A Kingdom of Hidden Betrayals || Dreamnotfound

4

Clay POV

Clay was monitoring a group of new soldiers with Punz.

It had been a week since Nihachu's reminder of a spy in the castle walls. There was no progress in the search. All of the guards and soldiers were seemingly loyal.

Clay watched Punz help a new recruit in his stance and nodded in approval. Punz was promoted to commander a while ago and had become one of Clay's closest friends.

The new recruit let out a shout of pain and Clay snapped out of his thoughts. Punz frowned at the recruit.

Clay walked over and Punz examined the recruit's shoulder. It was dislocated.

"You dislocated your shoulder while punching." Punz observed, "That'll need to be relocated and iced."

The young man winced and nodded, his blond hair flopping slightly.

"Can you take him to the infirmary?" Punz asked Clay. "I would relocate his shoulder myself, but I'm sure a healer would do a better job," At the recruit's frantic nodding, Punz laughed and continued, "I'll stay here with the rest of them."

"Yeah! I was planning on going there anyway," Clay responded.

Punz smiled and walked off. The new guard turned to Clay and smiled shyly.

"What's your name?" Clay asked as they walked to the infirmary.

"Purpled!" the young man exclaimed, clearly excited to meet Clay, "I've been looking to join the Royal Guard ever since I was little. It's a dream come true..." Purpled laughed and continued, "I can't believe I'm actually talking to you― the Dream. You're like a god!"

Clay's grin faltered, immediately thinking of his 'X' scar, "I'm glad you like it here."

Purpled nodded excitedly. "It's an honor to serve for you and King George."

The two talked some more about each other and Clay took a liking to the young recruit. They arrived at the infirmary and Clay walked in.

"Hello there!" the healer chirped.

Clay smiled, "Good morning Alyssa."

Alyssa, the healer who saved him all those months ago, smiled wide. She gestured for Purpled to sit on a cot. Purpled gave her a shy smile and sat down.

Alyssa gave him some ice in a cloth, which Purpled held to his shoulder and instructed him to chew on a pain relieving herb. She talked with Clay as she worked.

"So how are you and George?" she asked.

Clay and George were extremely grateful for the role she played in Clay's recovery, so they addressed each other informally.

"Good," Clay said with a fond smile, "he won't stop stealing my shirts. And when I confront him, he just says they got lost in the wash."

Alyssa laughed. "Sounds like something he would do."

Clay grinned, "He's an idiot, but I love him."

Alyssa smiled softly. Purpled just sat there, looking between them, unsure if he should be listening to this conversation.

Alyssa had Purpled lay down. She pulled his arm away from his body, getting ready to relocate it. Purpled winced as she gently pulled his arm.

"Good job, Purpled," Clay said, trying to take Purpled's mind off the pain. "My first injury in the guard was a broken nose."

Purpled looked at Clay curiously. "How'd you get it?"

Alyssa continued to adjust Purpled's arm and Clay said, "My best friend―Sapnap― liked to mess with our fellow guards." Clay let out a small laugh. "He convinced me to pull a 'harmless' prank on our friends."

Purpled's eyes widened in surprise. "What did you do?!"

"We took over half the eggs in the kitchen and hid them everywhere," Clay's voice grew in happiness to be sharing this memory with someone, "We put them in our friend's boots, armor, weapons, you name it. We hid them under pillows and mattresses and even on the tops of doors. So when the door would move, the egg would fall."

Purpled laughed, "No way! You actually did that?! That's totally genius."

Alyssa chuckled and slowly pushed Purpled's shoulder smoothly into its socket. A soft "clunk" sounded and Purpled gasped in pain.

Clay continued, "One of the not-so-friendly guards took it upon himself to teach me and Sapnap a lesson after he woke up with raw egg in his hair. Let's just say Wilbur wasn't pleased."

Purpled grinned. "That's so epic."

Clay nodded in agreement. Alyssa adjusted Purpled's arm and gave him a sling.

"You're gonna have to wear this for a few weeks before you can go back to full-on training, okay?" Alyssa said.

Purpled nodded glumly and Clay said, "I'm sure there's a few pranks you could pull to make use of your free time."

Purpled looked at him, eyes wide. Clay raised his hands, "But you didn't hear it from me."

The new recruit grinned and used his free hand to make the motion of sealing his lips shut.

"I'm sure Walli and David would love to help me!" Purpled said excitedly.

"Sure," Clay laughed, "You go have fun."

Purpled nodded enthusiastically and left the infirmary.

Clay turned to Alyssa and sighed, "I think I'm a good influence, don't you?"

Alyssa shook her head and laughed, "Whatever floats your boat."

Clay chuckled. The two talked for a little while more before Clay was needed in the training yard. He said his goodbye to Alyssa and left the infirmary.

Clay passed Bad as he walked to the field. Bad gave him a small smile and Clay nodded. Bad rushed off before Clay could greet him.

He shrugged it off and walked to Punz. "You needed me?"

"Yeah," Punz said with a nod, "ever since I became commander I've had the greatest group of soldiers. They're the best, but I feel like there's something off with Bad. I don't know what... is everything alright with him and Skeppy?"

Clay's eyebrows furrowed. "As far as I know. Bad and Skeppy have been together for ages now. I can't imagine them having any problems. He might just be paranoid with Nihachu here. I know a lot of men are."

Punz thought this over and replied, "That makes sense. Oh, I also wanted to ask you something... what did you say to Purpled?"

Clay grinned at Punz's amused expression, "Nothing much. I told him to stay out of trouble and stuff, y'know? He's a good kid."

"Yeah, he is." Punz's face softened, but Clay still saw some humor in his eyes.

Clay and Punz talked for a little while more about the new recruits and plans coming up.

Speaking of plans, Clay remembered that George's birthday was coming up in less than a week.

Oh, what a surprise he had planned.

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a/n - kind of a fluff chapter, but that's ok

I just finished an eight hour work shift in a grocery store and I am exhausted. Don't judge my need for fluff...

POG PURPLED AND ALYSSA

I love writing this kind of stuff, so there will be occasional chapters like this, I hope you guys don't mind

ILY!!! <3