Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a prince. That prince was lonely, he was not sad, it was a reality that he was already used to.
His parents ruled a kingdom. What’s the name of the kingdom, is what some may ask. The answer would be that I do not know, for I do not remember.
The prince did not have a friend, his parents had hidden him in the palace all his life.
The prince wished for a friend, but nobody came.
So the prince stayed hidden, he drew paintings, he read books and he slept, the only things he could do outside of his royal duties.
~//~
The king had screamed at him, again. For something he did not do, again. Wemmbu was 5 years old, he had not chosen the fact that he was born with purple eyes.
It was not his fault that neither mother nor father had the same eyes.
The king was very angry, spouting stuff about him being a bastard, a brat and some other curses at him.
The child hated him, the man never hit him, but he always found a way to blame the boy for everything.
If the floor was dirty, Wemmbu was to blame. If there was something out of place, Wemmbu must have taken it. It was always the same thing.
The queen was not much better, she was more closed off, but the boy vividly remembers moments when he was younger where she would sing and read him to sleep.
~//~
“Ma!” The little child yelled in glee, his tiny face holding a shining smile.
The woman laughed before picking up the boy. “Oh? What made you so happy, my little star?”
For some reason, Wemmbu could not remember the expression on his mother’s face when she said that.
He had not heard the name “little star” in a very long time.
~//~
Those moments were long gone, nowadays he barely saw her.
She normally ignored him, he was simply a stain in her perfect life, the little brat who was never meant to exist.
At least she did not scream at him, unlike a certain king.
~//~
“Wemmbu!” The king screamed at the prince, his name, he supposes, although he himself barely hears it (he was normally called much more undignified words). “How dare you do such a thing?! You ungrateful little pest!” If there was one way to describe the king’s voice at that moment, it would be seething.
The boy flinched when he heard the scream, tears threatening to spill.
The boy did not know what he had supposedly done this time, but alas, he was grounded. Now stuck in his room for hours on end, the little boy could do nothing but stare at purple walls.
He hates purple. Everything is purple, the palace, the clothes, the furniture, the walls, the floor, even his eyes were purple!
It was a pretty color, he can admit to that, but he was sick of seeing it everywhere he looked.
He was disgusted by it.
A few hours later there was a knock on the door.
“Your highness, her majesty has told me to give you a part of tonight's dinner.” Said the maid outside the prince’s door.
The boy opened the door and took the plate from the maid’s hands. It was just another face amongst the hundreds that lived in the palace.
Just another face that he would not remember.
The boy was lonely.
The boy wished he had a friend.
And yet again, nobody came.
The child ate alone, surrounded by infuriatingly purple walls.
And deep into the night he felt as if there were eyes watching him.
~//~
The days passed like that, purple walls, screaming, blaming and the eyes.
Wemmbu didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know what the eyes were, and he didn’t know how to get rid of them.
They were everywhere, he could feel them. So why didn’t anybody else feel them? Their presence wasn’t hard to notice.
He cried quietly into the night, hating the feeling and unable to sleep. He felt unsafe, there was something watching, eyes in the shadows, he was not alone. He hated that feeling.
~//~
Wemmbu’s fluffy dress was starting to bother him. His mother had decided that it would be a great idea to put the tiny 5 year old in a fluffy purple dress, which was starting to itch.
You see, there was a party happening today, with a lot of important people that Wemmbu doesn’t care enough to remember the names of.
The boy had been held by his mother for the first time in years, of course it was only to sell the picture of the perfect happy family, but Wemmbu could not care less, he was happy to be in his mother’s arms again.
He clung to her neck, a content expression on his face. This was the happiest he had been in a long while.
That happiness was short lived, seeing as the queen let go of the prince the moment she had a chance to do so.
The boy quickly went around the party members to find a more secluded and quiet place.
He eventually found a little spot right outside the ballroom, it was a tiny little garden filled with violets, lilacs and alliums. He also spotted a few white tulips and yellow carnations… It was an odd choice, but it did look pretty.
He sat down in a shadowed corner and, after a few minutes of looking at the plants, he dozed off and eventually fell asleep.
~//~
The boy had woken up in some type of… void? It looked like the void, except the bottom (or was it the top?) was purple which faded into pitch black.
He was clearly dreaming, seeing as he had gone to sleep in a garden, and there was no place like this in the palace.
Wemmbu had to find a way to get out, he supposes, maybe he should try finding a way to wake up, but how does one wake up?
“Hello. Aren’t you a funny little thing?”
The boy jumped back, or tried to, it was not easy to move in this space.
“Who?!” Wemmbu demanded, though his voice did waver a bit.
The being laughed at him. It had giant purple wings that faded to black at the tips, and millions of purple eyes surrounding it, it wore a dark purple robe, it had a lot of jewelry all across its body.
“I’m your friend! Well, I want to be at least. Do you want to be my friend, little star?”
The child almost cried upon hearing the nickname, and actually started to cry once he registered what the being said.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh, I would love a friend!” The boy screamed in happiness, clapping his hands.
The being laughed and floated forward and held Wemmbu, its arms easily wrapping around the boy.
“Then we’re going to have a lot of fun, I have a lot of games planned for us!” The thing said, brushing its thumb over the boy’s purple eyes.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time, you’re perfect!” It said, a grin hidden behind its cloak. “You are perfect.”
And the child giggled, unknowing of what was happening outside of his dream.