A/N— THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ONE TRUE KING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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~JAPETH'S POV~
Japeth stared down at the dug up grave. The steel of a hundred pens glinted up at him as if daring him to move closer.
In the moonlight, Japeth's figure cast a long shadow across the dead grass. The vegetation in the endless woods was still recovering from the period of time the sun had been fading. So the grass under Japeth's feet was yellowed and coarse and it crinkled like wax paper beneath him as he stepped forward.
Japeth's common sense screamed at him to turn around, to go back home, but he ignored it, drawing closer to the grave he'd dug up all on his own. He peered into it, his body just teetering over the edge.
If he fell in, he would be pierced by a hundred needle sharp pens. If he fell in, he'd already be lying in a grave. Japeth had no clue what came after death, if there was a hell or heaven or maybe even just nothingness. But he was sure that if he did die, he would somehow be with Aric again.
However, Japeth feared that that wouldn't be the case. What if he died and Aric wasn't there to greet him? What if in death, Japeth would be more alone than he was in life?
Japeth didn't fear dying. His greatest fear was being alone, and if death meant aloneness, than he had to keep breathing.
A soft fluttering sound caught Japeth's attention and he glanced up to see a single blue butterfly hovering in the air. It's electric blue wings were aglow in the darkness and as Japeth watched, the butterfly twisted to land on his shoulder.
"Not so scared of your butterflies now, now am I, mother?" Japeth told the butterfly, inching his fingers towards its delicate wings before he scooped the insect up in his hand. "Maybe that's cause I grew up. There's no more time for fear when you are no longer a little boy."
Japeth gazed down at the blue butterfly in the palm of his hand. It's wings fluttered, tickling his skin.
Maybe someday in the distant future, Japeth and Rhian's mother would come back to them. Perhaps Evelyn Sader would return and never leave them behind again like Japeth feared. But that was just a dream. A dream Rhian cared more about than Japeth did.
That's why Japeth was the selfish brother. Sure, Rhian wanted to become King of Camelot, but he also wanted to bring back their deceased mother because he thought by doing so, it would help Japeth. But Japeth couldn't be helped, for the only thing that could help him now was if his best friend came back to life.
Aric was the only one who could save Japeth from his pain, from the darkness brewing inside him.
The butterfly in Japeth's palm was not his redemption. The butterfly that his mother's dress had morphed into—a dress that somehow carried a piece of Evelyn'a soul in it—was not Japeth's path.
This butterfly, however, was a clue. A clue that had led Japeth all the way out here because it needed to show him something, something of great importance.
"What do you want?" Japeth asked, feeling deep down as if the butterfly could hear him and respond. "Why here? Why bring—"
Suddenly, he trailed off. The butterfly had flown off his hand, it's blue wings flapping soundlessly in the chilly air before it hovered before him.
That's when the blue wings fluttering in the air began to darken. Once a beautiful shade of blue, something dark had overcome them.
As Japeth watched, a scaled eel replaced the butterfly's place, pointed at both ends, resembling a pen similar to the pens filling the dug up grave.
The pen twirled, scales elongating before a puff of smoke erupted from its tip.
Japeth didn't have time to react as the scaled pen that looked more like one of his scims, tore at him. Something long and slimy speared into Japeth's ear but he felt no pain.
Instead, a strange calm overcame Japeth as his mind flashed. Images burned in his brain; some he'd never seen before like memories playing over and over again on an endless loop.
Japeth saw his mother, cradling him and his brother as infants in her arms. He saw the mistral sisters tending to her as well as a youthful boy with icy blue eyes and a shock of white hair, smiling at the mother and her newborn sons.
Japeth had seen this boy before in Sophie and Agatha's storybook.
Rafal. Rafal was the evil school master, the same one who'd killed Japeth and Rhian's mother in Agatha and Sophie's storybook.
Japeth had paid no attention to his mother's killer with all his focus on helping Rhian fulfill his plan to conquer Camelot. Even after learning that him and Rhian were the supposed sons of King Arthur, Japeth still had his doubts.
As the days passed, Japeth began to notice Evelyn's dress acting odd, or as odd as a magical dress could act. At times, the dress would conjure blue butterflies. It was one of these butterflies that'd led the brothers to this grave of pens in the garden of Good and Evil.
Now, Japeth loomed over the dug up grave filled with hundreds of pens. He'd snuck out of him and Rhian's home in the dead of night when Rhian had been asleep to come all the way back here. But why?
Japeth should've stayed back in Foxwood. He had no logical reason to be miles away from his home in the middle of the night.
But a little part of Japeth had made him come back here. It was that same part that had drawn Japeth to follow the single blue butterfly that his mother's dress has morphed into.
Something was wrong. Japeth had felt it.
Now, Japeth saw Rhian had been wrong all along when he'd claimed they were the sons of King Arthur. The mistral sisters, Japeth and Rhian's aunts, had given the twins false news.
King Arthur was never Japeth and Rhian's father.
It was Rafal. Rafal was their true father, a father who'd apparently given them up just as their mother had.
Japeth found himself stumbling away and the scaled pen slipped from his ear with sickening ease, its length curving and its scales slime covered. Japeth's gaze moved from the scaly pen to the steel pens filling the dug up grave, back and forth, back and forth, until his heart swelled as if he suddenly sensed a pivotal moment.
His attention landed solely on the scaly black pen and a sense of understanding flooded through him as he reached out to touch it. He didn't know what pulled him to extend his fingers outwards. To brush his fingertips across the scaly pen as if it were a cherished pet.
Somehow, deep inside, Japeth knew how to go about with this new information in his mind. Somehow the scaled pen had told him to keep this information to himself.
Rhian could never know who their real father was. Rhian could never realize what Japeth had learned on this night.
Japeth had to play along with Rhian's charade. He had to build himself up on a lie in order for him to succeed on his path to bring Aric back.
It was Rhian's unwavering belief that was the key to Japeth reaching his goal. Rhian believing himself to be King Arthur's true heir is what would drive Rhian to become the One True King. Without the One True King, Japeth's wish would never be granted and all hope he had of ever seeing Aric again would be gone.
All Japeth could do now was go back. The plan was already set, and all the twins had to do was enact it.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Japeth felt a smile come across his face. His scims peeled off him and set to work shoveling clumps of dirt back into the dug up grave, burying a hundred pens back beneath the earth.
When the scims were finished, they flew back onto Japeth's suit. Japeth didn't look back at the mound of dirt as he started back to Foxwood, retracing his footsteps back the way he came.
As the garden of good and evil receded behind him, Japeth found that his footsteps were lighter than before. His mind, clearer and his heart...Well, for once, his heart didn't feel as heavy as it used to be before.
Japeth only halted once and when he did, he tilted his head up to stare up at the starry sky above him.
"I promised I'd come find you," He whispered to the air, believing somehow that Aric, wherever he was, was listening. "I promised we'd be together again, and I vow that that will not change. I will try my hardest to get you back...even if it kills me."
~THE END~
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Who else flipped out when they read the One True King? I swear I almost had a heart attack when I found out Japaric was cannon!
Anyway, sorry this epilogue didn't come out as soon as I thought it would. I've been busy with online Summer school and going camping.
Who else is sad that this fanfic is finally over?
I am.. 🥺
Anyway, comment and vote. Thanks so much for all the support and love I've received throughout this story. I appreciate all your votes and comments and there's no words to express how grateful I am to all my readers!!
Stay safe during the epidemic!
—Alexis Peters ❤️