Chaos King. A Disaster Clad in Overalls

Chapter 13 - The Coat of Many Colours and the Skinning

"There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not."- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"Opportunity... often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat."- Napoleon Hill

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Protective was having a bad day. The worst if he were to be honest, in fact if he tries hard enough the only day that comes remotely close to the awfulness of this day is the day he and his mother was almost assassinated. Now that truly was a horrible day. He still bore the scars to show it; his right ear was just a little stump, where there used to be a fully functioning ear was now just space and nothingness. He wasn't deaf in that ear, the doctors had taken care of that but they couldn't grow back the ear and his mother refused to let him get a prosthetic one, let alone take one off someone else. Protective couldn't even imagine hearing with someone else's ear. Would the noise be different? Would he recognise sounds that they had? He would never know.

His mother would tell him, "Let them know," she would say stroking over his broken ear, "Let them know that their attempts to get you failed, let them know that you are strong, that you are a survivor." She didn't escape unscathed either, the two long scars crossing her face in the middle like a large X are proof of that. The doctors wanted to fix her scars because she is a queen. They wanted her flawless but she refused telling them the same thing that she had told Protective. The government wanted her taken away and put into hiding, for his father, the King, to take another wife. They think that the scars are a sign of weakness, that it shows how close the assassins got, how bad the royal security failed.

The government, particularly Prime-minister Pernicious Periwinkle, despise Protective's mother and all of her children. Never before in history has a king ever married an Aboriginal girl, not in any of the history books, or the ancient computers was it ever recorded that anyone of colour married into the British Royal Family, let alone took the crown and became Queen. It didn't matter that Protective's mother had been the best thing to ever happen to the royal family, it didn't matter that without her, the Terra Navis might not have left the ground, that there would be riots and rebellions all over Level zero. The Prime-minister wants order, rules and predictability, she wants everyone everywhere to be under her control. The queen knows that if there are too many rules and strict orders this new world will collapse just like the last two civilisations; she knows they have to be careful. This is the last place they have left.

Pernicious Periwinkle is an American. Her father was President and was supposed to assume the position of Prime-minister once aboard the Terra Navis only he never made it. He had a heart attack the morning of the boarding and died in his sleep, many thought Pernicious was responsible because she wanted the power. Protective had met the old President though, he was just as cunning and sneaky as his daughter, they wanted the same things and did them the same way. Pernicious was nineteen when she took over her father's responsibilities. She was handed over the position like a succession to the throne because it was the only thing she had been trained for entire life, her father made everyone knew it. Now she was in her early thirties and somehow, as beautiful and cunning as ever.

This morning all of the Royal children had been bought before the council, all nine of them. Protective had stood straight backed, in a half bow or curtsey, in a line with his brothers and sisters, waiting politely until they were addressed. Pernicious seemed to notice that they were uncomfortable and left them standing there for well over two hours. She had made it a rule that anyone not in the council had to remain in such position until they were released by the highest ranking official in the room. Unfortunately for the royal children their parents were late. Protective's muscles were cramping and he could feel himself begin to teeter sideways when Pernicious finally called them to attention. How convenient that his parents walked in not thirty seconds later.