Another Reason

Meanwhile Anberine looked at the window of where she sat in the Potion's classroom, her eyes slightly vacant as she tried to process what had took place before class time. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder causing the troubled teen to look at her friend Merlia who was left startled by the expression her friend was giving. Her hair that was platted half rested on her left shoulder moved from the sudden movement Merlia had made.

"What's wrong?" Merlia asked softly as she sat down beside Anberine, her eyes shone with worry not minding that the light made her green eyes brighter nor that it could hurt her at anytime. Anberine remained still for a bit, her eyes remaining vacant before closing her eyes, allowing her friend to see how worn out she really was due to how conflicted she truly was.

A sigh soon left Anberine's lips while a slight tired tremor in her chest continued for linger until she stopped sighing altogether. Seeing this left Merlia more perplexed as to what could have caused this sad expression.

"We need to undo the spell, I... I can't do this anymore Merlia. I'm hurting him" Anberine muttered softly as her eyes grew hazy from guilt, hearing Anberine's words however this made Merlia's eyes widen in shock from what she was hearing.

"Undo the spell? What happened? Did he do something?" Merlia asked in a hushed voice, worry continued to form within the Dark Dweller before she took Anberine's wrist and proceeded to guide the troubled girl out the class regardless of whether their lessons were starting or not.

Not once did Merlia stop until they were now hidden in the abandoned storeroom Anberine often used to practice, once inside did Merlia close the door while Anberine slowly made her way towards her chair and pulled it out gingerly.

"He... he was miserable" Anberine explained as she took a seat while Merlia sat on the table, Anberine's mind as she tried to process what happened the day before still remained conflicted and guilty.

Yet she felt like she had seen a side- a hidden side of the prince that hardly anyone saw and it left her with mixed emotions as he was only acting like this thanks to the Love Curse.

"Explain" Merlia said calmly showing her troubled friend that she had her undivided attention, seeing her friend this way tore at Merlia but knew that she had to find out what was going on in order to help. Especially since every detail for them was crucial when it came towards the royal family.

"He said his father hates weaknesses, Merlia... the prince doesn't even know how to interact with people" hearing this Merlia blinked in surprise, her eyes also shone in disbelief given who they were talking about.

However instead of speaking she remained quiet and listened to Anberine continue.

"Instead Merlia, he was taught that growing attachments is a sign of weakness and should only see people as tools for his own gain" Anberine bit her lip slight after taking a small pause.

She stared at her clenched hands that gripped the ends of her baggy blue jumper tightly.

"I think I know now why he was the way he is now with me, I was the only one according to him that has been honest with him.

Meanwhile others treat him as if he is made of glass because they're afraid of offending him and being punished as a result Merlia... I don't know what to do now but I can't keep doing this to him, it's like his cage is being traded for an even worse one. One he really has no control over" Anberine cried weakly as she observed Merlia's frown, as Merlia processed Anberine's words her eyes hardened after what seemed like a long hour of silence.

Turning to look at Anberine she showed her the most fiercest smile that took Anberine by surprise, Anberine as she saw this sat up a bit more straighter not knowing what was going through her friend's mind.

"Well... it looks like we have another reason to take the king down, once he's dethroned we'll set the prince free and that's a promise" Merlia vowed while Anberine moved forward in order to hold Merlia's hands tightly.

"But I can't keep using him-"

"We have to, even if it means moving the object of his affections to one of us we need him to remove his father from his seat of power. He is a threat to all our kingdoms" Merlia said sternly.

"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Anberine spoke in a shaky voice as she saw Merlia's eyes flash with a cold emotion.

"Anberine, people are vanishing" Merlia said in the same tone signalling that this was not a joke, Anberine as she heard this felt her breathing still in shock.

"One by one Light Dwellers are going missing and no one can find any leads, the king does nothing but ignore the pleas of his people. Even when his wife died there was no shred of sadness despite how he gave what was suppose to be a heartfelt speech at her funeral, he has to be stopped before he can hurt any of us. I know it's spiteful and petty to use the prince but we have no other option because what are the chances of him willingly helping us?" Merlia asked with a sad smile.

"He's a stone-cold bully who sees us as dirt- as insects he can step on whenever he feels like it. No matter who we are being Light Dwellers or not, if we do not have a status that can be deemed useful to the royal family then they destroy and disregard you. Prince Skye... he'll destroy you the moment he's free from the spell. It's all fake Anberine. His emotions- his feelings towards you right now are fake right now and even if he does even have a shred of feelings towards anyone, it'll be near impossible for him to even have anyone want to truly have anything to do with him" Merlia said with a sad smile.

Anberine as she heard this looked down, her jaw clenched tightly on the right as her heart became conflicted despite the fact she knew her friend was right.

Right now the only thing that was stopping the prince from hurting her was the spell, it was her only lifeline and kept him under her control until she chose to end it one way or another.

"He's still under the spell and you will be hearing what you want to hear, not what he wants to truly say to you. We know he hates you whether we want to admit it or not, why he bullies- if it is his father's influence then it's better he has some ignorance when it comes to what we've done" Merlia said as she gave Anberine an apologetic smile as she saw how truly conflicted her friend was about this.

"We will try to help remove the spell" Helga said as she entered the room with a frown "but first we need him to help us" Merlia and Anberine looked at her wordlessly.

"The king I have a feeling wants to do something and will pin any problems that do happen on us, we cannot let him stay on the throne any longer than he already is" Mordred said bluntly as he entered the room and sat beside his sister.

"Also the missing people, surely once we dethrone and have him tried we can finally help the missing people return home. I have no doubt he'll be targeting our homes as well" Perceval said as he stood near the door.

"We can't allow that, we need to fight as much as we can to make sure his plan fails" Morgana said as she approached her friends at the table.

"We really need your help, even if we have to brew the potion to direct his attention to us. I promise we will help remove the spell afterwards" Morgana vowed as she smiled a bit at Anberine who looked at her hands before nodding stiffly.

"I'll find the ingredients for the potion, I just... I just want this to be over now. I feel like we're now going in too deep and it's going to hurt us more than ever" Anberine said while her friends had brooding looks on their faces.

"Maybe... but we will not give up until we're all free" Gawain said with a determined voice that had the others nodding in agreement.