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Leona let himself fall on his bed after an exhausting day of Cheka annoying the hell out of him. He didn’t even know how he had ended up with his pest of a nephew on his tail, but he was relieved to finally have some peace and quiet.
He hadn’t bothered to undress before throwing his blanket over him that it roughly covered his middle, but made up for it as he got too warm. While kicking off his sandals, he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it into a corner of his room.
Leona yawned widely.
After he had managed to steal himself away from the boring reception Falena held this evening, he had instructed the good-for-nothing guards, posted in the corridor his rooms were located in, to not let anyone bother him the next morning. And if it was the kingly pain in the neck himself.
He would see how well they did their job.
xXx
“Ruggie, ya sneaky lil bastard,“ Leona growled as he swatted for an alarm clock on his night stand that wasn’t there.
He needed a moment to realize through his sleep-addled mind that the birds chirping outside had woken him up, not the alarm clocks Ruggie sometimes managed to sneak into his room back at school and hide them somewhere, so Leona would have to actually get out of bed in order to find it and switch it off.
(Or throw it out the window.)
He also realized that the birds giving their concert in front of his window only sung during daytime, and was positively surprised that he hadn’t been disturbed by anyone.
He didn’t care for what time it was though, turned his back to the window, and intended to go right back to sleep.
As someone barged into his room and smashed the door open so it slammed against the wall, which had him jump upright in his bed.
“Leona!“
It was Falena, and Leona put his ears back, growling at his brother from deep in his throat. His tail whipped against his own sides in anger. He couldn’t even get a word in or snap at Falena to make himself scarce and that quickly, as he was interrupted.
“Cheka has been kidnapped!“
What an effective way to shut someone up, Leona thought by himself. Although he was sure he hadn’t heard right.
“What?“
Only now did he notice Falena’s unkempt mane and that he was still in his night robe, his ears drooping, and the fear burning in his eyes, flickering through the badly hidden tears collecting in their corners.
Leona gripped the letter shoved into his hands tightly.
He only skimmed what was written on it, but with every word he read he got angrier. Until he seethed at the end.
How dare they.
Through the strange fog very obviously clouding his common sense, he reminded himself that he couldn’t stand the kid for the life of him. Who would want to kidnap such a pain in the neck, voluntarily?
These little paws always tugging at his clothing or wanting to play with his hair. That small tail always openly wagging when Cheka saw him, although everyone frowned upon the crown prince seeking the company of the cursed second prince. That high voice always making his ears ring painfully when he crowed his name. These large, innocent eyes always looking up at him in wonder and admiration and love, although he was always pushed away.
The letter turned to sand in Leona’s hands.
xXx
In spite of all demands in exchange for the crown prince and the following dramatic threats when these demands wouldn’t be met, Leona refused an escort.
“They would only get in the way,“ he had said.
“You would get in my way even more,“ he had told Falena as he had demanded to go and save his son himself.
The palace guards had undoubtedly assumed that he wanted to storm in frontally and just blast away the kidnappers with a gust of magic. Sarabi, possessing more brains than all present men, had seen in his eyes that he had a plan, and tried to calm her husband as much as possible while she herself was clearly afraid the kidnappers would harm her son.
But she trusted in him, and Leona would not betray that trust.
So, contrary to popular belief, Leona got himself a shaggy cloak from a beggar on the streets, giving him his own fine jacket and shoving a handful of gold coins into the pockets, to gain at least a little bit of anonymity. Then, he sneaked inside the warehouse Cheka was held in, and where the ransom exchange would take place. At least if Leona would dance to the kidnapper’s tune.
It was laughingly easy to outsmart the men “guarding“ the boy, and he wondered how they had broken into the palace, and into the most guarded chambers, after maybe the treasure vault, on top of it.
xXx
He found Cheka crying in a corner, wedged between two large wooden crates, his hands bound with rope and a gag in his mouth. His face was dirty, his tears clearing visible paths over his cheeks.
Leona approached silently, so Cheka hadn’t heard him, but the moment he saw him, his eyes grew large. As soon as he ripped the rope in half and removed the gag, the boy launched himself at him with a gut-wrenching sob, and held on for dear life.
Leona placed a hand on Cheka’s back.
Unintelligible words bubbled out of his mouth, his voice shaking and breaking now and then, as his small hands clutched Leona’s shirt. The only thing he could make out were the apologies.
Cheka apologized that he wasn’t as brave as Leona always told him to be, and apologized for crying, and Leona’s heart twisted at that.
“Forget what I told you.“
Cheka lifted his head up at him.
“W-what?“
“I said, forget it. Crying doesn’t make you weak. Did I ever tell you that?“
Cheka sniffed.
“N-no…“
“That’s what I’m sayin’. You should listen to me better. Now, let’s get outta here.“
He sat Cheka down again, gently forcing the boy to let go of him.
“Stand on your own feet. Be brave only a little longer.“
xXx
Cheka jumped into the arms of his parents, running the distance between Leona and them in no time, crashing into their sides. They embraced him fiercely, and Cheka buried his face in the mane of his father and rubbed his cheek against his mother’s.
Leona huffed, and the guards shuffled happily at the teary reunion.
Suddenly, Falena stood up, on hand still resting on his son’s head, his robe full of dirt from where he had knelt on the ground outside the palace gates. He slammed into Leona, who had not expected to be almost tackled to the ground. He probably should have, knowing how prone to sentimentalities his brother was.
But for once, Leona allowed Falena to hug him.