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I see your light
I know it’s coming and I’m terrified
No more defenses here to hide behind
Oh, just you and I
"Raynor" King Hinex clears his throat. Queen Linoa glances at him, silently asking if now is the right moment.
"Father?" A young prince Raynor answers, distracted by a scroll. His focus is obsessive as always, wanting to read every single report from the unicorn guard himself.
"Your mother and I." He sends Linoa a look, who seems unwilling to sour her mealtime with discussions. "Decided it's time you start looking for a partner."
"I've got time, Father." And his priorities are set on being the bravest warrior he can be. He doubts picnics or whatever else courtship entails will be an adventure.
"You're nearly a man. If you don't start looking soon you will fall behind." He's too young to marry this instant, but if a relationship needs some time before marriage, he should've ideally started said relationship right about yesterday. They need to thoroughly vet the future queen before it's official.
Raynor lets out an annoyed sigh. He doubts not having an heir by twenty something or thirty will be the death of their line. His father thinks otherwise, the idea of a union is always more important. Politics are always more important. His father was never a warrior, unlike some of their ancestors, and he never misses the chance to remind Raynor that his life being on the line with no other heir is an inconvenience waiting to happen.
"I'll look." Raynor agrees, his father doesn't have to know he's not planning on actually doing more than that. Just looking doesn’t imply commitment, he can still delay it.
And through the smoke
I see you burning like a ray of hope
I found the fire now the ashes glow
Oh, I come alive
He's escaping a group of girls who might or might not have been prompted to hound him by his mother. Then he sees her. The young prince's boots squeak against the polished floors as he stops himself.
There is a graceful figure out in the courtyard, practicing spear stances in a way that resembles an intricate dance rather than a fight. It's a girl his age, with long brown hair down to her hips and a few flowers scattered in her simple hairstyle. Elves are known to be beautiful creatures, but Raynor thinks she looks outright ethereal. He quickly backs up, hiding in the arch of the main doorway. He breathes in and out for a few beats, trying to get a grip.
"Are you alright?" A pleasant voice pops up right beside him.
Raynor tries to disguise the fact he's startled, rather poorly. She's somehow managed to sneak up on him, which is unprecedented. He looks down at her clothes, the unicorn guard pin, shiny and new, sitting proudly on her dress. She’s new? She's a guard! She'll be around here. He swallows thickly, mentally praying not to embarrass himself.
"I'm sorry, I did not want to interrupt..." He gestures, his polite tone an attempt to prompt her to provide her name.
"Mayla." She states with a small, kind smile. Raynor's heart does about a dozen summersaults and twice as many cartwheels.
"I'm Raynor." He extends his hand with a boyish smile, innocently forgetting who he is in his excitement. Mayla's eyes widen with surprise as she hears the name.
"Your highness! Excuse me, I did not recognize you-" She goes on to explain, not wanting to have seemed irreverent. She moves to bow in greeting, and Raynor softly grabs her arm, guiding her to stay upright.
"There's no harm done. And you don't need to bow," He assures her, already starting to feel fond of her gentle demeanor, and the smell of flowers that follows her.
And now that I’m awake
I’m not afraid
I’m letting go tonight
His spear clanks as it falls to the ground. Mayla smiles, bowing teasingly. His face lights up with mirth as he picks it up, not willing to end their sparring just yet.
People have obviously noticed how close they've grown the past few months. His parents, seeing the obvious route this is taking, have backed off and returned to their usual distance. He doesn't particularly mind if they or anyone isn't too present anymore, he has Mayla. There are probably a thousand things that grate on his nerves, that burden or stress him, she is the only thing that doesn’t.
She can’t fix everything, he wouldn’t expect her to, but the sound of her voice makes everything else feel fuzzy, numbing any ache he might feel. It’s inexplicable, and despite his constant need for logical, concise answers, he must resign to the fact she might just be astonishing enough to make all his worries fade away. If Raynor didn’t know better, he’d think she cast a spell on him.
Cause we found strength in each other’s arms
We built this love and we made it our
Empire, empire, empire
And you and I can rule each other’s hearts
We’ll build on love and we’ll make it our
Empire, empire, empire
They walk down a winding path, heading to one of the more remote villages to assess some alleged floods.
“I hope they're alright. We'll have to make sure they have enough if their crops were destroyed.” She folds the map in her hands as she spots the faint outline of the village, straight ahead. The sound of Raynor’s footsteps doesn’t follow her, and she turns with a raised eyebrow as he just stares at her silently, itching to say something.
"You'd be a good queen." Raynor breaks his admiring silence with a faint smile on his face. It hasn't even been a full year since the start of their friendship, but he can't stand the feeling of pining for her any longer.
"You think so?" Her tone is still lighthearted, used to their tentative flirting.
"I know so." He can picture it clear as day, a golden age in their kingdom's history, with her beside him on the throne. “I mean it.”
Despite him saying it clearly, it takes her a second to process that he does, in fact, mean it. The confession is only a surprise because of the timing, not the feelings themselves.
“You… do?” She asks, moved by the claim, its genuine approval. His kingdom is everything to him, and he'd never say this to her if he didn't wholeheartedly believe it.
Raynor gives her a coy look. It's just like him to use the title itself rather than simply say he likes her. Mayla gets the sentiment behind it. She'll still tease him for it later.
Stone by stone
We’ll build a tower we can call our own
So high that we’ll forget the world below
Oh, just you and I, I
They marry eventually, continuing to act as warriors during his father's reign. They aren't slowed down by anything, a dynamic duo that quickly rises in popularity among the people. That is, until one morning.
"Ray?" Mayla's nickname for him rings out. An ironic one, considering she's the calming ray of sunlight and he's… rather crotchety.
Raynor leans back on his chair with an easy smile, putting the pen down. "You're up early."
"I wanted to surprise you." She holds up a mobile, one Raynor recognizes from his childhood nursery. It's a tradition to hang it up for new arrivals, the heirloom must be a few generations old by now. It takes him a couple seconds of poker-faced shock before glancing at her for confirmation.
"A child?" He lights up, loading just about a thousand questions he's preparing to fire. He stands up, the chair creaking as he carelessly pushes it away.
"The healers confirmed it yesterday." Mayla looks at him fondly, knowing he might just ask why he didn't find out that very minute. He didn't know of their child for a few hours? Unthinkable.
His face goes through joy, worry and then excitement again, carefully lifting her up off the ground. Mayla lets out a laugh as he spins her around, thankful the nausea she's feeling is relatively mild.
So let the drums roll
The cannons blow
We’re letting go tonight
They don't get involved in the war with Toxor directly due to her state, only organizing the forces sent as aid to the islands. A new Hero of Centopia is declared all the way in their neighboring empire. They have half a mind to meet her someday, but aside from friendly, formal letters they don't get around to it immediately. Or ever.
If only he'd known how much they'd grow to love the hero's child, he would've made more of an effort to meet her. Maybe it's for the best that he only sees her as his son's dear friend without her parents' memory looming over her. It gives her more freedom around them.
Cause we found strength in each other’s arms
We built this love and we made it our
Empire, empire, empire
His father dies during the last weeks of the pregnancy. He shields Mayla from the stress of planning the coronation, everyone does, worried for her and the baby. He chooses to delay the formal event for her sake, something unprecedented, but he's not willing to make her go through it in her discomfort. He is the king now, after all. His word is the law.
Their child is born without complications. A perfect boy who happens to be the spitting image of his grandmother. They name their son Mo, and the kingdom is elated at the announcement, so much so the baby is flooded with gifts during royal audiences.
He stays in their arms during the coronation a few weeks after, Mayla especially not willing to leave their child with other carers for long. It's more than fine by him; he'd rather be more hands-on than his own parents were. To tutor and educate him themselves even if it leaves them with little to no time or sleep.
They try to get around to that meeting with the Hero. When they do schedule it, it's promptly cancelled as she's found to be with child and not fit to travel such a long distance. They send their best wishes to the family, offhandedly mentioning when they do meet, it might just turn into a playdate for the youngest members of their families.
Yuko comes into their lives early on in hers. Mo first meets her as his parents pay a diplomatic visit to her village, and the three-year-olds just click. As they grow, they spend more and more time exploring, when Yuko is old enough to move to the crater under their supervision, they're together every single day.
They’ll never take it down
Take it down
Burn it down
Burn us down
Take it down
Take down our empire
The war with Panthea breaks out, their experience as warriors suddenly becoming invaluable in strategy meetings. Things get dire quickly, but he and Mayla support each other, the children have grown enough to start helping the war efforts. It stresses him out to no avail, but when it becomes clear they will interfere no matter what he does, they try to send them out as best prepared as they can.
Then the third one comes along.
When Yuko and Mo first ran in, affirming they'd met a girl capable of talking to unicorns, he nearly spat his tea out. When they meet her, she's obviously small and a little intimidated by them. Mayla seems to find her adorable, and to be fair so does he, and despite the first day's strange start, something tells him she's here to stay. Her exasperating pan friend also happens to be around, but he has good intentions and is occasionally capable of making useful inventions, so Raynor copes.
Deep down, he suspects her odd abilities cannot be a coincidence, but he lets them be.
And you and I can rule each other’s hearts
We’ll build on love and we’ll make it our
Empire, empire, empire
He smiles into his cup, hearing Mayla recount the children's antics during their picnic, and Mo's dreaded royal protocol lesson. He is mad at them, as his first instinct. He'll need to have a talk with them about wasting resources and disrespecting Mayla by starting the food fight at all... But he can't deny the story is amusing. He didn't have many friends growing up, his title always burdened him slightly in most aspects. He now realizes it wasn't just that. His childhood friends were scared by the palace, by his parents and the frigidity of it all.
His son might complain about his rules, but the palace is a safe place for them. The two girls that aren't even theirs happily stick around. Yuko loves yapping the royal couple's ear off about everything that goes on. Mia views them as some magical knowledge source she can always waltz in and ask questions to. There is no animosity between him and Mayla, no disinterest or distance, and he concludes even the kids can feel that.
The realization, the belief that maybe they really are better in that regard, as well as simply being liked as monarchs, warms his chest. Mo is still getting that lecture, though.
They’ll never take it down
Take it down
Burn it down
Burn us down
Take it down
Take down our empire
He fights side by side with Mayla during the final stand against Panthea, feeling like the teenagers they once were. They know they've prepared themselves, the kids and the kingdom to get through it. They only have to buy time, and once the elemental unicorns appear they know they've made it.
"My dear, this has suddenly turned into a very nice day." He pulls her closer, hearing the celebrations in the background. They will have a long, long reign.