Ripples from Forgotten Weeks

Memory - Vayne

Why had he come here?

Something compelled him to go to the curtain.

"Don't worry, Kys. We're all friends of Vayne here, and we'll do our best to make you feel welcome."

It was Amerle.

Vayne's heart beat faster, a blind, sourceless feeling of panic rising in this throat.

He peered through the curtain.

Amerle's back was to Vayne, and they were swimming closer to Kys with a hand outstretched to shake.

Then Vayne spotted it.

"They have a knife, Kys!" he shouted, shoving the curtain aside and tackling Amerle.

For a moment he was afraid they were going to cut him up, but they didn't fight back. They let go of the knife and it sank to the floor.

Kys floated at the edge of the room for a moment, then joined Vayne, taking Amerle's other arm.

"Why?" Vayne panted, a blinding headache pounding in his skull.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." Amerle said. "Perhaps it's for the best if I'm removed from the situation."

"Who are you?" Vayne demanded.

Kys glanced at Vayne, his eyes wide, as Amerle collected their thoughts.

Vayne wished this didn't have to be Kys' introduction to the castle. He'd thought this place would be brighter with Kys here... but it really had been as dangerous as it'd always felt, way at the edge of Vayne's mind.

"I was your father's servant. I've been so used to treating you as the king's son... I forgot that you are the king now. No matter how unwise I thought your decisions, I should not have tried to manipulate them."

Amerle looked different now, as if a veil had fallen away. Their posture and firm expression made them look older than their years, like a professional assassin.

Vayne's head exploded with pain and he dropped Amerle's arm, floating weakly in the water clutching his head.

Then it came back to him.

____

"Byebye, Kys!" Vayne waved to his friend.

The black haired boy had been Vayne's friend for a few weeks now. Every day with him seemed to explode with possibility as they went out, exploring new parts of the sea, skimming the surface to try to catch birds (they hadn't succeeded at that yet) hiding from big fish in the rocks, playing games of make-believe, and talking about life.

Kys just clicked with him in a way nobody else did. The noble's children seemed to think about different things from Vayne all the time, and if they tried to play games the noble children would either only play if he played their game or go along limply with whatever Vayne suggested.

Kys was different. He had a life and imagination of his own and it seemed to meet Vayne's instead of sliding past it like everyone else's.

Vayne could spend all day with his friend. Today, however, Kys' mother needed him to help clean the house, so he had to stop playing early.

Vayne swam into the castle to find his mother, a bright smile on his face as he hiked up his blue skirt to swim faster.

His mother wasn't in her room, so he headed to the throne room.

He came upon it unexpectedly, rounding a bend.

His mother spinning in the water, her soft blue hair billowing in a cloud of blood, her gentle face twisted in pain as she shut her eyes for the last time.

Amerle in front of her, their arm just completing the stroke that had caused that awful red gash in her throat.

And Vayne's father, watching with cold approval.

What had been Vayne's mother hit the floor with a muffled thump that seemed louder than reality, her limbs bouncing slightly, her hair settling over her shoulders in the center of the great red cloud.

It seemed like everything was muted as Vayne watched from a great distance, unable to understand as his father swam up to him, told him,

"Oh, you weren't meant to see this, boy. But this was for you. She coddled you. Wouldn't hear a word about teaching you how to be king. You need to be prepared to be ruler, Vayne. That will involve lessons. That will involve not having someone watching your back at every turn. Perhaps it's time you learned the world is a cruel place."

Vayne's father crouched to his level, putting his hands on his shoulders. His voice seemed strangely loud, distorted, as if a demon from the blackest pits of the sea were speaking to Vayne.

"And some advice? Forget about that commoner you hang around with. You'll find it doesn't pay to keep commoner friends. So got that? Forget about him. That way we won't have to kill him."

Vayne nodded, the scene around him feeling like it came from a great distance. It already didn't seem real.

___

"You..." Vayne said, the world spinning around him. "You killed my mother!"

The memories in his head slid around, the gentle, quiet, but always nice scroll lover in his friend group, and the cold, intelligent child who always followed his father around, considering the whole world through the king's lens.

Amerle turned to face him and nodded.

"You're old enough to know why, so I'll tell you, Your Majesty. Your father had been pushing to have you taught for years at that point. Your mother would always firmly refuse, saying you needed to have a childhood. You were utterly unprepared to be king, and the years were only counting down. Emotionally as well, you were used to her picking you up after every fall. She wouldn't back off and let you grow."

Vayne stared at them, trying to make it make sense in his mind. It didn't make sense. That they'd killed his mother for being too nice, too protective.

"Don't you see how uncertain you are now? It's because of that. Because of how she raised you." Amerle insisted, gesturing with their hands.

They'd taken away every source of comfort Vayne had. In the belief that that would make him strong enough to protect a whole kingdom. All he'd wanted these past years was to protect himself and fill his responsibilities. That hadn't been strength.

"Why did he tell me to forget about Kys?" Vayne asked, his voice coming out strangely flat.

"What would people think if the prince's best friend was a commoner? Befriending nobles will gain you social connections, while befriending a commoner will cause people to look down on you." Amerle said. "Besides, what can that boy give you that any well bred person can't?"

Vayne didn't want to look at Amerle anymore. He wanted them in a prison somewhere far, far away.

"Guards!" Kys bellowed with surprising strength as he let go of Amerle and floated protectively between Amerle and Vayne.

The guards burst in.

"This person is a criminal. You will lock them up in the dungeons." Vayne said, his voice still completely flat.

As Amerle was lead out, they said,

"Think about what I've said, Your Majesty."

With those words echoing awfully in his head, it was just Vayne and Kys in the room.

Kys gently put his arms around Vayne and held him to his chest.

Vayne pressed his hands and head to Kys' chest and screamed.