~Prologue~

Prince Fredrick didn’t want to be a prince. He was a ten-year old boy and by god, all he wanted was to run out of his castle and live with the people of normality below who resided in quaint looking little villages. He once passed the happy, carefree children playing whilst he rode in the ornately decorated carriage with his mother, the grand Queen Penelope.

The Queen had a sharp look about her, almost like a vulture of some sort yet instead of ugly raggedness, she had beauty. Her hair was jet black which was always put up into a tight bun, decorated with a crown and miscellaneous pinned jewels. Despite her sharp looks however, she had sweet honey brown eyes which could simply make flowers bloom if she stared at them. Well not really. Fredrick’s father, King Florian De’ Gray was a different story. He had a ragged sort of beauty that made grand audience grow silent at his arrival.. His cold, ice-blue eyes could stare down the fiercest of predators and the aura that emanated from him surly kept his enemies at bay, therefore protecting his country of Ahspire. Besides his mother and father, Fredrick also had an older brother, Prince Cornelius, first in line for the thrown. Cornelius had been treasured by the royal family and he seemed to relish in that fact. He always received the toys, pets, and clothes, basically anything he asked for. When Prince Fredrick was born, he of course received mostly the hand-me-downs of Cornelius along with his own clothes.

Still, Fredrick didn’t care. He wanted to run. He wanted to escape the luxuries, defy the rules, and be what he dared to be. It was one early spring morning when he decided to put his major plan into action. Wearing the clothes he’d traded from a worker boy within the castle, he walked down the grand stair case whilst his family was still asleep and most of the night guards were off, trading shifts with the day guards. Walking down the dimly lit corridor, he arrived in the kitchens and escaped out the back door. The smell of chickens and hay and other indescribable scents filled his nose. It was so different from the constant air of perfumes and soaps he’d been accustomed to. Then he broke out into a run, freedom carrying down the path and before he knew it, he’d passed the main gates of his domain. Grinning and without looking back, he headed down towards the city of Grand Domina.

Grand Domina was Capital of Ahspire and was the third largest city in the world with a population of about nine million people. It had everything from upper-class mansions to the lower class slums; Five-Star restaurants to little and affordable bars and hangouts.

The streets were lined with lamps which automatically lit and dimmed in response to the sun’s setting and rising. The morning market was setting up and Fredrick could catch the delicious scent of freshly cooked breakfast and other foods which would be sold. He was quite fascinated with all the different items placed on the stands. Who knew there was such a variety of fruits and fish? The Sun drew higher and the sounds of life were filling his ears. People were awake, shopping, going about their business. Children were awake and playing wherever they wanted to play.

Fredrick passed a park surrounded by tall trees and bushes covered flowers displaying a spectrum of colors. It was quite the display compared to the surrounding neighborhood which was considered one of the more low-class. The children all played with ratty, hand-made toys or just plain old sticks and branches from the trees which were meant to be swords for their imaginary adventures.

His attention was brought towards one particular boy though. This boy sat quite alone on the grass in a patch of sun.. It reminded him of when his mother told him of the flowers in her garden and how they needed to bath in the sun to grow stronger. He was pale and looked unbelievably frail, almost as if he were to break any moment. He head messy black hair which managed to frame his face perfectly without being too long and he wore second-and clothes which were probably donated or just relatively cheap. He felt drawn to such a sight and he began to walk towards the boy. As he drew closer, the boy looked up and Fredrick was stunned. Why? The boy’s eyes were an almost grayish green and while he learned it was common for the lower-class civilians to have muddier colored eyes, this one seemed to just spark spectacularly and it made his heart pound. There was surprise and confusion on the boy’s face, as if he wasn’t expecting anyone to come and play with him. Recovering quickly, Fredrick smiled charmingly at the boy and greeted him with a kind,

“Hello...”

They played together for hours upon hours. It was almost as If they had once been close comrades in a past life, brought together again by a chance of fate. The boy, Valentine, seemed to glow in a strange sort of beauty that made Fredrick flush whenever that smile flashed his way. What was this feeling? Almost as if a swarm of butterflies had taken up residence within him, causing this uneasy fluttering. Nevertheless, he liked it.

It was only when the sky had turned a vibrant red-orange when they heard the loud yells of men resonating down the streets that they ceased. To Fredrick’s dismay the cause of such a ruckus belonged to no one but the Royal Guards of the castle. They were ransacking the houses and forcing the civilians out into the streets, all in search for the missing little prince; all in search for him. Oh, such guilt. It spread through him as if he’d been dumped into a pool of ice-water, swiftly chilling his merriment. He knew it wasn’t fair that these peaceful villagers now suffered through soldiers invading their homes without any warning and without a second though on asserting violence into the situation as well. His dream was so short lived but he knew it was just that, short lived. Despite how much he dreaded returning to those confines of rules sandwiched between stones bricks, he had to turn himself and go home.

“I have to go now…” He said in almost a whisper with his tone filled with sorrow. He didn’t want to leave. He turned his head down to look at Valentine and he received such a sharp shock of pain, straight through his heart. Valentine was looking up at him, eyes bright and wide, eyebrows upturned slightly in a way that made it clear he was upset. More than upset, he was dreading this moment as well. Fredrick bit his lip and knew that if he didn’t take his leave now, he would never. The urge to stay with Valentine tugged at his strings and made him feel nauseous.

Thus, without bothering to hear a response from the boy, he turned. He didn’t make it far though when he was suddenly stopped by a warm hand around his wrist. Fredrick could have sworn he felt sparks dance against his skin as their skin connected yet he was promptly brought out of his thoughts as Valentine tugged him down the alley and into a small neighborhood. He was led to a house, brick brown like all the others and not particularly stand-out-ish at all. Valentine released his hold on Fredrick and ran inside the house which could be rightly assumed as his.

He waited patiently for his return, cursing every second that ticked by and how much louder the soldiers yells were growing, signaling their approach. He didn’t want them to be anywhere near Valentine. Finally, the boy ran back out of the house and stopped in front of Fredrick, slightly breathless and a faint blush on his cheeks. He held out his hands and there lying so peacefully on his palms was a doll, painted up and dressed like a jester. Fredrick blinked, accepting this doll it from the boy.

“It’s a present!” He cried out to the Prince who already had as many toys as every child in this village but all of a sudden, those meant nothing to him. They were about as worthless as a grain of sand compared to this. He felt warm all over and he couldn’t help but smile and feel even more miserable about the situation, because he knew full well the chances of running into this boy were remarkably slim. They were of entirely different classes. He wanted to give the boy something in return but what? Thinking quickly, he dug in his pocket for the charm he always kept on him. It was of a little blue plastic cage with a yellow bird hanging inside it and he placed it in the boy's hand.

There were tears welling up in his eyes and he hated it. He had to leave now. Turning to face the boy for perhaps the last time, he smiled and whispered,

“Goodbye.” Running was all he could do then. He didn’t, couldn’t bear to hear another word or see his face anymore. He ran as fast as possible towards those damn royal soldiers, towards his stupid royal home and away from him; Valentine, His Valentine.