Authors note: Bear with me here haha, I know this is a VERY introductory chapter which is also kinda long but don't get put off by it. Lmoa, trust me a looooot more drama is introduced with the addition of one of the main characters in chapter 2 ;)  

-Also for those re-reading who already know who all the characters in the above photo are, this is why Emery is glad he's not on the purple team-

They were staring at me through the rain their expressions a mix of fear and hatred. I stared down at the blood on my hands, my entire body felt like it was almost ready to give way. One of them stepped forward, one of the people who I had once considered a friend. When he spoke his voice was hoarse. I could tell he was trying to keep it from shaking.

"H-He....loved you." He finally managed to say, the words came out breathless and I could see the tears welling in his eyes. "He loved you and you did this to him...to us...how could you? You were our friend Nicky. " I wanted to tell them it's not what is seemed like....that I really had loved him, never for a moment had I faked it. I wanted to tell them why-

....I couldn't....I would end up dead that way too.

'Well he's not our friend any more." Another figure, another person I once held dear came at me now and through the sheet of rain I could see he held a knife. I shut my eyes. I deserved this. My mind went back now...back to the first day of many that had changed my life. What had led up to this moment? What had caused this?

I stood there in the large empty banquet hall, one of 50 men. We were each dressed in the pure white linens that we had been given to change into before entering. A woman stood before us. She was about 40 or 50 and was dressed in blacks and dark greens, her graying brown hair was braided around her head in the custom of virgin maidens before they were married which I couldn't help but find odd. The woman stepped forward, her mouth drawn into a thin line, and simply stood there for a moment before she finally spoke.

"Congratulations gentlemen. You all clearly know what being here means." She smiled now though it did appear vaguely forced. "It is quite the challenge to get here. You all had to face numerous tasks, tests of strength, agility, intelligence, beauty. There were thousands of other men like yourselves all desperately attempting to make it here...to this place where you now stand. There are 50 of you but at the end there can be only five. Only five of you can become the new kingsmen when prince Mikhos finally takes the throne. You will be required to be both his advisors and his guards, you will accompany him to his events and duties and keep him safe along with making sure his every desire is met. You will be both his protectors and his hands, his shield and his sword. You must serve him until either you or he departs this world as a bride would to her husband. You are the best in the kingdom, the best in your countries, the tournaments proved that. These next four months will allow us to pick the best among you. Over the following weeks some may be asked to leave, others may give up and some may even lose their lives in the enduring training ahead. Of the final trainees who make it to the end...the final five at the top of the class will be selected. You are about to be given your rooming assignments now. You were each given a number upon entering. Go when your number is called." Without skipping a beat she began to list them off. "Group A, the Red room will consist of numbers 21, 32, 11, 4..." Her voice drowned out to me. The thing was, I wasn't like the other men here. I wasn't here to serve the prince, I hadn't gotten here by my pure cunning and strength. I was a cheat, I was a liar, I had been planted here. The plan was simple, some strings would be pulled, I would work hard, then I would become a kingsman. In that position I would be closer to the prince then anyone, I would have his absolute trust. That's when I would kill him. The prince would die and the true king would finally be able to take the throne. Ah yes, the true king...Edgar. He had been the King's brother, he was the one meant to inherit. Then the current King, Thomados had framed him for treason against his father (the king at the time) and had tried to have him killed. Edgar had just barely escaped, he lost an eye fleeing. Ever since then he's been building up his army from the shadows, building up his power. Now it was at it's height. I would be sent in and assassinate the crown prince...the only prince. With this being done the entire kingdom would be thrown into chaos. The King's health was declining and though there had been no official statements made everyone knew he only had a few months to live. When he died we would take out his only heir. The kingdom would be thrown into chaos and Edgar would have the perfect opportunity to come forward and take back the crown-

"Group F...49, 28, 25, 3, 13 you're in the Purple room. Please go now, you will find your things there." I was snapped out of my day dream by my number being called, number 28. I saw the other boys making their way to the door where everyone else had exited. I could feel the tension in the room, the air thick with it. It almost made me nervous though I knew I had nothing to worry about. Edgar would find a way to rig the training to make sure his best assassin got a place among the Kingsmen, these other boys would just have to fight their way to make it into the top four. I would of course need to prove myself as well. I couldn't let it be suspicious when I got picked or even have people suspect that I even had gotten here unfairly in a rigged tournament. I needed to make friends with the other boys, learn their strengths and their weaknesses and make them trust me...just as I would make the false prince trust me before I delivered the faithful blow. I had trained for this for the last five years, there was no way I would screw it up now. Call me arrogant if you like, I'm confident in my abilities...shit!  I snapped out of my train of thought yet again just in time to scurry over to the group of boys leaving the premises to the rooms. So these were my roommates and my training partners? I could catch everyone looking slightly uneasily at one another, each trying to gage what the  others were like. I wondered if these room arrangements were supposed to be for us to make friends with one another or to force us to become rivals.

The blood on my hands felt sticky and cold. These were the hands he once had touched. These were the fingers that had once entwined in his as he kissed me. Despite the fact that my eyes were shut I could feel a familiar sting. Shit, now wasn't this great? I was going to lose my life a sobbing mess with only the fleeting memories of the touch of the lost lover who's blood now stained my hands.

We were led down a hall with ten different doors. Each was a different color and the door itself was covered in gems of the same tone. The red was adorned with rubies while the blue with sapphire. When we finally came to ours it was clear that parts of the Purple door seemed to have been carved from pure amethyst. I could see one of the smaller boys in our group's eyes widen in amazement when he saw it.  A taller boy now pushed through and unlocked the door with a thin silver key that must have been given to him earlier by the woman. There was a click and the door opened. The room appeared to be the kind one would prepare for a noble, not for simple trainees of the crown. There were five beds, one at each corner and then one slightly large bed in the middle. Long silken drapes were hung across the room, cascading onto the floor. They each held the prince's symbol, a white serpent wrapped around the crown. I stared at it an extra moment. A serpent wrapped around a crown...it was fitting.

I waited for the knife to plunge into my flesh, to kill me, still standing in the rain. I had been such an idiot. To think that I believed he and I could have forgotten our past. I had never even gotten a chance to tell him....

The taller boy who had unlocked the door plopped himself down onto the larger bed in the middle of the room as if almost silently declaring himself the leader of the group. With such competition I would have thought this almost unspoken decision would have caused some anger among the boys but instead they all stayed quiet in silent agreement to accept this. The boy glanced over them, his warm hazel eyes drifting over each person in the room."Everyone grab a bed." He said suddenly. "Once we're comfortable we can go about introducing ourselves." The boys stared back at him and I waited in heated anticipation to see if they would actually do what he said. Then slowly one by one they each made it to a bed. Once they were all seated the taller boy smiled. "Alright then, I'll start. I'm Gani! I'm 20 years old and from the northern district of the capital." He was from the slums...that's what that meant. "I actually was sent by my mother to work in the palace when I was young. After a few years of scrubbing the nobilities dirty floors I left to try and return to my struggling family members back in the city. I don't know why..." he shrugged. "I guess I thought I could help them. I was wrong. I tried so hard to get out of the palace and look at me now." He chuckled softly, almost to himself. "Here I am, practically fighting my way to get back in there again." There was something calming and natural and...just simply honest about Gani that I hadn't picked up on before. Maybe this was why everyone just silently accepted him as the leader, it just felt right...someone we could trust in this tense filled contest. A kind of older brother that would be looking out for us, even though he had been beside us for only a few fleeting moments. The white tunic we were forced to wear felt tight and itchy on me yet on Gani it looked almost natural. It simply seemed casual even though it was a little big on him and the sleeves slipped down exposing his shoulders as he draped himself backwards against the bed. His gaze fell to the next boy when he had finished speaking, waiting for him to begin. After a moment the boy suddenly seemed to realize it was his turn to go. He sat up quickly, pulling his knees to his chest on the bed.

"Uh, me name is Khalil." He said in a thick northern accent. His voice was soft, nearly a whisper. "I uh...I'm 17 years old. I come from Hevins. It's uh...simply always been me dream to serve the prince. I caught a quick glimpse of him when I was young. Only a heartbeat really....I probably wouldn't even recognize him now. Yet...he was so radiant and beautiful and I simply knew deep down in me heart I was destined to serve him...." his voice grew quieter now, clearly unsure of what else to say. He began to quickly glance around the room as if looking desperately for a rescue. The rescue in question came from a loud booming voice across the bed from him.

"Ah! I've been to Hevin. It's a lovely country. I could tell from the accent right away. They sell really great wine, it's cheap too!" The young man who had spoken now scooted forward, a huge grin on his face. "I'm Gener and a nobleman of the house Vestari. I'm 24 and the youngest of 14 brothers which means I don't really need to think of ever inheriting squat. Luckily I can actually make a name for myself here. Serving prince Mikhos will bring about closer relations between house Vestari and the royal family and  be the perfect way to prove our loyalty to the kingdom, plus we all know serving the prince as a Kingsman is one of the most prestigious roles a man can receive."

"Wonderful, we have an aristocrat." Came Khalil's voice. There was little emotion in it but from the tone anyone could pick up the obvious prick in it. Gani looked over to the boy on the next bed. This one looked younger than the others and this was confirmed when he spoke and judging from the pitch of his voice it hadn't changed yet.

"I'm Munny. I'm from the capital city so this isn't too much of a journey for me." He giggled. Gener leaned forward on his bed in an attempt to get a better look at the boy.

"Woah...kid how old are you?" The boy looked vaguely offended and turned up his little freckled nose at the comment.

"Thirteen."

The room exploded into an whirl of voices at the statement.

"He's 13?"

"How the hell did he win his tournament at 13?"

"How is that possible...oh my god I'm scared to be in the same room as this kid-"

"That's enough!" The voice came from Gani who had stood up abandoning his leisurely position on the bed. "We are a team, a unit. They want us to fight and take each other out, we can not allow that to happen. From now on we will be respectful of each other. Age, country, social standing, it does not matter. The Kingsmen are all one unit and that's what we all strive to be so please let us try to act like one." The room fell silent for a moment before there was finally a quiet murmur of agreement. Gani gave a small nod before lowering himself back onto the bed as if nothing had happened. He had handled it well. Gani truly was a natural leader. I glanced over at him, I had a new respect for the tall servant boy with the warm eyes and the commanding voice. Suddenly I realized he was staring back at me and I blinked. Why was he-

"It's your turn. I'm sorry, I would adress you but," he chuckled kindly, "I do not yet know your name."
"Ah....right, sorry." I had rehearsed this story countless times. "My name is Nicolai." I said as calmly and as naturally as I could. I'm from Dantric." That was true, it's not like it would be worth it to fake an entirely different culture. "I'm 19 and I came here for my little sister. We're poor and uh...I wanted to make sure I could take care of her. The Kingsmen are paid as if they're nobles and they're the most prestigious positions in the Kingdom. I just wanted her to get to see her older brother as something more than a poor failure like my father. " That wasn't entirely a lie. Gani nodded, staring at me through those warm chestnut eyes.

"You're noble, it's hard to find such good and dedicated people like you anymore." He smiled at me. For some reason it gave me a warm fluttery feeling in my chest and I hated it. I felt like I could trust him, like I could tell him anything. That wasn't possible, obviously. If Gani knew the real reason I was here, to kill his beloveded prince, he wouldn't be smiling at me like this. There was something else about this situation that made my stomach twist. I had never really thought of the other boys here as people before I arrived. They were simply another obstacle in my path to kill the prince. But now that I was among them, now that I could see they were flesh and blood with lives and stories and dreams it felt different. All these men had worked so hard to get here, they most likely had trained like I had for a good section of their lives to get into the very room we now sat. There was only one group of Kingsmen per king...if I took out prince Mikhos these boys would never be Kingsmen. Oh well, I couldn't feel bad about it, these boys did want to serve the false prince after all.  There was no place for guilt here, I just needed to lock it in some place deep inside of me and never think about it again. My thoughts were interrupted by Gani.

"You're lucky Nicky." He chuckled, "You don't mind if I call you that, right?" I shrugged and I was met with an undeserving beam. "You know, the prince has a thing for redheads...or at least that's what the rumor is. You have an advantage over us all you sly bastard." He said it teasingly with a glint in his eyes and I forced a smile at him in return.

"You don't say? Luckily for you all the Kingsmen are picked by who can protect him, not by which way his dick points." This comment earned me a huge snort of laughter  from Gener. There was a heart beat of silence before the entire room erupted into laughter. Munny nearly toppled over, giggling hysterically. I believed I even caught a glimpse of tears in his large blue eyes.

"Oh my God...haha..." Gener managed to say between laughs. "Going by that logic...haha...if we were to all truly meet the prince's tastes we would not only need to be red heads but...hehe...huge busty women as well so...pfft...unless you're hiding some huge tits on that scrawny frame of yours Nicolai I think you're out of luck like the rest of us." This brought around yet another bout of hysterical laughter from the boys. Even Khalil who had appeared to have been holding back from the others seemed to loosen up a bit letting out a small giggle. When the laughter finally died now Gani straightened, once more gaining control of the room.

"Alright, listen boys. Today marks the first day of what will soon be months of strenuous training. Everyone is going to be against us so it's going to be up to us to work together to look out for each other. Besides," his gaze swept over them. "There are five of us and there are five spots as Kingsmen. It could be us, all of us, who knows." This earned a cheer from Munny and Gener and even I could feel myself joining in even though I knew I really wasn't one of them. "Now that's out of the way." Gani said with a yawn. "I think it's best we all get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day, it's our first day of training. We don't want to get kicked out day one because we didn't rest." There was a murmur of agreement from the other boys and one by one they began to turn in for the night. I snuggled into the smooth silk covers. The fabric felt cool against my skin and a nice contrast to the thick and heated early August air. I shut my eyes and allowed sleep to slowly take hold of me. The last thought I had before I drifted off was of prince Mikhos. Who was this man...what would he be like...what would the false prince's face look like as I watched the life drain from his eyes?

As I stood there about to lose my life I realized I was a fool. I had convinced myself I was one of them despite the fact I knew full well I wasn't. I had just lost the person who had meant everything to me. The man I would have followed to the ends of the earth just to see his smile...he was gone.

Fine then...if I had to die to see him again I would accept it gladly.