Alek frowned as he noticed the sliver of sunshine peering in through his windows. He drew back the curtains and felt his eyes widen at the sight of the sun peeking it's head over the horizon. If the sun was coming up, that meant that it was morning. And if it was morning...

Klopp was going to kill him if he found out that he had pulled an all-nighter—again.

He closed his machenikal books and neatened up his unruly stacks of paper, trying to make his desk look like he hadn't just stayed up all night pouring over books about mechaniks. A sigh was pulled from his lips and he left his bedroom, combing his fingers through his hair in an attempt to disheveled it and make it appear as though he had actually slept through the night.

"Alek!" The prince paused, worry gnawing at his gut. He stopped and turned around with a smile twitching onto his lips.

"Good morning, Klopp." He greeted, scooping up his fictional books that needed to be taken back to the library.

"Where do you think you're going at the break of dawn?" Klopp was an old man, his caretaker since his parents passed away. Two years he had lived with him, learning about mechanikals and other things of that sort. It had been peaceful, once they had finished mourning. Moving out of the estate and leaving it to a family friend, they had moved to a small village pretty far away where they could mourn and get over it in peace.

"Library. I finished my books." He waved and then darted out of the house before his tutor could question him further. A blast of chilly Autumn air made him come to a stop, a smile tilting up the corners of his mouth. He walked towards the bridge that separated his small house from the rest of the village.

Mornings like this were nice, he supposed. Alek enjoyed the quiet of the mornings, right as the sun was coming over the horizon. Birds chirped around him and there were natural sounds from animals all around him. His footsteps were quiet on the wood of the bridge and they got even softer as his booted feet hit the dusty path.

"The same as every morning," he murmured to himself, counting down the seconds. Suddenly, windows were thrown open and cries of 'hello' and 'good morning' rang out across the way. It took very little time for the streets to fill up with chatter of vendors and the rumble of wheels on the cobblestones. Alek smiled. He jumped onto a cart that was wheeling by, holding onto his books with one arm and keeping a grip on the wood with his other hand. He caught little snippets of everyday conversation and felt a low rumble of laughter form in his throat.

"How is your family?"

"How is your wife?"

"I need six eggs!"

"Four pounds!"

"That's too expensive!"

Alek heard the same things over and over, every single day. It was starting to get boring, and he felt himself wanting adventure more every day. Just some sort of a difference, like the characters in books. But his story wasn't a tale told in words, just a boring, repeatetive life. He wanted more.

Finally he saw the library and he released the cart, bidding the driver a quick thanks before ducking into the shop with a grin on his face.

"Oh, Alek!" The librarian beamed at him as he came in.

"Good morning—I've brought back your books." Handing iver the stack, he felt his grin grow wider at the man's exasperated expression.

"What will it be this time?" Alek pondered the question for a moment before scampering up the ladder and pulling down an old favorite of his.

"This one!" He declared, as though he were a small child once again, begging for candy and then pulling out what he wanted.

"That one?" The librarian guffawed. "You've read it so many times!"

"It's a favorite." Alek admitted, rubbing his neck. He smiled a bit awkwardly at the librarian, green eyes glinting. The librarian shook his head with a mutter in German.

"All right—it's yours." He said calmly. The boy's eyes widened a sliver and he gaped for a moment before closing his mouth.

"But sir, this is—" a hand was held up to quiet him, so the young heir to the Austrian throne fell silent.

"It's yours." He repeated. "If you love it, than you can have it."

"Thank you," Alek said in a hushed voice, smiling. "Thank you so much."

He scurried out, clutching his book against his chest with a wide, dopey grin on his lips. He opened it and moved about the city, only halfway laying attention to where he was going as he read. He heard someone dump their dirty water in the drain pipe attached to their house, directly above him. He lifted his hand and used the shop sign to deflect it. His feet hit the wood of a flat cart and it tilted with his weight. Too engulfed in his book, he failed to hear the crack of wood against a villager's jaw.

"Alek!" He barely glanced up at his name, knowing that voice much too well. He didn't really want to talk to Lilit right now. So, he did the logical thing and ignored it. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

Fingers tilted his book down and he sighed, placing his thumb on the page he was on and shutting the book. He raised his bright green eyes to meet the almost black ones of the most wanted girl in the town. She gave him a smile, curling some hair around her finger.

"What do you want, Lilit?" Alek asked tiredly. He wanted to go home and reread his book, chat with Klopp about mechaniks, anything but speak to this little nuisance.

"Well, you, for starters. But maybe we could go to dinner sometime?" Lilit gave him a smile, eyes twinkling.

"No thank you." He declined politely, opening his book and moving past her in the most impolite way possible. He didn't care if her father was the head of the city, he was a prince for God's sake. Not that anyone here knew that.

"Where are you going, then?" Lilit demanded. "Spending the night with that mad old inventor of yours?"

Alek grit his teeth, holding his tongue wisely. Klopp was a genius, as far from mad as you could ever get. He was determined to prove that to her—to everyone—no matter what. He also couldn't tell her that Klopp was going out of town for a little while.

"It's none of your business." He responded curtly.

"If I'm to be your future wife, it well is." Alek recoiled, taking a step away from her. Yes, Lilit was pretty, but he didn't want her in that way— in any way, for that matter! They were friends at the very beginning, until she started up all this wanting him nonsense.

"Well, you aren't, so it's not." Alek puppy-eared his page and strode away, breaking out into a run the moment he got the chance. He made it across the bridge in a few nimble strides and thrust the door to his home open. He shut it behind him, sagging against it with a groan. He went into the kitchen, expecting to find Klopp, but was instead greeted by a note.

Headed off already. Take care, don't stay up all night.

Be back in a couple of days.

-Klopp

A smile quirked onto Alek's lips and he let out a small laugh. He opened his book and curled up in a chair to read again, flipping the pages. He fell asleep after a little while, exhaustion finally catching up with him.

When he awoke, the sun had started setting. He really wasn't too terribly surprised—he had gone three days straight without any sleep. The prince decided he should probably stop doing that, but he knew there was no way he was going to stick to that commitment.

Well, at least he knew that.

There was a scratching at the door and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He stood up and opened the door, looking around for the source of the scratching. Then he looked down.

"Bovril—?" Alek let out an exclamation as the small creature darted away and then waited for him. He donned his traveling cloak and closed the door behind him. He broke out at a run after Klopp's little companion, worry twisting at his gut. It led him to the forest where he felt unease stir in the sensible part of his brain.

Bovril had disappeared into the foliage, causing the young prince to almost have a heart attack, and came back with a spooked horse. It was Klopp's horse, the one he had taken when he had left.

Oh god.

Almost vaulting into the saddle, Alek grabbed the reins. Bovril nestled its way into the hood of his cloak as he dug his heels into the horse's side, spurring it forward. It went off like a shot in the direction it had come, it's rider clinging to it's back as though his life depended on it. It didn't take long for that to become the actual situation. Bovril squealed out a word it had heard many times before from Alek's out-loud reading; "Lupus!"

Wolves.

Alek spared a glance behind him and saw a group of them catching up, and fast. He urged his horse into a gallop and it sped up, almost tripping in the mud and causing his heart to leap into his mouth. The wolves cried out from behind them and he knew they were closing in.

He let out a loud cry as they cleared the foliage, a large iron gate appearing before them. The horse whinnied and reared up onto its hind legs, striking out with its front hooves. Alek yelled in both shock and panic as he fell off, a nasty crack coming from beneath him as he hit the ground. A searing pain shot up his leg, like liquid fire being injected into his bloodstream. The wolves were prowling towards them and Brovil let out a similar growl, imitating them. Its fur stuck up in all directions as it attempted to display aggression—if Alek was being truthful, it was too cute to be scary.

The pain in his leg and the terror that clawed at his heart was too much and he almost passed out right then and there. Then the wolves were running, fleeing instead of advancing, and there were arms around him and a flickering golden light washing across the dark forest.

"You're going to be okay." A voice murmured in his ear.

He tried to look at who was helping him, but the pain made it so much harder to shift any part of his body. Everything was starting to go black and fuzzy and he panicked. He caught sight of blonde hair and a gleam of blue, managing to croak out a single word before he passed out, gripping deathly tight into the fabric of his savior's shirt.

"Klopp,"