Ch.4

The doors to the library burst open as a blur of green and blond rushed through the shelves. Frederick, who was grabbing books with sweaty hands while breathing rapidly from both fear and exertion, frantically searched the bottom shelves. "Where is it? I know its here somewhere." he mumbled as his quivering fingers grazed spine after spine to no avail. Then he jumped on to one of the rolling ladder and pushed off, searching through the numerous top rows of colorfully leather bound books. Finally, at the end of the fourth shelf on the third row, he found the book he was looking for. "Yes!" he said as he yanks out a massive book on mythical creatures from all around the world. He just started climbing down when-

"There you are, Frederick!"

Said boy's heart almost jumped out of his chest as he turned around to see Blaine making his way toward him. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Why weren't you at your lessons? Why-" Blaine started but Frederick ignored him as his brain raced to come up with a way out of this situation. Then he remembered that he's on a ladder with a rolling track and all the ladders after his were lined up perfectly. Frederick reared his foot and launched a powerful kick to the sturdy wooden shelf. His ladder flew down the rails to the next shelf just as his elder sibling was about to grab it. Blaine watched in awe as his brother leapt from his ladder onto the next one that was resting perfectly next to the end of the rail; His momentum quickly rocketing him to the next ladder.

"What the-HEY! FREDERICK, WAIT! Stop that this instant! GET DOWN FROM THERE!" Blaine shouted as Frederick jumped from ladder to ladder gaining more and more speed. When he began rolling towards the doorway, Blaine sprinted towards it, aiming to cut him off. When Frederick's ladder reached the end of the shelf, he jumped off and flew right through the door way and landed in the hallway feet first; His momentum carrying his shoulder into the wall. He winced as a white hot flash of pain shot up his already sore skin, causing spots to flash through his vision and his eyes to water. This gave Blaine enough time to catch up to his younger sibling. "What in the world was that all about?! If you're trying to run from your problems then your sorely mistaken. I need to talk to you about what happened between you and Lance."

Frederick, his skin still flaring with pain, recovered as best he could and walked briskly down the hallway; The mythology book held close to his chest.

"Not now, Blaine. I need to go."

Blaine darted behind him, matching his speed.

"Yes, now. Your behavior to Lance was unacceptable; He was only trying to give you advice. You shouldn't take your lack of trying out on others. Just because your proposal stunk doesn't mean you should act in such a nasty manner."

Frederick gritted his teeth as he quickened his pace.

Blaine kept going.

"I mean seriously. Plant more trees. More libraries? Gardening? A writer's guild? Why did you come up with such frivolous things. Those activities are useless to the kingdom; Its no wonder father is so disappointed in you. Your passionate in the wrong things. Do you really think that what the world needs is some overly passionate literary snobs and a few gardeners? You need to stop focusing on such worthless endeavors and do something that actually means something"

Frederick began to walk faster.

"Look, when the ball is over, we'll look over your proposal; Then we'll just tinker with it to suit father's needs and taste. You need a plan that's more robust, more efficient, something that is actually worthy of father's time. Hey, he might even praise you again like he did back at the Pastel castle. Only this time, try to stay in his good graces this time. Seriously, how do you keep pissing off dad on a daily basis?"

Frederick saw red as he snapped his head towards Blaine.

"Shut up and leave me alone!" he barked.

Blaine not missing a beat grabbed Frederick by the arm; A throbbing sensation radiated from his touch.

"You don't ta-"

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" Frederick roared as he yanked his arm back and pushed Blaine into the wall, the latter hitting it with a loud thud.

The two boys stared at each other for a few seconds; Frederick, wide eyed, with his hands covering his mouth in shock and Blaine also wide eyed but staring up at him in dazed disbelief. Frederick mumbled sorry several times as he backed away slowly;Then he sprinted down the hallway. He heard Blaine call out for him to stop, but he kept going.

Frederick didn't stop running until he was sheltered by the thick wild bloom of green foliage in the castle gardens. The gardens was a project started by his mother when they were born, but, to the surprise of no one, she let it go. Without anyone willing to prune or care for it, the gardens grew into an un-tamable dense jungle; Its leafy fingers stretched its leafy fingers into the embrace of the enchanted forest. Since then, their father forbade the boys from ever setting foot into the garden, for fear of the creatures that hid in the shadowy green.

Of course, that didn't stop the three curious kids.

Before their father sent them off to boarding school, a young Blaine and Lance decided to explore the gardens. At the time Frederick, who was born with a weak constitution, watched his elder siblings from the doorway to the gardens. They disappear into the bushes only to run out scared after two minutes. Their frightened screams were followed by an otherworldly howl that echoed out from the forest. A strange high pitched vibrating warbling that graceful moved up and down a vast ocean of pitches.

To the youngest brother, it sounded like a song.

When Frederick was well enough to move, he crept into the thicket in hopes of finding the owner of the melodious howl. While he did not find its origin, he did stumble across something better. Close to the border between the garden and the forest, where the flower and ivy grows thin, lays a large wall of sharp brown thorns; Rotten remnants of a rose garden never cared for. At the far left of the thorny wall is a large hole that tunnels inside the wall. At the end of the passageway lies an opening domed by a spiny wall of dead flora. Since then, any time the library was occupied, Frederick would use the gardens as a back up hiding place.

Frederick got down on his hands and knees and crawled into the opening as soon as he saw the wall, still holding the book to his chest. He tried to make himself as small as possible to avoid the sharp needle like thorns from scratching his tender skin. He gasped every time he felt them pull at his clothes. When he made it to the sunlit opening, he took in deep breaths. His mind trying to process what had just happened. Oh, God. It happened again! Am I losing my mind? How the hell did I even do that? Blaine is way stronger than me. I suck at combat. So where did that come from? I'm not a violent person. What the fuck is wrong with me?

When Frederick thought it over, he kept going back to Blaine's words and how they just made his body feel hot and his vision crimson. Blaine always tried to sound all perfect and greater than thou when he was lecturing Frederick. Normally, Frederick just rolled his eyes and ignored him, but something was different. Every word he said stoked a fiery feeling in his chest that made him want to punch in that perfect face.

But why?

Frederick looked down at the book in his hand and suddenly remembered his mission. He popped open the book and began to flip through until he found the index. He searched through the Bs and found it: Chapter 7, page 105. He flipped to the page and was highly disappointed to find only a small section on the creature.

"Ok, not much but at least its something. Mhmmm…...classified as vampires… evil creature that steals living people's life source…spreads disease….. Oh!"

One sentence made all of his anxiety disappeared.

…..creatures are normally female…..

The blonde prince breathed out a sigh of relief as he closed the book. Oh, what a relief. Hahaha…. I freaked out over nothing. Serves me right for listening to the ravings of my drunk mother. He frowned as his mind flashed through little snippets of her harsh words. Deep down he knew that his mother never really cared for them, but it was another thing to actually hear her say it. But he couldn't really blame her though, imagine being forced to have children with a man you don't even love and never being able to see your home and love ones again. Now, her complete animus for them finally made sense; every time she saw their faces, she was reminded of what she lost and who was responsible for it.

And she was tired of hiding her feelings about that.

Right then, Frederick realized why he was so temperamental with his brothers. His brothers never wanted to be involved with him, even when they were kids, his brothers didn't spend time with him.

Not even once.

So why were they all of a sudden so determined to "help" him. They probably were told by dad to help there "poor unmanly scrap of a brother". They didn't really give a damn about him. At least mother was honest about how she saw him, even though it was harsh. His brothers were just putting up a "good and wise older sibling" front just to get on dad's good side. Like always, they were just acting like they cared, so they could put on a show for dad.

None of it was for his benefit.

Suddenly, Frederick cried out as waves of fire burned throughout his entire body. Every nerve in his body was covered in pinpricks of agony as he curled into a little ball on the ground. This…. This is bad. It's never hurt this much before. He screamed again as acid laced agony flowed into every vein, pore, and organ of his body. He took in a breath and was treated to a lung shriveling burn that made him cough violently; He choked and gagged on his own spit. Tears flowed down his eyes as he struggled to move toward the exit, but stopped because every movement he made was like torture of the most unspeakable sort. "Oh, GodOhgodohgodohgoOh,GodOhgodohgodohgo IT HURTS SO MUCH! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" he cried.

But no one came.

As his conscious began to edge into darkness, Frederick wondered how his family would react when they would find his body.

When Frederick opened his eyes, he wondered if he was in heaven or hell. Then when his eyes started to focus, he saw the twinkling light of stars through the thick branches of his hiding place, now hued a deep black. He sat up from the ground and brushed the dirt from his hair. Its…..night? How long have I been here? Frederick crawled out of his hiding place and exited the garden to hear the sounds of music and laughing coming from the radiant castle. "Oh, crap! I forgot about tonight's' ball! Now dad is really going to kill me!" Frederick rushed into the castle and to his relief, the normally busy hallways were empty. Oh, thank God. Everyone's at the party. Now, I just have to go to my room and get changed. Frederick made his way through the plethora of hallways, only hiding when the odd party goer was passing by trying to find the bathroom. When he reached his bedroom, he let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding as he shut the door behind him. "Whew, ok. Now I just have to go into the party, pretend to be the wallpaper and pray that Blaine won't kick my ass." So Fredrick undressed himself and hopped into his the tub. As he bathed in the warm water he noticed something very unusual.

His skin didn't ache anymore.

Usually, or what became his usual, he would feel a slight itching or at the very most stinging when he would bathe himself in cold water or hot water. Now, there was no pain whatsoever. But his skin still felt…...weird. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was different. Ech, no time to think abut that now. He finished up, put on a vest, a white shirt and some slacks, and made his way over to the main ball room. As he got closer, the cacophony of laughter and voices echoed loudly in the hallway. He dug his fingers into his palms as his heartbeat increased its rate, suddenly feeling anxious. The large double door to the party towered over him as they came into view; Its sheer enormity and bulk brought about images of the gates of Hades in all its ominous presence. He started to slow down as his heart started to pump out ice into his bloodstream and that eventually made him stop a few feet in front of the door. The wooden door twitched and creaked as the bodys' of guests thudded into it; Their screeching and howling crashed against the door like sealed demons begging for an escape. They seemed to call out to him so they could feast on him until he was nothing more then a husk. Come be with us so we can press your lungs until they are as thin as paper. Let us see you drown in our chaos. Let us laugh as you call out to your loved ones and cry as they turn their backs on your pain. Frederick's breath became erratic as the rest of the world blurred around him.

But the door stayed clear.

Almost beckoning him to join in the bedlam; To let it consume him and devour him whole.

Frederick turned on his heel and quickly walked away from the door, hyperventilating the whole way until he reached the library. He shut the door behind him as he collapsed to his knees taking in shaky uneven breaths. A dull thud filled his ears as he crawled over to one of the book shelves and he focused on trying to get his breathing back under control.

In.

Then out.

In.

Then out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

He continued this exercise until the thudding of his heart slowed from a war drum to an easy tap. Though his fingers still shook and his stomach was twisted up in knots, he felt a little better. To ease his nerves more, Frederick looked to the shelf behind him for a book; His fingers went through the spines until he came across a book with a yellow cover.

The Littlest Prince.

The copy that Gwen gave him.

He pulled it out and looked it over as he felt a small smile come up. How did she know that this used to be my most favorite story as a kid. Maybe it won't hurt to read it over again, for old time sake. So Frederick opened up to the beginning and started to read. But as he read, instead of feeling the light and cheery tickling of nostalgia from his boyhood, he felt a familiar twinge of sadness.

He realized that ideals from childhood don't exactly hold up very well when you grew up. As he read about the protagonist's journey to greatness with the angel of mercy by his side, it became clear to him that the whole story was a sickly saccharine lie. The would have died in that hole from the very beginning. Left for dead by the apathetic villagers. It filled his heart with anger as he read about those same villagers showering the man with adoration once they saw that he could be of use.

Those hypocrites.

By the end, he realized that despite everything, the man only had one person that cared for his life and that was the angel. All the villagers love and thankfulness was all disgustingly fake and superficial. Just like his father's and his brothers'.

At least his mother respected him enough to show her true feelings.

He really was alone; Even if he tried to impress everyone it wouldn't matter, it would all be fake anyway.

"Frederick?"

A soft voice brought him out of his musings as he looked up to the doorway that was now cracked open.

"Gwen?"

(So this takes place on the day of Lance's birthday party if anyone is confused. I really feel proud of this chapter when it comes to delving into Frederick's problems with self-love and loneliness. I took a few creative liberties with Frederick at the party. My personal headcanon for him is that he has social anxiety and claustrophobia. This made sense since Frederick spent most of his childhood sheltered in the castle due to health problems and when he eventually went to school, he was severely bullied and this ended up giving him additional problems in socializing and trusting people. The claustrophobia came about since the bullies was locked him in a chest and most likely just left his room a wreck with Frederick screaming to be left out. I don't mean to sound twisted but I do hope that I am right about Frederick having claustrophobia; Lambcat make it cannon!)