make me stay.

twentythree

♜

it wasn't until the day after maire-grace left for the town of aeston that wesley davis truly decided to give north problems in the margin. 

he had let him initiate the fight the day before, believing that it would allow him to blow off some steam and show the skills he carried up against some other trainees. but he hadn't seen it as such an opportunity. he had dead bolted towards where  north had been watching the training sessions, and taken him down in one swift motion. 

they had landed on the floor, and the king had taken a hit directly into the abdomen before he truly realized that he meant business. either he wasn't aware of the title north held now, or perhaps, he was too blinded with rage that he couldn't care in that moment. nonetheless, the king decided that it wouldn't show him anything to have any guards arrest him right away. if he wanted to lose so badly, north wouldn't be that horrible as to stand in the way. 

the king had switched our positions, placing himself on top of him. he was a fighter, which is why he was chosen to take position in the army, which meant it was quite the struggle to keep him in place beneath himself. he moved in every direction possible, twisted and turned to the best of his abilities, but in the end, north was larger than him and could have kept him there, if he had wished to. it wouldn't have been a fair fight, then, however. 

north stood up, quickly so that he wouldn't get a grib on his feet and knock him down again. he watched wesley get up onto his feet and make the fatal mistake of attempting to take him down once again, though with the exact same movement as he had in the beginning. 

he saw it coming instantly, remembering his movements from before, and was able to grab him head, pushing it to the side to allow for more room for his own arm to slide around him neck. the king shortly held him in a neck lock before releasing him and pairing the shove he gave him to create distance between them  with a beautiful, yet weak punch on the side of his face. 

north wasn't looking to bruise and break the man, just set him in his place. but he wasn't going down easy. that was, however, up until maire-grace stormed into the room with her maid, bexley following her closely. 

at this point, welsey had been bleeding from a few places already. the king remained rather unhurt, but her presence did leave the king open enough for a punch right back at him. he had spit out the blood onto the floor before the metal taste spread more throughout his mouth. she seemed horrified by the sight, and as much as north had wished to reassure her none of them were hurt badly, hd couldn't. 

wesley davis was quite a size, and he seemed angry enough to continue fighting without any legs or arms, if that were to be the case. north couldn't leave myself open for hits again, unless, of course, he wanted to have every single new soldier in the margin watch their king being beaten and defeated by a childhood friend he had had back in norbery. 

the town of norbery seemed like years away, in some sense. he hadn't been there in so long, it almost felt foggy when thinking back to the place. the kingdom in its entirety was his concern now, which was territory that spread wide outside of norbery's town limits. 

the king had had maire-grace escorted out of the margin as soon as she had arrived, which she hadn't exactly been too fond of. in the moment she entered, he knew the fight needed to end. wesley wouldn't learn, he would die to continue, whatever it took. that anger, the rage he had shown me, the king needed that in his army. 

the emotions that follow him around because of her? he didn't need that. he needed her away from here, just until he could make up my mind about him. if wesley were to be one of his men, he couldn't keep him away from her forever. he would be living on the same grounds as her, which they had been used to since being kids. 

he had protected her for as long as they both remembered, obviously, he would not give that up. 

later that evening, noble coast and her had left for aeston. sticking to the actual schedule, they wouldn't have left until the very next morning, but north needed her away from the castle. coast had understood, and arranged to leave as soon as possible.