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As night falls, the prince sat down on the usual couch in Chance's living room, where he'd wait for them to come back. These were the nights where ITrapped didn't want to come with them to the casino, or just Chance simply sneaking out without telling him, trying to avoid ITrapped into worrying or hurting himself due to their reckless tendencies. But the prince couldn't care less, It wasn't the first time that they got hurt because of Chance's recklessness. As he sat there, with the Darkheart on hand, his mind started to drift inside his head, burying himself in his waves of thoughts.
"Steal it and ditch him."
"Discard them, then get the ke- no... too much."
"Leaving them is the best way to protect him"
"They're waiting, you don't have much time."
"Stop delaying your mission, It'll only hurt you further."
He stayed like this for over 30 minutes or so, just blankly staring at the sword with million thoughts swirling in his mind: fighting, contemplating, doubts, decisions after decisions, thinking of the best possible outcome.. With a sharp sigh, he snapped back into reality, their head hurting already just from it.
"...Tomorrow, I'll steal the key and run away. Like I was never here. It's for the best, and it's the only thing I'm good at."
Suddenly, his surrounding turned dark, the sword who was bonded with him since the start of this mess reached out to their shoulders. The Darkheart, known to influence it's users and taking over them was whispering to him, chuckling darkly. "Good, thought you needed a bit more persuasion...~" ITrapped's breath hitched, refusing to face the sword in it's direction, they could only see the purple glow that the Darkheart emits around.
The blonde grimaced at the sword's whispers, trying to make it go away by shaking their head. But the sword was stuck to him like a second skin, it traced on it's traces on ITrapped's face, reminding him that they're slowly losing themselves.
"Time's ticking, Vessel. And I'm not particularly known for being patient."
With a harsh laugh, Darkheart flicked the prince's forehead, making him resurface back into the real world. ITrapped looked around, beads of sweat left their forehead before wiping them off. His breathing was heavy, heart beating fast, his fingers tracing the dark marks on their face.
After a while, he calmed down and stood up, The Darkheart on hand dispersed within his grasp as he waited for Chance. He had tried searching the mansion a lot of times, but not once he saw clues on where it was, so there's only one possible answer: Chance has it. He opened his phone, waiting for Chance's reply, but oddly enough, he hasn't replied in 4 hours. ITrapped was starting to get worried as he started to spam call them, but each time they called, the call automatically goes to voice-mails. Chance isn't the type of person to ghost him, no, they'd reply a quick "Hi sorry, still playing." and reassure him, but no... something was wrong.
Growing anxious, he rushed to his room, getting ready to head out. But first he needed to track Chance from their phone, he learned how to track locations from phone numbers due to his friend Caleb244. before he went to get his laptop, they heard the door open abruptly.
"I..ITrapped?"
Someone had coughed out, and this made the blonde snap to the direction where his name was called. The Gambler was there, not with his usual snarky smirk, but they were bloody and battered, clutching his arm as he limped towards his dear friend. In an instant, ITrapped launched forward, immediately going on Chance's side as he helped him settle down the couch. He couldn't care less if his clothes were being stained by the blood of their friend.
"Dearest- What happened?! Why didn't you call me!? I was starting to worry, you haven't replied back for almost 4 hours...!"
In an instant, ITrapped was a worried wreck, a trait he had whenever his old friends get into trouble, especially his sister. He ran around, getting the gambler what he might need: first aid, water, snacks and extra pillows.
"Take your clothes off."
"How bold...!"
ITrapped could only glare at his friend to comply, Chance just rolled their eyes before reluctantly complying, removing their ruined top and setting it down at the arm rest of the expensive couch. The prince didn't waste anymore time as he started aiding and cleaning up his dear friend, Chance on the other hand was just awkwardly sitting and laughing, hissing from the feeling of the alcohol and antibiotics being applied to their wounds. he cracked jokes and tried flirting their ways out of it, trying to make a light out of the situation.
"Hey, hey, calm down will ya? you're being a bit overdramatic... It's just a scratch~ OW OW!"
ITrapped harshly yanked on the bandage that was wrapped around on Chance's arm, clearly frustrated. The gambler let out a pained chuckle.
"just a SCRATCH?! You're bleeding and bruised all over!"
ITrapped's voice broke, he had never felt so worried and angry like this before. Chance was surprised, never in his careless life had someone cared for him this much. They felt guilty, just now realizing the gravity of the situation as he stared at ITrapped's worried expression. He was scared, The prince didn't want to lose another one, so with a reluctant sigh, Chance started to cooperate.
"Did the mafia do this to you? Did you accidentally angered a businessman? Did you made new enemi-"
Chance hushed them, not with his usual cocky personality, but with the vulnerable side they've always hid behind their confident facade. It was usually hidden due to their glasses, but ITrapped could see right through them.
"I'm sorry, yeah maybe I should've called you... Uhh, someone got pissed at me because I won a high-stake bet. That's about it, I-I just didn't call you because I didn't want you getting involved into my mess and get hurt yourself aga- woah, woah, woah, are you crying?!"
The Gambler started to panic, they didn't know what to do, they were bad at comforting. He stared into ITrapped's bright blue eyes that was on the verge of tears. Oh, they were so screwed, they though to themselves. His glasses falling a bit to their nose, catching a glimpse of their golden eyes shine with worry. Their hands stammered, not sure if ITrapped was okay to be held or not, he didn't want to upset him further. But his panicking was replaced by shock the moment ITrapped wrapped his arms around them, holding them close, not too tight where he could hurt his wounds, but enough to show them how important he was to him. The gambler stayed motionless, he really didn't know what to do in situations like this, they were afraid that they'll make their prince more upset than he already is.
"Hold me, please...'
Chance looked down at ITrapped's face, tears dripped down their cheeks, their beautiful white eyelashes closed, and the dark markings on his face made Chance frown. The gambler wrapped his own arms around, the only comfort he knows that they can provide.. It was an awkward hug on Chance's end, but their hug slowly started getting more natural and comforting as his prince started to calm down, sighing into the embrace.
The gray haired inhaled into the blonde's hair, his thumb rubbing on their shoulder, providing comfort to the fragile prince in their arms. ITrapped was too far gone, too attached, Chance was a combination of him, Ellernate and Caleb244. They couldn't bring themselves to hurt him, especially when his sister had a bond with him already, making his sister mad was the last thing he wanted.
Both of them stayed silent, they held each other there for a moment, both afraid to lose the other person, ITrapped breathed in. He drifted back into his mind, silently talking to himself whimpering slightly.
"a few more months... Maybe a few more months and I can leave, I just... I can't leave them like this."