Chapter 20 – No POV

WARNING: If you have not read the previous chapter make sure you do otherwise this is major spoilers

10 years ago

"Get back here your-highness!" a castle guard yelled at a young prince with green hair and emerald eyes "Catch me if you can!" he yelled back as he skidded around a corner and into a bush, successfully hiding from his pursuer.

The young boy laughed cheekily when the guard ran past. He was about to get out of the bush to find another hiding spot but something grabbed the back of his collar. In one swift pull, the young boy was yanked out of the bush and held in the air "Really your highness?" a male voice asked. The boy turned his head to see his capturer was his personal guard, he'd been appointed a week ago and already knew the prince more than most.

"Let me go!" the prince yelled as he flailed his arms and legs around uselessly "I don't care what you say your highness, you are going to this dinner weather you like it or not" the man said with a sigh and started walking towards the prince's room.

The young prince folded his arms as they continued to walk, getting a few odd looks from the maids and guards.

The man holding the prince sighed "Honestly Prince Andrew… what kind of kid doesn't want to go to his own eighth birthday party?" he asked as the boy turned to glare at him "Because I don't know most of the people who are there Peter… and how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Drew?" he mumbled as the young man sighed again "Well maybe if you didn't run away so much then you could actually get to know them… and I have to call you by your title" he tried to reason, the prince having none of it.

Drew flopped his arms down "Everyone there are adults that just want to get to know me cause dad said I'm next in line for the throne" he mumbled. Peter was actually impressed, although Drew was young he was clearly aware of what was going on.

They reached Drew's room only to find two maids glaring angrily at him "Your Majesty! You were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" they yelled in unison "Umm… fashionably late?" Drew asked as Peter put him down.

The maids gave him no chance of running again as they grabbed his arms and dragged him into the room and closing the door, leaving Peter to stand guard. Several minutes passed before the doors opened to reveal Drew in his ball attire and his hair styled "Was that so hard?" Peter asked mockingly "Shut up" Drew mumbled before he started walking towards the ball room, knowing that since Peter was so close he had no chance of running away.

"Announcing Crown Prince Andrew Quinton and his personal guard Peter Hanson!" the announcer called as Drew and Peter walked into the ball room.

It was just like Drew had expected, slow music and people either talking politics, gossip or who Drew could marry in the future. The whole thing annoyed Drew immensely and if it were up to him he'd be having a party with kids his age… this is supposed to be his birthday party yet there were no kids there.

Peter could tell that Drew wasn't happy with his party and looked around the room, looking for a certain guest he knew was coming.

Drew noticed his guard looking around "Are you looking for Lady Cynthia?" he asked mockingly as Peter blushed "What? No!" he defended, embarrassed that an eight year old was teasing him about a girl "Then what are you looking for?" Drew asked sceptically as he too started looking around.

Peter cleared his throat "Well I knew that you'd be bored so I took a sneak peek of the guest list and saw that one the nobles are here with their daughter, she's around your age" Peter said calmly but Drew didn't seem interested. "What?" Peter asked, worried he had ticked him off "Why would I want to hang around with a little girl? She'd probably just want to do girly stuff" Drew mumbled.

Suddenly Drew's frown was turned around when a beautiful woman with blonde hair and silver eyes walked over to them "Mother!" he yelled as she crouched down to hug her son "Lady Rosalina? I thought you weren't getting back until tomorrow" Peter inquired as the woman stood back up and smiled warmly "Well I wanted to surprise my little boy on his special day" she said kindly as Drew seemed to cling to her, obviously happier now.

"So is this the son we've heard so much about?" a male voice asked from behind Rosalina.

Drew looked to the owner of the voice to see a tall man with dark blue, almost black, hair and blue eyes smiling down at him.

"Oh Sir Norman, I thought you we're still talking with the king" Rosalina said with a smile "I was… but I wanted to introduce someone to you, she and her mother were out of town when you came for a visit" he said before looking down to the small girl hugging his leg.

Drew looked down to see a little girl with light brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. She was wearing a cutesy dress and carrying a stuffed toy… a wolf?

Norman picked her up and faced Rosalina "Is this Maybelle? Aww she's gotten so big" Rosalina commented happily as she almost squealed. Rosalina put a hand out to readjust the stuffed toy in Maybelle's arms, as it was about to fall, but was smacked away by the little girl before she hugged her toy tightly "Maybelle" Norman scolded as she cuddled into her father's chest "It's okay" Rosalina said before crouching slightly "You like doggies?" she asked as the little girl nodded slightly "Would you like to see some real doggies?" she asked as she once moody little girl became a ball of energy.

Rosalie smiled as Maybelle was put down "Maybelle this is Andrew, he's my son" she said, crouching down slightly as Drew just stared at her, knowing what she was trying. "He's going to show you the doggies" Rosalie said as Drew just stared at her with disbelief as the little girl smiled and looked up at her dad, tugging at his pants slightly to show that she was excited.

"Aren't you Andrew?" she asked seriously.

Drew sighed "Fine… let's go Marchbelle" he mumbled as Rosalie frowned slightly at him.

The two children wondered out of the ballroom, followed by Peter of course.

Rosalie smiled proudly as she watched her son and the young girl walk off "What was that?" Norman asked sceptically. Rosalina giggled "As you know, King Nathaniel has chosen many girls to be my son's potential wife… amongst them was your daughter… I want Andrew to choose his own wife … instead of" she paused as Norman looked at her sadly "Instead of what happened to you?" he asked sympathetically as Rosalina took in a deep breath and let it out, a smile appearing back on her face "I didn't get to choose who I married or had a child with… all I want is for my son to have a choice… so I'm going to simply be having him meet as many on the list as I can without it seeming suspicious… then see who he chooses" she said as she knew in the back of her mind that while it was a good idea, it still had a chance of backfiring immensely.

Norman smiled down at her "It's a good idea… but if May doesn't like him I'm gonna have to pull her out of the running" he said jokingly, but Rosalina knew he was serious since he would do anything for his baby girl.

Over with Drew.

He was lazily walking through the halls of the castle as May and Peter began to talk behind him "So how old are you?" Peter asked as the little girl looked up and said "Six!" in a confident voice. Peter laughed at her cuteness as Drew glanced back at her "When do I get to see the doggies?" she asked worried as she looked around the dark halls "Don't worry, we're almost there" Peter said with a kind smile.

May looked at Drew "Why is your hair green?" she outright asked "Because it is" he answered bored "Drew" Peter scolded "Fine… It's a royal trait… no matter what a child of royalty has this hair colour or something like it" he said slightly annoyed as he had explained it to almost everyone he met that was either the same age or younger than him. May stared in awe "It's pretty" she said with a bright smile, embarrassing Drew slightly, causing Peter to chuckle.

They reached the dog kennel and almost as soon as May walked into the room, she ran right for the huskies. Drew was surprised, they had Jack Russels and other small dogs… but instead this weak looking girl ran right for the biggest and most threatening dogs they had.

The small girl looked up in awe, she had only ever seen real dogs in books and drawings, seeing them for real was mesmerising for her.

Drew took this as a chance to test if she scared easily "Want to pet one?" he asked as he began to unlock the cage "Drew, don't do that" Peter scolded "Calm down, these are mine" Drew said proudly as he helped to train them.

The dogs slowly exited the cage and surrounded May before all flopping onto their stomachs to be pet "Hehe" May giggled before she leaned down and began petting the dogs' fur.

Drew walked up to her and handed her a small ball "Throw it" he said happily. She looked down at the ball and threw it as far as she could, although it didn't go very far, and all three dogs chased after it before one of them managed to bring it back.

May giggled and she threw it again.

Peter smiled as Drew began to teach her a better way of throwing, he had always seen the mature side of Drew and only saw glimpses the childish side most eight year olds had, now was definitely different… Drew was genuinely having fun.

After they got tired of throwing the ball, the two children looked over to the young man to see he was distracted with petting one of the lazier dogs "When I say 'run' follow me as fast as you can" Drew whispered before slowly moving towards the back of the room.

May followed his movement before they reached their escape route "Run!" Drew yelled as he threw the door open and began running, but not so fast that May's little legs couldn't keep up.

Peter sighed and jogged after the pair, deciding to humour the two of them.

The two little kids giggled and laughed happily as they ran through the castle.

Suddenly May grabbed Drew's hand and took a sharp turn into one of the courtyards and into a rose garden, then hiding inside the hedges.

Peter had seen them start running into the courtyard and began to pick up his pace, while he was all for letting them enjoy themselves, being outside the castle wasn't as safe.

The two stayed perfectly still as Peter entered the garden, stressing a bit as he had actually lost sight of them this time. "Prince Andrew, you need to come out now" Peter whispered as it would be bad if people knew that the crowned prince was outside and unguarded.

When Peter had moved to almost the opposite end of the garden, the two started moving to get out of the bush… but it wasn't that easy.

In one quick movement, May was dragged out of the bush. Drew sighed and got out "Alright you found us Pe" he started but was shocked to see one of his older brothers who had been pushed aside so he could have the throne "N?" he asked as May looked scared in his arms.

As you already know, N is Drew oldest brother, at this point in time he's eleven years old and his hair is much shorter than ne has it in the future.

"Wow, so you can make friends huh?" he asked mockingly as he held May's small face in his hand "Let her go" Drew said trying to sound brave but only succeeded in sounding like a small helpless child… exactly what he was right now.

N laughed "I'm shocked that you get such a little cutie as a possible wife… all I seem to be getting are the power hungry bitches with seriously annoying personalities" he said bored as he took out a knife and ran the blunt side down May's small cheek "What are you doing?" Drew asked, obviously scared now.

N chuckled a little "Let's put it this way… I was supposed to be king, I'm first born after all… but then you come along… the son of some peasant woman that the kings fancied… and then you get to become king? How is that fair?" he asked as an angry look bestowed upon his face "It wasn't my choice!" Drew yelled, obviously trying to get Peter to hear him "I guess you're right… but the only way to change fathers mind is to simply not have you around anymore" N said before freezing.

Drew turned around and almost screamed.

It was a large man… a bear Desolate.

Drew had never seen something so ferocious, the Desolate servants working in the castle were bound by law to always show some part of their animal features… but most of them were things like colourful birds and creatures you would usually have as a house pet… but this? This was a whole new thing.

The man had large arms and bloodlust in his eyes "Green hair" he growled, barely making sense through the anger in his voice.

N threw May to the ground by the man and ran away, leaving the two children to the mercy of the mysterious man.

May got up quickly and started moving backwards, terrified as she too had never seen something so terrifying.

The man raised his claws and brought them down to May.

In the last possible second, Drew hugged May and turned around to take the blow.

"DREW!" May screamed as he fell to the ground, three deep cuts in his back, and a forth smaller one that was only half as deep.

May looked back up at the man to see a sickeningly creepy smile across his face. He raised his hand again "Drew!" Peter yelled as he ran as fast as he could to the three of them, unsheathing and swinging his sword so quick that it was almost like the man had an 'X' shaped wound just appear across his torso on its own.

Peter wasted no time in picking Drew and running back into the castle, May in his other arm.

~o~O~o~

Drew woke up the next morning with no memory of what happened to him or even meeting the little girl Peter was telling him about.

The incident did not go unnoticed and Drew's security was increased so much that if he was caught outside the castle grounds then he'd be confined to his room for a week with the more dangerous Desolate standing guard. But it wasn't as lonely as you'd think as his mother would visit as often as she could and Peter, who was like a big brother by this point, would always find ways to entertain the young child.

This continued until Drew turned ten when someone new entered his life, the boy who would eventually become his best friend, Ash Ketchum who was brought in as his personal attendant.

They didn't get along all too well at first due to Ash's immaturity and Drew's smugness and even tried to avoid each other.

~o~O~o~

A little after a year after arriving in the castle Ash and Drew eventually became somewhat friends.

He, Drew and Peter were going into town to go to a merchant's guild that had apparently gotten some rare goods. So despite only being eleven, Drew was allowed to go check it out as long as Ash and Peter came along "What do you think they'll have?" Ash asked excided as he had only ever heard about merchant guilds from his older brother Aaron.

Peter looked up and placed his finger and thumb on his chin "Last time I was there they had some really soft feathers that was shipped over from Marlow" he said as he remembered back to the unnaturally soft and silky feathers, unknowing that those feathers weren't from a bird… but a Desolate.

As the carriage stopped, Ash was the first to get out, too excited to wait for the coachman to open the door for them.

Drew sighed and pulled his hood up "Looks like their busy today" Peter commented as they walked over to the docks to see a large crowd scattered about trying to bargain for the goods the merchants were selling.

It didn't take long before the Desolate trading started.

At the time, Drew had no idea what it was really like to be a Desolate as he himself wasn't one yet, so he thought nothing of it.

There was one man doing a presentation of some machine he had made "It's interesting… but how useful would it really be?" Peter mumbled as the two younger boys hummed in agreement.

At the corner of his eye, Ash noticed someone.

They were short and cloaked and taking things from other peoples' bags.

Ash nudged Drew and motioned his head over to the person. Drew glanced up at Peter to see the young man, now twenty, was distracted by the presentation. The two boys took two steps backwards before turning and running after the small thief who was hastily running for an alleyway.

The two boys followed the small thief through several streets before the person tripped and dropped the small number of items they had stolen.

They were about to get up when Drew stood on their back "A little thief huh?" he asked smugly as Ash picked up the stolen items. Ash stood up and glanced at the kid on the ground "Umm Drew?" Ash asked as he pointed at the kids face "What?" Drew asked before turning the young thief over and gasping "You're a?" he asked shocked.

The small child had cerulean eyes and long flowing orange hair… he was a she.

"Girl?" she asked before jumping up and started running "Well that was" Ash started as they watched the girl run away "Weird? Unpredictable? Shocking? Take your pick" Drew said calmly.

The two boys went to the authorities to return the stuff the girl had stolen and learned that it has happened a lot recently, especially on busy days.