King Make Believe

Chapter 8 (prt 5)

Hirokazu

I gasped and sat up, the sound of birds on the rooftop aroused me out of the mist clinging to my thoughts. I looked around and saw a shocked looking servant boy standing in the corner of the room, he was holding a bucket of water.

"P-Prince Hirokazu has awakened!" His voice was shrill and young. No sooner than he shouted this did the room fall into deathly silence. Until there was a shuffle of footsteps and a fancy looking man walked into the room and sat on a stool next to me.

I noted that I was lying in my bed, but something was different. There was a pain in my chest, faint but there. And for some reason, my vision was clouded around the corner of my eyes. I blinked numerous times—ignoring the doctor's watchful eye—and rubbed them, but as I lifted my arms to do so, the pain in my chest strengthened. I let out a strangled gasp and grasped frantically at my chest, directly above my heart. My heart was the cause of this pain. And my lungs were also rebelling against me. I tried to breath, in and out and—The pain jabbed deeper, almost like it was searching for something. My soul?

"—Ungh—" I felt my fringe caress my forehead and I bent forwards. Almost as if I was wishing to squish this pain inside of my body. In my lungs and trap it away. I looked up and saw the doctor standing, his hand raised above me as if to comfort me but he seemed hesitant. I let out a gasp and fell forward, my weight too much for me to handle. The floor met my face, my heartbeat pounding sluggishly in my ear.The mist in the corners of my eyes grew stronger and eventually I was seeing the world through the eyes of an old man. 

"Hiro!"  I heard a faint scream of anguish as I cried out in agony. The pain in my chest was growing, grasping at my heart and lungs with cold, mangled fingers. Twisting and pushing them in mutilated ways hardly imaginable.

Hands were on my back trying to help me, comfort me. It didn't work, and I couldn't help it, I'd been holding back those tears and those screams. I felt broken. After such a victorious moment and then this. This agonising torment that had a mind of its own. And it liked to hear my screams. It enjoyed ripping my heart across my chest and squishing my lungs together. Pressing them hard enough I could hear cracking. I let out another shriek and gasped in air, it hitched in my throat and was swallowed up in my disfigured lungs. I moaned and opened my eyes, my world was clear. My breath heaved heavily. The hand loosened its grip and flicked my writhing, struggling heart. Teasing me. Reminding me of what else it could do. What it would eventually do.

"H...Hiro?" The timid voice that whispered from in front of me was delicate and scared. For me or for them? I couldn't tell.

I winced and leant back, allowing myself out of the fetal position I'd taken. I was still clutching foolishly at my chest. I panted deeply. I cast my gaze away from the ground and saw Jae and Mother clutching each other, terrified. My gaze widened as I saw a slight tremor in their grip on one another. I opened my mouth to ask them why they were so scared. But the doctor knelt down beside me.

"Prince Hirokazu, I think that seizure you just had confirmed my theories." He pulled a light from his chest pocket and shone it in my eyes. I knew not to blink.

"Incredible." He murmured, leaning closer. Like he was inspecting something. "I've never seen anything—"

"Anything like what exactly?" I interrupted, speaking for the first time since I woke up. I released my hold on my shirt above my heart and placed my shaky hands to the floor, propping myself up. The doctor cleared his throat cleverly. 

"Your pupil is a clouded cyan blue...This is the colour of Mist. Which means that your left iris is tainted significantly more than your right." I blinked, taking in what he said. I remembered the torment in my chest, the buzzing and ringing in my ears. The pounding behind my eyes.

"So, what's wrong with him?" Jae asked, loosening her grip around my mother. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. I saw the shimmer as she blinked, a little too fast.

I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes. She was holding back tears. I couldn't even tell if it was for me. I opened my eyes again and watched her warily. She lifted a shaky hand that stilled by itself as she brushed away strands of loose hair. The doctor looked at her, then my mother, then me. "Prince Hirokazu 'overused' his ability to control the Mist. His body was damaged as a result." He said this simply, but I knew there was something more. 

"When I had that...seizure—it felt like there was something inside of me. Playing with my heart and lungs, twisting them and—"

"Impossible." The doctor said. "The Mist isn't intelligent. It has been scientifically proven that it is only a possession tool for Re Itsuwari. Nothing more, nothing less." I groaned as I stood up, the doctor sent me an alarmed look and helped me to my feet. I gulped in air and sat on the bed, Jae and Mother moving to sit on a pair of seats in the corner.

"What if Re Istuwari didn't just control it? But inhabited it at will?" What if it could possess me just like anyone else? Just more violently?" I let that sink into the doctor's head and looked up at Mother. "Have you heard from Father?" I asked. I watched her face carefully. Her features tightened and then she slumped against Jae. She suddenly seemed old. Older than what she actually was. The bags under her eyes and the weariness her posture possessed was almost contagious.

"Mother, what happened?" I asked, straightening my back and watching even more intently. Her gaze met mine, and I knew—Tears leaked down my cheeks. Brimming over my lashes and streaking down my jawline, falling in fat droplets onto my hands from my chin. "No..." I murmured. "He can't be—"

I felt the hand clench a little harder in my chest. I held my breath and closed my eyes, letting it out slowly. Slow enough for the hand to accept I wasn't about to go into another seizure and let go once again.

"He's dead, killed by a slowly growing group called the Vaccine Squad." Jae said this with a deadly, molten fire in her eyes that burnt away the fear and sadness it once held moments ago. Her smouldering gaze met mine.

"Hiro, I swear, from now on, I will dedicate my life to yours. I will die for you." She bowed before me. Her once spilling dress was crinkled and stained with dirt. "I will become you personal guard—In the name of Ryuu Yamashita, I will help you avenge him." She slammed her fist into her chest and looked up at me through strands of knots.

I gulped. She was as serious as she'd ever been. She loved my father like he was hers. As if she was an older sister vowing to die for the next king. She wasn't my blood sister, but she was most definitely my soul sister.