almost a smile

"That means get out."

Her voice was calm and cold. Her statement seemed to break whatever weight was keeping them in their seats as they rose from their seats and headed for the door.

Everyone except Axel that is, who was standing a couple steps away from the wall as he had been since the start of the discussion. His mind was stunned with thoughts of the meeting.

Both from the situation and his behaviour,

'How… Why…'

He couldn't form complete thoughts, his mind was overwhelmed by the information. Though this was not out of the usual for him.

When he finally formed a thought, it was… lacking a lot,

'Why would anyone want to destroy this place? It's perfect.'

The idea that something could be wrong never even crossed his mind.

"Axel…"

Someone called out?

He was in his own world with thoughts bouncing around his head like tennis balls echoing in a gym.

'Well we need to stop this.'

Slowly one thought grew progressively louder and louder,

'Wait. What if they don't find a solution? What if there is no solution!'

"Axel!" Someone yelled,

He blinked, awakened from whatever spiralling trance he was in. He looked over at the source of the noise, it was his mother, the queen. Who was now standing at the head of her desk, her face a mixture of concern and annoyance.

"Listen to me sometimes, ok?" She said in a calm but slightly stern voice.

The queen's real name was Audrey though you'd only call her that if you had a death wish or you a really strong neck. The name was too human for her.

The queen was watching him as if waiting for an answer,

"Ok." Axel responded weakly.

The queen looked at him over again before she gave what was almost a smile before sitting down again.