The Selection (Troyler AU)

♔Part XLVIII♔

I realize that I actually didn't really have a plan for leading up to this part.  Just the main scene, and not how we got there.  Um.  Whoops.

(Back two hours later and I just had a really weird envisioning of something that I absolutely needed to include so naturally it's the first sentence of this chapter okay bye).

Also I see the final Mockingjay movie in five days and I'm not okay and I can't stop thinking about it and it kinda rubbed off on writing this chapter tbh uh.

Also Youth is the sHIT.

Also *trigger warning* for a needle injection at one point but it's mentioned in half a sentence and not descriptive but just incase I thought I should mention it.

One Hour Later

Dan POV

"Was it really necessary to kidnap him?" Phil asked in a somewhat exasperated, somewhat resigned tone, as he looked at the unconscious form of Troye Sivan laid across the ground, body still limp from when I had to knock him out.

I lifted my hands helplessly, raising my eyes to the ceiling. "I ran out of options, what do you want from me?"

"You knocked him out."

"He elbowed me in the chest!"

"Because you tried to kidnap him," Phil reminded me, bending down besides Troye to assess any damage I might've caused when I took a swing at him. He tilted the Servant's chin to the side, frowning once his eyes caught sight of a deep purple bruise forming beside his ear. "You do realize we're not going to keep him long, right? He may be a Servant, but people will still ask questions - about both of you. Anyone who sees that mark on his face will want to know what happened, and I'm not sure he'll be willing to cover up for you once he wakes up."

I groaned, smoothing a hand over my face. "Look, I didn't want to hurt him, okay? But I didn't know how else to get him here," I explained. "After that footage of the Prince and Ingrid got released, access to any kind of records and other secured data has practically been on lock down. Royal Advisor Kuhl's ordered Guards to rotate around the clock outside of the security footage room, and without being able to get in, I'd never be able to find Troye's documents and legal information."

At that, Phil's brow furrowed in contemplation, clearly muddling something over. "Wait, Royal Advisor's follow the King's direct orders, right?" I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. "Then why would the King order the security footage to be guarded? He was probably the one that leaked that video to begin with."

I paused, considering that for a moment. I honestly hadn't thought too much about how the video got out - I'd been too frustrated trying to figure out how to get Troye's records since the incident, especially after hitting the brick wall of learning that he wasn't legally registered under "Troye Sivan" - but then again, I don't know who else it could be, if not the King. Getting that video out created perfect propaganda for an otherwise anticlimactic Selection, and definitely got the public more invested in the competition. Anything to win their favor for the Royal Family could not have been done by a rebel, northern or southern, and no one else really has any kind of jurisdiction of the Royal Palace's security tapes.

Knowing that the inner-workings of the King's brain, let alone the hive-mind of the entire Palace was far too complex and migraine-inducing to ponder for very long, I eventually sighed. "My guess," I suggested to Phil,"If it was him, he probably set up the Guards to make it seem like he'd have no hand in releasing the footage. Good video or not, whoever let it out did exploit the Prince, and it probably wouldn't look too good to a lot of people if they knew that it was the King that released it." I shook my head, snickering under my breath. "A bit overcompensating, in my opinion, but no one's openly questioned it so far."