Eclipse

Chapter 9

Eclipse's POV

"Hi Akihiko, h- woah-!" I said, Akihiko grabbing my hand excitedly and dragging me down the hall towards his room. Once we were in there, I looked at him with a confused look.

"Guess what I found!"

"Hm?" Akihiko then dragged me to the far wall. I watched in confusion as he pushed aside the bookcase there. Against the wall was what looked like a little door. He pulled the carved out bit of wall aside and told me to go on inside first. I hesitantly got down and crawled into the little space, soon looking around in awe at this, I suppose secret room. 

Akihiko climbed in after me and pulled the cut-out bit of the wall back in place so it was hidden. But now it was kind of, super dark. 

"Uh. How are we supposed to see??"

"Oh right, sorry hold on." He said, feeling around a bit before grabbing something that made an awful squeak. Whatever it was sounded like it really needed a cleaning and some oil. After a little bit more of awful squeaks, the small room was lit up. 

"Gee, that lamp could use a good cleaning. It looks rusty."

"Probably, it's old it looks like."

"Well we can worry about that for another time. What is this place?"

"I dunno, I found it last night. Isn't it cool though?"

"It is, look at all these scrolls and books." I said with interest, grabbing one of the old, rolled up pieces of parchment. As soon as I unfurled the paper, I stared at the writing. It was my dad's. Akihiko was busy looking at the books, so I quietly collected the scrolls and moved them next to me. 

I curled up, reading the scroll quietly. Trying my best to make out what was written since the ink looked a little bit smudged and faded out sometimes. I smiled slightly while beginning to read. They were old letters that my dad wrote, well, more like diary entries. My dad must've found this place when he was little and used it as a place to write or just get away.

"Find something interesting?" Akihiko said curiously. I closed the scroll before giggling at his confused look.

"Sorry, sorry, uh. Not really. What're you finding??"

"Look, it's about animals." He said, holding the book he was reading out. I set the scroll down and skimmed through the page, seeing my dad was taking notes in the books too. 

"So, what's in the scrolls?"

"Oh... um. Well, can't really keep it from you I guess. They're my dad's.."

"..Huh?"

"See.. well, it's a crazy story. My dad, he was actually the prince here, like years ago. And, he fell in love with one of his servants. And his parents weren't exactly approving of that, so.. he ended up running away with my other dad.. and then the king and queen had another son, and, well, you know how it is from there." I said, Akihiko staring at me. I smiled awkwardly before he shook his head.

"That uh. That does sound craz- wait your dad is a prince?"

"Mhm. I don't think you would remember or even know about it since it happened before either of us were born, but he went "missing" like 16, 17 years ago."

"Wow, the king and queen really are the, well, king and queen of lying huh?"

"Yeah, seems so."

"Does your dad have anything to do with your plan about, you know, helping me?"

"Mhm. But. I'm worried about it.."

"Why?"

"Well.. I was talking to, a friend, I guess, about it. And he told me it could be really dangerous. And I don't want you or anyone else getting hurt or punished because of me." I said quietly, still anxious about this. I'd feel so bad if Akihiko, or my dads, or any of the servants or the villagers got hurt or killed just because I did something stupid.. 

"Hey.." Akihiko said, snapping me out of my thoughts. He smiled slightly and put his arm around me. I was a bit surprised by his action, but it felt comforting, so I leaned into his side a bit and relaxed. I kind of wished my parents were here so I could talk to them about it. Maybe they'd know what to do. Or maybe they'd just scold me and take me back home.

Akihiko went back to reading one of the books in silence while I decided to turn into my side a bit. I put my arm carefully over his chest so he could keep one hand resting on his stomach with the opened book. My head rested carefully on his shoulder as I decided to look at the pages as well. I can see that my dad liked taking notes long before he became my 'teacher'. 

After a bit longer of laying like this, I carefully lifted my head with a yawn. Akihiko smiled faintly, tucking some of my hair behind my ear before mumbling he'd walk with me back to the gates. Once we were there, I gave him a hug before rushing down the long pathway. 

"There you are, finally." Grant said, pulling himself up from sitting on the ground. I laughed, helping him dust off his shirt and pants.

"Sorry. I told you that you could've stayed with my grandma, you didn't have to sit out here all day."

"Well I wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay."

"Pfttt, my prince in shining armor." I said with a laugh. Grant smiling faintly before clearing his throat and mumbling,

"Oh. By the way... Our parents are here."