(Beforehand Note: I'm writing Maxon's POV from the time the rebels came to where it ended last chapter; also this is a looong chapter :)Enjoy)
I was pacing my room, a common habit I do when I'm nervous. I was trying to mask up the courage to talk to America. I hate how I left things. I should have just told her the truth. I need to tell her the truth. I dont know what to do. I'm conflicted. I want to tell her the truth but I'd hate to ruin the surprise....
The alarms sounded. Oh, God. The rebels are here. You would think I'd be used to this by now; I'm not. In a second there were maids and butlers at my door ushering me to the royal safe room. I ran to the end of the hall, and hit a latch to go down the stairs. My parents were already there, as well as Celeste, Kriss, and Natalie. Where were Elise and America? Just then Elise comes through another entrance, crying. I feel a little bit of weight rise off of my chest. She's alive, okay.
But wait, what about America? Just like that the weight on my chest came back, heavier than before. What if it's to late? What if they got to her? No. Stop, she will be fine. She's going to come through one of the entrance's any second. Then she's going to laugh at me for being so worried. She's going to shake her head at me and joke about being able to kick their buts any day.
I waited and waited.
She never came.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. I started to panic. What if they did get her? No, Maxon stop. She was probably walking in the halls, and a guard took her to a nearer safe room. Or she was just closer to another safe room. Or she went to hide in a safe room with her maids. But wait.Oh, god. What if she was walking in the garden?
Suddenly, the door to the safe room flung open, revealing a guard.
"Your Majesty, the coast is clear. The rebels came and went."
Came and went? It has to have been at least an hour. I get up from the corner I was sitting, isolated. It just occurred to me that should have been comforting the girls instead of feeding my thoughts fear. I look over at father. He nodded at the guard and then looked my way. He looked pissed.
I quickly walk out the door, and make a break for my room. I can't deal with anybody right now. When I get to my room I quickly shut my door, but as moments pass a knock comes to the door. America! I thought. I was wrong. As I swung the door open a butler greeted me.
"Your Highness? Is there anything you need?"
"Send Lay America to my room. Now." I say.
"Yes your Highness." he said. With that, he left.
I started pacing back and forth again. I was anxious. I need to collect my thoughts, figure out what to say to America. What if she doesn't want to see me? She did say to give her space. That hurt.
Five minutes have passed when the butler returned.
"Your Highness, we uh.....," he seems to fumble with his words," uh, Lady America is not in her room. We're having guards check all of the safe rooms now. I could feel a pit in my stomach, a lump in my throat.
"Very well." I said as my voice cracked a bit, motioning the butler to leave. I continued pacing.
I had about five more minutes alone with my thoughts, each one getting more an more fearful, when I heard another knock at my door. I spinned around.
"Father." I say rather disappointed. My dread came back to my body.
"Ah, yes son. I have come to tell you that I will be leaving for the trip to new Asia now. I shall be a few months or so."
"A few months? We just had a rebel attack!" and America might be missing, or dead, I add in my head.
"And? Son you don't get to make the calls. I'm King and quite frankly we need to make good relations with New Asia. I take my leave now." he says and walks out of my room.
I huff, irritated. With him gone means I'll have to keep up the palace with mother. But what about America? No, I can't let myself worry. A prince doesn't worry. The guards will find her in one of the other safe rooms and everything will be fine. I can't allow myself to worry right now.
I walk over to my office, open the door, sit in my desk, and instead of doing the work I'm supposed to be doing my eyelids get heavy and I drift to sleep.
~---~
I wake up with my face laying on top of paperwork I meant to do yesterday. Was I drooling? I fell asleep in clothes from yesterday so I decide to get up, shower, and dress into a navy blue tux. I wonder if they've found America. America. I had forgotten! The pit in my stomach settles, and I look over at the clock. I should head down to breakfast. Father had left already so I decide to give it five minutes. Who needs to be early all the time?
So I take my five minutes, and then head down the hall. When I get to the dining room I take my seat next to my mother. She looked distraught.
"Mom?" I ask. She picks her head up.
"Yes?" She look tired. Very tired
"What's wrong? You look distraught." I ask. This was very unlike her. I hear the creak of the dining room door open and all of the Selected girls file in. All but America.
I look back at my mom. Her eyes skimmed the Selected, and then looked down. Her eyes were glossy with tears.
"Mom?" I ask, snapping her of wherever her mind went to. She was quiet a few seconds. When she finally looked at me worry filled her eyes.
"Where's America?" she asks, voice shaky. A pit drops in my stomach. Fear settles in. I've ignored all morning that I haven't heard about her being found yet for fear of breaking down, and if my mom is just as close to breaking down then I need to have my head together.
Something also it me. At first I was confused about my mom asking about America but then I pieced it together: my mom loved her like a daughter. I didn't know how to respond to that. I would be ecstatic, but America is missing.
So instead I gave a half-hearted 'I don't know' answer and quickly dismissed the topic because I was not going to break down here. All of my energy was being put into not breaking down. I picked up my fork as the maids carried in trays of food. I heard the buzz of the Selected girls' conversation. They sounded confused as well of America's disappearance.
Something fell. It was on old curtain that was hanging on the wall. It made a loud bang and everyone jumped and then was silent. So silent you could hear a fork drop. I should know because I'm the one who dropped my fork.
The curtain that fell now revealed, painted on the wall, bold navy blue words read out:
"We, the rebels, have taken America, one of the Elite.
If you want her back soon then the first
step would be to 'follow the bright star
and trek the forest of flat green with no
trees, then right with a pen to the river
and wood will be your point.' Its a riddle.
You will need a map. Hurry if you want her back."
I let that sink in. My face grew pale, and I could throw up. Thank God father wasn't here right now. I'm snapped back to the present when I hear someone crying. No, multiple people crying. I skimmed the Selected girls. Elise an Celeste were crying. Well, they were sniffling with tears streaming down their faces. Hmm, Celeste is crying? That had to be fake.
I quickly dismiss the Elite from the room. They thanked me, curtsied, and sped walked out of the room distraught. I turn to my mother. She still looks worried, but now she's contemplating something. Thinking something over. I sat there for a minute, head in my hands, thinking hard when my mother finally spoke.
"It's a riddle." she said quietly. What? A riddle?
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"The words, they tell the location of where they put her." A tear rolled down her check, an I saw it before she wiped it away and stood to walk over and examine the words. Then she turned back to me.
"We need to get the people closest to America. They might be able to help." she said and I nod. I walk over to a maid that seemed to be crying. She was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. Was she crying because the rebels took America? Had America really gotten this close to the staff? I wouldn't be surprised.
"Your Highness." she choked as she made a half-hearted bow.
"Um... yes. Can you send for the maids Lucy, Anne, and Mary and Mallory from the kitchen." Mallory was the fake name used for Marlee. I had kept her in the castle. For America. The sadness ached in my heart. I had loved her, now she's gone. We didn't even end on good terms. Now she's gone.
"Yes, your Majesty." she said and scurried away quietly.
Not but a few moments later Marlee came running in followed by America's maids.
"What happened? Did you find her? Please tell me you found her!" Marlee, Anne, and Mary had tears streaming down, but Lucy was bawling and choking on her words.
"Plea...se s....say you f...found h..her." Lucy choked.
I was quiet a moment. When I hear a gasp I looked up. Marlee was looking just past my shoulder covering her hand over her mouth at what I can only assume to be the message the rebels left.
"Oh my God! They took her." I heard one of the maids say.
"She was the only one who was good to us." another added.
"Yea, she treated us like actual people." a third chimed in.
I needed to speak.
"The words, the words are a riddle. The words tell us where she is. " I was quiet another moment. "please, please say you'll help." I looked up at then and could tell they saw the desperation in my eyes. I didn't care. I just wanted America back.
"We need a map." I heard mom telling a maid. The maid scurried off. When we got the map Marlee, Anne, Lucy, and Mary walked over to a table to plot out some things, while mother reviewed the words over and over, and I stood in the corner, pacing.
By lunch we still couldn't figure it out. Every few hours or so I would go over to my mom or the maids and Marlee to see if they got anything. I know I had work to do but I honestly couldn't care less. America is more important to me than work by a long shot. Hell, America means more to me than being king.
I needed a break. I excused myself and decide to wall the palace grounds to clear my thoughts. The worst thing is we can't send guards to find her because if we do then Father will know. I keep expecting to hear her humming. She usually does that when she drifts down the halls. There's an empty pain in my heart. America please just be okay.
I stroll the halls and find myself walking to her room. I guess I'm just so use to that. I decided to walk in.
The room was in chaos. Clothes thrown everywhere, family pictures torn up, and the only neat thing was her bed. Her bed was perfectly made, and there was a note laying neatly on top of it. It read "She's gone." That's it. That's all it said. I laughed an exasperated, humorless laugh and threw the note in the garbage bin.
I walk out the door and down the hall. I find myself going to the parlor I put the engagement ring in. I stayed in the parlor for two hours, thinking of what I would do if America was found again. I wanted her back, I needed her back. What if she was dead? I had to stop. Thinking like that brings the worst feeling. The feeling that if she died I would too. And it was true.
I ended up walking back to my room in the dead of night an crashing on my bed in my suit.
~---~
I woke up roughly around five in the morning. My pillow was wet. Did I cry? I decide to excuse this as a coincidence. I go to my office and decide to try and do some work before breakfast but I can't concentrate. I decide to go down extra early. As I walk into the dining room I'm surprised to find mom already there.
"How did you sleep?" she asked. I was taken aback. Why was she asking that?
"What?" I ask.
"You slept a whole extra day. I figured you were exhausted so I decided not to wake you. The girls have taken all other meals in their rooms so far. Their coming down to breakfast though."
A whole extra day? That means its already been two days since America got captured.
The Elite file in. You could cut the tension with a knife. The maids come in with food on platters and then quickly dismissed themselves..
That's when something strange happened. A video appeared from what seems to be a projector that no one could find. It was America. Oh God America. She look beaten. She was also only in black undergarments. I almost felt guilty for looking.The video continues to show a man. "We're live" he growled at her. He had his face covered.
He stepped closer and she step back. Oh God. Please don't die, America. Before he could even lay a hand on her she rammed into him. I could laugh. Of course she would fight first. I couldn't think of any other girl in the world who would do that.
He quickly returned the favor with a punch to her gut. It pained me to watch that. I heard a few Elite and my mother gasp. I stood up at some point and was now doubling over. I could throw up.
She quickly got her breath back from the gut-punch and kneed him in the groin. It was his turn to double over. I could really laugh a little right now but I was to nervous to. Still,I know how a knee in the groin from America felt.
He shoved her to the wall and I winced. He turned to what I assume is the camera, and while his back was turned to her she took that chance to jump him from behind. That's my girl. Then something horrible happens. He slams her into the wall a second time, this time her head hit, and she fell limp. I was doubling over even more now, feeling physically sick.
My heart shattered into a million pieces. She couldn't possibly be dead? This was not a good feeling. My head throbbed, my heart ached. Please, America, don't be dead. I couldn't live without her. I just couldn't. I loved her. And I always will. My heart was pounding, aching.
She couldn't possibly be dead?
As if to confirm my fears, at the end of the video, with white letters on a black background read:
"That was two days ago.
She still hasn't woken up
yet. Getting worried?"
_______________________________________________________________________
Ahhh ok this is Maxon's POV! I hope you all love it. I know it's a long chapter and I was supposed to finish it yesterday but I underestimated how long it would be. Anyway please comment if you like it and let me know you exist! :) I hope you have a great day/night/week/month/year/life :) Please comment and give me suggestions if you want! I'll be posting more tomorrow! :)
Love and Hugs <3
Mer/woofpaws