Hero Vs Villain (BoyxBoy)

Break In

Author's Note: Thank you to @Ushindi for this incredible art of Ridley and Vandel! They both look amazing! I'm absolutely in love with their outfits. Ridley's flower crown is especially adorable. Thank you so much to everyone who's sent me fanart, it always makes my day! As always, if you want to send any art my way you can send it to my Instagram @Captaincleanfreak 

Ridley

Evening had fallen when Vandel and I finally slipped into Stefan's room. It had been surprisingly easy to break into. There were a few hidden corridors leading from the royal family's chambers out of the castle as an escape route in case of emergency. Only the most elite of the royal guards knew about it.

Honestly, knowing I was using this treasured information against the king I was supposed to protect made me feel sick to my stomach but this needed to be done. The fate of Alteria depended on it.

I would punish myself for this betrayal later.

Vandel turned back into his human form upon entering, glancing around. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said he had a lot of books. This is wild." The demon prince wrinkled his nose. "I bet he doesn't even read half of these." He yanked a book from the shelf. "Like look at this. Mushroom growing 101. Who the hell would ever buy this and be like 'yeah, this seems like an interesting read.'"

I shot him a pointed glance. "Please don't touch anything that isn't going to be useful. If he finds out we were in here it could ruin everything."

I moved over to Stefan's desk now. Everything was organized meticulously, papers stacked and filed, trinkets organized each in a specific place. I noticed a small golden scale at the corner of his desk. The symbol of justice. The sight of it made my stomach turn.

I noticed now that Vandel's gaze was also locked on a trinket. A thin feather made of crystal. I couldn't help but note how similar it was to the feathers on Vandel's masquerade costume. I suppressed the thought, shaking my head. I didn't have time to get distracted by other things. We were working under a pressing time restraint, I had to get the evidence and get out.

Quickly I began to carefully file through his papers, opening every drawer and file I could get my hands on. I had been in this room so many times, never realizing its occupant was far more monstrous than our enemies. To think I had spent weeks in this very room researching corisathium by his side, all while he played me for a fool. The thought turned my stomach to ice water.

I looked through paper after paper but not a single thing I saw seemed out of the ordinary.

"Gods, I don't know if this is going to be any use," I whispered quietly. "He had all his documents in order but there's absolutely nothing about anyone he might have do his dirty work."

"Well obviously," Vandel said. "He probably hid the files. Even you aren't that stupid Ridley. He's not going to just leave out documents that say 'woopdiddly doo I'm planning a regicide'."

"That would have been a wonderful observation about ten minutes ago."

"Sorry...being in this room is throwing me a little off my game."

"Why?" I asked, glancing to him.

Vandel shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I'm ready to focus now. The important thing is to find where he keeps his secret documents."

We were running out of time.

"How are we supposed to do that? He could come back at any second." I anxiously ran my hands through my hair in a desperate attempt to calm down.

"Hmm," Vandel thought for a moment. "Okay, we have to remember it's Stefan we're talking about here. He's arrogant and conceited, so much so that I'm sure he thinks no one is ever going to catch on to him. Going by that logic he's smart enough to hide the files but I doubt he thinks anyone is going to be on his trail. Lack of fear leads to laziness. Check the drawers."

"I already did."

"Not the drawers themselves, underneath. I bet there's a secret compartment there."

"But that's the oldest trick in the book."

Vandel nodded, crossing his arms. "Precisely. It was probably the first thing he thought of. Hell, knowing how arrogant he is he probably thinks he's the first person to come up with it."

I bit my lip. "I don't know Vandel..."

"Damnit Ridley, someone hid the most powerful drug in the world under a chicken. Just trust me when I say I'm 99.9999 percent sure about this."

Gods I hoped he was right. If not I was about to waste the last of our precious remaining time on a dead end. I would just have to trust Vandel's intuition. Taking a deep breath I slid open the first drawer, lifting it from the bottom.

Nothing.

My heart sunk.

"Try the next one," Vandel urged.

I let out a low shaky breath, nervously yanking the drawer open. Cautiously I felt around on the bottom of the door when suddenly my fingers found something, a small tab sticking out near the back corner. Taking a deep breath I pulled the tab up and....

"Checkmate!" Vandel cheered.

The entire bottom of the drawer had come up revealing a secret compartment filled to the brim with papers.

The demon let out a little sigh of relief. "Thank the Gods that worked because I just totally lied. I was only like...30 percent sure that I was right. Vandel for the WIN!"

"Please don't refer to yourself in third person," I hissed, though I couldn't stop a small smile from creeping into my voice. Vandel had figured it out. But now I had an even more pressing matter at hand. There were dozens of papers, one of which must contain the names of the people Stefan used to carry out his dirty work. It would take some time to go through these and I couldn't steal them all or Stefan would realize he had been robbed and might catch on to us. And that's when suddenly we heard a sound.

Vandel and I both froze.

"Shit," Vandel whispered.

Footsteps were coming down the hallway. Stefan must be returning. My heart sunk. We had come so far, and for what? If we couldn't get these documents out it would all be for nothing.

I wasn't close enough to make it to the to secret entrance before he arrived. I might be able to have Vandel turn into his bird form and fly the documents out but if I was caught Stefan would be on to me within seconds. He might even try to have me executed to cover his tracks. Gods what was I supposed to do?

"Ridley," Vandel suddenly hissed. "I have a plan. Just hide behind the desk and find the right document. I'll distract him."

I stared at him, wide eyed. "How are you supposed to do that?! You're in enemy territory. He could have you killed."

Vandel sighed softly. "I don't have time to explain. Just...promise me what I'm about to do won't make you think any less of me."

"Wait...what are you planning to-"

And that's when the door swung open and Stefan appeared.