The Cursed Princess Club fanfic: The Secret of The Plaid Family

Ch. 2

The towheaded prince slammed the library door behind him with a loud thud. He leaned against the heavy wooden door for a moment before sliding onto the floor, hands covering his face in shock. "Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! I can't believe I just did that!" he whispered-yelled to himself. Lance is definitely mad. Oh, God, what was I thinking? Lance will tell Blaine, then Blaine will tell dad. Then I'll be hauling Laverne until I'm sixty! Crap! I'm so stupid!"

Frederick stood up and walked pass the enormous shelves filled with books. The colossal brackets towered over him; Their long shadows gave the young prince a sense of comfort. A second floor to the library was fronted by an over hanging balcony and trimmed with a small set of wooden stairs. When he was a child, he would often hide among the literary labyrinth to escape his father's cumbersome lectures; A vast paper maze that hid a plethora of colorful characters that he knew better than his own family. His reminiscing was interrupted by a dull ache at his chest. He winced as he rubbed the tender spot in the middle of his sternum. Frederick had been dealing with this ache for a few months now. On most days the aching felt itchy and slightly tingly, but it was the rare aches that Frederick feared the most. They always came at night; It announced its arrival with a smoldering sting that awakened him from his sleep. The fiery ache would spread all over his body like a flood; Every nerve aflame with pain and every muscle tight and unyielding like steel. Those nightly pains would leave his body a paralytic knot and his eyes streaming with tears, all while he whimpered into the cold night. When he first told his father about the ache, he didn't believe him and even scolded Frederick for trying to get out of his combat training. His brothers thought it was all in his head, so he's just been dealing with it. Frederick continued to walk until he reached the furthest corner of the library, hidden from view by a large shelf underneath the balcony. No one really knew about this, but there was a secret compartment in the rise of the staircase and it has served as a hideaway for Frederick ever since he was small. He removed one of the loose panels of wood and crawled inside. The space was decorated moderately with a bundle of soft blankets in one corner; a tidy stack of books were set up near a brown sack full of snacks and drinks; and an oil lantern with a few tins of extra oil by corner of the small room. Frederick sat in the little space taking in deep breaths to calm himself down; his breathing whistling through the enclosure like a soft airy lullaby. Why did I lash out at Lance like that? He was only trying to help me, but..... Who am I kidding? What he said wasn't helpful! It was just word for word what Dad was telling me only in a different volume! Ugh! I can't stand it! I'm so tired of them treating me like shit because god forbid I do anything remotely "unmanly". (mocking Dad tone) Frederick, why must you engage in such unmanly behavior like reading and caring about the environment. All those things are so girly. Why can't you be more of a thick headed musclephile like Lance or a narcissistic control freak like Blaine. If you don't prove yourself to me you'll never be good enough.

Angry tears streamed down Frederick's face as that phrase ran through his mind over and over again;

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH....

He curled up in a little ball as he continued to silently cry until he drifted off to sleep.

"Beautiful! Wonderful! You are an absolute god, Your Highness." gushed the photographer as Blaine posed for his new calendar of the month. "Thank You, Pierre." he replied as he slipped out of his merman costume. As he was changing in to his regular clothes, he heard the large wooden doors open with a loud bang.

"Blaine!" yelled out Lance.

Needless to say, his thundering introduction caused Blaine to nearly slip and fall and Pierre to drop his paints in alarm, splattering oily colors all over the floor. "Wahhhh! Lance! How many times have I told you to knock before entering!" Blaine yelled as he frantically gathered his clothes off the hue stained floor. Blaine went over to his brother; A somber frown on the normally goofy middle sibling's face. "I need to talk to you about Frederick." Lance said in a low voice. Blaine stared at his brother in shock; He's never seen his second brother look so serious. Blaine silently waved Pierre away. The artist made his way out the door as he mumbled under his breath. As the door shut, Blaine led his brother over to one of the couches in the room to sit down. When both brothers were seated, Blaine looked over to Lance. "Go on." He said. As Blaine got dressed, Lance told him everything that had transpired in the hallway. Blaine's eyes went wide as he heard about Frederick's surprisingly cruel retort. When Lance finished his story, his eyes became downcast. " I don't understand. I've never seen him like this before. Frederick is normally so calm after Dad's critiques, but he just looked so angry."

"Do you know where he went?" Blaine calmly asked.

"He's probably in the libra-Hey!" Lance started but was stopped when Blaine suddenly grabbed his arm and started to walk out of the room with him in tow. "Well this un-princely behavior won't do at all. We have to find Frederick and confront him about this."

"But bro, maybe we should give him some space."

"Nonsense, Lance. We have to teach our little brother to keep his emotions in check and to apply his frustrations to bettering himself. You were only trying to help him, it's not your fault that his performance is inadequate."

"But Blaine.... You didn't see his face. His eyes.... It was like staring into a fire pit. He honestly scared me....."

"Lance. This is Frederick we're talking about. He's ranked the lowest in our combat class. What could he possibly do to us?"

Lance and Frederick spent the whole day trying to find their younger brother but found no trace of him. They didn't even see Frederick at dinner that night, which irked their father in to a passive aggressive rant about his "irresponsible" son . They didn't tell him that Frederick had skipped out on shadowing. Before going to bed, Blaine told Lance that the search would continue tomorrow. If they didn't find him in the morning then they would surely find him at the Plaid Ball happening that night. Lance, normally a brave young man, couldn't help but feel a twinge of dread in his stomach at the thought of confronting those livid green eyes.

Frederick woke up to a dull ache in his neck and spine. He groaned in pain as he sat up, stretched, and opened his eyes. His breath quickened as he remembered what transpired the other day. "Oh, crap! Did I sleep here the entire night!" he thought as he removed the panel and crawled out. When

he looked over to the grandfather clock in the middle of the room, his face paled as he saw the time. "OH, SHIT! ITS 12:53! I MISSED ALL OF MY LESSONS!" He wrung his hands through his hair as he started pacing around frantically all while making a weird high pitched noise. Frederick quietly shuffled out of the library, hoping that no one would see him. "Ok. Not only is dad furious, now he probably wants to kill me. Oh, man! If anyone finds me, I'm so screwed! Maybe I can sneak out of the palace and into the outer garden." The younger brother silently made his why down the hall, flinching at every creak and ducking into rooms at every voice. Surprisingly, there was hardly anyone in the hallways which he thought was odd, but he continued on his way to the garden. Then Frederick came to the danger zone of the castle: the master bedroom.

The large double door with an ornate dark wooden lion head on the mantle glared at the boy with its piercing ruby eyes. Across from the door was the entrance to the other hallway and to door that led to the garden. All I have to do is sneak past the door and then I'm home free. Frederick quickly sprogged his way past the door, taking extra care in muffling the squeak of his shoes. Almost there.

Then came a loud crash.

He froze mid step and turned to the door. Behind it came muffled cursing and shuffling. Is that Mom? What is she doing in there? " No. I need to get out of here." He was about to continue his journey to the garden when another thud came from the room followed by more cursing. Frederick looked at the door again with a concerned frown. Is she hurt? The blonde prince took a deep breath before turning on his heels and heading over to the bedroom. His hand hovered over the door knob as his mind raced with second and third thoughts. Maybe I shouldn't do this. Mom hasn't talked to us in months... check that, I don't think shes ever really talked to us. But still.... "Mom? Are you ok in there? Do you need help?" He asked as he opened the door to see a familiar sight.

"Oh."