Our hope

Chapter 32: Rebel

The Rebel was woken up by the warm sun before trying to snuggle closer to the prince. That was to find that their arms were empty. After sitting up they find the Prince was already dressed. He was sitting by the fire waiting for his love to get out of bed.

"Are you really just sitting there waiting for me?" The Rebel asked stretching as they sat up. Normally the Prince was clinging to them even if he woke up first.

"Well of course I am. We have a big day ahead of us. The coronation is soon, and I want to do it all together." The Prince got up and walked over to the Rebel who managed to fight their way out of bed. The room was a perfect temperature even as the outside was getting colder. It was nice to leisurely get ready for the day in. The Prince fixed the rebels coat before they left that room.

"Are you ready for the day?" He asked.

"I'm ready for everyday if it's with you." They shared a kiss before leaving the room. They walked through the halls in a bright autumn day. This was to make their way out of the castle to the tailor. That walk through the town was nice, they were able to pass by the reconstruction site on the way. There was a small pain in the Rebels chest seeing how much was still destroyed. After a few minutes they made their way through the small store front.

"Hello gentlemen, what can I do for you today?" The head garments maker said coming around the counter. He was on the shorter side with ribbons hanging around his neck and patches of fabric bursting out of his pockets. There was a pin cushion on his wrist that reminded the Rebel of a silver hedgehog.

"We are here for the coronation garments. Nothing that departs terribly from our regular clothing hopefully." The maker walked around the two taking in their style and everyday clothing. He stood up in front of the two before he started pulling the Prince into the shop. The place where the mirrors were standing was at the back of the shop.

The Rebel felt like they should be more uneasy going through this. They didn't feel anything abnormal. It was both weird a comforting. The day was going so perfectly well the Rebel was starting to think they were still dreaming. If it was going to prepare them for the next day they would just let it keep playing.

The Prince was having a blast getting his clothes designed for him. They fitted to his figure a lot better then anything he had before. It was so infectious that both the Rebel and the shop keeper were having a good time. It was amazing feeling to be in the room for, even if they were up next.

The Rebel looked at the Prince and couldn't think of a better future for them to have. If this was the rest of their life even with all the parts they were missing. It would be more then enough for them. As soon as the Prince was done he stepped down and the Rebel was placed on the stand.

They were expecting it to be uncomfortable at best with all the poking and prodding. It was a little weird at the start, but they got use to it after a few minutes and didn't hate it by the end. It was great and they both had something in the works by the end of the session. They would pay when the garments have been finished and fitted in the next couple of days.

The Rebel and the Prince walked out, and it was still light out. Almost like time never passed when they were in the shop. The Rebel found it strange, but it was stranger when the sun set by the time they got to the castle. It shouldn't have been any longer then just a few minutes to make the walk. The sun had fully set by the time they both made it up to their room.

"Isn't that weird?" The Rebel asked as the Prince changed into his night clothes.

"What do you mean?" the Prince stepped out from behind the folding wall.

"Just the time of day seemed to change a little. Seems off." The Prince walked over to the Rebel moving them towards the bed.

"You have been through a lot the past few days. We can take the night off you know. Pretend like it's just us in the world before getting back to work." The Rebel was about to nod their head before thinking about all the Prince had been through the past few days.

"You have been through just as much, if not more. What about your need for moral support?" They argued while him brough over the Rebels night clothes.

"I wasn't close to the sisters that I did like. I was even further from the people the either decide that I didn't exist, or I was diseased. I don't need much healing from what I have been through. I knew you are very close to your mother. You were angry from what she did to me. I would think you need to take some time just to process what happened to yourself."

At the Prince talked as they changed out of their day clothes to their night ones on autopilot. The Prince was right there was a lot to walk through and sort out. Not to mention what they still thought was real but turned out to be nothing of a nightmare thankfully. They moved into bed the royal crawling up to their side. That was the night they started talking.

It was nothing like they did before, it was not about what if or what someday would look like. It was all about the Rebel and what they thought about what was going on. The everything in the here and now and recent past. This lead into the much darker places of the before. The winter before the trip to self discovery and that winter after. The time in their life that claimed both their closest friends.

These were things that the Rebel didn't even realised that they needed to talk through. Pain and longing that had been bottled up for so long it was hard to let go. The Prince made it so easy once they started talking it was hard to stop. Before they knew it, it was all out in the open. All the expectations, all the things that were done against the Rebel leader.

The people that paid the price for their rebellion. The Prince was right there the whole time, calming the Rebel down after it was all out. He is their constant, it was nice to feel someone on your side again. With all of that mostly out of the way it was time for the deepest sleep the Rebel fell into in a long time. They were exhausted in every way you can imagine.