Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leona Kingscholar? Could I ask you for a favour?

It had been a week since Jamil Viper had called him up for said favour. It'd caught Leona off guard; after graduation, he had gone back to his miserable life back at Sunset Savanna, and he hadn't heard from Jamil since. He figured Jamil too had to go back to his equally– at least Leona assumed– miserable life in the Scalding Sands.

Yet here he was, sitting in front of Leona, nose buried in some sort of ancient tome he’d apparently found in his parents’ attic somewhere. Leona had been watching him boredly with his head resting on his hand as Jamil's eyes moved across the intricate runes.

“Oi, Viper,” Leona called out after he had concluded he’d been ignored for long enough, “this ain't a book club.”

Jamil looked up as if he'd forgotten Leona was even there, which made Leona flick his tail in annoyance. He was the one who asked Leona for help, after all.

“Do you have to call me that?” Jamil said with a blank stare, though he did put the tome down.

“‘S your name, isn't it?” Leona grinned, “unless you wanna be on a first name basis before we even go on this mystery date of yours.”

Jamil rolled his eyes. “Right. Well I was going to say you could call me Jamil, but now that you've made it weird, do whatever you like.”

Leona raised his eyebrows in surprise. So the little viper found his venom after he graduated after all, interesting. His tail swished playfully; it'd been very boring in the palace for way too long, so this should prove to be more entertaining at least. He wondered what had changed.

Leona shrugged, “Look, all I'm sayin’ is, you haven't told me what you need me for in your little expedition yet. So elaborate.”

Jamil tapped the cover of his book with his fingers, as if he didn't know where to start.

He cleared his throat, “Before I elaborate on the ‘expedition’, I have to ask. How familiar are you with generational curses?”

If Leona's interest wasn't piqued before, it certainly was now. Generational curses were incredibly complex, strong ancient magic. Very difficult and costly to cast, usually even more costly to remove. If at all possible.

“Depends on your definition of a family curse. I got plenty of 'em. Two of them nearby, in fact.”

“Very cute,” Jamil gave him a sarcastic smile, “Now the answer I know popped up in your head. Don't think I never noticed your knowledge of ancient magic in school.”

Leona grunted, heat rising up on his cheeks involuntarily, “Yeah, yeah. I know of ‘em. What is it to you? Don't tell me you finally pissed someone off enough to curse your whole family.”

Instead of the annoyed response Leona expected, Jamil smiled sweetly as he folded his hands neatly on his dusty tome.

“Didn't need to, someone got there before me.”

—

“So let me get this straight,” Leona said, after Jamil explained his, admittedly, pretty interesting problem. “You finally convinced your sweet little master to set you free. He changed the family rules for you– adorable– and as you set into the free world you found out that, what? You're cursed to live a life bound to mister Sunshine anyway?”

“Leaving out the unnecessary attitude, yeah, that's pretty much it,” Jamil sighed, plucking at the faded leather on the tome. “Apparently, our family ties to the Asim aren't just by contract, but by some ancient blood pact. Someone must have really messed up, and we're still paying for it.”

Leona was starting to feel bad for him, he realised as he watched Jamil avoid eye-contact,downtrodden at the thought of his freedom fake-out. Leona didn’t know how he would've reacted to getting his hopes up only for them to be squashed– no, wait, he did, didn't he. Yeah, not his best hour.

He cleared his throat, “So, why come to me?”

At that Jamil finally made eye contact. He gave Leona a determined smile before he suddenly opened the tome to a page he'd dog-eared– who dog-ears an ancient relic?– and shoved it in front of Leona.

“What does this say?”

Leona looked down at the scripture; a big golden scarab decorated one of the pages. He started reading, “...only when two halves of the golden scarab beetle are reunited will it lead the way to the Cave of Wonders, where one will find everything they could wish for…”

He looked back at Jamil, eyebrow raised, “What’s this, an old family bedtime story?”

Rolling his eyes, Jamil took back the tome. He looked very pleased, if not a little smug.

“What?” Leona asked, puzzled at his response.

“That paragraph took me an entire day to read. You just did it in under a minute,” Jamil responded with a wry smile.

Ah.

That must've been hard to admit, Leona thought, if Jamil was still anything like how he'd been in school. Leona felt a twinge of pride swell up in his chest. What for, he had no idea. Probably at Jamil's veiled compliment.

“So?” Leona said, eventually.

Jamil let out a brief sigh before giving him a pleading, hopeful look, “Leona, this tome is the key to my freedom. I need your help to decipher it; you're the only one I know who can do it."

You're the only one who can do it. Just as expected of our Housewarden. Our king.

Dread filled Leona’s chest as he remembered a similar situation, similar faces, similar eyes.

“You're at the wrong address, Viper. I can't help you.”

“What? Why?”

Disappointment flashed in Jamil's eyes, followed by indignation. Now that was something Leona could work with, a comfort in its familiarity.

“Despite what you seem to think of me, I have no idea what your little fairy tale is about. ‘Sides, it's awfully presumptuous of you to think that a prince would have the time to help you out,” he drawled. He knew he was being a dick, but it was better for Leona to disappoint Jamil early on, before any expectations.

Weren't we going to turn the world upside down together?

Jamil looked at him incredulously, disappointment and disbelief etched into every line of his face. Eventually, he stood up, clutching the tome close to his chest, as if it was meant to ward off Leona's words.

“Back in Tartarus… you told me I was not like you, and to come back when I've exhausted my options,” Jamil said, his voice steady, but the slight tremble of his fingers betrayed his anger.

“Well, I'm here now, and this is my last one,” Jamil held his gaze, “do you want me to be the same as you?”

—

Knock knock

A firm yet polite knocking woke Leona from his fitful sleep, the sound and rhythm betraying who it was immediately. Leona groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.

Of course, it didn't stop the door from opening anyway.

“Ahem. Mr. Jamil Viper is here for you, Master Leona.”

“‘M not home.”

“Really? Then what is that talking lump in your bed,” Jamil's amused voice rang from the door where Kifaji’s had just a moment ago.

“My apologies, young master, I forgot to mention I had taken the liberty to bring Mr. Viper along,” Kifaji said, not sounding apologetic at all. To anyone else his tone may have sounded like the same monotone timber it always was, but Leona could tell the old geezer was having the time of his life at Leona's expense.

Ugh. Leona groaned under his pillow. Why had he said yes? He had regretted it the moment Jamil's eyes lit up with hope despite Leona's less than enthusiastic assent.

Fine. Whatever, I'll help you on your futile treasure hunt, but don't come cryin’ to me if it ends up a wash. Ain't none of my business.

Stupid. Leona buried himself deeper into the covers.

“Is he always like this?” he heard Jamil whisper to Kifaji, probably not realising that Leona’s ears were sensitive enough to pick it up.

Kifaji didn’t bother to lower his voice, “Ah, Prince Leona is probably practising the very important concept of ‘Hakuna Matata’.”

“What’s Hakuna Matata?”

Annoyed, Leona pushed aside the covers before Kifaji had the time to explain that ridiculous concept.

“Alright, that’s enough chit-chat, why are you here?” he grumbled, knowing full well why Jamil was here, but why so early?

He expected some snarky comeback about his lack of short-term memory or whatever, but instead when Leona finally glanced at Jamil he saw him frozen in place, face turning a bright red.

Surely the guy knew Leona didn't actually forget…

Kifaji cleared his throat, “may I suggest we give prince Leona some time to get dressed?”

Ah, that made more sense. He scratched the back of his head, mussing up his hair more than it already was. He resisted the urge to pull his covers back up, drawing attention to it would only make this more awkward than it already was.

Speaking of awkward. Jamil was still frozen in place like a deer in headlights. Leona had never seen the guy this off guard before; surely he must've had to help dress up that bumbling fool of his. Leona didn't see what the big deal was.

After Jamil had opened and closed his mouth a few times in an attempt to say anything, Kifaji took pity on him– them–, and cleared his throat once more. “Master Leona, shall I take mr. Viper to the royal garage to make preparations for your outing while you prepare to join us, in proper clothing?”

Leona dragged a hand over his face, wondering if it was still not too late to wiggle out of this situation.

“Fine. If you're gonna nag at me over proper clothing, you should at least wait for a reply after knockin’. Ain't my problem if you're that impatient to see me.” The words were meant for Kifaji, but he instinctively looked at Jamil while saying them. A smile grew on his face as he watched Jamil's expression turn into one of indignation.

“I wasn't– you told me to come pick you up in the morning! I thought– ugh, just get ready, we have a lot of ground to cover,” Jamil huffed out, turning around to leave the room.

“– and pack some pyjamas for Seven’s sake!”

—

After reluctantly packing his bags himself, pyjamas included, Leona found Jamil in the garage flitting about like a busy bee. His bags were already carefully slotted into the trunk, and he was now fussing over a large stack of maps.

Amused at the notion that Jamil wanted to use maps over modern navigation, Leona leaned against one of the garage's pillars. He took the opportunity to watch Jamil in his element.

Jamil had opted for a high ponytail today, exposing the nape of his neck, which was now slightly damp from exertion. It was nice, Leone decided, it looked a little more free from his usual style. More adventurous.

His clothes were equally practical, it seemed. None of his usual fancy bracelets or chokers were adorning his wrists and neck. He almost looked more naked without them than Leona had this morning.

Leona let out a soft chuckle at his own joke. The sound made Jamil look up from the stack of maps he was trying to fold into perfection. He shot Leona a deadpan glare.

“Finally, what took you so long? Don't tell me you needed an hour to find your pyjamas. Here, come help pack these, I need to check the other supplies.”

Surprised, Leona barked out a laugh at Jamil carelessly bossing him around. He must've been practising since NRC. Good for him.

“Bossing around a prince in his own home after he so magnanimously decided to offer his help, huh? I gotta say, you've changed your tune since high school, Viper.”

Jamil rolled his eyes as he was already checking off what seemed to be a ridiculously long provision list. Just where was he planning on taking them? Leona was starting to suspect Jamil just wanted a cheap travel company.

“You're the one who hated that I didn't ‘respect your capabilities’,” Jamil quoted him sarcastically with one hand, the other still too occupied by holding the list to join in, “so show me how capable those hands are, oh magnanimous prince.”

“Alright, alright, save some of that attitude for when you desperately need my help reading complicated scriptures again.”

The two of them finish packing within the hour, most of the work still done by Jamil. Not for lack of Leona's effort, for the record, he just didn't seem to be ‘doing it right’ according to Jamil. Not Leona's problem if he wanted to do double work.

Jamil wiped the sweat off his brow; the little wisps of hair that usually danced around his face in the wind were now firmly stuck to his temples. “Alright. I think that's it. We should be good to go.”

He said that, but Leona could still see him go over the entire list in his mind for the hundredth time. Making no comment on it, Leona shrugged in assent and made his way to the driver's seat.

Before Leona could reach for the handle, Jamil put a hand on his arm and gave him a puzzled look.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh.. getting in the car?” Leona said in genuine confusion. What was his deal now? “‘S what this whole charade was about, right? No magic mirror. Just you, me, and my car.”

“No, I mean, why are you taking the driver's seat? I told you I was taking the lead this time. Besides, I know where we're headed, so it's way more practical for me to drive,” Jamil huffed, crossing his arms.

Leona raised his eyebrows, “D'you even know how to drive?”

“Wh– of course I know how to drive, I'm twenty-two,” Jamil said in frustration. “If you're worried about me crashing your car–”

“Chill, I don't care, I got plenty a’ spares. By all means, crash it,” Leona raised his hands in peace, stepping back from the door. Not like he minded, more time to nap in the car. Perfect arrangement as far as Leona was concerned.

“...I’m not gonna crash it…” Jamil mumbled petulantly as he grabbed the handle and got in.

Smiling to himself, Leona got in the passenger seat, quickly adjusting his seat back before he hit his knees against the dashboard. The only person he'd driven around at all in recent years had been Ruggie, who had never felt like driving.

“No way I'm riskin’ damaging your car and having to pay for it. Your car, you drive.”

What a contrast to Jamil's demands, Leona mused. More surprising was that he didn't seem to care this time around, unlike back in Tartarus. Jamil's demands back then had gotten under his skin instantly. He'd have to unpack what was so different this time.

Unpacking would have to wait, because Leona's attention snapped back to the person in question who'd still not started the car. Jamil was going back and forth between fidgeting with the buttons on the dashboard and adjusting his seat.

“What happened to ‘having a lot of ground to cover’?” Leona asked while leaning back against his open window in amusement.

Jamil jumped up in a start, snapping out of his focus to get his seat just right. He cleared his throat, “sorry, I was– I'm ready. Are you?”

“Yep.”

After checking the rear mirror a few more times they were finally off. Leona expected Jamil to need him to tell him how to drive out of the city, but every time he was about to explain some sort of route, Jamil had already used the correct turn signal.

“Did you memorise the whole city or somethin’?” Leona asked, trying to sound casual.

Jamil glanced at him out of surprise before snapping back onto the road, his hands clenching around the steering wheel. “As a matter of fact. I did,” Jamil replied, a blush creeping up his neck, “I told you, I know where to go.”

“‘Course, how could I forget,” Leona grinned, “Coulda just asked me, y'know. I know this place like the back of my hand. You should use whatever assets you got on hand instead of wasting your energy.”

He was probably pushing it, but it was very entertaining to watch the result of his words play out on Jamil's face. Exasperation, frustration, and probably a bit of ‘I could still turn this car around’ all mingled on his face.

Jamil squeezed his eyes closed very briefly before focusing back on the next turn, which he took with a bit more spice to it than the milquetoast way of driving he had been showing so far.

“It's a route, not an integration exam, Leona. I'm sure you appreciate me saving you the hassle of telling me where to go.”

“I suppose you're right about that,” Leona yawned, sliding down his seat to get more comfortable, closing his eyes as they drove out the city onto the highway.

“It's a good thing you drive like an old man, it was too early this morning. Wake me up when we get there, ‘kay?”

It seemed there would be no response to that. For the best, Leona thought, he really did want to nap a bit. Getting up this early hadn't been part of his life since NRC, probably.

Right before Leona drifted off to sleep, the car jerked back, jolting him upright in his seat. “What the–”

Alarmed, he looked around only to see Jamil step on the gas with a determined and intense look on his face. The car sped up just barely above the speed limit.

Leona gaped for a few seconds before Jamil swerved the car deftly onto another lane to pass a car, the acceleration forces pushed Leona right against the door before steadying smoothly.

He was stunned silent by the sudden– and frankly, very petty– change in driving style. Though petty as it was, Leona had to admit the guy could drive. He let out a chuckle in amusement, leaning back into his seat again. Fair enough.

Before closing his eyes again he caught a glimpse of Jamil's mouth curling up into a fond smirk.

—

A light touch on his shoulder woke Leona slowly from his nap. Without thinking, he shrugged it off, huffing through his nose before dozing back off again.

The touch turned into a firmer shaking, “Leona, get up. We've arrived.”

Leona cracked open his eyes with a low grumble, just in time to see an unusually fond expression on Jamil’s face. He blinked a few times to shake the dream out of his vision. By the second blink, the expression had vanished, replaced by his usual deadpan. Yeah, that's more like it.

“Whazzat? Arrived where?” he slurred a little from sleep still.

“The edge of the Pride Desert.You know how I made you read this passage about the scarab beetles?”

Leona hummed in assent, the passages Jamil had shoved in front of him still stark in his mind. Reluctant to admit they had grabbed his attention the same way the old historical scripts he’d found as a kid had.

“So,” Jamil continued, a little restlessly– nervously?–, “I haven't quite figured out each location, but thanks to you my hunch that one of them is hidden in the Sunset Savanna is probably our best bet.”

“Sunset Savanna? Here?” Leona asked in confusion, “Why would one of your artefacts be hidden here– did you just say hunch?”

Jamil's face lit up, pointedly ignoring his last question in favour of opening the dashboard right in front of Leona's seat. The maps Leona had haphazardly stowed in there at Jamil's behest poured out into his lap. Jamil's face fell into a deeply unimpressed stare for a fraction of a second at the state of the maps before rummaging through them, mumbling something about why he’d even bothered to fold anything.

He thankfully found the map he was looking for quickly enough before the rummaging started to get awkward. After uncrumpling the map he pushed it in front of Leona's face. It was a map of Sunset Savannah and the Scalding Sands, but the borders seemed to deviate from modern maps.

Ah. Leona saw where he was going with this.

“So as you can see–”

“The halves were hidden in a time before our borders existed, and one of them is somewhere around here. I get it.”

Jamil closed his mouth, looking slightly put out at not getting the chance to explain his discovery. He lowered the map and gave a muted nod.

“That's right.”

Something bubbled up into Leona's gut, his ears flattened in guilt. He grabbed the top of the map and pulled it back up. “Hang on, explain how you found the location, ‘cause I didn't read any of that.”

Deep grey eyes flicked up to meet his in surprise. As Leona's words sunk in he saw the sparkle of excitement return back to them even if the rest of his face betrayed none of it.

“Well, that part is a bit of a long story,” Jamil started, the tone of his voice a lot higher than his usual deadpan. It surprised Leona; he was starting to realise that Jamil may have been suppressing a lot more than just his grades back at NRC. He somehow sounded younger than he had when he was seventeen.

“–So then I found this forum about bugs and their relevance throughout history, which was disgusting by the way–”

Then again, Leona mused, that place made everyone miserable. Forget the Cave of Wonders, the world's greatest mystery was the fact that NRC was still allowed to teach kids at all.

“–and that's how I got a reference to this location. I think there's a good chance we'll find at least a new lead here,” Jamil said with finality, putting down the map back in Leona's lap with a smug look on his face, looking deeply proud of himself.

Fuck. Leona had only caught a few parts of that whole story. He scrambled for an answer that wouldn't ruin that spark.

“Impressive, lettin’ nerds online do the leg work for you,” Leona drawled, latching onto the one thing he caught. He scanned the map again now that Jamil was no longer holding it. “Wait, I thought you said it was a hunch before. That means you only found a general direction. How are ya gonna pin down the exact location? If you expect me to be a tour guide, you're shit outta luck, they taught us shit all about anythin’ past the graveyards.”

To Leona's relief, Jamil gave him a confident smirk. “I'm glad you asked. Worry not, your highness, for I have found us two very capable tour guides.”

—

The ‘capable’ tour guides Jamil had arranged for them appeared to be a strange duo of ‘treasure hunters’ by the name Phil and Tumbo.

Leona wasn't very impressed so far as they were guided along a very narrow path through a lush mangrove. The short skinny one was yapping away at Jamil about the mangrove while his big lug of a partner vacantly nodded along as if any of what the other guy said made any sense.

If Leona at all cared for botanical accuracy he would probably be ripping his ears out by now. Good thing he didn't give a shit. At all. No matter how inaccurate the guy's explanation of photosynthesis was.

Regardless, he hadn't been lying when he'd told Jamil he had no idea what lay beyond the desert, so he was grateful Jamil had had the foresight to hire guides familiar with the area.

But… Leona hadn't expected this.

His claws dug deeply into his palms to prevent himself from growling at the sight of more lush jungle uncovering before him. The chipper sounds of birds and other animals assaulting his ears as if they were mocking him for the state of his country.

How are his people starving, when this exists.

“--and besides plants, the sun also fuels bugs. They call it photosinuses, or what have you.” Phil waved his hand around, “boy you wouldn't believe how big they get over here, right giants, I tell ya. You won't get a tastier meal anywhere else.”

The sight of blood draining out of Jamil's face pulled him out of his impending spiral.

“B-bugs?!” Jamil shrieked, failing completely and utterly to hide the horror in his voice.

Leona chuckled as he watched Jamil try to decide what part of that insane bit of information to freak out over first. It was kind of adorable for a guy who was usually so well put together to be this terrified of bugs.

He had to give Jamil credit for recovering his neutral face at record speed, “Ahem, these bugs… are they going to be on our path, or err, at our destination?”

Phil lit up in understanding, “Ahh, you're hungry! Why didn't you say so, we can take a break and catch ya some juicy ones, Tumbo here has a real nose for finding them, you see.”

“NO! No. Erm, sorry. I mean, please don’t go out of your way for me, ” Jamil quickly replied, “I packed food.”

“It’s no trouble at all, sonny. We would be terrible tour guides if we got you to your destination without letting you try the local cuisine.”

Unable to talk himself out of his worst nightmare, Jamil shot Leona a desperate look.

Please help.

Not able to resist those pleading grey eyes, no matter how entertaining watching this played out would've been, Leona reluctantly stepped in, “Yeah, nah. No can do. As a royal prince of Sunset Savannah I have a very strict diet, and bugs ain’t part of it.”

Jamil wouldn't be able to hide the relief on his face even if he'd wanted to as he immediately jumped in, “that’s right! Uh, I’m sorry, we will have to humbly reject your hospitality.”

Phil gave a whistle in disbelief, “yeesh, it’s that strict over there? Glad we ain’t living over there, huh, Tumbo? You wouldn’t survive a day,” Phil nudged Tumbo in his belly, chortling obnoxiously.

“Oi…” Tumbo objected gruffly at Phil's implication, though it didn't seem like he truly disagreed with the sentiment. These guys must really love their insane insect diet. Cheka might like them.

Desperate to change the topic off the eating of bugs, Jamil tried to change the topic by shooting the odd duo some personal questions.

“So, you and Tumbo seem to have been living here for quite some time. Are you guys partners?”

“Of course! We're never apart.”

“No, I mean, are you a couple?” Jamil clarified hastily, trying to save the conversation.

“Yes, that's what I just said, son. A couple of the best treasure hunters yer gonna find around these parts! Not sure what yer missin’ here…” Phil said, shaking his head incredulously before moving on with a shrug. “I swear Tumbo, kids these days don't hear right.”

“Phil… not so loud,” Tumbo hushed him, quickly following suit.

Visibly done with that astoundingly stupid exchange Jamil gave up with a deep beleaguering sigh.

Leona couldn't stop himself from laughing at the sight, and Jamil shot him a deeply put out expression before cracking into a smile himself.

Grinning, Leona gave him a sympathetic shoulder pat, “There, there, Viper, ‘s what you get for tryin’ to pry into someone else's love life.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jamil bit back without any actual venom behind it, “c’mon, we're lagging behind, wouldn't want to lose our tour guides.”

“‘A couple of treasure hunters’, honestly…,” Jamil muttered as he walked along the track paved by Phil and Tumbo.

Leona chuckled and picked up the pace alongside Jamil, “Where'd you pick up these bozos anyway?”

Jamil glanced back at him, and regarded him for a while before settling into a smug smirk, “Oh? Interesting, I thought I had told you how I found them earlier.”

Uh oh.

“You didn't listen at all, did you?”

Leona sighed, judging from Jamil's suspicious glint in his eyes, denying it at this point was futile.

“Must've missed that part,” he admitted reluctantly.

Jamil's smirk widened, as if he was happy to have confirmation that Leona hadn't cared to listen to him.

“Why do you look so happy about that, what's wrong with you?” Leona asked incredulously.

Jamil shrugged, “I already knew you hadn't heard a word I said earlier, but…” he trailed off while a softer smile replaced the smirk, “I'd like to think that if you hadn't cared at all, you would've just told me so. You're not exactly Mr. Nice Guy, Leona.”

“Thanks. Loving the feedback.”

“I meant that I think you were trying to be nice, for once, by not telling me you weren't interested. Was I wrong?”

Yes. No. Yes.

Jamil's smile grew the longer Leona took to reply, “I told you, I found them on a bug forum called ‘Bug Fanatics United.”

“Well, now you got me curious, go on.”

“Only if you actually pay attention this time,” Jamil eyed him with a cheeky smile, “I'll know when you don't.”

Leona chuckled, “Fine, I'll tell you when it's boring next time, since you asked so nicely.”

“Ugh. Whatever. Anyway, I was looking up this part about the golden scarabs–”

—

After that the journey wasn't as bad as Leona expected; Phil and Tumbo were too preoccupied with staying on track to bother the two of them with their inane yapping, and Jamil seemed to be doing a lot better now that Humpty and Dumpty were no longer telling him about his worst nightmares.

Before long they arrived at a big canyon, with one singular fallen tree to serve as a bridge to get them across.

“Almost there, just gotta cross this ol’ tree here and we should reach the ruins yer lookin’ for.”

“Seriously?” Leona grumbled, “There is no proper bridge? What kind of half-baked tour guides are you?”

“Ahh, sorry lad, no such thing here,” Phil looked at him apologetically, Leona's insult seemingly flying right past him, "if you're scared to fall off I'm sure Tumbo here could give you a lift.”

“Yeah, no problem bud! Hop on,” Tumbo said, patting his shoulders.

Leona made a face, and hopped onto the tree with ease. “I'm good.”

Phil shrugged as he got onto the tree next. “Suit yourself, but yer missing out, Tumbo’s great at shoulder rides.”

Leona closed his eyes in exasperation, maybe if he was lucky they would fall off halfway. The lanky one said they were almost there; they could probably find the ruins from here.

Pushing aside his intrusive thoughts, he got to the end of the tree and jumped off the log just in time before Phil and Tumbo barreled into him.

“Gerroff,” he growled, as Tumbo's massive body threatened to topple them all over.

As he dislocated himself from the pile of idiots, he heard a soft snicker behind him coming from the bridge.

Unlike him, Jamil had done the smart thing and had decided to cross the bridge last. The little snake was balancing elegantly on the log while continuing to laugh at Leona's misery.

When Jamil caught his glance he quickly went back to crossing the bridge, and Leona had the rare opportunity to watch him in his element. Hair tucked behind his ears, tongue sticking out in concentration as he neared the end.

Leona wondered if Jamil was aware of that particular habit of his; he'd noticed Jamil doing it before when they were packing for the trip. It was endearingly apt for someone named Viper, he thought, and if Leona didn't know better he would've started to suspect him having some beastman blood after all.

His mind drifted back to their time in NRC. Did Jamil have it then too? He couldn't remember.

Regardless, Leona couldn't help but stare; He had always known in the back of his head that Jamil was attractive, the same way Vil was attractive. In that boring, way too put together kind of way. Pretty, but uptight. Didn't interest him at all, so he never cared to pay too close attention.

Maybe he had always done it, and Leona had simply never bothered enough to notice.

He was noticing now, though. Leona felt heat creeping up into his cheeks as Jamil's hair tickled his face from the wind blowing across the canyon. There was something about this more dishevelled version of Jamil that made Leona feel a certain way.

Ugh. No. Leona shook his head, this was ridiculous. He'd simply been alone in the palace for way too long, this was just an unfortunate by-product. Embarrassing too.

Thankfully he caught himself on that nonsense just in time. He was here to help Jamil, break the curse, and go back home. Preferably with some interesting ancient relics or scriptures to keep him busy for a while before boredom settled in again.

…Again, Leona caught himself. Wasn’t he still bored, now? As a strong wind from the canyon whipped up to blow his braids back, he realised that he hadn't been in nature like this in a long while. It made him feel a certain way. For whatever reason, slugging through a jungle with two halfwits and an old classmate who had so few friends he’d come to Leona for help, made him feel–

“–L-Leona, watch out!” Jamil's voice cut through his thoughts right before he fell face first into Leona's chest with a muffled ‘oof’.

“Sorry. The wind–” Jamil spluttered, face bright red.

“My bad, got distracted–” Leona said at the same time, before realising what had happened.

“–Ah,” he grinned, “Gotta be careful, Viper. You're too dainty. Wouldn't do for you to get blown into a canyon, that's not the kind of freedom you're lookin’ for.”

He watched in amusement as Jamil's face went from flustered embarrassment back to his usual glare. How Leona had ever thought he was like Vil was beyond him now; he was much more fun this way.

Jamil pushed himself out of Leona's chest with a huff, “Don't be a dick, Leona,” he said before stalking off past Tumbo and Phil who were apparently still in a heated discussion about Tumbo's near accidental murder by tripping.

He quickly caught up with Jamil before he got roped into that argument somehow. His tail swished playfully behind him; he could definitely get some more fun out of this trip before it ended.

—

Phil and Tumbo, it turned out, had no concept of ‘almost there’ at all, and the sun was starting to set with no ruins in sight. It was probably a good thing that they hadn't fallen off the bridge after all. Maybe. Leona still wasn't sure if it was worth the headache.

Jamil, on the other hand, still hadn't given up on trying to pretend he could tolerate the two. Even though he'd started to stay suspiciously close to Leona the longer they were on the road. Seems like he wasn't above using Leona's general aura of ‘unapproachable asshole prince’ for a nice break from more bug stories.

Not that it’d been an unpleasant change, Leona mused. Jamil, it turned out, was quite the magic history buff. They'd started a few heated discussions about their favourite topic in school, Leona's best subject; Ancient Spell Language.

It was probably the most fun he'd had in a while; Jamil kept him on his toes on a few topics Leona knew less about, and he hadn't shied away from disagreeing on the one's he did.

His favourite discovery was finding out Jamil's interest in relics came from his adorable childhood hero worship of the Sorcerer of the Sands. Once Leona had asked him how he knew so much about the different types of specialised magic staves– like the one Leona had used back when he was housewarden–, Jamil had gone into a long detailed explanation on the special cobra staff the Sorcerer used.

“‘S that why you tried to kick out Kalim during winter break? Cause if I remember correctly, his staff had a pretty cobra on it and everythin’”

Jamil went silent. Shit. Surely he wasn't still hung up on that?

How annoying, it wasn't like it was a serious comment. Fuming, Leona stubbornly looked down at the trail, ignoring the idle chatter coming from Phil and Tumbo in front of them.

When it seemed like he had thoroughly killed the mood, deep regret slowly trickled into his stomach. Sighing, he scratched his neck, “Look.”

Jamil did so, his face obnoxiously unreadable as usual, although Leona was starting to learn that that in itself was a perfect tell for Jamil's state of mind.

“Obviously we both had our reasons for overblottin’, I wasn't tryin' to make light of that,” he muttered awkwardly, “just that…if that were the reason, it would've been a better one than losing to a lizard.”

Jamil looked surprised at his admission for a moment before a chuckle bubbled up. “I guess you're right, it is a very cool staff. Utterly wasted on Kalim, too. You know he used to use it for pool parties?” Jamil's voice went back to his earlier chipper tone, with a hint of outrage. “A powerful magic relic reminiscent of the great Sorcerer, and he used it for pool parties! Unbelievable.”

Leona couldn't resist a fond smile as he went back to listening to Jamil's passionate argument on powerful magic relics, and why they shouldn't be used for ‘frivolous whims.'

Time flew by and before they knew it Phil abruptly stopped. “Phew, lads, I don't think we'll make it to the entrance until tomorrow.”

“What a surprise,” Leona muttered to Jamil, who promptly elbowed him.

“But!” Phil raised his pointer finger triumphantly, "Gentlemen. I present to you, our place to sleep for the night.”

He swiped away the foliage with an obnoxious bow to reveal… an open cliffside. It was just a large open patch of grass under the stars, ending in a steep cliff with a view of the rest of the jungle.

“You gotta be kiddin’,” Leona groaned.

“Out in the open?!” Jamil shrieked at the same time.

“Well, yes, obviously! Look at the sky, it's rare to see a view like this out here. You two are lucky to see it, right Tumbo?” Phil said, nudging Tumbo in the gut, who nodded along eagerly.

“...Yes, lucky,” Jamil muttered.

“Well, you two go settle down. Me ‘n Tumbo are gonna go get our dinner,” Phil waved them off, “if yer nice while we're gone, we'll bring some for you too.”

“Don't know ‘bout you, but I'm less inclined to be a good boy all of a sudden,” Leona drawled the moment those two were out of sight.

Jamil just groaned and dragged his hand over his face. He shot Leona an exhausted look, “no, I can’t say I’m disagreeing with you this time.”

“This time?” Leona grinned, “you should be agreein’ with me all the time, I’m here as your expert after all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jamil replied tiredly, settling down his bag and started rummaging through it for supplies, “well, good thing I packed a tent, and real food. I think I’d rather stay shackled to Kalim my entire life than eat bugs.”

Leona chuckled, “what happened to doing everything in your power to be free?”

“That ideology died the moment someone told me they eat bugs for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Jamil shuddered, a chill running up his spine involuntarily at the mere thought of having to live like that, “I’ll do almost everything in my power to be free, how’s that?”

“Sounds more realistic, at least. You said you had food and a tent?” Leona settled down on a soft patch of grass, “did you pack one for me?”

Jamil looked up from his rummaging with dread. “For you?”

Of course. Leona groaned, “Well I hope you’ve got a big tent, ‘cause there ain’t no way I’m stayin’ out in the open with those buffoons.”

“I–, but you–, I guess I could–,” Jamil spluttered, face turning beet red. Eyes darted around to scan the area to find some form of solution, but likely all of them resulted in ‘must avoid bugs at all cost’ because he just sighed deeply before relenting, “yeah, it’s big enough. I can’t believe I forgot to pack yours, of course you weren’t going to.”

“Hey now, I obediently packed pyjamas like you told me, you didn’t mention anythin’ about a tent,” Leona said, raising his hands up in a shrug. He did his part, not his fault Jamil forgot an essential while including things like disinfection wipes.

Jamil looked at him like he’d grown a second head, before shaking his own, “well what did you pack, if it wasn't a tent?”

“Meat.”

Jamil stared at him in absolute silence.

“Meat.”

“‘S what I said, yeah,” Leona grinned, his tail flicking against the ground playfully.

Jamil pinched the bridge of his nose, “You know what. It doesn't matter, I'm glad you at least packed what I asked you to pack.”

“Ah, that's right,” Leona's grin widened, “Would've been awkward sleeping together in a tent without the jammies, huh? Good thinkin’, Viper.”

“Don't just spell it out like that!” Jamil spluttered before he noticed Leona's tail. He shot Leona a deadpan stare. “You're messing with me, aren't you?”

“A little bit,” Leona flopped onto his back, his eyes scanning the sky, “been a long day, you can't blame me for lettin’ off a little steam.”

He heard Jamil sigh and settle down beside him, “so you didn't just pack meat?”

Leona chuckled, “Relax. I packed underwear too.”

“You're impossible,” Jamil groaned, “next time you're sleeping outside.”

He rolled onto his side to look at Jamil, “next time? You planning our next outing already?”

Seemingly unperturbed by his jabs now that he knew Leona had been teasing him, Jamil looked down at him for a moment and paused, “well, there’s supposed to be two halves. I was kinda hoping you would join me on the second one, too.”

Leona regarded him for a moment, Jamil had sounded way too sincere for it to be banter. Maybe he’d intended it to be, but there was a hint of genuine concern behind it. As if Leona was only sticking around because it was too late to go back alone now, but the moment they left the jungle he’d be on his own again.

He’d thought about it, of course. Leona didn’t know how much more of Bug Maniac Anonymous he could tolerate, but Jamil had made it tolerable enough. It would depend on if there even was a second half to find, or a first. He cringed internally; he really hoped there was a first.

“Leona?” Jamil’s face was lined with concern despite his best efforts to hide it, “I was kidding. I wasn’t expecting you to.”

Liar.

Leona scoffed, “yeah? How’re plannin’ to find the second one without me? Don’t be an idiot, I gave you my word against my better judgement, so I’ll be there. Don’t insult me.”

“I wasn’t–” Jamil started his defence but managed to reel it in, his lips pressed into a thin line, “...thanks.”

Sighing, Leona sat upright next to Jamil. “Don’t thank me yet, thank me when this is all over. Preferably with a feast, and a lotta ‘wow, Leona, you’re so amazing. I couldn’t have done it without you, please have my undying gratitude’.“

Jamil deadpanned again, “you’re so charming, Leona, I can’t imagine why you don’t have a line of suitors waiting for you back home.”

“Who says I don't? Don’t tell me you’re jealous,” Leona scoffed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not,” Jamil rolled his eyes, “besides, I’m not even on a first name basis yet, I know where I stand.”

Huh. Leona went back through the day in his mind, had he not said his name? Wait. Did Jamil want him to? He was obviously joking about the suitors, but..

“Not that I care,” Jamil hastily added, “because I don’t. Do whatever you like.”

‘I was going to say you could call me Jamil, but now that you've made it weird, do whatever you like.’

Right, weird. Leona felt silly for questioning it, obviously it was just banter.

“Alright, I will,” Leona said, ignoring the sting in his chest.

“Good,” Jamil said with finality, mercifully ending that awkward exchange. He looked up at the sky, and leaned back on his hands, “You know, they were kind of right.”

“Who?”

“Phil and Tumbo. Look, the sky really is beautiful up there,” Jamil nodded his head up, and Leona followed his gaze.

True, it was beautiful. The night sky would always be beautiful to Leona, even if it also always made him feel melancholy.

‘When I'm gone, my spirit will join the night sky, like all kings before me. I will always look down on you.’

He'd never considered that reassuring at all. When he was a kid he would be distraught about the idea that his father and brother would go somewhere he couldn't. Not that he cared about that now. In fact, it sounded like a great prospect.

‘I will always look down on you’, Leona scoffed, like the old man hadn't done that enough on earth already.

Wanting to distract himself from that annoying reoccurring train of thought, he glanced sideways. Jamil was still fully immersed into letting his eyes roam around the various star signs scattered across the sky.

This is the first time Leona had ever seen the guy this serene, this at ease. Free. As if he'd already lifted the curse.

He took the liberty to watch him like this for a while longer before he could no longer ignore that gnawing thought.

“Jamil?”

“Hmm?” Jamil hummed in assent, eyes still focused on the night sky.

Leona cleared his throat, “One thing I keep wondering about, when you came to me for help.”

Jamil looked away from the sky. His eyes locked onto Leona's with that hint of wariness in them he reserved for when he wasn't sure if Leona was going to say something insensitive.

Leona suddenly felt the challenge to prove him otherwise.

“How do you know you're not free? You look free, right now.”

Here, next to me. In a jungle full of bugs on your own accord. Looking at the stars.

Jamil squinted, “What do you mean by that?”

Going by Jamil's response, Leona had just fumbled said challenge. He realised belatedly the question had come off as scepticism.

He grunted, “I mean, you said you only found out after Kalim set you free. What made you realise you weren't? Can't imagine that was easy to figure out.”

Jamil's initial defensiveness melted off his face in surprise at the question, his piercing grey eyes roamed Leona’s face as if he was trying to find the catch behind Leona’s interest.

Not caring for how that made him feel, Leona looked away with a shrug, “not that it matters, I’m here on your ridiculous adventure whether it’s a figment of your imagination or not.”

An uncomfortable silence hung between them as Leona firmly refused to look back at Jamil to catch his response, even as his ears reluctantly caught Jamil’s heavy swallow.

Leona sighed as his eyes scanned for his favourite constellation. Finding comfort in the stars was always something he used to do even when he was a kid, but even the jungle’s unspoiled night sky did nothing to soothe the slow rise of regret in his stomach.

“When we were held hostage, back at S.T.Y.X.,” Jamil's voice mercifully broke through the silence, pulling Leona’s attention back to earth. Glancing sideways, he saw Jamil had turned back to look at the sky.

“It’s stupid, but even though we were captives, it was the first time in my life I felt unburdened.”

“Because you were away from Kalim?”

“No,” Jamil shook his head firmly, before running a hand through his hair in frustration, “I don't know. Maybe? I’d been away from Kalim many times before, but this was different.”

“What made it different?”

“You did.”

What?

Speechless, he stared at Jamil. Maybe he heard it wrong, but Leona was pretty sure he remembered that trip into hell differently. Jamil had not looked free, and most definitely not unburdened.

While Leona was struggling to find a way to respond, Jamil was giving him an increasingly flustered expression.

“I mean, not in that way,” Jamil spluttered, and Leona could swear his face was turning red. “Just, you know. It was a weird feeling. Your advice was well… not nice, but it made me think.”

Huh, in what way? Leona was even more confused than ever, but then the last of Jamil's words caught up to him. His advice. Warmth bloomed involuntarily in his chest. Pathetic, that one guy listening to him once would make him this happy. It hadn't even been that positive.

“You helped me to think for the first time about what I really wanted to be good at,” Jamil rambled on in an attempt to fix whatever misconception he thought Leona had.

“The way you talked about Ruggie, and Jack,” Jamil swallowed, “...and Kalim. I wanted that.”

“Wanted what?”

Jamil gave him a long pitiful look before shaking his head, “doesn't matter. The point is, when Kalim freed me I thought I'd feel like that again. But, I didn't. Every time I thought about finally leaving and exploring the world, there was this heavy feeling in my stomach. Like an anchor tying me down to something, or someone.”

“To Kalim?” Leona asked, trying to make sense of it, “How'd that make you think it was a curse?”

“It has to be! I can't stand the place, why would I want to stay?” Jamil spit out, for the first time showing his true frustration, “Whatever, it's fine if you don't believe me, I found that tome in my family's attic, I know there's something going on.”

As Jamil's breathing got more erratic, Leona realised this was probably a terrifying concept. Either he was cursed, or he wasn't, and either conclusion would suck for him.

Hesitantly he rested his hand on Jamil's shoulder, “hey, ‘s alright. You got nothin’ to prove. Besides, I'm sure you're onto something.”

He felt Jamil relax under his hand, a grateful smile grew on his face before he looked back up at the stars. Leona quickly retrieved his hand, before doing the same.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while until Jamil spoke up again.

“I just wish I knew what it felt like to be truly free.”

Jamil looked wistfully at the stars, his head resting in his arms as he pulled his legs under him. Sadness wouldn't begin to do any justice describing the deep longing painted on Jamil's face.

A familiar ache grew in Leona's stomach, one he always felt when he was letting people down. Yet, this time it was accompanied by a different, unfamiliar, ache.

Leona swallowed, “if you had your freedom” he started hesitantly, “what would you be doing with it?”

Jamil sighed in response and Leona almost thought he made it worse until Jamil's wistful stare broke into a small smile, “anything. Everything. I've wanted to travel the world for so long, see new places, meet new people. Be someone else's guest for once. I want to meet crazy locals, and listen to their stories, and never have to worry about my family's reputation, or the Asim’s. Just mine.”

He could see Jamil struggling not to glance sideways to gauge his response before continuing, “I've never had the space or time to even think about creating lasting friendships…or relationships.”

In some bizarre way, listening to Jamil talk about what he would do with his life, Leona felt a strange– and frankly quite undeserved– connection to him. It did sound nice, to travel anywhere without the burden of his family name. And relationships… Well, Leona was lucky Ruggie still put up with him, otherwise he probably wouldn't have survived for this long.

Not that he would ever compare the two of them; he wasn't that much of an asshole years ago, and he wasn't now.

He forced out a chuckle, “oh is that all. Here I thought you'd wish for all the riches in the world. Y'know, some say stars grant wishes as well. Should try it, could save ya some time if it worked,” Leona nudged Jamil in an attempt to break the tension.

“Would be embarrassing for you though. Trekking for miles through a jungle infested by giant, sun-charged bugs, only for a ball of gas in the sky to fix it for you.”

Jamil shot him a withering glare– or pout, depending on who you asked– but it was quickly broken by a playful chuckle.

“You believe in falling stars, but also that they're balls of gas? I feel like you can't decide between being a dreamer and a cynic.” His eyes softened. He leaned his head on one of his shoulders, “though I am starting to think one of the two may not be so true.”

Heat rose to Leona's cheeks, he grunted, “What can I say, I'm a man of science. Ain't got no time for dreamin’.”

Jamil didn't challenge him, a fond smile settled on his face, “I heard all kinds of theories around stars, some say they can predict the future.”

“Yeah? And what are the stars sayin’ tonight?” he drawled, mirroring Jamil's smile.

Jamil's smile faded a little as a new expression took its place. The stars illuminated his deep grey eyes in a way it almost looked like they were part of the night sky itself.

“Well, I–”

Creak.

Jamil yelped as the foliage behind them creaked loudly. With the reflexes of an actual viper he jumped up against Leona. Leona wasn't sure whether he was trying to cover for him or to hide behind him. The conclusion no doubt depended on whether the source was of bug-like nature or not.

“Ah, sorry for takin’ so long, you two lovebirds. Me 'n Tumbo had some difficulties with our meal. You wouldn’t believe the adventure we just had.”

As Phil stepped out from behind the bush, followed by Tumbo, he felt Jamil quickly snap away from him, stuttering something about a misunderstanding. Leona tried not to focus on the sinking feeling in his stomach. Stupid.

Phil seemed largely unaware of their flustered state, but Tumbo looked uncomfortable.

“Say err, Phil, maybe we should leave ‘em be for a bit. I think we interrupted somethin’.”

“No, no! Not at all!” Jamil got up, “we were just discussing the nature of stars. That's all.”

“Oh! Why didnt'ya just say so, I coulda told you,” Phil started, completely ignoring Tumbo's attempts to pull him away from the scene.

“Essentially they're like big fireflies in the sky.”

Oh boy, here we go.

“F-fireflies?” Jamil uttered in complete bewilderment.

“Naturally, sonny! The sun fed them so much they outgrew the jungle. So one day they travelled all the way up to get more sunlight, and wound up gettin’ stuck in the sky,” Phil nodded with an air of confidence no man who just uttered those words had any right to have.

Jamil seemed stunned silent, shooting Leona a desperate look as if asking Leona to make any sense of it for him.

“Wonderful. Had no idea,” Leona faked a yawn, “All these amazing new insights have made me quite tired. Let's call it a night.”

“Already? But we haven't even ea–,” Jamil abruptly stopped when Leona shot him a look that said ‘you wanna eat bugs or what?’.

“Y-yes, sorry,” Jamil faked a yawn as well. Not bad, though in Leona's opinion he had to work on subtlety a little. “We were up so early, I'm just so exhausted. My deepest apologies for missing dinner.”

Phil and Tumbo gave each other a meaningful look before Phil sighed heavily, “alright, alright, we got the message. You two have fun, but keep it down, okay?”

They both choked at the same time. Jamil locked eye contact with him, before turning bright red, “t-that's not– we're not gonna do that!”

“Save it, sonny,” Phil waved between the two of them, “We're all adults here. I've seen how you two look at eachother.”

“Yeah,” Tumbo nodded eagerly, choosing one of the worst times to confidently back Phil up, “Phil's right. When love is in the air, it's in the air, ya kno? C'mon, Phil, let's go back to that termite mound. I got a good feelin’ about that one earlier”

Tumbo scooped Phil unceremoniously onto his shoulders, ignoring Phil's loud protests on how undignified it was.

As their banter tapered back off into the jungle, Jamil and Leona stood in awkward silence.

Leona's mind was battling between making static noise, and trying very hard not to linger on the mental image those two idiots had just sketched.

Meanwhile, Jamil seemed to be having a complete internal shut down, he opened and closed his mouth several times trying to say something, but decided against it each time.

Leona groaned, what a pain. He scratched the back of his neck, “Look. If you prefer I sleep outside, I can sleep outside. ‘S my fault I didn't pack anythin’, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

Jamil’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, uh,” he said, looking unsure what to do with that information.

While thinking, his hand instinctively reached for his hair, but fell back down immediately after touching it. Leona assumed he was missing his usual hair charms to fidget with.

Guess they were more than just pretty jewelry, Leona thought to himself, suddenly feeling guilty for the one he'd carelessly tossed down Tartarus.

Sighing, Jamil pinched the bridge of his nose, face still a deep scarlet, “no, it's alright. The tent is big enough for two, but you better be wearing those pyjamas.”

Leona grinned, “like I wasn't gonna. What did you think I was gonna do? Take them off in the middle of the night, and–”

“Stop,” Jamil interrupted, “or you will sleep outside.”

“Alright,” Leona raised his hands in surrender, “sorry, just wanted to break the tension.”

Jamil eased up and sighed, “well, I think we certainly broke the ice now,” he said with a wry smile, starting to see the humour in the situation.

“Yeah, probably not in the way you wanted,” Leona chuckled, “but let's take this opportunity to actually eat something proper before they come back. Might even let you try some of my packed meat,” he added with an obnoxious wink.

“Stop insinuating that stuff! Honestly,” Jamil huffed, his poor ears turning red yet again.

“Aw, but you react so well to it, almost makes me think you're thinking a little too hard on it,” Leona teased, firmly ignoring the hypocrisy behind his words.

While Jamil was distracted by his own outrage at yet another innuendo, Leona allowed himself to reflect on his own response.

Normally he wasn't this quick to fluster about anything, and definitely not over anyone. Yet, his brain had short-circuited at the mere implication of them together.

This is bad, Leona thought to himself, real bad.

Thinking someone is pretty was one thing, but imagining…well, that. Leona needed to cut that out real fast, or this was going to go beyond his initial worst case scenario.

Disappointing an old classmate he didn't care about? Not great, but whatever. Disappointing someone when feelings are involved? Notorious recipe for disaster, and Leona was never gonna let that happen ever again.

“Leona?” Jamil's deadpan voice interrupted his thoughts.

“What's up? Did you want some after all?”

“...Let's save those for tomorrow when we go back. I was going to heat up the dinner I prepared for us.”

With a wave of his pen, a small contained fire whipped up between them to heat their food.

Leona raised his eyebrow, “so you did pack me food?”

Jamil sighed, stirring their food, “just another habit. Cooking for two.”

“Ah,” Leona hummed in understanding, “so it's not ‘cause you didn't trust my cooking skills, huh?”

“Well,” Jamil smiled, a cheeky glint appeared in his eyes, “maybe a bit of that too, Prince Microwave.”

…He was gonna kill that eel. It had been bad enough he’d had to embarrass himself by taking a culinary elective, but getting Floyd out of all people as his judge had made it so much worse.

“Sometimes I forget you two were close, hard to imagine you toleratin’ that guy.”

“Hmmh,” Jamil hummed as he continued to stir, that amused smirk still on his face. He took a ladle– he packed a ladle?– out of his bag and started portioning the heated curry onto two foldable paper plates.

“You'd be surprised how easy he was to be around once you got familiar with his tells,” Jamil said fondly, offering one of the plates.

“One of the easiest, actually,” Jamil mused, “he was quite capable when in the mood, and funny when he wasn't.”

“Yeah?” Leona scoffed, taking a big spoonful of curry to soothe the irritation bubbling up in his gut, “you sure it's not nostalgia makin’ you all mushy about the guy? All I remember was him being bored all the time, and makin’ it someone else's problem.”

Jamil swallowed a big bite of his admittedly delicious curry before laughing, “well yes, there was a lot of that too.” he held Leona's gaze before continuing, “...but I found that guys like that can be surprisingly reliable when they're willing to put in the effort.”

“...Sure,” Leona grumbled, no longer caring to continue this particular conversation. Bitterly, he took another bite, before remembering it was delicious, “curry's nice.”

“Oh– thank you. It's my favourite,” Jamil nearly beamed, before coughing it down.

What a shame, Leona thought to himself, Jamil was still choking all of that personality down out of sheer habit. More than he'd ever realised, now that he'd seen Jamil's break through up close.

“Can see why, it's good,” Leona repeated, setting down the empty paper plate.

This time Jamil couldn't erase the pride off his face so opted for avoiding Leona’s gaze instead. Good.

Leona leaned back on his arms and closed his eyes and yawned genuinely this time. The food hit the spot just right, and his body finally had enough fuel to remind him how exhausted he actually was.

He inhaled deeply through his nose and rose to his feet with one fluent move, causing Jamil to jump in place at the sudden movement. From the looks of it he had already started to clean up, barely having finished himself.

“Don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted,” Leona exhaled tiredly, dusting himself off, ”Where’s the tent? I’ll set it up.”

“Huh?” Jamil gaped at him stupidly as if he hadn’t heard him right.

“The tent. Where is it?” Leona’s tail swished impatiently, “don’t tell me you lost it.”

“Oh, uh…,”Jamil hesitated, as if unsure what to make of the situation. He glanced at his backpack, “It’s in my bag, front compartment. Here, let me–”

“I got it, thanks,” Leona interrupted, yanking the backpack up by one of the straps and walking towards the part of the cliffside that had the best suited space for their tent; As far away from any bushes as possible, the last thing Leona wanted was waking up to Jamil screeching in his ear for having bugs invading his space.

“W-wait– Leona,” Jamil raised his voice in a panic, his arm barely missed grabbing the bag before Leona did.

“What now?” Leona rolled his eyes, “don’t tell me you think I can’t set up a tent.”

Jamil hesitated. His mouth opened and closed, before glancing at his backpack, “no, I do, I just… I have a system…”

“...a system,” Leona repeated, giving Jamil a blank stare.

Jamil crossed his arms in defiance, lips pressed together in a way Leona now recognised as a ‘are you going to be a dick to me?’.

Unceremoniously dropping the bag with a sigh, he threw his hands up in surrender, “alright, whatever. Grab the tent for me then.”

A small yelp escaped Jamil as the bag hit the grass, but he quickly stifled it in favour of grabbing the tent before Leona lost his patience and did it for him.

“Here. Use the spells in the instructions on this flap right there, it should automatically fold into the right shape.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

He didn’t. Must be new magic technology. He squinted at the label while grabbing his pen from his back pocket.

Glancing behind him to check whether Jamil was still watching him– of course he was– he mumbled the heavily commercialised incantations as instructed.

To his relief, the tent didn't disappoint, and folded out neatly into a very comfortably spaced tent. Leona whistled in amusement as he peeked inside, Jamil liked his space, for sure. Too bad he had to share it. It even supplied sleeping supplies across the floor of the tent.

“Not bad,” Leona said after he pulled his head out of the entrance, “looks expensive.”

Jamil scoffed, “I'm sure it was, Kalim insisted.”

Leona raised his eyebrows, “thought he no longer ‘employed’ you, why would he care?”

“Kalim… is still determined to ‘restore our friendship’,” Jamil answered, looking uncomfortable. “He's a generous friend like that.”

Leona hummed, letting that minefield of a situation roll around in his mind.

“Well,” Leona tossed his own bag into the tent and moved to step in, “friendship or not, there's no shame in makin’ use of it,” he said, leaving it ambiguous on purpose. Not his mess to detangle.

Jamil's conflicted face morphed into one of horror. With lightning fast reflexes he blocked Leona from entering, “Leona, take off your shoes. What is wrong with you?”

Leona looked down at his muddied boots sheepishly, he was so used to walking around barefoot or on slippers around the palace that he forgot about the etiquette. He never left the palace, anyway.

“S'rry,” Leona mumbled, and crouched down into the tent to take them off before rolling over inside.

“I'll let you change first,” he heard Jamil call from outside the tent, significantly farther away than before. Shaking his head in amusement, Leona fished the pyjamas he had packed haphazardly this morning out of his bag. “You never changed in the locker room after basketball? Can't imagine that eel guy respectin’ anyone's privacy in there.”

“Oh, he didn't. I didn't have much of a choice, but I didn't mind that much,” Jamil replied fondly, “he knew when to back off, or usually bothered Ace instead.”

“T-this is different, though,” Jamil quickly added.

Of course it was different, Leona thought bitterly, immediately regretting the topic.

“‘Course it is,” he grumbled, tossing the blankets over himself, “well, I'm going to sleep. Feel free to join me once you're satisfied with your precautions against my proximity.”

Leona's ears faintly registered Jamil's objections but they were already well beyond background noise at that point, exhaustion catching up to him the moment his head hit the pillow.

—

“Leona, look. It's there, we did it!” Jamil exclaimed excitedly, running towards a big door. He turned around with a smug grin, “see, I told you.”

Leona chuckled, “yeah, yeah, l never doubted you.”

Jamil's smug grin turned into a warm smile made Leona's stomach lurch in a terrifying but not unpleasant way.

“I know,” Jamil said fondly, “you’re surprisingly reliable, after all.”

Ignoring the heat rising to his cheeks, Leona grunted, “well don't keep us in suspense, open it.”

Fondly rolling his eyes, Jamil turned around to push at the stone door. Dust poured down the doors from disuse as they slowly rumbled inwards.

Light poured into the doorway to reveal….

…nothing.

Jamil was frozen in place, eyes wide with panic as they roamed around the empty room.

“No, no, no–,” Jamil started mumbling, “where is it?”

Grey eyes filled with disappointment and grief turned to him and Leona couldn't take it. He couldn't do this again, he needed to leave, he needed to–

With a gasp, Leona woke up, bracing himself on his elbows as he tried to calm his erratic breathing.

Fuck.

He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and groaned; maybe if he bullied them enough he would stop seeing the echo of Jamil's devastating disappointment in his mind.

The real Jamil seemed unbothered by Leona's turmoil as he shifted in his sleep next to him. He was softly snoring with a content expression on his face. Or rather, sleep had ironed the permanent worry off his face.

That, in combination with his hair flowing free across his pillow made him look as carefree as he probably wished he was. Leona took the liberty to watch him for a few beats. His stomach felt light and heavy at the same time, as if the lingering dread from his nightmare was at war with his infatuation. As if Jamil still wasn't used to being noticed, he turned around in his sleep with a soft huff.

Leona sighed, rubbing his face again. Fine, so he could no longer ignore his growing feelings for Jamil. That didn't mean he had to act on them. His nightmare very eloquently reminded him why that was a disaster waiting to happen.

He simply had to get Jamil to the ruins, keep his distance, and pray that Jamil's hunch was right. If not, well… At least he'd be prepared for it. He'd be a dick about it, Jamil would never want to speak to him again, and that'd be that. It would be fine, not like he could lose what he never had to begin with.

Barely comforted by that premise Leona sank back down into the covers. Unable to resist taking one last look at this Jamil who had freely bantered with him, bossed him around, and even laughed with him.

‘Laugh With Me, Leona, shi shi shi’.

Wearily, Leona threw one arm over his face. Despite how much he pretended otherwise, he missed Ruggie's welcome splash of reality… and company.

His tail thumped against the tent floor in frustration. All these years and he still hadn't learnt to bury these all too familiar feelings, no matter how hard he'd tried.

Even in his sleep Jamil seemed to think Leona's thinking was too loud, as he chose that very moment to roll around in his sleep once more, this time burying his face into Leona's side, mumbling something about giant scarabs.

You gotta be kiddin’ me…

Leona's face flushed a deep crimson, suddenly acutely aware of every warm puff of air against his bare arm.

He instantly regretted his spiteful revenge plan towards Jamil's request to pack pyjamas. Out of pettiness Leona had chosen a sleeveless shirt with matching shorts to mess with him a little.

Somehow he felt more naked than ever, and he was more dressed than usual. Forget S.T.Y.X., this was his hell.

When Jamil nuzzled closer to him for more body heat, he closed his eyes in defeat. Waking up Jamil now would make the rest of this whole charade even more awkward than it already was.

With a final deep sigh, Leona was at least grateful his skill of falling asleep within five minutes was still as useful as it had been in NRC. A real life saving skill, if you asked him.

With Jamil's soft snores and mumbling as his background noise, he slowly dozed off again, his nightmare replaced by images of Jamil's content face as he dreamed of freedom.

—

When Leona woke up, the tent was empty.

Yawning, he sat upright, rubbing his eyes tiredly before letting them roam around the tent. To his surprise, Jamil hadn't packed up his covers. Instead, Leona noticed he was covered in both.

Despite the chill on his arms from the loss of both of their blankets, a different warmth bloomed in his chest and he let out a loud miserable groan as he buried his face in his hands.

He had to stop this. Somehow.

More reluctant than ever to get up, he flopped back down in his bedroll. Jamil would chase him out eventually, and Leona wasn't ready to face him yet. Or Jamil would leave him to die in this jungle, which would be a mercy, considering the alternative.

Of course, life was never kind to him that way, as Jamil chose that very moment to slap on the tent a few times. Leona closed his eyes in defeat.

“Leona, are you up? I heard your– erm, I heard some noises, our guides are ready to go.” There was a brief pause before Jamil's voice went into a low whisper, “please, I told them I would have breakfast with you.”

There was some nervous shuffling outside, and Leona cracked open his eyes to see Jamil's nervous shadow shuffling back and forth on his feet, his head turned towards the campsite where he could hear Phil's loud chortling towards Tumbo.

Leona sighed, “yeah, yeah, I'm up. Gimme five, I gotta get dressed up before I save you from the big boogie men.”

He heard Jamil's sigh of relief, “great, I'll get breakfast ready. Please fold everything properly when you leave or the packing spell might not work properly. Although I did read somewhere that they included a failsafe in the newest model… Nevermind, just leave it, I'll pack up the tent myself.”

Leona rolled his eyes, and grabbed the shirt he wore the day before, “sure, whatever you want.”

“Okay, good. Thanks.” Jamil's shadow brought his hand up for a moment as if he was considering adding something before deciding against it.

“See you in five, then.”

“Yep.”

As Jamil walked off, Leona let out another weary sigh. How was it this easy to fall back into yesterday’s banter as if nothing happened? Despite his plans to distance himself, Jamil just pulled it out of him somehow.

Whatever, he thought while putting on the rest of his outfit. Banter was fine, they could be friends. He somehow kept Ruggie around despite his constant insistence that Leona’s personality could use work, maybe Jamil had the same kind of masochism.

After haphazardly throwing his stuff back in his bag and zipping it closed he approached Jamil, who had taken a very safe distance from Phil and Tumbo’s mouthwatering bug feast.

“Can’t believe you would deny them the pleasure of introducing you to the local cuisine. What happened to your dream of being someone’s guest?”

Jamil shot him a deadpan stare, shoving a delicious looking flatbread at him, “they’ll understand, they agreed it would be very sad if you were left out, being on such a strict princely diet and all.”

Leona grinned, “ah, so naturally, you want me to tell them that it really doesn’t bother me if you join them, right?”

“No!” Jamil hissed, “don’t you dare, don’t think I won’t take you with me.”

Leona snickered, taking a bite out of his breakfast. It was delicious. Maybe Jamil being masochist enough to stay around wouldn’t be so bad. Ruggie would love it.

They ate in a comfortable silence until Phil and Tumbo approached.

“Heya lads, hope ya made sure to at least get some sleep, yer gonna need it. We still got quite a bit to traverse until we reach the place,” Phil said with an obnoxious wink.

Desperately pushing down the memories of last night, Leona glanced over to Jamil to see Jamil's face turn a bright red despite his valiant effort to steel his face back into his staple neutral stare.

Leona wasn't sure whether he should feel grateful that Jamil was very obviously avoiding Leona's gaze, but now that they mentioned it, he did wonder if Jamil had woken up still invading Leona's space. He hadn't shown any signs of embarrassment so Leona had assumed not.

“Rest assured, we slept plenty,” Jamil replied evenly, still avoiding eye contact.

Leona rolled his eyes. Fine, if that's how he wanted to play it.

“Yep, like a baby. Went to bed immediately after dinner. Sleep's important, y'know? Just gotta know how to tire yourself out.”

That seemed to break Jamil's resolve to avoid eye-contact at all cost as he shot a horrified look at him.

Phil snorted, “alright, alright, I get it. Enough of that, we gotta get a move on. Get packin’ you two. Come Tumbo, we got some packin’ to do ourselves.”

“I– huh?” Jamil gaped as the two of them walked off again, unsure how Leona’s innuendo got Phil to finally drop it.

Leona barked out a laugh, “denyin’ it was never gonna work with those two anyway, may as well lean into it and get it over with.”

“I see,” Jamil said with a befuddled look that definitely meant he did not see at all.

“Well, come on, slowpoke. Go pack your things, I already got mine packed up ‘n everything.”

Jamil sighed and walked off with a huff, not even bothering to fight him on it. Though Leona could swear he heard him mutter slowpoke under his breath. Leona chuckled and helped himself to another flatbread.

—

The rest of the journey was largely uneventful. Partly due to Leona's horrible night’s rest making him a nightmare to deal with, having little to no patience left to entertain Phil and Tumbo.

Tumbo had briefly attempted to lighten the mood, but gave up real fast after Leona's less than stellar reception.

“Wanna hear about the legendary oasis story?”

“No.”

“Jeez, what’s his problem?”

Jamil had given him a concerned look, but hadn't pressed it. Which was good, because Leona really didn't want to deal with having to be a dick to Jamil too; he could only take so many kicked puppy looks.

“Alright, folks. This is it,” Phil announced, finally breaking their awkward silence with some good news. Tumbo brushed aside some of the foliage to reveal a deeply overgrown temple.

Leona's stomach suddenly roiled with anxiety now that there was no way to avoid finding out whether or not they were on the right track.

He glanced sideways at Jamil who looked about the same as he felt. Grey eyes roamed around in anxious anticipation, but the tenseness of his jaw betrayed his nerves. He seemed to be frozen in place, as if he wasn't ready yet for the answer.

Reluctantly, Leona swallowed his own nerves and stepped forward; it was better for the both of them to get this over with. At least it had been a nice break from his boring life.

Leona let his eyes roam what appeared to be the entrance, or well… a slab of granite blocking the centre of the temple, with large runes written above the arch.

Footsteps creaked across the jungle floor until he felt Jamil's familiar presence next to him. Tearing his eyes away from the runes, he glanced sideways. Jamil had his face scrunched up, his hand to his chin in deep concentration.

“...Circle…? Something about a circle, right?” Jamil looked at him expectantly, “what do you think?”

“Uh,” Leona looked back to read the runes more closely. Parts of the text were overgrown with moss and roots, making it harder to read.

“Life and death, night and day,” Leona read, squinting around the roots. “The circle of life requires a perfect balance.”

“...Amazing,” Jamil piped up behind him, voice filled with awe. Embarrassed, Leona tried to angle head away, but Jamil ran past him to look more closely at the runes before turning back with a grin.

“See, couldn't have done it without you.”

“Chill, we haven't opened it yet. I got no clue what any of that means.”

“Well, that’s the next step, right? Getting a clue,” Jamil sighed, crossing his arms. His hand tapping his chin again in thought. It gave Leona an eerie sense of deja vu.

Ah.

“A clue,” Leona said, looking back up at the text.

“Pardon?”

“We've done this kinda thing before,” Leona groaned, reminded of the annoying trials those Shroud brothers put them through. “It’s a riddle, except this time there’s no access card.”

Jamil’s eyes widened in recognition, a smile growing on his face. “That’s right. I remember that,” he said in amusement, “dour lion, right?”

“Oh, stop,” Leona huffed, unable to completely stop his own smile.

Jamil's smile grew wider when he saw Leona smiling at his joke. Leona's heart skipped a beat, his smile wasn't something anyone saw often, and Leona definitely never expected to. He swallowed, suddenly feeling queasy.

“Besides the jokes, got any idea?”

Jamil’s smile faded into a look of surprise, as if he didn't expect Leona to ask him the questions.

“Uh,” Jamil started looking around the entrance, “It mentions a balance, so maybe we need to balance something? I wonder….”

He started poking around the area with his boots, looking for a switch.

With Jamil occupied, Leona took the opportunity to think about the riddle himself. Jamil was probably right about it probably being some kind of scale mechanism. Circle of Life. Leona hummed as he roamed his eyes around the place to see if anything stood out.

His eyes landed on Phil and Tumbo who had apparently decided that their job ended the moment they saw their destination and had sat down to enjoy a snack instead of helping. Not that Leona thought they'd be of any help, anyway.

He was about to move on from the two idiots but right before he did Tumbo let out a big guffaw at one of Phil's inane jokes, his big feet stomping in amusement. Leona's eyes widened as the ground beneath them moved under the weight of his stomps.

He walked past Jamil who was muttering to himself about certain lines on the floor to the two treasure hunters.

“Oy, big guy,” Leona called out, “move.”

“Huh?” Tumbo looked up at Leona in confusion, “you wanna sit? Don't you need to help your boyfriend?”

Leona rolled his eyes, not bothering to correct them anymore. “No, I want you to get up, you're on the switch.”

His eyes flicked down to the markings beneath Tumbo's feet, intricate grooves were etched into the rock, curving into a circle of some sorts.

Tumbo lifted up his leg, to reveal the rest of the markings. “Well how ‘bout that Phil, we were sittin’ right on it.”

“Ha! Looks like we still got that treasure hunter intuition,” Phil said proudly, puffing up his chest as he got up, “it all comes with years of experience, and an excellent nose for–”

“Yeah, yeah, I'm impressed by your investigation skills, we would've been stuck here forever without it,” Leona said impatiently, “would love to gain some experience like that myself and check it out.”

“Ah, of course, lovin’ that endless youthful curiosity, just like us in the good ol’ days, right Tumbo?” Phil nudged Tumbo excitedly, clearly having missed Leona's sarcasm yet again. “C'mon get up, ya big lug, let the young lad give it a go.”

Tumbo got up without much of a fuss, giving Leona a firm shoulder pat, almost knocking him forward into the trigger. “Good luck, pal. You got this,” he winked and walked off to find another comfortable log to sit on. Phil trailing behind, still reminiscing about their ‘glory days’.

Leona closed his eyes and sighed, he'd almost miss Kifaji’s incessant nagging over this. He opened his eyes again, studying the marks on the floor. The sooner he solved the clue the sooner they could leave this hellhole.

The tile Tumbo had been stomping on had an intricate circle etched into the stone, stylised triangles decorated the space around it, clearly representing a sun.

Day and night, huh? He scanned the area around the sun tile but saw nothing remotely resembling a moon of some sorts.

“Leona!” Jamil called out to him. Leona looked up to see Jamil beaming proudly at him while pointing at the floor. “Look, I found a symbol on this tile here.”

Leona perked up, “is it a moon?”

“Oh, come on…”Jamil deflated with a pout, putting his hands on his hips in frustration. “How'd you know that?” he sighed, “yeah, it is. I assume you already solved the whole thing?”

Leona let out a chuckle, “nah, I just found a sun over here. Figured we'd have to do a game of mix and match.”

“So yes, you did solve it already,” Jamil sighed. Despite his pouting, Jamil's interest was piqued nonetheless, he walked over to Leona to see his discovery.

“It seems to be a switch of some kind,” Leona supplied, “dunno what it does though, but I assume we may have to trigger both at the same time.”

“That does seem likely…”, Jamil hummed distractedly, tapping his chin while studying the etchings around the sun. He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it.

Leona raised his eyebrow, “yeah? You don't look convinced, what do you think then?”

Jamil's eyes flicked up at him in surprise, “Ah, no,” he scrambled, “sorry, I wasn't disagreeing, you're probably right, it's just–”

“Cut it out, Viper,” Leona cut him off impatiently, annoyed at Jamil's pussyfooting. “Since when do you shy away from disagreeing with me? I recall you havin’ no issues doing that back in Tartarus.”

Jamil stared at him for a while, “I–,” he started, taken aback by Leona's sudden irritation. A frown settled in on his face, “what's your problem, Leona? You were the one that hated it when I disagreed with you in Tartarus, so why are you throwing a bitchfit about it now?”

Leona growled, his tail flicking in annoyance. Annoyed at Jamil, but mostly at himself for blowing things out of proportion again. He couldn't even place why Jamil's hesitance irritated him so much, just that it did.

“So I'm right, you do disagree”, Leona scoffed, “just spit it out. I don't get what's stopping you in the first place.”

As he said the question out loud he realised that was what was bothering him. Why wasn't Jamil comfortable sharing his thoughts? Was he still so hung up on their status, or did he think Leona couldn't handle his opinion? The realisation that things hadn't changed as much between them as he thought they had stung.

Leona sighed, rubbing his neck, “s'rry. I was a dick about it. Just don't hold yourself back, I’m a big boy, I can handle it.”

An awkward silence settled between them, Leona looked at the markings on the floor to distract himself from it.

“...It's not you being wrong. It's that you're always right,” Jamil muttered.

“...Huh?”

Jamil gave him a frustrated look, “maybe you don't realise it, but you're infuriatingly smart. You always know everything, you always see everything. It makes me feel..” Jamil struggled for words, “...stupid. Inadequate.”

“What do I have to offer?” Jamil continued tiredly, not giving Leona a chance to catch up on his thoughts, “I contributed nothing. I can't even acknowledge my limits like Ruggie. I don't even know what I'm good at anymore, because you're always better at it.”

Leona could tell Jamil was holding back tears of frustration, and he suddenly felt very out of his depth. Jamil had flip flopped between having a superiority and an inferiority complex at S.T.Y.X, but he always figured that was because he misjudged Leona's capabilities compared to Kalim. Surely, he had to know he was in the top percent of the school?

“...Jamil,” Leona muttered, unsure what to say.

Jamil's eyes widened, his face flushed in embarrassment as he realised his outburst, “I mean–” he started to backtrack.

Leona sighed as he put his hand on Jamil's shoulder causing Jamil to freeze in place, “No, don't. Don't take it back.”

He regarded Jamil for a second, recalling the things he told him in S.T.Y.X.. He was starting to realise that he'd been unfair to Jamil. Ironically, the one thing he had been wrong about.

“I don't know how you got it in your head that you're anywhere near any of that, because that's fuckin’ ridiculous, but if you really think so, why don't you prove me otherwise? How’re you ever gonna find something to be right about if you never risk being wrong?”

Jamil gaped at him with round eyes, his jaw slack, clearly not expecting the peptalk. His eyes flicking down to Leona's stretched out arm before swallowing, “uh.. but what if–”

“Oh, who cares,” Leona rolled his eyes, letting go off Jamil's shoulder. “What are you so worried about, being wrong in front of ‘the world's best treasure hunters'?” Leona drawled, “you'll live.”

Jamil smiled, “I guess.”

Leona grinned, “good. Now that you've sufficiently wasted our time, please do point out my stupidity in great detail regarding the riddle.”

He pointedly ignored the open appreciation on Jamil's face, and also the way it made him feel.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Jamil huffed, unable to completely suppress the smile on his face.

“It's just… the riddle said we needed a balance, but it doesn't make any sense for both day and night at the same time does it? We're missing something.”

Ah. Leona understood what he was saying, “we're missing–,” he stopped, “well, what?”

Jamil glanced at him, face unreadable for a second before he continued, “it's supposed to be a circle.” He nodded his head towards the edge of the sun, “I saw those near the moon too.”

It was hard to see under all the moss before, but Jamil was right. There were decorative curved lines moving to, and away from the sun symbol. Leona followed one of them, it curved neatly in a perfect half circle to where Jamil had found the moon tile.

Leona gave him a toothy grin, “well, there you go. Stupidity swiftly and efficiently pointed out. Well done, Viper. Where would my ego be without you?”

Jamil rolled his eyes, “still way too big for your head I'm sure, but I appreciate you letting me finish for once.”

“Well you know me, I can't always be a selfish partner. People would talk.”

“Oh my god,” Jamil exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation before stalking off, following the half circle to find the tiles they were missing.

Leona laughed heartily and trailed behind, letting Jamil take the lead.

“Leona, look!” Jamil said excitedly, his exasperation already forgotten. He ran up to the halfway point on the half circle, kicking away some dead roots to reveal another engraved tile.

“What'd ya find?” Leona asked, walking up beside him.

“It's a… leaf? plant,” Jamil said curiously, his mind racing. He looked up to Leona who gave him an expectant look back. Leona raised his eyebrow, “..and?”

Jamil hummed as he thought about it, “well, the riddle mentioned day and night, and life and death. This has to be life, which means…” He looked behind him, “death would have to be on the other side of the circle. Do you think we have to complete a cycle?”

Leona smiled, “yeah, that's sound reasonin’ to me, definitely makes more sense than the sun and moon sharing a sky together. What was I thinking?”

He winked at Jamil, who rolled his eyes fondly, “alright, now you're laying it on too thick. I never even said it was a bad idea.”

“Well, what’re you waitin’ for. Try it,” Leona said, impatient to finally test either theory at this point.

Jamil nodded and walked back to the sun tile. Leona followed along, “didn't like the plant?”

“I figured the cycle started with the sun, plants need sunlight to live, right?”

Leona nodded, “most do, anyway.”

“Alright, well, non-magical plants do, so…the cycle starts here.” Jamil carefully placed his foot on the suntile and pressed down firmly. It gave a soft click and stayed down. An excited smile bloomed on his face, and he practically ran back towards the flora tile.

Another click. The moon tile, click. Jamil slowed down as he arrived at the last quarter of the circle, where death should be. After a bit of shuffling around with his foot, he found it.

Click.

There was a moment of silence before there was a rumbling in the temple. They locked eyes, a rush of excitement rolling in Leona's stomach. Jamil beamed as they waited with baited breath for the door to open.

Phil and Tumbo joined them as they waited. The rumbling continued until Leona heard a snap coming from inside, and… nothing.

Jamil's face dropped, “what, why did it stop? Did I get it wrong?”

“No,” Leona closed his eyes, “you didn't.”

“Then what?” Jamil's voice cracked, “I thought we had it.”

“It broke,” Leona muttered tiredly, Jamil's panicked voice eerily reminding him of his nightmare.

“Ah yeah, that happens sometimes,” Phil nodded, scratching his head, “old places like these don't always work properly no more. Sorry lads.”

Leona growled in frustration. He had enough of this charade, “stand back.”

“Leona, what are y–”

“King's Roar,” he growled, slamming his hand against the temple door.

It crumbled into a pile of sand, a silence settled in as they all stared at it. Speechless.

Jamil was the first to speak up, “you could have done that this whole time?!” He shrieked.

Leona grunted and shrugged, “looks like it. Let's go.” He walked over the rubble into the temple.

“What do you mean ‘looks like it’?” Jamil demanded, his voice an octave higher in his outrage.

“Didn't exactly know what it would look like inside, now did I? Speaking of. Get your ass over here,” Leona said, nodding inside.

Jamil inhaled sharply as he remembered the fact that the door was open. He almost tripped on the rubble trying to catch up to Leona.

Leona smiled, a weight having fallen off his shoulders as Jamil's face turned into one of excitement.

Inside the temple was a room filled with mural engravings and images, but most importantly at the end of it, in the middle was a tiny pedestal with a small golden item on it. Half of a scarab beetle.

“Well? What’re you waiting for? Need me to go in first to check for traps?” Leona grinned. He casually walked inside, if there were any more traps or interruptions at this point he'd welcome it. His patience had long run out, and he just wanted to sleep; at home or an eternal one, who cared anymore.

“Or did you want to valiantly jump in front of me, just in case?” Leona goaded him.

His words did not seem to have any impact whatsoever, Jamil was slowly walking up to the pedestal, as if he was scared it'd somehow fly off.

When they reached it, Jamil carefully touched it. “It's real,” he said in a daze, “Leona, it's real!”

Leona was about to say something sarcastic, but the words died in his throat as he suddenly had an armful of Jamil clinging to his chest. Leona inhaled sharply, completely frozen in shock. His arms raised up uselessly as if they had no idea how to handle this situation either.

“Y-yeah, it is,” Leona choked out, deciding he had to respond eventually. He patted Jamil on the back, his other arm falling to his side uselessly, “good going.”

After a few excruciating seconds of Leona having a crisis about what to do with his hands, Jamil took pity on him and pulled back, still beaming. Leona felt his face heat up, his mind completely blanking on what to do, or say.

Luckily, Jamil's mind caught up before Leona's did as he froze up like a deer in headlights. With a deep flush, he quickly detangled himself from Leona's chest and dusted himself off.

“Erm, sorry– I mean, thanks! Yes. We did good.”

“Yeah.”

They stared at each other for a while. The scarab gleamed in its newly attained sunlight, as if it was laughing at their conversation.

A big hand hit Leona in the back, almost knocking him straight into Jamil. “Woo, nice job you two!” Tumbo said with a loud booming voice. “Phil ‘n I couldn't have done it better ourselves.”

Jamil had thankfully jumped backwards just in time to avoid a second– even more awkward– hug, but he too got a firm ‘shoulder pat’ from Tumbo. He let out a soft ‘oof’.

“T-thanks.”

“Well, I wouldn't go that far, Tumbo,” Phil piped up behind them, “but I agree that magic of yours is mighty handy, lad. Where'd ya learn that?”

“Prince school,” Leona grumbled, so ready to get rid of these two. He turned to Jamil. “I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this place. Let's grab that thing and go.”

Jamil smiled and nodded, happy to finally collect half of his freedom.

Phil whistled, “seems like an awful waste if ya ask me. A golden beetle. What are you gonna do with it if you can’t eat it?”

Leona groaned and left the temple, leaving Jamil to hastily grab the scarab and follow along before he got swept up in another bug story.

“Leona, wait–” Jamil called out after him.

Leona turned around, raising an eyebrow. “What's up?”

Jamil jogged up to him, the scarab half firmly clenched in his hand. His thumb rubbed against the back of its shell nervously. “Thanks. I really couldn't have done it without you.”

Leona's stomach fluttered annoyingly as usual, but this time he really couldn't deny that he was enjoying Jamil's gratitude. Being of value to someone again.

“Don't mention it,” he mumbled, knowing all too well he was in too deep again. Of course he was.

Jamil smiled, and Leona realised he wasn't dreading that fact nearly as much as he should be.

“Ready to go back?” Leona asked finally. “Don’t know about you, but I'm sick of this place.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jamil's voice jumped up an octave, “I've wanted to leave since the first five minutes! If I have to hear one more story about bugs, I am going to lose my mind.”

He shuddered, “nightmare.”

Leona laughed at Jamil's outburst, surprised it had taken him this long to finally lose it. “Right, well. We'd better ditch those two fast, then. Let's go.”

“We can't, we still have to get back to our– your car,” Jamil smiled ruefully.

“...I have more cars,” Leona said. His ears flattened at the notion of two more days with those two.

After a long beat of him staring at Leona, Jamil burst out into laughter, doubling over at the sight of Leona's terribly hidden dread.

Leona tried to scowl, but couldn't suppress a laugh of his own. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up, but don't come hidin’ behind me when a bug flies in your face.”

Jamil immediately sobered up and gave him a petulant pout. Leona let out a hearty chuckle. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Misery loves company, after all.