The sun rose in the early morning, illuminating the world and shining warm rays of light through the trees, painting the sky a clear blue. Deep in the woods, Dan and Ajit lay sleeping at their makeshift campsite, Dan having wrapped his hair around himself to keep him warm, holding his frying pan and Buzzy close to him as he slept while Ajit lay curled up with his head resting surprisingly comfortably on a moss covered rock. A small droplet of water landed on his cheek, half asleep he shook it off, happy to ignore its existence until another landed next to it. Slowly blinking, he shook his head and opened his eyes. "Mm, what?" He looked up to find an extremely angry looking white and brown patched, soaking wet horse staring down at him as furiously as a horse could possibly look at someone and snorting. Ajit raised an eyebrow, "Well, I hope you're here to apologise." He quipped, closing his eyes and laying his head back down on the rock.

Moments later a loud, bloodcurdling, terrified scream rang out, jolting both Dan and Buzzy out of their sleep in a panic. Dan looked over just in time to see a horse dragging Ajit away by his foot. "No, no! Stop it. Please put me down! Let me go!" The thief yelped, desperately grabbing onto clumps of grass in a futile attempt to not get dragged away.

In any other situation, Dan probably would've laughed but instead he jumped up and grabbed hold of Ajit's arms, effectively starting a tug of war between himself and the horse with Ajit being the rope. "Give me him." He told the horse as sternly as he could while trying to pull his friend out of its grip. The horse shook its head fiercely and pulled even harder on its end, resulting only in pulling Ajit's boot off his foot, causing both Dan and Ajit to fall backwards onto the grass from the force of Dan still pulling.

The horse landed on its hind legs, boot in mouth, then shaking off the confusion got up and prepared to charge at the two boys. Dan scrambled to his feet, holding his hands up in the air in front of the horse while Ajit backed away as far as he possibly could into a tree trunk. "Woah, woah, woah! Easy boy." The blond tried to calm the horse, "Easy! Calm down.." He coaxed, holding his hands out and talking calmingly until the horse finally settled down, Buzzy joining in by climbing onto Dan's head and motioning for the horse to settle down. Once the horse finally seemed to calm down, Dan smiled, "Now sit." He told it, watching as the horse reluctantly lowered itself to the ground, "Sit." He prompted again. This time the horse sat down properly on the ground.

"What on earth...?" Ajit murmured, watching all this from where he'd scrambled partway up the trunk of the tree he'd backed into, honestly not sure what he was watching.

Dan pointed at the ground, "Now drop the boot." The horse whinnied in protest. "Drop it..." He repeated.

The horse spat the boot out onto the grass.

"Aww, you're such a good boy!" Dan cooed, petting the horse on its muzzle. "Yes you are!" He laughed. Ajit watched in awe as the horse began to wag its tail like a dog. Who knew the horse that had nearly killed him was so easily won over? "Are you really tired from chasing the bad thief?" Dan asked the horse jokingly.

Ajit choked out a laugh, "Excuse me?"

Dan moved closer and began to stroke the horse's neck, "I know, I know... Nobody appreciates you, do they?" He asked, still joking around as the horse nuzzled its head into his shoulder. Which was something Dan had never thought he'd experience, being hugged by a horse.

"He's a bad horse!" Ajit called out from the tree, half joking back, half still annoyed about the horse almost getting him killed.

The older boy looked over at him and stuck his tongue out, "No way, he's a big sweetheart, aren't you?" He turned back to the horse, who neighed in agreement. "Isn't that right..." He paused, scratching the horse's chin, reading the name on the plate on the horse's collar, "Lightning?" The horse whinnied happily again.

Ajit scrambled down from the tree, "You have got to be kidding me..." He muttered, watching the way Lightning the horse seemed quite happy with all of the attention he was getting after attempting to drag him off to jail by the boot. Lightning instantly snapped to attention and glared at him as soon as he heard the thief's voice.

The red streaked blond quickly intervened again, "Listen Lightning, today is kind of the biggest day of my life and I need you not to get him arrested." He stepped away from the horse and offered a hand to Ajit to help him up, resisting the urge to laugh as both the horse and his friend glared at each other. "Just for today and then you can chase each other as much as you want, alright?" He continued to attempt to persuade the horse, Ajit rolled his eyes then held a hand out for the horse to shake. Unsurprisingly, Lightning simply turned his nose up. Dan resisted the urge to laugh. "And it's also my birthday, just so you know..." He wheedled.

Lightning put his hoof in Ajit's hand and the two shook on their agreement to call a truce for the rest of the day.

A bell chimed in the distance, distracting Dan, he moved past his friend and the horse, with Buzzy sat on his shoulder. Trying to hear the bells clearer and not noticing how Lightning quickly moved his hoof to push Ajit over the second Dan stopped paying attention.

Once the two boys, chameleon and horse set off, it didn't take them long to reach the bridge leading into the main kingdom. Instantly, Dan was taken by awe at the sight of all the people, the buildings painted in pastel shades, the festivities and decorations and everything else there was to see in this kingdom. The second they set foot on the bridge, he'd begun to look around everywhere, paying far more attention to the scenery than he was to his companions. "Wow..." He breathed out. He hadn't even entered the main kingdom yet but he already knew he loved it.
Even from this far end of the bridge he could hear people playing music and the sound of people talking joyously in the breeze from the direction of the city.

Behind him, Ajit stopped. Noticing one of his many wanted posters on the bridge, this one with an equally as awful imitation of his nose. Hastily he snatched it and screwed it up into a ball then spotting Lightning glaring at him for it, shoved the ball of paper into the horse's mouth. The horse wasted no time in spitting it out back into his face. Ajit let the paper fall to the ground as him and Lightning started fighting each other, only stopping when Buzzy, looking back at them from his position on a very distracted Dan's head, made a loud noise and a gesture to imply he had his eyes on them.

The city itself was everything Dan could've imagined and more, the music was playing much louder here and the sound of people talking was nearly deafening as the locals milled around. Cobbled streets were decorated with garlands of flowers and strings of bunting in the shape of purple flags with suns on them.
Not wanting to waste any of the time he had to look around, he quickly took a step forwards, and then one right back as a cart sped by him. In his panic, he began tripping over his own hair and bumping into everyone around him, apologising constantly, then yelping in pain as someone stepped on his hair. He turned around to see where his hair even was, only to make eye contact with Ajit as he started gathering up the end of Dan's hair into his arms so it wasn't dragging on the ground and then rushed over to meet him. "It would seem... This isn't the most practical here in the city." Ajit murmured thoughtfully, Dan nodded in agreement although he really wasn't sure what could be done about it.

Luckily, Ajit found a solution within seconds. Looking around the marketplace, the short haired boy spotted a group of young girls, sisters by the looks of it, braiding each others' hair by a fountain. "Hey!" He called out, catching their attention then nodding towards the pile of Dan's hair.

The way the four girls' eyes sparkled in excitement at the thought of getting to braid such long hair was more than enough for Dan, as impatient as he was to get moving and exploring the city, to sit still on the ground while the girls did their thing, laughing, cheering and chattering both amongst themselves and to Dan as they braided and braided his hair until it all hung just off the ground in one huge braid. The children were so sweet as they talked away to him, Dan found he didn't mind spending a little more of his time sitting there while the girls threaded flowers into the huge braid. The smiles on their faces were more than worth it in the end as they admired their handiwork of both the braid and the assortment of red, yellow, blue and purple flowers they'd slotted into it.

More than anything though, the feeling of his hair not trailing behind him for seventy feet was so freeing, he laughed and did a little spin. "Thank you!" He couldn't keep the ridiculously happy smile off his face as he thanked the group of girls. He turned to see Ajit smiling at him too from where he was leaning against a wall with Buzzy and Lightning, the horse snorting at Ajit's smile, almost sounding amused. Ajit pushed the horse's face away and let Buzzy hop onto his shoulder before walking over to Dan.

"So, what's first?" He asked, and wow, were those words full of possibility.

It would turn out first up was running around between all the stalls, looking around at everything the merchants there had on offer and with Dan talking to everyone he could and asking a lot of questions to everyone he came across about anything he could think of. At one point Ajit had gotten into a queue to buy some bread when Dan's attention was drawn to a mural made from tiles under an archway on a building depicting a man and woman holding a small baby, with both the man and woman wearing circlets similar to the one Dan had discovered in Ajit's satchel. He watched as a young girl placed a flower down in front of the mural, "It's for the lost Prince." She told her Mom happily.

Dan looked back up at the mural, gazing at it with interest, trying to figure out what it was for and why he felt almost drawn in by the painting and wondering who was the lost prince that girl had mentioned?

Fueled by curiosity, Dan turned to someone standing nearby, a boy maybe a year or two younger than he was with tan skin and a pair of goggles nestled on top of his messy dark brown hair that had a streak of vibrant blue through it. "Ah excuse me?" He nervously tried to catch the boy's attention.

The boy turned towards him, "Oh hi?" He greeted cautiously, as if wondering what this stranger could possibly want to talk to him for.

"Sorry, I was just wondering if you could explain what that mural is?" The red streaked blond asked, "Who are those people in it?"

The boy's mouth turned into an 'o' shape. "You must not be from around here. The man and woman are the King and Queen and that baby in the Queen's arms is their first child, the prince of this kingdom, only he was stolen as a baby and hasn't been seen since." He explained, "This whole festival is for him. Every year, the King, Queen, their other son and everyone in the kingdom releases a lantern in honour of his birthday in the hopes that one day he'll return."

Dan smiled, "Oh, I see. Thank you!"

The boy shrugged casually as if it was no big deal, which really it wasn't and began to walk off, just as a group of musicians walked past the area playing a lively tune distracting Dan from his thoughts about the mural and the story behind it. He couldn't resist the urge to dance along to the lively tune, starting to spin around and then inviting a young boy to dance with him. Not too long after, he'd brought all sorts of people into a dance circle, all of them laughing as onlookers clapped along to the rhythm of the song the musicians were still playing.

Ajit stood watching with his arms full of bread, smiling at the sight of how Dan had brought so many people together. Suddenly, he was spotted by the other boy, who quickly waved him over to join the circle. At first Ajit tried to shake his head but was pushed forwards by Lightning and he relented, putting his bread loaves in one of the horse's saddle bags and allowing himself to be pulled into the circle.

The song and the dance continued for quite a while, with people switching partners every so often, at multiple points Dan and Ajit came near to dancing together before being whisked away by other members of the dance circle. After the first two songs, the pair left the circle to do other things. While the rest of the public continued the dancing, the pair walked around together, at one point Ajit bought Dan a small rectangular flag in the same shade of purple with the same golden sun emblem as all the triangular flags hanging from the bunting between houses, which Dan had been overjoyed about. A little later, Dan had discovered someone had left out coloured chalk for people to draw on the ground with and had drawn his own version of the golden sun emblem with purple flowers flowing off it, and lilac and pink people, all based on those he'd seen that day drawn around it, which had gathered a group of onlookers. Afterwards he and Ajit had hidden in an alleyway to avoid the guards while eating cupcakes then had later gone and spent a whole hour in the Kingdom's public library.

As the day faded into sunset, they returned to the dance circle, it was filled with different people and with different musicians playing than from earlier but just as lively and cheerful as before as once again the pair danced with all kinds of different people before spinning into each other at the very end as the song stopped. Gazing into each other's eyes with soft smiles on their faces. This day really was all that Dan had hoped and more.

"To the boats!" Someone in the crowd yelled, causing Dan and Ajit to look around and notice everyone else in the dance circle had already parted with their partners and was making their way towards the harbour. The pair parted, awkwardly letting go of each other, their smiles still not leaving their faces.

It was a short walk to the harbour, light and joyful as everyone heading there made cheerful conversation. Upon reaching the dock, Ajit guided Dan towards a small wooden boat. The blond couldn't help but simply stare out at the water, taking in the beauty of the ocean in the moonlight, the entire city reflected in the ripples of the water's surface as Ajit began to slowly row them out to sea, Buzzy sitting on his shoulder. Lightning had to wait at the dock, the boat being too small for him; Ajit turned back to look at the horse, noticing it seemed almost sad it couldn't join them and reached down to grab a sack near his feet. "Hey, Lightning!" He called out, throwing the bag towards the horse and smiling as it spilled apples out by its feet. Lightning examined the apples and then looked almost suspiciously over at Ajit. "What? I bought them." He clarified laughing, then turning back around and starting to row the boat further out. Hearing the horse start to crunch the apples behind him he jokingly added, "Most of them."

Dan turned around, his expression filled with curiosity, "Where are we going?" He asked, desperate to know where Ajit was taking him on this boat but also trusting him fully.

The smug smile Ajit had been wearing over messing with the horse melted into something softer as he looked into Dan's azure eyes, "Well, you said today's the best day of your life, right?" He waited for Dan to nod before continuing, "I figured you should have a decent seat." He half explained, deciding to let Dan see for himself why he'd chosen to take him on the boat when the lanterns were released.

After a while of rowing, Ajit finally stopped once they were far enough out to sea to be able to see the entire kingdom from their small boat. Something about it stirred melancholy in Dan, without being able to stop himself, he sighed.

It didn't go unnoticed.

"You okay?" The thief asked carefully.

Dan fell silent before admitting in a near silent whisper, "I'm terrified."

His companion looked confused, "Why?" He asked, Dan wasn't sure he'd be able to explain but there was no judgement to Ajit's question and both the other boy's gaze and tone was confused but gentle and curious, as if he genuinely cared about Dan's answer. Something about that made Dan's heart warm, making him want to answer even if he couldn't find the proper words to express his thoughts.

"I've been staring out of a window for eighteen years... Dreaming about what it might feel like if I was watching up close when those lights rise in the sky and now I'm here.." He hesitated, "What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?" He asked.

The answer he got back was simple, "It will be." It was spoken with such certainty Dan almost felt like he was crazy for worrying in the first place, yet it still didn't quell all his worries...

"And what if it is?" He asked nervously, looking over at Ajit, "What will I do then?"

Ajit's gaze wandered out to the sea, "Well, that's the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream." He answered, looking back at Dan, his gaze still as soft as it had been a few minutes ago. Something about the way he'd said it calmed all of Dan's worries, his own gaze softening.. Reassured, Dan smiled, looking back out at the kingdom across the water. Waiting in anticipation for when the lanterns would be released.

Elsewhere at the castle, Queen Barbara straightened the golden sun emblem on King William's chest and smoothed down the silk fabric on the lapels of his jacket. Looking up at his face and noticing his crestfallen expression, her face fell too. She'd been trying to keep it together this year but every year the loss of her firstborn son hurt her more and more. Her hand cupped her husband's cheek, he looked at her, his eyes filled with sorrow and a single silent tear rolled down his cheek.

"I know, my dear.." She whispered, trying to sound reassuring but failing and just sounding equally as sad as her husband looked, she gently wiped away her husband's tear with a thumb.

A knock sounded at the door. She allowed the king a moment to wipe his teary eyes with a handkerchief, waiting for his nod before finally telling those on the other side to come in.

As expected, a young dark haired male entered, his crimson eyes apologetic and full of sympathy for the queen and king as he held the door open for the royal family's other son to enter. The Queen smiled gently at her son, taking in the details of his appearance, all perfectly neat as always. She was pleased to see it didn't look like her son was upset and that he didn't appear to have been crying at all, she wasn't sure she could keep it together any longer herself if they were all crying.

Queen Barbara turned her attention to her son's lord in waiting, "Thank you Magnus, you may go." She dismissed him.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Magnus bowed at the King and Queen then gave a small nod to the Prince before leaving, closing the door carefully behind him. Presumably off to meet with the Royal Alchemist's son before the lantern ceremony began.

The Queen smiled at her son, "Are we all ready?" She asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Her son muttered, his attention focused more on the wall to his side than on her or her question.

Her husband nodded silently.

The balcony doors were pushed open as the three royals stepped out. The King and Queen's attention completely focused on the lit lantern, tied down with loose ribbons. The Prince waited to the side as King William and Queen Barbara lifted up the lantern, releasing it from the ribbons weighing it down and letting it begin its ascension up into the sky, holding hands as they watched it float higher and higher. Behind them their second son watched the lantern ascend, unable to feel the same emotions his parents did.

After all, the second prince, Chet, hadn't been alive when Prince Dan had been stolen, and how can you miss someone you never even knew?

Below them, the courtyard, then gradually the entire Kingdom, filled with light as the Kingdom's subjects all lit and released their lanterns up into the sky, joining the King and Queen's one in the air.

Out at sea, Dan leaned out over the edge of the boat, placing a red flower next to a yellow one onto the water, then bringing himself back into place to take a small blue flower from Ajit's hand to place on the water's surface next. While waiting, the pair had noticed some of the flowers the girls from that morning had placed in his hair had fallen out into the bottom of the boat, so they'd decided to pick them up and decorate the water with them, as it was so still tonight that they simply remained in place when put there. He set the blue flower down, admiring the reflection of the Kingdom in between the flowers, a golden light shone in the reflection.

It took him a moment to realise what that meant.

His eyes widened as he looked up at the castle, not just its reflection, and saw the first lantern floating up into the sky.

Without thinking, he jumped up, rocking the boat severely as he ran to the boat's tall bow, grabbing hold of it to steady himself as he stared up at the lantern rising above, vaguely he was aware of Ajit falling over behind him which a small part of him did feel guilty for.. But every other part of him was hyper focused on the lantern.

All those days watching from the windows
All those years outside looking in
All that time never even knowing
Just how blind I've been

More lanterns began to rise above the city walls and down at the docks, people on boats began to release their lanterns too.

Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight
Now I'm here, suddenly I see
Standing here, it's all so clear
I'm where I'm meant to be

Dan was completely mesmerised, unable to look away. An involuntary smile across his face as he found himself completely lost in the sight in front of him. What seemed like a million lanterns were filling the starry night sky and he was certain he'd never find the words to describe something so beautiful, the true sight put all the paintings of them he'd ever done to shame.

And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted

Inexplicably, Dan suddenly felt a tinge of sadness, something felt missing. He tore his eyes away from the lanterns to look back at Ajit.

The boy with yellow streaks in his hair was already watching Dan, a soft smile across his features as he held two newly lit lanterns in his hands, waiting for Dan so they could release them together.

Dan quickly moved over to sit down back on the bench across from Ajit, "I have something for you too." He admitted, carefully pulling the satchel out from underneath his bench and holding it out for Ajit. "I should've given it to you before but I was just scared," that you'd leave me if I did, the unspoken words said, "But the thing is, I'm not scared anymore. You know what I'd mean?" He asked, nervously.

Ajit reached out towards the satchel, only to gently push it back onto the bench beside Dan. "I'm starting to." He murmured, passing Dan one of the two lanterns.

Dan lit up, unable to believe how lucky he was that the first person he'd met outside of his tower was possibly the most lovely person he'd ever have the fortune to meet.

The pair smiled at each other, then carefully released their lanterns up into the sky at the same time, following them with their eyes as their lanterns joined up with the ones released by the people of the Kingdom.

All those days chasing down a daydream
All those years living in a blur
All that time, never truly seeing
Things the way they were

Ajit was the first to look away from the golden glow above, to gaze at the boy across from him, a sight he would honestly admit, to himself and only himself, was equally as beautiful as the floating lanterns above, if not more so.

Now he's here, shining in the starlight
Now he's here, suddenly I know

He couldn't look away, even if he wanted to, completely enamoured with how Dan was so in awe of the lanterns, captivated with how Dan looked as he realized his dream. His own heart filled with joy as he watched how excited the other looked as he leaned out over the side of the boat to push a lantern back up into the sky, preventing it from falling in the water.
Something inside of him had changed, he wasn't sure he was ready to put a name to it but he knew what it was. He could easily name the cause of this change too...

His mind kept wandering off, daydreaming about what it would be like if Dan decided not to return to the tower? What if they stayed together after all this? Ajit sure wouldn't mind if that happened.

If he's here, it's crystal clear
I'm where I'm meant to go

Ajit couldn't resist, reaching out and taking hold of Dan's hands, the blond looked at him, azure met amber and Dan turned to face him.

"And at last I see the light"

"And it's like the fog has lifted"

"And at last I see the light"

"And it's like the sky is new"

Their eyes remained lost in each others', the view outside of their peripheral vision mixing the water's reflection of the dark sky and the lanterns with the reality surrounding and above them, so that it felt like they were floating on the sky itself.

"And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted"
"All at once, everything is different
Now that I see you
Now that I see you"

Something changed slightly in the atmosphere, as naturally as breathing, a pull created out of their emotions led them both to lean closer together. Ajit let go of one of Dan's hands, freeing it so he could reach up and gently cup the blond's cheek, it felt right, more so than anything else ever had. Dan's head tilted slightly into Ajit's palm, their lips now inches apart as their eyes both began to flutter shut.

Dan's eyes had already closed when Ajit noticed something on the shore, a green light contrasting the golden glow surrounding them, he narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see clearer, then slight panic set in as he realised the green glow was coming from an oil lantern being held by Everett and McQ, both thieves staring directly at their boat from the shore.

Ajit wondered what he should do, on one hand Dan was right there, so close he could feel the other male's breath on his lips, he could just continue like he hadn't seen anything and go in for the kiss he really wanted more than anything right now. But on the other hand... It was unnerving seeing Everett and McQ watching them like that, he knew they wanted the crown, which he now had back... If he rowed the boat to the shore and gave them the crown right now, they'd leave and he wouldn't have to worry about them following him anymore. He wouldn't have the crown anymore but he could honestly say he didn't care about it now, he'd found something far more important to him than some crown. He'd met Dan.

The decision was made for him.

"Is everything okay?" Dan asked, his eyes flickering open nervously.

Ajit blinked twice in quick succession, "Oh! Yes." Then he realised he'd been about to kiss Dan but had stopped, he probably thought... "Yes, of course. Everything's fine." He attempted to clarify, not wanting Dan to think he'd stopped because Ajit didn't like him, he did, he really did. He gently squeezed Dan's hand in reassurance, smiling softly at him. "I just..." He trailed off, unsure how to explain.

Instead, he rowed them over to the shore.

"I'm sorry, everything is fine." He attempted to reassure Dan again as he jumped out of the boat, "There's just something I have to take care of." He murmured, the satchel in his hands feeling like a heavy burden that he couldn't wait to rid himself of.

Dan seemed confused but nodded, he trusted Ajit, "Alright." He agreed. Feeling Buzzy hop onto his shoulder.

"I'll be back." Ajit murmured, looking at Dan for a few seconds longer before tearing his eyes away and heading towards where he thought the two thieves would be. Ready to give away the crown, to give away whatever amount of money he could make from having stolen it, simply because of this boy he'd met with the magic hair and the gentle smile and preferring Ajit to Ajax and nearly kissing him on the boat...

Dan made him want to be a better person, he made him want to quit being Ajax the thief and start being Ajit again, the seventeen year-old orphan who used to read to younger kids daily, who made stupid jokes at any given opportunity and who'd fallen in love under the golden light of the floating lanterns.