𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚 | ✓

012

𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦

Hours had passed and Vienna was still passed out. Atticus was sitting outside of the tent in the grass, his face buried in his hands. When did this all start to go to shit? All he wanted to do was bring two civilizations together again so neither of them had to fear the other.

He found himself crying, knowing that partially this was his fault. If he would have left things alone Vienna wouldn't have gotten injured, there wouldn't have been a fire, and the king wouldn't have died.

How was something supposed to be so right go so wrong?

Atticus.

It was his father's voice, which only caused a few more tears to slip out of his eyes. He silently cursed his mind, now not being the time to start halluciating from drugs. He maybe swigged an edible from Hollis, which honestly he was more shocked that they happened to be a drug dealer. He got a few off of them, luckily managing to chill him out for a little while. He wasn't uncontrollably sobbing, which was a good thing.

Atticus!

He finally glanced up to see a transparent figure of his father kneeling in front of him. He wasn't like how he was when he left, more like a teenager. His face was covered in ashy gray smoke and his forehead had a large gash, blood dripping from his face. His legs looked broken, but he also managed to stand just fine. The jet black hair was no longer past his waist, but was short with curls on top.

Atticus listen to me, son. You have to prepare youself. You brought on another war, meaning you're going to have to man up and fight. This was your doing and you have to find a way out of it.

Atticus shook his head, bringing his knees up towards his chest. Was he hallucinating? He had to be, right? He had no witchy powers, those being lost long ago. He didn't even remember what they had been, the trauma being so harsh that he sort of forgot.

When he blinked, the image of his father was gone and it only left him crying softly in the grass. When he noticed Josiah had approached, he wiped his tears away with his wrist and turned in the other direction. He didn't want Josiah to see him cry just to make fun of him or something.

Josiah took a seat in front of him, pushing his feet up against Atticus' like the witch had done back in the cell to try and comfort him. "Hey," he whispered and rested his hands on his knees. "You alright?"

Atticus only shook his head, staring at the ground beneath him. "No my sister- this is my fault," he whispered as his voice slightly cracked, "all I wanted was for our civilizations to get along again but all I did was start another stupid fucking war. Not only that, but who am I supposed to fight with? I belong to the witches but I also don't want the kingdom to lose. I- I don't know anymore," he mumbled.

He felt Josiah leaned forward a bit and take his hands, staring directly at the witch despite him not even glancing up for a second. "Atticus," he whispered. He slightly smiled when he received a glance, "none of this is your fault. You were only trying to help. You couldn't have known was going to happen. I'll be there right with you, alright?"

Atticus only shrugged, once again wiping the tears from his cheeks. He then allowed himself to chuckle, glancing up with a weak smile. He decided to change the subject, not wanting to have a breakdown in front of the prince - or now king. "It's obvious," he stated, "that you're jealous of Hollis."

Josiah's entire face heated up, moving his feet away from Atticus'. He rose his chin a bit and looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Atticus laughed, slightly in shock. "You serious? You've definitely been wanting to have sex with me for a while."

Josiah heaved a heavy breath and shook his head. "That part is wrong," he mumbled. He nervously fiddled with the string that laid on his shirt,

"Atticus I'm- I'm asexual. I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that romantic relationships aren't your thing. Y'know because of all your sexual tendencies and whatever."

Atticus suddenly grinned, leaning forward on his knees. "Relationship?" He snickered a little before pressing his palms against Josiah's cheeks. "Josiah whatever your middle name is Hendrix. I would love to have a romantic relationship with you."

Josiah smiled and placed his hands on top of Atticus'. "You're still an asshole, but I would love that as well," he said. The two laughed softly.

Hollis ran over to the boys immediately, their eyes widened. "Canons! Canons have been fired!" They shouted, nearly tripping on the way over.

"The war has started!"

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A/n: prepare for the next chapter because from here on out we're going to enjoy a good old cup of angst.