#this is 1. humanstuck 2. royaltystuck 3. (less obvious but it's important. to me.) magicstuck

[sometimes-she-becomes-it]

It had been a stupid argument, really.

"Brother! I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry-"

Calliope was kneeling on the ground, her face red and wet with the tears only a five year old could shed.

Caliborn just stared at the broken pieces in front of her.

She'd broken one of his toys.

She had broken. One of his toys.

It wasn't even a favorite toy, or an acceptable one. It was just some regular old thing the young prince had bought in one of his trips to the market. A desire to own the toy that had faded the moment it touched his hands.

And yet here it was. Broken. In front of Calliope.

"You broke. One of my toys." The young prince said quietly. Too angry to shout.

"Cal I'm so so sorry it was and accident I promise- it's just- I just wanted to-"

"YOU. BROKE ONE OF MY TOYS" The young prince screamed before grabbing a ceramic cup he'd left in his room the day before and throwing it at his sister's head. She managed to dodge it just in time for it hit the wall before shattering into pieces. Calliope stood up quickly, glancing behind here to where the cup had made impact with a look akin to fear on her face.

"Br-brother please-"

"How can you POSSIBLY be so USELESS?" Caliborn kept screaming "I SWEAR! You fail. AT EVERYTHING! You're stupid! You're clumsy! You can't dance for SHIT! And you're fucking ugly too, so you're not even useful for the bride-price!" Every insult, but especially the last one, made Calliope flinch and step back as if struck "The only thing you're good at. is whining. and whining. and whining! You cause troubles for everyone! I bet the only reason Father keeps you around. Is so he can make sure you're not embarrassing him any more than you already do. Just by existing! I bet he WISHES you'd just drop dead like you SHOULD and stopped wasting everyone's TIME with your stupid stupid EXISTENCE!" The young prince paused, chest heaving from all the screaming he'd just done. "By Skaia! You can't even handle a stupid TOY right! I am fucking ASHAMED to be your brother! I wish I NEVER had to see you again! I don't want to see you EVER AGAIN!"

The room was silent for a moment. Calliope just stood, frozen, trembling like a leaf. Silent tears ran down her face as her breath stuttered.

"Well? Are you fucking deaf now as well? GET OUT!"

Calliope seemed to be shaken out of her stupor as she turned around and ran out of the room, leaving Caliborn alone with the broken pieces of his toy, which he just swept out of the way to be dealt with by the maids before going to sleep for the night.

... - --- .-.. . -.

It was a loud opening of the door that woke Caliborn up from his sleep, as the maid that had slammed it open rushed quickly his bed in order to check up on him

"Oh, thank Skaia you are alright! When we heard the guards- Oh the king would have killed us if you'd been in any way harmed! But here you are-"

"What." Was his only word at the maids nonsensical stuttering

"Oh young prince, I really shouldn't tell!" Despite that, the maid continued "But when we heard the guards thought there was an intruder on the castle, of course we had to check for your safety! Imagine if we'd just let the crown prince be harmed! Unbelievable!" The maid rambled on and on. Caliborn simply ignored her and went back to sleep.

... - --- .-.. . -.

It took a few hours for everyone to make sure nothing important- no gold, no crowns, no paintings, not even clothes had been stolen. The intrusion had happened late in the night, and everyone still had jobs to do in the day, so after checking on everything important, and making sure once again that the crown prince was safe, everyone just went back to sleep as if nothing had ever happened.

Perhaps that was why it took them until the next day to realize that the princess was missing.