QUARTET ALLIANCE: LEND A HAND (Wild Duty & Judgement)

Chapter 38: Helpless

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4:10 P.M

–Room upstairs–

Zen felt like emptying his insides. He wanted to throw up.

The thought circled his head as stared at the creature in shock. Zen felt sick. Until now, all the redhead wanted to was to beat the creature into a pulp, but the want was refuted strongly as he realized he was no match for him. He couldn't being himself to be terrified. He was disgusted. Wanted to get away as far as possible from him. But, he couldn't. E.A was right there, hand tightly around his neck and face ever so demanding, assertive, close and terrifying. Legs trapping him and preventing any movement. He was so close that Zen couldn't do anything. Physical violence at this distance would be impossible. Zen internally sighed, he would've been able to send a killing kick with his knee to E.A's crotch, but his plan was deemed useless.

Zen struggled to even get a breath out. His hands were stills secured around E.A hand, fixed, turning white, and as if trying to convince himself he still had some sort of leverage on the situation. It was a desperate and useless shot, but he still took it. His lips parted to release a breath, maybe even say something, but E.A tightened his grip and whatever spur Zen has was about to have, died down before it came to life. His eyes compressing shut immediately as he grit his teeth.

"All you do is open your mouth to say useless stuff," E.A said lowly, face inches apart from Zen, "Do you know why I'm not tying you up?" E.A asked to Zen, not expecting an answer from the helpless redhead, "Its because you don't stand a chance against me."

Zen shook his head frantically, hating where this was going. E.A saw the desperation in his eyes and he loved it.

The creature dug into his pouch and pulled out a pocket knife. The sight of it made Zen still for a moment. Without warning, E.A pressed it against the pale skin of Zen's neck, just above his collar and dragged it down towards his shirt. It cut Zen's skin deeply in the process and a red trail of blood followed the knife. E.A stopped and then grabbed a fistful of Zen's shirt with his free hand, pulling him close and smirking at his pained face. A sweat bead rolled down his forehead. He was going to die like this.

But, he didn't want to. He didn't want to die. That's why he froze and became motionless, sparing no efforts to protect himself anymore. Zen was scared, unusually frightened and huge amber eyes filled with dread. The cut stung and E.A did not move the knife away from his skin.

———

Slater glanced up at his mother, then quickly looked back down at his plate of food when he realized her dark blue eyes were boring into him. The queen, a tall lady with black hair cascading down her shoulders. Her features were young and she resembled Slater greatly. She had red lipstick painting her lips and wore a fancy, long dress.

"So," His mother began and Slater felt like running away from the dining table, "What have you been up to these days, Slater?"

'I don't know, just trying to knock some sense into your idiotic son,' Slater did not bother to smile, "Studying and reading, you know the usual nerdy stuff."

"Creating potions as well?" His mother asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," Slater dismissed and dug into his food. He felt his mother's eyes still following his every move. He almost choked on the mouthful then quickly chugged down a glass of water.

'Rude,' Slater thought, internally rolling his eyes, 'Who the hell stares at someone when they eat like that?'

Veldra kept stealing glances at Slater across the table and it made the older want to throw the plate on his face. Veldra mouthed something, but Slater decided to not pay attention to him.

"I need you to come to our quarters after tomorrow," The queen told Slater. The boy ate his food in silence, then looked at his mother in confusion.

"Why?"

"Because we will be announcing the next king and a celebration will take place here," His mother explained, "I will need you to come as to not spread rumors. I will prepare you an outfit and you best be at your top behavior," She warned and Slater scrunched his face in disapproval.

"Next king?" Slater asked, "Aren't you like, still alive? Sadly."

Veldra widened his eyes then quickly composed himslef. The queen glared at Slater, "Excuse me?"

"Nothing, nothing," He waved her off and that's when Veldra realized that Slater did not listen to him yesterday. He still had some light makeup on his face. Veldra gripped his fork tightly and glared at the dual haired boy.

Slater ran his hand upward through his purple and black mullet, his hair was dyed from the bottom and the middle of his bangs in purple. Veldra always thought that his brother was doing it to either spite him or copy him.

The queen slammed her hand on the table, making the dishes shake and a loud noise to erupt, "Listen here, Slater. You do realize that you're not the chosen one, right? Any sort of disrespect from you will not be taken lightly. I am your mother and that will not change. Your father is not here to be your reinforcement, so you obey me."

"Scary," Slater muttered and the queen grit her teeth.

"You're just like your dad. Annoying, no sense of morality and peasant lover. When will you learn to be like your brother?!" She shouted the last sentence and Slater stopped eating.

He turned to the queen, an annoyed look on his face, "Learn to be like my brother?" He asked lowly, venom in his voice. Slater scoffed when his mother looked between his eyes, trying to read him. He stood up angrily, his chair toppling over, "How dare you say those things about my dad?! You're insensitive and fucked in the head! I will come to the celebration and not for you or him!" He pointed to Veldra, "I will come for the sake of this kingdom that my dad raised, citizens, and royal family, but don't you dare think I'm there out of respect for you or the future king. If you think that you're doing a great job ruling this place, then think again and if you want me to learn to be like my brother, then, sure, allow me to be insensitive, lose all integrity, treat others, who are not royalty like shit, just because they're not royalty! See you at the celebration," Slater shouted, enraged and then stormed off. The queen quickly got up to follow after him, the scene catching the attention of a few guards while Veldra drank his drink with a smirk.

Around the hallway, Slater felt an tug on his arm, forcing him to turn around. He detected his angry mother infront of his face.

"I'm thoroughly done with you, now, leave me alone," Slater said, his voice thick and breathing ragged.

"You don't storm off the dining table like that. Where is your respect?!"

Slater lagged dryly, "Respect? I don't have any respect for you or Veldra," He pulled his arm away from her grip.

"You'll be bowing down to him in no time," The queen said, glowering.

"Over my dead body," Slater replied, "I don't take him as a prince or king, and neither you, you're not a queen. Only delusional and power obsessed freaks that are sadly related to me. Now, leave me alone," Slater said, not missing a beat and walked away.

     This time, the queen didn't go after him.

——