Kings in Hiding

Epilogue

After my father died, I had ultimate hatred for his family for what they did to mine. My grandfather, who stole my mother from my father and made her his toy, and my uncle, who betrayed us, lied to our faces, and eventually was the one to kill Dad. Naturally, I couldn't bring myself to forgive either of them.
Speaking of forgiveness, Mom struggled to even forgive herself. During her time under my disgusting grandfather's control, she knew within her that what was happening was wrong, and that she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't bear to watch Dad die, not just because she loved him, but because she thought it was all her fault.
We spent a few days mourning over our loss with Nana. Kyle joined us in the gardens that day and said he had seen everything, thinking that it'd be best if we didn't go home right away. He was the one who broke the news to Nana; she cried as well, knowing that someone she treasured in his youth had been killed. She heavily sympathized with Mom, often staying up past the time I went to bed to talk things through with her. We returned to the palace before we left for home and gave Dad a proper burial, gravestone and all.
About a week after, Mom and I went back home, back where Dad and I lived before Leo took us away. Kyle tagged along. He told us his father "went missing" right after he left the gardens that day and had no where else to go. In a way, I accepted Kyle as my brother rather than cousin. Mom was fine with this decision, of course.
Entering through the old, creaky door of my home, I expected Dad to be sitting in front of the fireplace, as always, stroking the heat and warming up the house. However, it only felt cold when I walked in. My heart ached, not only the day I came home, but for months after that. Even with the seasons changing, our house still only felt cold. I'm thankful I had Mom and Kyle with me, because if I didn't, I'd probably would've gone and joined Dad, wherever he was, shortly after he left.

The first thing, I remember, when Mom came inside the house, she said it smelled like Dad. I thought it was odd, but I understood what she meant. She then started asking me all these questions about when we were living together in this little house; I did my best to answer, but it wasn't easy to hold back the tears. Just thinking about Dad got us sobbing. After a while of our cry fest, Mom asked me two more things before we got ready for supper. She asked if I loved her, even after being gone for so long, and if I could ever forgive her. I gave it some thought, but my answers were both yes. I told her I was willing to set aside what happened back at the palace, because I knew that wasn't her who tormented my father. It wasn't her fault that she was taken from Dad when I was little, either.
She then went on to say that she was sad that she missed out on most of my childhood and would've taken the chance to start over if she could. I told her that it didn't matter, because I had Dad back then, and that I had her now. We made a promise to each other to make things right and live peacefully, the three of us, until the end of our days. Mom did well to continue raising Kyle and I when our fathers weren't here to do so. We bonded quickly, and over time we learned to love and protect one another.
News spread like wildfire that Dad and Ika had both been dead for some time by my fourteenth birthday. As people were shouting around town that "the King and first Prince of the Avira Empire had passed" and "Prince Leo was nowhere to be found," we hid away in our home until the frenzy died down. Kyle helped with bringing groceries back home; he knew well that if Mom was seen out in public, her face would've been plastered all over the signposts.
Not too much time passed until the pride of the Avira Empire began to fall short. Many villages went into ruin, people broke out into fights everywhere... our whole world was in chaos. Thankfully, our village was far enough from the majority of the trouble that we didn't have to face it ourselves. This lasted for over a decade; we had grown so accustomed to the terrible news coming from every corner of the kingdom that we just decided to ignore it. That is, until I wanted to do something about it.

The night I turned twenty-five, I fell asleep and had a vision. I didn't know what to think of it at first, but it haunted me for days, weeks on end. I dreamt of the chaotic ruins of the palace up in flames, people melting into the floor. A cackling came out from behind the flames, and a pair of yellow eyes flashed out before everything went dark. There was more to it, but it's all I could remember remaining consistent in every vision. I told Mom and Kyle about this vision. Kyle thought it best to return to the city and restore the empire before things got any worse. Mom only slightly agreed, as she (jokingly) worried that I'd end up dying there in a fist fight with a thug. We laughed it off; I told them I'd make my decision after I slept on it one last time.
I had one last dream before I left for the city, it was of my father and mother. They were both smiling down at me, as if I were a baby being cradled. I could hear my father's voice... I woke up in the night, crying. Mom came in, sat on my bed, and talked with me, calming me down. She said that, whatever I had to do, she'd support me in doing it, as long as I was careful.