His Exit.
The crown prince, being the one and only Prince of the palace, still had the authority to order everyone around considering the King was on his death bed and the queen too dramatic to deal with him.
Jeffrey soon realized the crown prince ordered him to stay away.
The guards didn't let him in his chambers, he no longer came down to Jeff's house to hangout (when Jeff used to beg him to leave his home alone), he didn't eat in the gardens or the dining hall and no one said anything about how he was doing.
Jeffrey was worried sick, with nothing he could do. As he sat on his couch trying to think of something to start a conversation with Greg, he got the call.
The prince was gone.
Gone? What do you mean he's gone?
Well, the only heir to the throne escaped, obviously. Jeffrey almost slapped himself for not realizing he'd do that sooner. He didn't even bother taking off his suit and he ran out of to palace.
-
He tried everywhere. He was exhausted, running from place to place all day. He went to the skate park, he went to the other skate park, and another one, the karaoke bar, the rock club, the specific streets he liked to hang out on, the shops he shopped for his clothes.
Everywhere.
It was about time the palace made an announcement letting people know The Prince was missing. The country was going to be a mess. But Jeffrey didn't care about the country right now. He just wanted to find Greg as soon as possible.
And he only had one more place in his mind to look at.
When he tracked Greg and saw him enter that place back in the day, they had a huge fight. Jeff still understood Greg's stubborn personality and stance against his mom, but that place was way beyond understandable. Thiefs, gangsters, punks (Jeff tried to ignore the fact that Greg was pretty much one of them), all the exciting people of the underground hanged around there.
Greg liked to think of himself as this strong, careless alpha male but he literally was a kind hearted omega, they were going to eat him up and leave his crumbs.
As much as he was scared from the place, he was dedicated on finding the crown prince so he still headed over there. Graffitis at the beginning of the tunnel welcomed him, then the smell of illegal drugs, then the sex, and laughter and cigarette smokes. Blinding lights, passing motorbike riders, people with guns.
Jeff were wary of them and they were wary of Jeff. He obviously didn't belong. Neither his perfectly polished look, or his expensive suit, or shiny hair and trimmed nails, or perfect posture, nothing about him fit in. As he kept walking towards the place he felt less and less secure. He could hear footsteps forming behind him already and he wasn't even close to locating where Greg is.
"Are you royalty boy? You look awful lot like that pal on TV." He heard the man behind him say and he finally realized there wasn't any escaping from this.
He turned around and looked at the man, bald, worn down, tired. He couldn't say much other than "What if I am?"
"Then you better leave." The man growled. "We don't want your kind here. You thiefs."
"We?" Jeff almost laughed. "We are the thieves? This place is crowded with them?!"
"We don't steal from the needy." The man said as he stepped closer to Jeff, and he could see there were multiple people behind him. "But you, you polished skunks, build beautiful houses while we freeze, and eat feasts while we starve, and live without a care in the world with the taxes we pay."
The man was right in front of Jeff's nose now, he smelled. "I've lost both of my children to starvation you know?"
"The palace has help funds." Jeff mumbled, his voice sound way shakier than he thought. "You could've applied."
"You think I didn't? You think the money they supposedly give out actually reaches us?" The man growled. "Don't be so naive, boy."
Jeff couldn't handle this anymore so he pushed the man away from him, and that's when the craziness begun. They first took everything he had on him, his suit, his watch, his necklace and wallet. Then they hit him until he fell to the ground. They would've continued if it wasn't for a panicked voice screaming.
"Stop! Stop it!" Greg ran, breathless. "He's my friend, stop!"
The kicking stopped and Jeff felt the Prince's hands on his cheeks. He looked at him with eyes blurry from the hits and smiled. "You're ok." The Royal Servant mumbled. "Good."
Then he fainted.