Chapter 98 - Cry It All Out...

With the sun shining bright with the forever blue sky, the one around whom this whole story runs is now sitting on the tree branch looking nothing more than a bottomless void.

His hair was combed backwards with the black formal suit that showed that today was a day where you can pour out all your sadness.

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A day where you can be sad and cry for the one gone but that isn't the same case for him because growing up as the future emperor, the Crown Prince who was just 11 has been always taught to hide his weakness. And today for him there was no exception.

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"Your Highness!" Irene said as she looked at him from the ground.

"Lady Winter..." Alan said in a dazed way and jumped down the tree.

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"Your Highness, what are you doing here?" Irene asked as she removed the leaves from his hair.

"...Uh right, what am I doing here? I must be sending off the guest instead of slacking off." Alan said as he was about to walk past Irene but Irene held his hands and pulled him back.

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"Your Highness...That is not what I meant to say!" Irene said as she looked at the boy in front of him who looked suffocated but still he was trying his best to hold it in.

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"Lady Winter..?" Alan said with the same hazard look. "Prince, don't you feel bad or sad? Even a bit..." Irene asked as she looked at him eye to eye.

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"That...." He didn't have an answer to it not did he know how to explain it to her but the more she pressured him the more something inside him wanted to burst out and for some reason he didn't really like that idea.

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*Sigh* 'I knew this would be hard but I never thought of doing it but now that I am looking at him the image of my past portraying to be normal and trying to suppress my feelings just because I didn't want to show my weak side and lose that one feeling of restlessness that made me live...

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The fear of being lonely that made me nothing more than a wooden doll is flashing right before my eyes...and I have no intention of you becoming the 'Me' I was in the past so please forgive me..' Irene thought in her mind as she gently touched his face and then smiled as she went near his ear and whispered,

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"Your Highness, her majesty liked you a lot.." She said that and then *smack!*

".....Lady Winter...just now you....*smack!*" Alan wasn't even able to complete his sentence when he received another slap from no other than Irene who herself was trembling and was in tears.

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"I AM REALLY SORRY YOUR HIGHNESS BUT...*looks at him with teary eyes* THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN HELP YOU AND MAKE YOU CRY!! SO PLEASE DON'T MAKE THINGS WORSE AND JUST CRY OUT!! CRY YOUR HEART OUT!!!...

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DON'T THINK OF ANYTHING, FORGET YOU ARE A PRINCE OR A ROYAL AND JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE A CHILD....AND TODAY YOUR MOTHER HAS LEFT FOR HEAVEN...SO CRY YOUR HEART OUT!!" Irene said as she shouted on top of her lungs and raised her hand to slap him again but this time the crown prince held her hand.

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That even surprised Irene as everything suddenly felt heavy and his head was downward with his body shaking.

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"Your Highness..." Irene said as she touched his shoulders.

"Lady...Winter...you seriously are unpredictable...how come you always break down the walls that I built up so carefully...How...." Alan said as tears rolled down his eyes. 

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"Your Highness...*Pats his head* cry it out no one will stop you today..." Irene said as she looked at the sky.

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"Uwahhh!!! Boohoo!!! Mother!!! Why did she leave me...wah!!! Even though I was right in front of her...I was of no help nor was I able to take care of anyone... I am such a loser!!!" Alan said as he cried while holding onto Irene's hands.

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"Your highness...that's not true. You tried your best and we all know it...so does the empress. she loved you...she loved all of us which is why even in her last breath she had a smile on her face that clearly shows that there was nothing she regretted so please don't carry any hard feelings. Since they will only make you question your relation with the empress which will break her heart too." Irene said as she smiled and pointed towards the sky.

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"So please forget the bitter times and take those sweet memories as a memento. Cry as much as you want but just for today but remember the next time you think of the empress there should be a smile on your face since that's how you should remember her. Because she is someone you loved...because she is your mother." Irene continued as she brushed Alan's hair.

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"I...*hugs Irene suddenly* will do as you say..." Alan said as he kept on crying letting all the sadness, grief and frustration out of his heart until it made him feel nothing but numb and light.

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"Your Highness, are you feeling better now?" Irene asked Alan whose eyes were all swollen and puffed with a worn-out face but a better complexion.

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"I don't know what to say but now suddenly I feel as if something on my shoulders that was weighing me down has been lifted and my heart that was eating me up now feels calm and light as if it has come back to life. And it all thanks to you...Lady Winter." Alan said as she smiled at Irene who was sitting beside him.

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"I did what I was supposed to do but Prince please promise me that you won't suppress your feelings and thoughts...at least not infront of me," Irene said as she forwarded her hand towards him.

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"I promise when it's you...I will always be true." Alan said as he held her hand and both of them sat down in tranquillity without another word looking at the massive blue sky when suddenly a blue spark touched their joined hands and it gave the sensation of the empress mystical touch.

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"Just now!" Both of them said as they looked backwards and then at each other.

"Looks like mother blessed us for the last time," Alan said as he smiled while looking at the hand that felt the sudden sensation 

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"I agree...'Empress I will take fo everyone so please rest well'...She must have blessed us." Irene said as she smiled and then looked at the door from where she could see Ash looking at them with his guilty light green eyes.

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"Ash!" Irene said as she called for him but he turned around and walked away.

'Maybe I should give him some time...' Irene thought as she looked at the door as the scared and pale look on his face came on her mind.

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Meanwhile with Ash,

'What did I do!!! It's all because of me...If I would have been careful then I wouldn't have been kidnapped in the first place and the empress would have still been alive...It all happened because I was naive and weak just like in the past...' Ash thought in his mind as he ran down the halls until he ran out of breath.

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"Ahh" Ash shouted as he fell with a loud thud on the cold concrete floor. 'Just now I bumped into something.' Ash thought as he turned around and saw a bunch of Barron kids standing behind him with a satisfied look on their faces.

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'These kids, aren't they the ones who keep messing up with me always. No wonder I fell suddenly it must be their mischief. Normally I would fight back but today I can't since both the place and situation are threatening for me. Let's just play dead and leave silently.' Ash thought as he stood up dusted his clothes, bowed towards them and took steps towards the other room.

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"Hey, you wanna play dumb? Ha! You filthy brat!" One of the kids said as he held Ash collar and pulled him towards him.

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"Leave me," Ash said as he tried to lose the grip that was suffocating him but it didn't work. He was weaker than them in terms of strength and he knew if things keep going on like this. 

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He won't make it out so to avoid that he tried to play dead for real. 

"Hey you little brat why aren't you saying anything? Got tired already" one of the boys said as he shook him a bit but Ash didn't respond.

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"Crap! Did he fall asleep or did he d..die??" Another one asked as he looked at his hands and pluses which were stopped too.

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"No...No.....this can't be he isn't That! Wake up wake up!!" The bully said as he shook Ash and after a while, in the fear of getting punished ran out along with his friends.