Second Chance

Part 1 (prologue)

𝑨/𝑵 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓. 

𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 :)

The room glistened as people mingled about soft chattering and music filling the halls. People were scattered about politely socialising and dancing about, except for one individual. Under a table, a young child sat observing the passing legs and feet. He peeked out from the table and scanned the room, looking for a certain figure with a neatly tied pink braid and red robe sitting comfortably on his shoulders, spotting him on the balcony outside the ballroom. 

The small child got up from under the table and slowly wandered through the crowd, who paid him no mind and continued to chatter, sometimes bumping into him gently as he waded through the sea of bodies. He slowly approached the figure walking up to them, but as he was about to say something to the person in front of him, but he noticed a woman with flushed cheeks speaking with him and decided to leave the figure alone.

The small child wandered to a chair in the corner of the room close to where the figure was and sat down with a sigh observing the room. Everyone was so focused on having fun at the party that they completely ignored the young child. He continued to sit there staring into space when a person probably not much older than 19 walked up to him and started to talk. "hello prince Tommy, why are you not enjoying the festivities?" the person asked in a questioning tone. Tommy looked up at the figure in front of him and studied his clothing. He was wearing a green suit and was holding a tray of drinks that Tommy assumed were for the guests that filled the room. He looked to be dressed as some sort of waiter but the green hue of the suit confused the boy. He had never seen any of the butlers or castle staff wear an outfit like this before. 

The boy looked at him with confusion plastered on his face. The person spoke again "why are you alone? Are you not feeling well, your highness?." Tommy squirmed in the chair, he was feeling uncomfortable being interrogated by someone he had never met before when he was so used to being alone. "Just leave me alone" Tommy mumbled under his breath so quietly that the figure most likely didn't hear it. "Would you like me to notify one of your brothers or your father? Or I could get a servant to take you to your room if you want?"

 The figure kept chatting to Tommy, fake worry laced throughout his tone, it was getting on Tommy's nerves so Tommy decided to try and get him to go away. Could you just get me a glass of water? I am just a little thirsty from all of this partying" the person nodded and turned away from the boy to go get it for him. Tommy sighed in relief when the person returned with a glass of water and then left straight after giving it to him. 

Tommy siped on the water to pass the time as he thought about what he might do if he was not a prince. He soon disregarded the idea thinking it to be ridiculous and impossible, sadly he would always be a prince and there was no way he could change that by himself. Tommy was left to sit and watch the party. He looked to the balcony and saw the girl that was with the person he was waiting for had left, leaving the figure alone on the balcony. Tommy noticed this and ran up to the man.

"Tommy, what are you doing here?" techno asked as his younger brother slowly approached him. "I don't want to be here" Tommy mumbled. "If you don't want to be here then leave, no one is making you stay at this party" Techno spat annoyance seething from his voice. Techno was just trying to clear his head but people kept trying to talk to him, even when he went out to the balcony to get away from everyone. Tommy had just arrived at a bad time, the woman that was with techno kept trying to seduce him and she had just left him alone when Tommy came walking through the door.

 He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and techno unleashed his pent up anger on Tommy. "If you don't want to stay then go, you don't need to come whining to me about how bored you are, you always do this god you're so annoying! I wish dad never brought you here to the castle, all you do is complain and get in the way!" techno's eyes burned into Tommy before he ran off tears in his eyes, techno stood there frozen for a second before he calmed down and realized what he said. He thought about going after Tommy but he decided against it, it would be better for him to calm down completely before going to go find Tommy in case he exploded at the poor boy again.

Tommy ran away from techno and out of the room tears pricked at his eyes. Tommy was used to getting ignored by his siblings but Techno's words hurt much more than his actions ever did. Tommy ran from the party, he ran and ran until he could no longer hear the chattering and music from the party and there were no servants roaming the halls. He walked down a dimly lit hallway to a large wooden door. He opened the door and suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit him. He staggered to a wall and used it to hold himself up. The room was spinning and Tommy's insides felt like they were burning. He tried to scream but all that came out from his burning throat were silent sobs. 

He crawled onto his bed and tried to reach the rope that was attached to the headboard to call a servant to his room but he didn't have the energy to move. His eyes were now full of tears as he feared for his life, he was dying and nobody knew. They were all in another room having fun and partying. Not knowing what was happening to the small boy or caring to check on him after he left the ballroom in tears. Tommy knew that if he died he would die alone and nobody would likely find him until the late afternoon of the next day when a maid or butler would come to make sure there were no uninvited guests in the vacant rooms of the wing that Tommy's room was located in. Tommy slipped in and out of consciousness, his body growing colder and colder. His final thoughts were about how alone he was and how alone he will always be.

His body lay there on his bed as the sun rose. The golden rays danced across his pale face and golden hair. If it weren't for his pale complexion and the fact that the boy was no longer breathing it would look like he was sleeping. And that is what it looked like to Techno in the early morning as he approached his brother's bed. He had been thinking about the words he had said to Tommy all night and had come to apologise as soon as it was an hour that would be acceptable for a human to be awake at. Techno looked at the boy, deciding whether to wait for him to wake up or to wake him up now so that he could apologise. 

Techno decided to talk to Tommy while he was asleep, hoping that the apology would get through to him without having to face the boy when he was awake. " hey toms, I'm sorry about what I said last night" techno began, not noticing the lack of life in his brother's face. "I was just really annoyed at everyone trying to talk to me, I didn't mean to snap at you...... I didn't mean a single thing I said to you. You're not annoying, you are my brother and I care about you. I just wanted to tell you because I know I don't give you as much attention as I should..... I was thinking about it last night and I've decided that from today on I will try to spend more time with you". Techno finished his speech and noticed that Tommy had not moved an inch from where he was lying when he first entered the room. In fact, Tommy, who was a very light sleeper and would have woken from techno walking into his room, had not stirred in the slightest. This worried techno and he slowly approached Tommy's bead.

 "Tommy?" he said, inching closer. He noticed that Tommy had not changed clothes from the night before. "Tommy?" he said a bit louder, getting closer to the small boy, he then noticed the unnatural colour of his skin, he was so pale. Techno started getting nervous and that's when he noticed that the boy wasn't breathing. Techno panicked and started to shake the body of the small child "tom?.....Tommy!". There was no response. "This isn't funny Tommy, wake up right now" "wake up, wake up" techno kept saying. But he knew deep down that he wasn't going to wake up. He hugged the corpse of his younger brother, a few silent tears fell from the usually stoic man.

Wilbur and philza were at breakfast when they saw it. Techno with dried tears carrying the dead body of the youngest, Tommy was dead.

The investigation concluded that he was poisoned and they were easily able to identify the culprit. Only a few people interacted with Tommy so the suspect list was short however the culprit got away. He fled as soon as the news that prince Tommy had died became public.

Techno sat in his room, he had not been able to apologise to Tommy. Tommy had died alone thinking that he was hated by his brother, maybe even his whole family. Techno knew what he had to do, he would not let Tommy's story end here. 

1708 words