-Chapter Five: The Weeping Willow Tree-

It was now three days from the day Ace started to anticipated the most; his 21st birthday. Ace knew deep inside of him that all the waiting, planning, and passing of his friends would be worth it because once he had more power to his name, he could start to make the real changes he's been looking forward to. He could start making the changes that could break this era of superstition and help bring to light the problems Findara is hiding. He could make amends with the kingdoms who share the same beliefs as him such as Asterin, Caspin, and Petrina. He could make improvements to the laws that allow a lot more freedom to the Findarians so they could live happily instead of fear and depression. Even though Ace's heart is screaming that everything will be fine in the end, his mind is yelling at him to be cautious. Ace hated playing along with his father, it made him hate himself. It made him feel just as bad as his father. No matter how much convincing it took for Chester or Persephone to make Ace think otherwise, he sometimes could not bear to look at himself in the mirror. He saw a monster. Just being a bystander alone makes him no better than the prejudicial followers of King Oliver.

Now that his birthday is rapidly approaching Ace is starting to feel like he's losing sight on his original plan. It was simple when he thought of it many years ago; become king and overthrow the past King, King Oliver. Things have very much changed since he thought of that plan when he was younger. He grew up and learned that it was just Findara that did the Burnings or that it wasn't as simple to be king and make laws. Ace knew very well that Oliver will not think twice about killing him if he does not find someone, more specifically a woman, to marry within a month after turning 21.

Ace thought about asking Persephone to pretend to be his wife just until King Oliver is no longer in ruling. This was the safest way possible but Ace would not only be risking his life, he would also be risking Persephone's as well. It's not like they were already risking their lives regardless. Just having the secret meetings and allowing the castle staff to sneak off to do mischievous activities together is putting an overwhelming amount of people in trouble.

Ace needed to shake his mind off from all this planning of his birthday, future battles, and secret meetings. He needed to see someone he knew that would be there for him when he saw the worst possible version of himself.

The bundle of flowers in Ace's hands were held tightly as he stood by a familiar willow tree. Ace felt the breeze of the wind play with his short, white hair as he sat down by a makeshift gravestone. He sighed heavily before a few tears fell down from his chocolate brown eyes. "Hey mom." Ace whispered softly, placing the flowers down by a makeshift gravestone that consisted of two large, smooth rocks sitting on top of each other and the name 'Aceline Winters' carved into the top stone. Of course, Ace was not expecting any answer back but he would like to imagine her response would be something sweet and caring that he's been deprived of like; 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘺?

"I need to catch my breath from everything that's been going on and I have some free time before meeting everyone at the basement so I can't stay for long. I'm just hoping you are having a great day, wherever you are. Whenever I see a butterfly I always wonder if that's you coming to visit me, since you always talked about reincarnating into them. Anyways you must wonder why I'm really here, well I just wanted to run some things by you first before the meeting." Ace said sitting down by the stones.

Oliver does not know this but after the burning of his wife, Ace, who was eight at the time, stayed behind to collect her ashes. Persephone and Chester stood by his side as he cried out for his dear mother. The woman who brought him into the world, the one who held him during thunderstorms, the one who supported him in everything, and the one who loved him unconditionally. They knew at that moment Ace was their ally and at the same time Ace knew he needed to make changes to this horrible way of living.

"Another escape is taking place. It's going to be a lot of people this time, maybe twenty or something people. I don't think we should do it on my birthday, but it's also a great time to do it then. Yes, father will be occupied with the guest, however, it is still too risky. I think I might call it off or only send half of the group. What do you think?" Ace asked as he looked up to the clouds watching the white, wispy, cotton-like texture fly by on this windy day.

"Yeah, I should just send half of the group for now. It would be less suspicious, plus I could always joke around with father saying that they went to other men or women drunk to the other kingdoms. I haven't used that excuse since I was 16. Do you think he's become suspicious? The others think that he certainly has, he's got this secret force of the maids, guards, and Elites that's apparently spying for him. It would make sense considering some of our latest schemes have been busted." Ace said as he let out a loud, hefty groan and ferociously ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm so tired mom. I can't wait for the day where I can peacefully sleep and not worry about the other turning their backs on me or losing faith. Let's not forget about father, if or when he finds out I'm definitely a dead man. It would be worth it, the other and I saved a lot of people from the burnings." Ace smiled as he looked at the stones. At this point in the conversation he would like to imagine Aceline saying something like; 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘤 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥.

"Ace! Ace! I told you he would be out here!" Clara called out for the prince as Chester followed close behind her. "Ace you've already missed the last meeting, you know you cannot miss this next meeting. Especially with certain events coming up."

"Hey guys! Sorry, I just needed some me time and to sort some things out." Ace apologized as he stood up.

"Good afternoon your majesty." Clara said bowing to the stones followed by Chester mocking her movements. "Her energy beams of yellow today, I think she's happy you are here to visit her... like always."

"Well that's good to hear! I wish she was still here." Ace frowned, that didn't go unnoticed by Chester.

"Of course she's still here!" Chester exclaimed, throwing an arm around Ace's neck. "She's always here." He finished as his free hand patted his chest.

"Right, now let's get going. Bye mom, I love you!" Ace said before placing three fingers on his lips and then placing them on the stones. Clara and Chester bowed at the stones before the trio left to go for the meeting.

Ace's heart pounded heavily as they went further away from the willow tree that stood at a slight angle over a small pond that had a little bench on the other side. Clara and Chester were trying to go Ace up to speed but his mind lingered on the willow tree. He felt as if he needed to go back and stay there for a little longer, at least to put his thoughts in order or come up with a crystal-clear plan on telling everyone how they're not going to escape in a big group. They must be understanding, they have been all these years. Still Ace could not shake off the feelings that are currently making his stomach flip upside down, uncomfortably.

"Are you listening Ace?" Clara asked, making Ace instantly snap out of his thoughts.

"Yeah you just miss an important part!" Chester mentioned as Ace stopped in his tracks.

"And what would that be?" Ace asked as his heart started to pound harder. His thoughts started to race. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦?

"Everyone was planning on changing up the plans for the next escape. We were actually planning on limiting the amount of people-" "That's great! Oh my great goodness! Yes! I cannot believe it! Yes!" Ace cheered, thrusting one of his fists in the air and letting himself dance a little as a wave of relief washed over him. "You two have no clue how nervous I was about talking to the group about how many people should go. I thought too many would be mildly suspicious but I don't know how they would have taken that but I'm so glad that they have the same mindset right now." Ace rant but he stopped and looked at them with wonder. "That was what you were going to say right?" He asked.

Clara and Chester looked at each other before they both started to laugh. "This is what you were worried about?" Chester asked. "Out of everything there is to be possibly worried about you are worried that Gwen or Lenny or the rest of the group escaping were going to be furious with you if you said no?!"

"Honestly Ace! You need to relax!" Clara giggled lightly as she placed her hand on Ace's shoulder. "Obviously we would be okay with that, the consequences are far too horrid. We talked about that last meeting but since King Oliver had you doing God knows what, you didn't get to hear the news."

"Honestly buddy you need to try sleeping from time to time and stress less." Chester added in as he and Clara continued towards the basement.

"Hey! I am stressing out for the greater good here!" Ace exclaimed as he caught up to them.

Since King Oliver was off dealing with trading affairs (and by trading affairs, it usually meant that he, a small army, and Xavier went to battle with the other kingdom to teach them a 'lesson') at the kingdom, Durgon, the castle staff had some down time before going back to their duties. During this downtime made the perfect time where Ace and the trusted castle staff would discuss major plans to prevent what could happen to the forbidden lovers and the people with magic or plans for helping Findarians at risk to escape.

The common room in the basement was filled with lively chatter and playful arguments. "Guys, I'm telling you! She really did visit me again!" Cain said as he hopelessly tried to convince Silas, Sebastian, and a small lady of his recent rendezvous.

"Right, just like how she stayed at your place and then vanished the next morning. We get that you're single but come on Cain." An intimidating Findarian native scoffed as she placed one of her two braids behind her shoulder.

Her name is Rhoma, the last native to Findara before Frederick took the land from her ancestors. Any evidence of her past connected to her ancestors will lead to death. Aceline was close friends with Rhoma's parents and helped hide the birth of Rhoma before their execution; death by burning at the stake. Clara helped create a hallucination that Rhoma's mother was still pregnant when the day of their Burning came. This led Rhoma to be an orphanage, but coincidentally one of Findara's powerful warriors, Maria Duffman, suffered a terrible loss; a stillborn child. Aceline placed the care of Rhoma to Maria, who happily took care of the baby girl as if she was hers. Maria trained Rhoma to be a strong, independent, and confident warrior while she taught Rhoma everything she knew about her history and culture. After Maria's peaceful passing, Rhoma took her place as the head commander of the personal royal guards. Ace learned all of this a week before Aceline burned to ensure Rhoma's safety.

"Well looked who finally decided to show up." Rhoma grinned as she noticed the prince's white hair amongst the crowd.

"I'm sorry everyone! I didn't mean to miss out on the last meeting." Ace apologized while he brought his hands together and gave a small bow to everyone.

"Don't worry about it buddy!" Sebastian said as Chester found his way back to his lover's arms. A collective of 'it's okay' and 'don't worry about it' soon followed after.

"Thank you. Now before we get to business does anyone know where Gracelyn is?" Ace asked, making everyone look around.

"She's with Kiki and Gwen." Beatrice's voice echoed through the room as she entered the small conference.

"Thank you, Beatrice. I assume Lilith is out venturing?" Ace asked since he couldn't spot the spy.

"She's out taking care of some errands." Annie confirmed.

"What are you talking about she's-" "NO!" Everyone in the room quickly yelled to hush the new member of the meeting. The secret meetings would often use code words due to Ace not knowing who could be trusted. Many incidents have occurred in the past that have taken place due to Ace leaking information to castle staff that he thought was on the side that pushed for change. Ace quickly realized that once Beatrice helped him acknowledge the difference between those who support King Oliver and those who follow King Oliver to live another day.

One of the classic examples would be the life of Lilith. She practices witchcraft in secret and often goes back and forth between kingdoms to gather information to help refugees. A meeting was taking place a few years ago when the coalition of castle staff accepted Ace into the meetings. At the time Gracelyn was accepted into the meeting, having everyone fooled that she was not spying on them for Kiki. Kiki decided to trick the coalition by sending Lilith to the allying kingdom where she was punished for her actions and to be forced into a life of 'loyal' devotion towards Findara. As time goes on the wandering traveler will get to know more about Lilith, however, for now the wandering traveler will only get to know why the meetings are held in secret.

"We know you are new here, but there are a few rules that should be followed. Rule one: never talk about the meetings. Rule two: never mention the whereabouts of the members. And rule three: never bring anyone to the meetings." Rhoma clarified to Jessy, the new member whose a small girl that just started as a gardener, as she stood in awe by the passion of everyone.

"Thank you Chester. Now I know I missed a lot but Clara and Chester helped bring me up to speed. I just wanted to say thank you so much for being on board with the idea that a small group of people should leave during the ball." Ace started off empathetically. "So here's the new plan. I believe we should get the rest of the refugees together. I've decided that Gwen should leave on the night of the ball, we will wait a month before sending out the other group. By then Gwen and Lilith will have a hideout for us."

"Hey Ace! I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm so sick and tired of saying: the meetings, the group, us, and blah, blah, blah. Why don't we give ourselves a name? An actual name?" A boy around his early teen years said while leaning against one of the basement's columns. A collection of agreements boomed throughout the basement.

"Settle down!" Beatrice yelled out as everyone quickly hushed.

"I've never really thought about it Atlas, but that's actually really smart. Do you have any ideas?" Ace asked the raven-haired boy.

"I- No I don't, but I've been thinking about it and I think The Outlaws would be cool!" Atlas said with a smile that quickly faded as he heard a laugh coming from Sebastian. Chester jabbed his elbow into his ribs to quickly silent him.

"We aren't in the west boy. We need something better like; The Extras!" Sebastian smiled as the whole basement started to roar in laughter. "Hey! It's not a bad idea!"

"No, it's a horrible idea!" Cain laughed.

"Awe did you not land the main role for the theater?" Silas chimed in.

"More like the theater didn't call back!" Rhoma managed to laugh out as she clutched her stomach.

"Whatever, at least I don't have an imaginary girlfriend." Sebastian scoffed as he snaked his arm around Chester's waist and pulled him closer to his chest.

"Hey! You better watch-" Cain started but was quickly cut off.

"The Defiance!" Ace yelled out before the tension between the two guards escalated any higher.

"I'm sorry what?" Atlas asked as everyone fixed their attention to the white-haired prince.

"The Defiance. That could be the name of our meetings, of our group!" Ace said again as everyone stood in awe.

"That is actually perfect! The definition alone stands for bold disobedience and this is basically what this is!" Jessy informed everyone. "It's synonyms help define the whole group's stance and what we believe in."

"I never thought I would be around to see us finally have a name." Clara smiled while walking towards Ace and taking his hands. "Aceline is so proud of you." Ace smiled as he nodded his head in thanks.

"As of today, we are known as The Defiance!" Ace yelled as he lifted his pointer finger in the air and everyone soon followed.