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It seemed to be a random day, from a long time ago. That time, the Diamond King sat down at the balcony of the room of his castle, glaring at the kingdom from above, how his treasures, the Rudinns, would slither around, fulfilling their duty, but also interacting and enjoying time together, like the happy treasures they are.
Diamond King feels accomplished seeing them happy, it makes him joyful as well, really! But maybe just, sometimes, the weight of being a king takes a toll over his mind, suddenly bringing a droopy mood onto him. He can't help but hate himself being seen in such a mood, he feels like an opaque, stale jewel. He can't bring himself to explain his inner troubles to his shining, precious Rudinns, so he has to carry these burdens upon himself, like a king would do.
He doesn't want to bring down his royal advisor as well, Battat. Despite this little fellow being the most hard working, attentive and trustworthy dice he could ever know (at least compared to other pippinses that roam around every kingdom...), and almost always stands by his side.
The Diamond King watched over, with a sigh coming from between his teeth. Battat stood beside him, despite the King telling him that it wasn't necessary to stay this time. Battat is aware something goes through his Radiance's mind, but he didn't dare to ask about it. Despite his role as royal advisor, they don't really engage in such personal conversations, and why would they? The Diamond King has important discussions to have with anyone that is not just a pippins that follows him like a lap dog.
The Diamond King couldn't bring himself to talk to his royal advisor, even if he wanted to. He feels like he had no reason to make Battat stay with him, but the little dice didn't seem to mind, and somehow, there's a slight feeling of relief that he's here, the weight of the troubles just feels lighter when someone is by your side, even if there's nothing to be said.
The king would look around his kingdom, how prosper and shiny it is, how happy his subjects are, he likes to see that side of things, despite the complicated things that happen besides the scenes, specially with other kings. They get along, but surely there are days that it's too much. The chatter and laughs of the Rudinns seemed more distant as the Diamond King kept sinking into thoughts, sometimes he would enjoy some moments of silence for himself, but when it gets quiet for too long, it makes him feel awkward.
It was, until he heard a high-pitched noise.
He looked at his sides and his eyes looked down at his royal advisor. He was trying to be quiet about it, but there was moments where a whistle would slip from his lips.
Diamond King seemed to recognize the tone of what Battat was whistling, so one of the hands that was holding the railing of the balcony started tapping it's finger to the beat.
Battat looked at the finger tapping, quickly noticing that his Radiance was looking at him and immediatly stopping.
"Oh- Uhm. Forgive me, your Radiance..." Battat quickly looked away, his face immediatly turning green from embarrassment
"Huh? Why?" Diamond King turned to Battat
"I did not mean to-"
"Nono! It's alright, it's one of my favorite tunes!" Diamond King replied with his eyes glittering
Battat slowly turned his head back to the Diamond King, "A-Ah, I see..." he replied as he tugged the neck of his uniform, "Of course I would know that..." he thought to himself
"My dear, may you continue with your whistle?" Diamond King requested in a soft manner, the royal advisor couldn't help but feel his chest puff a little
"Sure thing, Your Radiance..." he affirmed, and immediatly went onto whistling the next part of the song. Meanwhile, the Diamond King would sway his head side to side and tapping his finger, his face arching a smile slowly, something Battat noticed and motivated him to go on, even if his lips were already begging for mercy.
Once the song was over, Battat tried to disimulate a heavy breathing he was taking after a long while whistling with very short pauses for air.
The Diamond King seemed to have an uplifted mood, "I thank you for the nice melody, dear. I wish to share the same skill with you..."
"You don't know how to whistle-" Battat's mouth slipped those words, which made him immediatly smack his mouth shut, the Diamond King was a bit taken aback by the reaction, but he procceeded to chuckle
"Ah, you got me! I don't know how to whistle..." Diamond King replied with a little frown in his eyes, "No matter how hard I tried, it just wouldn't work! So, I find it a blessing that you can make wonderful melodies like that."
Battat felt a light blush on his face, but quickly spun his face to make the king not notice it, but upon his spin, he felt something click on his brain.
"Ah, but I can teach you a different way!" He exclaimed
The Diamond King opened his eyes wide, his pupils glittering with such excitement that made Battat feel something weird, "Really?"
Battat was surprised to see an actual king so eager to learn such a small, insignificant thing like whistling, but he couldn't help but find that enthusiasm so... charming
"Right! So you see..." Battat shook his poncho a bit just to show more of his hands, "You place your hands like this, while leaving a small gap in the middle, between your thumbs" he explained, cupping his hands like a ball, but leaving a little gap where air could come throught, "And then you just blow into it, check it out!"
Diamond King took a close look to Battat's gesture, then procceeded to make his tiny hands imitate the royal advisor's hand position, when reaching something somewhat similar, he leaned his mouth onto the little gap in his hands, blowing into it. It let out a faint, but still distinct noise, which made the Diamond King quickly lean back in surprise, then tried it again, making a muffled, high-pitched sound.
"And there you go!" Battat bowed slightly, "You're now able to whistle, Your Radiance!"
Diamond King looked at his hands for a bit, until he suddenly turned to Battat, "This is great! I finally learned to whistle! You saved me!", his excitement took over as he picked the little dice up and squeezed him in a grateful hug. Battat immediatly felt that little, strange feeling again. Diamond King quickly opened his eyes as he remembered he was at the balcony with everyone being able to watch him, so he quickly dropped Battat back to the floor.
"Ah, excuse me! I am just so happy for this new knowledge, I can't thank you enough..." The king sighed in relief
"No need to thank me, Your Radiance... I simply do my job"
The Diamond King tapped his chin for a moment, before heading to Battat, "Well, with this knowledge achieved, would you mind sharing this piece with me?"
Battat looked at the sides, and then pointed at himself, "Sharing a piece... with me?"
Diamond King nodded, "It would be fun! Come on!"
Battat scratched his face slightly, "Hehh... It would be disrespectful to reject a royal offer... Alright then..."
Battat cleared his throat and pursed his lips, as the King cupped his hands, leaving a gap between his thumbs. Battat would start a segment of the music with his whistle, and then he would pause, leaving a space for the Diamond King to start his piece. It would not be perfect, but a whistle was still heard nonetheless. He seemed to be inspired yet excited to be whistling for real, specially with a favorite of his... the song, that is. Battat continued with another fragment, the Diamond King would do another, and so on, and then, the two would end the song by whistling together.
From that day and on, whistling their favorite together became the king's and the royal advisor's favorite pastime when they would be alone.
...
Battat's memory was blurry, and so was his vision. He slowly awoke with other Pippinses onto a new world, very different from what they could recall from Card Castle, and his Diamond Castle uniform was no more.
Diamond Castle, Diamond King...
He suddenly recalled the last events. The war, the evacuation, the arrest of his Radiance.
As the other Pippinses awoke, they already seemed curious about this new world they were in, full of lights, screens and cameras. Battat rushed past them as he tried to find an exit. He didn't know the way, he didn't mind about whoever crossed on his path, he only wanted to find a way out.
After a while of wandering, he seemed to have found the limits of this world, but it was a cold, snowy land outside, with nothing but echoing darkness ahead. He approached the edge, standing right infront of the darkness.
He had to try, he had to see a signal. He let out a little whistle of the song he used to sing with his king.
But the darkness would just echo his tune back to him.
Battat paused, and then procceeded to sing his fragment again.
No answer to his tune was given back.
Battat sighed in defeat. He slowly sat down on the snow, faintly singing the entire song on his own, for the king that he felt he won't be seeing again.