Ackley, as the esteemed crowned prince of the Northern Kingdom, and the oldest brother to two siblings, had witnessed hundreds of arguments in his time on Wisteria.
Arguments over money, food, service, games, fights, other arguments. He had practically seen it all, but he never thought much of the arguments he would occasionally overhear between father and King Chadwick as he passed the throne room.
He never really cared nor was allowed to care as eavesdropping on private chamber conversations was strictly against the rules. He truly thought he wouldn't be able to hear any of the conversations between the empress and kings until his coronation, but when father grew sickly, the 24 year old had no choice but to take his father's place in the meeting.
I say meeting, but it was more of an argument than a meeting.
"Look at how young they are! They don't deserve something so cruel!" King Chadwick yelled.
"They may be young, but that doesn't change the fact that they are gang members!" King Anoki argued back.
"Their minds can be changed if we just give them a chance to change!"
"How long would that take? Who is to say they won't turn around and attack when we are vulnerable? We can't take chances!"
"That's not your call to make!"
"Oh, is it yours?"
"Gentlemen." Empress Si-eun said, silencing the arguing kings instantly, "Since these children belong to an inter-kingdom terrorist organization, it is our duty for us to come to an agreement on how to punish their crimes."
"What crimes have they committed?" King Chadwick questioned, "Show me a single shilling they have stolen or a single person they have trafficked."
The room fell silent as the King and Empress failed to come up with a single law the people in question had broken.
"A normal sentencing will suffice for them-"
"You're only talking this way because George isn't around to fact check you." King Anoki rudely sneered.
"No, this is just the first time you're hearing my opinion without you and George drowning me out."
"You southerners are too sensitive about everything anyway."
"Please keep your discussions close to the issue before you insult half my entire empire." Empress Si-eun warned before turning to Ackley and asking for his opinion on the matter.
"Yes, Ackley," King Anoki said with a smirk, "What would your father say on this issue?"
Well, based on everything he had heard, Ackley was almost positive his father would've sent the accused to 25 years in Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula, but they were only guilty by association to Ackley.
King Chadwick made a brilliant argument by pointing out how none of the accused had actually committed any crimes too. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they were all barely adults to add to the argument, but it didn't matter what Ackley thought.
Father would've sent them to Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula, and so with King Chadwick against, King Anoki for, and Empress Si-eun indifferent on the verdict, Ackley ended up sending eight young magicians to Quod in place of his father, but the decision never sat right with him.
At the end of the meeting, Ackley managed to catch up to King Chadwick, who was upset, to say the least.
He went to apologize to his mentor, but King Anoki grabbed him at the last minute to offer his best wishes for father, leaving Ackley to forever wonder what was so bad about his decision in the first place.
By forever wonder, I mean Ackley ranting to Patrick, the head butler, whilst lying on his bed. He didn't look it, but Patrick was a great listener as he was able to organize the prince's messy hotel room while answering the prince's thousand (mostly rhetorical) questions.
Was he wrong in sentencing them to Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula? How bad could it have possibly been anyway?
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question completely, Your Highness."
Why not?
"I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but the only accounts of Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula are second accounts of the family members of inmates."
Second hand accounts?
"Yes, Your Highness."
How was that possible? How was it that Patrick could not find a single first hand account from a released inmate? Not a single ex-convict?
"No, Your Highness."
Well, what happened to them? Surely they didn't just fall off the face of Wisteria once they had their freedom back.
bb"No, they didn't, but you may find the truth a bit unsettling, my Prince."
Ackley was ready for whatever bomb Patrick was about to drop.
Or at least he thought he was.
*****
"Ackley, what are you doing here? I thought you were coming home tomorrow."
Evangeline exclaimed as she helped her husband into their home. "You're soaked to the bone. Like a wet dog."
He wanted to laugh at her joke. Ackley genuinely wanted to smile, but he couldn't bring himself to as the memories of the prior hours replayed over and over in his head.
Why did he go there? He shouldn't have let his curiosity get the better of him, but he still ventured to that cage in the guise of his magic and the night.
He waited to sneak in with some guards after examining the process of removing windows taking place on the outside. He couldn't understand the renovations or Patrick's words until he watched a few guards drag a young man to a detention cell.
The last time he properly visited the prison with his father, the creepy warden told him about how they would discipline disobedient inmates in those extra large cells, but Ackley simply couldn't believe his eyes as he watched what those guards did to that poor prisoner behind closed doors.
Patrick's words finally made sense as Ackley ran and ran until he found himself in front of his front door.
"No inmate has ever remained outside of Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula after release for more than a month. They weren't sent back either. No one can be that unlucky in life. Every single person who survived that establishment committed suicide soon afterwards."
Warm.
Ackley slowly came to as he found himself in his wife's arms as they sat in front of the fire. He wrapped his arms around her and couldn't let go as she sang to him. With a voice like hers, Ackley thought of himself to be the luckiest man in Wisteria as he kissed her stomach.
"He can't hear you yet, you know."
He?
"Mhm." she said with glee, "I got the ultrasound earlier today, or rather yesterday. You were out of it for a while, so I don't blame you."
He was so sorry.
"Huh?"
All Ackley could do was just apologize as he held his family in his arms. He swore he would protect them with all he had.
He had to in this corrupt, evil world.
*****
Speaking of evil, that was the perfect word to describe Richard's sly grin as he asked Ackley how long he was going to follow him.
He simply wanted to give him his condolences on the loss of his brilliant little sister.
"So you followed me to the outskirts of the town for forty minutes with no security detail for that? By the way, having your wife pretend you two are having sex may not reflect well on your reputation."
Great. Now all the filler was out of the way, Ackley could finally give his condolences for the young, talented murderer Doria Mustollon Sullivan and her accomplice, Raphael Sullivan.
"Just how much do you know, Your Majesty?"
Oh, you know, he picked up a few things here and there as king.
"Really? Like what?"
His second son's general physician resigning, a physician Richard and Doria had both personally recommended to him. However, the king did give Richard his credit for convincing Harrison to have the balls to chase after his own little sister, a married woman.
"That's all."
He looked bored, a bad sign, Ackley thought as he pulled out his trump card against his strongest opponent yet.
"A picture?"
Of Richard kissing the heir to the empire of the East, and Empress Si-eun's own little brother, Grand Duke Kim Chung-Ae.
"Blackmail?"
No, Ackley wouldn't dare, especially if the issue was already approved to be published by the empress herself.
"She's trying to kick both of us out completely, huh?"
Apparently so, but this was the best news either party could get.
"What are you trying to say, Your Majesty?"
He was going to help them disappear and make as many preparations as they needed for their plan.
"What's in it for you?"
His throne. At the end of it all, Ackley wanted to be king for 1 year in this new world before he himself disappeared without a trace.
"Wow." Mustollini said with a smile, "You seem to know exactly what it is you want, Your Majesty, but the question becomes: are you strong enough to hold on to this dream of yours?"
Ackley didn't need a half-done experiment done on him or any of his children.
"You never know, Your Majesty, that 'half-done experiment' could save your life one day."
He was sure it would, Ackley replied sarcastically as he turned to leave.
"Then let's hope your sons are as strong as you." he heard Richard remark, but he didn't need to turn around to hear the arrogance in his voice.
He knew something Ackley didn't.
*****
Ackley walked through the royal garden, looking for his youngest, William. His meetings had finally ended after dragging on for hours, and his new assignment was to find and appease the prince he had promised to spend time with.
He had a few ideas on how to appease him, but none of them could've worked without him finding the young prince first. To make matters worse, he lived in a palace, which was by far the worst place to play hide-and-seek.
After searching William's room, the kitchen, the dining hall, and all 16 towers, Ackley was ready to accept defeat as he finally turned to Evangeline and Crispus.
"William?" his wife asked as she dusted her gardening gloves before taking them off.
"He and Crispus were working on the tulips over there. Why?"
He wanted to finally spend some time with his son. Why was she being so inquisitive anyway?
"One, I'm your wife. Two, my baby came to me sulking because his father lied to him. Three, he's my son too, Ackley."
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ackley landed a kiss on Evangeline's cheek as he carefully ran through the flower beds and tackled a little fluffy golden head of hair.
"Ow!"
Since when was William's voice so deep? Was he gone for that long? He at least wanted to see the face of his grandchild~
"What are you talking about, father?"
Oh, it was Crispus. Thank goodness! There was still time to make amends!
"Did you hit your head somewhere?"
That's rude, Crispus!
"And tackling me for no reason isn't?"
... Touché. Anyway, where was William?
"He's over there, laughing to himself."
Why was he laughing by himself?
"How should I know why kids do the things they do?"
Geez, he really was starting to sound like an old man, Ackley commented before Crispus tripped him and laughed as his father face planted a flower bed.
Just who did he take after to be so cynical, the grown man wondered as he planned on scaring the skin of his youngest child. He planned on letting out a loud sudden sound to frighten the boy, but in the end, Ackley was the one who was scared to near death as he watched his son playing with what looked like a mutilated snake.
He held the scream in as he carefully lifted the child away from the area, fearful of the animal that had ripped up the snake returning.
"Daddy, where we going?" the young child asked in his arms, and Ackley replied somewhere safe as he ran over to the infirmary to have Dr. Stevens check on him.
As he was running, Ackley noticed William reaching out to something behind them, so he turned around, ready to fight only to see … nothing.
What was he reaching for?
"My fwends."
His friends? Was there a child still back there?
Ackley found himself running through flower bed after flower bed as William pointed the way until they got to a little spot by a tree. He felt his blood run cold as his son pointed to a pile of dirt, and he set him down as he moved the dirt aside, only to find a shoe box.
William excitedly crouched down next to his father as he opened the box to find miscellaneous body parts from different animals.
His eyes landed on a stray eye ball, a dog's leg, and a snake that had been cut open before he slammed the box shut, picked up William and ran towards Crispus.
He grabbed him as they made their way to Evangeline, and soon the entire royal family was out of breath as they arrived in the palace infirmary.
"Don't tell me Her Majesty is pregnant again." Harrison joked despite the dire atmosphere of the room.
"Daddy," William asked as he tugged at Ackley's shirt with his little hands, "Did Daddy not like my fwends?"
Friends?
"What's he talking about, Ackley? What's wrong?"
Should he have told them? He could only imagine what his wife's and first born son's faces would look like if he told them he found a box of various animal body parts.
He could only dream of their expressions if he told them those marred body parts were his son's "friends".
He didn't need to dream or imagine it as Harrison calmly turned and asked William about his friends as Evangeline screamed and cried in horror.
"Prince Crispus, please take your mother outside and calm her down."
Did Harrison know about this?
"There were some irregularities in his cerebrum structure when I first scanned him, but I didn't think these urges of his would show up so soon."
Urges? William just got sudden urges to rip animals apart? What did that even mean?
What was he giving him?
"Medicine infused with my magic. It will cull those urges for a while."
For a while?
"Yes, once the young prince grows stronger than I, the effects of the medicine will wear off, and even more powerful urges shall suffice."
There wasn't a cure?
"None that I know of, Your Majesty."
That day, as Ackley stared into the seemingly endless blue in his son's eyes, he swore he would find a cure and build a kingdom he and all his children would be able to call home, even if it meant tricking William into believing Baptiste had died.
"Telling him yourself is the best course of action, Your Majesty," he remembered Harrison telling him, "If he finds out you were lying to him, you may lose his trust forever."
His trust, huh, Ackley thought as he entered the northern tower of his Palace Rus.
He thanked everyone for gathering on such short notice as he eyed Evangeline, Crispus, and Lord Mansa, the current heir of the Southern Kingdom.
"What is the meaning of this?" he immediately began complaining as Ackley sat on his throne. "Why is your family present during a private meeting? This is highly inappropriate."
He was aware, but it would take but a moment-
"Then you should've done this after our meeting! I don't even want to be in the same room as that psycho."
"Call my brother a psycho again, and I'll-"
Crispus. That was extremely rude of him.
"Your Majesty, he called WIlliam a-"
He was well aware of what he had called his son, but he wouldn't be a good king if he let every little thing bug him, and neither would Crispus.
"You're right." Crispus sulked, "I'm sorry, father, Lord Mansa."
The arrogant bastard smugged as Ackley began to tell everyone how Dr. Harrison Stevens had told him of a way to cure William of his ailment, but he noticed William staring into space during his announcement.
He clapped his hands loudly, and that immediately caught his attention, and apparently pissed Lord Mansa off, again.
"Are you trying to make a fool out of me, Ackley? Inviting me to a meeting only for you and your deranged family to announce something as stupid as-"
Absolute silence filled the room following the sound of 4 razor sharp vines impaling Lord Mansa where he stood.
He opened his mouth to scream, but only blood poured out of it before the vines receded back to the ground, leaving the corpse of the heir to the Southern Kingdom lying on the ground.
"I'm so sorry about that father. I lost my temper when I heard how rude he was being towards you, mother, Crispus, and Baptiste."
Baptiste? He knew?
"Of course! Louis told me Master Julian had only tricked me into thinking he was dead in order to activate my Obrussa."
H-he did?
"Yep! Anyway, you mentioned I am sick?"
Y-yes he was.
"But you have the cure, don't you, father?"
Ackley couldn't think straight anymore as he watched the gleaming smile on William's face as he innocently asked his father seemingly innocent questions with a dead body by his feet.
His eyes wandered to the cure as he began to question if Harrison's method would work.
"Is it that box?"
No! Ackley slipped as he questioned how long he had known about Baptiste.
"Since I woke up that one day. I even brought him a late birthday present since I didn't get a chance last year."
H-how kind of him.
"I'll take the present." Crispus suddenly said with a clearly forced smile on his face as William handed him a backpack.
"What's in the box, father?"
Ackley's mind was torn, he didn't know whether or not to tell William the truth.
If he did, there was a chance he would kill him, but if he tried to lie to him, he knew the consequences would be even more severe, and so, he finally told him the truth.
There was a body in the box.
"A body? Whose?"
Ackley felt a lump grow in his throat right before Baptiste asked, "Can I come out now?" from behind Evangeline's throne.
He looked at her, and she simply smiled at her husband before replying, "Yes, dear. Go and hug your brother."
Ackley's heart warmed up as he watched William lovingly embrace his little brother before picking him up.
Maybe William would take the news well, Ackley thought, but before he could reveal the truth himself, William broke the box open out of nowhere.
He watched the colour drain from his son's face as he dropped his little brother onto the floor and ran.
He felt helpless as he watched him cry while holding his brother in his arms.
"Louis! Get up, Louis! This isn't funny!"
Ackley got up to comfort his son as the room slowly began to rumble.
He was going to be okay, Ackley assured. His family was going to be right by his side through everything he was going through. They loved him-
"It's a bomb!"
What?
"William, why the abyssus would you bring a bomb here?" Crispus yelled. "Do you want to kill your own family?"
"Rebecca, Louis, Ahn-Jong, and Spencer." William mumbled.
"You killed four people, so I will kill four people." he said as his eyes glowed their brightest jungle green and vines broke through the ground and blocked every exit from the tower.
Where did he go wrong?
Ackley wondered as he and Crispus tried to break the vines to no avail.
What did he do wrong?
He only wondered as he held his beautiful Evangeline in his arms as the final tick sounded.