(Written for Rook who lives in my inbox and inspired by the knight Avery post by sacchariferouspoet on Tumblr) Inherent kindness did not exist. Not as far as Derek was concerned. As the crown prince of the Empire of Quelen, people were never kind to him unless they wanted something. People were either sycophantic damn near to the point of insulting, or as rude as possible while leaving room for plausible deniability. They hated or loved him for the crown, he was not a living being as far as they were concerned. That is what he believed until Avery waltzed right into his life and sat down and refused to leave, not that he wanted him to leave. Why would he want the only one to make the world seem bearable leave?

Avery has to accept he is gone. He drives himself over the edge grieving D3rlord3- Derek. He struggles to imagine living on without him, carrying around the memory of him. Making himself crazy he believes there's still a chance that Derek is still alive and he won't see every red flag telling him it is not Derek.