Fate is not simple as ending a story. It's unpredictable and uncontrollable. Sometimes it takes courage of one person to rewrite the fate.
And sometimes that before that realization comes a pit of despair.
The moment Claude opened his eyes, he knew something was wrong. It was a small feeling like an itch, persistently growing stronger.
Unable to pinpoint the reason for the restlessness, Claude squinted, trying to push away the drowsiness clouding his mind. It took him a while to get his bearings as he aimlessly looked around with a lost expression.
The room was the same as usual. ...No, not as usual. Cold.
It was cold. And empty.
He slowly sat up, clutching his throbbing head. He could feel the remnants of foreign magic running through his body.
Even with his scattered state, he could tell it was the the spell used to forcefully put him to sleep. And it was familiar. Awfully familiar.
A quiet breath slipped past Claude's lips as he looked at the empty space beside him. His fingers curled on the blanket as a burning sensation scorched his heart.
Memories flooded his mind. Gentle at first before coming in violent waves.
Uncurling his fingers, he looked at the thing poking his palm. A lone pendant glimmered in blue hue.
"Why..."
Claude murmured, enclosing his fingers into tight fist.
Unfortunately, no one was there to answer his question. The person who could answer him long left for somewhere far away.
Claude fingers faintly trembled. The pendant in his clenched fist... It was cold. Lifeless. Lacking any resemblance of warmth, as if it never adorned someone's neck.
Violent emotions surged through his veins and he sucked in a sharp breath to calm it.
While trying to keep the bubbling emotions at bay, his eyes gazing at the pendant fluctuated unstably.
Again. It was as if fate was mocking him. An encore of a regretful event were repeating itself and once again he was helpless against it.
It was unclear how long he kept staring at the pendant with unfocused pair of eyes when a loud bang on the door made him twitch, snapping him out of his trance.
The look on his face as he lifted his head was eerily void.
"Your majesty!" Felix's frantic cry came muffled through the door.
Claude barely moved. Blinking as if he had lost all senses and couldn't process anything. It was like a distant noise buzzing in his ringing ears.
"Your majesty! Please open the door! Is (Y/n) with you?! Is she alright? Can I see her?"
(Y/n)...
That's right. Will she be here?
Like a drop of water startling the still river, the thought rippled through his muddled mind.
He looked around. Had he searched the room?
Claude hoisted himself off the bed. Were you hiding in the room? Playing a prank like usually you did?
Claude walked around with weak steps, his eyes flickering, searching, looking everywhere in hopes of finding you.
"(Y/n)..?" He called out softly and waited for a reply. He frowned when his words were met with silence.
"(Y/n)?" He called out again, sternly this time. It was still a weak mumble with no energy. His staggering feets carried him around the room. "(Y/n), please stop this madness. It isn't funny."
In his head, he knew the room was empty, it was devoid of your presence yet he kept chanting your name as he searched the place like a madman, going as far as to check under the bed and the wardrobe.
"...She's not here."
Claude mumbled as he covered his face and crumpled against the wardrobe in defeat.
What had he expected?
Of course, he knew you weren't there. The moment he woke up with an empty feeling in his heart, he already realized it.
You left. You left despite all his desperate pleas not to.
Even though he realized it, accepting it was different matter altogether.
A promise was made. A promise of forever. No matter how childish it was, he cherished it. But now, he wondered if it was a lie.
Did you tell him sweet empty words to appease him and had no intent to keep it?
Claude felt his heart twist, like a knife was being gouged into his flesh, brutally shredding it.
He clenched the pendant tightly as he shook his head. It couldn't be. He knew there were tons of things you kept from, lying about almost everything but...but he believed you would never lie about your feelings.
You loved him. You said so, with your words, with your actions. With the promise of forever.
So why was he feeling betrayed?
"...She left."
Claude bit his lips harshly. His chest was burning yet his insides felt cold.
No, you had no choice. You said so yourself. You had no choice but to leave. You didn't leave willingly. No, you never wanted to abandon him.
Claude kept mumbling under his breath, trying to prove the pain in his heart wrong. Still couldn't erase the deep feeling of betrayal.
No. You loved him.
You did.
And he loved you, did he not? Wasn't that enough? So why was he doubting it?
Why was his heart hurting so bad?
Heaving a deep exhale, he closed his eyes, trying to regulate his irregular breathing and calm down his hammering heartbeats.
"I'm sorry, Claude..."
He clenched his teeth tightly and bit the inside of his cheek until the skin broke and metalic taste filled his mouth.
It was annoying the way his mind replayed moments of your soothing hugs, and your calming voice in his ears as you shushed him whenever he was overwhelmed.
Laughter bubbled in his throat and escaped his lips.
He didn't restrain his choking laughs. It was better to laugh than to acknowledge the burning sensation in his eyes, prickling with wetness he didn't want to shed.
Claude roughly pressed on his closed eyes.
Bang! Bang!
"Your majesty! Please answer me!"
Claude held on to the pendant like a desperate man, not minding the pain as it sliced through his skin. The phantom pain paired with the bitter metalic taste on his tongue grounded him.
It was okay. Nothing you done would change the fact he loved you.
No matter what absurd action you took, his heart won't waver.
It was fine. As long as he held on to the love he felt for you, everything could be overcome.
He calmly kept reminding himself.
Bang! Bang!
He felt irritation soaring up inside.
Pursuing his lips, Claude took deep breaths. Slowly Claude took control of his body and finally, his breathing settled down, his trembling body subsiding as a numbness spread his veins.
Claude pulled back his shoulders and stood straight, the burning emotion in his eyes turned cold, sinking deeper into the icy void until nothing broke through the still surface but chilling pair of glaring eyes.
It was a familiar mask. A forgotten one. One he never thought had a use again.
In the suffocating quietness of his raging thoughts, the loud banging had turned into a persisting annoyance.
Having no energy, Claude dragged his unwilling feet to the door and opened it. He was instantly greeted by Felix's pale face.
Felix bowed his head after seeing the cold expression on Claude's face.
"Your majesty, please pardon my intrusion." Felix shakily exhaled and tried to peek into the room despite knowing how inappropriate he was being. "Is it alright if I see (Y/n)?"
"..."
"Your majesty...?" Felix lifted his head and his heart sank as he noticed something odd about him. Claude's eyes looked red around the rims, a cutting sharpness to them that wasn't there before.
Stomach knotting in dread, Felix rushed inside the room. His knees almost buckled when he saw the room was empty.
"Your majesty, where is she?" Felix demanded urgently.
Claude stared at him without uttering a word.
Felix clenched his shaking fists. Claude's cold eyes felt daunting. His silence ominous.
With quick strides, Felix closed the distance and pulled Claude's shoulder to look him in the eyes. "Where is (Y/n)?"
After what felt like an eternity of glaring at him, Claude finally spoke in halting voice that sounded more of a corpse than a living person and it wasn't what Felix wanted to hear.
"She's gone."
Felix immediately let go of his shoulder and stumbled backwards, eyes blown wide. "W-What..?"
Heaving deep breaths, Felix looked at Claude with wide eyes. He knew he should ask for clarification, and demand Claude for the explanation but he couldn't. Instead, Felix averted his eyes.
The look in his sworn brother's eyes was hauntingly familiar. And the pendant wrapped around his fingers, dangling lifelessly hammered home the painful truth.
You left yet again without saying a word.
Felix recalled the things you said to him last night which he assumed to be a dream. It was real. It was dreadfully real and now he felt like he was stuck in a nightmare.
The news travelled like an inferno and it didn't take long for the whole imperial ground to engulf in chaos and despair.
***
A strange quietness permeated the imperial grounds, engulfing the once cheerful palaces into deafening silence.
One whole day had passed and yet there was no news of you.
Athanasia quietly looked out the window, her eyes blank and distant. Lucas sat across her, munching on cookies with an irritated look.
Lucas internally sighed. But unusually he kept his thoughts to himself as his eyes closely observed the girl lost in her thoughts.
He knew the fragile state of her mind and the fact she finally showed herself after locking herself up for a whole day after having a meltdown about the shocking news. It took a lot of begging and pleading to get her out. There was no way he was risking pushing her on the edge again.
"I was wrong,"
Lucas paused and looked at Athanasia. Her voice was low and trembling with deep resentment. Or was it a grudge?
Lucas followed her gaze and looked at the Garnett palace. A quiet sigh escaped his lips again. He instantly knew who she was talking about.
Her father, his majesty, Claude. He was oddly quiet and obsessively lost in work. Contrary to everyone's expectations, he was still going on about his day like nothing happened.
Everyone thought he would go berserk and they would likely witness another massacre, instead, he seemed almost indifferent to the shocking news. There was a constant line of officials and nobles going in and out of the palace. It was like he was drowning himself in work to forget everything.
Lucas had a suspicion but he didn't dare share his thoughts. Athanasia had every right to be upset about the situation and he wasn't going to justify the neglectful actions of her father.
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts as Athanasia turned to him with an empty look in her eyes.
"I thought he cared," Athanasia continued in a trembling voice. The cookie in his hand slowly crashed as he paid close attention to her words and expressions. "I truly believed he had changed, that he cared for us, cared for Mom. But he doesn't. He never did back then, and he doesn't now. He never changed. What was I thinking? Hoping for something so impossible, so useless?"
Lucas coldly glanced at the crashed cookie in his hand. Ah, how funny.
Lucas internally sneered. Of course. What do you expect from such bastards? First your Mom, that cowardly person run away without thinking about how her actions would hurt others. And now your father whose strange actions are hurting her again. How annoying.
He knew something like this would happen. Believing in someone was stupid, especially bastards who like to throw empty words around.
He had someone who had left him despite promising him otherwise. What else could you expect from feeble mortals who whimsically allowed their emotions to rule over them?
Connection brought nothing but pain. It was useless to think otherwise.
He scoffed, dusting off the crumbs of the cookie. "That's right. How can you be so stupid?"
Athanasia flinched and Lucas immediately realized his mistake but it was too late to take it back.
Athanasia turned around to face him, her eyes wet, face red with anger and sorrow. "Yes, I'm stupid. So stupid to hope my father would love me as his child. So stupid to want my family to stay together. For Mom to come back. I'm really stupid! In the end, it's no different than in the past! I was stupid back then, I'm stupid now. Nothing changed."
Lucas grew flustered as tears rolled down Athanasia's cheeks. Shit, he didn't mean to upset her.
"N-no, you're not stupid. I didn't mean--" He trailed off when Athanasia shoved him away.
Like a trapped restless animal, her eyes looked around.
"Why did it turn out this way? Why did Mom leave?" Athanasia asked desperately. "Why is Dad not doing anything?"
Lucas cautiously looked at the restless Athanasia. He let out a sigh. "Your father is a bastard. Don't shed tears for him. As for your Mom, well, she's nothing but a coward."
Athanasia paused and turned to him with a glare. "Don't call Mom a coward! She's not!"
Lucas rolled his eyes. He knew he should hold back but he couldn't help the cynical thought. "Then why did she run away? Only cowards run away without saying a word."
"Shut up! Shut up! Mom's not a coward!"
Lucas immediately regretted his words. He didn't flinch despite the Athanasia's best efforts to punch him.
"Really? Is there any use to shed tears for someone who wouldn't care?"
"She cares! She's not heartless like you!"
"And yet I'm here and she's left," Lucas said coldly.
Athanasia jerked forward and threw a punch to his face. Lucas caught her hand with a scowl, observing the deadly glare thrown his way. His scowl deepened even further seeing her miserable state.
He knew he was making things worse but he couldn't help it. He was so agitated with his helplessness. Seeing Athanasia cry all day without being able to help her was pissing him off. Wouldn't it be better if she expect her parents nothing but failure and she wasn't at fault?
"Tell me, princess, why did she leave? Give me a good reason for her cowardly action. Oh, nothing to say. Well it's hard to justify a coward's action."
Athanasia pursed her lips, her eyes flashing with anger. Yet no words of protest left her lips.
Athanasia yanked her wrist free from Lucas's grip. Looking at him with unstable eyes, her face turned dark.
As if something inside her was lit on fire, she rushed to the door.
Startled, Lucas chased after her.
"Where are you going?"
"To get answers."