To Your Grave: An RotBTFD Fanfiction

Chapter 9: He's Gone Mad

What even is peace? We live in a world where we don't even know what peace is anymore. We can't go to a concert without worrying about a bomb. We can't go on vacation, scared of not coming home. We can't trust our children to go out and play by themselves. We can't walk home alone at night. We can't capture a murderer without them being murdered. There's a black hole made of hatred sucking all the good out of our world and disappearing with it. It's only a matter of time before all the good disappears, before peace is gone.

"Princess Anastasia."The agents bowed, the Princess curtsied

"What are you eight doing here?"She smiled, "Isn't Melody captured?" A shiver went up her corset-covered spine when the name "Melody" came out of her mouth.

"Unfortunately,"Eugene frowned, "Melody is not the killer."

Anastasia gasps, slowly sitting on an arm chair, "What do you mean?"

"She was murdered in her cell."Kristoff explained

"We need to ask a few questions."Anna sweetly smiled at her. The Princess felt at ease, but still nervous.

Anastasia gulped right before forcing out a calm smile, "What do you need?"

"We would like to speak to Prince Henry."Rapunzel requests, giving the Princess a comforting and gentle grin. The Princess knew that she felt comfortable with the two girls smiling at her compared to the stoic postures of the others.

"I'm afraid that the Prince isn't here."She frowns

"What happened to him?"Hiccup asks

"When Cinderella died, Henry..."Anastasia closed her eyes, trying to remember the toothy grin and the glint in his eyes that was buried with his wife.

    Anastasia hid in the hallway, trying her best to conceal her pink gown. Behind the open doors, she watched Henry. Light from the fireplace illuminated his distraught and tear-stained face. He slumped on the couch, his eyes cast down on the carpet that used to be stained with blood and in his hand was a half-empty bottle of wine. That was his fifth one that day. Anastasia turned around, not wanting to see what has become of her brother-in-law.

Days after Cinderella's death, Henry has been distancing himself from the rest of the world. He stays in the living room day and night, he doesn't sleep or eat—there were times when he would just fall asleep involuntarily—he just drinks and drinks. Anastasia has decided to take over the kingdom and rule with the help of the Henry's father, the king. She attends meetings and takes care of the people. However, she kept Henry's illness a secret from the people. She closed the palace gates and people weren't allowed to enter without an appointment or an I.D.

"He's gone mad!"The staff would often say while Anastasia hid, listening to them, "An absolute monster!"

"This isn't real."She muttered, trying to convince herself as she slid down the wall, hugging her knees and resting her head on the soft silk of her gown. "You're asleep! Everything that's happening is just a nightmare. This isn't real. Tomorrow morning, Cindy will be on the breakfast table, greeting you. Then Henry will give her a kiss and smile at you. You'll hear them laugh with you and you'll ride the limo together to meetings."

She listened as he muttered gibberish, suddenly she hears him getting up and kicking random objects and yelling. Anastasia winced every time she heard something break. With all the noise of furniture and glass breaking, she couldn't hear the sound of her heart shattering further into smaller pieces.

    Then, the noise was replaced with quiet. Just the tears sliding onto her dress then falling the floor was heard. It was faint, but it was still there. She lifted her head and looked behind into the dimly lit room. Henry was staring at the portrait of Cinderella on the mantle and began to sob. He began to sway side to side, he lifted his arms and began to waltz around the room. Anastasia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion until she realized that he was pretending to be dancing with his wife. Well, to her it looked like he was pretending, to him he was actually with Cinderella. She saw him smiling, genuinely happy. The spark in his eyes appeared like lightning.