A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
***
"Lay him down, lay him down,"
Voltage Xirquit and Paris Kean Simons laid the Emperor on the bed. Denise Dragunovv, with Lady Luisa McKenzie, began the preparations for the surgery. Franchetti Xerene Xirquit helped the Empress sit in the living room where the others are. The healer Princesses went to the Emergency Room, waiting for directions from the doctors.
"M-My Dad... My Dad..."
The Young Lord sighed and walked to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of beer. He drinked until the bottom's up, until the loudness of his mind come to silence.
He set all of his thoughts aside so he could focus on what's happening right now. When he went back to the living room, he found Prince Maxigaufeas sobbing on his sister's embrace.
"Shh. Uncle will be fine. Hush," the lady comforted.
The Young Lord left again and returned with a first aid kit on his hand.
"Come here, Ate," he called her and sat on the couch. The Lady followed, bringing the Prince with her.
"Does it hurt?" He asked her and opened the kit.
The Lady hissed, "This? Basic. Don't worry about me. I'm very fine!"
The Young Lord sighed and aid his sister's cut on her head.
Suddenly, the door opened. They fell into deeper silence, awkward and cold, when the Princes of the Empire came in.
"How... How is he?" Prince Davorin asked and searched for his wife. When they saw each other, she smiled at him from the Emergency Room.
Chancellor Titania, with her inner circle, were seen busy helping the doctors. They are preparing the equipments, only to find that they are not working.
"The machines aren't working," Chase Hyatt said and knocked on the machine.
The Emperor went into seizures. Prince Maxigaufeas, witnessing the horrifying and traumatizing state his father is going through, cried out in fear and barged in the Emergency Room. He hugged the Emperor's shaking body, calling his name.
"Maxi! Get out! Don't squeeze him! MAXI!"
Paris Kean pulled the Prince away.
"No! You're not helping my Dad! He needs me! He needs me!"
Lord Ohms chuckled, sitting prettily on a single-seater couch.
Voltage Xirquit nodded at his second son to go get the Prince. Jeth Draven Lervoux closed the Emergency Room's doors and stood by it to prevent anyone from going in and disturbing the operation.
"So, is he dead?"
Their heads turn to the window and found the Deity sitting by the window sill with a bitten apple on her hand.
"YOU---!"
Lord Spike pulled the Prince back when he tried jumping on the Deity to do something bad.
Skadi Eira chuckled, "Easy, boy. I'm not the one who did that to him? The feisty kid is not my son. Why lash out on me?"
"SHUT UP! LEAVE! WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"
"But I want to be here. What about it?" she sass and grinned.
Empress Clastigaufeas palmed her face.
"I don't know how I'll explain this to Claxiord..." She can't imagine how her calm and composed son will react. Prince Maxigaufeas is already as destructive as he can be. What about the Crown Prince?
"Oh, don't worry about him! He's very calm and collected, he won't go around slaying these Dragunovvs!" Lady Elektra joked in attempt to lighten the atmosphere, only to make it more awkward and stifling.
Paris Kean went out of the ER. He was frustrated but his anxiety is weighing him down more. They could sense bad news.
"The machines aren't working anymore. I don't know if this was intentional, but I'm afraid Max... He wouldn't make it."
Prince Maxigaufeas tweaked his hair and screamed his lungs out on the floor. The Empress, who's trying her best to look unbothered and composed, broke down from the news he relied and hugged herself.
"W-We tried removing one bullet, but we can't. They were poisoned and his nerves merged with it, cutting off the sensitivity of his senses. H-He's... He's good as dead. I-I'm sorry. The machines are not w-working anymore. W-We can't save him---"
Paris Kean bent over and covered his face. His son, Thirdy, approached to comfort him.
Prince Maxigaufeas looked up and searched for him. Then, they all looked at him.
"W-Watts..." He desperately called with his breaking, shaking voice. Still on his knees, he walked to the Young Lord and begged.
Watts Xirquit's eyes widened.
"Please, please help my Dad. Please, I beg of you. I-I know... You can do it. Y-You can make machines, right? You're a genius, I know! Please, Watts! I'd do anything! I'd do anything, just save him! Watts!"
Prince Maxigaufeas grabbed the Young Lord by his leg. He immediately pulled him up and locked the Prince in his arms. He let him cry on his shoulders. Oh, the Prince is still a child. A solid father's boy.
"Don't do that again. Don't kneel in front of me again. You could've just asked me. I will. I would. We're brothers, Maxi."
It made the Prince weak and hugged the Young Lord tighter.
"I k-know you would. But I thought... All that happened. Everything. Moon, your son---I thought they'd influence you somehow. I-I got scared that you would turn your back on us, Watts. I'm sorry. If only I believed you. If only I did something to save your woman. If only I... I thought you'd turn against us!"
Watts Xirquit's eyes widened. He remembered. He made his mind forget it even for a day. He wanted to forget her even for a second. He's holding everything back. His pain. How his soul shiver from hatred, regret, longingness, and pain. His soul is breaking just by the thought of her.
The last picture of her in his mind replayed like a broken record. How her blood spilled on the floor, how her beautiful dusts return to the heavens. He couldn't do anything for her.
But she wanted it. She gave up.
He broke their embrace. Prince Maxigaufeas gulped and shivered when he thought that the Young Lord changed his mind. Right in that moment, he was defenselessly vulnerable. His uncontrollable tears keep on streaming from his eyes, and they are begging. His eyes are enough to let everyone know how ready he is to do any means just to save his father.
"How do you see me now, Maxigaufeas?" The Young Lord asked lowly, looking straight into his eyes.
The Prince pulled his breath.
"W-Why ask me that? Did I fail to be your friend? Because I didn't do anything...to save her?"
All eyes are on them. They sense no hostility from the Young Lord. They can't read him anymore. He concealed himself again. Hidden.
"Would you call me a fool if I were to turn against you based on what you did to her back then?"
Prince Maxigaufeas's eyes dilated.
"We don't know what happened. I know you. We do. You got your father's psychotic tendencies. You're patiently impatient. Sometimes you can't hold yourself back, sometimes you can. It makes me want to distort time and go back to that moment just to ask you why. Why, Maxi? Did you really have to kill your son while he's still in her womb?"
The Young Lord's stares dropped to the Prince's good hands. Hands that are good at pulling triggers.
"But there must be a fucking reason why, Watts! I wouldn't do something as evil as that!"
Lord Thirdy went between them, but he sided the Prince most to calm him down.
"Of course, there will always be a reason. Right now, I love you. At the same time, I'm beginning to hate you. Am I being unreasonable? It's making me crazy. The idea of you and her together. I want her all by myself. I loved her first. Somehow, I'm relieved that she's gone. That way, you two won't happen. Yet it makes me so fucking broken because it mean that I'll never get to see her again. I don't know what to wish anymore. I don't know if I'd rather see her alive and share her with you, or visit her tomb every single fucking day BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE HER ANYMORE! Maxigaufeas, it's making me crazy!"
Lady Elektra flinched and felt bad for her baby brother that her tears instantly welled in her eyes.
"I fucking hate everyone! I hate those people! I hate you, I hate my family, I hate this Empire, I hate those fucking Dragunovvs and Warlocks, and that fucking Knight for cutting her head! I fucking hate myself for being so powerless! Everything I've done is for nothing because they were not enough to save her from her despair! It makes me feel hopeless even more to know that she lived twice, only for us to fail her the second fucking time around! It hurts so much that I want to shoot myself to death! I don't want to be Watts Xirquit anymore! I put myself here, I wanted to be the greatest all for her! All I've done is falling apart. All of that---only to lose her this way! You shouldn't have mentioned her, Maxigaufeas! You shouldn't made me remember her!"
He walked away from him. His feet led him to the wall and he punched a hole in it then fell into silence.
"Zodiac. Valy. Maximilien. Ivy. Ambry," he mumbled under his hoarse voice.
He slowly straightened his back and opened his sparking hand. A sword formed from thin air.
"W-Watts..."
His shoulders shudder and his laughter became louder. When he turned around, they saw a mad man in front of them.
"My son said his brothers' Daddies were all Princes. Those symbols on the door are from different empires. Some Deverean or Sacremorean Imperial rats survived the purged. Maxi, I will save your Dad, but you'll take his place instead---"
The Grand Duchess stepped in and sent her palm across his son's face before he could finish his sentence. The Young Lord was astounded for it was strong and it probably pulled him back to his senses.
When his eyes shift to where his mother is, they widened when he saw her crying.
"I know you're hurt. I know it won't be easy to forgive us. I know we played a part to her fall. It's our fault. Our sorry won't be enough. I caught a glimpse of your heartache. We hurt you. So... Let me do the dirty work for you. I'll do it. If you're jealous, I'll kill them for you. If you're so obsessed, I'll kill Maxigaufeas for you. Do you want me to kill Maxigaufeas now?"
She pulled the knife hidden under her skirt and went behind the Prince. She pressed the weapon against his neck, and he willingly gave in.
"Say it, Watts. SAY IT!"
The swing jumped when it fell to the floor. Lady Elektra pulled her broken brother for a hug.
"I don't know what to do. I want her back. It makes me want to do bad things. Mom, it hurts so much. It's killing me. I don't want to be alone. I feel so alone. It's like I don't need any of you anymore but her. Please, help me ease this pain. I don't like this feeling. I don't like this kind of wound, Mom. My heart aches so much."
The Grand Duchess let the Prince go and went to comfort her son.
The Grand Duke stepped in.
"Let's bring Maxism to where belongs. This is not his home. Others can stay neutral, that's okay. There's nothing wrong in playing safe. But don't ever think of standing against our way. The Dragunovvs waged war against the Xirquits. Either you surrender the impostor or kill her yourselves. You broke my son's heart and soul. I'll break you more than that."
Lord Ohms laughed again and even clapped his hands.
"Daddy, chill. Don't scare the kids. C'mon, aren't we family here? You don't like it? Our Watts and a Warlock-Dragunovv. The real one, I mean. World domination. Wow."
Lord Spike sighed at his brother's statements.
"A lone Xirquit is enough to dominate the world. We don't need another breed to make that happen."
Lord Spike sighed again. This time, because of his father.
"Let's talk about this, Uncle."
Prince Izaac stepped forward, tired from the feat he did.
"Stop. Nothing good will come from talking about it. Unless you'd turn back time to avoid this, to the time when my son is still complete. You broke my son, Izaac. This family...is cursed. And I will never forgive you for that. First, my wife. Now, my son? Daro's lineage is CURSED."
If looks could kill, the Dragunovvs will be long dead. Six feet buried under Earth.
Empress Clastigaufeas stand up. She almost lost her balance, good thing Prince Ascel was next to her. She immediately slapped his hands away from her.
The Prince felt ashamed.
"Don't...touch me. I'd rather fall than let your hands touch me. This is all because of you. I will lose that psycho because of you. If that happens, know that I will do anything to lift my declaration so I could send my people here. My husband...is fighting for his life because of the sins you committed to that girl. Know that I will come back for blood if I were to lose my husband. FOR BLOOD."
The sparking tension between them scorched the ties that binds them together as family and friend. Chancellor Titania and her gang knew that things will never be the same again. It will take time for the families to heal and forgive each other. They would have had the reason is so shallow, but there's Watts Xirquit. Their favorite, their most loved, the center of their attention---Watts Nikola Xirquit is basically House Xirquit's heart, because the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke won't be having another family member anymore. They're already contented with the family they have. The Grand Duchess got her tubes tied after giving birth to the Young Lord.
"My baby boy,"
The Grand Duchess took over and gently rock her son in her arms. Her son cried harder, the sound she never wished to hear. It's tearing her apart.
"M-Mom, it hurts so much. I won't see her an-anymore. I---My love... I haven't... I want to... I don't want to live anymore. I want to die."
The Grand Duke turned around and heaved deep breaths. Duke Paris stood close to him and pat his back.
"Leave first, Maxi. He won't die. That child won't let him die that quick. Use magic to sustain his lifeline. We have things to settle here."
The Grand Duchess's orders were final and solid. Lady Elektra carried her brother like a baby in her arms and rocked him side by side.
"A-Ate. Put me down. This is too much."
"Shh. I don't care about what they'll say. You will always be my baby. Let's go. We're never going back here."
Lord Spike raised his hand to stop them, but the Lady already passed him by to leave. The chuckling Lord named Ohms Xirquit followed his siblings and intentionally bumped his shoulders against the Warlock Princes strongly.
"Condolences. It's truly tragic and sad. This is why I never liked any of you. Aside from being inferior to me, you're not as perfect as you seem."
The Princes clenched their fists. Before the eldest Lord turn around, his expression darkened and sent warning stares at each of them. The kind of stare that sent shiver down their spines. The kind of stare that made their heart quake in anxiety and fear.
The Xirquits are coming at them and they don't know when.
Duke Paris and his wife went out last with the Empress. The ones left behind were the matriarch and patriarch of House Xirquit, with the Princes of Warlock Empire, and Chancellor Titania and her squad.
The Xirquits threw their house symbol and badges to the Princes' feet.
Prince Izaac was dumbfounded.
"Unless Dearil use the last ounce of her magic to bring that girl back, I will never forgive you. Unless you drag Astaroth and make him turn back time, I will never forgive you. We're not afraid of you. Our value is much higher than yours. We won't be the back bones of this rotten empire for nothing. So, prepare. We'd spin a bottle among us to tell who will do the honor of destroying your lives. Just wish it won't be me. Nobody knows the avenues in this family more than I do."
Voltage Xirquit felt weak, felt something tickling his stomach. If only it's just the both of them, he'd go down to his knees and worship her all day. He should be the one carrying her name. Franchetti Xerene Xirquit is the only woman who can make him bark like a loyal dog.
"I can't believe you married me," he submitted and pulled her to him.
Franchetti Xerene glared at her husband who's flirting at her in the wrong time. He accepted her deadly glares with a smirk and squeezed her waist with his big hands.
"I like it very much when you're like this. Doesn't matter if it's toxic. Get angrier, Mom. Then pour your rage on me."
He then traveled his hand down to hers, hold it and brought it to his face to kiss her hand.
She smacked his face away and walked out. Red.
Now that she's gone, he reverted back to his usual character.
Prince Izaac tried to shoot his shot again, hoping that it would convince Voltage Xirquit.
"Uncle, please."
Voltage Xirquit shook his head and checked their pale faces. He stepped closer to Prince Izaac and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"You have three options, Izaac. First, surrender the impostor to us. Second, disrespectfully, drag Astaroth here, lift the seals on him, and bring the goddamn time back. Or, lastly, do it yourself instead. Omnikinesis, isn't it? You can do it, Izaac. You're the most powerful here. Know that we'll come to you first, so protect your wife and son, hmm? No magic of yours can stop us from spilling your blood."
He pat the Prince's cold cheek and turned around to follow his wife. The Prince fell to his knees. Exhaustion finally caught up to him and fainted.
Chancellor Titania nodded at her squad and silently left the room. They have nothing to say. It's none of their business.
"We're fucked."
Prince Ascel palmed his face. Stressed.