(WIP) For Alberia's Sake

Notte loves Euden!

          To say Notte was worried about Euden was literally the biggest understatement of the year. This guy took on so much pressure and responsibility and never let anyone see or hear about it. So to see him space out like that…it was concerning. More so than usual.

          A light scolding should do him some good. Notte loves him. She loves her brother and wants to see him doing better. “–Yeah. I need you to tell me what’s going on. You’ve been like…spacing out all day! I might not be able to help with your problems, but at least don’t bottle them up! Aren’t we supposed to face any hardships together? My shoulders might be tiny but they’re mighty! You can lean on me too, Euden.”

Was Euden getting more obvious? She was really pushing to get a glimpse into his head here - Euden thought he was normally pretty good at keeping the extent of his concerns to himself. For Notte to see so deeply into his mind, his worries must’ve been obvious...

... Though, then again, this is Notte. The only person anywhere near as close to him as she is would be Zethia herself. Maybe it made sense she could see what was going on in his head.

The prince lets out a sigh. Oh well - worry for a friend wasn’t something that necessarily needed to be hidden, was it?

         “–den.”

          …

         “EUDEN.”

          Fluttering in his face, Notte has been trying to get his attention. When did he ever space out like this?

         “Hey. If you’re gonna space out like this, we should totally make it look like we’re not crazy and stare at the stars or something.”

“ - Oh! ” The royal snapped out of his worried daze as the spunky little faerie floated in front of him to grab his attention. Right - as if he could focus on anything else when Notte was putting the attention on herself. “ Notte. ”

Realizing he was no longer in his own thoughts, he quickly pushes his internal worries aside and gives Notte a proper smile, in an effort to assure her there was nothing to worry about.

( She asked for space, so of course I’ll give it to her, but... I hope it’s nothing serious. Elly has enough to worry about as it is. )

Ah, Notte - you’re certainly not as cut out for late nights and avoiding sleep the way Euden was.

It was hardly a surprise as he felt the hair on the side of Notte’s head rest itself on his hand and soft breaths made it clear that she was no longer in the land of the awake - though to her credit, she’d given him company long enough that he had to re-remember how likely she was to go. While he undoubtedly appreciated the faerie’s company, it didn’t bother him at all - if it meant that Notte was in the right state of mind to fall asleep instead of being kept awake, it was all the better as far as he was concerned.

“ ... Heh. Sleep well, Notte. ” Euden makes very careful movements, carefully moving her hand from beneath her head - though being careful as she moves it, letting her head slowly move down toward the pages of the book beneath them instead to replace the rise his hand provided.

He didn’t trust himself to try carrying her to her bed without stirring her back up - but once he has himself free, he quietly picks himself up from his seat, and walks off to go get her blanket from her bed to keep her warm.

He wasn’t particularly enthralled in the book, anyways. It could wait.

         “Ugh. I’m tired, Euden. Trying to make sure everyone doesn’t kill themselves is like….really hard. How do you do it all day?” She’s just…going to rest in his hair. He’s soft and usually smells okay. Plus he never minds.

If her movement to rest in his messy hair was worth considering a problem for Euden, his smile certainly did nothing to betray that fact. Actually, it was all too clear he didn’t mind the slightest, simply offering a light, somewhat bashful smile at the faerie’s continued energy - he even offers the additional effort of softly tilting his head forward to allow her to hold herself there without much trouble.

“ If you don’t mind my saying, Notte - you might be worrying yourself a bit too much. ” The prince lets out a little chuckle - Euden would always appreciate the enthusiasm and optimism Notte brought to any situation, regardless of the messes she could take part in at times. “ I don’t think anyone in here’s on the path to getting themselves killed. You don’t need to stretch yourself thin worrying about everyone at once - if there’s a real problem going on, it’ll come up in time. ”

How did he deal with handling so many people’s problems every day? Hard question to answer; but he would just say he wasn’t about to ask Notte to try to do the same. Stretching himself thin for the others was one thing - but the thought of Notte taking the same path didn’t really sit too well with him. He preferred her carefree and lighthearted over a major problem-solver.

“ ... Thank you, everyone. Don’t worry - I plan to keep this brief. ” Once upon a time - a display like this would have been all too intimidating. And to a point, it still was - but these were his subjects... and his friends. Every eye, every silenced voice, every bit of attention directed at him... it all felt like a part of his role as king these days. It wasn’t intimidating... merely a part of his duty as a king. They all looked to him to guidance - and he would continue to guide them toward a true peace.

“ This year’s Dragonyule is coming at us at a breakneck pace - it feels like only yesterday we were all simply gazing at the end of this month like it was unreachable in the distance... and now we look forward to tomorrow for Saint Starfall’s gifts, the presents, the celebrations... it’s only my wish that we could have met under better circumstances than the ones that bind us this Dragonyule, but never let us forget the jolly spirit of the holiday on all of our minds tonight. ”

“Oi, get on with it, would ya?! ” Cue the prince’s passionate speech of the holiday rather handily losing its steam as the hearty voice of Euden’s brother figure heartily piped up from the sidelines. “ All this sappy shlock’s all well and good - but don’t forget, we’ve all got tomorrow on our minds! The presents, the partyin’, the feasts - we can’t be up all night for this sappy talk, you know! ”

“ Aha - don’t worry, Ranzal, I’m just about done. ” The prince’s amusement was quite the stark contrast to the glares of Elisanne and Cleo amongst him, as well as that of certain audience members - but in truth, that sort of simple-minded, blunt look ahead of himself was a wonderful part of Ranzal he wouldn’t trade for the world. “ All I’m trying to say now is - a merry Dragonyule to everyone. Whether you might celebrate it yourself or are simply guided here along with your loved ones... make the most of this wonderful time of year. And if you’re averse to the holiday - please approach me. We’ll make the necessary accomodations. ” 

“ Now, don’t let me take another moment of your time - rest easy, everyone. We’ll be quite lost in the festivities tomorrow, after all! The more sleep we can all get, the merrier! ”

The king aimed his gaze to the night sky, clearly quite a bit lost in his thoughts. It seemed recent events were quite heavily on his mind. With the rare bout of time for himself, no one to immediately focus on, and his body not doing much to pull him to sleep... what was left but his thoughts, after all that had happened amidst meeting his new friends?

  “Don’t worry– I get the concern. I hope I can prove it to them that I’m here to help!” Sure, Roll was… a little less forgiving of Euden’s allies after such an argument, but Rock could understand their point of view. Heck… maybe he was worried about that himself. Turning Robot Masters on humanity was a simple enough process to understand. How did Wily manage to brainwash dragons? 

  …He’d gotten lost in thought for a moment there. Rock averted his gaze for a minute, mulling the question over in his head. He needed to help out, regardless of whether he was actually equipped to fight dragons or not. 

  “If you’ve got any questions, let me or the others know. If I can’t answer, Dad–Doctor Light–probably can.”

It was good that Rock was so understanding - though Euden supposed it wasn’t all too surprising. Robot or no - he was a really nice child.

“ Thank you, Rock - I’ll be sure to take you all up on that. ” Was it too soon for him to consider Mega Man’s family friends? Perhaps realistically - but not as far as Euden was concerned. The family was friendly - and even if for their own cause, they were all aligned in stopping Wily and saving the realm. Besides - they seemed more than genuine enough (not that Euden was the best judge of that sort of thing).

“ ... I’m sorry about all of that. The others are just... very careful. ” When it had been brought up that the robot masters that fought alongside the mad Dr. Wily were once good robots themselves, turned evil by the mad doctor’s machinations, Euden’s allies hadn’t exactly hidden their skepticism against Mega Man and Roll themselves very well. With the limited understanding, the risk that they could be turned against the Halidom, too...

“ You and your family are welcome here in the Halidom as long as you’re in our world. You have my word - so don’t be too worried about it, alright? ” His trust hadn’t truly betrayed him yet - and perhaps he was speaking too soon, but he felt like he was making a good friend in Mega Man already. The risk of some potential brainwashing wasn’t nearly enough to nullify that trust.