The Boy With The Arrows

C H A P T E R • T W E N T Y F O U R

As if to add insult to injury, I walked in on Sapnap and Rae sharing a kiss only a few days after Wilbur's Declaration of Independence. The two of them were in the armoury, and the worst of it was, I'd had a suspicion something was going on. It was the reason I'd offered to fetch Sapnap to a meeting instead of allowing a servant to do it. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Leaning with my back against the outside wall of the armoury with a heavy weight in my chest, I waited patiently for them to finish having their moment. Trying to reconcile the genuine happiness I felt for my best friend with the stab of jealousy I felt over wanting what he had was a complicated process. My head and heart were in a tangle of conflicting emotions, and I sighed, allowing my back to slide down the wall, tilting my head to stare up at the grey clouds gathering at the sky.

I tried to distract myself with thoughts of the present. Dream had given Wilbur twenty four hours on the day the brunet had been dragged forcibly from the king's presence. That twenty four hours had long since transpired, and as promised, the army was now deployed around the borders of L'Manburg. Walls had been raised on their side of the border - strong, blackstone structures with turrets and battlements that looked impressive for such a small, young country. Punz was looking more and more serious these days, the blonde going from a happy go lucky strategist who loved explosions to a sombre and stoic commander who rarely smiled. It was hard to believe it, but we were at war, and the affect it had on the chief of the army was the first thing that really brought it from concept to a reality in my head.

Sapnap appeared from the armoury door, and locked it behind him, and I concluded that he must have let Rae out the back entrance. He jumped out of his skin when he turned, and saw me sitting there staring at him.

"Sheesh, Alexa, don't do that!" He muttered, swinging the keys around one finger. "How long have you been sitting there by yourself?"

I shook my head at him.

"Long enough," I responded, with a shrug. "I poked my head in, and decided it wasn't the time to interrupt, so I poked it out again."

Sapnap's cheeks began to turn pink almost immediately, and I couldn't help smiling at him. Somehow, he looked so much younger like this.

"You, uh... you saw that?"

"I'm happy for you, Sap," I said. "There's something real different about her, isn't there?"

"There is," he confessed, dropping my gaze in embarrassment. He held out his hands for me, however, and I took them, allowing him to pull me to my feet. "Is it bad that I still don't trust her entirely?"

I shrugged.

"I don't think so. You're not actually in a relationship yet, are you?"

"No," he shook his head. "I couldn't do that without trust. I'm just scared that... well. Karl and Quackity know me very well, and Rae is exactly my type. Surely they wouldn't send her in, knowing she'd find it easy to get close to me?"

I bit my lip, wondering if there was any truth in his suggestion.

"I don't know," I said at last. "You know them better than I do. I guess you can only give it time."

"That's true."

"Well,"I said, pulling my hands from his grasp, "We need to get going. Dream wants us for a meeting in the library, that's why I came down here."

"He wants us in the library?" Sapnap repeated. "What for?"

"Uh... we're at war? I'm the Queen and you're the chief strategist. You're not gonna let Punz do all the work are you?"

"Hell no," he muttered, immediately turning towards the stairs that led out of the arena. "He needs my help. Lets go."

I chuckled, and followed him up the stairs, and back towards the interior of the castle.

There was quite a gathering in the library when we reached it. The two guards who stood at attention by the door immediately allowed us through the heavy oak wood doors and into the gorgeous interior of the Royal library. The walls were painted in a calm shade of dark blue, making it seem cool and quiet inside, and the oak wood shelves were built to match the door, as well as the other furniture in the room. We wandered through the rows upon rows of books until we came upon Dream and Punz. The two of them were pouring over a large map of the kingdom that was laid out on the table, whilst George, Bad, and a taller dark haired male who I hadn't seen in some time conversed to one side of them.

"Hey Skeppy," I smiled at the newcomer. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"The bakery keeps me pretty busy," he shrugged, returning me an amicable smile. "And Bad is SO busy elsewhere..."

"Hey!" Bad whined, poking his friend in the arm. "You know I'm trying! I have an important job to do now..."

"I know," Skeppy chuckled, shaking his head.

"Speaking of," said Dream, lifting his head up from the map, "You need to go now, Skeppy. This meeting is confidential, unfortunately."

"What, really?" Skeppy complained, turning to look at Bad. "You said I'd be able to stay!"

"Dream, we can trust Skeppy, he's my best friend!" Bad stated. "I want him to stay."

It'd been a long time since I'd seen Bad cross his arms like an angry child, but then again, Skeppy tended to bring that out in him. He looked barely a second away from stamping his foot too. Dream, however, was having none of it.

"Bad, you know as well as I do that we need to be extremely careful who we reveal anything to. Ask Sapnap, if you want an example. He can tell you how well you can trust your best friends."

"Wow, thanks, Dream, way to rub it in," Sapnap rolled his eyes. "That wound's still fresh."

"It's true, though," Dream stated. "Skeppy, wether we trust you or not is unfortunately beside the point. What we have to discuss today is very serious. Bad can come and find you when we're done."

"No I can't, I have things to do Dream! I'm so busy now, being Prime Minister is hard work I'll have you know."

"It's fine, Bad, I'll go," Skeppy sighed. "Let me know later when we can hang out, okay?"

Bad was looking more and more upset, but he relented.

"Okay," he said in a small voice. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Bad, really," Skeppy smiled at his friend. "Don't worry about it."

The oak door clicked shut behind him, and we were left with a depressed looking prime minister.

A/N: sorry skephalo fans I had to kick him out