Chapter 15 (Stars)

Hello friends! Before we start, I just wanted to let everyone know that I wanted to make up my own currency because I think it's weird to put in money from the 'real world' into my made up one. So, please watch out for that!

Jack (POV)

My mother was sobbing. She was sobbing for the long lost prince. Hell, my father never looked so happy in his life. But, I couldn't help shake the feeling that this would turn out badly. I mean, what would this mean for Edward? For Alexios? For the kingdom? Plus, why had he suddenly returned? It was almost too convenient.

The car took a sharp turn into the garage and I cursed as my father slammed on the breaks. I felt Jessy slam against my side and I braced her so she wouldn't go flying. My father hopped out of the car and walked over to my mother's side. She had, almost instantly, stopped crying and giggled as my father swooped down low to open the door and let her out. She giggled a little bit more and smiled widely as she took his hand and he slung her out. She laughed as he spun her out of the car and slammed the door behind her. They didn't seem to notice our presence as they stared at each other happily. I got out of the car and my father finally glanced up.

"Oh," he said a bit dejectedly. I resisted the urge to grimace in disgust as he griped my mother tightly. He pulled out his wallet and gave us a little bit of King's Dime. He smirked at me. "Stay out a little late tonight, alright?" He winked and my mother squealed as he rushed her off into the house. Jess looked confused as she hopped out of the car behind me.

"What's going on?" She questioned. I shook my head and leaned down to give the coat around her a tug before grasping her hand and making my way out of the garage.

"You don't want to know."

***

"I'm hungry," Jessy declared after we reached the outskirts of town. I nodded and grabbed her hand tightly as I noticed the amount of people out at 7 o'clock. There isn't usually this many people, but I guess everyone is waiting to see if the King will make an announcement. This was good business for the vendors, who were selling things left and right. Though, bad for us as we could barely make our way through the crowd.

I stopped to glance at the chaos around us. The sun was almost down behind the horizon and people were still milling around as if it were noon. There were various vendors, all with different signs trying to make someone buy a certain thing. Or sometimes, they were selling the same thing. Those were the worst people to buy from. They were always competing against one another and it wasn't fair to the other side you didn't buy from. Though, sometimes it was good to be here. Sometimes, my father would even make Jessy and I come down here to sell some of the crops and food we didn't need. Even though my father did have a paying job, he said a little bit of extra money here and there won't hurt.

I sighed before straightening up and turning so I was clutching Jessy's hand more firmly. I then tried to quickly shove my way through the crowd. I heard Jessy yelp behind me and I almost lost grip on her hand. I quickly spun around and looked to see her on the ground, her eyes holding tears. I growled at whoever was inconsiderate enough to not notice a little girl walking as I picked her up in my arms. She clung herself to my neck and let lose a few tears. Her warm tears were a sharp contrast to her cold hands as they tightened against my neck. I sighed wearily as I made my way through the ground, my hand in her hair to soothe her. When we finally made it to the other side, I found a small table to rest on. I didn't release Jessy as I sat down on the table. She shook slightly in my arms, scared of what had happened to her.

"Let me see your knees," I told her softly. A soft sniffle is all that came from her as she sat back in my lap. I kissed her small nose before looking down to her knees. I noticed that they were a tad bit scraped up, but not enough to bleed. I leaned down and kissed them both. "All good. Does it still hurt?" I asked. She pouted a little and nodded, sniffing. I sighed dramatically. "Well, if those kisses didn't work... I guess tickles will!" My hands found their way around her waist and I tickled her until the smile couldn't stay off her face. Once we were done, I placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and stood up. "How about we grab some dinner, yeah?" She nodded eagerly and clung to my neck as we made our way to a vender.

I wasn't in the mood to eat and I knew she wouldn't eat much so I bought us a few things of fruit before heading over to a table. We both ate berries, apples, grapes, and oranges until our stomachs were sick. The entire time, we were talking about random things. Stuff that made us happy and sometimes we poked fun at people around us. Once, we had finished though, the joking and talking died. The darkness had finally descended down upon us by the time I decided we should do something else.

"Do you wanna go over to the park?" I asked. Jessy squealed and held up her hands. I took that as a yes as I gathered up our last remaining food and lifted her in my arms. In no time, we were about half way to the park. The crowds had considerable lessened, though a lot of people still lingered around, just talking and gossiping. The street lights gave off an eerie glow to the small playground as we approached it. "I'll push you on the swings for a little bit, then we'll go home, ok Jess?" I asked, walking over to the swings. She didn't seem to mind that I was only allowing her on the swings, she hardly ever gets to play on the playground anymore. Just being in town made her happy. She's spent almost all her life on the farm, since education was hard for us.

Silence was surrounding us as I got Jessy high enough and I went over to sit on the swing next to her, watching as she kicked her small legs to continue her loop. "Why do you think the Prince came back?" Jessy asked all of the sudden on her way down.

"What?" I asked just to clarify I heard her right. She was seven, almost eight, years old. Why did she care? Or, better yet, how did she know the Prince had left?

"Why do you think the Prince came back, Jay?" She asked, her head thrown back as she glanced up at the stars. I pondered over her question a little bit as I too got myself to start swinging lightly. The groaning sound of the swing was the only thing keeping us company as I opened my mouth to answer her:

"I don't know why Jess. Honestly? I didn't even know Prince Alexios was still alive... Why do you wanna know?" I asked, tilting my head to watch my little sister smile and reach at the stars with her left hand.

"The Prince could've gone anywhere in the entire world!" She exclaimed so suddenly and forcefully that it startled me. A smile was across her face and her eyes were a bit dazed, as if she were off in her own world.

"I guess he could've, but why would that be a good thing?" I asked. She frowned, her kicking ceasing and her eyes went downward to stare at the ground.

"Why would he want to come back and be with a mean daddy who hurts his brother and a mean mommy too? Why didn't he want to go somewhere? He could've gone to the moon and –and he would've been happy!" The sadness to her tone hurt my heart. What was she saying?

"Jess, are you not happy here?" I asked, a slight panic to my voice. "Do you not like it here?" I questioned. Her gaze found mine and she gave me a small smile.

"I don't like how mean the peoples here are, Jay." She spoke, her child –like voice small and uncertain. "I like it when they are nice. Dada and momma are nice sometimes but momma gets real sad sometimes and dada sometimes gets angry and doesn't know what to do. I just want everyone to be very happy. I wanna go somewhere where nobody cares about no–thing. I want you happy too, Jay." She told me, her voice lifting up at the thought. "I know you like Mr. Edward. I know Mr. Edward likes you too. I want you guys to be happy but when I asked momma once if two boys can kiss and be in love, she said no. She got real angry too and said that I shouldn't be friends with no boys that do that." She frowned at that thought, her voice getting sadder as she slowed to a stop on the swing. Mine had long since been forgotten as I stared at my baby sister in awe. I knew so was capable of thinking this way but, for some reason, it still startled me. "I don't want to not be friends with you or Mr. Edward 'cause you two wanna kiss and stuff. I like you and Mr. Edward. I don't think momma understands though, Jay. I just wanna be happy," she finally murmured, tears gathering in her eyes as she sniffled.

"Oh, Jess." I said softly and went over to gather her in my arms. How could a child think like this? This wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking about. This wasn't her job. She was supposed to be having fun and running around with little kids. She doesn't need this type of pressure. "Jess, don't think about it ok? I'm happy wherever you are, alright? Don't you forget that you are my happiness, ok? I don't care what mom thinks about me and it doesn't matter. All that matters is us, right now, alright?" I whispered softly. I felt her nodded against my neck but I didn't feel convinced. I just held her tightly in my arms and tried to calm her down.

Hello my lovelies! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter please don't forget to comment below on how you felt about this chapter! I honestly didn't expect this to go this way, but it did/ A lot of things that I initially thought were going to happen have changed and it's taking me a while to get my thoughts in process so please be patient with me. I hope you have a lovely day/night and thank you of reading! (1767)