Ambrose paced the room back and forth while biting down on a toothpick that was wedged in between his perfect white teeth. He had probably been doing this for hour now.

"Can you sit down? You're making the room stink." Kai says from where he sat on the couch. He was twirling one of his dark curls around his finger. A nervous habit of his.

Ambrose points an angry finger at his younger brother. "Fuck you! You make it stink just by opening your mouth!"

Elijah sighs and leans forward, his elbows on his knees as he rubs at his forehead. "Would you relax? Do you want to have a head full of gray hair by the age of 25?"

Ambrose finally stops pacing. "I'm sorry but how can the two of you just stand there and do nothing while our sister, you know y/n," He holds his hand up to his chin. "About this tall,
loud, has an annoying laugh and has magic hands? Yeah, her. She's outside by herself and we have no idea where or with who."

"I'm not standing, I'm sitting." Kai corrects the first part of his rant and completely ignores the rest of it. Ambrose's eye twitches before he attacks Kai and the two boys start wrestling and knocking things down along with them.

Elijah separates the two boys before they break something like always. "Alright, alright! Calm down."

Ambrose takes a deep breath while he fixes his hair and clothes in the mirror. Kai returns to his seat like nothing and without bothering to fix his appearance at all. Elijah found it pretty funny how drastically different they were.

"What exactly do you want us to do, Ambrose?" Elijah questions. "Our parents told us to stay here."

"Well, we have to do something besides wait around all day long!" Ambrose snaps back.

Elijah could feel his head already start to pound. He had been getting migraines everyday now. It wasn't like he could call his sister to take away the pain either. "You want to run away like she did too? I didn't realize how much of an inspiration our sister is to you."

Kai snorts. Ambrose heats up once again. "Shut the hell up!"

"And she's not alone. Jean is with her." Elijah reminds him.

Ambrose scoffs. "Yeah, if he ever finds her. Jean was the worst choice to go find her."

Kai kicks his feet up on the table with unsubtle aggression which causes the dishes on the table to shake in unison. "He's the best choice. Out of all the guards they could've sent, Jean is the only one she'll actually listen to and you know that."

He then raises an eyebrow. "Why does it bother you so much that he went after her anyway?"

"I'm sorry if the idea of my little sister being alone with a man in a foreign land doesn't sit well with me." Ambrose says placing his hands on the back of a nearby chair.

Kai makes an annoyed face. "Jean isn't just some man. He'll take care of her. You really think he'd take advantage of yn?"

Ambrose's nails dig into the wooden seat. "You give him too much credit. He's a guy at the end of the day."

Elijah watches as Kai's eyes grow dark and narrow. "He wouldn't." The boy defends his bestfriend. "He would never take advantage of her."

"How do you know?" Ambrose crosses his arms. "How can you be so sure?"

Kai, the most nonchalant of all four of the royal children, stands up on his feet and anger radiated from his face and voice. "HE WOULDN'T!"

Elijah caught a flash of something in Ambrose's eyes. His brother always got excited when he managed to rile someone up, especially Kai who rarely ever got mad.

"Okay." Ambrose shifts his body weight to lean against the chair. "Let's say he doesn't take advantage of her. Let's say yn is the one who initiates it. Do you really think he'd turn her down?"

"Yeah. I do." Kai says confidently. "I know Jean, the guilt would eat him alive. He may be stupid sometimes but he always does the right thing in the end."

He then looks at Elijah for support. "He wouldn't. Right, Eli?"

Elijah had known Jean his entire life. The boys were only two years apart so they were practically raised together. He saw Jean like a little brother.

When he thought of Jean, the first words that came to mind were competitive, cocky and hard working. He agreed with his brother that Jean was the type to do the right thing whether he wanted to or not.

When they were younger and spent the entire day playing a variety of games, it was usually the same thing. Ambrose would cheat somehow and get caught by Elijah, Kai wouldn't really try and was really only there for the experience and Jean would always try his absolute hardest.

Even when he had absolutely every opportunity to cheat, he never would and if he ever did cheat, he would be consumed by guilt and confess moments later. He would just accept the fact he lost and would try harder the next time. He always played fair and square.

But for some reason... no matter how many years he had known Jean and his morality complex, something told him not to easily disregard that he would do the same with you. Especially when he knew how persuasive his sister could be. It was a feeling he couldn't shake.

He recalls the morning after you left. How his family were quietly panicking that the princess disappeared into thin air in the middle of the night.

He remembers Jean rushing in and holding up a piece of sheet music. "She left this for me."

It was odd to him back then even though he didn't speak up on it. In fact, he had suspicions from the beginning.

But there was something about that moment. That moment where he held up the paper and smiled with immense relief that he had even the slightest idea where you might be. The way his face shined with happiness you left that clue just for him.

"Elijah?"

Elijah snapped out of his brewing thoughts. He wasn't the type to get distracted or space out. He also wasn't the type to get regular pounding migraines either. "Yes?"

He honestly forgot what the prior question was.

That isn't like me either.

Kai glares at him. "Useless." He then turns back Ambrose. "Look, Jean won't touch yn. He respects her too much."

"What does respect have to do with anything?" Ambrose scoffs. "You can respect someone and still try to sleep with them if you're attracted to them."

Kai's perplexed face twists with disgust. "Jean doesn't see her that way and he wouldn't sleep with someone who is engaged."

Ambrose sneezes into the inner part of his arm. "You're an idiot if you think either one of them cares about that engagement." He sniffles. He sounded insanely stuffy like he might be catching a cold.

"Are you getting sick?" Elijah asks, yearning for an excuse to change the subject.

Ambrose wipes at his nose with a tissue. "No. I think it's just allergies." His eyes were noticeably red too and looked almost swollen.

"Since when do you get allergies?" Kai questions.

Ambrose crumbles the snot coated tissue into a ball and tosses it at his brother's face. "Since my sister decided to run away and leave this place a hellhole in her wake."

Elijah looks out the window and sees the usual sunny, fresh environment was now gloomy and dry. The trees and earth beneath them seemed to not have a single drop of water in them. "The crops are going to die soon."

Ambrose sneezes again, this time three in a row. Elijah knew his head was already sensitive but Ambrose's high pitched sneezes triggered the pain even more.

"You sneeze like a bitch." Kai insults him, still holding a grudge from the previous argument.

Ambrose grabs the boy by his collar. "You're really getting on my last nerve today."

Kai smiles. "Me? What an honor."

Ambrose opens his mouth to talk back but instead another sneeze comes out and his spit sprays all over Kai's smug face which melts into a horrified expression.

Kai begins to scream at the top of his lungs while he runs around looking for something to clean his face. Ambrose laughs wildly with a hoarse throat that made his laugh sound more like a cough.

"I'm going to fucking kill you." Kai threatens before the two boys break out into a fight once again.

Elijah didn't have the energy to stop them this time so he just sits there, his face in his hands as he leans forward in his seat.

Normally, when his brothers got like this, you were always there to help stop them. You'd find a way to change the subject and make them laugh in order for them to forget all about why they were fighting in the first place.

On the rare occasions when they were so mad to the point where they weren't going to listen to anyone, you'd just sit and watch beside Elijah and let them have at it. 

Elijah would be annoyed and you'd cheer him up by making jokes and commentary on the fight with the addition of sound effects for comedic effect. His irritation never lasted a second around you. It was impossible.

You had the ability to make everything fun and light, even a fist fight between brothers. You were always the first one to heal both of them afterwards too.

Elijah sighs realizing none of that would be the case this time. He didn't have help to separate the fight nor could he pass the time by tallying points and making funny noises each time they fell or landed a punch.

I wish you were here.

He takes a deep breath before he stands up and claps his hands loudly together. "Okay! That's enough already. Break it up."

Kai manages to break away as Ambrose attempts to rub mucus from his dripping nose onto him. He then runs behind Elijah to use him as a shield.

Literal children.

Ambrose is about to charge again, regardless of the fact his older brother was in the way when suddenly there's a knock on the door.

The door then opens and Marco pokes his head in. "Prince Ambrose?"

Ambrose quickly wipes his snot fingers clean. "Yes?" His personality changed so effortlessly quick that you would've never assumed he was just doing what he was doing.

Marco steps into the room fully now. "Your fencing lessons have begun." He then turns to the other two in the room and bows. "Prince Elijah. Prince Malakai."

Elijah nods graciously and Kai lazily raises up his hand in the most half assed manner.

Ambrose looks down at his watch. "Oh right. It is it that time already." He looks at his two brothers. "I guess we'll continue this conversation another time, boys."

"I'm actually fine with never speaking to you again." Kai suggests.

Ambrose laughs. "Appreciate me now, brother because one day I'll be gone like our sister and you'll miss me just as much." He pats his brother's head as he walks past him.

Kai smacks his hand away. "Highly unlikely but feel free to test it out."

Ambrose leaves behind Marco and the room seems to grow peaceful once again. The two boys who remain in the room sink into their seats as they soak in the quiet atmosphere.

"He's so annoying." Kai melts even deeper into the loveseat. "Him and that stupid sneeze. I just want to punch him sometimes."

"Isn't today Friday?" Elijah wonders out loud.

Kai kicks his feet back onto the table and shoves a cookie in his mouth. "Yeah. Why?"

If he remembered correctly, Ambrose only had fencing on Wednesdays. Did he change it to Fridays now? Or was it you who had fencing on Wednesdays? Why couldn't he remember anything? He was never the type to forget stuff.

"Hellllllllo." Kai sings bringing Elijah's attention back to him. Elijah shakes his head back in order. "Nothing, nevermind."

He walks over to the door and reaches for the door knob. "I'm going for a walk."

Kai immediately stands up from his feet and brushes his hands on his brand new pants. "I think I'll join you."

Elijah points at the clock nearby. "You have class in 2 minutes."

Kai turns to the same clock and jumps. "Shit!" He grabs a handful of snacks from the table and rushes out the door.

Elijah chuckles as he watches his brother run down the hall with hands full of cookies and muffins. He turns on his heel to walk in the other direction.

He makes his way down to the side of the castle where your bedroom resides. He hadn't been in there since you left and he figured maybe there was something in there that could help find you or at least speed up the process.

He knew Mikasa had probably already beat him to the punch probably the very next day she found out you were missing and didn't find anything but he convinced himself that maybe he could find something she couldn't.

When he makes it there, he stands outside the closed door almost hesitant to go in. He was so used to knocking and waiting for your response that he wasn't sure what to do now.

He opens the door slowly like you might be in there even though he knew damn well you weren't even in the same kingdom anymore.

When the door finally opens, he sees the room completely alone. He was surprised Mikasa wasn't in there but considering you weren't here, it didn't seem to make sense that she would be.

It was dark, with the usual lighting scheme seeming different since the candles weren't lit. It was clean and unused. An obvious sign you had been gone for quite a while now.

He walks past your vanity, his eyes scanning the surface and identifying all the various perfumes and creams. He makes way over to your shelves and his fingers scroll through the box of vinyl records you have and he flips open certain books.

He opens the hatch of the chest that resided at the end of your bed. It had some blankets in it along with some sweaters and coats. It must've been where you kept all your winter stuff.

He then makes way to your closet and sees nothing but a bunch of high quality dresses from different shades of purple to some dresses variating in color.

There was nothing. No matter where he looked, nothing showed any sign of where you might be. It didn't help that he wasn't even sure what to be looking for either.

He sits on the chest at the foot of your bed and takes in his surroundings. Even though you weren't anywhere near, the faint smell of you remained in your room.

The smell of your perfume or the laundry detergent you used on your clothes. Whatever it was, it still lingered. It was as close as he could get to your presence at the moment.

He takes a deep breath and allows the air to escape through his nose. "Where are you at, huh?"

He pauses, as if awaiting a response he knew he wasn't gonna get. "I know I said I'd let you go have your freedom because I knew you could handle it."

He sighs heavily. "But I think I might've made a mistake." He looks around and thinks of the times he's come in and out of this room.

Aside from the times he'd just poke his head in and say it was time to eat or that your parents wanted to speak to you, Elijah found himself just coming to your room randomly.

Whenever he found something interesting in a book or learned a surprising fact, he was always most excited to tell you about it.

He'd come in and go on and on about whatever it was he was fixating on that day and you'd nod with open eyes and a big smile, taking in every word with willingness and wonderment.

You were the only one who matched his energy when it came to stuff like that. He loved learning about new things and you loved hearing about them. It helped that you were the same way.

Ambrose was never a fan of school. In fact, he practically cheated all the up until graduation. He also never managed to get caught. Although he wasn't bright at school, he excelled in just about everything else, speaking, socializing, sports.

If he were to even approach his brother about some random fact about something across the world, Ambrose look at him with a dead expression and say something along the lines of, "What does that have to do with me?"

Kai wasn't a fan of school either even though he was surprisingly good at it. Kai's method of studying was doing it the morning of the test and somehow actually managed to pass everytime, even if it was just by a thread.

If he were to approach that brother with something informative, Kai would respond with "Oh, cool." and that'd be it.

It was unfortunate that he had two brothers so close in age and not a single one shared any similar interests with him. It was a shame that they had way more differences than similarities in general.

But for some reason, he could with you. It was like you shared the same curious, expansive mind as him. You could take in so much information and still make room for more.

You were his favorite person to talk to about those kind of things.

Why am I thinking about her in the past tense?

He decides to get up and leave considering his trip here was pointless and if anything made him feel even worse than he already was.

He couldn't shake off the guilty feeling weighing on his chest right now. He felt useless. He felt like a terrible excuse of the eldest brother.

He stares at the room next to yours. A door that hasn't been opened since the day after you left. Jean's room.

A part of him wanted to go in there in hopes there might be something there. The other part of him tried to convince himself that he was crazy.

He searches the entire room and nothing. He knew he was just being paranoid. He knew you and Jean were nothing more than childhood friends and if anything, were like family.

The last place left for him to search was the closet but there was nothing in there beside some clothes and a pair of boots.

He closes the closet door shut and it gets stuck so he pushes on the door with a tad bit more force. The doors shut together finally and on the other side, there's the sound of something falling onto the floor.

"Oops." Elijah says under his breath. He opens the doors again, fully intending to pick up whatever fell and place it exactly how it was.

When he bends down to grab it, he sees that the fallen object was a painting. The canvas was thin so he knew it must be from outside the castle considering the ones they had here in the art room were much higher quality.

The painting seemed to be in good condition like whoever painted it, created the masterpiece quite recently. And a masterpiece it was.

It was a painting of a woman playing the piano and in the point of view of the watcher. The woman is beaming a beautiful, glowing aura around her as she plays the instrument. It for some reason caused him to unknowingly smile.

Then he realizes, the signature at the very bottom looks extremely familiar along with the woman playing the piano.

In small cursive handwriting, black ink shined the name J.Kirsten. His eyes move from the signature to the girl at the piano.

From the hair, the side profile and the complexion of the woman's skin, he knew it had to you. Not to mention, the piano is the same exact kind of piano that rested in the music room here in the castle.

He tried not to think too much into it. Maybe you requested he paint you. Maybe that was your birthday gift or maybe even for Christmas.

But the way the painting was crafted, he could tell the artist was in heavy infatuation with his muse.

The way the woman was painted so angelic and pure signaled that the artist saw her as something worthy of that appearance. The glowing aura radiated around you almost like you were light itself. 

"God damn it." Elijah curses under his breath. He sits on the ground and tosses the canvas to the side.

He begins to rethink everything now which he probably shouldn't be doing considering how awful his brain already felt without the extra work.

Jean had found the hint you left and you left it in only a place where he could find it. Did that mean you wanted Jean specifically to go look for you?

How did Jean know where to look? Was this set up as a way from you to successfully run away together? Were you actually ever going to come back?

He groans and brings his knees up to rest his head. He hated thinking negatively of Jean. He had never given him a reason to not trust him so why now? Why was he having doubts?

Was Ambrose somehow influencing his thought process? Were the migraines blurring his ability to think clearly?

He sees a flash of his pleading little brother's face as he defended his bestfriend in the conversation earlier. "He wouldn't. Right, Eli?" 

For some reason, Kai looked like a child all over again. He looked like the same Kai that would follow him around everywhere back then with a blanket dragging behind him. The same Kai that would cry to Elijah when he had nightmares and beg to sleep with him for the night.

He couldn't shake away the look Kai had after that. The disappointment written all over his face when his older brother didn't come to his defense like he thought he would.

"I need a nap." He says to himself. Normally, he wouldn't have time for a nap given his current schedule but his parents were now so worried about you and preoccupied with things revolving you that they weren't bothering him as much anymore, which meant he had more time to worry about you too.

He figured he'd take advantage of not being needed to enjoy himself and sleep here and there like Kai so often does.

"Yeah. I deserve a nap." He picks himself up from the floor and shortly after, he places the canvas in it's original spot. He then makes his way over to his room.

On his way there, he passes the tailoring room, a room that wasn't uncommon to see you in. He catches the glimpse of blonde hair seated at table.

Hitch? Why is she here still?

He recalls the fact Jean said Hitch was one of the last people you were with before you suddenly up and put everyone to sleep. He wanted to know the series of events that led you to snap and finally do something for yourself, regardless of the consequences.

Hitch was an outspoken spirit. Honest and brutally at that. She spoke with pride and superiority. She was also all about her money.

Had she said something to you to trigger you? Was Hitch the last straw?

He pushes the door open and Hitch immediately shoots up from her seat. "Prince Elijah!" She curtsies. "I wasn't expecting your visit."

"I was expecting you to be here considering my sister will be gone for a while." Elijah says as he shuts the door behind him.

He looks around and sees rows and rows of multicolored fabric against the wall. There were also several mannequins showcasing different dresses, some finished, some not so much.

Hitch smiles. "I like to keep myself occupied. Besides," She holds up the pearly white fabric in her hands. "This wedding dress isn't going to make itself."

"Ah." He answers. "How's that going?"

She sticks a pin into her mouth. "Mm, good. I'm not even close to being finished and it's a lot harder to get the perfect measurement since she's not here but I'll just fix it when she comes back if it's too big or small."

Elijah takes a seat on a spinning stool in front of her. "Can I ask you something?"

She twists her body around to face him, her now vacant hands resting patiently on her lap. "Of course, your highness."

"My sister..." He looks over at the pedestal where you usually stand in front of the trifold mirror. "Before she left, was she acting weird to you?"

Hitch frowns. "Yn? No, she was her normal self." She then rethinks her answer. "Well, actually maybe a little down but you know she doesn't like to show it. Why? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to make sure she's good. Mentally and all, you know? I know this marriage is taking a toll on her." Elijah explains.

She nods with understanding. "Is this about her staying in Cicily for two months? You two have never been apart for that long, have you?"

He sighs and leans back. "Something like that."

She leans her elbow onto the table so she can hold up her head. "Don't worry, Jean will watch over her. He pays wayyyy too much attention to her to let something bad happen." She spins back around to face the table. "Trust me."

He detected slight bitterness in her voice, almost like she was jealous. "Well, it is his job so I would hope so." He replies.

She looks at him as her nimble fingers begin to return back to work. "Have you heard from them?"

"Yes." He lies. "They're doing good. Yn loves it there." In reality, he hadn't heard from neither his sister nor Jean since either of you left but no one needed to know that. The best part of being the honest brother is that no one ever questions if you're lying.

Her eyes widen with surprise. "Really? I'm glad. She seemed iffy on marrying the prince and leaving over there. Maybe she needed that trip to feel more comfortable about it."

"Iffy? What did she say?" Elijah asks. He knew he was finally starting to get somewhere.

"She was complaining about the marriage and how she didn't want to leave because she wanted to stay in Eldia and be queen here." She answers.

That was stuff he already knew. "And what did you say?"

She was so distracted by the sewing needle swimming in and out the white tool that she wasn't thinking clearly when she spoke. "I told her she was crazy because most girls would dream to be in her spot but she kept going on about how it wasn't her dream."

He didn't even have to say anything because the words just kept coming out of her like vomit. That was one of the perks of being a good listener, people always just let out their secrets to you without even realizing it.

"So I asked her, why are you doing it then if it doesn't make you happy? And she said because it was going to help everyone else and that she didn't care if it made her miserable as long as everyone else was happy." She continues to babble on.

Again, stuff he already knew but he knew he was eventually going to get something out of this. "So I was like, maybe you should try being more selfish sometimes and—"

She suddenly stops. She finally realized she was beginning to say too much. She didn't even need to finish her sentence for Elijah to know that Hitch really did egg her on to leave, whether it was intentional or not.

He smiles and stands up from his seat. "I'll let you get back to the dress."

He walks away from her and she remains seated, color drained from her face and mouth open like she wants to speak but can't.

She stands up quickly from her stool, the chair spinning away from her from the force. "Prince Elijah!"

He spins around. She stands there, hesitant on asking what she wants to. "The princess really is in Cicily, right?"

He gives her a judging look. "Why wouldn't she be?"

She steps backwards. "Uh, nothing." She laughs nervously as she runs her hands through her hair. "I'm just overthinking, I guess. I wasn't too nice to her before she left. I was letting some frustration out and I might've said some things I shouldn't have."

She looks down at her feet. "She's always been so nice to me yet I was being a complete bitch when she needed kindness in return the most."

Elijah doesn't say anything. He knew from his sister and mother that when women were venting, it was best to just shut up and let them do exactly that.

Hitch shivers and then snaps out of her gloomy state. "I've been up for hours doing this dress so it's probably just lack of sleep."

Elijah studies her. "You should get some rest."

"Yeah, you're right." She scratches her head as she looks around at the mess she had everywhere. "I should go home. Thanks, Elij- Uh, Prince Elijah."

He smiles with a gentle nod. "Of course. See you later."

From the conversation, he could tell that whatever Hitch said to you that night was the final straw. He could also tell Hitch never meant it to get to you that much.

As he walks out, he sees the kitchen on the way and considering he hasn't ate all day long, he decides to stop there.

He pushes past the two doors that led into the colossal kitchen and surprisingly, no one is there.

Considering the time it currently was, he wasn't surprised all the workers left for the day but Niccolo was usually always the last to leave so he found it odd there was no sign of that wavy blond hair anywhere.

As he begins to open up cabinets in search for something to eat, he hears the sound of something falling onto the floor.

He spins around quickly, the sound catching him off guard but sees nothing on the ground. He remains still, hoping his silent movements would reveal any sound and it does.

He follows the sound of something moving around toward the back of the kitchen with slow, steady footsteps.

The noise came from a closet toward the back and his hand hovers over the doorknob as he tries to listen to whatever is happening behind the door.

He heard the faint sound of whispering but for the life in him, he couldn't make out the words. Whoever it was behind this door, really didn't want anyone to hear.

Is this... the traitor?

Before he knew it, his heart began thumping rapidly and his mouth went dry. As much as he wanted to know what was behind this door, he also was terrified to.

Suddenly, the door swings open, almost hitting him in the face if he hadn't backed up in time.

Out steps the missing chef in his rather wrinkled uniform. His face was bright red and he was stumbling to fix his attire. "Pr-Prince Elijah. I didn't even hear you come in. Did you want some food?"

Elijah ignores him and attempts to look behind him into the closet but Niccolo kicks the door shut and smiles. "I can make your favorite if you like."

"What were you doing in there?" The prince asks, dismissing the request even though his favorite food sounded amazing right now.

Niccolo laughs and points his thumb back at the closet. "I was restocking. I dropped some of the stuff in there so it's a mess but don't worry I'll clean it up."

He's lying.

"I'll help." Eli offers. He attempts to reach for the door but Niccolo steps in front of him. "That's very kind of you, your highness but I got it under control. Why don't you sit down so I can make you your favorite?"

Realizing Niccolo probably wasn't going to budge, he agrees and takes a seat at the bar with a careful eye on the ominous forbidden door. Whoever was in there was bound to come out eventually.

Niccolo began making Elijah's favorite and making an obvious attempt at small talk to distract him. "So, how is everything?"

"Great." Elijah answers plainly as he never pulls his eyes away from the door.

"Have you heard from yn? I'm sure she's loving it over there. From what I've heard Cicily is one of the most gorgeous places to live in. I think I read somewhere that it was top 10 in the world." Niccolo mentions.

Elijah anxiously tapped his finger against the granite counter. "Yeah. She loves it."

And then it hits him that Niccolo was technically the last person to speak to you before you gave everyone the tea. Not Hitch.

"Hey Niccolo."

The blonde cranes his neck to look back. "Yes?"

"Do you still have those herbs y/n used?" Elijah asks as he carefully studies the chef's body language for any sudden stiffness.

He grabs a rag and dries his hands. "Mm, no. I'm pretty sure she used them all that night. She's crazy for using her entire birthday gift on everyone but I guess that's just how the princess is, right?" He laughs. "She doesn't have an selfish bone in her body."

Elijah scoffs. "Right." He leans forward in his seat, his elbows pressed into the counter. "Did she come in here with the idea of sharing it or did that come later?"

Niccolo stops for a moment. "It happened later. She initially just wanted to make some for herself and then she thought, hey, it's getting cold outside and everyone could use some."

He sets the meal on a plate carefully and then places it in front of Elijah. "Was she not supposed to share?"

Elijah looks down at his food. Typically, a prince's favorite food would be something manly like a roasted chicken or a juicy steak, maybe even a fresh, beaming red lobster. But instead, Elijah's was a simple grilled cheese.

He knew there was a million things he could've asked Niccolo to make and the chef would do it in a heartbeat but that was all he wanted right now. A buttery, cheesy, warm grilled cheese. Just like when he was a kid.

His stomach growls and his mouth waters as he sees the cheese melt down the sides of the bread and onto the plate. He was so consumed by the delectable dish that he completely forgot he was supposed to be aware of his surroundings.

That was until, he heard a loud bang and crashing noise. He and Niccolo both spin around and see Sasha covering her mouth and looking down at the massive pan that dropped onto her foot.

"Sasha!" Niccolo laughs a strained laugh. "What are you doing here?"

Elijah raises an eyebrow. "How long were you there for?"

The brunette quickly picks up the pan and adjusts her messy ponytail. "Oh, not too long. Just grabbing a quick snack before I head out!"

As she walks past Elijah and into the pantry, she avoids all eye contact with Niccolo and he just looks down at his feet.

"Why are you two being weird?" Elijah asks remorselessly.

They both flinch. "What do you mean?" Niccolo asks. Sasha grabs a handful of cookies and shoves one in her mouth to avoid answering the question.

The silence was unbearably awkward. Niccolo was waiting for Sasha to answer and she was waiting for him. Elijah was waiting for an answer from either of them that never came.

"Well," Sasha swallows hard, the not evenly fully chewed cookie forcibly making its way down her throat. "I should get going."

"No, Sasha. Stay." Elijah orders as he takes a bite of his warm grilled cheese. The archery instructor stops in her tracks and exchanges a worrisome look with the head chef who looks like he's drenched in sweat.

Then that's when Elijah sees it. He had noticed it earlier but the collar of Niccolo's uniform hid it well. On his neck, there was a faint red stain.

He connects the familiar shade to the one on Sasha's lips. Her lipstick was smeared and melted from her bottom lip to her chin and around her mouth making her skin look pink.

He glances at both of them and noticed how not only did they have similar lipstick stains on their skin but their clothes were both equally as wrinkled and sloppily put back on.

So, THAT'S what was going on in the closet.

Elijah starts laughing hysterically. He felt like he was going insane with paranoia. Sasha and Niccolo exchange fearful looks and laugh nervously. "Are...are you alright?" Niccolo asks.

When he finally catches his breath, he wipes his eyes that teared up from laughing so hard. "Who the fuck knows." Elijah admits.

Their eyes widen with surprise at his foul language considering he never cursed in front of anyone except his siblings.

He felt ridiculous. He was overly paranoid and anxious. Every little thing triggered him some how. Something as simple as a couple sneaking around caused him to believe he was possibly about to catch the traitor or traitors plural.

He should've knew it wouldn't have been that easy. The traitor lasted this long without getting caught and they surely wouldn't slip up now. Especially not as carelessly as in the kitchen closet.

He finishes his meal and pushes the plate toward the direction where they both stand. "Thanks for the food."

As he walks to the other side of the castle, he walks through an open hallway that was more like a bridge with a roof. He stops midway and leans against the railing.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky was pale orange color with streaks of pink clouds. The view kept his attention for a while, and his worries seemed to melt away in that short time.

"What are you thinking about?" Elijah hears from behind him. His mind immediately registers the voice as Kai's.

Elijah kept his gaze forward on the distant horizon. "Quite frankly, everything."

Kai leans onto the railing too, his arms resting on the iron while his wrists dangle off the edge. "You know, maybe if you didn't overthink so much, your head wouldn't hurt the way it does."

Elijah looks at his brother with a baffled expression. He didn't recall ever telling Kai about the painful migraines he had been having.

The younger boy smiles. "You're not the only observant one, you know. I notice everything too."

"Maybe not everything." Elijah mutters as he watches Ambrose stride out the training room with his fencing uniform on down below.

Kai leans forward to look at Elijah's face more clearly. "What? Did you find something?"

Elijah debates on speaking his mind or staying quiet. There was no point in jumping to conclusions without any solid proof. "Nothing useful."

"Oh." Kai answers, clearly disappointed and turning his eyes back to the field below.

They remain silent for a while, taking in the variety of noises coming from the outside world. Elijah keeps his eyes on the trees and their sickly, fragile looking branches that have been stripped from their colorful leaves and now are left to freeze without protection.

All the fallen leaves were brown to a crisp and buried around some snow from the other night which was taking its sweet time melting. It didn't help that the sun was hidden by clouds a majority of the day now.

"Do you miss her?" Kai asks suddenly.

"Of course." Elijah answers without hesitation.

Kai nods and looks away. When Elijah follows his eye line, he notices Kai staring at the rose garden and how all the roses were wilted and barely hanging on to their stems. "I never noticed how depressing this place is without her."

Elijah nods. "She really brings a certain light with her everywhere she goes."

The word light causes his mind to think of the painting again. The way Jean drew you as if light was created solely by you.

"Yeah." Kai answers. He then turns to his brother again. "Jean will find her though. Before you know it, she'll be back here and annoying us like always."

"You have a lot of trust in Jean." Elijah points out as he taps his ring finger on the rail and uses the sound to distract himself from thinking.

"He cares for her almost just as we do." Kai says confidently. "He'll find her. He promised he would bring her back."

Elijah doesn't argue with him. He wasn't sure what to say anyway. It was true. Jean had promised.

Whether he kept the promise was completely up to him. No one knew which it was going to be. But Kai sure as hell spoke like he knew the answer with no doubt in his mind.

"Besides," Kai begins. "Remember he was always the one who won at hide and seek? He always knew where to find us."

"He never had to find yn, though." Elijah mentions.

Kai shrugs. "She can't be that much different than us. At the end of the day, we share the same blood, the same ideas."

"Prince Elijah. Prince Malakai." The two boys hear from behind them. They turn and see Mikasa standing there.

She looked different. Her hair seemed thinner and not as shiny as it usually was. Her normally clear, porcelain skin had red patches in certain areas of her face. Her eyes looked less youthful too.

"Your parents would like to speak with you." She says softly. Her voice was also much smaller.

Elijah smiles. "Thank you, Lady Mikasa. How are you feeling?"

She looked almost surprised he was asking. "Oh, I'm well. How are you?"

Kai leans forward, eyes narrowed. Mikasa backs her head up and brings her fingers to her nose. "What? Is there something on my face?"

The boy keeps squinting and then looks at Elijah. "I can't see."

"What?" Elijah and Mikasa ask in unison.

Kai rubs at his eyes. "Well, I can see but not clearly. It's blurry." He continues to rub his eyes and then waits for them to adjust to see if it makes a difference.

"You need glasses." Elijah thinks out loud to himself. Kai frowns. "I've had perfect vision my entire life. Maybe I just have an eyelash stuck in my eye or something." He reeks of denial and continues to rub at his eyes.

Elijah turns back around and rests his elbow on the bridge. "You've always needed glasses."

With one fist practically crushing his eyeball, Kai turns to his brother. Elijah looks at him. "You had perfect vision because of yn."

Kai opens his mouth to argue but then shuts it when he remembers his eyesight wasn't the best when he was younger. He didn't realize it back then but it slowly got better the closer he got to his sister.

Now that Elijah began to notice everything, he couldn't stop. Everything began to piece together. It was like all the evidence and proof was being pulled to him like a magnet.

His head hurting, Kai's foggy vision, Ambrose's allergies, Mikasa's usual glow being absorbed completely, his mother's frail state.

It was like giving "I'd die without her" a whole new literal meaning.

"They want Ambrose too?" Elijah asks. Mikasa nods.

Kai spins back around and cups hands around his mouth. "AMBROSE!!!!!!!!" He screams at the top of his lungs.

Elijah squeezes his eyes shut and covers his ears. "Was that necessary?"

Kai frowns. "I wasn't going to go all the way down there just to grab him. Were you?"

Ambrose looks up and takes his fencing mask off. "What do you want?" He says in his regular voice.

"What?!" Kai shouts again.

Ambrose's face reads of annoyance. "I SAID!!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?!?!"

"Oh." Kai says normally and then proceeds to yell again. "Mom and Dad want to talk to us!!"

Ambrose groans loud enough for his two brothers and Mikasa to hear from all the way up where they stand and proceeds to make his way up the stairs.

"Thanks Mikasa." Elijah smiles as he begins to lead the way to his parent's room. He and Kai walk right past her and she clears her throat. "Um."

They both turn back to look at her. Her gaze was down at the floor and her fingers were fiddling together like she was a child scared to ask her parents a question. "Have you heard anything from yn or Jean?"

The two boys exchange looks and then return back to her. "No, nothing yet." Elijah answers. He wasn't lying. They really hadn't heard anything yet even though Jean promised he'd send letters. Maybe that's what his parents wanted to talk about. Did he finally send one?

"I'll keep you updated, don't worry." Elijah reassures her.

She looks up and smiles wearily. "Thanks. See you later." She waves as she walks in the other direction. Elijah wondered how she spent her time now that she wasn't following you around everywhere.

Kai and Elijah begin to make their way over to their parents' chamber which was not too far of a walk from where they originally were. When they get there, they both stand at the door and stare at the door handle.

"Go on." Elijah gestures. For some reason, he was dreading entering this room.

Kai cocks his head back. "Me?! Why me?!" Seems like so was he.

Ambrose pushes past both of them harshly and opens the door without hesitation. "Move."

The two follow after their brother and enter the room that was filled with undeniable tension. All three of them immediately tensed up.

The king was sat on the edge of the bed with a letter in one hand and his head in the other. Considering his posture and body language, whatever he was reading in that letter wasn't good news.

As for the queen, she was underneath the covers, her body sat up with several pillow behind her back for support. She normally had a natural glow to her, just like her daughter but this time her glow was thanks to a thin coat of sweat that coated her body.

She also looked much skinnier. Her cheekbones were more prominent now that her face was sunken in. Each time he entered this room, she looked weaker.

The king lifts his head up when he hears his sons enter the room. "Boys." He extends the letter in his hand.

Elijah reaches for the letter when Ambrose snatches it away first. "It's from Jean." Ambrose lights up. He sits down and reads the letter in his head rather than out loud.

Suddenly, when he reaches the end of the page, he groans a weird, animalistic noise and crumbles the page up before throwing it across the room.

"Hey! We need to read it too, genius." Kai yells as he runs after the balled up paper.

"He hasn't found her yet." Ambrose explains through gritted teeth. "I knew he was useless."

Kai struggles to read the letter with its ridged edges but once he finishes, he hands it to Elijah to read. "Says he had a good idea of where she was heading because of the horse tracks but he lost them due to the snow."

Elijah reads the letter for himself and sees it says exactly that. He sets the letter down and looks at his parents.

Ambrose paces around the room. "I knew he was going to take fucking forever, that idiot! She's probably buried deep in 50 feet of snow right now and here we are doing nothing."

"She can't get frostbite." Kai points out.

Smoke practically came out of Ambrose's ears as he heats up. "Who gives a shit about frostbite when you're suffocated by pounds of fucking snow?!"

"Language." The queen warns.

Ambrose extends his arms out. "Now what?! He lost the tracks because of the snow. How the hell is he supposed to find her now?!"

"She's still headed to Paradis." Elijah reminds him. "That's her destination. He might not catch her on the way there like we wanted but he'll definitely meet her there."

Ambrose's furious expression melts slightly, realizing his brother is right. "Well, he needs to hurry up and make it there. She's probably there as we speak."

"He's only a day behind her." The queen mentions. "Knowing yn, she'll spend more than one day there. Especially if her goal is to learn of her powers. She can't do it all in one day."

She leans over to grab something off the nightstand. "However, I do agree we do need to speed things up. The queen of Cicily has been writing me letters asking if yn can actually go visit. The kingdom wants to know their future princess."

"Great." Ambrose laughs. "Another thing to worry about. They're asking for her and we have no idea where she is. Eventually, they're going to come over here and realize she's not here."

The plan was falling apart. The excuse for the princess's disappearance was that she went to Cicily to visit and get a lay of the land. That, of course, wasn't at all true but as far as everyone in the castle was aware, it was.

However, they couldn't use that excuse on Prince Phoenix and his family for obvious reasons. So what excuse do they use now? Sickness? Cold feet? Fear of traveling?

"How likely is it they would stop by here?" Elijah asks his parents.

She hands him the letters written by the queen. "She wants to stop by and see how the wedding is going. She wanted to take yn with her on the way back so she can get to know Cicily. I haven't answered any of them but I've met the woman before and she can be quite persistent."

Elijah's mind already began conjuring up a million other excuses in his head to use. He was superior at problem solving and always knew how to find a solution. But for some reason, this time, he just couldn't. His mind was blank.

There's the sound of a knock at the door and everyone turns their head in that direction. "It must be Commander Smith and Lieutenant Ackerman." The king explains. "Come in." He says in a louder voice so that it can be heard on the other side of the massive doors.

Sure enough, a tall blonde man with thick eyebrows and strong build enters the room followed by a much shorter, dark haired man.

They both bow before the royal family. The king makes his way in front of them. "Thank you for joining us. We seem to have run into a problem."

After explaining the situation to the two, they both take in all the information given to them. Ackerman smacks his lips. "That damn Kirstein is probably taking his sweet time."

"Exactly!" Ambrose cheers, grateful someone is on his side.

The commander shakes his head. "Kirstein is one of our best guards. Always on time and always get the job done. I'm sure he had a very valid reason for not finding her yet. You can't control the weather."

She can. Elijah thinks to himself. Now he was starting to think you must've did it on purpose so no one could find you.

"That's the thing." Ackerman begins. "I'm sure she can."

The king and queen both raise their eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Kai shrinks into himself like he's trying to disappear into the dark corner of the room.

Ackerman steps forward, bringing everyone's attention to him as he speaks clearly. "I have right to believe her powers are getting stronger. The day of her engagement, she challenged me to a sword fight to let out some steam."

A sword fight? He knew his sister tended to have a fiery temper but he never thought you would reduce to letting it out with a sword fight. The engagement definitely took a toll on you.

"As we fought, I began to get really sick everytime her body came near mine. I felt weak, my chest hurt and my eyes blurred. I couldn't fight back." Levi Ackerman explains. "She had so much hatred and anger in her eyes that for a spilt second, I thought she was actually trying to kill me."

The room was dead silent. No one dared to say a single word or interrupt. Not because they had too much respect for Levi but because they were in shock. Speechless.

He continues. "When she realized what she was doing, she snapped out of it and helped me up. It was like she was a complete different person like she wasn't even aware she was hurting me."

His chest swells up with air as he inhales. "As she was healing me, I looked up to the sky and the previously blue sky was now... twisted and dark gray. It looked like the worst storm ever was on route to us."

The king strokes his beard. He honestly didn't look surprised at all. It almost seemed perfectly normal to him that his daughter was somehow able to control the weather. Like it was something every teenage girl could do.

The queen looks at her husband. "What did I tell you? I told you she was only going to get worse. You can't take out that fantasy that she's a little girl still. As she gets older, it's going to get harder for her to control her emotions."

"Why wasn't I notified of this?" The king asks, ignoring his wife's lecture.

Ackerman clears his throat. "I tried to reach you but you were busy with other amends. I did inform Prince Malakai since he was the first person I found at the time."

Everyone in the room looks at Kai who was completely zoned out and about three seconds from falling asleep.

He was in his usual spot. At his father's desk, slouched in the chair and elbow rested on the wooden surface to hold up his heavy head as he falls deeper into a slumber.

Ambrose kicks the leg of the chair his brother sits in and clears his throat. Kai smacks his lips, irritated he was woken up and looks around. "What now?"

"Try to stay awake, will you?" Solana gets onto her son. "This is important."

"And you're sorta in trouble." Ambrose adds with a horrible attempt to hide his smirk.

Kai's eyes snap open. "Me?! The hell did I do?!"

"Language." The queen warns.

"Why didn't you tell us about what Lieutenant
Ackerman told you?" The king repeats himself, clear irritation in his voice that he even has to.

Kai raises his eyebrows. "Maybe because my sister drugged me to sleep that same night!" He snaps.

The king exhales full of exhaustion. "Okay. Let's get back on topic. How do we resolve this issue? Clearly, we don't have as much time as we thought we'd have."

"Why don't we just send a whole group after them?" The queen suggest, the anxiousness finally waving her patience paper thin.

"We can't." The king reminds her. "That would bring attention to something gone wrong and that's the last thing we need right now."

"So we just send someone else?" She asks. "What happens if that person doesn't find them either? We just keep sending them one by one?"

Elijah could practically see the gray hairs sprout of his father's scalp. He looked beyond stressed and somehow looked like he aged 10 years within the past couple days.

The king brings his hands up just to drop them down in defeat. "I don't see what other choice we have."

He then turns to Commander Smith. "Who would you suggest?"

Erwin Smith speaks up. "Connie is a good soldier but he has terrible sense of direction, we would end up having to send out a search party just for him alone."

Ackerman nods in agreement. "Eren is one of our strongest, however, he's far too emotional and reacts on pure impulsive. He wouldn't be reliable for this job."

"Also, Eren has been serving as Mikasa's emotional support dog since she's been struggling with y/n leaving so I don't think taking him away would be a good idea." Ambrose chimes in.

Elijah was surprised Ambrose even cared for Mikasa like that. The two rarely even talked due to the fact that Mikasa found him extremely insufferable.

"Eren and Mikasa? Are they dating?" The queen suddenly asks.

The three boys freeze. Everyone knew Mikasa and Eren were together but it was still meant to be secret considering dating between employees was technically frowned upon.

"I think we have bigger problems to worry about than two employees dating." Kai answers. "I'm sure they're not the first either."

Queen Solana makes an annoyed expression. "That's not why I was asking, Malakai. I genuinely care about Mikasa's wellbeing. That girl is like family to us. She has no family and is under our supervision."

She stands up from the bed she was spending most of her days on now. "I know she likes to act independent but she's still a young woman who needs to be cared for."

She then makes her way over to the window and rests her hand on the frosty glass. "Besides, that rule is ancient. The only rule that stands is dating between the royal family and employees." She turns her head around to glare at Ambrose when she says that last sentence.

"What are you looking at me for?!" He shouts, offended to say the least.

"What about Marco?" Smith brings the conversation back to where it should've remained. "He's top 10 along with Jean, Eren and Connie. He's very capable and levelheaded. Excellent leadership skills too."

Elijah's eyebrows raise. "Marco and Jean are close friends too. I think they're neighbors so he probably knows how to find Jean faster somehow."

And like always, Ambrose needs to add his two cents in. "You're going to tell Marco, someone who doesn't even know about yn's powers by the way, that she ran away and Jean ran after her? I thought the whole point was to let as little people know as possible."

"We don't have a choice." The king explains. "None of the guards know about it so we would have to tell one of them anyway no matter who we chose."

"Why not just send one of us so you don't have to tell anyone else?" Ambrose suggest. "We already know."

The king sighs and places his hand on his forehead. "BECAUSE NO, no one else in this family is going anywhere."

Ambrose crosses his arms, refusing to stand down. "Jean is family and you sent him out there."

"THAT'S DIFFERENT!" The king booms.

"How? Because he's not blood?" Ambrose questions.

The queen grows equally as irritated. "Why must you argue everything?!"

Ackerman speaks up. "Your highness, I can go if needed."

"No." Hendrix declines. "I appreciate the offer but we need you here in the castle."

Kai attempts to get a word in. "What if—"

"LOOK." The king stops him. "None of you are going. Do you understand me? Marco will be going after Jean and that is the final order."

He then turns to his staff. "Does that work with you, Smith? Ackerman?"

"Yes, your highness." They both tilt their heads in compliance.

"Great. Send Marco in here so we can debrief." King Hendrix orders before the two heads of the royal guard do as their told.

Kai watches as they walk out the door and then he looks at his parents. "So that's it? We just wait around again?"

The queen crosses her arms. "No, you will continue with your classes and daily duties. Keep yourselves busy and occupied and you'll see how quickly time passes."

"This is bullshit." Kai mumbles under his breath.

"Excuse me?" The king raises a thick eyebrow.

"Nothing." Kai answers in his normal tone and slams door shut when he walks out.

Ambrose snorts. "And I thought I was dramatic."

Elijah grabs him by the shoulders and leads him out the room. "You are. Now let's go."

Ambrose shakes out of Elijah's grip and the two walk behind Kai who walks alone quietly fuming. "What's wrong with you?" Ambrose teases.

Kai stops walking and spins around to face his brothers. "We just stay here and live normally while they go out and have all the fun? How is that fair?"

Elijah laughs. "So that's what this is about. You're jealous."

"Of course I am." Kai surprisingly admits easily. "Yn gets to explore the world while we stay here and fucking study Shakespeare. I should've drugged the damn castle a long time ago in that case."

"Shhh!" Elijah smacks his head. "Watch what you're saying."

Kai rubs at the spot and lowers his voice. "I'm just saying it's not fair. I want to go out and see the world too."

Ambrose tosses some peanuts he had in his hands into his mouth. "You don't even like getting out of bed."

Kai smacks one of the peanuts mid air before it falls into Ambrose's mouth and it flies toward the wall. "I don't like getting out of bed because I do the same shit over and over everyday. If I was able to go outside, it would be different."

"Oh, quit your whining." Ambrose says, completely unfazed by his lost peanut and easily replacing it with another.

Kai stops and points at Ambrose while looking at Elijah. "He can't seriously be talking about whining."

Elijah laughs and looks down at his watch. "They'll most likely send Marco off after sunset when there's less people around. If you want to watch him leave, I suggest you two finish what you need to do before then."

The trio part ways to finish whatever it is that they needed to do throughout the day and then they all meet toward the back gate when the sun goes down.

When they arrive, Smith, Ackerman and the King wait at the gate with Marco beside them. They were sending him off into the night down the dark backroads that both you and Jean used to sneakily escape.

"Understood?" Smith asks once he's done explaining everything.

Marco, who sat tall and straight on his palace horse, nods. "Yes sir. I'll do my absolute best. I won't let you down."

The king walks closer and places a hand on the head of the horse. "Please bring my daughter back home. Jean too. I'm worried for both of them."

"Yes, your highness. You can count on me. I will return them back even if it costs my life." Marco salutes.

The king chuckles. "Well, let's hope it doesn't come down to that. Safe travels and write us with any updates or information."

Kai gives a judging look. "This doesn't sit right with me."

Elijah frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it." Kai admits. "I just... I don't know."

Ambrose laughs. "You're just mad you're not going."

Kai glares his way. "That's not what I'm saying. But whatever, I can't find the words to explain it anyway. Just forget it."

Elijah studies his brother and the uneasy aura that surrounded him. "I'm sure it'll be fine." He tries to comfort him.

Kai shrugs. "I guess we'll just wait and see, huh? That's all we can do."

Ambrose scoffs. "Hopefully he's more useful than Jean is."

Kai shakes his head and walks away. "I'm not having this argument again."

Ambrose and Elijah walk together as Kai walked further up ahead, eager to get back to his bed, with Pascal, the family dog, happily trotting along side him.

"Can I ask you something?" Elijah asks, completely pushing his luck. He knew his upcoming question was sure to stir an uproar but it was a question that had been eating at his mind for weeks now like a parasite.

Ambrose swipes a finger underneath his runny nose. "You're going to anyway, I'm sure."

He prepared himself for what was to come next. "Why do you really care that Jean went after yn?"

Ambrose lets out a groan of frustration, his head leaning back to look at the sky. "I already told you!"

"The real reason." Elijah cuts to the chase. For a moment there's only silence. All that filled the quiet night was the sound of their feet crunching the frosted leaves beneath them and Pascal's excited pants.

"You made a comment back in our parent's room." Elijah continues before Ambrose can get a word in. "You said 'Jean is family and you sent him out there.'"

He looks toward his younger brother. "You're worried about him. You're not worried about him and yn getting together. You're worried about something happening to both of them. You're just as worried about him getting hurt as you are about her."

Ambrose stops walking. "I could give two shits about what happens to Jean. What does he have to do with me?"

Elijah scoffs, his breath turning into a cloud in the crisp winter air. "Right." He continues to walk, leaving Ambrose behind. "If people are after yn and they figure out she's out there with only one person protecting her, think of how easy it would be to kill Jean and take her."

And just like that, Ambrose slams his older brother hard into a nearby tree. "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Kai spins around a few feet ahead. "Hey!" He runs back and pulls the two apart. "What's going on? I turn my back for one second and you two start fighting?"

Elijah pushes his back off from the bark of the tree to stand straight again. "Admit it. You care."

Ambrose pushes him again. "Fuck you!"

Elijah, surprisingly, pushes him in return. This time much harder. "You're a fucking coward."

Ambrose stumbles backwards, completely taken aback that his brother resorted to force and using cruel words. Kai just stood there with a stunned look. It was normally them two who fought this way.

Elijah knew he was acting out of character. He knew he wasn't the type to push and shout. He left that kind of behavior to his dramatic younger siblings. But he just had so much anger, so much frustration built up inside him that it was growing impossible to keep locked away. He needed release.

He laughs. A strained, harsh laugh but a laugh nonetheless. "You call yourself a man but yet, you can't even admit your feelings like one."

His two younger siblings just stand there, speechless. For some reason, the fact that they weren't saying anything at all gave him more power to carry on.

"When it comes down to it, you cower and hide. You sleep with endless women because you don't want to be alone. You refuse to settle down because you are terrified of someone not being able withstand you for long periods of time." Elijah speaks with hostility as he steps closer and closer to Ambrose.

"You spent your entire life stuck in the middle, feeling unseen and unheard so now you walk around and act and speak so boldly to ensure no one ever overlooks you again." Poisonous words continue to seep from his lips.

Kai dares to speak. "Eli..."

Elijah continued anyway. "You yearn for attention from strangers because you felt you lacked it from the people you loved in your childhood. You run from intimacy because your brain tells you it's not possible for someone to actually love you."

With each step Elijah takes closer to Ambrose, he takes more steps back, the two never meeting. "You push people away because it's easier than living with the idea that they might one day push you away and that's why you act like you don't care about what happens to anyone, like everyone is insignificant to you and your life would be completely unfazed if they disappeared."

Ambrose finally bumps into a tree with no where else to go. Elijah closes the distance. "You mistreat the people you care about because you're too much of a coward to admit you do."

Ambrose's chest rose up and down and vapor flowed out his mouth as he breathed heavily, the anger and shock swallowing his body whole. For the first time ever, he didn't have anything to say.

"You spread those rumors about yn being contagious when we were younger because you were jealous our parents catered more to her and paid more attention to her. You wanted to make it so that whenever she had the freedom to leave that room, no one would want to be around her."Elijah admits.

A coat of gloss casts over Ambrose's teal colored eyes. Kai was no longer attempting to mediate the fight and was now looking down at the ground like he was also feeling equally as guilty.

"She won people over regardless. They all came to love her and you couldn't stand the idea of it so you bullied her for years." Elijah says, his face only inches away. "And she never hated you for it."

Ambrose finally speaks. "What does this shit have to do with anything?"

Elijah leans in closer. "Because you're doing the same thing with Jean. The same way you slandered yn's name, you're doing with him. You're saying all his nasty stuff about him taking advantage of her when you know he would never."

He scoffs a laugh. "But it's easier than admitting the truth, right? It's easier to ruin Jean's reputation than to admit you're terrified of losing him."

Ambrose pushes him away again, but this time says nothing. Elijah stumbles back and shakes his head. "Both of them never did anything bad to any of us. Yet for some reason, we end up always treating them like shit."

Ambrose's lights up, finally finding something argue. "Exactly! Why are you giving me shit when you—BOTH OF YOU— did the same thing?! You both are just as bad as me!"

Elijah takes a deep breath. "You're right."

Ambrose's smile fades due to him not expecting that response at all. Elijah explains further. "I mistreated her too at first. I ignored her and never gave her the time of day. When it came to Jean, I'm the one who told our parents he caught yn and I'm the reason he got sent away and he never came back. I could've just stayed quiet about it but I chose not to."

He looks down at the ground. "But I'm trying to fix it. I respect yn and I respect Jean. I respect them both to have faith they know what they're doing and that in the end, they'll both do the right thing."

He looks back up at his two brothers. "Yn may be a chaotic nuisance that can never stand still but she's never done anything to hurt anyone. Same goes for Jean. I think it's about time we stop doing things to hurt them."

Ambrose looks away off into the distance. His silence was a subliminal way of saying he understood. Kai smiled gently, also quietly agreeing.

Elijah felt a million times lighter now that all of it was out of his system and if he wasn't mistaken, his headache almost seemed to vanish along with it as well.

He throws an arm around both his brothers. Their heads all coming together to meet in the middle. "I don't want us to fight anymore over this. We already lost two of our family members, I don't want to lose anymore, alright? We gotta stick together."

Kai laughs. "Please don't say some corny shit like that's what they would've wanted. I might actually throw up."

Ambrose and Elijah both laugh too. All the uptight tension and toxic masculinity melting away with each laugh.

When the laughter dies down, Ambrose hugs his brothers a little tighter. "I'm sorry." He mutters so quietly that if it was dead silent outside, they probably wouldn't have heard it. "For you know, being a dick and stuff. I guess I'll try to work on it."

Kai grins and cups Ambrose's face. "Look at you being a man. I feel like a proud father right now."

Ambrose smacks his hand away. "Shut up! I'm only doing it so Grandpa Eli doesn't give me another lecture. Can't risk him having a heart attack."

Elijah shoves his head as the three boys laugh and huddle into a hug once more. He genuinely couldn't remember the last time they hugged like this. Or if they ever even really have in general.

Part of him was happy it was happening. The other part of him was sad you weren't here to witness it.

As the three embrace in a group hug, there's a eerie sound coming from just a few feet away. Considering the sun had set long ago, it was too dark to see anything.

"What was that?" Ambrose asks. The three never break away from their huddle.

Kai looks around. "It sounds like it's getting closer."

They look around in search for the inching sound but due to the fact that they were in the forrest, it was hard to pin out where exactly it was coming from.

To make matters even worse, Pascal begins to growl in the direction of one of the dark corners of the forest. "I'm guessing it's coming from over there." Elijah says.

As the sound came closer, it sounded more and more like footsteps. The footsteps, however, didn't sound like they were coming from one person. In fact, it didn't even sound human at all.

The brothers tighten their small circle. "Oh hell no." Ambrose speaks. "I can't see a damn thing out here."

"It's probably just someone coming to look for us." Elijah suggests.

Kai pushes Ambrose out of the protective huddle. "Go check."

Ambrose spins around, stunned. "Why me?!"

"Prove your newly found manhood to us!" Kai tries his hardest not to laugh. Elijah eggs him on as well. "Yeah, you go check."

Ambrose's mouth drops open but he proceeds to shut it after. He then puffs up his chest and lifts his chin up high. "You're right. I'm a man. Men aren't scared of noises in the dark."

He turns on his heel and pauses for a moment before he starts to slowly step toward the steadily growing sound.

"Go get 'em, tiger." Kai shouts, his hand cupped around his mouth and his body remaining close to Elijah's.

Ambrose glares at his brothers before turning back and carefully and quietly walking forward. He reaches his hand to touch the rough bark of a tree and right when he's about to look past it, he jumps twelve feet in the air and screams.

The culprit, who turns out to be Hange, jumps just as high and screams just as loud. "Ahhhh!
Oh. It's just you three. Sorry, I heard yelling so I came to look."

Everyone sighs with relief when they see Hange with a horse to their left. That explains why the footsteps sounded abnormal.

Ambrose places his hand on Hange's shoulder and bends over with his other hand rested on his knee as he collects himself. "I think I shit myself a little."

"What are you boys up to? It's dark outside, shouldn't you be inside?" Hange asks. They all collectively begin walking back to the castle and toward the stables. "I was setting all the horses back for the night and I kept hearing shouting from the woods."

"Sorry about that." Elijah laughs. "We just had a little argument. We didn't mean to startle you."

Hange frowns. "In the woods at night?"

Ambrose walks up to his horse, a shiny, chocolate colored one with the healthiest mane of all the horses. It only made sense Ambrose, who was so uptight about his looks, made sure everything else that belongs to him looked equally as elegant. "Men sometimes need privacy to lash things out where no one else can hear. Plus, more space for fighting."

Kai for a moment searches for his horse but then remembers Jean took it in order to follow after you. Elijah could see slight disappointment in his eyes.

Next to the empty stall where Kai's horse used to reside, there was another equally as empty stall where Maximus, your horse stayed.

Hange seemed to notice Kai's gloomy demeanor. "Have you heard from the princess? How is she doing?"

"She's doing great. Her and Jean arrived there safely." Elijah answers before his brothers say anything stupid which he knew was extremely likely.

"Ahhh, that's such relieving news." Hange sighs as she pets Elijah's horse. "I miss her. The castle is so quiet without her."

Ambrose yawns and stretches his arms out to the sky. "It's peaceful."

Kai elbows him hard in the ribs. "Weren't you crying earlier about how you wanted her to come home already?"

"Ow!" Ambrose yelps as he rubs at his side. "I wasn't crying, idiot!"

Hange laughs at the two bickering boys and then turns to Elijah who was lost in thought. "Do you think if I write her some letters, the Cicily castle with give them to her? I just want to make sure
she and Jean are taking care of my babies."

"I'm sure they're taking great care of them." Elijah forces a smile. "Yn has always had a knack for animals."

"Hm, you're right." Hange agrees. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

Kai squats down to pet Pascal who was still loyally following him. "She still has a while to go but she'll be back soon before you know it."

Hange finishes locking up the last horse shut in its stable. "Poor baby. I hope she's doing alright. Such big changes practically overnight. I'm sure it's overwhelming."

"Nothing she can't handle." Elijah reassures. "Plus, Jean is with her so it's not like she's going through it alone. He's pretty good at taming her nerves."

Hange smiles. "That Jean is a good egg. Wait, is that all the protection she has with her? Just Jean?"

The three boys stand completely still for a moment. It was like they were telepathically communicating with eachother on who could come up with the best answer without sounding like they were lying.

"Jean is the only one who went with her on the way there but she has the entire Cicily royal guard protecting her over there. They arrived safely and she's under great care at the castle." Kai responds.

Hange sighs. "Well, that's wonderful news and a great relief. I just hope it's the same way on the journey back. It's quite dangerous out there for just them two alone."

Anxiousness and uneasiness filled the air. Hange then perks up. "But I'm sure they'll be fine! Well, goodnight boys. See you tomorrow!"

And just like that, gone. Hange disappears into the night as if she didn't leave the three filled with anxiety and overwhelming intrusive thoughts.

Kai sighs heavily and rubs his eyes. "Let's go inside. I'm ready to shower and knock the hell out."

The other two nod in agreement and begin heading toward the castle, ready to put the long, draining day to a heavily anticipated end.

Once their inside, the castle is just as quiet as it was outside. Everyone had gone home for the night except for the few guards who were on the night schedule this week.

The sound of their shoes clicking against the polished floors echo down the empty halls. Ambrose's room is the first to appear so he waves goodnight to his siblings and slips into his room for the night leaving Elijah and Kai to walk down the extensive halls.

As they make their way down to the Northern part of the castle, Elijah stops in his tracks and tilts his hand back to look down the hall toward your room.

"What?" Kai asks when he realizes his brother was no longer walking beside him.

Elijah keeps his eye on your bedroom door. It was open slightly like someone had just been in there. "I went into her room earlier and I'm pretty sure I closed to door. In fact, I know I did."

Kai shrugs. "Maybe it was just Mikasa?"

The minuscule hairs on Elijah's tan arms stand straight up as goosebumps coat his skin. He suddenly got the most strange feeling he could not shake. "Maybe."

-
surprise

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