Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters belong to Yu Wo
Note – I wrote this a long time ago, finally got around to uploading it…Writing from Meatbun's POV is fun. xD
"Prince, are you ready yet‽" Lolidragon demanded, pounding one fist on the securely shut and locked door of the city lord's bed chambers.
There was a loud clattering noise from within, then Prince replied in a very annoyed tone, "If I was ready, I wouldn't still be in here, would I? No, I'm not ready, just like the other fifty times you've asked!"
She rolled her pink eyes, glaring at the door. "Well, how much do you have left?"
"Um…the legs…and—Ouch! And arms. This armor has too many pieces."
Upon hearing that Prince was having difficulties, Gui dashed to the door, grabbed the handle, and began yanking on it. "Your Highness, do you require assistance? If I may–"
"Help would be nice, but not from you." At the blunt denial, Gui's more-than-eager face immediately fell.
"Why don't you go help him?" Yu Lian suggested to Ugly Wolf. She frowned slightly while the priest stood from his chair and stepped across the room, toward the door. "This is the first time in a long while that we've all been able to train together and we're wasting time in here, waiting for him to finish. It's been nearly twenty minutes."
When Ugly Wolf disappeared into Prince's room, Lolidragon gave a kick to the door, then whirled around and strode to the table where Yu Lian and Doll were seated. "Why doesn't he just wear his old black outfit?" she huffed, sitting in a chair and crossing her arms impatiently. "It definitely wouldn't take as long to put on."
"The stats are far lower on that set of armor. What's the point of having upgraded equipment if he doesn't use it?"
To Yu Lian's words, Lolidragon gave a reluctant grumble and a shrug, but didn't complain further. After another longing look toward the door, Gui joined the other three at the table and they fell silent, listening to the clinking noises coming from the other room.
Not five minutes later, they both emerged, Prince finally donning his full set of armor. Lolidragon jumped out of her seat and shot him an annoyed frown before scurrying toward the door leading to the rest of the castle. "Finally!"
He smiled apologetically and walked after her, out the door and into the airy passageway. "I'm sorry. It's not like I meant to take so long."
A brief lecherous look passed over her face when she glanced back at him. "Well, I'm always willing to be of help if you want to practice putting it on…and taking it off."
"Don't you dare touch my Prince!" Gui snapped, dashing down the hall after the laughing thief. With smiles of amusement, the other three left the room, shutting and locking the door behind themselves, leaving a quiet calm in their wake. Other than the infrequent sets of footsteps passing by the door, the chirps of birds and the hum of bustling city citizens floating through the open window, and the soft puffs of wind, there was no sound for nearly an hour, until a quiet rustling from Prince's room broke the silence.
The edge of Prince's fluffy, red blankets wriggled for a moment, then the small, round face of Meatbun poked out from under the corner, blinking sleepily and running his large eyes over the deserted room. "M-ma…" He paused to yawn a very wide yawn, then continued, "Mama?"
After waiting a moment for a reply he didn't receive, he scooted himself fully out from under the blanket, then fell to the thick rug covering the stone floor. He took one more sweeping look about the room, then bounced over to the open door, pausing several feet into the main room of the Odd Squad's team chamber. "Mama?" he called in confusion, looking this way and that. Hopping a few hops to the left, he repeated, "Mama? Where are you?"
He took a few hops to the right. "Mama? Fire Birdy?"
Sticking his lower lip out in a concentrated stare, Meatbun hurried toward the row of open doors lining the wall, searching the other bedrooms and wondering where everyone could be. Perhaps they were playing hide-and-seek with him. They played that outdoors from time to time. Why not indoors, too?
However, every single one of the bedrooms of Prince's teammates were also empty. The bun's eyes quickly began to fill with worried, fearful tears when he realized he'd been left by himself in the huge room. He nearly gave in to his hysterics, but then froze, wide eyes going even wider when he recalled the last time he'd started crying. Doll had eaten one of Meatbun's meat buns. The special one he'd been saving for last, because it was so delicious-looking and perfectly round and he wanted to admire it for a while before devouring it. But then he'd taken his eyes off it for only a moment and when he'd looked back, it had been gone and he couldn't help but be extremely upset over his loss. However, that terrifying magician, Yu Lian, had scolded him for a very long time after he'd unintentionally flooded the floor of the conference room they'd been in.
Ever since then, fearing for his life and the meat buns that Yu Lian had threatened to take away if he cried so much again, Meatbun had done his best to be a Very Good Bun and did not cry uncontrollably like a Very Bad Bun Who Has Faucets for Eyes.
So he placed himself in front of the door he knew led outside and did the only thing he could think of.
He screamed.
"MAMA! MAMA! WA-A-A-A! MAMA! WHERE ARE YOU‽ MAMA-A-A! MEAT-BUNBUN IS SO LONELY! WA-A-A-A!"
That continued for several minutes without respite until a large bug suddenly flew deep into his mouth and his shrill wails were cut short by an assailment of bodily hacking and choking. Eyes watering with the force of his coughs, he eventually managed to regain his breath. He glared at the wet pieces of insect that had flown back out of his mouth and landed on the floor.
Sniffing slightly, he spit once more, and then tilted himself back so he could stare up at the tall door, which was still firmly shut. No one had come to rescue him, regardless of how loud he'd been. Perhaps escaping the room wasn't possible, after all.
"Mama…" he mournfully whispered, turning around and looking despondently about the stiflingly silent room. That was when he saw it—his salvation from the prison he was stuck in and what was most likely the source of the dastardly bug that had tried to kill him.
An open window.
Gasping, Meatbun bounced himself across the room, onto the seat of one of the squishy, blue armchairs, and up onto the smooth, wooden table. With one last hop, he landed on the window sill and a triumphant grin spread across his delectable face. Easing himself to the edge of the sunny ledge, he gave a glance down. Down, down, down, down. The houses and shops looked so small and the people walking about the cobblestone streets looked even smaller. The Odd Squad's chambers were on a very high floor of Infinite City's castle.
But Meatbun—feeling rather impressive sitting in such a place, since everything looked so minuscule in comparison to his actually-much-tinier-than-everything-below self—wasn't afraid at all of the dizzying height.
"Take-copter!" he squeaked confidently, jumping forward into the breezy air and feeling very determined to find where Prince and the others had gone.
Prince stretched himself out in preparation for the fight. Smiling eagerly, he gave a glance to the enormous aquatic monster lazily floating about underneath the surface of the smooth, dark water of a lake located several hours worth of travel west of Infinite City. Unsheathing his dao, he turned and expectantly held out his other hand to Doll.
She curiously glanced up at him. "What is it, Prince-gēge?" she asked, then paused, eyes dropping to the small package of sweet biscuits she held. Suspiciously looking back to Prince, she lowered the snacks in an obvious you-can't-have-any motion and attempted to hide them in the folds of her dress.
He shook his head slightly to relieve her worry that he wanted her food, even if it did look rather tasty. "I need Meatbun," he explained. His eyebrows lowered slightly in confusion and his gaze went from the girl's questioning face, up to the vacant space between her neatly-arranged hair buns. Frowning, he inserted a hand into his pouch and rummaged around, wondering if the pet was in there. He often went in there to sleep or to look for food, so it wouldn't be a strange place to find him.
A minute passed while Prince searched—he even patted the top of his own head, wondering if he had somehow overlooked his pet's presence—but there was no Meatbun. He gave a hopeful look to the rest of his waiting teammates. "Is Meatbun with any of you guys?"
"No. I thought he was with you," Lolidragon replied, adding to the head shakes of the others. She quirked an eyebrow. "You don't have him?"
Prince shook his head again, a concerned frown slipping over his face. Yu Lian stared thoughtfully at him. "Where was the last place you saw him?"
Scrunching up his forehead, Prince answered, "Um, well…earlier we were in the castle's kitchen. I went down to get him some meat buns before we headed out…then he ate them all before I could get back to our room, so I had to go back down again…He fell asleep around then, 'cause he ate so much."
"And? Where'd you put him?" Lolidragon asked.
His mouth dropped open upon remembrance. He hadn't handed off the dozing bun to Doll, like he had so often, but instead…"I put him down on my bed so I could get dressed!" With horror, Prince whirled around to look back the way they'd come, his face paling with worry over his forgotten son. "I accidentally left him there!"