Previously on the Prince of Kinkow: Kermen turns out to be Lanny's dad, and he has a brother, and the madman takes Karell, Vic and Rean with him, leaving Lanny and Teagan alone. Now: Teagan and Lanny talk. But first, the review:

SGJBMCfan98: Well, Rean was mentioned in the chapter where we meet Kermen, and thanks for the review!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

"We're never gonna get out of here!" Teagan screamed. It was one of the screams Teagan made ever since Kermen had left them alone, and there would certainly be more to come. Lanny rolled his eyes. If he had the power to slap Teagan to his senses, he would wish he had the guts to actually hit him without receiving more hits from the bully. Instead, he tried to talk some sense in the Elder's grandson.

"Keep complaining like that and you're next," he said coolly. Teagan turned his head to the prince, and Lanny witnessed something he never saw on Teagan's face – the bully was terrified.

"How do you do it?" Teagan asked, "I mean, how can you be so cool with them probably getting tortured by that madman!?" Truth to be told, Lanny was just as terrified as Teagan was. But Teagan had the luck to always get what he wanted, so he never had to keep strong and almost emotionless because otherwise, others would take advantage of it. If Lanny ever showed fear to the bullies, he'd be beaten more. Teagan had never known such situation.

"I can, because you made me like that!" Lanny sneered at his bully. Deep down in him, he hadn't meant to sound that mean, but Teagan was alone and vulnerable, which was a chance he had to take. It also seemed Teagan didn't fully understand the meaning of those words.

"What does that have to do with the situation?" Teagan wanted to know, asking in a calm voice. Apparently, the bully had calmed down enough to calmly tell him that, but he still was trying to shake off the ropes that made it impossible for Teagan to run. Lanny felt anger boil through his veins.

"Ever since you showed up in my life, you were…" That's where he fell silent, because no words could describe what he'd gone through, "I had to… I'm not… you're a monster!" He eventually shouted. Then, Teagan lifted his head and their eyes met. For some weird reason, Lanny saw pain in his eyes, and fear, probably also remorse. If he had looked a little better, he would've seen the Elder's grandson was trembling.

"I know," he said, "but do you think I like being a monster?" Thinking about the way he asked the question, it seemed he really didn't like being a monster to Lanny, but the prince thought otherwise due to the many injuries he could not forget.

"You always seem to enjoy it," was Lanny's indefinite answer. Teagan knew he couldn't possibly expect his only target to understand his situation, and this was a really bad time to ask for forgiveness, but this could be the only opportunity he had before one of them dies. He breathed in, and then started to talk again

"You probably never knew the reason why Herald was with us, didn't you?" Yes. That might be good enough to start off again. But Lanny saw it as an offensive verbal attack, and he had learned to defend himself with words, as well to use them offensively too.

"Because you stole him away from me!" was Lanny's answer. Teagan shook his head.

"Hey, it's not my fault our parents fell in love!" the Elder's grandson said, and Lanny was astonished. Herald had been Teagan's stepbrother, and he hadn't known about it? "That's not the reason. I asked him to join and it wasn't out of fear, as he always told you. I hope he didn't join out of fear…"

Now Lanny was mad. Talking about feeling remorse for some deeds was one point, but nobody was allowed to talk about the best (and only) human friend Lanny has ever had. "How dare you speak about him that way!" the prince shouted, "You killed him! My best friend!" Now Teagan got mad, too. Saying he enjoyed bullying the prince was one point, but nobody was allowed to talk about him like that when everyone knows it ain't true.

"I don't like my brother dead, too!" Teagan shouted, "If you think I don't know pain, you're wrong! I've felt exactly the same when my dad and little sisters died from cancer. You had the luck of not knowing! You were too young to remember what happened to your family. But me… I still expect my dad to walk in through the door to say he's been on a journey around the earth! And then I've finally gotten a brother, and he's taken away from me immediately! Lanny, you have no idea what I've been through…" Lanny hadn't really been listening, but he was surprised the grandson used his name instead of any of those horrible nicknames.

"And the point of your monologue is…" the prince managed to make himself sound bored, and Teagan sighed. At this point, he wished Lanny valued friendship and family too.

"We both mourn for Herald and we both hate he's gone. And I don't know what made you hate your cousins so badly, but if I ever found out I had more family, somewhere, I'd try to be nice and befriend them." Teagan tried to get Lanny to sympathize, but he would never and part of the reason he wouldn't sympathize might be found by Teagan himself. Lanny huffed.

"You can't make proper friends!" the prince told the Elder's grandson, "The only kids you can call your friends, are your three helping hands!" Teagan sighed.

"That's because nobody else took me seriously when I was younger," the bully explained, "My only family were my mom and grandparents from my dad's side when I first went to school. I was some sort of freak, because my family was 'incomplete'! Those 'helping hands', my friends, were a blessing. As were you." Teagan made it sound as if it really hurt him, which it did.

Lanny was slightly taken aback. How could he be a blessing to the bully? And he hadn't asked the young man to tell every detail about his life.

"I didn't ask for the story of your life!" Lanny told the grandson, who nodded.

"Too bad – I just got to the good part."

"Which is…?"

"Why I only bullied you." Lanny froze. For a second, he had no idea what to say. He had no idea why he said the following words to the bully, even thought he somehow had nothing to say. There was a fake smile on his face

"Yeah, that's something Yama and I'd like to know. Why in the world would someone like you ruin my entire life?" Lanny shouted, looking very angry. The roles have reversed; Teagan was now the one who stayed cool and Lanny had become the one screaming. Lanny didn't mind, though – even without that shouting, he would finally learn why Teagan only considered going for just the one guy instead of choosing more people to bully.

"Because back then, you were told to be the heir," Teagan gulped, took a deep breath and continued, "You were powerful, Lanny. You still are. You got more power than a common Elder's grandson. I was young, a little too young, when I decided to – hypothetically speaking – become more powerful by picking you as my target." the last part sounded almost as if he was saying sorry. But Lanny knew the grandson wouldn't say that unless there was a good reason for. And apparently being close to death was a good reason to spill it out.

"You ruined my life!" Lanny said, and he decided not to look at that Elder's monster again. Teagan sighed.

"But you also, in a way, helped me build up my life," the grandson said, "I'd never thought I'd say this before we were adults, but… thank you and I'm sorry." Lanny huffed.

"No need to thank me," the prince said, "Thank you for ruining mine!" Teagan sighed again. The prince just wouldn't get it, would he?

"I'm sorry, okay? I was young and I didn't think you would… you know what? Let's just forget about it until that criminal's back in the dungeon, where he belongs." It stayed silent between them for a long time. Eventually, Lanny nodded and turned his head back at Teagan, glaring daggers at him.

"I already know someone to be his roommate." Teagan looked sorry, and he probably was, and even if it was an honest apology, Lanny still wouldn't buy it because the prince only knew Teagan's dark side, and he has yet to meet the grandson's light side.

"Was it really that bad?" Teagan dared to ask.

"My best friend is a fish!" Lanny shouted back. "I never dared to leave the castle on my own! I am the most hated boy on the island! Do you seriously need to ask!?" Teagan shook his head, and Lanny noticed the boy was slightly shivering.

"Okay, so it was bad, maybe even worse than bad, and I'm very sorry about that. And… would you please never tell me I'm going to the dungeon? You're scaring me." Lanny's eyes widened, and he huffed.

"I'm scaring you? It's the other way around!"

"I think we both scare each other," Teagan replied, now almost shivering too hard, "Hey, you're more powerful than me! You're the third most powerful person on the entire island! Off course I'd be scared!"

Lanny had nothing to say about this. After all those years, Lanny had been terrified when it came to Teagan, and only now he learns Teagan had been afraid of him all along. If he had known this earlier, he would've never let them do the things they've done, they might have even become friends instead of letting the fear take over their lives at such a young age. Now they had a common enemy (Kermen) they could easily talk about those topics they usually avoided, if they ever talked at all.

"Let's make a deal," Teagan continued, "I'll never hurt you again and you don't send me to the dungeon. Oh, and we'll work together to defeat that madman. Do you accept?" Lanny thought of all the possibilities, and then nodded.

"Fine. But I'll keep an eye on you!" Those were Lanny's terms, and Teagan shrugged – he could live with that. He slowly crept closer to Lanny, until they wee sitting leaning on each other's backs, and their hands were almost pressed together. Teagan moved his hands and fingers as best as possible and after a lot of curses and hurting Lanny accidentally, he had managed to free the hands of the prince.

Lanny felt a sensation in his hands, which he could move freely again. Before he even thought about it, he stood up and ran to the entrance. Free! I'm free! Yet, Lanny stopped running when he was halfway there. In the beginning, he wouldn't be sad to leave Teagan all alone, but now he knew more about the Elder's grandson, it felt terrible to leave him here.

Eventually, he ran back to Teagan and freed him too. He'd figured he couldn't leave Herald's brother to die, only to save his own skin. Herald wouldn't have wanted it. Teagan rubbed his wrists when Lanny was finally done freeing him.

"You didn't leave me," Teagan said, "Why?"

"Herald would've wanted me to save you, too," Lanny responded as he already walked away, "But don't think we're friends!" Teagan shook his head, smiling.

"I'm not," he replied, "Come on! There's three boys that need saving, too."