The Incident was 20 years ago.
Jakk had a long time to think about it, a lot of time to feel guilty, a lot of time to cope with it, and a lot of time to do the in between, the middle ground, where'd he'd succumb to the feelings and talk to Rouxls about it.
A lot has changed since then. First, there was the obvious, there was the fact that Rouxls was now noseless, which still seemed surreal to Jakk. And then there were the other details that didn't correlate to The Incident, like Rouxls being called Jakk's brother other than sister. Jakk, of course, didn't mind that. He always wanted a brother in some shape and form, no matter if he was assigned female at birth. He immensely supported him.
The two were also appointed Dukes, Rouxls being the more important one of course. Did Jakk and him argue about that? Yes, way too much in fact, but this also gave Jakk chances to talk to Rouxls about the crushing weight of being responsible for what everyone pictured to be a disaster.
"I don't rememb'r just about aught, jakk, so th're's very much nay needeth to w'rry." Rouxls would say during conversations like these.
"You remember something." Jakk shook his head. "You gotta."
"Nope, wheth'r t beest due to…whatev'r," He said, after not being able to think. "I only vaguely rememb'r one thing."
"And that is?"
"Me waking up humour fuzzy, seeing thee and declaring 'i toldeth thee so, Jakk!', bef're falling backeth asleep. I gage, jakk, that's all i rememb'r, and thee don't needeth to feeleth lacking valor." And then after this reassurance, Rouxls would get up, pick up whatever he had brought with him in the room, (which was most of the time a jar of bugs to look at during this conversation), and leave to do more Duke work…or something.
At least Jakk could understand Rouxls 'big words', now that he was at the peak of his brain's maturity, and also since Rouxls had been talking like this for 20 years now. The only thing he didn't understand was how Rouxls picked up a Shakespearean accent in the first place, but he stopped thinking about that a long time ago.
That also made Rouxls the, as people call it, the "Black Sheep" of the family. No one seemed to like him, not even his relatives. Especially when he tried to hint to them that he was a boy, sometime around his and Jakk's teenage years. They cursed him to hell, they did. Only one person actually ended up supporting Rouxls, that person being Jakk.
"Do you want to go by a different name?" Jakk asked one night alone with his brother.
"Nay, jakk. The nameth I has't is adrogynous f'r t to w'rk f'r me." He said that night.
And there was that. Rouxls Kaard, He/They, now 25 years young and already taking care of children that he called his own. The child wasn't his, however, it was the Prince of Spades, Lancer. Lancer also considered Rouxls a father, a 'lesser dad', he likes to say. The King wasn't a bad person, no, but Lancer didn't have a mom, and Rouxls magically concluded (Jakk guessed that he concluded, at least) that the trouble of grieving and also taking care of the child, and having regular duties as a king would be exhausting, so Rouxls did whatever he could to take care of Lancer, and he's been 'Lesser Dad' ever since.
The squeaking sound of tiny boots interrupted Jakk's train of thought, and in stepped Lancer, sticking his tongue out whilst smiling up at Jakk. "Where's Lesser dad?"
Jakk looked around. He hadn't seen Rouxls all day, out of the ordinary. He always bumped into Rouxls while cleaning or doing something. "I don't have the foggiest idea, sorry Lancer."
Lancer frowned, and his eyes gleamed more as if to be filled with tears. "He's lost?" He gasped, raising his voice a little, looking down as if to prepare to curl in on himself.
Jakk quickly shook his head. "Oh, no! No." he nervously chuckled, patting the prince's back. "He's not LOST, he's just probably invested in a task of some sorts and hasn't come out yet."
Lancer sniffled, looking back at Jakk. "C-can you help me find him?"
"Of course!" Jakk smiled. "Let's go."
The two walked around the castle, keeping an eye out. The statement of their appearance was bold, the both of them making sure they stomped their boots in sync so they'd get noticed, possibly by Rouxls himself.
They continued their merry march, until they eventually found who they were looking for, of course, organizing a closet. "Oh! jakk! what a pleasant hoyday!" Rouxls exclaimed, smiling at him, then looking down at the Prince. "And lanc'r! it's so valorous to seeth thee too! what doth thee needeth?"
"I lost you!" Lancer started to tear up, and he blubbered.
Rouxls hugged Lancer, rubbing his back as an attempt to comfort him. "I'm s'rry f'r scaring thee liketh yond! an honest mistaketh, mine prince."
Lancer giggled, hugging Rouxls back. "It's ok, Lesser Dad! I forgive you!"
This somewhat brought Jakk into contemplating his situation. He doubted Rouxls forgave him.
He wished it were as simple as it is for Lancer. A simple "I'm happy again so I forgive you!" would be perfect for this situation. But, first, Jakk wasn't sure if Rouxls was (in general) very happy. Second, it had been 20 years since the acid pool Incident. 20 years to grow bitter over the specific situation.
What was he going to do? He concluded he'd think about that later.
"Jakk Kaard?! Your presence is needed!" Called a voice from a distance.
"Coming!"
