The king was rushed to the castle in Sky Strato as the in-house doctor and nurses were awaiting his arrival.

“Give me a briefing.” One of the nurses asked the assistant while the king was rushed inside.

“Cardiac arrest. Most likely due to stress.” The assistant replied.

“Any family available to be by his bedside?”

“Well he has no family in town right now. His two sons, one left and one apparently gone missing. The Queen has separated from him and lives a good ways away.”

So they sent for the Queen. 

Queen Aurora Stratus.

She was middle aged. Lean and a tad shorter than her husband who came in at around 5’8”. Her shoulder length dark hair was seasoned with silver strands and was often kept in a loose side braid. In two days time, she arrived at the bedside of her husband.

“How is he?“ she asked the doctor.

“Unfortunately, he’s fallen into a coma. It took the transport quite a while to reach the castle. His brain suffered from hypoxia.”

“Do you know when he could possibly wake up?”

“As of now, it is uncertain.”

“Oh.” She looked over at an unconscious Stratus. “May I have a word with him in private?“

“Of course, Your Highness.” The doctor finished his observations and left the room.

The Queen pulled up a chair and proceeded to smooth her dress under her bottom before taking a seat.

She sighed. “You fool. It appears you’ve damn well near driven yourself into your own grave.” 

She paused before continuing on. 

“And I’ve heard everything about the coronation. Our son is missing?! Our second son! I was already heartbroken after losing Alto but now, Raine too?” She clenched her hands together placing them atop her lap.

 “I told Raine I wouldn’t be able to attend the coronation but I made sure to see him the week beforehand. I never knew that would be my last time seeing h-him.” 

Her voice faltered and she paused for a moment to regain her composure before she continued on.

“I just think about everything leading up to this. 

Our kingdom was always just barely holding on. We could never achieve that certain level of prosperity. Oftentimes during our meetings, after discussing issues at hand and finally coming to an agreement you would go behind my back and alter our final decision. Ultimately, leaving my input out.

The same goes for raising our sons. Did my perspective mean nothing to you? You were headstrong in molding our boys in your image. Constant studies, they often had no time for themselves. Failure after failure weighed on you, pressured you and stressed you more than you showed. You dreamt of nothing more than to retire. Passing on the kingship would be the key to solving your problems.

After Alto left, that became the tipping point. I couldn’t stand to be around you and felt it was necessary for me to leave. I went to and resided in my inherited estate outside the kingdom. I did however continue to stay involved with the happenings of our kingdom through my aid.

During my time away I would constantly write letters to Raine just to make sure he knew I loved him no matter the distance. I’d offer him advice and I’d even visit here and there.”

She paused before leaning in closer to the king’s ear.

“The three most important people in your life you’ve driven away. Do you not realize that about yourself, Thune?

But most importantly, at this moment our kingdom is without a ruler so, I’ve come to invoke The Succession Clause in the Sky Strato State of Rule which states:

‘In the event the king becomes incapacitated and is unable to perform his duties...the power shall be passed on to the Queen and so on and so forth.’

It’s sad that it’s come to this but maybe this is my opportunity now to help get our kingdom back on track. Don’t worry, it will be in great care.” 

She got up from her seat and made her way to the door.

“But knowing stubborn you, you’d probably sense that I’m back and wake up out of spite!”

----

Meanwhile in Sky Atlia, Princess Cirrus sat in her room, dejected. Curtains closed. No light entered. Wondering where she went wrong.