Uneasy Alliance (A Roleslaying with Roman story)

The King

The two boys were ushered down the corridors firmly, the guards behind them keeping close tabs on them as they brought them to the king. Youngblood tried to keep himself as calm as he could, knowing that he could easily get out, but too nervous about what would happen to Roman if he did.

Roman kept his eyes on the ground guiltily. If he had just been a bit more confident, just a bit quicker, or if he had even managed to keep Youngblood's secret, they would still have Noise with them and would be safe. The fact that they were being taken to the king wasn't helping, as Roman didn't know what to expect from his father's old friend. He also didn't expect to leave the king's presence without Youngblood finding out about his family ties.

The two were ushered through the silver-decorated doors and Youngblood shuddered at the familiarity of it all. Roman froze up as he looked into the eyes of the king, and had to be shoved forwards by the guards behind him. They were both pushed to their knees a few feet before the stairs, and Youngblood struggled against the guard's grip at his shoulders. The king stood and slowly limped around his desk and into the moonlight.

He was badly injured from what they could see, his usually fluffed golden hair now matted with blood. His limp became more pronounced as he descended the stairs, and there were deep, long sets of claw marks torn through his skin and clothes. Youngblood smirked despite himself, but it was quickly lost when he pieced together that though he was injured, the king was still alive, which meant there was a good chance Noise wasn't.

The king ignored the elf's more desperate struggle entirely, instead getting down on one knee in front of Roman and looking him over.

The entire room stilled. None of the guards had ever seen their king bow to anyone or anything, even gods. Youngblood had stopped squirming and looked between the two, then stopped on Roman, searching for an answer to a question he couldn't dare ask aloud.

Roman tensed but didn't resist as the king gently grabbed his chin and turned his face, inspecting him for a while before a wide, close to genuine grin spread across his face and his eyes softened.

"Oh, my dear boy. You look just like him."

Roman looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Youngblood as the latter seemed to figure out what was going on. He could feel the fae's eyes boring into him angrily as the room grew warmer, but didn't dare to look back.

The king stood and stretched, taking a small vial from the belt of a guard and drinking it before dashing it to the ground, shattering it. His wounds glowed a bright, violent pink before settling, fully healed. He snapped and the guards holding Roman in place released him and stepped back with a bow. Roman stood hesitantly, still avoiding his friend's (quite literally) scorching gaze.

The king pulled him into a short yet firm hug, then turned to walk back up a few of the steps for dramatic flare.

"Bring dear Roman to our most comfortable spare chambers, would you? He and I have much to talk about."

The Dragonborn guard bowed again, if not a bit confused, and stepped forward to grab Roman's shoulder again. Roman quickly stepped forward, keeping his focus on the king.

"Wait. Please."

The king turned to him and raised an eyebrow, though his expression remained uncharacteristically kind.

Roman swallowed hard and finally turned to face Youngblood, who looked back at him with pure anger and disgust. Roman shuddered and took a breath.

"I'm so sorry, I should've told you, I was just scared-"

"My dear, I'd rather not waste time here. After all, what could you possibly owe someone with so little loyalty?"

The king's tone sharpened as he turned his attention to Youngblood with his last few words. Youngblood spat at his feet, earning him a rough shove from the guard holding him.

"He's my friend!" Roman snapped, gaze bold and teeth bared. A look quite unbefitting of him. The other two turned to him in just about equal surprise before Youngblood sighed heavily and glared back up at the king.

Roman settled down and his shoulders slumped a bit. "Just.. if you really care as much about me as I think you do, promise me you won't hurt him, alright? I don't care what he did before, or how he feels about me now, I just don't want anything bad to happen to him."

He tried as hard as he could to keep his tone level, but his voice wavered a bit as he fully realized the extent Youngblood's anger at him could reach for this. The king simply smiled and leaned back against his desk, palms planted on the smooth wood.

"I solemnly swear that I will not lay so much as a finger on him in harm."

Roman relaxed a bit and nodded, then stepped back to willingly go with the guard. "I'm so sorry, Youngblood.. I would've told you sooner.."

Youngblood didn't even as much as look at him in response. He was still just as tense as before, knowing the king would surely find some loophole to his promise.

As soon as the door shut and Roman, along with most of the guards, had stepped out, the king's expression hardened once again. His smile stayed ever-present as he turned to Youngblood. "Now for the fun part."

"Where. Is. Noise."

"Ooh, getting right into it now, are we? Well, you always have been one to skip the formalities, hm? Bring him in."

The last part of the sentence was called over his shoulder, and a door to the right of the king's desk opened. Noise was pushed out towards the king by yet another guard. He wasn't bound, but he was still struggling violently, trying to push back any way he could to escape. To Youngblood's relief, he wasn't injured. In fact, it seemed that some of his lasting injuries had even healed. His relief was quickly extinguished when he looked back to see the king still smiling darkly.

He signaled for the guard to let Noise go, and they did with a bit of hesitation. Noise darted towards Youngblood, hands going for his own daggers and eyes wide with panic.

"Noise."

Noise froze in his tracks as he heard the king's voice call his name calmly yet firmly. The king held a gem at the front of the band around his neck, and as he called the word, it turned from a beautiful, bright blue to a dark, sinister shade of pink. As the gem changed, Youngblood noticed Noise's eye did as well. With a sinking feeling in his chest, he noticed the black, pupil-like slit in the front of the gem. He became vaguely aware that the guard holding him had let him go, and had retreated to the closest wall.

"Noise,"

Noise's ear twitched and his muscles relaxed as the king said his name a second time, much more commanding.

"Hunt."