The Fall of a Kingdom [An II fantasy au]

4

The person up here with the two of them was... Odd. When setting up their own area, not connected to the guy's camp, TestTube just seemed to be thinking really hard about something. Telling Fan that the guy seemed familiar to her, but that she couldn't tell. Fan, however had no clue with this guy was. Of course it had been a little intimidating to get here just for someone else to be there too, when they, or at least Fan, hadn't expected it. Especially for it to be an older looking human, here on his own.

Thankfully though things weren't too awkward, as Fan and TestTube were mostly sticking to their own area for this, while the other just didn't seem to be around half the time. Fan could've sworn he had seen the man head into the caves, but it wasn't really his business. He just cared about having a good time, and helping TestTube have a good time with this too. That would show his worth.

It was the evening this whole thing was supposed to happen when something... Happened. Something weird, and Fan was sure this wasn't part of the thing. That's because the weird thing was something he happened to find.

TestTube was setting up her telescope, and other things for tonight, and he of course had asked if she wanted help, but she told him she had it handled, and well, he wasn't going to push her on that, so he decided to snoop around. Honestly not intentionally, but he kind of wanted to check out the entrance of the cave. The human was thankfully not anywhere he could see right away, so he was alone in the area. It was much colder in here, but he was bundled up enough for it to be at least tolerable. It seemed normal enough in the bit of cave he found himself in, through a short, slightly small tunnel behind a few of the bigger rocks. Somewhere that almost looked untouched by anyone before. Other than the many scratches on the wall, and what looked like some sort of ruined, scavenged nest. All the alarm bells were ringing in the halfling's head, but he approached anyways. And as he made his way closer, he could hear something unexpected. The sound of something cracking.

.

.

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MePhone found himself sneaking out to stargaze more often than not these nights. Anything to get out of that suffocatingly quiet room he had to share with his brother. The brother that was currently actively avoiding him. Maybe it was for the better, really, even if it sucked. Even if it was eating him up inside. He didn't want there to be a big divide between him and his brother. He wanted a good relationship with him, since he wasn't able to have one with his father. He didn't want to feel so alone in this castle, this life, but there really wasn't much to be done about that, was there. Currently, he knew very few people, and he felt like he was screwing everything up with the people he did. Mainly his family. Surely after screwing up and pushing red away, all while looking frankly pathetic, he came to the realization he must've done something to make his father unhappy with him, too. Which stung. A lot.

All he wanted to do was be a good prince. A good son. A good person, but it felt like he was just constantly disappointing.

During most nights of looking up at the sky, he couldn't help but let his worse thoughts wander. This specific night was no exception. His father had been gone for a week now, and things just kept feeling like they were only getting worse. He had been trying so hard to keep up with his routine during this odd time, but it was getting so difficult. He had even ended up dozing off in the library earlier today. Only woken up by BallPoint who had come looking for him when he failed to show up on time for dinner, which just felt so embarrassing. How ashamed would his father be if he found out, really. Just another reason to dislike his son, surely.

MePhone hated these thoughts. He didn't even understand where they were coming from, really. As far as he was aware, he had been doing everything he had been asked of since day one. He had been doing his best, at the very least. Shouldn't that be enough? It was enough that he had such a tall mountain of expectations on his shoulders as a prince, why should he be fighting so hard just for his father to value him? For his brother to want to be in his company?