Author's Note: Before Xerxes Break, there was Kevin Regnard. Before the knight, there was a boy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pandora Hearts.
Knight-In-Training
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"You let your guard down again." The strong, burly captain of Lord Sinclair's personal guard slowly lowered his practise sword. "How many times do I have to tell you, boy? Pay attention!"
But Daaaad…!" whined his six-year-old opponent pitifully, pouting for all he was worth. "This stuff is really, really hard!"
The battle-hardened warrior smiled to himself, and bent down to ruffle the child's unruly hair. He knew that he shouldn't encourage such obstinacy even in one so young, but frankly he couldn't care less. He would never admit it out loud for fear of the inevitable torrent of I-told-you-so's from Giselle, but his darling wife had been right all along; fatherhood was making him soft.
He sighed, and briskly put the wooden practise sword back into the boy's hand.
"Kevin? Kevin!"
As one, father and son turned in the direction of the cottage.
"Kevin, come help me with the washing, please!"
The boy grinned wickedly, instantly letting go of his sword.
"Alright, go on then," muttered Sir Sebastian Regnard gruffly, a familiar warm feeling washing over him as he watched his son and heir run off to assist his mother.
Kevin's fate had been written in blood and set in steel from the moment he was born (as had been Sebastian's own and all those who had taken the oath before them), and the sooner the boy accepted this, the better for everyone. But he would have to be patient. Kevin was just a child, and greener than the first leaf in spring; there was still plenty of time to make a decent swordsman of the boy.
Besides, as any respectable knight should know, mastering the way of the sword was the easy part—
"SEBASTIAN! YOUR SON JUST DROPPED THE TROUGH IN THE WELL!"
—dealing with damsels was infinitely more difficult.