His entire body hurt. His head most of all, throbbing with pain. It was… familiar, and not in a pleasant way. The rest of his consciousness didn't return all at once, but in bits and pieces, without his full sense of awareness. He was just suddenly… awake, his eyes slowly blinking open, hot and cold chills still rising up his spine, his heart racing for some unfathomable reason. Had he been having a nightmare?
"Zen!"
Groggy, the young prince turned his head towards the pair of figures seated at his bedside. "Kiki? Mitsuhide?" he mumbled, and saw the latter's face crumple with relief.
"Oh thank God," he gasped, scrubbing tears from his eyes. "Shirayuki didn't seem to think you were going to make it."
"To be fair, she didn't exactly know that Zen has been building up a tolerance against poisons," Kiki pointed out mildly, although the tension in her shoulders too seemed greatly reduced with his awakening.
Zen blinked, frowning at them as he tried to remember what had happened, and how he had ended up in bed. They had mentioned Shirayuki, and poison…? All at once, everything came back in a rush and he lurched upright, unable to suppress a groan as his head and then his stomach throbbed in response, his heart skipping a beat before settling back into the rhythm of its footrace.
"Zen?"
"Where is she?" he gasped. "Where's Shirayuki?!"
"She's negotiating with Prince Raj for the antidote."
"What!?"
"I… Well, she said she could handle herself. Whoa, Zen, what are you doing?! You shouldn't try to stand up yet!"
"Out of the way, Mitsuhide! We have to get to Shirayuki, before it's too late!"
"Too late? What do you mean?" Kiki prompted, exchanging worried frowns with his other friend.
"The reason why Raj is after her, why he wants her," Zen explained, forcing himself to his feet in spite of his friend's hovering. "He wants her as a concubine."
"He what?!"
"Come on, we have to stop her!"
.oOo.
His head was still pounding, largely in time with the beating of his feet against the floor, but he didn't dare stop. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious, nor how long Shirayuki had been in conference with Raj, but if he was too late, he didn't want to think about the kind of horrors that Shirayuki might be subjected to, and he couldn't let that happen. He refused to let that happen, not after everything she'd done for him: saving his life, strengthening his resolve to be better, to be kinder, to be more responsible, to be himself. So he beat aside anyone in his way, leaving the cleanup to Kiki and Mitsuhide as he made a beeline for the upstairs living room that Kiki had noted as being the most likely location for their meeting. The sight of guards at either side of the door seemed to confirm the likelihood of their presence there.
"What th- Stay back, you!" one of the guards cried, reaching for his sword, only to have his hand knocked away from the hilt by Zen's still-sheathed blade. He cried out in surprise, but before he could do more, the younger swordsman's foot connected with his stomach, knocking him into the double doors and and sending him staggering into the room, where a shocked, dark-haired prince and a wide-eyed Shirayuki spun towards him.
"I object!" Zen roared. He had no idea what he was objecting to, but whatever agreement Raj had forced or had tried to force upon her in that period of time certainly wasn't going to be in her favor, so object he would.
"Zen!"
"You wretch!" the soldier snarled, drawing his sword and charging forward with clumsy steps. Zen raised a condescending eyebrow at the man before flicking his own sword outward, catching his blade against his hilt and spinning aside, allowing the soldier's own momentum to carry him past him and then swinging his still-sheathed weapon to deal a devastating blow to the side of his head, sending him crashing to the floor. With that nuisance taken care of, Zen whirled on the First Prince of Tanbarun, fixing him with the most ferocious glare that he could muster.
"You will stop spewing such disgusting filth that sullies that poor girls ears you boorish pig," he snarled, automatically slipping into his 'court voice' in the face of foreign royalty - no matter how idiotic that royalty may look, gaping and choking while his knees knocked together in a flustered fright.
"Zen!"
His eyes were pulled away from Raj's horrified expression as his fiery, red-headed best friend rushed towards him, her green eyes bright and wide in shock and worry, and he felt himself relax slightly as he glanced her over and found her unharmed and - more miraculously - untouched. "Shirayuki, hey," he smiled, returning to the easy demeanor that he always felt he could adopt with her. "Tie this for me?" he added playfully, holding out the bandage that had come undone during his rampage through the mansion.
Shirayuki blinked at it, uncomprehending for a few seconds, then shook her head as though to clear it and returned her focus to his face. "Wait, before that, what about your body; are you alright?"
"I've spent the last few years building up an immunity to different poisons," Zen explained briefly, and Shirayuki stared at him in obvious surprise. He'd never mentioned those sessions in any of his letters to her. It had been too much to try to explain why a low-ranking government official would need such a thing. He hadn't been ready to tell her the truth.
"Aha! So you were the one that took a bite of the poisoned apple," Raj interjected, a coy smile twisting his lips as he made an attempt to regain control of the situation. "Well that was rather unfortunate. I was only planning on immobilizing Miss Shirayuki so that I could take her back home with me~."
"Why am I not surprised that you were behind a bad apple?" Zen growled, glowering at the arrogant ninny as he paced in front of the wide balcony window, only slightly distracted from his righteous fury by the gentle touch of Shirayuki's hands retying his bandage.
Raj bristled, glaring right back as he sneered, "Best mind your manners around me, country boy. Peasants like you should show more respect to royalty!"
"Oh pardon me, sensitive, delicate First Monarch of Tanbarun. Or would it suit your pride better to be called Prince Raj Shenazard?" Zen rolled his eyes in return, advancing on the other young man. Raj just stared in response, obviously disconcerted by Zen's utter lack of awe. "I'm not one for formal introductions, but-" Zen couldn't deny that it was a thrill to see the blood slowly draining from Raj's face when he thrust his scabbard forward, revealing the symbol worked in bronze on the side.
"I know that crest," the Tanbarun prince muttered, his brow furrowing as he seemed to try to find any possible explanation other than the most obvious.
"As well you should, imbecile! Meet the Second Prince of Clarines Kingdom. I'm Zen Wistaria!"
"A p-prince!?"
"Zen, please calm down; get ahold of yourself!" Shirayuki cried frantically, hurrying to his side, looking ready to check him for a fever and force him back to bed herself. "Wait, do you know who I am? What's one plus one?!"
"It's true Shirayuki," Zen smiled sadly, softening before her once again, his heart aching to see the hurt and confusion in her eyes. "I'm sorry that I never told you. I promise I'll explain later, but right now I have to finish dealing with the matter of having been poisoned by the half-wit prince of a neighboring kingdom! This could mean war."
Raj's face had gone so pale by that point that he looked more like a skeleton than a human, stumbling back as he squeaked desperately, "B-But you have no proof whatsoever that I poisoned the apple!"
"Oh I think we have plenty," Kiki interjected coldly from somewhere behind Zen as he continued to march forward.
"Yeah, we'll see what's what when we make an official inquiry, liar," Mitsuhide added, his voice bordering somewhere between angry and smug.
"No! P-Please wait! I-I never meant to-!" The prince squawked inelegantly when he stumbled into an upholstered chair, flopping back into the seat and clutching the arms as he stared up at Zen in absolute terror. The Clarines prince allowed a humorless smile to curl his lips at that, but his dark gaze remained fixed on his enemy.
"Well then, why don't we make a trade, Prince Moron? If you don't want your deceptive actions to be a matter of public record, then swear you will never come near Shirayuki again. Or even dare to say her name out loud!"
"Wait, but how do you know Shiray-" Zen thrust his sword forward once more, causing Raj to flinch back to such a degree that the chair tipped over, knocking the glass doors behind him open and sending him tumbling backwards onto the balcony. "O-Okay, okay, I promise! Cross my heart!"
Zen smiled coldly, hoping that the intense relief that threatened to send him swaying dangerously wasn't too obvious. His head was killing him, and he still had chills running through his body, but at least Shirayuki would be safe now. And speaking of the herbalist…
"Shirayuki," the young prince smiled slightly, glancing over his shoulder at her, "I'm sure that you have a few things you'd like to say to this creep. If you'd like to air any grievances, now's your chance."
The young herbalist stared at him for a moment, shock still lingering in her eyes before her expression hardened. With a slight nod, she stepped forward, pausing to scoop something off of the floor as she went and crouching in front of the stunned and terrified Tanbarun prince. "Here, Prince Raj," she began with a deceptively sweet smile, "to get your strength back." Zen had to fight back a laugh when he saw what it was that made the Prince flinch away from her, whimpering against the balcony rail: a single, bright red apple, gleaming innocently in the sunlight. "Also."
"Y-Yes?"
"Give Zen the antidote now," Shirayuki ordered, her expression suddenly fierce and determined. Zen's eyes widened at the sight, so stunned by it that he almost missed Raj's squeak of agreement. The prince quickly scrambled to his feet, scurrying past Zen and his friends and calling for an antidote. Minutes later, he and his soldiers were filing out of the mansion, and Zen was slumping into the nearest chair, hoping that the tremors in his hands weren't too obvious as he gulped the antidote down in one go.
"Thank you."
Zen blinked in surprise at the sight of Shirayuki kneeling on the tiled floor by the window, her eyes downcast. Something sank into the pit of his stomach at the sight. This is what he had been most afraid of over the years: that when Shirayuki found out the truth about him, it would create a distance that they wouldn't be able to overcome. That he would lose her because of who and what he was. "No, Shirayuki, I… I don't deserve your thanks," he said sadly, glancing away.
"What? Why?" Shirayuki frowned, and she sounded genuinely bemused.
"I… All this time, I've been lying to you. I should have told you the truth about me, but I… I was afraid that it would put you in danger. That it would somehow make you a target, if you knew that I was a prince," Zen admitted quietly, passing the now-empty glass vial to MItsuhide.
"What? No, Zen, that's not what this is about!" Shirayuki cried quickly, straightening up. "I… I don't care that you're a prince! I mean, yes, you caught me by surprise, but I never felt like you never lied to me! And anyway, prince or not, that doesn't change the fact that you're this incredible person that does everything he can to serve his country. You're so brave, and so kind, and determined to do your best in everything you can, and you still somehow found the time to put everything aside to come help me at the darkest point of my life - even more so than I initially realized. You're the most amazing person I've ever met, and I… And I just made this really weird, didn't I?" Shirayuki groaned into her hands, her cheeks flaming almost as brightly as her hair, and she wasn't the only one.
Zen could feel heat crawling up the back of his neck and lighting up the tips of his ears. And judging by the pointed elbow that Mitsuhide was digging into his ribs, it showed. Even so, he couldn't prevent the smile from spreading across his face as he pushed his friend aside and rose to his feet. Shirayuki glanced up as Zen knelt in front of her, a new warmth in his eyes as he took her hand and gently drew it away from her face. She squeaked in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Thank you," he whispered.
"For… For what?"
"For seeing me."
Zen could feel Shirayuki slowly relaxing into him, then her arms slipped around him as well, her fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. "Of course, Zen. After all, you've always been yourself. And that person will always be my best friend."