Be the just waking up Princess.
When did you fall asleep? You open your eyes to find yourself in what you know to be the Castle's infirmary. Blinking in the glow of the candlelight emanating from the wrought iron ceiling sconces, you sit up slowly noticing the pain in your head, and you groan slightly, bringing your hand up to the back of your head and gingerly prodding a sizable lump, wincing at the contact. You register a heavy weight on your leg, and look down to see Jake dozed off with his head and one arm resting on your leg over the sheets of your infirmary cot. You sit up slowly, noticing the pain in your head. You try to extract yourself from beneath him, but you jostle his head and he jolts up and looks around wildly before seeing that you are awake.
"Good! You're awake. I can go now." You see Jake starting to stand up.
"Wait wait what happened?!" You ask, grabbing his hand. Jake looks at you with sad eyes. "Wh-Where's John? Did something happen? What happened at the party?! Why am I in the infirmary? Why can't I remember anything?" you trail off quietly. You are confused and honestly a little frightened. Not much can get Jake in a bad mood. This is the most serious you've ever seen him, and you just want to know what happened.
He looks down at you, his expression softening, and he chuckles half heartedly. "One question at a time, your highness. I can't very well answer all of them at once."
You take a deep breath and force yourself to calm down and settle back against the pillows on your bed. Alright. One question at a time. Speaking of time…."Well first of all, what time is it?" you ask. "Oh, and how long have I been asleep?" Jake glances at the candle to check how long.
"By the looks of it you've been out about 3 hours, so it's about 1 in the morning." Jake replies.
"Three hours?! What happened?!"
"Well….. You and John had a bit of a spat after you got a tiddly bit tipsy. Well. Actually you were completely pissed."" You look at Jake like he's knocked off his rocker. "Drunk. Pissed means totally black out drunk," he clarifies quickly.
"What do you mean?" You inquire slowly.
"Erm. Well. Your much do you remember?" he inquires hesitantly.
You think back a bit to before the coronation. You remember being very excited and running around with Bec while you got ready that afternoon, and you remember greeting the multitude of guests until John finally came out of his room and they performed the coronation ceremony, but after that, everything gets a bit fuzzy. "Well, after the coronation, we all went into the ballroom," you say slowly, running through the events of the night in your head as best you can. "and John was trying to avoid dancing with anyone, but there was a girl…." you screw up your face, wrinkling your nose in an effort to remember. You had a vague recollection of blonde hair, and lots and lots of blue. "Lady Zahhak!" you exclaim. "He danced with Lady Zahhak, and I felt bad for her, because she was obviously trying to flirt with him, but let's be honest, that was never gonna happen because of-" Oops. You almost ratted John out. You look at Jake, concerned, but he doesn't seem to have noticed your slip. "Um, well anyway. I felt bad, so I went to go talk to her, and we really hit it off! She was really nice, and we had a lot in common, and…. And her dad was going to be leaving for a long trip because he's accompanying one of his mercantile voyages to oversee trade negotiations with a new customer in person. Lady Zahhak was going to be left all alone, so I thought she could come stay with us while her father was gone! We went to ask John, but he got kind of mad, and said no." Jake nods.
"Anything else?"
"Well I came back with Lady Zahhak and she suggested we try some of the drinks and…. Wow. I must have gotten drunk… I think I remember Dave helping me across the room and John started talking to us about something and then… Oh god… Did I really say that?"
'Just because you're sad doesn't give you the right to make everyone suffer!'
Jake nods slowly and you feel your heart break. "Oh gosh. And then he… We said some other things and then…. I was propelled across the room against the wall." You look at Jake. "How? How did I get thrown across the room by some random wind? Where did it come from?!"
"Looks like you do remember that…" He sounds as if he wished you didn't.
"What happened, Jake?!"You look at him seriously, but he avoids your gaze.
"Well, John has the ability to manipulate wind." You look at him with wide eyes.
"What?! How come I didn't know?!" You ask.
"Why do you think?! While you were knocked out, everyone cowered away from him like he was some sort of freak." Jake explains. Jake snaps. "It's not a gift. It's a curse. He's afraid not only of the damage his powers could do, but also what people will think of him, especially if he can't control it. Do you think an eight year old child would lock themselves away by choice? No. You think it was hard for you "alone" in the castle all these years? Think about John for once! The only people he can be around on a regular basis are Dave and I. Don't you think he's lonely? Don't you think he's hurting? And you know what, every single time you got mad or upset at him for shutting you out, it practically killed him. He has cried over what he's had to do for your protection more times than I can count!" Jake is yelling by this point, and you cower, pressing yourself against the headboard and fighting back tears. "He loves you so much, and you repay him with…. with…. with this?" he explodes. He takes a deep breath and turns away from you, composing himself. Your eyes widen in understanding. All these years. He's stayed hidden because of his ability. And now that people know, there must have been a panic. All these years he's kept himself away as to not scare anyone, and, knowing him, he also didn't want to hurt anyone. And you yelled at him. You brought his powers to the public eye. You hear the door open and see Dirk walk in.
"Your highness." He said.
"Ah! Dirk! Good. Now I can go find John." Jake says turning to leave, shooting you a scathing glance.
"Wait. John's gone?" You ask surprised.
"When everyone found out, he flew out the window. Literally." Dirk explains before grabbing Jake by the arm. "He's no where to be found."
"I'm gonna help look! I made him mad. I'm the reason he used his powers. It's my fault. I need to be the one to bring him back." You say, standing up slowly.
"Then I will come with-"
"No Jake. You're exhausted. You need sleep. You've only slept for three hours total for the last days." Dirk interrupted Jake. Your eyes widen. 3 out of 48 hours?! Jake really was dedicated.
"Jake…" You say, causing him to look at you. "I need someone I can trust to take care of the castle while I'm gone. I need you to stay here. Get some rest and help everyone here." Jake looks at you with pleading eyes. "No Jake. I have to be the one who brings him back." You look at Dirk. "Stay with him and make sure he gets rest." Dirk quickly puts his arm across his chest and bows.
"Yes ma'am. But, if I may say so, you shouldn't go alone. May I suggest you take Dave with you?"
"Dirk…" Jake starts.
"Dave is John's assigned knight and closest friend. And who knows where John went. It could be dangerous. No one better to take than Dave right now." Dirk retorts.
"Alright. Thanks Dirk!" You say, running out of the room to find Dave.
You finally locate him in the ballroom, standing by a broken window. You slowly approach him, immediately noticing the puffiness under his eyes, which also seem redder than normal. Your own eyes widen. Dave Strider had been crying. You bet he's been standing there the whole time. You look at the window. This must be the window John flew out of. You then notice the dark clouds coming stand next to Dave before whispering, "Dave?" He jumps slightly and rubs his eyes, quickly.
"Your highness?" He asks, his voice raspy. You feel your heart wrentch again. You bite your lip before continuing.
"I wish for you to come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to find John." He looks at you with slightly widened eyes. "It's my fault he ran off in the first place. I am going to bring him back." You see Dave's eyes brighten just a bit as he nods.
"Yes ma'am." He replies quickly as you grab a cloak on your way out. He follows you and you run to the stables. You grab the reigns of the nearest horse and your hand is grabbed by someone else's hand.
"Excuse me but that's my horse." You look and see another light haired, red eyed, young man looking at you. However, this one is not Dave. This one looks like he needs sleep more than Jake does, dark circles under his eyes. His almost white hair is incredibly messy.
"Excuse me but I need a horse."
"Excuse me, but Gamzee is very temperamental." He says right back.
"Excuse me, but I've been riding since I was three. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing"
"And I'm pretty sure it doesn't f*cking matter, cuz it's my horse," the stranger growls, yanking your wrist to pull you in close for what you suppose is supposed to be an intimidating effect.
You grin and simply sling your arm around his shoulder. "You and I, I think we'll get along quite well. What's your name?" To be honest, you are quite you are quite a handful of people have treated you like anything but "the princess" since John locked himself away, and the gumption of this young man has impressed you. However, you'll get to know him later. Right now, you are in rather a hurry to go retrieve your brother.
"Uh, Karkat?" he replies, ducking out from under your arm. His horse, his face black with white, skull like markings, put his head on Karkat's shoulder.
"Well Karkat," you reply breezily, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have places to go, people to see." You dart over to the side of his horse and put your leg in the stirrup, swinging yourself into the saddle as you add, "Later, loser!" When you are situated, you look down at Karkat, who is gaping at you. You lean down and give him a sweet smile "I'm Jade, by the way." You give Gamzee a swift kick to get him going, and gallop out of the stables, leaving an irate Karkat sputtering as you ride off. You see Dave on his brother's horse, Cal, riding towards you.
"H-Hey! Wait!" You hear Karkat yell, obviously going to grab another horse. "That's MY horse, you pretentious doucheprick!" Dave gives you a confused look as the other albino follows you. You just giggle madly and take the lead, galloping away as Karkat and Dave follow, the former yelling a string of insults after you.
Someone commented on how they couldn't wait for Karkat and well, here he is! Sorry for the wait X3