Virgil was humming to himself softly, dancing around the room in a dream-like haze. He had been like this ever since Roman had proposed. He'd been happy. Content. Completely satisfied with how life was moving for him. As long as had Roman, life was fine. They could lose everything but if Virgil had Roman, it would all turn out okay. At least, that's how he felt.

He felt over the moon, ecstatic and giddy. He had visited Emile and Remy in the Grey Realm yesterday to help repair some of the damage that they were still recovering from and even Remy called him out on his new attitude. Nothing was going to bring him down. Then his brother walked up to his room and leaned against the doorway. He smiled a smile that seemed out of place, but he chuckled normally.

"You seem pretty happy," Deceit smirked coldly with a warm voice. "What's happened?"

"What else?" Breathed Virgil, sitting heavily on the bed with a light smile. "I'm just excited. I never thought you'd let me get married and I'm just... cheesy as it sounds, I'm just in love."

Deceit nodded, moving over to sit down next to Virgil with odd emotions in his different eyes. "I gotta say, I felt this way when I got engaged to Remus."

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, of course you did. It wasn't like you picked up a stick and hit Remus over the head with it because you weren't expecting it."

"I was happy on the inside."

The prince wanted to frown but he kept a silly beam on his face, only allowing a small narrow of his eyes to show his disbelief. "Do you remember what we talked about? Before your wedding?"

"Of course, I do."

Virgil looked over at him challengingly. "I don't. Remind me."

Deceit met his gaze and the wrong smile fell away from his face and he narrowed his eyes too. The brothers had a stand off but neither spoke until Deceit slowly answered. "We talked about Remus and I. And the wedding."

"Wrong," Virgil hissed, straightening his back. "You bothered me about Roman."

Neither were smiling now. They stared at each other, unmoving. Indigo magic curled around Virgil's' shoulders but Deceit didn't let any of his golden aura shine.

"I remember now," Deceit said blankly. "Silly me."

Virgil scowled. "Yes. Silly you."

.:*:.

Amai was in a house at war but no one could see it except her. No one else could see the battle scars that everyone seemed to be carrying, no one else could see the weight of their guns growing too overbearing for those who used them. No one else could see the way they all tensed when someone opened their mouth, ready to defend against an attack. No one else could see the wounds they inflicted on the enemy and no one else could see how long it had been going on.

For almost as long as she could remember, pray for a few happy memories, it was this unending battle of locked doors, shouting and crying. An eternal dance of private break downs, falling only to have no one there to catch you and words that were sharper than swords and did more damage than cannons. Yes, that was the house she lived in. And everyone fought against her brother who fought against everyone and was winning.

Patton's' authority meant nothing now, Amai would get ignored and Logan was too busy at work. And Amai couldn't stop it. If she talked to Logan, he promised he'd try to talk to Fletcher but they both knew Fletcher would have none of it. Patton was in denial. He was blinded by a hope that one day, someone would fix it for him. He hoped that, one day, it would all go back to however it was before. But Fletcher was the worst. And this could only prove it.

Amai knocked on her brother's' door with her human hand, as if trying to not let her brother know it was her. But, of course he knew. "Go away, Amai. Ugh, you're so annoying!"

She swallowed her hurt and her pride. "Sorry, but Pa said that it's time for lunch! We're gonna have pie!"

Fletcher thrust open the door, making his sister jump back. He glared at her. There were hands holding onto his window sill from the outside. "I said, go away."

"But Pa said-"

"Dammit, Amai, don't you know I don't give a fuck about what Patton's said? I hate you and I hate him. Now, get out of my room."

Amai crossed her arms cockily, the way little sisters always do. "I'm not in your room."

Then Fletcher grabbed her robotic arm and pulled at it, making Amai scream in pain. Although the arm itself felt nothing, the tendons connecting it to her brain and nervous system were as sensitive as anything could be. She wailed and wailed in pain, her mind growing fuzzy and her eyes welling with tears. Fletcher finally let go and she clutched at the back of her head with her human hand, staring at him, wide-eyed.

"Father said you weren't allowed to do that!" She whimpered. "It could kill me!"

"Yeah?" Shouted Fletcher with a snarl that had never been in his voice before, even if he had hated her for a long time. A snarl that was new and animal-like. A snarl that Fletcher wouldn't use. "Well, I'll do it more often then!" And he slammed the door in her face.

.:*:.

For two years, King Thomas had been recovering from the damage that King deceit had unleashed upon his realm. For two years, every soldier had either gone home or had tried to rebuild  what they had lost until Thomas sent them home. The Grey King no longer liked the idea of expanding his scientific knowledge. He wanted to do something a little more calming, that didn't involve giant, yellow snakes, mutinies and crying children. So he tried agriculture.

And, boy, was that much better. No longer was he feeling the need to push for more. He was happy with all he had and the extras that came along with it. His people even seemed to prosper. Families were together again and women could work. Friends traded from city to city, town to town, village to village. It turned out that many lands were fertile and Thomas could even use his technology to bring more peaceful control over remaining realms that the Dark and Light didn't know of yet.

But then  this guy walked in. Like, physically walked in. He had just strolled through the portal, out of the blue and said, 'Take me to your King'.

And that was who was standing in front of Thomas. The man wasn't much to look at, but there was something about him. Something new. Something old. A power that wielded all the strength of Thomas's' enemies in his words alone.

And that man began to speak. "King Thomas, I've heard you are a vengeful man. I just wanted to see if I was right."

"I was a vengeful man," Corrected Thomas. "Now, I am a man at peace. I no longer seek after enemies but keep to my friends and my people."

"Who are you?" Remy ordered, standing at Thomas's' right side.

The man simply bowed his head. "I understand that to you I must be no one because you haven't heard the news. My name is Skol. I am the King of the Dark Realm."

"No way!" Gasped Emile. "That's not possible. Deceit is King and Virgil is next in line!"

Skol shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid they've passed away. Killed by their allies. It was tragic. The Light Realm attacked while their back was turned. King Roman slaughtered his own fiancé on their bed."

Remy paled and a hand rose to his mouth, eyes cold. "No... But- But we talked to Virgil four days ago! He came here, he cleared up some rubble with us! He can't be-"

"I'm afraid so. The royal bloodline ended. I was nominated by my people as stand-in King while we search for a better candidate and I plead for you to understand what I'm about to ask." Skol gently lowered himself to his knees and clasped his hands together. "We need your weapons. Your weapons crushed the Light Realm once and they can do it again, if we only have enough time to act before they strike against me."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. He had been a vengeful man, yes. And he had been irrational. But Skol was level-headed and that wasn't right. "I will have to think about it, King Skol."

Skol bowed his head respectively and stood up, beginning to leave.

"Wait!" Blurted out Emile. "Could we-" He took a hold of himself. "Could we see the body? Virgil was one of my bestest friends... I never got to say goodbye..."

"I am incredibly busy," Skol said. "But I will try." And, without a never word, he left.

Thomas turned onto Remy. "He's lying."

"I agree."

"Wha?" Emile turned to the two tearfully. "Why would he-?"

Remy crossed his arms. "Think about it, Emmy. He comes in out of nowhere, no guards, no royal robe, no nothing. And did you see how much damage Virgil and Deceit managed to do here? There's no way that they would've been taken by surprise." Emile bowed his head, still looking shocked and heartbroken, but he nodded in understanding.

"That settles it," Thomas said sternly. "We will not give him anything."

"Well, it's a shame you say that," Skol said, opening the doors as he walked back in. "But it at least allows us to skip the lies and get straight down to the fun part."

Every guard that stood around the wall whipped out their weapons and Skol kicked a sack.

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "I thought you had left."

"And come back when you've decided to make up your mind when I could just stay here? No thank you." Skol sighed lazily. "Besides, I know you're quite a smart leader, King Thomas, so I thought I'd make you an offer you can't refuse. Since your army has all gone off to prance in the fields, I realised, 'Hey, you'd be powerless if you managed to receive the wrath of the Light and Dark armies'. So, I found a way that could get you destroyed if you don't listen to me."

Skol opened the sack and everyone saw inside.

Faces paled, weapons dropped to the ground. Thomas widened his eyes as he looked inside the sack, seeing what Skol would blackmail him with and knowing how effective it would be. No one dared make a noise, no one dared to turn away. With the entire room now clinging to his every word, Skol simply smiled warmly. "Now, that's what I like to see. So, let's talk about these weapons."