#asherselfpara

Asher smiled lightly, sadly as he stared off into space. Not really aware of what was happening around him as people moved around him. A hand reaching out toward him had him pulling from his momentarily lapse in reality. Quickly his eyes shot around before finally landing on their form. Swallowing he held his arms wrapped around his stomach holding himself in a hug as he turned to face them more proper " Hell-o, Wifey." Asher muttered as he looked toward his wife of three years now. Watching her lean in to give him a soft kiss on the forehead.  She had started to tell him about how Sage was doing in the local Diamond Kingdom college and how she was looking to become a botanist. Asher frowned " A botanist. With like...plants?" He questioned her, then made a bit of a disgusted face " How horrible." At least there wasn't going to be anything to worry about as far as her ruling the kingdom. Asher didn't think she had the same resolve as a former future version of herself had once had. Now that there was a new path for her it had all seemed more that she wasn't interested in such things like ruling an entire kingdom, just yet.

Sitting back a little bit he glances around at all the people dressed up like him " And, I'm getting out of here soon. Right?" Asher asked. The woman frowned, the two were not in love. But she had been a place holder. Someone his own kingdom pressured him into marrying prior to being locked up in in a sanatorium, again of their own accord. Thinking that he had needed the help after an incident two years ago. Asher smiled a bit toward her " Please, are they still mad at me?" He wanted to know, because the opinions of his people were the most important thing to him, aside from Sage's. Who more or less had felt bad for her father and his declining mental and physical health. Dropping his head he started tearing up, his voice cracking "I'm sorry. Okay. Please. Tell them I-...I am sorry. I was, not ...feeling all my self at that time. I can't-...I can't live without them...they are all I-...They are all I ever had. Without them, I am worthless." Asher could only be let out for a short period of time to tend to some duties his current wife wasn't able to allow to go through.

Standing up suddenly,  as she was shaking her head, telling him that the people still wanted his head and would surely take it if he was allowed to be free. Slamming his hands on the table, Asher's fingernails began to dig into the wood. Earning him a shout from one of the staff of the hospital from across the room telling him to settle down. Even though Wonderland was full of 'mad people' Asher wasn't considered 'mad' He was, by Wonderland Standards considered far too insane, it happened to be. But still emotionally fucked up. Looking around then he frowned " I have to fucking get out of this place. They are driving me insane." The woman laughed at Asher then before commenting that that was the entire point of him being locked up in here. He was far too calm and happy and did everything right to a T. Then she pointed out to him that he was mostly given some slack for his quirky lean toward Sanity, by dating the Mad Hatter, who was absolutely out of his fucking mind. Asher looked down toward her and made a face " Like you would fucking know anything about him. He's not that crazy."

She waved a hand, dismissing him then before saying it didn't matter. The people thought he was crazy and unfitting for their king. Which is why it was so fitting to begin with. Asher leaned back in his chair then watching as some nutjob walked by, acting out due to the high doses of medication they were giving to the people in the place " So, what...I lose my fucking mind. Then what? They let me out of here. They go back to suffering. What kind of logic is that? Why can't they just be happy and content. Like I was." She laughed at him again, pointing out to Asher that happy and content wasn't exactly going to bring Wonderland back up to the usual standards. There had needed to be madness. Or why else would the slogan be 'we’re all mad here' and such else. Asher huffed and glanced away. Standing then his wife moved toward him and placed a kiss on his forehead. Then, rubbing his shoulders she wished him luck and could tell he was making progress here. Ruffling his hair then she slipped away and exited the visitation room " I'm going to kill myself." Asher muttered.

Just as he said this an orderly coming over to get him to take him to the patient living part of the facility congratulated him on his wish to die and pulled him up out of the chair. Asher walked along with them and into the hallway all the way toward where most of the prisoners without visitation rights or anyone to visit them, were kept all day. Once let go he pulled away from the guard before wincing as they stuck him with something in the shoulder "Ow. Fucking, dammit... Can you be a little rougher!" He rolled his shoulder before starting to walk forward, arms still wrapped around his stomach. Making his way toward the game room he pulled up a seat and joined in with some other patients that were sitting around playing a game called 'LIFE' all wrong. Staring at it for a couple of minutes before he started to giggle "Heh...Heheh. I'm really going to kill myself." Asher commented with a laugh before reaching out and flicking his white care at one of the patients forehead " I win." He laughed before getting a toy car thrown at him, hitting him in the side of the head.

Wincing but otherwise alright he slammed a fist onto the table " Hey! That's not fair! Mine wasn't even that big, bastard." Standing  up Asher moved over to a weapon rack in the room, scanning over it before taking up a battle axe from one of the place holders. Looking it over and then swinging it out across the space around him, he cut a chair in half " Now, let's play this game of Life right, guys. First one to bleed, loses." Moving then toward the patient that threw the toy car at him he takes a wing, his eyes glowing red and tracing through the air as his body shifted to take on the weight of the axe as he missed the patient who moved out of the way. After all, these patients were formally, strong, capable, intelligent, and extremely competent people that Wonderland's usual residents had deemed unfit to live along side them and needed 'help'. Each one of them were given doses of something several times a day that absolutely ate away at their own minds until they were deemed 'fit' to rejoin society.  As the patient landed on the floor across from him, in a perfect back flip. Asher smirked at that " Oh? Did we know acrobatics...That's fun."

After about an hour Asher was being yanked into his room and shoved to the floor. Turning his head a bit he snickered under his breath before moving to push himself up. His room was a lot bigger and fancier than most of the other patients. Being he was still a king. It wasn't something you just passed down or lost, unless you died. Dying was the only way a ruler of the Diamonds was relieved of that title. Continuing to snicker, even as tears began to slip down his face, dripping onto the floor and his chest. Holding out his arms, Asher lets out a blood curdling scream, curling up into himself before beginning to toss his entire room. Items being flung everywhere in a moment of rage and losing his mind completely.  At the end of it he flipped his bed over, before stumbling back, his heart aching as it thud in his chest. But he didn't seemed to care about that pain. Coughing lightly, he brought a boney hand up to his mouth, his glowing red eyes falling on a slim piece of metal that had been shining from the moonlight in the middle of his room.

"Huh? What's this..." Asher moved over, kicking some items out of his way before crouching down toward the metal. The sleeve of his shirt hanging loosely off his hand, covering it almost entirely toward the tips of his fingers. Plucking the sliver of metal up he stands and looked it over. Pushing the tip of his index finger on his left hand, he pricked his finger, drawing a droplet of blood "Oh. Well, isn't this interesting." Asher commented, then dully looked toward one side off the room. Sighing he shift lazily, his body slack as he dropped his arms down to his side and swerved, heading for the door " Hm. I wonder." Asher lift the piece of metal up toward the locking mechanism, sticking it inside before it got stuck "And then just." His left hand turning into a clawed one, the skin toughening there before he thrust it into the sliver a metal hard enough to send it through the lock, breaking it and releasing the door from it as well as impaling onto Asher's hand. Jerking his hand away from the door then he shook it out, sending splatters of blood to one side of the room.

Reaching over then, with his mechanical right arm he yanked the door open, slipping out into the now silent, dead hallways. Glancing around he tried to remember where he wanted to go "I'm going to fly." Asher muttered before swerving and ghosting his way down the hallway toward his destination, blood dripping out onto the hospital floor as he walked toward the directions he intended to go. Eventually making it toward the roof of the hospital, unnoticed. He closed the doors behind him before making his way across the windy rooftop. Moving toward the edge he stares over it, toward the floors below and then the ground. It was really cold against his skeletal form. The loose fabric of his shirt and pants blowing fairly violently from the harsh winds on the roof. Moving he climbed on top of the ledge and sat down. Reaching into his shirt he hooked a finger around the chain that was linked around his neck and yanked out a pair of wedding rings. One was tarnished and blackened from being burned. Asher let out a sigh then as he tossed them over the side of the ledge.

"I'm sorry Sage. I am sorry to leave you like this, with this responsibility." Standing then he held out his arms bringing them up toward the sky "Cheshire’s can never fly. But we are pretty good at dying. Perhaps you won't fall to that same curse. You are one of them. They don't see you as a slave, like they do us Cheshire’s." Twisting then he sent himself over the side of the ledge, falling backwards from off the top of the hospital, falling toward the forest like a stone. Hitting it with a rough thud, bones cracking and blood spilling out onto the grass. Asher looked up toward the moon, smiling at it weakly as blood spilled from his nose, his mouth, his ears. Slowly the light started to fade from his eyes until they were nothing but a light-less blue as the life quickly left him.

Lifting the rock up Rheas went to continue her assigned duty. Once night hit she was told to return to Darius. Who was still doing something at the castle. Which had Rheas following him around the castle for the next few hours.  She jumped when he asked what she was doing, and that she was putting on a little bit more weight, before seeming to realize what was going on. At the others question she gave a nod, holding the rock up to play with it nervously as Darius said nothing more and just continued doing whatever Sage was having him do. Though when she was following him into the kitchen she dripped and pumped into one of the guards who shoved her before ripping the rock out of Rheas' arm, calling it stupid as well as her, before tossing the rock into a water filled sink. Rheas gasped as the water splashed onto her before Darius stepped into tell the guard to leave her alone, and that they were going to be leaving soon. Rheas had reached into the sink then pulling the rock out with a grown as chunks of the rock started to dissolve and fall out.

She sniffled as the rock continued falling apart in her hands. Still following Darius as they were going to the other males house. Soon the two had been inside and Darius was walking into the kitchen to go make some tea. Rheas at down on the floor and watched the remaining chunks of the rock falling apart. Only to see that the rather large rock hadn't lost too much mass. But had actually been taking on a different shape. Standing up Rheas quickly brought the rock to the kitchen and held it under the sink, washing away several chunks of hard, caked on dirt. Soon revealing a diamond underneath. Before she could do anything more with it Darius had reached over snatching the diamond from her hand. Rheas turned to protest a little, but stopped realizing Darius wasn't going to be nice and just give back her shiny rock. She watched Darius look over it then shout at her, asking where she found the diamond. Then under his breath he muttered that it shouldn't have been there, but instead it should have been in a garden on a tower. Rheas reached out for the rock only for Darius to tell her that he was taking it for himself.

The next day Rheas sadly went back to work, this time without her rock. Darius wouldn't let her take it and she hadn't even seen him with it that entire day. Coming back into the house with Darius that night she looked around. Then he walked out with the diamond, talking to it about saving 'him'. Rheas tilted her head then before reaching over and poking Darius in the side. He jumped, giving her his attention. Only to tell her she wasn't allowed to poke him. Then muttering about 'only him' being able to poke them. Rheas sat back then and moved to a chair as she watched Darius mutter on and on about a plan to save some 'him'.

Over the next decade Rheas' had to listen to Darius mutter on and on about bringing someone named Asher back from the dead.  So much so she had become numb to hearing about it. Darius had seemed to kind of lose his sense of self and had gone slightly mad over this plan to revive something. Rheas was continued to be used like property. Having multiple children with the guardsmen that were quickly taken away to be ...well, actually, murdered. But everyone else was told they were being adopted out into good families. Rheas was rubbing her stomach when Darius again was starting on another ran about this Asher person he had been obsessing over for the last ten years or so. It seemed, as far as Rheas could tell, Darius was starting to make a breakthrough. Rheas Stood and reached over to pat Darius on the should when the other then started sobbing a little to himself as they realize their current idea wouldn't work at all. Turning away she then made her way toward the really tiny bedroom Darius let her sleep in, to take a nap.

Sage had walked in as she heard screaming and smacked the doctor upside the head " Don't you dare ruin my property." Sage then moved to Rheas' bedside, running a hand over her sweaty forehead " It's always so painful. I know. Soon it will be over though." She smiled at Rheas as the other pant and gasped beside her. What Rheas didn't know was that Sage had intentionally made sure she would have the most painful births possible.

Pulling away Sage cleared her throat, stopping herself from giggling as Rheas continued to give birth. Sage looked toward the doctor before saying " You know what to do with that baby once it's out. I'll be going now, to tell Darius Rheas won't be coming home with him tonight." Though Sage had also wanted to talk about how oddly Darius was acting the last week. She exited the room and quickly makes her way away from the screaming behind her. Soon catching up Darius who was enjoying some tea at the moment " Hey, Darius. You look like you've been up for ten years. Rough couple of nights?" She asked the older male with a small Asher like giggle under her breath.

Listening to the other sputter about she gave a nod " Rheas will be staying in the castle for tonight." Sage managed to say, cutting Darius off who only waved a hand at her about Rheas. Darius then finished his tea and set the cup down before muttering something and walking of. Sage narrowed her eye s after him " Huh, I really do wonder if all this stress I've been putting him on for the last thirty years has finally broken him. Hm. About time..." She then turned and exited the room herself and started in on finishing the rest of what she had to do for the day.

After a couple of hours Sage was brought a baby by one of the maids " Oh, is this the little one from our dear sweet Rheas?" She lifted the baby boy up then before tossing it back into the maids arms " Dispose of it like the rest. I don't want her to ever see any of these children. It's about the feeling of having them. I want her to...feel what my mother felt, the pain my mother went through." Sage said this so heartlessly that the maid had back away in horror. Then the maid nodded and told Sage she had understood the order before turning and rushing off to get rid of the newborn.

Sage looked around then " Ten years of it isn't worth the life my mother lost trying to have me, that was thrown away for...Darius." Sage glowered at that name " That disgusting perverted Hatter, corrupting my father. My mother deserved to live, more than that freak deserved to be happy." Sage whispered before turning and seeing Darius far off down the hallway doing ....something " Darius! What are you doing now?! Why are you sneaking?" Sage asked before moving toward the other only for them to suddenly shoot at her. Dodging she moved out of the way as he shouted something about a time machine he had found out she had.

" You can't just take it. It's too big to move! Give up now and I won't BEAT YOU with in an inch of your life!"  Sage then got up as the other ran down a hallway toward the time machine Sage really, actually, did have. Sage pushed herself up and started to chase after him " I mean it, Darius. DO not open that door! Do not go in there!" As Darius absolutely ignored her he turned to hold out that purple colored Diamond she had thrown over the tower roof decades ago. A look of recognition coming onto her face " Where the hell did you find that. Did you steal that from the garden. You really have gone completely mad! Haven't you?!" Sage says, full well knowing she had tossed that diamond away. As she watched Darius enter the room he was quickly tossed out by one of the knights that were guarding the inside. Right onto his ass.

Sage walked over to him before grabbing his hair up in her hand " You are never getting into that machine, and you are never going to bring him back. He's all mine. He has his punishment-" She said, as if present tense " And you have yours, Darius." Sage gave a grin before gesturing for the guards that were following her, to come and lift Darius up " Now why not spend a few days in prison to get your head right." Sage reached over then and yanked the Diamond out of Darius' tightly holding hand " Thank you very much for finding this thing. -Take him away." Sage gripped onto the diamond before turning abruptly away from the scene as Darius was shouting something at her " I don't care, Darius. Asher is dead, you are going to have to just get used to that."

Rheas was sitting outside in the garden when Sage came up to her " Darius has been arrested, you're on your own for the next couple of days. Fend for yourself. Or something. I don't care. Just be good." Sage paused then, watching Rheas as the smaller woman stared up at her. A sudden bout of anger coming over her before she suddenly struck Rheas in the face " And don't ever look at me again. Understand." Something about the way Rheas had looked at her just then had made her feel, almost, bad. It was so sudden and new to her that Sage couldn't react any other way then to hit the other girl. Hearing her sniffling Sage rolled her eyes " And don't be so loud. I barely even touched you." Turning away Sage started to march off and back toward the castle. One entering she told her guards that she would be taking a nap and to wake her if anything serious happened. Though nothing serious had ever really happened. Upon entering her room she dropped down onto the bed and closed her eyes. But instead of falling asleep her mind had simply drifted off to the day she brought Rheas home with her. Or what people had thought had happened, anyway.

Asher had been standing in the room as a knight had stopped him from getting out. Blinking he looked toward them before glaring " Who the hell even are you?"  Sage then came through the door, staring at her father " Who the hell are you!?" Asher asked before he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his shirt and pulled back toward the chair in the other side of the room. Asher stumbled back before being forced to sit down. His protests being cut off by Sage who had held out a strange drink to him then demanded he drink it before she let him go back " Where exactly is this place?! Why the hell did you even bring me here in the first place?" Sage only held out the drink and told him to drink it and she would tell him.

After another threat Asher tilt his head back and drank the entire strange drink " Eck that's disgusting. What is it, piss? Is this some kind of sick game?" Asher stood up then and shoved Sage out of his way only to be forced back by another knight that had been standing to the side " Get out of my way!" Sage grabbed Asher by the neck then, half strangling him as she brought him back. Though Asher's biggest concern wasn't the taller woman grabbing him but the suddenly sickening feeling he was getting in his stomach. Dropping down to the floor Asher held onto Sage's shirt before she yanked herself away.

" See, Asher, King of nothing. You are going to listen and obey every thing I say to you. Understand?" She grabbed a handful of his hair in hers before forcing his had back to make him look at her. Sage grinned maliciously down at him as he gasped, his skin clearly growing a sickly pale color. Though it seemed to also be puffing up. Asher gagged making Sage push him away from her " Oh, looks like you're not doing so hot. Are you in pain? You look like you're putting on some weight." Sage had watched her father drop to the floor as his skin turned a puke green color " Ew. Look at you."

When Asher managed through the drool and whatever else that was dripping from his mouth and off his face, to ask what she had done to him " Oh-Oh oo gross what are you leaking onto my floor?" Sage asked, though clearly knew the answer as Asher crawled along the floor, a slime like goo covering his body and sickly oozing onto the floor. His body continued to leak the strange goo until it was too thick for him to move and started to build up all around his body, sealing Asher in some strange purple cocoon. Sage watched it all happen before giving a small nod " Well, now my father can become a beautiful butterfly." Sage commented before laughing out loud.

After about a week the cocoon finally cracked open. Sage looked down at what was on the inside, grinning as soft strands of blond hair fell out over an adorable woman's soft round face. She continued to sleep, absolutely naked on the broken remains the cocoon around her. Sage ordered one of the knights to go grab a dress off the shelf and bring it to her. After that Sage lift the younger woman up from the floor and carried her over to have one of the servants dress her up and comb her hair. Sage continued to stare at the girl as she sat quietly sleeping on the couch in the time machine room. Reaching out she brushed a hand through the girls hair.

" Hm. What should I name you? Who should you be?" She thought back to a time in her childhood when she had remembered something absolutely random. Sean, that Hare who lived with his own family in the Spade Kingdom, had been doing something with his fathers and started going on about 'Flowers' and walking on them. Then the idea to make her a new species in Wonderland finally popped into Sage's mind " That's it! You'll be of the Flowers, heh. A new species." Sage reached out to caress the side of the other woman's face then before saying " Now what should your name be. What's an anagram for Asher." After a moment of thinking she tapped the blonde woman's nose " Rheas is good enough."

Some time later Sage sat up in bed and let out a breath " I should kill her, or send her back before Darius can stop me." But the girl had needed a few days to recover and she had needed to find away to revert Rheas back to Asher before returning the other to their own timeline. Sage decided that instead of taking a nap she would instead be looking for a potion to change Asher back. Walking out of the room he sent a page to go find anyone who might know how to do that. Though it had been several days before the page had actually returned to her " You took too damn long." She commented, contemplating throwing the young boy into an incinerator for the wait. Though she gave a shrug absently " Rheas is still recovering though--"

Sage was cut off when Darius had come into the room, demanding that she return the diamond to him. Sage sighed " Who the hell let you out and were you really that stupid to come back here, old man?" Sage shook her head " The Diamond is where it belongs, with my mother Darius. I suggest you stop this madness and go away from me before I really get rid of you." Sage warned, though Darius was unaffected. He just spewed some sort of words at her before turing and leaving " Are you drunk!? Go home, sleep it off! We'll discuss things over tea tomorrow!"

Sage stood then and quickly moved to to wherever she had been keeping Rheas at the time " A few more days till she's able to walk? How big was that damn baby? I don't care. Patch her up and have her ready to leave by tomorrow morning." Sage ordered before turning and leaving the room. She went to the time machine room to order those working there on prepping the machine to return Asher to the proper timeline. Sage then left to go set up to meet with Darius for tea tomorrow morning. Writing a letter to him to be delivered that night. Sage finished up a few more things that evening to prepare for the next day before going to bed and sleeping soundly as she knew everything that would happen to Asher after that point, and in tern, Darius as well.

The next morning Sage was sat at a table outside with some tea and breakfast. Darius had been sat across from her, guardsmen all around them. Darius seemed to think it was all a little much " Yeah, maybe. But you are just full of surprises, Darius." Sage giggled, again, it had sounded just like Asher's had. Lifting up a cup of tea she took a sip " You remember that rebellion you told me about, that you were a part of long before it ended up killing my grandparents, Darius?" Sage laughs " You thought you had lost Asher then, you remember?" Sage glances away, shaking her head " What if I then told you that, when someone tried to shoot Asher when I wasn't born, and you stepped in the way? I had hired that man to try and kill Asher."

Sage narrowed her eyes " Though surprising enough you seemed to develop the ability to not only deflect bullets, but you did it without even knowing you could." Setting the tea cup down she continued on " Another time I tried to have him assassinated, was that time someone shot him and two people stabbed him with hunting knives that could pierces through Cheshire skin." She lift a spoonful of eggs up and took a bite. Chewing for a moment she let Darius mull over that information for a couple of minutes. Then she shook her head and swallowed "Also. I killed him, now, I didn't mean to. But he was being so annoying. You can understand. You often found him annoying as well."

Sage leaned back in her chair then " How he would poke you, or lick you. I just, did us a favor.  He was telling me I wouldn't be queen for many years and I just lost it." Sage said with a laugh " I couldn't wait that long. I just, i needed this, more than I needed him." With that Sage had only just enough time to put a shield around herself as Darius sent a force field out sending guardsmen flying away from him. That's when the other started shouting at her about what she had done to Asher " What?! What was I supposed to do?! Was I supposed to wait for him to die?! What if he never died!? All my life everyone told me I would make a good queen? And I have! A far better King than him! He wasn't anything special!" Sage shouted before suddenly a tree branch stabbed through her foot and wrapped around her body, puncturing her side and wrapping up around Sage's arms. Out of the bushes Seti then showed up walking toward them.

" Go save your husband, Darius." Beside Seti, Sean had appeared, there to help Seti with anything he might need. Seti walked over toward Sage then looking her over " You know, Julian always said Sage was a brat. And she has continued to prove that ever since then." Sage had glared at the pair before hissing at Seti " Ooo... I bet you wish you could bite." Seti looked to Sean laughing  at Sage's attempts to get free from the vines.

A knight had been walking with Rheas in their arms. She had been completely unconscious as the knight had approached the machine. In most other timelines, Darius had never managed to get to this moment in time. He had always either asked Sean to go bring Asher to him from a different timeline. Or went through the time machine and took a version of Asher himself. This time, however, he had paused, to think. A one out of one hundred chance of him doing this across all the time lines that he and Sean had fractured. This Darius, in this current time line  threw out his arm at the knight that had been carrying Rheas and sent them both slamming into a wall. The knight taking the brunt of the impact. Rheas fell from the knights arms as they fell unconscious. Darius ran over toward the two of them before grabbing Rheas up in his arms and pulling away from the knight, looking around before turning and running out of the room with Rheas secure in his arms. Darius continued to run until he was out of the castle and meeting up with Sean once more. They both gave a nod toward one another, before Sean opened up a portal and took the too of them away somewhere where Sage couldn't reach the two of them.  

Darius had moved over to lay Rheas on a bed, running a hand over her head as he just looked at her. Then he said something about how he had wished he had known it was Asher a lot sooner than just the last few hours. Rheas started to stir, moaning as she shift away, pain spreading from her hips. Darius pulled away then before moving to grab a potion off a table and telling Rheas that he was going to help take the pain she was in away. Darius moved back to the girl then before holding the potion up to Rheas' lips and helping her drink the contents of the bottle. After some time passed Rheas went quiet as another cocoon of purple formed around her body. Darius was pacing then, demanding that the potion he got work.  Then threatening the potion maker if it didn't. After hours of this the cocoon finally broke, pieces of it falling to the floor. Asher had been laying on the couch then, his body completely back to normal. Scars and all,  just as they had been, except for the ones that had come after he had originally been returned to the timeline. Asher had remained asleep for about a day following that.

He tossed his head a little " Or disappear...- Ah, Well. Anyway. Sage will be married and perhaps starting her own family before she's able to wear the crown herself.  If I were to step down." Which he guessed was also just as likely as anything else. Seeing as he wasn't a suitable king in the first place, with all his health problems.  Asher was of course, extremely happy that the people weren't so annoyed with him that they were currently trying to kill him. And that he hadn't had to deal with attempts on his life the last handful or so of years " So, Darius. I was thinking we play some game of Clue, hm? Like old times. Tonight. Since Sage has a little date night tonight?" Asher laughed a bit at how cute it had sounded when Sage said she was going to go to a movie with a boy from school.  Asher had never gotten to do that sort of thing, mostly because he was usually too sick to even go to school. And his mother wasn't very keen on such nonsense. Especially since Darius had kept breaking into the castle to be friends with Asher when they were both teenagers.

Asher let out a breath as he was listening to Darius, casting his eyes around the room.  While the other male continued to talk Asher lift his left hand up and started adjusting his mechanical one, pulling it off for a moment before reattaching it " Ah! Yes. That reminds me, were you not watching some silly movie and crying over it when you were with Sage?" Asher brought up, giving a cute little grin toward the other male before he stood " Oh come on now, Clue is fun. Must you always fight me on these things. Once you start playing you'll not have to think about how boring you find it. You just have to start." Asher poked Darius in the side then, giving a soft giggle then as he teased the other before turning and starting to walk away " All you got to do is start doing the thing and then you'll not notice how much you didn't want to." That was considering if the other even enjoyed it. Which, Asher couldn't see why they wouldn't, they would be spending an enjoyable evening with him, wouldn't they? Asher had paused though, a concerned look crossing over his face as he was staring back toward Darius. Before he looked away and muttered " Unless you don't want to try."

Once in his bedroom and the board game set out with several maids delivering snacks and drinks Asher sat back on the couch, lifting up a remote " I had them schedule a bunch of stuff for nostalgia, for tonight, on the ...tv thing." Asher tilt his head a little. Still not used to the idea of tv's entirely. He then smiled toward Darius "You did watch these when you were a teenager, right? You weren't homeless. I though Miso made sure everyone had at the very least, a home." Though he couldn't remember seeing a tv in Darius' home. Turning his head away he tried to think back to when he had even had the time to go to Darius' house in the last few years. Reaching over then he grabbed a few grapes up before tossing them into his mouth and moving to grab the blue piece " I'm going to be a Peacock." He declared before placing his piece on the board as.

The hours that followed seemed to pass by quickly, at least to Asher. As he was just enjoying the evening, drinking, and talking, and just being with Darius. After winning another game of Clue he smirked before tipping his piece over " Alright, that's three to two, you weren't half bad this time, dearie." Asher teased before leaning into to kiss Darius for a good long moment. Pulling away he sat back and looked toward the tv as Darius said something about feeling tired " Yeah, me too.  You can head to bed. I am going to go see how Sage is doing. She should have been back several hours ago. It's nearly four in the morning." Asher glances toward a clock as he confirmed the time.

Leaving Darius to clean stuff up and then head to bed. Asher opened the door to Sage's room a few minutes later. Looking at her bed he frowned as he noticed something was definitely off with this. He couldn't smell Sage's scent, recently being in the room. Sniffing he lift head up as he inhaled every scent in the room. Look around he noticed there weren't even any guardsmen around either. Turning he grabbed the blanket off the bed, pulling it down to the foot of the bed before letting out a breath " Of course... Clearly she can't be trusted to keep track of time. Though the guards I sent to supervise should have had her home long before now." Narrowing his eyes he then turns and exits the room. Quickly making his way to the nearest guardsmen he could find. He was soon told that the other guards had lost track of Sage, and hadn't been able to find her. At least until about fifteen minutes before that moment. Asher glared " What do you mean you lost track of her, how hard is it to keep an eye one a fourteen year old at the movies?" Asher quickly walked away from the guardsmen then, just as Sage was arriving back.

He walked up to her as she entered the door " Oh! There you are! I thought we finally got rid of you? -What the hell were you thinking?!" Asher hissed before Sage told him she didn't want to hear it, out in front of everyone. " Fine. In private then." Asher brought a hand behind her back and ushered her toward the library, closing the door and locking it behind them as they were both inside. Asher paced for a minute as Sage gave her excuses " Not that it's likely to happen. But what if someone had taken you? What would you have done? You can't just do that, those men are their to protect you. I don't care how strong you believe you are. Doing that kind of thing is reckless!"  He paused then as Sage was starting to shout at him about how she didn't like being treated like some pet. Though Asher wasn't really listening as he caught a whiff of something on her breath. He narrowed his eyes " Oh... Have you been drinking?" Asher asked before Sage shot back at him that he had been drinking, so why couldn't she " Because you're fourteen!" Asher pointed out.

Sage glares at Asher before shoving him back " I'm an adult. I can take care of myself!  You're just wanting to get in my way!" She shouted at Asher who rolled his eyes " Don't do that. You keep treating me like I don't know what I am capable of. You're even worse than I am. The kingdom has been waiting for you to just die. So a real ruler can finally take your place." Then Asher said something that had seem to just be the final straw for Sage, she let out a screech suddenly before making a crushing motion with her fist toward Asher. Which may have seemed silly except the noise that followed as Asher's chest slightly cracked under some pressure. Sage stepped toward Asher as he lifted up his hand to his chest " I wanted to thank you, dad, for having Darius teach me how to control my powers. This is much better than just throwing you across the room. Much more quiet." The teenager seemed to have mentally just slipped into complete psychopathy. Asher coughed trying to say something but Sage had already been on top of things, bringing her other hand up she slowly closed her hand into a fist.

Asher could feel his ribs crushing under the invisible weight that had suddenly entered his chest, making him cough and unable to speak as his lungs were quickly becoming unable to hold air. Wheezing, Asher turned away from Sage " Sage...S-stop-- You need to calm down." Asher spoke even though his head was starting to feel like it was being crushed. Lifting a hand to his head he felt his eyes tearing up. Only the liquid that had been dribbling down his face wasn't tears, nothing like them. But instead blood. Then everything had gone completely sideways before going to completely black.

Sage dropped her arms at her sides after Asher dropped to the ground. She lift her head up, dark brown eyes staring down at her father's now convulsing body " Serves you right. You were always getting in my way. I'm tired of being treated like a child." She spit at Asher then before turning and walking out of the room, locking it behind her. When the guard asked her about Asher she gave a shrug " Nothing. I suggest you forget about him being in there and get back to your posts." The guardsman's eyes clouded over then and they all gave her a nod and returned back to their posts. Sage grinned before moving down the hallway. Eventually she came across Asher's room and walked into it. Seeing Darius sleeping away. The smile on Sages face disappearing as she approached the other. Darius had never seemed to be easy for her to control with a suggestion. The other seemed absolutely immune to her natural born gift. She glares at him, standing silently at Darius' bedside as she had watched the other sleeping away. Leaning over then she lift her hand over Darius' head and made a crushing motion. Though when nothing happened he huffed.

After a few more moments, she looked around for something sharp. Only seeing nothing immediate to use in order to stab Darius. Though by that time her rage had seemed to completely fade, her murderous rage soon being gone especially when Darius suddenly woke up and asked what she had been doing " Oh! Nothing, Darius. I was just here to give you a kiss goodnight. Daddy says he will be in after his snack." Sage leaned in toward Darius then, giving the other a kiss to the forehead. She then turned and walked away " The movie was very good. I especially like the part where the killer revealed they had telekinesis and she made the other teens brains explode." Sage then left the room and went to her own.

The next morning Sage was walking down to enjoy her breakfast when she was suddenly grabbed by a maid who rushed her toward toward the dining room. Sage had watched as other staff members were moving quickly as if getting ready for an attack "What's going on, why's everyone in such a rush?" The maid forced a smile at Sage before setting her down at the table and telling her not to worry.  After a moment a nice warm breakfast was placed in front of her and Sage had begun to eat. After a few moments she realized something was off " Where is my father, and Darius? They should have been awake by now." Sage asked looking toward the maid who gave a nervous laugh and agreed with her. Then looked over her shoulder before telling Sage that Darius was busy and Asher was with him. Sage narrowed her eyes a little then " Too busy for breakfast?" Sage asked, giving off just enough suspicion to seem not so suspicious herself. Because she knew that the servants were only acting this way and not telling her the truth of what was going on, because royalty suddenly dying in the night made things very chaotic the next day. And she, still being treated like a child who didn't know what she was doing, was of course being shielded from the 'tragic news'.

Sage rolled her eyes as the maid went on trying to make up more cover stories " I don't feel like going to school today." Sage then said and the maid gave a nod, telling her she wouldn't have to go to school. Sage grinned " Oh? Won't my dad be angry about that." Sage muttered before taking a bite out of some sausage on her plate. The rest of the day had gone on without a hitch. It wasn't until about six that evening that Darius came toward her in the most aggressive way she had ever seen him, shouting about what she did. That it 'had' to have been her. Because she was the only one that could have done 'it'. Sage gave him a mock confused look " Do what, Darius?" She asked before watching the man be forcibly removed as he was about to be put in prison for suspicion of something. It was about thirty minutes later that Sage had been told Asher had died during the night and that Darius, a known user of telekinesis outside of Sage herself, had been arrested for the crime. One of their biggest reasons for it, outside of the damage Asher had been given the night before, the maid telling Sage what happened, had said. Was that Darius had also been caught talking to Asher about Sage one day being the Queen of Diamonds.

Her mouth falling agape she looked around " NO!? Darius killed him?! He couldn't have! Darius' loves my father! You're wrong! He's not dead." And just like a natural born actor she started shouting in denial about what she was being told " He can't be dead! He's not! Where is he! I want to see him!" Sage screamed, tears forming in her eyes. The maid moved in to hug her and comfort Sage as she pretended to actually have any feeling about what was going on. It wasn't until eight when Sage was allowed to confirm that her father was indeed dead. Sage walked over toward the body as it was laying on a stone slab, outwardly he looked perfectly fine. Still young and seemingly only sleeping. Sage sniffled before moving to lay over him " I'm sorry I yelled at you. If I had known someone...would do this to you I--" She cut herself off to cry against Asher's arm. After sometime Sage pulled away, asking the servants around her what was going to happen next. They told her that she would be made queen, and that Asher would be made into a Diamond. Sage gave an understanding nod at this before pushing herself away "I am exhausted and wish to sleep, now."

Over the next week Sage had been made the Queen of Diamonds, at only fourteen years of age. Quickly all of Asher's duties to the kingdom had fallen onto her. She had taken it a lot better than Asher had. Eager to deal with her people. Only she was able to control them far better than Asher had ever. Mostly because all she needed to do was suggest to her people however she wished them to act. With that, the kingdom was starting the building blocks to the almost corporate and complete compliance to Sage's every want. Though for the time being she had to make a decision on Darius' fate. On that day Asher's diamond had finally been finished as well. Sage looked over toward Darius as the other was sat in chains by himself, his fate in the balance. Though at that moment Sage had been handed Asher's Diamond. Standing she lift it up, showing it off to the people. It had a slightly purple tint in it. Sage frowned " My father, who was murdered, will join my mother, and the rest of our family." Sage smirked before looking at Darius and holding the Diamond out to the other " But for now, let him be here as we decided the fate of the man accused of murdering him in cold blood."

Sage turned and walked over to Darius then, her brown eyes, like his, staring into the males. She offered a smile to him before holding out the Diamond, only to pull it away from his touch " In the dead of night. He came in to the library, and used his terrible, powerful abilities. TO crush my fathers heart and mind. And then left him to suffer for hours, in pain." She frowned " Or so that is what he is being accused of." Sage shook her head then and turned to face the crowd " I do not believe these accusations. Darius loved my father, and it's time you all accept this. They have been friends since they were teenage boys. And, I believe Asher loved Darius more than he had ever loved my mother." As Darius was trying to talk she shushed him " -Before I have you gagged. Just because my father was lieutenant with you, doesn't mean I will be." Sage warned then went on " Darius was there for him after my mother tragically passed when I was born.  And in turn had been there for me. I owe Darius the chance to walk free, and believe his claim of innocence. SO long as he remains working for me in this castle for the rest of his days. He is that last piece of my father I have left. And I do consider him a good friend."

The teenager then walked away from Darius and back toward the throne " Matter of fact. He will go free, and remain working here as my advisor, under the eye of my guardsmen, of course. Just in case he did in fact conspire to kill my grandparents. And murder my father. And, as been suggested for many years now, perhaps even poisoned my mother." Sage looked back toward Darius before taking her seat, casually leaning to one side as she brought Asher's diamond out with her left hand, casually laying her arm over the arm rest of the throne " That is my verdict. Darius is to be unchained now and we will speak no more of any guilt he may have to any of those deaths, from this day forward, in my presence. I have made myself clear." Carelessly then she tossed Asher's diamond into the air and clumsily caught it in her hand. With a wave of her right hand then she signaled to the people to carry on and dealt it the rest of the days work. Mostly she played with the diamond as if it were some simple rock, not really bothering to show any concern for it. Even dropping it a few time as she had been twirling it in her hand.

After another few hours Sage stood up the jobs for the day finally over she made her way to the exit. Only to stop as Darius came toward her. He was of course barred from getting too close to her by several guards. While he was talking to her Sage cut him off saying " I expect you to be here prim and proper tomorrow,  we'll have some tea and discuss work, nothing more. Now, go get a good nights sleep." Sage had ordered before ignoring Darius and walking out of the room as the other was again talking to her. She paid no mind and shut the door in his face. Sage made her way down the hallway then, heading for the tower that lead to the secret garden on top of it. Once there she stepped through the doors. Lifting the diamond up to her face " Father, I'm here, on the secret garden where you left my mother. But you know what.." She grinned and pulled the Diamond away to the side of her face " She deserves to be up here more than you." Winding up then she threw the Diamond as hard as she could, throwing it passed the tower garden and into the castle woods where it landed in a puddle of mud that coated it in a layer of dirt.

Over the next twenty years that's where the diamond had stayed, sinking into the dirt and embedding itself their, the light that the diamonds usually would give off from the top of the tower hidden from being seeing from Asher's Diamond due to the layers of dirt that had covered it.  That was until one day Rheas, the Flower Sage had given to her guardsmen, was digging around in the woods one day. She was walking through it, when she stepped on it and cut her foot. She winced a bit before leaning down to tend to the cut. After successfully getting it to stop bleeding she looked around for what had caused it and seen a pointy rock. Digging at it for a few minutes she plucked the dirt covered diamond out of the hole and lift it up.  Rheas grinned before rubbing it against her white dress. She had then heard a guard yelling at her to not be over there. Rheas rushed out of the woods carrying the rock with her.  She was then stopped by the guard and asked about the rock. The guard then rolled his eyes before telling her to go meet with Darius as Sage was going to talk with them both.

Rheas stepped up to Darius as the other was towering over something. For someone who was relatively small, Rheas much more petite form made him seem more gigantic Rheas smiled at the other, before giving him a poke to the side to let him know she was there. Even though the other male seemed like he would rather be anywhere else and left alone most of the time. Rheas then looked around being silent for a couple of moments. Her fingers nervously moving over the dirty rock in her hand as she held it up over her chest.  Darius finally said something, and it was about the rock. Pulling away from the other a bit Rheas looked then to the rock. Sage had come in then and told her to be quiet as she had more important things to talk about than some filthy rock. She then told the two to take a seat. Glaring at Darius' wrist a moment, the bracelet that Asher had given the other man many years early still there and still annoying Sage to no end.  She shook her head then and looked to Darius before pointing to Rheas, informing Darius that the guardsmen didn't want Rheas staying in their bunks when she wasn't attending to them.

" So she's going to live with you, the guards will go pick her up when ever they would like to use her. But while she's not doing anything. I would like for you to teach her how to live on her own. Those flower folk aren't really that bright. I mean, look at her, she looks like she's got nothing in her head but air. Most flowers are usually just beautiful and that's it." Sage made a face at this " So if you could kindly keep my pretty flower watered, Darius." Sage gave a slight smirk as she said that " I'm sure you'll enjoy your new house guest. That wasn't a request. Remember, I could have you executed at any moment I so choose. Do not forget that." Sage looked toward Rheas then " and teach her how to have sex better, if you could. Laying there and taking it gets boring after a while." Sage stood then and walked away from the two then. Rheas gave a frown then looked down at the rock before muttering to herself about how she knew she wasn't any good at the job Sage had given her. She was actually talking to the rock then.

Sage had developed her powers for telekinesis' and needed someone to help her control it. Darius clearly was the guy for the job.  Though frequently Sage's aggression came out and so did the telekinesis. Which was the biggest reason for why she needed help with controlling it. Asher moved toward the bathroom, undressing himself. As of the moment he was looking just a little bit more thin than he normally had looked. Once in the bath he began to hum to himself closing his eyes as he got comfortable and leaned back in the bath. However it seemed Sage was already up and ready to go. The eleven year old burst right into the bedroom and made her way to the bathroom as she could hear the water. She made a comment toward Darius to get up as she made her way to the bathroom, pushing open the door and telling Asher to hurry up " Sage, get out! What hell!  I  will get there when I get there!" Asher leaned up, water splashing onto the floor before Sage turned in left.

Some time later as he and Darius were getting dressed Asher looked to Darius and frowned " You would think she's excited to be queen, just like the people were...are." He mutters before looking toward the door " Eh, maybe she should be. We can go move to the countryside and disappear from this life. Huh?" He teased before leaning toward the other, grabbing their jaw with his left hand and pulling them closer so he could give Darius a kiss. As he pulled away and toward the bedroom door he shook his head " But she's clearly nowhere near ready for that responsibility. She gets upset if the maids don't add the proper amount of sugar to her snacks. Walking out then he waits for Darius before heading off toward the throne room. It was almost noon before they got there. Sage had already been sat in her own personal seat and several people were talking with her before he entered. They gave a few bows to Asher before returning to their seats then. Asher walked up as Darius moved to sit somewhere as well, he stares at Sage " And what was that conversation, hm?" Asher had asked as he took a seat.

"None of your business father. Maybe it's a surprised for your birthday. I suggest you not pry your nose into it." Sage looked into Asher's eyes then, watching as they had clouded over and he turned away, seeming to completely forget about his question. Asher faced the front of the room before looking toward Darius. He blinks awake after a moment, his eyes drifting to the bracelet that was on Darius' wrist before he was looking away again, thinking quietly to himself as things started finally. After a couple hours passed Asher had become tired and actually fell asleep. Leaving Sage to pick up his slack, which she was being trained for anyway. A couple of fan girls were mostly just 'awwing' Asher for how cute he looked while sleeping. Not seemingly caring that the reason for why he was constantly either in pain or asleep or seemingly having mentally just left his entire body, was because of the medication he was on. Asher had, also, just gone to sleep in order to ease some of the stress this job gave him.  He curled up in the chair, shifting onto his side.

However it seemed to annoy Sage how much attention Asher's new little fan club had been giving him. Leaving most people to ignore her over their 'precious bby king' who was 'so Kawaii' when he was sleeping so peacefully on the throne 'like that'. Sage rolled her eyes before shouting " If you don't stop drooling over my stupid dad I am going to throw all of  you out! You are disrupting those who really need our help!" Sage pointed toward a particular group sitting near Darius, because they knew what was up between Darius and Asher and seemed to absolutely love every bit of it. Something Sage seemed to not, herself, enjoy at all. However this didn't stop and a shouting match started between several teenage girls in the room and Sage. Asher suddenly woke up before stretching which had earned a few older women's 'aww''s while the girls were fighting. Blinking he watched for a moment before getting up and walking over to Sage " Sage! We don't yell at our citizens. Remember?" He made her look at him as she was in the middle of cussing one girl out that was her age. Sage hissed " These people are sick, they are disgusting! Who could ever love anyone like you!? You're lazy, you're weak!"

Asher smiled and started to pull Sage away as a teenage boy commented about her being the ugly and weak one. Asher didn't have the ability to stop the next thing Sage did because she whipped around too quickly and a force of telekinetic power suddenly exploded from her body as she shouted curses toward the older male. Asher had been pushed back first, sent flying back, hitting the one stone chair before crashing to the floor behind the chair. The rest of the force shield had lost most of it's power before it reached anyone else. Darius had been completely unaffected by it, but several rows of people were pushed back. Sage then walked closer to the crowed of people, threatening to kill every last one of them " I'm tired of being treated like a child! I'm your queen! Remember that! I'm not a little girl, or cute accessory to my father!" She pointed at Darius then " That's your cute accessory!  Stop Awwwing him! Aaww me!" Which was basically like saying 'you will all kneel' to those who could hear Sage. The guardsmen were confused by what they were supposed to do. So they instead moved to tend to Asher who was getting up.

After having the sense knocked out of him Asher wasn't really in a state to deal with Sage and had told his guardsmen to get him out of there. Once he was out he lift a hand to his head even though his entire right side of his back was almost just as much in pain as his head " She really needs to get some control on those powers, and that temper. What's she so aggressive for." Asher mumbled as he tried to collect himself. Even though he could hear a little bit of chaos going on in the throne room. Letting out a breath he shook his head " Well, there goes anyone adoring her for the time being. I don't think the people will look too fondly on this. The only saving grac- Ow!" He winced as one of the castle nurses came to see how much damage was done " Careful. I'm not made of metal." As he said that Darius had quickly come through the doors from the throne room. Apparently what ever he was trying to get their daughter to stop with her tantrum had been futile " Maybe she'll grow out of it, you think?" Asher commented to Darius when the other decided to just move on to asking about him.

Only a couple minutes later Sage came stomping through the doors as well " Stupid people, I hate when they do that!" She grumbled as she walked passed her fathers. Asher stood to say something but Sage just ignored every thing as she made her way back to her room " I don't want to talk to anyone for the rest of the day. I’m going to bed!" The little girl declared. Asher looked to Darius before wincing when Sage slammed her bedroom door.

At five years old, it seemed Sage hadn't yet grown out of her wildling like Cheshire behavior, to be, or at least pretend to be, civil. Asher had been staring down at his daughter as she was currently stomping around the room, throwing things around and cursing at him for being the worst father ever for not letting her....What was it this week? Wearing some dress she preferred to wear over the much warmer clothing Asher was telling her to wear, as it wasn't exactly a dress wearing day " I'm sorry, Sage-" He stopped to laugh, bringing his left hand up to his mouth. It was just too cute, her little tantrum. But every time she heard him as she was having one of these she would threaten to bite him 'really hard' if he kept it up. Asher hearing it again for probably the millionth time had him rolling his eyes " Okay, okay. I know, this is very important to you." Leaning down then he started picking some things up. The maids had refused to deal with her in this state after a few years. Asher couldn't blame them, when every time they tried to clean or deal with the young girl she would hurle and entire play set at their heads.

As a few plastic tea sets scattered along the floor toward him he looked over to see her throwing the pants at the window. Laughing again he dropped his head down, only to see her whip around to face him. Her eyes locking onto his. Suddenly his mind was clouding and a familiar pressure started to fill his head before he blacked out. But the time he came back to reality Sage's mouth had been tightly sinking into his arm, searing pain rising up as he knelt beside her, still in a haze.  Glancing around he muttered for her to stop, that it had hurt, but only able to make himself seem to half care that his child was currently scaring his arm with her teeth.  Though the hazed moments quickly passed and he pulled on his arm as the pain fully registered to him " Ow! Sage! Stop it! That hurts... " She growled at him before biting harder, his arm making a sickening cracking sound that had ended with Asher shouting out in pain as it tore through his arm. Yanking his hand out he smashed the palm of his left hand into Sage's forehead, forcing her off of him " Get off!"

Sage quickly, with cat like reflexes got up from the floor and wiped her mouth off, her eyes staring down at Asher as he nursed his arm on the floor. Her pupils slit, Sage sneered at Asher " I suggest you keep your mouth shut about this and stuff it. Better yet, Asher, aren't you feeling a bit starved. Leave me alone and go eat yourself to death." Her eyes flashed a redish glow as her childish voice held so much hatred in venom toward the other cheshire. Asher blinked, looking confused as his eyes clouded over once more. He dropped his head down a little before turning it from one side to the other. Then he nods, commenting that he was feeling a little hungry. Pushing himself up then he continued to cradle his arm before smiling at Sage then giving her a pat on the head with his left hand, commenting on how she had been such a good daughter.

The moment didn't last long before Darius was coming in to see what all the noise and screaming was about. Sage looked toward Darius, the look on her face changing from anger to sweetness as she ran toward Darius who was asking about Asher's arm " Oh, Daddy was being clumsy again, Darius! I'm so happy to see you! Wanna play with the tea sets later, after school? You are taking me today, aren't you?" Sage looked toward Asher then " He fell over the tea sets, what a terrible daddy." She looked up to Asher he blinked, then gave a nod to confirm what Sage was saying. Sage then nods and runs off to go put on the dress she wanted to wear to school.

The other male had seemed to believe their daughter, as was often the case because Asher always seemed to upset her or make her cry, if she knew Darius had been around. Even though she didn't know Darius other than someone that helped her through out the day. Which Asher had supposed made them have a special bond " Hm?" Asher looked toward Darius before giving a shrug as the other asked if he had been drinking " I don't think so." He didn't feel drunk. With that Asher turned and left Darius and Sage to their schedule for the day. Asher was left to his own schedule for the day, which had probably not helped at all with his ability to bond with Sage, seeing as the Kingdom had required most of his attention. Having his arm taken care of Asher had to be quickly rushed to the throne room to give out orders and such for the day. Which he had spent hours doing, in a cast and a sling. Of course this had also not gone unnoticed by others in the kingdom who started whispering throughout the day that it made Asher look weak. Which, of course it would be pointed out because he wasn't like Darius who apparently could be shot at now. Though it was mostly brought up because of his other health problems, they had apparently associated the two.

Letting out a breath it was about eight in the evening before Asher was freed from his duties from the day, finally. Walking down the hallways he come across Darius and smiles at the other " Ah, you are still here, wating patiently, hm?" Asher gives a nod toward the other before stepping passed them " Is she asleep..." Opening the door a bit she shift, around, he could see her glwoing round eyes staring toward him before she commented on wanting a hug and a kiss before she went to bed " Of course..." Asher walked into the room then and sat at her side before leaning into to give a kiss to her forehead and then leaned to wraping his left arm around her, he paused suddenly when she started whispering things into his ear. Slowly he pulled away after a few moments and gave a smile "How about I start teaching you how to be a queen, hm, Sage? To make it up to you from how busy i've been." Sage gave a nod. Then Asher stood and exited the room, walking absently passed Darius. It took a few times for him to take notice of the other male saying his name before finally acknowledging their presence again.

Asher turned to face Darius then and scratched the side of his head " Oh. Darius!  Hey.... Sorry, I was having a moment.  I was wanting to have you stay the night...I think...wasn't I?" Asher glances around, looking pretty confused before shaking his head " Anyway, if you aren't too busy. Maybe we can be getting busy." He giggled before reaching out to take the others hand to lead them off to what was really more 'their room' than not.

Things went on like that for a while, till one night, while Asher was thrusting over the top of Darius, blankets crumpled up around his waist as he was taking the others cock entirely into himself. Leaning down Asher ran a hand along the others bare chest and smirked " I think Sage is getting old enough maybe she can start taking on more duties for the kingdom. Get her face out there. Make them build respect and love toward her." Asher shrugs though, the girl had only been seven years old after all. It seemed to Asher that it might all be a little bit too much pressure for the young child. Asher was about to propose his next idea, for Darius to start trying to help the girl understand that Darius had actually been the girls mother. Since he had figured Darius was the one who deserved that much more. However before he could get that out light suddenly broke through the darkness from the doorway. Turning to look Asher had seen Sage standing their and absolute shock at what she had been seeing before saying something to the tune of 'what about mother?!' before she turned and ran off. Asher shift suddenly  " Shit! She was supposed to be asleep..."

Getting up quickly he put on a pair of boxers " Stay Darius, I'll talk to her." Darius would have probably not been very helpful to the moment anyway, Asher had figured. Given the others ability to do more harm than good in most conversations. Asher quickly caught up to Sage, reaching out to grab her arm as he knelt down to wrap his arms around her. Only for her to swing at him, smacking him hard against the side of the face " Sage! Stop! I can explain! Just stop fighting me."

"NO! You're disgusting! You both are disgusting!" Sage shouted pushing her free hand against the one Asher was holding her with " You never loved her, did you? That's why you kept Darius around." Sage suddenly turned and swiped her free hand at him, claws slashing out this time, cutting against the side of his face. Asher jumped when Darius came to try and help though, only for Sage to then say " NO! I don't want to talk to you!" Ripping her hand from out of Asher’s and darting quickly toward her room. Asher had quickly followed, since both of them were faster than Darius anyway. Asher pushed the door open as Sage had tried to shut it in his face " You aren't supposed to love anyone else but mom!  You're a terrible dad, and a terrible husband!" Sage shouted, glaring right at Asher. Who took a step back allowing Sage to close the door and lock it. Absently he continued to stare at the door for a moment before Darius caught up.

Asher let out a breath " I just don't know what to do now." He lift a hand up to his forehead, feeling like he was starting to get a headache. Shaking his head then he looked toward the other before turning and walking away quickly " Just let her sleep, Darius. I think it's just a shock to her." Asher excused as he was walking away " We'll figure this out later."  Asher soon arrived back to the room and walked over to his bed before dropping onto it and wrapping his entire body in one of the blankets, quickly drifting off to sleep soon after.

The next morning Sage had been sitting at the table eating her breakfast and chatting Darius' ear off, as though last night didn't happen. Rubbing at his eyes Asher had approached the two, giving a smile " Hey, Sage. I see you are in a better mood now?" Asher said as he sat down next to them both. Sage looked to Asher then and gave a smile, then nods with an 'of course, dad'. Asher gave her a look before then looking to Darius for a moment " So, you both have the day planned, I suppose? After school you'll be going to your violin prac-" Sage had cut him off then, saying that she didn't want to go to that practice anymore " Well, i'm sorry, but you need to be doing something after school." He paused, as she started to tear up. Then looking away he gave a nod " We'll look for something else to take up that time, okay?" She surrendered with a sigh then before looking over as one of the staff came in with some cupcakes on a plate.  Setting that plate down in front of Asher he gave a tilt of his head. Then reached out to take one up " Oo, cupcakes, for breakfast." He leaned in to sniff it, his pupils suddenly enlarging as he got a sniff of what the cupcakes had been made of.

Sage gave a nod " Yes! I helped to make them early this morning, father! I know you will love them." She then continued to eat from her bowl, finishing off her breakfast then standing " Well you enjoy those today and... Uh, have a good day at work today, daddy." She moved over to Asher before giving a kiss to his temple. She then turned and stared to head for the door to leave " Hurry up, Darius. I have a project I am excited to do today at school." With that Sage had left leaving Darius and Asher together for a time.

Asher looked to Darius before giving a shrug " Crisis averted, you think? Well, anyway, don't tell her anything today, Darius. She's clearly not ready to know." Asher gave Darius a stern look, then looks back to another cupcake, unwrapping it before beginning to eat it " Mmm, Catnip." Then he watched as Darius got up and started to follow Sage out "I'll talk to you tonight!~" Maybe she could forget about the whole incident. Asher could have only have hoped as much would happen. But at the bottom of his stomach he felt something had been happening. The people were becoming a lot more aggressive with him. Questioning him. As though someone had been speaking out, against him. Asher had contemplated that thought over the next few days even. Not becoming worried, but just wondering why the people were starting to speak about how he was very unfit to be king. Even though he was doing very good, otherwise. Though it could have just very well have been that the people in Wonderland were just MAD and they would NEVER truly be happy, no matter the kind of king or queen they had.

Several days later after he had had those thoughts Asher was dealing with one of those aggressive people. Sitting on his throne and listening to them go off when they didn't like the answer they gave him. Which true enough had happened several times before now, it was just more often than he could remember in such quick succession that it was happening. Though this exchanged had only ever lasted so long, and the other had finally left, Asher hoped, appeased in some way. As he was talking to the next one in line about their fields Asher had gotten up to take something from them that they had personally wanted to hand over to him. Which was never a good idea to do, especially if you weren't very well liked by some of the people in your kingdom. However, it could, perhaps, also be a good thing to show that you were not afraid to be on the same level as your people. Asher graciously reached out to take the item being gifted to him, lemons. It was a lemon farm after all. He peeled it before taking a bite out of it. Swallowing he nodded " This is good, thank you. I will accept your offer." Which had been to grow more just like those.

Licking at the lemon he grinned happily as he moved to head back toward the thrown and wave a guardsmen over to take the offerings back toward the kitchens to be used. As he was doing that a loud noise had come from one of the front rows of people sat nearby. Asher turned to look and seen several people had suddenly stood, though time had weirdly seem to slow a little for him as he dropped his gaze down toward his chest to see the center of his body flood with droplets of red. Bringing a hand to his gut he dabbed at it, almost thinking that it wasn't even real before feeling the warm liquid coat his fingers in red. He had been so distracted by that that he didn't notice the rush of people all around him, guardsmen and civilian alike clashing before someone had pumped into his should. This brought time crashing back to him, speeding up as he stumbled out of the way. Thankfully, for the most part, everyone had been distracted by others with weapons rather than dealing with him or any innocent person caught in the crossfire. Asher managed to slip out of the center of the action only to be tackled to the floor.

His head had been smashed against it as he heard a voice over him growl down about him not getting away with it. Then he was quickly turned over and the collar of his shirt grabbed up, the man who had tackled him down pushing a knee into his gut as the blade of a fairly huge hunting knife was playfully slide along his chest. The man had asked if getting shot hurt, and then laughed at the idea that maybe it had. But not, apparently, as much as it was going to hurt to have a blade repeatedly rip through him. Asher grabbed onto the others hand, digging his nails into their flesh. Yanking them off him he threw them back into a set of empty stairs almost halfway across the room. Standing then his body started to grow in and become more catlike " Doesn't hurt enough that I won't fucking tear your head off and eat it!" Asher snapped, the cheshire cat predatory side of him taking over as he bound out toward the male when they scrambled for their knife after dropping it.  Asher had swiped at them then, his only arm slashing at the attackers body  and throwing them into the wall on their left.

Though before he could do anything more another person jumped into his back stabbing a very identical hunting knife though a shoulder blade causing Asher to let out a pained roar and quickly turn around, reaching his left hand up and grabbing onto the person on his back, digging his claws into them to get a better grip before then throwing them clear across the room into a crowd of people. Asher stumbled back then letting out an exhausted breath. Hearing his blood rush through his veins and his heart beating loudly against his chest the world seemed to spin a little as he stumbled around half out of it  for a moment. After another moment his body started to shrink back down and the cat like features began to revert back to human ones. The male who had attacked him grabbed Asher then making a smug remark about the blade that was currently in his back at that moment as they made Asher look at him. Their hand grabbing around his neck before quickly they plunged their own hunting knife deep into Asher's chest. Though this attacker didn't have long to savor their moment as a spear struck them precisely in the fucking eyeball and their entire body was sent flying back into the stone wall.

Asher slumped down before being grabbed up by one of his guardsmen and brought away from the area into the arms of his medical staff. Still awake Asher could hear them moving him away from the chaos that had been going on in the throne room and their attempts to stop his bleeding as well as get those hunting knives out of him. He could hear as they removed the one from his back. Then feel as they begun to slow or stop the bleeding there. It wasn't long after that that Asher had started to pass out, a sharp pain hitting him in the chest just as everything had gone completely black. The memories that all had followed after that were brief and it seemed like much time had been passing the more these moments hit him. Yet he had remained in a sleep like state that he couldn't seem to keep himself awake from.

Once Sage and Darius had gotten news of what happened they seemed to rush home though their wasn't much point to it as neither of them would be able to see him for about a week, since Asher was, as the staff had informed them ' deathly ill'. Which many of the people would also quickly find out about since Diamonds were known for spreading such gossip about. The news didn't waste any time pinning Sage up as a 'child queen' almost too suspiciously quickly. Sage however had been utterly devastated by the attack on her father. And once she was allowed to see him she seemed to never want to leave his side, for anything. She had to start getting her daily lessons from school delivered to her, and of course she had help if she needed it. She would eat every meal in that room. Most days she only just sat and cried at his side begging him to not die and leave her alone like her mother had.

After about two months however, Asher was finally able to stay awake for longer than a few seconds. He had actually been able to sit up in bed and hold full conversations before needing a break to rest. He was told that he needed to take it easy from his doctor from now on, as his injuries have taken a permanent toll on his body and that his heart just couldn't take much more of that. Asher knew that one day he would have had to worry about such news. As his heart had always been bad. But now he could definitely feel it. After a few days anyway. His old medication wouldn't even work after that incident. There was an ever lasting pain dead in the center of his chest that day after day seemed to becoming worse and worse for him to deal with. His doctor had told him he couldn't offer much more in the way of numbing it as he was already on so much medication. Through the course of all of this the people somehow had gotten news of every step of what was happening with him and his life expectancy and whether Sage was soon to be their next ruler had constantly been being brought up. So much so that Asher had been becoming stressed out by that alone that after almost a year of it he had mostly stayed out of the light.

On Sage's eighth birthday a reporter had come to do a story on the event, and end up running into Asher as he had been downing another piece of cake, in a futile attempt to at least somewhat help his pain filled body be a little more bearable. As they came up to him he felt them poke him in the stomach before making a comment about a little bit of weight he had gained " Yeah, you try and get stabbed in the gut and see how much exorcise you get done in less than a year." Asher had snapped making Sage looked at him and tell him to knock it off, that he was going to ruin her birthday party. Asher grumbled before looking away as the reporter went on talking to him about how he felt about the day Sage would become queen " Well, I'm hoping she doesn't need to worry about it for some time. After all, she's only eight years old. I wish I had had a little more time before becoming king. I was only eighteen as I am sure you know, when my parents were executed in front of me." He paused as if he were drifting back to that time again only for Sage to again cut in saying Asher had been stealing her limelight. Then she ordered the reporter to come back to talk to her about her birthday.