“Aiden, look at me, come on, look at me!” Aiden struggles to turn his head, his chest heaving up and down. “Stale….Kael...” his lips twitch into a shaky smile. “I tried protecting you.”
“You dumbass, I can protect myself.” Kael says with a glare and Aiden tries to laugh but ends up coughing, blood splattering across his paling lips. “The blood…” he says faintly and Kael looks down to where Aiden was pressing a hand into his wound. “O-oh.” Kael scrambles to pull out his phone from his back pocket, hurriedly dialing 911—his fingers slipping over the small keys and it was so frustrating. Even though he knew that the bodyguards and servants would be on their way from the sound of the gunshots, it was still reassuring to call. “Just—they’ll be here soon—okay Aiden, just don’t—please don’t close your eyes.”
“Why…would I…” he reaches a trembling hand up to touch Kael’s face. “…your face…is sadly beautiful….glistening with tears…like that…” he huffs and Kael wondered for a moment when it was he had started crying. “Shut-up and you should have let me protect you, just this once…you should have…” he cradles Aiden’s head in his arms before leaning in to press their foreheads together. He rocks from side to side, holding tightly onto Aiden’s head and praying—praying to god that everything would be alright. “Aiden, keep talking to me.”
“What….should I….talk about?”
“Anything, anything and everything…please.” Aiden smiles, his lids closing ever so slowly. “Stay awake!” Kael snaps his voice more panicked and terrified than angered. Aiden forces his eyes to stay open, his body growing numb to the pain. He keeps his gaze on Kael finding comfort in being able to stare at his face. His cheeks were glimmering with tears and his lips were trembling. “Don’t….cry…” he huffs and Kael shakes his head. “I can’t stop it, I can’t Aiden.”
“I’m not….going to….leave you….” Kael sniffs, listening as Aiden kept talking to him, his voice growing weaker and weaker. “How could I….leave my….Prince all…alone.” His laughter is overridden by coughing. Blood sprays onto the front of Kael’s shirt and the tip of his chin, he takes in a deep breath trying to remain calm—there wasn’t time to get a panic attack, not right now. “My duty….as….a…bod...y...gu….” his words begin to break off and his eyes close, slowly, slowly and once they’re closed Kael could hear thudding feet as they approached the room. They burst through the door, guns raised. “Find the shooter.” A bulky man says, pointing his gun around the room. “Lower your weapons.” Kael says lifting his head to look at the men. “Don’t you see this man is dying!” he raises his voice, his eyes bloodshot as tears poured out from them. “STOP STANDING AROUND AND HELP HIM!” Kael finally snaps noticing that Aiden’s body had gone limp in his arms. “Y-your majesty.” One of the men croak and Kael glares at him and the man finally turns to his men, calling out orders. “Move. Move. Check if the Prince has any wounds and direct the ambulance this way once they come.”
“Yessir!” the men break away from the door rushing towards Kael and spreading out around the room. A thin man with kind eyes approaches Kael, kneeling down towards Aiden’s body. “Your majesty you have to let him go, so that—“
“I know…I know.” Kael gently lifts Aiden’s head placing it down on the ground and staring with unfocused eyes. “Thank you.” The man says before ripping a part of Aiden’s shirt and wrapping it around the wound. “This will stop the bleeding for now.”
“…okay…” Kael barely looks up when he hears another guard call out that the King was dead and that they would transfer him to a private hospital where his body could be examined.
What happened after that played out in slow-mo. The medics came rushing in, doctors and nurses flooded the room and their voices became unimportant hums in the back of his mind. He watches as they lift his fathers body from the ground, his robe was heavy with his blood which was dripping from both his hands. “Be careful.” A nurse says directing the body to a stretcher. Kael felt no remorse nor any disgust at the sight of the deep holes in his fathers shoulder and neck and elsewhere. And that fact frightened him because wasn’t he supposed to be a complete mess after shooting his father? Wasn’t he supposed to have some sort of psychological break? There were holes, holes—so many holes—Kael felt a hole in his heart once the paramedics place an oxygen mask over Aiden’s nose and mouth and check for a pulse. “He’s still breathing, pulse is fading, let’s get some blood into him.” They place him onto a stretcher and Kael stumbles forward clutching Aiden’s swaying hand. “Are you his guardian?” The paramedic—a young man asks. Kael shakes his head. “No, no, I’m his boyfriend.”
“Boy…friend.” In that moment as everything began to shatter piece by piece, Kael forgot that he was also a Prince, a Prince who had just lost his father—the King. “No, I mean…he’s my bodyguard he was trying to protect me.” He rushes to say releasing Aiden’s hand and looking in the direction of where his father’s body was. They were now zipping up the cover, blanketing his mangled body and then his face which was fading of life. “Protect you…we’ll call his parents or someone close to him and inform them of what happened.” Kael nods slowly. “Are you hurt?” The paramedic asks and Kael shakes his head. “No…I’m fine…no injuries.”
“Could you tell us what happened?” a bodyguard asks approaching them with a serious look, his hands stained with the King’s blood. “What happened…what happened…” Kael mutters, his eyes darting nervously around. “Yes, we must—“
“Now’s not a good time, two people were shot one is dead, of course the only one without any injuries will be a little shaken up.” The paramedic defends Kael. “So you’ll have to ask your questions later, right now we’ll transfer the injured person…” the man looks to Kael for a name. “His name is Aiden.”
“We’ll transfer Aiden to the Melian National Hospital and take care of things from there.” Kael was grateful for this man’s understanding. “Alright, my apologies your majesty.” The burly bodyguard bows his head before turning and walking over to the stretcher in which the King’s body lay. “The ambulance is outside by the garden, we didn’t want to attract attention so we had them come around back.” The paramedic—Kael finally saw his name—Jacob, explains. “You can walk with us until we get there.”
“Will he…be fine?” Kael asks, his heart slowly beginning to calm. Jacob looks to him with a serene smile. “He’s in our care now, he’ll be alright.” Kael allows himself to let out a sigh of relief, his body sagging against Jacob’s arm. “Thank god.” He mumbles and Jacob’s smile broadens as he pats Kael on the back. “Wait here, I’ll go check on him.” He says giving Kael’s shoulder a squeeze before going over to see how Aiden was doing.
Kael stands in the middle of the room looking around slowly and taking in the chaos of the scene. There was blood everywhere; splattered across the window curtains and on the desk chair his father once sat in. There was a dark scarlet pool below the desk that smeared off to the right. Kael felt the bile rise in his throat, his nostrils flare and his mouth prick with an irony tang and then he ran across the room towards a container for papers and vomited there. His body heaves forward and his lips quiver with the weight of his insides. He takes another breath only to vomit again, his heart racing. He hunches over the container, tears streaming down his face, dripping from his chin and mixing with his vomit. His shoulders shake and he coughs wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. A broken and discombobulated sound parts his lips. “Are you alright?.” Jacob’s voice. Kael straightens up trying his hardest to get a smile on his face but it wasn’t working, so he gives up on trying. “I’m fine…I’m fine…” he murmurs glancing over Jacob’s shoulder to catch a peep of Aiden’s body. “We’re getting ready to move him.”
“Mm.”
“Follow me.” Kael trails after Jacob, watching with distant eyes as they wheel the stretcher carrying Aiden out of the room and down the hallway. Kael places his hand to Aiden’s arm, a gentle touch and a caress to make
sure that he was still breathing. “What will happen once he gets to the hospital?” he asks and Jacob replies robotically. “He’ll go into surgery.”
“And after that?”
“Well…it all depends on god.”
“Jacob…” Kael starts to say, his eyes drifting along the features of Aiden’s pale and still face. “Are you a religious man?”
“Well, I never thought about it, but I guess I do pray. I pray to god that all my patients are alright—that they survive—but I guess that’s only a saying…to pray to god…” Kael looks up briefly to meet his gaze before looking back down and running his fingers up and down the length of Aiden’s arm. The thought briefly struck his mind: what would happen after today? Would he have to take over as King? What would his moth—“Where’s my son?” Kael freezes in his steps, his heart stopping. “Where’s Kael!!” her voice was growing closer; Kael spins around, his gaze resting on his mother’s disgruntled appearance. “Kael!!” She stops short upon noticing him. With a soft sigh, her shoulders droop and she takes off in his direction. Once she reaches him, she slings her arms around his body ad pulls him close. “Oh my son.” She exhales, a shaky sob leaving her lips. “Mom…”
“I heard the gunshots and I—I didn’t know what to think.” He places a hand to her back. “I’m alright.”
“Oh thank god.” She buries her hand in the back of his hair, gently tugging the locks and letting out a relieved sigh. She takes a step back, her nose scrunching up upon smelling the scent of blood on his shirt. “Who’s…”
“Mom…”
“Whose blood is that?”
“Mom, I—“ she pushes him aside and steps towards the stretcher. Kael could see the tension straining her face and he watches as it fades away into relief upon seeing that it was Aiden on the stretcher. “Is he…”
“He’s fine mom, he’s alright.”
“Oh…that’s good.” But Kael could tell that she could sense that something wasn’t right. “Have you seen your father?” she finally asks and even though Kael was expecting it, it still manages to knock the wind out of him. “The last I saw of him was….” She pauses. “I remember bringing something for him to eat and a new list of dinners he was expected to attend and then….” Slowly she turns to Kael. “Kael,” her voice was grave. “Where is your father?”
“….” Kael casts his gaze towards the ground. “Kael, where is he? Do you happen to know?” Kael still doesn’t answer and Jacob looks between them before deciding it’d be best to get Aiden in the ambulance. “Let’s go.” He directs the other paramedics down the hall and towards the door that led into the garden. “Answer me son!” she yells and Kael takes in a deep breath, his lips parting but before he could get the words out, another set of paramedics and bodyguards come out of the room. Her hearts gives a lurch at the sound of the squeaky wheels and silence—the silence was telling. “Mom…”
“Is your father…” the squeaky sound grew nearer. “…dead?” she finally asks as the stretcher with the King’s body comes wheeling past them. Their eyes are drawn to the endless black of the body bag and the bumpy shape that indicated—indeed there was a body. The silence is pressuring, Kael can feel his body being flattened—feels it in the way his mother is suddenly gripping his arm. Her nails clawing into his skin. The bodyguards look to them with sad eyes and without any words being said—she knew. One of the men step in front of them and bows deeply. “Your highness,” he addresses the Queen first before turning and bowing to Kael too. “Your majesty…” he thrusts the crown out towards them and there was speckles of blood lining the topaz gemstones. The Queen takes in a weakened gasp, her hands trembling as she reaches out towards it, but before she’s able to take it, Kael snatches it from her. “I can’t let you have it mom.”
“Why?” she asks the first signs of shock breaking into her voice. “Why can’t I have it?” Kael chews his bottom lip looking in the direction they had wheeled Aiden off to. “You just can’t mom.”
“Explain to me why I—the Queen—cannot have the deceas…” she chokes on the word. “…the King’s crown.”
“We have to tell the people eventually.”
“And so I will.”
“No you won’t mom, I know what you’ll do…” his voice was heavy with grief because somewhere deep down…his father was still his father and now he was a…murderer. “You’ll stare at this crown every day and you’ll think about father.”
“No…no, you’re wrong.”
“You’ll stare at it until it drives you insane.”
“….you don’t know anything Kael!” And that’s when the world stops existing in a stand-still of time and comes rushing back at them like a tidal wave. She buries her head in Kael’s chest and sobs, her fragile shoulders bobbing up and down like a buoy lost at sea.
~*~
Aiden felt himself dreaming, he could feel his body floating. But it was different from the last time when he had dreamed of Kael. Together—in that dream—it felt as though they were floating in the ocean. A deep blue, beautiful ocean. But now this dream felt listless and endless—like smoke. His body was being taken with the breeze and his lungs…his lungs felt heavy and his eyelids like lead. His lips were numb and even though he wanted so badly to say Kael’s name—he couldn’t. It was as though a rock had formed in his throat and rooted itself there.
Kael
Kael
Kael
His name—just once—he’d like to say it again.
My Prince
My Prince
My dear Prince….
Please…Come and rescue me…
~*~
Janus received the news first from one of his most trusted men. They told him that a single gunshot was heard, there was a pause and then an entire clip was fired. The victims: Aiden and the King.
The King, how could the King get shot?
Is it because I left?
Is it my fault?
Is Kael alright?
That’s what he yearned to know. But he couldn’t tell Jenna what happened, not yet. Nor would he be able to tell Francis. “Hey bro, is something wrong?” Francis asks and Janus snaps out of his daze, turning to look at his brother who was sitting on the living room couch, Jenna seated beside him, her eyes on his cast leg. “Oh no…just trying to figure out what I’ll do now.” He laughs, his usual smile playing along his lips. Francis stares at him and he stares hard. Janus knew that Francis could figure things out on his own if he tried. But instead he flashes his older brother a quick smile before going back to chatting with Jenna. Janus watches them for a moment his thoughts racing. His body was telling him to run out of the house and help Kael. To grip his shoulders and pull him close into a tight embrace.
But his heart, his heart was aching for Aiden—the man that had grown to be a part of his family. The young man that is family. Janus’s hands clench at his sides and an ache invades his heart. He bites his bottom lip to keep from crying and mostly to keep from falling apart.
~*~
They place Aiden’s body onto the steel table, administering different wires and machines to his body. They filled him with medicines and drugs that continuously made him lose consciousness until he could no longer think, no longer feel. He was floating in an unknown realm, his body no longer his own but in the hands of the doctors and nurses aiming to save his life. “The bullet, I see it.” A doctor says, his words muffled by his surgical mask. “Looks like it entered his stomach and it seems,” the doctors squints. “Looks like it’s lodged there.”
“Luckily he didn’t bleed to death.”
“He did lose a lot of blood though.”
“We’re probably going to have to use suction, his intestinal bacteria could contaminate his other organs.” A female doctor explains. “He could possibly develop peritonitis if we don’t work fast.”
“Understood.” Their surgical utensils clink as they pass them around, their breaths fogging up the small glasses they wore so they could see the wound. “
No, No…there’s…” they pause. “Tweezers.” She says and they hand them to her, she leans closer to Aiden’s body placing the tweezers towards the wound. “It seems like the bullet broke apart.”
“What?”
“It fragmented around his stomach and—“
“Could it be fatal?”
“No, but it just changes our plans.” They all sigh, the continuous beeping of the heart rate monitor ringing like a clock ticking down. The clock of Aiden’s life.
Kael could hear the ticktickticking sound, he could feel it in his heart as he sat on the marble steps that led to the garden. He wanted to rush to the hospital to see how the surgery was going, to look at Aiden’s face once more. But he had to stay here and prepare himself for the initiation that would come. “I’ll become…King…” his voice doesn’t sound like his own and it frightens him just slightly, he looks up his gaze gliding across the countless flowers. Slowly, he rises to his feet and begins a dazed trek towards the row of flowers. He stands between a Centaurea cyanus (bachelor button) row and a row of Apple Blossoms before reaching out and plucking them from the dirt. He begins to assemble a bouquet for Aiden, the sweet scent of flowers a promise to him and their relationship—that everything would be alright.
Reign Part 1
The sunshine did not come that morning
Instead it was raining, the pitter-patter reminding Kael of the first night before he went out into the free world.
Drip-drop, pitter-patter.
But this time things would be different, he would not go out into the world as a Prince in disguise, instead he would mourn the loss of his father and then—with the crown atop his head—he would become King.
Just like that—drip drop, pitter patter.
~*~
Kael was sitting up in the library, his body angled towards the window watching as the rain came streaking down. His mind was a jumble of thoughts: Aiden. The King. Royalty. Death. Blood, blood, bloo—no! He couldn’t think about that, he had to create a speech—a lie—about how his father died. A liar—is that who he was becoming? He tears his gaze away from the window directing his eyes towards the blank piece of paper in front of him. “Mom…” Kael reaches towards her shoulder trying his best to ignore the tremor that shook through her body. “Mom…go lay down.”
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