PENUMBRA // Tamaki Amajiki x Reader Royal AU

Chapter 19

After lunch, I decided my first course of action was to visit the prince, make sure he was safe, and see if he knew about anything going on. I was not hopeful that he would, he was kept in the dark about most things, no what I was really going there for was to see if he had gotten over his little tantrum in the last 24 hours, if not I supposed I would have to be the one to make amends.

He was by the window like normal, but before I could speak the door opened and one of the servants warily stepped in, I was about to teleport back, thinking this was all over, but the man stared right through me like I was not even there. He stepped towards me and was going to bump into me so I stepped to the side which did make a noise because I was no longer using the silencing spell. The servant glanced at where my foot hit the ground and then looked back up like it was just a random noise.

I examined myself and found I had become invisible once again, out of sight of all those around me. Not really sure when exactly it happened though, I wondered if it had anything to do with the high risk situation. Maybe it came out when I most needed it, though it did not do that last time.

Unlike last time though, I was definitely going to use this chance to sneak into the king's library this time. It was more dangerous now but there was less on the line, so although I did not know how long the invisibility would last, at least I could disappear at any given time. If they did end up seeing me... what was actually the worst that could happen?

Making my way through the halls once more, I sensed my way to the king's small library. Since I had been there before, it would have been most easy just to teleport in, but I could not be sure if someone was in there or not, although I said there was not much at risk, I still wanted to keep risk to a minimum.

No one was inside the cozy room when I reached it so I began skimming through the shelves. The last time I was in there I began reading Tales of the Great King Amijiki, which, looking back, I was sure at least some of that book was false. No other title sprung to mind so there were no books I could instantly reach for.

The bookshelves were completely filled out with books about war tactics and of like - I found the story I borrowed originally but no other history books could be found, at least none on the Amijiki kingdom. In the already small library, there was a small corner wherein a few history books rested. Most were about kingdoms I had never heard of with foreign-sounding names, but there was a couple on the Helios kingdom.

One of these books was about the very ancient history of the Helios kingdom, focusing more on the religious origins of Hellflame, Endeavor's religion, than on the actual kingdom itself, though learning that the monks originally came from Helios was quite interesting.

Reading through the second book however, told me more about the current state of the Helios kingdom, though most of which I already knew: the youngest Amijiki brother was married off from birth while the other was on course to rule, the alliance with the kingdom of Penumbra was pretty new so it was not strong with time. The current king of Helios also had two sons who's dynamic seemed all to similar.

Skimming through the shelves one last time to ensure I had not missed anything, I put the history books back and appeared outside the prince's door.
I checked inside, the servant was gone.

"Good afternoon, prince Amijiki." I treaded warily into the the room. He was in the same position I left him in of course. When he saw me he immediately turned away and whispered, "Why are you here?"

I duplicated his chair as I went over and sat opposite him, "I am sorry, for letting you suffocate, I understand that it was wrong and I completely disregarded your feelings in the process. I promise I will never do anything like that again." I told him exactly what he needed to hear.

"P-please don't be sorry." He placed his head in his hands, "I... deserved it."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, scolded him for beating himself up again, "No you did not, prince Amijiki, and you cannot keep telling yourself things like that, it will hinder our progress." But he was not listening, "Please... give up on me, everyone else did... there's a reason for that, I'm helpless."

"No!" I got down on my knees and removed his hands from his face, placing them of his knees and resting my hands on top to keep his focus on me, "Listen to me! I know your father gave up on you at a very young age, I know this world has not treated you with kindness - heck, I was awful to you in the beginning, sometimes I still am - but just because you stopped believing things will get better, does not mean you stop believing in yourself, never stop trying, or at least... never stop letting people help you because you are worth it and you do not deserve to suffer in pain all your life. You deserve happiness too. You deserve to live."

This speech seemed to catch both of us off guard. I only meant to say a couple things but I went off on a bit of a tangent, who knows where that came from. Prince Amijiki was stunned and had even less to say than usual. He gazed at me with funny look and I gazed back with stern intensity to make him believe all I said was true.

Upon remembering my hands were still on his, I promptly rushed off to my own chair, slightly embarrassed to be in that position for more than a few minutes. "You do not need to say anything now, but I will be back tomorrow. I will always keep coming back for you because I will never give up on you, prince Amijiki," Whispering on the same level as him, I got up and removed the chair.

"...Tamaki."

"Huh?" He was not whispering anymore and actually looked up at me, with a less depressive expression. "That's my name, Tamaki."

"I never told you my name, did I? I suppose you overheard people talking about me though since I am so popular in this kingdom," He shook his head, "Oh, well my name is Y/N, prince Tamaki."

"...Just Tamaki." He nodded, "No prince."

"But you are a prince? Surely it would be improper for me to call you by anything other than your title." I knew I was better than him - I was better than everyone - but it still seemed unusual not to use titles bestowed on people. "Please, just Tamaki."

Leaning on the wall, I subconsciously  grew the window again, "Alright then... just Tamaki." I grinned, he did not. "...Thank you."

Before I made to leave Tamaki did something he never usually did, he initiated the conversation, "Are you making my window bigger?" He stared at it intently. "Yes, is that okay?"

Tamaki nodded his head, "Yeah, thank you very much...but I don't deser..." He trailed off. I knew I could do better than that though, "I can make it better you know."

And with a swish of my hand, the iron rungs turned into glass, "Voila! And it even has a latch on, see." I unlatched it, "Now you can open it and close it whenever you please."

He stood up next to me and rested his hands on the sill, staring out in awe, "Thank you... but, what if someone else sees it, they'll know you were here." This was true, it was suspicious, but I had already thought around that, "Do not concern yourself with me, I put an illusion over it, the door is the trigger, anyone who steps through will see the window as it once was, but you know the truth so if you leave and reenter you will see it as it is now."

The prince looked at me as I spoke, "You said 'never stop letting people help you' because 'you do not deserve to suffer'... d-does that not apply to yourself as well..." He stared back out the window, "S-shouldn't you let people help you too, or at least... believe in you... Y/N?"

His words had truly rendered me speechless, usually if someone said something like that to me, I would be furious. It would sound like they were belittling me and viewed me as less than, but I knew Tamaki did not think this way. He would never say something like that with malice. No, this feeling was different, this made me feel like for once someone actually believed in me and saw me for the most powerful sorceress I was. 

I smiled though he was facing away, "Thank you Tamaki, that means a lot."

Then he gave a small smile back and abruptly passed out.