“Go to hell.” Silence follows and Kael thought he had said the words in his head, his eyes widen in realization, the words had slipped out, but he hadn’t regretted it. “K-Kael?” his mother piques, her voice stressed. “Both of you…just burn in hell.” He shakes his head, striding out of that room as though it would collapse.
The other night—after cleaning around the greenhouse Kael fell into Aiden’s arms and kissed him over and over until the windows fogged with their love making. It seemed almost endless—those moments of bliss and ecstasy—Kael wanted to drown in them. “We should go skinny-dipping.” Aiden had suggested and Kael swatted his arm. “Hell no.” he stated and Aiden laughed before leaning over and catching Kael’s bottom lip gently between his teeth. The way they touched each other conveyed the sincerity of the phrase—I love you. He wanted to return to such a moment and stay there forever.
Kael steps into the library and stares at all of the books, his eyes flit from spine to spine and he sighs, there was an eerie dissonance in the room. He leans against the wall and shoves his brown bangs out of his eyes. He wondered if his father took the time to replace all the old books with new ones, if he went through that much trouble to keep his supposed affair with Skye a secret from the public eye and from Kael. “I know now…” he murmurs to himself, sliding down the wall and pulling his knees up to his chest. He thought about confronting his suspicions directly to his father with Aiden at his side, but he also didn’t want to drag him into what would escalate into a family argument. The library door creaks open and Aiden slips inside, he spots Kael hunched against the wall and smiles softly. “What’s wrong?” he asks and Kael doesn’t seem to be surprised by his sudden appearance, instead he replies quietly. “I think too much.” Aiden laughs standing beside Kael with his hands on his hips. “I think we all do that from time to time.” Aiden looks down, moving his hand to the top of Kael’s head and ruffling his hair. “I have to go soon.”
“Where?”
“Janus wants me back at the RPA building, we have a few new recruits.”
“Oh…”
“He’s sending Kai in place of himself—he’ll watch over the King and Queen and Micah will keep an eye out for you.”
“Micah’s nice.” Kael smiles to himself and Aiden’s eyes squint. “Don’t go cheating on me.” He warns and Kael laughs shooing him away. “Go on…I’m being forced to meet someone.”
“Oh?” Aiden’s left brow goes up. “Who?”
“Another princess.” Aiden sighs helping Kael to his feet. “I guess they don’t get it,”
“The fact that I’m in love with you.” Kael finishes for him and they smile together. Aiden pulls Kael into his body and inhales before exhaling slowly. “Don’t think about it too much.” He says and Kael nods. “I won’t…” Aiden strokes Kael’s back before forcing himself to break away and leave the room.
~*~
Kai stares at his phone with wide eyes. Janus had sent him a text, his eyes flitted over the words before they actually sunk in and he started freaking out. The message read: Today I’ll be helping Aiden out with the new recruits we have coming in. I’m putting you in charge of protecting the King and Queen, I trust you and the skills you have acquired. Take this as a test and do not fail. Micah will be there if you need help, but I expect that you will not, best of luck and become acquainted with the Prince, he’s a nice young man.
He grips his phone, his palms sweaty. Why so suddenly?! I’m not ready for this! Another message appears: Oh, I almost forgot, you’ll be staying with them tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Kai clenches his phone tight enough to break the screen. “No way in hell am I prepared for this…” he grumbles and Caleb looks over to him worriedly. “Something the matter, man?” he asks and Kai shakes his head, slipping his phone away and walking towards the door. “No, no, I just—Janus called me out for something.”
“Oh, good luck.” Kai smiles before taking off down the hall and towards the elevator. As he’s walking out of the building, into his car and driving down the street towards the castle, he thinks about the number of things that could go wrong: the Queen won’t like him, the King won’t like him, the Prince may give him some of his time, but wouldn’t like him. Kai always thought about the worst case scenario. Whenever he did that Francis would reach over and knock the back of his head. “Shut-up.” He’d say and Kai would stop overthinking the small stuff. He turns on the car radio, turning the volume up and humming along to the song that was playing. He rolls the window down allowing the afternoon breeze to brush across his face, his eyes flutter and he sighs in ease. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, you just think too much Kai. He tells himself, a small smile dancing along his lips. He places his left hand out of the window, moving his fingers back and forth as though he were playing the piano. The movements had him recalling a memory from long ago. Francis used to play the piano and Kai would watch his slender fingers worked up and down the keys flawlessly. He was always so beautiful. Kai’s lips open and close, the four words he said drifting with the wind. “I love you, Francis.” He turns and the looming shadow of the castle appears, he swallows straightening in his seat before flexing his fingers and getting rid of any of the nerves he had.
Francis was dancing in his room, his legs jutting out in front of him as he moved back and forth, his hips would swivel and his chest would pop forward and everything felt alright in that moment. Sweat was glistening across his neck and he didn’t think of what he would be doing in a matter of hours.
The Day of the shooting
Kai was doing his job well, the King grew a small liking towards him and the Queen was automatically infatuated. They took to him quickly, telling him their schedules and who to keep an eye out for. “Janus has a younger brother, he’s a sweet little thing, pay him no mind if he ever comes by.” The Queen had said and Kai smiled. They pegged Francis as a sweetheart, oh how they had got him wrong. But Kai smiled it off, bowed and stood guard outside of their bedroom. It was a boring job, but now, this late morning he follows the Queen around whose busy making sure everything is in place. “Have you met Kael yet?” she asks, Kai shakes his head. “No your majesty, only in passing.” She smiles softly. “I could call him down if you’d like.”
“Oh, no need, I’ll meet him when the time comes.” Kai smiles politely and she looks to him with warm eyes. “My son would really like you…”
“You think so?” she nods, toying with a maroon colored pillow. “He’s a strong young man that he is…” Kai could see the love in her eyes, but he also saw something else…just the faintest tinge of regret. “I’d like to go to the garden, will you accompany me?”
“Of course.” She smiles again, her slanted eyes crinkling in the corners. Kai follows after her, looking up and down the hall and thinking about how surrounded Francis must have felt walking these halls with his brother. “I mean to take these paintings down.” The Queen says and Kai looks to her curiously. “Why?”
“They’re becoming ghosts of sorts…such a happy family no longer exists.” She says this gesturing to a painting in which Kael looked to be at least four. Kai says nothing, he doesn’t know what to say, instead he fiddles with the lion’s crest on his cuff. The Queen opens the door that leads to the garden, she grips her dress in her right hand as she descends the stairs. Kai watches as she goes and the wind stirs and there was something in him; an itch, a tickle, a subconscious thought, that told him to take her hand and lead her back into the castle. That something was amiss with this garden and it’d be best for them to leave and now. “Aren’t you coming?” she calls and Kai blinks before hurrying down the steps after her. They walk the rows and rows of flowers and she talks on about how she didn’t know what a single one was except for the obvious. “Kael knows these things more than I do.” And then she’d laugh, her haughty yet empty laugh and Kai would laugh right along with her, looking out of the corner of his eyes for any intruders because he couldn’t shake the thought that they were being watched.
&nb
sp; Francis slips around the gate, his eyes covered by the hoodie he wore. He kept his eyes on the Queen, clutching the knife in his hand. Janus was away, so was Aiden, this was his opportunity, this moment would be perfect to invoke his reveng—his dark eyes widen. “Do you see this?” the Queen raises a yellow flower towards Kai and he takes it perplexedly. “I have no idea what it’s called, but it’s the loveliest thing.” She continues on and Francis takes a dazed step out in the open. His lips part and softly he says Kai’s name, but they don’t hear him. He takes another step forward, his grip on the knife loosening. Why the hell…why is he….and then it all falls into place. The wind rushes forward and the Queens purple dress flutters. The images, the explanations, why Kai always rushed off after his classes, what this “little secret” of his was. It makes perfect fucking sense. He felt like slamming his head over and over against the brick wall, but instead he charges and he doesn’t think about the outcome, instead he runs and hooks his arm around the Queen’s neck. It happens in a sort of unrealistic slow-motion, Francis comes to a skid behind the Queen and his muscles flex as they hold onto her.
Kai doesn’t react, instead the flower slips from his fingers and flutters to the ground, the only symbol of calm in this erratically changing scene. Francis’s eyes are wild, his heart is racing and the knife is pressing into the Queen’s neck. “Fran…” Kai begins softly and Francis’s gaze meets his. “So I see what you do in your free time.” He sneers. “Francis…what are you doing?” Kai was honestly confused, it didn’t make sense, why would Francis want to harm the Queen? “Don’t play dumb, Kai.” Francis snaps and the Queen shrieks, her dark locks falling into her eyes. Kai takes a step forward. “Come any closer and I’ll cut her throat.” Francis warns and Kai halts. “Francis, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Everything? I think…since the beginning I’ve been pretty screwed up in the head.” He laughs sadly, the sound is hollow to Kai’s ears. “This doesn’t make any sense though, this—why—talk to me—don’t hurt her.”
“You know me, Kai, I don’t like talking.” Francis presses the knife harder into her neck, she squirms. “Francis!” Kai’s voice was straining over the syllables of his name. “I’m doing this for my own selfish reasons.” Francis explains, Kai shakes his head. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I would never,” and the expression Francis showed was purely heartbreaking. “Don’t do this to me, Francis, please.” Kai was reaching for his gun now. Francis’s gaze flicks towards his hand and his expression hardens. “Will you shoot me? If I don’t let her go…” their eyes lock, “…will you shoot me?”
Somewhere deep down, they both knew the answer to that question.
“Don’t do this to us.” Kai says, his voice broken up with pain and Francis looks into Kai’s pleading eyes and shakes his head. “You weren’t supposed to be here.” He says, sounding younger than ever and Kai smiles meekly. “Not everything goes according to plan, Fran.” He says warningly and Francis shakes his head. “I was supposed to do this and be on with it.”
“It’s not that easy to move on after killing someone…” Kai spoke as though he were scolding a child. “But I wasn’t going to kill her, I was just…I was just…”
“Francis, put the knife down.”
“Jenna loved Aiden, she loved him so much and I loved seeing her happy.”
“Francis,” Kai takes a step forward, pulling his gun out and taking off the safety. His mind was working on its own, moving the pieces into place and assessing where he could inflict the least amount of damage. “He has to pay.” Francis states, his eyes ablaze. “He’s already paid for it, Francis.”
“No….no.” the Queen shrieks when Francis jerks her back. “Francis.” Kai says warningly. “I just want everyone to be happy.” Francis exclaims and he moves the knife ever so slowly. BANG! He wasn’t expecting it, hell, he wasn’t expecting it at all. His eyes widen and he face flushes pale. The Queen scurries away as Francis falls to his knees. It happened in a matter of seconds…seconds and I’m already down.
In the Midst of Hell pt. 1
WHEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWHEEEEEEEEEEEOOO—“Oh my god the bleeding won’t stop.”—WHEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOO—“Francis, Fran, come on, wake-up.” WHEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOWHEEEE—“He tried to kill me!?”
“Your majesty he didn’t know what he was doing.”
“He tried…” the ambulance sirens drown out the rest of what she was going to say, the headlights from the vehicle shone on Kai’s and Francis’s figures, casting a bright white light across their faces, making Francis appear paler. “Oh thank god.” Kai exhales, his grip on Francis’s shoulders tightening. “Thank god, thank god, thank god.” He repeats, tears streaming down his face. A quartet of medics come rushing out of the ambulance, a stretcher was being carried by two of them. A female medic is the first to reach them; she glances towards the Queen and then to Francis and Kai. There was a question of disbelief in her eyes, but she held her tongue until Francis was taken care of. “There’s excessive bleeding from his left leg,” she says as the other three medics reach her. “The victim has fainted. He still has a pulse. It’s faint.” She spoke in bullets, her fingers pressing into the inner curve of Francis’s limp arm. “Hurry up.” The two place the stretcher down and look to Kai who had his arms wrapped around Francis’s body. “You’re going to have to let him go.” The one with the crooked nose says. Kai begins to shake his head. “I—I can’t.”
“Sir, you have to le—“
“I heard you, but I can’t!” he sobs, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, the faces of the medics blotting into three as the tears continued to fall. “I can’t…” he croaks and they look to each other before gripping Kai’s arms and forcing him away from Francis. They worked smoothly; lifting Francis up and pressing gauze down over the wound to briefly stop the bleeding. But Kai could see that it was quickly staining through the gauze. They load him into the back of the ambulance and the female medic looks to Kai sympathetically. “You can hop in, he needs a guardian to help with medical forms.” Kai shakes his head. “I’m not…I’m not the one…” her gaze lingers on his face and then she looks towards the Queen who was standing rather composedly. “Fine, call a relative and have him or her come to the Melian Medical Hospital; we’ll get him into a room but it looks as though he’ll have to get surgery.”
“I shot him in the leg.” Kai blurts, his eyes unfocused. “I couldn’t see the bullet…I think it’s stuck.” She stares at him dumbfounded, a crease appearing in the middle of her forehead. “Tracy hurry up, we don’t have much time!” one of the other medics call from the back of the ambulance. She tries to get Kai to come one last time but he refuses, insisting that he had to stay with the Queen. They part ways with a bow and he watches as the blue and red lights blend together with his tears.
~*~
Janus was in the middle of going through the list of new recruits when he got a call from Kai. “Kai! How’s it going?”
“….”
“I was expecting to get a call sooner or later, don’t worry about being there for too long.” Janus laughs, the sound was soothing. “So what’s up?” he shoves a hand through his hair, waiting for Kai to reply. “Kai? Is something the matter?”
“Fra…”
“Kai…what is it?” Janus rises up from his seat. “Francis…it’s Francis…” Janus tried to stop the panic from seizing his heart, he tried not to think about what could have gone wrong. “Did he come by again and start something?” He tries to sound jovial, but his voice comes out shaky and strained. When Kai doesn’t answer he walks around his desk, clutching his phone tighter. “Kai answer me.” His teeth lock together in an attempt to keep from shouting. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but I didn’t know…I didn’t think…”
“Spit it out, Kai.” There’s a sharp intake of breath on his end, shaky and choked with tears. “I shot him,” he finally confesses. “I shot him in the leg and now he’s going to the hospital.” There was a strangled cry on Kai’s en
d. “I’m sorry.” The world seems to shrink into itself, the room growing dark and the air stale. Janus falls against his desk, his hand coming up to drag across his face and then he slides down his desk and onto the floor. “…no…” the word leaves him like a whisper. “No…tell me…no.” but his only response was a series of sobs. He listens as Kai cries and wonders what was going through his head that made him shoot his bestfriend? Why did he shoot him? How? When? Why? Janus asks calmly which hospital they had sent him to and the moment Kai tells him, he hangs up and flings his phone across the room. Not out of anger, but because if he didn’t fling something he’d fling himself into the wall and scream.
The room shifts and Janus saw all his memories with Francis flash in his head. They were pressing at his temple, eating his heart and ebbing away at his mind. The sound of a broken man rips past his lips and he clutches his hair.
~*~
Francis was floating, drifting away in an endless darkness, his hands were clutched together across his stomach and he slept. He dreamed of turning thirteen and of having his first kiss with the girl across the street. She had cute cheeks and pink lips…he couldn’t recall her name only the sound of her voice as she called out to him. He dreamed of befriending Kai and discovering his sexuality. He dreamed of kissing Kai and holding his warm hand. He dreamed of Kai’s breath against his neck and his voice and then he just dreamed of Kai. It was an endlessly sweet, sweet dream. A very sweet dream. But then there’s a clicking sound and a shattering bang. The darkness fell away and Francis was surrounded by dark red. It came down in thick rivulets and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t move. He looks down and sees that the dark red was coming from his leg, floating out and drifting all around. No, no, make it stop. His eyebrows furrow in pain. Make it stop! It felt as though nails were clawing away at the skin of his chest to get to his heart. Tearing and tearing until finally his heart was revealed. Pounding, bloody, beating and bare. Francis’s lips part, but no sound comes out, as a single nail scrapes across his heart. KAI MAKE IT STOP!
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