Morning rose over the Kingdom while Ajit paced up and down within the confined space of his cell. He hadn't slept a wink all night, too worried about Dan to even consider sleeping. His mind was racing. He stared out the cell window, his hands on the bars, desperately wishing he could leave and check that the one he cared so much about, no, the one he loved, was okay.

A key turned in the cell door and it creaked open, he'd been so out of it, he hadn't even heard the footsteps of the guard Captain or the two guards which accompanied him, approaching the cell. All three wore stern expressions, "Let's get this over with, Ajax." The Captain spoke firmly.

"Where are we going..?" Ajit asked, his mind too focused on Dan and what might have happened to figure it out until the Captain raised his chin. Ajit's hand rose to his neck in sudden fear. "Oh."

"There, it never happened." Omnivia chimed, plucking the last flower from Dan's hair and letting it fall down into the basket beside her. She stood, picking the basket up from the floor. "Now, wash up for dinner." She told him, smiling, in enough of a good mood to act vaguely sympathetic and caring now that Dan had sung for her and rejuvenated her youth again. "I'm making hazelnut soup." Then she paused, looking back at the downcast expression on her son's face. A disgruntled look fell across her face at his lack of reaction for how generous she was being, helping him remove the evidence of his rebellion, making his favourite food and not even commenting on the weird green creature he was keeping with him. "I really did try, Dan. I tried to warn you about what was out there." She chided, "The world is dark, and selfish, and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it." She told him, closing the curtains in his doorway and turning on her heel.

It was only once his Mother had left that Dan carefully pulled something out of his pocket. The purple flag with the golden sun emblem. He unfolded it carefully, looking down at it with sorrow. Unable to forget the one who gifted it to him despite the betrayal. Buzzy curled up beside him, brushing against his leg and turning blue to show he understood Dan's sadness. Despite everything, it got a weak smile out of the boy. He fell backwards on his bed, holding the flag to his chest, his eyes trailing around the room at all the paintings on his walls.

Then he caught sight of something, he raised the flag back up in front of his face, then put it back down to look at the paintings, then looked at the flag again... Slowly, he sat up, taking a better look at the painting.

His eyes widened in realisation as he saw the shape of the golden sun in the midst of a painting of a flock of birds, then another among a family of animals. One more in a painting of some leaves, a fairy's pose, wings and dress created the same sun shape too... Everywhere he looked, in all of his paintings, he could now see this sun emblem. He jumped up, taking all of them in, they all jumped out at him, they were so blindingly obvious, how had he never seen them before?
In the face of all these golden suns, a forgotten memory sparked, awakened once more.

The sun emblem on a hanging mobile above him, to the side of it, two blurry but kind faces looked down on him, a woman with brown hair and a man with hair a shade of heather. Both with shining circlets of gold on their heads... Crowns.
Another memory flashed through his head, the mural he'd seen in the city the day before, the man and woman's faces matched the ones of the King and Queen... And the baby in their arms, he realised with sudden clarity, resembled him... They had the same blue eyes and the same blond hair, aside from the red streak in his current hair from when someone had tried to cut it when he was a baby..

He remembered trying on the crown in front of the mirror just two days before. Suddenly, that image felt a lot more natural than it had done a few days ago.

He stumbled backwards, knocking over a stool as he fell onto the floor. One thought and only one thought spinning around in his head.

Back in the castle's dungeons, Ajit was being led handcuffed, past the other cells towards the execution chamber. No criminals dared make eye contact with him, he just felt numb, unable to do anything. Wanting to find out if Dan was okay but unable to do anything except allow the guards to lead him towards his final breath.

Then he noticed who the occupants in one cell were and his numbness gave way to fury. He shoved as hard as he could against the guards, knocking them both over, and jumped up, bringing his handcuffed hands back to his front. Then used them to yank the front of Everett's shirt and hold him against the bars of the cell.

"How did you know about him?" He snapped, "Tell me, now!" The raw fury was so clear in his tone that Everett almost seemed scared of him.

The older thief's eyes were wide, caught off guard by the sudden aggression. "It- It wasn't us!" He protested, "It was the old lady."

Ajit blinked, "Old lady..." He murmured, what old lady could have possibly known about Dan's powers, which he'd been so intent on keeping secret, except... His Mother.
Suddenly, he was ripped away from the cell by the two guards, "Wait, no, wait!" He screamed, fighting them, a third guard came to assist the first two. "You don't understand, he's in trouble!"

"Dan?" Omnivia called up the stairs, "Dan, what's going on up there?" She asked, slightly concerned by the crashing noise she'd heard. She'd just gotten back her way of having eternal youth, she was hoping he wasn't doing anything reckless that could endanger that.

The boy sat on the floor panting but slowly stood up and moved in a daze towards the doorway, pushing the curtains open.

Omnivia paused, "Are you alright?" She asked again.

"I'm the lost prince..." Dan whispered breathlessly.

Omnivia clicked her tongue, "Please speak up, Dan. You know how I feel about the mumbling." She complained harshly.

Her harsh words set a fire alight in Dan's heart.

"I'm the lost prince, aren't I?" He snapped. Watching as his mother simply stared, her eyes widening in shock. "Did I mumble, Mother?" He asked, "Or should I even call you that?"

That had been his second realisation after he'd figured out he was the lost prince, Omnivia couldn't be his true mother if he was the child of the King and Queen and that boy in the city the day before had told him the Prince was stolen as a baby... He was starting to work things out.

"Oh, Dan, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" Omnivia asked, gliding up the rest of the stairs, her arms open, preparing to pull Dan into a hug, but he stopped her, pushing her away firmly.

Every time he said something Omnivia disagreed with she'd always shut him down with harsh words while offering him affection, making him feel guilty about upsetting her. He wouldn't be shut down this time. He'd finally figured out her game.

"It was you! It was all, you."

More things were slotting into place, how did those thieves even know about his powers? The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that Ajit wouldn't have told them, even if Ajit was truly a bad person, he would've just kept the secret of Dan's powers to use for himself.
Besides, if Omnivia had stolen him as a baby, wouldn't she want to get him back after he ran away? She'd shown up with, now he thought of it, suspiciously good timing after the thieves had tried to take him and she'd appeared after him and Ajit had set up camp for the night too, giving him the crown which was what the thieves originally wanted and the reason Ajit had left in the end.

Omnivia's concerned expression dropped from her face like a mask. Giving way for a look of clear anger and distaste. "Everything I did was to protect you." She spat.
In a moment of fury, Dan pushed past her, starting to descend the stairs.

"Dan!" She snapped.

"I spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power."

"Dan!" Omnivia yelled, outraged.

"And I should've been hiding. From you." He glared at her.

Omnivia looked down at him. "Where will you go?" She asked apathetically. "He won't be there for you."

The boy's eyes widened in fear, "What did you do to him..?" He asked, terrified to hear what the woman he'd thought of as his mother might have done to the one person who'd ever seemed to genuinely care about him.

"That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes." Omnivia told him bluntly.

Dan's breath caught in his throat, "No..." He whispered.

"Now, now.." Omnivia consoled, "It's alright, all of this is as it should be." She lifted a hand up to pat his head, only for Dan to grip hold of her wrist.

"No!" He glared directly at her, holding her wrist with an iron grip. "You were wrong about the world. No, you lied about it." He spat. Feeling Omnivia try to release her wrist from his hold. "And you were wrong about me! And I will never let you use my hair, ever again!" He pushed Omnivia's wrist away at the exact same moment as she pulled harshly away from him, sending her stumbling backwards, knocking over a mirror. The same mirror Omnivia would always gaze upon herself in, commenting on her own perfection and pointing out all of Dan's flaws. The same mirror Dan had looked at himself in when he'd tried on the crown he'd found in Ajit's bag.

Omnivia panted, short on breath, watching as Dan turned and began to walk away. She glared at his back, "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy." She snarled quietly, slowly stepping forwards and stalking after Dan...

Back in the dungeons, Ajit was still struggling against the guards. As they pushed him forwards, he spotted a tiny ceramic dragon in a filled in arched window. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes... Why on earth would the Royal Guard have a ceramic dragon about the size of his thumb in the dungeons? And why did it feel vaguely familiar to him...

He was left with no time to ponder this as the door slammed shut in front of the Guard Captain, then followed by all of the doors in the corridor. Ajit and the guards were all equally as shocked as each other. "What's this?" Captain Short snapped. "Open up!" He yelled, hitting his fist against the door in front of him.

Suddenly, the small barred panel at the top of the door slid open. "What's the password?" A familiar looking girl with pink hair and violet eyes grinned at them all before slamming the panel shut again.

"What?" Captain Short wrinkled his brow. Entirely confused as to what was going on.

The panel slid open again, "Nope, try again!" The girl responded cheerfully before closing the panel once more.

"Open this door!" Captain Short demanded.

The panel slid open. "Not even close." Mia yawned, closing the panel again immediately after.

"You have three seconds," The Captain threatened. "One..."

Behind him, a hook grabbed one of the guards holding Ajit. The other guard and Ajit both looked around shocked. "Two..." But just as the guard and Ajit both spotted who was hanging from the ceiling, a side door opened and grabbed the guard, pulling him back through the door before he could say anything. "Three..." The guard's helmet fell to the ground with a loud clatter, prompting Captain Short to turn around.

Ajit, now having figured out what was going on, simply smiled and gave a small wave to the Guard Captain.
The door behind the Captain opened and E stood there, a frying pan in hand, which she quickly slammed against Captain Short's head, knocking him to the ground.

Ajit grinned, "Frying pans! Who knew, right?" He laughed.

Then the time for joking was over as a load of guards broke down the door, charging at him and the Snuggly Duckling gang, Ajit wasted no time in following E in running away, past Juno, who had puppets on each hand who proceeded to distract them with a mini puppet show for long enough that Cee, Bee and Dee alongside a large bird were able to ram into the guards.

Finally, Ajit, E and Aay, who had joined them in one of the corridors, got outside into the courtyard. It seemed the entire Royal Guard was aware of the intrusion from the Snuggly Duckling gang and the jailbreak of the thief Ajax.

"Head down." Aay ordered.

Ajit put his head down.

"Arms in?"

Ajit did as he was told again. "Arms in." He confirmed.

"Knees apart." Aay told him.

"Knees apart." Ajit confirmed, then a puzzled expression fell across his face. "Knees apart? Why do I need to keep my knees apa-" He cut himself off by screaming as Juno jumped from a high place onto the back of the wagon Ajit was standing on the front of, launching him high into the air just as the guards surrounded them below.

He kept screaming in fear until he landed on the leather saddle of a horse. It whinnied at him. "Lightning.." He murmured, "You brought them here...?" He asked, barely able to believe his eyes.
Weirdly, the horse seemed to nod.

"Thank you," He breathed, then as the horse whinnied again, he added, "No really, thank you." It had just settled in that if this horse, that had previously been so intent on getting him arrested, had not chosen to help him, he would've been dead. "Uh.. I just feel like maybe we've been misunderstanding each other this whole time and we've really just got a lot-" He noticed the deadpan look the horse was shooting him. "Yeah, you're right, we should go." He hurriedly finished.
His tiredness must be affecting him more than he'd thought if he's trying to have a heartfelt conversation with a horse. No matter if the horse just saved his life or not.

A door swung open behind them and three soldiers of the Royal Guard began shooting arrows at them from their crossbows, all of which were easily dodged by Lightning.

Ajit watched ahead of them, noticing a large group of soldiers running towards them from a separate turret. How exactly were they going to escape...?

"Lightning..?" He warned, the horse kept running fast towards the corner of the wall. "Lightning?!" He then screeched, terrified as the horse jumped off the building, over a large gap, skidding down the roof of a house and galloping at full speed through the city.

Ajit realised something then, this horse knew what it was doing. So he put his full trust in it.

"Okay, Lightning, let's see how fast you can run." He gripped tight onto the reins as the horse ran at its full speed. Never slowing down the whole way to the tower until Ajit finally jumped off outside.

"Dan!" He yelled, panicking. There was no response. Was he too late? Did Dan even still care about him? Did he think he'd abandoned him? He hoped he didn't. Was Dan alright? "Dan!" He screamed, terrified.

He ran to the side of the tower to try climbing it but stopped upon hearing the loud sound of a bolt undoing. The window of the tower opened and down from it fell Dan's long hair. A grin of relief broke out across Ajit's face. Dan was okay, he was safe, he still cared about him. He wasted no time in climbing up Dan's hair and up into the tower. "Dan, I thought I'd never see you again." He cried, jumping in through the window. Then his eyes widened in shock as he saw the scene in front of him. Dan was tied up to a wooden beam, cloth over his mouth to prevent him from speaking. Ajit could do nothing but stare, uncertain what to make of the situation as Dan, fear in his eyes, tried to yell his name out in warning.

A sharp, harsh pain stabbed deeply into his stomach. Ajit collapsed down onto the floor, gripping his wound in agony. Blood was seeping through his shirt and onto his hands.

"Now look at what you've done, Dan." A stern female voice spoke from behind him. If Ajit weren't already curled up in pain on the ground, the harshness of that tone would've been enough to make him recoil into himself. The blond let out another muffled yell, "Oh don't worry, dear. Our secret will die with him." The woman spoke coolly, stepping over Ajit and casually moving over to Dan. "And as for us, we are going where no one will ever find you again." She untied his chains from the wooden beam and the boy instantly tried to scramble away but ultimately failed to do anything except loosen the cloth over his mouth as Omnivia pulled him backwards by the chain.

Buzzy skittered over from where he'd been hidden against the wall and tried to pull on the bottom of Omnivia's dress to stop her, the woman kicked him across the room, either uncaring about the chameleon getting hurt or happy to hurt it just to achieve her goals.

"Dan, really. Enough already." She snapped, irritated with how the boy kept struggling. "Stop fighting me!" She ordered, yanking him to his feet and trying to pull him down the trapdoor in the floor of the tower.

The boy pulled away, the cloth finally slipping fully off his mouth as he fell to the floor. "No!" He gasped out, "I won't stop. For every minute of the rest of my life I will fight. I will never stop trying to get away from you." He spoke fiercely, glaring at the woman he'd thought of as his mother for the past eighteen years with a level of hatred he had never believed he could ever have for her. "But," He spoke, levelling his tone. "If you let me save him, I will go with you." He spoke calmly as he set the ultimatum.

"No. No... Dan, no..." Ajit protested from the floor behind him but Dan ignored it. He'd known from the second he'd heard Ajit was to be executed that he'd do anything to save him. Now, Ajit was right in the same room as him... He couldn't let him die. Even if it meant sacrificing his own freedom to save him.

He looked directly into Omnivia's eyes, "I'll never run, I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him and I will stay with you forever, just like you want. Everything will be the way it was, I promise. Everything will be just like you want." He spoke honestly. He'd be willing to do all of that. Let Omnivia continue using his power, go somewhere else and remain locked up for as long as they both lived.. Anything, just to keep Ajit alive. Anything, for the one he loved. "Just let me heal him."

Omnivia glared down at him for a moment before nodding, "Fine." She decided. She freed Dan from his chains but before he could go heal Ajit, she stopped him. Taking the chains over to the young thief and chaining him by one hand to the wall. "In case you get any ideas about following us." She told him coolly before walking away and giving a nod towards Dan.

"Ajit!" Dan yelled, running over to the other boy as fast as he could and cupping his cheeks in his hands, trying to look at his face. Ajit was struggling a lot, his breathing was clearly laboured and he kept coughing. He felt awful, why did he ever doubt Ajit? He was here right now dying because of how much he'd cared about Dan..
The blond gently pried Ajit's hands away from his wound to observe it, feeling worse as he saw the crimson stain pooling across his shirt. "I'm so sorry..." Dan murmured, "Everything is going to be okay though, I promise." He tried to reassure him, attempting to place some of his hair on the wound.

It was pushed back, "No, Dan, I can't let you do this." Ajit responded weakly yet seriously. He wanted nothing more than for Dan to be safe and free and living the life he'd always wanted to... He couldn't let him give that up just to save him.

Dan managed to place his hair on the wound, "And I can't let you die." He whispered back, terrified at the thought of the one person to ever truly care about him dying.

"But if you do this..." Ajit choked out, "Then you will die..." He murmured. It wasn't exactly what he'd meant to say but he was in too much pain to think up the correct words to communicate his thoughts.
Something glinting on the ground nearby caught his eye.

"Hey.. It's gonna be alright..." Dan whispered, cupping Ajit's cheek with a gentle hand.

Azure met amber, both struggling not to tear up.

"Dan, wait." Ajit said, gently pushing Dan's hair out of the boy's face with one hand, then pulling it all fully back as if he were going to tie it into a ponytail, the way he'd sometimes used to for one of his old thieving comrades when she'd asked him for help tying her hair... Then he brought his other hand up and with the shard of broken mirror he'd seen glinting nearby in the light from the window, he sliced through all the hair in one go. Then he slumped backwards, exhausted by the effort it had taken him to do that, yet a smile formed across his lips. Dan would be free and safe now.

Dan's eyes widened in shock, "Ajit, what..?" He mumbled, out of the corners of his eyes he could see his now short hair turning brown. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noted how that was unexpected, he'd figured all of his hair would turn red if it were cut the way that one piece had. He grabbed hold of the long, now unattached piece of hair, now also turning brown, and was unable to do anything but stare at it in horror as he realised his only way to save Ajit was gone.

"No!" He heard Omnivia scream, bundling the still blond part of the hair into her arms, but dropping it instantly as it too turned brown. "No... What have you done?!" She yelled, staring down at her hand as her skin turned from smooth to wrinkled. Her hair fading from its deep shade of black to a wispy grey, her skin paled too to the point where all her veins were visible and her eyes sunk into their sockets. She screamed again, stumbling forwards to look at her reflection in the remains of the shattered mirror. "No, no, no, NO!" She screeched, backing away senselessly and pulling the hood of her cloak as far down over her face as it would go. Dan watched on in disbelief at the transformation, this was why Omnivia had wanted his powers so badly... To remain unnaturally young, forever. She continued stumbling backwards.

Buzzy jumped up from where he'd previously been kicked to, grabbing some of the long severed length of hair in his mouth and pulling it taught, just as Omnivia shuffled backwards into it, tripping her over. "No, NO!" She screamed, Dan reached his arms out in a panic but it was far too late, Dan couldn't reach her from the floor and Omnivia was already falling out of the window from the tower and towards the ground below. Still screaming the whole way until her body, far too ancient to sustain itself without the magic of the sundrop flower, turned to dust in the air. Her clothes falling in a pile on the ground.

Dan stared over at the window in disbelief, Omnivia was gone... Then he looked back at Ajit, who he'd temporarily forgotten about in the shock of all the things happening in that moment. The boy had collapsed fully on the floor, his wound still bleeding out, his breathing had become a lot slower now and his eyes had closed. "No, no, no, no, no, Ajit?" He asked, panicking as he rolled the boy onto his lap. The only response he received was some light coughing. "Look at me, look at me.. I'm right here..." Dan whispered. "Don't go, stay with me, Ajit." He was completely terrified. He couldn't save Ajit. What on earth was he doing? How could Ajit do that? Now he was going to die and Dan had never wanted anything to happen less.

He grabbed Ajit's hand and held it to his head, hoping desperately in vain that his powers would still work one last time. "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..." His voice cracked, he knew it was hopeless but he wanted to keep trying anyway.

"Dan." Ajit spoke, his eyes opening for a second, then slipping shut again. It took too much effort from his body to keep them open.

The red streaked-brunette choked back a sob, "What?" He barely got the words out in a whisper.

"You were my new dream.." Ajit whispered.

A sob escaped Dan, "And you were mine."

Ajit's breathing gave out completely. Dan looked down at his face, wishing he could have had longer with the thief who had stolen his heart. He studied every feature from the tan skin, to his messy dark brown hair with the three yellow stripes running through it. He thought about everything he'd wanted to do with the other, watching the lanterns again, kissing, spending their lives together, he wouldn't care if they were on the run, living peacefully in a city or travelling the world, as long as it was the two of them. He wished he could look into Ajit's amber eyes one more time, hear him talk about the books he'd named his thief persona after, he wanted to hear him make more stupid jokes that always made Dan laugh. He wanted to live alongside Ajit, he wanted Ajit to live.

He loved him. He loved Ajit so much and Ajit had loved him back. All he wanted was for him to be alive and okay and not dead and it hurt so much. He loved him but he was gone.

He sat there cradling Ajit's lifeless body for who knows how long, looking down at his face and wishing with all his heart and soul that he would defy all logic and start breathing again and that he'd be alright... His eyes were filled with tears he was yet to cry, his hand cupped Ajit's cheek, growing colder by the second.

"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design...
Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine." He wasn't even sure why he was singing, his voice was hoarse, it felt pointless even to him, but he hoped against hope either way. He lowered his face down until it was only inches apart from Ajit's, his eyes sliding shut as he finally accepted what had happened. "What once was mine..." He whispered, the first - of what was likely to be many - teardrop fell as he finally accepted the truth and let himself cry.

The one he loved was dead.

Unbeknownst to Dan, with his eyes shut, the teardrop sunk into Ajit's cheek. A faint golden light glowing in the spot where it had sunk in, then transforming into a swirl shaped like a golden flower, or a golden sun. The light faded as it moved down towards the wound, then started to grow outwards, the bright golden light attracting Dan's attention and causing him to look up and see just as the light grew upwards in golden tendrils of life, winding up to the highest point within the tower from where they formed at the wound in Ajit's stomach. A golden flower made entirely of light formed above the boy's body. Then slowly, all the light faded. The last glowing spot right above where the wound had been.

Dan could barely breathe as he checked desperately for a pulse, then as Ajit's eyes tiredly opened, "Dan..?" He mumbled.

"Ajit..?" The red streaked boy whispered, afraid to talk any louder as if this were all some complex illusion that would shatter if he did.

The other boy looked up at him, "..Did I ever tell you, I've got a thing for brunettes?" He joked.

A huge smile broke out across Dan's face, the way he'd never have thought he'd ever smile again just minutes before when Ajit had been dead. He couldn't help but pull the other up into a hug, letting out a few tears of joy into his shoulder before pulling back to look at Ajit's face again, letting out a laugh and then pulling him into a kiss, like he'd wanted to since the boat. Ajit kissed him back and for a moment everything was right with the world.

A few hours later, at the palace, a guard flung open the door to the King and Queen's private lounge. "Your Majesties... Please, forgive my intrusion. It's him. He's returned." He gasped out. The royals stood up, their eyes wide in shock as the guard explained a little more, they wasted no time running outside to the balcony where they'd been told their son was waiting.

They both paused before the door, looking at each other nervously, they'd had people try to pretend to be their lost son before... They couldn't get their hopes up.

But then, as King William pushed the doors open they caught sight of the boy that had been stolen from them as a child, with the exact same hair colour as his Mother the Queen, the same eyes as his Father the King and the same face shape as their other son, standing next to the thief Ajax who'd been responsible for bringing him back to them...

The Queen tentatively walked forwards, hardly believing what she was seeing. The boy before her was undoubtedly her son, the lost prince, the baby who'd been stolen from them now returned.

Dan's real mother cupped his cheek, tearful smiles across both Mother and Son's faces before Barbara pulled him into a hug filled with all the love she hadn't been able to share with him the past eighteen years. Dan hugged her back, relief flooding through him as it finally sunk in that he had parents who truly loved him. He looked up from his mother's shoulder, accidentally making eye contact with his father, who looked at him as tearfully and as lovingly as his mother had; before joining the hug, sandwiching Dan between the love of his two parents who'd missed him every day.

The three sank down onto the ground, still hugging. Ajit simply watched on, smiling, glad to see Dan's instant connection with his parents. The Queen looked up at him and reached out towards him with one hand. Mistaking her gesture for a handshake Ajit accepted her hand but was surprised, albeit pleasantly, when she pulled him into the group hug. For what was maybe the third time ever in his life, he felt like he may be able to fit in somewhere, surrounded by people who cared about him. With Dan by his side, he was sure his old dream would come true.

As for his new dream... He felt Dan's newly short hair brush against his cheek and he relaxed further into the embrace. He was sure he and Dan would stay together for a long time to come.