Saving the villain

WARNING!

- PTSD (and mental breakdown)

- toxic friends

- abandonment issues

- the feeling of unworthiness (Don’t know what that’s called)

At night, when everybody was already asleep, a tiny orange creature snuck itself into the dungeon and peeked from behind a corner, making sure, that nobody, except for her and those two men, was in the dungeon. When she saw no guards by the cells, she sighed, relieved, and turned herself into a human (with clothes on, of course). After that, she quietly walked toward the one on the left. He was not sleeping and instead he stared into a corner of his prison, seeming to be in a daze. His accomplice was long asleep.

‘He looks like a pigeon inside a cage staring at seeds. If that’s the best bandit they have in this kingdom, then show me a bad one.’ Spottedleaf chuckled to herself and that seemed to catch the young man’s attention. “Laura, you’re okay! How did you manage to escape?! And wh- “

“Shh,” the fox said, rushing to his cell and putting a hand over his mouth. “Are you a novice to be shouting this loudly?” She frowned. If they caught her, it would ruin Lucas's whole plan and that would be less than ideal.

“Of course not! Now get us out of here!” Sebastian commanded. “Why did you not pick the lock, then? Or blasted it away with your magic?” Spottedleaf asked. “I tried, but it’s as if a witch put a spell on it. No matter what I did, it just wouldn’t budge!” He whispered angrily.

‘My guy, that was no witch but a wizard and a good one. Even if you used Alohomora or whatever else on this, it’s not opening unless Lucas says so.’ The lady thought and then gave a reply. “I couldn’t find the keys, but from what I’ve heard, the prince has them.”  

Spottedleaf would swear that she saw how Sebastian turned as pale as a wall. “Which one do you mean? The one who wants to execute me by beheading or who wants to torture me tomorrow?!” He said, seeming stressed. ‘Of course, Lucas would threaten to do that if these fools angered him. Geez, that guy seriously has some anger issues.’ Spottedleaf shook her head in disbelief and turned back to the prisoner. “Listen, I’ll try to find a way how to get you out of here and- “

“No need.” Sebastian raised his hand in a silencing gesture. “I have a paper for you to deliver. I thought this piece of paper would be useful just for keeping any information the prince of Moonlit kingdom would tell me about himself so I could turn it against him if I’d ever gotten out of here, but it has a more important purpose than that now.” He said as he wrote something in hurry and handed it to the confused Spottedleaf. “Deliver this to the remaining part of us- you know where to find them- and they will know what to do.”

The fox just stared at it, then nodded, bid him farewell and ran out the same way she came.

.

.

.

“So, he tried to contact his crewmates? I thought we captured all of them, not just most.” Lucas exclaimed as he read the letter Spottedleaf handed him. “Well, you’re the one who knows everything around here, not me.” She shrugged and Lucas chuckled. “What?” the fox asked. “Nothing, he just mentioned his adoptive mother in here and seeing that he’s making sure she’s safe has made me smile.”

“Juliette was right, you know?” Spottedleaf commented.

“About what?” Lucas said, not getting what she was hinting at. “You definitely do have a crush on him, and that foolish smile proves that.” She grinned and he shot her an irritated look. “I mostly do not! The Bible-”

“Yeah, yeah, the holy book forbids it, blah, blah, blah. Come on, it mentions a man and a boy laying with each other, not a man and a man so ease up, you big bad preacher.” Spottedleaf got annoyed as well. There was silence for a while before Lucas spoke again.

“Could you deliver it to them, then, please?” He said with a hurt expression, probably thinking about what she said. The fox just sighed. “Fine, but please think about what I’ve said. Maybe you’ll find out you were suppressing a part of yourself all this time.” Spottedleaf replied and just like that she was gone. “Promise, Leafy,” Lucas said, too late for her to hear.

.

.

.

Lucas pondered about what Spottedleaf said for so long, that he went to sleep only when he noticed that the moon was already descending. That resulted in him having baggy and swollen eyes- because he also cried a few times- visible enough for everybody who came near him. Even Angelo noticed when they were having breakfast together with the king and queen.

Angelo felt shame wash over him since he thought that it was all his fault that Frellius looked like this.

The king just scolded his son for reading books long into the night, since that was the excuse he’s been given, and Lucas had promised to not do it again. It was partially true because he was going through the Bible he always carried with him, but that was only a quarter of why he did not get enough sleep.

When Lucas ate, he excused himself from the table and headed toward the dungeon. Angelo did the same and ran after him. “Frellius, I’m so sorry for what I said yesterday. If my apology wasn’t enough, I’ll make it up to you however you’d like.”

“I’m fine, Angelo. I’ll just ask the prisoners some questions and then I’ll head to bed right away, alright?” Lucas said with a tired smile that didn’t reach his eyes. What he said was meant without any sarcasm, but Lucas just couldn’t bring himself to try and make it look more energetic. He was so tired that all he wanted to do was slump down on his bed and sleep, but he needed to question Sebastian before the guards caught every member of his gang.

Angelo also had a feeling that his dear friend Frellius might fall asleep at any point during the day and so he decided not to leave him in case it might happen right in the dungeons. “Okay, but I’m coming with you because you look like a corpse ready to drop,” Angelo spoke his thoughts and Lucas just nodded his head in agreement.

.

When they arrived, Sebastian already looked like he would faint. That made Lucas faintly smile as he remembered what he said the other day. Angelo noticed and glared at the bandit. “Why are you smiling?” he whispered to Lucas in a hushed tone. “Nothing, nothing.” The other boy said, sitting down on the cold ground and yawning. Angelo frowned and sat down next to him. “Isn’t this a little dirty to be sitting on?” He asked and Lucas just shook his head. Instead, he turned to the prisoner on the left. “Sorry that I scared you, I was merely joking. Now let’s begin with the questions.” Lucas said with a yawn at the end of his sentence. The bandit seemed to calm down but still remained on guard in case the prince took back his words. “So, how many of you are still out there?” Lucas began with this question since Angelo was here with him.

“What do you mean how many? You don’t even know IF there are any of us left, so why go this straightforward, Princey?” Sebastian mocked Lucas right to his face, but the prince was too tired to care. “Okay, so how about your parents? Who are they?” He tried another question, which seemed to surprise the bandit.

“Just some old people, you wouldn’t care about them anyway.” Sebastian avoided the question, but Angelo has had enough. “Tell him what he wants to know, or we’ll find out our way and execute them, is that what you want?!” He yelled as he got up and walked toward Sebastian.

“Can’t really kill them if they’re dead.” The prisoner muttered under his breath, but Angelo heard it anyway. “What do you mean dead? Did you kill that old woman who raised you as her own?!” He yelled, clearly not getting that the bandit was talking about his real parents.

“No, you dumbass, he was asking about my real parents!” Sebastian yelled and rolled his eyes. That seemed to silence Angelo. “Oh, so I guess that he doesn’t know. But like, he was three when it happened, how could he not recognize that you are the ex-prince of the Sunlight kingdom?” He pondered.

“I don’t know, so fuck off, you idiot!” Sebastian said, anger showing on his face.

“Then you’re going to tell him what he wants to know right now!” Angelo commanded and pointed at Lucas behind him. Sebastian wanted to yell at the royal before him but stopped when he looked where he was pointing, his expression calmed down and he raised an eyebrow with a smirk. Angelo got more angered by this, since he did not know what the prisoner was looking at and so he turned around, freezing the moment he did.

Angelo’s eyes landed on Lucas, who was laying on top of a haystack, his notebook and quill had long fallen out of his hands. He was sleeping very peacefully like he couldn’t care less about the prickliness of his chosen pillow.

Angelo’s stare softened and he rolled his eyes like he was annoyed, while he softly snorted. “Frellius, are you seriously going to sleep on that…thing?” he asked, his nose wrinkled just by merely thinking what could be in the haystack. Lucas just groaned and furrowed his eyebrows while waving his hand dismissingly, showing that he wasn’t entirely asleep.

"Aww, Princey is tiwed." Sebastian mocked Lucas with his hands by his face, making fists. Something in Angelo snapped completely and he took his sword out and pointed it at the prisoner on the right. "If you won't shut up, I'll pierce his heart right here, right now! I'm sure that Frellius would not complain." Angelo threatened, which seemed to shut the other bandit up. “That’s what I thought.”

He then turned to Lucas, who seemed to be trying to sleep, but the noise prevented him from doing so. Angelo slowly walked to him, wondering if sleeping on the haystack was the best idea. “Are you sure that you want to sleep there?” Angelo asked with concern. Lucas seemed to think for a moment before moving to the ground. “Are you serious?! It’s the beginning of spring, you’ll catch a cold.” The golden-haired boy said, baffled, while the other just waved him off. After a minute of contemplating whether to leave him there and continue questioning the bandits or wake Frellius up and make him do the questioning, the latter choice seemed too cruel, so he just decided to do the investigation himself.

But before he did that, he took off his cape and put it over Lucas like a blanket, all the while murmuring about how irresponsible his friend was. The other boy just snuggled into it and a smile appeared on his face. It was mostly because he felt safe since he somehow knew Angelo’s iconic scent. It reminded him of cream roses and the forest - which was probably because he slept in the forest a lot while travelling. All that mattered was that he was safe, and nothing will surely happen to him when his best friend is nearby. He sighed and slowly let himself fall into the sweet embrace of sleep.

.

While Lucas was falling asleep, Angelo picked up his parchment with written questions, looked over it and then looked the prisoner- of who he does not know the name- dead in the eyes. “Why did you want to steal the King’s money when you knew that it was risky?” The bandit on the right put his hands up in defence. “We merely wanted to have some of what you nobles have. Is that too much to ask for?” He answered, trying to sound annoyed, but his voice sounded more like he couldn’t care less, mostly because he knew what happened to those who ended up in this place. “That doesn’t answer my question!” Angelo yelled, which caused the man to stiffen and Sebastian to take a defensive pose. “Hey, stop picking on him! If you want to make fun of somebody, then mock me, you cheap version of an angel!” Sebastian held onto the metal bars of his cell as an angered Angelo was coming closer.

“What…did you just call me?” He asked through gritted teeth. “A cheap version of an angel. What? Didn’t your mommy name you after them?” He mocked, which was the last drop for Angelo. “That’s it!” He yelled as fury overtook him. How dare this man make fun of his poor overworked mother, when she was doing her best to protect the country and make sure that everybody in it was happy. “I’m going to tell the king that I and Frellius decided to hold a public beheading for you two as soon as possible!” Angelo yelled straight at Sebastian’s face, which turned as pale as a ghost and even the other prisoner seemed to widen his eyes. “No, please, you can’t do this!” The bandit on the right yelled desperately, horror in his eyes because he was worried about Sebastian. Devils take him to hell, but not Sebastian.

“Oh yeah? Watch me!” Angelo said with a big grin and furrowed eyebrows and then hurriedly ran up the stairs, while the prisoners yelled after him.

.

.

.

With all that ruckus going on, Lucas stirred awake, confused about why there were so many shouting voices. He quickly sat up, causing the cape to fall off him, thinking that Angelo and Sebastian were fighting again, but all he saw was Angelo running up the stairs. “Where is he going?” He asked, confused.

“You! Do something, please, he said that he’ll let us be beheaded by the king!” The prisoner on the right yelled, desperation showing in his voice. “I-What!?” The realization hit Lucas like a big rock, and he scrambled to his feet, rushing after Angelo.

.

However, when he reached the top of the stairs and pulled on the doorknob, the door refused to open as it should. ‘What? Why won’t it open?!’ He thought, trying to shake the door open to no avail. He felt a weight leaning on the door and in the little crack, he could faintly see Angelo’s white-and-golden clothes. “Angelo! Angelo, open it! Please!” He said while rattling the door, adding the plea at the end in case it would somehow help, but only an annoyed sigh came as a response. “Listen, I know that you mean well, Frellius, but this time you’re letting yourself be played with by a bunch of bastards!” Angelo said the last word through gritted teeth. “I hope you’ll see that I made the right decision.” He said as he leaned away from the door and started walking away at a hurried pace.

“No! Angel, come back! Don’t- don’t leave me here!” Lucas screamed at the top of his lungs, suddenly seeming to be in a daze. A memory flashed through his mind and set loose to something it shouldn’t. He tried to get rid of the thought, but that only made it worse. “It’s okay, Lucas, nothing is happening, you’re fine.” He tried to convince himself. It was to no use because the thought slowly but surely took over his mind and the real world started disappearing, being replaced by something else.

He lost contact with reality and returned to that one day, when his so-called best friend, Andrea, lured him into a small room in an abandoned house.

+++

She and her other friends told him that if he wanted to truly be a part of the group, he must go investigate the abandoned house with them and go through a room without a flashlight to prove that he was not a crybaby. Lucas was thirteen at the time, which was a little younger than his friends who were all fifteen or sixteen. The room his "friends" picked was probably used for storing food and other supplies and so Lucas gathered all his courage and went inside.

But the second he did, the door closed behind him, enveloping the room in darkness and a mere second after that he heard the laughter of his friends. He knocked on the door nervously, while asking to be let out, thinking that the wind must have closed it and that they merely got spooked and were laughing the shock off, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Sorry, ‘buddy’, but you are just so naïve that we had to,” Clara said from the other side of the door in a mocking voice and realization slowly dawned on Lucas. “You’re so pathetic, weak and useless that it baffles me, like, what kind of idiot would believe that we wanted to actually be their friends?” Carlton, another friend of Andrea’s, said and Lucas’ eyes widened in shock, filling with tears. “Oh wait, that’s you!” Everybody burst into laughter that started to sound further away with each second.

‘They’re leaving.’ Lucas understood, terror filling all his senses and he started banging on the door. “NO! Don’t leave me here! Please, I’m begging you! Andrea, ‘Dria, Carlton, Clara, a-anybody, let me out! Let Me Out! LET ME OUT! PLEASE, PLEASE, I’M TRULY BEGGING YOU!” He was screaming at the top of his lungs, sobbing, while banging on the door like a maniac, uncaring that his hands started hurting as if they were on fire. The tears were streaming from his eyes like waterfalls, and he was crying like never before in his whole life, not even when he wanted to jump into a lake to drown himself, only to realize that he feared death.

.

After something about twenty minutes, he slumped on the ground, completely exhausted from all the crying and stress. He still wanted to cry, but with every hiccup, his throat stung as if somebody made him drink boiling lava. So he just sat there in the dark, motionless, silently crying his sorrow and his friends’ betrayal away.

In the end, he blamed it all on himself.

How could he be so stupid? How could he be so idiotic? How dare he wish to have friends? How dare he wish to have somebody who would love him the way he was, who was always there for him, who he could feel safe with, who bragged about all the good memories and would not speak about the bad days? He felt so selfish for wanting all those things, so unworthy of love and care.

After another five minutes of crying, Lucas fell asleep, only because he wanted to rest his eyes for a bit.

A loud sound brought him out of his slumber, and he immediately took a defensive pose, thinking that it was probably somebody dangerous. Instead, he heard the worried voice of his mother alongside some others he did not recognize. A newly found hope suddenly spread through his whole body and he yelled out: “I’m here!” with a raspy voice. It hurt like hell to speak, but he did not care as long as he was out of this place.

The people opened the door by merely turning the key and a heavy push. Lucas’ mother was the first to go inside, hugging him tight, weeping about how worried she was, and the boy also held onto her for dear life. “My baby, who did this to you?” She asked and he started sobbing anew. “I-it was Andrea and her friends.” He managed to say. “Please don’t tell father where I’ve gone to.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.” Lucas’ mother said, knowing well what would happen if he did indeed find out.

.

Later that day, they were all sitting at the police station, writing some kind of file about an offence or something, Lucas couldn’t remember. All he remembered was, that Andrea’s gang got off only with a warning since his mother wanted to keep silent about the whole incident and this was the only alternative that didn’t involve going to court.

Everybody from the group was staring holes into Lucas all the while they were there and when they finally let them go, they decided to make his life even worse than it already was. “You’ll pay for this.” Carlton hissed as they were leaving and Lucas’ mother threw some rocks after them, which she shouldn’t have, but she was angry. They were smart enough to not provoke a fight right next to a police station and so they quickly walked away.

.

.

.

Turns out that Lucas’ father ended up hearing about the incident – because the teenagers called him on his phone and informed him about it, knowing well what he was like - and he didn’t exactly have a nice response to it. That night, Lucas went to bed clutching an icepack on his left cheek, since it was swollen, and with red eyes full of tears. Juliette was there with him since it was their shared bedroom after she made sure that she locked the door as their mother dragged their father outside to argue about how brutal he was being to his own son.

“Shh, it’s okay, little bro, the door is locked and there is no way that he’ll get in. Even if he would want to break down the door, we can always run away through the window.” She tried to calm him down, but it wasn’t helping when they could still hear the arguing in the kitchen. Then there was a slap and Lucas clutched the blanket closer to himself, crying even more than a while ago. “That’s it! I’m leaving and I’m taking the kids with me!”

That was the sentence that finally got him out of that hellhole. He was waiting for it for so long that it felt inhumanly relieving when they were driving away from there, never to return. Their father hadn’t shown any regret or will to keep them there. He simply didn’t care about them. All he refused to let go of was furniture or any other material thing.

That’s how he ended up in Chinuville, a town famous for being the best for curing heart diseases. He met his friends there, even though he was wary of them when they first saw each other. From then on, it started getting better. They were all going to a drama club led by Laura Spring – aka Spottedleaf – and they called themselves: The sisterhood of dough, because, as they said, they were as mouldable as dough. There were also all kinds of people, like Monika with Nicole, who looked like a mean, popular girl you’d see in a TV show, but they were also generous and understanding.

Peter and Jared were right off the opposite of them. They were boys, who liked to pull all sorts of pranks – mostly Peter – and those two groups were often seen arguing about every little thing. Lucas also heard that Peter wanted to be a pirate when he was younger, thus the red hair dye.

Then there were Miles, Nikky, Johanna and Lisa, who were rational, and often seen as the authorities when Spottedleaf wasn’t nearby, but they also liked to have fun or just simply have a good time with their friends.

Then there was Alyssa. She was two years younger than the rest and she reminded Lucas a lot of himself back when he was still in that bad place. But this time, everybody accepted her without questioning anything. It slightly surprised him, but he quickly discovered that age has nothing to do with being liked or disliked. Thanks to her, he slowly started convincing himself that nothing that happened in his past was his fault, but a part of him still refused to acknowledge that.

Maybe it was because she made him realize this, he became best friends with her, and even though she’s the youngest, it does not stop her from being the toughest member of the group. She might be short, but she can kick your butt without trying too hard.

The group even showed him and Juliette their biggest secret – the portal they had found back when they were still in kindergarten after they got to know each other well. Lucas felt special since they let him in their private place only they knew about. He felt as if he finally, truly belonged somewhere. It was the best feeling he ever felt.

+++

Lucas suddenly came back to his senses and felt kind of funny. His vision was tilted at the wrong angle and after a while found out why. He was lying on the ground by the door facing away from it, which meant only one thing. He fainted. Lucas did not know when or how, but all that mattered was that nothing bad was happening to him. He was safe here on the cold ground, enveloped in silence and the faint light of the torches. ‘Wait, why is it so dark?’ The thought slithered into his mind.

Lucas lifted himself with his arms, frowning since it was morning just a while ago. The room above the dungeon had windows with bars on them and so when he glanced out of them and saw stars, he got surprised. ‘How is it night-time already?! Was I out for that long?’

He slowly got up, since he knew that his legs always get weaker after one of the PTSD attacks or whatever it was. Lucas supported himself by placing a hand on the wall and slowly took in his surroundings, slowly as to reassure himself that he truly was okay. After that, he slowly walked to the door, still supporting his weight on the wall, and tried the doorknob. Of course, it did not open. He then decided to talk to Sebastian and his acquaintance.

Lucas had to hold his head when his sight suddenly became blurred, and he held onto the railing for dear life.

.

When he finally made it down, two heads were already turned to him, expecting him to say anything. Both did not dare to even breathe before they saw in what condition the prince was and at once knew that their fate was sealed. Sebastian merely turned away, folding his hands on his chest with a harrumph, but his friend was not so passive about it.

“Goddammit, you fool, couldn’t you do more than whine?! I thought that you wanted to help us!” The bandit on the right yelled, thinking the prince was entirely on their side. He wasn’t wrong, but that was before this idiot decided to yell at him after he had a mental breakdown.

Lucas slowly lifted his head and looked the prisoner in the eyes, his own showing anger, and tiredness but mostly murderous intentions and he gritted his teeth which just added to his whole image of a man ready to commit murder. If he were a normal person, the bandit would merely laugh, but this was no ordinary folk, this was the prince, who held their fate above their heads and would be the one deciding their fate. He gulped, realizing that he made a mistake.

“Shut up, Damien!” Sebastian barked out, looking as if he was the one who was offended. Lucas had a hunch why, but it angered him even more non less. “That’s it, I’m done with the both of you! I’ll go tell my father that I approve of Angelo’s decision!” He said, storming away from the cell and up the stairs.

Sebastian was now glaring daggers at his accomplice because even he became aware of how it was escalating, and he was not done living his life, he wanted to live as never before. He realized it the first night they spent there when he was so confident that he could merely pick the lock with his lockpicks, just to realize that he couldn’t. “Why couldn’t you be quiet for once?!” Sebastian yelled, frustrated, taking the other by surprise. “He probably would have set us free if you let him be for a little while, but no!”

That seemed to irritate the man. “And what did you do to help, kid?! Nothing! You just sat there and gave up!”

The younger male opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. Then his features softened, he knitted his brows together and closed his mouth. “Just…leave me alone.” He said, annoyed with a hint of hurt in his voice. He turned away from Damien - that was the man’s name – facing the wall of his prison.

“Well, that’s just the reality, kid, deal with it or die,” Damien muttered, not really meaning to offend Sebastian more, but he needed him to realise the reality.

“I know that we burned a lot of villages, killed a few people who got in our way and stole a heck ton of money, but I never would have suspected that the royal castle’s prison was so hard to get out of,” Sebastian admitted, now thinking everything through. “I mean, we even got out of the Dutch Pietro’s jail, because I’m so good at lock-picking and sneaking around, but this one is…different. It’s as if somebody cursed it, which, if they did, I’m going to find that witch who did this and I’ll have a long, nice chat with her.”