The New King (Sequel to The Prince Behind the Veil)

Chapter 12: Remember, Thomas?

After two hours of being trapped in the transparent box, Edward came back to speak with Thomas.

"Why are you torturing me like this, Edward?" Thomas asked. He finally had regained his voice.

Edward opened the box, and stepped inside. He looked Thomas straight in the eye for a moment, then said, "I'm only referring to what you told Violet when both of you were in Britania; Sometimes memories are the worst form of torture."

Thomas sat up, and scowled at Edward. "You were spying on us!"

"Oh, not spying," Edward defended himself. "I was only taking notes on how I could make your life more miserable!"

Thomas paused. "More miserable?"

Edward raised one eyebrow. "You know it, and I know it...you still miss your mother,"

Thomas took in a sharp breath, and widened his eyes. "How did you know how I felt?" Thomas had never kept a journal, and never talked about hardly any of his feelings about his mother out loud.

"I have magic!" Edward said, raising his arms. "I can see the past, fool,"

"I'm no fool!" Thomas shouted back, his face close to Edward's. They stayed in that position for a while, until Edward said, "Let's combine your favorite memories. Shall we?" Edward stepped out of the box, sealed the opening, and now a new face appeared on the box walls... Thomas' mother.

Thomas crawled up to his mother's face, and put his hand on her imaginary cheek. His mother began to speak, "Don't follow in your father's footsteps, Thomas. He doesn't know how much this could affect your future,"

"Oh, it's affected my future quite the bit, Mother," Thomas replied. The image changed to a picture of him, standing beside his mother's deathbed, crying. "But Mother," his 12 year-old self said. "How can he change? Like you said earlier, evil doesn't just change. It needs a powerful enough weakness to stop it."

Thomas paused, and removed his hand from the wall. He had found that weakness, and it was Violet. Violet's true love for him.

Thomas realized something, Edward had told him he had no weakness. He must only think they escaped from the Kingdom Britania by using magic. Little did he know, they had also used true love.

"True love," Thomas whispered, looking into his hands. Thomas didn't need magic to destroy Edward like he had thought. It was just like King Provost! The only powerful enough weakness to stop evil was true love!

"I need to tell Violet," Thomas whispered very quietly. Either he and Violet needed their love for each other, or even the kindness of one for both of them could defeat Edward. Thomas had a plan to escape, and save Violet from Edward once and for all.

"It's funny," Thomas thought. "Edward doesn't even realize he just gave me the biggest help in defeating him!" Thomas laughed a little, and sat by the box wall again, brainstorming his plan.