Hiii I'M BACK
I'm sorry for the long break, I've had 2 of my final exams this week so it was pretty stressful, lots of studying :/ but now half of the work is done and I can put more time into writing again :D
But hooooly potato, 6K reads thank you so much!! I've been gone for like 2 weeks and the story gained about 2K reads :0
Thanks to everyone for reading it and if you like this chapter, a vote or comment would make my day :D
Enjoy!
Clay was torn between heaven and hell.
On the one side he was relieved and happy to know Nick was safe, on the other hand the loss of his siblings teared his heart into pieces everytime he thought about them.
He wondered how his parents and Chris were doing. According to Darryl they got the same letter about their children's deaths as the one Clay had read.
He wished he could meet them, talk to them, or at least write to them. He had asked Darryl many times if he could send them a letter- but it was not allowed. No servant was entitled to be in contact with their families outside of the castle. Security measure.
He wondered how Chris was feeling, with two of her siblings dead and her other brother locked up in a castle, unable to speak to her.
At least Nick was safe. His best friend was the only one he had at the moment, even when he expected Darryl to take him back to the castle very soon.
Nick and him were still sitting in the circular room of the Black Rebellion, exchanging what had happened in each of their lives after they had been ripped apart.
Clay talked about his job in the castle and how he was spying on Prince George for the Rebellion- but he did not tell him how close they actually were.
Nick was talking about his time at the military training and the war front, shortly before the agents of the Black Rebellion had found him and brought him here.
"I'm going to work for Karl's section here, we are trying to kidnap Prince George or find a way to make him or the King blackmailable. Your information will really help on that, we might actually have a chance to fight against this stupid Empire! Isn't that great?"
The enthusiastic words of his best friend made Clay quite uncomfortable.
"But why would you want to harm George? That would not help at all."
Nick looked at him, confused.
"What? Why would that not help? Dude, we could kidnap the Prince! That could help a ton!"
"And what did he do?"
Nick frowned.
"What is wrong with you? He is the Prince. You hate him, as much you hate the King and the Empire. How can you defend the person that is responsible for the death of Cliff and Charlize?"
A sharp pain stabbed right through Clay's heart.
Nick was right.
Could George really just end the killing of the Vilis in the war? He knew about Cliff and Charlize. And Nick. And he did not do anything. He was just watching, watching as thousands of innocent people lost their lives.
"It makes sense. I guess. But I don't want anything to do with this. I'm quitting."
Nick laughed.
"You want to quit? You want to leave the Rebellion? Dude, that's bullshit! You are collecting our information, you can't let us down, not now that we are so close to success!"
Clay pressed his lips together.
"I don't want to be responsible for any harm you're doing to George."
His best friend frowned again.
"Okay, what is it with you and the Prince? What did he tell you? Is he putting you under pressure or anything?"
Clay shook his head.
What was he supposed to say?
Oh yes, Nick, I totally forgot to tell you, I'm good friends with our biggest enemy and I like him very much so I don't want you to kidnap or hurt him-
The words in his head sounded ridiculous.
He looked up from his hands he had been staring at and saw Nick looking at him deadly serious.
"Okay, whatever he told you, it is not true alright? He is trying to use you for something. Come on, this is the Pretiosi Prince, he doesn't care about us Vilis. Why would he let your brother and sister die? Why would he let all the other Vilis at the war front die?
I've seen them. I've seen them, Clay, they are all scared to their death, every day at least one person I know died. You have no idea because you haven't been there, but it is hell. The front is hell!
The screaming, the crying, the people begging for their lives before they get shot, the wounded teenagers in the hospital beds yelling for their parents before they close their eyes and never wake up again-…
And of course the Pretiosi know that. But they don't do anything. So please, don't defend them, don't believe anything this Prince told you."
He said the word Prince with such a disgust that Clay shivered for a moment.
It was true.
No matter how much he wanted to deny it, deep down he knew that Nick was right.
The Empire was killing off Vilis. Just because they could. And George was a part of that.
Clay winced a bit as one of the many doors of the room opened.
Darryl and Karl walked in, closely followed by Laricia. Her deep blue eyes looked extremely intimidating next to the two Vilis even though she had a slight smile on her face.
Karl grinned at Nick and Clay.
"Did you have a nice reunion? Sorry to disturb you, but Nick has to start his training and Clay, you and Darryl should head back to the castle soon."
Clay looked down at his watch. He had been talking to Nick for nearly 2 hours, but it had felt like a few minutes only. They both got up from their chairs and stood there for an awkward moment before Clay tightly hugged his long lost best friend.
"Stay safe brother and keep collecting information about the Prince. With the Rebellion we can avenge Charlize and Cliff."
After the two best friends had said their goodbyes, Karl lead Nick out of the door he and the others had just came through, while Clay followed Darryl.
To his surprise, they were not leaving the room to the underground passageway maze but through another door right next to it.
Confused Clay looked around the tiny room that was covered completely in white and had no furniture. The floor and the walls seemed to be made out of rubber or foam material and only a bucket full of water stood in the corner of the chamber.
He turned around to Darryl, as he saw Laricia closing the door.
"What are we doing here?"
The white and bare room made him quite uncomfortable.
Darryl smiled at him but that did not change anything about his oppressive feeling.
"Don't worry, we will be back at the castle soon. But first we need to know a few things."
Darryl stood to his left while Laricia was standing right in front of the door, making Clay feel even more locked up.
He felt a bit like a lamb, surrounded by two big sheep dogs.
"I've been talking to Karl and Laricia. And they agree with me that could be useful for the Rebellion. Very useful."
Clay backed away a little bit. What did he mean?
"Do you know anything about a potential power you might have?"
He stared at Darryl as if his ROS had gone crazy. A power? A power like those of the Pretiosi?
"W-what do you mean? I am a Vilis, you know that, what power am I supposed to have?"
Darryl shook his head and sighed.
"This is getting serious, Clay. We might have a chance to destabilize the Empire. So we need to know what you are hiding. Don't play games here. I know you wear green contacts, don't make a fool of me. Who are your parents?"
"They are- just normal Vilis."
"Well, I don't believe that."
Clay was shocked at the words of his ROS, the man he had felt closest to all this time.
Why should his parents not be his real parents? He had been with them all his life, they were his family. Cliff would have told him if he was adopted or anything.
"I am a Vilis, alright? My strange purple eyes are just a genetic defect, okay? You are overanalyzing this whole situation!"
Laricia stepped forward, looking at him curiously, ignoring what he had just said.
"I have been talking to Fulga right after the Queen's Competition, as she tried to tell everybody that you blocked her powers for just a moment. As everyone else I did not believe her, but due to your purple eye color, it doesn't sound very outlandish."
Darryl started to speak again.
"See, Clay, we only want to help you. Whatever power you have, you need to learn to control it. That could save your life one day."
"I- I HAVE no power! If I were a Pretiosi and had a power it would have shown already, every Pretiosi kid can already use it's power!"
"Calm down, Clay. If you have no power, that's fine. But let us try to find it at least. Maybe your genetic defect gave you not only purple eyes but also something else."
Clay was unsure how to react.
What Darryl said made sense, but he was also too scared to look for a power he might not even have.
How could it be hidden inside of him without him ever noticing? That was the part that did not make sense.
But what did he have to lose? They would still notice that he was a normal Vilis with strange eyes.
Nothing more.
"Alright." He said under his breath.
Laricia beamed.
"Lovely. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'll just try to simulate a risky situation, powers usually come out when your life seems to be at stake."
Clay wanted to ask how she would do that just when a wave of water hit him right in the face.
Why does it always have to be water? I hate this.
He felt his body falling to the soft floor, his wet hair hanging over his eyes once again.
Just as he wanted to take a deep breath, another serving of water seemed to go right into his nose.
He tried to cough but it did not help anything- he could not breath.
"Come on, try to resist me. Try to fight me. You have to want it!"
Clay stared at her angrily.
"How am I supposed to resist when you are trying to kill me with powers that are far out of my league!?"
Laricia chuckled.
"I'm not trying to kill you. The water in your nose doesn't do any physical damage. It just makes you feel like you're drowning but you're not."
"Oh what a consolation!" Clay spat out sarcastically, breathing shakily.
For a few minutes, Laricia kept attacking him with water, her and Darryl waiting expectantly for Clay to show any sign of backlash.
Only one time Laricia said that she felt a little resistance against her power, but Clay was not sure if he had been the reason for that.
After half an hour, Laricia said goodbye to Darryl and Clay, who was exhausted from the constant pressure and wet to the bone.
Darryl helped him up and patted his shoulder.
"You did really good, Clay, I'm sure your power will show soon."
"If I even have any." Clay choked out, breathing heavily.
Darryl laughed. "We will see. In a few days you can try again."
Clay turned around in shock. "Again? In a few days? I'm not doing this again, no chance!"
Darryl looked at him just as a father who looked at his stubborn child.
"Don't say that. You just need to relax a bit. And sleep a lot. Once your power shows I'm sure you will be eager to train it."
Clay shook his head. He still did not believe that he might have a power, it was too ridiculous. It would have shown while Laricia had been attacking him, sometimes he had been afraid to die. But it did not show. So why should there be anything?
Back at the castle Clay hurried to the servants' dormitory, falling onto his bed and closing his eyes immediately.
It was only noon but he felt like he could sleep through the rest of the day and the following night.
As he turned sideways, something crackled from underneath his pillow.
Grinning, he put a hand under it and grabbed the small piece of paper, already assuming who had put it there.
He was not diappointed as he recognized the handwriting.
George was asking him for another meet up at midnight in front of a room near the servants' canteen.
He put his head back down on his pillow, taking a deep breath.
The rest of the day seemed to pass by slower than a snail with back problems.
When Ben and Loris came back from their work earlier than expected, he asked them to play some boardgames to kill time.
They happily agreed and the next three hours Clay spent losing nearly every game, his thoughts far away, with a certain Prince.
As it eventually started to get dark outside, he was laying awake in the dorm of the servants, fully dressed in his working clothes, staring at the the bottom of the mattress above him.
The clock was finally coming near midnight and Clay was trying to distract himself by thinking about the day.
He failed miserably.
What if George found out that he was spying on him? He would never trust him anymore. Their friendship would be destroyed. He did not just spy on the Prince, he even gave this information to an organization who was fighting to overthrow him.
The thoughts in his head chasing each other made it hard for him to calm down- but they also prevented him from falling asleep which he was thankful for.
Five minutes before midnight he kicked the blanket from his feet, got up silently and hurried outside of the room full of sleeping servants.
After just two more minutes he was standing in front of the room George had told him, waiting excitedly for the Prince to show up.
In the distant he could hear bells chiming midnight.
Time passed.
One minute after midnight.
Two minutes after midnight.
Three minutes after midnight.
Four minutes after midnight.
Clay started to get nervous.
Five minutes after midnight.
Five and a half minutes after midnight.
The Prince had never been late before.
Nine minutes after midnight.
Ten minutes after midnight.
Was he at the wrong room?
Thirteen minutes after midnight.
He looked at the room number.
Still thirteen minutes after midnight.
No, it was exactly the room number George mentioned in his message.
Exactly twenty minutes after their agreed time, quick footsteps came around the corner of the hallway, making Clay turn around, feeling relieved.
But it was not George who walked up to him.
A grumpy looking soldier stared at him irritably, his orange eyes beaming in the dimly lit corridor.
Clay's heart was beating so hard as if it was about to jump out of his chest.
This was not good.
The soldier's rasping voice made him shiver.
"What are you dumb little servant doing out of bed? Hurry back to your dorm before I report this incident."
Clay did not have to be told twice, he turned around and ran back to the servants's dormitory as quietly as he could, glad that the soldier did not do anything to him.
He stopped in front of the dormitory door, holding his breath and listening into the silence for footsteps or other sounds of someone moving.
Nothing.
George did not show up.