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Two has been the ruler of their kingdom for the past year already. And they have to say, they’ve really enjoyed it so far. They love meeting all their people and solving their problems. They loved hanging around the castle with their helpers.
You could say they’re doing it for the praise and love, but frankly, they’re just a kind and loving individual. At least they try to be.
There’s this one person in their kingdom that they just can’t seem to get themselves to bond with. Four. Their royal knight.
They hate his attitude. They hate his voice. They hate how demanding he is. He acts like he’s better than them sometimes and it really pisses them off. They often daydream of firing them and watching him live on the streets. But unfortunately, he’s their best knight.
Their best fighter and warrior. Their kingdom would be in shambles if it weren’t for him, they’ll give him that. But it doesn’t mean they like him. They don’t think they ever even will.
“I’m just saying it’ll be HELPFUL if you got off your butt and actually helped your royal guards.” Four yelled at them. They were sitting at their throne, forced to listen to his complaints on how they aren’t funding their guards enough.
Really, they’re doing the best they can. With the recent attack threats they’ve gotten from other kingdoms, it’s hard to focus on many things. They’re more focused on keeping their kingdom safe than the payment of their guards. Yes, it’s wrong of them, but it’s a lot of stress at the moment.
“Keep giving me that attitude and maybe I won’t pay you at all. You specifically.” They tried their best to keep their angry demeanor as, deep down, they did feel a little bad for them. Their guards do so much for them and would be a big help in protecting the kingdom.
They would love to give them the right pay and fundings but they just can’t right now. Four grumbled and rolled his eyes before stomping away like a child that just got denied a toy they wanted.
They sighed and leaned back against their throne. “Well if it makes you feel better,” Gaty, Two’s adviser, said while walking into view with a clipboard. “That was your last complaint of the day.”
“How many have we done?”
Gaty looked over the board, counting quickly in her head. “Forty-Two”
“Better than yesterday.” They fixed their slumped position and looked out the window. The sun was already starting to set. They should probably head to bed soon. They were tired anyways. Tomorrow was a new day.
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“UUUUGGGGHHHHHHH” Four shoved his face into his pillow and screamed the second he got to his room. The room he and the other knights stayed in was a large room with multiple bunk beds.
Four slept in one of the bottom bunks under his close friend, Clock. “Nothing?” Clock asked, his nose stuck in a book he was sitting as he sat above his bunk mate.
“NOTHING!” Four yelled, kicking his feet on the bed. He’s been trying to fight for the equality of the knights and the other royal servants for years. The funding was the biggest problem. But no matter how much he tried, nothing worked. He was always denied.
“Maybe one of us should try asking instead?” Five, a lower ranking knight, suggested. “I mean, you go every time and it never works.”
Four narrowed his eyes at them. “Are you saying it’s MY fault that we’re being mistreated here?”
“I’m not saying it isn’t.” He said, crossing her arms. Four stood up to confront him more about it, but another knight came and pushed him to sit down.
“Can we calm down? It’s too late for this.” He said, his tone more monotone than anyone else Four as ever known.
Four rolled his eyes. “It’s like 7pm, Eight!” He whined. But listened to him anyways.
“Any arguments or fighting, we can bring to training tomorrow.” Eight said, walking over to his and Five’s shared bunk and sitting next to his own bunk mate. “And about the ‘who should talk to Two’ situation, I’ll go. I’ve talked to them the most out of any of you guys and we seem to get along swell.”
“That seems good.” Five smiles at the decision. “You won’t whine and cry like a baby when talking to them.” Four crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
All of a sudden, one of the knights slammed the door open. Her face was full of sweat and they were panting like they had no air left in his body. She looked like she was leaning against the doorframe to hold themselves up.
“You alright Seven?” Five asked. Instead of answering, Seven collapsed onto the floor, face first. The position in which they fell revealed a large gaping cut on their back.
All the other knights stood up simultaneously. “SEVEN!” Six, a mid-level knight, ran over to him and held him up. She tried waking her but it was no point. She at least had a pulse, but it was slow. Very slow.
“Hurry up and take them to the infirmary!” Four pointed at her. Six nodded and picked up Seven and ran away. He turned to the rest of the knights who were all staring in shock. “We’re being attacked. Get into your positions! Fight off as many as possible. Kill them if you have to! This is just like training.”
He ordered them all while giving them different rules and positions. They’ve never been attacked like this before so he didn’t actually know what he was doing. But as the head knight of the guards, he had to pretend. “What about you?” Clock asked with an apparent concerned tone for his friend.
“I’m gonna go protect the king. It’s my job.” As much as he’d hate to give himself that role. He ran out and headed for the throne room.
The whole castle was full of prisoners with different weapons attacking all the workers. Maids, chefs, other guards. He helped the unarmed individuals and guided them to the open guards, ordering them to bring them to safety.
Eventually, he found Two hiding behind their throne with their advisor. The attackers haven’t gotten to them yet. He rushed over to them. “Your highness!” He yelled out the second he saw them, making both them and Gaty jump. “Are you guys alright?”
Two was semi-surprised to see them. Especially after their earlier disagreement. Though his job was to keep them safe. “We’re okay. Thank you.”
Four helped Two stand up and told the advisor to look for safety while he took Two to their own private safe room. He slammed the door and covered it with a numerous amounts of heavy objects.
“Why couldn’t we let Gaty join us?” Two asked as Four moved a large cabinet against the door, blocking it entirely. “I’d want her to be safe as well.”
Great. They’re ALREADY complaining?
He stood in front of them with their arms crossed. “This is a private facility limited to only you. It is to keep you safe. You are the main priority and your safety matters more than anyone else.”
Two raised brow at him. “So why are you here?”
“Don’t be stupid.” He’d be hung on the spot if anyone saw him talking to them in such a tone. But they’re alone so he doesn’t care. And he knows they’re too kind to do anything to him. “I’m in here to protect you. Like I said. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t be in here. This is more torturous than fighting outside.”
“If you’re lying and only in here for me to give you pity and raise your pay at least be nicer.” Two narrowed their eyes at him. They could hear and see his annoyed grumbling.
After a while of silence between the two of them besides the yelling and banging outside. Eventually, Four sat on the wall across from Two.
“It’s not just the money.” He said, looking down at the marble floor and tracing his finger along the cracks. He could feel Two’s gaze on him but refused to look back. “My brother X…went missing on one of his missions.”
Two gasped loudly. “What..?”
“I begged the leader of the knights, at the time, to find him. But he denied. Then I went to you. But you shrugged it off as nothing. So I went looking for him myself. I found him within an hour. His head was decapitated next to his body and sword.” Four reluctantly explained.
He hated that story so much. He hated thinking about it. He hated talking about it. He hated reliving it. Just watching his own brother’s body. His corpse. Decaying. Broken apart.
The worst part? No one cared.
“Four…I’m so-“ Four raised his hand to get them to stop talking.
“I don’t need an apology from you.” He said plainly. He lowered his arm before continuing. “Ever since then, I’ve vowed to fight and stand up against the cruelty against the knights of the kingdom. We do so much and get nothing in return.”
Two had no words to say. Just stared at him with a pitiful look. He hated that look. This is why he hates talking about himself.
Two couldn’t get a word out before the banging against the walls transferred to the door. Four stood up and pulled out his sword. “Stay back. Hide somewhere.”
Two looked around. The entire room was open as Four has moved every item in there into the door. “There’s nowhere to hide!”
The banging out louder and the door was starting to break. Four moved the covered of his helmet to block out his whole face. “JUST FIND SOMETHING!”
The top of the door broke open and fell over the cabinet blocking it. A sword stuck out from the newly formed hole. Two ran to a corner and Four fought with the sword with his own. He pushed them back and jumped over the cabinet to get to the other side.
He was immediately pinned to the wall by the attacker. She was one of the most known prisoners in the castle. This is when he realized who the attackers were. They were all the rebels that were imprisoned years ago. It seems they all had escaped and were trying to overthrow Two. Made sense.
“One.” Four said, pushing his sword up against her stolen one. “Good to see you again.”
One had been imprisoned for the attempted murder of her best friend years ago. She was sentenced to life in prison. Four guesses that she’s the one that’s leading the attack.
“Likewise.” She smirked. They both wrestled with their swords. Four would occasionally look behind him to look at Two. They seemed to have found somewhere to hide. Good.
As Four was distracted, One kicked him in the stomach. His groaned out loudly in pain. She used her sword to push his out of his hands. He went to grab it before she kicked his legs over and knocked him to the ground. She pointed her sword at his face, smiling victoriously.
“Stand down, knight.” She said, itching the tip of the sword closer to his face, almost touching his nose. Gosh. Where’d she even learn to fight like that?
Suddenly, the sword was thrown out of her hands and landed on the floor next to them. They both turned their heads simultaneously to see Two standing with a giant pole in their hand. They were clearly scared, judging by their visible shaking.
What the hell were they doing? They’re gonna get themselves killed! “I just found this stick and I don’t know how to use it!” They announced as if it formed some sort of threat.
One only laughed and ran to go grab the sword. Four took that as an opportunity of his own and kicked her down. Four held her down. She thrashed and kicked and yelled while Two handcuffed her hands together.
The two to them worked together to imprison the rest of the prisoners and put them back into their cells. “Not bad, Two.” Four praised them after they finished. Two smiled as they watched him walk away into their room.
A few months later, Two decided to make a difference in the Knight’s livelihood. They started listening to lore of their complaints and actually doing something about it.
They gave them more rooms with better beds, they gave them more break times, and, of course, raised their pay.
On top of that, Two hung out with Four a lot more. They talked almost daily. And they had to admit, he was great company.
Four seemed to be getting comfortable with them too. Something that was hard for even him to believe. He eventually showed them where he had to bury X’s body. It was a small grassy area, far away from the castle.
It gave them an idea one what they could help Four with.
One day, Four was training in a private training spot. As they were fighting a random dummy, Two sneaked up behind him and accidentally scared him. “Sorry.” They laughed. “I want to show you something.”
Four raised a brow behind Two got behind them and covered his eyes with a blindfold. He immediately tried taking it off but Two told him not to and that it was a surprise.
They held his hand and was leading him to where his surprise was. It was a very very long walk. One that Four knew all too well. “Oh gosh.” He laughed slightly. More in fear than anything. “I recognize this walk.”
Two held in their excited giggles. They finally made it to their destination and Two took off the blindfold. Four opened his eyes to see a tombstone. One that wasn’t there before. He could never afford it. On it read:
“Here lies X Integer.”
He stared at it. For a long time. He didn’t say anything. Just stared. It was beautiful. It was carved in such a nice, curvy, delicate way. Ones you’ll only see in expensive cemeteries. There were aloe vera plants around it. X’s favorite.
“I know I didn’t know him all too well. But I tried to do something I think he may like. And I remember you mentioning he used to have an Aloe Vera garden. So…yeah..” They nervously explained with a shaky voice.
Four dropped to his knees and slowly reached out to touch the leaves on the aloe vera. His face curved into a smile. He touched it again, rubbing it with his thumb before breaking into a sob.
Two watched him, understandably shocked. They’ve never seen him cry before. Not really knowing what to do, they gently sat down next to him and wrapped their arm around him, pulling him into a side hug.
He leaned into them, hiding his ugly crying in his arms. “I’m glad you liked it, Four.” They said softly, listening to the gratefulness in his sobs.