Chapter 8

Midnight

“Come, quick! He should be waiting just around here,” Louis said in an unusually cheery and ecstatic manner as they maneuvered through the forests of Olympia.

Julia did find it strange for Louis to suddenly invite her out into the woods at night to meet a friend of his, even asking Venus for her thoughts. However, both with the knowledge that Louis would never knowingly lead her to harms’ way and Venus’ assurance of it convinced her to go with him.

“You seem unusually cheerful about this,” she said to Louis.

“Of course! My friend said he wanted to meet you!”

“So ummm… Who’s this friend of yours?”

“He told me not to tell you his name until we get there.” Louis paused for a second. “But he’s a really nice guy, so I wouldn’t worry about it! He was my best friend’s brother, after all!”

“I see…” Julia’s doubts haven’t left her yet, but she kept on pace with him.

“Here!” Louis shouted.

They came out into a clearing in the forest where the moon stands high and proud in the sky. There’s no source of light in here besides the lunar goddess herself, and although it’s not something that one would call dark. Just across the clearing stood a man clothed in pure white, a sinister smile flashing across his face.

“Charles!” Louis said. “I brought her here!”

“Good, good,” the man said as he approached them.

Julia is visibly horrified by the situation, especially as she noticed two other men take their place on where they just came from, guns in hand. She tugged on Louis’ shirt, but to no avail. The boy is clearly either oblivious or reveling on the situation itself, with that damned stupid smile on his face.

Still, despite her renewed and heightened uncertainty, Julia still found herself hiding behind Louis for protection, desperately clinging to hope that he’d either realize the true situation or at least not be colluding with the approaching man.

Her fragile cover is swiftly set aside, though, and Charles swiftly grabbed her face.

“Now, thanks to him, you are all mine.”

All her hopes quickly vanished as the Prince grabbed her breast, despair quickly filling the void it left. The prince is rough. Relentless. And he quickly threw her face down on the ground, tearing through her clothes as if they were made of paper. She can’t resist - she knows that it is futile with all the guns and guards that probably surrounds her.

 The feeling of betrayal and hatred finally set in, and her eyes wandered into where Louis, who she thought her friend, is. To her surprise, however, Louis is not grinning or smiling. He’s not apathetic either. His face showed nothing but pure terror. Terror at the situation, at the betrayal, and at his inability to do anything about the horror that occurs in front of him.

“She feels just as good as I imagined!” Charles said as he continued his assault, turning his head towards Louis. “You did a great job, kid!”

He’s clearly mocking him. He’s clearly gloating about how he managed to trick Louis into bringing her to him. Why Louis would ever trust this person in the first place is beyond her, but she does know that Louis is not a part of it.

And Louis clearly didn’t take his taunt lightly. In an unnaturally fast stroke, something she would never have expected to come from the sickly Louis, he came onto his feet and tried to hit him in the head.

“You bastard!” he said, anger seething from his words.

All his efforts seemed to be in vain, though, as Charles has effortlessly blocked his attempt at helping her and exacting revenge.

“Careful, kid.” Charles swept him aside like a doll made of rubber. “I may taught you all you know, but I did not teach you all I know. Besides, with all the guns that surround us, would you really want to attack me? After all, it’s not just your life in line, and you already betrayed her once.”

Louis is still visibly angered by this, though it seems that he relented.

***

Louis kept his head low on the ground, unable to look at the horror his friend is facing, unable to do anything after he was effortlessly rag-dolled across the clearing - all because of his own ignorance. “Why are you doing this?” he asked to her assailant.

“Why, you ask?” Charles laughed at the question. “Do you even need to do that? Hahahaha! You must be an even bigger fool than I initially thought you are, then!”

He removed himself from Julia, seemingly satisfied at his work.

“I am doing all of this because I want to, and there is nothing anybody can do to stop me! After all, I am the prince of this empire, you worm!”

Charles groomed himself as he spoke, fixing his clothing that got messed up during his vicious act.

“I still have to thank you, though,” he said, grabbing the bare Julia by the hair and throwing her towards Louis. “I know you must be mad at me, kid, so I will be giving you this as a thank you gift! You can do anything you want to her for tonight. And even though it is a used product, I can tell you that it still feels great!”

Julia looked up at Louis, crawling up to him with her strength that was lost in trying to restrain herself from simply smacking the prince around. She grabbed on to her body, bringing her mouth close to his ear.

“Please…” she said.

Louis tried to give her comfort by embracing her, though he’s still rather unsure as to what he should actually do.

“I won’t do it,” he said, strong and firm. “I just wanna go home with her already.”

Julia smiled a bit through her tears.

“You sure? Well, it is your loss!” Charles seemingly turned around to leave, but instead quickly turned around again and laughed instead. “Is what I would have said if you were one of my men. Sadly, you are not. And that was not a choice.”

The men that have earlier stayed in the shadows now surround them in the clearing, guns pointed at the duo as horror crossed both of their faces.

“So, what will it be?”

The tears that have been flowing on their faces has increased alongside their horrors. Julia clung on to Louis, crying on his shoulder.

“Do it,” she said.

“But…”

“I don’t wanna die…”

She forced herself to lift her body to meet Louis’ face, showing Louis just how much she’s been crying. She unzipped Louis’ pants, and positioned herself on top of him.

“I… also… don’t want you to die… So please… take responsibility…”

Louis felt the horror she felt by looking at her face. His is nothing but a droplet in her sea.

“I understand…” he said, embracing her. “I also… I also don’t want you to die. I already betrayed you once tonight…”

“It’s not your fault…”

She’s lying. He knows it is. Because he knows that it is his fault. It’s his fault that they’re here in the first place. It’s his fault that this happened to them. And it is his responsibility to get them out alive.

“I’m sorry…” he cried as his hips moved. Against his will or not, whether she blames him or not, even if she forgives him. It’s still all his fault.

Charles began to laugh hard, echoing through the empty forests of Olympia.