The Selection (Troyler AU)

♔Part XXXII♔

So I graduate in less than a week that's cool.

Also God I'm such trash omfg I'm absolute garbage jfc.

The Next Day

Troye POV

"So, did you hear about Queen Grace?" Connor asked me, as we walked side by side to the kitchen after breakfast hours to eat a mid-morning snack.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets, shrugging absentmindedly as I followed him. The rest of the staff members in Connor's Quadrant had been requested to finish up last minute preparations, despite the ball not being for another few days, while Connor and I got off free - well, more like Connor got off free, but because I'd volunteered to help out yesterday, I'd gotten some leisure time myself. "No, what happened? Did it have to do with yesterday?"

He nodded, his expression morphing into a somber one, in spite of the prideful gleam in his eye. "Well, you know she wasn't at the sentencing, right?"

"I was there, Connor, of course I know," I told him, frowning at the thought. I didn't like thinking about what had happened, even though I'd had a hand in cleaning up afterwards - which was why I was here, unlike the rest of the Servants, who had balked at the idea of cleaning the bloodstains off of the post that Colonel Graceffa had been tied to.

I knew Connor never would've volunteered himself, though. He could barely stand the sight of executions in general, but I supposed that whenever it was for homosexuality in general, it was even worse for him. He ignored the accusations and penalties as best as he could, focusing on his work, and somehow managing to wear a smile convincing enough to persuade people that he had nothing troubling on his mind.

But I guess we all - as in, those of us who could die for the same crime that Joey had been convicted for - had different ways of dealing with things such as this.

Look at me, for starters - I'd willingly scrubbed a dead man's blood off of the ground.

In all honesty, I wasn't sure why I did it; sure, someone had to do it, but why me, who could've just as easily taken his place? I didn't know Joey. He was a complete stranger to me, having never been in my presence before. I didn't know his partner, whom I had watched die with no more than one bullet in the head, with no horrid speech preceding it, like Joey's had. I didn't owe him anything personally. I didn't owe him anything.

But at the same time, I suppose that, if I were in his place. . .I'd want someone who understood to do the same for me.

Which was why yesterday, when the Captain of the Guard asked for Staff members to stay behind and clean up, I was the first to volunteer.

Even now, over twenty-four hours later, the soreness in my fingers hadn't gone away.

The scent of his blood hadn't disappeared from my memory, either.

"Right," Connor said in a subdued voice at the thought of me witnessing it, jarring me out of my thoughts. He'd never fathomed how I could stomach seeing that, though I sensed that he just thought it was because I was straight (ha!). "But it wasn't because she wasn't invited, or anything like that."

"What are you saying?" I asked, wondering where he was going with this.

"I'm saying," Connor began, the smallest hint of a smile creeping up on his features,"That she objected to watching it. And not quietly, from what I've gathered."

"You're kidding." He shook his head, and grinned a thrilled, open-mouthed smile, a breathy laugh escaping my lips. "Shit, that's insane. What happened? Did she get into some sort of shouting match with the King?"