why in all Heavens would Queen still be in there? All that preparation was wasted as it shrank from his mind. Ralsei hopped over in long strides for his room. His feet pitter-pattered on the stone floor. He almost made it to the door before two pairs of hands pushed a shocked Rouxls Kaard out the door. "Rouxls!?" Ralsei shouted above the slam of the door and skidded to a stop. "What are you doing in my room!? Who else...?"

But the duke covered Ralsei from reaching the door. "S-sire!" He stammered, taking a mere, panicked second to adjust his suit. "I've been lookingeth for thou! I-I mean a lot hath. Art thou quite all righte?" Behind him, the commotion continued.

Ralsei squinted at the increasingly nervous duke. Rouxls smiled a broken grin and shot perfectly straight, placing a hand on his chest with elegance. "Anyway, mighteth I show thee what I hath been workingeth-"

Ralsei didn't take a chance and used the moment Rouxls turned away from the door to his advantage. Before Rouxls could stop him, he had his paw on the doorknob. "Thank you, but I have something to take care of first."

"Sire-!" The duke cried out. In his mind, he already saw Queen and Lancer scowling at him, but when he heard their voices, they were bright and loud. Just inside, he saw Ralsei falter a step. Rouxls followed the prince inside to see Queen and Lancer facing them, grins on their faces and arms up in the air. Despite being interrupted, they made the best they could of a surprise with a clean room adorned with trinkets from his adventures. A lovely white ribbon lay next to his flavor of tea on the table. And the odd mannequin wearing a blue dress stood in the far corner. A few Glowshards, Revive Mints, Dark Candies, and various scarves lined the shelves.

Ralsei stood frozen like a statue, his jaw stuck open as his eyes finally made it to the banner on the wall. "Home is where the (blank) are." The missing word held a blank space where a dozen post-it notes with replacements stuck. They ranged everywhere from "friends," and "tasty foods," to more specific ones like, "sweet balls of dough," and "peons." Underneath the banner hung a collection of various photos as well. He noted several of a happy Ralsei surrounded by Kris and Susie here, a mischievous Susie and Lancer having a scary face competition there, and even the sweet photo he took with Kris in the acid tunnel in the Queen's mansion made it into the collection!

Tears began to cloud his vision but for a different reason this time. He stuttered and looked away from the banner. No longer were his journals and books strewn all over his shelf space and counters. They sat gleaming at him from the bookshelves, sparkling and straight. All the dust and hair were gone. The surfaces were polished. The bed was made with fresh sheets... "I-I... You guys... You did this?" Ralsei stuttered past the tears and took a seat on the bed. The three Darkners exchanged hesitated glances, but still held beaming smiles. Ralsei pulled his sleeve and wiped his eyes under his glasses. "Thanks, but I... I don't know how to thank you. You really didn't have to."

"Someone Had To Make Sure You Weren't Sleeping On: The Couch," Queen replied. Her "TRUE," HUD supported Ralsie even further.

"Yeah," Lancer laughed, his blue tongue swinging to the other side. "We don't want our little peach to get eaten by mites!"

That caught Rouxls's attention. "Mites? There shouldn'st be mites in the castle! Well, outside of any worms, but thosest don'st counteth! I'm using them!"

Lancer made another remark about couch mites, but Ralsei didn't hear it. The tears spilled free and he leaped off the bed with his furry arms outstretched to catch all three figures before him. The tight squeeze stopped all communication and he held on long enough before Rouxls wove the fuzzy prince off and Queen pulled away from making contact with tears. Ralsei finally released them and took a step toward the banner again, leaving his friends to recover. He took off his glasses to wipe the fog from them. "I never thought of using this empty wall like this before. It's perfect."

Lancer hopped to his side. "You'll never be alone again. Even in your own room, we're watching ya!"

The comment was made out of humor, but it warmed Ralsei from the inside out and melted his old worries about his lonely life away, and away it should stay. He had friends now. He had a family, and as that family grew, so did his chances of being loved and remembered. He regarded the spade prince with a soft smile and exhaled the last weight of his anxieties.

Like a wire coming to trip them up, Rouxls Kaard broke the moment. "I nearly forgotteth!" He proclaimed with a pointed finger to the Heavens. "I wast going to cooketh Supper. Onward!"

As the indigo duke flitted out of the room, Queen locked "?" eyes on Ralsei. Lancer rubbed his round belly and bounded after him, prompting the other two to follow. Ralsei stopped after he flipped off the light to look back into the darkened room, his paw on the doorknob. This wasn't his old room. This was a new sanctuary, filled with memories he had with his friends. For the first time in a long time, he looked forward to crawling under his clean blankets in his own room again.

The bedroom remained on his mind as he followed the Darkners downstairs to enjoy supper together. Some of the Rudinns and Swatchlings already started but accommodated Queen and Rouxls who wanted to join them. The kitchen was just as Ralsei preferred it; lively and exciting. When they took their seats at the table, there were plenty of servings of RouxlsRoux, complete with worms, and glasses of battery acid to go around. Ralsei took the joy at the table all in and tucked it away in the corner of his mind, where he would treasure it.

End