And I'm back from the depth of NaNoWriMo/Going back across the country to the east coast for winter break and getting messed up with jet lag. Still a bit messed up with the jet lag, but no reason why I can't write at three in the morning, right?

Sorry for taking so long for this new chapter, especially since I left you all on a bit of a cliff hanger too. I'll definitely be trying to keep myself on a better schedule for now on, at least for a while. Yes though, I won't bog you down any more, instead I'll just let you read the chapter. That's what you came for anyway.

Chapter 13 – All Wrong

After the initial announcement, Myrrha's mind wasn't quite able to process anything for several long moments. The child simply stared off at nothing, anything in his line of sight fading away as unimportant as what was said slowly sunk in.

The ruler of Sailand. He was supposed to be the ruler of Sailand now. B-but that didn't… that couldn't…

The rest of the grand room around him was a blur as he attempted to process that small sentence, the sound of the royal advisors speaking not actually reaching his ears. The first thing to actually knock him out of his stupor, if only just barely was his mother squeezing his hand slightly, in what the silver boy assumed to be an attempt at reassuring him. He wasn't quite sure if it worked, but at the very least it managed to allow his brain to start up again.

It seemed to have completely stopped for a few seconds there, almost as if he'd been on a brink of simply fainting at the news. What kind of prince fainted? That was something queens and princesses, something that girls do. B-but being the ruler of a whole country…

He just… he just couldn't. This was wrong in so many ways! There was no way their father could really be dead. There was no way he could be the ruler! He didn't know how to rule a country. He couldn't even order around his own slave without feeling some sort of weird guilt. This was just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Myrrha hadn't noticed that his hands had started to shake until his mother's grip tightened again, and the young boy attempted to take a deep breath and calm himself. The king's advisors were still talking, but he couldn't really hear what they were saying. He didn't know if that was because they just weren't talking loud enough, or if he just wasn't really paying any attention to them. It was probably the latter.

Finally they stopped speaking, and the room instantly erupted in noise. All of the queens and royal children were attempting not to panic as they'd been told, although most were gossiping and posturing fearfully about what had happened, and what was going to happen now. Several people would steal glances as the seemingly catatonic prince that had just been announced ruler before turning away to start whispering again.

"Myrrha?" his mother asked softly after a few moments, effectively managing to catch the boy's attention. He turned his gaze over to her, which had previously been staring off in front of him at nothing as he attempted to right this situation in his head. This situation that was just so very wrong.

"Everything will be okay dear," she told him simply, but the silver child slowly managed to shake his head. He didn't usually disagree with his mother, she was actually smart, after all, but there was no way that was true. How could everything be okay after this? The king was dead and they were expecting him to rule the country! He was eight… he couldn't do something like this.

He could feel the tears start forming in his eyes once again, threatening to spill out here, in front of the whole royal family. Myrrha quickly squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to keep them from falling, although it didn't seem to be helping much. The rest of his body was starting to tremble now as well, and he barely managed to get out a few words without his voice completely cracking.

"W-want to go to my room," he managed to mumble. Lady Marien quickly nodded, standing up and walking over to the nearest guard. Myrrha couldn't hear what she was saying, but he assumed she must be asking permission for them to leave. He hoped dearly that they would let them. There was nothing else to announce after all, right? Well, he didn't really know particularly well, since he hadn't heard over half of what they had said.

The silver boy allowed his eyes to leave her as she spoke, letting them to wonder around the room slightly, not really focusing on anything as he just tried to take in what was going on around him.

He couldn't spot Janan or Keane or anyone else who'd known what had happened before the announcement. He wondered how they were handling it now that everyone knew, now that it really was true. He wondered if Keane was still curled up in the corner like a scared rat.

He hadn't been able to scan the room for very long before his mother was back at his side, softly whispering to his that they could go back to his now room if he liked. Just barely he managed to nod, gently standing up and clinging to his mother's hand as she led him out of the room. Myrrha could feel the majority of the room's eyes' on them as they left, but he simply ignored them for now. He didn't care about them at the moment. He could deal with how everyone else was reacting to this, to him being the new leader later.

Their seemed to be more guards than normal as they made their way back to the prince's floor, which helped to calm Myrrha down just ever so slightly. Whoever or whatever had killed the king probably wasn't around anymore, or if they were they'd been caught or were going to get caught. It wouldn't hurt him.

He barely noticed when they reached his room and his mother led him over to his bed, gently sitting him down and kneeling down in front of the fragile boy. The tears that had been threatening to fall before were back, and once again he was fighting to keep them away, hands scrunching up the expensive blanket beneath him so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the strain.

"I… I can't," he struggled out, shaking his head and trying to convey to his mother just how horribly wrong all of this was. The young woman gently ran a hand through his hair comfortingly as she spoke.

"Shhh, it's alright," she spoke very softly; a warmness in her voice that wasn't normally present from someone called an ice queen. Even still, Myrrha shook his head defiantly. Didn't she see that this was the opposite of alright?

"But the king's… a-and they want me to…" he stumbled out. It wasn't fair; he was usually stronger than this. He didn't break down like this; he was supposed to fight back. There wasn't anything to fight now though. This wasn't the other princes making fun of him or anything like that. This was a situation completely out of his control and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Once again his mother was smoothing down his hair gently, causing Myrrha to look up at her through watery eyes.

"It's alright; you won't have to do anything. Not until you're much older, there's nothing to worry about," she told him, confusing the eight year-old greatly.

"But they said I'm the ruler now. I'll have to take dad's place," he said, the befuddlement in his voice clear. Lady Marien shook her head softly as she explained.

"It's just a title dear, so that the people and other countries won't think we're weaker without a single leader. The king's advisors will take care of most of the work for you, and I'll help you with anything left until you're old enough to rule on your own," she told him, and Myrrha nearly collapsed in relief.

Of course… of course they wouldn't actually let an eight year old in charge of the entire country. He'd mess it up beyond recognition. This was better. This was much better.

There was still a swirling mix of fear and apprehension and sorrow churning around in his gut, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been just a few moments ago. There were still tears threatening to leak out of the corners of his eyes, but his father had just been killed. It was understandable.

Yes, it was a father that none of them had been particularly close with. They couldn't be though, and even though he was young he understood that. He'd been the king first and their father second.

And being liked by him too much had out a target on your back for the other princes and queens. But that didn't matter anymore. There wasn't anyone to change the hierarchy anymore, so it would stay as it was, he guessed. Him at the top for who knows what reason, instead of one of the older princes. He'd almost hoped that their father would end up changing his mind before anything became official, maybe naming Keane Crown Prince instead, since he was the oldest boy and everything, but there was no way for that to happen now. He was stuck fated to be king.

"You promise everything will be okay," he asked. He knew it was a childish thing to do, since everything she had said made sense, but maybe it was okay to be acting just a little bit childish right now. He certainly didn't feel like acting very strong and mighty at the moment.

His mother smiled softly and nodded. He didn't know how she could be acting like this, but he guessed it was just because she was an adult. They were better at handling emotions than kids were. Adults didn't let their emotions show all the time. Not like how he was right now, or when he'd broken down earlier in front of Cooro. Or how Janan had acted when telling them all what she had found out. Or how Keane had been cowering during the announcement. Adults were stronger than that.

"Of course Myrrha," she told him, standing up afterwards. "Will you be alright by yourself for now? Or would you like me to stay for a bit longer?" She asked. Even though the silver boy would have much preferred not to be left alone (there was still that fear, no matter how much he told himself that whoever had killed their father was either caught or long gone, there was no way they could hurt him now) he started shaking his head.

Adults were strong, and even if he was only eight and it was just a title, the ruler of a country needed to be strong. He couldn't act like a little kid anymore, even though he'd never truly acted his age to begin with.

"I'll be fine. I think I'll just… go to sleep for the night, or something," he mumbled. Lady Marien nodded before saying goodbye to her son once more and leaving the room. When he was alone, Myrrha pulled the thick blankets up around him and collapsed down onto his bed.

He'd be fine. He told her he'd be fine, and he would be. He should just sleep, like he said. Sleep and just forget what was going on for a few moments. Maybe it was all just a bad dream, and when he woke up things would be normal again.

Halfheartedly he shook the foolish thought away. He knew this wasn't a dream, or well, maybe more like a nightmare. He just needed to be calm for right now, and try to take this one step at a time. His mother had told him it was going to be alright, and she was smart. She had to be right about this.

Eventually, the young boy ended up falling into a fitful sleep. Every so often he would wake during the night, the fear of a nightmare he couldn't remember at all forcing him to take a few moments to get calm again before slowly falling back to sleep, only to repeat again about an hour later.

It was early when he heard someone knocking on his door, waking the tired boy from his latest attempt at sleep. Begrudgingly pushing himself up, he rubbed at his eyes before telling whoever it was to come in. He couldn't help but hope that it wasn't anything important, although it probably was. Even though Myrrha kept telling himself that it was only a title, like his mother had said, he couldn't help but think that something would end up changing with this now.

Thankfully though, instead of a guard walking in or one of the kings advisors or anyone like that, when the door creaked open he saw Cooro peak his head in hesitantly, a small smile forming on his face at the sight of the young prince.

Myrrha wondered if anyone had explained to the servants and slaves what had happened last night, but thinking about it they probably hadn't said anything more than the bare minimum they needed to know. They would find out with the announcement to the rest of the country, just like everyone else.

"Hi Myrrha, how are you feeling?" Cooro asked as he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. The silver boy shrugged slightly, attempting to put off what had happened yesterday as no real big deal.

"Tired, I didn't really sleep well last night," he said after a moment. Cooro nodded, pulling over his desk chair so that he could sit down and talk with the prince.

"Sorry about that," he said, seeming to hesitate slightly before continuing on. "So, what happened last night? After I um, had to leave?" he asked. It was strange; the black haired boy was acting much more subdued than he normally was. Myrrha guessed that after yesterday though, with what Cooro had been around to hear, it wasn't any surprise. No one could be so happy go lucky all of the time, after all.

"Just what Janan had told us. She'd been telling the truth, like you said," he mumbled, having drawn his knees up to his chest as he sat. Cooro simply nodded solemnly, which was so odd for the boy. Myrrha didn't like it. He knew he shouldn't expect Cooro to be happy all the time, but he just kind of wanted things to be normal. Nothing seemed like it would be normal anymore though, so it was only to be expected, really.

"Oh, and um, I'm also kind of the king now, or just the ruler of Sailand or something," the silver boy added on, nearly as an afterthought. That certainly seemed to startle Cooro a bit though, and Myrrha wondered slightly if it was the actual information, just the casual way he'd brought it up or a combination of both. Probably a bit of both, thinking about it.

"Huh? Really? The ruler of the whole country? That's amazing," the +anima slave said, and Myrrha shrugged, not looking at Cooro as he explained. Instead he just messed with his covers slightly; pinching them and pulling the fabric up before letting it fall back into place again.

"Kind of, my mother says it's mainly just a title, so that other countries and the people don't think we're weak without a leader. I won't really do anything until I'm older," he said, turning towards Cooro afterwards to see him nod in understanding.

"Oh, okay. Well, whenever you do end up becoming the official king for real and everything, I'm sure you'll do a great job of it," Cooro said. Reluctantly Myrrha nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled. He really didn't know how true that was though. Sure, that's what everyone had always told him, it's why his father had named him first in line, so he shouldn't be self-couscous about it. He knew he was smart for his age, and he took this all very seriously. There was no reason for anyone to think he wasn't going to be cut out to rule the country someday.

Even still, there was something, a small voice in the back of his head telling him it was wrong. He wasn't meant to be the king. He wasn't meant for any of this. Maybe it was just the result of all the bullying telling him such, but he didn't think so. There wasn't anything he could do though, he'd be king whether he was meant to be or not.

He just hoped Cooro was right and the voice inside of him was wrong.

And hooray a chapter yes! Once again, sorry for taking so long, but I hope this wasn't too bad. If you follow some of my other stories, they should be updated very soon as well, so yay for that? Really though, the +anima section is currently overrun with unrelated clutter. We need to fight back!
Haha, but yes, I hope you liked the chapter, and as always, thanks for reading and please review.