Coming Home

Jack struggled to breathe as he slowly limped towards the castle that many believed was his home. The war with king Carric had been getting much worse, and this last battle had been dangerously close. 

He and the others had managed a victory but at a deadly cost. Mia was with the healer and had been unconscious for days with no way of knowing if she was going to be OK. Ray, who was already torn up about Mia's injuries tried to play down the fact that he may never again be able to walk without a painful limp. Thank The Elements Aiden had managed to get out without any major injuries. Nevertheless, he was still bedridden in the healer’s hut nursing broken bones, and some deep cuts. Jack shuddered to think what it would be like without his older brother for guidance. However he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as the distraction almost made him collapse. He had managed to get his friends to the healers, but he wouldn't stay. He couldn't. The stuffy cabin always seemed to close in on him and it was even worse if he had to see his friends lying injured and broken around him. In his head, Jack knew he should have been lying there as well, bloody beaten and broken but he couldn't stomach it. When he ran off from the cabin he hadn't even thought of where to go but instead he just let his feet take him where they wanted. 

When Jack tried to figure out where to go nothing made sense. He had no friends in the area that weren't currently with the healer and the only other friends he had were out of the country. Slowly his foggy mind figured out the only place he had left. The castle. But he hadn’t been there in close to four years. He had allowed his preoccupation with the war and his deep seeded hatred of the place to prevent him from returning for years.

He staggered along as his thoughts wandered. His exhaustion and wounds made it so that his mind was too tired to focus on the screaming angry voices in the back of his head. While this was helpful in making the journey less traumatic, he also could barely move his feet. His left leg was broken in two places and the hasty field splint he had put on was starting to fail as well as he was pretty sure he had multiple broken ribs. This made every breath feel like he was getting punched again and again. Dragging himself forward his back ached from the exertion it took to compensate for his injuries. Blood was seeping through the hastily wrapped bandages on various sword cuts and dimly he questioned how he hadn’t collapsed yet. Faintly he decided that he needed to start wearing more armor and he was surprised that it had taken him 23 years of life to figure that out. While wearing light thin clothes was good for spying and blending in, it did nothing to protect his body from blows. 

While his foggy mind played with the idea of armor, his legs finally reached their destination. The outer gates of the castle. Alarmed shouts rang out when the guards finally realized that the short, half dead figure limping down the road was not just a beggar but instead was their prince. The last thing Jack heard was pounding feet and the soldiers calling his name before his eye slid closed and everything went black. 

Sometime later, Jack had no idea if it was just hours or days, he slowly became aware of the fact that he was in the castle infirmary. His head was spinning and he bit back a whine of pain at his splitting headache. Without really thinking about what he was doing he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position but was unable to mask the groan of pain as he did so. Just when he was managing to sit up straight a pair of gentle old hands grasped his shoulders and lowered him back to the bed. He blinked rapidly trying to figure out who was helping him when a familiar gentle voice filled his head.

“Rest Jack. You managed to give me quite a scare. If it hadn't been for your stubborn will to live, I'm not sure you would have made it." The kind old castle physician Dr. Krass gently spoke. 

Jack started coughing and curled on his side in pain. Krass pressed a vial to his lips making him swallow a slimy concoction which eventually helped him calm enough to rasp, 

“Got to survive somehow…”

Krass nodded while chuckling softly and tucked a blanket around him. "Indeed. With your bad habit of getting yourself into trouble I have no doubt that you’ve only survived this long because of your stubbornness. You get that trait from your father you know,” quipped Dr Krass. 

Jack flinched slightly at the mention of his father and the thought only brought on a sharp realization. He had been there for The Elements knows how long and he hadn’t yet visited the King and Queen. Jack shuttered to think of the punishments his father would hand out to the members of the court who were late. Once more he tried to slowly sit up and he got close before letting out a sharp hiss. Reluctantly, Dr. Krass helped him rest against the headboard of his small infirmary cot but Jack sensed he was not happy about it. His vision swam and without Krass to catch him, he would have fallen. 

"You shouldn't be up. You need rest. I have mended what I can but you need to be strong in order to handle-" Dr. Krass quickly stopped himself, but Jack was already wary. He knew his parents could be difficult to deal with but something in Krass' tone caused a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

Throwing off the blanket Jack stood, wincing as his right knee groaned dangerously under the sudden weight. His dirty old field dressings were gone, replaced with clean bandages. His voice was gravely from disuse and pain, but when the words came out he immediately regretted how mean they sounded.

“I demand an audience with my parents!”

Jack was pained to see the old man’s flinch but nonetheless Dr Krass bowed his wrinkled head and nodded.

"They’re in the throne room. Please Jack..." His kind voice faltered and the sick feeling curled in Jack's stomach suddenly gained strength, "Just... Prepare yourself." 

Jack felt nauseous, but he forced himself to nod. Without another word he turned around, and grabbed a crutch before limping from the infirmary. Instinctively his feet knew where to take him. Growing up in these elegant maze-like halls gave him a unique understanding of the passageways. Before he could think twice about backing out, Jack found himself standing in front of the massive oak doors leading into the throne room. The guards at the door stared at him in shock and fear before hastily tripping over themselves to open the massive doors. Jack quickly waved a bandaged hand to stop them as a small smile played across his pale features. He liked quiet entrances, and he knew that entering from the main doors would cause a huge commotion, so instead he slipped in through a servant's door and looked around the hall. 

The massive room looked much the same as he remembered from his youth. Huge tapestries made into banners with their house crest embroidered on them hung from the ceiling and walls. He let his eye wander around the room taking it all in from the shadows. His left eye which had been badly damaged in a fight when he was much younger was completely useless now as he surveyed the room. The long scar over his eye that twisted his face from his forehead to jaw was a dark reminder of the war he nearly died for. With his racing nerves, the scar twinged and he resisted the urge to scratch it. Finally his gaze landed on the thrones and at first what he saw confused him. 

His father and mother were there relaxing on their thrones. They had aged slightly in the four years since he had last seen them but they were still the same imposing figures. His mother, Queen Holly, had her long snow-white hair pulled into a simple, yet elegant bun and her pale cheeks had a rosy tint to them as she laughed. When he was little Jack loved the sound of his mother's soft laughter but now it was a foreign sound to him. His father, King Blaze stood out like a lion in the stone room. His sharp amber eyes sparkled when he laughed but hidden behind that smile, a fire of passionate rage burned. However for right now he looked happy and relaxed as his bellowing laughter filled the vast room. But out of all of these details the thing that confused Jack the most was the little girl seated in Holly's lap. With slow, fascinated horror, his gaze fell upon the small throne now placed between his parent's thrones. 

She had long wavy bronze colored hair and icy blue eyes not all that different from his own. She had lightly freckled fair skin that gave her a queen-like beauty. Jack wasn't exactly sure but he guessed she was between four and five years old. Blankly he stared at the girl who was happily chattering to his parents who laughed at whatever she said to them. His foggy, racing mind couldn't put two and two together, so he silently slipped closer to listen. Soon the girl's shrill voice reached his ears and although he could hear a child-like joy in there was also a fierce predatory quality that scared him. 

"And then the guard tried to clean my dress, but the jelly was everywhere and it was ruined. He was so scared, and it was so much fun to yell at him and demote him to now be a simple stable boy!" she trilled. 

His parents laughed at her remarks and his mother stroked her hair lovingly. "Oh, Allie you must be careful, if you keep demoting our soldiers, we won't have any left!" His mother responded in her soft kind voice. 

All three of them laughed again and Allie trilled, "Oh Mother, you know we have plenty for me to play with!" 

Jack stumbled back like he'd been shot in the stomach with a crossbow, completely stunned. He had a sister. His parents hadn't told them that she had been born. What did this mean? They seemed to love her more than they ever loved him, or Aiden. She seemed to be a perfect blend of the King and Queen unlike how Aiden and Jack each looked more like one parent than the other. He leaned against a pillar as his head spun and he tried to process. Soon his confusion turned to anger as their meaningless chatter continued on until he couldn't bear it any longer. 

He drew his sword making no attempt to keep it quiet and he stalked angrily into the middle of the room before turning to them with rage in his eye. His father was already on his feet with his sword drawn and Jack had the satisfaction of seeing his parent's eyes widen in fear when they saw who had entered the room. Jack's voice was a low snarl as he glared at his parents. 

"What is the meaning of this?!" Jack yelled. Holly stuttered as the little girl in her lap glared defiantly back at him. "J-Jack dear, I-I didn’t realize you were out of the infirmary. I thought you would have been in there a few more days with your injuries I just-I..." she trailed off not knowing what to say. 

Blaze sighed and lowered his sword. "Jack, put the sword away. This is your little sister, Crown Princess Alaska." His father said sharply. 

Jack was stunned and the voices in his head whispered in shock at the words. 

"Crown Princess? How can she be the crowned one since she isn't the oldest? Aiden is! How is she even here? She seems old enough that we would have seen her last time we were here! If she is Crown Princess then that means…" 

Jack realized with a painful shock what his last thought meant and his voice was a pained whisper before growing in volume, "You have disowned both Aiden and me in favor of another heir. You never cared about us and you never will, will you?!" His voice was a harsh scream of rage while he spat the last sentence. 

His parents looked startled and fearful and Jack knew they had good reason to be. Alaska just sat there unafraid and slightly grumpy at the interruption.

"Mother? Father? Who is this ungrateful man who claims to be my brother?" Alaska asked. Blaze softened his voice in a way he never did for Jack or Aiden and it made Jack nauseous. 

"Allie dear, this is your older brother Jack. We told you about him before. He has returned home after a very long time," Blaze’s next words were like fiery poison to Jack's ears, "and if he doesn't change his attitude right now there will be consequences." 

Jack's cracked lips twisted into a dangerous snarl but his words are cut off by the little girls’s voice. 

“How can he be my brother? He looks nothing like me and he is so ugly and smelly.” She said grumpily while wrinkling her perfect little nose. Before the King or Queen had a chance to answer she waved a dismissive hand. 

"Make him go away. I don't wish to see him anymore." Alaska quipped clearly bored. 

Those words finally snapped whatever small amount of control Jack had left. He raised his sword towards the thrones and snarled. 

"We have given you everything!! Both Aiden and I have shed blood, tears and sacrificed more than words could tell, but what is your thanks?! We fight in this war to protect the kingdom while you sit back and do nothing but have another heir behind our backs. You gave up on us and instead of believing in us, you pamper her to be the next queen while you throw us out like last week's rubbish!!" 

His voice was loud and harsh and somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if the whole castle could hear him. He slammed his sword into the stone floor in front of him with so much force that it sank deep into the stone. He turned his one good eye on his parents with such contempt that they flinched back, and he couldn't help but feel a spark of regret in his heart. 

“I know we have never seen eye to eye but I never believed you would abandon us! Why couldn't you have just believed in us? We have given you everything…"

Pain flooded his body and mind, not only physical pain but a deeper hurt that only comes from a trust that has been shattered. Sorrow poured through every vein of his body and slowly that hurt turned to anger. His eye burned with hurt and rage as he snarled low and dangerous. 

"We gave you everything. We fought for this Kingdom in the hopes that one day we might be able to save it. Battle after battle, wound after wound, we never gave up. Not even when I was captured and tortured, none of us gave up!!" Tears rolled down his cheek and his clenched fists trembled with anger. 

"My friends are laying in a healer's hut right now fighting for their lives thinking that we are fighting for a kingdom that we could save! But it turns out while we have been sacrificing our lives for you, you have been doing nothing to help us!! Maybe this Kingdom isn't worth trying to save after all!!"

Jack was shaking with pain and anger now as the words came tumbling out of his mouth just as fast as his tears fell. There was part of him that didn't want to continue because he truly wanted to save the Kingdom but in his heart he knew enough was enough. 

"I could have stayed in that healer's hut with my friends but no! I chose to come back here! Part of me still trusted you, I still wanted to love my family even if they had never loved me back! But when I came I found that you truly don’t love us and couldn't care less what happened to us! Maybe… Maybe it's time you see what happens to this kingdom when your strongest allies stop fighting. We gave you so many chances but you threw every single one back in our faces! See how well your new heir works out in this war, see what happens when you turn a blind eye to a festering evil warlord!" Jack choked back a sob as he looked up at his parent's pale faces and he whispered, 

"We loved you. We truly did. But this has gone far enough. If you don't want us here then don’t worry, we won't stay." 

With that he turned on his heel and limped out of the castle, never to return. He instead returned to the healer's cabin and helped his friends to recover. Once they were all stable enough to move, Jack helped them to safely flee the kingdom.  After that he slipped back into the kingdom, unseen, and helped as many people as he could escape the war torn land. However, sure enough, within a few years without the king’s sons to lead it to victory the Kingdom fell because the King and Queen turned a blind eye to the threat they faced and the sons they had abandoned.