Chapter Text
The halls were big, bigger than even KEWLTOWN's castle. It was grand but he couldn't really bring himself to care.
Not even annoyance as the Prince had taken every single detour and reroute possible. The Prince was luck Mr Professor, who was a giant dragon, had still let him into the academy. Which left him here with the palace guards waiting for his charge. He almost blended in with his heavy armour and helmet, even after a year of wearing it he still missed his old fleece and animal hides.
The only difference was he was asked to hand over his axe and sword at the entrance, promising it back if the prince passed or he was sent back home alone.
Scott didn't like the implication that the prince could die, that risk came back on him fully. He wasn't sure what that would mean for the remaining people of Tegrith. Not that the prince seemed to care though, just like he hadn't for the entire trip. Even with his kindness, he lacks an absolute understanding of the real world.
And maybe his illiteracy caused that.
Scott perked up as he heard the door opening looking to see a little beat up but okay Prince. He was holding something in his hand.
"I passed!" The prince quickly walked past him; without even acknowledging him, "I have a dorm assignment, and a dragon egg!"
Scott let they princes rambling fall into the background. Even as the they seemed to continue for minutes without taking a moment to breath.
Finally after getting turned around and some directions from a guard, they managed to get to the prince's dorm.
"Well here it is~," the prince sang, Scott groan internally, "and... I have dorm mates."
Scott sighed, it was going to be a long day.
"That must be Drift!" The prince ran from Scott, making him have to chase him in the heavy armour, and with the logs in his arms. As he rounded the corner he saw the prince talking with a long hair brunette woman.
"Oh and this is my Guard, only the best for the Prince of KEWLTOWN," They looked just as uncomfortable as Scott felt the first time meeting the prince, "It's spelled; capital K, capital E, capital W, capital L, capital T, capital O, capital W, capital N. Don't worry too much, a lot of people get it wrong the first few times."
"Oh, uhm, well... I suppose it's good to meet you?" Drift held out her hand for the Prince to shake, then looked at Scott, "I honestly mistook you for a academy guard, what's you name-"
"No way, KEWLTOWN armour and weaponry are superior to the Rider's Academy, and the capitol guard," The prince looked actually offended, side-eyeing Scott incredulously, "Can you believe this?"
Scott honestly didn't care, "sure-"
"I know right," The prince cut him off, turning his head and pouting. "I want an apology."
Drift just looked confused first looking at the prince then looking at Scott.
He wasn't sure what she expected to find. Even if he didn't have the helmet he doesn't think she would be able to read him well.
She eventually sidestepped speaking through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend your home."
The prince perked up immediately, brightening up. "You are forgiven, I am a very kind prince after all."
There was an awkward pause until the prince interjected again. "Did you notice our rooms were connected?"
"What?" Drift looked shocked as the prince dragged her into his room showing off the hidden door he had found that went between the rooms.
Scott just followed letting the prince mess around, well he continued making the room livable.
Which he should expect, a prince isn't going to get their hands dirty or do any work. It was one of the reasons he had hated when Pyro called him a prince.
Which was another thing Pyro was here. It wasn't a question he had seen Pyro walking the halls with a clown, not a care in the world.
His thoughts were cut off by a thud in the other room followed by a quick "I'm okay!" From the prince.
He had more important things to worry about other than Pyro.
"Oh my guard can help show you some magic." The prince stood on the banister speaking to a new face AJ.
"Oh really." She seemed to have a permanent smirk on her face. "Why can't you teach me some if you are such a good Prince."
A blush crawled up the prince's cheeks making him stutter. "Because I don't have time for that I have other things to do."
"Yeah and what are these important things?" AJ leaned against the wall, waiting.
"Well I have to a-I need-" the prince looked around till something caught his eye. "Pyro, Shubble!."
The two looked up confused by the outburst. "I have something to do with them. Bye!"
The prince ran after them as the two, who seemed to pick up their own walking speed trying to get away.
Scott really did hope the prince did actually go do something with them. Well the prince did have magic it wasn't the most defensive or offensive, his best spell being Pip.
"So do you have a name? or is it Guard because that is going to get confusing." He hadn't even noticed AJ walking up to him.
"It's Scott."
"Oh so you do speak." AJ leaned against him, not even reaching his shoulder. "Everyone said you don't speak."
"I'll just say the prince speaks a lot." Scott nudged AJ off him. Starting down the hall to the ritual circle.
AJ hummed followed. "So what is your magic?"
"I don't have any." Scott wasn’t picked like everyone else in this academy, he wasn’t special.
"Oh so no dragon I'm guessing?" Scott just nodded.
As Scott showed AJ the rituals and how to level up her skills she was mostly quiet other than a comment here or there.
It was as Scott was grabbing some glow berries from the prince’s room when she asked a question.
"Do you hate how Cam has magic?"
Scott stopped turning to AJ. "What?"
"Well the prince is in the nicest words, useless." AJ took slow steps forward. "I doubt it was Cam who gathered all this stuff, it was you who even without magic figured out new rituals."
Scott closed the chest, he honest at times was annoyed at the prince. He was so carefree just like Pyro neither of them seemed to have a care in the world other than pride and fame.
"He'll get all the credit and all of KEWLTOWN will only know you as the guard that accompanied him."
"I don't care for KEWLTOWN opinion." The word slipped out fast then he could stop them.
"Oh so you are here for the prince." AJ grinned. "A guard falling in love with a prince."
Scott felt a blush crawl up his cheek which luckily was hidden under the helmet. "No!"
"Oh why so defensive." AJ continued to be annoyingly smug. "What other reason do you have to let the prince step all over you?"
"Because it's my end of the deal!" Scott hissed, only to stop realizing what he said.
"Oh what deal is that?" AJ tried to make eye contact only for Scott to turn away. "Oh, are you like a debt or something?"
"No." That was a lie but AJ really didn’t need to know that.
AJ gaze felt like it pierce through his armour and looked directly at him.
“You are all mysterious." AJ mocked walking towards the door. "You enjoy being a prince's lapdog."
AJ waved as she left the room leaving Scott with only his thoughts.
Scott had been organizing material in the prince's room when the prince and Pyro walked into the room.
"What is your name?" Pyro spoke with a big grin on his face.
Scott sighed. "I think you already know."
"What? why so grumpy Scott." Pyro's smile looked more and more like a target. "What? You mad you got caught."
Scott just glared he wasn't going to give Pyro the satisfaction of getting an answer.
"Wait! So you do know each other?" The prince looked between the two of them, confused.
"Ah yes me and Scott go back all the way to when we were both tots stumbling around." Pyro sling his arm over the prince's shoulder. "He loved copying me back then, its why he’s doing it now, just more of the rule seeker instead of danger."
"Copying you?" Scott raised an eyebrow that wasn't what he expected. "I didn't run away."
"Oh so what are you doing so far from Tegrith?"
"Because we were forced to leave the mountain." Did he not know? "Your parents sent you a letter, yes?
"No, I haven't gotten any for a while. Assumed they were giving me the silent treatment."
"Oh." Well he guessed that was why Pyro had been so care free. "Tegrith was taken over by the corruption, we had to move."
"What?” Pyro's eyes widened letting his hand fall off the prince's shoulder, who looked just as shocked as Pyro. “What do you mean by corruption? Why didn't you tell me when you first saw me?!"
"I thought your parents had already told you." Scott hadn't been told directly they had but he had also been way too busy to deal with it.
The prince cut in sounding very confused. "What are you not from KEWLTOWN?"
"No." He honestly wasn't too surprised the prince didn't know of the happening in his country. "Tegrith and a few other towns made a deal with KEWLTOWN, we got some land and supplies and they got some new laborers."
"How long ago?" Pyro glared at the floor.
"For about 1 year."
"Right right, that's about the same time I stopped getting letters." Pyro looked up at him. "Why didn't you send a letter?"
"I was busy."
Pyro huffed. "what playing guard?"
Scott turned away, going back to his previous task. "If that's all, why don't you both go back to messing around."
He could hear Pyro quickly walk away and the prince did pause before following the fire mage.
It was just like Pyro thinking he was the center of the universe.
"Are you getting enough sleep?"
Scott blinked looking over at the prince. Scott couldn't see his face with him laying in bed looking the opposite direction.
It was a bit of a strange question and not the normal type from the prince. "Of course, I won't have any issues in protecting you."
The prince heaved out a sigh not saying anything more. Was it the wrong answer or some sort of implied question?
Scott had done everything like he had before getting the prince his tea and pajamas. Stepping out of the room well he got dressed then came back to watch over him well he slept.
It had been the same routine every night since he was given to the prince. The only difference was the dragon that curled up on the foot of the bed or at Scott's feet at the desk.
The prince pushed himself up, turning to Scott, he didn't look angry, just nervous.
"You've been my guard for half a 3 months, right?"
It was strange hearing the normally bold prince's voice so meek. "Yes."
"Okay good, that's good." The prince's hand clenched in his sheet. "What was your..."
The prince trailed off looking away.
Oh! "You don't need to know things about me."
"But I should!" The prince's head snapped up. "I thought your name was Scout."
“It dine you can call me guard all you like.” Scott raised an eyebrow. “Knowing my name isn’t really needed for the job.”
“But!” Cam made a noise throwing his arms up. “As Drift said, you know so much about me and it's rude to know so little about someone I’m around all the time.”
Scott didn’t expect that he thought he would just reassure the Prince then he would be ignored again. "So you want to get to know me, is what you're saying?"
"Yeah!" The prince nodded furiously.
It felt horrible being treated like less. The first few assignments he had he wasn’t even treated as human but a piece of meat to throw to the wolves, It really did make him appreciate Tegrith and how accepting and loving they were even to an outsider like him.
"You should go to bed." Scott appreciated the thought because it just felt awkward. "Your meeting with Shelby in the morning."
Scott had thought he had won, only for light footsteps then the Prince seating on the floor by the chair Scott was sitting in.
The prince looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. Scott tried to go back to his book but it felt weird having someone watching him.
Especially when Giselle joined the Prince in his watching.
"Okay three questions then you're going to bed."
"4!"
"2." Scott hissed out.
"Okay 3." The prince put his chin in his hand, tilting his head side to side. "What is your favourite.... Colour?"
"Blue."
"Oh that's good I love a good red or brown." The prince pulled Giselle into his lap. "What the best meal you've ever had, mine was this really good lamb, the chef said a bunch about it but I didn't follow."
It was hard to pick his mother's ham or his father's stew. Both he could make but he doesn't think they would taste the same.
"My parent's cooking."
"Your parents cooked for you? That's weird, I mostly just ate with them and never would they be seen in a kitchen." The prince smiled like it was a funny quirk and not nobility people being above chores. "Hmmm.... What's another good one?"
The prince gently tapped his head before he looked up making eye contact with Scott's helmet. "What do you look like?"
"What?"
"I've never seen you without your helmet." The prince tilted his head. "I never really thought of it."
He didn't have anything against doing it, he just always wore the helmet because it was annoying to carry around.
"Okay." Scott unlatches the bottom strap, sliding it off his head. He ran a hand through his hair hoping to tame the helmet hair.
"Wow." Scott glanced at the prince who was staring almost memorized.
It continues way past the normal time to stare at another man. The prince even pushed himself up onto his knees, still being a little shorter to Scott sitting on the chair.
"You have a scar?" The prince was looking up at Scott forehead brushing some of the hair away to get a closer look.
"Yeah." Scott spoke nervously, he wouldn’t really call the small bump he had on his forehead a scar. There were plenty of scars on his arms and chest from bandits or sparing.
"What is it from?" The prince was so focused he flinched when Scott gently grabbed his wrist.
"You only got 3 questions." The prince didn't fight as Scott pushed him out of his space. "You have things to do in the morning."
"Oh fine." The prince sulked away, dramatically flopping into his bed.
Scott went back to his work as the prince hopefully dosed off.
Scott tried not to be irritated but it was hard when he was on so little sleep. Also it didn't help that he was rushed out of his room for no real reason.
Scott took Prince Cam from the capital guard that had escorted him out the jail.
"What happened?" His anger was tempered by the fact Prince Cam genuinely looked sorry, it also wasn't his fault the guard woke him up to tell him.
"Well me and a few others were going into the royal wing of the academy and I ended up getting caught." Cam rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry they woke you up, you didn't need to come pick me up."
"It's my job to watch over you." Scott was tired but he wouldn't want the prince to be jumped then be reassigned or worse.
Prince Cam was silent though obviously still nervous.
Only speaking as they reach their dorm. "What if it wasn't your duty?"
Scott paused just outside the door looking back at the prince confused. "What?"
"I-" Cam rang his hands very nervously. "Would you still want to be around me if I wasn't your assignment?"
"Maybe." Which was true, sure he had some dislike for his assignments, They were part of the reason he couldn't be with Igna or the dagmeares.
But these past few days he has come to enjoy prince Cam’s company. He was actually trying to learn, even apologizing before Scott can point out how rude or out of touch he's being.
It's freeing to have someone listen.
"Oh you think." Prince Cam looked up at him with wide eyes. "I wonder how we would meet?"
Cam pushed past him into the room, even holding the door open for him. "You said you lived in the mountains, so maybe one day I would get lost in the snow and then you would come across me as the knight in shining armour you are."
Scott let out a giggle. "If I was back in Tegrith I wouldn't be wearing this."
"Really..." Prince Cam turned his head. "Well I guess that is KEWLTOWN Armour. What did you wear?
"It was a lot of fur, animal hides, basic cloth nothing heavy and metal like this." Scott let his mind wander back home to the cold and fresh air. "I still remember the pride of catching and skinning my first deer, I wore it the whole month my father had to bribe me to let him wash it."
"Ew." Prince Cam shivers. "You skinned animals?"
"Yeah you eat animals. You know meat?" Prince Cam faces scrunch up. "We just use all the animals, even the bones, organs, and fats."
Scott walked to his room. It was a small room built into the walls of the room, only enough for a bed and small shelves for his clothes and a few other things.
Prince Cam followed him standing outside the door well Scott shuffled about.
"Found it." Scott pulled out a bone trinket, passing it over to Prince Cam.
He scanned it over, moving it from hand to hand. "It's a... bird?"
"It's a thrush." Scott pointing at a carved bone in Prince Cam's hand. "When I was younger we went into a town far down the mountain."
"My mother gave me some money to spend, I ended up not paying anything that day." He remembered Pyro had gotten a lot of trinkets from haggling with the few coins he had. "I didn't like anything so my mother asked if I wanted to pay her to carve me something and I said a bird."
"Your mother made this." The prince turned it in his hand, feeling all the line and rough edges. "Maybe she could make me one of Pip or Giselle."
Scott stiffed which took Prince Cam's attention. "I would pay her."
"All of Tegrith is busy." Scott stepped back from the prince. "But she’s died."
"Oh." Prince Cam's voice cracked. "I'm sorry, do you want to talk about it?"
"No." Scott didn't talk about it, not even to Dagmeares no matter how much they said he could. "Just leave it."
"Okay yeah uh." The prince stumbles on nothing before looking down at his hands then passing him the thrush. "I'll go! I'll make sure no one bothers you too, good night!"
Scott flinched as the door shut, locking him in the dark room alone. He knew he wasn't actually locked in, Prince Cam made it clear he should be so worried about his reaction and he wanted to be more equal.
But that would just be awkward and weird to ask Cam to stay, it never worked in the past anyway.
Maybe the prince didn't really care, using the shift in conversation as an exit point.
Scott methodically took off his armour, feeling colder and colder. Even when he got on his nightwear and under his blankets he still felt cold.
Scott was looking over his notes. Well Scott wasn't allowed in the dragon riding lesson he had the prince just give him a verbal summary that he could note down. Having actual notes from the lesson would be good but Prince Cam's writing skill was nowhere near there.
While Scott couldn't blame him, he was lucky his mother made it such a practice to be fully versed in reading and writing. Though it did make him question why a child in Tegrith was getting a better education than a prince of a country.
"Scott what is this word?" Scott leaned over Cam shoulder, who had been sitting beside him on a chair. "I've been looking at it for so long it feels like a jumble."
Cam was sitting on a beanbag beside him. They were tucked into a private study room in the library wanting different scenery.
"Abolish." Scott leaned in more reading some more of the sentence. "It means to destroy."
"Okay." Cam nodded before staring up at him then grinning. "You should really wear the helmet less."
Scott scoffed he was going to go back to his book only for Cam to press his face between his hands.
"I really mean it, you're very handsome." Cam kept a good hold on Scott's head. "It also might help the other student to not find you so intimidating."
"I'm your guard. It is part of my job to be intimating."
"Yeah but you can do that and also show off how handsome you are." Cam had a grin on his face.
Scott really wasn’t paying attention eye falling down his lip, leaning into Cam’s hands more.
"I knew it!" He felt Cam jump at the booming voice.
Scott had expected to be shoved away but Cam pulled him closer, smushing his face into the man's chest.
"Sausage!" Scott could hear Cam's voice in his chest. "There's a reason the curtain is closed!"
He heard a giggle and a few more voices.
"Sorry about Sausage, we just want to see if you were busy?" Graecie's voice was muffled, likely having stayed behind the curtain.
Cam at this point had let go of Scott walking over to the curtain. Scott felt a small blush on his cheeks, why did he look at Cam’s lips and lean into his hands?
Well it was nice he enjoyed being around Cam, he never saw someone with such blonde hair, the greenish blue of his eyes, and when ever the prince wasn't singing he really did have a comforting voice. It was nice being around Cam.
Nice in a way he had always refused to think about.
"Why would I be kissing Scott, I love Giselle." Scott stiffened. "We're just close friends, you'll need to not jump to conclusions."
The words snapped Scott out of his shock, which he needed. He can't get lost in his head with these silly thoughts he had more important things to worry about.
"I don't know if he's comfortable showing his face." Scott walked up behind Cam lifting the curtain having already slipped on the helmet.
"Oh hi." Graeice greet him well the others waved, except Sausage was giving Cam a look of disbelief.
"Hello." Scott gave an awkward wave back, not having interacted with this group much less anyone but Cam. "Did you guys need something?"
"Oh yeah." Legs quickly went into explaining something about doppelgangers or copies Scott wasn't following along to well his brain stuck on Cam face so close to his.
"Are you like ugly or something?"
Scott sighed, turning to look at Pyro. Pyro looked the same as always, smug after a terrible joke.
"Maybe if you had stayed you would know." Scott had been on a quick check of the market to only come back with nothing.
Pyro glared at him. “We never finished our conversation before.”
“What more is there to say?” Scott really didn’t want to deal with Pyro's attitude on top of everything else.
“Oh I don't know.” Pyro tapped a hand on his face. “Maybe what happened with the corruption.”
Maybe if he gives an explanation Pyro will leave him alone. “We first found it by the lake, some little were explored then didn’t make it back. We thought we had time to deal with it, keeping an eye on it for months. It wasn't moving that much then suddenly it was right on our door step and took over the town.”
“You’ll know about it for months? Why wasn’t I informed then?”
“Would it have changed anything.”
“Do I really need to answer that?” Pyro's eyes widened in disbelief. “Tegrith is still my home.”
“Really? Nothing ever brought you back, nothing to do with your mom, dad, sister, or me.” Scott Strangely didn't feel the hot anger he normally had, it was cold, freezing. “Sorry we didn’t think telling you there was a weird disease in the forest would bring you back.”
“Oh, so it was spite?” Pyro threw his hands up. “Me leaving had nothing to do with the people, I just want to see the world not be stuck in some little frozen town.”
“Well you don’t have to worry about that now.” Scott hissed out cold and calculated.
Pyro clenched his fist. “There is literally nothing I could have done if no one told me.”
“But you could have stayed, you could have visited at least once. But no you're too good to go home you're too adventurous to ever think to come home and check on your family.” Scott felt cold all over like he had been thrown into a frozen lake.
Pyro scoffed. “Oh sorry I don't need to prove that I belong in Tegrith unlike somebody else."
Scott wanted to say something but winced as he felt frozen. Not just cold but his tongue and body felt stuck.
It wasn't in the normal mad or uncomfortable where he wanted to cry. He physically felt like he couldn’t move.
"What cat got your tongue?" Pyro looked Scott in the chest only to pull it away, flicking his hand. "Why is your armour freezing?"
Scott let out a groan, he didn't even care how pathetic it sounded, to focus on the armour then felt like a cold prison.
"Scott?" The anger in Pyro's voice had been replaced with actual concern. "Are you okay? Can you say something?"
Scott's body jerked one more time and let him finally gasp out a breath. He was still cold but not frozen in place.
"Wait." Scott stumbled Pyro catching him as he tried to catch his breath. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I don't know." Scott was shaking, maybe shivering, shivers was a good sign. "That's never happened before."
"You had a weird blue haze around you." Scott pushed off Pyro who gave him a cornered look as he stood on his own two legs. "It was almost similar to some awakening I've se-"
Scott felt a tickle at the back of his throat. He assumed it would be the normal gross feeling of sneezing in his helmet but it was blinding pain.
It wasn't just in his nose it was all over his face stabbing pain. He couldn't see anything either, something was blocking his view.
"Scott?!" He felt hands grab his arm holding him in place. "Stop flailing."
Scott pushed the arms of him tugging at his helmet. It felt too cold like there was ice against his skin.
He heard the clatter of the helmet along with something shattering. He hoped it wasn't anything expensive.
When he tried to open his eyes he felt something wet and sticky and the pain increased.
The hands were back on his arm, they were way warmer than himself. "Scott calm down, you are bleeding badly!"
Bleeding would explain the wet substance but how he was bleeding he just sneezed and was cold.
Something pressed against his face. "Press on this hard."
Scott did as he was told, wincing at the pain. The hand which he now understood was Pyro's, grabbed his hand. "Let's get you to the infirmary."