Victor felt like pulling all his hair out.

His father left him the kingdom at its worst. His uncle ignited a flame within his people, making them destroy the very thing they thought they'd regain through the protests; safety. Clara was overworking him and he was exhausted.

He felt as if the world was against him.

Or was it just Clara?

The protests were getting longer by the day, and he was bound to the castle by Clara to keep him safe.

He hated it.

He wanted to do more; to help calm his people and prove to them that Clara was the perfect general and that they were only blinded by hatred and deceit.

He hated that she was right.

He couldn't protect himself enough yet, not against a whole mob of angry people.

And yet here he was, worrying about her.

Letting out another frustrated huff, he grabbed his bow and arrows and headed for the archery field, knowing the knights were too busy dealing with the townspeople.

Thankfully the protests only took hours of each day rather than continue without rest.

Making sure no one was around, he walked into place, facing one of the targets and readied himself to shoot out all his anger and fear.

He shot arrow after arrow, only getting more and more frustrated with each awful shot. His arrows were nowhere near the bullseye and his aim only got sloppier the more he held his breath and tensed.

"Your highness."

Startled, Victor snapped his head to the source of the sound, seeing Alan standing there cautiously, his eyes full of sympathy as he looked at him.

"Alan, hello." He calmed down a little. "There's no need to be formal, you know that."

"I didn't want to cross any boundaries since Clara is not around."

"We're friends even when she's not here, aren't we?"

"That we are, Victor." He smiled and Victor returned the favor. "You seem tense."

"What gave that away?" He joked, chuckling dryly, going for another shot that completely missed his target and winced at how bad he did.

"Here, let me help." Alan spoke calmly, walking closer to him. Victor failed to notice that he too had his bow with him, too engrossed by his own thoughts.

Alan raised his arm and elbow, positioning it correctly as he gazed at the target in front of them. He noticed Victor's knuckles turn white from his tight grip on his bow.

"Relax your grip." Alan advised. "Fix your posture, raise your shoulders...and Victor?"

"Hmm?"

"Breathe." He let out a small chuckle, smiling when the prince finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Now, I want you to wait ten seconds before each shot."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

And trust him he did. 

Reminding himself to breathe, Victor counted to ten in his head before he let the arrow fly, and for the first time that evening, he finally hit the bullseye.

"You really are the greatest archer in the land." Victor chuckled, glancing at his friend.

"I wouldn't say that." Alan laughed lightly, humbled by the compliment.

"Don't sell yourself short." Victor said. "Julian and Clara often praise your skills."

Alan didn't know what to say so he only smiled gratefully before he shot his own arrow, and neither of them were surprised when he hit the target perfectly. 

"I see why Clara wanted you to train me in archery." Victor's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Alan shoot another arrow that split his previous one in half as it landed straight in the bullseye.

"That or she's scared of shooting you instead." Alan laughed lightheartedly, recalling a certain memory fondly.

"What?"

"Has she never told you how we met?"

"No?"

"Well, it was the first time Edwin brought her to the castle training grounds. Damn, it feels like ages ago...we were still children."

Victor listened intently, curious as to how the story would go.

"We were practicing archery that day, and Clara had been so nervous because she was surrounded by the real recruits, that she accidentally shot me in the arm with her arrow."

"You're kidding!" Victor exclaimed with a gasp.

"I wish I was." Alan laughed, pulling up his sleeve to show the scar it left. "It was only a graze but Clara cried so much and kept apologizing and didn't leave my side until she was certain I didn't hate her."

"And you've been inseparable since then?"

"Indeed." He smiled softly, letting another arrow fly. "We trained together a lot, and she finally got over her fear of arrows and training in public. That's when Julian joined us, I actually didn't like him at first."

"But you two are like brothers!"

"We are now, yes." He chuckled. "He had obviously been smitten with Clara since the day his eyes landed on her, and no matter how oblivious she was, I noticed. I'd been very protective of her, she was like my little sister. But then we got to know him and I realized he was a great guy, and I'd been teasing them to get together for eternity."

"For once, I'd like to hear a normal non chaotic story about meeting Clara." Victor laughed, his mind more at ease. He knew Alan was doing this purposefully and he was grateful for him.

"I think that would be impossible." Alan laughed, noticing Victor's shots get more accurate with each try. "You know how she met Julian?"

"Do I want to know?"

"She cart wheeled into him."

"Of course she did." He laughed. "I met her with a spoon in her hair."

"Ah yes the spoon!" Alan laughed loudly. "That, I'm afraid is Hazel's trademark." 

"I've never seen her with a spoon in her hair though?"

"She hides it very well." He chuckled. "Also she mostly does it in the kitchen."

"I see." He laughed.

The two continued to shoot arrows, practicing their aim. Alan was very impressed with Victor's skill; he could see his potential and knew with some more training he would be a master archer like himself. Clara was right; Victor could be strong, he just needed to be pushed.

He just hoped she wouldn't push him away.

More days have passed and Victor would only see Clara during their training. 

She looked awful; more than ever this time.

Her eyes had deep dark bags under them, and she could barely keep them open. Victor could see the red veins fill what should have been the white space in her eyes. Her hair was knotted but pulled up hastily. Her lips were dry, blood creeping out from between the cracked skin. Her skin had gone sickly pale, and some pimples had grown all over her cheeks and nose.

Her voice could barely escape her dry throat. She couldn't say a full sentence without being interrupted by a fit of violent coughs. Victor tried to urge her to rest, but his efforts went in vain. Not even Hazel nor Alan could convince her to do so.

Not when the entire town was rebelling against her.

Not when she needed to make sure Victor could protect himself.

Not when the women needed her help to stand up and build a better life for themselves.

Days of no rest weighed on her shoulders, but they compared nothing to the weight of the role she had in the kingdom.

However, not even her exhaustion prevented her from pushing Victor beyond his limits. 

"God, Victor, we've been working on this for weeks but you still can't do it right!"

 "Maybe if you give me a damn minute to rest!" He exclaimed, his chest heaving with heavy breaths as his hair stuck to his forehead from the sweat.

"There's no time to rest when you're in a fight!" She snapped, applying pressure to her temples to help with her agonizing headache.

"With the way you're training me I don't even need an enemy to kill me." He muttered, but Clara's ears picked up on his words.

"I told you this would be hard, you're the one who wanted this!"

"I know!"

"Then stop complaining and get back to sparring."

"No."

"No?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm tired, Clara!" He pleaded, running a hand through his hair making it messier than it was. 

"Boohoo, Princess." She rolled her eyes. "We're all tired. You have to get over it."

"It's not like I'll be on the battlefield, I think I know enough now." He argued, starting to get angry with her.

"Oh, do you?" She laughed with no humor laced into it. With a single spin of her sword, she lunged forward and disarmed him, throwing him to the ground. "Know enough?"

"That's not fair!" He growled, getting up and facing her.

"Nothing is fair, Victor." She walked closer to him. "You need to be better."

"I obviously will never defeat you in a match, that doesn't count!" He said, staring into her eyes, matching the fire in them.

"What if your foe is as strong as me, then what?" She pushed his chest. "What are you going to do then? Die?"

"I can't do this, Clara." He shook his head. "I'm not you."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"I can't do this, I'm not as strong as you. I can't do what you do!"

"Yes you can, you just have to try harder!"

"I am trying, I just can't do it!"

"You're not trying enough!"

"Because I'm tired!" He finally yelled, letting it all out of his chest. "You overwork me, you hurt me when we spar like it's nothing, and you don't even care!"

"I do care, Victor."

"Oh yeah you care so much that you don't care if I pass out from exhaustion!" He rolled his eyes as sarcasm dripped from his words.

"I'm doing this for you!"

"I'm not even improving, so what's the point?" he sighed, turning to leave.

"So you're just giving up?" She yelled. "That's so like you, Victor! Running away and giving up the second something gets hard."

Her words made him stop in his tracks as anger bubbled inside him. He turned to her and strode towards her, his face mere inches away from hers, both staring into each other's eyes with heavy glares.

"You're telling me about giving up?" He raised an eyebrow. "You don't get to lecture me about that when you're the one who has been wanting to run away from your role as general."

"I'm doing it because that's what's better for Avelyn." She stood firmly, her gaze challenging him into backing down. "You're giving up because you're a spoiled little prince who can't do anything for himself."

"Tread lightly, Clara." His voice was deep and his eyes darkened with fury as he warned her.

"There's a reason you're of age and your father has yet to announce you as the crown prince. It's because we all know you can't do anything. You're lazy and selfish and so full of yourself that you don't even see how useless you are!"

Victor stumbled back in shock from her harsh words and tone. Hurt flashed before his eyes before they turned into anger as he stared at her with hatred.

"You know nothing about me." he said in a calm voice. "And while we're on this topic, let's not pretend that you didn't lead our men to their deaths. I tried to believe in you, Clara, I really did. But maybe the people are right. Maybe you're not fit to be general. Not like this. I pity whoever has to live with you. You're nothing but a cruel monster. And I am done with you."

"Be my guest, your highness." She seethed, masking the hurt and heartbreak his words caused. "I've been better alone anyways."

"It's not a surprise that you're alone." Victor looked at her one more time before he walked away into the castle.

Clara watched his retreating figure with a heavy heart. She pushed the regret to the back of her mind before she focused more on the task at hand. Maybe the prince would be safer without her in his life.

She cursed everyone she cared about with death, and she couldn't afford to do the same to Avelyn's only heir.

As much as Victor wanted to glance back; to see if she regretted the things she had said just as he had, he didn't. He walked away from her, once and for all. 

He would prove to everyone that he was more than they thought, and it was about time they realized it.

Haha...that happened...

Uhh, hope you...liked this chapter?

I will be going into hiding now.