This is a short chapter, but for a good reason. Enjoy.
Be the runaway king.
The world rushes past you in a blur of muted greens and browns, but the wind has you cocooned safely in it's comforting hold as it pushes you along. You've never used your powers to this extent before, and you find yourself feeling strangely exhausted, even more so since you've finally stopped crying, and you just want to rest. You see that you are approaching the tallest mountain, the one which overlooks Alternia far to the west, and you take the opportunity to land towards the top of Sburb Mountain, realizing for the first time just how far you've traveled. You wrap your arms around yourself as you land, feeling the wind let go of you as you drift gently to the ground. You look around, and judging by the sky, it's way later than you expected, probably around 3 or 4 in the morning. Without any extraneous lights from the castle you can see the stars visible in stark contrast to the velvety expanse of the dark sky, glittering stones scattered across their inky indigo blanket. You sigh as you begin walking, hugging yourself tightly as you trudge farther up the mountain. You find the light breeze that caresses your flushed skin slightly comforting. "The wind blows light on the mountain tonight…" You look around. "Not a person to be seen. A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like, I'm the king…." You sigh. You come over a rise and reach the edge of a crag and suddenly the kingdom of Alternia is laid out before you, and even the castle, which has been your world and prison for so long, appears small and fragile from this distance. "The wind is howling like this hurricane inside… Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried…." You think back to every time you had threatened to lose control. Every time you had struggled to be emotionless just so you wouldn't hurt everyone. "Don't let them in don't let them see be the good prince you've always had to be. Conceal don't feel don't let them know…" You think about your practically nonexistent relationship with your sister because of how you've been forced to seclude yourself. You think about how Jake and Dave are your only real friends. Finally you think about the hurt expression in Dave's eyes the last time you'd seen him. For a minute, you falter, but then you straighten up and look at your hands, smiling slightly. "Well now they know!" You lift your hands tentatively, and for the first time in twenty two years, actively try to draw on the power you've been suppressing for your entire life. You wave your hands gently through the air in front of you, feeling the wind respond to your movements. "Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymore!" As you become comfortable with the feeling of the power tingling it's way across the surface of your skin and emanating from deep in your bones, you lose your inhibitions and laugh, drunk on the freedom of it all, breaking into a wide smile. "Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door!" You turn and flick your wrist, sending a blast of air towards a nearby tree, ripping the leaves from their branches and sending them swirling into the air. "I don't care what they're going to say, let the storm rage on, the wind never bothered me anyway." You rip open the clasp on your cape carelessly and tug it from your shoulders, giving it a disparaging glance before letting it go and turning away as it flies off. You face the path that leads to the highest point on the mountain, and start towards it determinedly. "It's funny how some distance, makes everything seem small. And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all!" Dave's face flashes through your memory for a moment, but you shake off the painful image and begin break into a run. "It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right! No wrong! No rules for me! I'm free!" Your voice rings out across the empty landscape, and you feel powerful. You feel whole. You feel right. You finally feel like you are allowing yourself to be who and what you were always meant to. You tip your head back and close your eyes, focusing on the sensation of the currents of air on your skin that your powers make you hypersensitive to. Your eyes snap open, and you twirl in a circle with your hands outstretched, giddy with your newfound freedom. You summon the wind to you once more, this time in a harsh explosion of air that accumulates beneath your feet and rockets you towards the stars in the steadily lightening sky. "Let it go! Let it go! I am one with the wind and sky!" You close your eyes and trust your instincts to guide you, spreading your arms to feel the edges of your essence merge with the wind itself. "Let it go! Let it go! You'll never see me cry!" You jar yourself back to awareness and land back on the mountain in front of a rundown, abandoned mansion. "Here I stand, and here I'll stay…. Let the storm rage on…" You say walking into the mansion as you feel your powers guiding the wind and the wind taking away any dust and dirt. You run up the stairs as you find the main room, one with a balcony. You watch in amazement as your powers revitalize the mansion, returning it to a state as if it had recently been built. "My power blusters through the air into the ground! My soul is spiraling in swirling breezes all around! And one thought whirls within me like a windy blast!" You yank the crown off your head and stare long and hard at it. You remember how right it felt to let yourself go and how you had suddenly felt all the pieces fall into place deep within the very heart of you essence when the edges of your consciousness had merged with the element you had rejected in fear for over two decades. You suddenly realize that you can never return to the way things were. You cannot stifle yourself for the sake of others anymore. Your only true regret is Dave, but... You think back to the last time you saw him, and you remind yourself that he has someone else. That he will be happy without you. You steel yourself, and stand straight, striding to the edge of the balcony, and towards the rising sun. "I'm never going back, the past is in the past!" You fling the crown away from you, over the edge of the balcony and the edge of the mountain, and watch it tumble, releasing with it all of your regrets and responsibilities that have plagued you and bound you. You leave the prison of your old life behind utterly and completely. "Let it go! Let it go! And I'll rise like the break of dawn! Let it go! Let it go! That perfect boy is gone!" You stand on the balcony and rise into the air once again before looking down at yourself. When did your clothes change? They went from the tight fitting, regal robes to a loose fitting ornate blue tunic embroidered with a swirling wave-like pattern, long sleeves reaching your wrists, but not tightly, flowing with the wind. Your pants match your new tunic, with yellow trim towards the bottom. "Here I stand in the light of day!" You cast one last glance down over the kingdom you have left behind, and breathe outward, lifting your head to grin unabashedly at the sky now stained a glorious spectrum by the rising sun. "Let the storm rage on! The wind never bothered me anyway." You turn back into the room, the wind closing the doors behind you with a flick of your wrist.