Rules of One's Soul

Ch3 A Story and Memory

What followed after that was a sudden rush of adrenaline kicking in when he realized what had just happened was real. That Jevil had actually pecked him on the mouth and took off laughing up the stairs towards the elevator on the 'outside'. He spun around and ran face first into the top of the metal bars, making him stumble back, hands flying to his face and groaning in pain. The metal clang rang out and he took a few seconds getting his bearings and remembering he had to duck down to get through the cell door, before actually stumbling forward and out of the cell door just as he could hear a very familiar sound.

Ding!

His head snapped up just as the doors began closing and Jevil gave off a tiny wave with his fingers."Jevil! Thou stupid worm! Stop thine doors from closing this instant!," he yelled up in frustration as he stumble-ran his way up the stairs towards him. The imp only giggled.

"The fun, fun has already begun Rouxls.~ To play the game you have to stay on light, light feet.~ Such a chaotic play.~"

"Why you insolent little-!" The rest of the door closed just as he reached the top step, his arms slammed into the doors just as insanely happy laughter echoed within it. Rouxls could feel his teeth grit in frustration as his ears pressed tighter to his head. Did that little worm really think he could just escape that easily?! .....Wait a minute. "FUCKETH THINESELF!!" His hands flew up to his head as he just realized, Lancer was still most likely up there doing who knows what!! "MINE BOY!!!" His voiced raised a pitch as his breathing picked up pace again.

That lunatic was on the loose and could do who know's what to anyone! He wouldn't let anything happen to his child if he could prevent it! And he would live up to that promise. The familiar buzzing of magic surrounded him making an almost static cloud of energy and soon a blinding blue light overtook his entire vision. For about 3 seconds his whole body felt like a part of said static energy, completely weightless before he all came rushing back together in one split moment. The blinding blue light disbanded and he opened his eyes to the completely different surroundings around him. A pair of Rudin guards had been startled of the sudden teleportation of the Duke of Puzzles and gave each other a quick look before blinking back up at their annoyed looking boss. The worm monster gave an annoyed look at the closed elevator doors up ahead and narrowed his eyes.

Taking a moment to right himself, he marched towards the doors. This was the first floor from the dungeon and the special cell way down below, so this would be the most likely stop for the crazy clown to step off from. Just as Rouxls thought, he could hear the running elevator approaching and sped walked faster to the doors. The two Rudin guards watching with confused faces behind him. Probably wondering why the Duke teleported out of nowhere and why there were bruises on his face. His face still hurt from his smack into the bars. But none of that mattered now as the elevator stopped with a ding noise and slowly opened-

"Thou art insane," he hissed when the door opened, "Doth thou knoweth you can't just walk-" He stopped and blinked. The elevator was completely empty. He stared unbelievably at the empty space for a good moment before shaking his head and sticking half his body into the empty space to turn around. "Are....thou invisible?" He reached an arm around to feel the empty air but he got his answer when a high pitches wail pierced the air followed by crashing noises and more shouting. "Shiteth!"

The two guards watched in confused worry as the duke ran back up the hallway with panic on his melting face, passed them and continued down the corridor before turning the left corner....Before looking back at each other again. The Duke however was running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the loud noises. Other guards and servants looked on with mixed emotions on their faces towards what happened to be the largest room on the first floor or at the Duke running past them all. The room's light became slightly darker and the smell of ash filled the air....Smoke? There was smoke in the building!? And where there was usually smoke there was fire, and the fire... The panicked adrenaline in his veins urging him on towards the rucus. The kitchen doors were thrown open as the panicked worm threw them open and looked around with a wild look in his eyes.

"What tis happening?! Where is he!? Wh- *cough cough* Where's thy fire?!," he shouted through a few coughs. The black cloud was coming from the corner of the room where a hathy was doing her best to fan the smoke away with a small towel which was currently pooling from an old oven. The poor hathy took one look at the duke before turning back to fanning the smoke faster whimpering apologies. The smoke began to make his eyes water and he turned his head to give off another round of coughing as the vile air filled his lungs. "What happened here?! *cough* I want aan-answers! *ach*"

"U-Um, s-sorry, Sir." Another hathy reached a tentacle behind their head sheepishly while giving the duke a sorry look. "B-But it's the first day on the job for some of our new recruits." He motioned to the panicking hathy still fanning the smoke from the open oven. "Uh....D-Dinner might be late tonight."

He waved a hand to dismiss them before turning and exiting the room. His eyes watered from the amount of smoke coming from one room alone. "Windows. Open thine windows!" He choked out between coughs at the still watching staff, they didn't have to be told twice as they scrambled for the giant windows lining the far wall. Rouxls hacked and coughed his way from the kitchen to somewhere he couldn't smell the ghastly stench anymore. Thankfully he didn't have to walk a long way to get clean air. He gulped a lungful of the sweet air and slowly began to regain some kind of composure. How humiliating that a simple overcooked roast could reduce him of all people into a sick dog so easily. How embarrassing. At least Jevil didn't start a fire....Oh. Right.

"Stupid, insolent, dammed hellspawn from thy deepest depths!!,"he shouted once he got his breathing back in order. The anger and anxiety flaring up made his eye twitch, alongside the dread of not knowing where Lancer was made him feel sick again. For all he knew the imp could be doing something terrible with Lancer. What if he was already in trouble? What would h-

"Lesser Dad?" He squeaked out a startled noise and turned to find the child no less than two feet from him. He stared up at the man with his tongue sticking out in a confused manner. "Why were you saying all those bad words? Did someone steal something from your shop again?"

He instantly sighed in relief from seeing the small child in front of him, he straightened back up immediately and gave Lancer a smile to his question. "No need to worry about that, mine littlest worm. I'm just relieved to have found you safe and sound and not being dragged into thine jester's schemes." He said the last words through gritted teeth.

Lancer was even more confused. "What does that mean? Did Uncle Jevil get his food?"

"Uh....T-Thou could sayest that, but thou doth not needst to worry about that right now." He gave a look around before holding out his hand to which Lancer instinctively grabbed. "Right now thou should really worry about other things."

"What other things? I'm done being king for the day, so now I can go ride my bike and see Ralsei!"

He sighed again. This would be a long night. "Lancer, thou doesn't simply just be done with being King for thee day. Being King is a life time thing, tis your responsibility as one of thee kings to uphold thine duties-"

"Oh, I already did that!"

"Thou has?" He rose a brow. Maybe there was hope yet for the boy's attention span. "In the hour I was....busy thou accomplished thy royal duties?"

"Well,....I had some help and I left all the paperwork on your desk like Dad used to do." Of course, he should've known better. More work for him later, but at least he'd have some excuse to keep his attention on other matters. He was dragged down to hunch over as the much smaller boy tugged on his hand towards the kitchen. "C'mon. I'm hungry-"

"I think I hast already lost mine appetite."

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Being a single father to a spade child wasn't easy. He should know.

Feeding Lancer and trying to keep him out of trouble was no easy feat. Trust me, he's done this job for quite a few years but it was harder when one has to consider the fact that as a very energetic child and now as king he technically didn't have to follow the same rules he had to when he was simply a prince less than two months ago. But that didn't mean he didn't listen to Rouxls either, calling him Dad still and listening whenever Rouxls scolded him or gave him advice. But that didn't mean he still couldn't pull the 'I'm King now so you have to do as I say now' card, and Rouxls had to obey the laws set down by the king. And while worms were enough to content him for now, he had a feeling he'd be bothered again with the matter very soon

The rest of that day had gone by slowly....VERY slowly. The boy had him running around behind him for the remainder of the day, wearily looking his shoulder every show often out of habit, expecting you know who to show up magically at any moment, but no matter how many times he thought he heard the unruly laughing or feared of seeing that madman's smile upon his face like the other incidents between the two, it never came. It was probably just the darkness of the shadows that he always saw, but couldn't help but flinch at. It just reminded him too much of what really used to take place behind closed doors when the small bouncing boy wasn't looking. He still had nightmares of what he'd heard about at the hands of the Ex-King Spades or the rare times he'd walk in on something he'd rather forget but couldn't....Or the few times he....personally had his own demonstration of what happened when one displeased their king......Which Lancer didn't need to know about, not now or ever. He'd die before letting the child be tainted by his father's past actions.

"Lesser Dad?" The worm monster stopped his internal rambling and snapped his head back down to the small boy holding his hand. Lancer gave off a tired puppy sounding yawn showing off his mini fangs and bright blue tongue for a couple seconds before his mouth reclosed. He gave a tired smile up at him. "I'm starting to get tired from all this King stuff. Can I go to bed now?"

"*sigh* Of course. Even the greatest of kings needs their sleep." He gave another smile before looking over his shoulder again around the darkness of the hallway behind them for a moment. Lancer leaned sideways to take a look at what his father was looking at, when he didn't see anything he turned back to Rouxls.

"What are you looking at?"

"Uh..I- N-Nothing. I'm just tired as well." He gave off another fake smile to try and seem relaxed around the child. Tugging his hand gently to motion him along down the hallway. "N-Now thou was saying?"

Lancer didn't question the smile and just tiredly trudged along, trying to keep up with Rouxls's long strides in his tired state. He yawned again showing off his k-9s and inner mouth before reaching up a paw to rub at his face hole.

"I'm tired...."

"I can see that. Thou's had a long day haven't you?" He chuckled trying to lift the invading feeling of anxiety from bubbling up from the surrounding shadows. It's going to take a while to get over feeling constantly drained from the last person he took orders from.

"Mmm hmmm."

Rouxls gave a sigh before trying to walk a bit faster towards the royal bedroom. He had a few things to get down that night and needed to put Lancer to bed to have one less thing to worry about doing that night- He stopped when he felt Lancer's hand slip from his, and he turned around. The small boy stood there slightly rocking back and forth slowly blinking his tired face hole. He yawned once again and reached both paws up to wipe at his face. Rouxls stopped and stared at the child for a moment before sighing and shaking his head, his legs carried his back over to the spade where he stopped and leaned down, holding his arms out to either side of him. The small spade reacted instantly by reaching up and wrapping his arms around the worm's neck, Rouxl's arms instantly went around the child before lifting him up with a grunt. Lancer being a spade, was naturally bigger and heavier than any other child his own age due to the fact that he would grow to be HUGE adult like his father as he got over, so naturally the duke stumbled a bit on his first few steps carrying Lancer towards his bedroom. The small child sighed and snuggled into the cool feeling of Rouxls's skin. It was almost like a water bed, but firmer.

They went down the hall shuffling and grunting until reaching a door connected to the far wall. It was a bit difficult to balance a heavy child in one arm while trying to reach for the door with the other. He fumbled a bit, but managed to turn the knob before shoving the door open with his foot. It swung open with a creek and Rouxls shuffled his way into the dark room. He could still faintly see the small toys scattered across the floor and a few other various knick knacks here and there despite it though, and was able to kick most out of his way as he made it over to the bed. Upon reaching it, he sighed and once again did the juggling act of balancing a now sleeping Lancer in one arm as he reached over to pull back the blankets with the other hand all the while not trying to fall over himself. He ended up gently plopping Lancer down onto the mattress and accidentally waking him up in the process. He blinked a couple times before yawning as Rouxls pulled up the blankets to be level with his chest.

"Lesser Dad...*yawwwwwwnn* C-Could you tell me a story?"

"Aren't thou a little old for stories?" A small paw grabbed his hand as he was about to tuck in the small spade.

"Please?"

A small silence. And then he sighed again but this time with a smile. "Alright. But just a short one." Lancer happily complied to the tuck ins as the duke pulled the blanket farther up his body- "Once there was a King and Queen, and they eventually bore a son-"

"Like me?"

"In a way, but not everything was well." A grimace came to his face and he leaned back up from the bed. "Thy king was always a bit....unpredictable with his behaviors, but it got worse when his Queen vanished-"

"Where did she go?" The small spade questioned still blinking sleepily at him, battiling the urge to nap.

"*sigh* I wish I knew-...Uh- I mean-" He coughed and looked away. "N-No one really knewest where thine Queen went. She may have runneth away or went into hiding somewhere far away from her kingdom. You see-...Thee King's wasn't very nice to everyone despite thine Queen's patience o-or her kind words....but h-he loved her. V-Very much, and I guess losing her pushed him to thou's edge."

He gave off a spaced expression and almost forgot Lancer was still awake when he asked-

"What happened to them?"

He flinched and stuttered. "U-Uh...Well-...The King grew to be more...." Cruel, murderous, insane?? "....More distant to his true duties as his subjects king. H-He made a lot of....mistakes that everyone nay liked, nor did he do anything to fix said mistakes."

"What happened to the baby...?"

Rouxls chuckled and his face became the slightest bit softer. "The king's son grew up to be very troublesome, but also very kind and...determined. Everything the king once was but had forgotten. He...was the good that came out of something so evil. I still shan't ever knowest how but he did-"

"What....happened...n-next..?"

"Thy prince rallied an army of his own and defeated the evil king of course. And became a good ruler as he would've been either way, and grew up to be a happy man with a family of his own one day-"

"W-Wait." He sat up slightly and blinked up at him with his last awakeness power. "W-What about the mom? Did she come back?"

The Duke stared at nothing silently for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I'm afraid not."

"What? But that's not fair!"

"Well-..." He finally looked back to him. "Sometimes there are some people who nay have any happy endings to their stories, and sometimes stories don't have thine happily ever after at all....or completely. Some still deal with their own...uh- difficulties even after they get thou's happy ending-..."

He was interrupted by the sound of a soft snore and he glanced back to Lancer, who was happily asleep now. He sighed before reaching a hand over to pull the blanket up slightly before slipping his grip free. He took few moments just staring at the sleeping child before silently turning and taking his leave from the room careful to not step on anything on the way out and closing the door silently.

"We all have our happy endings eventually. But I'm afraid thou's is just in the beginning pages."

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The long walk back towards the Duke's own private courters was barely a blink before he ended up back in front of his old shop, usually the long walk would've taken at most fifteen minutes if he sped walked, but he had been a little busy looking over his shoulder every few seconds out of fear he was being watched or followed. His body shook with the slowly built up anxiety and fear that had been plaguing him since early that morning. But he didn't see or hear anything indicating where the deranged fool may have gone or where he currently was. H*ll for all he knew he could be back in that cell, or right behind him....or- GOOD LORD! Why didn't he check Lancer's room before he sent the child to bed?! Too late now though. The child would put up a fuss if he went back to wake him up over his own paranoia, and what would everybody else think if they saw his paranoid behavior? The other Kings could see him as a threat to the boy king and he was NOT about to be sent to be locked up with the Ex King Spades. The very thought made him shudder. No. He'd have to trust the guards tonight and find a way to deal with this madness in the morn-.....He froze.

"...W-What thy f*ck?"

Up ahead was the 'Hip Shoppe' as he called it. Every so often he'd get the occasional customer and earn a few extra dark dollars on the side, but what customer would come in the middle of the sleeping hour? That's what he thought when he saw a faint orange light moving about through the front windows of the shoppe. Why would anyone be there at this hour- His eyes slowly traced to the sign in the window that still said open, and he froze before eternally cursing at himself. He had stupidly left the open sign stuck in his window all day!...Come to think of it, when was the last time he actually put the sign away? ...No. You shouldn't be thinking of that now. Now is the time to ask, who the heck was in the shoppe and why?

For a moment he reconsidered going back to the castle and just sleeping in his office or getting some guards but the light suddenly stopped moving and he stilled stared at the shop from in the middle of the road leading up to it. His legs slowly began carrying him towards the shoppe. If this was some midnight guard trying to steal something or a theif, then they had another thing coming. The Duke of Puzzles wasn't the strongest monster, but he wasn't the weakest when it came to fights. He could always teleport away if it came too much. He just hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. If it was...

The light still hadn't moved as the duke slowed his pace before stopping a few feet away from the door, he stood there for a little while before shakily looking over his shoulder towards the darkened trees and shadows behind him...Yeah. No way he was staying out here. So sucking a breath he began approaching the door again before stopping directly in front of it. He stared at the doorknob for a long time before slowly reaching his hand out watching as it slowly wrapped around the cold metal. The door was slowly opened and the duke froze at the sight before him.

".....oh, sh*t..."

A lantern shown bright above the counter next to the register. It's soft glow illuminated a good portion of the shoppe...and the giant furry figure next to it. Though he didn't react when the door opened, he did react to the soft cuss mumbled with a flick of the ear and turn of his head. The figure was easily a foot taller than himself, covered in fur. His body looked old and worn from the many scars his face showed. Both froze as they made eye contact. A small silence followed as they stared at each other before the slightly taller one smiled.

"Well, well. Another visitor to rummage through the wares I see. Welcome Stranger." He greeted in a voice that sounded younger than the body it came from.

Rouxls stood there dumbfounded. "...Who...What art thou doing in mine shoppe?!" He looked past him at the counter and noticed a small box by the lantern filled with what he assumed the furry thing had been taking...Nonono. Not taking. Stealing. He narrowed his eyes at the figure, a new feeling of anger replacing the fear. "Thief!" He pointed a hand accusingly at the....cat?? It looked sorta like one. "What does thou think you're doing coming into mine shoppe and taking mine wares?! "

The cat didn't even flinch. "Oh, so you own the place?" Rouxls nodded with pursed lips and the figure hummed. "Oh, I see....Ahahaha. I think there's been a mistake. I was told the place had been abandoned by the previous owner a month ago. Never saw anyone so I assumed the rumors to be true."

".....Whom art thou?"

The figure chuckled again. "How rude of me. The name's Sham but spelt with an 'e a'." The cat thing held out a paw from the tattered cloak with a smile. "For give me. I didn't know someone would be coming back, so I have been helping myself to some of your stock whenever I got low this month. Mr...."

"Rouxls Kaard." He glanced down at the paw before frowning more and holding a hand to his chest. "Duke of Puzzles and Royal Advisor to King Lancer. Not to the mention thine owner of the very place thou stands." He was expecting the cat to start begging forgiveness for his mistake, what he didn't expect was this Seam to chuckle.

"Oh...So you're this 'Evil Duke' the jigsawries used to babble on about stealing their jobs." Rouxls sputtered at the cat's reaction as well as the term he just used. Evil?! Him?! Seam chuckled at the Duke's reaction before saying. "I do beg my pardon. I wasn't aware I was in the presence of nobility now."

"W-Well...Thou shouldst be!" He crossed his arms and pouted in a way Lancer would sometimes do (Gee! I wonder where he learnt that from?) making Seam chuckle again. "I-In fact, thou should be thanking me for not throwing thou's self in thine dungeon for theivory and trespassing!"

"To be fair, you were not here for over a month. I thought for sure it was abandoned just like many other things in this world-"

"W-Well it was nay abandoned!"

"My apologies. Would you prefer I put everything back? I could pay you back for what I remember taking but I lost count. These old stitches aren't what they used to be I'm afraid."

Rouxls just stared at him. Did-...Did this old cat just apologize and offer to pay for things he thought were abandoned?? He searched his face for any trickery but all he got was a patient smile back. He opened his mouth but glanced back to the small box on the counter for a second.....

"...N-No. I have nay time to deal with such trivial things this late at night,and I'm quite busy with royal duties to the kings!" He pointed behind him at the open door before saying. "Take what little things thou have taken and leave. I do not wish to see you unsupervised within mine courters again. Or next time I shan't show mercy upon thee."

Seam chuckled again before asking, "If that's your answer, then who am I to ignore the duke?"

Turning back around, the stranger grabbed the small box in one hand and the lantern in the other before turning towards the door. Rouxls had to step aside to allow the stranger to get past him and out the open door. Seam stopped and turned back around to give the Duke one last smile.

"Perhaps friend, next time you should consider locking doors."

Rouxls didn't get a chance to answer before he turned back around and began to shuffle away. He stood there dumbfounded before quickly going over to close the door and lock it tight. He turned his eyes towards the window to watch the stranger walk away becoming a shadow among the other shadows with the light. He watched from the window for as long as he could before giving off another sigh and reaching over to tug at the sign. Turning it around to say: Closed.

When would this stressful day even end?

Sighing, he turned to stumble his way towards the back. Back there was a room with a bed that wasn't a his office desk and chair he was very interested in sleeping in and right now he just wanted to sleep and nothing else. It didn't take him long to find it either. He sighed in relief just as he flopped face first onto the soft but dusty bed which made him cough a little bit but it WAS better than a desk and chair. He
let himself sink into the soft, a heavy feeling sinking in as his eyes closed. He had a lot of stuff to deal with right now and didn't need to deal with anything Jevil or this theif Seam caused until tomorrow.....Wait a second. His eyes blinked back awake as his brain wired a memory.

Didn't-......Didn't Jevil mention a Seam??