A Tale of Two Princes

9

~~Hey guys. I just want to warn you that this chapter gets intense, so be prepared... Anyways, I know that you will all hate it, but try to enjoy it?~~

Mark's P.O.V.

I looked down at the freshly placed dirt that my brother was resting under. The overwhelming grief of losing him was still ever present, and it seemed as if the pain was consuming me. I looked up at the sky, a light rain fell from the heavens as the water mixed with my tears. I looked back at my brother's grave and placed a small group of flowers held together by a ribbon on the ground next to the grave stone. Everyone else had already dispersed from the funeral, but I couldn't leave this site. The moment I left, would be the moment my brother is truly dead. Thi feeling reminded me of the evening I had when he was talking about running away... with the mermaid. I looked up from the stone to feel my sadness turning into rage. It was the mermaids who killed my brother. I turned and marched back up to the castle - which wasn't far from the cemetery - and hurried up to my room. I went over to my drawer beside my bed and pulled out the old shell that.. He.. gave me. I felt a hint of pain return at the thought of him but pushed it aside as I turned on my heel and made a beeline towards the stables. I hastily tied my saddle onto Tim and he quickly headed out the moment I was on him. I knew he could sense my anger building up, and I still held firm to the shell letting him know where I wanted to go. He pulled to a stop right by the side of the cove, and I jumped off, not even thinking about tying Tim up. He knew to wait for me, and I was too upset to care. I pulled my way into the cove and stood right by the water's edge. I blew into the shell, and let the sound echo in the small cove, hoping for it to reach wherever he was. I stood in complete silence for what felt like ages, until I saw a glimmer in the water. I couldn't help but feel some of the anger leave, and I almost broke into a smile, almost. His mess of a green head popped out of the water behind the same rock I first met him on. His face was blank, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"We need to talk." I kept a straight face as I spoke out, breaking the stiff silence between us.

"What is there to talk about?" He looked away from me, and I thought I could hear his voice slightly cracking underneath his cold composure.

'Why did you kill my brother?!"I felt tears prick my eyes as I asked him the question, my rage coming back as my voice got louder.

'W...what? I wasn't a part of that! Besides, why did you try and kill my sister!?" He turned back to face me with tears in his eyes. I stood in shock as he started to vent at me.

"I TRUSTED YOU!! But then you go and severely injure my sister! SHE COULD'VE DIED-"

"MY BROTHER IS DEAD!!" I stopped him in the middle of his sentence, we were both crying our eyes out and full on yelling at each other at this point.

"My brother is gone and there was nothing I could do about it!! I FOUND HIM DEAD!! I WASN'T THERE FOR HIM!!" I paused in my yelling as more tears surfaced and I freely cried.

"And I wasn't involved with your sister, I was being followed! I tried to protect you!" I shouted out to a dazed Jack, but it wasn't as loud as I continued to cry.

'I was so scared that you were going to get hurt..." I barely whispered the last part as I covered my face with my hands, and we were left in a silence only filled with the sound of me crying.

"Mark... I'm sorry... Yesterday, my sister sent out guards to kill your brother, but... but I thought they were going to kill you!! I was mortified, I tried to go and save you, but they had already gotten to him.." Jack choked out the words to me as tears ran down his face.

'Why? Why did you care about my life?" I looked up from my hands as I fell to my knees, my sobbing dying down.

"Because... because... I... I LOVE YOU!!" I froze in shock as those three simple words came out of his mouth. He continued to look down and cry as he tried to formulate words through his tears.

"I love the way you smile, I love how your eyes light up when you talk about something you love, I love how you are such an idiot sometimes, I just love you! I've never felt this way with anyone before Mark, I don't know what it is, but I think it is love! I was talking with Ira, and I realized that even after my sister was nearly killed, I still couldn't bring myself to hate-" His talking came to a halt as I wrapped my arms around his body tightly, smiling as I held him close.

"M-Mark?!"

"Jack, I.. I don't know if I have this feeling of love towards you, but I want to see. I want to see if love is the reason why I'm always so happy to see you. I want to see if it is why I always get lost in your beautiful blue eyes. It might even be why I blush at the thought of you, I don't know. But... I think I like this idea of love..." I pulled myself out of our hug as I placed my hands on his shoulders, still smiling as I looked at Jack. He was still crying, as was I, but he had a smile on his face and his cheeks were flushed red. We sat on the rock together for a while until a certain question came to my lips.

'Wait... who is Ira?" He looked away for a minute in thought before turning his face back to me.

"Ira is my best merfriend, and she is a really fun person. Yesterday, after I saw your brother, I came across Ira. I told her about you - I had accidentally slipped your name to her while I was swimming to save you - and she showed me what my feelings were for you. I thought it was strange at first, how could two males love each other? But, she told me it was fine." I looked up for a moment as my mind finally started working. We were to guys, and I had never heard about to males loving each other. I looked back down to Jack, and I instantly smiled. Sure, it wasn't a thing that normally happened, but who said it couldn't? I pulled him into another hug before quietly replying.

'I like her way of thinking, we should meet sometime." Jack hummed in approval as he wrapped his arms tighter around me, and I felt as if we were the only beings in the world. I opened my eyes to notice that the rain had stopped, and the sun was peeking out over us. Everything was looking better, and nothing could bring me down.

~~Did you like my sarcasm in the AN up there? No? well, I hope you enjoyed this, I tried my best! IDK if you'd want a chapter of Jack talking to Ira about his hidden love for Mark or not, but I could add it in as an extra chapter later if you really want it. I didn't want to rush the OTP, but I wanted it in this chapter, so here we are! There will be more fluff after this, obviously more than just hugging (we should talk about that later...) but we need Mark to confirm his love for Jack first! Anyways, Se ya next week!!~~