Saber edged away from the railings, pupils dilated so that blue iris was nearly swallowed up in darkness. He rose to his feet, minute tremblings in his limbs as he crept up the stairs, and watching where he placed his footfalls with the carefulness of a soldier in a minefield. He mustn't be caught…
Suddenly he was five years old again, with huge looming cold-eyed men coming after him, and fear was nearly a live thing in him, shrieking and sharp. He reached the top of the stairs, terror a rising crescendo in his mind, until the sheer animal need to escape overwhelmed his wariness. His steps fell heavy and heedless on the floor as he started to run, with jarring thumps that sent pain through his pumping legs instead of the quick, light-footed pace that Adian had been training into him. He bolted into his room, throat tight over suppressed horror, and threw himself into his closet. He paused only long enough to grab the small scabbarded sword he'd left on his bed.
Clutching the sword to him like a drowning man to a lifeline, Saber hid in his closet, pressed as tight as he could be against one corner. Like a child wakened by a nightmare, creeping to some sanctuary from horrors of the mind – only he had no sanctuary, and his horrors were real, memories and not dreams.
He unsheathed the sword with shaking hands, feeling slightly better when he could see the bare steel glimmering slightly in the dim light from the crack below the closet door. Behind his eyes marched a series of memories; flashes of big hands casually dealing pain; of sneering voices toying with him, telling him in what painful manner he would die, and when, and how; of being shoved roughly into a tiny hole dripping with cold where he stayed for long ages of dark…
***
Ceri found him like that some time later. She opened the closet door to find the point of her son's practice sword aimed at her. Saber held the wire-bound hilt with both hands, the pommel braced against his chest.
Ceri took a step back in surprise. Saber looked up at his mother with no tear-tracks, but his skin was pale…and the look in his eyes…
With a mother's quick intuition, Ceri knew the cause of Saber's distress, and her heart nearly broke. She wanted to kneel, and scoop up this frightened little boy – so different from the quietly confident young wanderer she'd seen off, yesterday morning - into her arms, smooth the hair away from his face, and sooth the memories away.
And then a little blonde head popped out from behind her, and looked curiously at the boy hiding in the closet. "Whatcha doin'?"
Saber stared. Behind his mother stood a small child. Blonde and blue-eyed like himself, but both hair and eyes of a paler shade than his own. Younger, too. And the voice had an unfamiliar cadence to it, not the Highlander or even Kingdom accent which most everyone whom Saber had ever heard – even the people on the holos and vids – spoke with.
"Whatcha doin' there?" The question was repeated as the other child came fully out from behind his mother. "Are you his mom, Aunt Ceri?"
"Yes, I am," Ceri said, inwardly amused at the easy way that this child so confidently called her 'Aunt Ceri' – they'd met only an hour earlier. She noticed the way Saber's eyes cleared and focused as he stared in half-disbelief; he'd never had much chance to interact with other children. Apparently this new, unexpected development was interesting enough to break him away from his memories. How ironic, that the event which had triggered Saber's long-repressed trauma had also brought something to snap him out of it.
She opened her mouth, to tell Saber to introduce himself to their new young guest, but was preempted. Saber scrambled to his feet, not quite sure what to do. His practice sword dangled from its hilt, held loosely in Saber's left hand. He had to use his right to shake the hand the other child offered.
"Hi! I'm April Eagle. Who're you?"
"I'm Saber."
***
Ceri would later thank God for gregarious April Eagle, and the positive effect she had on her son. The friendly little girl - outgoing, clever and seemingly unaware of the word 'fear' - kept Saber in a state of confused wonder – and thus away from a state of trauma-induced panic and shock.
Joseph Eagle – widower, single father, colonel in the New Frontier's Cavalry Command – was also a good friend of Stephen Rider. The two men had met several years before, during a game between the UK's most elite boarding school – where most of its nobles and royalty went – Northsands, and Cavalry Command's Military Academy, as captains of their respective soccer teams. Though they hardly saw each other, both men were similar enough in temperament that the friendship remained strong despite distance.
Stephen had invited his old friend over to his estate for a few weeks of vacation. This would be the first time Joseph and Adian would meet, and the first time any of the Riders would see Joseph's young daughter, April.
Wisely, Joseph wasn't introduced to Saber until the next afternoon. By that time, Saber trusted April so much that seeing his new friend run into the arms of the frightening tall stranger alleviated his fear, and he even shook Joseph's hand when introduced.
Ceri was delighted with the change having a playmate his own age wrought on Saber. She saw a re-emergence of his wider, careless smile; he laughed more, talked more – the kitchen staff even had to begin fearing practical jokes once more. Of course Ceri with a carefully stern face had to scold the two culprits, but her heart leapt when she turned away and out of the corner of her eye caught the wink Saber sent April.
***
The days before the Eagles' departure spun by quickly in a whirl of childish delight and games. The blond-headed duo even threw the castle into an uproar when they quite suddenly disappeared. Their absence was discovered in the early morning, when their beds were found unslept in. A frantic attempt to pull together a search-party was interrupted when the two came riding back to Caer Rheidyr, unharmed and certainly unaware that they had caused such an uproar. Apparently Saber had taken April out early that morning to show her his new discovery – the eagles' eyrie – because "her last name's Eagle, too…"
This time Ceri's scolding had the real anger of worried parents behind it. Joseph himself seemed to take his daughter's hijinks as wearily matter-of-course. Ceri imposed a sentence of confinement to Caer Rheidyr grounds and increased lessons with Gil, but the real punishment, it was clear, came on the day the Eagles returned to their home on Yuma.
***
"Saber?"
The little boy ignored his mother, and the hand she placed gently on his shoulder. He stood stiffly, almost at-attention, as he watched the small black dot that was the shuttle-craft recede into the distance.
He turned to his mother, and offered a small smile. "I'm alright, mum." And Ceri, looking into his eyes, knew that was right. Together, mother and son walked back into the castle.
***
AN: Wellup, here we are. Saber's reaction to the Eagles is a remnant of his trauma. And remember, trauma's got to brought into the open before it can begin to be addressed.
As for chibi-Saber and chibi-April's friendship? Well,
in the show we know that Saber and April have met before. So I figured, why not
have them meet as kids? It could have happened.