*Another reminder that everything in this chapter is spoken in elvish unless it's specified Grimmish*

~Scott~

I sat in my bed, painstakingly watching the clock hung over the mirror tick down...

Ten minutes before the meeting...

Seven minutes...

Five minutes. I should probably start heading down to the throne room.

I tore my eyes away from the clock, landing on my reflection for just a moment. I didn't see anything wrong (at least, anything wrong that I could fix), so I hurried out the door, my pace quick.

The blue velvet carpet beneath my feet practically silenced my footsteps. The hall was empty, surprisingly, although I heard little shuffles and clatters from other rooms I passed.

I'm not sure why I was terrified. I had gone to plenty of meetings before, before all of this...with my parents and without. So why was this time different?

My head snapped up as the deadened clatter of footsteps met my ears, masked by the jingle of my earrings, as the right twitched. The hall from which it was coming from blended into my own, the people to whom the footsteps belonged coming into sight.

Phoenix strode forward, several feet behind as servants trailed alongside her, adjusting the collar of the dress she wore, layered across her collarbone. It looked remarkably similar to mother's, pale blue with long, draping sleeves that encapsulated her wrists, gold bangles just barely peeking through. Pinned to the sinched ribbons laced up her torso and chest was a silver moon, the mark of Ithile. 

Was I surprised to visit the temple with my siblings only to find that Phoenix's patron was the goddess of the moon? Definitely. Most definitely. It had crossed my mind once or twice who Erin's could have been, though she never got to choose...Ithile was never in the picture. 

My hand wandered up to the pair of golden antlers carved into my own pin, thumb gliding along one of the prongs branching from it. 

"I'm fine—" Phoenix exclaimed rigidly, batting one of the servants off as they tried to fix a few strands of her dark hair, braided tightly and pinned up by the crown of her head. "Leave." She added a bit softer a moment later as the same servant seemed to flinch backwards. 

The group of elven women that had been surrounding her previously, near immediately left, sliding through a door out of the hall. 

With a small, exasperated huff Phoenix sped up slightly to walk along beside me, jaw stiff as she stared straight ahead.

"Nervous?" I asked, letting my hands relax slightly, having before been clenched tightly.

"Mm." She mumbled, eyes darting in my direction for a moment before her gaze returned to the hallway before us. "A little."

I swept my cloak around my legs, the hem brushing my heels as we walked. "I am too." I replied, the tension seeming to lift slightly from the air. 

Her lips curved in the smallest of smiles as she looked up at me, her expression relaxing. "Well then, we can try not to get murdered by father together—" She said with an anxious laugh. 

"Hah..." 

"Just got to uh...y'know, only speak when spoken to. That sort of stuff." Phoenix shrugged, although she didn't seem too confident. "Should be easy. Totally easy—" She continued with a light bob of her head, a couple of her piercings rattling along her ear. A strange silver one caught my eye that I swear she hadn't been wearing before, at least, she hadn't a few days previously. It was in the shape of a star, an amber gemstone set in the center.

Huh. 

Before I knew it, another set of footsteps seemed to join us. I didn't have a chance to ask my sister about the oddly out of place piercing before my brother was suddenly walking alongside us. He gave us a small, warm smile, curls pinned back perfectly behind his ears into a braid.

Everything seemed just...too perfect for comfort. 

"Ready?" They asked, sounding slightly breathless as they slowed down to keep pace with us, hands neatly folded behind his back.

"Yep." I replied, preparing myself to leave all informality outside of the throne room. I could feel the slick layer of sweat on my palms grow thicker the closer we got to the huge double doors, engraved with scenes of gold and silver. I wiped it off on the inside of my sleeve, exhaling slowly, watching as Xornoth went to push the great doors open. 

I froze in place as the doors swung inwards, the carpet me and my siblings were stood on melding into the one that lined the center of the throne room, blue jade pillars veined with gold on either side of the hall to support the arched ceiling.

A crown guard stood between each pillar, stalk-still and silent, expressions unreadable. With their backs straight, hands clenched around the sword hilts poking out of their sheathes, and gaze straight ahead, they might as well have been statues. 

The three of us remained in the doorway for several moments, directly opposite of the thrones. The fives thrones, two of which were already occupied. 

My father sat in the center, the largest throne. My throne. At least, it had been mine... The white pearlescent marble peaked far above his head, matching the rectangular embellishments on the crown set across Rohan's forehead. Curls of dark hair identical to Phoenix's were pulled away from his face. We had hardly entered the room, but he was already glaring down his nose at us.

I swallowed thickly, hands tightly folded behind my back as I attempted to straighten it, holding my chin up to get rid of any traces of nervousness in my posture.

My mother sat to his left, looking just as she had less than half an hour previously. Her ankles were crossed in front of her, the toes of her heeled white boots brushing the raised stage which the thrones were held. She tilted her chin downward in a small nod of recognition as we entered, though it was quite obvious whom her eyes were glued to. 

Me.

"Forward." Father demanded after a moment, his voice piercing, almost setting off all the emergency signals in my head. I had never considered the man safe, and I highly doubted that I ever will.

But I did as he commanded, starting forward with Xornoth to my right and Phoenix to my left, down the carpeted hall and towards the platform.

As we neared the few steps leading up to the raised platform, I dropped to one of my knees, bowing my head, my eyes locked on the ground at my feet. I heard, and watched out of the corner of my eye, Xornoth and Phoenix do the same, bowing to the King. 

"Rise."

I lifted my gaze at Father's command, almost too scared to breathe as I got to my feet. My brain drew a blank, what do I do next? Just stand there looking like an absolute fool?

I was startled by my brother moving forward, before instantly following. Xornoth sat to the immediate right of father, and I sat down to the right of Xornoth— well, left of him once I was sitting down.

I dared lean forward the slightest to spot Phoenix sit next to mother.

"May the meeting commence." Rohan said again. Every cell in my body wanted to flinch and scramble from the room, but I managed to stay put. 

Instead, I focused on the elven woman who came forward. I recognized her. Her lavender hair, minus her bangs, was pinned up and out of her face, eyes the same shade scanning a scroll of information. 

It was Madeli. A/N Madeli is one of Scott's parents' advisors who ended up as his own once he became king. She'll be introduced later in the rewrite of WLtDO.  

I had never even stopped to think about what had happened to her after the earthquake. Last I saw her was when me and Erin were rushing from the palace to meet the other rulers at the meeting point... I wonder if they ever thought about what happened to me... I never had time to think of that either. Were they all okay—?

My train of thoughts were cut off by Maddie clearing her throat. "Well, for starters, we must address the expansion into Nowhere." She began, closing the scroll and holding it neatly in front of herself. "All our scouts have gone missing in—" 

"All of them?" Xornoth interrupted. "We've sent out at least three groups in the past five mont—" 

"Yes." Madeli cut off, expression blanked. "All of them. We lost contact with the Falcons three days ago."

"The Falcons are our best predators; how did you lose contact?" Pandora demanded, her thin hands clenching around the armrests of the throne, knuckles tainted white. 

"I'm very aware, Your Majesty. Last we heard from them they were surpassing the border, they made it further than the Eagles but after that we've gotten no word." 

I pressed my lips into a line, remaining silent. Nowhere. We had been trying to expand into Nowhere for years...failing every time. I had told Wren it was a suicide mission trying to explore it. Now she was gone like the rest of them. Back...there, and here too. What a wonderful reminder. 

"Well then send out troops. Whatever's in there won't be able to take our army." Father said, speaking for the first time since Maddie had, tone stern and even...for now.

Phoenix replied quickly afterward. "My King—" I winced. Erin would never have called him that. "—sending troops is a defeat waiting to happen. Yes, they're disciplined but we don't know what's out there, what's taking the scouting parties. We need eyes and ears there first, to figure out what we're up against, before we send an army." 

"Well, that's what the scouting missions were for." Xornoth added from beside me, a frown evident in his voice. "But those have clearly failed. We need this expansion; we're running out of space here in the empire for the people." 

I chanced a quick glance at Father's face, searching for his next decision before he spoke. "Then we expand upwards, into the Crystal Cliffs." 

"What!?" Xornoth and Phoenix started, nearly in unison. Even I was taken aback, lips parting the slightest, eyes still on Father. "The wizards are very powerful, Father—" Xornoth continued. "We couldn't take them if they declared war—"

"Yes, we could." I surprised even myself by speaking. Silence settled for a moment, several pairs of eyes turning and landing on me. "Not that it's a smart idea," I kept my composure as Father's gaze turned to one of fury. "But our army could quite easily defeat them. What our problem would be is the other empires, due to the fact that Gem..ini Tay has several very strong alliances." I just barely avoided calling her by the nickname I had grown so used to.

"Gemini Tay? The apprentice?" Mother questioned after a moment, eyes narrowing the slightest. 

I blinked, feeling my heart drop down to my stomach. "What?" 

"High Wizard Forest Quinn's apprentice. Gemini Tay, the Grimlands Princess." Mother said, suspicion growing in her expression. 

"Oh—" I exclaimed, dread crawling up my throat at my mistake, everyone's gazes seeming to grow heavier on me, like weights. "I apologize, I must have confused them." How much was different in this world...? "Anyhow, still my point stands. We could defeat the Crystal Cliffs if needed, but that's not our goal. We need territory, not an entire kingdom." 

"How do you know? That we could defeat them?" Xornoth asked, turning away from our parents to look at me. He seemed suspicious, like Mother, his brow creased. 

I swallowed, my jaw tensing. I thought back to the war, the war I lost. It was every army in the world against us, but still, we managed to last. It was my own stupidity that let them win. But of course, I couldn't tell them that. That war never happened, here. I was the perfect son, as was Xornoth. "I know our army." I replied simply. It wasn't a lie. 

Xornoth didn't look convinced.

And neither did Mother.

Her eyes were slitted as she leaned slightly in her seat in my direction, hands clenched even tighter around the armrests. I could practically see the gears turning in her head, trying to pick me apart and piece me back together. I didn't dare meet her eyes, worried that if I did, everything would click. She was sharp, sharper than her words. 

"If not the Crystal Cliffs, then the Overgrown." She spoke suddenly, drawing all the attention away from me, which I was thankful for. "We share a border with them as well. They're less prepared, less armed, smaller—" 

"We have an alliance with the Overgrown." Phoenix said sharply, breaking into Mother's sentence. "Attacking them would be against everything we've agreed upon. It's wrong." Hah, my sister against doing something wrong? I never thought I'd see it. 

"Which is why they wouldn't expect it." Mother answered, a glint evident in her eyes behind her glasses. 

I silently wondered if Katherine was Queen of the Overgrown, or if her mothers were still on the throne...

"Pandora," Rohan said, voice piercing and on the brink of anger, per usual. "We need the Overgrown for reasons that we've discussed—"

"But we need the expansion—"

"Silence." Rohan snapped, voice drawing out in a hiss as his barrier of fury broke for just a moment, releasing a fraction of his rage in a mere second within the word. 

My mother's expression twisted suddenly, nose scrunching in anger. Her eyes narrowed to slits, a short exhale escaping her parted lips which had twitched into a scowl. 

I felt a violent jolt within my chest, the glare unmistakably identical to Erin's. I could practically hear her voice following, a snide remark, most likely followed by a physical blow of sorts.

But now, her voice only existed within my head. 

I was brought back to reality by my mother's answer of rebellion. 

"No." She snapped, a dangerously sweet smirk forming on her face, cheeks flushed red with rage. I watched from behind her, Phoenix's expression turn from concern to worried, her own gaze flicking fearfully towards our father. 

"Pandora—" Madeli spoke up, giving her a look. A look of warning.

And warning was correct, Father looked like he was about to blow, nostrils flaring. I didn't want to be in here for the screaming. So, I interrupted. 

"Mother, our best chance for expansion is into Nowhere." I insisted. "Moving into already claimed territory has too many risks—"

"Moving into Nowhere has its own risks!" Xornoth argued. "We've already lost dozens to the forests; can we really afford to lose any more?"

"We won't have to lose any more if we plan this correctly." I said, steadying my voice out to keep it from rising. "Just send out a small force, people we trust. With the right material and weapons, we can make our way slowly, not with the intent to destroy whatever's guarding that area but find it and report back. So, we have an idea, like Phoenix said, of what we're up against. I can lead it—" 

"No way." Xornoth said sharply, stopping me. 

I raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I can do it?" I challenged, narrowing my eyes. 

"I never said that." Xornoth defended. "But we are not losing you to that Exor-damned woods." 

I gave a dry laugh. "I'd like to see whatever's in there try me." I said, a sneer edging my voice. 

"Do you have a death wish!?" Phoenix demanded, worry still evident in her expression. 

"Maybe." I shrugged the slightest. I refused to meet either of my parents' eyes, an air of surprise wafting around the raised podium holding the thrones. But I was beginning to go stir crazy, I didn't care how my words affected my family's opinion of me at the moment. I needed to do something. I needed to help. "It'll help much more than what we're doing right now. Talking and arguing instead of actually doing something useful. But I guess helping would be controversial, compared to what you tend to do." I added snappishly, this time directed towards the King and Queen. I didn't know how much anger I had harbored towards the two ever since I figured out their biggest lie several years ago, but now, even though these were practically two different people, I was releasing it.

"Scott Gilded Major—" Mother started, lips parted in outrage. "Don't you dare—"

"Don't I dare what? Speak the truth?" I countered, my voice raising. "We sit here and do nothing while people suffer, how many years has it taken to come to simple decisions before?! We're called an empire for a reason, we're strong, we're capable, yet we choose to sit here in comfort! And you're feeding into it." I jabbed a finger in the direction of Rohan and Pandora, getting to my feet and glaring at the two. "But I refuse to."

"You will not disrespect me and your queen in our own throne room!" Father said, voice loud but tone dangerously low.

I scoffed. "Like you respect anyone else in this room except yourselves." I sneered; fists clenched at my side. Before I wouldn't have had half the courage I did now to stand up and speak, but after being king, after leading armies, I could have said anything to these people that I wanted in this moment, fueled by anger. For the first time since I had arrived in this strange imperfect-perfect world, I felt cold surge in my veins, like it was about to burst. 

"Scott this is madness." Xornoth exclaimed, getting to his feet beside me. He grabbed my wrist, but just as I met his eyes, I swear crimson flashed through the irises, flitting in the violet like bursts of violent electricity.

I ripped my forearm from his grip, taking a singular step back. "What is?! We need to take action if we actually want anything to get done! Because sitting around and debating different methods of FAILURE will do NOTHING!" I snapped, finally raising my voice to a shout. "And nothing will convince me otherwise." 

My father suddenly got to his feet, towering over me and even Xornoth, glaring down his nose at me. For a moment I thought I was about to be struck down on the spot, but for once, I didn't flinch, nor did I run. I stood straight, raising my chin to meet his furious gaze with my own glare. My eyes wandered over the symbol of an eye pinned to his chest, on the way to looking into his face. The mark of Verian. 

The irony, a liar following the god of truth. 

It seemed everything and everyone in the room held its breath. You could hear a pin drop in the silence so thick that it could have been cut by a sword.

"Insolence..." He hissed, the crown upon his head glinting in the light from the chandeliers. A crown he wasn't worthy of. 

I leaned forward, closer to his face. "Ignorance." I spat in return.

The tension between us were like chains wrapped around our throats, but with a quick turn of my heel I snapped it. I swept my robes and cloak around my heels, striding directly away from the thrones, towards the closed doors. 

"Scott—" My mother began again, instantly silenced by Rohan. I still didn't reply, though I felt another surge of anger towards the King that I didn't dare let form into words if I valued my life. Which I didn't, dying does that to you. 

Without another word I walked directly by Madeli, who turned as I passed, her eyes following me. I watched, from the corner of my eye, her lips part as if she were about to speak, before they closed again. 

I raised an arm as I approached the large double doors, the crown guards standing on either side doing nothing to stop me. The thin crystal line going up and over the doors flickered a pale, nearly white, blue, flashing before the doors swung inwards to open, letting me pass through, before I clenched my fist, and they slammed shut behind me. 

Well. That was eventful. 

I had made it halfway down the hall before I heard the door open again. My ear twitched as footsteps followed, and I instantly sped up, taking a sharp left down the hall, hoping to take the long way down to the entrance hall. I needed a walk.

"Scott—" I recognized my brother's voice calling me, the footsteps behind quickening to a jog. "Scott stop— wait up—" 

I ignored him, continuing my stride away. A dull ache had started in my chest, burning the slightest. 

"Scott come on— what is up with you today?" 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and whipped around expecting to have to shout to get him to go away. Instead, my heart stopped.

My vision swam as my eyes met the pure crimson and black of Xornoth's, their skin ashy and darkened, blackened fingers still clamped around my shoulder. I let out a gasp, trying and failing to stumble away. The palace crumbled into fire around me, the scent of smoke instantly overwhelming my sense of smell. 

A cackle, a quiet, playful but malicious, familiar laugh resounded in my ears, though it didn't come from Xornoth as he stood in front of me, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Scott?" Their voice seemed far away, like a whisper, his lips moving though the sound was delayed. Curls of red light began to close in on all sides, rapidly moving in, like rabid snakes attempting to strike.

And then all at once, a pain almost unlike any other exploded in my chest, ripping and tearing at my skin like I was being eaten alive, throwing every other thing out of focus. I had only felt pain like this once before. 

My vision crashed around me, the world tilting. I heard a distant scream, maybe it was mine, maybe it was someone else's. All I know is that the next moment, everything was dark. 

***

I am SO sorry that it took me so long to update this- with school and everything it's been hard to get a lot of writing done. And with everything that happened on Monday it was a bit hard to get stuff done over break too

But I've done it! The chapter is out- first time meeting Rohan, eh? 

Well, I hope you all enjoyed- comments and votes are appreciated :]]