Chapter Text
When Hannah learned that she’d be moving into the castle, she had been excited. Apprehensive, sure. But excited. The sprawling gardens, the steady stone walls, secret rooms- all of it sounded incredible.
But when Sam had explained that they would be shown around, a prick of disappointment had hit her. Hannah wanted to explore on her own, maybe with Tommy, not by being dragged around by a boy a year younger than she was who said where every secret was.
Prince Quackity was just as energetic as Tommy was, and he spoke twice as fast. He would point to a narrow corridor and say, “That way to the servants' quarters,” or “That’s just a dead-end to confuse invaders.” Tommy hung on the prince’s every word. He had confided in her the previous night that he wanted to make a good impression on the princes who would become their brothers. Hannah understood that, she really did, but watching her baby brother latch onto someone they had just met… Tommy was her brother. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him treating someone else the way he treated her.
“What’s the fastest way to our rooms?” Hannah asked, causing the prince to pause.
“Uh, they’re a few floors up,” Prince Quackity said. “Do you want to head up there?”
“Yeah, I’m a little tired,” Hannah lied, shrugging. “I was too excited to sleep well.”
“Me, too,” Prince Quackity laughed, gesturing for Hannah to walk beside him. “I’m really glad that your dad said yes. Papa talks about him all the time. You guys, too. He’s really fond of you two.”
“He dotes on you and Prince George,” Hannah said. “You’re practically all he talks about.”
“You can just call him George,” Prince Quackity said. “Same as calling me Quackity. We’re family now.”
He said it like family wasn’t what Hannah had yearned for so desperately in the orphanage. Like Hannah and Tommy hadn’t lived together for months before they even began to trust each other. And Tommy was acting similarly, which made it worse! He clung to Quackity’s hand as though it were a lifeline and he was sinking in the ocean. He trusted Quackity so quickly. A bitter taste filled Hannah’s mouth.
“Right. Thanks, uh, Quackity,” Hannah muttered.
Quackity lead the way through the maze of a castle to a very fancy looking hallway.
“Here’s papa’s room, and Ponk’s is attached to his through a secret doorway in the wall. And here’s George’s room, ‘cause he’s Crown Prince. Here’s mine, and here’s yours, Hannah! Tommy’s room is just there, next to mine.”
“Thanks,” Hannah said tightly. “I’m going to lay down for a bit.”
“Okay! I’ll send a maid to get you for tea this afternoon,” Quackity said, his smile unfaltering.
“See you later, Hannah!” Tommy grinned. “Now show me more secrets, Big Q!”
Hannah ducked into her room, which turned out to be a waiting room like in Ponk’s old office. One door, Hannah discovered, led to a bathroom. The other door led to the actual bedroom.
Hannah tried desperately not to think of the way the Quackity was stealing her baby brother away. Quackity was her brother now too. And so was George. But Hannah couldn’t bring her self to like them yet. Hannah could, however, force herself to be polite to Quackity and George. Sam and Ponk had wanted them to get along, so Prime help her, Hannah would be polite to her step-brothers. Even if she felt that awful jealous feeling in her gut every time Tommy looked to Quackity like he was the coolest person Tommy had ever seen. He used to look at Hannah like that, back in the orphanage when she would defend him from bullies.
The worst part of being jealous of Quackity was that he was nice. He was friendly and considerate and he welcomed Hannah and her brother like he’d known them their whole lives. Quackity was the perfect older sibling and Hannah just wasn’t.
Hannah flung herself onto the massive bed in the middle of the room, feeling distinctly out of place and miserable as she kicked off her shoes. At least the blankets were soft, but it was from the high-quality material and not from years of use and hiding under from thunderstorms and reading under by lantern light.
Hannah crawled to the center of the bed and shimmied under the blankets, their weight oddly comforting. Her eyes slipped shut and she fell asleep.
A few hundred miles away and a day later, George stared at the letter in his hands, fresh from a carrier pigeon. One sentence had captured his attention.
He said ‘yes!’ The wedding will be in about five months, and you can come home to meet Ponk, Hannah, and Tommy. They’re very excited to meet you…
The letter continued much the same way, but all that George could register was that his father had actually proposed to the doctor. That several days journey away, Quackity was meeting the doctor who had stolen their father’s heart and that doctor’s children. Their new siblings.
“What’ve you got there, Georgie?”
George jerked up, meeting Dream and Sapnap’s curious faces. “It’s nothing,” George said tightly, feeling as though his breath had been knocked out of his lungs. “A letter from my father,” he amended as his friends’ expressions changed to skepticism.
“Usually you don’t respond like that to a letter from home,” Dream said dryly, “so pardon me for not believing you.”
George sighed, turning back to his desk.
“Geooorge,” Sapnap whined, leaning on him. “Gogy, what’d your dad saaay? If it's important, I’ll know sooner or later.”
George was aware of that. He was also aware that Sapnap could whine until the end of time to get what he wanted, and George’s patience wasn’t quite where Dream’s was. Dream, who looked amused by George’s suffering.
George sighed, “Why can’t you respect my privacy?” he groaned. “Fine. My father is marrying a doctor who struck his fancy. The doctor has two children and now my life will be wildly different.”
“Oh,” Dream said softly, moving to wrap an arm around George's shoulders. “I, uh, I don’t really know if I should offer congratulations or condolences.”
“It’ll be fine as long as the children aren’t horrible. Dad adores them, he always mentions them in his letters. It’s just… the older one, Hannah, is old enough to start school here,” George rambled. “It’ll be weird. I don’t know if I’ll be responsible for her like I am for Quackity at parties, or what. And they both get to meet Quackity first, and spend more time with him and dad, and they already know dad, and I don’t know the doctor or them and-” George cut himself off to inhale sharply. “And I’m worried that they won’t like me.”
“Oh, Gogs,” Dream murmured. Sapnap grabbed George’s hand and squeezed it. “I get it. I’m always worried that mom and the others won’t like me anymore when I go home for the summer.”
“Besides,” Sapnap said, “I’ll still like you. Everyone here will still like you. Nobody’s going to pick some doctor’s kids over you.”
“That’s part of the issue,” George groaned, squeezing Sapnap’s hand back. “They’re going to be my siblings, and so I have to protect them. And if they always feel second-best because they’re not dad’s biological children, then I can’t really help them.”
“Ah,” Dream sighed in his faux-wise manner, clearly trying to cheer up George. “The eternal dilemma.”
“You know,” Sapnap said slowly, “if you really wanted to meet them soon, you could always get sent home.”
“What do you mean?” Dream asked.
“I’m just saying, if George acted up, he could be sent home like Technoblade was last year.”
“What, just start spouting about anarchy in the middle of a school full of literal future monarchs?” George said, sarcasm dripping from his tone.
“Why can’t George just get sick? That’s how Nihachu went home early.”
“It was exam season and she was overwhelmed because her parents died, Dream. I can’t just start fainting on command in classrooms and corridors,” George countered.
“You could always sneak home,” a voice came from the window across the room.
The three boys spun around to find Wilbur sitting in the window over Sapnap’s desk.
“H-how the hell did you get here?” Sapnap asked shrilly, soundling as though he was barely containing himself from screaming.
“I climbed up the window,” Wilbur shrugged, pulling himself fully into the room. “Anyway, the route between here and your castle, George, is pretty low on crime as it’s not too frequently traveled and nobody is expecting the Crown Prince himself to be travelling there in the middle of the school year.”
“My parents’ places along the way and we could crash there! You could go ahead from there on horseback alone and we could follow or distract my parents,” Sapnap said eagerly.
“We?” Dream asked, amused.
“I’ll go with you,” Wilbur offered. “I know where to get food for traveling.”
“Yeah, sure, Wilbur, but Dream, you need me for my parents, you know, the attendants will let me in and wait until the morning to tell my parents, and you’re the best at sword fighting so if we do have a problem, we’re still safe!”
“This is ridiculous,” Dream laughed. “Well, George? When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow at dawn,” George answered. “That should give us time to pack and for Wilbur to get the food.”