65 - Keep

A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.

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Princess Azarese's face crumpled when she felt something heavy on her body. She tried removing it with her tiny hands, but it's too strong that it didn't even budge. Breathing is hard and she felt hot. After all, her pink swaddle is too thick, but it's very soft.

Her cry is soft at first, a gentle murmur that gradually swells into a crescendo of irritation. It echoes off the walls of the room.

Empress Siofra looked back and tapped the King's thigh.

"Flyme... My Holy..."

"Hmm?" King LIFE was roused from his sleep. It completely woke him up when he heard the Princess crying and hiccuping.

"Shit."

He get up and the Empress went back to sleep. He opened the lamp over the headrest and picked the Princess up.

"Yes, my girl? What is it? What do you want, hmm? Why is my Princess crying?"

He felt that her back is wet, so he put her back to the bed to remove her swaddle. The Princess was relieved as soon as she felt free. She stretched both her arms and legs in the air. The volume of her cries lowered now that she's feeling cool.

King LIFE chuckled. He drives and rained kisses on her.

"That's it? You're just feeling hot? Hmm, I should scold Mommy for not putting a cooling stone in your swaddle."

Princess Azarese opened her eyes. King LIFE was lost in the abyss her eyes beholds.

She smiled when she got gentle tickles from him. Her smiles became adorable giggles when King tickled her more.

Empress Siofra smacked the King lightly.

"Stop playing with her and put her back to sleep."

"It's okay. She's not Sleeping Beauty? She's always sleeping, too. This is the only time I get to play with her," he said and turned to the Princess.

"Right, Princess? You're always asleep whenever Dad comes to see you. Here comes tickle shower as your punishment!"

Her chuckles, like a delicate ripple of joy, made the King chuckle, too, and pretentiously ate her hand.

"Nom, nom, nom. Daddy ate Azarese's hand. Nom, nom!"

He put her hand inside his mouth and waited to see what her reaction will be.

Until she opened her hands inside his mouth and grabbed his tongue.

"Hmmp!" King LIFE pulled back and they laughed together.

"That's a foul! You're a bully!" He pinched her cheeks lightly and pulled it to the sides.

Princess Azarese laughed then stuck her tongue out.

Empress Siofra looked back, slightly awakened by the King's loud guffaw.

"Get out. I'm resting, Flyme. Play with her outside."

"Aww, Mommy is kicking us out? Mommy is bad."

King LIFE gently placed his hands behind her, supporting her back and head, then lifted her. Their cheeks touched and he leaned over to show the Princess her sleeping mother.

"Mommy? Is that Mommy? Yes, it's Mommy. Give Mommy a kiss."

He carefully placed the Princess over the Empress. Princess Azarese jolted and kissed the Empress.

Empress Siofra opened her eyes and looked back, only to see her husband and daughter giggling at each other for the silly thing they've done.

"You're so---" The Empress gave up and sighed. She get up and looked at the two. King LIFE danced the Princess on his lap.

"Yey, Mommy's awake~ Mommy's awake~" he sang, showing the Empress their daughter's dance.

Empress Siofra laughed lightly and smacked him.

"Stop it. She's hungry. Get the formula for me." Empress Siofra took over and carried the Princess.

"Okay, Plankton."

The Empress glared at the King for his response. He left the bed while laughing to get the Princess's milk and bottle on the table on the far side of their bedroom.

"Hello, my Holy. Who's the very pretty girl? Who's the cutest girl?"

Princess Azarese smiled and sucked her nose.

Then, they watched the Princess as they feed her from the bottle.

"Can you promise me one thing, Flyme?" The Empress softly said as she brush the Princess's head with her palm. Gently, soothingly, lovingly.

"Hmm?" King LIFE pulled his wife close to him and kissed her cheek.

"Before that, do you like where we are now? What we're doing, this place, the responsibilities---just everything about this new world?"

He gave her a glance and saw her smile sweetly over their daughter. The Empress's eyes glimmers with so much love for their first daughter. Yet, he could see much more than that.

He averted his attention from her to the Princess who's drinking too fast, staring at the both of them with her half-opened eyes.

"I hated it here."

Princess Azarese smiled and lifted her hand. It's open, so the King thought that she must be asking to hold his finger. So he gave his finger, to which the Princess tightly grabbed it. His finger was crushed by her pure strength and it didn't matter to him. He can heal his finger later, but she needed him, so he will endure.

"I hate that you're an Empress. I hate that we're doing this. I hate that you sacrificed yourself for this world and that I almost lost you. I hate that we don't get much time anymore unlike before because of our responsibilities. Mom, Dad, our sons... And Astaroth. Everyone's far from us, and only the thing that reunites us were celebrations. I liked our life back on Earth better. We're much happier."

King LIFE kissed the Princess's hand. Her eyes closes, but she opened the again. She's sleepy but she doesn't want to make it obvious.

"But I'm happy for you. This is where you belong. This is your world. You brought everyone back to life. It made me so happy. I hated myself for not being with you longer. Your loneliness back then when you're the only one who was left behind, I'm still guilty to this day. I'll go everywhere you go. Always beside you. So, please. Recover. Thank you for bringing our Azarese. Thank you for giving me a daughter. She is, right?"

Empress Siofra smiled at her husband with her trembling lips, eyes tearful. He caressed her cheek with his other hand.

"Yes. She's really a daughter this time. I promise."

"Thank you. I hate boys. We already have bunch of them."

They laughed on each other's faces softly. When the Princess heard them, she laughed, too.

The Empress's diamond tears pour like hailstorm on the bed. King LIFE knew something was up---something is not right, but he didn't ask. She's about to tell him. She's going to tell him.

"Our Holy... My Holy... Flyme, we're in a new timeline."

The King's eyes widened.

"Promise me this, Flyme."

Empress Siofra looked at him straight in his eyes, tears pouring continously. King LIFE touched her face tenderly, and the Empress feel him.

"Tell me."

"You know the rules. I can't tell. I'm starting to forget it. You're the only one I will tell this to, because I don't want you to do the same thing you did to her all over again. Our Holy... Let's make her happy. I want her to be the happiest. Let's give her everything. If we can't mend her heart, Watts will. Please, let them fall in love all over again. You don't know how much he meant to her. Flyme, whatever it takes, don't get in their way. Please. You don't know what she went through when she lost him. I don't want to see it again. So please... Leave them be."

"Watts? That Xirquit?" King LIFE scoffed. He's puzzled.

Such matter is not new to him anymore, but his daughter, a traveler?

Empress Siofra nodded.

"And if you feel something is off with her once she met Maxi someday, do something. But do not push Maxigaufeas away. Just...do something so they won't see each other---"

"What are you saying... Maxigaufeas? And that Xirquit?"

The King couldn't explain what he's feeling.

"They're her husbands. Watts was the first. Maxi is the third."

That's when he felt the world stopped.

"I-I will pass a decree. I will allow her marry to them if she will want to. I don't care, I just want our Holy to be happy this time. And I don't want you to get in the way. If you get in the way to her happiness, I swear to myself, Flyme. I'd rather lose you than see my only daughter get hurt by the same man twice."

It's written all over her face: the Empress mean it. Other than her solidified resolve, there was fierceness in her face. She said it like a vow, like she made a pact with the Deities---that she declared it to the Heavens. Breaking her words mean breaking herself.

The King was loss for words. He doesn't know which was harder: to see his wife cry or to hear her threaten him with leaving him. He doesn't like both, but the latter was the scariest.

He doesn't want to be alone.

He doesn't want to be left behind by the only stranger that dared to love him and understand him unconditionally all this time. Only the Empress accepted him as he is.

"Was I...awful even then?"

This time, it was the Empress who had her eyes dilating. The King looked so broken. He even avoided eye contact and closed his eyes.

He hated himself more than everyone. He's fully aware about his nasty natures. But like nature itself, he can't control it. It grows every time he will cut it short and gets meaner every time. He hate himself. He hate the way he is himself.

The Empress's cold silence gave him the answer he needed.

"I-I know I'm not the best father... But I l-love them, you know? So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I hurted her before. I would never... She's our Princess. Our first Princess. My Princess with you. Why would I hurt her? I would never do that to my Azarese."

King LIFE buried his face on the Princess's stomach. Fast asleep, back in her dreamland. Empress Siofra listened to her husband's muffled sobs. She wanted to hate him, but how could she, if her husband is this vulnerable when they're alone together? He never grew up. The King didn't had the chance to, depraved of his right to enjoy childhood and play.

Princess Azarese stretched her feet and arms when she felt her stomach getting wet.

When they calmed down, the King brought the Princess to her crib. Empress Siofra embraced him from behind.

"I love you, Flyme."

There again, the King submitted to his weakness. His shaking hands grabbed the sides of the crib tighter to support his balance, for his knees are getting jelly.

"I won't ask. I'm not going to ask. But I will remember. I will keep it. I won't tell anyone. I promise you: we will make her happy. If Watts, then Watts. He's a good man. He's spoiled, but he's a very good kid. He's not that worthy and deserving, but for her love and happiness, I myself will play the cupid. If that's what you want to happen, I will make it happen."

The Empress tightened her grip around his waist. King LIFE hold her hand. They let their tears run down their cheeks, dried by the moonlight breeze.

King LIFE gently laid the Empress on the bed. He watch her sleep. Somehow, her face seem relaxed and relieved. This might be the first time he's seen his wife sleep with serenity.

"I love you, Sio."

He planted small kisses on the back of the Empress's hand, to her arm, until he reached her lips and face.

He breathe in deeply and left her side to go to the Princess's crib. He lean over to touch her face. Princess Azarese smiled and giggled. It made the King smile.

"Excalibur." He summoned, the Excalibur heed to his calling, floating beside him horizontally. He straightened his back and open his palms. Excalibur descended on them.

"Wear your sheath. We're going to the Matriarch."

And so, Excalibur called for its sheath, enclosing its blade within.

Before closing the door, he looked back to his daughter and wife one last time. He knew then that he's sure about his decision.

When he got outside the Palace, the King whistled to call his white horse.

"To the Matriarch's Temple. Hi-yah!"

When he arrived, he thanked his horse and told it to wait for him. He closed his eyes, inhaling, exhaling. He's questioning himself all over again. He wants to know if his nature and soul agrees with him. But then, there's one who contradicts him. His darkness.

His closed eyes fluttered when the breeze passed by him like a whisper. A trail of light shows him the way inside the temple. He went down to one knee first to pay his respects before going in with Excalibur on his both hands.

He walked down the aisle. At the end lies the Matriarch's majestic statue: her sitting in her regal throne.

King LIFE went down to his knees and looked up to her. The Matriarch's head and eyes were slightly sculpted to look as if she's looking down on her subjects. Her hair was done in an updo, showing her ears to tell them that she will listen, she is going to listen. There's a small smile on her lips, as if she's grateful for receiving a visit from her subjects.

King LIFE slowly placed Excalibur to the ground before her feet.

"I want to return Excalibur to you, Mother," the King said with a falter in his voice when he said 'return'. Upon hearing it, Excalibur's shine died a little.

"I... I, just like the rest, know I do not deserve Excalibur. I'm going to be honest with you: I don't want to be Knight. I never wanted to be a Knight. I never asked to be a King. I never wanted to be a King."

Somehow, the Matriarch's state's expression began to look not so pleased.

King LIFE saw it. Fear engulfed his chest, but his heart is determined to say what he wanted to say to Her.

"I am not fit to be a Knight. I was not born to be a King. But I learned to love my titles because I have my family by my side. I accepted Excalibur because I wanted to be the one who stands beside the God, my wife. But I find it so ironic slaying my own kind. I can't do it anymore. I want to return to my family."

A trail of tear cascaded down the King's face.

"I don't want to be a Knight. I don't want to be a King. I want to be a faithful husband and a father to my children all over again. I have a daughter now, and my wife confessed her of being a traveler. Mother, I feel guilty. Why? I don't know the whole story, but why am I loathing myself like this? I miserably fail every time I try to be better. I don't understand myself. I don't understand my nature. Because of me, my son distanced himself from us. Because of me, my daughter got hurt. Spare me. What is wrong with me? Why am I the only one who acts this way?"

The Matriarch's statue's expression softened.

"Please, I love Excalibur, but I can't use it the same way anymore. I don't want to kill more people. Veils. Ancients. Let me go. Make it Daro again. Relieve me of these duties. Allow me to be a father to Azarese this time. Allow me to make my daughter the happiest."

King LIFE sobbed and lowered his head.

"If tomorrow I see Excalibur, I will accept it. By then, it will only mean that you're relieving me of my duty as the Knight. And by then, too, you're allowing me to use Excalibur to protect my daughter, my wife, and my family as I see fit. Then, I will still be King. A husband to my wife, a father to my children---and protector of the place we call home, the one you built for us. Have mercy on me, great Mother. This is all I will ever ask."

The great sun is up, and Princess Azarese is playing beside the King who is fast asleep.

"Ahh.. Bababa... Baba..." The Princess babble and nibbled the toy below her.

"DABU!"

The King flinched when he felt something strong landed on his stomach. It was the Princess's tiny fist.

"Ugh, Princess. What's wrong---"

Cat got the King's tongue and his eyes slowly widen tearfully.

The Princess is playing with Excalibur.

The Matriarch listened to his soulful plea.