96 | doll; daylight delusions

Shadows came to play under the moonlight, hidden by towering buildings and the whispers of the town's chatter. In the clear night, a slender man stood indifferently over a sprawled body.

Blood splattered against the streets, to be overlooked and ignored by morning. It was better to play ignorant and unseeing than to report the blood stains.

Another traitor under his boots.

The man quietly wiped away the blood, lifting it briefly to the skies as moonlight reflected off the gleaming blade, making the red appear brighter.

With a swipe of a cloth, the silver metal gleamed cleanly. He flipped the blade and drew it into the sheaths that hung loosely around his hips, footsteps feather-light as he strode through the streets.

His job was to kill—not to clean up after the mess.

He took another step closer to the main streets. Obscured by the shadows of the alley, a light jingle of laughter filled the air and a girl ran to the sidewalk, bending down to pick up a flower.

Her hair, skillfully tied into elaborate two braids. She carefully upturned the flower by its roots, digging into the dirt and stone.

The man, dazed, took a step forward. The tip of his boot grazed the lit up street, escaping the darkness. Then, his entire body was roughly yanked back into the shadows, back down the alley.

The man purposely went limp, allowing his body to be pulled back.

His companion sighed irritably, running a hand through stark red hair that burned like a raging fire, or the splatter of fresh blood. A black object darted across the street, leaping at his face as he choked.

He pried off the defensive animal—a beast that resembled a cat.

"Meow!" exclaimed the small animal bitterly as it jumped off the red-haired man's face, leaping onto the opposing shoulder.

The quiet man caught the feline as it looped around his neck, purring in low vibrations pleasantly. He fiddled with the swaying tail that curled around his wrist with satisfaction.

"Like cat like owner." mused the red-haired man. "Both moody. What were you thinking, walking out there? Being caught would do you no benefit, unless you had some secret scheme that I would rather like to be let into?"

He continued talking to himself, seeming used to a lack of response. The man kept jabbing the other, as if attempting to twist the indifference into anger.

The pair returned to the castle to report their successful mission. The quiet one simply strode off to his room wordlessly, ignoring the eager greetings of a young, beautiful man with a bed of silky curls atop his head.

The red-haired man crudely thrust the doors open to the study room, waving casually at the newly appointed guard.

"Come on, Reed. Is this really what you wanted?"

Reed scowled, looking up. "Are you here to complain again, despite knowing it has no merit?"

"He barely talks, barely eats, he's hardly more than a shell without a soul. The only time he shows emotion is when he fakes madness to mock those he's killing, or when he flinches from invisible creatures peering in the shadows."

The young guard tensed, his jaw clenching upon hearing the words.

"That puppy of yours—"

"Do you want to save him?" Reed's voice lowered to a chilling cold. "Take him and run—if it's you, perhaps you can temporarily escape my grasp."

"......" Lux's shoulders deflated, and he lowered his head irritably.

"But your priority is your little brother. Therefore you won't, because you know that only I can help you find him. Only I can find a cure, if one exists. If you have complaints, take action. Or shut your mouth and be obedient."

Reed lowered his gaze, shuffling a stack of papers. "There have been signs of that beast's involvement. If he continues to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, I'll send somebody to capture him."

"Now, now, prince. You're cruel."

"I'm ambitious. And I will achieve what I've set to do. Leave."

Lux clicked his tongue, waving farewell to the guard once again and finding some amusement in the hatred that burned in that amber gaze.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, following a familiar route down the hallway. He dropped by the kitchen, pocketing an apple as he arrived at a set of doors, knocking twice before strolling inside.

"Ah, irritating, irritating. The lot of you. I'm terrible bored." sighed Lux as he stepped into the dark room, lights permanently left off. "Apples? For the tragic and pitiful puppy alone in the dark?"

The other seemed more willing to speak in the confines of his room. Lux had to wonder, if that willingness only existed because the noise helped distract from the creatures creeping under his bed?

"I'm not hungry."

"You never are." Lux continued to walk inside, plainly ignoring the vicious glare that accurately planted onto him. "It's a very predictable answer, puppy."

He flopped to the ground casually beside the gloomy figure leaning against the bed. Merely a body limp against the sheets, head rolled to the side. Lux thought he wouldn't be surprised if mushrooms started sprouting on the other's head.

He popped one of the apple slices into his mouth, leaving a small piece to bribe the feline that greedily snatched the white flesh, nibbling on it.

A cat that was only tolerant when given something.

A pair of dull green eyes fixated onto him in the darkness, eying the apples squarely. "Weren't they mine?"

Lux chewed on another slice. "Ah, but you denied them. Therefore I claimed ownership. It's the unfortunate way of life."

He cracked one eye open, an apple dangling in his mouth, but the other had already lost interest and turned away. The minor comment was already more than Lux often received, despite his efforts.

Kaden Chauvet was merely a shell of the man he once was.

Head hanging low, his fingers rhythmically tapped on his arm in slow patterns of three. The action didn't feel right—his fingers too course, or the taps too firm. It wasn't the same.

"Hey, puppy? How awake are you?"

"My eyes are open."

Lux snorted, leaning further back into the bed as he propped a leg up, yawning. He pointed at his head. "You're surprisingly talkative today. I don't dislike it. I'm asking how much you remember—"

Kaden's eyebrows knitted together, a spark of pain in his mind. "Nothing," he snapped. "I remember nothing."

"Does lying to yourself help chase away the delusions?" Lux's red eyes gleamed, mischievous. "In the beginning, you saw monsters and distorted creatures carved of the most warped mind. What haunts your delusions now, little puppy?"

Lux smiled at the irritated scowl the ghosted upon Kaden's lips, thankful that some emotion still existed in that empty shell. However brief; however fleeting.

The price of a large-scaled illusion had left Kaden in a near death state for months. When that man was purposely manipulating his blessing, his fine control of the details would've earned him a five-star on the Academy scale.

There were cracks, of course. But the performance of a dying man was far too exciting for anybody to notice any abnormalities.

The few months, Lux thought Reed had dragged back a corpse.

A corpse that laid on the cold ground, shrivelled and curled, haredly moving, hardly breathing. He only realized that the supposed corpse was alive when he left and returned one day, finding the body curled in the corner of a dark room.

The dark was frightening, but the light was scarier.

There, Kaden could see the details of his out-of-control ability, every wrinkled groove on the monsters conjured by his mind, the bleeding and familiar eyes that haunted his nightmares and waking.

Standing felt like the ground was twisting and opening underneath, breathing felt like something was trying to crawl and tear its way out of his stomach.

Therefore, he remained silent. Barely breathing, barely living. A dead gaze leeched of life as if they'd been carved by smooth marble and pressed inside a still statue. Lux thought, then, that the puppy would die, driven mad by a blessing he couldn't control.

But despite Kaden's lack of life or movement, Reed would always appear at the entrance, a furrow creasing his forehead and a plate in his hand.

Small, cut pieces of food that were dutifully brought to a pair of lips, forced inside. A head tilted back, and water following after to force a swallow. A napkin at the side designated to wipe the trickles of water that dripped down cold skin.

In silence, Reed would care for Kaden like an dying child. The only reason that fool lived past those months was due to Reed Chauvet.

Lux had stood to the side, red eyes settled on the pair and watching.

The body of Kaden Chauvet, slack and limp, dully staring into a faraway abyss to distract from the delusions that lapped at his feet and nibbled at his skin.

The crown prince's tireless acts, spending hours to feed a morsel of food and water into an unwilling body. Cleaning clothes patiently, folding the sleeves and quietly buttoning up a white shirt.

There were times Kaden snapped out of his listlessness with a jerking movement, horror written over his paling expression. Water, or hot soup would splash onto Reed's hands. Only a faint hiss could be heard in the darkness before Reed lifted that spoon again, waiting.

Lux couldn't understand if Reed prefered Kaden dead or alive.

By the end of the first year of three, Kaden had regained a sense of clarity and movement, although his appetite had not increased and the hours he slept were few. He pretended not to remember anything.

And Reed had returned to his own room, and his visits ended.

Then, in between mocking and jeering at Reed while the crown prince attempted to catch up with his stacks of paperwork, Lux prodded at Kaden who refused to answer. Was his memories gone, or was he lying?

Although Kaden Chauvet had never been much of a good liar, only a good actor at times, the lack of expression and speech exposed little.

How could Lux understand a doll that only acted when commanded?

This was the conclusion Lux determined, whether lie or truth. That Kaden Chauvet recalled attending the Academy, but he revealed no memory of Nicola Akasha, Noah Bellamy, Niklas Astors or Holly Sinclair.

Nor did he reveal any recognition at the faraway glimpse of Arlo that Lux had shown him from the windows, the dutiful little guard that followed Reed with a somver face.

Arlo, or Arlo Bellamy as the petulant child demanded being named upon applying for the post. Lux suspected that if Kaden's last name was anything other than 'Chauvet', the boy would've insisted upon using his last name instead.

All these people, willing to drop to their knees and sacrifice their lies.

All these people, and their grieving that shook the Academy.

All these people, and Kaden remembered none.

Kaden's green eyes of ever changing shades, always twisting with his thoughts, settled on Lux. They were a frightening stare that peered coldly, deeming the other as mere rubble on the streets.

"What haunts me?" A fragile smile tentatively twisted his dry lips and a hoarse whisper wondered, "Do you want to see?"

Shadows, contorted into vicious and skinny hands, crept over the light that streamed inside, and a ghost of cold brushed Lux's hand. He recoiled away from the bed, a twisted shape wriggling underneath.

"You shouldn't be using your blessing as you please, puppy." laughed Lux wryly, scrunching his nose. He closed his eyes. "You'll be in a miserable state again."

"More than I am now?"

"I know you don't enjoy being waited on by your dearest older brother. You become worthless again, and he'll be changing your clothes and scooping food into your mouth daily. It amuses me, so be my guest."

Kaden's smile set and the shadows vanished in seconds. Your Majesty—the feline that Kaden did remember—curled up on the reticent man's lap, rubbing its fluffy head into his chest.

Lux, appeased that there would no longer be something peculiar coiled up underneath the bed, fearlessly flopped on top.

"Ah, how comfortable. All your brother does is give me a thin plank of wood—"

"He is not my brother."

Lux spoke faintly, rolling onto his back as his red hair splayed on the thin blanket. "No, I don't suppose he is anymore. Not to you."

The door groaned, opening further as a youthful head popped around the side, nervously peeking in. Upon seeing Kaden, a beautiful smile bloomed on the pink lips, blue eyes curving with delight.

The eyes dimmed slightly upon seeing Lux, who wriggled his fingers with a lazy smile of greeting.

"Kaden," smiled Skye as he hurried inside, flowers of happiness blooming around him. Kaden glanced over at the petals that fell to the ground from the flowers clutched in his hands. "You like them, flowers, right? I found some outside!"

He ran over, sitting cross-legged beside as he happily revealed every flower, an assortment of different colours. The prince knew neither the names nor meanings, only that they were beautiful, and beautiful things should be shown to Kaden.

Kaden knew that, disinterestedly watching the tender petals falling to the ground due to rough movements, ripped at their stems.

Skye didn't care about Kaden's lack of care, continuing in his own world.

Lux scooted closer on the bed, peering over Kaden's shoulder.

Outside the door, a man stood quietly in the hallway. His eyelids closed, body resting against the wall as a breeze brushed through his golden locks and painted his expression soft.

For a second, beneath the darkness of his closed vision, he imagined a sight.

Him, sitting in the palace garden outside with an open book on his lap, perhaps reading out loud, or with a small, pink-haired child peering over beside him, sat on the marble bench.

Innocent and large eyes that would scan the page with delight, and himself, who would turn when that beautiful green gaze reached the end of the paper.

Sunlight raining over them, streaking the garden and bringing vibrancy to the colours that decorated the landscape. Skye would likely be there, crouched beside Kaden like a loyal dog, or rummaging for pretty flowers to gift him.

A smile appeared on the man's face, his shoulders relaxing against the wall.

Yes, three children laughing and teasing as siblings should. He would ruffle Kaden's soft hair after being asked a curious question, and Skye would pout at the lack of attention he received.

Kaden, indulgent as he was, would turn to the younger boy and smile, taking his flowers and remarking on their beauty or charm. Perhaps he would know how to name them—he was always curious about life, an endless interest in various knowledge.

In that dream, Reed smiled at his siblings, closing his eyes as he raised it to the sunny skies, feeling the breeze brush over his face, the laughter twinkling in his ears.

When he opened his eyes, there only existed a burning garden and Skye's face writhing in horror as Kaden trembled on the ground, agony wracking over his body.

Reed snapped to attention outside the hallway, outside Kaden's room. He lowered his hand into his hand, exhaling deeply.

"It looks like the delusions reach even here." He muttered to himself, shaking his head as he turned and walked away.