Chapter Text
"Ash." Branzy starts "We... me and clown, have to tell you something." But with no Clownpiece in sight Ash just nods, trying to be calm like he always is.
"Ashswag. Branzy." Clown walks in from an arch that leads to his office after looking at both of them, he says something that sends a shiver down Ash's spine."Where is Wifies?"
It's not that Wifies isn't important, it's just that he prefers to think than fight. He'd rather map out places and think of entry points. Not break in and kill people.
"He’s upstairs reading. I'll get him." Ash says, then scurries away to Wifies. Once he gets to Wifies door he hesatites. Why did Clown and Branzy need him? But he knocks anyway.
"Yes?" Wifies opens the door in an instant "Oh, Ash! What do you need? Help with... a special someone?" Wifies jokes nudging Ash with a skinny pale shoulder.
"Clown and Branzy have asked for you." Ash shuts down all emotion in his voice. He sounds like a soldier and to his dismay, Wifies looks sad at Ash's tone of voice.
"Oh, well why don't we go down together?" Wifies invites and Ash flashes him a grateful glance. Wifies knows how Ash thinks and how he acts. He knows Ash is shutting down.
"Thank you." Ash says and they both start to descend down the fancy staircase leading to where their fathers are. While they are walking Ash hears multiple familiar voices .
"Zam and Kab!" Wifies gasps and goes as fast as you can while still walking like a royal. Swiftly walking faster than Ash can manage. "Ash, why are they here?"
"I have no idea.”
Ash leads both of them to the room where everyone is sitting.
Zam instantly hears them come down the stairs, she trained hearing so its heightened to prove they could fight. "Wifies! How are you? I haven't seen you that much lately!"
"Now isn't the time, Zam. We need to talk about serious topics." Clown interrupts the two greeting each other and shutting it down swiftly then turns to Kab. "Please, have a seat."
"Clownpeirce, whats going on?" Ashwag asks, his head throbbing and pounding due to the stress that Branzy is putting him through. "Why is Kaboodle and Zam here?"
Clown doesn't answer his questions and instead avoids them all together by informing Ash that Squiddo and her parents would arrive as well. Worrying Ash even more.
***
Eventually Squiddo , King Therrell and Queen Therrell do arrive, and Squiddo quietly enters, her face looking like she's in grieving and sorrow. Ash wonders why.
"King Therrell. Queen Therrell. Princess Squiddo." Clown bows and says, even though they were allies he has an icy tone towards the two, only warming for Squiddo.
"King Peirce." The King says as all three Therrells bow, but only Squiddos is sincere enough to be out of respect. Of course, 'Pierce' isn't Clown's real name.
Clown offers them a seat and they sit as far away from the rest as they possibly can, in contrast to Ash, Wifies and Zam in that order. Ash almost starts staring at Squiddo, her eyes were empty and dull in complete opposition compared to her eyes seven years ago. The only reason Ash stops staring is because he feels an elbow in his stomach and sees both Zam and Wifies giggling together like girls in high school spreading gossip between classes about the latest crushes. Clearly not paying attention to Squiddos.
"Now that we are all here, me and Branzy need to announce something." Clownpiece starts to walk to the front. A small silence is shared before he continues on with his speech.
"As I'm sure you know, we are a strong kingdom. But over a couple of weeks, we've had some trouble... in the end we had no other choice than to declare war on King Parrotx2."
Ash could basically hear the shock radiating from the room. King Parrotx2's kingdom was powerful and it was a stupid thing to do and even worse... Parrot is best friends with Wifies.
"What?!" An outraged gasp can be heard from Wifies, who usually never rose his voice to anyone, ever. "Clownpeirce! What could even bring you to do something like that!"
"Wifies, come with me." Branzy finally speaks up in a calm voice, you could see how much it pains him to do this. Branzy ushers Wifies outside the room and its left in a silence
Ash can still hear the voices of Wifies and Branzy since the walls aren't much help for loud noises, it was about as good as having cardboard for walls in sound-proofness.
Clown decides to continue his speech since it's going 'great' so far. "Now I'm sure you don't know why we are doing this. But you have to trust me, it was a necessity I had to do."
Ash can't even focus on what everyone is saying, instead, he's only focused on Wifies and his tone, which is worsening by the second. Ash has to do something right now.
"Father." Ash abruptly stands and interrupts Clown. "I would like to attempt to calm down Wifies." Clown is about an object but hears a yell word from Wifies and dismisses Ash.
"Very well. Just make sure to come back soon, I need you for plans in the future." Clownpeirce waves Ashswag off to go help Wifies. Sharing a singular worried look with Zam.
"You guys know he's my closest friend! You guys know! Why would you even declare war on Parrot, it's so dumb! We can barely even fight him! His voice is loud and strong.