Originally uploaded Jul 24, 2023

Reynolds Pov

I quietly walked towards Alice's room. In my hands I carried some plates of food for her to eat. It already has been months since she properly ate. The little she managed I had to force feed her to keep her alive. Ever since Arthu- no, Grey told the truth and left Alice has been cooped up in her room.

Every attempt to try to get her to open back up did not end well. Vincent and his wife were growing more and more concerned each passing day. We all were.

She had taken the new far worse than even I have. To imagine that the little boy we lovingly was some king from another world. Everything that we have all been through, all of it was a fabrication. Perhaps it was hubris that I didn't notice something was off from the beginning. To think that I would have raised such a prodigy. But no, Grey was a king, far more experienced than me.

My question was why? Why did he tell us now? He did say something about doing something and that it was far larger than all of us. To be honest my mind was flooding with emotions that I didn't properly hear him. Was this what people called ignorance is bliss?

I gently knocked on the wooden door. And just like always I heard no response. Reaching for the doorknob I carefully turned it. Gently opening the door the room was dark, despite being early afternoon.

"Dear?" I cautiously asked as I pushed the door open wider.

She was huddled up on her bed, her auburn hair was a mess. Her complexion was sickly pale, so skinny that I could make our her cheekbones. She was awake, but she did not reply.

Making sure the gently close the door behind me I place the tray of food at her bedside table as I walked up to her. I reached out to touch her. To try to comfort to any sort of way but she reeled away from my hands.

Dark patches underlined her eyes as she stared back at me, her mere gaze was enough to portray the emotions and thoughts that were going on inside her mind. She had it worse than me. I wasn't quiet sure what had happened but Grey showed her something.

"Honey, you need to eat." I desperately plead as I picked up a bowl of warm soup. I scooped it up in a small wooden spoon as I tried to feed her. With a scream she slapped the spoon out of my hands, sending it and the bowl flying from my hands.

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But I didn't say anything, I just approached her again as I wrapped my arms around her. Her now frail body felt so small in my arms. I pulled her closer into me, her body was cold and trembling.

She buried her face into my chest as tears ran down her face.

"I'm horrible aren't I" She said in between tearful sobs.

"No, you're not." I did my best to reassure her.

"They way I looked at him, as if he wasn't even human. I didn't want to... I didn't want to take him seriously. He showed me the truth..."

"Nobody would have easily trusted what Arthur had told us." I replied as I gently patted her head.

"Then am I a terrible person for thinking that Arthur... No, that Grey is not our son." She said as she looked at her own hands in disbelief.

And how could I have given her a truthful answer when I thought the exact same thing. Alice was the one that has gone through all the pain and troubles of being a mother. Now, everything she knew about her child was just a lie. A mere fabrication Grey had created to better fit in. I wanted nothing more than to deny it, to believe that all of this was just a terrible nightmare.

That our boy was just a gifted child who would change the world. I wanted to shut out this reality that was so cruel to us. But no, I need to be the strong one. The one our family could rely on.

"I'm sorry." Alice quietly said as she stared back at me. Despite being so disheveled and thin she was just as beautiful as when I had first laid my eyes on her.

"There is nothing to be sorry for. We... just need to work out our feelings." I said, unsure if our family would ever be the same.

"I wonder what our son would have been like if Grey hadn't taken over. Would he be outgoing like you or would he have been more shy like me." Alice said her eyes were red with tears.

I wanted to disagree with her. That despite everything he has told us. We have still thought of him as our son and raised him. But it was hard to swallow that pill. He was a king from a different world who put up an act of being our child.

"It doesn't change the fact that we have raised him as family for over thirteen years now Alice." Her thought process would be just more emotionally destructive.

"We lived life as a family. We fought, bickered. Cheered and cried together. Isn't that what makes us family? Not our blood or our pasts. But what we went through together as a family." I said, trying to convince myself just as much as I was trying to convince my wife.

"He has done so much for us. Wouldn't he have just abandoned us without telling us the truth if he didn't care about us in some way. He told us that we deserved to know the truth didn't he?" I lifted Alice's chin as we looked at each other. Tears in both of our eyes.

"You're not horrible Alice. We just need some time." I said reassuring her and I could feel her body relax as she gave a weary smile.

But even I wasn't so sure. Will we even see our son again? And if we do what would he be like? Without the pretense of being our son would he be more like how he was back in his old world? Would it be enough time for us to accept him as our son again or was that bridge gone?

I wasn't sure, but I pushed those thoughts out of my mind as I wrapped Alice in a deep embrace. Whatever the future was I'll be there for my family.