This is the LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN! And sorry about the long wait. And sorry if your feels get touched by this.
Be the 1-hour-to-kingship prince
You stand in your chambers, now fully dressed and pacing nervously. The ballrooms are full of nobles come to see your coronation. But you can't bring yourself to leave your rooms just yet. What if you make a fool of yourself? What if you mess up the ceremony? What if someone finds out about your powers? What if your powers get out of control? What if you hurt someone?
Sounds of their laughter and the music echo softly down the hall. You freeze suddenly, inexplicably terrified. Music. Ballroom. Dancing. Oh jesus f*cking christ on a piece of TOAST. DANCING. You haven't practiced dancing since you were eight, and you found out about your powers.
What are you even going to do? You will definitely be expected to dance with all of the nobles from the surrounding kingdoms. You feel your knees lock up, and you step backwards and sit heavily on the edge of your bed. You begin to reconsider this entire idea, and seriously contemplate asking Jake to make everyone leave. You put your head in your hands before you hear a knock on your door. "Who is it?"
"It's me." Your eyes widen. Dave.
"It… It's open." You reply reluctantly. You see your door open and Dave walk in. In those few moments you forget how to breath. Dave is wearing an ornate red tunic with golden trim and small black accents. His red pants match, and black shoes that go with his outfit. You stare for a moment before gulping and you finally blink. Dave looks at you with concern.
"Dude, are you okay?" He asks, quirking an eyebrow inscrutably.
You contemplate trying to play it off and lying to him, but one look at the genuine concern apparent on his normally stoic face nixes that idea for you. You sigh, and reply quietly "No. No I'm not."
Upon hearing your answer, the worry in his face grows even more apparent, and he walks toward you, coming to sit beside you on the bed. He leans forward on his knees and stares straight ahead, only glancing at you out of the corner of his eye, obviously waiting for you to continue. When you don't comply, he turns to face you and pokes your side, making you squeak in a rather un-regal fashion. "John, come on. What's wrong?" he prods. "Come on man, I'm your best bro. Who else are you gonna have a feelings jam with to get this out of your system, Jake? Dude, not a good plan. He's too much of a goofball. We Striders are the kings of feelings jams. Shit's serious, bro. Do you see my crown? Sitting here on my head?" he grabs the circlet from the top of your head, and shoves it on his own, flash stepping away from you as you try halfheartedly to take it back from him. "Obviously, I am the king. Bow down to me Egbert. Kneel before the sexiest bro in feelings jam history."
You giggle a little, and drop to your knees on the floor. "Oh, sir strider" you say, in your best imitation of a girl's voice, bringing the back of your right hand up to your forehead for effect. "Take me now! Your kingly qualities and masculine sensitivity are just too much for a delicate flower like me to handle, I'm afraid I'm simply going to swoon." On the last word, you lunge for his ankles, catching him by surprise and yanking them out from under him
"Egbert, what the f*ck," Dave shrieks, in a high pitched decibel that you are going to give him SO much shit for later,as he crashes to the ground in front of you. You take advantage of his momentary (and extremely rare) shock to crawl on top of him and retrieve your pilfered crown. You wind up panting, stretched on top of Dave, in your best attempt at pinning him down to prevent him from taking revenge, your circlet clenched victoriously in your fist.
"Hah!" you crow triumphantly, grinning widely down at him. "You are obviously NOT the king of feelings jams, Dave. I don't see any crown, do you?"
"Hmph," he grouses, his red eyes meeting and locking with yours. "Whatever Egderp. We both know I don't need a crown to prove my superiority." He smirks up at you, and you suddenly realize how close you two are. Your left elbow is propped on the floor next to his head, keeping the crown out of his reach, while your right hand is pressed flush against his broad, toned chest, just below his clavicle. Your knees rest on the ground just below his hips on either side, and your body is pressed against his from the bottom of your ribs down. You blush furiously and break eye contact, rolling off of him and onto your back on the floor beside him, crossing your legs tightly to prevent any…. misunderstandings. "John," Dave says cautiously from beside you.
"Hmmm?" you reply absently still distracted by your earlier, foolish escapade.
"You still haven't told me what you were so worried about earlier" he points out, rolling over onto his side and propping his chin in his hand to regard you.
"Oh, right. That…." you mutter. For a moment, you consider just telling him everything. How much of a relief that would be. But your common sense takes over, and you simply say "I'm going to make a fool of myself trying to dance."
Dave relaxes at that, and laughs. He actually laughs.
You glare at him, offended. "It's not funny, Dave!" you exclaim indignantly. "I'm going to be expected to dance with tons of people. And I haven't since I was like… Eight!" Dave quickly stands up and offers his hand.
"I'm sorry to say, but I find that hard to believe. Allow me to help you up, John."
"Dave, noooooooo," you whine, taking his hand nonetheless.
"John. Dude. Get up." Dave drags you to your feet, pulling you into him, and placing one hand on your waist and taking your hand in the other.
"Dave, what the heck are you doing?" you ask, completely stymied.
"Showing you that dancing isn't all that hard. It's literally just stepping back and forth in a circle and chatting inanely. I'll start off as the guy and then we'll switch okay?" You simply nod as the two of you start moving. You stare down at Dave's feet, trying not to step on his toes, and keep a healthy distance between you. "John, I won't bite," Dave chuckles, forcing you closer. He leans in, and whispers in your ear, "Well, not hard enough to leave a mark at least." He laughs at the look on your face as he pulls back only slightly. You are still uncomfortably close after the unwelcome effects of your last encounter, and his fake flirting isn't helping matters. You return your eyes to their position trained firmly on the ground, watching the mesmerizingly repetitive pattern of your feet across the floor. You start as you feel Dave's hand on your chin, gently pushing your face up to meet his gaze. "You don't have to be so nervous, you know," he murmurs gently, the change in the timbre of his voice sending chills rippling down your spine and across your skin. You notice his hand hasn't moved from it's position on your face. His fingertips are still resting softly on your left cheek. You don't know when, but your left hand joined your right on his shoulders at some point, and once again you are acutely aware of how close you two are. Inappropriately close, even if this were a normal dance with a normal girl at a normal ball. But it's not. You're here, in the privacy of your chambers, where no one will disturb you, and you can't bring yourself to care. You still haven't broken eye contact, your blue eyes locked with his fiery red ones, and when did his face get so close to yours? You can see the faint, almost indiscernible smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, and how his blonde lashes frame his red eyes that are flecked with gold. You watch as he takes in a breath, his thin, slightly chapped lips parting as he all but whispers. "John?"
"Hm?" is all you can manage in reply, still too lost in the hypnotizing, captivating force that is Dave Strider.
He is so close that you can feel the light pressure of his breath on your skin, made even more stimulating by the hypersensitivity your powers give you. You unconsciously rise up on your toes and tip your head back farther to bring your faces together so that your noses are almost touching. You can practically feel the movements of his lips as he begins to speak again. "John, I-"
Suddenly, the door to your room flies open, and Jake's chipper voice breaks the heavy trance. You and Dave throw yourselves away from each other to opposite sides of the room, and you flush bright red while Dave compensates with a blanker version of his usually inscrutable pokerface. "Gadzooks, John, hurry up, everyone's wait….ing…." He trails off, staring at the two of you. "Did I, er, interrupt something?" he inquires guiltily.
"N-No. It's fine…" You say, taking deep breaths. You look at Dave from the corner of your eye and see him recomposing his poker face.
"Well, it's time, John." Jake says quietly, giving you a sad, sympathetic look. You nod and slowly walk to him, following him to the big throne room,Dave trailing behind the two of you. You gulp as the ceremony begins.
About 45 minutes later, you are officially king. Jake walks behind you, taking your circlet off your head and letting the bishop place the crown on your head. You gulp as you take the royal scepter from another one of the servants.
"I present to you, His Majesty, King John Egbert." You hear the crowd begin to clap and cheer. You turn to look at Jade, who is currently beaming proudly at your side. A few of the knights bow before you to swear their fealty, Dave being one of them. He looks up at you, and you notice an unreadable expression in his eyes, so you respond with a slightly nervous half smile. He nods discreetly and stands, returning to his seat. You take a deep breathe again and walk down the aisle to the grand ballroom, soon followed by the people.
As you enter, the royal musicians strike up a stately waltz, and one by one, the guests pair up and begin to dance. You turn and see a blond girl skipping in your direction. Her long blonde hair, streaked with blue swings beguilingly over her shoulders, bared by the off shoulder sleeves of her royal blue ball gown, slimmer in form than contemporary fashions dictates, but very attractive on her lithe blue lips stretch into a wide grin. "H-Hello?"
"Hi!" She says, her voice peppy and bright. "I'm Lady Zahhak, daughter of Lord Horrus Zahhak." You perk up at the name.
"Ah yes! Lord Zahhak!" You say. Horrus Zahhak was good friends with your father, from what you heard, but you never knew he had a daughter.
"Yeah! So, like, I was wondering if you already had a dance partner picked for your first dance or if I could claim that spot?" She asks, almost with a singsong voice. You bite your lips nervously but nod, earning an excited giggle from her as she takes your hand and pulls you to the dance floor.
Be the king's caretaker.
You watch as John gets dragged onto the dance floor by an extremely attractive young woman before you notice the sudden presence of someone next to you. "Hello, Strider."
"English." Dirk replies quickly. You smile, keeping your eyes on John as he clumsily dances with the girl. "I'm amazed his majesty is doing even that well." You laugh at that.
"Your brother helped him I believe." Dirk nods slowly, before looking at you.
"Your job is going to get rougher huh? Serving the king and all."
"Not much different, I believe." You say, seeing John bow to the girl before she skips off happily and he quickly makes his way to the side before another girl can ask him to dance. You see a few girls walking in your direction, giggling and pushing each other. However, they all look at Dirk.
"Sir Strider?" One asks, causing both you and Dirk to look at her. "W-We were wondering if you were a-available to dance tonight?" Dirk smiles sadly at the girls.
"I am sorry, my ladies, but I am on guard duty tonight, and even if I was available, my heart is already taken." The girls all frown at his response. "My humblest apologies."
"We understand. Enjoy the night." One says before they all walk away. You roll your eyes slightly.
"Ah the woes of being a Strider, huh?" You joke, looking at him, causing him to smirk.
"Trust me. Sometimes these good looks are a curse." He jokes right back. You laugh, rubbing your eyes before you see Jade and John dancing together. "They grew up so quickly huh?" You nod, watching the twins dance. As the song ends, John and Jade bow to each other and separate. Jade walks over to the girl who first danced with John,allowing John to escape to lean against the wall. You witness the two girls start talking, even giggling a bit and you chuckle.
"Looks like Jade has a new friend." You say. Dirk nods, looking at them.
"Lord Zahhak's daughter. I hear she's a handful." Dirk states with a slight sigh. You nod. Anyone who gets along that well with Jade must be a handful. You see Jade pull the girl over to John quickly and decide to walk over to find out what's going on.
"Hey! John!" Jade starts. He looks at her.
"Yeah, Jade?"
"You've met Lady Zahhak right?" Jade asks. John nods slowly. "Well, I was wondering if she could move in here!" Jade suggests. You see John's eyes widen quickly. "You two seemed to hit it off and we've got so much in common and she would fit in so well here and-"
"No Jade." He replies quickly. She stares at him with wide eyes.
"But Jooooohn!" She begs.
"No is no, Jade." John replies, almost harshly. She winces,drawing back a bit and he sighs. "Look…. We'll talk later, okay?"
You watch as Jade practically wilts under her brother's harsh words. "Yeah, okay," she says softly, nodding in defeat. She slowly nods in defeat before walking away with Lady Zahhak. John turns to walk away, wrapping himself in his arms, a sign you've come to recognize as a precursor to a nervous breakdown. You also notice Lady Zahhak pull Jade towards the alcoholic drinks. You feel torn so you search for Dave, who is currently dancing with his half sister and Jade's maid, Rose.
"Strider!" You say walking over to them. Dave turns to you with a confused look. "I need your help." You say pulling Dave away and point to Jade. "Make sure nothing happens alright?" Dave looks a bit nonplussed before understanding and nodding and walking over to the two girls as you make your way towards John.
You return to the thick of the party after a long conversation with John, hidden from prying eyes and gossiping courtiers in an alcove tucked away at the back of the hall. Among other things, you discussed his relationship with his sister, and his guilt regarding his all but absence towards her and her forced isolation because of him. He is significantly more relaxed, and you feel comfortable leaving him to his own devices again. You glance around quickly before spotting Dave lounging against the wall near the alcohol table where, alarmingly enough, Lady Zahhak and Jade are still partaking. You stride quickly towards them, noting as you do Jade's arm looped around Lady Zahhak's shoulders and her infectiously bright giggles that are audible even several feet away. She looks unsteady on her feet, and stumbles even as you watch, throwing her arms around Lady Zahhak and proclaiming what a "abubblesolutely besterest friend" she is after she catches Jade and lowers her to a nearby chair. By your estimation, she looks to be exceedingly inebriated, and you furiously march towards Dave. This is exactly what you sent him over there to prevent! "David Strider" you growl threateningly as you walk straight up to him and grab him by the front of his tunic, pulling him in close and snarling into his face "just what in the devilf*cking dickens is it that you think I sent you over here to do?"
You watch as he gulps audibly and replies timidly "keep Jade from getting drunk?" He's looking anywhere but you.
You snort derisively, letting go of his tunic and stepping back, shoving Dave a little as you do so. "And just what exactly would you call that?" You point to where Jade is hanging upside down from the chair, her knees hooked over the back, her back arched over the seat, and her arms dangling down on either side of her head, giggling uncontrollably.
Dave does a double take, starting to say something and then snapping his mouth shut quickly. Finally, he says very quietly, "But, I mean, I was watching her, and she only had about 2 glasses of champagne, and 2 or 3 of those fruity drinks over there…." He trails off as you glower at him, advancing slowly as you spit out your next words.
"Dave. You blundering, half-witted buffoon. Those "fruity drinks" are hard liquor cocktails. NO WONDER SHE'S HAMMERED OUT OF HER EVER-LOVING MIND." You watch Dave Strider cower under your withering gaze, and behind your concern fueled anger, you feel a spark of pride. It's difficult to rattle anyone from the Strider family, but you've picked up a thing or two from all the time you've spent around Dirk. And you are using it now to your full advantage. "You can go explain to John why his sister is farther gone than a nakodile from their boon bucks after they catch wind of the stock market." For a moment, Dave looks at you like you're totally insane, before remembering his current situation. You watch, victorious, as Dave slinks off to collect Jade and explain things to John. You snort humorlessly to yourself. You're sure that will go over like a ton of bricks.
You're just glad you don't have to be the one to explain it to him. You trail menacingly behind Dave as he politely extracts Jade from Lady Zahhak's presence, and loops her arm over his shoulder, with a grunt and an "up you go, princess"
"Daaaaaaaave. Ohmygoodness. I am soooooooo glad that you're here." She flings her other arm around his neck and giggles, burying her face in the crook of his neck. She pulls away then, suddenly serious. "But I don' thing that you should be making John sad. Why are you doonging that? Opps, I mean doing that." She frowns up at him.
Dave looks down at her, the barest trace of confusion visible on his face. "I'm not making your brother sad, your highness. I think you must be mistaken," he replies, obviously more intent on getting her over to John than on what she's saying.
"Yez you are," she pouts up at him, arms still wrapped around his neck. "You should make him happy. When John's happy I am too. Cauz, then I don' have to be all aloooone." She beams, as if she's had the most marvelous idea in the world. "Yes! Dave, as princess of Alternenia, I commander you to make John happy. Oh, and Dav?"
"Yes, Princess?" he sighs without looking down at her.
"Find me somewhere to sleep. I'm tiiiiiiiired." With that she snuggles close to him and closes her eyes, head resting against his shoulder. You miss whatever it is that Dave says after that because of Dirk's sudden reappearance next to you.
"What's the hell's up with Jade?" he asks, looking at her, obviously amused.
"Your charming whiz of a brother failed to properly monitor her, is what's up" You slightly snap back.
"That little shit." Dirk shakes his head. "I'll get him for it later," he offers consolingly.
You grin mischievously at him, "Oh, I think he's learned his lesson. Though I certainly won't argue with you if you want to boggle him soundly in a good bout of strifing." He shoots you a questioning look, and you swat at him, poking him in the side. "I've picked up a thing or two about how to deal with you Striders from all the time I've spent around you, old chap," you reply airily, smirking. Dirk opens his mouth like he's about to say something when suddenly, you feel a freezing gust of wind at your back. You spin around only to see John, looking like he's just been emotionally punched in the gut. His face is twisted in the most despairing, betrayed, anguished expression you have ever seen, and you feel the bottom drop out of your stomach. Nothing good can come of this. You don't know what transpired in the few minutes you were distracted with Dirk, but John has your full attention now. You hope to high heavens that this doesn't get out of control.
All of a sudden you see Jade step away from where Dave is standing supporting her and stagger only slightly towards her brother, yelling. "Juss cuz you're sad doesn't mean you have the right to make everyone else suffer!"
The entire room goes silent at Jade's outburst. Even the musicians have stopped playing. "Jade," he says quietly, dangerously, "we will talk about this later." He looks up and addresses the crowd at only a slightly louder volume "everyone out, now. The party's over." He turns away, and starts to leave the room, and for a second you breathe easy. He didn't lose control. They'll talk it out and everything will be fine.
Then you see, almost as if in slow motion, Jade reach out and grab her brother's wrist. "No." She says it quietly, but forcefully. Defiantly. And you can tell John has snapped before you even see what happens. He whips around and glares at Jade.
"I SAID THE PARTY IS OVER!" And with that, Jade and Dave, thankfully the only two people close enough to be seriously affected, go flying across the room, propelled by a violent gust of air. The only reason you weren't sent flying was because Dirk had grabbed you and pulled you out of the way before anything happened. You see the realization dawn in John's face when he recognizes what he's done. You try to go to John, to calm him down, but Dirk stops you, keeping you physically restrained.
"Dirk, let me go! I have to go help him!" you plead, but he simply shakes his head, holding onto you more tightly.
"I'm not going to let you run into that and get hurt too." he replies. You watch helplessly as John staggers backwards and looks at his sister lying prone on the floor, horrified.
Be the terrified king.
Oh god. What have you done? Not only have you lost control of your powers in front of everyone, you've managed to hurt your sister and your best friend, two of the three people you love. You run across the room, people drawing away from you as you do, but you don't care. You just have to get to them. Make sure they're okay. Apologize. Even if they hurt you more than you could ever imagine. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. You can talk it out. Everything will be fine. You repeat this to yourself over and over as you dash towards them. You are almost to Jade, but Dave, not knocked out by the blast, gets there first, kneeling over her unconscious form. You come to a dead halt, and just look at them, together on the floor. Dave looks up at you from where he is worriedly examining your sister, a look of betrayal and disappointment clear on his own face. His beautiful red eyes lock with yours, only this time, they are filled with sadness. Sadness that you put there. Because you hurt him, and you hurt your sister. The bottom drops out of your stomach, and you simultaneously feel the need to retch and to run away and never see either of them ever again. Your heart is being slowly shredded by your newfound knowledge, and your entire being just wants to collapse. Dave stands and starts toward you, but you stagger backwards. You feel wetness on your face, and reach up to feel it with one hand. You vaguely register that you are crying, but you are more concerned with getting away.
You don't even realize that you are floating above the ground until you notice you are taller than everyone else in the room. Wind whips around you, throwing small objects every which way and tearing at individuals in the room. You force yourself towards the balcony doors and the freedom of the night air beyond, away from all of this. You try to outrun the pain, but it just keeps clawing at you, tearing at your heart with icy, needle tipped claws. You cast one last glance back at Dave, just standing at the window, not moving, and you begin to cry in earnest, sobs wracking your body as you use the wind to propel you away. It doesn't matter where. Just away. Because you can't be here anymore. So you let the wind carry you away, as far away as it will take you, trying to forget the hurt faces of those in the room, especially the one with those beautiful, cursed red eyes.