Where It Went Wrong, A Red Queen Fanfiction: Completed

Chapter 33

The room is left in silence as the King departs. A few broken words and a set mind have changed the atmosphere. Like a drop of blood or a strange chemical in pure water, the other invading substance begins to change the other's appearance and identity.

Even though my family does not understand what the King is talking about, they get the gist of things. He has already made his decision, even though he said that we were going to talk it out. Surely he would have wanted to talk it out with the two most important people in his life: his brother and I. Atessa, too.

Surely this decision would not be one that he wants to make on the whim.

That thought is all it takes to drive me. "Excuse me," I mutter underneath my breath, ignoring the looks I receive from the rest of the table. I cast them away, trying to get on with the job I have at hand. Part of me despises how I am leaving my family not moments after I met with them again, but something tells me that this matter is more urgent. He's trying to erase his own mind, for goodness' sake. Gaging from the mood that he's in right now and what could happen, he could mess everything up if he doesn't ask for help. Especially if he's drunk.

Part of me wonders vaguely why this whole situation does not have our fates switched around. Usually it is me who has run away and Maven tries to sort everything out. Now I know what it is like to be him. But I don't. He's more complicated than I think. This whole illness shows everything.

My eyes scan the hallways fruitlessly, observing how the lights are dimmer in the evening. It is only with this observation that I notice the long shadow that comes from one of the corridors. The finite edges seem blurred as what is causing the alteration of light moves.

On the edge of my nerves, I walk forward. The shadow looms closer and closer, eating up the space between the object and I. Shadows eat up the light, consuming it with one gulp. My mind reshapes its form into that of a snake, bobbing up and down with a tantalizing glint of the eye. As I get closer, I notice how much the shadow moves, imitating the swaying of a hypnotized snake.

Then I see why. Maven is leaning against the wall, forehead slumped in a defeated stance. The snake bites my throat before I can speak for myself, poison filling my mouth. I want to ask many, but I settle on one. "That's your decision?"

The shadow jitters, and the snake retreats back to its lair. His face is pale as he glances over at me. Perhaps the snake has taken his throat, too. "I announced it at dinner, did I not?" He accuses bitterly, and the venom still remains.

And it stings, too.

"Maven, haven't you even thought about how you may not remember me? Don't you realize how although you may not remember anything and it won't affect you at all - it'll do the opposite to me? Surely you've thought of that."

"Yes, but you won't miss me for long. My mother twisted my love for you into a crazy obsession, I see that now. She warped my love for others, like my brother and father. Everything was blown out of proportion, until her death. I had my own mind after that moment, and now I can see my own thoughts better."

What he's saying makes complete sense in my mind, but I have to know one thing. "If I was purely an obsession then, Maven, what am I now?" What if I was purely something that was crafted out of his mother's imagination purely to please his son?

The boy king with piercing eyes sighs. "My mother tried to make you an obsession, but you already were one for me without her interference. The one thing that she tried to change in my mind and could not completely was you. Trust me, now I know how many times she tried to change everything."