Hi peoples. It's 3am (there's too much noise aren't you people ever gonna go to bed?) and I should really be getting to sleep instead of starting the next chapter of this story, but I want to get this out before I start on the next one of Dreams of Yesterday for it's one year anniversary. I've said this before, but I'm still surprised at how well received this story had been so far, but I guess I should just be thankful.
Chapter 8 - Of Worries and Warnings
Straton stood outside of Keane's bedroom door. The spot where his head had banged the wall continued to bleed slightly, but he was still hesitant to make his way inside. It wasn't that he thought Keane would be mad, at least not too much, but he didn't want to make the stressed boy even more worried. Finally figuring there wasn't any helping it, Straton pushed open the large door.
Keane sat up on his bed as he entered, a small smile on his face. All the blonde could do was smile awkwardly back, holding the back of his head. It didn't really hurt that much, but he still wanted to stop the flow. Looking him over once, Keane was able to pick up on the unease in Straton's form, and his smile quickly turned into a worried frown. And Straton really hadn't wanted to bother him…
"What happened?" the red head asked before Straton had the chance to even say anything. Even if he didn't think so, Keane was fairly good at reading people, at least, that's how Straton saw it.
"I saw Maxwell, do you have a bandage?" he answered, quickly asking his question as if it was completely normal and nothing was wrong. Despite, or maybe because of this, it set off alarm bells in the older boy's head.
"Why? What happened?" Keane asked again, not very satisfied with the short answer he had received, "Are you okay?" Straton nodded, sitting down on the chair by the desk. The bleeding was starting to stop anyway, it really wasn't that bad, just a small bang, was all.
"I'm fine, I just hit my head and it bled a little bit," he explained, fudging the truth just a bit, and Keane was almost immediately to his feet. "It's nearly stopped," Straton said, but that didn't stop the red head from inspecting the injury any. Without saying anything, he walked away from the sitting boy and retrieved a small medical kit from one of his drawers, it was there just incase of emergencies, headed back over and proceeded to wrap the cut.
"Fell," Keane said once he had finished, rolling his eyes. "Don't lie, Maxwell did this, right?" he didn't get how Straton could be so blunt and straight forward about some things but then try and lie about such obvious others. Straton nodded after a moment, not seeing any way he could really deny it now. Keane sighed as he flopped back down onto his bed. He wished Maxwell would just leave them both alone, he already had so many things to worry about, he didn't need to add Straton's safety to the list. Not that he blamed the timid prince at all, Keane couldn't help but feel protective of him, almost like what he kind of imagined a real little brother would be like.
"I'm sorry to have worried you," the blonde said after a moment. Keane leaned up on his elbows and shook his head at this.
"Don't be, it's fine," he said. It wasn't like it was his fault, Maxwell had probably started it anyway, Straton hadn't even been gone for very long. The younger boy simply shrugged though, not appearing very convinced that he shouldn't. Keane laid back down on the bed, deciding it would probably be best to change the subject, but Straton beat him to actually doing it, though.
"Classes are back to normal for you tomorrow, correct?" he asked. Keane sighed and nodded grimly. That was something he was not looking forward to in the least.
"Yeah, they are," he grumbled. The two talked awkwardly until dinner when Keane went to go get both their food, not wanting Straton to move around too much. Sure, he said that his head was just a little sore, but he still might of hurt himself worse then he thought, and Keane didn't want to risk it. He wanted Straton to go see one of the medical women, but he kept insisting he was fine.
When the red head finally allowed Straton to go back to his own room, he had to admit it had been one of the more relaxing days he'd had in what seemed like forever. Even though Straton had gotten hurt, he didn't have to go to any classes, and it was considerably more calm then yesterday, that was for sure.
Of course, things would go right back to normal once he woke up tomorrow morning.
Walking to class early the next morning, he wearily accepted this. As he did the next day, and the next, until over a month had past and the thought of anything breaking his routine was a hopeless fantasy. Each day the classes seemed to get harder, and his teachers more on edge. They weren't just not telling him everything, Keane decided after one particularly confusing and contradictory civic conduct class, but they were lying to him too.
His mentor had kept him late today, finding it absolutely necessary that the red head know the exact difference between how to conduct himself in front of an emissary and how to conduct himself in front of a noble. Keane still wasn't too sure what they were exactly, but it was apparently very important.
Straton was waiting inside his room, as normal. Ever since his teachers started pushing back classes later and later, the blonde had taken to waiting at Keane's desk reading instead of standing outside, not that Keane minded. It was just nice to know someone was there.
"Kept you after again?" Straton asked without looking up from his book. Keane couldn't see what it was, but he wasn't trying to as he headed over towards his bed, nodding weakly in order to answer his question.
"Third time this week," the red head mumbled as he laid on the bed. "Why can't they lay off? They're not even doing anything important…" he grumbled into the blanket. Straton looked up from his book at the exhausted prince before deciding to close it and give him his full attention. Some days he needed it more then others.
"I'm sure it's all going to be helpful in the long run," the blonde said, and Keane reluctantly agreed with him. Even if he wanted to fight it, he knew deep down that it probably was, being king required so much effort and knowledge. Not to mention he just didn't have the energy, and Straton was pretty good with using common sense in arguments.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just… why are they rushing so much? I just became crown prince less then a year ago. It's not like the king's gonna die anytime soon anyway, so what's their problem?" he asked, sincerely hoping that Straton would actually have an answer for him, just so he could place a reason for all this madness. The younger boy only shook his head though, but Keane didn't lose hope immediately, due to the mild look of confusion on his face as he thought the situation over. Straton was good at figuring things out, so maybe he would this time too.
"I'm not sure what their reason could be, but there does seem to be a rush… Maybe it's due to the civic unrest?" he suggested after a moment, and Keane nodded dejectedly as he rolled over on the bed in order to see Straton a bit more clearly.
"Yeah, they can't figure out how to solve it, so they want me to. Great…" he said, sighing under his breath afterwards. That was really the only reason he'd been able to come up with too, but that didn't make it any better. He was only thirteen years old, and they were trying to make him be fit to rule the country at any given moment. He didn't want the problems of thousands of people on his shoulders though, but that really didn't matter. He was going to be king, whether he wanted to or not.
"Keane?" Straton said after a small moment of silence, and the red head had to prop himself up on his elbows in order to actually answer him, he'd nearly fallen asleep for a second, not that it would have been anything new.
"Hmm?" he answered, still a bit too tired to actually use full words. The blonde was silent for a few more moments before finally sighing out loud and continuing.
"I heard some of the noblemen talking… on my way here," he said hesitantly, and Keane raised an eyebrow in question. Something seemed off about the way he was acting, but Keane had no immediate idea as to what any nobles could of said to rile him up.
"Yeah, so? What they say?" he asked, starting to get both worried and curious at the same time. Straton wasn't really the type to overreact like some of the other princes, himself most likely included. The blonde began flipping through the book he'd put down a moment ago, not really looking at it, it seemed more as to just have something to do with his hands.
"They were talking about evacuating the palace, if the riots get too out of hand," he said, and Keane was now fully sitting up, any weariness from before temporarily forgotten.
"Evacuate? But they haven't been that bad… almost nothing's happened since the fire," the older boy said, acting almost as if it was Straton's decision on what they were going to do. He simply shrugged though, closing and opening and closing the book again.
"That's just what I heard, I don't know how accurate or soon it may be. It's probably just a precaution incase the worse were to happen," the blonde said, trying to reassure Keane. There was no need for him to worry any more then he already did, but he still had a right to know what he heard. Keane nodded, the shock wearing off a bit, before answering.
"Yeah, you're probably right. There's always plans for if things were to go wrong, but that doesn't mean it will, right?" the red head asked, and Straton nodded. That was right, just because they were talking about it, didn't mean it would happen. After a minute or two, Keane laid back onto the bed, weariness returning after the shock had worn down. Straton didn't say anything more to disturb him, and he quickly fell off to sleep.
Once the room was silent, Straton sighed to himself softly. He didn't want to worry Keane… He always had so much to think about, while he had hardly any classes at all. It was just that… it hadn't seemed like they were simply discussing precautionary methods. They spoke about it as if it was a real threat, something they couldn't avoid.
He should of stayed longer, but he'd been afraid of being caught eavesdropping. It seemed like such a silly fear now, with the weight of the unanswered questions weighing down his thoughts. He couldn't worry Keane though, he'd just have to look out for anything suspicious and keep careful tabs of any and all rumors he heard. Keane didn't like the rumors, felt like they were all made up, but Straton always thought there was a ring of truth in every one, and you just needed to find it.
Although most importantly, he had to make sure Keane stayed safe. He didn't know why, it was just a gut feeling really, but there was a warning bell in his head telling him that the red headed boy would need all the help he could get in that area.
Yay, we're getting close to super mega action! Haha, just ignore me. Huh, y'know, when I first thought up Straton, I didn't think he was going to get this big of a role. Well, hope you liked the chapter, and please review.