Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Die
As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink, Carlton and Alaric gathered with their seven children for dinner. Servants bustled about, preparing a lavish feast fit for royalty. The constant address of "Empress" by the servants and guards had long since lost its impact on Carlton - he was numb to it all.
The realization that his current circumstances were vastly different from what he knew began to sink in like a heavy stone. The future couldn’t possibly be so radically altered, not even by time’s relentless march. His own personality seemed to have undergone a radical transformation and felt foreign to him. Even Alaric - his dear friend turned love-struck spouse - was an entirely new person.
Their relationship had transformed into something unrecognizable - a nauseatingly sweet couple who clung to each other like glue on paper. Carlton shook his head inwardly at the absurdity of it all. He, a man capable of bearing children? An impossibility in his world! Yet here he sat with seven offspring as proof.
And then there were Kastiel and Rowan - once bitter rivals, now blissfully married with children of their own. The very thought made Carlton’s head spin. Could it be that he had not merely traveled to the future, but to an entirely different world altogether?
The idea sent a shiver down his spine. If this truly was a separate realm, then the seven young faces surrounding him were undeniably his and Alaric’s progeny. The weight of that revelation settled heavily upon Carlton’s shoulders as he gazed at his family - a family he never knew existed.
Malcolm’s perceptive eyes noticed Carlton’s sudden stillness, his fork hovering mid-air. The young boy’s brow furrowed with concern as he spoke up, his voice tinged with worry.
"Daddy, does your head hurt again?"
The question hung in the air like a leaden weight, instantly silencing the lively chatter that filled the dining hall mere moments before. All eyes turned to Carlton, their gazes heavy with expectation and fear.
Alaric sprang into action, rising from his seat with a fluid grace that belied his growing panic. He closed the distance between himself and Carlton in three long strides, grasping his spouse’s shoulders firmly. His fingers dug into the fabric of Carlton’s robes as he shook him gently at first, then more insistently.
"Do you feel pain again now? Call the royal physician over here!" Alaric barked at the servants stationed along the walls of the room. His voice echoed off the stone walls, sharp and commanding.
Carlton glared up at Alaric through narrowed eyes, irritation flashing across his features as he shrugged off Alaric’s hands. The abrupt shaking had already left him feeling queasy.
Just as Alaric’s grip slackened, three small bodies launched themselves at Carlton with all the force of tiny missiles - with enough force to make him gag on his partially digested meal. Cristyn, Cristina, and Cristian landed in his lap with a collective oof, their slender arms wrapping around his waist like vines.
Austin was quick to follow suit, scampering behind Carlton’s chair and throwing his arms around the man’s neck in a chokehold.
"Daddy, are you sick? You’re not going to die, are you?" Cristyn asked, her voice quivering slightly as she peered up at Carlton with wide, fearful eyes.
Austin chimed in from behind him, his tone defiant even as he clung tighter to Carlton’s neck. "Of course daddy won’t die!!!"
Carlton swallowed hard against the lump forming in his throat. He tried to speak past Austin’s choking embrace but could only manage a strangled whisper.
"I’m going to die..." he muttered, the words dying on his lips as he slumped back against his chair.
I’m going to die because of all of you.
Carlton closed his eyes, shutting out the worried faces of his children and the frantic bustle of the servants. In that moment, all he could feel was an overwhelming sense of dread and despair.
Alaric’s heart seized in his chest as Carlton’s ominous words hung heavy in the air. Panic gripped him like a vice, and he wasted no time in barking orders at the royal guard stationed by the door.
"Bring royal physician Lucas here immediately, no matter what he is engaged in!" Alaric commanded, his voice cracking with barely contained fear. The guard nodded sharply and took off at a dead run, his footsteps echoing down the stone corridor.
Noah’s anguished wails pierced the air like shards of glass, drowning out all other sound. Carlton strained to speak over the cacophony but found himself unable to form coherent words past Austin’s iron grip around his throat. His vision began to swim as Noah’s cries grew louder and more hysterical.
"A-Ah... H-huweee... d-daddy... g-going t-to d-die!!!"
The triplets on Carlton’s lap joined their older brother in tears, their sobs shaking their small frames. Carlton felt as though his skull might split open from the sheer volume of their distressed voices - it was almost enough to make him wish for death just to escape it all.
Malcolm and Helena seized both of his hands just as Carlton thought to extricate himself from Austin’s chokehold. The two eldest children clung to him like lifelines, their slender fingers entwined with his own. Helena gazed up at her father through a sheen of tears, her voice barely audible over Noah’s wails.
"Daddy... it’s okay that you forgot about us... the important thing is that you have to live..." she pleaded, her lower lip trembling.
Carlton shook his head weakly, trying to convey that he wasn’t giving up on life - only on this momentary insanity. "No... won’t die... let go of everything..." he rasped out, but his words were hopelessly garbled by Austin’s choking embrace and Noah’s unrelenting cries.
In their distress, none of them understood the true meaning behind Carlton’s words. They interpreted his plea as a surrender to death - a final resignation to the cruel fate that seemed determined to tear him away from them. And so they clung tighter still, their small bodies trembling with the force of their sobs and prayers.
Carlton feel an undercurrent of irony coursing through him as he contemplated the absurdity of his situation. He was a seasoned warrior, a man who had stared down death on countless battlefields and emerged victorious. Yet here he was, on the verge of expiring at the hands - or rather, the hugs - of his own offspring.
Ah... I never thought I would die at the hands of my otherworldly children...
Alaric’s hand trembled as he cupped Carlton’s cheek, tears welling up in his eyes at the sight of his beloved consort’s pallid complexion. His voice cracked with emotion as he pleaded,
"Darling... don’t leave me... you’ll be fine..."
Carlton rolled his eyes internally, stifling an exasperated groan. If only Alaric could see past the adorable faces and tiny limbs currently strangling him half to death! But alas, even emperor were not immune to parental blind spots.
You’re the adult among all these little kids!! Can’t you see that I’m now being strangled by a 7-year-old?! Do something, damnit!
Just then, the dining room door burst open with a resounding bang. The royal guard marched in, carrying none other than Royal Physician Lucas - and he was naked as the day he was born! A small towel clung precariously to his waist, barely concealing his modesty. His long hair was still dripping wet from what could only be an interrupted bath.
It was clear that he had been rudely awakened from his soak in the tub by two overzealous guards who had barged into his private sanctuary. They had quickly tied a towel around his midsection before hauling him away like some kind of prize catch.
The poor man looked utterly bewildered by this turn of events, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as he tried to make sense of it all.
"....??????!!!!!!"
Lucas exclaimed incredulously, unable to form a coherent sentence in the face of such an outrageous situation.
Carlton, usually so stoic and unflappable, couldn’t help but let out a rare weak grin at the sight of the usually composed physician, now reduced to a state of near hysteria. If he was going to die, at least he could take some small comfort in knowing that he would be doing so while surrounded by the most absurdly entertaining spectacle imaginable.
As Lucas’s medical kit was hastily deposited on the table beside him, Carlton felt a glimmer of hope spark within his chest. He silently prayed to the heavens above, hoping against hope that Lucas would somehow miraculously maintain his composure and professionalism in the face of this utter chaos. He desperately needed someone to take charge and bring some semblance of order to this ridiculous situation.
Alaric quickly relayed the dire situation to Lucas, who had just been unceremoniously deposited on the floor by the guards. The physician’s eyes widened in alarm as he took in Alaric’s frantic words.
"Lucas, go check on the Empress! He suddenly stopped eating, felt dizzy, and turned pale. He even said he was going to die! And it seems he’s having trouble speaking!"
Lucas nodded solemnly, hoisting his medical kit and striding purposefully towards Carlton. But as he approached, he found himself momentarily stunned by the bizarre tableau before him - Carlton being strangled by Austin while surrounded by a chorus of wailing offsprings.
He fixed Alaric with a flat stare and deadpanned,
"Your Majesty... of course His Imperial Majesty the Empress wouldn’t be able to speak if Prince Austin were strangling him like that..."
Alaric blinked rapidly at this revelation, his mind finally registering what should have been obvious from the start. He reached out with shaking hands to pry Austin’s chubby fingers from around Carlton’s neck.
Carlton immediately began gasping for air, coughing violently as he struggled to regain his breath. Lucas was at his side in an instant, pressing a cool cloth to Carlton’s brow and offering him a glass of water.
Carlton accepted the water gratefully, his hands shaking slightly as he brought the glass to his lips. He drank deeply, feeling the cool liquid soothe his parched throat. As he lowered the glass, he caught Lucas’s eye and gave him a small nod of thanks.
"Thank you, Lucas," Carlton rasped out hoarsely. "You may have just saved my life."
But before Lucas could respond with anything more than a modest shrug, disaster struck once again. Cristyn, still perched on her father’s lap and sniffling from the earlier drama, had spotted Lucas’s towel. In an innocent attempt to wipe away her tears and snot, she gave it a firm tug.
In one swift motion, Cristyn yanked on the towel - and it came undone! The flimsy fabric fell away from Lucas’s body like a curtain dropping on a stage, leaving him completely and utterly naked before the assembled royal family.
The dining room fell silent as everyone present stared at Lucas in stunned disbelief. The only sound was the clatter of a fork dropping onto a plate somewhere near the back of the room.
Carlton’s eyes widened in shock as he found himself face-to-face with Lucas’s most intimate area. He choked violently on his water, sending droplets flying everywhere as he sputtered and coughed.
And just like that, pandemonium erupted once more as the Empress was once again on the verge of death - this time from aspirating liquid rather than strangulation!
