T I M E

Red is the color of fate.

12:15 PM

The feather pen touches the paper, and he continues to write. Treaties, new laws, requests- he can't keep track of how many he had to write and sign. Has it already been three days since he last slept? He doesn't know if he can afford even just a blink of sleep.

There was far too much work to do, but he can't bring himself to complain. It's a part of his duty as the prince of Clarines, after all.

He doesn't really mind paperwork that much, but he's itching to get off his chair.

1:37 PM

"Zen, shouldn't you take a break?" Mitsuhide asks, his voice laced with concern.

"I'm...alright," he answers, blinking a few times, trying to decipher what was written on the paper.

Kiki turns to him. "Why don't you find Shirayuki?"

Zen looks up in sudden interest, and he thinks.

Maybe a break isn't so bad after all.

2:16 PM

"Have you seen Shirayuki?" Zen asks the guards.

"No, Prince Zen. We're sorry," they reply.

He's a tad bit worried, but he tries to convince himself that maybe she was just in the garden. Or if she was outside the castle to pick some things up.

Definitely. That's definitely it.

3:49 PM

He goes to the garden, but there is no sign of Shirayuki. Even Ryu says he hasn't seen her all day.

He asks the guards stationed at the gate, but they say they didn't see her at all.

He has never felt so panicked before.

4:23 PM

He opts to go check the storage room near the palace's clinic.

Maybe Shirayuki has been there all along. Maybe she's been having trouble getting a few herbs. Maybe she needs Zen's help.

4:24 PM

Zen can't open the door.

4:26 PM

He calls her name, but no response.

4:28 PM

He tries to break open the door.

4:29 PM

He calls nearby guards to help him break it open.

4:30 PM

They succeed.

"Shirayuki!"

His breath hitches.

The red-haired girl is on the floor, her eyes closed.

She does look peaceful, if not for the fact that blood is all over the room, seeping through the cracks on the floor, slowly engulfing Zen's vision.

He runs to her body, putting her up, and he says her name.

"Shirayuki...Shirayuki...!"

4:31 PM

The guards call for doctors.

Zen holds her close, feeling her warmth slowly drain from her body. Her fingertips were beginning to feel cold.

Tears stream down his face.

4:32 PM

He wonders how life can be so cruel.

He wonders how a girl, whom he has loved so much, can go about her life and face death so suddenly and so early.

He wonders why he could do nothing to stop it.

4:37 PM

Shirayuki is in a white room, being examined by doctors.

She is confirmed to be dead.

4:38 PM

Zen looks at Shirayuki's corpse, his mouth failing to say the words he yearned to speak.

He remains silent.

4:39 PM

They say that red is the color of fate.

He isn't sure what to say if this has been their fate all along, if everything was planned by someone and it all led up to this.

He's not sure if he can look at red the same way ever again.