"Thanks." Marsh told the servant as he was given a seperate room to stay in, it also overwhelmed him to stay at a grand guest room that's incomparable to his old room at the Smorshmallow estate, making him further feel the gap between him and Choco when it comes to status and wealth.
He laid down on the soft bed, reflecting on his journey throughout the seven layers of the Sweet Kingdom only to return in the most absurd way possible.
"So I'm back to square one, huh." He mumbled to himself, staring at the beautiful carvings on the ceiling for minutes until the candle lighting the room went out. Marsh closes his eyes, hoping for a better tomorrow until he heard something hit the window.
"What was that!?" He got startled, quickly checking outside and found Choco in his pajamas, hanging on a branch on the Cotton Candy Tree near his window.
Marsh opened the window and called him out in disbelief, "Dude, what are you doing over there in the middle of the night!?"
Choco hushed him, "Shh! The guards might hear you!" He yelled in a whispering tone, "Now stand back, I'm gonna jump in to your room."
Then Marsh stepped away from the window with Choco landing into the room with his face hitting the floor first. "Ow..."
"You know you can just walk out your room and come here like a normal person, right?"
"That's actually impossible. Sis put some guards outside my room just to make sure I won't run away again, but you know that I'm an unstoppable force." Choco smirked, making Marsh laugh for a bit.
"Classic Choco." He chuckled, "So what are you here for?" He sat back on the bed, watching Choco standing on the moonlight.
"To plan for our escape, duh." Choco made it sound like it was supposed to be obvious. And now that he brought that up, Marsh was perplexed since he already convinced himself that Choco should stay with his family.
"Oh... right, that." Choco caught on with his disinterested tone, "What, is something going on?"
Marsh laid down on the bed, his eyes glued back to the paintings on the ceiling. "I'm just tired, man. It's been a long day after all."
"Ah, I guess you're right... maybe we can make the plan tomorrow." Then Choco laid down beside him, "It's been a while since I get to lay on a soft bed like this." He mentioned.
"Hey, you got yourself a soft bed in your own room." Marsh told him, "...you should go back." And he said that in a way that makes his heart ache a little.
"And... what if I don't want to?" Choco snickered, gazing at the ceiling with his friend. "Do you think it's really selfish to do something that I want?"
"You always do what you want either way. Like you said, you're an unstoppable force."
Choco's grin faded a bit, "I-Is that a bad thing or a good thing?"
"It's hard to explain... but for me, you're like that bright sun during the day. Your rays of light reaches into the bottom of deep lakes, you give warmth to people that feels cold or empty. But sometimes the sun can be so blinding, sometimes the sun's heat can be dangerously scorching... and despite all that, people still need that sun in their life."
"...I don't get it." Choco couldn't follow through, making Marsh sigh. "It's fine if you don't. All you need to know is that you're great and you... deserve all the best that's coming to you."
Choco felt uneasy with Marsh's statement, and before he can talk again, some of the servants entered the room, "He's here! The young master is here!"
"Ack! They found me!" Choco headed to the open window but the maids caught up with him, "Now, now, young master Choco. You wouldn't want Lady Cocoa to tie you up in your bed, don't you?"
"But I don't want to go back to my room!" Choco protested, and his servants drags him by the legs. "Marsh, save me!"
"Goodnight, dude. See you tomorrow." Marsh yawned and comfortably settled down in his bed.
"You still have a big day tomorrow, young master. Lady Cocoa had already made a schedule for your lecture tomorrow, so please be a good boy and go to sleep." One of the servants reminded him.
"Stop treating me like a kid, I'm already seventeen! I don't want to sleep yet, Marsh help me you traitor!!!" And the servants managed to get him out the room.
The next day, a servant was sent by Lady Cocoa to wake and fetch Marsh in his room early in the morning, but to the servant's surprise, he was already wide awake. "Good morning, kind Sir."
"Oh, hey there..." Marsh was just staring outside the window, his eyes focused at the farthest horizons where the sun was rising. He can tell that today was going to be another big day in his life.
"Have you had a good sleep?"
"Barely had any."
"I-I see..." the servant felt uncomfortable with his tepid attitude, "The Lady calls for your presence in her office."
"Alright, take me there." He's been preparing himself to face Lady Cocoa all night, and the servant gladly lead him to the way.
Then by the time he entered the office, Lady Cocoa was on her desk, already busy with piles of paperwork so early in the morning. "A pleasant morning to you my lady." He greeted politely.
"Marsh Smorshmallow, isn't it?" When the lady confirmed his whole name, Marsh sighed knowing that she already made a background check on him.
"Y-Yes." Marsh was going to take a seat on the couch in her office until she put him to a halt, "And what do you think you're doing? I didn't give you permission."
"O-Oh, I see... apologies, my lady." Marsh can already feel the pressure just by her intimidating gaze on him. He remained standing as she gave him a series of question.
"So Marsh, are you the one who convinced Choco to run away?"
"No, my lady. We just happen to meet at the Cotton Candy Forest by chance."
"Then are you the one who convinced him never to return?"
"T-That... no, he decided that for himself."
"Then why are you travelling together, even making it all the way to the seventh layer!?"
"I... uhm." Marsh doesn't know how to answer that, ever since they met they never left each other's company.
"What? Cat got your tongue?"
"My lady, we—" Lady Cocoa gave him no chance to explain himself.
"Choco's selfish and eccentric by nature, I think you're already aware of that by this point. And just because you found him running away in the woods like you did doesn't mean give you the right to assume that you're on the same category." She got up from her seat and approached Marsh with a stern look, "Choco have a life that he needs to return to, he has some birthright and obligations to fulfill, he got a huge role to play for the future of this Kingdom... and what about you?" She scoffs.
"I..." Marsh faced down, looking anywhere else but Lady Cocoa's face.
"You've got nothing going on for you. In fact, your case on Marquis' Lemondrop's son makes you all the more unfit to be friends with my brother." She pressed, her words stinging Marsh when she brought up his dark past. "Choco already has it bad when it comes to his reputation, and it doesn't need to get any worse than that, don't you agree?"
Marsh lightly nodded, "Yeah, I guess."
"That's good." Lady Cocoa grinned and returned to her seat, "I see you understand that there's no need to make this any difficult for us."
"So... what do you want me to do now?" As Marsh asked that question, the two spent a few more minutes to discuss certain things.
Meanwhile, Choco woke up just as early and sneaked out through his windows. He carried a couple of bags that he's going to fill with food in their pantry. "I can't wait to see Marsh's face when he sees that we're good to go." He snickered, he had already came up with a plan last night that'll prepare them for their escape and journey.
As he creeped into the pantry, he filled one bag with all the cream puffs he can find and the other with everything else he deemed necessary. Though some butler caught him red handed, "Young master Choco? What are you doing here?"
"Argh!" He jumped in surprise, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"Apologies, but..." the butler noticed his get-up and the bags he's carrying with him. "Are you planning to run away again? Lady Cocoa won't be pleased to find out about this."
Choco immediately threw away the bags and took a few donuts with him, "Who said anything about running away? I was grabbing some snacks 'cause I'm hungry."
"You could have called a maid to serve you a proper breakfast, my lord."
"I prefer to fetch my own food because I'm an independent man." Choco gritted, though this butler is getting highly suspicious of him. "I see, then you must hurry back into your room, my lord. Her grace will be upset if she hears you've sneaked out of your room again."
"Fine..." he frowned as he got escorted back into his room, but by the time they arrived, Marsh is already waiting for him outside his room. "What the—I thought you were still asleep in there."
Choco ran up to him with excitement, "Hey buddy! Wanna have some breakfast? I can have these servants to prepare the food you like."
"That's nice but your sister actually sent me here to tell you that she needs to see you in her office."
"Aw man, I don't want to talk with her again..."
"Come on dude, you know you have to." Marsh patted him on the back, "I'm sure your sister just want you to know how much she missed you."
"Yeah, right." Choco rolled his eyes, "She probably can't wait to scold me until my ears falls off."
Marsh chuckled, "You should go."
"Alright, dealing with sis might take a while, so I'll come to fetch you later."
For a moment, Marsh smiled at his friend with a softened gaze, "Sure thing," Marsh assured, "Goodbye, Choco."
"Wish me luck!" Then Choco proceeds to go to his sister's office for another one of her scoldings.