Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    Lucas leaned back against the seat of the carriage. Looking out the window to the snow covering the land and the new buds of nature that were covered now in frost. The early days of Spring. His favorite time of year. His eyes moved over to the bench across from him. Forest green dress splayed around her hips. The golden laces he knew were tied neatly at the small of her back. The dragon stitching that crested over the curves of her bodice and made him smile like a fool each time he saw one of her dresses with the design. 

“You’re staring, Darling.”

“Only with adoration, my Brightest.”

    Isabelle smiled at him. Dark hair curling down and over her shoulder. The other showing the faded pale scars lining over skin. 

“I like your dress today.”

    Separated sleeves. Ones that he knew she enjoyed the style of for the sake of comfort and so she could show that she was a Queen who had fought. The reminders of their past that the two of them had faced. 

    Lucas knew he was wearing matching wounds beneath his own clothes. 

    He thought about the way they had met. He’d been fighting in a war. Still a Prince but seasoned to the fighting. His allies were wounded. His brother in all but blood had been tracked through a fight and hurt and while he was spending his earned time at his home to recover with his wife, Lucas had taken matters into his own hands. Working his way through the enemy lines until he was at the palace walls. 

    It was the way of the Compass. All of them taking up the lessons taught to them and passed down through generations from their Founding Kings. Lucas knew his counterparts in Central, West, and North had all been knights. They all fought with honor and bravery and they never backed down when it came to defense and pride. The East did not share that history. Born from the hands of a mercenary raised in anger and bloodshed. There was no honor in tracking a man in a battlefield to slaughter him. There was no honor in climbing a palace wall to break into a man’s bedroom and kill him as he slept. 

    Lucas did not consider himself to be a man of honor. 

    Ethan would have the honor for both of them. Percy would wear his honor. Edward would shoulder it for him. 

    He had climbed with the intent to kill. Breaking into the room through the window. Hood up and mask hiding his features. He’d felt the Stars scream him a warning to move before a blade was slashing the air where his throat had been. 

    That was the moment he’d met his wife. 

“You like all of my dresses.”

“I usually prefer when they’re off though, you must admit.”

    She rolled her eyes at him but she still laughed. They’d been together for years now. Their little boy had turned ten not all that long ago and Lucas had begun training him in the skills of combat and magic that were passed down through their blood and ruling line. James was small, even for his age. The Stars had been giving him whispers for months that something horrible was coming. They never went on to elaborate for him. They never gave him more guidance. Even when he went to the reflecting pools beneath the palace and screamed for them in the cavern. His magic remained silent. 

    It would be safer to train James so that he could fight. So that he would have notions on how to defend himself and be able to carry his weight if he needed to. In case something would happen and there was a situation where he wasn’t there to defend him. 

    A situation like now. 

    Lucas had been crowned King of the East not too long before he and Isabelle were married. The two of them ruling over the wars the East still fought in with enough danger to scare off a decent number of potential threats to the Compass. They had peace for the first time a little over a year before their little boy was born. 

    Lucas had nightmares that plagued him for nearly all of his wife’s pregnancy. Screams. Pain. Stars that were burning and screeching against his thoughts in a way they had never done to him. He would wake up gasping. Shivering and covered in sweat and he would feel the presence of his little one through her. 

    How strong he knew his child would be. The possibilities that were laid out before him. 

    They were headed to Central. Leaving to meet with their closest ally to discuss the warnings he’d been having because nothing felt like it was calming down and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. There were no threats being made toward the East. No threats toward the Compass as a whole. He needed to make sure that his counterpart wasn’t in danger that he was hiding from him. 

    As foolish an action as it would be, Lucas also didn’t believe that Ethan wouldn’t do it. 

    They had been raised together. Staying close and bantering for their entire lives. Lucas took many blades for Ethan and Ethan had done the same for him. It was how the two of them were. Through thick and through thin they would be the arms to carry each other home. The strongest safety Central or East would ever have was with each other. 

    They had left James behind in the palace. Despite all the distractions Lucas tried to offer for himself, nothing seemed to work. 

    As if Isabelle could read his thoughts, she nudged her foot against his. 

“Lucas,” he looked at her. At his intelligent, breathtaking, wife and the way she looked at him like a woman pitying a sodden cat. “He relies so much on us, this will be good for him to learn from the knights as well. They’ll protect him.”

    The Eastern knights were well seasoned and well prepared. They wouldn’t let anything happen to the palace or to their little boy and he knew that. He knew that James was arguably safer by staying in the palace than he was coming on this trip. He knew that his little boy was working hard on his training and with the two of them focusing so much on the magic of the Stars, it would be good for him to learn his sword work from another tutor as well. 

    No matter how much he tried to reason with himself, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. 

“He’s only ten, Isabelle.” Lucas sighed. “I don’t want him to think we’re abandoning him.”

“We’ll be home soon enough. It’s just a week away. He will be alright.”

    Her smile was like a balm to his heart. She always had been. From the moment they had met he could feel how strong she was in the dark sky of the world. It was a trick his mother had taught him when she deemed him competent enough with their magic. To see the world with what she’d called the vision of the Stars. Telling him one day that he would be able to feel it without even looking. 

    He was at that day now. 

    Still, he would look when he was curious. When he wanted something to calm himself down and ease his thoughts. He would center himself into the Stars. Let their power run through him and he would see the world how they saw it. 

    Overwhelmingly dark. 

    The light and energy of what was alive circling around. The marks of Abyss in everything that wasn’t. He had gotten better at it as he aged. Seeing more and more detail in the world through the brightness of their life. He could see the energy that made up everything around him. Their power. It looked like Stars. He knew it was their soul. 

    He had a theory that they might be one and the same. 

    Isabelle was one of the brightest people he’d ever met. Their son was nearly blinding. 

“A lot can happen in a week.”

    He’d meant to say it as a joke. To reference that the knights could be teaching James something that he would have to lecture out of his son. That some threat could arrive to the East and he wouldn’t be there to greet it. That any number of things could change. 

    But the moment the words passed his lips he felt the Stars tighten. The way they did when he was standing at the edge of a battleground ready to follow his brother in. The way they did when they were readying him for death. 

“Give me an example.”

    She was teasing him. She was toying with him. He could see her smile and the wistful manner in her eyes but before he could respond the Stars yelled warning loud enough to make him flinch. To make him reach for his head. An echo that had nothing around him for him to see. His unease doubled. Looking through the windows and seeing nothing but nature around them. 

“What is it?”

    He knew that she would understand it was the Stars. That she would know the warnings that had been plaguing him without an answer for ages. Something was wrong but he no longer had an answer for what. He shook his head. 

“I don’t know.”

    The Stars cried out again. He saw war. He saw Central armor standing against Eastern. He saw bodies strung on posts with blindfolds tied around their eyes. He saw Southern towns burning. He saw Northern ravines caving in. A tombstone and his little boy knelt in front of it. 

“Lucas? Can you hear me?”

    He barely even realized he’d doubled forward until her hands were on him. Until she was bending to help support him. 

    He recognized where that grave was. He recognized the style of it. 

“Stop the carriage!”

    Isabelle’s order was strong. A demand that was easy for her to give. The Stars yelled louder. That was wrong. This was all wrong. 

“Isabelle—”

“I’m here. What is it? What are they saying to you?”

    He saw the grave again. He smelled blood. He saw James on his knees. The tears streaming down his face. His heaving sobs. 

    The crown of the King on his head. 

    The grave that he and Isabelle had designed for themselves. 

    The warning wasn’t against James. 

“It’s us.”

    He was already fumbling to hold the sword on his hip. He could see her moving to do the same. 

“We have to fight.”

    She was following his lead. She was trusting him. 

“Where?”

    He couldn’t focus it enough. The Stars shifting all around him and showing him James. He saw his boy growing up. He saw him standing by a fire. He saw him in the reflecting pools. Screaming and holding a knight with him. He saw the knight with dragon wings. He saw the blood smearing his baby’s face. 

“Guards!”

    She was calling them. His head felt like it was splitting open. 

“I’m going to be sick.”

    He could feel it in the back of his throat. The pressure and heat that was coiled too tightly through him. He reached for the door. Unhooking it and nearly collapsing down to the snow and rocks that lined their path. Cutting into his hands and knees as he was left to gag. Isabelle was behind him. The world was hurting him too much. He tried to search the woods but he didn’t see anyone. He couldn’t feel their intent. He couldn’t tell where the threat was meant to be coming from but the Stars were determined that it was here. 

“How far are we from Central?”

“Far enough.”

    Lucas felt the intent from behind him. He extended his reach with the Stars. He tried to make the world only light and dark. The draw of metal made him stop. His focus turning to a guard to his left. 

    He wasn’t sure how he managed to get his blade up in time. How, with bleeding palms he made himself defend. He could feel his wife behind him. The strength in her presence and the light she was giving to him. Her sword was in hand. They were pressing their backs together. 

    Their guards were surrounding them. People coming from the woods and dropping cloths from around their bodies. Enchanted, if he had to guess on the shimmer of them. Someone with magic. Someone had planned this. 

“Why?”

    His guards were in uniform. He didn’t even know which of them it was standing before him. He couldn’t—

“Can’t even tell when your guards are replaced. You don’t deserve to be King.”

    The blades came fast. The Stars settling themselves into what they were used to with him. The fight that had been their constant for nearly his entire life. Trained for combat and ready to defend and work with his counterpart. Running into the fight and fray without a second thought. 

    He needed to know what they were doing. He needed to know who was behind this. 

“Hired blades.”

    It was his confirmation. His way to try to get under their skin. If they wanted to toy with him then he would toy back. 

“You’re not strong enough, Majesty.”

    Lucas held his sword despite the tremble trying to make way through his grip. He felt himself stumble on the rocks beneath his feet. He was better than this. He was stronger than this. He shouldn’t be feeling this weak. He shouldn’t be shaking. 

“I thought he was supposed to be poisoned?!”

    Lucas felt the Stars burning in his blood. The heat they were surging through his veins. They were balancing whatever it was that he’d been given. They were the only reason he was able to fight. 

    They didn’t stop his blade from being knocked out of his hand. The blood smearing the hilt enough that he couldn’t keep his grip on it. He pulled his magic forward. Letting the Stars around him work to grab the guards that attacked him next. Fighting the people that seemed like they were coming from every direction. He couldn’t keep them straight. 

    Or maybe his vision was blurring. He fought them all the same. Hurting them where he could but he felt the blows landing on him as well. The slash on the side of his thigh. A cut that came down across his chest. A gash into his arm. Person by person he found himself growing heavy with the weight of blood on his clothes. His own and his enemy’s.

    A scream of warning came through his thoughts. He turned fast. 

    The warning wasn’t for him. 

“Isabelle!”

    He was too late. 

    He watched the blade drive through her middle. 

    He watched her light flicker. Her body fall when the blade tore out. 

“No!”

    The Stars rallied with him. Surging around him and forcing his heart to beat. 

    Ten people were left. Ten traitors. Ten hired blades that were here to kill them. Ten people that Lucas did not want to allow to walk the world anymore. He held them with his magic. He forced their bodies still. Listening to all of them choke and gag and he saw the ones closest trying to fight. Trying to get to him still. To bring him down. To kill him. 

    Lucas increased the pressure he held around their bodies. He didn’t care that he could hear them trying to scream. He didn’t care that he could see the lights they held dimming out. 

    He shattered their ribs. He sent the pieces into their lungs. Into their hearts. Into every part of soft tissue they could reach. 

    He held the Stars around their skulls. He watched their noses bleed. How their faces turned red. How their eyes bulged. 

    When the bodies around him burst, Lucas tried to breathe. He tried to know it was over. He tried to calm the racing of his heart. 

“Luc…”

    vBut it wasn’t done. 

    In moments he was beside her. Rushing to his wife and falling to his knees. His hands fluttering over her wound. He was watching the blood soak the threads of the dragon on her bodice. How the green of her dress looked nearly black with how it soaked. 

“Isabelle?”

    She was awake. He didn’t know how but he didn’t care. As long as she stayed awake she could be okay. As long as she stayed with him then things would be okay. He could still feel her. He could feel her presence. Her calm against him. Her light in the dark. 

    She was all of his light. 

    He could feel her fading. 

“Stay with me. Stay with me, my Star.”

    She tried to smile at him. He saw the blood coating her teeth. 

“You can’t save me.”

    He shook his head. Putting his hands over her wound and pressing down. He felt her tense. He heard her cry. He didn’t dare stop. He had to pack the wound. He had to do something. 

    His blood felt too hot but he tried to reach for his magic regardless. To find a way to take the wound onto himself like he would do for Ethan when they fought in their wars together. To make it him and not her. To make sure she could live. 

    That the world would not be left without her light. 

“Lucas.” She was crying. He thought he was as well. “Stop.”

    He glared at her. He was shaking. He could feel the blood on his face. All over him. He could smell it too strongly. Like it was coating the back of his throat. 

“I can’t stop. If I stop then you’ll—”

“I’ll die.”

    She was too calm. She was too ready for this. 

“Isabelle—”

“You take care of James.”

“Don’t.”

“You tell Genevieve I’m sorry.”

    He couldn’t breathe. He forced his Stars to work. To knit her back together even as he felt the pull in his own abdomen. 

“Lucas—”

“No!” He didn’t mean to yell. “If I stop then you die. Isabelle, I can’t—”

“We both die if you do.”

    She was shaking. She was too pale. Her breaths were turning weak but her eyes were on his. She was still smiling at him. 

    It was the same smile she’d given him on their wedding day. 

    It was stained with blood. 

“You can’t make James lose us both.”

    He couldn’t survive without her. He couldn’t—

“The Stars wanted you to live. That’s why….” She couldn’t breathe. “That’s why they warned you.”

    They’d warned him and he wasn’t fast enough. They’d warned him and he wasn’t strong enough. 

“I need you.”

“No.”

    Her tears were falling. She wasn’t shaking. 

“But you want me.”

    She reached for him. Her arm was falling. 

    Lucas took her hand immediately. Bringing her up to his face and kissing against her knuckles. Against her hand. Holding her against him. 

“I do.”

    His own voice came out broken. 

“I want you, Isabelle. I have always—”

    She was coughing. Blood bubbling up and he tried to help her but she swallowed it back. She wasn’t going to last. She wasn’t—

“I’ll wait for you.”

    Her light was dim. Like a candle about to snuff. 

“I love you.”

    He couldn’t have her go without hearing him say it again. 

“I’ll be your guiding…”

    He nodded. He pressed his lips against hers. Tasting her blood and swallowing his sob. 

“You’ll be my Brightest, always.”

    He wiped her tears. Her breaths were shuddered. He nearly couldn’t feel her. 

“I lo….”

    Another tear fell. 

    No breath followed. 

    Lucas felt his throat close. His heart pulling itself apart in his chest. 

“Isabelle?”

    He couldn’t feel her. He couldn’t feel anything of her. 

“Isabelle?”

    He kissed her again. He wanted to bring her back. To get something. 

    Her eyes were open. She was still—

“Please. Please don’t. Please, no.”

    He put their foreheads together. His body hunched over hers. His heart beating too fast. Too broken. His eyes closing against the world. To try to look at the light that lived around him. The world that filled with Stars and energy. 

    He tried to look for the brightness that had always meant home. 

    And Lucas found her dark. 

    When the horns sounded from the top of the palace gate, Ethan thought it was just the arrival of his friend. It wasn’t all that unusual for them to give visits to one another considering how close their palaces were to one another. How easy it was for them to make the trip. Genevieve had gone with him for the first alarm. His wife moving hand in hand. They sent a servant to fetch their little Prince from his lessons so that George would be able to greet his friend. 

    The knights were rushing. They were moving fast. They moved like there was a threat. 

    Ethan learned why when he saw his brother stumble his way through the front gates. When he saw Lucas covered head to toe in blood. Dripping off of him and the body hanging in his arms. 

    Ethan ran. Without another moment between them he was with his brother. He heard Genevieve behind him ordering for healers and space in the infirmary. 

“Lucas?”

    His eyes looked empty. He didn’t look like he even knew where he was. Like he’d walked the whole way here on determination rather than thought. 

    He didn’t touch him until he began to sway. 

    Helping to catch the body and lower Lucas to his knees. To get him to take a breath. 

“Lucas, look at me.”

    There were tear tracks down his face. Cleaning paths down through the blood that was crusting into his skin. 

“She’s dead.”

    He still needed to confirm. He still needed to check her. He could see the wound in her middle. How her chest wasn’t moving. 

“Let the healers see her.”

    Lucas shook his head. 

“She’s dead.”

“Lucas—”

“She’s dead!”

    Ethan watched his brother’s magic curl in whisps around them. Holding the body closer to him before he seemed to rock even more. Before Ethan caught sight of the blood starting to trickle from his nose. Before his grip was turning slack. 

“Lucas.”

    Healers were rushing for them. They were taking Isabelle’s body away. Laying her on a stretcher beside them. Checking her vitals. Ethan held his brother against him. He wiped at the blood from his nose. He tried to keep him looking at him but he saw the healers shaking their heads. 

“What happened?”

    He needed to know but Lucas was trembling. His skin was hot to the touch. 

“Attacked. Woods. I need…I need James. I need my son. I—”

“We will get him. You need to get to the infirmary.”

“Ethan?...”

“I’m here.”

    He could see Genevieve gathering knights. How she was forcing herself to swallow her emotions and take charge of what was needed right now. Defending their counterpart. She was ordering knights to track where Lucas came from. To look for what happened. To see if there were survivors. 

“Traitors. I couldn’t— I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t—”

“You did everything you could.”

    His brother was crying. Leaning forward and clinging into him and Ethan didn’t know how to comfort him. He didn’t know if he could. 

“I need you to tell me if you’re hurt.”

    There was too much blood on him for it to be all his. Too much and he would be dead already. He wouldn’t have been able to walk in or carry Isabelle here. Ethan was trying not to look at her. Her eyes were closed. She looked peaceful. There was a smile on her face. She looked happy. 

“I don’t know.”

    It could be shock. It could be an adrenaline crash. It could be Star Poisoning. It could be so many things and Ethan didn’t know what the worse option was. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to save his brother. If he could help him at all or if he was going to be stuck with whatever was happening now. He needed to get him to the infirmary. To have him checked and make sure that the East wasn’t going to lose both their King and their Queen today. 

    He hoped they hadn’t lost their Prince. He hoped his staff would see the commotion in the yard and know to keep George away until they knew something more. Until they knew it was safe. 

    He saw Lucas’ eyes beginning to close. 

“Lucas? Lucas, no.”

    His brother was slumping over onto him. One check of his pulse and he could feel it beginning to drop. 

“Stretcher. Now.”

    The healers were already getting one ready for them. Laying it out beside them and Ethan helped them to move Lucas to lay him down. To make sure he was on it correctly before the healers were checking him over. Finding wounds on him. Finding the injuries he’d sustained. 

    He saw his brother’s eyes flutter.

“Lucas. You need to stay awake, okay?”

“Tha’s what I tol’ her…”

    He was slurring. His was fading on him. Ethan wouldn’t let him. 

“And she would be furious to know you were trying to follow. So stay with me.”

    He wasn’t ashamed to say his voice shook. 

“Tell me what hurts. Okay? Tell me what happened?”

    Lucas looked at him as new tears fell. 

“Poisoned me. I couldn’t— Ethan, I couldn’t….”

“They poisoned you?”

    His healers were looking at him. They wanted his order. He needed them to move faster. 

“Do you know with what?”

    His brother shook his head. He swallowed his fear. Fear wasn’t needed now. A King was needed now. 

“Get us to the infirmary. Now. We need to flush his system.”

    He looked back to his brother. He saw Lucas’ tears. How scared he looked. 

“Ethan?...”

    He held his hand. Offering a squeeze and trying to give him support. 

“We’re going to help you. We’re going to—”

“She’s gone?..”

    His heart tore. Isabelle was like a sister to him. He’d loved her like one. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too….”

    Before he could stop him, Lucas’ eyes were drifting shut. His body was going limp on the stretcher. He wasn’t responding. They were losing him faster than they were moving. Ethan yelled for them to run. For Lucas to hold on. He had no idea if his brother could hear him. He had no idea if it was enough to save him. 

    All he could do was hope. Hope he wasn’t too late. Hope he could find who did this. 

    He would find who did this. 

    And he would make them pay. 

Chapter Text

    The fight was all around them. Circling like smoke and death. Lucas held his blade tighter. He moved faster without the plate armor he typically wore when it was time for a fight. He was faster in his leather. Easier to hide in the shadows. The cloth over his face helping him breathe. Keeping the smoke away just a bit. 

    The palace was flooded. A coup. An attack from within that was killing the enemy he’d been fighting against. Lucas should have focused on his goal. He should have been moving in to kill the ruler that he’d come here for. He should be focused on defending his home nation and not anything else.

    But he thought about the window he’d climbed through. He thought about the girl that he’d met there. The girl that was trapped to a bound alliance with his enemy who he knew she did not love. Who he knew would be at risk in an attack like this. 

    Lucas deviated from his goal. It didn’t matter who was holding the blade that would kill his enemy so long as he ended up dead. It didn’t matter if he was the one that got to land the blow or one of his own people. But no one else was going to go after the Princess that was trapped to the man if he didn’t. She might already be dead. She could already be hurt or captive or worse. 

    Lucas used the Stars around him. Tracking the bright spots of people through the shadowed lines of the halls. He was looking for the brightest one he could find. He found her light. He found her surrounded. 

    By the time he got to her, she was standing with a sword bloody in her hands and her dress torn. Blood splashed on her but nothing that looked like it was from her. There were bodies around her. People still standing and ready to fight but they looked like they were beginning to question if they wanted to hold their ground with that choice. 

“Need some help?”

    He held his dagger at the ready. He wanted to try to win her favor with this. 

    Instead he was met with a glare. 

“No.”

    He held himself back while she did the rest of the fight. While she cut down the people that were in her way. Blowing a piece of her hair away from her face and leaving him to walk across the room to her when it was done. To check her. He hadn’t thought she would be angry at him. He hadn’t thought that she would be upset with what he was doing. 

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re a fool for coming here.”

    He held his hands in surrender. 

“Isabelle—”

“What if someone caught you? What if you were discovered? What if—”

“What if you were hurt? Killed for his crimes because you’re betrothed. I couldn’t—”

    She didn’t let him finish. 

“These are my knights leading the coup.”

    Lucas looked at her. He looked at the bodies surrounding them in the bedroom. 

“Your knights?”

“With the wedding date close, I finally managed to get my knight court with me here. They fought for my honor. They turned the unrest. They are leading the coup.”

“But you were being attacked.”

“Yes, by his knights who realized what I’d done.”

“So they know you’re a traitor?”

“If they all die, does it matter?”

    Bloodshed was not the answer. He was here to kill the man and now he was about to defend him. 

“What is the plan with the coup?”

    She would take the nation. She would be next in line if he wasn’t mistaken. Betrothed or not she was the closest to this throne. If she was the sovereign ruler here then she knew far too much about the East. He made a grave mistake to trust her. To stay with her. To kiss her. To—

“Leave him alive. Take the answers to the people.”

    He blinked at her over his mask. 

“And for you? What is your plan for you?”

    She took a step closer to him. A smile starting to play on her lips as she reached her hands up to pull down his mask. To expose him to the air and let her see his face. 

“Depends.” Her fingers traced the line of his jaw. “Is there another King that wishes to ask for my hand?”

    His breathing stalled in his chest. His heart hammering against his ribs. Her eyes were shining. Her presence was so bright. So warm. So blinding and he wanted to stay in her light until the day he died. 

“If you were asked would you say yes and mean it?”

    She leaned closer. Her chest against his. His arms stayed down to his sides while hers wrapped around his waist. He was scared to touch her. Scared to do something and break the peace he could feel. The want  in her intent. 

“I would mean it if you were the King who asked.”

    His own want rushed his blood. His heart fluttering in his chest as he looked down at her. As she took in the look in his eyes and Lucas felt the fighting and the war and every other reason he was here melt into the back of his thoughts. As he dipped down and stole her lips in a kiss. As his arms finally came to wrap around her and hold her close to him. 

    To stay like that until the moment they broke apart to breathe. 

“Lucas—”

“Would you?”

    She stayed quiet. 

“Would you marry me? Would you be my Queen. Queen of the East. Would you stay with me? Would you mean it when you said—”

    Her lips stole his. He returned tenfold. 

“I love you.”

    He felt the meaning in it. He felt the truth of her words. How her light seemed brighter at the saying. How her intent behind it was nothing but honest. She wanted him. He wanted her. He wanted to stay with her. To be with her. To take her from this palace and run. To take her to the East and show them their Queen. To marry her and hold her and love her till their dying day. Until—

“Lucas?”

    It was only a blink and the memory was gone. Flickering out of his sight and replacing itself with the bright white of Central’s infirmary. A shudder left to drag its way through his lungs. To force him to remember what was real. What was happening. 

    To look at his near brother and see the worry in his eyes. Ethan moved slow so he could track him. Settling down in the chair beside his bed to look at him. To fret on him. 

“The healers said you were waking up. How are you feeling?”

    Miserable. Scared. He wanted to wish and hope that all of the things running through his head were tricks or false memories or simply warnings from the Stars that he could prevent but by the look on Ethan’s face he knew that wasn’t true. 

    His brother sighed at him. 

“The East is aware. There wasn’t an attack at the palace so what happened was focused to your carriage. James is safe. Him and your inner court are on their way here. Your knights are on guard to defend the palace and borders in case this is an outside attack. Investigations are being run.”

    He closed his eyes again. Trying to keep the memory of what happened in his head clean. Without the taint of losing the woman he loved. 

“They were posed as guards. They could already be in.”

    Ethan nodded. 

“I have some of my own knights there as well. It is not the East alone.”

    All he could muster was a nod. 

“I told the others to get here. An attack on you is an attack to all of us. They’re all on their ways here. We’ll hold a meeting of the Compass and—”

“Ethan.”

    His friend looked at him. There was pity in his face. An expression that looked far too hurt for Lucas to be comfortable with. All the things they’d done together. All the times they’d seen one another hurt. They knew their patterns inside and out and he knew that there was going to be little that would stop him now. Ethan was considered one of the strongest War Kings the Compass had ever had. He was a fighter and he was true. There was not a single doubt in his mind that he would protect him. That he would find who was responsible and kill them for him. 

    But Lucas knew how Ethan felt about the blood he wore. He knew how he could get. 

“Has my brother been told?”

    Four years younger and hopefully safe far away from this mess. He’d been married and moved out of the East years ago. They’d tried to keep their bases together over the years but Lucas knew that Theo was always more on the quiet side and that things had been busy for him. A threat of war was coming for his Kingdom and while Lucas had offered for him that the East could help if he needed it, his little brother turned him down. 

    If this attack was connected to the threats Theo was facing then Lucas needed to know. They all needed to know. It was going to get them killed if they weren’t careful with each other. If they were risking it on too many things. 

    He refused to become an accidental in a war against his brother. He refused to lose his little brother to something that they might be able to prevent. He refused to be a threat on him. For an enemy to be able to use him to manipulate Theo into doing what they wanted. 

“Word has been sent. It’ll take time to get to him though, you know that.”

    He nodded. A lump settling too thickly in his throat and making him doubt what he was able to do. He wasn’t sure what he could handle right now. Right now when his body felt heavy on the bed but the urge to move and run and scrub his skin raw was making him feel like he was losing his mind. 

“Talk to me.”

    He looked at Ethan. His friend’s eyes burning into him with the intensity of the sun. 

“I don’t know what to say.”

    He’d lost his wife. 

    He’d lost his Isabelle. 

    Like a supernova plucked from the sky, he saw her vanish. Her presence and her light that had brought him so much comfort over the years and he had lost her. He was left alone now without her beside him and he didn’t know what to do. His son was coming here and he would be kept safe on the travel. Unless there were more traitors against him but the Stars didn’t say anything to tell him one way or another. He would just have to hope that the Central knights mixed on the traveling party would be enough to keep his little boy safe. 

“We won’t bury her until you’re ready.”

    All he could do was nod. Fighting the tears out of his eyes and his breaths to stay steady. 

“Lucas, you don’t have to hide.”

    He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to allow himself to feel. If he felt this then he would grieve and if he was grieving he would lose himself. James would need him. James would need his father, not a mourning man. He would need his dad and the East would need their King to lead them in the loss of their Queen. He didn’t have time to let his heart break. He didn’t have the time to be feeling it like he was. 

“I need to go to the pools.”

    The Stars had been a chaotic mess through his head when he tried to get answers from them. They’d been incoherent and confusing and because of that he hadn’t been able to save her. He had been too slow and too weak and he needed answers. He needed to know why. If the Stars had let her die. If they had—

“I can’t let you go.”

    Ethan looked at him with nothing but regret in his eyes. 

“And why not?”

    He knew Ethan well enough to know that his friend wouldn’t bar him from the reflecting pools of Central without a reason. Without a good reason. Ethan was protective of him. They both were. And they both knew how much they each hated being stuck in the infirmaries or medical cots away from their duties. They were usually the ones that would help each other to break out if it came to it. They were the ones that would sling their arms around one another and help the other to walk because they knew their stubbornness. 

    If Ethan was keeping him here even knowing the situation, Lucas was missing something. Something important. 

“You were poisoned.”

    He nodded. He knew that. He’d put that together and he knew that when he’d been collapsing. He was well aware that he could blame that and that he could hide behind it but he wouldn’t allow himself to. Isabelle was dead because of him. She was dead because of—

“The poison was potion.”

    He was about to write it off. To wave the concern away. But there was something in the way that Ethan said it that made him stop. Sitting up a bit to look his friend in the eye and know the gravity of all of this. 

"What kind of potion?”

“Someone apparently has been getting strength into you. Either food or drink. I doubt you would have missed an injection or some other way.”

“Strength?”

    That didn’t make sense. If they were trying to get him to be too weak to fight then—

“Crude strength. From what we can tell. It was eating your body away from the inside out. From what the healers can tell, your Stars were trying to heal you and were starting to turn against you from the constant use. Your fight didn’t help things. I’m not taking you to the pools so you can use them more and kill yourself. I can’t let you die. Not like that.”

    He could hear the fear that was hiding in Ethan’s voice. The worry that apparently had been nestled there since he found out what was wrong with him. The hurt that was there for his brother when he realized how close he’d come. 

    It explained at least a bit then. What was wrong with him. Why he hadn’t understood the Stars and why they were starting to hurt when he was in the carriage. It was why he had been useless. Why he’d—

“Stop that.”

    Ethan was with him in moments. Hugging him on the bed and without thinking about it, Lucas was wrapping his arms back around his friend. Ethan moved to support himself on the bed rather than leaning over it. Holding the two of them together and it took him until then to realize he was crying. 

“Stop blaming yourself, Lucas. You did everything you could.”

“I didn’t.” His words choked from his throat. He didn’t want to admit it but if the knowledge would be safe anywhere it would be safe with Ethan. It would be safe with his brother. “I tried to take it. I tried to help heal her and she wouldn’t let me.” If anyone would tell him the truth if he was a monster, it would be his best friend. “She stopped me and she died in my arms and I—”

“She stopped you because you would have died to Star poisoning if she didn’t.”

    Lucas could hear the tears in Ethan’s voice as well. 

“She stopped you because she loved you, and you know that. She loved you, Lucas.”

    She hadn’t gotten to say it. He hid himself against Ethan’s shoulder. His throat tight and now that the tears were started they weren’t stopping. Ethan wasn’t letting go. 

“I’m here. I’m right here. I’m not letting go. I’ve got you, brother.”

“I’ll be alright.”

    Ethan had become King too young. He’d locked his emotions into himself and forced himself to lead. He’d taken blow beyond blow and still handled with composure. Lucas couldn’t do the same. He couldn’t do anything. How weak Ethan must find him. How—

“You will. Eventually. But not right now.”

“I have to be King.”

“No,” Ethan held him tighter. “You have to be Lucas. My friend. Who just lost his wife. Who is grieving the mother of his child. Who was hurt and threatened and fought and survived.”

    He felt another squeeze on him. 

“You survived.”

    He wished that he hadn’t. Part of him wished, at least. 

    The rest of him thought about his nation. He thought about James. About his little boy and what he was going to have to explain to him when he arrived. He didn’t know how long he had until they would get here but if Ethan wasn’t concerned then he was going to keep himself together enough to worry about it later as well. 

    He would follow Ethan to the end of the world and back. He would follow him now. 

“All you have to be right now is you. Okay?”

    He tried to nod. His heart felt like it was breaking apart in his chest. 

“I’m sorry.”

“No.”

    Ethan’s hold on him was shaking. His brother was crying harder. He still sounded scared. 

“No sorry. Nothing. None of that. You held me when I lost my parents. You’ve held me through so much. I will hold you now. I will hold you any time you need me.”

    They’d promised each other that they would be in this together until they were both old and gray. That they would be fighting side by side until the days they died. That they would be Counterparts through everything. Anything. 

“All you need to be right now is you. My friend. My brother. James’ father.”

    The East still needed their King. They needed order. 

“I’ll handle everything else. If you let me.”

    He only had to nod. He trusted Ethan. He knew he would help him. That he would protect him. That they wanted the same things. It wasn’t even that the East wouldn’t be used to following him. Central and East acted more as one military together than they did as two different Kingdoms. 

“You just need to heal. Okay?”

“Stay?”

    He felt Ethan shift. Settling so that he could lay beside him. So it was the two of them clinging desperately to one another in the bed. 

“I’m right here. I’ll stay as long as you need.”

    To hide his tears. To keep him safe. To guard him against the rest of the world. Whatever they would face. 

    They would face it together. 

“Just heal, Lucas. You need to rest.”

    He would do his best. 

“Wake me up when James gets here. When—”

“I will. You have time. So just sleep for now, okay?”

    He tried to breathe. He felt Ethan settle his head over his own. 

“Just sleep.”

Chapter Text

    By the time Ethan was waking Lucas up again, the convoy of the East was nearing the palace. Ethan had tried to be gentle with him and convince him to rest longer but Lucas knew that it wasn’t an option for him. He knew that right now he needed to see his son and his people or he was going to end up driving himself insane in this white walled stall in the infirmary. 

    His friend tried to keep him still. Tried to make him take things slow and easy so that he wouldn’t hurt himself but Lucas needed out. He needed something to do and that was greeting his knights when they arrived. 

    Getting to his son. Making sure that he was safe. Making certain that his little boy was able to make it out of all of this alive. That he was going to be okay and that he was going to be able to make it through this. Telling James that his mother was dead and that he was in danger. He needed to know he could protect his son and that he wasn’t too late. That he still had at least a little bit of Isabelle left. 

    James had her light. James had her looks. 

    His little boy reminded him so much of the woman he’d fallen in love with and Lucas felt desperately caged inside his own heart with the effort of his own memory. Trying to conjure them side by side so that he could see them together. Clinging to the image like it would vanish from his thoughts like a plague against potions. Like he couldn’t do anything else. 

    They walked together. Forcing themselves forward and Lucas ignored the way his head was aching. How his body was trembling as he was standing. He would be fine so long as he could keep things easy. So long as he didn’t have to do anything too hard or harsh. If he didn’t have to fight or be drawing on his stars then he would be fine. 

    He could manage. 

    They had some time before the convoy would arrive. Before they would fully get there and he would be facing his people for the first time without his Queen alive. It was like a bleeding wound in his heart. Leaking blood into his chest instead of through his veins. He knew Ethan could tell from the way he kept looking at him but he didn’t stop him. He just stayed beside him. Stayed checking on him as they worked their way through the halls of the palace. As they made their way out to the yard and into the sun. Into the light that was swallowing the yard and the people that were milling about. 

    Central knights that were looking nearly like business as usual if Lucas didn’t know how to read their stress filling the air around him. Their worry. Their protectiveness. 

    It didn’t take him long to find his remaining present counterpart. Her leading knight beside her. They looked like they were in a meeting but by the time Lucas was certain it was her that he was seeing, she was seeing him in turn. 

    The moment he laid eyes on Genevieve she was moving for him. Not even stopping for a moment before her arms were around him and she was pulling him down for a hug against her. Holding him and bracing him and he could feel the tension she was sheltering within her. The work she was putting into staying strong for him. For all of them. 

“Lucas,”

    He held her back without hesitation. Genevieve was like a sister to him. He knew how close she and Isabelle were. For as much trouble as he and Ethan would get into, Genevieve and Isabelle would do the same. They would push on each other time and time again and that was just the way things went. They were playful and they were happy and Lucas knew nothing would be the same as it was before again. 

“Hey, Gen.”

    He saw her grief when they pulled away. When they were allowed to breathe and take the moment for themselves. He saw knights moving around the yard. Central guards on edge and ready to defend to protect him. Ready to make sure there were no threats against him and that everything stayed secure. He could see the scouts perched at the top of the wall ready and waiting for a strike to come.
He couldn’t handle talking about what happened right now. He had to be strong for his people. He had to be strong for his son. He would cry with James. He would show him that it hurt him too. He would tell him how much he missed her and he would hold him. They would grieve this together. 

    If James saw him crying immediately he would only scare him and put him through something worse. He had to keep it together. A little while longer. 

“How far are they?”

    They would all know what he was talking about. Central’s Lead took to standing by Ethan’s shoulder. The knight looked somber. Lucas could feel his loyalty. His readiness. He thought of the ones that betrayed him. He was glad Ethan had people truly loyal. 

“They should be here any moment.”

    Nearly the second she said it, there was motion at the gate. His son was on the other side of this. His son was in this. He took a sharp breath. Watching as Eastern banners entered into the yard. Knights spilling in with Central and blending like they were a single army one and the same. He heard a cheer of joy and Genevieve's knight mutter a swirl of light admonishments before he saw Central’s young Prince running for them. 

    He saw James lunge out from a carriage. An Eastern squire trailing out behind him. Both boys were grinning. They looked like they were already playing a game of something inside. 

    They were playing in moments. Running with each other. Happy to see each other. 

“He doesn’t know?”

    From what he was seeing, neither of them knew. 

    Genevieve sighed a bit. 

“We wanted to make sure James got here safe before…”

    Before they told their little boy that James was alive if he would be killed on the journey here too. The thought of it laid a stone to his stomach but he swallowed it all back. Forcing a nod to her and seeing her doubt immediately. 

“Lucas..”

“It’s fine.” He meant it. He was just shaken. “It’s fine, Genevieve.”

    It made sense. Their plan. He couldn’t fault them for it when he knew that he very easily might be doing the same thing if their roles were reversed. He knew to be careful. He knew to be smart. As much as it hurt, this was smart. 

    But now the time was here and Lucas felt frozen. He saw his knights and the way they were glancing to where he was standing. How they were trying to check on him without making it clear. He knew in that moment that all of them were hiding what happened from James. They were giving him the time and space to tell his boy what happened. And Lucas? 

    He felt frozen. He felt weak. All the war he’d faced. All the horror he’d dealt with. And now this is what made him feel like a coward. Not the threat of death. Not the threat of violence or blood or maiming or torture. Not the risk to his nation. None of it. 

    But telling his son that he’d failed to save his mother. 

“I need to talk to him. I need…”

    He had to swallow the lump that was attempting to clock and suffocate his throat. 

“The others will be here by the end of the week.” 

    Her voice was smooth. It was careful. She was trying to help him and Lucas knew it. He was glad it still seemed to help. There was just the knowing that she couldn’t know for sure. It was too fast to have word. He knew Genevieve knew what he was thinking. 

“I know them. We both do. They’ll be here. All you need to be for now is a father.”

    His heart twisted a bit. Nodding to her and taking a breath for himself. He could do this. He could figure out how to explain this. How to tell James that his mom was gone. She wasn’t buried yet. He could in theory take him to see her if he wanted to. He was worried how he would react to her body. How either of them would react. He didn’t know if he would be able to keep himself together. 

    He could feel her blood on his skin. He could feel her light being swallowed by dark. He could hear her last words. His own tears and sobs and begs. 

    He forced himself to listen in to Ethan where he was standing. The conversation that was pulling between him and his Lead Knight. Sir Sam was a good man. Ethan had told him enough and Lucas had always liked him when he’d been here in Central. The weight of their conversation seemed looming. Like there was something wrong. 

    If Central was struggling and helping him, Lucas would not leave them to struggle alone. 

“There’s a group of new squire potentials coming in.” There was too much stress in the knight’s voice for what he thought should be there. “They were meant to arrive tomorrow. I can have them turn around and we just assign them—”

“No.” Lucas would make this decision for his counterparts. He stepped into the conversation without waiting for an entrance. “If this is an attack toward the whole of the Compass then we need to show we aren’t rattled. If it’s not then I won’t have you waiting for my sake. If this is a fight Central intends to pick up with East then you’ll need knights. Take in the squires.”

    Ethan looked at him with enough assessment running through his eyes that Lucas could practically feel the gears turning through his head. The way he was figuring out what he wanted to do. How he was calculating his response. Lucas thought he was going to argue but instead he watched his brother sigh and turn to his Queen. 

“We should have George choose a knight out of this set.”

    He should have James choose one as well. Someone to stay with him. Someone that would be able to be with him as an extra layer of safety. He didn’t want his son to be alone. 

    He saw Genevieve’s look she was giving her husband. 

“I thought you wanted to train him without one so that he could learn to be one himself.”

    Ethan nodded. Lucas understood the sentiment. That was how the Sun Line usually reared their young. Training and teaching them along with the knights to hold the lessons of their First Kings just a little stronger. They had the least amount of difference between knights and royal so for them it was like second nature. For them to choose knights for their little ones was a change of pace. 

    Given the circumstances he thought their nations would understand. Given the future that might come for them otherwise, he thought it was necessary. 

“I did. But I can’t let him be alone. Not when he could be hurt and not if something happens to us. He needs someone he chooses to be safe with. Someone who will be loyal to him. When this squire class comes in, if he likes it or not, I’m making him choose a knight.”

    Lucas could see Sir Sam nodding. The grim lines in his face that showed just how much he understood the weight of this. 

“I’ll be watching them. If he refuses to choose I’ll have a list to help narrow it down by name if needed.”

    Lucas huffed a laugh. He could imagine it all too easily. Ethan cracked a smile at him as well. 

“I’ve heard rumors from your three boys that they’re getting another sibling?”

    The knight only rolled his eyes. 

“Five has been keeping my hands full, thank you. If I’m taking one tomorrow it’ll be for a reason.”

    Genevieve grinned with too much knowing to still be friendly. 

“The way your story goes.” 

    A tease of their faith. A tease all of his counterparts enjoyed. 

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow. I may or may not get a squire. Our Prince, however, will.”

    Lucas could smile at the thoughts of it. He could see all of it. The planning and strategy that would take. He could imagine how they would push for things. How they would struggle. How they would win or bleed or lose. 

    His eyes moved back over to where his son was perched surrounded by knights. George playing around with him. Central and Eastern knights toying with each other and checking on one another. All of them guarding and safe to be in sight with their royals. Like they were all at home here. He could see the younger knights playing with their Princes. A young squire who was doing well in his combat training from what Lucas had heard. Raised in the palace as a surrendered infant. He was loyal. He was kind. He was dedicated. 

    He’d been the one riding in with James to stay by his side on the move. He’d volunteered for the role. 

    He wondered how hard it would be to convince James to make that squire his knight. He wondered if he would be able to will himself to order the change for his son himself. 

    He’d do it. If it would keep his son safe Lucas thought there was little he wouldn’t do. 

    Either way it would go, tomorrow George and James would have their knights. 

    He would figure it out. He could be a King making choices for his heir later. 

    For now?

    For now he would be a father. 

Chapter Text

    Lucas almost didn’t dare to breathe. Guiding his little boy through the halls of Central’s palace until they were in one of the back drawing rooms. It was the most private place they were going to get to quickly. He would prefer to take James up to the royal floor so the two of them could hunker down and wait but he knew that wasn’t really an option. 

    Not when his son saw him and his expression showed all the worry that he was feeling. Not when Lucas could feel his Stars tensing and bracing around the both of them like they were trying to comfort them. Like he was needing to figure out something that was missing. Something that was wrong. 

    He could deal with it later. Right now his son mattered more. 

    James knew something was wrong. That much was clear. His little boy was waiting for the shoe to drop and Lucas knew that he was smart enough to figure out that he hadn’t seen his mother yet. James knew that he was meant to be staying in the palace and his parents were meant to be gone for a week. For him to be called in like this, something was changed from plan and it wasn’t good. 

    He could see it in his eyes when he closed the door. When he looked at his son and he saw the same intelligence he’d seen so many times before in Isabelle’s eyes. The thoughts that were running through while he tried to put things together. 

“Do you know why you’re here in Central?”

    It was a weak beginning but he didn’t know how else he was supposed to start this conversation. His emotions were tight and taught in his chest like they were waiting to smother and suffocate him. Like they were wanting to drown him here on dry land. 

    He didn’t know how much the others might have said. What James might have been told or warned about from the Stars. If his little boy knew what was waiting for confirmation for him here in this room. 

“The knights said it was important. All the advisors are acting weird.”

    He wondered how all of them were taking it themselves. How they were feeling with what happened. If the traitor was among them. 

“And the Stars? Have they said anything?”

    His little boy shook his head. Watching him with wide eyes and Lucas forced himself to keep his breathing even. To make it through this and figure it out. 

“Where’s Mom?”

    He sat down on the couch beside his son. Keeping them close so that he could be a support for James when he would need him. His thoughts were jumbled. How to explain this. How to break it to him. 

    The best place to start was the truth.

“We were in the carriage here. We were betrayed.”

    He didn’t want to scare him but James needed to know how serious their situation was right now. He needed to know to be careful. He needed to know to be safe. He needed to know so that he wouldn’t be hurt. It was the only way through this alive. 

“They were dressed as our guards. Someone knew about the trip. Someone knew that we would be split up and they attacked us while our guard was down.”

    He could see the wheels spinning in his son’s head.

“We fought but—”

“Dad, where’s Mom?”

    His composure wanted to break. He knew that James had put it together. That he knew already what was really happening and what he was trying to tell him now. He could see it in his eyes that he knew. That he’d solved it. Lucas wished he didn’t see the horror in his child’s eyes. 

“I tried to get to her—”

“Where’s Mom?”

    He could see James crying now. 

“She loved you—”

“Where is she?”

    Lucas felt the Stars tighten around him. He didn’t want to use them in respect for Ethan. For what his closest friend was worried about. He didn’t want to make himself worse and have Ethan’s mother henning carrying on. 

“She’s here. I brought her here with me.”

    James knew what death was. He’d seen knights retire and pass. He’d seen the graves of the old rulers of the East. He’d seen countless markers. This was the first family that he’d lost. This was the first time it was someone close to him. 

“Can I see her?”

    He didn’t waste a second before nodding. 

“Of course you can. I just have to warn you—”

“Now.”

“James, please listen to me—”

“Why is she dead?”

    He needed to answer his son’s questions. He knew that. That James was scared and grieving and upset and he was going to have questions and it was his job as his father to answer them. It was his duty to guide him through this with whatever he needed. 

    But the only thing he could think to answer with was an admission of guilt he couldn’t explain. 

“I have to find the traitor who set us up.” His voice sounded tight even to his own ears. “I have to figure out what they wanted. Stop them before they can hurt you or anyone else.”

    He would need to investigate sooner than later. The issue was that he would want to have his Stars at the ready to help him figure it out. 

“James?”

    He was silent. Tears rolling down his cheeks but he wasn’t making a single sound. Lucas could feel the energy around him. The tension that was building up through the Stars and light his boy held. He could see how much hurt James was feeling. 

    His mistake was to reach out for his son. 

    The moment his fingers grazed his shoulder energy exploded between the two of them. Enough force that both of them flung off the couch with enough light to make him feel like he’d been blinded. He collided with the table in front of the couch. A hard hit to his chest that left him coughing and gasping for air. 

    James was scrambling to his feet on the other side. His eyes wide and terrified and dazed. Lucas could see him shaking.

    The door nearly slammed open. Ethan and knights from both East and Central standing at the ready behind him. Lucas threw a hand up to stop them all. 

“James?” It wasn’t his fault. “Jamesy? Look at me Star Screech.”

    James had a hard time with the Stars so far. Their training was fairly limited to the basics so that his boy could learn how to communicate. So that he could figure out what the Stars meant and learn to hear each of their voices. As it was he’d just been hearing screams and screeches. Lucas thought he was just nervous of his own power. That they were reflecting his hesitation to use them. 

    What magic Jame did  know was light. Raw bursts of power. Little explosions. Fireworks. 

“Dad?...”

“I’m alright.” His chest ached. He was sure he’d bruised quite a few of his ribs if not worse. He hoped they were just bruised. “I’m fine, Screech, I’m okay. Are you okay?”

    James shook his head. Tears streaming down his cheeks and now the sobs started to come. Building a flush through his face and in moments Lucas had his arms filled with his son. His little one collapsing into him and clinging onto him like his entire life depended on holding him here. Lucas held him back. He couldn’t say he didn’t feel the same. 

“I’m here.”

“I want Mom.”

    He could feel the heat in his own face. The hurt in his heart. He looked up at Ethan to see him sending the knights away before he was closing his eyes and tucking his head down against James’ hair. 

“I know. I do too.”

“Why is she gone?... Why did she die?”

    He saw her laying there again. He felt her blood on his hands. He watched her dying and he tried to save her and he could have saved her but she’d stopped him and made him carry on and he felt hollow now without her. Like he was a broken man trying to lift shards that could no longer fit together. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t think he could fix himself. 

“I’ll find out, okay?”

    He wouldn’t tell him it was the will of the Gods. He wouldn’t tell him the Stars called her home. He wouldn’t say it was anything other than what it was. Someone had done this. Someone had planned this. They had ordered the attack and if nothing happened at the palace then it meant James was meant to be used or they simply thought he would be with his parents. In either case, his baby boy was in danger. 

    He wasn’t going to stop until he figured out who did this. Until he knew who was behind the suffering they now had to live with. The nightmares they would have. He could feel the heat rushing under James’ skin. The Stars that he didn’t know yet how to control. He wanted to help him but he’d need the reflecting pool to do it in his current condition. It was the only way he could think to figure this out. 

    Ethan was still outside the door. Still waiting in the hall in case either of them needed him. Paranoid and giving them space but still trying to be protective in case something happened. 

“Ethan?”

    In a heartbeat, his friend was there. 

“Can you gather my advisors please? And my knights. I need all of them to know what happened and I can’t—”

“Do you want me to tell them or do you want me to tell them to wait?”

    He could always rely on his brother in all but blood. 

“I trust you to tell them.”

“Any orders you want me to give?”

    He shook his head. Feeling James cling on tighter and knowing their trip to the morgue would be sooner than later. He didn’t want to ruin James’ image of her but if this would help him to see her then he wasn’t going to stop him either. 

“Is there any way we can get to see her without being seen?”

    Ethan’s eyes darkened the moment he understood what was being asked. A deft nod and tense posture. 

“I’ll come back here when it’s clear.”

“Thank you.”

    Ethan was gone again in moments. Leaving them to their own and Lucas ran a hand up and down James’ back. Holding his crying boy close to his chest and letting him listen to his heart. 

“You know she won’t look like how you remember her.”

    He wouldn’t stop him but he would warn him. 

“I just want to hug her goodnight again.”

    He let his tears fall as his heart snapped. 

“She won’t feel the same either.”

“Dad—”

“If you want to see her, if you want to hug her, you can. I’m not saying you can’t. I just—” He couldn’t stop seeing her body in his arms. “I want you to remember her smiling too.”

    His voice shattered over the words. 

“I want you to remember her laugh. How she would read to you. All the things she did and how much she loved you because she did, James, she loved you so much.”

    He couldn’t hold himself together. 

“She loved you and she didn’t want to leave us.”

    They’d have their choice once Ethan had things clear. They couldn’t lock Central’s infirmary forever. 

“We’ll see her if you want to. If you need to. Just—”

“Can you tell me stories about Mom?”

    His heart felt weak. His chest hurt. He nodded all the same. 

    They were both crying. They were both hurting. It was more than what they could bear but they were making it through it all the same. They didn’t have another choice. They were doing what needed to be done. What they would always do for her. 

    For the memories of her. For their love for her. Her love for them. 

    Lucas wanted to be strong. He wanted to be brave enough for his little boy. So he started where he thought all good stories would. 

“A long time ago, when the East was at war,”

    He started where it all began. 

”I was climbing up through a window.”

Chapter Text

    Sam sighed where he stood at the desk in his tent. It was never necessarily easy to be the Lead knight but there was a routine of sorts that came into play after a certain point. Things that were expected and patterns to the workload that could be navigated through. He’d been ready for the work of new squires entering the palace and assignments to change over. He’d been ready for an adjustment to tasks and leadership. 

    And then the East showed up at their gates bleeding and hurt and he knew he would be preparing for war. 

    Sam knew his King well enough to know how he handled threats against the Compass. Any of the others would warrant this reaction from him but he knew there was something special when it was one of the Sun Line to be struck. He was doing what he thought he could to mitigate things for his royals. For their allies. To try to take the weight from everything and give them at least a fraction of peace where he thought he might be able to. 

    He was determined to be working on organizing everything in the final moments of peace he had before the squire potentials would be arriving in peace. To sort himself out and make sure that he was ready for everything that was going to come for the rest of the day. 

    The flaps of his tent opening told him otherwise. 

“Hey, Sam.”

    Zach, his oldest squire came walking in without a second of hesitation. No ask to see if he had time or anything of the sort. Behind him followed the other two that Sam trained. Boomer and Five. Only Boomer and Five were still currently squires. A rather clever one when it came to hiding the training he would do. He was learning things beyond his scope and getting caught with older squires. Fifteen years old and Sam would say with confidence that he was the most wild of the three of them so far. 

    He huffed at the trio entering his tent. Looking back down at his papers and trying to memorize the list of names of the potentials that had been sent in advance. 

“I’m busy.”

“The newbies are at the other side of the capital. They’ll be here fifteen minutes.”

    Not enough time. It wasn’t enough time to do much of anything of note. 

“Then I really don’t have time.”

“Yeah but we all know you already prepared everything because that’s how you are.”

    They were going to give him a headache. With his irritation showing plainly on his face, Sam looked up to his three grinning squires. 

“What do you need?”

    He expected it to be Zach that would answer him. Instead it was Five. 

“Are we getting a sibling today?”

    Boomer looked like if he grinned any wider he was going to split his face. 

“I have to spend too much time training you three.”

    Zach made an offended expression. 

“I have been knighted for the last four years, thank you very much.”

“And yet.”

    His oldest stuck his tongue out. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I rest my case. You are still a child.”

“I am twenty three.”

“A twenty three year old child.”

    Their time was limited before the potentials would arrive. He had to be ready to greet them. They had to get to the point. 

“I don’t have plans to choose a new squire today, if you were worried.”

    He had two of them active. He knew that it could be a risk if they thought he didn’t want to be focusing on their training anymore. Boomer was nearly ready for his knighting. He had passed just about every trial he could take. It was only that the boy didn’t feel like he was ready himself that Sam didn’t push for him to move up on rank. He figured he’d get there in about a year. 

    Five raised an eyebrow this time. 

“Worried?” Sam matched his confusion. Five kept going. “Sam, you realize right now our teams in training are out of balance? They gang up on me and I would like a teammate, thank you.”

    His eyes moved over to his older two. Boomer laughed while Zach shrugged. Boomer slinging an arm over Five’s shoulders and pulling him close. 

“Don’t worry, little brother, we love you very much.”

“I would also like to not be the only one having to endure this.”

    Boomer’s offended gasp nearly drowned out the sound of Sam’s laugh. His squires always managed to get him to smile. To break away from the knight facade that he wore nearly every other moment. He’d been titled as the Warden for running the palace guard like a prison rotation. That was the rumor, at least. Sam liked to believe that he was fair. He was strict, but it was for the safety of everyone. And now that there was an active threat posed to the occupants of the palace, he wasn’t going to be lessening that anytime soon. 

    Zach was watching him. Something too knowing in his eyes. Sam had taken him in to train nearly the moment he became a knight. Zach knew him better than a lot of the other knights here. The only ones that could compare were his closest friends. The ones that had been his acting squire brothers when he himself had been training. 

“Five, Boomer, can you two go make sure the guards are ready at the gate so Sam doesn’t give himself an aneurysm?”

    His words were easy but the tone of his voice had fallen flat. An order hidden under the gentle guidance that had both the squires looking between them with curiosity and leaving without another word. The moment they were alone Zach was coming closer to the desk. Leaning on it himself and staring him right in the eye. 

“What’s wrong?”

    Sam huffed. He leaned back. 

“Nothing is wrong.”

“Bullshit.”

“Language.”

“You’ve been hanging out too much with Bad. Why are you so tense about this squire pool?”

    He supposed he owed his first squire a reason. 

“The King is going to have the Prince choose a knight from this set.”

    Zach understood the meaning of that immediately. Staying silent as he thought everything over through his head. 

“Are you thinking about taking one?”

    He closed his eyes. He loved training new squires. As Lead he had a hand in all of their trainings but it was special when he knew that he could guide them directly. When he could form the bond with them that would turn into something a little more. Boomer and Five had joked from time to time that he was their dad. 

    With the life of a knight, he thought it was the closest to building a family he might ever have. 

“Do you want me to?”

    Zach shrugged. 

“I’ll take another sibling. Five would love one. Boomer is…well he’s Boomer. He’ll dote and baby them no matter what.”

    That wasn’t a real answer. That wasn’t a want or lack of it. That wasn’t—

“You always take a squire for a reason, Sam. If you choose one, we know there’s a good reason for it.”

“I took you three in because I saw your potential.”

    Zach’s look was nearly incredulous. 

“You took in Five because he was from a dairy farm like you and did the same move you did when you had the scroll trial.” Sam went to question him. Zach pushed on through. “Phil has told me stories about how you became a squire. Don’t think I don’t know things.”

    He sighed again. 

“You took in Boomer because he was shy. He was on the outskirts from the other squires in his class but he was still fighting with them. Still worked with them even when they left him behind. You connected to him.”

    Everything Zach was saying was true. 

“And why do you think I took you?”

    His oldest squire grinned. 

“Because I’m awesome.”

    He snorted a laugh. 

“Right.”

“You took me in because you were hurting. Grieving. You didn’t have your brother anymore. So you tried to replace him.”

    The blood nearly drained from his face. 

“Zach, that’s not at all why—”

    He waved him off. 

“It’s fine, Sam. I don’t mind.”

“Zach—”

“The point stands. Regardless why you took me in. You took all of us for a reason. If you see a squire out there today, take them. We’ll support you. We’ll love them.”

    He wanted to protest. He wanted to argue with his oldest until Zach knew the real reason he’d taken him in. Until he would think of himself as something more than a replacement. But no sooner did he open his mouth for the words did he hear the horn announcing the arrival of the potentials. 

    Zach was smiling at him. 

“Bad’s waiting for you to get things started. Said he’d start stuff if I kept you over.”

    Some days he thought his squires were going to drive him insane. 

    By the time he got to the front of the yard the opening trial was already underway. A mass of bodies all at varying ages. Standing at a table and looking through scrolls that were going to have the clues to the puzzle locks they had to solve to carry on through the race. It was a team test. Who would share information, who was capable of leading, who only cared about winning. 

    Bad was watching all of them closely. There were several other knights standing off the sides to observe. Even other squires waiting to see who would join their ranks. 

“Anyone caught your eye yet?”

    He’d known Bad for years. The two of them had run this trial together with Phil right beside them. They had worked together as a team to make it through the tests. They’d been as close as brothers ever since. 

“Two of them that I’m debating on right now.”

“Oh?”

    Bad had always watched the squire potentials but he’d never really shown an interest in training any of them before. Now he had his eye on two. 

“One’s from the Capital, the rougher part. I’m curious how he’s going to run this test.”

“And the other?”

“He’s the one I’m more leaning to take.”

    His friend nodded toward the edge of the table. Two small boys working through the papers together. One with dark hair and bright eyes. Nearly bouncing on his feet as he went through the scrolls. The one beside him—

“Dark hair or the mask?”

“Dark hair, I’m not sure about the one in the mask. Can’t get a read on him.”

    They were both young. The boy with the mask had what he was guessing was blonde hair but it was hard to tell with how dirty it was. He was small. Smaller than what he thought was natural for the way he was built. The mask strapped to his face swallowed pretty much all of his features. Still, the boy was reaching to take paper scrolls and hand them to the dark haired boy to check and read. 

    They were working as a team. 

“Is the mask your capital boy?”

“No. He’s under the table looking at the ones that get dropped.”

    Sam almost laughed at the notion. 

“How did he get under there?”

“Snuck. It was a little impressive, I’ll admit.”

    They fell back into silence as they watched. Sam kept his eyes on the boy with the mask. Seeing exactly what Bad had meant when he said it was hard to get a read on the kid. He was working through the trials but he didn’t seem to be holding any urgency for himself. He would look around at the rest of the group and the dark haired boy would pull at him and they would move. Nearly attached at the hip but the blonde boy looked like he didn’t want to be here. 

    The way he would move slow and then run when tugged along. How he would take the scrolls but hand them to the other to read. How he would function but almost as a minimum of what was required when he could do more. 

    Curious. 

    He watched them find the right scroll. The marking of the Compass Crest at the edge of it rather than Central’s. A test of the purpose for the knights. Many of them would find Central’s and run but Central only faced the majority of the wars they did for the sake of defending the whole of the Compass. 

    They started running into the obstacles of the course with the dark haired boy leading them. Right up until others were coming in their direction and the boy in the mask switched over to lead. Running a little faster and moving them both to a path that was narrow and required more precision. 

    Sam watched them help each other through it. 

“What do we know about the boy in the mask?”

    Bad hummed a bit like he was thinking it over. 

“From one of the Western border villages. Quiet. Has a pretty bad cough from what I heard when they were coming in. I don’t really think he’s going to make it through the trial. I’m a little surprised he’s made it this far.”

    Sam nodded. He could see the dark haired one pulling them off to the side. The boy with the mask doubled over and shaking like he was coughing. His health should have been checked when he enlisted. They weren’t supposed to allow someone ill or hurt to run the trials. He’d need to have a talk with the knights that went to recruit this round. 

    Part of him wanted to stop this run. To make the boy sit out. But they were running again in moments and his curiosity got the better of him. 

    Trial by trial they worked with each other. The dark haired boy leading the way forward and the boy with the mask following behind. Sam knew that he could run faster. He’d shown it, though Sam didn’t think intentionally, but he stayed back. He pretended like he was slower. Like he was only partaking in the effort at all for the sake of the one he was with. The dark haired boy looked like he was having the time of his life working for this spot. The blonde only followed behind him. 

    Selfless. One of the rarest things that ever showed in the trials for knighthood. One of the most important aspects of it. 

    They made it to the final portion. The part that would show starting combat skills. None of them expected the youngests of the group to have any. It wasn’t held against them if they couldn’t fight and dodged or ran or hid in this section. It was more for the knights to be able to tell the starting skills and combat types preferred to see who they would best be able to train. 

    Sam expected the tiny two that he’d been watching to hide. To run through it. 

    A punch came swinging down and the masked boy struck back. A hard punch that landed into the older boy’s gut. It was a good blow for someone so little. It also immediately made the two of them into a target. 

    The dark haired boy tried to run and the masked boy went with him. The two of them leading through and working their way over the obstacles despite now being chased. The ending barrier was close. One of the older potentials was on their heels. Older than them by a handful of years. The masked boy was moving in front to be able to heft the smaller boy up first. To get him into the finish first. 

    Sam saw the older potential readying to tackle him. So did the masked boy. 

    Sam watched the blonde dart forward. Grabbing the dark haired boy and nearly throwing him into and over the barrier and taking the full brunt of the tackle from the older potential. The two of them ended up sprawled on the ground. Sam could see the smaller boy coughing on the ground. The dark haired one running back to him and helping him up. 

    They crossed the barrier together. 

    He called the trial complete after that. Commanding an order for all of the squire potentials to line up into a row. For all of them to be on display. 

    He’d watched all of them. He could make a list out of these that would make a decent guard for the Prince if he refused to choose one on his own. Though he was sure his King and Queen had also been watching and he knew they may have their own chosen for him if it came to that. 

    Other knights were gathered. Observing the line up now after the trials and confirming who they saw achieve what. 

    The little blonde was muffling his coughs. Sam could see him shaking. What little skin of his neck he could see looked about as pale as the infirmary bed sheets. The kid was filthy, scrawny, sickly. 

    But he’d pushed when he didn’t have to. He’d fought when he didn’t have to. He gave up what strategically would have been the safer move for him for the sake of helping his friend. Regardless if the boy wanted this or not, he’d made it here. The dark haired boy happily beside him. 

    There was a story here that he wanted to know. There was something more to this kid than met the eye. Something that he saw himself in. Anyone who wasn’t chosen here today would become a guard. Anyone who was would be a squire and train to be a knight. 

    He was the first one who would need to select a squire. Other knights were eyeing up and down the rows of potentials. Bad was by his side. Sam knew his other three were watching on the wings as well. Zach could be looking for a squire. He wondered if his oldest was going to take one up. If it was finally time for him to be a mentoring knight himself. For all they’d talked about earlier they hadn’t even mentioned that possibility. 

    The kid with the mask left it angled down. He wasn’t watching anyone. He was nearly staring down at his feet. The dark haired boy he’d been running with stood beside him nearly bouncing on his feet. Bad looked at him and nodded. A smile pulling on his face that looked so excited Sam almost rolled his eyes. Bad knew who he’d been watching. He wondered how obvious he’d been in his interest. 

    He was never going to hear the end of this from his family. 

    With a sigh, Sam stepped forward to the boy in the mask. 

“What’s your name?”

    His answer was almost too quiet to hear. 

“Dream, Sir.”

    His intentions were unclear. Sam figured he could ask. 

“Do you want to be a knight?”

    The boy didn’t move. He stayed so still Sam would have thought he was made of stone. He didn’t answer him. He didn’t give any sign that he’d even heard him at all. He thought about the way he’d been acting during the trials. He thought about how the other boy had pulled him along. 

    He’d only acted for the sake of another. He’d protected without thought for himself. He’d shown loyalty. Selflessness. Courage in the face of danger. Character that Sam felt reflected in himself. He remembered trying to defend everyone but himself. It was why he’d been taken as a squire. What caught his knight’s eye. He’d seen himself. It was why Sam took all three of his. 

    He always chose the ones where he saw himself. 

“If I’m taking one tomorrow it’ll be for a reason.”

    This felt like a reason.

    Crouching down to the small boy’s height, Sam tried to look up at him. To attempt to see anything through the mask only to be met with nothing but the painted smile. He was curious. 

    He could learn. 

“I’ll train you. If you’d let me.”

    If the boy truly did not want to be here, he wouldn’t force him. But he’d ended up here for a reason. Not many people would choose to be a guard over a knight. The boy, Dream, barely looked like he was breathing. 

“Would you be my squire?”

    Everyone else around them in the yard was silent. Everyone was watching. Waiting to see what would happen here. This was probably the slowest any Lead has chosen a squire and the slowest acceptance but it made him even more curious about the kid. 

    He nodded. Slow and hesitant. 

    Sam hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath. 

    He stood. Putting a hand on Dream’s shoulder and guiding him out of the line. Making room for the other knights to move in and seeing Bad immediately take to the boy with dark hair that had been beside him. 

“What is your friend’s name?”

    Bad had seen all the things he had. He wondered if his friend was working to keep this pair together. 

“Sapnap, Sir.”

    He was still quiet but this time Sam could hear the rasp in his voice. Bad was taking Sapnap over to another potential in line. He was taking the two of them then. He hadn’t asked what the other’s name was. Other knights were making their choices but he let his eyes move over to see the other three that he trained. He could see them watching. Smiling and joking with each other. Zach wasn’t moving to take one. Sam nearly rolled his eyes at the thought of it. 

    He was going to take Dream over to meet them. To get him introduced to the others who would be like an acting family for him while he was here in the palace. Who would be other resources to help him learn in case Sam ever wasn’t able. He’d no sooner opened his mouth than bells came ringing from the palace. Staff had them at the ready for the case of announcements from the crown. 

    He’d had his job from his King and Queen. To make a list of squires. To have everything ready for the Prince to make a choice. He could see the way his new squire tensed up. How quickly he was on edge. 

“It’s okay,” he was safe here. Sam needed him to know he was safe. “It’s just a meeting. Standard. For you to meet the royals along with everyone else.”

    It was more than that. But they would cross that bridge when they got to it. Dream only nodded. Small and still so tense. His other three were watching them close. He could see the frown on Zach’s lips. They would talk later. After this. 

    For now the Prince had to choose his knight.

Chapter Text

    Ethan let his nerves settle in his chest. A pressure he was longsince used to. He was watching from a window as the new squires were brought into the palace yard. As Bad handled lining all of them up. It was tradition for him to stay a bit a away from their first entering into the palace but it was also tradition to watch. It would help the nerves since Central often had squires that enlisted on the younger side and it would help with the rapport when they later realized he paid attention to all of them from the start. 

    To watch and not be seen. 

    This time, however, he had his son beside him. 

    George had been getting his own training for the last year but Ethan didn’t feel like it was enough. He had done to George what his father had done to him. Teaching him the ways that their First King had handled his blade and the code of the knights. Guiding him right along with them and he thought it was the best thing for them at the moment. To have this freedom and this peace that was waiting for them. 

    He’d told George already why they were here. What he was hoping for from his son today and while he’d been hopeful that his son might see the logic in it and take up the task with the understanding that it was necessary, he did not. 

    Even as the testing of the squires began and Sam came up to catch up with Bad and the two of them started watching over the group of new potentials. If any of them caught his eye then he would mark them stronger for George. He trusted Sam’s judgement but he also knew how his son could be when he didn’t want something and was certain of that fact. 

    He was stubborn. 

    Just like his mother. Just like him. 

    George hardly made a sound for the entire duration of the tests. Watching from beside him and silently seething. He wanted to try to broach the topic again but it did look like George was actually watching the group and he didn’t want to distract him if he was just making his choices with a scowl on his face. 

    He could teach him how to play the game of politics later. Right now he needed someone to help him keep his son alive. 

    They watched the entire way through. The whole way until Sam was calling the testing complete and pulling the potentials up into a line to see who would be chosen and make it to becoming an actual squire. Who would hold the chance to be a knight. 

    George didn’t move. His boy was still considered small for his age. Not yet hitting his growth spurt but still holding every ounce the air of Prince about him. He’d seen enough from advisors and the aftermaths of meetings when he or Genevieve wouldn’t have their expressions controlled just yet. He’d learned to mimic them early and Ethan wished he could take it away. 

“Well?” George didn’t move. “Are there any you have your eye on?”

    It was foolish for him to be hoping and yet he did it anyway. George’s voice came out flat. The glare on his face never once faltering. 

“I don’t want any of them.”

“George,”

“I said no.”

    Ethan allowed himself a small glare back. No real heat but determination that he would not let this be how the conversation went. He was aware that his expression now matched his son’s. That the two of them looked like a mirrored pair through time. Even though he looked so much more like his mother than like him. 

“I told you I’m not taking one.”

“And I’m not giving you a choice.”

    His little boy might hate him for this but he would rather his son live and hate him and love him and die. He wouldn’t move on this choice. He was used to sacrificing things for the safety of the greater good. 

    His son’s life was always a greater good. 

“Fine.” George nearly huffed the word. Glaring at him with so much anger it was almost hard to see the little boy who used to climb into his lap to sleep. “I’ll pick out of the ones that are even knights to begin with.”

“George—”

“At least they’ll have training. Isn’t that what you want? A knight? If they aren’t fit by the standards of the ones in the yard then why would they be fit for me?”

    He tried to breathe out the tension in his chest. 

“Alright.”

    George was trying to argue with him. To get him to break on his decision. He wasn’t going to let it work. 

“We’re going to the East hall to wait for them. You’ll make your choice today. Before you leave my side.”

“What?”

“We’re going, George. Now.”

    The walk down to the East Hall felt longer than it should have. His son’s anger nearly radiating off of him each step of the way. Sam and the other knights would be making their choices out of the line of squires that was made. They would choose who would actually achieve the rank and they would be ready for what was coming next. The word was spread through the knights on what he was planning to do today. What he would be forcing George to do today. 

    One word to a servant and he could hear the bell ringing into the yard on the other side of the palace. The summoning for the knights and new squires. The final test. 

    Impress the unimpressible Prince. 

    He wished he had Lucas here with him. That the two of them would be able to talk about their boys and what they thought they could do to help them and make this easier for him. That they could discuss their plans and see what would work best for them. That was what he wanted to do. 

    He couldn’t. 

    But the reason he couldn’t have his near brother with him was something that may help him here now. 

“You aren’t the only royal choosing today, George. This is not an insult to you.”

    James was choosing a squire as well. It was his saving grace for this. He knew that Lucas was working with his son and having him select a knight for his own safety the same way that he was making George choose now. Lucas had been planning to have James choose this morning. To work with the sunrise in the way the Eastern ceremonies typically took place. He hadn’t seen his brother to know what choice was made. He hadn’t seen the East’s young Prince to know if he was as unhappy as George was about the situation. 

    He could imagine he was. The two of them were often seen side by side in almost everything. 

    The same way he and Lucas had always been.

“No one will think you’re weak for this.”

“No one else has ever taken a knight this young. Why me?”

    They’d been over this already. Before the trials even started for the day. 

“You could be in danger—”

“I could always be in danger. Why should someone else die for me? What makes my life more valuable than theirs?”

    He was his son. 

“You’re the last of your line.”

    Words that were said to him over and over again when he was younger to the point he thought he might just go insane if he had to continue hearing them and now he was standing here to say them to his own son. 

“You are going to be Central’s King one day. You are the next Compass Heart. Without you, all of them will fall. Their life is not worth less but you are not worth risking either.”

    Both could be true at the same time. 

    Knights and royals were people of even footing. That was what Central believed. From their Founding King, they had always believed that to be the way. Knights and Royals side by side. Shoulder to shoulder on battlegrounds. Fighting and defending one another like they were all one and the same. Central’s royal line was as much of a knight’s line as the rest of them. They just passed down a crown in addition to a blade. 

“I just need you to pretend. Okay? I know you aren’t happy. I know you don’t want this. But think of it like choosing a friend. Someone to stay by your side.”

    George wouldn’t look at him. Ethan felt his heart thud heavy in his chest. 

“If something happened and your mother and I weren’t here. If you couldn’t get to us. Choose someone you would want to stand by your side.”

    For a flash of a second he thought he saw tears in his son’s eyes but one blink and they were gone. He was staring straight ahead. His body stiff and tight with tension. 

    George made no secret of his anger at this situation. He was the Crowned Prince but he was also still a child. It was common knowledge that Central’s crowns did not take knights like this. Not this young. George took it as an insult and while Ethan understood, he wasn’t going to risk his son’s life. 

    There were people here to spectate and record the change in history. Watching intently to everything that would happen as the newly selected squires and their knights walked them into the room and formed into a line to present themselves. There was a decent selection. He made eye contact with Bad first. Looking at his friend and seeing the two squires he had with him. One was clearly older than the other. Face nearly expressionless and anger in his eyes. The other looked so much happier. A little scared with the formality but excited all the same. 

    He saw Sam tailing the end of the line. Marking as the final presenters so that he would be able to announce them all and ensure no one was left behind. One by one Ethan’s eyes scanned up and down the line. Examining each of the squires now close and without glass and distance between them. He put their faces together with what he’d seen from them out in the yard. The way they had performed and who had been good at each task. It was easy enough for him to do. Easy enough for him to figure out with all the practice he’d had over the years running these trials in the same way as his ancestors had done. 

“Today my son will choose a knight.”

    Everyone already knew that except for the squires that were at the risk of being chosen. Ethan could pity them. Knowing the nerves that could come with the position and rank they were now holding and trying to ease them a bit that none of them were going to lose their newly held places this quickly. He explained that George would be choosing his defender. Someone to stay with him and guard him in times of crisis and act as a sounding board if he needed one in the future. 

    A new wave of excitement seemed to move through all of them. George stayed resolutely still beside him. He still looked angry. He still looked upset. 

    He hoped the new squires weren’t seeing it as well. They would learn, in time, to read the expressions of their Prince as all the knights had done with all of their royals. But he hoped for all their sakes that today was not the day they knew. 

“George?”

    One nudge and his son was moving. Looking over each of the squires and Ethan could see him remembering all the things he’d seen out in the yard as well. Both of them running through the same thoughts that had led them to this moment. 

    He started down at one end and worked his way through them. Whispering something to each one of them and waiting for their response. He assumed it was some kind of test his little one had invented to use against them, probably to say that none of them passed and attempt to evade choosing one. He couldn’t make it out. He’d have to figure out what it was George was asking them at a later time. When things weren’t so busy and he didn’t have to worry about their lives. When he didn’t need to worry about keeping a show up for all of their people who were here to watch. 

    He wanted Lucas here to have his advice. He wanted Genevieve here so she could help him wrangle in their son. She was busy keeping everything else running. She was busy working so that he could afford the time to help their allies recover and handle this. 

    He could handle this. 

    George made his way to the final three squires in the line. The two that Bad had with him were first. George taking them in and whispering to the oldest of the set first. Waiting as he gave his answer and Ethan watched from behind as his son took in the answer and moved to the dark haired boy beside him. Doing the same thing and even only being able to see his back Ethan knew his son made a face at the response he was given. 

    He just hoped it wasn’t too out of line for a Prince. 

    The final squire was small. Tiny compared to George even though he didn’t doubt that they would both grow more into their bodies as they got older. He wasn’t even sure if the boy was old enough yet for combat training from his appearance. But George leaned to him and whispered the same way he had done for all the others and waited as the smiling mask tilted a bit when the boy gave his response. 

    All of them waited. Wanting something to indicate who was going to be chosen and see what would happen next. 

    Even as George was turning sharp on his heel and walking back up the steps to be at his side again. Even when he was looking over the line again like he was making certain of his selection. 

“I want Dream.”

    The entire room seemed to pause at the decision. None of them knew their names yet but by the way Sam and the masked squire both stiffened immediately and how George was staring the mask down, it wasn’t hard to put together who was selected now. 

    Out of all of the line up they had, Dream was not the one that was expected to be chosen. 

    The boy looked like he was barely surviving standing here at all. Let alone needing to be able to fight to save the Prince’s life. He was scrawny and looked weak even with the mask practically swallowing his head. The boy was shaking like he was trying to hold in coughs. He wasn’t fit for this. Ethan wasn’t even sure he would be able to pass a test with the healers. 

“George,” he tried to caution.

“He’s my choice. I want him or none of them.”

    He wanted to say that George saw something in the boy. That his test was well planned and considered and that Dream was the only one that had passed it. That he was taking him because he was the one that Sam had taken in under his wing from what he could see. He doubted that was the case. More like it was George trying to protest again. George trying to make things complicated so that he wouldn’t have to take another knight properly. 

    He hoped he was wrong. 

    Ethan did not think he was wrong. 

    All the eyes that were watching them. All the people that were waiting for a mistake to be made or for division from the crown. For the knights to see him effectively say a new squire was not good enough, it would destroy the young one. He would have a chance. He would not be punished for the actions his son put unto him. 

“Are you certain?”

    Regardless if George wanted someone with him or not, choosing a knight would be putting them in danger by wearing the mark of the royals. To choose him was to risk him. This wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. But something in Sam’s eyes made him hesitate to push too hard. 

“Yes.”

    George seemed nearly smug. Ethan saw Sam nudge Dream forward a little. The small boy kneeling down and bowing his head. 

“He will still be trained as every other squire is trained. He will be taught the same. He will have extra duties to stay by my son’s side. Young Dream, is that your wish?”

    The boy nodded. He seemed nearly lifeless despite it. 

“Very well.”

    His Lead would train his son’s hand. 

“Welcome to the Royal Guard, Dream.”

Chapter Text

    The window was a cool reprieve from the heat Lucas could feel burning beneath his skin. He knew that he’d been poisoned by the stars when he arrived here in Central but he hadn’t realized the tool that it would take on him until he was fighting against the exhaustion that felt like it was winding through his muscles and trying to take him to a bed in the grave. 

    To lay beside his wife again. To lay and feel Isabelle holding his face. Tracing her fingers over the lines of his ribs. The curves of his muscles. To have her looking into his eyes and making him feel like everything was going to be okay again. Like he wasn’t stuck without her now. Like he wasn’t without the woman he loved more than anyone else in the world. 

    He watched the only part of her left in this world. James standing out in the knights yard with George beside him. Both of the young Princes had their backs facing him but he could make out from their body language how they were faring. 

“They’re both miserable with this, aren’t they.”

    He huffed at Ethan’s quip. His friend coming up to lean against the window beside him and take his place to watch. Both of them already knew how this was going to go when they set their boys out into the yard. Ethan had been needed with a group of other knights for a few moments to cause his delay but it wasn’t that big of a deal. He was fine with it. He knew this palace about as well as he did his own. He knew that Ethan felt the same way about the East. 

“What gave it away?” They were both teasing with the questions they knew the answers to. “James standing stiff like a board? Or is it George examining his knight pick like the poor kid is a slab of meat?”

    He heard Ethan groan. This was meant to be a time for their children to bond with the knights that they’d just chosen. It was for them to be able to learn one another and build a trust. That was one of the most important things that a knight and their royal could have with one another. 

    It was one of the reasons both Ethan and him had their Leads out there to watch over the bonding and training. The fact that both of them happened to be the knight with a special interest in the chosen squire only helped matters more. 

    He’d learned that George’s knight was only eight years old and from the looks of him needed to be taken for a medical assessment. A mask strapped over his head that swallowed his every expression. Chosen by Sir Sam himself and taken up under the mantel of Central’s Lead for training. Already titled as the Prince’s Knight. 

    Their relationship was just beginning. He could not say the same for James’ chosen. 

    Francis had been surrendered to the Eastern palace as a newborn. Left without warning or sight of the parents. Nested in a basket woven with flowers and branches from the nearby woods. Little flower buds that matched the sleeping child inside. Bundled in handmade blankets and cloths. The palace took him in without hesitation. Raising him and letting him find family in the palace and its staff. 

    His own Lead had taken interest in him from nearly the moment he’d shown up in the palace. The both of them had weak ability with the Stars. Some had questioned if the boy should even be raised with the knights without an ability or if he should be guided toward something more resigned. Elren, having a weak ability with the Stars as well, fought for him. Teaching him personally and helping to raise the boy with the rest of the palace staff. 

    As Francis grew up over the years he’d developed into habits so much like Elren that if he didn’t know better he might say they were truly father and son and not orphan and knight. Elren was proud of him and the progress he’s made over the years but that didn’t mean he was easy with him. 

    Francis was a good choice by James as far as he was concerned. He questioned what George was thinking when he made his choice for Dream.

“He chose him to spite me.”

    Lucas frowned. 

“Do you think the boy is fit to be a knight?”

    Ethan’s expression turned puzzled. 

“I can’t tell. I think he has the character. He has the heart for it from what I saw in his trials. Physically though, I’m not sure. If we had the time to delay them caring for each other I would have had Sam take him to the infirmary immediately. They’re set to do that after this.”

    He nodded a bit. Watching the two squires attempting to bond with their royals. Discussing things avidly and Dream staying still beside Francis. He could see the older squire trying to bring him out of his shell. The stance he had on him almost making him laugh. 

“Francis has adopted your little squire so at least he’s already made one friend.”

“Adopted?”

    Ethan knew how the East handled unwanted or abandoned children. He knew how many of their knights came into that life. Free with their choice and choosing to stay. He knew Francis would be no different. 

“He has always had brothers and sisters in fellow knights. Their hair is close enough. I’m sure that’s enough for him to already form a special attachment to him.”

    His friend chuckled. Both of them watching the conversations unfolding before they could see both Francis and Elren in perfect unison tilt their heads to the side. Nothing but confusion on their faces and Sam not being much better. A frown on his lips and his eyebrows drawn together. 

“What do you think they’re talking about?”

“Knowing George? He wants to test them and see who has a better knight.”

    Lucas glanced at him. 

“Dream is a child. Francis has been watching knights his whole life and has a year of steady training. That is not a fair fight.”

“And yet.”

    He looked back to the yard. He saw Sam and Elren discussing and taking up two training blades. Thick and made of wood wrapped in wool for padding. It would be safe for the both of them and still show their starting skills. 

    The swords were handed to them both. James and George stepping back and talking to each other while they watched things be set up for a sparring ring. Both Leads keeping an eye on their squires. Francis trying to talk Dream out of doing this. 

    He saw the little squire take the blade without any hesitation. 

    Both of them getting ready around each other and sizing one another up before they decided to begin their moves. Before the fight and the test of skill was begun. 

    Their fighting was careful. The two of them learning each other and trying to gauge one another. George’s squire was too young for combat training. Eight years old and small for that. No one was really expecting for the boy to be able to hold a blade in the slightest. To all of their surprise, he held it half decently. Open and a wide stance, but it was a stance. He tracked the movement of Francis’ blade well enough. The training weapons thudding against each other more than a few times. 

    Right up until Francis disarmed him. Dream’s sword flinging off into the grass a few feet away. The boy would be dead to rights if this were a real fight. If they were aiming to hurt one another and the weapons were real. He watched as Sam moved for the second training weapon they would use for their practice. A mimed axe. Likely meant to be a hand-held wood axe but in the grip of the eight year old it looked like it took up over half of his body from here. He would have laughed if he didn’t find it a little sad. 

    Ethan was assessing the boy’s skills as much as he was watching his son for a reaction. Both of them were interested. To see the character of the knights that were chosen to serve and defend their heirs. 

    Francis and Dream began again. The same way they had been doing before. Their blades coming together. Dream moving in arcs that were too wide for him to keep up with. He stumbled after the blade. Trying to force himself to catch up to his own momentum and coughing his way through his strikes. 

    He swung too wide. Taking himself forward and knocking the training blade into Francis’ sword. His sword that had only just barely lifted in time. 

    It was no different from before. 

    Lucas felt the heat in his blood surge live lava from an erupting volcano. 

    The yard and palace in front of him vanished in seconds. Swallowed by a haze that looked far too much like battle smoke. He knew the smell of smoke. The taste of ash and death that settled at the back of his tongue. The heaviness that weighed down into his limbs like he’d been carrying a weapon for too long. He saw Eastern armor splayed over the ground. Central as well. The Stars surging with a warning. Screaming that something was wrong. 

    He saw Central knights and soldiers strung on posts. Their bodies maimed and carved. Blindfolds wrapped tightly around their eyes. All of them were dead. Words carved into flesh or their armor or signs hanging around their necks that spewed insult after insult. 

    What kind of monster could do this?

    Was this what was coming? Was this what would face them? Was this the threat that had attempted his murder and succeeded in the slaughter of his wife?

    Lucas saw snow and a ravine. An Eastern knight he didn’t recognize standing with a detonation switch. Clicking it and explosions rocking through. Opening the seam through the earth more than it should have done. Dropping the army down into the tear. 

    Central fell with them. 

    He didn’t see anyone else. 

    He saw a town on fire. He saw lava coating a blade and he saw two knights he didn’t know fighting each other. Neck and neck. One in Eastern armor with lava painting his blade. The enemy he was fighting wore Central’s crest. Fire soaking his blade. Hate in both of their eyes. 

    He saw a field between two patches of woods. The ground so sodden with blood that he could smell it. Corpses of both Central and East everywhere. He could smell the blood so strongly it made him gag. His body rejecting the irritation that was swallowing him whole. The fight was rushing around him. Surging and filled with Eastern knights that he wasn’t certain he could name or place. He tried to find their enemy. He needed to find their enemy. 

    There was a ring of bodies on the ground. Forming faster and faster and moving through. Like a wave of death that was rushing through their forces. He heard the swing of an axe. 

    He saw the blade first. Massive and made with nethertie. A battle axe that looked about the size of a person. The gloved hands holding the shaft holding steady and certain in every arc. Swings and spins that were so deadly no one could get close. The blade decimating everything that tried. 

    He saw the green cloak hanging behind the armor. Blood soaking through him. Over him. Painting the knight that held the blade. 

    He saw the blood drenched white mask. The smile that still remained painted over it. Staring down the Eastern soldiers he killed and strength in every step. 

    Lucas recognized him. He knew the small, sickly, child that was here now. That George had just chosen to be his knight. 

    He tried to ask for the Stars to stop. For them to explain what they were showing to him. If this boy was a threat. 

    He saw him locked blade to blade against a single Eastern knight. The mask and axe locked to an uncovered face and a netherite sword. They were both older but Lucas could recognize him. He could see Francis in the Eastern knight fighting back. The only one standing a chance. The only one giving all of his fight. 

    If Dream would betray them then Francis would fight. Francis could win. He could—

    The stars showed him the corpse of a horse. Another knight walking beside Dream. The two of them covered so much in blood that they could stain the ocean itself. He saw the massive axe strapped to the back of Dream’s armor. 

    His perspective moved to the ground. Crushed by weight. Stinking of blood. Hearing the heartbeat of the knight that he now knew was James’ chosen. The fear that he was feeling. He was the only living East he could feel on this battlefield. Dream’s armor knelt in front of him. His mask looking down and the eyes nearly peering into him. 

“Your death isn’t worth it.”

“Lucas—”

    The scene moved again. This time the inside of a tent. Francis standing with his sword strapped to his belt and a severe look on his face. His eyes were trained on Dream. The man was still in his armor but his axe was taken. His mask stayed on. Something was wrong with him. He wasn’t fighting. He seemed weak. 

“You are an admirable knight, Sir Dream. A fighter with the skill of a dragon.”

    His heart was racing. He knew that voice. It was deeper than he knew it. More hurt. More cold. But he still knew it. 

“You would do better serving a crown that was not corrupt and blind and cruel.”

    They showed him dark hair that he knew too well. The face of his little boy as an adult. Hard lines in James’ face that showed anger and hate. That had sharpened his eyes into weapons in and of themselves. 

    He was wearing the crown of the King. 

“I am loyal to Central. I am loyal to my crowns. To my Prince.”

    His son leaned down to him. Settling in front of his face and his expression reading nothing but complete and utter honesty. 

“The stone carving of your Prince will be beautiful.”

    Hate. All he heard was hate. 

“Lucas!”

    Hands were on him. Gripping his arms so tightly he thought he might bruise. One blink and all of it was gone. Slipping away and the heat still rushing under his skin enough to make his stomach twist and bend into knots. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Feeling the blood draining from his face and Ethan was helping him aim for an empty flower vase that was near to them for him to empty his stomach into. 

“Lucas, look at me? Talk to me? What just happened?”

    He was shaking. His heart pounding in his chest and Lucas still allowed himself the time to look around the room and make certain that he could see Central’s palace whole and intact. Ethan in front of him with so much worry on his face. 

“Lucas—”

“I’m okay.”

“You are not.”

    Ethan wiped at his face. His fingers coming back with blood and only then did he realize that he could still smell the blood of the battlefield. 

“What did the Stars do? What did they show you? You haven’t collapsed like that from warnings since we were children. What was violent enough to hurt you?”

    He swallowed hard. Using the wall and his friend to drag himself back to his feet. He would feel better if he was in a position to fight. If he knew exactly his surroundings and could read the area he was in again. 

    He saw Francis and Dream sparring still in the yard. Francis knocking Dream back and the boy dropping to his knees in a coughing fit. Sam moving to his side and checking on him. George and James beside each other seemingly in their own little world. 

“Lucas?”

    When he looked in his brother’s eyes all he saw was fear. 

“How long until the others are here?”

    The remains of the Compass. Their counterparts they were still missing. Ethan only frowned at him. 

“Not too much longer, I don’t think. Why?”

    He saw the small boy in the grass. How he trembled in the arms of his knight. How frail he was. 

    He saw the force standing on the battlefield. Drenched in blood and moving too fast to be natural. 

    A child and a killer. And now Lucas had to know that they were one and the same. 

“I’ll tell you all together.”

“Lucas,” Ethan went to argue but he’d already made his choice. 

    He wasn’t going to back down on this. He wasn’t going to give in for it. 

“Together.”

Chapter Text

    Sam stayed still in the chair in the infirmary stall. He wasn’t the one being examined but he always felt the tension of the waits like this. It was standard for all of the knights. For them to be waiting for the clearance for them to be able to serve. 

    He would admit that he was worried for his little squire. 

    Dream sat like a statue on the edge of the bed. His legs were hanging down but he barely looked like he was even breathing. He’d had a few too many coughing fits during his spar with Francis earlier and while he’d done a better job than anyone had been anticipating for him, Sam was concerned for his ability. 

    He didn’t want him to meet the others just yet. Not until he knew for sure that he wasn’t going to have to give the boy up so soon. It would be an issue, he was certain. George had chosen him with witnesses. If their Prince’s pick was sent away then it would be a scandal in the higher rungs of society. As annoying as he knew his royals found that, it was a fact none of them could change. 

    People talked. People made rumors. People were stupid. 

“How far away is your home?”

    Dream shrugged at him. He had seen children enlist before but Dream was young. It was entirely possible that he just simply didn’t know. That he wasn’t sure about how long it took them to travel or the measured distance between his home village and the capital city. He could get the report for where he enlisted from but there wasn’t a promise that that was his home. 

    Near it, most likely, it would give him an idea. He’d seen squires run away to enlist in the past. To fight when they didn’t have their family’s blessings. It left things to be a colder scale a lot of times but it had also produced good knights who fought for what they believed to be their calling in life. 

    Sam wasn’t sure yet what Dream was. 

“What about family? Next of kin?”

    He would have filled it out on his paperwork. He would have marked it for them in case there was ever an emergency or fight where he was to be sent home to. Who to notify with his belongings and body. 

“I don’t have any, Sir.”

    He’d seen orphans before. 

    He didn’t usually see them this young. 

“No one else in your home took you in?”

    It would explain why he was closed off the way he was. Why he didn’t want to talk about it. When Dream only shrugged he followed it as the closest thing he was going to get to the truth until he’d earned more of the boy’s trust. 

    Dream coughed again. His shoulders shaking and chest heaving as he doubled over into the crux of his arm. 

“How long have you had that cough?”

    He wasn’t a healer but while they waited for their turn to be checked he figured he would try to get the kid to open up. If this was how talkative he was with someone that was supposed to be close to him then he didn’t want to imagine how he’d be as a patient. 

    Sam knew he had a reputation for himself as a poor patient but he didn’t think his new squire was going to be giving him a run for his money. The more he saw the more he thought he was wrong about that. Despite the mask, Sam could see how Dream was watching everything. He watched the room like a man who had seen too many battles already. It made him frown the longer he watched. 

    All he got was another shrug. 

    Sam sighed. 

“Kid, you can talk to me, you know that right? I’m on your side.”

    He was new. He might not have actually wanted to get this far in and might not know what the bond between a knight and squire was. 

“I’m your knight. The moment I chose you out there, that made me your knight. My job is to protect you. I will keep you safe, teach you everything I know. I want to see you succeed and get you up to knighthood. I want to see you have a good, long, full life. Okay?”

    Dream didn’t move. He was watching him. He could feel it through the mask. 

“Anything you tell me will stay with me. If you want me to keep a secret, I swear to you that I will.”

    He wasn’t sure Dream believed him but he saw the boy nod. 

“You’re safe here, Dream. I won’t let anything happen to you. If someone wants to hurt you, they have to get through me.”

“Why?”

    The question came out small. Short and weak. Like it was broken out of him. If he was orphaned and no one in his village had stepped up to help him he wondered if that included any orphanages. If there even was one where he was from. If he was completely alone. If he even had a place to live before. If he’d never had someone to defend him or care for him. 

    It made something surge through Sam’s heart. 

“The knights of Central are your family now. I will be your family. Whatever role you want that to reflect. Or if you’d rather us be friends. Whatever you want. A knight’s duty is to help and protect their squire. As much as you are mine, I am yours.”

    Dream stayed silent. He forced his heart to deflate. 

“It doesn’t have to be now that you trust me. Just, know that I’m here. Okay?”

    He thought Dream was going to answer. The blank eyes of the smile mask staring holes into him but his hand fidgeted when he was going to speak. He caught sight of the motion right when the curtains of their stall opened up. 

    Sam stood to greet the healer who came in. Catching a shadow behind her shoulder. 

“Phil?”

    His friend’s regular knight armor replaced with the garb of a healer. Dream had gone stiff again but Sam still gave them both a smile. 

“What are you doing?”

    The healer laughed a bit as she stepped to the side for them. Waving at Dream and stepping over to him. 

“I’ve got a twelve year old squire who keeps chanting about blood and saying we might go to war and if he gets to fight in it. I wanted to teach him that healing and safety is the better part of knighthood and I can’t really do that if I don’t know how to heal.”

    The healer grinned even wider. Her eyes crinkling on the corners. 

“So he’s training now with me. Fighting for the job to be the Palace’s Official Healer one day.”

    He heard Phil scoff. 

“I doubt that our crowns are going to let the knight called Angel of Death run their infirmary.”

    He could argue that Ethan would. That Genevieve would. They both knew him and they both liked him. It wouldn’t really be a surprise to him if Sam were being completely honest. But he looked to the bed and saw the white knuckled grip Dream had on the edge of the cot and stepped back beside his squire. He wanted to show him that he was safe. That he was included here and that he had a home here. 

    That started now. 

“Dream, let me introduce you.” Both Phil and Lyaria were good people. They were familiar with the process of taking in new knights and they knew how skittish a lot of squires tended to be. More often than not they were coming from less than ideal backgrounds. Knighthood gave them a second chance. 

    He wanted this to be good for Dream. 

“This is Phil, he’s a knight and one of my closest friends. We were squires together.”

    Phil waved to him. Dream hesitated but he waved back. 

“I have a squire as well. He’s twelve and in training. His name is Technoblade. I’ll introduce you if you’re wanting to make a friend here.”

    He waited for Dream to respond. Instead, he saw the mask swivel up to look at him for permission. 

“Whatever you want, Kid.”

    He was too young to combat train. He would be in lessons and learning the palace and how it operated. Knight codes and everything else before he would hold a sword. He wouldn’t be able to train with Techno for another two years at least.

    Dream nodded so small Sam nearly missed the movement. Phil looked to him with a smile. Sam could only shrug in return. Gesturing to the second person in the room. 

“And this is Lyaria, she’s one of the best healers Central’s palace has to offer.”

“A shining review from a man who can never sit still to be checked.”

    Dream was looking at him again. This time he felt a different type of question. Making a face, he answered. 

“You’re not the only one who doesn’t like spending time in here.”

    He thought he would get a nod or a shrug. He didn’t think he would hear the boy chuckle. A tiny little laugh that was cut off far too soon into a coughing fit. 

    The smile slipped away from Lyaria’s face the moment she heard it. Stepping up and over to him and kneeling down to be looking up at Dream on the bed instead of down at him. She waited for the fit to end. Watching him and his reactions even though the mask stayed firm on his face. Sam caught the flash of worry from Phil beside her. 

“Dream, right?”

    His squire nodded. 

“How have you been feeling, Honey? Any aches or chills?”

    He shrugged. She wasn’t fazed in the slightest. 

“Have you gotten sick at all? Had any water today?”

    A shake of his head. A nod. 

“Can I hear you talk to me, Sweetheart?”

“I had water.”

    His voice sounded hoarse. 

“Do you know how much? How long ago?”

    Dream shook his head. She frowned a bit. 

“Can we take this mask off you? Just to see your face and check you up a bit?”

    He shrunk back on himself. Looking at Sam and he saw the tiny shake of his head. 

“He’d rather keep it on.”

    Lyaria met his eyes. 

“I need to check on him. See if he’s sick and what’s causing it.”

    With the way he was coughing he was most certainly sick. Dream leaned a little bit toward him. 

“Can we do everything else we can before it comes to that?”

    She sighed but she nodded all the same. It wasn’t all that uncommon for a squire to be picky about something but they didn’t usually double down when they were already showing that they were timid with being here in the palace. Normally they followed the orders they were given but something about Dream made Sam want to give him the space to do it on his own. Not force him. He had the feeling Dream had been forced to do too much already. 

    If he was going to earn the Kid’s trust then he had to do it the right way. That meant trusting him in return. 

“I’m going to put this horn to your chest and I want you to just breathe normal, okay?”

    Sam stood to the side while she worked. Meeting Phil’s eyes as she placed the horn and her ear against it. Listening to Dream while he breathed and giving him the order to take as deep a breath as he could. 

    He coughed just a moment after. 

    Lyaria gave him time to finish. Waiting until he was eased down before she was taking his wrist in her hand and counting his pulse. Marking down everything she could about him on his profile that was started by the knights that he enlisted with. 

    She marked his height, his weight. 

    He saw her writing about the mask. 

“Lyaria.”

    Sam didn’t bother hiding his disappointment from her. 

“I have to mark it, Sam. It could be an issue with his eyes. Something that could impair him for this line of work. It is dangerous.”

“He can see.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Dream?”

    His squire was watching him. 

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

    He held up two fingers at first. Moving to three when he saw Dream’s hand fidget. 

“Three, it was two.”

“So he can see but—”

“How many am I holding?”

    Phil was on the other side of the stall. As far from Dream as he could get and he was holding his hand low. It would be harder for his boy to see. Even Sam had to shift a bit to catch sight of his hand. 

“Four, your thumb moved at the end if you count that as five.”

    Sam wanted to laugh with pride at how Dream was talking now. He’d heard the comments that were made. He was defending himself. Good. It was a needed feature for a knight. 

“He can see. But he still—”

“I can hear, too.”

    She frowned at him. 

“I know. I’m sorry.” She meant it. “Dream, kidddo—”

“Don’t call me that.”

    Sam tensed at the same time she did. He’d been calling Dream ‘Kid’ but he hadn’t said anything about it. He didn’t mean to be making him uncomfortable. He—

“My knight calls me that.”

    Lyaria glanced at him. Sam forced himself to remember to breathe. 

“My apologies. I hadn’t realized you were familiar with him so quickly.”

    He bristled a bit at the comment. Staying by Dream and guarding him. If Dream was going to give him that olive branch, he was going to take it. 

“Dream, it’s important that we check your face. Just to make sure that there’s no sign of anything else going on. Can we?”

    Dream wanted to say no. Sam could see it clear as day in his posture. He wanted to say no but he didn’t think he could. 

    He swore to protect him from anything just a moment ago. Now he would attempt to prove it. 

“I can check him. Step out of the room and I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

    Lyaria didn’t like it. Neither did Phil from the look he was giving. 

“Sam, while I appreciate your offer you aren’t—”

“Phil can stay.”

    Dream’s voice caught all of them off guard. Lyaria hadn’t done anything wrong. Not truly. But if this would make Dream more comfortable then that was how it would be. 

“I’ll be just outside the curtain.” She turned to look at Phil. “You know what to look for?”

    He nodded. She gave them one final glance before stepping through the curtains and into the hall of the infirmary. 

“I’ll admit I didn’t think you would let me stay.”

    Dream gave a little shrug. 

“I don’t like doctors.” The mask swiveled until it was looking back over to him.

“Knights are safe.” The mask turned to Phil.  

“You said he’s your friend, right?”

    He nodded. Dream’s hands were flexing over his pants like he was trying to kneed at the fabric. 

“One of the best people I’ve ever met.”

“Only one of.”

    Sam rolled his eyes at his friend. 

“Bad is another. He’s the knight who took in your friend, Sapnap. That was his name, right?”

    Dream nodded. 

“The three of us trained together when we were younger. If you ever can’t find me, they will help you just like I would. Okay?”

“And if you can’t find any of us, the King is another option.”

    Dream went tense just at hearing the title. 

“He’s a good man, Dream.” He tried to assure him. “King Ethan is a friend. He is more like a knight than any story of royalty you’ve ever heard. He’s safe, he won’t hurt you. I promise.”

    He waited until Dream nodded a bit. Phil letting out a breath before he was taking up the place kneeling in front of Dream. 

“Can we take this mask off?”

    Dream still looked scared. 

“Can you tell us why you wear it?”

    They could work their way to it. 

“I made it, with my mom.” 

    Attachment. 

“You can put it back on after we check you. It’s not going anywhere. Not unless you want it to. Everyone is allowed to have a token they get to deviate from uniform with. Your mask can be yours.”

    An olive branch. He just had to see if Dream would take it. 

“It’ll only be off for a minute or two while I make sure you’re okay.”

“What are you going to do to me?”

    There was too much fear in his voice. Fear that made him think a doctor had hurt him in the past. Enough that he was wary of Lyaria and more willing with Phil. 

“Check your eyes. Not to see if they work, I know you can see. But sometimes when we’re sick our eyes can help identify with what. So can cheeks and noses and mouths. That’s why I need to see.”

    He waited for a fight. Instead, Dream’s hands lifted up behind his head and found the buckle there. Working it through with expert precision and pulling the covering from his face. 

    Sam turned away. Dream didn’t tell him he could see. He wanted his boy to show him his face because he wanted to, not because he was forced. 

“Handsome green eyes, Dream.”

    The comment went without answer. He listened to his squire cough more behind him. 

“How long have you had that cough?”

    Sam chuckled a bit. 

“I asked him the same exact way.”

“I don’t know.” Dream was getting there for telling them things. He was testing the waters. “Always?”

    Sam frowned at the answer. It wasn’t normal to cough like he was. There could be an issue with his lungs. Phil leaned back to grab the horn again. Telling Dream what he was doing and listening to his chest and breathing again. 

“A lung infection would be my guess, but I’ll check with Lyaria to be sure. You can put your mask back on. Thank you, Dream.”

    Sam turned when he heard the small muffle of his squire’s voice behind the mask as he thanked Phil in return. 

“Well?”

“Not quite healthy, but a fighter. Right, Dream?”

    He nodded. He still looked shy but he didn’t look as scared. 

“We’ll get you up to fighting shape in no time.”

“Will the Prince like me more then?”

    Sam bit his tongue. George had not been happy about getting a knight, to say the least. Anyone with eyes could see that. He was borderline rude to Dream and Sam had tried to mitigate things as much as he could. He had the feeling that their young Prince had only chosen Dream to be his squire because he looked so sickly. He probably thought that Dream would be sent away now. 

    Now that he wouldn’t be and they’d confirmed it, he didn’t know what was going to happen. 

“I’m sure he’ll come to like you in time.”

    Dream nodded again. Slow and like he didn’t really believe it himself. 

    The point of a royal having a knight was so that they would be close. He hoped that one day they would be. That they could stomach being in the same room with each other and that George wouldn’t hate him for the rest of his life for how their bond had begun. 

    That Dream wouldn’t resent the crown he served because of their Prince’s anger now as children. 

    Phil stood again. Gathering everything up and stepping away. 

“You should both be good to head out. Dream, you should eat and drink water tonight. I’d stay away from the juices we have here for now just until we can make sure you’re hydrated enough. I’ll talk with Lyaria and we’ll try to get you some medicine to help your lungs. How does that sound?”

    Sam didn’t move until Dream did. He followed his squire’s nod in tandem. 

“Good. Sam,” his friend looked him right in the eye, “do not let your other three torment him into trying too many new things. He’s got a lot going on. Simple and normal foods. I am not having Boomer convince him to try beet carrot pie.”

“What’s beet carrot pie?”

“Not anything like what it’s called and not anything that is edible, Dream. Don’t trust your squire brothers with food. None of them are capable of it.”

    Sam gave him a half hearted glare. 

“He hasn’t even met them yet and you’re filling his head with stories.”

“Then go meet them.”

    Phil was in the hall before he could say anything more. 

    Sam sighed again. Looking down to his squire on the bed as he hopped down off the side of it. 

“Sir Sam?”

“Hm?”

“Why didn’t you look when my mask was off?”

    No fear. No shyness. Just genuine curiosity. 

“Because I wanted you to be able to show me when you’re ready.”

    Dream was watching him. 

“I won’t force you to show me or tell me anything, Dream. I’ll just be here whenever you want me.”

    He thought he could hear the smile in his voice. He thought he heard tears. 

“Thank you.”

Chapter Text

    Smog of a battlefield filled the air. Mud sloshing around armored boots. An axe that was too large to be handled as fast as it was. Soldiers that marched behind. Central armor. Western armor. Both of them against the East. Lucas saw James, older and looking ill. Sitting in council with advisors around him. Asking about George. Lucas couldn’t hear anything other than the name. He saw his son’s expression darken. 

    He listened to the Stars call his son a killer. 

    He let his body sink deeper into the pool. 

“Show me more.”

    The Stars obeyed his command immediately. Rolling through his blood and changing the images in front of his eyes.

    He saw a forest. East, West, Central, South, all of them were there. A bloodbath on the ground. Western knights, Southern knights. All of them were dying. Being hunted by a man cloaked in green and hidden by a mask. His blade spinning in the same dangerous arcs. He was carving through all of them. He was killing without mercy or thought. 

    He was a monster. Soaked in blood and dripping with it. 

    He saw what looked like an arena. A fight happening everywhere. He saw George, older than he knew him and looking afraid. He saw the knight that slaughtered with his hands wrapped around his throat. Lucas couldn’t see his face but he knew who it was. He knew who was there. He watched George choke out the name Dream. He watched him being killed. He saw Ethan and the sword hilt that slammed to the knight’s neck. 

    Lucas hoped it killed him. 

“More.”

    He wanted to be sure. 

    He saw Central’s palace with banners that did not belong to them. He saw Ethan and Genevieve. Both of them forced on their knees. Both of them restrained. He saw them hurting and older. He saw them yelling. 

    He saw the banner of Sqaring. The banner of Knailes. 

    Central and West’s Mother Nations. 

    A rebellion? A coup? It would make sense. It would connect to the rest of what he saw. Why they would be fighting in the first place. How they could ever possibly turn on one another. He saw Central’s gate. George, the boy he watched over like a nephew, hanging in chains from his own palace gate. His back more ribbons of flesh than a plane of physicality. 

    He saw Central’s palace on fire. 

    He saw a girl in Sqaring’s colors. Blade in hand and he saw Ethan in front of her. He saw the blade run through his friend. Ethan choking. The blood that came up. The way he was forced to walk on the blade. He saw him in Genevieve’s arms. He saw her sobs. How she bent over him. How he wasn’t breathing. 

    He saw a man with blonde hair and sharp green eyes. He saw the massive axe he wore in his hand. He saw the knight that George had chosen for himself and Lucas saw him walk past George on the gate. He saw him standing speaking to the Mother Nations. 

    Allied. That was his guess. 

    The Stars seemed to wail at the thought of it. Grief mixing with something else. 

    He saw George on the ground. Genevieve holding him. He saw Sam running his sword through Dream’s center. Forcing his feet backwards on the blade and the knight falling into him. He wouldn’t survive the blow. He would die like that. On his knight’s blade. 

    Lucas couldn’t help but think it was good. 

    That at least their traitor wouldn’t be able to hurt them anymore. 

    He sought the Stars for confirmation. He needed to know for certain. He needed to know what it was that he was meant to be hunting for here. Why they were showing him all of this if they knew he would stop him as a boy. Could he? 

    Lucas thought of the squire that had just been chosen. How he had seemed with all of them. He hadn’t felt like a threat from the bare looks he’d had of him. He hadn’t seemed like the kind of person that would grow into a killing machine like he was seeing. Would his attempt to save the Compass be what caused it? 

“How do I avoid this?”

    The Stars didn’t answer. They seemed almost like they wanted it. Some of them cooing to him that they were sorry. Wrapping around him like a hug and others of them looking like they were celebrating the knight that would kill the East. 

“Isabelle?”

    Stars were souls. The ones that were strong enough to stay. He wanted her. He needed her. He needed to feel her guidance with him and he needed to know what she believed. What the right path was going to be for him to choose. He couldn’t do this without her. He needed her beside him to tell him if what he was thinking was correct. If he was right or wrong. If he was a fool for entertaining the idea that he could hurt a child that was still technically innocent. He needed to know more about what was going on. 

    He needed to know if it was truly the knight that George had selected to be his. 

    What could happen that would warp him so much into becoming that. 

“My Brightest, I need you.”

    He could still hear her answer. 

“I want you.”

    She had always corrected him before. He nearly laughed that she was even correcting him now in his thoughts. 

“Help me? Help me save our Compass.”

    He could not find her. He could not see her. Not a gleam of her light against the darkness of the Void. He couldn’t hear the whisper of her voice or feel the echo of her touch. He wondered if she was staying away from him intentionally. If she was hiding from him so that he wouldn’t find a reason to stay. 

    His blood was running hot. He could feel the edges of his limit beginning to fray. He needed to leave. He had to get out. 

    He still wanted to try. 

    Until his lungs were begging him for air. Until he knew he could not last if he stayed a moment longer. Only then did Lucas allow himself to come up. To breathe in the air of the cavern beneath Central’s palace. To shiver in the air as his body attempted to adjust. He was blinking but his eyes refused to clear. Blurring lines of dark all around him. 

    Lucas sank back onto the stone. Letting himself lay and breathe on his back there. HIs hand still laying in the water to pretend like he could hold onto the connection. Like his wife would hold his hand in return if he laid here for long enough for her to have the chance. 

    He hoped. 

    He knew that she wouldn't’. That she couldn’t. That wasn’t the way it worked. 

    Lucas didn’t dare move. He focused on his breathing and his heart. The heat that was rolling through him and all the things that he had seen. What he knew about right now and what he could do about it. Right now they were all just children. Everything he was seeing was years away. Decades, he thought. All of them were adults from what he’d been able to tell. 

    He couldn’t shake the thoughts on how James had looked. The hurt in his eyes. The crown that sat on his head. He wasn’t in any of the other things he’d seen. His brothers were alone and they were suffering. The Mother Nations could make their return but he hadn’t seen Percy or Mary there when the Stars showed him that section of the warnings. He wondered what it meant. 

    Percy wouldn’t betray them. He refused to believe that. He would stand by the rest of his Compass and counterparts. They were all too close to abandon one another like that. 

    His wife, however, was a former Princes of Knailes before becoming Queen of the West. 

    They would be here soon. All of them would be here soon and he hoped that meant he would be able to get more information out of the Stars. That he would be able to get them to talk to him and he would be able to figure out what they wanted him to be doing with all the information they were giving. 

    He wanted to save as many people as he could. He didn’t want to let the slaughter of the East happen. He couldn't be idle while that was a future the world still held. 

“How do I fix this?”

    He hadn’t expected an answer. He hadn’t expected for the Stars to coil together until their voice sounded like a warped version of how they normally spoke with him. 

“Die.”

    There was no heat in what they said to him. No threat and no malice. He knew the Stars cared for him. That they would be nothing but honest with him. He knew they were telling him how to stop things. 

    There had to be another way. 

    He would not leave his son without a father. 

    He would find another way. 

“Lucas?!”

    Ethan’s voice came ringing from the top of the stairs. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to be down here. That he was likely scaring his friend and if he found him laying here he would make matters worse. He’d seen his brother be killed. He’d seen too much of what their futures could hold. 

“I’m here!” He would deal with it later. “I’m alright.”

    For now, he would bide his time. He would learn more of what was going on. He would figure out the best way to help. The best way to save as many as they could. 

    To keep them all alive. 

    Lucas would keep them all alive. 

    Even if he had to sacrifice one. 

Chapter Text

    The light of the sun came down from overhead like the shine of a new beginning. Glowing over the yard and trying its hardest to make the Compass forget the stain that was the reason they were all getting together in the first place. Lucas could see Ethan sneaking glances to him ever few moments. He could feel the worry practically rolling from his friend in waves. 

    He couldn’t blame him either. He knew that if their roles were reversed he wouldn’t be faring any better. Not when he’d dragged himself up the stairs to the main part of the rest of the palace and collapsed promptly into Ethan’s arms. Not when he’d had his friend help him walk back to his room and lay him to bed to rest. Not when he had fallen into a dreamless sleep and woken up to the sounds that the rest of the Compass arrived. 

    They were waiting at the gates. Waiting for their counterparts to arrive and all he could feel was a tension in his chest. They knew why they were being summoned by now. They knew what was wrong that they needed to show for support of their East. Lucas wasn’t sure that he felt strong enough to handle the questions they would ask him. To talk about the love of his life that had died in his arms. To discuss the attack and everything that it meant. 

    He knew that he needed to. That it was part of being King and that he couldn’t keep delaying it. The more he delayed the less information they were going to have in the end and that wasn’t going to be good for any of them. They had to work through. They had to endure. He knew that. He believed that. He just wasn’t sure he was built to do it now. 

    Genevieve nudged against him with her arm. Looking at him despite still looking prim and proper as Central’s Queen. She had been like a sister to him for years. She knew how to read him and he knew how to do it back. 

“Are you alright?”

    Her voice was soft. Keeping quiet to avoid them being heard by the little ones that were playing near them. James and George were chasing each other in circles in the grass. Both of them roughhousing but being in good nature with one another. James was hurt with the loss of his mother. Anyone could see that much. But he had his Central and he had his balance and because of that, he would be fine. The knights were looking after them. Their new squires were keeping themselves firm and stiff. 

    He had the chance now to eye the boy that the stars were adamant was a threat. 

“Lucas?”

    He was worrying her. He didn’t mean to. 

“I”m sorry. I’m just…”

    He didn’t know how to put it into words. The grief he carried in his heart like a weight. How it had settled there as if a rock were trying to beat through his core. He didn’t know what to do with himself. With his anger and his regret. The sorrow that was keeping him awake when he would try to sleep. He needed to do something more. He needed to be more productive. He had to be there for his son and instead he was leaving James to the hand of his counterpart. 

    It was how it was meant to be, one could argue. 

    George was only eleven himself. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to say when they get here.”

    The others had all been spotted but they still had some time before they would make it to the gate. They were on the outer edges of the capital and would need to be making it through the city in order to get here to the palace. They were going to be traveling slower than planned with the amount of people that would watch them. Central had been nearly locked down since he’d arrived. Since he’d had what he needed from the East here to be using Central as his base of operations. 

“You’ll figure it out. You don’t even have to say anything if you don’t want to yet. We will handle whatever you feel like you can’t.”

    He nodded to her. Watching their children play around together. He could see Francis and Dream talking. More that he could see Francis in the middle of a rant with big gestures made of his hands as he excitedly prattled about something he couldn’t make out. Dream was nodding to him in what he thought might be appropriate places. Francis didn’t seem slowed or cowed in the slightest. 

    For all the things the Stars showed him of them, they would hate each other. He couldn’t think of what betrayal could happen to lead them here. Of what could be done that would make them become enemies. That would turn Dream into their enemy. 

    Why he would ally with the Mother Nations and help to take down the Compass. Why he would have Central killed. All of them killed. 

    He wasn’t involved now. He would stake his life to that. He didn’t believe that the small boy that was here was involved in the plot yet. Questioning him would be useless but he also didn’t want to be so sure of something he never investigated. 

    He was tired. A headache pushing behind his eyes and into his temples. He wanted to lay down in the dark. To let himself shiver under blankets and nurse himself until he felt strong enough to function again. He knew, logically, that it was because of the Stars. That it was because he was being foolish and he’d been careless and he’d used them when he shouldn’t have. Ethan had told him when he first got here that he was dealing with risks of poisoning from the Stars and instead of listening to his brother at all he’d gone to the reflecting pool and demanded more of them. 

    There was too much heat in his veins. His Stars were used and spent and he needed to rest. Still, he didn’t let them go. He kept the extra guard on him and the ones around him here that he considered to be his family. He wanted to make sure that if someone was going to be attacking them or hurting the Compass as a whole that they would not be able to do it with surprise. Lucas felt for the intent of all the people around him. 

    He started with the boy in the mask. Waiting to see violence. Waiting to see bloodshed. 

    He found it. 

    The Stars showed him images of the boy himself. Maimed, beaten, stabbed, run through, drowned, alone and filthy in a ditch. The boy’s intent was there. Clear and filled with harm. 

    All of it was directed toward himself. 

    He was only eight. 

“Genevieve?” She looked at him immediately. “The squire, what do we know of him?”

“Of Dream?” He nodded. “He’s not up to par just yet but he can get there. We aren’t going to punish him for needing to learn. He’s a new squire. He’s closed off from what the others have said. Why? Is there something wrong?”

    George tripped. Dream dove forward without a moment of hesitation. Making his body into a cushion for the older Prince. Lucas saw the way George glared at him. How Dream laid coughing on the ground until he was able to sit up again. How he resumed his listening to the tale Francis was spinning for him. 

    He didn’t understand how this was the same boy from the warnings he’d seen. 

    He allowed his thoughts to circle. To melt and puddle to each other until the rest of the Compass was in sight. Until they were crossing through the Central gates and all of them had officially arrived. 

    He saw Percy at the front. His son beside him. The other two missing of the younger Compass . 

    Hannah ran for James first. Closest to him in age and racing for them. Eret and Parker were running after her in seconds. Both of them nearly stumbling over their own feet to keep up with the sole girl of the set. 

    He looked up to Percy jogging to them. Lucas opened his arms for him immediately. Percy catching Ethan in his arm as well and pulling the three of them together. He allowed himself comfort in their arms. The Compass was meant to be together. All of them were a set that were built to function and protect one another. They were meant to stay close. To be bound to each other and raised together. 

    All five of them had their bond. From the Compass still came two lines. 

    The Sun Line was always known for being the more closely bound trio. The East for the sunrise. Central for noon, The West for the sunset. Their First Kings had been together for weeks before meeting the final two. Their bond was closer. That carried through their generations. 

“I’m so sorry, Lucas.”

    Ethan slipped from their arms to greet the other two. He could hear his other counterparts and siblings commenting. Neither of them were upset. Elaina and Edward both knew how he could get. How all of them would get. His sister in the South and his brother in the North. 

    When Percy released him, Lucas thought he would get to greet his siblings. He thought he would get to have a conversation with them that would feel nearly normal before they would have to move into the reasons for why they were all here. 

    He could feel their worry. The concern and the care they all held. He could feel it. Elaina’s protective streak coming through. Edward’s concern. He was always the most mother henning of the five of them. 

    Lucas thought he could have a moment with the remains of his family. But his eyes came up to look at them all and the Stars informed him of something different. Assaulting him immediately the moment he saw a girl who had been his sister since she married into the Compass. 

    The Stars rushed for him. Showing him blood spilled over the floors of the Western palace. He saw a sword through Percy’s body. He saw him laying in a pool of his own blood. He saw Mary with her chest caved in. The banner of Knailes once again flashing through his mind. 

    He wondered if the nation was turning against their own former royal? Mary was a Princess of Knailes before becoming Queen of the West. Percy had married her in an effort to secure alliance between them. In order to protect his people and the rest of the Compass. If that was being broken now then he wasn’t sure what it would mean. 

    The pain and pressure in his head doubled. He staggered against Percy. Feeling his brother catch and steady him and the rest of his counterparts focus. He tried to blink himself back into attention. To know what was happening around him. Why his Stars were suddenly being so loud. 

    His brothers were saying things to him. He couldn’t hear them. 

    He smelled the stink of false intent. Reeking through the air but he couldn’t place where it was coming from. He looked at his sister. Seeing Elaina ordering her son to get the rest of the kids away. To keep them safe. He saw the crest of the South on fire. He saw Elaina bound in chains. A tractor’s stake charred and prepared. 

    His stomach rolled. A gag breaking through his composure before he could stop himself. 

“Get him down.”

“Lucas?”

“He’s been overusing his Stars. I don’t know if this is another warning or poison.”

    His arms were braced by Percy in front of him. He watched images flash through his thoughts too fast for him to keep up. Knights screaming. He could feel blood burning but he didn’t think it was his own. He saw Dream, strapped to a table with Francis beside him. The both of them screaming as loud as they could. The both of them fainting when it was done. 

    He heard alchemy. 

    Was that it? Were his visions of Dream turned against the Compass because he was being used by Alchemy? Would the Mother Nations puppet their knights?

    He saw water being tainted. He heard voices that were too muffled to make out. He saw so much blood. Western bodies laying maimed and murdered. 

    He saw Parker with a sword through his heart and a knight holding the blade. 

    He saw the body of a monster on the ground. 

    Lucas heard the cry from his side. He worked to will his Stars to silence. His head pounding and spinning. His heart racing in his chest. He wouldn’t be able to hold them back and he knew it. They were going to show him these warnings regardless if he wanted them or not. 

    Through blurry vision, Lucas made out James on the ground. Shaking and staring at him with wide eyes. His hands were at his ears. Covering them like he was trying to block something out. He saw Parker holding him in a protective hug. He felt almost the same grip from Percy. 

“He can feel me. Get him away.”

    It broke his heart to say. To send James away. But he couldn’t stop this and if James was going to pick up on the force he might see it if he was too close. Lucas could not let him see this. 

    His siblings would handle it. 

“Lucas?”’ Ethan was crouched with him. They were trying to talk to him but he couldn’t hear. 

“I”m sorry…”

    He meant it. Sorry for scaring them. For all of this. 

    And when the Stars surged again he followed them to the dark. 

Chapter Text

“Ethan, what happened?”

    The ask was to be expected. It wasn’t like it caught him off guard. But Ethan didn’t know how to answer it all the same. He had all the time he needed to prepare an answer. To have his thoughts in order about what was happening but none of them would come up out of his mouth. None of them even laid ready at the front of his thoughts. 

“Ethan, we can’t help unless you talk to us.”

    He knew that. He knew that he just—

“E, breathe. You’re going to make yourself faint and then the rest of us really wouldn’t know what to do.”

    Percy was knelt down in front of him. His friend looking up at him from the ground with nothing but honest concern in his eyes. He hadn’t even realized he’d stopped until the request came. Forcing him to expand his lungs and earning a nod of approval from his brother. 

“There you go. Lucas has all of us scared. You aren’t alone. Has he been like this since he came here?”

    Percy gestured to the bed where Edward and Elaina were both fussing over Lucas. He hadn’t woken up since collapsing on the walk. He’d known that there was something wrong with him. He’d known that he was in the dangers of poisoning himself with the Stars from the moment that he’d come to the palace with Isabelle in his arms. He should have gotten down to him in the reflecting pools faster. He should have stopped him sooner. 

    He should have figured out a way to stop the Stars to help and save him so that he wouldn’t be stuck like this. 

    They’d carried him up to his room to rest. There was nothing the infirmary would be able to do in the face of the Star’s temperament. The only thing that would achieve is making Lucas more uncomfortable and that was the last thing he needed for the moment. There had been shouts and calls. When Lucas had collapsed it had been a near nightmare in the yard. 

    Knights had been watching them. All of them focused and concerned for the things that were set to come. They were frightened with the potentials that were headed in their way. They were on edge. He’d thought that they would be okay when their siblings arrived. Ethan had always felt safer with them. A lesson that was taught to him by his parents when he was young that he had only had proven true time and time again as he got older. 

    Things would be alright so long as the Compass was together. If he needed them he could go to his counterparts. If they needed him, he was there. They were always in support of each other. Helping one another time and time again and that was all they needed. 

    He’d allowed himself to relax when they were here. He’d allowed himself the moment to have time to breathe when he knew they were here and would be able to help. That they could divide things to figure out who was needed and where. 

    They were all meant to be greeting each other and then Lucas had stumbled. He’d doubled over and gagged. Ethan knew how to tell when the Stars were being too much for him but he didn’t know the cause of it. If it was something that would help them in the end or if it was finally too much and his brother was dying. 

    He’d seen Lucas with Star poisoning once before. He’d had a mild case but he was so worn from it that he hadn’t been able to move for a week. It had almost killed him. His body could only handle so much and he was scared that this was it. 

    When they’d gotten him up to his room, Elaina and Edward had been with him. Nursing and tending him in the bed to try to make him as comfortable as they possibly could. Ethan had ended up at the back. Staring at his best friend and brother like he was terrified and he didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t. He had no idea what he was meant to be doing. He was the Compass Heart and he was meant to be in charge of them. He was meant to lead them from one thing to the other. 

    He’d stumbled himself back until he hit a plush bench and then he was on it. Sitting and now Percy was in front of him. Watching over him and he felt too much guilt in his heart. Without much thought, Ethan lifted a hand to rub over his chest and the scars that he wore there. 

    He saw the concern on Percy’s face immediately. 

“Is it your heart?”

    He saw Elaina turn sharply toward them. Ethan shook his head. 

“No. No, I’m…”

    He dropped his hand. He couldn’t find the words. Percy squeezed his arms. 

“Piece by piece. Tell us.”

    He started from when Lucas had come into Central’s gates. Carrying Isabelle’s body and collapsing himself. What had happened in those first moments and everything that happened after. He listed it all out like it was part of a story he didn’t know the ending of. He explained to them everything that he knew. Everything that he could think of that might be able to help them. Everything that Lucas had told him and the warnings he was having. How he hadn’t explained one and said he would do it when they were all together. 

    They looked at each other. Nervous and concerned for what was coming to them in the future if this was all warnings and not the effect of poison. 

    Lucas was fitful. His brows scrunching together and his expression showing pain. His body flinching from threats that did not yet exist. Thrashes that went half abandoned. 

    He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to help. 

    His job as Central was to help all of them. To stand with the East specifically and protect his counterpart from any and all harm. Now, Lucas was laying in his bed looking like he was dying and Ethan didn’t even know if there was a way to help him. If there was anything that he could do that would be able to ease his brother’s suffering, even if only for a moment. 

    He watched Edward leave Lucas’ side to vanish into the attached bathroom. Coming back out a moment later with a cloth that was damp in his hands. Settling it over his brow and dabbing at him. 

“He’s burning a fever.”

    A sign of poison. A sign that he might be dying. He’d heard old stories from the East. That the Stars could drive them mad. That if they didn’t stop and give time to rest that their bodies would burn themselves alive and their minds would lose everything that made them whole. They would see too much for it to make sense. They would lose themselves until the only thing left was the Stars. Husks that were vessels only for the Stars to pretend to be alive again. 

    There was a knock from the door. Percy standing to get it only to see Parker and George on the other side. He stood at the sight of his son. Moving for the doorway to make sure they were alright in the same way Percy was. 

“George?”

    He looked scared. Parker took a half step in front of him. Looking up to both him and Percy. 

“Dad, James needs help.”

    Lucas had said that he could feel him. That he needed to stay away. 

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He won’t stop screaming. He said he’s seeing things.” Parker looked uncomfortable. “He said he thinks its us.”

    Warnings. Percy met Ethan’s eyes. He turned to see his other two siblings watching as well. The concern on both of their faces before they were looking back to Lucas. Trying to figure out a way to get him out of this was going to be their best chance to help James right now. 

“He’s scared. He wants his dad.”

    George sounded so much smaller than he was before. He was looking at him and Ethan could see easily that his little boy was rattled. 

“It’s the Stars. That’s what he’s hearing and seeing.”

    He was terrified at not being able to help his East. He wanted to try to help his boys not feel the same things. 

“Try to comfort him. There’s not a way to stop the Stars. You’ll need to support him until they let him go.”

    It was a hard lesson they all had to learn at one point or another. Each generation, each Compass. They all had to learn to nurse their East. The East, in turn, would nurse them all. 

“He really wants his dad.”

    Parker tried to look into the room. Percy stopped him. 

“We need Uncle Lucas.”

“He can’t right now.”

    He heard the gasp that came from the bed inside. Turning to look and seeing Lucas tense on the bedding. How he was reacting like there was something that was holding him down. Like he was trying to get to someone. 

    He heard him start begging. He heard James’ name. 

“George, I need you to get James’ knight and Dream and stay together with all the others. Sam will guard you. Get your mom if you need to.”

    Genevieve would be handling the rest of everything that they had left out in the yard. She and all the other spouses were here together. Working as a team with one another to handle the disaster that was currently swallowing the Compass whole. 

“Dad—”

“Please trust me.”

    He saw the debate in his eyes. The way George looked at Parker. How Parker put an arm over George’s shoulders and guided him away when he still wanted to fight. He could see so much of all his siblings in their children. He could see himself in George. 

    They would tend to their East. They would protect him. 

    He heard a choked whimper. A plea that died before it could become words. A begged call for a wife that was no longer alive. Ethan looked at Percy. They closed the door and went to the bed. Their children would tend to their East. 

    They would tend to theirs. 

Chapter Text

    George kept himself still on the couch he was on. The weight leaned against his side and chest was familiar and warm. The head of dark hair he kept tucked beneath his chin was even more so. James had cried himself out not too long ago. Sleep claiming to him when everything else had failed. He was slouched there against his side and while George was worried, he could feel the steady pattern of his breath against him. 

    He wasn’t the only one that was worried. 

“We need to work together in order to protect him. Whatever is happening it’s happening through the Stars and it’s hurting them.”

    The words were stiff and sharp. Ready to cut like the blades of a knife. 

“Parker,” Eret quipped it from another chair in the room. He was sat at the edge of it. All of them were watching their pacing counterpart in the center. “He’s resting, our parents have his father. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“There should be.”

    His words were hard. George frowned at him as he watched. Hannah was standing leaned against the wall opposite of Eret and part of him wanted to laugh that it looked like they were all assuming their directions in relation to each other. The five of them had grown up together. Practically living with each other when the times came to visit another palace and all of them happy to spend time with their friends. 

    Their parents had taught all of them that the Compass was to be treated as a family. They were all brothers and sisters in arms. They were together as one when it came to a real threat. 

“It’s not all the Stars.” Hannah’s voice was calmer than Parker’s but he could still pick out the stiff anger that was there. The worry. “Whoever killed the Queen is not the Stars.”

    None of them had to ask which Queen. George let his arms tighten a bit around James’ shoulders. He was the youngest out of all of them. The more George thought about what he knew of what happened the more sick he felt. It wasn’t fair. None of it. The hurt and the suffering that he had to go through. The pain that he had to deal with knowing that James was only ten. If the plot that had been played had gone the way it was planned, his brother would be King. 

    George tried to imagine it. Being brought to the East in the tow of his parents and watching them grieve for their counterparts. Seeing James and not knowing the best way to help him. He didn’t know what to do right now as it was. He didn’t think that he could actually help him. He didn’t think that he could protect him when the odds felt so far against them both. 

    They were raised together. They had all played their games and played war with one another. They knew the taunts and the teases. They had run rampant in the yards and they knew the motions they would all do going in and out. They knew their puzzles and their codes. They knew how to behave as if they were one and they knew how to support each other’s weak points. 

    James was strong with the advantage of magic. They all knew that. They also knew that it would be his largest draw back. 

    They had all studied on the fighting patterns of the ones who came before the. They knew the fighting range that all of the Compass rulers had done before. They knew the strength the East had always shown to the rest of the world. Their power with the Stars and their ability to sense the threats that were coming for them. 

    He remembered a time a few years ago that they had all gotten to watch their parents fight a spar together. It was a competition here in Central. George had been so excited at the chance of it. All of the Compass banners flying in the air and all of them strong together. How they had all begged as a gaggle of children and how he had plead the most to his father and mother. 

    They agreed. The yard had chosen the strongest sets of fighters from each of the kingdoms and set themselves into armor. 

    George remembered watching them fight. The power that came out of them. How the four directions had circled around his father. How his father had moved between their motions and guarded them all from the center. Emerging beyond the ranks to cut and slash and act as a shield around them all. 

    The fight of the Compass when they were united as one. They’d won. It wasn’t even a contest but more a show that they had the chance to perform for their children. It was a lesson to all of them. To see the power their positions put them into and it ended with all of them playing a mock fight of their own trying to mirror it in the wake of the competition when the yard was empty. 

    James didn’t have enough control on his magic yet. He couldn’t do the things that his father had done yet. 

    Maybe that was why he was so scared now. Seeing James reacting the way that his father had. Seeing the pain he was in and knowing that he couldn’t do anything to protect him. To help him or guard him. He was helpless and it hurt him. 

    George was scared. 

    Central was meant to be the leader of the Compass when it came to things like this. His father was leading. His mother was handling the palace and healming everything of the duties that were needed. He should be standing. He should be talking. He should be doing something. 

“No,” Parker’s eyes were hard. Even at twelve years old he was studying all of the military tactics of the Compass and the known enemies against them. Playing a focus on more strategy games and war planning with his father to teach him. He’d been complaining the last few times they were all together that his mother was trying to put him into more etiquette lessons but especially with their current situation he hoped that Parker would get to stay with his strategy. 

“It wasn’t the Stars that did that. My bet would be a traitor but we would need to figure out who and how they went unnoticed.”

    George could see the frown on Eret’s face. He was the oldest of them. Thirteen and used to having to guide them all around and now he looked like he was at a loss of what to do. 

“We shouldn’t be prying into the East like that. We’re not—”

“We’re his Compass.” Hannah’s words were pointed. “Our job is to protect and defend him. If it was you we would be doing the same. If it was any of us.”

“Not if it was you.”

    There was a tense moment of silence. George could see the glares that Hannah was giving to Eret. She was the granddaughter of a usurper to the North. It was a rule that had stemmed from the First Kings of the Compass. That they would allow the people of the North to revolt and control if they felt it needed. That they would allow for usurption of their ally if it came from within. The North had faced it multiple times and there was nothing they could do about it. Nothing that would be able to save them. George knew that. 

    He also knew that Eret’s mouth was out of line and Parker’s protectiveness was showing itself harshly. He could see too much tension in his brother. He could see the way ice blue eyes landed like a spear to Eret. He had to step in and he had to stop them. 

    Slowly as he could, he worked on shifting James out of his arms and to lean against the couch instead. 

“The North’s rules are the only exception. We would defend her in any other moment. We don’t know if this was internal or external at its core.”

    He talked like he was already a military leader. Like he was already in the command of the troops. It would be their place in a few years. For all of them it would be their designation. The heir to the throne was the commander of the military. They were the near ultimate word on the behaviors and handling. 

    George could see a world where Parker was leading the Western knights into battle. Golden armor covering his skin and a field of black metal behind him. Ready and waiting for the command to strike. 

“If we want to figure this out then we have to work together.”

    George could feel the ache welling in his head. He was stressed. He was scared. There was too much that was happening around him. The events were all too close together and he was feeling too many different things. 

“Stop.”

    No one in the room seemed to hear him. He had James curled against the couch cushions instead of him. He was free and still he felt like he couldn’t move. He felt like he was caught. Stuck in the waves of something he wasn’t sure how to handle. He didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t know how to manage this. 

    The argument was brewing more and more. All of them were kids. They were just kids. He wanted his dad. 

    His dad had said to get his mom if he needed her. 

    George needed her. He wanted his mom. He wanted to curl up in her arms and hide. 

    And then his eyes fell to James again. 

    James couldn’t have his mom. 

    If James couldn’t, George wouldn’t. They were together. That was the rule that he knew about the Compass. They stayed together through everything. Thick and the thin. He would do what he could. 

    His eyes moved around the room again. He saw the two squires that they were forced to take. He knew that Central’s Lead was standing guard beyond the door. He should have one of them sent to get him. He should get Sir Sam himself. He should be doing anything to make himself move. To not just be sitting here while his friends argued with each other on things that they couldn’t change. 

    He was scared. They were all scared. James had been screaming. 

    The things he said about what he saw. 

    It scared him. 

    He said that he saw dragon wings. That he saw the opening well of the Void. That James saw both him and Parker in the dark with him. That he heard screaming and saw so much bloodshed George was worried he had now seen more than some of the knights in the yard. 

    The squires had tried to step forward. To ‘help’ they said. They didn’t listen when George told them to leave. They tried to touch him and James. It had taken Parker stepping in to yell at them both and send them away for them to listen. Falling back to the wall on the far side of the room by the door. Watching and staying still and silent. 

    He wanted them gone. He wanted them to leave. 

    He hated them. 

    At least one of them. 

    The mask tilted a bit at him, George wanted to yell at him to leave again. Instead, he felt the worry spark through him again when James shifted on the couch. When his face twisted up into a screw and he curled tighter. 

“Stop fighting.”

    He didn’t raise his voice but the other three stopped. All of them looking and watching. Parker got to them first. Checking James for fever and pausing when he looked up at him. George only looked back until Parker’s hand was against him as well. 

“I think he’s picking up on all of us. We should let him rest. We need to stop fighting.”

    George said it around Parker’s watch. His brother frowning at him and nodding. Settling down onto the floor to wait and watch as the room fell to silence around them. 

    Even with none of them speaking, James still woke up with a small gasp. He looked around the room like he was afraid of it. Only calming down when he saw who else was there. Letting himself relax and practically clinging to Parker when he hugged him. 

“Are you alright?”

    Parker’s voice was soft now. Gone with the anger and the blades. James gave a nod. 

    The knock at the door made all of them jump. If there was someone that was knocking now it was either going to be Sir Sam or someone that he allowed through. 

“Come in.” 

    George called the order. Watching and hoping that it would be one of their parents. That they would have the structure they needed. Instead, they all saw a man standing in the clothes of Eastern nobility. They knew the mark of all the Kingdom advisors but that didn’t mean they knew them all. George thought he might know this man. 

“I apologize, Highnesses, but I am here to collect the Prince for his father.”

    If it was the Stars and their influence was hurting James, his father might be pulling him away for the sake of his safety. George couldn’t argue with that. 

“I want to stay here.”

    There was a softness on his face that George wasn’t sure met his eyes. That might be why he was an advisor. He thought he knew him. He thought his name was William if he was remembering things correctly. He wasn’t sure. He’d ask later if this man was meant to be James’ steward while they figured everything out. 

“I’m sorry, Highness, But your father is concerned. He said he could feel your distress.”

    James looked down to the ground before he got up. The squire went to follow. It was William who put a hand to stop him. 

“Your service is not required.”

    George thought maybe then the man was okay. 

Chapter Text

    Sam had a bad feeling about everything that was going on. He’d gone with his squire and his counterpart he’d grow with. Watching over the room where all of the younger members of the Compass were resting. 

    Trying to rest. 

    He’d had to hear the screams and whimpers that came from the young Eastern Prince. He’d listened to the fear the rest of them all showed. The arguments that happened. He knew that Dream and the young Prince’s squire were both inside with them but Sam held his post outside the door. Watching the halls and waiting. 

    He was on guard for anything that would happen. He was on edge. 

    There was a known attack on the East that had killed their Queen. There were warnings that he was having to deal with. He’d collapsed in the yard in front of everyone. Now the Eastern Prince was screaming and crying before tiring himself into sleep in the room. Sam’s nerves were on edge. 

    When he became a Leading knight he’d been given instructions on what to do for all of the Compass. Taught so that he would be able to help their allies as necessary and give proper placements when it came time for competitions that would have them all facing up against each other. He knew the patterns the East required to take. He knew that they needed more care from the others than the rest. That they could be pushed by things that were beyond any kind of control. 

    When he saw the uniform of the Eastern Advisors, Sam had bowed his head. He knew the man from the previous times he’d been to the palace here. 

“Lord William.”

    When the East had been brought here in the wake of the attack, Sam had done what he could to remember all of their names. To keep mind who was staying in the palace with his knights and squires and royals. It was his job to lead everything that was here and he intended to do the best job of that that he could. He’d assigned the rooms for the advisory himself. 

    The man bowed his head in return. Asking softly about the whereabouts for his Prince. That his father had been asking for him. Sam wasn’t the one who was going to say that he couldn’t see him. He wasn’t going to deny what the royals needed in the moment. Even if his order was to keep the Compass together an order from one of the Kings should not and could not be refuted. 

    Not when they were ones to see the only part of family that was left remaining. 

    Sam stood by while the Lord took Prince James from the room and left the rest of his charges remaining inside. 

    Sam just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong. That he had missed something. That there was something stewing inside. He held himself to his station but his thoughts were running over everything that they knew so far for the attacks. He wanted to be sure that they had everything under control. That they were aware of what was going on in the palace and that their allies would properly be safe and taken care of. 

    The other knights were guarding each other and the royals held inside. Central’s palace was the best guarded place in the entire Compass at the moment. They would all be safe. 

    Sam just couldn’t help the doubt in his mind that they were getting too comfortable so soon after a tragedy. 

    He knocked on the door before he could stop himself. Listening for his Prince’s voice to call for him to enter before he stepped inside. George was sat on the couch now between his remaining counterparts. He was leaning against Prince Parker with Princess Hannah nearly laying on his other side. 

    Sam offered a bow to all of them. 

“Highnesses.”

    He heard the small shuffle from the two squires who had decided to stay side by side. He eyed the mask of his own little one. The weak trembling of his shoulders as he held still and away. 

“Permission to exchange the guard on the door and to take my squire?”

    George may be eleven but he still outranked him when it came to things like this. He knew that his royals, not one of them, regardless of age had always treated their knights well. He could practically read the relief spilling out from his young Prince at the thought of being rid of Dream. 

“Granted.”

    He bowed again. Gesturing for Dream to come with him and seeing his young squire look back at all of the royals. His hesitation earned him a glare from the two remaining Sun Line in the room. 

    The moment they left and stepped away from the door Sam could see Dream bristle and relax. 

“What happened in there?”

    It was as much information gathering as it was curiosity for what had happened. He knew that the Prince didn’t like his squire in the moment but he had hope that things would be kind between them at the moment. That they would be easy with one another when there was so much else going on to take their anger and wrath. 

    Dream only shrugged at first. His shoulders were overly tense. He saw the way his hands were fidgeting. 

“What is it?”

    If he was feeling sick then he’d rather get him to the infirmary sooner than later. They weren’t sure what exactly they were dealing with given the rest of his bodily condition and Sam wanted to take care of him the best that he could.

“Something just feels wrong.”

    He hummed. He’d felt the same way. The kid had good instincts then. 

“Any idea what?”

    Dream stayed quiet for a moment. Then two. 

“Should we have let the Eastern Prince go with that man?”

    Dream was just a boy. He didn’t know how palaces worked. 

“That was one of the Eastern advisors. He is meant to be a guide and a servant to the royals. Their Prince is fine with him. He was fetching him on behalf of the King.”

    Dream gave him another nod but he still didn’t seem happy about what was going on. 

“What else is bothering you?”

    A shrug. Sam sighed. 

“Dream, I can’t—”

“The Prince hates me. All of them do.”

    The Compass had the habit of being overly protective of one another. If George was making his dislike of the boy known to all of them and Dream tried to stay close to do his duties then it was entirely possible that he would be lashed out against. Especially with the current situation and the tensions running high for everyone. 

“He needs time. They all do. Right now the Compass is—”

    A cry cut the air of the palace. A young voice behind it. Sam barely looked down before Dream was running in front of him. 

    He was right about the boy’s instincts to be a knight. There was no moment of hesitation from him. There was no ounce of fear that showed when he moved for the danger. He would grow into a wonderful knight. Maybe even the best their Kingdom had. 

    Still, right now he was just a squire. He wasn’t trained. He wasn’t armed. 

“Dream.”

    Sam slid around a corner and saw the Eastern Prince on the ground. His back pressed firm to the wall and his eyes wide and unseeing. Tears in his eyes and his breaths coming too fast and too short. The advisor who had taken him earlier standing in front of him. 

    Sam drew his blade without a moment of hesitation. Ordering the advisor to back away while Dream went to the Prince’s side. 

    Dream had not yet been a squire for a week and he was acting exactly to the name of his duties. He had training. He knew too much about this. There was something in his background he needed to get to. He would do that later. When they had time. 

“Highness?”

    He didn’t get an answer. Nothing but overly quick breathing and what sounded like strangled sobs. Dream’s voice was the one that gave him an answer. 

“I don’t think he’s okay. It’s like what was happening on the couch before.”

    The Stars. It was an attack from the Stars. The advisor in front of him had his hands lifted into a surrender. He was staring him down but Sam stared right back. 

“You’re aiming your sword at an unarmed member of nobility.”

“I’m protecting a Compass heir. You will forgive my discretion.” 

    If he didn’t Sam would welcome him to take up the matter with any of the royals. He couldn’t imagine any of them prioritizing a nobleman’s feelings before the health and safety of one of their children. It would be unheard of. It would be considered absurd. 

“I need to take him to his father.”

    Sam didn’t like it. 

“My squire and I will handle that. We will ensure he’s brought safely to the King. For now, please allow us to do our jobs of defense.”

    He could see the want for an argument in the man’s eyes but he nodded all the same. Accepting the defeat for the time being and then Sam was placing his sword back to its home at his belt. Kneeling down and hearing the cries from the young Prince. 

“Prince James?”

    He blinked at him. Sam could see Dream’s tense shoulders. 

“Highness, are you able to stand?”

    He knew where the older royals were. He knew where King Lucas had been taken to be tended. Sam waited until he saw the small nod from the Prince on the floor. The tremble that was rolling through his body. It was hard for him to support him. Dream tried to pick up the slack. They were much closer in size than Sam was to either of them. Dream was still smaller but he was the better size to be acting as a human crutch. 

    They made their way through the halls again. Working until they were at the door for the older heirs. Sam took the choice to knock while Dream did his job of supporting the Prince. The door opened for them to come face to face with the Southern Queen. 

    Sam bowed to her. He saw Dream wobble as he tried to do the same. 

“Aunt E.”

    The Queen’s face changed immediately as she knelt down to him. Reaching out her arms and letting the little Prince fold into her. 

“What happened? They should have been downstairs.”

    Sam tensed. 

“One of the Eastern Advisors said that his father requested him.”

    Her gaze darkened. 

“Who? Lucas just woke up. He hasn’t spoken to anyone outside of this room.”

“Elaina? What is it?”

    The voice was exhausted inside the room but when the young Prince heard it he was squirming from her grip and running for the bed. The Queen gestured for the both of them to come in. Sam obeyed. Closing the door behind them. 

    He saw his King and his counterparts around him. He saw King Lucas now sitting up against pillows on the bed and his arms full of his son. 

“Majesties.”

    Dream tried to bow beside him. His lungs catching and harsh coughs dragging their way out of him before he could do it properly. He was trembling when he finished. His chest heaving with the effort of them. The Eastern King frowned. 

“Where is James’ knight? Where is Francis?”

“He is with the rest of the heirs. Dream helped me to guard Prince James as we made our way up here.”

    There was a look he couldn’t understand in the Eastern King’s eyes. He was watching Dream. Dream didn’t seem to notice it. 

“One of the advisors said you requested your son.”

    If he hadn’t spoken to anyone then Sam wanted to know how he got that order. If this was a plot to something then they needed to know sooner than later and he wanted to have the man in the dungeons within the hour. 

“Who?”

“Lord William, I believe.”

    King Lucas shook his head. Making a face of pain and rubbing his temple. 

“He’s loyal. He’s been my friend for decades. He’s strong with the Stars. They probably told him that I would be waking soon and would want him. That’s not a lead.”

    Sam wouldn’t pretend to know how the Stars worked. All he could do was nod. They were back to the beginning. Back to no information that could help them. Dream was coughing again. He was shifting closer like he wanted to hide. 

    Hide from a room of allies but running straight to danger. He had a lot to learn. Sam caught his King watching them. His eyes lingering a little long on the squire beside him. 

“We’ll talk here. Take care of your squire, Sam.”

Chapter Text

    Sam led the way down the halls with his squire trailing beside him. His lungs grating on themselves and his coughs coming more and more frequent. There were more than a few times that he wanted to have them stop but Dream was the one that pushed himself forward. 

    He seemed like he was scared of something. Like he was on edge and Sam couldn’t figure out why. He led the way to the room with the other young royals. He checked in with them and saw the other Leading Knights standing guard nearby to make sure things were safe. Even catching sight of young Francis leaning against his Lead’s side. The resemblance between the two of them nearly uncanny and pulling a smile for himself. 

    He guided Dream out into the yard through the grass and into his tent. Moving easily over to the desk and gesturing to the seat in front of it. Dream was tense now. Unnaturally so. Compared to everything he’d been earlier he was standing like he was needing to be on guard for what he was doing. 

    Even under the eyes of royals, Dream had not been this tense. 

“Dream?”

    The more he saw of his squire the more questions he had. He was tense when he should be among friends. He was smooth and seamless when it came to doing his job even though he should have no training or no clue how to do it yet. There were people who signed themselves to be knights and put their all into getting a position as a squire and still hesitated and needed guidance, especially when they were starting out. Dream hadn’t even looked like he wanted to be in the trials when he was getting through them. Dream hadn’t even looked like he truly wanted to be a squire. 

    The mask stared back at him with no hint to the boy’s expression underneath. He thought he might be able to learn more about him but he wasn’t too sure about that the longer he looked. 

“Is something the matter?”

    There was more silence from him. He could see small tremors running through him. 

“Are you feeling alright?”

    The small shake of his head made the nerves in Sam stand on edge. 

“What is it?”

“You aren’t mad?”

    Sam blinked. 

“Why would I be mad? You haven’t done anything wrong?”

“I touched a royal.”

    His voice was hoarse from all the coughing he’d done earlier. He sounded like a mess but Sam knew that it wasn’t something that he could control in the moment. 

“You were trying to help him. Weren’t you?”

    Dream nodded. He was leaning forward a bit now. Hunching in a way that was telling Sam his lungs were hurting him. 

“Is it your chest?”

    He knew the answer but he wanted to know if Dream thought it was something else. If his squire was going to try to block himself off. They had been bonding before in the infirmary but that didn’t mean that things were going to always be linear. He knew how they could be. He knew how the tides could turn and how nerves would impact others. 

    He knew, from the signs that Dream had shown to him already, the recovery from abuse was not easy. 

    Many knights had come into Central with a past like that. Many of them were hurting and scared and scarred. They would suffer from the hands of their life and they ended up fighting to make it into something better. 

    Dream didn’t answer him more than a short nod. Sam gestured him to the chair again. Trying to get the boy to settle down and relax and give himself the time that he needed in order to catch his breath and regain the bit of strength that he was lacking at the moment. He was going to need time before he was at the standing he was. He was going to need time before he was healed and he was content. 

    If he would ever be content. 

“How was guard duty?”

    Sam had been outside the room. Dream had been in it. From being a boy that looked like he barely wanted to be in the palace and who had tensed at even hearing the title of King, Dream had met all of the Compass Heirs and their bloodline royals. He had seen the bonds of the Compass up close and personal and while he knew that their Prince wasn’t exactly happy about having a knight, it was still something he wanted to ask about. 

    Dream only shrugged. 

    Sam figured it was as good a time as any to press the questions that he actually wanted to know. 

“You didn’t hesitate when Prince James could have been in danger.”

    He could feel the kid staring at him from behind the mask. 

“It was the right thing to do.”

    Dream was eight. He was too young to be talking like that. He wanted to ask him straight up who had taught him that. At the same time, Sam didn’t want him to doubt that it had been the wrong course of action. 

“He sounded like he was in trouble. I wanted to help.”

    Sam nodded. 

“You did good.” He pushed his honesty out into his words. “I don’t know that I’ve seen any other squire that would have done that. Not without guidance. You beat me there.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sam smiled, “I’m proud of you for it.”

    He wouldn’t punish him for doing exactly what a knight was meant to do. 

“You understand things about the knights better than I thought you would. I’m impressed.” He had to be careful with how he worded this if he wanted to get an answer. “Have you always wanted to be a knight?”

    There was silence in the stillness of the tent. Nothing but the two of them and the sound of their breathing. Dream’s little rasp that was starting to become more and more prominent. He was going to need to order him to rest when this was all said and done. To get his boy to the barracks to sleep and nurse and hopefully give his lungs a chance to adjust and catch up to what he was doing. 

    If he couldn’t, they’d be back in the infirmary sooner than he knew Dream would want. 

“No.”

    The word felt tensed for what it was right now. He watched the mask. He watched the small shoulders he could make out through the squire uniform he was in. Dream looked like he was fighting himself. If he was guessing on his expressions correctly then he would say that the boy was trying to figure out how he wanted to answer. What truths he wanted to give. 

“You don’t have to tell me.” He wanted to assure him that he wouldn’t be in trouble no matter what answer he was going to give for this. If it wasn’t his place to ask then it simply wasn’t his place to ask. 

    He wanted to know more about his squire. He wanted to bond with him and get to know him and his history. He wouldn’t do that if it made Dream uncomfortable. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, Kid.”

“I was scared of knights.”

    The words made him pause. A kid that idolized knights ended up as one in the future. Not one that was afraid of them. He could see the measured breaths that Dream was taking. He was counting to himself through the drumming of his finger on his thigh. He was monitoring himself too close. Like a boy that was used to being watched and measured. 

“Why?”

    If there were knights that were misconducting themselves where he was from then Sam wanted to know about it. He would report it to their King and Queen and they would be able to take care of it. To punish the ones that were responsible for harming their people when they were only ever meant to protect them. 

“My father was a knight.”

    Sam hesitated more. The words sounded raw. Like Dream was having to force them from his mouth. His mask came from his mother. His father was a knight. 

    Dream was scared of knights. 

“Did something happen to him?”

    Dream nodded. 

“What made you want to be a knight?”

    What pushed him over his fear? What made him decide to enlist? What made him finally make up his mind?

“My father.” Dream coughed. “A friend. He’s supposed to follow me. We were going to be guards together.”

    Guards. Not knights. Dream hadn’t wanted to be a knight. 

“You know that knights and guards are different?”

    He had to make sure. Dream nodded. 

“We didn’t think that I would make it.”

    There was an edge of bitterness in his voice. Something that told Sam that the boy might not have wanted to make it at all. That he might be missing more signs than he was thinking right now. 

    From what he could guess, with the way he measured everything about his home and the closeness he was following to his parents, someone had done something. He wondered if Dream’s father had been killed by other knights and he’d heard the stories about him and wanted to turn into him. If the mask was a hold to his mother before she’d passed away from some reason or another. 

    He wondered just how alone the boy must have felt if he was willing to face and become his fears just to be closer to them. 

“I’m sorry, Kid.”

    Dream stayed stiff in front of him. There was so much that Sam wanted to show him. So much that he wanted to tell him and guide him on but he didn’t know how to get to it all. He wanted to explain to Dream that he was safe here surrounded by the knights of Central. That they were going to protect him and guard him and that nothing bad would happen to him. That he would be protected and that he was among friends when he was here. 

    He wasn’t sure he would believe him. He wasn’t sure that Dream was going to accept it. 

“You did very well today. You have good instincts. You’ll make a good knight.”

    It was the greatest thing for a knight to be able to serve and protect their royals. Dream had landed one of the best things he could have possibly been if he was aiming to impress a knight that had come before him. If he was trying to make a mark for himself as a knight in his own right against the ones that had taken his parents. 

    He wanted to get that information. He wanted to know who it was that was responsible. The knights that had made the boy afraid of them. 

“Your father would be proud of you.”

    Dream turned rigid. His breathing catching in his throat. 

“Do you know him?”

    Do, not did. 

“Was he a Central knight?”

    Dream barely looked like he was breathing. 

“Western.”

“I don’t think so. Maybe, but I—”

    Sam cut himself off. Watching his squire like the boy was about to run himself straight out of the palace and hide for the rest of his life. 

“Dream?...”

“I’m sorry.”

    He kept his movements slow. Shifting himself around the desk so that he could help him. He had the feeling Dream wasn’t seeing him anymore. 

“Kiddo, you’re okay. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

    He didn’t answer. Sam tried to reach for him. To check on him. Dream only flinched like he’d been burned. His hands coming up and holding the mask close to his face. 

“Please don’t take it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please—”

    His heart pulled in his chest. 

“I’m not taking it, Dream. No one will take it.”

    He was still missing something. Something huge. 

“I’m sorry.”

    Sam crushed everything else in his heart that wanted information now. He had to worry more about the boy in front of him. About the way he was shaking like a leaf in wind. About how he was rasping and wheezing. How pale his skin had turned. 

“It’s okay, Dream.” He needed rest. “Why don’t you head to bed?”

    He didn’t want to order him. He didn’t want to scare him more. But Dream only nodded. 

    Sam forced himself to watch as his squire left. 

Chapter Text

    The pressure of his elbows digging into his knees was going to turn his legs numb. Lucas had found himself in this position more than enough times to know that already for a fact. He’d stayed awake talking with James for a while. Talking with all of his counterparts. Trying to let them know what happened in the East to the best that he could and explaining what they all wanted their next steps to be in figuring out who was responsible. 

    James had fallen asleep on him. His stomach remaining unsettled and his nerves still feeling like they were frayed and burning along his skin. Elaina had offered to take James while he took care of himself. Edward had helped him walk to the restroom. He’d come back to nearly collapse to the couch and watch his near sister cradle and hold his son. James adored his aunts. Elaina and Genevieve the most. He had his head tucked against her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her waist. He was clinging but he was sleeping soundly. 

    He looked relaxed. 

    Lucas could not share in that feeling. His Stars still rattling through his thoughts. He had set them onto a war path and now they were chanting at him that something was going wrong. That it all focused and came back to the young squire of Central’s Prince. 

“Lucas?”

    The nudge came from beside him. Gentle and comforting as Ethan settled himself beside him. 

“Don’t ask it.”

    He knew that Ethan was going to regardless. He knew that his brother was going to be checking to see if he was okay even though the both of them knew the answer at the moment. They knew how he was faring. They knew that it wasn’t well. He took a breath to attempt to steady himself. 

“I’m not poisoned.”

    He could tell by his brother’s expression that Ethan didn’t believe him. 

“If I had Star Poisoning like you think I likely wouldn’t be awake or able to move.”

    He’d had it once, back when the two of them were fighting wars every single day for years at a time. When he had no other choice but to handle the weight of his powers and force himself to keep going so that their soldiers would be able to live and make it back to their homes. He’d been so out of it that he’d been bedridden for a week. Unable to touch against his Stars without a searing pain rushing through him. 

“I believe your mother taught us both that there’s different kinds of poison when it comes to the Stars.”

    Lucas could only hum. He remembered the lectures. He remembered hearing time and time again how the Stars could be and how dangerous they were if they were handled incorrectly. Still, Lucas gave Ethan a look. 

“I’m not poisoned.”

“You were bleeding from the nose. That is the first sign of—”

“It also is a sign of short term overload, which you saw the violence of what happened. That’s all it was.”

    He watched James sleeping soundly on Elaina’s shoulder. He frowned with the thought of how similar his little boy was to him. How close James was with the Stars that he couldn’t distinguish the voices yet. Like he was hesitating to take access of his powers. Lucas knew that he’d picked up on the same things that he had been seeing. He knew that it had hurt him and that James had struggled because of it. 

    In flashes, he could see what it might look like in their future. James bleeding from the nose and the signs of poison merging against the signs of violence from the force of his warnings. He would need to teach him to control it sooner than later. If he didn’t then his son would actually be poisoned. He’d endure it while thinking it was poison for longer than he should. He’d miss the actual signs and he would hurt himself. He would die. 

“What’s been bothering you?”

    There was a note of seriousness in Ethan’s voice. A tone shift that lowered his voice to something only the two of them would be able to hear. Elaina and Percy were too invested in their own conversation on the other side of the room. Edward was checking on their children to make sure the lot of them weren’t getting into trouble. 

    He knew that there was no pint in lying or hiding from Ethan. He could read him better than anyone else in the world now. He could read him like it was as easy a nature as breathing. They both could. It was the fact of what happened when spending all of their lives together. 

    Lucas kept his voice low. 

“George’s knight.”

    He bit into the inside of his cheek when he watched Ethan shift uncomfortably in the corner of his eye. 

“Dream? Why?”

    That was just the thing. 

“I keep seeing him fight. I can’t make sense of it in my head.”

    James had said that he saw them all older. He said that he was seeing things from later. He had seen his son and heard the anger in his voice against George. He had seen Francis and Dream fighting against each other. He had seen what certainly looked like a war between Central and East. 

“Who is he fighting against?”

    Lucas swallowed. The image of the axe that played on loop through his thoughts. The image of his anger through the mask. Of him standing with the Mother Nations. 

“It couldn’t happen. It’s not possible.”

    He couldn’t imagine a situation that could possibly drive them to that point. 

“Lucas—”

“He’s fighting the East. Francis. I see him fighting Francis. I see James and I hear him turned against George. I see Dream with the Mother Nations beside him. I see George bleeding and you,” he couldn’t finish. Ethan seemed to understand him all the same. 

“He’s a sickly eight year old boy.”

“Not in what I see.”

    Whatever this was it was something that Dream would grow into. It was something that was coming for their future. Even as he felt the rolling through him that something was dangerously wrong now.

“They’re all older. All of them. I…I haven’t seen myself. James was wearing my crown.”

    He let the words settle between them. He let Ethan take it in. The puzzlement more than evident on his face. 

“James said he saw them all when they were older.”

    All Lucas could do was nod. He needed to talk to his boy about what exactly he had seen. He needed to know if it was fully the same thing or if it was different. He had to figure out what the Stars were trying to do to the both of them. How it was trying to break them apart. 

“Have the Stars said anything about how to prevent it?”

    Lucas swallowed what tasted like bile. 

“They said to die. Me or,” he couldn’t bring himself to say the name of an innocent child. “I don’t know. They didn’t give me much around that.”

“And those are the warnings that have been hurting you?”

“There’s something more going on here than what we know about. Something has the Stars on edge.”

    He shifted again like he could ease them. Like they were something he could physically adjust against his body and be able to relax a little easier. He knew that wasn’t the way it worked. That the Stars would only grow more irritated the longer he tried to let them be. 

“What if they meant you?”

    Ethan sounded scared. Lucas felt like he could not breathe. 

“What?”

“Everything that happened, how the Stars have been reacting to you since the attack. What if the Stars meant you?”

    James wearing the crown of the King. He knew the Eastern custom to choose a Lead for each ruler. That they choose their knight when the crown is laid to their head and they work together until one or both of them die. It was entirely possible that James would have chosen a knight his age for that purpose if he’d become King. He’d chosen Francis from a line already once before, he might have done it then too. 

    He might have—

    All of it—

“Why would Central and East be fighting? Why would James and George be trying to murder each other? Why would Dream—”

“I don’t know.”

    His blood felt too hot. He could feel it pulsing around his body in waves. Sweat starting to break along his skin to ease the fire in his veins. He couldn’t breathe like this or he was going to be sick. He couldn’t stay here. He had to go. He needed to move. He couldn’t do this. 

“I need air.”

    He was pushing up before Ethan could say anything else. 

“I’m going for a walk. I need to calm the Stars.”

    He knew that Ethan would see it. His brother would see the push and pressure the Stars were giving to him. He would understand what he needed right now was to be left alone so that he could take care of it. So that he would be able to calm himself down and relax again into what he was meant to be saying and doing. 

“Come back?”

    Lucas nodded. 

“Until we’re old, decrepit, and gray.”

    Lucas held onto the sight of Ethan’s smile as he moved into the halls. Walking blindly around to try to give his mind the time to think through the possibilities of everything. He hadn’t considered the potential that they had broken away from something else. He was guilty of it but Lucas often forgot about the impact of the other faiths against each other. He knew that they all tied into one another. He knew that Central’s Pantheon connected to the creation of the Stars. That all faiths of the Compass connected to it. He knew the Gods that controlled things but he hadn’t considered that there would be something to this degree. 

    That he was meant to die. 

    The Stars showed him their worry. They weren’t fond of the thought of it. Of having him join into their fold too soon. He could hear the swirling of them in his head. He could feel them still trying to urge him. That there was a problem. 

    But James was safe. Alarm would have been sounded if the others were hurt in any way. There was no attack on Central. Things were fine. They were all fine. If there was a fight in the East right now he wouldn’t know about it until the end of the day at the earliest. He wouldn’t know until it was too late and there was nothing he would be able to do to help. 

    That was part of his bind to the Stars. He’d given them the command when his mother was teaching him how to handle them. That they were not to push him to fix something he could not impact. That they would only give him the chance if he could change it. 

    He couldn’t figure out why they were trying to show him a world where he had died. He had no chance to save that. He had no way to correct that. Unless he was able to contact into that timeline, maybe help his son. He didn’t know why they would show him. Why they would hurt him with it. 

    What they were trying to make him understand. 

    He heard laughter down the halls. A group of boys sneering and spitting insults. He could imagine them being cruel to each other. He could imagine any number of things. He’d seen it. He knew that even in a palace this sort of thing was relatively normal. Especially ith new recruits who were still being weeded out on who was capable of becoming a knight of character and who was not. 

    He was about to walk past. The Stars in his blood seared through him. Shouting loudly and begging for him to turn. 

    Begging for him to help. 

    He followed. Obeying their wishes to see what was happening. Turning around the corner to see a group of five squires standing around the wall. They were huddled around something. It wasn’t until Lucas looked to the floor and saw the crumpled and curled form of a body defending against kicks that he realized what they were doing. 

    The laughs. The sneers. 

    Lucas heard sharp coughing. Gagging and choking. Pained and strained. He saw the flash of a mask between their legs. The sound of a half strangled gasp. 

“Stand down!”

    His voice carried all the weight of a King. Lucas watched them freeze where they stood. Turning to look at him and he saw fear in their eyes as they realized who he was. 

    Good.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

    Dream was folded on himself on the ground. His arms were wrapped around himself. His breathing was terrible. He was too hurt for this. He could have broken ribs. A punctured lung. Internal bleeding. He could be dying. 

    The Stars rallied in defense against the thought. 

“He’s not fit for the Prince, Majesty.”

    The one that looked like the leader. Trying to make an excuse. 

“The prince doesn’t like him. We were just trying to do him a favor—-”

“A favor?” Lucas let his fury show open through his words and his eyes. “Would it be a favor to murder a fellow knight? Would it be a favor to murder the knight that your Prince hand chose? Would it be a favor for you to kill another human being because you did not like him?”

    He watched them flounder for words. He didn’t let up. 

“Would your King and Queen agree with you?”

    The fear in their faces doubled. 

“Would they agree that you should kill a fellow squire because he was better than you?”

    There was protective rage welled through his heart. He couldn’t even place why. He could feel that it was aided by the Stars but he couldn’t make sense of it. 

“All of you, find your Queen. Now. Report to her and tell her exactly what you did. Then tell her to find me in the infirmary. If I discover any of you lied I will personally be hunting for your justice. Do I make myself clear.”

    He did not ask it. He demanded it. He watched them all nod. He watched them nearly run to escape him. 

    Only when they were gone around the corner did Lucas look back to the floor. To where the small new squire was pushing himself against the wall. Curled into a ball like he was trying to make himself disappear. He was wheezing. Short, shallow, gasps that were too frail to be healthy. Lucas knelt down to him. Trying to look him over for wounds as best as he could. 

“I’m sorry, Majesty.”

    Lucas paused. 

“Sorry?” Dream was being beaten. The boy had nothing to be sorry for. “Dream, you—”

“I will do better, next time. I swear. Please don’t dismiss me.”

    His voice was wrong. He sounded terrified. Like he was going to be punished. Like he would rather be punished than be dismissed. Like whatever was on the other side of his enlistment was something far worse than a beating to death here. The Stars prickled at it. All of them trying to wrap around the boy in front of him. The way he was nursing himself on the floor. How he looked even from behind the mask. There was so much that Lucas didn’t understand. 

    One of the largest being why the Stars cared. Why they only began showing him the supposed other world after he saw Dream and Francis fight. After he saw Dream working through everything he might one day grow to do. He saw this boy against his family. He saw this boy responsible for so much death. He saw him standing with the Mother Nations. 

    But right now he was a scared child. Right now he was ill and hurting and alone. 

    Lucas could not let him be alone. 

“You won’t be dismissed. Let me get you to the infirmary.”

    Dream shook his head even as he coughed. More protesting leaving his mouth in a hurry like he was trying to be able to defend himself from the danger that lurked on the other side. Like the infirmary was a place where people went to die rather than to heal. 

    It was like he’d already seen war. Like he already knew too much. 

“I can’t go. Please don’t make me go.”

    He frowned at him. 

“Why?”

    Dream curled into an even smaller ball. Trying to protect himself even though Lucas didn’t know what he was trying to guard from. 

    If it was him. If it was something else. 

“They’ll be mad.”

    His stomach twisted uncomfortably. 

    He couldn’t imagine that Ethan or Genevieve would be mad at the boy. He couldn’t see Sir Sam being upset with him either. What he’d walked in on was nothing short of an assault and he was going to state as much. What happened to Dream was in no way the boy’s fault. 

    He had seen images of the boy grown into a man. Killing his own people and slaughtering alongside the enemy. He had seen too many things. He’d seen awful things. 

    He still knew that the Stars wanted him here right now. They wanted him to be with this child. To defend him. To protect him. 

    Dream meant something. He couldn’t figure out why. 

    If his future was hung in the way he was treated here then. 

    Then it would make sense to betray. If Central’s knights would never accept him. If he was pushed and pushed until violence was his only safety. Until he betrayed because there was no reason to be loyal to the Compass. 

    The Stars yelled that he was wrong. 

    Lucas didn’t know what else it might be. 

“You’re hurt. If you won’t go to the infirmary, would you let me heal you?”

    He could take the wounds onto himself. Use that to show Ethan and Genevieve. He would be able to protect Dream’s identity as well if he had to. 

    He waited until Dream nodded. Then, and only fully then, did Lucas take in the sight of his body. How he was curled in over himself. How he was shifted and how he was breathing. The stiffness of his shoulders. The sound of his breaths. Lucas hesitated. 

    The East prided themselves on their potion making and medical advancement. They had countless hospitals and trials that tried to advance the way they could heal and save people. It also meant that Lucas had seen dead and dying and wounded people for his entire life. He had visited the hospitals since he was a young Prince. He’d seen soldiers that died in the field. He knew what a body could and could not take. He knew what the limits were. 

    Dream was beyond that. 

    Dream should not be moving. He should not be able to speak. He should be half dead if he was looking at him correctly. 

“Please don’t tell?”

    Fear. So much fear. Lucas nodded. Reaching a hand toward the boy and waiting for Dream to place his hand into his palm. To hold a leash upon his Stars and heal the boy without hurting him. He’d learned the hard way through Ethan that healing too quickly with his Stars on someone without them could burn them up. The boy was sick already. He did not need an additional fever. 

    Only the moment he began to work. He felt the Stars clamber. He felt them surge. 

    Lucas looked at the presence of the world. At the energy that surrounded him. 

    Dream looked too bright. The revelation hitting him as if he was struck by lightning. 

    The protectiveness. The focus. The attention that had been given to a regular boy. 

    Dream had Stars. 

Chapter Text

    Lucas paced the hall in front of the infirmary. He had made sure Dream made it back to his room. He had the bruises and aches settling now on his own body and his rage at the other squires grew more each moment he was on his own. He could think of the hits that Dream had taken. The way the boy had moved it all off like it didn’t matter nearly as much as it did. 

    He knew what the Stars had been saying. All the signs of what he would grow into. He healed him all the same. The boy was just a child. 

    There was more wrong with him than just the beatings. 

    Lucas bit his tongue hard enough the tip began to turn numb. Anger pooling in his stomach as he rolled it all over again in his head. There was no reason for the others to attack Dream. None. There was nothing that was honorable for a knight to attack someone smaller and weaker. Dream had no combat training. Dream was just recently made into a squire. He was still learning the palace. He was learning everything. 

    He was a child. 

“Lucas?”

    Genevieve was walking fast to him. Concern on her face and anger dwelling in her eyes. He could see it clear as he could see the warnings that showed him Francis and Dream with their blades interlocked. 

“Gen.”

    The moment she was with him she was looking him all over. Checking him up and down. 

“What—”

“Did the squires find you?”

    Her eyes darkened. She nodded. 

“Did they tell you what happened?”

“They said that they were attacking another knight. That they were wrong and they apologized. They said you caught them and ordered them to come to me.”

    He glowered. 

“What? Who were they attacking? What happened?”

    Dream had asked for him not to tell. Dream had practically begged him but the reason he’d done so was because he was afraid he would be dismissed. He was afraid he would be punished for something that was beyond his control. That he had no fault at. 

“I said I wouldn’t tell.”

“Lucas.”

    She needed the information. The only way that she would be able to help was if she knew what happened. He would have to tell Ethan. He would have to tell at least them. If Dream wouldn’t let him tell anyone else. 

    But still.

“I took care of it.”

    His words were stiff, even to his own ears. Rolling up his sleeves, Lucas showed the bruising. He pulled the hem of his shirt to show how they painted up and over his side. How they smeared along his ribs. All the dark purples and greens and reds and yellows. 

“Oh my god. They didn’t— Not you, they wouldn’t have been able to. What—”

    Lucas huffed. He dropped his shirt back down. 

“They didn’t attack me.” He would confirm for her that much. “I found them. I sent the culprits to you. I healed the one they assaulted.”

“Lucas,” her eyes were serious, “tell me who it was.”

“Gen, they—”

    Ethan rounded the corner. Flushed in the face and running to them only to barely come to a sliding stop with them. Lucas still reached a hand out to brace him. To steady him. He saw Genevieve do the same. 

“What happened?”

    They were standing in front of the infirmary doors. He supposed they didn’t exactly paint the best of images right now. Still, he saw Ethan’s hands ghosting over Genevieve. He watched him fret and check her. 

“Are you okay?”

    His eyes moved back to him. Lucas raised an eyebrow and lifted his shirt. Showing him the bruising in the same way he’d done for Central’s Queen. Ethan’s eyes went wide before narrowing in the way they used to in their war tents. When the death counts were climbing too high and they knew they had to take risk if they wanted to see victory on their fronts. 

“Who.”

    Not an ask. A demand. Genevieve looped her arm around her husband’s. A way to physically hold him back even though none of the three of them were in any danger from him here. 

“How did you know where to find us?”

    He would start with the basics. 

“One of the knights was taking some squires around the rooms. They said there was a noble that wanted to see them, I didn’t ask who. They were crying. I tried to figure out why and then the knight told me that they’d said you were going to the infirmary. I just—”

    He’d thought his wife was in danger. 

    Genevieve leaned forward to him. Leaning her weight against him. 

“I’m fine, Heart.”

“If you weren’t, I don’t know what I would have done.”

    Lucas smiled at them. Seeing Ethan fall in love and be happy had been one of the best things he’d gotten to witness. He’d been suffering for so long. He’d been hurting and angry and scared and sad and had no where to put it. All of his fury that he channeled into his blade. Ethan had nearly locked away his heart. Only allowing himself to feel for the ones that were already inside of it. 

    Genevieve was the one that convinced him to pull those walls down. She was the one that had convinced him to love again. 

    Even though, as he well remembered, she’d done it without knowing and while holding a blade against him. 

    It always made him think of his own story of how he fell for Isabelle. How his Brightest had shone to him. How she had threatened him. How they had bled together. 

    The point of a blade. The right of romance for the heirs of the Compass, he supposed. 

“What happened? Lucas? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. The Stars are working their magic. I hardly feel it.”

“But it’s on you.”

“But I’m fine, Ethan.”

    Genevieve didn’t take her eyes off him. 

“Those crying squires are crying because of me. Lucas caught them assaulting another squire. Those wounds are the wounds that he took off the victim and he’s now refusing to tell me who it was.”

    He sighed. Ethan had bristled in the same moments. 

“Lucas—”

“I was asked not to tell, Ethan.”

    His brother didn’t break eye contact from him once. 

“Why?”

“Because they were afraid they would be dismissed.”

    Ethan and Genevieve both frowned.

“Why would we dismiss someone for being attacked? Squire or not that’s not their fault.”

    Lucas rubbed one of the bruises. 

“I know. I tried to explain that but he didn’t listen.”

“So the squire is a he.”

    Lucas could see Genevieve running through a mental list of who it might be that was hiding from them now. 

“Someone in the new set if they were worried to be dismissed so quickly. Someone who would have reason to believe we’d be upset if they were hurt.”

    The silence lasted between them only for seconds. Lucas felt the change in energy the moment Ethan put it together in his head. His brother swiveling back on him with his shoulders squared like he was going to march on a war front. 

“They were attacking Dream?”

    Well, he supposed he hadn’t told. He never said that he wouldn’t confirm. 

“He really did not want me to tell you. Or anyone. I had to take his wounds because he wouldn’t let me get him to the infirmary. He wouldn’t let himself be tended. He was terrified.”

    There was something odd now in Ethan’s eyes. Something that Lucas couldn’t fully place. 

“You found Dream being beaten?”

    Lucas nodded. He could see the thoughts swimming in his brother’s head. 

“There’s more; that I learned.” Both of them gave him the silence to continue. “When I went to heal him, Dream has Stars.”

    It was better to pull the bandage fast than to pull it slow. Genevieve’s eyes went wide. Ethan’s eyebrows nearly shot to his hairline. He kept going before the questions could start. 

“I know. The warnings from the Stars, they were showing me things about him. Now I guess I know why.”

    Dream had Eastern blood. 

“Who are his parents? What is his background?”

    He was a child. He might not be a threat now but that didn’t mean that his parents weren’t involved in everything else that was happening. That didn’t mean that they were not threats. That they would not turn Dream into a threat. 

“We don’t have much. We would have to ask him. Get the information from him.”

    And if they did that they would be proving that they knew what happened. Lucas would lose all ground with the boy and any trust Dream might have for the leaders of the Compass would be shattered. If they were going to stop him from turning on all of them then they had to play this carefully. They had to play this right. 

“We could have a meeting just to get to know him.”

    Lucas was already shaking his head. 

“The boy is scared. Something has him terrified of being dismissed.”

    Ethan frowned at him. 

“He’s got all the makings of a knight. You didn’t see his trial, he was impressive. All things considered I think he has the makings to be one of the best of us.”

    Lucas remembered the things he’d seen. All that had tormented him. The visions of seeing Dream as an adult and fighting against an Eastern army nearly alone. The axe that swung heavy and hard in his grip. How diligent he was with everything. The fighting. The killing. All of the violence that would come. 

    Dream would be one of the best. That was what made him so dangerous. 

“We should keep an eye on him.”

    Genevieve gave them both a sigh. 

“Lucas, you can’t be meaning he’s a threat.”

“I know what I’ve seen. I just don’t know what it means. He’s sick.”

    They knew that. He knew that they both already knew that. 

“I have concerns. That’s all. I don’t want to break his trust. Not if it means—”

“Him turning on the Compass?”

    Genevieve stared at them. 

“What?” Her brows drew together. “Is that what your warnings were? Should we allow him to stay with George? If he’s a threat then what if we—”

“Genevieve,” Ethan held her arms, “he’s not a threat. Not yet, at least. Lucas says everything he’s seen is from Dream when he’s an adult. He’s just a boy.”

    Lucas couldn’t say he would be thinking any different. He knew the danger that was here. He just also knew there was still a chance. The Stars wouldn’t show him if there wasn’t a chance. 

“We’ll find a way to figure it out. For now we should keep this between ourselves.”

    Ethan gave him a look. The one that always meant he wanted to shake him into a different thought. 

“Lucas,” he started. 

“I told him I would keep it secret. That I wouldn’t tell. You two figured it out. Now you’re stuck with me.”

    Ethan huffed. A sigh that he stared him down. 

“I don’t agree with this.”

“You don’t have to. You’re already going to follow along.”

    He grinned to his friend. He held his hand out to him. Ethan dropped his head just before he took it. 

“Counterparts to the end.”

Chapter Text

    Dream stayed as still as he could in his barracks room. Knees curled to his chest and arms curled tight around his middle. He’d learned a long time ago not to have his arms around his legs. He could drag himself if his legs got broken. He couldn’t if he broke all his limbs. 

    Dream had made rules. It was the only way for him to survive. Necessary and something that he knew he didn’t have a choice for. 

    Rule three, the crown was held above all else. Taught to him by his father. In lessons that were beaten into his skin to ensure they proved their point. His dad had taught him time and time again that there was nothing more important than the ability to serve. The duty of a knight. For every story that his mother would tell to him there was another from his father. For every good deed she told him about knighthood, his father had one for brutality. Despite the knight armor he still had. Despite the polished condition it was kept in. Dream was beaten to know his place. In the ground. In the dirt. In the basement surrounded by mold. 

    Even thinking of it now made his lungs ache. 

    Rule two, there was no such thing as monsters. Humans were monsters. His mother had been a teacher. Traveling all around the Compass Kingdoms until she’d decided to settle her way down. She told him so many stories while he’d been curled up in her lap. She’d told him about creatures and myths and the faiths around the Compass. She’d taught him the details of so much and left him all of her books when she died. It was the one way he had to hold onto her. He’d read them when his father wasn’t home. When he could smuggle the books to his grip without the risk of them being destroyed. It helped, he thought. To keep her memory alive. Even if he knew that the things he was reading weren’t real. Even if when his father came home he knew he was facing the only monster humans could ever truly face. 

    Themselves. 

    Rule number one, there was no such thing as magic. 

    Dream had learned not to put his trust into the magical or the mystical. He had learned when he was four and all the life and magic of the world that his mother had taught him died with her. He was aware of what horror the world actually held and he knew that it wasn’t the same as the things he learned about in stories from his mom. He loved her. He missed her. He knew that she was wrong all the same. 

    And yet still, he couldn’t find another way to explain what happened to him now in the hall. The Eastern King that had knelt in front of him and took the pain away. All the bruising that had bloomed and blossomed all over his body that he knew he was going to have to figure out and hide before he would get in trouble for causing a fight. All of the marks vanished and the pain that went with them as well. 

    He’d heard stories, from his mom and from others, about the magic of the East. The powers that the people there held. Dream didn’t believe in it. He might have. No, he had, when he was younger. When he didn’t know any better. But despite the fact that he was still young, Dream knew more. 

    He knew that Sam knew. He knew that his knight had caught on to something with him. Dream had to be careful. He had to be smart. If he did too much or if he broke the normality of what was expected of him then Sam would send him right back to his father and Dream wasn’t going to be able to stomach that. He wouldn’t be able to handle it. To survive it. 

    He knew why he enlisted to be  a knight. He knew the reason he’d ended up here. 

    He wasn’t supposed to make it here. 

    Dream didn’t like it. He didn’t know what he was meant to be doing with himself. He didn’t know if he could trust the other King and while he knew that the crown was above everything else, he was scared. He was scared he would be dismissed. Scared that he would fail. Scared of everything. Dream didn’t want to be scared. 

    He wasn’t sure what made him finally move. He wasn’t sure what made him finally do the things that rattled in his brain. To move his limbs and get out of the room and back into the hall. To walk with the nerves that were burning in him. He couldn’t figure out what happened to him. He couldn’t put it together. Not in any way that made sense to him and that was making everything much worse than he knew it should be. He had to be better than this. 

    If his father was here he would be enforcing that. Dream was waiting for Sam to do the same but so far he hadn’t. Maybe because he was too young by Central’s standards? Maybe his knight had already written him off as a lost cause?

    He allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts. Stuck in a loop in his own head and Dream didn’t notice the sound of footsteps into he was walking into the person that was making them. He almost fell. The hand on his shoulder held him his balance. Dream looked up only to come face to face with the Eastern advisor he’d seen earlier. The man raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Are you alright?”

    A knight wasn’t supposed to be anything but. If they weren’t able to be used they would be sent away. It was the worst thing for any of them. 

“Yes, Sir.”

    The man didn’t look away. 

“You’re the squire that guarded my Prince earlier.”

    Something in the way he said it made Dream want to run. It sounded like a threat. Like he’d done something wrong. 

“Yes, Sir.”

    The hand was still on his shoulder. It held him in place. 

“I want to thank you for that. For getting him to his father. Come, let’s have a talk.”

    He shouldn’t go. Dream could feel it. Something was wrong with this and he shouldn’t go with him. But this man was higher ranked. This man was close with the King. There was nothing that he could say or do that would get him out of this if he pushed for it and that made everything worse. He was stuck again. He was helpless again. He was meant to be so much more and he couldn’t even do this. 

“I shouldn’t.”

    The grip on his shoulder was starting to hurt. He tried to pull away and he couldn’t. There was something odd on the man’s face. Something Dream didn’t know how to understand. He was supposed to be in his room. He wasn’t supposed to be out. 

“My knight—”

“I’m higher ranked than your knight.”

“But Sir, I’m not supposed to—”

“Nonsense. It’s just a talk between allies. A compliment to your work.”

    The grip on his shoulder was too tight. 

    And the man forced Dream to walk. 

Chapter Text

    Dream let the advisor lead him through the halls until they were settled into a small meeting room. He was trying to remember which turns were made but even in his thoughts he was confusing himself. This palace was bigger than anything he’d ever seen in his life and everything on the barracks floor looked the same to him. 

    The walk was done in silence. Something even worse when he was trying to think of a way to get out of this. He wanted to yell for help. He wanted to escape. He wanted to be safe even though Dream knew that wasn’t an option for him now. Not when he was trapped. There was no real reason to yell for help. There was only going to be an issue if he offended someone so close to a crown. 

    Dream knew he was supposed to be the knight of a Prince. He was supposed to be close to the crown. But his crown hated him and if he did anything wrong now they would dismiss him and send him back to his father and he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t let it happen. 

“Come, sit down.”

    The fireplace flickered into the room like a warning. The couch was against the wall. It was close to the door. Where he was being gestured to sit would put the man between him and the door. If he sat on the other side it would be taken as rude. If he didn’t sit at all it would be taken as an offense. 

    He couldn’t escape. 

“Young Squire Dream, is that correct? That is your name?”

    The couch was comfortable but Dream still felt anything but. He held himself still despite the nod he gave to respond. 

“A quiet one.” A moment of silence. “I read your file.”

    His blood turned cold. There were times in his life where he’d wondered if it was worth it to wear his mask like he did. In this moment now he was glad for it. Glad that it hid the fear from his expression. Glad that he was kept secret from the man beside him. 

    He felt like it didn’t matter. 

    The man laughed. 

“Are you surprised that I got it? I am an Advisor of the Eastern Crown. I have access to what I require, especially a new squire who is self assigning himself to my Prince.”

    There was an edge in his voice. Dream wanted to argue back. If he was at home he might have. If it was his father that was beside him then he might have. He might have argued that he hadn’t self assigned himself to anything, he was doing what was right. He was doing what needed to be done. He was defending someone who shouldn’t be going alone. 

    The bad feeling that he’d followed with his knight was back. 

    He wondered if his knight could feel it. If he would come looking for him. If he would find him and save him from this. 

“I learned some things through that file, Dream.”

    His heart thud heavy in his chest. 

“Would you like to know what I learned?”

    He couldn’t find his voice. If this man could get into his file and read it all then he would be able to have him dismissed. If he did anything right now then his life was over. He’d wanted that. Not long ago, he had wanted that. But now?

    Sir Sam seemed nice.

“I know that you are from one of Central’s border towns in the West. Hardly something to mark well on a map. Close to the corner of the Northern border. You marked that you were born here in Central but that your parents were not. Where were they born?”

“My mom was from the North, my dad from the West.”

    Answer the questions. Give nothing else. It would get him out of this faster. He wanted out of this faster. 

“How interesting.”

    The man leaned back in the seat. Watching him. He was always watching him. Dream could feel his eyes on him like fire too close to his skin. It reminded him of when his father once held him to the fireplace when he complained that the basement was too cold. The damp stone had been a comfort against his too pink and hot skin when he was pushed back down. 

“I want to tell you a story, Dream.”

    He didn’t want to hear it. 

    He didn’t have a choice. 

“My wife was a quiet one, like you are now. She was from the North, like your mother.” There was a tone in his voice. Something that Dream had learned from the last four years being sold out for work by his father. It was the tone of an insult. “She left with our only child years ago. Both of them determined to see the world instead of staying in the comforts of the East.”

    He didn’t see the point of this. The man held his eyes on him. 

“She would say that I had two marriages. One to her and one to my work. Being an Advisor of the crown is more difficult than you may think. Have you met any of Central’s Advisors yet?”

    Dream shook his head. The feeling of wrongness only grew. 

“When you do, remember that they will always have more say than you. The Compass was founded by knights, yes. They say that knights still matter as equals to the royals, of course. That is not true. There is a difference in class between what you are and what nobility are. The North understands that best, in the Compass.”

    All he could do was nod. 

    The hand came back to his shoulder. Just as tight as before. 

“I am telling you this so that you can become a better knight. You have been assigned directly to a royal. That is an important job, however you are not an Advisor. You do not make the choices for a royal. You do not deviate from nobility. You are to do as you are told.”

    His mouth felt dry. He wanted to cough. He could feel the itch in his lungs. He forced himself to breathe less until he could get out of this. 

    The man sighed. His eyes finally turning back to the fire on the other side of the room and taking it in. 

“I am trying to help you because I saw something in you, Dream.”

    He’d learned years ago that those words never meant anything good. 

“I could smell it in you the moment you attempted to defend my Prince from me.” His muscles hurt from holding himself so still. “I am going to tell you another story.”

    His heart was beating too fast. 

    The man continued on. 

“My daughter, she resented how I worked through politics to become an advisor of the crown.”

    Dream listened. Watching the man beside him and trying to swallow the buzz he felt in him that was telling him to run. Being alone with his father for so long had taught him enough on how to recognize certain traits of people. To know when they were going to hurt him and when they were going to do something bad.

“She loved the knights when she was a little girl. She would come with me to the palace when she was younger.”

    He remembered being told stories of knights when he was little. Tales that stretched far and wide with magic and mystical parts. He remembered clinging to his mom as she would teach him everything about heroes and monsters in the world. How he’d laughed with her. How much he had loved the idea of knights because of her. Someone to keep them safe. Someone to defend the world from everything bad. 

    He wondered if it was everyone. If it was every kid that found something good out of knights. 

“She became a teacher, when she was older. Grew up to move around different Kingdoms and areas. She grew angry with me the more my work demanded I be at the palace. I was there when King Lucas rose to power. I was younger, I wasn’t in the position I am now, but I was there.”

    Dream watched him. 

“Why are you telling me this?”

    It was wrong to question a superior. He knew that. He knew that he shouldn’t be asking but he didn’t want to be here. He wanted to get Sam. This man had been alone with the Eastern Prince. He’d been on the ground when he and Sam found him. Dream didn’t like this. He had the answer for what he’d been saying earlier but these stories now didn’t make sense. 

“You remind me of her.” The look on his face was strange. Dream didn’t move. “My daughter, I mean.”

    He didn’t know what to say. The man kept going. 

“She left the East with her mother, I was trying to build her a better life. She could have had everything. Money, power. Instead she went and married some Western brute who couldn’t even properly fight anymore. A failure.”

    He wanted to leave. He wanted to hide. Whatever it would take to get him as far from this man as he could go. Dream wanted out. 

“A knight is capable of catching into details, Dream. Did you catch what I explained to you just now?”

    His heart was sinking. 

“My wife was from the North, she did not have any ability with the Stars but I have always been strong with them. A strong bloodline. Our daughter had only half of my ability but she would have been able to manage. She could have made herself powerful.”

    He tried to get up. To leave and remove himself from the situation before it could get worse but the hand was back on his shoulder and forcing him down. 

“I have friends in all circles. I know where my daughter went. I know that she told people she was from the North like her mother. That she attempted to erase me.”

    The man’s eyes were on his through the mask. 

“Should you ever have a daughter one day, you would understand that pain.”

“Please let me go.”

    The man’s eyebrows went up. He let go of his arm. 

“You won’t leave.”

    He wanted to. 

    Dream just also knew enough from his father to know that those words were a trap. If he left then something worse would happen. Obedience. He’d talked about obedience of knights earlier. If he played along he could get out and he could find Sam. He could hide in his room where he was supposed to be. There was another bed but it was empty. Sam had other squires. Maybe it would be another squire. If he came back hurt again then he wouldn’t be able to hide it this time. 

“Why?”

    He couldn’t keep the fear out of his voice. 

“Because you know my daughter.”

    He shook his head. 

“No, Sir. I don’t know who—”

“You know your own mother, Dream.”

“No.”

    He barely heard himself talk. Staring at the man in front of him. The danger he knew he was in. He had no connection to the East. He had no ties to an advisor to the crown. He wasn’t anything important. He wasn’t special. 

“I can feel it in the Stars in your blood. The connection between us. My grandchild.”

    He was going to be sick. 

“I know it’s the truth. I know just like I know you are afraid. Are you afraid of me, Dream?”

“Prove it.”

    It was stupid. He shouldn’t be doing this. He shouldn’t be careless like this. But magic wasn’t real and the Stars were the magic of the East. He didn’t have Stars. He didn’t have a bond to the East. He was from Central. His father was a Western knight. His mother was a traveling teacher from the North until she settled here.

    Dream tried to move. He found that he couldn’t. 

“Try to leave.”

    He couldn’t.

“You have weak ability with the Stars. I doubt you could have any control on it. Passive ability would be my assumption. Diluted blood. From your brute of a father.”

    He was terrified. The man’s hand came to set on his neck. A grip there that was putting too much pressure on him. He was watching him. 

“Yes, Dream, I can feel that as well. You need family with you.”

    He wanted to run. He couldn’t move. The man in front of him raised an eyebrow. Letting go of his neck and leaving him to turn lightheaded because of it. He thought he heard something crack. He couldn’t move to check. 

“Did you think I couldn’t feel that? Do you know how Stars work?”

    He couldn’t speak. 

“They are in our blood. Spread throughout our bodies. I can control your Stars. I can do so because we are kin, Dream. Your blood obeys me.”

    The man’s eyes were steady. 

“Lift your arm.”

    His arm lifted. Dream felt tears well in his eyes. 

“Turn your head.”

    He turned. 

“Take off your mask.”

    His hands lifted. He wanted to scream. 

“Stop.”

    He wouldn’t say thank you but he felt it all the same. 

“Your body wants to obey me, Dream. We are a family.”

    He would rather have no family. 

“You obey me. You will listen to me and my direction or I will not give you a choice. It would pain my heart to have to force my only grandson.”

    The word made him want to vomit. 

“But I have lost my daughter and my wife and I will not lose the only part left of them.”

    He tried to flex his fingers and found his body obeying. He was too hot. Heat rushing through him like there was fire in his blood. 

“Your Prince treats you ill. I can make you a Prince.”

    He didn’t want to be a Prince. He wanted to serve. He wanted to be something better. He wanted to be one of the stories his mom told him. He wanted to be like his knight. 

    He wanted to run to Sam. 

“You will tell no one about this.”

    He was shaking. He smelled blood. There was so much pressure in his head it was making him dizzy. 

“If it was known I had family in another nation, I would be frowned upon for clarity in my position. You understand.”

    His heart felt like it was pumping acid instead of blood. 

“Are you tired, Little One?”

    He hadn’t even realized he was swaying. 

    His father would punish him for it. He thought this man would do the same. This man who looked almost nothing like his mother. 

“Your ability with the Stars is passive. Having them all active at once for the first time has likely drained your energy.”

    The man stood. He was headed for the door. He wasn’t looking back. 

“Get some sleep. You have your duties to report to come morning.”

    His body felt like lead. His vision was turning blurry. His chest hurt. 

“Remember what I said about obedience.”

    Dream blinked.

    And the man was gone. 

Chapter Text

    Sam rubbed his hand over his face for what felt like the millionth time of the night. No matter how many times he tried to ease himself the headache still remained. It was his job as the Lead Knight to make sure that everyone and everything in the palace was squared away before he could retire for the night. It was his job to make sure that everyone was safe. That the guard rotations were set. That there would be no problems. 

    He’d done that. 

    He still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong. 

    He’d checked on all of his boys. Zach, Boomer, and Five were all having a sleepover together in the older’s room in the barracks. Even though Boomer had his own bed he had seen the way the blankets were all piled onto Zach’s bed. His oldest squire had offered the shelter so that Dream would have his chance to get settled. 

    Privacy for him and his mask as well until he was able to properly meet his new brothers and bond with all of them enough to trust them with his face. 

    He was glad that his other three seemed to be understanding about everything that was going on. They were all used to squires coming in with their own weight to carry. Especially when they found them as young as Dream was. He knew that Bad had the youngest of the new set. Sapnap was only seven but he seemed happier for the new start. He seemed like he wanted to be here for the new chance. 

    He was lighter than Dream. Happier. More free despite that Sam knew there had to be something more going on in the back of his past. 

    He sighed as he walked through the barracks. Hesitating at Dream’s door before deciding to just wait and listen. 

    Silence. 

    If his squire was getting some well earned sleep he didn’t want to be the one to bother him. He also couldn’t trust that Dream had his mask on. It seemed silly to even consider. The boy most likely took it off when he was resting and if that was the case then there was also a chance that he would have the door barricaded shut for the sake of his safety. Sam didn’t know what the story was behind the mask but he wasn't going to pry for it either. Dream would tell him when he was ready. 

    Sam didn’t want to violate their fragile trust by going in. Even if it was only to check on him or to assure himself that his little one was alright. It was too much of a risk for him right now. 

    He moved along. Walking around a corner and catching sight of his King at the end of the hall. Near the doors of the infirmary but not in there himself. He was rubbing at the back of his neck. A pinch between his brows that Sam had long since learned to read. 

“Headache?”

    Ethan looked at him. A small roll of his eyes before he was eyeing him up and down. 

“Said the kettle to the pot.” The affection melted off to seriousness far too quickly. “Something wrong?”

    He’d known Ethan for years. His King was a good friend in addition to what they were as royal and knight. He knew that he could trust him and he knew that his crown would hear him out and listen to him. 

    Sam was made into his Lead for a reason. 

“Trying to wind down. My checklist is clear. Everyone is where they need to be and concerns are cleared out.”

“And yet.”

    Ethan didn’t have to say the rest. Sam sighed. Leaning his armored shoulder against the wall as his King settled himself beside him. 

“And yet I still feel like something’s wrong.”

    Ethan nodded. 

“Instinct demanding?”

    Sam returned the favor. Ethan had been a War King until eleven years ago. Fighting and ruthless in the face of the enemies of the Compass. He’d done what he needed to do but he also wore the guilt of it. The impact of it. In the same way that a knight would wear the guilt of their kills and the honor of them as well. 

    King Ethan was crowned and adorned in blue that trailed with a streaking stain of blood. 

“Checklist is clear, so the palace is secure and knights are counted. Staff and people as well?”

    They knew how to walk this through for each other. Sam had raised his squires up for years now and when Ethan became a father the man had asked for help. Their merry band of friends had formed a group for each other to share their advice. Raising their squires and raising their young Prince. 

    They knew how to read each other. They knew how to help. 

“If your knight duties are handled and you’ve confirmed that and the feeling is still there it’s your Father instinct.”

    Sam was already shaking his head. 

“I checked on the boys as well. Fairly certain Five and Boomer are going to smother Zach when he tries to sleep tonight and Five will complain about a sore neck in training tomorrow. Dream’s asleep.”

    He felt the dread in his stomach. 

“So what do you think it is then?”

    All he could offer was a shrug. 

“I don’t know. I feel like I’ve checked everything over about a hundred times.”

“Did you see Dream?”

    Sam went to answer immediately before his brain registered the shift in the tone his friend used. He looked at him a little closer. He was talking to the King of Central, not his friend. 

“No. I didn’t want to barge into his room. Especially not if his mask was off. I want him to trust me not be forced.” His eyes narrowed. “Why? What’s wrong with Dream?”

    It was Ethan’s turn to sigh at him. 

“Nothing is wrong. Not that is any fault of his. It’s come to my attention that some of the other squires may not be happy with him taking up the position he’s in with George.”

    It made sense. The knight’s code was to be selfless but Sam still knew countless knights who were jealous or greedy. He knew what it was part of. Human nature and the competitive nature of knights. They were built for a fight and when there was peace they often had the minds to fight each other. Even when it was something stupid. He’d lost track of the amount of fights he broke up out in the yard over the years. Both as a squire and as a knight. 

    He could understand the concern now that his King was showing. It was a dangerous position to be in and Dream was small, sick, and untrained. 

    That didn’t mean that Sam missed the concern buried in his friend’s eyes. 

“How is George?”

    All shape of the War King Leader standing before him slipped away into the stance of a father weary from a long day of work. 

“Unhappy with me. He’s practically glued to the rest of his Compass. Has James and Parker attached at the hip.”

    He couldn't help but huff a laugh. 

“Isn’t that where the Sun Line is meant to be for each other?"

    Ethan shot him a look. 

“Yes, but they’re clinging.”

“They’re just kids.”

“I know.” A moment. “I know they are. I know they need time and the space to adjust. It’s good for them to rely on one another. I’m glad that they are. But they’re also feeding each other’s nightmares and it’s dangerous for any of them to believe they can’t navigate on their own. Especially George.”

    The roles of the Compass. All of the present heirs were only children. They were all sole heirs for their thrones and while everyone knew that was an important and dangerous place to be, very people understood why in its full degree. They would all \have to follow the rules of the Compass positions when they were older. No matter what they would face or what situations they would encounter. 

    Central was the Compass’ protector. They fought alone against the rest of the world. The East was always there. Always beside them. But there were countless wars that the East aided that they were not officially apart of. It meant navigating politics and meetings and treaties and fronts without the aid of an ally. 

    If George believed he wasn’t able to face danger alone, he would cripple the Compass’ defense. 

“He can still learn. There’s time.”

    He didn’t know that. Especially not with the situation they were all facing now from the East. An attempt on one of them was treated as an attempt against all of them. It was dangerous. And any royal could be targetted or killed. Anyone close to them as well. 

“You aren’t the only father with a bad feeling.”

    Sam tipped his head back to the wall.

“You check on your boy?”

    Ethan rubbed his hand over his chest. A nervous habit he developed over the years. Still one that all of them knew to watch, just in case. 

“Sleeping, finally. He and James are using Parker as their own personal pillow. Hannah and Eret have their wings. Elaina and Percy are watching their door now.”

“I can have knights guard them.”

“I want it to be one of us.” Sam could see his nerves. “After what happened earlier, it would make us feel better to know for certain. We trust you and the other knights, we trust all of our people, but tensions are high and someone is a traitor somewhere and I know what you said earlier about that Advisor.”

    That surprised him. 

“King Lucas said he was a friend. That it wasn’t a lead.”

    His friend sighed. 

“I know. But with Lucas being poisoned and his condition with the Stars I’ve been reading our books about them. One of King Wil’s journals to be more specific.”

    King Wil. Central’s founding King. The man who started it all.

“He wrote everything down about how to care for his East for the medics in case he was killed in the Founding War. He mentioned that Coresol’s old rulers used to be able to control people through the Stars.”

“Coresol is a fallen empire. Their royals are all dead.”

    Ethan stayed quiet. A look in his eyes that was too distant. Enough so that Sam nudged his elbow against his friend’s side. He watched Ethan jump a bit. Sighing again and running a hand down his face. 

“I’m worried.. All of this. Everything that could be going on. I feel like we’re all missing something and I can’t figure out what.”

    All he could do was nod. 

“Instinct telling us to fight and we can’t find the battlefield.” 

    Ethan scoffed. 

“We could spar?”

“So our Queen can chew us both apart? No thank you, she’s only married to you she will kill me if I delay you.”

    Ethan laughed. 

“She would not.”

“Still, we should both try. See if the feeling is still there in the morning and figure out what we’re doing from there.”

    He listened to the long suffering sigh. To Ethan’s acceptance. 

    With quick wishes for good rest, they pulled away from each other. Sam walking back into the hallway grid maze that made up the barracks and catching a small bit of movement from the corner at the other side. 

    Everyone should be in their room by now. In their room or in their station. No one should be roaming. 

    Sam kept his steps light. Moving fast like he was running one of the stealth courses in the yard. Getting to the corner and turning it to expect a fight. Only it wasn’t a fight. 

    It was his squire. 

    From the thick strap of the mask that was showing through the hair at the back of his head. Sam was a moment from calling out when he saw Dream stagger. Swaying and tipping toward the wall before he caught himself. 

“Dream?”

    Sam was moving for him. Closing the gap between them and kneeling down to his height. 

“You okay Kid?”

    Dream didn’t answer. He couldn’t see his expression through the mask. 

    He could be sleepwalking. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened. 

“Lets get you back to bed, yeah?”

    He put a hand to his shoulder. Guiding him step by step and feeling the tremor running through him. The heat as well. 

“Dream,” he wasn’t supposed to wake a sleepwalker, “if you can hear me, I need you to talk to me.”

    Dream didn’t respond. He kept walking. The bad feeling grew worse. 

“I’m going to get you to bed but if you’re awake I need you to tell me. Give me a sign if there’s something wrong.”

    He could see his fingers moving like he was dreaming about doing something. Sam just kept his guiding hand. He kept his squire moving. He just wanted to be sure. He couldn’t shake the feeling. 

    Sam deviated them from their course to the squire’s hall. Leading him instead to Ethan’s favored art hall so they could get to the infirmary. If Dream was really just sleepwalking then he would be able to lay him on a bed there and he would be fine and they could talk about it when he woke up. If it was something else then he would be in the right place to take care of things. 

    Phil was doing night training in the infirmary. Dream would even get the one person who had seen his face. He’d be able to help. 

    The moment they came into the better light of the hall, Sam caught sight of something splattered on the ground by Dream’s foot. 

    A red drop. Followed by another. Splattering on impact but the ground was white. It was easy to mark. 

    Blood. 

    Sam rounded his squire again. Holding firm to his shoulders while Dream staggered again. 

“Ethan!”

    He had to hope that his friend hadn’t gone far. That he was still close enough to hear or that he hadn’t gone to bed and was working in one of these rooms to ease his own instinct. 

    At the sound of a door tearing open, Sam thanked the Gods that he was right. 

“What happened.”

“He’s not responding to me. He’s bleeding but I can’t tell from where. He’s burning up.”

    His King got to them as fast as he could. Both of them looking at Dream and watching his breathing pick up. How his head started shaking no. How his shaking grew worse. 

“Dream—”

“It hurts.” 

    He saw Ethan go to reach for the mask but he shook his own head. Dream was skittish enough as it was. They couldn’t make this worse. Not if he was finally talking to them. 

“What hurts, Kid?”

    Dream swayed. He squeezed his shoulder. 

“Dream?”

“Hot.”

“What’s bleeding?”

    Ethan was ghosting his hands over him. Checking him for wounds and trying to make sure he was safe. 

“Nose, I think.  Mad?”

“No.” He said it too quickly. “No, Dream, we’re not mad. Did something happen?”

    Dream tried to nod. They both watched him sway worse because of it. They both saw him tip too far. His body falling despite their holds and leaving Sam to scramble his boy into his arms. He was burning up now. He wasn’t sweating. He wasn’t responding to him. 

“Ethan—”

“Get him to the infirmary. Sam, those are all signs of Star poisoning.”

    His heart stuttered. 

“He’s not—”

“I know.”

    What Ethan had said. What was in King Wil’s journal. 

    He felt sick.

“We can’t—”

“I need to get Lucas. He can help. He can tell us. Get Dream in there. Make sure we’re wrong.”

    If this was Stars then Dream was dying. 

    He was only eight and he was dying. 

“Hurry.”

“I will.”

    They both stood. Sam heard Ethan starting his move. 

    He heard the draw of a string. Turning back just in time to see a shadow lurking in the dark behind the servant stairs. 

“Ethan!”

    His King jerked as the arrow met its mark. His hands moved to his side. Only for a moment. Sam couldn’t see. 

    Ethan’s sword was out in a moment. 

“Get Dream out of here!”

“Ethan—”

“That’s an order!”

    He heard the fury in his voice. His heart was beating too fast. 

    He could barely feel Dream breathing. 

“I”ll handle this, go!”

    His job as a knight was to protect his royals. His King was just shot. His King was trying to fight. His job was to protect his squire. HIs job was to protect his King. His job—

“Go!”

    Was to follow orders. 

Chapter Text

    Ethan knew well the fear of a father. It was one of the reasons he’d run into the hall as quickly as he did when he heard Sam yell for him. He knew that his Lead wouldn’t have done so without a reason for it and he knew the moment he saw Dream that it was a damn good reason. 

    What he saw in the boy scared him worse. 

    Dream’s nose was bleeding. He was burning up, he was delirious. It could have been something to do with the fact that the boy was sick already but Ethan knew that was his own optimism that was rallying through. He knew that the chance of this truly being nothing were slim to none. That, given the information Lucas had told him, Stars were far more likely. 

    Stars were far more lethal. 

    He gave the order easily enough for Sam to get him to the infirmary. He would be able to track his counterparts and get Lucas back down there to straighten things out. If the threat truly was something that was in the Stars then his brother would be able to figure it out. They would be alright. They would get to the bottom of things. He would be able to save and help Dream. 

    The thought of the squire dying because of an attack made him sick. Dream had already been hurt once inside his palace. He had been saved by Lucas once already and know it was happening again. If it was something to what he was thinking then it wasn’t the jealousy of some other squires. This had to be connected with what happened to Isabelle. 

    Lucas could help. 

    He needed his brother. 

“Ethan!”

    He turned as the arrow released. Forcing his body back with the force of the blow and his hands flashed to his side where the pain exploded like a war bomb. He forced his body to breathe. To stay in the moment. He’d fought wounded before. He was no stranger to working through things that were meant to kill him. This would be no different. 

    His hand was on the hilt of his sword within seconds. 

“Get Dream out of here!”

    The boy could die. He had a timer if this was something with the Stars. If his blood was too hot then he would die and they had to save him before it got to that point. 

“Ethan—”

“That’s an order!”

    Sam couldn’t help him fight. Not with Dream in his arms and right now the squire mattered more than him. Ethan could handle himself in a fight. He knew the measures of war and he knew what he could and couldn’t do. He could see the shadows moving at the end of the hall. It only looked like one person. They were loading the bow again. 

    Sam hadn’t moved. 

“I”ll handle this, go!”

    Sam needed to move. 

“Go!”

    His knight obeyed him. Finally turning and running and Ethan settled himself into the focus of a fight. His side was throbbing. The arrow hadn’t gone through him and that was at least going to help him keep the blood inside while he got through this fight. The shaft was plugging the wound but the pain was still there. 

    Pain was relative. Pain could be dealt with. Pain could be managed. 

    This wasn’t the firs time he would be fighting with a wound and he knew that it wasn’t going to be the last. It was the nature of being Central’s ruler. They were the protectors of the Compass as much as they were the Heart. Right now there was a fight to be had. 

    Right now Ethan held the sword. 

    The arrow bolt launched. Ethan stepped to his right as he moved forward toward the archer. He could practically feel their fear when the arrow rushed past him and thunked into the wall on the far end of the hall behind him. He’d dodged their shot. 

    With how slow they had been to reload the first time he could wager a guess that they wouldn’t be able to make it swiftly this time either. 

    Certainly not with their hands shaking. 

“Surrender.”

    He didn’t want to kill them. Not if he could use them in order to get information about the plot that was being waged against the Compass right now. It would be better for everyone if they could end this swiftly. He didn’t want to drag out the pain. He wanted to prove that his title could actually be meant. 

“I won’t beg you, Marcy King.”

    Each step sent agony through his hip and side. Ethan forced himself not to show it. His focus honing in on the person in the shadows. He held his blade at the ready. 

“You’ve been seen. You’ve shot a King. You are not leaving this palace alive unless I order it so.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

    For the right reasons. Only for the right reasons. He had no issue with killing someone that made themselves into a threat against his family but he hated pointless bloodshed. He hated the waste of lives that war often became. He hated people that treated others as expendable pawns instead of the souls that they were. 

“Surrender. Final chance.”

    He had to end this fight sooner than later. He wasn’t going to make it if they tried to draw this out. He could feel the heat pooling inside of him from the wound. Internal bleeding was lethal and it was swift. He didn’t have the time to be wasting. Not when he risked needing to hold out or get himself to the infirmary if necessary. 

“Surrender.”

    He hated that he could hear a note of pleading in his own voice. 

“Make me.”

    He expected a strike. He hadn’t expected the tackle. For the body to lunge out of the shadows and slam into his ribs and throw him back onto the floor. Ethan rolled to kick. He felt the arrow shaft be grabbed. He felt it twist inside of him. 

    The yell he gave was against his will. Gagging as the shaft snapped and then nothing else existed. Nothing but the fight. Just him and his enemy. 

    His ears felt like they were ringing. Ethan scrambled for purchase against his assassin. Both of them landing blows with their fists and boots. Both of them marking and marring each other. 

    They moved out of the hall. Under the stairs. Crashing through the hidden door for staff. 

    His enemy had his sword. No one but his line should ever have his sword. 

    The assassin wasn’t trained for it. Ethan could tell in the way the grip was faulty. He could see it in the shake of their hands and knees. They weren’t used to the fight and they weren’t trained the whole way. This was someone new. New to the work or combat as a whole he wasn’t sure. He suspected both. 

    This was never a fair fight. 

    The sword lifted and Ethan took his opening. Kicking out at the assassin’s leg and hearing the crunch as his boot snapped their knee back and to the side. Grabbing his sword when it fell from their hand as they tried to catch themself. Ethan didn’t allow the chance to recover. Not even when he saw their fear. 

“Wait!”

“I said to surrender.”

    He flipped his sword in his hand. Bringing the hilt of it town into the assassin’s skull and watching their body drop like it was nothing but a sack of bricks. The stillness that followed was wrong. The silence was worse. 

    His heart thud heavy in his chest. Pushing against his ribs and like a string had been cut Ethan felt everything too strongly all at once. The room came back into focus around him. No longer the blurry image of surrounding and instead sharp and clear. The walls and the wood of the floor. His body was trembling. His lungs burning as he breathed and his heart pushing too strongly. 

    Before he could count his limbs and their response, the room spun. 

    Ethan barely felt his shoulder hit into the wall. His head resting against it and his eyes slipping closed. He used the time to focus on his breathing. To try to get his body back under his control. Before he would go too far and before he lost his grip. He flexed his fingers. Felt the hilt of his sword in his palm and only when he could count the pattern of his heart again did he open his eyes. 

    He blinked more than once in order to clear the blurriness from his sight. 

    His muscles felt stretched. Pulled too far and he knew that it was the fight he went through. He knew that he had done more than what he should have. That it was a risk and a dangerous one for him to be involved the way he’d just been. 

    He still couldn’t catch his breath. Enough so that he knew the needed to get to the infirmary but he wasn’t going to leave the would be assassin alone or else he knew they would escape. That was the way it worked. If he let his guard down at all then they would lose. He’d made it through all the wars. He’d made it through every struggle they needed to face in the past. He could keep going enough to handle one more. He could keep going enough that he could manage this. 

    Even if Ethan already knew the looks on his family’s faces when they would find him. 

    Nearly like a knife through his heart, he realized there might be more than one assassin. 

    They might not all have been as bad a shot as the one now laying on the floor in front of him. He thought about everything that happened to Lucas. The way his brother had stumbled in through Central’s gates with his wife hanging in his arms. How he had been and how he’d needed to explain to James. How all of them had needed to explain to their little ones what was going on. 

    He thought about his son and all of his counterparts laying in a bed together to sleep. How they were all together as one target. He thought about his own counterparts. How easy it would be to get to them when they all used one another as a support. 

    He thought about his wife. How Genevieve would fight to get to him and how that would put her in danger. 

    Ethan couldn’t let her be in danger. 

    He straightened himself up just as he heard the sounds of boots on the ground. Just as the shapes of people rounded into the doorway and Ethan slouched again without even fully registering who it was that was with him now. 

“Took you long enough.”

    The words left him breathless. Panting and shivering and in a moment he realized how cold he had turned. All of the heat of the battle sapping the warmth from his limbs. He shivered. Swallowing hard and then there was blonde hair in front of him and worried blue eyes. 

“Ethan. Look at me.”

    He squinted. Hands were on his face. He thought he felt someone holding his hand and then they were gone. The weight that had been in his hand was gone. 

“I’ve got your sword, E. It’s okay.”

“Ethan. I said look at me.”

    His eyes found Percy in front of him. Another blink and Elaina was there too. 

“Hey there Heart throb. With us?”

    Her nickname for him when they were teenagers and he would complain of all the courting his Advisors were making him do. He tried to laugh. He tried to give them an answer. 

    But there was heat in his throat and he couldn’t breathe. His body refusing to work with him and then his head was against a chest. Arms were around him. He couldn’t feel the floor under his boots. 

“We need to get him to the infirmary.”

    Infirmary. Right. There was an attack. He had fought an assassin. The others could be hurt. Dream was hurt. Genevieve could be hurt. 

“Edward is handling the assassin. Genevieve is checking on everyone else. She shot our sniper before the rest of us even knew they were there.”

    Heat was in his mouth and he was choking. His side was burning out of him. He was scared. 

“Lucas collapsed when he was with his advisors. That’s all I know right now.”

    He needed Lucas. They needed to check on him. Make sure he was safe. They had to—

“Ethan, stay with me. We’re almost there.”

    The ceiling he was watching turned brighter. Through a threshold and there was chaos in every direction. Hands that were on him and he felt a bed beneath his back. Shouts and orders and all of them stopped making sense in his head. 

“Just stay with me, E. Stay with me.”

    Percy was here. His big brother was here. His hand was in his hair. His other was holding his. His eyes were heavy. 

“Stay awake, Ethan. Just stay—”

    But he couldn’t. 

Chapter Text

    Sam couldn’t let go. Not when he’d carried Dream into the infirmary and his squire had fisted his hand into his armor. Holding onto him in a white knuckled grip like he was afraid to be alone in this state. When he could not defend himself. When he was in danger already once and so far Sam knew he was the only one the boy marked as safe. 

    He couldn’t let go of him. Not when they brought him to a curtained stall and Dream whined when he tried. The mask still sheltering his face but Sam could imagine the expression he was making all the same. 

    He couldn’t do it. His King had ordered him here. He was following orders. 

    His heart pumped on the notion that all of this was wrong. 

    As a knight he was sworn to his duty to protect his crowns. In that same notion he was sworn to protect his squires. He had tried, over all the years, he had tried to defend his boys. Dream was new and he needed someone to care about him and with everything they were seeing from him Sam knew that was more urgent than they’d thought before on the first day. 

    They needed help. 

    Almost the moment the thought passed his mind, Lyaria was moving her way into the stall to them. She looked distressed. Her uniform as the palace healer as immaculate as always but there was something more going on. 

“What’s happened?”

    He didn’t even know. But what Ethan had said in the halls was making his stomach churn and Dream was hardly giving responses anymore to him. 

“I don’t know.”

    It would be better for him to be uncertain and get to clarity than to say the wrong thing and risk his squire’s health because of it. If he said anything certainly right now without actually knowing without a shadow of doubt and she trusted him she would treat him on something that could be wrong. 

    Sam had seen too many times in the past how lethal something like that could be. He knew that it was one of the worst things that could happen to someone. He knew that it could steal a life just as quickly as proper treatment could save them. 

“Our King is worried for Stars.”

    He didn’t have all the information. They needed help. 

“He’s under attack. He needs someone. Send knights—”

    Shouts came from the front of the infirmary. He could make out the voice of King Percy. He could hear the stress that was riding in his voice as he demanded help. As he shouted that the King was downed. 

    Guilt sank its fangs into the base of his heart. He shouldn’t have left him. He should have ensured that his King was going to be alright. That he wasn’t going to be hurt by the situation they were presently in. He should have known better. He should have done better. He was the Leading Knight it was his duty. 

“Sam—”

    He could see the panic in Lyaria’s eyes even as she cut herself off. She was scared of what this would all mean. She was scared of the implications they had coming for them. What it meant for their King to be downed. 

    Dream needed help. He needed skill. 

    Ethan required her more. He didn’t know his wounds but he was the King. Central needed him. Sam’s duty was to give him up. 

“Go.”

    He held Dream closer to his chest. His little one was still breathing. He could feel the shallow jolts that rocked his frail torso. 

“I’ll send someone to you.”

    She turned and the curtains moved again. Phil’s eyes were wide as he took them in. He’d come to fetch Lyaria but she only pushed his friend into the stall in her place. 

“Tend Dream.”

    She was gone before he could take his next breath. 

“Phil.”

    His friend was with him. Hands ghosting over Dream and trying to figure out what to do. 

“Ethan, how is—”

“Alive. Breathing. He was shot.”

    He’d seen him be shot and he’d turned his back on him. He had known that his King was wounded and he had come in here yelling for help for the squire in his arms and not for his King being under threat of an assassin. Mistake after foolish mistake after—

“Lyaria is going to help him. The palace is on lockdown. What happened to Dream?”

    He swallowed the dryness in his throat. 

“I found him in the hall. He was stumbling and disoriented. I thought he was sleepwalking and then I saw the blood.” Phil’s eyes went wide immediately. “Ethan and I think it’s his nose. Ethan said it could be Stars.”

    Phil turned pale. 

“I need to get his mask off. Is he—”

“I don’t think so.”

    He didn’t think Dream was awake. Not with the lack of responses that they’d been getting through everything here. Not with the lack of everything that was coming from his boy. Sam forced himself to release his grip, even if only slightly. His heart aching the moment Dream’s body tilted away from his. Phil needed the access to be able to work. 

“If it’s Stars,” Sam ignored the tremor of his own voice, “we need the help of King Lucas.”

    His friend looked pinched. 

“Phil?”

“I don’t think he’s an option right now.”

    Where there was one assassin there were likely others. The Eastern royals were already attacked once. If both of them were gone then the only one who might be able to help Dream was James and Sam knew the boy wasn’t trained yet by his father. If they lost King Lucas then Dream might be as good as dead. 

    Sam turned his face away when Phil held his fingers at Dream’s mask. Lifting it away and then he was moving Dream so that Sam could hold him better on the bed. So that he would be able to look forward and he would only see the back of Dream’s head. 

    Not his face. He would respect his wishes to keep that safe. 

“Nose bleed. Pale. Dream? Can you hear us?”

    Phil’s fingers stayed pressed to his pulse point. 

“He’s hot to the touch. Fever. His breathing is strained but that could be from his previously established illness. It could be nothing but it also could be Stars. You didn’t see anyone else? No one was in the hall? No one—”

“I would have told you if there was, Phil. I don’t want him to die.”

    His stress turned his words sharp against his will. He wanted to apologize only for Phil to hold up a hand to stop him. 

“I understand. If it was Techno like this I can’t say I’d react any different.”

“Ethan was shot. He wasn’t supposed to be down there. I think that arrow might have been for Dream or me or— I don’t know but Dream was down and Ethan was shot and he ordered me here.”

“You followed his orders. You did fine, Sam.”

“I still could have—”

    The curtain moved again. Bad was coming in. The little seven year old practically attached to his leg. 

“Bad?”

    Phil went back to work in seconds. 

“Are you hurt? Are either of you—”

“We’re fine. We came to see you. Make sure you both were okay.”

    Sam caught that neither of them were looking near Dream’s face. 

“How’s Dream?”

    Sam slipped the mask back over him the moment he had it in hand. 

“Without the confirmation of the East, I think he needs to sleep. We need to watch that fever and let him rest and see how he is when he wakes up. From what we know about Star poisoning rest is the only potential solution. If this is Stars, even if it’s not, rest will heal him best.”

    It felt like it wasn’t enough. Like nothing they could do was going to be enough. 

    Like nothing was going to be enough. He had to be leading the knights. He had to be leading the palace. He had to be helping his royals. Protecting them. But instead he was sitting here and he couldn’t will himself away from the small boy in his arms. 

“Sam, tell me what you need Sapnap and I to do.”

    Bad was always ready to help him in the past. He could see the nerves he was feeling now. The fear that he was holding. All three of them were close with Ethan. All three of them would share their stories back and forth about what it meant to be a father. They were friends as much as they were knights and King. 

“I should go—”

    Phil’s hand on his chest held him still. 

“If you even think about getting out of this bed and leaving Dream here I will restrain you. Do not tempt me.”

    He wanted to stay. He wanted so badly to stay but his duty was to move. His duty was to be a knight and that was what he needed to be right now. 

    Bad huffed at him like he could read his mind. 

“Your only duty right now is to be a father.”

    He hadn’t established if that was what Dream wanted him to be. He’d called him Kid and he’d protected him but their relationship wasn’t explicit yet and from what he knew about the boy he knew that there was something hanging around his father in his past. Sam wasn’t sure he wanted to step into that role. He wasn’t sure that Dream wanted him to step into that role. He didn’t want to hurt the boy and he didn’t know what to do. 

    The way Dream held onto him here told him what he needed to do. 

“You’re Lead. Give us orders.”

    He tried to breathe. He tried to think. 

“Phil,” he was already doing what he needed to be doing. “If there was more than one assassin then there’s going to be wounded. If this attack went the whole way through the palace then we need all the healers we have. That includes the ones in training. Keep rounds on the infirmary and stay with Lyaria.”

“And I’m the only one who has seen Dream’s face.”

    Sam tried to settle himself at the confirmation again. 

“You’re the only one he’s shown so far. You’re the only one he will let treat him.”

    Phil nodded. 

“I’ll be here.”

    Bad was standing at the ready. The small squire at his side standing much the same way. 

“Bad, I need you to count up the royals. Make sure all of them are alright and see where the attacks came from.”

    It wasn’t a safe task for a squire to tag along to but he also knew that Bad was going to be the best one for the job. 

“Sapnap,” the squire stared at him like he was half excited and half afraid. “I need you to help here in the infirmary.”

    The boy looked up to his knight. Bad nodded at him. They’d come to the same conclusion for the kid’s safety. 

“With the healers all working on the wounded they’re going to need supply runners. It gets chaotic and it’s a hard and necessary task. Do you think you can handle it?”

    Phil turned to look at the small squire. 

“I can have my squire come help. You two can be guard runners. One of you can even stay here and flag for me if Dream or Sam need anything.”

    A plan. It felt good to plan. It felt good to have something. Delegation was part of his duty and he could handle that right now. He could do that while he protected his little boy. Dream shifted against him. His body fidgeting before he was turning stiff in his arms. 

“Dream?”

    Phil was with them. Pulling the mask back off as Bad turned Sapnap and pulled them both out of the room. There was more commotion at the front of the infirmary. More chaos that he wasn’t sure he could stomach right now. 

“Phil, what’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know.”

    Yells flooded the infirmary. Shouts and calls for help. Armor of knights and running steps. Phil stepped out into the hall just long enough to see before he was looking back at Dream. 

“Phil—”

“It’s the East.” His chest felt tight. “Everyone being brought in is from the East.”

    An attack through the Stars should have been impossible. Should have been. 

    And clearly was not. 

Chapter Text

“What do we do?”

    George’s voice betrayed his fear even though he was trying to hide it. The alarms through the palace were loud enough to make him feel like his ears were going to bleed. Panic that nipped at him even though he tried to keep himself calm. The marching of knights that were impossible for any of them to be able to ignore. 

    George woke up to Parker tensing up. Blinking at his friend who had been acting as his pillow and seeing James practically burrowed into his side like he was trying to hide himself there. It was in less than a minute that the alarms through the palace began to blare. The blasts of horns from the walls outside and the yells of orders that followed it through. 

    Hannah and Eret were trying to find help. They’d slipped away instead of staying put with them but they’d gone together so that they wouldn’t be left alone. They both had weapons with them. They both could fight. 

    The only one here who couldn’t was James. He was the only one not ready yet from the training he had. 

    As it was, George stayed on the bed with James. Holding his friend against him and feeling the silent tears that dripped down off his face. How tense his body was against him. How his hands stayed clamped over his ears that George thought he was going to hurt himself. 

    James was the youngest of them. Compass heirs were taught the combat of their ancestors starting from the age of ten. James only had a few months of his training for him now. It wasn’t enough for him to be in a fight. None of them truthfully had enough to be in a fight. They would do it, George would do it in seconds if he had to, but that didn’t change that he was scared. 

“I don’t know.”

    Parker was pacing between them and the door. Acting as their guard and George could see his friend’s fear easily enough. They were all afraid. 

“We need our parents.”

“I have the feeling our parents are probably why there’s an alarm.”

    The Sun Line had never been very good at keeping themselves out of trouble. All of them through all the years of history were covered in smears of blood and ash. All three of them knew that it was in their nature. They knew that they would need to fight together in the future. George just hadn’t realized it was going to be so soon. 

    James tensed again in his arm. Turning his face against his chest and shivering. George tried to hold him closer but he didn’t think it was making any kind of a difference. 

“It’s the East.”

    His voice was so quiet he almost missed him. From the way Parker stilled and stared at them on the bed George knew that he’d heard the words too.

“What?”

“It’s the East.”

    James pulled away from him. Sitting up on his own and trying to breathe to settle himself. 

“I can’t hear what they’re trying to tell me but I know what they’re showing me.”

    Neither of them needed to ask who it was. James had always struggled to hear the words in the Stars. Always a scream or screech. They scared him. For him to be listening now—

“The East is in the infirmary.” He shuddered. “All our people.”

    George held him closer. His eyes met Parker’s over his head. Parker taking a deep breath and moving closer to them. 

“James,” he sounded worried, “my dad says you can ask things of the Stars. Ask them to show you our parents.”

    Worry. All of them were too worried. More tears slipped from James’ eyes. 

“Infirmary. I see all our dads. Aunt E and Uncle Eddie.”

    The question to ask about their moms died on his tongue. 

“They all look hurt.”

    It would explain why the knights outside in the halls sounded as angry as they did. Why the alarms were still shrieking in the air. Why everyone was on edge. If the blood royals of the Compass were all attacked then it was nothing short of war. They were already facing their attacks from before but this would be a new level of it. There would be no mercy for something like this. No kindness that would allow the ones responsible to get away. 

“Can you see who is at fault? Who is attacking?”

    Parker’s voice was steadier than George thought he would be able to get his. He knew that the West was the militant nation of the Compass but he hadn’t fully realized that it would be brought into his training as it clearly was. Parker looked half like the knights of war he saw and watched spar in the yard. He looked ready to lead them even though his age betrayed his fear. 

    James flinched. Gasping just a bit before he was opening his eyes and looking between the two of them. He turned pale. Dark blue eyes wide and confused and terrified. 

“Mother Nations.”

    The warning stories they all learned. 

“I see the Mother Nations.”

    His nerves twisted his heart like a noose. Pattering his veins like it was trying to escape him and George looked again to Parker. To see his older brother running through what they could do to make it out of this. What they could do to survive. 

“Do you see which ones? Is it all of them?”

    James shook his head. 

“Knailes.”

    Parker held his breath. Sharp and stuttered and George saw the tension in his jaw. 

“Sqaring.” He sounded more scared. George locked eyes with him. “I see Coresol. And Alfen. Coresol doesn’t exist. Why am I seeing them?”

    George thought he might be sick. Parker’s pale cheeks told him he was feeling the same. They had to keep level heads if they were going to make it through this. They grew up on the war stories of the Compass. They knew the things that were coming for them. They knew what they had to do and what they had to be. It was simple nature for them. For the Mother Nations being involved meant a far greater threat. It also meant a far greater force pushed from the Compass. 

“Parker, we need our parents.”

    His Western brother did not move away. Instead he reached out and put a hand on James’ shoulder. 

“Ask the Stars. Focus. Who is the closest threat? We will handle this one at a time. Who needs to be handled first.”

    James closed his eyes again. Focusing with his eyebrows drawing together so that he could pool his attention into the Stars and their demands. The voices that yelled too loud. The images they showed him in his mind. 

“Knailes and Coresol.”

    A bang sounded from their door. Parker launching to his feet and drawing his sword. The stance of a guard. If the situation weren’t as serious as it was, George might have laughed. He might have scoffed at the fact that he and James were meant to have knights and guards with them all the time and neither of their soldiers were here to defend them in a time where they actually needed them. 

    He could use this as proof to his parents if they all made it out. He could show that he didn’t need a squire. He was fine on his own. His father had been. He would be too. 

    Another bang. Not one of them moved. George put himself between James and the door. Guarding the youngest of the Compass even if it would cost him his life. That was his job. Central was the protector. He should be in front of Parker. He should be defending both of his brothers. 

“Parker?”

    George knew the voice of the Western Queen. He expected his brother to get the door open for his mother. Instead he saw Parker’s hand tighten on the hilt of his sword. 

“Parker! Open the door!”

“No.”

    George whispered to him. 

“What are you doing?”

“My mother is from Knailes.”

    George’s mouth went dry. He could feel the tension flooding the room. The worry that was held collectively between them. The danger that they were all in if what Parker was saying is correct. What he was hinting at. 

“You don’t think—”

“I don’t know. I don’t—”

    The door opened easily and George saw his own mother taking strides into the room. Her bow in hand and quiver hung from her belt. Behind her came Hannah and Eret. After them followed King Sebastian and Queen Avelyn. Queen Mary entered last. Parker didn’t drop his sword. Even as George watched their parents take a sweep of the room. Even as King Sebastian closed the door again behind them and locked it before pulling Eret against him. 

“Mom?”

    His mother came to him immediately. Looking over him and James and checking the both of them for injury. George watched his counterparts pull with their parents. He saw how stiffly Parker was standing. How he had yet to put his sword away. 

“Are either of you hurt?”

    George shook his head. James looked up at her. 

“Uncle Ethan and Dad—”

“They’re being cared for. I swear to you. They are being cared for. They are safe. They’re both safe.”

“What’s going on?”

“We were attacked.”

    Queen Mary was the one to answer. Her voice flat and her eyes on her son. Parker watched the floor. 

“We don’t know by who but—”

“The Mother Nations.”

    Parker made no effort to hide the accusation and anger in his voice. 

“Excuse me?”

    George stepped in before the fight could come. 

“James saw them. In the Stars.”

    Everyone looked to the youngest in the room. James almost shrunk on himself. 

“Knailes, Coresol, Sqaring, and Alfen.”

    All but one. All but the South’s Mother. King Sebastian looked ill by the list. Queen Avelyn had never looked so grim as she did hearing the name of the North’s Mother. 

“Disregard it.”

“Why?”

    Parker’s question came out more like a demand. George saw his mother turn to face her as well. 

“Yes, why?”

    The Western Queen sighed at them. 

“The excitement of the fight is that much for all of you? The young Prince is untrained in his magic. Lucas has barely had a chance to train him. Among that list of names is a Mother Nation that has not existed in over three hundred years. Whatever he is being shown, it is not this.”

    George could see her logic. He just trusted James more. That was the duty of a Counterpart. His duty as a brother. 

“Or someone is trying to revive it.”

    Parker’s grip on his sword was white knuckled. 

“Put your weapon away before you hurt yourself.”

“No.”

“Parker, I am your mother. Listen.”

“No.”

    King Sebastian moved for him. Placing a hand on Parker’s shoulder and guiding him to take a step back. Leaving Queen Mary to sigh again where she was standing. 

“You’re safe now. We won’t let anything happen to you. To any of you.”

    George had the feeling that wasn’t really why Parker hadn’t put it down. He didn’t say his suspicions out loud.

“We should make a plan for what to do if someone is trying to bring Coresol back.”

“George—”

“There are old rumors about some of their rulers surviving. If they are trying to reclaim the territory or some other land then they could be demanding the East.”

“That wouldn’t—”

“We can investigate on our own if you won’t believe us.”

    Parker’s words cut the air like a knife. All of the parents tensing and ready to tell him no. Queen Mary’s hand found his shoulder. George watched Parker stiffen immediately. It looked like he was afraid. 

“Stop.”

“Mother—”

“I am telling you to stop. We can discuss when all of the royals are present.” Her eyes found James. “And your father can inform you that you are wrong with your view of the Stars.”

“We should listen to them. They are the Compass Heirs. Their voices should be heard.”

    His mother’s grip on her bow was firm. Ready to use as the ranged weapon it was and as a club if she needed to. She was standing up for them. For all of them. He could see the concern in all of his counterparts. He could see the frustration in his aunt and uncle. 

    Queen Mary’s eyes narrowed. 

“They aren’t listening.” 

“They are children, Mary, and they are afraid.”

    His mother’s voice was sharp. An edge that George had heard aimed toward the nobles and others that evaded the crown or disrespected it or a knight. 

“What if Central falls?”

    George wasn’t sure that he’d ever heard Hannah so afraid. She was in her mother’s arms. Held and safe and George wished he could do the same. His mother had to lead. He should be leading as well. 

“We won’t.” George couldn’t prove his own words. He said them certainly all the same. “We’ll fight the Mother Nations and we’ll win.”

    A knock came from the door. Soft and this time it was Queen Mary who answered it. Five cups filled with water on a tray. 

“Water,” it was a Western knight who had brought it for them, “as you requested, Majesty. For the heirs.”

“Thank you. Inform your King that all of us are secure.”

    The knight bowed and left. She turned to set the tray on the table by the foot of the bed. 

“We were coming to find you all. I thought a cool drink would help. Hearing the attack, being frightened. Drink up. Allow yourselves the rest.”

    Parker went to it first. Taking the first cup and drinking it all in one breath. Nothing showing on his face before he lifted a second cup and drank it the same way. 

“Parker—”

    He took the third. 

“I am very thirsty, Mother. Thank you.”

    The fourth, then the fifth. By the end he was panting. Staring at his Mother and waiting for her reaction before he was apologizing. 

“Come here.” He went to her. “That was rude. Apologize. Your counterparts will be without water until we are assured that it’s safe.”

“I’m sorry.”

    He was still tense. He was trembling. He looked so afraid and so conflicted. George wanted to pull him back into the bed with him and James but Parker’s mother took him first. Holding him and guiding him to the couch at the side of the room. Holding him against her and finally Parker looked like a child again and not a knight. 

    One by one they all found themselves in the arms of their parents. Sitting in silence. George listening to his mother’s heart and still keeping an arm on James on her other side. They could only wait now. Wait until it was clear. Plan in the silence they had. What they’d do next.

    They could only wait. 

Chapter Text

    Lucas leaned on the table in front of him for any chance of keeping himself on his feet. His shoulders hunched and chest leaned forward to ease the weight in his core pulling him towards the ground. He was trembling, he knew that. He was working to ease his people’s suffering all the same. 

    That was the duty of the King. 

    He had been in a meeting with his advisors, that was all he remembered. His thoughts muddying until the only thing he could recall was the spinning of the room and William reaching for him. The next thing he knew he was opening his eyes on a cot in the infirmary. Chaos all around him and swallowing the air. 

    It sounded like war time. 

    Too many times had he sat in Central’s infirmary during the wars of their past. Too many times he would wait for Ethan to be tended or a soldier that he worried after. Too many times he’d been in here himself when his brother would insist that he rest. 

    Ethan would be insisting that he rested now. Ethan was laying in a cot with bloody bandaging wrapped around his middle. 

“Majesty?”

    Elrin was beside him. He was one of the only ones of the Eastern group here in Central that had remained standing. His weak power with the Stars having saved him from the event that had driven all of them to collapse. His advisors had protected each other with the warning they had from his collapse. He still needed to check on them. He needed—

“Majesty? You should sit.”

    Lucas was shaking his head before the question even finished. 

“If I sit I won’t be able to stand.”

“All the more reason to rest, Sir.”

    He shot a half glare to his Lead. Elrin was doing his job, Lucas knew that. He knew that his knight was guarding him in the way that was expected of his station. He couldn’t fault him for that. It was just the fact that he needed to do his duty as much as his knight needed his. 

“Our people need healing.”

    He waved the next couple forward. They helped each other to walk. Pain showing too clearly in their steps and faces. He could feel the tension through their Stars even as they approached him. Settling his shoulders and taking a breath for himself before he reached out to touch the shoulder of the one closest. 

    Their Stars were strained. Brighter and agitated when they should have been calm. His people would burn if he couldn’t ease things down. He was lucky that the seeming fix so far had been the simple fact of his presence among his people. He felt the same thing now. Their Stars returning to something that far more resembled normal and he could see the pain ease from their frames. They could breathe. They smiled at him when he was done even as the exhaustion settled into him instead. 

“Majesty—”

“I’m fine, Elrin.”

“You are not. You need to rest. You’re taking on too much.”

“As your King—”

“As your Lead, who you hand chose to restrain you if needed, I’m telling you to stop.”

    He stared him straight in the eyes as he waved the next Easterners up.

“I will rest when my people rest.”

    It didn’t take long for the Stars to ease in the people before him. Lucas felt the heat in his own blood. It was more manageable to him. His power being able to handle it and his body being used to the heat of it all. 

“This attack came through the Stars. Where is Francis?”

    The boy had a weak level of Stars, same as his knight. They were both bound to be alright. He hadn’t seen the boy and he wanted to make sure if he was with his son that the two of them were alright. James was safe. He knew that much from his counterparts. The messenger had said that Genevieve had both James and George curled up in her arms. 

    He’d have to thank his sister when this was all said and done. 

“He was meant to be in the barracks. I sent him to get some sleep.”

    He would have heard the commotion. He would have shown up. Unless he was getting to James to do his duty for his Prince. 

“Find your squire.”

“I’m staying with you. I will send someone to find him.”

“Elrin—”

“Your counterparts are unable to guard you. It is my duty. If you insist on doing yours then I will insist on doing mine.”

    He supposed he couldn’t very well argue with that. 

    The pattern followed seamlessly. Over and over again he would lift his hand out to touch the shoulder of one of his people and reach into the well of power between them and guide the Stars to an ease. He would temper as many of them as he could. His connection to the Stars being the bridge between his people and the mass of energy that they all came from. 

    He could hear the voices rattling and settling inside his own thoughts. Mild conversations of the Stars that he’d learned to tune out years ago when his mother had been training him still on how to use his ability. 

    He could ease the suffering of his people and he would do it. Every day for the rest of his life if he had to. It was the right thing to do and Lucas would not shy away from his duties as the Eastern King. he needed to know the source of the attack and that meant feeling the energy of it. 

    He couldn’t figure it out. 

    Even when the line of people to ease and heal had turned dry and his body felt buzzing with a weary beast in his blood, he didn’t know. There was no mark in any of the panic of the Stars. It seemed like there was a shift but he couldn’t tell what it was from. Something had changed and he didn’t know what. 

    It bothered him. 

    He couldn’t go to the reflecting pool to figure it out. Not when Ethan was laying hurting. Not when he didn’t know the status of everything else that was happening. He kept himself standing much to Elrin’s displeasure. His knight was worried and he could see it clear as day on his face that that was the concern. He wouldn’t allow himself to sit for the same reason as before. If he allowed himself the moment to break then he wasn’t sure he would be able to find the strength to return to where he is now. 

“We should check on the others.”

“You should drink something first.”

    Cold glass pushed into his palm in the next moment. He hadn’t even registered when Elrin had retrieved it but he figured that probably only added to the knight’s point. The bottle of water had condensation around it. 

“Cold and fresh from the kitchens. I had it brought for you. You need to cool down. Even if you aren’t in the danger that the others are, you need to nurse yourself. You are still recovering from the attack.”

    It was bitter in his thoughts even though he knew it was the truth. He needed to recover and anything involving the Stars was often slow to heal. The energy being impossible to turn off and properly rest. 

    He nodded his thanks to his knight. Pulling the cork from the bottle and lifting it to his lips to drink. The water was a balm he did not realize he needed. The cold tracing its way through his body as he drank. Easing an ache he hadn’t fully acknowledged was there to begin with. It was nice. A comfort and he would allow his knight to know that. To know that he was not holding anything against him. He finished the bottle. 

“Thank you.”

    Elrin was watching him. Worry still lingering in the back of his eyes but admiration was there as well. Lucas could sense it between them. His knight nodded to him. 

“The others I believe are—”

“King Lucas?”

    He turned to see a Central knight standing at the end of one of the halls. His clothes marked him as a knight but he was wearing the cloth of a healer as well. Not a knight’s medic. But a healer. He would wager that he was in training then. 

“Yes?”

“I don’t mean to intrude, Majesty.”

    The knight was on edge. Lucas straightened himself up again. Central was his greatest ally. If any part of Central needed his aid he would give it. 

“What is it?”

    If someone was getting him then it was for a reason. 

“We have an issue that we think may be Stars and we don’t know what to do.”

    If there was someone from the East who had moved to Central they would still be impacted by whatever happened through the Stars. The location of the person wasn’t what mattered it was what ran through their blood that made the difference. They could go to the other side of the world. The whole way back to the Mother Nations if they truly wanted to, they would still feel an attack through the Stars. Blood did not care where they ran. It would leave a trail regardless. 

“Where?”

    The knight bowed his head. Turning and leading the way through the stalls to lift the curtain to a room. He froze with one step inside. 

“Sam?”

    He knew Ethan’s Lead. Of course he knew Ethan’s Lead. And the small body curled against him could only be one person. The mask wasn’t on his face. Lucas could see the blood that was running from his nose. He could see how pale the boy had turned. He could see the tremors rolling through him. 

    The fear in the Lead’s eyes. 

“Help him. Please. I beg you.”

    Dream had Stars. He knew that and the thought of it had slipped his mind. From what he’d felt of the boy though he shouldn’t be having a reaction like this. He shouldn’t be having anything this violent. If he would even feel anything at all then it would be something much more mild than this. A discomfort or maybe pinching pain that he would be able to ease with a simple touch. 

    This? 

    This looked nearly like poison. 

    Only the royals could be poisoned.

“You do not have to beg.” He got to the bedside. Elrin gasping a bit at seeing who their patient was and the knight healer taking his place on the other side. “What happened?”

“We don’t know. Something was wrong with him and then he collapsed in the hall. Ethan and I saw the blood. I brought him here but Ethan said it might be the Stars.”

    Ethan knew about Dream’s Stars. Lucas had told him. He would have been able to identify it and that might very well be what’s saving the boy now. Dream should have been fine. He’d been healed from the beating he took before. He should be resting peacefully in his room in the barracks. 

    Instead, Lucas nodded and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. His body eased almost immediately. Recognizing the presence of a command in the Stars even though Lucas was certain that the boy wouldn’t know what that actually was if he was conscious to feel it. 

    Lucas felt the burn immediately. The tension from the boy laying on the bed in front of him. The light was what caught him off guard. He’d seen Dream before. He knew his level was almost weak enough to miss. 

“This is wrong.”

    He could feel the boy’s presence like a star ready to collapse. 

“Wrong how?”

“These aren’t all his Stars.”

    It should be impossible. For someone to take the Stars of someone else. Stars were violent. They were cruel as much as they were kind. They were critical to someone’s health and life. They were tied to the blood and body just as they were the mind. Stars were with someone since birth. They could not come or leave later without death being the result. 

    What he was feeling now was certainly not Dream. These were not Dream’s Stars burning in his blood. 

“I’ve seen his light before, he is not strong with the Stars. He has a push but it’s not enough for him to manifest or control. To be able to burn his blood should be impossible for him.”

    He heard the worry from Central’s Lead. From his own at the explanation of what was wrong. 

“How do we help? What does it mean?”

    Dream would not have the ability to take someone else’s Stars. He wasn’t sure that was possible for anyone to do. Maybe not even himself. It meant that someone had given him Stars but even that would require a large sum of magic and an immense measure of control. It shouldn’t be possible. And yet. 

“I need to smother these Stars.”

    It would hurt. This might be too much for him. It might be too much for Dream. 

“Elrin,” his knight stood at attention, “Send someone to James and ensure that he is safe. Do not let him down here. Do not let him with any other Easterners.”

    The concern in the room was palpable. 

“Majesty?”

“Sir Sam, I will need you to hold him. He will scream and it’s likely he will thrash. This is going to hurt him. It will likely hurt me. Do not let anyone stop this.”

    The knight nodded. His eyes grim even as he held his squire closer and tighter. He was ready for this. For the fight that was to come for them. He turned his attention to the knight’s healer. 

“We will need water and cloths on standby. Ice as well. If I faint just let me rest.”

    His eyes found his knight again. 

“Elrin,”

“I will watch you. Save the boy.”

    Lucas reached a hand to Dream’s head. Holding over his forehead and feeling the heat that swarmed from him before he was closing his eyes and focusing into the Stars and the light that flowed between them. The pain that Dream was in. The way it singed at his blood. 

    He felt the rush of the Stars. The way they clambered for him like they were trying to leave the boy on their own. Like they were forced there and were returning to something familiar. It only served to confirm the worries he had. 

    He’d found the attack in the Stars. 

    The attack was aimed against Dream. 

    He pushed to find the source of it through the Stars. Feeling the rush of everything that was coming in. Instead, he got too close to the boy’s presence. He saw stone walls again. Moss covered and slick with blood. A screaming voice ringing through his head that was too consumed by echoes for him to be able to make out the words. 

    The Stars wailed. Lucas felt phantom restraints around his body. Holding him with the feeling of wood against his back. Sharp and blinding pain that lanced through all of his body. Lighting every nerve on end and making him gag around a scream that threatened to tear out of him. 

    He needed to know who caused this attack. Who did this to him. With the heat in Dream’s blood he doubted the boy would remember. 

    Lucas saw the East. He saw his son as an adult. Anger on his face. 

“I’ll kill you. I will kill you and every single one of you involved. You are going to die. It will be by my hand.”

    Lucas needed to see who did this. He knew it wasn’t James. He knew that wasn’t his James. It couldn’t be. His son was not a killer. Not like that. He was not a butcher. He would never order something like that. He would never do something like that. 

“Show me who is at fault.”

    He saw blood on the floor in the Eastern meeting room. He saw a body with a stump at the neck. He saw the back of the decapitated head. 

“Show me.”

    The Stars obeyed. Showing him the face of the headless body. His son’s bloody blade. 

    He saw William’s head. 

Chapter Text

    The image stayed burned in the back of his thoughts. Even as Lucas continued easing the Stars from Dream and to himself. He could handle the contact of the Stars of someone else, his blood was run to be the conduit for all of them. He could equip himself to manage whatever would come near him. 

    The boy needed help. He needed to be saved and right now Lucas was the only one that could do that. He was the only one that had the power to work his Stars and sort them for him. Watching Dream’s condition with each tangle he pulled away from the mess that was made of his blood. 

    He watched his responses as he worked. Feeling the race of his heart and the moments it fell shallow. He watched Sir Sam on the bed behind him. Seeing the way he held his young squire and the guilt was not absent in his chest when he thought about the fact that he’d considered the thought for even a moment that this child was someone that was at fault for the issues that were happening around the Compass in the moment. Dream was young and he was brave. The more he spent in the Stars of his blood the more that was certain. 

    Character would always be revealed in light. There was no possible way for someone to hide away the core of their own soul. Being able to use the Stars meant being able to use souls. To sense intent. To feel if something was wrong. It would take an impressive amount of work and effort to smother intent and Dream, while it wasn’t impossible, had not hidden any of his. 

    Lucas could feel that now. The truth that was laid so plainly inside of him. The truth that was wound so deeply into his core that it saturated his light. 

    The Stars he removed from him were stained with intent but it was blended. Parts of them infected with corruption of greed and power. Like someone was aiming for something more than they would ever be able to handle and it polluted the rest. Marking it and marring it so that it appeared to be dripping in poison. The light smudged like it was trying to be shadowed ink rather than a burning light. 

    Others were honest. A hope and an ideal that seemed genuine as he felt the weight in them. A push for something that was lost that might still be able to return. He couldn’t place it. He couldn’t figure out how it would be so different inside of him unless it was multiple people Dream was infected with the Stars of. The thought of that on its own was enough to weigh concern to him. If there was a chance that they were facing against multiple strong Star handlers while he was exhausting himself every other moment it felt like. There was nothing that he would be able to do if that was the case. 

    Nothing that wouldn’t end with blood pouring from his face and a death sentence hanging over his head. Nothing that wouldn’t end with his son wearing his crown. 

    Lucas could feel Sir Sam’s intent. The protective edge he was adorning and the anger that he held aimed at himself like a blade. 

“This wasn’t your fault.”

    He would try to give his assurance where he could. He would try to help ease wherever he could. The knight’s arms only tightened around his squire. 

“I should not have left him.”

    Lucas couldn’t argue with that. Not when he knew that the boy had been attacked physically earlier as well. He knew that Dream was having issues but Sam wasn’t the only one that had left him to face against his fate. If there was guilt here then it was shared. 

    The last of the Stars unraveled. Pulling away and leaving Dream to shudder and sigh against his knight. The small squire nuzzling his face against his knight’s chest as he was held securely there. Like he’d finally found peace and safety and Lucas knew in that moment that Sam choosing him had to have been for a reason. The two fit each other too well. Almost like they were father and son. Almost like that was something they would become. 

    He smiled at the thought of it. He’d seen it in Central knights before but seeing it so close and still forming was a rarer sight. 

“He needs rest.”

    Dream would be weak. He would be hurting and probably feverish. They would need to keep an eye on him. Make sure that there wasn’t something that he had missed. Sam nodded. 

“Thank you.”

    Lucas shook his head. 

“Not yet. I need to find who did this to him and how.”

    He began to pull away to stand. The section around him spinning in his vision and making him stumble. Reaching out to balance himself and finding his knight right under his arm. Sir Sam was staring at him. Still holding his squire but watching him with enough worry to make Lucas scoff. 

“Sir?”

“Healing is not my talent.” It was his brother’s. He knew that word had been sent to Theo. He just had to hope that his brother would be safe when it found him and that he would be able to help when he got here. “I’m alright.”

“You need rest.”

    He was half tempted to argue but he could feel the weight trying to settle against his limbs. He could feel the pressure that wanted to drag him down and make him stop. Lucas nodded. Allowing Elrin to guide him and brace him as they nodded their respect to the others in the room. 

“If anything happens, Sir Sam, if you need me; you need only ask.”

“Thank you, Majesty.”

    The halls around them were beginning to ease when they stepped out from the curtains. The aftermath of everything finally beginning to settle as the majority of people were tended and eased. 

    Lucas no sooner opened his mouth to request his destination when they heard the horns and alarms from the palace walls. 

    A second wave. A new attack. 

    The abled knights around the infirmary rallied at the sound. All five Kingdoms pushing themselves so that the y would be able to fight and make their defense on their home. Lucas had to help him. He had to get answers and put a stop this this once and for all. 

    He took the first step. Pulling himself from his knight to lead and ready himself for a battle. To defend their home when the rest of his Compass was downed. 

    The pain spiked like a spear through his skull. His hand flying to his head to brace against the pain that he knew was coming from within. There was nothing that he would be able to do to prevent this. Nothing that he would be able to do to save himself. And yet he tried to feel for it all the same. 

“Not now.”

    The alarms were ringing. Horns were sounding from outside. He could see the images of the wall that flashed through his thoughts. Fire and knights on the ground. Masked assassins. He saw them flitting through his mind faster and faster by the moment. There was enough time to see what he was looking at but not enough to put it together. 

    Being handed pieces of the puzzle but having them taken before he could fit the image of it all together. 

“Not now!”

“Sir?”

    Elrin was beside him. Lucas reached for him. His hand gripping around his knight’s arm harder than he meant to. He didn’t want to hurt him but he also knew that if he didn’t figure this out then he was going to drive himself mad. If he couldn’t stop the pain. His exhaustion was burning at him and while Lucas knew that he would be able to last for a while longer yet he also knew that this wasn’t something he should be tampering with. He knew he needed to stop and that needed to be sooner than it was later. 

“Tell me where I’m needed.”

    There was too much that they were showing him. Too many places that required attention. The bodies of the knights and all the suffering. The attacks. The people that needed to be guarded. Something more was happening that he did not have all of the answers to and while Lucas knew that he could fight he also knew that he was just one man. He was strong with the Stars on his side but he could only do so much unless he wanted to die today. 

    He thought of his little boy. Of James trying to rest with Genevieve. His expression when he’d told him that his mother wasn’t going to be there for him again. That it was just them and that they’d lost her. 

    He would not let James lose his father too. 

    He would not see his ten year old crowned King. 

    Nearly the moment he thought his determination on the matter the Stars showed him the images of exactly that. They showed James in the throne room. They showed the crown of the King on his head. The bows and the oaths of everyone of the Court as they swore themselves to their new leader. He saw young Francis with him with the mark of the Lead. 

“Majesty?”

    He pushed the thoughts away. They were not what he needed right now. He had to focus. Focus on the alarms blaring through the palace. Focus on protecting the people that he still could while they were all still alive. Before something would happen that would change their fates into something that was worse. Before there had be be any more funerals planned and outlined for them now. 

“Show me.”

    He would obey if they would. If the Stars would guide him then Lucas would follow. He had been obedient nearly every other time they tried to give him a warning to something this would be no different. He would follow what they needed of him and he would get to the bottom of it. 

    He would go to a bed and he would hold James curled and safe in his arms and he would soothe his little boy and he would let James sleep and Lucas would allow himself to rest so that his body would actually be able to heal. He would face what the world had to offer to him and he would face it in the stride that meant he had no other choice in the matter. 

    It was the way it went for him. For any of the people that were like him. The leaders of the Compass had always been engaged in situations like this. A struggle that they were made to face despite something in the odds feeling or being insurmountable to them. Something that would be blocking them away no matter how often they tried to break it. No matter how much they tried to fight back. 

    The Stars showed him Central’s wall again. Knights and squires alike in the yard and drawing their blades. He saw them against armored shadows but he couldn't make them out in the dark. The armor or the crests they were marching with. He couldn’t make out the banners they were holding. He heard yells of traitors but he couldn’t tell now if they were coming from the thoughts within his head or if they were something he was actually healing. 

“Tell me!”

    The Stars were cycling too fast. They were making him dizzy. He could feel his knight guiding him forward through the infirmary hall. 

“I’m taking you to your Counterparts.”

    They would help him. They would ease him. They would ease the Stars and right now Lucas needed them. He needed them to be able to fight back. He needed them to know that they were all going to be alright. If they eased him and eased his Stars into something that was able to relax then he might miss a warning. His exhaustion did not matter. Saving everyone around him, that was the only thing that mattered. Lucas wasn’t going to let this end in any other way. 

“Don’t.” His knight stopped immediately. He could hear the question before Elrin ever even spoke it. “They’ll show me. The Stars will—”

    The pain turned into a fire in his skull. Searing through his thoughts and turning everything else into ash around it. Burning him and making him nearly scream from the pain of it. Doubling over onto himself and feeling his stomach cramp. All of that. All of the pain that washed through him and nothing dulled the image he had in his mind. 

    His wife. 

    Alive. 

    Laying on a slab in a dark area. Lucas could see the ice around her. He could hear the ragged edges of her breaths. The fear in her expression. 

“No.”

    She was feeling around the area. He was banging on it. She was afraid and she was trying to escape. 

“No.”

    He saw tears streaming down her cheeks. He saw her struggling to get out. Her nails against the confinement and he heard her sobs. Her begs to be freed. 

“Lucas.” She was calling for him. Her voice was so clear. “Lucas, help me. Save me. Please save me. Feel me.”

    Like a jolt through his heart, Lucas could feel her. Her presence again nearby to him and he nearly collapsed from the notion and implication of that alone. His body feeling weak in comparison to everything now that was happening around him. Elrin was with him. His knight growing more and more concerned by the moment but he didn’t know what he could do in an effort to try to ease things for him. He didn’t know if there was anything that he even could do. 

    He couldn’t focus on it. 

    Not now. 

“Where.”

“Majesty, what—”

“You know where I am.” Isabelle begged to him. Her voice sounded distorted in his thoughts. “You put me here.”

    His heart felt crushed. New energy surging through him as the pieces of his thoughts moved together to create and dark and ruined puzzle. His knight following along behind him as Lucas now led him through the halls and toward their destination. 

“Majesty—”

“It’s Isabelle.”

    His own fear rang in his voice. He knew he wasn’t quiet with it. His fear making him loud and Lucas saw the wounded Easteners staring at him with confusion and horror of their own. 

“The Stars say it’s Isabelle.”

“But Sir—”

    Isabelle was dead. She died in his arms. He had carried her body back here. He knew that she was gone and he and James had seen her body in the Central morgue. She was gone and there was nothing they could do to bring her back. She was gone and they had lost her and now—

    And now the Stars were showing him her body alive and begging and sobbing and scared locked in the cold metal of Central’s morgue. 

    His heart pounded heavy in his chest. His hands trembling as he made his legs stay moving. As he made it to the front of the infirmary and saw the chaos swarming about. People carrying bodies. Burned skin. The stench of blood. 

    He saw the attack on the walls. The assassins. 

    They weren’t his priority right now. 

    He turned in toward the morgue. Elrin at his shoulder. He knew where she was. He knew exactly where his wife—-

    The door was hanging open. The morgue void of any staff or attendants. Save for the splatter of blood spraying up the side wall. Save for the Central body that was slumped on the ground beneath the streaks. 

    Isabelle’s temporary rest was assaulted. He imagined her calling for him through the Stars to protect her body. So that she would be buried so that he would one day be buried with her. He imagined that it was simply her gaining his attention from their afterlife. 

    Only the closer he stepped the more his hope faltered. The Stars cooing at him like they were attempting to comfort him. The memory of her screaming. Of her begging. Of her tears. 

    Of her banging and clawing to escape confinement. 

    His stomach turned. His head spun light. Her frozen tomb was disturbed. Broken. Open to the world. The inside of the door plain to see. The lack of her body. 

    He’d carried her here. He’d sobbed over her. He’d shown James her body. He’d felt her light be swallowed. Lucas wanted to say someone had stolen her. As vile as it was, he wanted to say someone had taken her from them. Was going to attempt to defile her that way. But if that were true, then it left one question. The memory of the Stars. The potential of it all. He had to be wrong. But his eyes couldn’t move away. 

    There were claw marks on the door. 

Chapter Text

“Mama! Mama!”

    Isabelle smiled at the sound of the babbles. Cheerful and giggling despite it being the middle of the night. The cradle room sitting neatly across the hall from the room she shared with her darling husband. 

    Her eyes found him now. Lucas stretched out on his stomach with his arms buried up beneath their pillows. His head was turned toward her. Black hair falling over closed eyes and a thin line of droll trailing to the pillow beneath his cheek. His shoulders rising and falling where they were uncovered by the blankets as he breathed. 

    She traced the lines of his muscles, his scars, in the moonlight. How his skin stretched and aged through the years. How he still slept like he always had. Peaceful and heavy. A side effect of the Stars, he had told her. Something that he had learned over the years to be able to sleep through the whispers and calls the Stars would give in the night. 

    They couldn’t turn their powers off but they could learn to live with them. 

    Their infant had not yet learned to do that. 

    James woke up often in the night. Crying and screaming and if normal methods would not soothe their little one then Lucas would try to ease him with the Stars. Showing him lights around his cradle and sitting with him to quiet him back to sleep. 

    She debated waking him for a moment. But she heard it all again. 

“Mama! Mama!”

    A squeal. Giggles. The sounds he would make when being held in the air by Lucas and pretending with him that their little one was flying on the back of a dragon. Or the sounds he would make when she would blow kisses into his stomach. 

    She didn’t think this was the Stars. She didn’t think she would need to wake her husband. It had been a long day. An incident in the capital that had called him out and had him barking orders under the sun for the duration of the day. He’d come home to her with pink tinging his skin and a weak lifting raise to her and their son. 

    Lucas needed the sleep. She would tend to their baby boy. 

    Getting out of bed was a silent affair. Creeping her way to the door that hung open just wide enough for a palace cat to slip inside. The all black kitten that had come to them a year ago, the same day James was born, and never left. Lucas called him James’ little guardian. 

    She could see light in her baby’s room. 

“James?”

    She whispered it, just in case. Creeping close to the crack of his door to look inside. 

“Mama!” The breath left her lungs. “Mama!”

    She could see his little hands reaching up from his cradle. Lights glittering around the room. Little sparkles that looked like floating flames. Miniature Stars that played with her little boy. Above him, just so he could see, Isabelle saw herself. Made up out of Stars and playing with him. The same way she always did when she was laying him down to sleep. 

“Mama!”

    Tears welled in her eyes as she watched. Seeing the Stars offer her as a comfort to him when he wanted her. How he wanted her enough to keep her here with him even when she was gone. Her smile was wide as she watched the Stars vanish away. As his room slipped back to dark. His giggles turning to small coos before she watched her baby quiet and sleep. 

.

“Mama! Mama!”

    Six years old and her little boy ran to her skirt. Giving her just enough warning so that she could crouch and open her arms. To take his weight into her chest as he wound around her. Lifting him into her arms and holding her little boy. 

“Mama!”

“Hello there my little Star.”

    He giggled at her. Smiling bright and Isabelle saw the near glitter in the blue of his eyes. 

“I’m playing a game on George and Parker!”

    Isabelle raised an eyebrow at her son. Resting his weight on her hip and peering around him for sight of the other two little Princes. 

“And what would this game be?”

    The sound of wails followed her question almost immediately. Her little boy beaming at her in her arms as the sounds of the two other young Princes crying out came to meet her. 

“James,” Isabelle huffed, “this doesn’t sound like a kind prank.”

“But Mama—”

“We turned him into a plant!”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know. You’re his Central!”

“You’re older!”

    Her son’s giggles only increased. Isabelle only sighed at the fear she could hear from the other two boys as she approached the room where they’d been playing. The door was left open just enough for her to look inside without being spotted. The seven and eight year old inside were both standing stiff in the middle of the room. She could see how red little Parker’s face was turning. She could see the tears building in George’s eyes. 

    A potted plant sat on the floor beside them. 

“We killed him!”

    James giggled again in her arms. She didn’t hesitate to give him an admonishing glare before stepping into the room. 

“You did not kill him.”

    Both boys whipped around to face her at the same moment James gave a sharp gasp. 

“Mama!”

“Games that hurt people are not good games, James. You need to apologize.”

    She set him on the ground to face them. How his shoulders hunched in and his head bowed. 

“I’m sorry.”

    George wasted no time in the apology. Practically lunging into his counterpart and crushing him in a hug. Parker stayed back. Eyes still going to the flower in the pot and Isabelle saw how short his breathing was. She crouched to the boy. 

“He’s alright, Parker. It’s alright.”

“I thought I—” He didn’t finish the words. His voice catching and his face turning redder from the force of holding back his tears. 

    Isabelle’s heart broke. Pulling the eight year old in for a hug. Her little nephew was too young to be afraid to cry. 

“It’s alright.”

“I’m sorry.”

    James and George joined them in their hug. Holding them all together Isabelle let herself breathe. 

“You don’t play games that could hurt you, understood? You three are the Sun Line. You are together for everything. You three protect each other. Always.”

    Parker nodded the hardest against her. 

“Just because Parker is the oldest, or George is your Central, all three of you share the weight. What hurts one of you hurts all of you. James, if they had made you think you hurt them; how would you feel?”

    There was guilt in her little boy’s eyes. 

“Bad.”

“You three are a team, you are counterparts. Understood?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“Yes, Aunt Isa.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

    She bit her tongue at how Parker sounded. She was going to need to have a talk with her own counterpart about why he seemed like this. All of them needed to learn honorifics eventually but they did not use them between each other. They were too much of a family to do that. 

    She’d ask Mary about it when they were all together for dinner later. 

“Are you three okay? Do you want to go back to playing?”

    James nodded before he looked to his counterparts. He was giving them the choice. They took it up with him. Isabelle smiled. 

“Good. I think Elrin has a top secret mission for three brave young royals in the yard.”

    Their eyes lit immediately. Their knight had no such quest but she was sure he would figure it out. 

    As she watched them all run out toward the yard she sent a prayer to the Stars to take pity on the man.

.

“Mama! Mama!”

    James ran to her again. Joy and pride on his face as her ten year old dodged around the staff in the hall. His little feet carrying him like he was trying fly to get to her. Isabelle smiled the moment she saw him. Crouching down and opening her arms as James barreled straight into her and clung like he was still just a little boy. 

“Mama? You haven’t called me that in a while.”

    He was always going to be her little boy. 

“I was just excited, Mom.”

“I didn’t say to stop now did I?”

    Her husband walked down the hall at a much calmer rate. A smile still fond on his face as he approached. 

“Go on, tell your Mother what you did.”

“I have a surprise for you!”

    All of his excitement was so clear. James pulling himself away and practically bouncing on his feet as she rose to her own. 

“Follow me!”

    She raised an eyebrow at Lucas. Her husband just shaking his head and extending a hand for her to take. 

“My Brightest.”

    She took it without waiting. 

“My Daring.”

    They let James lead them out to one of the closed courtyards. A place that was used many times through the centuries to train new royals in how to use their abilities. Open to the air and full of nature to help them in their practice. Reinforced walls that circled them to keep others safe. James pushed the heavy door open. Pride in all of his motions as he waited for her to see. Lucas gave her the room to enter first. 

    Only to see her favorite flower sprouting and bloomed in every inch of the yard. 

“What?...”

    She knew that it had not been like this before. She knew that there were minimal flowers in here at this time of year and most certainly not her favorites that she just so happened to know would not be in bloom for at least another three months. 

“I did it! I made them grow for you!”

    She looked at Lucas for help. She knew that they’d been working together since their little boy’s tenth birthday. That Lucas had been trying to train him to use and adjust with the Stars. James was good at handling light. Everything else of his ability was more related to chance than actual control. 

“He did grow them. I told him that it helps to focus something you can imagine. He chose you.”

“I chose her flower. The knights say that someone’s flower is important!”

“And what makes mine so important?”

    She was proud of him. She was so, so proud of him. 

“Because it’s yours.”

“Oh that’s the right answer, my sweet boy.”

    She gathered him in her arms again. Hugging him close and kissing the side of his head. 

“Thank you, Little Star. I think it’s beautiful.”

    His arms wound around her tighter. Her son cuddling into her like he’d done when he was younger. 

“I love you, Mama.”

    What she wouldn’t do for this boy. 

“I love you too, Jamesy.”

.

    It was dark around her now. Isabelle could feel the cold wrapping around her. The shivers that wanted to happen but she didn’t think she actually was. Like she was aware of what her body should be doing and yet it never came. 

    She thought of her family. Where Lucas might be. Where James might be. 

    She tried to reach out around her. To see what was going on. She couldn’t feel anything. She couldn’t see anything. She felt trapped and she didn’t know why. 

    Her thoughts felt scattered. 

    Between blinks, she found herself thinking of her baby boy again. Of the night that he was born. The Stars gleaming bright in the sky in readiness for a new Eastern royal. Each contraction nearly blinding her with pain until she could not keep her eyes open. Her grip on her husband’s hand nearly enough to break his bones but he never once complained. 

    All of the pain had been worth it. To hear his first cries. To hold him for the first time. To swaddle him and nurse him and hold the little baby she had dreamt about for months. 

“Mama?”

    She listened closer. Hearing the broken sound in a voice she knew too well. A voice that was much older than it should be. 

“Mom?”

“James?”

    She saw light in front of her. She tried to follow it. She saw her son on a table excusing itself for a bed. Older. So much older than the little ten year old she’d seen last. He looked like he was in pain. Sweating and shivering as he laid there. Like he was ill and there was nothing that could be done. 

“Mama? Mom?”

    There were two Eastern knights with him. Both of them fretting over him. 

“His fever is too high.”

“It’s the infection. It’s going to kill him. He can’t access his Stars. He will die.”

“If he seizes again we might lose him. We need a plan to get him out of here.”

“The arena is killing all of us. We need to get everyone out. All of our counterparts are stuck. We’re going to die here.”

    She saw James’ eyes open. She saw him looking at her. How he tried to reach for her. 

“Mom?...”

    The knights eased him back. 

“She isn’t here, Highness.”

    James was the only one she could properly hear. James was hurting. He was dying. 

    Her baby was—

“You can save him.”

    She didn’t know the voice. It seemed to come from the dark all around her. 

“I can help you save him. You need only agree.”

    He was dying. All of the Compass was dying. They needed help. James needed her. 

“Save him before he dies.”

    For a mother, there was no other option.

“Yes.” She could hear his heart slowing. She could imagine him dying. “Tell me how.”

    There was something sharp at her neck. Pricking her. Locking into place. Cool and metal from what she could feel. 

“You need only wear this.”

    She saw her confines now. The dark that surrounded her. She felt her limbs again. She felt the box she was trapped in. The danger she felt. The thought of her baby dying. Of losing—

“You can save him.”

“How?” Her fingers found metal around her. Digging in and clawing at the things she could reach. She had to escape. She had to get free. She had—

“He must be King.”

Chapter Text

    Ethan could hear the alarms. Even laying prone as he was on the bed in the infirmary he could hear the scatter through the palace that was causing more and more problems for all of them. If they were going to make it through all of this then they had to be doing it right and that meant that his people needed a leader. 

    His wife had the children of the Compass. She had her arms full, literally as far as he had been told, the fight needed to be fought. 

    Ethan had never been good about having their knights fight without him to lead the charge. It was his nature, much to all of his advisor’s horror. He couldn’t just stand by and let people die for him when he wouldn’t put himself to the same line. Even now, bandages circling his body and potions in his system, those thoughts did not change.

    He was moving before he could think of a reason to stop himself. Before he could convince himself that this may be the wrong idea he was upright in the bed and feeling the smarting pain roll through his body where he’d taken the strike from his would be assassin. 

    It wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone was making it out to be if all things were going to be considered. He had been hurt, yes. He had been struck and he had been attacked in his own home. His counterparts were also attacked and Dream was hurting as well. The attack wasn’t just on him and the only reason he’d even been struck in the first place was to defend a child that needed it so he wasn’t going to be upset about being hit either. The assassin was taken care of. He had managed to win that fight regardless of his situation so he didn’t see why there needed to be so much fretting going about. 

    He’d had some issues because of it, sure. But his healers were good at their jobs and they knew how to tend him. The potions had worked to seal his body back together and replenish what he had lost. Ethan wasn’t fool enough to think that that was the end of it. He knew that he would need to rest but he also knew that the potions and the rest they required could be taken in stages. He had done it more than once in the battlefields and he knew that his knights would do it as well. 

    It was something the knight’s medics used to say when they were in the middle of a fight and there was triage that needed to be done. Giving orders for the soldiers to carry on with their blades to finish the fight and when it was done to report directly to their tent to allow their body to mend and heal on its own. They were still able to fight for a time being and they would just need to work through certain after effects. 

    Ethan knew well how to work through them. 

    This was fine for him. He could handle this. He could manage this. He would be alright and he would survive. It was his way. 

    His counterparts were already out and in the mess of the rest of his own Kingdom. They were fighting the fight that he should be joining them on and he couldn’t leave them to defend his nation alone. It wasn’t fair and while he knew them all enough to know they wouldn't think that he was hiding form his duties in the slightest, the thought stayed in his mind all the same. 

    His feet touched the ground and Ethan wasted no time in getting to his feet. Despite the pain in his body and despite the feeling of his head momentarily going light. He knew that he was pushing at his own odds but he wasn’t going to back down from this either. It was the right thing to do. To fight along with his people. It was the duty of a King to protect their home. The duty of any crown to be the defender for their people. 

    He was simply doing his duty. 

    Even when that was shirking away from the healers that tried to usher him back into a bed. Even when he was assuring them all that he was fit enough to handle this and was making his way through the now crowded halls and out into his own knights yard. To see the chaos that was sounding through his home and the damage that had already taken place. 

    There was far more than he wanted to accept. 

    There were knights on the ground. Fires set around the city and he could see the towers of smoke that billowed toward the sky. Hooded figures with masks pulled to obscure their faces. Blades in their hands. Ethan searched all of them that he could see for a mark that they belonged to someone. That this was an attack from someone. 

    He found none. 

    Too much like the hidden people that had attacked Lucas and killed Isabelle. Whatever this was he was willing to bet that they were connected. It was proof then that this was truly an attack that was being aimed toward the entire Compass. The concern of all of them being together then was that if something like this was happening in the other nations they wouldn’t know until it was too late to stop it. 

    By pulling the Compass leaders together they had left their homes open and exposed. He knew that Percy would have his trusted knights and commanders in place to hold command and control there. He knew that Edward would do the same with the North and that the structure of the capital and palace would lend aid to protect them. The East was already on alert to defend themselves. The South was the most exposed of all his allies. Open to the coast and while he knew that Elaina would have defense in place in effort to defend, he also knew that the South wasn’t the one built for a fight. 

    They had naval scouts but if they were killed by pretenders, there was too much weight that things could have gone wrong there. 

    His sword, familiar in his grip, was a comfort. Of all the battles that he had fought in his life his blade had been his constant companion. Taught to him by the knights of Central and by his parents, he was never to be without it. It was part of him as much as his limbs. The fight around him was a system. Knights were handling where they could but his people were being terrorized. He had to do something. To step in and fight for them in the best way that he knew how to. 

    Pain could be worked through. Injuries could be handled. He was not alone in this fight. He knew he had his family along with him and he had to protect the rest of their loved ones inside. Even though he had the feeling that a good number of them were going to come and help with this as well. 

    He saw a flash of light that he knew came from the Stars. Turning to see Lucas and his Lead standing with each other facing down one of the masked assassins. Lucas looked unsteady, Elrin looked to be at the ready. He trusted his brother not to stress himself too much. He knew that Lucas would work himself to the bone if he could but he also knew that he wasn’t suicidal. He wasn’t going to leave James here without his father. That was his biggest assurance that his friend would work to survive this fight. 

    Percy and Edward were taking a group of knights to seal off the access the assassins had used. He saw Elaina guiding and leading people to safe areas. Catching flames onto her sword and using it as a beacon. Even when he watched her run the flaming metal through an assassin’s mask. 

“Majesty!”

    He turned to see his own knights rushing for him. All of them knew about his stay in the infirmary by now. He wasn’t at all surprised by the worry he could see through them all. They were protective and on edge. He couldn’t blame them. He knew how he would react if one of his counterparts was stabbed and proceeded to try to go out into a fight. 

“Help our people get to safety.”

“We need to stay with you, Sir.”

    In Central it wasn’t uncommon for the knights to push back on their orders if they thought it was the right thing to do in effort to defend their crowns. It was the point of their service and all of them took it seriously. Not one of them was going to pull themselves away from it when they knew what their duty truly was meant to be. 

“I’ll be fine. I’m healed enough.”

    Not one of them believed him. 

“I have my counterparts with me.”

    He didn’t really. Not when all of them were busy focusing on their own fight. They didn’t need to be watching him. They didn’t need to be guarding him the whole time. He was near them and that was enough. He knew that if he shouted they would be there for him. Like all the times they would play their games of war when they were children. It was in their nature and he knew that he could rely on it. 

“But Sir—”

“I’ll stay with him.” Ethan turned to see find his Southern brother standing behind him. Sword bloodied and coated in ash. “And lecture him for being out of his bed.”

    Ethan had half a mind to thank him and half a mind to scold him. All the same, the knights bowed their heads and moved to follow along with his orders knowing that he wasn’t on his own. 

“I don’t need to be coddled.”

“You are hurt. All I said was that I’d stay with you.”

    Ethan rolled his eyes. He could hear the banter that was in Sebastian’s voice. 

“How are you?”

    He scoffed. 

“My Kingdom is on fire and I feel powerless to help.”

    All the tasks that were meant to be taken up were already being handled. The fighting itself even seemed to be dimming down with the presence of the royals. If that meant the assassins were retreating now because they’d gotten what they were after, he didn’t know. He was worried to see what the true damage was in the light of everything that was to come. They needed to have a meeting together again to sort it all out. 

“Elaina was the first out here. She did well at commanding the knights.”

    He didn’t doubt it. His sister was smart in everything she set toward doing and most certainly when it came to the knights. Still, he’d gotten himself to his weapon and out into the yard and ready for a fight and there was not one strike he actually landed. No assassin went near him. None other than the one from the hall. 

    Like they knew he’d already killed one of them and weren’t going to tempt it again. 

    Even though he knew that wasn’t true. He knew that wasn’t the reason. There was something else. Fear had never stopped any of their enemies before and if they were afraid of his wrath in a fight then they certainly wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack his capital. It was foolish as much as it was clever and that was the part that unsettled him the most. 

    His wound stung where it rubbed as he moved. The impacts of the potion blend they’d given him to restore his body was sinking fangs of exhaustion into his limbs. 

“Ethan.”

    He looked up again when Sebastian’s arm came to rest on his arm. 

“What is it?”

“You look pale. You should sit.”

    He was already shaking his head. Even though the act of blinking was beginning to feel harder. 

“I’m fine.”

“Like all your knights are fine when they try to work themselves to death? If any of your siblings were here they would tell you to stop and you would listen.”

    He looked up at him. He hadn’t even realized he’d been hunching over on himself. How Sebastian’s grip on his arm had grown tighter to compensate for more of his weight. 

“You married my sister. I consider you a brother.”

“Then listen to me, brother.”

    He huffed but nodded all the same. Letting Sebastian move closer to his side to support him better. An arm pulled over his shoulders and Ethan felt half like a child again. 

“You shouldn’t have left the infirmary.”

“My Kingdom was in danger. I couldn’t just leave it.”

    They turned back toward the palace. Back toward shelter. He could see the relief in the knights that caught sight of them. 

“I cannot be weak by the eyes of my people.”

“It’s not weakness. They all have nightmares about losing you. I think you underestimate how loved you are by them.”

“You don’t understand—”

“I understand that I came to the Compass and heard tales from around the world and certainly here about you. The Great Bear of Central. The Mercy King. The Blade of Roses. The Shadowed Blue. Your title list and bodies left in your wake, Ethan, you seemed like a God to most of the people. You still do.”

    He’d fought too much in the wars. He’d put his life on the line over and over again and he would never regret what he’d done for the sake of defending his home and his people and the lands of his siblings. He would never regret protecting the Compass and what it meant for the world. But he still saw the bodies when he would go to sleep. He saw the eyes of the dead and he felt the blood on his skin when he worked himself up too much. He knew the feeling too well into his memory of his blade dragging through armor and flesh. It wasn’t ever going to go away and he knew it. 

“My fighting does not make me a God.”

“No,” even walking was turning painful, “but you leading your knights where most royals would never touch a battleground; that did. You were a teenager. The last of your line. You were given every right to stay safe in your palace. You chose not to.”

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

“That is a rare thought to have.”

    He knew that. He had seen it in countless other Kingdoms. He knew it was part of the compass that made him believe that. That it was their nature to hand the control of the military to the heir to the throne when they became of age to handle the responsibility. He knew that it was always his command that the knights had deferred to and his parents beyond him if necessary. He knew that the rest of the world limited power and controls and it left their leaders woefully unprepared to handle a fight. They would rely on advisors and counsel, Not experience and training. 

    He had won his fights and his wars for a reason. 

“I’ve got you.” Ethan could hear the concern in Sebastian’s voice. “Stay with me, brother.”

    He hadn’t realized he zoned out. 

“I’ll be fine. I just might need to sit.”

    Without another word he was being helped to the ground. The grass pressing into his knees as he finally felt like he could catch his breath. 

“I said they have nightmares about losing you because I know the rest of us do.”

    He looked to his friend. 

“Elaina had them nearly every time you went out to fight. When we formed out bond I started having them too. I know Percy has them. Edward too. I can guess by the way Lucas looks at you sometimes that he has them as well.”

    He opened his mouth to respond only for Sebastian to lift a hand to stop him. 

“We care about you. Not because we think you can’t handle it. We know you can. We know you are strong. We still want to help.”

“The help I need right now is keeping our Compass safe. Figuring out who is responsible for these attacks. Who sent these assassins. Why are they doing this?”

    His friend stayed silent beside him. 

“I may have an idea.”

    Ethan looked at him. Sebastian’s eyes were far too grim. 

“It’s not one you’re going to like, but I ask that you believe me.”

“What are you—”

“The Mother Nations.”

    Ethan nearly felt his heart stop. 

“It’s all of them.”

Chapter Text

    The walk to the throne room was careful. Knights guarding all around them in their effort to defend the royals moving through the castle. Genevieve kept her eyes on all of the heirs as they moved. 

    The fires outside were waning down. The assassins had retreated or been killed and knights were ensuring everything was safe. There was still distrust but the wounded were many and they could not afford sending knights to hunt when they needed to protect their ground first and foremost. 

    She held her son’s hand in one and her favorite nephew in the other. James and George both were nearly clinging to her. Eret had drifted closer once his father had left to help with the fighting that was happening outside. Hannah stayed under the arm of her mother. Parker as well. They moved together for the destination. All of the kids sluggish by now and tired of the pain that was attacking at the Compass. 

    She bit her worry down in her heart. All the concerns she had for her counterparts that were spending their time fighting and holding the line between life and death for their nations. Her one solace was that her husband was at least safe in the infirmary. Tended to and stable. 

    At least, he was meant to be there. 

    The moment the door opened to the throne room Genevieve saw Ethan sat in a chair at the head of the table placed to the middle of the room. He was leaning forward. She could read the pain clear as day on his face. The pinch between his brows that gave her the knowledge of the headache currently assaulting him. He was pale in the way he always got when he was given potions and needed to sleep. When it was close to being too much for him. 

    He was hurt. She’d known that already but she had thought that he would be in the infirmary still. That he would be resting. That he would be safe. That the healers and the knights would not have let their wounded ruler out into the fight that could have easily ended his life. 

“Genevieve.”

    She barely had time to take in the grave expressions on the rest of them in the room. How Lucas was the only other one sitting and how he looked like he was swallowing down a sickness that was trying to break free. Ethan was trying to stand. Sebastian’s hand on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him down as all of them came into the room. 

    James detached from her to make it to his father. George stayed with her to get to Ethan. All of the heirs took up their places with their parents around the table. Finding their place in the silence and the aftermath of a fight. Each of them who had been out in it smelled now of smoke. It was going to be holding over the palace for days while the air around the capital cleared itself. 

“What happened?”

    She wanted to know why Ethan was out of the infirmary. Why he wasn’t resting and caring for himself in the way that he needed to be. She knew that her husband would often sacrifice himself when he thought there was a greater good to do it for but she also knew that he wasn’t someone to get himself killed on a whim. 

“Ethan?”

“There were multiple attacks. We think they’re tied together.”

    It wasn’t a good situation but it also wasn’t like she’d been expecting to hear good news here. If someone was going to attack the Compass then they were doing it with a plan. They had resources and they were smart enough to know to gather them together before they fully started. To take them apart when they were weak and to unify the targets to be easier to eliminate in one swoop. The world just also tended to forget that when they were together the Compass was stronger than any of the other nations of the world. 

“The first attack,” Lucas’ voice seemed hoarse. Like he’d been screaming. The longer she looked at him the more she thought it was sobbing that had done it. “It was through the Stars. Against Dream.”

    Her eyes flashed down to her son. Seeing the stiff way George was holding himself as he took in the news. He didn’t know that Dream had Stars. He wouldn’t know what was going on. 

“From what I was able to put together someone was able to control the Stars enough to infect him with theirs. They were burning his blood. The upset that it caused was what disrupted everything else. Someone had to have been with Dream in order to do this to him. Stars require a physical contact in order to transfer in any way.”

    They were looking for someone with control then. Someone who would be strong enough to do something like this should be impossible to hide but evidently that was not the case. 

“We should have your advisors investigate while you rest, Lucas. You—”

    He was already shaking his head before she could finish. 

“I asked the Stars to show me. They—”

    Lucas looked ill. Glancing down to his son and holding James closer against him. 

“They showed me one of them. I think what they’ve been showing me as warnings is from a world where I had died in the attack.”

    No one breathed in the room. She saw the way James clung to him. The tears silently streaming down his cheeks. 

“I don’t want to kill him, Dad.”

    Her heart nearly stilled at the sound of James’ voice. Ethan stiffening as well. Lucas pulled away just enough to look his son in the eye. 

“Who? Did you see something? Did something—”

“I saw Lord William dead. I was holding the sword. I felt too big. I didn’t—”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re okay, Jamesy.” 

    The fear that etched on his face showed exactly what it would all mean. The unsaid confirmation that William was who he had seen as well. That if his lead advisor was in bed with the guilty party then there may be something far worse lingering in the Compass. It may be more than just the East. 

“That was the Stars, what was the second?”

    The assassins. The ones that had set fire to the city and attacked them within their home. The ones who had landed the blow on her husband and nearly stole him away from her. 

    Ethan’s expression turned all the more grave. It felt as if the temperature of the room had dropped. 

“Start again.”

    The order was sharp. None of their counterparts that had previously been in the room looked up. 

“Ethan—”

“Tell us again!”

    She was missing something that was happening. Part of the conversation that they had come in on. Information that had been told that had created the atmosphere here that felt like it wanted to kill them all. 

    There was anger in his voice. Genevieve could see the thoughts that were spinning through his head. She could read him as clear as she could see the sun in the day. The expressions room once again made themselves clear. The uncomfortable shift. The tension that could be cut by a blade. 

    It was Sebastian who moved to give the answer. 

“I believe the ones responsible for the attacks on the Compass are the Mother Nations.”

    Weight settled cold in her stomach. The anger she heard from her husband making all the more sense. The war of Bears and Roses had taken more than enough of its toll on him. It was the longest and the bloodiest. His fight against Central’s Mother Nation of Sqaring had killed and maimed and destroyed the lives of many. She knew what Ethan had done in order to end that war. She knew how much blood was on his hands. She had been there in the aftermath when he would wake up from the nightmares in the middle of the night. She had been there when he would shake and cry by what he had almost done to secure their nation’s safety. 

    She had been there when that war nearly took him away from her. 

“Explain.”

    She could see the fear in all of the children around the room. The frown that was pulling on Parker’s face as his mother carded her fingers through his hair. He had been against her in an argument not too long ago and now she saw him acting more like the child that he was. Even though something about it didn’t feel like it was right. 

“A month ago while I was securing a trade agreement for the South I was approached by a man claiming to be an ambassador for Alfen.”

    There was not a lie in what she could hear of Sebastian’s voice. That almost made it all worse.

“He was saying that they had an offer that—”

“Tell everyone again why they chose you to talk to, Sebastian.”

    The anger in her husband caught her off guard again. She could see the glare in his eyes. She could see the frustration and the pain. Ethan had loved Sebastian as a brother the moment he had become part of the Compass. For Ethan to turn on him like this then something must have happened. 

“Ethan, please. Our children—”

“Deserve to know how to spot a traitor.”

    Genevieve’s eyes found Elaina immediately. Her sister staring down at the table with so much of her own anger and betrayal clear on her face. Eret was standing between them. Looking back and forth between his parents like he was struggling to follow what was happening between them now. Like he didn’t know what to do. 

“Dad?...”

“They tried to convince me to betray the Compass. They tried to convince me that they could take one down and have all of it. To have the land to rebuild Coresol and restore what they called the ‘proper empire’ and they came to me because,” his voice broke, “because Alfen was my home.”

    She took a step away before she could even realize it. Blocking Ethan away from Sebastain like she could protect him even though the damage was already more than done. 

“I was on the sea more than I was ever there.”

“You were a lord of Alfen.” Elaina’s voice held enough quiet danger for all of them to feel it. “You lied to me. For years.”

    There was desperation in his eyes. 

“I told you I was on the sea. I told you that I loved you. Elaina—”

“How much of the rest of it was a lie?”

“None of it. I swear to you. I—”

    Edward lifted his arms to pull Eret against him. To hold the heir of the South as the argument pursued. 

“They told me that they could break apart the Compass and that they could take it but that they needed to have someone on the inside to help them. I refused. I wasn’t going to betray. I thought they were bluffing. And then we got the news of what happened to Isabelle and I—”

    Lucas barely looked like he was listening. 

“Lucas, I had nothing to do with what happened. They must have found someone else. I didn’t even realize that it could be the Mother Nations until the assassins and now—”

“Why did you not say something the moment you returned home?”

    Genevieve already knew. She knew from the reveal that he was from the nation. It would have been questioned and the information would have come out. If the threats were a bluff then he would lose everything for nothing. If the threats had been a bluff then none of them would ever have known. But now?

“You wouldn’t have believed me. You wouldn’t have listened to me.”

“I’m not sure I want to listen to you now.”

“Elaina, please—”

“No—”

“Enough!”

    Lucas rose to his feet across the table. His hands bracing him against the wood even as his eyes never lifted. 

“Sebastian. Did they say who all was involved? Did they tell you it was all of them? Did they confirm who they were?”

“You can feel my intent, Lucas, please. Use the Stars and tell me if anything I’m saying is a lie.”

    All of them waited with baited breath. Watching as Lucas nodded and finally met the eyes of their Southern brother. 

“He told me he was an ambassador of Alfen. I didn’t recognize him but I haven’t been there in decades. I did not seek him out. He found me. He found me and I thought it was a bluff. He said they wanted the empire, that they wanted Coresol. I assume that it’s all of them. Where there is one there are usually the rest.”

    Sebastian took a breath. She could hear it tremble. 

“I love the Compass. I love all of you. I love my wife and my son and all of our Kingdoms. I have never wanted harm to come to any of you.”

    Lucas frowned. She readied herself to order Sebastian’s arrest. 

“You’re telling the truth.”

    None of them moved. 

“If you’re telling the truth then Isabelle….”

    Ethan shifted beside her. 

“She will not have died in vain. We will avenge her. We will—”

“We can’t.”

    Percy shifted now. Genevieve once again saw how Parker was leaned against his mother. How her fingers stayed in his hair and how his eyes were drooping like he was about to fall asleep. Like the only reason he was even still standing was because he was leaned on her. 

“Why can we not avenge her?”

“She’s gone.” His voice came out strangled. “The Stars showed me her.” His eyes went back to his son. George wasted no time in crossing the distance and wrapping James in his arms. “I saw her trying to get out.”

“Get out of—”

“The morgue was empty. There were scratches on the door. She’s not here.”

    She tried to keep her breathing even. Edward shifted on his feet. 

“There’s nothing strong enough to bring someone back. Not like that.”

    She thought about everything that had happened earlier in the night. Her husband beside her sounded like he’d been shot again. 

“Alchemy could.”

    Alchemy that was born through Knailes. Knailes which had an alliance with the Compass. Through one of them here. 

“Mary.” Genevieve left her voice hard. “If Alfen tried to convince Sebastian because he was once one of them. Did Knailes do the same with you?”

    The offense on her face was clear. 

“Of course not! How could you possibly—”

“Parker was arguing with you earlier.”

    James had said it was the Mother Nations. Parker had acted on it immediately. 

“He was fighting with you. He was saying the same things that I am now and he did not stop until—”

    Until he drank the water. He’d looked frightened. His demeanor had changed immediately after. Genevieve looked at him again. At the pale hue of his cheeks. At the way his eyes seemed to lose their shine. 

“Parker?”

    Percy was moving now. Turning full on his wife and looking down to his son. 

“Sunlight, can you hear me?” Parker nodded. “Talk to me, son.”

“What have you done?”

    All of them were standing now. All of them were on edge. She moved Parker away. He moved like a doll in her grip. 

“What you are accusing me of is ridiculous—”

“Release him. Now.”

“Her intent reeks of fear.”

“Parker, come here, son.”

    Genevieve kept her eyes on her nephew’s face. At the way he numbly stepped forward. At the way his eyes rolled. How his body fell. It happened right in front of them and they missed it. They had missed all of it. All the same there was one thing that was clear. 

“Guards!” Genevieve’s order echoed above the rest. “Arrest her!”

    Parker laid cradled in Percy’s arms. His chest heaving. His eyes closed. 

“He needs a healer.”

“Dad?...”

“Stay back, Jamesy.”

“Mom?...”

    George sounded scared. All of them were on edge. 

“The Western Queen has betrayed us.”

    The drinks had been for all of the heirs. Parker had taken them all before any of them could get them. 

    Parker had known this would happen. 

    This was not the first time. 

    He was only twelve. 

“Parker?”

    She could hear the fear in Percy’s voice. 

“Stay with me, son. Stay with me, Sunlight.”

    He looked like he was dying. Edward was calling for a medic. 

“Stay with me. Please.”

    Parker’s breaths were turning more shallow. 

    There was nothing any of them could do. 

“Please.”

    She wasn’t sure she had ever seen Percy cry. 

“Please.”

    She watched her nephew falling still. The space between his breaths growing like a disease. 

“My baby boy.”

    His chest went still. 

“Please.”

    It wasn’t enough. 

Chapter Text

    Percy had not married for love. He’d known, right from the beginning, what his relationship would be like. Years upon years that he had spent being instructed on the violence of the Mother Nations. Taught by his parents what it meant to be a ruler of the West and what it was to hold the line and be the face of military to the Compass. 

    He had memories of being a boy and sitting with his father in front of the Western throne. The crown sitting between them as he explained their history to him. It was the night before he would start his combat training. His father had wanted him to be prepared. For him to know everything about where they came from and what the West had been made to become. 

    Each nation had a talent. Each of them with a purpose they wanted to work their nation towards. The North mined for their resources. Minerals and stones and precious gems. The South for their trade and sweets and spices. Central for their innovation and advancements. The three of the Polar Line held their purpose from the very beginning. The Sun Line, however, did not. 

    Both the East and the West changed from their original purpose and potential. Percy’s father had been the blood heir of the West. He had grown up with all of their legends. He’d held the tradition of sitting with him to explain what they were. Where they came from and what they had promised themselves to never become. What they would do in effort to save and guard their people from every enduring what their First had endured. 

“In the beginning, when the Compass was formed, the West was made to be farming. Our land is fertile and strong. Where the land is dry we can continue to work and build. Our marshes allow us for range. Our First King, do you remember his name?”

“King Reynard.”

“Good. He was the hunter of them. He provided their food. He had it written that he would continue that. That he would feed their nations and his brothers. That was our purpose.”

“Why did we stop?”

“Because war made us stop.”

    The Compass War. The only time the blades of the nations of the Compass were aimed to one another. The East had focused on their magic. On the study and understanding of the Stars and working toward bridging a gap between the worlds of the Gods and that of humanity. 

    In the war and the events that had followed it, the East had turned their focus into medicine. Healing and saving people in any way they could. Their magic turned into influencing the growth of plants for the creation of potions. Looking for ways to refine them and build machines that would save the lives of people in danger. 

    The West had become a military. 

    All the while looking closer like the nation that had made them. 

    Percy was raised with the knowledge of the cruelty of the Kingdom of Knailes. He was raised hearing the tales from his father and learning through their history books. He heard stories from all of his counterparts about the vile notions that Kingdom wore like a cloak. About the treatment of their knights of old and even the knights they still used to this day. The Alchemists that ran through their ranks and their closeness with the Abyss because of it. 

    Percy prayed to the Sun to keep them in the light. 

    He prayed to the Moon to hold the line and keep them safe in the dark. 

    It was his first act when he woke and his final act before he slept. To utter words that had been practiced through his thoughts since he was a boy and hope that the Gods might hear him. That they would understand his need. When his parents had passed he had prayed for them to be safe through the Abyss. That the light of the Sun would guide them and keep them safe of the shadows of Abyss.

    Percy prayed the night before his wedding that the West’s Golden God would protect his soul. That he would not suffer for the corruption of shadow he was welcoming to his home. To his bed.

    The wars hadn’t been stopping. The West was the military nation of the Compass but they were not the protectors. That role had always fallen to Central. The nation best guarded by the rest and the nation that had always been the face and voice of the five of them. They were called as the Compass Heart and that role had always performed as their strongest suit. 

    Ethan had been set on destroying himself for the sake of the rest of them. Refusing himself nearly any amount of light until the wars would finish but he was fighting against Mother Nations and they would never relent. Not unless they had reason to. 

    Percy had been foolish as much as he had been hopeful. That day when he offered himself to Knailes. When he had informed them that he knew they had a Princess who was looking for a suitor and he had offered his body and mind. 

    He had tried to give her his heart. 

    She had handed it back to him each and every time. Never holding it. Never even touching it beyond the guide of his hand to place it back in his chest. 

    Mary had been beautiful. She had been coying. She had known that he was doing what he was doing for the sake of peace and nothing more. That his goal was not borne of love or interest but strategy. She had enjoyed it. They had spent their courtings arguing over politics and papers and nonsense that he could hardly remember. 

    He had never loved her. 

    Not even on their wedding night. Not when he swore his vows. He had duty that attempted to blind him for what he was doing. He had prayed time and time again for his Gods to save him and guide him if he was making a mistake. He had wanted to call it off. 

    But he saw light in Ethan’s eyes when he spoke of how the wars were ending one by one. He saw his brother smile again when he spoke of a Princess that stole his heart. 

    He would not take that from his friend. 

    He had sworn his vows to the Princess of Knailes and made her into the Queen of the West. He had brought her to his palace and he had brought her to his bed. The two of them attempting to forget themselves. To be people and not their positions or pasts and for moments, mere moments, he had thought he could convince himself to love her. 

    He had allowed himself to believe that she might one day love him. When their bodies were warm and their silence in the room was met only with the shift of the bed. When they were free to imagine the lives they led. In the safety of his imagination, Percy had foolishly tried to believe. 

    She had abandoned their son for being early to his arrival. She had abandoned what she claimed to hold dear for the sake of an ‘imperfection’ that was not even real. She had proven herself to him. When she tried to enter his bed to ‘correct their error’. 

    Percy had known, for the last twelve years he had known that he had made a mistake. That in his act to not marry for love but to marry for his nation that he had brought a shadow to his hall. That his wife adorned herself in gold but belonged more to the black of Abyss. 

    He had known and still gave her chances. 

    He had known and now his son was dying. 

    He’d thought she was stern with Parker because of her own upbringing. He’d thought that she would not break the alliance. He’d thought that he and their child might have meant something to her once. Even just once. 

    He had never thought this. 

“Percy?...”

    Ethan’s voice was soft. Softer than what he deserved after what happened here. After what they’d just learned. He had married her in effort to save his brother and because of that choice he had almost gotten him killed. 

    He had gotten his sister killed. 

“I had no idea, Ethan, I—”

    That it was his wife. That she was responsible. That he had been too blind to realize what she was. What she would become. What their future would hold. Poison. 

    All of it was poisoned. 

    By the force of the Mother Nations that he had given access to. 

“I know.”

    He thought of Elaina. How his sister was learning tonight for the first time that her own husband was one of the Mother Nations. She had reason for what had happened. She had excuse for any ill that might be wished toward the South. She had not known. Truly, she had not known. 

    She was innocent. 

    Percy had known he was walking into Knailes. He had known all of their history. He had known the monsters that Kingdom made. 

    He’d kissed her on their wedding day. He’d removed her dress. He’d ignored the black of her soul. 

    He had nothing but guilt. He had no excuse. He had only himself to blame. 

    If his son died it would be only him that he could blame. 

    Central was the Compass Heart. Each ruler taking their place in the middle and balancing the group of them through generations. Ethan had been no different. Percy had seen all of their children engaging. He knew that George would carry it on as well. 

“Parker is—”

“Alive. They’re working with him. That means that he’s alive. Mary is in the dungeons, she cannot hurt him.”

    But his wife would have had help. She would have knights that were loyal to her. The Queen’s Guard would be mixed with his own and he had no way to tell if her influence was spread like a sickness deeper in as well. When the word of this would spread through his soldiers it was likely to turn into a brawl between them if not an all out rebellion. He would be lucky if it would not end with a coup. To destroy the Western bloodline and replace it with the crown of the poison that made them. 

“I will kill her.”

    Percy let his voice be hard. He let his anger show through him as he thought again of the feeling of his son cradled in his arms. As he felt his breathing stop and still. As he had begged for him to stay and Parker simply wasn’t able. 

    He’d heard Genevieve explain when they all first arrived to the infirmary. What had happened and what Parker had done. That he had saved the rest of the heirs, that Mary had intended for this to be in all of them. 

    The children, god they were all just children, had sobbed when they understood it all. When they knew that Parker was dying because he had tried to save them. 

    Because he had saved them. 

“I will kill her, I swear.”

    He would not break from that oath. Not even if it would kill him. 

    She had betrayed their wedding vows. She had betrayed her oath into his family. He would have no qualms for destroying his oath to her. 

“I just need to make sure that he’s—”

    He couldn’t finish. He couldn’t say safe because he couldn’t help the thoughts of Parker knowing what was in those cups. That Parker had known to save the others to begin with. That his little boy who laughed and painted and smiled like he was born of the gold of their God would have been victim to this already before. 

    He’d heard the healers already speak of tolerance. That Parker wasn’t reacting the way they needed him to. That his body was accustomed to situations like this. 

    He had failed. 

    He had failed as a father if he had failed to recognize this. 

    He’d known that Mary was not kind. He had barred her from his bed the moment Parker was born and she had refused to hold him. When he had held their early son in his arms and fed him animal milk because he lacked the care of his mother. Percy doted on him. As he coughed when he was younger. As he had nightmares of the dark. As he held a blade for the first time. 

    As they sat together in front of the throne the night before Parker’s tenth birthday and he’d told his son the history of their nation and that he’d wed them back to Knailes for the sake of peace. For the sake of protecting them all. For the sake of making the fighting finally end. 

    Look where that had brought them now. 

“Majesties?”

    He thought his heart might have stopped the moment he heard the call. The Lead Healer of Central standing before them with a bow in her head. Concern in her eyes. Percy did not remember getting to his feet. He hardly recognized his brothers and sister standing beside him. 

“Is he—”

“Prince Parker is alive.”

    The air left his lungs so quickly he felt faint. Arms braced him in moments. Two wrapping around his waist and another to settle at the back of his neck. Elaina took his hand in hers. Squeezing it tightly and offering him her support. 

“He is weak, at the moment. We still aren’t sure what was used on him. It’s unlike any kind of poison we’ve seen before but from what we have gathered, I’m not even sure how to explain it.”

    He swallowed his hope for anything good. 

“Tell me, please.”

    She nodded to him. 

“The Prince obeyed every request we gave him. I do not believe he was lucid. I doubt he will be able to remember much of anything from the evening but anything said to him right now needs to be monitored. Anything that seems as a direction, until we know more, should be avoided.”

“Why?”

    She looked pained as she answered. 

“From what we can tell, what he was given was something to make him obedient. To disobey while under its influence is what we believe caused his body to attempt to shut down. Submission or death.”

    He was going to be sick. 

    He was going to slaughter his wife. 

    Their son deserved better than this. He deserved so much more than this. 

“You may see him, if you like. He needs sleep and careful tending. We are giving him fluids at the moment to help remove whatever this serum was from his body.”

    He nodded despite feeling numb. He had to get to him. He had to see him. 

    He had to be a King. He had to be a leader. He had arrested his Queen and the people of the West who had joined on this journey would need an answer given by their King. he would have to answer for everything he’s done. He would need to make them understand what kind of a monster she was. What viper he had invited to their home. 

    If his people rebelled, Percy thought he would deserve it. 

“Go.”

    The small voice caught him off guard. Percy looked down to see his young nephew standing by his leg. In front of Ethan’s body like he was trying to stand a guard between his father and the rest of the world. George’s eyes were wet. His face was trying to be stern. 

    A mime of what Percy had seen from Ethan when he was sixteen and crowned King and made to discuss wars he did not know how to fight. When he had read the names of the dead and swallowed guilt on each syllable. 

“Go make sure he’s okay.”

    Centrals. 

    All of them needed their Centrals. 

    He felt Ethan lean closer. He felt his brother squeeze his side. 

“Listen to him, Percy. We will handle the rest.”

    He couldn’t say no to that. He wouldn’t. 

    Not when it was his son waiting for him on the other side. 

Chapter Text

    Since having King Lucas help them, Dream’s breathing had been easier. He’d stopped fretting and Sam had felt the way his body had relaxed when the Stars were eased. His little squire still coughed from time to time even in his rest but he’d known he was sick before. He supposed that they couldn’t ask for a clean bill of health when they hadn’t even been started with one. But his fever was calming. He seemed more like he was sleeping now rather than being forced into unconsciousness. 

    He would take any boon they could get. 

    Still, his heart couldn’t ease from the tension and worry he held. 

    He was the Central Leading Knight. He was the one that was meant to be out in the fighting with the rest of his soldiers. He was meant to be at the hand of his royals and acting as their sword and their shield. He’d already failed by leaving his injured King alone but he’d had orders to do as such. With the sounds of the attack, Sam had stayed. With the fighting and the chaos he could make out beyond the curtained shield of their infirmary stall, he knew he could have helped. But every shake and tremor of Dream in his arms had held him firm. 

    Even when his little squire had eased against him, Sam hadn’t found the strength to move. Not the strength to abandon him here to wake up alone and afraid. 

    Dream had been attacked. By someone that was incredibly strong if he had understood what King Lucas was saying correctly. Dream had Stars in his blood which meant he had at least one Eastern connection in his bloodline. It didn’t matter, not too much. Central and East were allies. People moving from nation to nation, especially in the Compass, was not unheard of and generally was common practice as bonds were made. It was only really necessary to know for medical purposes. Treatments for those with the Stars were generally different. Certain potions would not work on them. Blood transfusions if they ever became necessary were typically more dangerous. 

    The Stars in their blood gave them energy. If they were given blood without any, while it would help them be saved from their immediate threat and would not kill them, would make them weak and often ill until they could recover their Stars. He had the feeling that Dream hadn’t known about them either. From the little he did know of his squire he had heard the talk from the others that he was stubbornly against any kind of faith. He wondered how the knowledge of his blood might impact that. 

    Dream whined against him. His face pressed to his neck and Sam didn’t have the heart to do anything more than hold him closer. Cradling him there and running his fingers through his hair. He’d noticed already that it helped to calm him down. Even more when he would lay his hand over his spine in the space between his shoulders. 

    He had told Dream before that the mask would stay and go by his choice and his alone. That he wouldn’t be forcing his squire to show anything that he didn’t want to. Now that was destroyed. Sam had seen his face even though he hadn’t wanted to. He had seen him, multiple people had seen him. They had seen him and Dream hadn’t even been conscious to do anything about it. Not to hide himself. Not to smile. Not to glare or frown at them. He hadn’t been able to hide himself or defend himself. 

    It was Sam’s job to do that for him. His duty as the boy’s knight to protect him and he had failed in that. He had failed to guard him enough to keep him safe from sight but there hadn’t been any other way to save him. 

    In this way at least Dream would be alive to hate him. 

    It was easy to lose track of time in the infirmary. To focus wholly on the singular task of guarding the wounded. Of listening to the small breaths against his skin and ensuring his tiny squire stayed relaxed and resting. It was going to be the best way to heal him. 

    Being the Lead, Sam had learned how to help their allies. He knew to keep the East resting if they ever had to use their magic to any drastic extent. He hadn’t thought he would need to be doing this for his squire as well but he would do anything if it meant the little boy in his arms got to grow up and be safe. If it meant he could live. 

    He listened to the motions of the infirmary beyond their barrier. The calls for orders to help. The medical orders that were passed along between the new patients being brought in from the attack. He listened to it ease and end. He listened to things settle. The stragglers. The wounded who were being found and carried to what might be able to save then. 

“Help!”

    Sam felt his blood turn cold. His heart stuttering to a standstill as he tried to convince himself that he hadn’t heard what he knew he had. 

“My brother needs help!”

    There was running. Sam felt his muscles wind in tension but he couldn’t move with Dream. His smallest squire whining against him when he tried to shift. He heard the cursing that came from the healers working and attending. 

“Where is his leg?”

“Gone.”

    He knew the voices. He knew. It was just the matter of which it was that was—

“We’ll take him. You need treatment.”

“Where’s Sam?”

    He heard his oldest. For the first time he heard the voice of his oldest. 

    Sam heard pain. 

“He’s resting. He’s—”

“Take us to him.”

“Sir—”

“You heard my brother now take us to him!”

    Five. There was no doubt in his mind now. Five was the one who had been shouting. Zach was here and he was hurting. That could only mean that—

    The curtain moved. In coming his oldest and second youngest squires. Zach had been knighted for years but that didn’t change anything when Sam saw him being half held up by Five and the blood pouring down his side. Over his armor and dripping to the ground. The pallor of his skin and the healer that hovered uncertainly behind them. 

“Sam.”

“Dream?”

“Sir you should really sit.”

“I’m fine.”

    Zach tried to take a step. Sam watched his leg nearly collapse beneath his weight. Five scrambling to support him and keep his brother upright before he moved them both over to the chair by the side of the bed. Dropping Zach down into it and Sam cringed at the sound of his armor shifting over too wet chainmail. 

“What happened?”

    He would demand it. His arms still around Dream. Still protecting his little one and making sure he was safe. Five was streaked in ash. Blood trickling by his hairline but it didn’t look bad. He was covered in scrapes and bruises but he seemed mostly alright. 

    Until he started coughing. His hand pulling away from his mouth when the fit was done and stringing blood coming with it. 

    The healer saw it in the same moment Sam did. Five waving them both off in moments. 

“I bit my tongue when the bomb went off and I hit the ground. I’m fine. Focus on Zach.”

    The brother that was with them. The one that was still here. Zach’s armor was coming off swiftly. Buckle and strap coming undone under expert hands and Sam hissed a breath at the sight of the ragged picture to his son’s side. 

“What happened out there?”

    In the fighting. In the attack that he should have been helping him with. That he had been inside for the entire time and now his other three boys were—

“There was a bomb.” Five’s voice trembled. “I didn’t see it. Boomer did. He dived and grabbed me. We both got caught in it but Boomer—”

    He gagged. Zach hissed as the healer worked to clean his side. His eyes were nearly swallowed by pain but he could still see him take mercy on his younger brother. 

“Boomer got himself between Five and the bomb. He took more of it.”

    He recalled the screams. He recalled what was asked. 

“His leg was torn off. It’s gone. He doesn’t…He…”

“It was my fault.”

“Shut up, Five. No it wasn’t. You would have died. It would have ripped your head off if it didn’t take his leg. He saved you. You honor that, you don’t blame yourself.”

    Zach’s own voice was shaking from the pain. The healer had potions on them. Sam could see them. Not one was offered to his eldest. 

“Are you not going to give him anything for the pain?”

    The healer went rigid. Zach almost laughed. 

“I drank all of mine when we were out there. Dangerous for me now. Have to heal the normal way.”

    The more the blood was wiped away the more of the newly healed lines he could see in his son’s flesh. 

“Attackers jumped us when I was trying to stop Boom from bleeding out. Five was out of it when he was sitting up. His head probably needs checked. They jumped him first so I set him to watching Boom’s medical and I fought.”

“He got stabbed seven times.”

“I only carry six potions.”

They were trying to laugh with each other. The healer didn’t look overly concerned. It was better, he supposed, that they were both alert and talking. It didn’t do anything to ease the feelings welled and catching in his chest. 

    It felt like too much. Too much information for him to process. His children almost all died tonight. All of them. All four of them. Only one of them was relatively safe at the moment and not even that could be guaranteed. He was scared and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that. 

    His oldest had been stabbed in the line of duty. Exhausted all of his potions and had evidently made the trip back into the palace. 

“Dragging Boomer here was the hardest part. We should put him on a diet when he’s out of recovery. Tell him he’s too hard to drag.”

“You have an easier time when you aren’t bleeding out.”

“Yeah that too.” Zach tried again to laugh. It came too tired. “You can take his scraps. You need them. Too scrawny.”

    Boomer had lost a limb. His time as a knight was done. Before he could even really start. Sam had been making plans to knight him around his birthday. So that his boy would carry on the pattern that he and Zach had set for their line. He wouldn't be able to do it now. His squire was never going to see what the years of his training amounted to. He would never have the ceremony that he deserved. 

    He might not even live. 

    He knew that his boys tended to cope with things using humor or anything else they could get themselves into. That they would avoid talking about the actual issues so that they wouldn’t have to face anything from their past. So that they wouldn’t need to risk. To use humor was to keep the conversations safe. To speak without the threat of reality hanging over their heads. 

“He’s going to be alright, right?”

    The healer frowned back at Five at the question. Sam could tell enough what that would mean. 

“He lost a lot of blood, little knight.”

    Zach took up the mantle of comfort even while he was being stitched closed. 

“He’s tough though. He’s going to be alright.”

    Sam hoped that wasn’t a lie. 

    Five looked terrified. He looked exhausted. Almost without thinking Sam lifted his free arm in an invitation to him. Five blinked at him for only a moment before he was climbing onto the bed and settling himself down into his side. Relaxing almost like a reflex when he was held against him. 

    He stayed wary of Dream’s small body curled into his chest. Watching him in the way only an older brother could do. Still, it was Zach who again spoke first. 

“What happened to the runt?”

    Sam wanted to glare at his oldest. He didn’t have the heart. 

“An attack through the Stars. Someone targeted him. They almost killed him. Star poisoning. King Lucas had to save him.”

    All of them fell into silence after that. Neither of his other two willing to joke or insult a situation as grave as that. Star poisoning was a death sentence for the royals who had the most command and control. For someone like Dream it would have killed him before the sun graced the land again. If he hadn’t found him in the hall, his son would be dead. 

    His son. 

    Dream had found his way into his heart so quickly. 

    Five pushed himself closer. The healer placing bandaging over the remaining of Zach’s wounds before turning to look at the group of them on the bed. When Five didn’t move Sam nudged him to do so. 

“You need to have your head look at.”

“It barely even hurts.”

“That could just be adrenaline, sit up.”

    The order was obeyed. Sluggish but without falter. 

“Did you have potions out there?”

“Only one, right after the bomb.”

    The healer nodded. Turning Five’s head in different directions and testing his reactions and eyes. It gave Sam time to examine his oldest in the chair. How Zach was slumped on himself and how he had an arm wrapped protectively over his side. The pain still clear on his face but the exhaustion now settling in as well. 

“You seem alright. You’ll need rest.”

    All of them did. 

“Can you have a second bed brought here for them?”

    He wasn’t shy to give his request. He knew that it had happened before and he doubted that anyone was going to give him grief for it. 

“They aren’t going to rest unless they can stay together and I won’t be able to rest if I don’t know that they’re safe.”

    Zach gave a grin of his own. 

“And when Boomer is done in surgery he can join us. We’re a protective bunch.”

“Every knight I know is protective.” The healer’s retort was sharp. Firm until they met his eyes. “Sir Sam, surely you know that the infirmary cannot be gathered like this.”

“I know that we have done more more for much less. And that our King will understand my actions if he needs to be asked.”

    The healer’s face paled and if Sam had more space beyond the worry for his family in his heart then he might have felt guilty for pulling Ethan into the fight like this. 

    Might. 

“Yes, Sir. Apologies.” The healer bowed. “The bed will be brought in a moment.”

    Five leaned back to him almost the moment they were alone. Tucking his face into his free shoulder and like this Sam could feel how badly he was trembling. He didn’t make a comment about the wetness he felt beneath where Five’s face was hidden. Zach held his gaze to his brothers. 

“Boomer’s strong. He’ll make it.”

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

    His boy nodded. Eyes grim as he thought about it all. “I tried to find his leg. To save it. It was gone, Sam.”

“I know.”

“I wanted to help knight him.’

    He swallowed back his tears. He saw Zach failing to do the same. 

“I know.”

“We’re gonna knight them all. Right, Dad? We’re gonna knight all three of them?”

    Boomer and Five and Dream. All of them. All of his squires. All of his boys. 

    When he looked in Zach’s eyes he saw fear. 

“We will.”

    And he prayed it wasn’t a lie. 

Chapter Text

    It was late afternoon before Lucas opened his eyes again. He could hardly even recall closing them. After the night had taken them to the sight of the sun and exhaustion was plaguing each of their movements. Too much had happened for it to be only one night. Too many things had crushed them all from any side that even now he wasn’t sure he had the strength to move. 

    The weight of his limbs was too much to move. The steady rise and fall beneath his head pulled him to remember what they’d even been doing. 

    After everything that had happened. After every betrayal that they had faced. The night had lasted too long. Draining them and hurting them over and over without any sense of a respite. All of them had stayed in the infirmary for too long. Their children had been dragged through too much. 

    Percy stayed with his son. None of them questioned that. With Mary in the dungeons and the immediate poison of the Mother Nations subdued, there was little to do but wait. 

    They had more work that needed done. Tactics that needed to be discussed. Plans that needed to be made. Allies addressed and soldiers roused. They needed information and they needed time. Right now, however, they didn’t have that. 

    Their people were weary. Hurting and tired from everything that was done to them and the threats now looming over their heads. They needed rest. Even the bodies of the rulers could only last for so long. 

    Elrin had seen their conditions before any of them had been willing to admit to it. Gathering the remaining Compass heirs and sending them off to sleep. Ensuring the knights he had to guard them were loyal without fault. 

    Elaina sent Sebastian away. Guards flanking him to monitor his movements. Lucas didn’t have the heart to fight against it. They’d all been through too much. It had taken coaxing for the rest of them to move. To leave the wings of the infirmary and make their own way to a room. 

    Truth be told, Lucas could barely remember even making it to the room. Let alone stripping himself of his more formal attire and crumpling down toward the lounging couch in the room. 

    He didn’t even remember closing his eyes. 

    But now, blinking in the light filtering through the curtains covering the window, Lucas could see the rest of his counterparts hadn’t fared all that much better. He could see the bed where Genevieve laid sleeping with Elaina held securely in her arms. Ethan stretched out on the couch across from him. His arm draped over his middle and his head tipped back as he slept. He looked young like this. In a way Lucas could almost forget the several wars the two of them had faced. 

    All the fighting and danger. The amount of times he’d seen his brother at the edge of life and death. The times where Ethan had thrown himself in a path of danger just because he would rather take it himself than send one of their knights to do it. All of the things they’d suffered and endured. All the loss and hope. 

    Ethan was hurt for this. If he had looked for intentions earlier then he might have been able to stop this. He might have been able to do things differently. He might have been able to save his counterparts from what they were now being forced through. 

    He might have been able to save his wife. 

    His Isabelle. 

    A too deep breath beneath his head pulled him from his thoughts. 

“Lucas?...”

    The whisper came deep and tired. Still half asleep and when he managed to shift and look up he could see Edward’s eyes were still closed. All the same, he felt his brother shift and only then did Lucas realize that Edward was holding him against his chest. 

“You okay?...”

    He hummed. Trying to force his body to wake up the rest of the way now that his mind was properly running. 

“I’m fine.” 

    He needed to get up. He had to clear his head. Moving, however, was still easier said than done. All the same Lucas moved himself from his brother’s grip. Pulling himself up from the couch and blinking around the room to make himself focus before he was setting a hand on Edward’s shoulder. 

“Go back to sleep.”

    Edward only hummed to him in return. Their whispers and tones not being enough to cause even a stir out of the rest of them. He wasn’t sure where their second Northern counterpart was but he could assume that she was likely with their little ones if he had to make a guess. 

    Slipping out of the room was easy enough. Bare feet padding on the ground didn’t make too much noise and the light from the window hadn’t bothered them so he doubted the light of the hall would do so either. 

    Each step worked the sleep from his body. He knew that he wasn’t exactly the most presentable in the moment but something was bound to be better than nothing. By the light he knew that they had slept for the majority of the day. That there were things that needed to be done in order to ensure their nations were safe and while they needed the sleep they couldn’t stay resting and hidden forever. 

    If their people could not rest then they shouldn’t either. 

    It was a principal both he and Ethan had used in their times out on the war fronts and it was something that he intended to use for the rest of his life. For however long that may be. 

    There was a knight posted beyond the door. Watching into the hall and Lucas smiled at the Eastern mark on their pauldron. The helmet kept him from identifying which of his knights it was however he trusted that Elrin would not let their guard be anyone but the best. He could see marks of knights from each of the nations through the hall. Everything else was still. Everything else was empty. 

“Majesty,” the knight stood at attention. Lucas waved him out. 

“Has there been any update? How is Percy? Parker?”

    If they were in danger then he wanted to know. He needed to know. If Percy was being forced to deal with a traitorous wife and a murdered son then he should not be left to handle it alone. Lucas would not let him be alone. 

“The word from the infirmary is that the young Prince has stabilized. King Percy remains with him.”

    He nodded. Running a hand down his face and trying to get his bearings again. Everything that happened to them all and what still needed to be done. He was forgetting something but every time he tried to push for it there was an ache in the back of his head. 

    The Stars had showed him something, had they not? It had been important. 

“Majesty?”

“Has there been anything else that happened? Anything of note?”

    The knight shifted on their feet. Hesitating in a way that could mean nothing good. 

    He’d seen too much over the years. Too much bloodshed and too much fighting through the wars. He knew what it was to have the reports be given and he knew what it meant for a knight to hesitate under order by their royal. Never once had he seen them hesitate when the news was good. Reports of their allies and information of supplies were reported with clinical ease. Reports that detailed stalled provisions or betrayals were met with silence. 

    Phrasing was important. The cost of wording things for a royal. Lucas hated it. 

    He caught it now. 

“What is it?”

“There was a new arrival to the palace, this morning.”

    His stomach dropped. It wasn’t one of the Mother Nations. It couldn’t be. Not if they had all been content to let their royals sleep. He doubted that even Elrin would have left him to sleep through it no matter what his condition was. He would have to be grave, he supposed, for his knight to leave him unaware of a development such as that. 

“Who? Why were we not woken? What—”

“It is your brother, Majesty.”

    The air fell from him like it was dragged out of him. 

“His Highness has returned to the Compass. Both Majesties of Laven are resting. They have brought with them knights to aid in battle should we require them. They asked you not be disturbed after Sir Elrin informed his Majesty of your condition.”

    His condition. His condition was that he was tired. His condition was that he had spent his Stars more than he should have and was suffering because of it. He would have been fine to be woken. He would have been more than fine to see his brother. He missed him. He wanted his comfort. 

“Where is he?”

“Assisting with clean up of the attack.”

    Theo knew the Compass. He knew how they operated. If he had heard that all of them were resting and hurting then he would have picked up where they could not. He would have guarded them. Despite that he had not lived in the Compass for over a decade, his brother would always be a Prince of the East. If he had not survived that attack and had died with his wife that day that his brother would have protected his son. That James would have been safe with Theo. 

“I need to see him.”

“But Majesty—”

“Tell Elrin he can meet me there. I need to see my brother.”

    He needed to see him alive and safe. He needed to know that at least one of the Compass born were not hurting day in and day out. He needed the help of someone who had been trained in the Stars. Who could help him sort what he’d been seeing since that awful day. 

    He needed his brother. 

“Let the rest of them sleep.”

    And then he left. 

Chapter Text

    Making his way to the drawing room was an event in and of itself. Lucas had only realized when he was already on the move the fact that he was half stripped. Bare feet striking the cool stone of Central’s halls. He wouldn’t even care much for how he was presenting himself if it wasn’t compounding with how the staff and knights in the halls reacted to him. Hair disheveled and clothes rumpled. 

    Given that all of them knew the situation he was in prior to now he couldn’t say that he blamed them for how they were acting with him. He could understand their concerns for him. That they didn’t know that he would be alright. That they were frightened that something was wrong with him or the rest of his Counterparts. 

    It still felt like too much. He needed help to sort through it all. To figure out with tge Stars what he needed to do. Maybe Theo would be able to help James as well. While his exhaustion and attention was being dragged toward the war that was breathing down their necks. James still needed to be taught. Despite it being intended that Lucas would inherit the throne of the East, their mother had been sure that both of her sons were taught in the family ways of a fight. Malcom’s teachings to be passed down regardless of by who. Shared through their blood and instinct carried by the Stars. 

    He had half the mind to smile to the guards who reached for him or their blades like they were awaiting an order or a call to battle. Regardless of the color they wore all of them were ready. The Compass stood united against threats that pushed on them all. The North was the only one that may have issue rising to their enemies but in a battle on their home they would fight without mercy or fear. 

    He barely paused to consider that he may not be in the right location when he reached the drawing room. Not bothering to even think of knocking before his hand was on the knob and he was already turning it. Pressing in and seeing the light glittering through the large windows. Ironically, it was not his brother who caught his attentions first. It was the well plated armor of the Laven Leading knight. Faceplate settled with the pale purple and pink flowers woven between the straps of armor and engraved into the metal as well. One of the main emblems of the nation that his brother had married into. 

    Lucas saw the crown the knight was speaking to next. The crown of the Queen and the tan olive skin of his sister in law. She turned to him with a smile. Bright green eyes catching in the light of the room as she saw him. A trait that nearly everyone in her familial line had. Her necklace adorned with draping chains and flowers of her nation. 

    Which only meant that the figure his eyes had jumped by the fireplace was—

“Now truly, brother, have I become so unrecognizable?”

    The slight accent caught him the most off guard as Lucas turned to him fully. Theo had been gone from the East for so many years now. Nearly over a decade. He had grown so much in that time. Changes that should have been small but Lucas couldn’t help but feel like they were extreme. He had filled into his frame fully now. His eyes had aged but he could still see the spark of his younger brother in his eyes. 

“Theo..”

    The relief of seeing him whole and hale struck harder than he had thought it would. With everything else that had gone so wrong for them recently he had begun to believe they would all suffer eternally. He hadn’t even realized he had stumbled until his brother was crossing the distance between them and placing his hands on his shoulders. His face morphed into concern and a frown pulling the edges of his lips. 

“Lucas?”

“I’m fine.”

“You do not feel fine.”

    Through the Stars. He was meaning through the Stars. Theo’s talent had always been healing. Where Lucas was able to pick up the blade and battle with the Stars at his side. The combination of his magic and the killing and strength that could draw from it. Theo had been the opposite. Magic and the care that cane with it. He could have been ruler of life and death and Lucas remembered a time when they were children that he’d found his brother crying for a bunny he found laying dead in the grass. 

    Theo had tried to save it. To bring it back to life. Begging and crying even as the ground around the soft furred body grew more vibrant and taller with each burst of energy he placed to the corpse. Lucas had needed to carry him home after that. Holding his brother against him as Theo sobbed. Too tired to walk after everything he’d done to save a life that was already lost. 

    Their mother had taught them after that how to not only see someone’s presence of light in the Stars but to feel them as well. To know their condition as much as their intent. Lucas had been good at feeling intent. Theo had been the only one between them that could tell if someone was in pain or not. If they were wounded. 

    He spent half of his time with the palace healers and knights medics because of it. 

“I’ll be alright.” Lucas wasn’t even sure he believed his own words. Seeing at how his brother’s frown deepened he could guess that Theo did not as well. 

“You feel like you’re over spending yourself. You and I had the same lectures from mother you know—“

“I know.” With his footing regained he tried to comfort his brother. Taking him in at the much closer angle and seeing truly the man he had fully grown into. “I will be fine, Theo, I promise.”

    It didn’t ease the frown off his face. There was still too much going on. It wasn’t easy for his brother either if he could catch anything from the stance his sister in law was holding with her knight on the other side of the room. That she hadn’t come to greet him when he entered had told him that enough. 

“You can help me be better.” Theo brightened even at the implication. “Tell me how things are for you? How is your nation? Tell me about your life?”

“Laven is fine, Lucas.”

    He knew that Theo wasn’t likely to lie. That he would see straight through the distraction and assurance this was. He indulged him all the same. The bond the two of them had as children had carried into their adulthoods. Even though they were not near each other and that the silence felt more like a chasm more days than not, they still loved one another. They would write to each other. Keep each other appraised of what was happening. 

    He knew that Theo knew the reason he was here. He knew his brother knew why it had been so long for anyone to see to them. 

“Joline and I have brokered a new peace that should help trade and the import of new herbs for medicines. We’ve been at it for months. With good timing too.  Settled it just before your letter arrived.”

    Laven was consistently in trade with the East for the last centuries. Both of the Kingdoms being ones that focused on the more medicinal side of things. They were clever as much as they were crass. The East had focused their talents with the Stars to focus on the side of potions and refining them to make them less of a hazard for the soldiers who would rely on them in battle. Laven, on the other hand, worked toward the healing aids that were considered more natural. While the distilling of potions did not officially require magic they were still considered to be abnormal. In comparison there were flowers and herbs that could be combined to create poultices. 

    The royals often met young so that their trade agreements would never come into question. For Theo it had been something more. Lucas knew that it had not fully been affection that drove their marriage but Theo hadn’t known that. He prayed to the Stars that Joline did not either. That his brother and sister in law both believed they were wed by the force of their love for each other alone. 

    Even if Lucas knew that their families had had a hand in guiding them to each other as their nations each grew more powerful. 

“Do you like it, brother?”

    Theo bared his neck for him. The thin metal band around his neck adorned with jewels and dangling chains. Diamonds hung delicately on the end of nearly each strand. Lucas blinked at it and the way it clashed with the rest of his brother’s outfit. The Eastern green vest that was embroidered with the pale flowers of Laven down his sides and by his collar. The white shirt beneath it thats lacings hung open along his sternum to let the longest of the thin chains dangle down unobstructed. 

“Much shinier than I’m used to seeing you wear.”

    His brother grinned. A small thing but the reality of it had always rested in his eyes. A glimmer that Lucas had always tried to chase when they were younger. Pride between them both. 

“What is it?”

“A gift,” he gestured over toward his wife, “Joline and I got them from the new alliance.  We figured it would be a show of bad faith to not wear them.”

    Sure enough Lucas could catch the glint of a similar band around his sister in law’s throat. The necklace that he’d seen earlier and hadn’t questioned. They were personalized for the royal that was meant to wear them. She caught his eye after a moment. Flashing him a grin and waving. He returned it without hesitation. It was good that even given the situation that was at hand she was still able and willing to smile at him. 

“It is good to see you.” Lucas closed the gap between them again. Pulling his brother into his arms to hold him in a hug and feeling Theo return it immediately. Curling into him and placing his face against his shoulder like they were children again. “The both of you. I have missed this.”

    Theo frowned at him. The smile in his eyes dimming to something more somber when he looked up at him from his shoulder. 

“I wish I could say it was a better circumstance that brought me home.”

    Dread of this conversation settled into his gut. 

“I'm so sorry, Lucas.”