(I’m guessing there are cellphones? Possibly?)
Floyd shifted as a buzzing noise reached his ears. Light was barely showing through a window in Ace’s bedroom, and he exhaled softly, just wanting to curl back up with Ace and fall asleep. But that annoying buzzing sound kept going and he sat himself up a tad, reaching over to grab his phone from Ace’s bedside table. He frowned softly, looking at the screen. There were around 15 missed calls from Nick. He called his older brother back.
“What could you possibly want this early in the morning?” He hissed quietly. But his expression fell when Nick was frantically yelling at him.
Floyd got out of the bed quickly, throwing on his clothes as fast as he could. “I have to go,” he said quickly, not sure if Ace was awake or not as he jogged out of the bedroom.
Ace opened his eyes, sitting up and stretching he looked around.
Where is Floyd? He thought as he got dressed, throwing on an over sized sweatshirt. The door opened, a lady with bright red hair wearing a uniform walked in.
"Oh, King Ace, I was just about to wake you." She said, folding her hands as she stood near the door.
"Good morning Val, I was just wondering if you saw Floyd?" He asked, scratching his neck as he picked up a few things off of the floor.
"He left very earlier this morning.." Ace's eyes widened, frowning a bit.
"O-oh, thank you" She nodded, walking out of the room and closing the door.
(Bit of a flashback)
Floyd had sprinted back home, pushing threw a small crowd of people that had gathered outside of his home. He had run straight into the basement where the gruesome sight was. Cassie. His Cassie. A gun in her hand, and a bullet in her head, dead on the concrete floor. He had sunk to his knees, a scream rising in his throat. But nothing came out. He couldn’t force anything out. He just sat there, holding his older sister, sobbing softly.
She couldn’t have killed herself. She wouldn’t have done that. She was so happy, if anything was wrong, him or Nick would have known. Someone could have staged it. Shot her and made it look like a suicide. But who would want to kill Cassie?
~
(And back to the present)
Floyd was sat in his room, eyes stinging from the constant crying. His clothes were still stained with her blood. Nick had pleaded with him to get cleaned up, but he couldn’t. He didn’t feel anything, just numbness. If he hadn’t gone to the castle, if he had stayed, she might still be alive. He hugged one of her pillows closer to his chest, more tears flowing down his cheeks.
(Wow I just sat here, and felt like I was reading a fanfiction or some shit and I was like DAAAAMN THIS BITCH GOTTA UPDATE and then I realized I'm part of this.)
(Lmao, I told you it would be tragic)
Ace sat in his office, scribbling his signature onto some papers, his head leaning in his hand.
"Why would he leave without telling me?" He said, he had been crying for most of the day and at this point he was just getting angry.
"He lied to me."
There was a soft knock on the door, and Nick let himself in, sitting down on the edge of the bed. The two were silent for a moment before Nick spoke up. “It couldn’t have been a suicide.”
Floyd nodded, wiping his eyes. “That’s what I thought,” he stammered. “Cassie would have never done that.”
“Who would want to hurt her? The only person I can think of would be…” Nick trailed off towards the end, but the brothers were both thinking the same name. Ryan.
Nick had gotten up then, walking to the castle, having ignored Floyd’s protests. He stormed into he castle, heading down to the training area. Ryan was there practicing, and he smiled when he saw Nick. “Nicolas , how’s it-“ Ryan was cut off by a sharp grunt when Nick struck him. Nick quickly had Ryan on the floor, causing a few of the other men in the room to begin shouting.
“You fucking bastard!” Nick yelled, choking Ryan with his hands. “I know you killed her!”
Ace jumped, a guard had opened the door, allowing it to slam against the wall.
"You're majesty, there is a fight in the training room." Ace stood up, and stormed down the hall, the frightened reaper following behind him.
"What is going on down here?" He shouted angrily, he crossed his arms across his chest, his confidence coming back to him. His eyes widened when he saw Nick.
"Nick! Let go of him!" Ace ordered, walking closer to Floyd's older brother.
Nick heard the familiar voice, loosening his grip on Ryan. He got up, but not before hissing a threat in the man’s face. “This man is a monster, he committed murder!” Nick shouted, pointing accusingly at Ryan, who was coughing and breathing sharply.
“M-Murder?!” Ryan stammered. “I didn’t kill anyone!”
“You lying bastard!” Nick shouted, seeming ready to attack Ryan again before he was grabbed roughly by two other reapers. He turned to Ace, fury in his hazel eyes. “He killed her! He shot Cassie, and made it look like a suicide! He deserves for me to fucking shoot him too!”
“Cassie is dead?” Ryan said, eyes wide in shock, which seemed to only anger Nick further.
Ace's eyes widened, tearing up a bit.
"Cassie's dead?!" He asked, walking closer, and pulling Nick away from Ryan.
"Listen, I know what losing family feels like, but just calm down, you aren't thinking properly.." He said, leading the hazel eye'd boy away.
"You need to stop and cool down." He gave Nick a hug, a few tears falling from his eyes.
Nick’s fists were still clenched in anger, even when Ace hugged him. “I came home early this morning and I found her. Floyd was supposed to be there. He was supposed to stay home last night. I called him so many times, and he finally came home” he said, eyes stinging with tears.
Ace stiffened, letting his hold on Nick loosen.
Floyd was supposed to be home last night?
His eyes widened, his mouth open slightly.
"W-where is Floyd? Can I talk to him? Please??" He asked, his heart rapidly beating, he was panicking and wasn't sure what to do, although he knew he had to talk to Floyd.
Nick scoffed softly, turning his head away as he wiped his eyes. “He’s at home, locked away in his bedroom. Barely speaking, so good luck with that,” he muttered in response, pulling away from the hug. Without another word he walked off, towards where the lab had been to tell Cassie’s co-workers about what happened.
Floyd still hadn’t changed out of the bloody clothes. He didn’t know what he was feeling. His body felt stiff and numb, but he also couldn’t stop trembling. Why did this have to happen, why now? Things were supposed to get better. When he got the General position, he promised Cassie that he would make enough money to provide for them. He promised that she wouldn’t have sleepless nights from staying at the lab so late every night. He promised to protect her. He.. He failed. What kind of brother was he?
Ace practically ran down the streets to Floyd's, although a few Reapers tagged along, If there was a murderer loose, they couldn't exactly let their king roam the streets alone. He opened the door after telling the guards to wait outside, and walked up to Floyd's bedroom door, knocking, he went inside, and sat next to him.
"Hey..I heard what happened.." He said in a whisper, hugging Floyd, and running a hand through his hair, hoping to comfort him.
Floyd faintly heard Ace’s voice when he spoke, but the sounds made him feel like he was underwater. He didn’t look at the young king, burying his face in Cassie’s pillow instead. He inhaled slowly, taking in the vanilla/lilac scent of it. It smelled so nice right there and then, just like Cassie.
More tears dripped down his cheeks, and he wasn’t sure how he could have been crying so long. But he felt like he just saw her body, even though it had been two to three hours ago. He could still picture it in gruesome detail, and it felt plastered to the inside of his eyes.
Ace sighed, giving Floyd's head a kiss, giving him a tight squeeze and rocking him back and forth, resting his chin on top of his head as he did this.
'It's going to be okay love." He whispered, closing his eyes as he continued to try and comfort him.
Floyd leaned slightly against Ace as he did so, hands now being the only part of his body that held a noticeable tremble. It was all his fault. He was supposed to be home, but he was at the castle with Ace all night instead. That made him selfish, didn’t it? If he had been at the house, he could have stopped who did it. But whoever did kill her seemed to know that no one would have been at the house with her. His mind ran over the people he knew, trying to think of someone. Anyone.
“Did Nick get arrested?” He asked, speaking for the first time. His voice was soft and scratchy. He had been finally able to scream earlier, and he had done so until his throat felt raw.
Ace stopped rocking Floyd, running his hand through his hair and still holding him.
"No, you really think I'd let that happen?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood. He sighed when he noticed Floyd shaking. He grabbed his hands, giving them a squeeze.
"I'll tell you what, you and Nick can stay in the castle with me," He said, a small, sympathetic smile spread across his face, "Just so you don't have to stay here where it happened.." the blue eyed boy said, giving Floyd's nose a kiss.
Floyd bit his lower lip as he considered Ace’s offer for a moment. It would be better to stay there, he knew he would have sat in the same spot for days on end if no one had dragged him away from it. He would go, but he would take some of Cassie’s things with him.
He tasted blood and stopped biting his lower lip, it having split. He nodded slowly, sniffling as he sat up a bit.
Ace allowed Floyd to sit up, although he didn't let go of his hands.
"Do you want to get your stuff? I can call Nick, and I can get some reapers to patrol the streets at night." He said, still attempting to help brighten Floyd's mood even if it was just a bit.
Floyd nodded his head slowly, still hugging the pillow as he stood, letting his hands slip from Ace’s. He stepped into his closet, eyes searching the clothes for what he might want to take.
Ace watched, his eyes furrowed.
"I'll wait outside if you would like." He said, not wanting to overwhelm Floyd.
“It’s fine,” Floyd murmured back in the same tone as before. He looked down at the pillow in his arms and hesitantly set it back down on the bed before going back into his closet. He grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed random clothing items into it before coming back.
Ace sighed, walking out of the room and calling Nick, letting him know that they could stay at the castle. He walked back in, leaning at the doorway, his hands stuffed inside of his pockets.
Floyd was eventually finished, walking over to Ace. “I’m ready,” he murmured, looking down at Ace, eyes still slightly puffy and red.
