The Eighth Throne

The Riddle's Solution

Rouxls had been keeping to himself after that talk, and understandably so. Ralsei wasn't able to pull him out of the mood drop during a little visit- granted, he didn't get any answers as to what caused it either. So there was that. But, after school, here comes Berdly ready to continue a mystery.

Rouxls tried to keep his miniature breakdown hidden, though it was now being overridden by continuing this little mess with the blue jay. He's been wanting some of this to be known anyhow- even if he doesn't really care for the ruling part of it.

"Alright! Now where did we leave off?" Berdly asked, sitting down... backwards in the chair. Guess he's getting in his comfort zone, alright. But he was hyped up too. Had a couple notes on possible theories. May have forgotten to answer a question on a quiz. At least he's feeling enthusiastic.

"Queen being the eighth and a death were both ruled out. There was also the disappearance shortly after the fountain surged." Rouxls answered, bringing out the notes Berdly took earlier. Good to keep track of.

Probably half an hour was spent looking through books and at the highlighted pages before Berdly finally got another idea. Some of the notes in the royals history mentioned the spade king being distraught over the disappearance of the eighth, while the rumors and legends included one of a cloaked figure fleeing the castle the same day the eighth went missing.

"Hmm... there! That's why! The eighth fled the castle for some reason, and never showed back up! None of the royals knew about it though... or maybe the spade king forgot? There's a whole passage on his behavior changing, and him forgetting the others. Oh. So he was kind. Whoops, I assumed." Berdly pointed out, then realized he sort of messed up earlier.

"It's alright. Mistakes are made. What matters is that we learn from them. Although I can no longer confirm or deny your theory there-" Rouxls responded. If he hadn't gotten upset, Speare wouldn't have brought up the recognition.

"That means I'm probably right! So I have what happened, now the issue is who was it? Probably won't ever- wait hold on, I found a family tree." Berdly called out, making Rouxls lean back a bit. But he found a very vague family tree for each suit- though it only had initials.

"I'm assuming the ones at the bottom are the king and the eighth- yeah, they are! That one has an L, it's probably Lancer! Now- wait, huh? Now I'm confused. Why is there- oooh wait a minute! Lancer was randomly found, so his other parent is unknown! And also the person listed as married to the king is- woah. Cool, got some variety in there. Not bad!" He thought aloud, seeing that Lancer's symbol was pointing to a question mark- and that the king's was connected in a marriage fashion to another of the same shade of blue. "The eighth was a dude!"

Although he couldn't aid anymore without completely giving it away, Rouxls had a smile- kid's quick once he gets on the right track. And what had happened is getting out there, rather than being restricted to his own memory. Maybe not the full details... but most of it.

"Wait. The initials on this one are RK. The rest only have the one letter. Probably wasn't an actual suit then..." Berdly commented, then second guessed himself. "Actually, it was probably a nickname. That makes sense too!" That hurt to hear.

"So... the eighth, who was a guy, ran off when the fountain surged. But he hasn't shown back up at all... but this one does mention that both you and Lancer just kind of appeared suddenly. And you know the answer to this little- wait a minute!" Berdly said aloud to himself, finally putting the pieces together. He turned to face Rouxls in surprise. "That wasn't a nickname! Those are- woah. Wait- it was that easy! The answer was right next to me the whole time?!"

Rouxls have a chuckle, smiling. He's intact again now- aside from that one stray string of course. "Yeah. The king told me to run when he started... becoming corrupted by the fountain. It was so he wouldn't hurt me. And when I heard what happened to the other royals, I decided to go the extra mile and alter my appearance one last time to this. Though... I still miss those days. When everyone was happy. We all worked together. Before the surge ruined-"

He was suddenly interrupted by a tight hug from the teen- who was now asking him to stop talking for a moment. He was confused at first- but understood once he heard what Berdly had to say.

"Look. I have no idea how to do this. But if that book said he was distraught over you leaving, maybe he still remembers! Maybe you should tell him who you are. Even if he isn't the same, maybe something will be fixed? Even a little? If anything, just try!" He explained, kind of... failing to do the pep talk shoulder hold for a bit. Had to stand on the table. But it did work! He had the right idea.

"I was planning on it. I just... don't know how well it will work. He was exposed to the fountain for a very long time. Even my short time in cyber world proved Queen broke away occasionally." He was scared it would only bring anger as well. He didn't know how to do this.

"I'll follow you then! And if things go downhill, you've got that teleporting trick. Now let's go before you decide otherwise!" Berdly responded, practically dragging Rouxls out of the room. Or at least trying to.