"Uriel!" The voice was loud in his ears. His head pounded and he groaned and turned over.
"He's okay... Oh, thank goodness!" He heard someone start to cry and he felt himself being lifted. "Uriel, oh my baby!"
Mah? He forced his eyes to open and found himself looking into two large, sea blue eyes, brimming with tears. "Mommy?" His own voice sounded so far away. What happened mommy? The words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He knew what happened. He slipped off the balcony.
Ariel hugged her son tight and rocked back and forth. "My baby, my baby, you're okay.." Uriel began to shake in her arms and she looked at him to see his eyes shut tightly with tears running down his cheek. "Shh.. It's okay Uriel.. You're okay, my son."
He looked up, his eyes full of fear and sadness. "Are you mad at me mommy? Are you mad I didn't listen and I broke my promise?"
"What?" Ariel looked down in confusion. "Oh no baby, I'm not mad at you! I'm just so glad you're okay!" She smoothed his hair back and kissed his bandaged forehead. Her eyes became serious, "but Uriel, please don't ever scare your father and I like that again!" The small boy buried his head into her and cried harder.
"I won't!" He promised as his father watched standing a little bit away.
Eric leaned against the wall in the infirmary contemplating over the sequence of events that had recently passed. After running out of the kitchen and to the balcony, he found Orpheus crying loudly out on the balcony. The small baby just kept pointing out and crying out "Uriel!".
The king shuddered at the image that burned in his mind. When he reached his eldest son, he saw that his little boy's arm was bent at an unnatural angle and blood began to pool around his head. Eric remembered how his chest tightened as he lifted the boy into his arms and raced to the infirmary, he felt as if he himself was going to faint. He couldn't bear the thought of his son dying and his only goal at that moment was to get him to safety.
Following his arrival at the infirmary and allowing the doctor to tend to Uriel, Ariel decided to show up. She was immediately and severely concerned over her son's appearance and ran to his side. She cried and asked how it happened. Eric didn't know how it happened, Uriel was not supposed to leave the nursery, he promised, and even though Eric ordered some of the palace guards to frequently check the area, not one of them had realized the disappearance of his boys. Someone was going to get fired, that's for sure.
Soon after the doctor put the toddler's arm in a cast, they expected Uriel to wake up. It was a foolish thing to hope for so soon after the incident but it was a hope. However, Uriel did not wake up, and he didn't wake up for several days. Eric spent those days shut up in his study, pacing back and forth hoping that the next person to knock on his door would be the doctor bringing good news of his son. But it didn't happen that way. The next time someone knocked on his study door, he received some news that he wasn't quite prepared for.
Knock. Knock.
Two quick, soft raps to his door made him sop his absent-minded pacing and turn to the door. "Come in," he called out a little hoarsely. He sighed when his beautiful wife stepped in and closed the door behind her. "Oh, Ariel.. I thought you might have been the doctor."
Ariel gave a light teasing smile. "The doctor? At this late hour? Do you wish to tell me something Eric?" Her husband simply gave a light chuckle and embraced his wife lovingly.
"I'm just concerned about Uriel. The doctor said he should wake up any moment now, and I'm just waiting. What is it Ariel? Did you come here to tell me something?" He raised an eyebrow when his wife glanced down.
"What? What makes you say that? I just came to see you. You haven't been yourself lately and I'm worried Eric."
Eric looked down, "I'm terrified of losing my son, Ariel. I'm tired of losing people close to me."
"And you don't think I'm terrified too, Eric? You just left me and decided to run into our study like you always do when things aren't going your way!" Ariel huffed into his chest angrily. Eric pulled away and kept his hands on her waist. He kissed her lips softly and pulled her close back to him.
"I'm sorry," he murmured into her hair. "It's just how I deal with things."
"I wish you wouldn't do that. Try to deal with it alone. It's better to have someone to go through it with. Don't leave me alone Eric," she looked up at him with loving eyes.
"I won't," he rubbed her back softly. "Ariel, love, do you want to tell me something?"
His lovely wife pulled away from him and put her hands together innocently. "Do you mind taking a seat?" Eric stood firm and crossed his arms.
"I would rather stand. What's wrong Ariel?"
A smile played at her lips and she breathed in. "Um... Well I went to the infirmary yesterday and I received some news.."
Eric smiled eagerly. "About Uriel?" His smile slowly faded as his wife shook her head. "No? Then what?"
She bit her lips lightly and then gave a bigger smile. "We're having another child!"
The king widened his eyes. Another one? We're having another baby? Wonderful. It was then that the exhausted king finally passed out with a loud thud on his study floor.
The young King looked over as Uriel sniffed and suddenly pulled away from his mother with wide, terrified eyes. "Orpheus! Mah, where's Orpheus?"
Eric walked over with a small smile. "Orpheus is fine Uriel. He's in the nursery napping. He didn't want to though, he's worried about you, I can tell," the king gently scooped the child from his wife's arms and kissed his head. "Would you like to see him?"
Uriel looked up at his father with a look of guilt on his face, "yes, please," he finally nodded. Eric looked at his beautiful queen.
"Ariel, do you mind if I have a little alone time with the boys?"
Ariel gave a small smile and pushed back her messy hair, "I don't see why not. But please do be fragile with Uriel." She gave a small giggle at her husband's eye roll and lay down on the infirmary cot after the left.
She was going to have another baby. It wasn't that she wasn't happy, no she was very much happy. She just wondered how it was going to be possible, when she could barely take care of her older son? Uriel was extremely jealous of Orpheus and for good reason. Ariel hadn't been a vary attentive mother. She rolled onto her side and sighed.
She remembered how her older sisters sometimes picked on her when they were children. It was because she was the youngest, and naturally, her parents sometimes paid more attention to her. She shouldn't have ignored Uriel, but the oddly advanced child was able to take care of himself, unlike Orpheus who at the current time is completely dependent upon her.
But that wasn't an excuse to ignore her baby. He still needs to be cuddled, and loved, he was after all, a child and not an adult. "Oh poor Uriel," she sighed to her self, "I'll never leave you alone like that again."
"Uriel! Uriel" Uriel smiled at his brother's small voice. He didn't hate him. He was a little fond of him actually. Just a moment ago, his father had set him down into Uriel's crib and the babe immediately crawled over to him and clung onto him.
"I'm okay Orpheus. I won't do something like that ever again. I promise," he held out his pinky. Orpheus stared, fascinated by the finger. Uriel giggled and wrapped it around the baby's own pinky. "Pinky promise Orpheus."
Eric smiled at his two sons and ruffled Uriel's hair softly. "Do you love your brother Uriel?" The boy looked at him and scrunched up his nose.
"I wouldn't say that. He's grown on me, that's for sure," his face took on an expression of confusion when his father laughed. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about what a great big brother you're going to be." Eric reached into his pants pocket and pulled out something that caught Uriel's eye. Eric held it up for his son to see.
It was a shiny, silver, pocket watch. Uriel reached out to it and held it in his one good hand. On the front of the watch was a beautiful design, there were waves on the watch, made to mimic the waves of the ocean, crashing against a large jagged rock. Uriel smiled at the person on the rock. It was a beautiful mermaid running her fingers through her hair.
Uriel turned the watch over and was puzzled by the inscription on the back. 'He is my most beloved friend, and my bitterest rival, my confidant, and my betrayer, my sustainer and my dependent, and scariest of all, my equal.' The small boy looked up at his smiling father in confusion. "Dad, I don't understand."
Eric kissed both of his sons and said in a soft tone, "It's alright if you don't understand right now. You'll understand when you're older, I promise you that." The young king pointed to the pocket watch. "Why don't you open it?"
Following his dad's suggestion Uriel opened the pocket watch and saw it ticking. "What?"
"Again," his father prodded. The oldest prince raised an eyebrow before moving the small clock over and revealing another odd thing. It was shaped the same as the clock, however, instead of numbers it had 4 letters where numbers would be. N in the 12 spot, E in the 3 spot, S in the 6 spot, and W in the 9 spot.
"A compass?" Was his father teasing him? He knew that Uriel would never get lost, the boy wasn't aloud to go outside.
"Uriel!" Orpheus cried out and tried reaching for the pocket watch. Uriel pulled the shiny object out of his brothers reach and looked at it more closely.
"Does it open again?" He questioned. Eric reached down and moved the compass open and it revealed a final object. It was a picture, a picture that brought a small smile to the prince's face. It showed the two young princes sitting down in a chair, Orpheus on his older brother's lap laughing, while Uriel wore a scowl on his face. "This is Orpheus and me."
"Yes it is," Eric leaned down to be eye leveled with his son. "I don't know much about having siblings Uriel, I was an only child, so I could only imagine what you're going through," he looked at Orpheus. "But, I know what it's like to have someone you want to protect. Orpheus is your little brother Uriel, and he's going to look up to you. You're going to be his role model, regardless if you want to be or not."
"Dah? Will Orpheus be king?" The older brother looked up, "please be honest."
Eric was dumbfounded. Why was Uriel thinking about such things? "Uriel, is that what you're worried about? Whether or not Orpheus will be king instead of you?" The young father sighed as his son nodded n response. "Uriel, I don't know. I don't even know if I'll still be king tomorrow. Live one day at a time Uriel, and don't think about political power. As long as our family is safe, we have a place to sleep with a roof above our heads, and a positive outlook on life, we're perfectly fine," he reached down and pinched Uriel's cheek lightly. "Understand?" The small boy pulled away and smiled a bit.
"Yes sir," Uriel looked down to his baby brother and smiled widely. His father was right. If he had a positive attitude, then everything will turn out alright. However, now he had a new challenge to face.
He had to be his younger brother's protector and role model.
The wise words of Anima!
Hello peoples! I just had a sudden urge to write another chapter for this story and I would like to point out that it might take a slightly new direction to match up with Misunderstood Hearts.
Besides that, I would also like to point out a few other things.
I understand fully that Uriel's and Orpheus' characters do not really represent the behaviors and intelligence of real life children and babies, but I have a reason for that! I won't reveal it now as it will be revealed in later chapters. But for now, if you can't stand the thought of reading about unrealistic hyper intelligent(they're not that intelligent, just an exaggeration (: ) children, just remind yourself that this is completely fiction based.
Oh and the previous chapter stated John, Lucas' father to be older then Eric, this is now invalid. John is around the same age as Eric, but because I'm too lazy, I will not edit that chapter.
Um... I think that's it! Well enjoy your day(and don't forget to review)!
Anima out!
PS.
The inscription on the back of Uriel's pocket watch was a quote by Gregg Levoy!