Snowball fight begins! For Misty, because I was #TeamKile to the end and saw the Erik "blindside" the moment he appeared in the series. KILEXEADLYN FOR LIFE!
This will maybe evolve into a multichap? Idk.
It's not supposed to be like this. Happy couples come out of the Selection. America Singer and Maxon Schreave. The epitome of love surviving hardships and blossoming out of unfavorable conditions. Amberly Station and Clarkson Schreave. Not a happy marriage by any means, but they got along and governed their country well and hid the blood and the tears and the heartache. This isn't supposed to happen.
Kile looks down at the tabloid in his hands, and the others on the rack, a variation of the same story over and over. Queen Eadlyn Schreave red faced, frothing and screaming, a red hand print on her cheek, and Eikko, oh he's foreign! screaming back as he storms out of the palace. Love. "Love." The Selection always has its flaws, but it always produces honest to god love. Love.
Kile's felt it for Eadlyn for the past four years.
The first two years passed in a euphoric blur. He had flings with girls at architecture school and learned how to build an elegant mansion from a shipment of brick and mortar. He learned how to shape walls and floors on blue gridded paper, and he watched as on site his dreams came true, towering skyscrapers and humble cottages and park edifices and everything in between. Things were happy, but they were a hollow happy, a pleasure happy. He loved his work, but it was pure indulgence. It meant nothing to him. He would find himself staring at the stars at night, not knowing what the problem was.
The third year, he realized it was her. The Woodworks had lived in the palace forever, and Kile's parents still did even if he and Josie did not. He was often invited to this function or that gala, but he was always in the middle of some project or neck deep in exams or something like that. He was always occupied. But on the third anniversary of the marriage of Eadlyn and Eikko, exams were four weeks behind him and he was in a slump as he planned his end-of-the-semester design. He flew out to Angeles and walked in the palace and life came back to him. The halls, the paintings, the food, the smells.
The girl.
She had a smile on her face; Queen Eadlyn Schreave and King Eikko Koskinen, seated at the end of the table, warm smiles and jubilant greetings and proper handshakes. When Kile stood in front of Eadlyn, his hand grasping hers, there was no explosion of passion or light. It was just...Eadlyn. He wanted to squeeze harder, to hold her hand forever. Eadlyn felt like the things he'd secretly missed, the things he'd been repressing. He'd thrown his home, his past, into the dumpster so he wouldn't feel homesick during his studies. But now he realized he missed his mother's sweet smelling hair, his father's deep laugh, the way Josie's smile glowed in the dark, the way Eadlyn's hand cupped in his when they were children. Kile looks into Eadlyn's eyes and sees past the exterior; he puts on the same mask she does every day, they grew up together, they were taught how to act the same exact way when they were upset or angry. A too big smile, a too loose handshake, a too rumpled dress, a too thick mask of makeup. Eadlyn Schreave was in pain, but Kile had no idea why. All he wanted to do was assuage her pain, however.
Eadlyn let go of his hand, and she was gone.
The secrets seeped out under the palace's doors as the days passed. Kile didn't believe them, of course, but he had hope. He fumbled in his studies and all his designs started to revolve around a palace and a girl. His designs are marked as lacking creativity and drive, and he begins to search helplessly for what is supposed to make him happy. Then here he is, standing on the street, with a magazine among dozens advertising the controversial split of Eadlyn and her oh-so passionate, surprise lover Eikko. His name is Erik. Kile wants to hurt him. Erik had Eadlyn Schreave, and he let her go.
He doesn't know why. He leaves college without telling anyone, flying halfway across the country into Angeles unannounced. Of course the guards let him come in, he's Lady Marlee's son and they all know him, the older ones anyway. Kile walks through the palace like a ghost with paper white skin and a hollow cavity in his chest, and he walks into the hallway where they first kissed and almost expects her to be there. She's not.
He searches for hours. His parents find him before he finds Eadlyn, and they tell him she's locked herself away in on of the upper floor's rooms and refuses to come out.
"We're so happy you're here," his mother whispers, and he just hugs her and nods and leaves when he can. He loves his mother, but he needs to find Eadlyn Schreave, he needs to make this right, he just needs to see her and let everything he feels go.
He picks the lock once he finds the door and pushes it open. The vase sails over his head and smashes into a thousand glittering purple and white ceramic shards behind him. Kile isn't fazed. He walks into the room. Eadlyn stands in front of him with a tear stained face and a sagging posture, the epitome of a girl who's given up on life. The mask is gone, everything's gone, and she's Eadlyn.
"Never were the best at aiming, where you?" Kile whispers hoarsely. "Never were the best at...at love, either. Just like me."
"Kile...leave," Eadlyn shudders. "Just leave."
"I love you and I don't know why," Kile murmurs as he turns to leave. "I love you and I don't want to, but I do."
"You never make sense, Kile," Eadlyn hisses, and it's not a joking, flirtatious remark, it's cold and slimy and dead and Kile squeezes his eyes shut and walks out of the door. He feels lighter, but Eadlyn still tugs at his heart. He waits at the door for a millennia but she doesn't come running out to embrace him. Eadlyn Schreave made up her mind four years ago. Kile wasn't the right one for her. He never will be. Kile slips to the floor and just holds his head in his hands.