Drake found a clock.

“Eighteen hours till I’m free… Eighteen hours.” But where to hide for so many hours?
He wanted to go hunting again. The game was lousy, his hawk had off and flown away, but he could get another one…

Would the barrier be up? Would it? Eclipse did have this scary way of knowing when Drake slipped up… but he was getting better at it.

What he didn’t understand is why it seemed so necessary for him to stay in Shivel! Why must he see Pricilla? Why did he have to spend every moment of these trips in her palace? Why? It made no logical sense! He went out alone all the time, why should it matter if he were here or not? It was punishment, had to be… But what had he done to deserve it this time? He’d been good. He hadn’t snuck off, he hadn’t brought home anymore birds, he… well, he destroyed the stick a few times, but that wasn’t all that new. He’d sat through that dinner with his parents. The regal meeting… that was torture, but he’d done it, kept his mouth shut, resisted the urge to stab his father with his fork… ate the… well they called it crab, and the vegetable… drink, which he was still fairly sure is what killed the crab to begin with. He hadn’t complained; not a word. That was punishment enough for the stick! So why was he here!? It wasn’t fair to be punished when he hadn’t done anything wrong! He might understand being punished before he did something; a sort of banking system, but that didn’t work! He could never say “Yes, but do recall I just spent three days in Shivel” because the answer was “And guess where you get to spend three more days?” … It sucked. It wasn’t fair.

Maybe he could find some way to get stone to burn… burn down this wretched palace. Then what if they just moved to Daguerreo? His parents were morons; they’d feel obligated to let them! Moreover—someone was behind him.

“How, in the name of the gods, did you get over here?” Pricilla gasped.

Drake growled, his eyes glowing a brighter red. “Trust me; the gods have nothing to do with it.”

“You broke the post— you broke the post!” She accused, grabbing the end of the cuffs not attached to him and no longer attached to the post she’d latched it onto.

“I had to get away— I had to get away.” Drake retorted, plotting an escape.

“Good! I hated that post! You and me, we have the same sense of taste!” Pricilla sang.

Drake… couldn’t respond to that for a moment. He was forced to look at her as if to prove who was talking and what she had said.
“I hate you! Hate you, hate you, hate you!”

“Awww, no you don’t.” She giggled, completely unfazed.

“Yes! Yes I do! What made you think I didn’t? The only reason I ever even see you is because I’m royalty and you somehow conned your way into a regal position, you don’t even—and now you’re walking away—,” Drake’s rant was interrupted as Pricilla ran off… still holding on to the cuffs so Drake was forced to follow.

“Everyone’s waiting, let’s play a game! We’ve played enough of your games, time for one of mine!”

Drake wondered if he could bite through his own hand…

He hated this game for so, so many reasons. It wasn’t just the fact that there where at least twenty people in the room playing the game, or that most of the game consisted of loud shrieks and fits of laughter at things he couldn’t understand why they would be funny.

 

Or the fact that someone was sitting on his back right after he’d laid down in the only dark corner in the room where he’d hoped to be safe, or the fact that this ‘someone’ was Pricilla who kept hitting him or pulling his hair whenever anyone said anything. Or the fact that, while Dennis was in sight, he couldn’t kill him from where he was, no. None of these things were why he so loathed the game, they simply helped the case. What he hated, were the questions…

“Dennis!” A girl named Clarita chimed. “Truth or dare?”

 

Dennis groaned. He was obviously stuffed, and even still had some cream around his mouth. Why the girl picked him was a complete mystery that Dennis couldn't have cared less about.

“Uh, Truth?” He asked more than answered. He was obviously over-full, his eyes were glazed over, and his answer was based mostly on the fact that a dare would require him to move.

 

“Were you the one who broke the kitchen door?” Clarita asked.

 

“No,” Dennis answered, his eyes widening slightly when he realized that Pricilla was there. It was true, too. The door to the kitchen was old and large, with sturdy wood.

 

“Liar!” Clarita accused.

“No! It's true. He gave me seven thousand gil to break it for him.” A boy Drake only knew as, 'Butch', replied with a grin.

There was uproar of laughed and no one seemed to care that the door was broken anymore...

 

“Your turn, Dennis.” Pricilla stated, but she gave him a look that made it clear she'd remember his answer.

 

Dennis was just reminded of the cause. The reason he was in so much trouble with his cousin in the first place.

“Drake,” Dennis said with a sneer. “Truth or dare?”

 

Drake looked at him and narrowed his eyes, “Dare.”

 

Dennis had a warning feeling in the pit of his stomach trying to tell him that what he was about to dare Drake to do would cause him great pain from Drake, Pricilla, or both.

“I dare you to kiss my cousin!” He demanded in what was probably the most spiteful attack he had made on Drake yet. It was also, quite possibly, the stupidest.

Drake made note of that. Nevertheless, he had a response to that common dare. “Truth.”

 

It may have been a stupid game, but it had ways out.
If you lied or if you refused to tell the truth, you could opt in for the dare. If the dare was something you didn’t want to do, you either got a dare which was probably worse, though Drake doubted it could be, or got to change your answer to truth. To escape the game you had to know the rules and he’d spend seven years learning them.

 

Dennis' face fell visibly, “Uh...” Dennis stalled for time. People often seemed to get stuck with Drake. His answers were always boring, inconclusive, or just yes or no. He really couldn't think of anything even remotely interesting , much less embarrassing. He could ask if he liked his cousin, but everyone except Pricilla seemed to know that he didn't...
In fact, it had been asked several times.

 

Drake grinned and waited. If the fat boy kept stalling, that was fine! Less time for the game.

Pricilla looked disappointed, but didn't say anything.

 

“Umm...” Dennis continued to stall, and of course missing his cousin's disappointment. What was there to ask? Everyone knew he hated Pricilla, and to Dennis' knowledge, Drake didn't spend time with anyone else there; let alone have a relationship with any of them. Perhaps he should just ask if there was anyone Drake liked? Yes! That was it!

“Who do you like?” Dennis spat out.

 

Drake’s mind latched onto that, because that was a surefire escape!

He gave a slight smirk and an answer, “Bernice.”

“What!?!” Both Bernice and Pricilla shouted at the same time.

Bernice looked very flattered, Pricilla looked ready to kill… and then Bernice noticed that and looked scared.

Pricilla pounced her and the fight was on. Drake slunk out the door trying desperately hard not to burst out laughing.

 

He ran down the castle looking for a hiding place.

Fifteen hours left, just fifteen hours! Then he’d get to go home! … Where he’d be punished for breaking the rules… again.
“… My life is just too damn depressing to think about.” Drake sighed as he came to a stop, looking around.
Palace this side, there had to be a place to hide.

 

 

Pricilla waited till she had Bernice on the ground crying that she gave up before she looked around again. “Drakey?” her eyes darkened as she looked at the corner when he had been only moments ago.

Now she had a dilemma as she walked back to the corner and sat down… did she stop the game now, or continue it? Surely, he couldn’t have gotten far… but she could wait. Waiting meant the game got to finish and it gave people something to do… dinner was only two hours away.

It would make Drake wonder. If he found any place to hide, he might think it was perfect if no one came by, but of course no one would because no one would be looking… after an hour, he’d start to wonder, maybe start to panic, and he’d have to come to dinner. He’d missed lunch, Pricilla had noticed, an he’d been running an awful lot, he had to be hungry and even if he wasn’t it was completely unacceptable to miss dinner when you were the guest… he’d never gotten out of going to one.

So, she’d wait. He’d tire himself out eventually.

 

Drake spent an hour and a half trying to get onto the roof… the idea to just shift struck him, since the ladder was mysteriously gone.
“Three times in a day isn’t the worst I’ve done…” He decided.

 

“Three times a day what?” Ellipsis asked, appearing behind him suddenly. Needless to say, he had checked out the little game Pricilla was holding, but decided he didn't need to investigate there further, and had been scouting around, trying to see if anyone had seen Drake in his true form. Luckily, and almost unbelievably, no one had seemed to!

 

“Isn’t the worst I’ve done.” Drake explained, ignoring the obvious statement in that.

 

“What are you up to?” Ellipsis asked, narrowing his eyes. He had a good idea of what Drake had just been planning to do.
He was expecting a sarcastic comment as a reply, so he wasn't really sure why he had asked.

 

“Plotting how best to get revenge on all the people who forced me to come here. Why?” Drake smiled.

 

“I Just got a message from Eclipse. He wants us to stay here another week.” Ellipsis lied, with a smirk. He didn't make it obvious he was lying, though.

 

Drake just nearly passed out at that thought. He literally felt sick at the idea and stumbled a step before his body remembered that for some reason he did want to continue living and being conscious… though why exactly wasn’t quite clear.

 

Ellipsis gave a little laugh when he saw Drake's reaction. “Just kidding,” he admitted and then continued with a warning, “Though I'm sure he will if you do whatever you were thinking about doing.”

 

“Right now, I’m thinking about murdering you while you sleep.” Drake growled, sitting down on a brick wall. “Hey look, it's your favorite uncle!” Drake said, pointing behind Ellipsis.

 

Ellipsis turned to look behind him. The whale-like man had not seemed to be around, much to Ellipsis' relief, for some time. He hadn't put much thought to where he had gone, anywhere was better than near him, so it was conceivable that he was there...

 

Drake waited for Ellipsis to turn, and then he shift to his TF. Drake jumped up and with just one stoke of his wings he made it onto a ledge on the second floor.

 

The sound of Drake's wings caused Ellipsis to look back again quickly. He growled when he looked up and spotted Drake. “Fine, stay here for months if you want to so badly.”

 

Drake rolled his eyes. “No one is even around, so what does it matter? I’m careful. I just prefer to be up here away from the morons.” He grinned, stretching out one wing. “Besides, I can’t teleport to run away like you.”

 

“It matters because Eclipse told you not to!” Ellipsis retorted in a growl. “Haven’t you gotten that yet?”

 

“In all fairness, Eclipse tells me a lot of things I don't listen to.” Drake pointed out, shifting out of his TF but not getting down.

 

“And then you get punished for them,” Ellipsis reminded with an almost bored tone, and tapped his foot.

 

“Granted…” Drake admitted. “You’d think I might learn by now, but I just don’t.” He shrugged and started walking along the ledge, taking his time, surveying the town.

 

“Is that the Empress in the window behind you?” Ellipsis asked, changing the topic with a smirk. He was lying, of course. The angle of the sun made it impossible to see inside the window.

 

“I’m not falling for that, that’s a childish trick.” Drake stated, not even looking.

 

Ellipsis glared, recalling Drake had just pulled that trick on him. “Well, are you going to get down from there?” Ellipsis asked.

 

“No I—,” Drake stopped mid reply. He looked down at Ellipsis. “You don’t smell that?”

 

Ellipsis was confused a second, “What?”

 

Drake hesitated to answer. This could easily be viewed as a weakness and he’d been lectured about that countless times before. “… The cinnamon.” He replied, quietly.

 

“Cinnamon?” Ellipsis echoed dubiously, “Not some horrible monster? Not the terrible stench of rotting flesh that would lead us to the scene of an awful murder in the castle, that we would have to solve or risk being next? Not Pricilla's perfume? Just...cinnamon?”

 

“… I like cinnamon…” Drake answered meekly.

 

Ellipsis smirked a bit at that. It was a ‘weakness’ yes, one the boy had always had. Eclipse wouldn’t hardly ever let him have anything made with it, either, but Ellipsis did quite often. It made the prince happy and, even though he could be annoying at times, he was still a child. A child whose childhood had been crushed due to things Eclipse and Ellipsis had done… and he felt bad for that. “We might as well head to the dining hall,” he said, and started to walk off. “It's almost time for dinner anyway...”

 

Drake thought for a moment. “If it helps, I’ll get back to you on the murder mystery thing.” He said, following Ellipsis.

 

“No, that’s okay, I think I know what that putrid rotting flesh smell was coming from.” The blue robed man replied. “And if I'm wrong, I don't really care to know.”

 

“I haven't seen him since he fainted...” Drake mused, “Quite possible he's dead.”

 

“We can only hope,” Ellipsis admitted as they entered the doors to the dining hall. It looked like they were a little earlier than he expected. That, or Pricilla still had everyone imprisoned in that room so she could play her game...

Now that they were inside, Ellipsis was pretty sure that he could smell cinnamon too.

 

Drake let Ellipsis go in first, and then followed a minute later, much, much more cautiously.

There were a few people in the dining hall; hovering around, waiting for a table.
No one from the game… so Pricilla had continued the game? SO he’d spent over an hour and a half hiding for no reason? … “Oh, I knew it was a trick!”

 

“What was?” Ellipsis asked from his seat at a completely empty table nearby.

 

“Everything.” Drake elaborated, looking around. “From the beginning, the beginning of everything.” Drake looked back toward the door, at his escape, just as people started filing in.

Pricilla in the lead. “By the gods, how I hate her…”

 

Ellipsis nodded, silently agreeing with him. Meanwhile Dennis was trying his best to look incognito as he tried to sneak into the dining hall along with everybody else. He was still pretty stuffed, but that wasn't going to stop him trying.

 

Pricilla turned and looked at Dennis and gave him a warning glare, a glare that stated she would skin him alive if he took just one more step.

Drake took his seat next to a dark wall and hoped he could somehow close his eyes and disappear.

 

“Oh, Pricilla!” Ellipsis called. “Just so you know, Drake is over there!”

 

Drake shot him a glare that was just glowing red eyes in the shadow-covered area.

 

Pricilla sat down next to him. “You left right in the middle of the game,” she said.

“Indeed.” Drake replied, not looking at her.

“That was rude.”

“Stalking is rude.” Drake mentioned, pointedly.

“And your answer is not supposed to be a lie.” Pricilla stated, giving a polite smile.

Drake smiled, “Bernice is a beautiful girl. My answer could be true.”

“She’s not your type.”

“You’re not my type.”

Pricilla gave a laugh. “When are you going to stop saying that?”

“As soon as you believe it.” Their polite conversation ended as plates of food were put on the tables and anyone who wasn’t sitting down scrambled to find a seat.
It was like a high-risk game of musical chairs, especially since Pricilla always invited more people than there was room.

 

People ran into each other, people fought over seats, everyone wanted to attend the dinner.

Pricilla didn’t let commoners into her palace, hardly ever. Unless you were one of her friends she wasn’t sick of yet, a guard, a worker, a servant, family, or royalty, there were only a few times in a year that you could enter the palace, but if you made a good enough impression you might just go up in the world.
Drake couldn’t understand it. The palace was meant to surround the city, but the citizens were not allowed inside. Popularity was measured not by what you did, or who you were, but by how long you were permitted inside the palace.

Pricilla loved it that way. She got to be in complete control, she got to be the center of attention. Her presence was what everyone wanted, people fought for her.

It was a power trick and she loved it.
When the seats ran out, those left standing looked shocked, scared, mad… some cried and ran out of the building, others started fights to get seats.

“You should do something about that.” Drake commented, debating just giving up his seat, the gods knew he didn’t want it.

“Why? Only the strong should survive.” Pricilla replied, not showing an ounce of remorse.

“That explains why Dennis isn’t in here,”

“He’s being punished, but my uncle is missing.”

Drake was quiet a moment before an idea that was far more evil than he usually was entered his mind and he looked at Pricilla. “If you have him sit by Ellipsis, I’ll wait fifteen seconds after dinner is over before I run.”

“Thirty."

“Twenty.”

“Thirty."

“… Twenty five.”

“… Twenty six.”

Drake rolled his eyes, “Twenty six.”

“Deal,” Pricilla grinned and whispered something to a servant who bowed and left.

 

Drake ate his food while wondering if all that was worth it. Then decided it was, especially if Ellipsis never figured out who was responsible for it.

“Let go of my arm, or I stab you with this knife.” Drake warned, glaring at Pricilla.

“That’s not nice.” Pricilla replied, not letting go.

“I said I’d stay, I never said I’d be nice.” Drake pointed out, pulling his arm away.

Dinner, at their table, was mostly uneventful. The food was good, the conversation… sucked, but there was entertainment when Butch tried to drown some other boy in his own soup. In addition, there was cinnamon cake! It was actually a none regrettable experience, possibly even fun, so long as Drake pretended Pricilla wasn’t there, and even when she was… she was mysteriously being polite. She wasn’t as possessive as she usually was, she didn’t seem to find joy in seeing that ice burnt him, she didn’t drive the conversation toward his ‘exotic’ appearance, she didn’t even steal his food. It was the first dinner he’d ever had there where he didn’t dream about causing a big enough earthquake that it would swallow the whole room, or summoning a volcano.
However, the moment dinner was over, his eyes darted to the clock as the seconds ticked by. Pricilla was busy talking to someone; she seemed to have forgotten.

 

23… 24… 25… 26! Drake jumped up and tore out of the room with a vengeance, he ran so fast he missed seeing that someone had dropped a cloth napkin on the ground. His right foot landed on it and he slid like he was on ice. “Whoa!” He could have stopped himself from running into Dennis… but he did it anyway and then quickly jumped back in case of some vile retaliation.

 

Dennis fell onto his backside hard, his enormous belly acting like a large spring.. He hadn't seen Drake coming, as he had been counting out gold coins that had now been scattered around him.

“Watch where you are going! You idiot!” Dennis yelled, still trying to recover from the hit, and not having had time to see who it was.

 

“What did you call me?” Pricilla snarled.

She was standing directly beside Drake now.

Drake realized his mistake in taking this distraction, but at least there was no immediate repercussion.

 

“You knocked me down?!” Dennis queried. The young boy part of him embarrassed by possibly being floored by a girl. Also the fearful cousin in him scared to death of her wrath at insulting her if it was truly her that had done it.

 

Pricilla kicked him. “Stop being such a moron!”

Drake looked at Pricilla, wondering if she realized that he was actually the one at fault. She returned his confused glance with one of her own that clearly stated she understood.
Drake almost laughed… he would have, but a voice in his head screamed a constant reminder of ‘Yeah, but it’s Pricilla!’

 

Drake really should have ran while he had the chance… but he was occupied watching Dennis pay for the annoyance he’d caused. However, his memory of who was standing behind him returned as he heard a click and looked down at his wrist...

“La dracu! I fell for it again!”

 

Not far off, enjoying the fresh rather than putrid air, was Ellipsis, who turned and noticed Drake when he heard the telltale swearwords. Perhaps he really shouldn’t have taught those to him… At least very few people seemed to know what they meant.

 

“I told you, you weren’t getting away from me, we’re meant to be together.” Pricilla purred, noticing but not caring about her cousin’s snail like escape.

“When did you tell me that?” Drake growled.

“You don’t remember? I think you were nine…”

“… You freak of nature; get away from me!” Drake pulled at the cuffs, but they were metal.

Breaking was probably impossible, they were thick as was the chain, and burning them would hurt more than he even wanted to imagine. He didn’t burn from heat easy, but metal headed to a point where it melted off? He was pretty sure that would hurt and might mold into his hand… which very well might look cool but would make it rather hard to move.

 

Ellipsis was smirking evilly from a distance at Drake's predicament. Well, the boy had done well to avoid the girl for most of the visit. It looked like he was doomed to spend the last twelve or so hours with her. Ellipsis did wonder how she could see she needed metal cuffs to keep him near her, and not realize he hated her.

 

Drake spent five hours with her… five hours. He was seriously debating chewing off his own hand and had bitten his wrist twice.
Finally, Pricilla looked at the clock and noticed how late it was.

“Oh wow… the airship arrives in a little over seven hours.” She yawned, releasing the shackle she’d kept hold of and before her yawn even ended Drake was gone.

Drake ran to his room, already feeling the exhaustion the day had caused. He got ready for bed, but as a second thought, he grabbed his Wings of Fate bow, which he’d been surprised to find earlier in the day.
He put the bow behind the pillows and laid down on the bed, closing his eyes.

Drake was just drifting into a deep sleep when he heard someone enter the room. He was groggy and thus slow to wake up, but he did force himself to wake up.

“Awww, Drakey was sleeping!” Pricilla giggled and hopped onto the bed.

“… Permisiune!” Drake screamed, sitting up. “Plecare! Concediu!”

Pricilla blinked a few times, then smiled. “Going to have to speak in a language I can understand, Drakey.”

“Leave!” Drake translated. “Leave! Leave! Dispărea! Vanish! Just leave!”

Pricilla wrapped her arms around his arm and put her head on his shoulder.

“That is the opposite of leaving!”

“Aww, I’m never going to leave you.”

“This is why. This is why people kill themselves,” Drake announced in amazement.

“You have to leave tomorrow; I want to spend all the time with you that I can!”

“Why? Honestly why? I don’t want you around. By now, you have to know that. I am, right this instant, debating suffocating you with a pillow. And—,” Drake rant was ruined when he glanced over and noticed a major problem…

Pricilla was asleep.

“… I hate you.”

 

 

 

Ellipsis, who was in the next room as always, heard the shouting from Drake and smirked to himself. Pricilla seemed to come and visit Drake at night now almost two thirds of the time. He didn't really want to think about what she did to him in there, but he obviously didn't like it… regardless, it wouldn’t kill him. With that thought, Ellipsis drifted off to a peaceful sleep.