Everything's Fair in Love and War - An Amourshipping story

Chapter 23 -Broken Pieces

The guards stood there, 'patient' wasn't the word to describe them, but neithet was 'restless'. They each had one goal: bring back Kanto's glory; they had left the path once, and they didn't plan on doing it again. Weiss' eyes darted to the entrance, as his ears picked up a noise, not wanting to scare the other guards, he put himself aware and cautiously placed his hand over his scabbard; but the noise turned out to be their spy.

 The red-head, who had been sent an hour back, returned, screeching to a halt in front of Ash. "I searched everywhere, your highness" he spoke, bowing "There's not a trace of them".

The guards, who were positioned at the front along with Weiss, shifted uncomfortably. The mere mention of 'him' terrified them and, it gave them an overbearing feeling of guilt, which Ash had desperately tried to remove when he began reassembling them.

Ash drew in sharply "Weiss" he called, making the general face him in attention "Call in the guards from the east and the west side"

Weiss took a step back "What? But Your Highness-"

"I know what I'm saying" Ash cut him short "And I want you to do it"

He then added a smile, a painful one "Alec's human after all" he said.

~~~

Serena had only one, faint memory of Alec. It didn't make any sense to her when it happened, but seeing this, the fear and the despair in every single person's heart, made it spiral back towards her; the feeling wasn't the most pleasant.

Serena blew a blonde strand off her face and yawned. Ash was a prince and all, yes, but he was taking way too long; and they were only going to play, he didn't have to be gone for this long for something as trivial as an outfit change. She huffed when the hair came flying back, and she stuffed it behind her ear, pouting in annoyance.

The garden remained just as it always did - the stone bench, the many flowers, its usual peace and calm- the only thing missing, in this case, the only person missing, was Ash. The sound of footsteps made Serena look away from her swinging feet and she smiled thinking that guest was Ash. Her face dropped a second later.

It was Alec; his eyes met her blue ones, making her scoot back in fear. It was almost like she could feel his cold soul hugging her. She desperately tried to shake it off , but her mouth dried up and she couldn't bring herself to say a thing.

Alec was scary on his own but all of Ash's tales about him and his sudden bouts of tears terrified Serena even more. Alec was a monster; she was scared even when she hadn't seen him. Any person who was able to bring Ash to tears was a nightmare for her.

But seeing him in person....she felt the atmosphere change.

The afternoon was a sunny one for everyone in the castle, it had been the same for Serena too, but when he came, it became, suddenly, cold and scary. She wanted to run, as fast as she could, but her feet stayed glued, just like her lips.

"You're pretty loyal, aren't you?" Alec said "Coming here everyday and all"

Serena felt a tear roll down her cheek and seeing his face, she understood that it made him happy. The smirk as he stood there, was a reflection of that. But his words, that followed, stung her more "But, you know what my father says; he says that loyalty is for those who can't stand on their own, it's for the weak"  he said "So, when someone weak like Ash falls, which he will, loyalty will be all that he'll have left"

Even after he had walked away, Serena kept crying. Her dress, her face; she was a soaking mess. She didn't even know why she was crying; she, then, hadn't understood a single thing he had said. It all made sense to her now, though. Alec had basically spoken the future. Seeing the guards standing outside with their cloaks of bravery on, even when they were trembling on the inside, and the gloomy rain-ridden clouds, brought back that day all too vividly.

Even if she wasn't a little girl anymore, Alec still mortified her. Especially his eyes, the ones which met hers when he walked away, the red ones.

~~~

Tyson, who was stationed at the back, turned around towards the noise only to have his eyes widen in shock when he saw Weiss and most of the soldiers marching towards the castle's south side. He looked at them in confusion "What's...going on?"

"His highness' orders" the spy answered, while the rest of the troops walked to their posts "When I told him about Alec not being found, he made all of us come here"

"He didn't tell us why, though" he added.

Alec not being found and the castle being left bare on three sides, the whole thing didn't seem to fit together for Tyson. He didn't have anything to say. Words and feelings fumbling he asked "Then, where is his highness?"

"He went back inside" Weiss replied, reading his friend's face and the muddle inside. It wasn't much different from his own, but he trusted Ash and he wanted Tyson to do so, too "But we shouldn't doubt him. He probably has some plan in his mind"

"And besides" he continued "It's his brother we're talking about"

Tyson nodded in approval and giving a quick glance at the assembled guards, he looked back at Weiss "We are his executors, aren't we? And if we need his plan to work, we need to be ready"

Weiss only smiled.

~~~

The maids and the butlers had all been sent back home, which meant that the corridors were left dirty and disorganized. The usual bustle in and around the rooms, was gone too. Ash felt uncomfortable, but he walked on. The floor at the very top, the one above his, was where he stopped. The rooms there had been vacated, except for one; the correct way to put it would be to say that it didn't need to be vacated, for it had already been left empty for a really long time.

He swung the door to Alec's room open, slightly wincing as the dust flew to his nose. He looked around the room till his eyes fell on the tapestry hanging on the right. It was placed on the wall opposite to the window that was overlooking the castle's entrance.

The elaborate embroidered tapestry had been hung in here, on the day of their father's funeral. It had been made a long time ago and held the family photograph which had been taken fifteen years back; when Ash was about three years old. It was hung in his fathers office, but when they cleaned the room up, it had been moved here.

Ash was sure Alec had seen it and Ash was sure it had affected him. It had been affecting everyone who had seen it and to all of them it was a relief when it got moved to a place where it was safely hidden. Seeing all of them together, with their smiling faces, only brought back the Ketchum family's happy days which contrasted sharply to the darkness it had become.

He looked away from the tapestry and moved his eyes to the window standing in front of it. A cleaning accident had caused the curtains to come-off, leaving the glass bare and unprotected. His vision blurred as he went back to when he and Alec made memories together; how they kept themselves amused for hours at that very place.

His hands shook as he wrapped his fingers around the bow that he held in his other hand. Ash moved the single arrow out of his palm and placed it in the bow. He lifted it straight towards the window; a single hit was all it would take to leave it destroyed. He closed his eyes, letting his tears falls and through blurred vision, the arrow left the bow and it stopped only when it hit the window.

"It feels like magic, doesn't it?" Alec asked, smiling at Ash, whose was watching the sparkling dust slowly float around.

"It does" he replied, still mesmerized. "Just like pixie dust"

The glass broke and it's pieces fell; all with a shattering noise, which ended just as quickly as it came.

A/N~~~

Crazy author-chan disappears for a looooong time and when she comes back, she makes Ash do stupid things.

I know you're sitting there thinking the exact same thing but -

one, I'll explain Ash's window-killing lust in the next chapter

and two, I'm sorry for being dead T0T I had a horrible writer's block; it was so horrible that it shocked me when, I suddenly got an idea for this chapter. >-< Gomenasai!

But, I hope you liked the update and please tell me what you think. ^^

Until the next chapter - Toodles <3