clay's revange

CHAPTER 4.5: Clay's return

the entire crowd is understandably shocked at this revelation. The tale of the mysterious disappearance of the supposed-suitor of then-princess celeste was one that spread like wildfire (or will smith slapping chris rock at the oscar's) over the past few years. He was presumed dead, and now he was there, standing in front of them

celeste, unable to contain herself, ran straight to clay and grabbed his wrist, leading him to her carriage "I've got an unfathomable amount of questions right now"

while in the carriage, celeste asks clay alot of questions "where were you? what happened to you? where did you go? what did you see?...". Clay tries to answer all of her questions, and then there was a moment of silence. Clay seems to be tearing up a bit, after 5 years, he was finally home... He was finally back in his homeland, the place where he grew up, albeit miserably.

Clay looks out the carriage's window, and sees that almost nothing has changed. He observes that the state of living practically hadn't improved - peasants are still dirt poor, nobles can often be seen bullying and abusing the working class, and some nobles can even be seen groping their own servants... clay sighs

"I see almost nothing has changed" clay chuckles

"what do you mean?" asked celeste

"ahh nothing. Just need to get used to living here again"

they finally arrive at the palace, where queen celeste orders clay to change his clothes. Clay wears an attire suited for the son of a noble (as he is quite literally, the son of one of the most respected generals of the morrel army), he then gets groomed and travels back home. There, he meets and reunifies with his parents. They hugged, cried, and exchanged multiple loving words to each other. 5 long years of not knowing where their son was, thinking he probably died... and now he was there, right in front of them

"my boy..." jonah started "where have you been? My, you must've seen and discovered so many things-", jonah then gives him a slice of his favourite apple crumble. Clay chuckles "I... missed... this..." he says while he shoves some in his mouth. The family's long embrace abruptly ends when the queen's messenger calls clay, "the queen demands your prescence" the messenger says. Clay waves goodbye to his parents, and heads to the palace.

"Some questions need to be answered, clay... Now that you're here... I demand to know where you were, and why you disappeared" said celeste

"well..." clay mumbles

"... it was the marriage, wasn't it?" celeste assumes

there was a moment of silence between them. The silence was only broken when Ann came chasing down one of the servants... she finally caught him, and begins doing *what she usually does*. Clay tries to look away, "is this really the life our people have in this land? to be groped, used, and abused by those of a higher status?" clay hopelessly said. "It's always been this way, clay. There's really nothing anyone can do about it, but accept." celeste scoffed. Clay clears his throat, "over the past 5 years, I've been venturing out into the world, hoping to find a change of scenery... and boy, did I find what I was looking for..." clay started "we must change, celeste. I can only hope that you've gotten more matured since we last met, but we must address what's been unaddressed for the entirety of our history. Our people suffer such injustices, and-"

"enough, clay" celeste interrupted him.

"Our way of life might not be perfect, but it's been the same for centuries upon centuries." celeste said

"But we can improve! Look around you, celeste..." clay frantically stated "a large population of peasants, our women, men, and children, live in the streets - struggling to put food on their tables" clay said "listen to me. During the past 5 years of my travels, I was able to attain knowledge; knowledge that would save our people, and mold a future worthy of them! We can switch to a constitutional monarchy, establish a legislature, create a representative governm-"

"stop, I don't want to hear it." celeste interrupts him yet again, "I don't know what sort of things you've discovered, but the stuff your telling me is almost... Inconceivable- I don't know where you've been or what kind of societies you've seen, but do remember your place in ours. You practically don't have a voice, what you are merely a subservient to us women" celeste claimed

clay looks at him weirdly, "so you practically really haven't changed at all..." clay said, "very well, if you don't want to help me rebuild our horrendously flawed society, I'll do it myself." he continued

"haha. Goodluck with that, clay" celeste scoffed

"soon, I hope you finally see the errors of our current way of life. You shall know, the true power of the masses, of the people."

author's note: omg clay has returned?? :0