Trapped In Hisstory

Clayton was dumbfounded by the Crown Prince. All he has been thinking of was that what happened to Charles Howard.

Charles was like this before as well, Clayton thought. But one day, Charles kept distancing himself from others. The Crown Prince abandoned him, left him in the dark even though he thought of Charles as his only ally.

He did not understand at all. After changing, after distancing himself, after ignoring him for many years, why did he suddenly come back to talk to him and act as if nothing happened?

He felt angry. Mad because of the Crown Prince's act. Charles must be planning something, he thought. But even so, why is it he could not get his anger out? He could not tell his brother how mad he was.

'Why did you betray me?'

'Why did you make me feel as if you will always be there?'

'Why did you go away?'

'Why did you just stand there, watching as I get swallowed by the shadows..?'

Those were the questions Clayton wanted to ask.

He stared at the Crown Prince that was standing in front of him, holding his shoulders with his hands. 'Break..?' he thought bitterly, letting out a snort. "You think I am building walls around me?" he asked.

Chance nodded as an answer to his question. "Is that not the case? You build walls around you because you do not let anyone into your heart." he said and Clayton did not answer. "You build walls around you so that you can hide."

Clayton stood up abruptly from his seat, making Chance remove his hands on him, dropping to his sides. "The one building the walls is not me! It is Melanie and that damn Cadell!" 

Edmund, the librarian, and the knight turned to the sudden yell that they heard from the library. Edmund's naturally sleepy eyes widened, making it seem that he was very much awake. Alec's brow furrowed from what Clayton had said.

The fact that Clayton dared to call the King and his mother by their names has surprised Edmund. Alec remained calm and blank, but he must be thinking the same. It was a good thing that there were only four of them in the Royal Library. If there were other people inside with them, the news would spread fast and Clayton could be punished for his act of disrespect.

"It was because of them that there are walls around me that I cannot climb, break or escape it. I am suffocating but after all these years, I got used to being in the dark." he said while clenching his fist, pouring all his hatred in it.

"As I said," Chance put his hand on him again, slowly caressing his back, "You will meet someone who will break those walls." the Crown Prince said as he attempted to comfort his brother.

Clayton looked at the Crown Prince with tears forming in his eyes, 'You had that chance...but did not do it.' he thought. 'You could have been the one to break the wall, but you just stared at it, did nothing...and walked away.'

A tear traveled down his cheeks, the hatred in his eyes turned into pure sadness as he stared at the Crown prince, not as a prince, but as his brother. "You seemed to have forgotten...how you had caused me this much pain."

Clayton grabbed the hand of the Crown Prince that was on his back and held it, slowly putting it down. Without any more words coming out of his mouth, he put his book back on the rack and walked away.

Chance was in a daze for a few seconds before turning around to watch his brother, the Second Prince, leave the Royal Library. 

He wished he knew what was going on inside Clayton's mind. He wished he knew what Clayton was saying with those sad eyes. He wished he knew what happened in his and Charles's past.

Clayton always acts mean and grumpy but, 'He is very weak...' Chance thought.

"Are you all right, Your Highness?" 

Chance turned to the Valorian knight who had just approached him. Alec looked at the door where Clayton went through to leave then returned his gaze to the Crown Prince. "The conversation between you two seemed very heated."

Chance sighed and nodded, agreeing to his knight's words, "I might have said something that triggered him." he said, feeling bad.

Clayton must have kept all the words he wanted to say, his feelings, his hatred, all inside him. They say those who are silent are the scariest people. If a person keeps everything he feels to himself, he will end up bursting, letting everything out as anger and resentment form.

Although people say that the solution is to tell someone else your thoughts and feelings, that does not work for most people. Not everyone has that 'someone'. Someone that they could tell all their secrets to without the fear that they might get betrayed.

Edmund was surprised. It has been years since such noise was heard in the Royal Library for all the time that he has been serving the room. "I have never seen His Highness, Clayton, that angry before. Not in my life." he muttered.

Chance lowered his gaze, knowing that it was his fault. "Where there is anger, there is pain."

He headed back to the table, with the knight following behind him. He was in front of the table and Alec pulled out a seat for him and he sat down. He felt as if his energy was drained from what happened.

'Just what on earth happened between the two of them?' he thought, thinking about the Howard brothers. Even so, he still hopes that he was right when he said there would be someone who would change the way Clayton viewed his life.

Seeing how Clifford was so interested in Clayton, it may be the chance for the two of them to know each other once they meet. 'If Clayton and Clifford become friends, that would be great.' Chance thought.

'Surely, they would be friends, right?' he thought, asking himself.

'I am sure they would be...' he thought again, an answer to his own question.

He stared down at his notes and the pen he was holding when a thought came to his mind, "Maybe I should write to the friends I have made in Canopus." he thought as Louis, Sherin, and Niro came to his mind.

He was about to write, but he stopped, hesitating. It has not even been a day of him being away from them. Writing them a letter would be too much, he thought. 'But it is just a letter to inform them that I have arrived safely...so maybe it would be fine?'

A man with the hair of a midnight sky appeared in his mind, 'Should I write Caliber a letter..?' he thought. With the elbow of his other arm resting on the table, he moved it and put his hand closer to his face. He bit the nail of his thumb as he thinks of a decision.

"Your Highness," Alec called out.

Chance turned to him. "Yes?"

"The ink..."

Chance returned his gaze to the paper and gasped at the drops of ink. What a mess he had made. He sighed out of relief when he saw that his notes were not ruined. He looked around to find something he could wipe it with, but Edmund came rushing to their table.

"Your Highness and Your Excellency can leave this up to me." Edmund said and the two of them let him clean up the ink.

"Would Your Highness like to continue this to your chamber instead?" the Valorian knight asked, suggesting that he could continue writing inside his room so there would be no interruptions.

Chance nodded. It was a good choice to just go to the chamber since he had no need to read books for a while as he was just going to write what had happened in Canopus and the information he has learned.

"Alec and I will be going to my chamber," the Crown Prince told the librarian to inform him that they will leave.

Edmund, who was cleaning the table, turned to them with a smile. His smile made his eyes squint, making him look even sleepy than usual. "Thank you for your time in the Royal Library, Your Highness. May the Goddess bless you." he said and raised his hand in their direction.

Chance Howard and the Valorian knight left the library to go to the chamber of the Crown Prince so he could continue working on his journal and notes. The journal he had contained everything that had happened to him since the first time he had arrived in the Crown Prince Charles's century.

He added what happened in the Canopus to the Journal and wrote about the information about the Aranea Clan, that he had learned from the Canopus aide, Sherin.

Time went by as he studied his notes. He took dinner but never saw the King nor the Second Prince at the dinner table except Princess Carmilla. He is finally in Antares again, he should be happy but all he could think of was Canopus, the people there....and Caliber.

He remembered his line in the day he first met Caliber.

'I guess I have to wait for another midnight sky.'