Aligned For You

Chapter 15

TW: Mentions of torture, mental manipulation, allusion to child abuse

For as little to have happened in it, it was still somehow a long day.

After the king left, Caius had paced the room, needing to walk off the happy, adrenaline-based energy that his exchange with the king had given him. He really hadn’t been expecting that to go as smoothly as it had, and now that it was done, he felt invincible. Mission Woo Felix was in full effect! If he couldn’t get the guy to like (love?) him by the wedding date, well, then, heck, he had a several-month journey to go see the kind of interesting places that Felix had been apparently dreaming about his entire life to convince him. It was perfect.

Then he had crashed, and hard. He had fallen asleep, only rousing occasionally when a nurse came in to check on him. At one point, he had felt a hand on him, and heard a soft voice, and thought to himself, ‘My friends’…but even that hadn’t been enough to rouse him.

Then, later, there had been a knock at the door.

When Caius opened it, he was surprised to see Head Secretary Ezar, who had smiled and asked to be let in. Which he never did. Caius was never alone with the Head Secretary, not really. There was always someone else around. There had been times where Caius had worked hard to make sure other people were always around.

Why…was he here?

…why was he here??

…he couldn’t be disrespectful. The Head Secretary was the voice of his father. To turn him away was to turn away the king.

So, of course…despite being uncomfortable being alone with the Head Secretary …Caius did let him in.

“My Prince.” Head Secretary Ezar bowed, before, unprompted, he went to sit on Prince Caius’ bed, stretching his shoulders as he sighed. “Forgive me, Your Grace. I’m at a point in my life where even standing too long is troublesome. I hope you don’t mind and will join me here.”

Caius forced a smile onto his face, mindlessly wringing his hands behind his back and he wondered why the fuck this was happening, why was he in here, why couldn’t they have had whatever talk the Head Secretary wanted to have in the countless opportunities in the daytime he had had?

Why the fuck was he in his room?

“Of course, Head Secretary,” Prince Caius said, taking a seat as far on the bed from the old man as he could. Tua give him strength, it was so creepy to have him here… “It’s always an honor to have you.”

The Head Secretary laughed pleasantly, scooting over a bit and patting his charge affectionately on the shoulder. “Head Secretary Ezar,” he mimicked, seeming to roll the words around on his tongue. “You know, as much of a privilege it is to have such a title of importance in the Luminary Kingdom, I’ve never liked what a mouthful it’s made my name. Head Secretary. Ha. What a nuisance. Perhaps I could convince your father one day to change the title to something smoother. Like…Master Ezar. What do you think, Caius?” he asked the prince, giving him a pleasant smile. “Master Ezar? It’s got a ring to it. Or is that too, I don’t know…self-important?”

Caius frowned, grasping his hands together and staring at the ground, struggling to look the Head Secretary in the face. Ha ha ha. What a…what a fun call-back to his childhood. What a thing to say to him, as if that wasn’t such a thing to say to him. This was fine. You’re not a child, Caius. You’re a hero! Pull it together! “Well,” Caius said, popping the knuckles in his hand, one after the other. “Master does mean expert, right? So I guess, in that context…”

“Certainly!” Head Secretary Ezar chuckled to himself. “Ahh, maybe it would suit my position then. Let’s try it. Call me Master Ezar for the rest of this conversation, would you, my prince? To see if it sounds right?”

Caius massaged his knuckles. Maybe he could just…leave. He was a prince, right? Royal blood, second heir of the Luminary Kingdom. He, technically, totally outranked the Head Secretary. He should go. He should order Ezar to leave. He should…

He nodded. “Yes hea-…uh, yes Master Ezar! Of course,” he said with a grin, as he looked up at the man who was the direct representation of his father, and also a longstanding authority figure in Caius’ life. He hated how…genuinely he had looked up, hoping to see approval in the old man's face. He remembered being small, and when his father didn’t feel like dealing with his and his brother’s squabbles, it was Head Secretary Ezar who would take them aside and…

It had all been for the best. Really.

It wasn’t even like it had been that bad. Why did thinking about it still freak him out so much?? God, it was like he was a coward. It was no different from sparring. He had been in far worse scraps since then!

…as an adult.

…man he really wanted to go back to sleep. “Is that all you needed to speak to me about, Master Ezar?” Caius asked, sort of hoping it was.

Head Secretary Ezar chuckled, “Yes, yes, Master…I do like it. Word hasn’t arrived from your father yet, by the way. About the marriage. I’m sure the messengers are trying their best, but I doubt his correspondence will arrive in time before the wedding. With that said, we’re going on like planned. You will marry Prince Felix…which is why it’s time you and I have this conversation.”

Caius smiled uneasily. He wished someone else was here. He really wished he wasn’t alone.

“I…I hope you didn’t come all the way up here to give me bedroom advice, Master Ezar.” Caius laughed nervously, rubbing his bruised and scar-ridden arm. “I hope it’s not too scandalous to say I’m not exactly inexperienced in that department.”

“No, no, I’m afraid this is more of a…well, I noticed some things and have an obligation as your head advisor to speak with you about them,” Ezar said, taking out his old, familiar handkerchief and coughing into it a bit. “I’ve been troubled by some of your efforts around Prince Felix, lately. I know that certain things were necessary to establish trust between you, especially due to all this nonsense with the children. But there have been other examples of your behavior that, to be perfectly honest, it’s all been rather…embarrassing…” Ezar sighed, taking out a napkin and wiping at his forehead a bit. “Ah…the terrible things we sometimes find ourselves having to say…”

Caius looked over him, now thoroughly concerned. What was this about? What was wrong with how he had been around the prince? They were finally starting to kind of get along with each other if anything. “Master Ezar?”

“My prince…I understand where your head is at. I really do. And it’s admirable, to try so hard to ensure this treaty will work! Truly a heroic effort. But…you’re approaching the issue from the wrong direction.” Head Secretary Ezar seemed to think about his words before speaking, looking at Caius with a sad but serious expression. “My prince…for the sake of the Momento family…Prince Felix is a spouse that will need to be controlled. Not accommodated.”

Caius leaned away from the Head Secretary. Like before, when the General had brought up something similar, his whole body stiffened, and something boiled in his stomach as he asked, “What?”

“I know, I know. I hear how it sounds,” Head Secretary Ezar said, dabbing his forehead again before leaning on his knees, looking over at Caius with what could be described as an almost paternal concern. “But that is the truth of this matter, and it’s something I need you to understand before you share a room and a bed with him. Prince Felix and your relationship, especially in these early times, will determine in the future how…almost everything goes! Essential trade agreements, potentially violent land disputes, foreign policies! Not even to mention how your heir will be raised will be determined by your family dynamic with Felix. And it’s important you establish that dynamic early, and keep to it.”

The old man saw the look on Caius’ face and sighed. “Caius, please don’t be upset. I’m saying this for Felix’s benefit as well. What good would it do to let him feel like he has a say when you will find yourself so often over-riding his decisions, which you will end up doing often, I guarantee it. The Dicean people, while…resilient, in their own way, are weak. Foolish. They’ve only managed to survive this long by trickery and luck. Frankly, they need a real leader. A strong leader. And Felix Oswell…won’t be that leader. So…” Head Secretary Ezar looked to Caius, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing, “You have to be.”

Prince Caius didn’t answer. Just stared at the old man, every muscle in his body tense. Wishing to leap.

Head Secretary Ezar noticed his anger. Of course he did. But, entirely unconcerned by it, he continued. “For the good of all, you need to establish the Momento lineage, and you need to do it early! And Prince Felix won't just let you do that, you know. He’s got too much pride, too much of his father in him. He doesn’t know any other way of leadership besides King Aiichi’s example, and worse, isn’t capable of learning any other way. He’s going to need a firm hand. You have to understand, your marriage to Prince Felix can’t be a union of equals. You must take control,” Head Secretary Ezar stressed, gripping Prince Caius’ shoulder so tight that Caius’ shoulder began to shake, Caius himself wincing at the pain. “It was a hard lesson I had to teach your brother many times, back when you both were younger. And while those were difficult days, wouldn’t you say your brother developed for the best from it? What I did for your brother, you need to do for yourself, now.”

…do to Felix what the Head Secretary had asked of his brother…to do to him…

Caius’ stomach curled.

“…I…” Prince Caius looked at the ground, not sure what to say. Head Secretary Ezar was the voice of his father. If he said it, it was a given that this was what, roughly, his father would be saying as well… but…Felix wasn’t…Caius couldn’t…

He had promised Felix that this wasn’t the very reason he had been sent here. He had assured him. And now, to hear this…from the Head Secretary…from his father…

Caius couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Ezar’s hand was still on his shoulder. Caius realized he was trembling and tried to will himself to stop.

The Head Secretary watched his expressions...and chuckled, loosening his grip and nodding. “Do not worry, Prince Caius. I know you’re confused, and that good heart of yours probably isn’t helping. Nothing anyone did really succeeded in toughening up that soft piece of equipment. But, remember, you’re not in this alone. I and the others will have more concrete advice for dealing with Prince Felix in the future. Every time you falter, we, or one of ours who we’ve entrusted to enforce this…will be there.”

Please, Caius…say something.

Say something…

At least stop trembling, you coward!

But Caius couldn’t, just staring at the floor as the mattress shifted in weight. “Thank you for your time, Prince Caius,” Ezar said, standing up. Caius, on instinct, quickly moved to help him up, then went to open the door for him. As he watched this, Master Ezar smiled and tutted disappointedly. “Caius, manners. What do we say?”

Caius stared at him stupidly for a moment, before memory kicked in, and he smiled, bowing slightly. “Thank you for your training,” Prince Caius smiled, letting the old man out, “Master Ezar.”

When he got to close the door behind him, Caius leaned against it, desperately trying to catch his breath. Fuck. Fuck!

…fuck.

-

Alonne and MacKenzie had visited Caius in the morning, who seemed physically way more alert...but also quiet. As they sat with him and informed him of everything that had happened while he was asleep--the interviews, Timothy's confession to them on why he had done it and the extremely flawed logic it had been based on, the king’s apparent willingness to go along with their charade, and the advisers’ helplessness to stop it--Caius had listened to all of this quietly with an exhausted but genuine smile.

"It kind of sounds like we won," Caius had said, and that was the most upbeat he had been all morning.

There was clearly something wrong, but pushing him to confide in them before he was ready tended to just result in tears and disjointed, nonsensical strings of ideas and worries. When Caius had thought his problem through more, whatever it was, they knew he would come to them for advice and clarity on anything he hadn't worked out for himself. It just required being patient.

He had thanked them for taking on the interviews and holding true to the lie and apologized for leaving on his own with Felix without telling them. He confessed that he was so used to relying on them that when he was attacked, he had called out for MacKenzie, even though there was no way she could have known he was there.

MacKenzie had turned her head at this, shaking and furious, tears prickling the edges of her eyes. It was an emotional discussion.

Then he had asked them a favor. He had written a letter to Felix since he still wasn't allowed to leave his room. "Could you guys bring it to him for me?"

And of course, they had agreed.

It was Alonne who knocked at Prince Felix's door, calling out through it. "Your Grace?" and then, looking around to see if there was anyone nearby, he said, slightly quieter. "...Felix?"

It was midday, and Felix knew not just by looking out his window, but from the clock on his wall which his eyes had finally focused enough on to tell the time. He still technically was supposed to be watched, but Mika had taken pity on him and "decided" ze needed to stretch zeir legs for, oh, maybe an hour or so? Maybe ze'd even get Felix something to drink that wasn't medicine-spiked tea!

It was an hour Felix was going to appreciate to the fullest, so no sleeping! Even if he was still pretty tired.

So, when he heard a knock on his door, he was almost incensed enough to really get angry, though that all faded in an instant when he heard the voice that accompanied it. His voice was soft, even more through the door, but the pair outside could still hear the, "come in."

He smiled at the not-detective and not-assassin, giving a weak little wave to them. "Heya. I was starting to think I wouldn't have any guests. So, so? You guys are here to bathe me in chocolates and flowers, right?"

He'd been told that everyone was okay, but... Felix's smile faded when he saw the bruise on Alonne's face, the bandages on MacKenzie's arm. "...what...what happened? They said you were okay..."

Alonne and MacKenzie both glanced at each other. For two people who had known each other most of their lives now, a glance could say a lot. A whole conversation could be had in a glance, for some people.

"We had a sparring accident/The advisers kicked the shit out of us."

MacKenzie and Alonne both looked at each other again, this time just annoyed with each other. They were apparently not that sort of people.

"Really, MacKenzie?" Alonne sighed, lowering his cap. "There's no need to bother him with stuff like that. It's been taken care of already."

"He would have heard about it from someone eventually. We might as well be honest with him," MacKenzie countered, shutting down his argument.

"Well, it's not entirely right to say the advisers did this either. Rather, the men they brought in to ask us did. I can see why they thought it would work on me, but it still baffles me they thought they could break you." Alonne rolled his eyes, "They literally trained you to deal with that sort of thing."

"Can't have your cake and eat it too. Speaking of, no," MacKenzie said, giving Felix a once over. He didn't seem worse than the last time she had snuck in to see him, each time he had been asleep. Didn't seem better either. "Unfortunately, no chocolates. We did bring a letter from Caius though. He would have come himself to see you, but he's still restricted to his hospital bed."

Alonne took out the letter and handed it to Felix. "He wanted us to come see how you were doing, but we've been checking in ourselves, actually. The color seems to be coming back to your cheeks!"

"Sure, if you count grey to less grey as an improvement," MacKenzie muttered.

"How are you feeling?" Alonne asked.

The letter said this:

Salutations! From the Luminary Prince of the Stars!!

Hey Felix! Sorry I haven't come to see you yet. I keep telling them I'm ready to walk around, and then they keep doing annoying things like 'balance tests' and 'gentle pushes' to see if I fall over and then saying I can't go. It's totally rigged! They're absolutely shoving, I swear.

I have a surprise for you!!! I shouldn't say that, because it's a surprise and I can't tell you about it, but I'm really excited to tell you, so telling you that much is a compromise with myself. You are getting a super awesome surprise, from me, Caius Momento, your super awesome fiancé! Look forward to it!!

Anyway, MacKenzie is starting to give me that 'I'm gonna murder you' look, so I better wrap it up and let them take this letter to you. Write me back! Or come visit if you're feeling better! But don't if you're not! There's, ha...always time at our wedding tomorrow!

Warmest regards, your devoted fiancé, Future Dicean Prince-Consort of the Stars!

Caius Momento

(and then, in smaller, shakier handwriting at the bottom of the page.)

I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.

Felix scowled, though it wasn't directed at either of the escorts as they had their little disagreement. That's why he hadn't been told. Probably thought that if he knew that the Luminaries had tried to beat information out of Alonne and MacKenzie, it'd stress him out to the point of relapse, if you could even call it that. Still should've told him.

"That's super shitty," he grumbled but left it at that. Getting into the same argument over customs would just be a waste of time he didn't want to indulge right now. Especially when... They'd come to check on him? They brought a letter?

Felix sat himself up a little more, scooting pillows behind himself to lean against. He carefully took the letter and looked between Alonne and MacKenzie with an innocently surprised look that melted into a grin. "Less grey? Damn. I was hoping to bring 'looking like a corpse' into fashion. Ah well, there's always next time."

In a brief pause before answering Alonne, Felix opened the letter and read through it, his face going from amused, to curious, to...something indecipherable, though the little 'tch' at the end said something.

"I'm alright, nothing new for me. I would probably be fine not being kept in bed, but I think everyone's been freaked out enough for now. Mostly, I've just been booooored," he groaned dramatically. "But now Alo-mi and Makie-mi have come to entertain me! And I have a letter to write."

For just a moment he played with the idea of shimmying out of bed to go to his desk, but... Giving the two a less teasing and more sheepish smile, Felix gestured out to his desk. "Could one 'a ya get me some paper and a pencil? And something to write on. And, in the meanwhile, lemme know what's been goin' on! Even just small, personal things--the world from Makie-mi and Alo-mi's views."

As Alonne went to go get the supplies asked for, MacKenzie went to a wall space closest to Felix, leaning against it in a way that wasn't quite...relaxed. But appeared to be making some effort to act more relaxed. Perhaps she just didn't want to seem like she was looming over the bed-ridden prince, as she started to explain everything he might have missed.

"So, the first thing is obvious, I guess. Timothy was our culprit. It was actually really impressive. He roped in and led all six of the other kids into helping him with a mission to start the war back up, and...let's be honest...it was partly luck that it didn't work. If Caius had decided to do anything other than follow Felix around, if anyone had seen him running around screaming that the royal family had to be killed for being 'sneaky'..." 

Alonne shook his head as he gave Felix the writing supplies. "We really did get lucky over and over again. It wasn't a bad plan."

"Too bad it was for such a dumb reason." MacKenzie sighed, knocking her head back against the wall. "It seems Timothy was under the impression that the reason the war was ending was because Caius wanted to marry you. Not that he was being sent to marry you to end the war. For a nine-year-old who grew up on the battlefield, I'm certain that probably seemed like the ultimate betrayal to everyone he had known who had fought and died in it. Still...what an idiot."

"He's just a kid," Alonne said gently, before smirking at MacKenzie. "And now he's her apprentice."

MacKenzie groaned. "He can barely hold a dagger. He got two blades in Caius' back and Caius is still getting married only two days later. A total failure of an assassination attempt, and now I have to somehow teach the little idiot how to be a real one? Besides, he's too old to start training. Everyone knows you need to start at five. He's gonna be four years behind all of his peers. The other assassins his age are gonna run circles around him."

"They don't have one of the best assassins the Luminary Kingdom’s ever seen teaching them," Alonne gently cheered, smiling over at his friend, who just blushed and looked away, scoffing. "If anything, he's at an advantage."

"Whatever," she said, clearly embarrassed by the praise as she continued on. "What else? Hmm...wedding’s still on, like we said, though I gotta assume someone's told you that already… Honestly, besides the Timothy stuff, nothing much has happened. There was this moment when you both were still asleep and hadn't woken up yet, where it seemed like everyone was holding their breath. Like, an honest-to-god assassination attempt had occurred on one of the princes...certainly this meant war, right? Would everyone from the Luminary Kingdom suddenly become war prisoners? Would we have to make some sort of violent escape? How would we all manage to get home literally in the middle of enemy territory? I'm sure the Diceans were thinking similar things, but that's what the Luminaries were whispering about. It was...tense."

"And then Caius woke up," Alonne said, daring to take a seat at the very edge of Felix's bed, though he was taking care not to jostle the mattress at all, and was ready to spring back up if Felix so much as looked at him funny. "And the first thing he did was just...pull it all back together. He just took control of the situation, even from his sickbed. And it wasn't exactly without confrontation."

"The advisers really, really wanted to put the kids to trial," MacKenzie said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think they were offended that all of this had managed to happen right under their noses and wanted to establish authority again. Prove they weren't incompetent, that sort of thing. They tried really hard to silence Caius' lie about why the attempt had happened. Thus, this," MacKenzie said, showing off the bandages, and then pointing at Alonne's face, who seemed embarrassed to be reminded of it, lowering his cap, "and that. They thought if they couldn't get Caius to cooperate willingly, they could convince one of us to give him up and push him into a corner."

"They were really mad when it didn't work..." Alonne said quietly, giving MacKenzie and Felix a worried look. "...I think we all may want to be careful of the advisers until they leave. The energy coming from them lately, their body language, the way they steal little glances at us every time we enter the room… I can't imagine what the point of it would be, but...it almost feels like they're planning something against us. Though, maybe that's just me being paranoid… After all, as I said. What would be the point?"

Felix scoffed quietly but settled down to hear the tales of the waking, only actually interrupting the very beginning with a quiet thanks to Alonne for the supplies. What sort of letter should he write? Felix kind of wanted to just draw some big, crude picture and send it back, but...Caius deserved a little more than that. They were trying to make this work. Together.

To My Significant Bother

His handwriting was a little unsteady, but it was clear enough to read. Better than before for sure, since he hadn’t even been able to hold a teacup.

Get rekt, nerd. You're finally getting a taste of proper medical care--appreciate it. Revel in it. I don't want the streets bathed in blood, and that includes you spilling your own. Even if you came by to see me and I was asleep, I'd wake up just to yell at you to go lie down. Actually let yourself heal and it won't take as long.

Felix would've laughed at Timothy's motive had it not led to something so awful. "Are you serious?! I'm insulted that anyone would think I would agree to marry that idiot without some serious stakes involved. Makie-mi really has her work cut out for her."

"Though," and he did let out a tired giggle here, "considering we tend to stop people from being assassins here, he won't have much competition. Or, like, any practical work. Maybe it should be you who needs to go job hunting."

Oh me, oh my, I am absolutely at the edge of my seat. A suuuupriiiiiiise???? I can't believe you'd leave me in such suspense. I thought you loved me. Such betrayal from my own fiancé, I can't believe it. Just know I'm going to figure it out sooner or later, so don't wait too long to tell me! >:o)

Any mirth faded from there, hearing that exactly what he'd feared did happen...but Caius fixed it. Without letting anything escalate into danger, he'd fixed it, peacefully. Felix didn't acknowledge Alonne sitting on his bed any, too busy refusing to identify the warmth in his chest as pride.

"...it sucks you guys got hurt. I know it's the Luminary way, but that doesn't mean I can't say it's bullshit." Felix sighed a bit, not thrilled but not caught off guard by Alonne's warning. "...I was worried for a long time that Luminary was going to use Caius as a puppet to basically erase Dicean influence. He told me straight out that he's not going to do that, and he's the lynchpin in that plan so...it can't happen without his participation. Still...the advisors might try to pressure him or something. I dunno. It's a shitty possibility still."

I'll see you tomorrow.

The Biggest Mistake You'll Be Stuck With Forever,

Felix Oswell

PS. There was nothing to protect, dummy. You gonna shrink down and fix my heart yourself? Just don't get hurt next time.

At the bottom of the page, there was a childish, cartoon drawing of Caius and Felix flipping each other off, wearing their wedding rings on their middle fingers.

At the comment of her position, MacKenzie just raised an eyebrow. "I could never be sent on another job for the rest of my life and would be fine with it, but it's to the benefit of the kingdom to always have people trained and available for the worst situations, rather than having the situation arrive anyway and sending someone who will fail and get themselves killed at the same time. Besides," she said, turning her face away in gloomy annoyance, "just because the royal family now doesn't see a need for professional assassins, doesn't mean your grandchildren won't. No kingdom is always just one thing. The Luminary Kingdom is a prime example of that, considering our kingdom wasn't even a monarchy until four generations ago. Things change. Might as well be prepared."

"It'd be nice if you did never have to go on another job though, MacKenzie," Alonne said with a smile, enjoying taking a moment to imagine such a future. "Caius and I get really worried about you, especially for the ones where you’re gone for months at a time...especially when you'd say things like 'it'll only be a week or two' to us first..."

MacKenzie frowned, squaring up her shoulders a little...before deflating them. "Yeah," she admitted, "It'd be nice."

"Oh! Hmmm..." Alonne touched the brim of his cap, mind whirring as he considered Felix's comments on a conversation he and their prince had actually had. It was a valid concern...but if Caius was already at the point where he was denouncing such a plan… Alonne turned to MacKenzie. "We may want to talk to him about that. That could be why we're getting all these looks. If Caius is, even unknowingly, actively resisting a plan by the advisers to create power here, well...you and me, MacKenzie, we'd be the easiest leverage to use against him. We might want to make certain he doesn't do something stupid, like trying to deal with such threats on his own."

"What could they possibly do to us by this point?" MacKenzie asked, re-tightening one of her bandages without much concern. "Especially in the time-frame they have. It's all smiles and hospitality right now, but the second the treaty is signed and the marriage is done, none of the advisers are going to be welcome to stay for much longer. Then, once they're gone, that's it. Pressure done. Even if they were to lock us away and torture us somewhere, we'd only have to hold out a few days before they'd have to let us return. Easy."

Alonne shivered, laughing nervously. "M-maybe for one of us, yeah..."

MacKenzie, noting his nerves, suddenly smirked, pushing herself off the wall to stare ominously down at her other best friend for a moment. "Ever been water-boarded, Alonne? The rumors aren't true. It's not like drowning. It's way worse...I can show you if you wanna be prepared..." she said, snickering menacingly as she took another step forward.

"Eep!" Alonne, scooted backwards a bit, looking over at Prince Felix nervously. "F-Felix, h-help! Tell her to stop!"

...she did have a point. There had been a time in Dicean history where their jails had been much more full than they were these days. Still, he didn't like to imagine a future where one of his people or their grandchildren would have to be put to death. An end no one came back from. The unique way every single person saw the world, lost.

He hoped MacKenzie would have a rather boring time in their kingdom.

Making a face at the mention of torture, Felix huffed. "The wedding's tomorrow, so you'd only have tonight to worry about. After that, you two will be dual citizens, so we'd technically have the jurisdiction to come after you if anything like that did happen. Not the friendliest thing, but neither is trying to coax a soft coup."

...oh god, the wedding was tomorrow. He'd slept through the last day, so... He didn't have much room to pale, but he did. He was getting married...tomorrow...

Felix was broken out of the obvious realization from something much more fun to think about. Well. Not water-boarding, but banter. Even if MacKenzie might've been partly serious.

Drawing himself up as much as he could, Felix spoke in his most regal voice, despite the fact he was swaddled in his blankets and pillows and wearing pajamas. "No torture on my bed. Alo-mi is on my bed, so he has immunity. It's like a home base!"

"Ha! Diplomatic immunity!" Alonne said, scooting further onto the bed as MacKenzie gave him a death glare, bumping up a little bit against Felix's legs. "Prince says it's so!"

MacKenzie pouted, before shifting her stance, a wicked grin. "If a prince's bed has immunity to torture, then what I'm hearing," she said, reaching out to try to drag Alonne off the bed, "is that between here and Caius' bed, if I get ya off the beds, then it's all fair game."

The detective kicked MacKenzie's grasping hand off his leg with a flail, before scooting back entirely to the middle of the bed, going around Felix as MacKenzie glared at him, unable to reach him without climbing in herself, which she was unwilling to do. "Come on, Alonne. Stop hiding behind the prince and face me!"

"Felix, the letter! I'll make a run for it!" Alonne said, holding out his hand.

For all the ominous words, there was a red sort of lightness to the detective and assassin's cheeks that suggested they were genuinely letting themselves relax now, as MacKenzie, understanding Alonne's play, widened her stance, threw out her arms, and said, "You won't get past me, spy-boy!"

Felix found himself giggling at the whole game, his whinnies much softer than the outburst he'd had at the last set of antics the escorts went through. He didn't have it in him to guffaw as much as he had, but, wow, MacKenzie and Alonne sure were something special to make him feel happier than most times he could remember.

Holding out the letter for Alonne to take, Felix slumped disappointedly, though his grin and giggles gave the whole act away. "Awww, Alo-mi doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in my bed? Bummer. We could've had a sleepover! I've never had one before."

Even if he could hear the faint siren call of taking another nap, Felix rolled to his side and sat up a little more, pumping a fist in the air. "You can do it!! The underdog always wins! Run, Alo-mi, run!"

Alonne considered all of his possible moves, all the most likely outcomes. Dive right, she would match it, and probably quickly. Feint right but move left? If he was lucky she wouldn't read it in his eyes, but he typically wasn't, so no-go there. Best bet... yep.

Bracing himself against the mattress, Alonne did a quick prayer to any god that would have him, and leapt, going straight forward on a collision course with MacKenzie.

Thankfully, his gambit mostly worked. More concerned about bracing herself and catching his fall, MacKenzie let him collide with her chest, falling backwards with him on top of her. Making no short work of the time difference between getting up from a face-down position and her getting up from a face-up position, he scrambled off the floor and ran down the hallway.

"Oh no, you don't! Get back here you-!" MacKenzie said, hurling herself over onto all fours and preparing a burst run when she heard, in the distance, Alonne call back.

"Gotta bow to royalty before you leave the room!"

MacKenzie's whole body flinched, shaking as she wanted to run after him...but her training kicked in and with gritted teeth, she turned around, bowing low as she shouted, "Excuse me, Prince Felix!" before turning around and running off, shouting, "What was that!? DO YOU WANNA DIE!??"

And the two were off.

Caius' room actually, when all was said and done, was not that far from Felix's, which was probably the only reason Alonne wasn't caught by MacKenzie's greater speed before he managed to get there. Not bothering to knock, he flung the door open and, feeling her presence right behind him, making a grab for his jacket, Alonne LEAPT into the extremely surprised, slightly panicked Caius' bed, who, having no context of the situation, put his arms in front of Alonne's form and said to MacKenzie in Dad’s voice, "MacKenzie, stand down!"

She immediately stopped, her whole body shaking and trembling...before she couldn't help herself, and burst out into laughter.

From behind the extremely confused Caius, Alonne started giggling as well, as he called out, "Base! I have immunity!"

"Whatever. You cheated," MacKenzie said, crossing her arms as she took a few steadying breaths. "If I didn't catch you, you would have broken your neck skydiving into the ground. You're lucky I'm so merciful."

"That's a word for it," Caius muttered, grinning as he relaxed, realizing this wasn't MacKenzie having another one of her 'episodes'. "Geez, I haven't seen you guys like this since, I don't know? We first started the trip down here? What's got you guys in such high spirits?"

"Why not?" Alonne said, catching his breath as he handed the letter to Caius, who grabbed at it eagerly. "It's your wedding tomorrow. The war's basically over in, maybe, twelve hours? We essentially saved a group of children from themselves, which was pretty freaking heroic. And, cherry on top, the prince you have to marry, not to mention the kingdom he represents, might actually be...not the worst?"

"He's growing on me," MacKenzie admitted, sitting on the edge of the bed, now, too, immune from torture. "It does sort of feel like we've won, doesn't it? I mean, we have to remain vigilant, of course, but...I feel like the really hard part might be done with, and it's just teething and growing pains from here."

"Yeah..." Caius said, looking down at his hands nervously before...finally just deciding to say it. "Hey, guys? Ma-" He stopped himself. Wow. That had become a habit...real fast. Correcting himself, he said, "Head Secretary Ezar stopped by yesterday and said some...kinda scary stuff. And I don't...I don't really know what to do about it."

"What'd he say?" Alonne asked.

Caius explained.

"Enforcers, huh," MacKenzie said, going over in her mind all the people who had been brought along with the party, trying to imagine who they could be. "Kind of hard to force someone to abuse their husband. I can't imagine how they think they can pull that off."

"Ugh. Did you have to use the 'A' word?" Caius shivered, cracking his joints again anxiously. "I'm not going to! I promised Felix already that this wouldn't turn into that. But yeah. The Head Secretary, I think, could pretty much read it on my face that I wasn't going to do it, and he didn't seem worried."

"Even if they brought 'enforcers', no one we brought here is staying besides Caius, MacKenzie and me, and now Timothy," Alonne pointed out. "MacKenzie and me staying to escort you were part of the negotiations. Everyone else is going home after this."

"Maybe...some of the Diceans, then?" MacKenzie asked, though even she seemed uncertain of her reasoning. "If the advisers have convinced or paid off anyone already here in the castle staff to spy for them, they'd have consistent correspondence letting them know if you were...I don't know? Taking leadership away from him? I'm not even sure I can quantify exactly what it is they want you to do."

"I think just brow-beat him into not making any official decisions anymore. That's the best I could figure, anyway," Caius said. "But even if they could spy! Why do they think they can make me?"

"No idea. Maybe it's a bluff?" Alonne asked, fiddling with his cap. "One last desperate attempt to control you?"

"Maybe...but there's something I'm even more concerned about," Caius said, rubbing at his temples. "Do I...do I tell Felix? I promised him this exact scenario wasn't the case. Wouldn't telling him what I know now make it seem like I was lying to him? We're just starting to get to, like, a point where we don't want to kill each other. Wouldn't that undo all the hard work!?"

"...I don't think lying to him on purpose to cover up a lie you didn't even know was a lie is the smart choice here," Alonne said. "And we've only just started gaining his trust. I think you should tell him. The sooner the better."

"I'd recommend after the wedding, personally, when the advisers aren't around to make him feel uncomfortable," MacKenzie said. "But there's merit to doing it before too. It's up to you."

The three of them sat in silence for a bit, weighing the options. It was, honestly, a real buzzkill.

"So...what does his letter say?" Alonne asked, pulling up his knees and resting his head on them.

Caius opened it up, reading it down, his expression tense and serious. The two watched him as a moment passed...then another...

"Oh my god, guys. Oh no..." Caius said...and burst into tears. "It's really cute!!"

The two stared at him in shock as, still crying, Caius handed the letter to Alonne, he and MacKenzie reading it at the same time, as both turned red.

Alonne grabbed at his heart as if he was going to have a heart attack, face beet red and lowering his cap. "Oh no, that's too much," he said. "You can't tell him, it'll ruin everything!"

MacKenzie, whose hair was floating from intense energy, this time less due to murder and more due to being overwhelmed by the CUTE, shouted, "Are you kidding?! I change my mind! You need to tell him as soon as possible! You cannot risk his trust!!"

A total mess, the three idiot friend group all squirmed on the bed, just overwhelmed by the cuteness proximity. Finally, MacKenzie took out one of her daggers, grabbing for the paper. "It's too much! We can't have something like this here! It'll destroy us!"

"No, no, don't you dare!" Caius said, grabbing the letter from her and shielding it with his body. "Relax! I'll put it in a drawer! Where its radiation can't get to us! Everyone just chill!"

And then he did so, and everyone did, in fact, chill for a bit.

"I'll see if I can't sneak out tonight and see him before the wedding," Caius decided. "He's one of us now. He deserves to be in the loop."

"Agreed," Alonne said.

"I guess," MacKenzie conceded.

And it was decided.

-

Felix just shook his head as his giggles calmed, left by himself again. They definitely were fun. Caius too, sorta. Maybe more once the Luminary Party left and everyone could relax. Once there was no more war, and everyone came home.

...who...could come home.

...too depressing to think about right now. That could be a later problem. With a small yawn, Felix maneuvered one of his pillows into his arms, holding it to his chest as he curled up on his side. For now, he could pretend everything was okay.

The wedding was too soon for anyone to meddle with things, and the person he was marrying wasn't a total jerk. Was someone willing to try and understand, which was better than some 'perfect' person anyway. Two of the new additions to the castle were brilliant, fun idiots who had started to relax enough to play with him. He...didn't feel alone.

Not being alone...huh. What a concept.

By the time Mika returned, Felix was fast asleep, a faint smile on his face and Caius' letter held loosely in his hand. With a smile of zeir own, the strategist pulled up the blankets and set the letter and the cup of juice he'd brought on Felix's nightstand.