A Piece of History

Devon let out a small breath of relief as she descended back down the stairs. She hated being called to directly help members of the royal family (she would much rather clean), but at least Victoria was kind. The same could be said of Vincent, though admittedly she had never done anything for him directly and relied upon rumor. William . . . she preferred not to think of William.

She had to suppress a smile. At some point in their brief conversation, Victoria had referred to her as a gentleman. That was, of course, the entire reason Devon kept her hair cropped short and bound her already-unimpressive chest with bandages underneath male servant's attire, but it never failed to amuse her. It was worth it, though. Her mother had been right in saying that the female servants were treated worse than the men, and it had served her well during her seventeen years.

Devon hated this life, though, and longed for escape. She paused by a window in a grand hallway and looked outside at the dreary gray of England. Most of the servants were born into their positions, as she had been, with little way out. There had to be something she could do to escape. It wasn't likely anyone would miss one measly servant girl—or boy, as the case may be. None of the royal family even knew her name, as far as she knew, which was to be expected.

She sighed and hurried on down the hallway. She was bound to be needed in the kitchens and the cook wouldn't hesitate to beat her senseless if she was late.

As Devon went down the hallway another large door opened quickly and was slammed shut behind another servant, the loud bang echoing through the decorated halls. The other servant wiped blood off his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He had just come out of Williams room, seemingly called in there just for another beating. William would often practice his aim on the servants and liked to watch them squirm in pain.

Ronnie looked up to see Devon, a scrape on his upper lip and a bruise on his cheek. It always seemed that Ronnie was Williams favorite, maybe it was because Ronnie was known for being the only servant to talk back to the royal family. He was just too defiant and proud not too. He sighed deeply and joined Devon in her walk.
"William is in a bad mood, stay away if you can..." he mumbled darkly. Ronnie and Devon weren't really friends. But all the servants knew each other and tried to look out for one another. But Ronnie usually didn't care about any one else them himself. And whenever he did try to reach out to befriend another person he was usually shot down because he could be so hard to get a long with.

Ronnie didn't dress properly either. It was a wonder he was still working there at times. he refused to where the brown servant coat ans stuck to his long sleeve and ratty blouse with a tight brown vets over it. Nothing special or fancy, most of the male servants wore that under the coat. He just refused to ware the coat.

Devon cast a glance over her shoulder toward the door Ronnie had come from. "Do you just piss him off on purpose?" she asked as she took a hurried pace down the hallway. "I know it's tempting sometimes, but there won't be much of you left if you keep this up." Devon wasn't particularly fond of Ronnie in any form, but it was an unwritten rule that the servants cared for each other and their well-being. It was about all they had.

"No," Ronnie spat bitterly, "this time I was quiet when he expected me to fight back and that pissed him off.." He quieted down as they passed another room where someone who could hear them talking could be. He wiped the blood away again.
"If he calls you try to say you're sick or something..." He mumbled again, watching the ground as they walked.

As they rounded a corner walking toward them was another member of the royal family. He was tall and skinny, not over 17 with brown hair that stopped between his shoulders and his chin. He walked with his hands behind his back and a rather board look on his face. Another person walked with him, telling him over and over again why it was not safe to leave the castle walls.
His soft eyes brightened when he saw the two servants walking his way, finally a distraction!

Ronnie looked up at him for a moment and almost smiled before quickly turning his gaze to the floor again.

Vincent stopped in front of the two servants, forcing them to stop, and forcing the old man blabbering on about rules to stop and become silent as well.
"Why do you have blood on your clothing?" He asked, giving Ronnie a kind look.
"I fell sir..." Ronnie answered bitterly, but Vincent obviously didn't believe it.
"Where are you two headed?"

When the old man noticed that the prince was going to be busy holding a pointless conversation with slaves he tossed up his hands in defeat and walked away. Once he was out of hearing range Vincent chuckled lightly, "I thought that old bat would never leave.."

Devon respectfully lowered her head, watching the old man discreetly from the corner of her eye until he left.

"I'm going to the kitchens," she said quietly to answer Vincent's question, swallowing down her inquiries. The prince was unusually friendly, and somehow that made her more nervous than anything else. She would rater get to the kitchens quickly before she was in trouble.

Vincent nodded lightly, "I should have guessed, really." He turned his attention back to Ronnie for a moment.
"How many other wounds are you hiding?"
"None." Ronnie said sharply.
"The last time I gave you the benefit of the doubt you had a broken wrist, yes?" Vincent asked with a calm but quirky smile. And Ronnie didn't bother to respond this time, he just glared defiantly at the prince.

"Come along, both of you," he chuckled as he turned to walk again, heading back toward the hall where his own room was.

Devon gave Ronnie a questioning look. Clearly he had an established relationship with the prince, of which she had no idea. What was Vincent playing at? He seemed friendly enough, and the other servants had little negative to say about him, but she had things to do and no real reason to not be suspicious of being told to follow the prince around.

She followed quietly, not daring to question.

Vincent lead them both back to his own room and went to grab something out of his drawer.
Ronnie sat down in a chair as if it was natural. "You are putting us both in danger Vincent..." He growled, crossing his arms.
No servant dared call a member or the royal family by their first name. But Vincent really didn't care.
"Oh because another servant knows we are friends?" He asked as he took a small medical box from his draw and place it on a small table. He glanced at Devon, "I do not think he is going to tell anyone. He barely talks as it is." He teased lightly, trying to get Devon to talk.

Devon cast a wary look around, careful not to let her gaze linger on Vincent out of habit.

"I don't understand," she said at length, finally settling for looking at Ronnie. "You're friends, then?" She was careful to keep her tone light, not knowing where she stood with the prince in the room. There was a lot more she wanted to say, to voice her suspicions and disapproval, but knew better from years of experience.

"We have actually been friends since we were little," Vincent explained a little ignoring Ronnie's glare.
"Seriously Vincent!" He growled. But Vincent just laughed. Being the prince he could only get scolded a little for being friends with a slave. And at this age he very rarely though things through. Like telling Devon.
Vincent handed Ronnie a small cloth to clean his cut on his lip and turned back to the other servant.
"Please don't look so tense, I just want you to treat me like a normal person, just like I am sure you would like to be treated."

Devon looked at the ground, her expression carefully neutral. Alright, fine, Vincent was a charming person with a kind personality, if naive, much like his sister--what did he want with her? Whatever it was, she was certain she wanted none of it, and it would only make her life more complicated.

"I think," she said slowly, "I should be getting back to work, if you have no need of me, sir."

Vincent looked disappointed and let out a long sigh. So much for making another friend.
"Both of you should go.." He mumbled, waving his hand as her turned away from the two.

Ronnie got back up, returning Vincent's cloth and not saying a word. He left the room quietly with Devon, not because he was told to but because he knew Vincent needed some time alone now.

Once they were both outside the door and it was shut he turned quickly to Devon and shoved her roughly by the shoulders.
"You can't give him one god damn thing to be happy about!?" He shouted in a hushed voice.

Devon stumbled but caught herself quickly, immediately whirling on Ronnie with her fists clenched tight at her sides as though she might retaliate. "What the hell are you on?" she demanded. "What's it my concern if the two of you get along? I don't care, but I've no reason to get myself involved. I have a job to do and I'd rather keep my head."

"He wanted to be friends with you!" Ronnie shouted, still in a hushed tone. "You can be a friend and still do your job, I have been doing it for years." He turned sharpy on his toes to head back toward the servant chambers.
"I can see that you only care about yourself, you deserve to be a slave!" He stormed off quickly, grumbling under his breath.

Devon stared after Ronnie, confused by his reaction. He had never struck her as anyone who was particularly loyal to anybody else, let alone the younger prince. As frustrating as this was, something about this conversation struck a chord within her, and she found herself looking back to the room. Perhaps she had been wrong?

It was something she was going to have to debate later, she decided, turning sharply and speed-walking toward the kitchens. Nothing could happen in the future if the cook killed her for tardiness.

The next couple days passed by normally, everyone going about their normal chores and Devon only saw Vincent once. And he promptly ignored her, thinking that was what she wanted.
Ronnie got reassigned again because of his disobedient ways. Everyone had always wondered why Ronnie was not punished, Devon could probably see by now that it was because he was friends with Vincent. He was sent to be a personal errand boy for the king and queen. Which he didn't mind as much. He only saw Devon at night, giving her little more then a glance.

Then one night Ronnie got up from his bed after all the other male servants had gone to sleep. He moved quietly, stuffing pillows under his blanket to look like he was still there. He grabbed a bag he had hidden away, glanced around one last time and quietly headed for the door to the chambers.

Devon saw Ronnie little during the next couple of days and wrestled with her conflicting feelings. The bigger part of her said to leave it all alone, to pretend that she didn't care what Ronnie did or what his relationship with Vincent was. The other part, though, which slowly took over the bigger, said she needed to at least apologize and maybe pass on an apology to Vincent as well. The more she thought on it, the more she felt guilty for declining what had clearly been an olive branch from the prince to a lowly servant.

Such thoughts kept her awake one night as she lay in bed, and she watched through half-open eyes as Ronnie got up and left the quarters. Nobody particularly cared about the servants, but he could still be in trouble for wandering the palace at night. What was he doing?

Against her better judgment, Devon slipped out of bed, following some distance behind Ronnie. If nothing else, maybe she could finally talk to him.

Ronnie lurked quietly down the halls, darting into the shadows so no one could see him. He finally slipped out a back door that the guards used and headed quietly for the wall to the palace, ducking behind a bush when a guard passed by.
He hadn't notice Devon was fallowing him at all. He finally stopped at the wall and sighed deeply. The things he did fro Vincent made him wonder sometimes.

Devon followed Ronnie out to the palace wall, growing more concerned for both of their well-beings as they went. When he finally stopped, she quickly caught up to him, intentionally making a tiny noise as she went to avoid startling him. The guards were far enough away that nobody else would notice.

"What are you doing?" she hissed in a whisper. "Are you trying to get yourself killed out here?"

Ronnie and spun around when he heard Devon coming up behind him, he visibly relaxed when he saw who it was.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked in return, "I am trying to find the hole in the wall that someone told me was here and was a easy way to get into town." He thumbed back over his shoulder toward the wall that surrounded them.

Devon glanced down the wall. She knew what Ronnie was talking about, though she wasn't sure if she felt obligated to tell him.

"I know where it is," she said after a moment. "And I could show you. But you have to tell me what you're doing, because if it turns out to be something stupid, I don't want anything to do with it. And you have to listen to me for a minute, because I've been meaning to talk to you since the other day."

Ronnie starred at Devon for a long moment. "Fine, tell me what you wanted to talk to me about and I will tell you why I am trying to find the hole.." He agreed slowly. He was hesitant to trust Devon after she hadn't trusted Vincent. But he wanted to hear what she had to say so badly.
"I am supposed to be meeting a friend so make it quick.."

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened," Devon said, looking off to the side rather than at Ronnie. "I'm still going to maintain that I didn't have a real reason to trust Vincent at the time, but if you get along with him well, he can't be that bad. So I'm sorry, and if you could pass that on to him at some point . . ."

She cleared her throat, glad to finally have that out of the way, and looked expectantly at Ronnie.

Ronnie relaxed a little, not expecting an apology. "You should really say it to him," he finally said, smiling just a little. "It would mean a lot more to him. He keeps asking me if you hate him. He thinks all the servants see him just like his brother. . . He may be a prince but he's a person just like the rest of us. And he is probably the only one who sees that..." He turned away from Devon to start walking down the side of the wall.
"I am actually trying to find that hole because Vincent wants me to sneak him out in a couple nights," He looked back over toward her. "He's never been outside the walls cept in a carriage, and I have a friend on the outside who knows how to get around town without being noticed... I am meeting her to plan it out. And so I actually know where this hole is."

Devon winced slightly at the idea of going up to Vincent to apologize. She was apologetic, but she still wasn't entertaining any notions of becoming best friends with him.

Then again, there could be some benefit to it . . .

She shook her head quickly and started off with Ronnie. "That's a bit risky, don't you think?" she asked, though she agreed that, for all the prince's freedoms, his lifestyle actually seem rather stifling. And it wasn't as though she had never stolen outside the castle walls herself.

"It is risky, but as long as we get Vincent back before anyone wakes up no one will notice him missing." Ronnie stopped where there was a hole in the bottom part of the wall. There was a hedge in front of it, so no one who cared noticed it was there. It was just big enough for someone to squeeze through. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching and quickly ducked into the hole. After crawling through the dirt a few feet he emerged out the other side, right into the dark and damp city of London.
On the other side he stood up and waited for Devon, offering her hand up once she was through.
It seemed the Vincent could bring out the best in Ronnie.

Devon hesitated. Did she have a clean shirt back in her quarters? She'd hate to be given away because her clothes were filthy, and removing her shirt just long enough to slide under wasn't much of an option. No, she had one, she remembered, so she slipped under the wall. She paused again when Ronnie offered her a hand, but took it, figuring it would be better to encourage his surprising behavior rather than spurn it.

"So where's this friend of yours?" she asked, casting a cautionary glance around.

Ronnie glanced around at the building near by them.
"She said to meet her by the bakery.." Just as he finished speaking he noticed a bakery a couple doors down and walked over to it. The streets were dark, barely lit and pretty much empty. A few police men walked around, and Ronnie would duck into the shadows when one came by. But other then a stray cat or two, it was pretty quiet.
They waited in front of the bakery for a few good minutes before Ronnie was starting to consider his friend a flake and he was going to leave. But as he stood there she snuck up behind him quietly and grabbed his shoulders, making Ronnie jump and spin around to see her laughing at him, and he relaxed.
"Not funny," he growled, punching the girl in the arm playfully.
She was a small girl, not taller then 5 foot 10 or so, with a very small build. Based on her tattered dress she was far from wealthy. Her hair was a odd red and black color, and her eyes were bright green that almost seemed to shine in the darkness.
"Oww, don't you know not to hit a lady," she laughed, rubbing her arm and wincing lightly.
"You don't look like a lady to me.." Ronnie sneered, his tone slightly playful. Then he turned back to Devon, "this is Colt, my outside source."
She smiled warmly at Devon, "I had no idea you were bringing a friend."

"I followed him out. It wasn't exactly planned. Name's Devon," Devon said idly. She glanced over Colt, feeling suddenly very conspicuous. Servant's clothes weren't exactly silken treasures, but they were better than tattered dresses. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she looked around, letting her gaze linger down the road. She knew one person well in this town, but he would be asleep now, so a visit wasn't much of an option.

"Well as long as you are not a snitch I don't mind. I get tired of seeing nothing but Ronnie's face all the time." Colt teased him lightly. She looked like she couldn't have been over 16 but her dress was a bit more flashy then most 16 year olds. She turned to walk away from the bakery and Ronnie was quick to fallow.
"So what does the pirce-ly-ness want to see when he is free?" She asked as she walked.
Ronnie pulled a paper from his pocket and handed it to Colt, who opened it and made a face. "I don't think I can do this all in one night."
"I know, just fit it what you can."
Colt looked back over at Devon as they walked, "I feel like I have seen you before. Have you been outside of the walls before?"

"A few times," Devon said with a nod, continually looking around rather than at the people she was with. "Once or twice for errands, a couple other times because I wanted to get out of the castle. I don't come out very often, though, because I like my head where it is and try not to get myself into trouble every other day."

She frowned slightly and looked at the list. "How much could he possibly want that it can't be done in one night?"

Colt smiled and handed the paper to Devon, it was full of tiny and very decorative writing. Pretty much anything and everything someone might want to do if they were dying in a week was on that list.
"I think he got a little over excited," Ronnie added as Devon looked over the paper.
"I'll do as much as I can," Colt added with a shrug.
"It would be like putting a kid in a room full of toys and telling him to pick just one. And he has never had a toy in his life, and could only dream of having a toy." Ronnie explained, looking at the ground. Vincent was just as much of a prisoner as they were.

"Well I will show you where to meet me- what night are we doing this?" Colt asked.
"Two nights from now when the king and queen will be out of London trying to find William queen... He'll probably just end up torturing this girl too..." Ronnie scoffed bitterly.
It wasn't the first or the second time William had been paired up with a Duke's daughter. But he insisted on being a king alone, and was horrible to the girls. Nearly killing the last one.
"Sick bastard.." Ronnie growled. Colt shook her head lightly.

"Poor girl," Devon murmured, looking over the list. William was awful--in more than one way--to the female servants, whom one could assume he at least tolerated. He couldn't imagine how he treated the girls who might get in the way of his ascent to the throne.

Devon suppressed a shudder.

"Well," she said, determined to change the subject, "Vincent should have a grand time running around the filthy streets of London for a night. I'm not sure if he'd be delighted or scarred for life by what's out here."

"I'll be sure to keep him safe," Colt smiled with a short wink at Devon. "I live on these streets all alone after all."

She turned down a alley way and stopped, "we should meet right here," she said to Ronnie. "safest spot I know of."
"What makes this alley so different?" Ronnie asked, crossing his arms over his chest and seeming like he was unimpressed.

"Nobody comes down his alley, they say it's haunted and that if you go down it you will get attacked by a beast," Colt shrugged with a smile still on her face. "I'm always in t though."
She looked at Devon again, "make sure the both of you were something that looks a little less... Expensive."

Devon bit back a derisive snort. A monster living in an alley in London. She wondered if someone had been extremely bored or extremely drunk when they started that rumor.

Then she looked down at her clothes (still dusty, needed cleaning) and made a slight face. "I wasn't aware I was coming to this event," she remarked. She wouldn't turn down getting out of the castle again, but the more often she did, and the more people who were there, the more likely it was she would be caught and punished. Plus there was the matter of it being Vincent they were escorting.

"Oh," Colt said at Devon's comment, "I assumed you were. I am sorry."

Ronnie looked over at her next, "it would be a good way to make up to Vincent.." He stated it simply, his arms still crossed over his chest. He was pretty sure by now that Devon wasn't as much of a tight ass that he thought she was. She was slowly shaping up to be like a actual person, not just another slave.
"Even if we do get caught, it wouldn't be the first time Vincent has saved my ass. He's not afraid to beg his parents to keep servants around. And they have so far." He shrugged lightly, acting like he could care less if Devon tagged along. Though he silently hoped she would.

Devon looked down at her shoes as she thought. They needed to be polished again, she noted idly. Maybe tomorrow morning before work.

"I'll think about it," she said with a drawn-out breath, though she was fairly certain already that she would end up tagging along one way or another. It was hard to ignore an adventure when it was dropped into your lap like this, and it probably wouldn't be much worse than anything else she had done and gotten away with so far. And she did know her way around town as well, so maybe she would prove of some use.

Colt smiled again, feeling like she knew that Devon would come.
"Well lets get you two back, since we have nothing else to do tonight." Colt laughed, "unless you would like to hang around and do nothing with me."
Ronnie smiled lightly, "what do you think we do all night? A whole lot of nothing." His golden eyes hooked on Colts for a moment and she just shook her head and ignored him.
"But... I am going to be running errands for William tomorrow, so I better sleep and be ready for my beatings.."

"I think I would rather be sleeping," Devon said with a glance over her shoulder in the direction they had come. "I'll have, er, significantly fewer beatings to look forward to, I think, but that'll change if I'm too tired to carry a tray of wine glasses properly." Plus she had a bit to think about if she was going to let herself get involved in the madness that was likely to come in the next few days.

"Alright I'll let you two goody-two-shoes get back to your lives then," Colt teased with a laugh before heading back in the direction of Buckingham Palace. After a short walk, since Colt took a few short cuts she stopped at the bakery where she had met them.
"It's best if I don't know where the hole in the wall is, I would be far to tempted to break in and steal a few things.." She admitted with a shrug.
"it's not as easy as you would think.." Ronnie added to her before giving his friend a small wave and heading off back to the wall.
Colt watched them walk away for a moment before vanishing into the darkness.

Devon gave a little wave as Colt departed, then set off down the wall to find the place where they had sneaked through.

"How did you get to this point?" she asked, her gaze ahead as she searched for the telltale dip in the ground. "To where you'd risk everything just trying to get him outside for a few hours." She didn't understand how anyone could form that kind of friendship, particularly a servant and a prince. Then again, here she was, leading a guy she barely knew and tolerated.

Ronnie shrugged lightly, "We have been friends a long long time. And Vincent just has a way of getting under your skin. He can see people for who they really are, look past all the lies we have set up to protect ourselves." He paused as they found the hole and dipped back into the palace. Once they were in the clear and heading back toward their beds he added, "just got to a point were he actually cares about me, and I care about him. And I want to do anything I can to see him happy."

Devon gave a little hum, sort of understanding but not quite. Then again, her issues weren't everybody else's. In a way, she supposed she had to envy Ronnie for managing a friendship that she couldn't quite do herself. Maybe the next couple of days would change that somehow.

She wasn't holding her breath, though.

The two went back to the male servant chambers and quietly went back to to bed. Ronnie buzzed through all the ways they could get into trouble doing this and ways to avoid trouble before he finally fell asleep. No one had noticed them come or go. And when the king and queen are gone the place is even quieter because there is less to do. Some servants would even take the day off.

The next couple days went by very slowly. And Ronnie seemed to get more irritated as time slowly ticked by. He picked fights with other servants at times and was usually dragged off by the guards, only to return a few hours later thanks to Vincent.
Then the king and queen left like they had planned, and William took to sitting in their thrones like a child while they were gone, plotting his rule in his head.
And then the night came where it was time to sneak Vincent out. Ronnie got out of bed after all the other servants had fallen asleep much like he had before. He tucked his pillows in and looked across the room at Devon's bed to see if she was coming.

Despite her better judgment, Devon decided to tag along. She could stand to be out of the castle for more than an hour, and with the king and queen gone, it was less likely that anyone would really care. Undoubtedly, there would be someone somewhere who did, but she forcefully pushed down her worries. This would be no different than any other night--and even if it was, she couldn't honestly profess to care that much.

So when Ronnie slid out of bed, obviously getting ready, she took a deep breath and followed suit, fluffing up her blankets and tucking a spare pillow underneath in a vague illusion of a sleeping body. She said nothing as she went, instead running through the risks and what she would say to Vincent in her head.

Once Ronnie was all ready to go he waited a moment for Devon to finish before heading out to get Vincent. He worse the most casual clothes that he had, but they were pretty damn close to his normal clothes. He headed down the hall, not saying anything to Devon, his hands tucked into his pockets. As they came up to Vincent's room he glanced around for just a moment before knocking quietly on the door.
Vincent opened the door with a large smile on his face, "I was beginning to winder if you were no longer coming."
"I make a promise and I keep it," Ronnie shrugged, smiling lightly.
Vincent had on a dark cloak over his normal clothes to try and blend in. Or what he thought was blending in. He smiled even wider when he saw Devon, "you came as well!"

Devon cleared her throat awkwardly and looked everywhere but at Vincent. "So it would seem," she said lightly, shoving her hands into the pockets of her slightly-less-fancy-than-usual pants. Obviously Vincent hadn't forgotten about the incident of nearly a week prior, because he wouldn't be nearly so happy to see her if he had. Damn.

"Just . . . wanted to apologize for what happened before and figured coming along would sort of help," she finally said. "So." She cleared her throat again and looked down the hallway. "We'll want to get out of here quickly."

"Thank you but I more feel like it is I who should be apologizing to you. I should not have forced you into a position you were uncomfortable with," Vincent said in a charming voice as he started to fallow Ronnie down the hall.
"I am very glad you decided to come along."
Ronnie smiled to himself and lead them down the halls toward the same back door that they had taken to get out a couple nights ago.

Devon smirked, then turned it into a faint smile as they started down the corridor. She kept alert, not wanting to get caught before the night had even started.

"I take it Colt will be meeting us again outside," she said with a glance to Ronnie. "Where are we going, anyway? London isn't the most active at night, unless you count all the thieves and murders and what-have-you."

"it can not be that bad," Vincent said to Devon, his eyes lingering on her longer then he meant them to.

"Colt will be meeting us, yes," Ronnie answered as they got to the door. He opened it for the two of them and fallowed them out afterward.
"Just keep you head low Vincent. I think Colt only plans to takes us around to show him as much of London as possible. She said something about a day trip last night, but it would be even more risky if not impossible." He shrugged lightly, fallowing behind Vincent.
"Who is Colt?" The prince asked, "your girlfriend?"

"No!" Ronnie quickly protested, blushing just lightly across his cheeks. "She's just a friend.."