The Prince and The Pauper

Chapter 2

"What have I told you about this behavior!?" King Godith boomed.

In front of the throne, Black Mist floated with his arms behind his back and his head down. He cringed at his father's tone. Behind his brother, Astral looked at his father with a formal, emotionless stare, as he always did. Beneath the stare was someone who feared for his brother's well-being.

"I-I apologize, Father," the younger prince stammered. "I-I co-could n-"

"No excuses!!" Godith stood from his throne and floated over to his son. "I have high standards for both of you. I will not have you disgracing our royal name because of lack of self control!"

"Father, it was a simple mistake," Astral said calmly. "He has promised to try harder to control himself."

Still looking down, Black Mist nodded.

"No, he needs to be disciplined. Letting this slide will not teach the evil in him a lesson!" He hovered in front of Black Mist and lifted his son's head. "You know what will happen."

Black Mist's eyes reflected his fear. He nodded.

"Come with me, then."

Inside, Astral panicked. No! He had enough punishment in his life! Losing Mother was enough; why do you insist!? On the outside, he retained his calm demeanor.

Black Mist looked back at Astral with fear. Astral gave him a sympathetic look, signing "sorry," which was a fist rubbing circles around the chest with an apologetic expression. He turned around and left, not really all that eager to hear his brother's painful and horrified screams. He entered his room and closed the door.

Soon after, a knock on the door caused the prince to jump. He wasn't expecting anyone. He opened the door a crack and saw a servant hovering with tea for two on a tray.

"Would you like me to set up your tea?" he asked.  The sympathy in his voice was palpable.

Astral sighed and opened the door wider to let the servant in. "Please..."

The servant nodded and entered, setting the tea on the table at the balcony as well as the pastries. He placed them on a small heater so that they were kept warm.

~.Human's POV.~

Yuma entered his home, smiling. After spending time with his friends, singing and having fun, he was in a very good mood.

"Ah, Yuma!" Haru smiled. "How was your day, dear?"

"It was great!" Yuma said, smiling widely. "Me and my friends hang out at Tetsuo's house and sang karaoke."

"That's good, Yuma. Now, go see how Akari's doing while I get dinner started."

Yuma nodded and put his stuff away in his room. Then, he made his way to Akari's room. Akari was his sister, and she had a job in journalism. With all the action going on, it wasn't really hard to get a good story to report. Still, she sometimes needed help.

Yuma entered her room and peeked in. "Akari?" he called. "You need any help with anything?"

Akari, who was buried in a pile of paper and reports, waved her hand. "Here!"

Yuma made his way over to her and managed to  his sister. "You look like you could use some help getting through all of this!" he teased.

Akari waved it off. "Yuma, I need you to help me sort through all these. I can't have this a huge mess! I won't have anywhere to work well in."

Yuma nodded and started helping.

~.~.~

After hours and hours of going through paper and clearing the desk, both sighed in relief.

"It's done..." Akari sighed, sinking to the floor.

"Yeah..." Yuma looked around at the now neat room. "Try to keep it clean, will ya?"

Akari grinned slightly. "Yuma, I'm way to busy for that!"

He laughed. "Yeah, you're not too busy to talk to your friends!"

Akari chuckled, acknowledging the truth. Yuma grinned and leaned against the desk. He sighed.

~.Royal POV.~

Astral cringed at hearing the screams of terror and cries of apologizing from his brother. He couldn't bear to think about what they must be doing to him to produce such sounds. It was mortifying! No matter how many times this happened, he would never get used to hearing his brother plead for mercy like this.

After some hours of this, the screams stopped. He made sure the tea was blocked from the wind and made his way to collect Black Mist, who was surely traumatized by now. He sighed and waited outside of the doors for him to emerge.

A few more minutes crawled by, and the doors finally opened. Black Mist floated out with his head down and his gaze glassy. It was as if he saw something truly frightening and horrifying.

"Are you okay?" Astral asked, placing a delicate hand on his brother's slender shoulder.

Black Mist flinched when he felt the light touch. His entire body went rigid.

"Come." Astral took his broken brother's hand and led him to their room and out onto the balcony.

With the scent of the air wafting through the window, Black Mist seemed to come to life. He lifted his head and sniffed the sweet air for a moment before realizing where he was. He then looked around for his older brother, and as soon as he spotted him, he threw his arms around him.

Astral embraced him back reassuringly. "You're safe. You have no reason to worry anymore. It's over."

For a while, the brothers remained that way until the smell of the tea and the pastries woke them from their silence.

"Come. We must get you calm before you go crazy again," Astral teased.

Black Mist laughed. "It was a fluke, Brother. You know this."

"Yes, a fluke that was caused by fear of losing control."

The brothers laughed, in Black Mist's case, he laughed nervously, and floated to the balcony. They looked over the Earth as they rested.

~.Human's POV.~

Yuma and his friends were hanging out at his place. They didn't want to go out since at that time of day, the guards were multiplied for some strange reason. No one really explained why, and the guards were always being douches, so they decided not to ask them.

In the room, Cathy dueled against Kotori without the duel disks. For a simple table duel like this, they weren't needed.

So far, Cathy and her deck of ferocious felines was winning. Purring with delight, she made the finishing move to end the duel as Kotori's life points, which was being scored on a piece of paper with Takashi keeping track it, dropped all the way down to zero.

"I did it!" she giggled.

"That was a good duel," Kotori said with a smile.

Yuma grinned. "It sure was!"

Suddenly, there was some kind of commotion outside. The friends rushed out to see what was getting everyone, even the guards, upset.

There was some kind of dark, looming, eerie cloud hanging above them, and in its wispy grasp was two Astral Beings who looked very similar.