Laughter of a Bend Mind

"Why are you running? I'm just going to ask you about something..." Hunter cried in pain. "Did it give you satisfaction? Did it make you feel good, huh? Have you not thought about the thing that you've done? Was it fun to watch an innocent person suffer from your selfishness?" He caught him by the hair and stepped on his other leg.

"Forgive me Nicolas, I'm begging you. I—," Hunter's cry snapped everyone back to reality.

"I don't care about your plead. Would that bring back the dead? WOULD THAT BRING BACK THE DEAD? I GUESS NOT!," he cackled for a bit before proceeding. "We had the clear chance to escape back there! We could have gotten back here safe and sound but no! She wanted to help you, SHE WANTED TO HELP YOU! And then what did you do? You repaid her with betrayal. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE WHO DIED!," Nicolas forcefully flipped Hunter facing him as he pulled harder. Without any delay he leaned in closer and threatened the boy's neck with his blade.

The King quickly stood and rushed to where his son are, the drowsiness from the wine had evaporated out of his brain as if he had been plunged in freezing water in a blizzardy night. He walked pass Natalia, down the stairs then though the tables of his people whose now frozen in fear and confusion. Finally deciding to confront his son with what is happening, Elisa went pass him faster than light then approached Nicolas first. Her hands are shaking as it weakly gripped the side of her skirt while the other on her chest reminding her to control her breathing.

"Ni— Nicolas? W—where is Alisa? You have both gone outside, right? What happened to you?," Nicolas eased out as he switched his attention towards his friend's mother. The sword he was wielding vanished as he grabbed Hunter's collar and sat the boy properly. After dusting the boy's wet clothes, he flashed a smile, stepped away from Hunter and looked at Elisa.

"I can't tell you Mrs. Valorona, but, I have someone here who can narrate what happened down to every detail with the most vivid narration. May I present to you, Hunter the-coward-selfish-traitor-of-Gregoria. Now, Hunter, if you must," Hunter just stared at Elisa.

The terrified message in his eyes slowly turned into sorrow and apology, like a dog being aware that he had done wrong as it faced its master carrying the proof of its crime, "Why so quiet, you used to be more talkative earlier, you even cried your eyes off. Tell them, go on, we don't have all the time in the world…". While still refusing to talk, Elisa in front of them is steadily falling into greater panic.

By this time, Nicolas too had enough of the bullshit. He angrily walked back to Hunter and threatened him again with the sword, "TELL THEM! TELL THEM WHAT YOU'VE DONE, unless you want to die at this second TELL THEM! No one will judge you but this blade, it's your choice"

Hunter sulked into deeper despair, his face bitter, and his mouth trembling as he uttered his first word. Nicolas Pushed his blade closer to politely ask him to be louder. "For—forgive me, I did not mean it. I just wanted to make sure I will get back to my mother alive, please forgive me," this had confused Elisa even more as she took a step closer, in her face the question "What do you mean" are clearly written. Hunter find it hard to spit the words and it pissed Nicolas even more.

"Fine, if you're too scared to admit it, then I would," he had let him go again, stood, and opened his arms. "LISTEN HERE EVERYONE! This boy Hunter, uh, I don't care about his family name, had committed a crime towards Head Maid Valorona and her daughter," he made sure to pause to let out a laugh that sent an unsettling feeling to everyone inside the hall.

He narrated every detail, every obstacle, every tear they shed outside, up to why Hunter is the reason the poor girl died. "Alisa is no more Mrs. Valorona, she's dead," it hit Elisa like a spear aimed directly at her heart, her already trembling knees finally failed her as she sat hopelessly to the floor, still in disbelief, she could not accept what Nicolas had said. His mother Natalia finally came to her friend's rescue and tried to calm her down.

"Please don't fool around my prince. This is not a good joke—"

It infuriated Nicolas more than he already is that he even made a tssk* using his tongue to show his disappointment. "Do I sound like I am fooling all of you? DO I SOUND LIKE I AM PLAYING AROUND!," he trembled in anger and sliced the floor leaving it with a scar.

He stomped his feet hoping it would break more than it already is but he knew it was impossible, so he walked to the nearest table instead and poured his anger towards it. The one's sitting nearby immediately leaped away as to not get caught with his rampage. Natalia tried to calm him down, he called his name but it was no use, all he could hear are the intrusive thoughts in his head. She tried to approach him but his blade prevented her from doing so, so from a far she asked him with what's going on, because in her eyes Nicolas is in great pain and confusion. But it did not help ease the prince's state of mind, in contrast it made it worst.

"What's happening you say? Are you somehow blind mother or you're just too dumb to not understand what's going on outside," he oriented himself back towards them. "Do you think I'm just making a fuss mother? Would half of the kingdom burning look like an illusion to you? Alisa is dead! SHE WAS BLOWN TO BITS that not even a single chunk of her flesh could be distinguish from the soil and mud! SHE'S GONE AND IT'S ALL THIS MOTHERFUCKERS FAULT!".

He poured his anger towards the ladies. Natalia was flabbergasted that she froze on the spot, her eyes shakingly fixated at her son. "What's happening to you my son," she uttered as she kept assisting Elisa that's now reduced to sobbing.

The Nicolas she knows would never talk to her like that, the boy she raised would never scream at everyone like this nor cause such uproar in front of the people. Where is the kind anxious prince giving a speech just this morning, where is the smile that can even lit up the darkest of the dark. She couldn't find a faint of kindness in his glaring eyes, they were filled with sorrow, full of fury, and a desire for revenge.

Despite all of these doubts, she understands that there is a cause for this, that is not his Nicolas, that's what anger does. It just shows that something happened, outside, during all the commotion. He would not lie, and even if she and Elisa does not admit it, Alisa might be already dead, and if the girl died then Logan too might have perished already thus failing to protect them.

"Now, back to the topic at hand," Nicolas started again catching Hunter who now have crawled to what he thought as a safe distance. Pulling the boy back to the center, he forced him to talk all over again, but this time, he whispered sinisterly in his ears. "Tell them, because if not, I'll cut your tongue and you'll never be able to speak ever again. And if you think I'm bluffing, then maybe this blade would keep you straight," the sword appeared again brimming with blue light that illuminated both of their faces.

"I know that boy! He would never do such things!," a lady from the crowd voiced out. She's at a safe distance far from the drama but she decided to put herself in the spotlight just to say what Nicolas thought of as an absurd statement.

Upon tracing the sound of the voice, the prince stared at the lady. "Do you really think so?," his voice soft, somewhat sorry as he scratched his damped hair and examined the boy on the floor before laughing hysterically. "I guess you don't know him after all," he fell to the ground supporting his stomach as he continued to burst in laughter. Everyone is in a daze for a whole minute before finally, he stood back up then wiped his tears. "TELL THEM!," he threatened the boy again.

Hunter once again stared at Nicolas, he was still sobbing but the prince does not seem to care. Slowly, he oriented himself. Knees close together as he kneeled flat on the floor, his palms feeling the cold wet floor, tears began to hinder his vision as he viewed his pathetic self in the small puddle he made. He lowered his head, slowly, the rain and thunder could only be heard at the background. As his head was glued to the floor, he broke the silence.

"For—Forgive M—Me, it was all my fault. I— I pushed…," he paused and pushed his head harder towards the floor. "I PUSHED HER WITH MY SOLE SAFETY IN MIND". The lady from the crowd succumbed to the side, Natalia felt pity, and Elisa felt like she would die from what she heard. Her heart did not take it too well and she fell unconscious.

"Well, I told you," Nicolas pridefully uttered. "So, You all heard it, LOUD AND CLEAR. I guess no one would argue if I took his head, right?". It was a swift draw; Hunter raised his head only to see Nicolas already swinging the sword towards him. Counting to three he waited for the blade, there is no stopping it, he's dead either way.

Frederick was quick on his feet as he already read Nicolas's intention before he even raised the sword. Snatching the weapon of the closest knight, he rushed and deflected his son's blade. He was exposed up close to the blade, its blue hue reminded him of the day his Nicolas was born, the rain was hard just like today but then it eased and it revealed the moon. Round and clear, it was unusually blue, more peculiar than the periodic blood red moon he already witnessed thrice in his lifetime.

"Stop this nonsense at once Nicolas!," there was no reply but a sharp gaze. They did not clash swords; it can't even be called a fight for the king got immediately expelled from the battlefield with a single strike. Trembling in fear, his left arm bleeding, he felt the heavy presence from the blade his son is wielding. A little more exposure and he knows that that nasty feeling would crush his very soul. "Who are you," he muttered as his knights came to his rescue, in contrast to Natalia's understanding, Frederick felt that that Nicolas is not his Nicolas, rather, it was a different person. It made him tremble than he already is.

"STAY OUT OF THIS FATHER!," he waved his sword and the floor in front of the king opened.

It glowed brighter and brighter, till it overwritten the color of the flames, till it reached every corner of the hall. What the king felt is now widespread in the atmosphere, everyone and everything trembled and stepped farther from the light. It was unexplainable but they felt anger, they felt grief, they felt the very thing that's been fueling the prince's rage down to its core. Hunter whose the closest felt like his soul would leave his body and run.

He was not stuck in a fight or flight, but the only response his mind could conjure is to flee and his body refused to move. Raising it again, no one dared to move, no one dared to make a sound. They just froze as the prince raised his blade, they just eyed his hands as he gripped its hilt tighter, and aghast as the sword came hurdling down the poor boy's neck.

Thunder added suspense to the situation, the wind howled angrier than before, and as the sword connected, lighting hit the ground just outside the castle, sending shockwaves and slight shaking of the ground before an ear reaping thunder followed. Everything went dark, the torches, the lamps died, there were just silence, no one heard a scream, no one dared to make any response. It stayed like that before the knights had lit them back up.

Frederick felt as if he stopped breathing and his lungs had started only receiving air, he had imagined the worst of the worst, they'll be blood spilled, a boy dead with a severed head, over it would be Nicolas burning with rage, but to his relief, none of it came true. There lied on the cold wet floor Nicolas and Hunter, no one was hurt, no one bled, they were very much breathing and only unconscious.

Natalia hurriedly rushed for his son, Frederick took the other boy and ordered the knights to investigate outside. Such a remarkable birthday party that's indeed full of laughter, one that no one will ever forget as long as they live, for that laugh will be engraved in their minds, and the name of a traitor will be immortalized. An unforgettable event that will later be remembered as the feast for the broken prince.