Tom wished he could hide forever but Billy forced him to come out of hiding.

He publicly said that he got help from Tom, and that is why every citizen in Maryland city kept giving Tom their thanks.

Tom had to shake himself and tell himself, 'Just forget about Dad! and just be happy that Tactzo has been captured you can think about Dad later'

So Tom put a smile on his face and decided to enjoy his time with Billy.

Everywhere they went they got free food and money, even if Tom felt bad for taking it Billy let him know that it would be considered rude if he refused.

Tactzo was placed in a recently constructed cell. The cell wasn't right in front of the castle doors but to the side of it

 so that any citizen who wished to go up to him to mock him or hurt him could do it. 

Tom ignored Tactzo as they passed him to go into the black castle, he could practically feel Tactzo's eyes drilling holes in his head. 

They went to Billy's room in the castle and dropped off all the gifts. 

Billy opened his closet and took out a red royal suit. 

"What's this for?" Tom said.

"This is for you. I got it made for you since you will be coming with me to the 5 p.m. party that my father is hosting"

Tom stammers "w-what?"

"Father invited every rich person in Maryland along with high-ranking officials and military officers to celebrate!"

"Celebrating Tactzo's capture?"

Billy shook his head "To celebrate his execution, it's happening at 8 pm, sundown." 

Tom froze.....already? He thought they'd let him live longer.

"And I heard there will be pretty ladies since the guests are bringing their daughters in the hope of marrying me! Well you look at that, not once did a girl bat an eye at me but as soon as I capture Tactzo suddenly I'm getting marriage proposals?" Billy said as he began to dress himself for the party.

"So the party starts at 5 then execution will be at 8?" Tom clarified.

"Yep, 5 to 7 pm we party then we walk towards the balcony to watch the execution with Father and the rest of the nobles will stand outside the castle in the fancy seats that will be placed outside. Then he will be released from the cell to be executed"

Tom Smiled, the only reason why he didn't feel so bad was that once they killed him he would just get back up since he'd have 2 more lives. 

They got dressed and began to make their way to the ballroom. They met up with Axel who was leaning on Collum.

"Well if it isn't the prince that finally decided to be prince....You know ever since you've stopped hanging out with that fox street rat things have started going well for you" 

"Shut your mouth, Axel, you don't know what you are talking about. The only reason we haven't been hanging out with him is because we haven't seen him. If we had seen him we'd invited him to the party. Isn't that right Tom" Billy said angrily.

"O-of course we would," Tom said even though he had no power to invite anyone to this ball.

Axel rolled his eyes.

The music slowed to a stop and the king with a fork slightly tapped on his glass to get everyone's attention.

"I would like to thank everyone who has come here! We will be celebrating along with our ancestors who have been slain by Tactzo and thanks to my Son," The king pointed to Billy who slightly bowed, "We will get to finally see justice be served! Please enjoy the music and food!"

The music began to play again and people began to dance.

"Well everyone is excited for the execution but I'm excited for the main dish that will be served tonight," Axel said.

"What is that?" Billy asked.

"look at the large bird cage that is next to the king's throne. It's covered by a white cloth....who do you think is under that?"

Tom's blood became cold.

"Crow man?"

Axel nodded.

"B-but why is he here? shouldn't he be in cells? "

"Because he's pretty, why else? He'll become a trophy now and honestly, I'd hit that"

Tom wanted to puke, but Billy didn't notice Tom's discomfort and laughed out loud.

"Are you crazy Axel? He looks 30 years old and is probably thousands of years older than you" 

Axel shrugged "So? I'm age 19, I don't see a problem"

"Ew, that's like wanting to sleep with my dad or something. Too old" Billy made a dramatic age. 

"Okay now that is nasty no offence to the king but no way in a million years that would I sleep with that man." 

Billy smirked "Oouuuu, don't let me tell Dad that you called him ugly"

Axel chuckled, as the two boys seemed to be enjoying themselves Tom felt completely mortified.

The music seemed to slow down and on Cue, everyone turned to the king because they knew the drill.

The King laughed "As you know not only do we have Tactzo but we have the crow-man in our grasp and unlike the childhood stories that we heard about the crow-man, which depicted him as an old man with an ugly face he is quite far from it," With that, the king pulled the white cloth from the large bird cage and revealed Tom's dad.

The crowd seemed to whistle and burst into murmurs and chatting.

Tom wanted to hide his face at the sight. They had his dad in the most provocative, see-through clothing and he was adorned with gold and jewelles. He had his wrist cuffed behind him and a gold collar that had a thin gold chain attached to it. He looked like he had a few bruises on his neck but he guessed that the collar did that to him.

"See what I mean?" Axel nudged at Billy but Billy still shook his head. 

"Nope, I'm 15 and excuse as I am not attracted to someone who is much older than me" 

'okay maybe after Tactzo's execution he had to get his dad out of this place'  Tom thought to himself.

"as a gift to you for being my loyal subjects I will let you enjoy my little birdie.' With that the King opened the door to the cage and grabbing the thin gold chain attached to his dad's collar, he pulled him out.

He pushed him towards the crowd who burst into laughter. 

The King sat back on his throne and his hand still had a firm grip on the chain. The chain was long enough that his dad could go to every corner of the ballroom.

 

Tom flinched as he watched people, young and old, touch his father's wings in curiosity without permission. He knew how much wings were sacred to his dad and his other brother Will. They were sensitive and were equally as bad as touching someone anywhere else without permission.

Axel seemed to be enjoying the view. He excused himself to walk closer to his dad.

Tom turned to Billy "Could we......step away for a bit?"

"Sure!"

They went to the same balcony where they would watch Tactzo's execution.

Taking a large breath, he guessed the king's way of getting revenge was in the form of humiliation. Because Tom didn't know what happened in the ballroom was supposed to be about. 

Is that what Heros did when they won? 

They boasted and humiliated their enemies? 

He needed to get his dad out...like...right now.

The anxiousness of it all made his foot tap on the floor.

"You okay?" Billy asked.

"Um no...I haven't been in a while"

"Yeah, I noticed you get triggered by something. Which makes you withdraw from me?" Billy said with a humm.

Tom lets out a shaky breath "Yeah but I'm not ready to tell you"  Tom felt that Billy would surely throw him in jail or something. 

"Okay but just know whatever it is, I won't see you any different" 

Tom nodded, they stayed out on the balcony until the king appeared behind them with a large smile.

"Ah, there is my son!" He hugged Billy and then turned to Tom.

"and there is our little hero as well"  He ruffled Tom's hair.

"um- thanks" Tom muttered.

The King leaned against the railing almost giving Billy a scare from how far out he pulled his body over the railing.

"Commence the execution!" The King yelled excitedly.

The party guests seemed to shuffle out of the castle and took their seats. Since there wasn't enough seating some of them stood.

A large human man brought out Tactzo and dropped him on his knees to rest his head on a large wooden stool. The Civilians of Maryland city gathered around and it looked like the whole city had come to see. People were climbing poles to get a better view and others climbed on roofs to see.

'It's just one life they are taking. Tom, even if they took all of his lives the world would be a better place without the evil of Tactzo' Tom thought to himself.

The Executioner brought his axe above his head and the crowd went wild as he swung down.

But before he could land on Tactzo's neck the executioner stepped back in pain as he had been hit with an arrow. 

The crowd screamed and someone in a black cloak appeared and threw a smoke bomb to the ground.

Soldiers began to swarm and the King was yelling orders.

Nobles were running into the castle screaming and the civilians all ran. 

But as the smoke cleared they found that Tactzo and the cloaked figure disappeared.

Tom said "Oh this is bad" 

That had to be his brother Will, because who else would want to save Tactzo? Tom thought to himself.

                                                                                        Antok

Antok was running with Tactzo.

"Who are you?!" Tactzo said.

"Can we talk after we get out of the city's walls?"

The Boar hybrid huffed and nodded. 

The two made it out of the city's walls and stole horses to get farther from the city.

When they were far enough they stopped and caught their breath.

"Okay, I ask again who are you?" Tactzo asked.

Antok removed his hood and raised his head up high.

"Yep I still don't know who you are"

"R-right, I'm Antok. Even If I think you deserve death from the countless innocent people you have killed I believe you are the only one capable of liberating Phill"

The Boar hybrid who stood triple his size, towered over him and the man crossed his arms.

"First of all, how do you know of Phill? Second If you want Phill to be liberated you must know what they are doing to him and if so, those people don't seem that innocent, do they? with how they support their leader's wicked ways and how they sneer at Phill and me"

Antok sighs "I know Phill because He knows of my father and It's not their fault! They don't know what the king is doing to him. If they'd known they would be disgusted and call for it to end!-"

"So far the nobles don't seem to care I heard from the guards how he was peraded around like a shiny trophy at the party before my execution, and you would be a fool to not know what they do with trophies. Besides you have no idea what they did to him last night" 

Antok shivered, he knew because he was there. Disguised as a guard.

"I'm talking about the citizens of Maryland! The everyday hardworking civilian. They are innocent and do not know what is happening so I liberated you to save Phill but I ask that when you do so, you do not destroy Maryland City"

Tactzo let out a hearty laugh "Child, are you that naive? Why would I agree to that?" 

"B-because...because you must be a man of your word and if you are anything like Phill you'll recognize what I have done for you. I Liberated you from death so as a return I ask that you do not destroy the city- my home!"

The Boar looked at him and sighed. He took a seat on a tree stump and looked at Antok.

"I...recognize how much your home means to you but for what they did to me and Phill every child, every woman, every man, every elderly person shall suffer"

"B-but can't you just kill the king and be done with it?" Antok asked more desperate.

"And they will choose another king who will want to seek revenge and the cycle will never end unless I eradicate that city. Besides they hate us! they will never leave us alone"

"But you have to see they hate you for a good reason! You destroyed our city in the first place, you started it!" Antok pointed at him accusatory. He couldn't believe he was taking to the feared Tactzo this way.

"Child your life spans are so short you think you know the whole story but I assure you I do not attack unless I am provoked. Actions have consequences it just turns out that my version of laying out the consequences affects everyone in the area"

"so what you are telling me is if someone did something wrong to you, like step on your foot then a whole city deserves death?!"

"What they did to me before wasn't no small thing like that stupid example you gave out but- listen I do not want to discuss thousand years lore. If your city left out crucial info and made themselves the victim it's their fault. Now excuse me I need to go prepare to save my father" Tactzo stood up and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Antok grabbed at his clothes. 

"Please the actions of some shouldn't affect the majority"  Antok cried.

"You sound just like my brother and just like every pathetic human and hybrid in this world. I genuinely only wanted to kill the king for imprisoning us because my little brother loves that city so much but after what they did to my father there is no way I won't be shedding blood." 

Antok was crying, his heart was accelerating and his breath kept picking up.

"B-But you still owe me something! I saved you!"

Tactzo looked behind his back.

"I will repay my life with your life. When I come back to destroy this city I will not kill you. Besides you still have time to evacuate anyone you love, after all, I plan on saving Phill first then after he is healed I will be back and kill everyone"

Antok watched disheartened as Tactzo began to disappear in the distance.

He fell to his knees and realized he had just doomed all of Maryland. Antok knew this could happen, he took the risk but he just hoped....that Tactzo would agree with him and he hoped wrong.

Then Antok began to think of their conversation again,

'Wait...he has a little brother?'