~Nick's POV~

"Careful Jon." I said as I placed my box down on a table in the storage room of the barracks.

"Don't worry Nick, I told you I've got this." He said confidently. Despite his reassurance, I couldn't help but hover nearby as he approached the high table and set the large box down. "See?" Jon smiled smugly at me then turned, banging his lute against the table.

"JON!" I shouted as the boxes teetered precariously on the edge of the table. I lunged towards the table, pushing the boxes back on before they could fall. Once I was sure they were steady, I turned to a nervous looking Jon.

"Heh heh... uh, nice reflexes?" He said hesitantly. I glared at him. The jester rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, making the bells on his hat jingle. I let out a shaky sigh.

"Jon...." For a second I thought about telling him off, but I couldn't bring myself to say a critical word against my best friend. "That was a close one." I said with a smile. Jon's nervous smile brightened in relief as he visabally relaxed.

"Yeah," he laughed, "good thing I have the best knight in all of Nera here with me."

I snorted. "Where? There's no one here except for us."

Jon rolled his eyes and leaned against the stone wall of the storeroom. "Oh come on, Nick, I've seen you fight with those axes," he said, gesturing to the diamond weapons that hung on each side of my waist; "you're unstoppable."

"What?! That's so untrue!" I said. "There are plenty of people who can beat me."

"Still, you could probably become a captain one day."

I scoffed at that. "No way, Jon. Besides, I'm not destined to be a captain, you know I'm just a regular guard."

"Yeah, but... haven't...haven't you ever thought about doing something bigger?"

I cocked an eyebrow at my friend, not understanding his question. "What do you mean?"

Jon hesitated, clearly uncomfortable about what he was saying. He bit his lip as he thought about how to phrase his next statement. "Well... it's just-"

"Hey guys, what's going on here?" A soft voice asked. I turned to face a young looking white haired man as he entered the storeroom. Like mine, his slim figure was covered in armor.

"Hello Paul." I greeted my fellow knight.

"Hi Nick, Jon." He nodded his head towards Jon who in return waved and offered Paul a little smile. "What are you guys doing in here?"

"Oh," I said, "we're just talking about-"

"Nick was just dropping off some supplies. I was helping." Jon quickly said. I glanced at him questiongly before turning back to Paul.

"Anyway... what are you doing here, Paul?"

Paul shuffled his feet and gave me a sheepish look. "Oh, well, actually, I was hoping to find you. You're off duty now, correct?"

I raised an eyebrow at the man. "Yes, why?"

"Well... I hate to ask you this, but would you mind covering my shift? You know I wouldn't ask unless it was important."

I creased my brow in worry. Paul was a nice guy. Being older than me, he had already been in the royal guard for six or so years by the time I was ready to join. Paul had helped me get used to castle life and had covered my mistakes while I was still learning. I owed Paul a lot, which was why I didn't hesitate to answer.

"Of course! May I ask if something is wrong?"

Paul shook his head. "Nothing too serious. Paula's a little under the weather and I just wanted to go home and take care of her."

Paul, being one of the older knights as well as married, lived in the village instead of the barracks with the more 'rookie' knights.

"That's really sweet, of course I'll cover your shift." I said. "What do you need me to do?"

Paul smiled gratefully. "Thank you Nick. It's nothing big, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm supposed to be taking over Thompson's shift in fifteen minutes. He's guarding a door in the west wing of the castle, fourth floor. He was going to give me more details once I got there."

I bit my lip, thinking for a second. "Alright, that seems fine. Do I need to bring anything?"

Paul shook his head. "No, what you have now should be fine. I'll alert the captain of the change in schedule. Thank you Nick, I owe you one."

I laughed. "It's not a problem at all, Paul. Tell Lady Paula I wish her get well."

Paul nodded and hurried out of the room. I started to leave too, only to be stopped by a high voice.

"Jon's still here ya know." Jon reminded me, causing a small wave of guilt to run through me.

"Jon, I'm so sorry, I know you wanted to talk more."

Jon laughed, his ever present smile assuring me he wasn't mad. "Don't worry, Nick, it's all good. I'm not going to be upset with you for helping others, you're always helping others! I knew what I was getting into when I became your friend."

Despite his cheery tone, I still felt bad for neglecting him. I thought for a second, trying to think of a way to make it up to him. "Would you like to join me?"

Jon's already bright eyes lit up. "Really?" Then his face fell. "Wait, Paul said you're going to the west wing on the fourth floor, right?

"Yes, why?"

Jon's expression cleared. "No reason, let's go!"

I raised an eyebrow at his sudden change as he brushed past me. "Alright then."

* * *

Jon and I climbed up the last few echoey steps and turned a couple corners before finally arriving at the west wing. Sir Thompson leaned against a door with his arms crossed, silently watching us approach. Jon hung back as I stopped in front of Thompshon, straightened, and saluted him.

"Sir Nicholas Shootzkie, Knight 143 covering for Sir Paul, reporting for duty."

Thompson didn't salute me back. He scanned me, looking over me scrutinizingly before meeting my eye. "Where's Paul." He asked. I sighed and dropped my arm to my side.

"Sir Paul asked me to cover his shift. He's currently getting the change approved by the captain."

Thompshon still didn't move. Refusing to give off the impression that his frosty stare intimidated me, neither did I.

Thompson was a couple years older than me and stood a few inches taller. He was a brawny fellow and I suppose his size and strength were meant to make up for his arrogant personality which was severely lacking any charisma. He sniffed and rubbed his hand under his nose. He glanced over my shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Jon. Uh oh. I thought.

"Why's the clown here." Thompson asked, pointing at the jester with his chin. I glanced back as Jon stiffened behind me.

"Hey, I'm not a clown, I'm a jester! There's a huge difference!"

"Wasn't talking to you." Thompson said with a smirk in his eyes. He was obviously enjoying getting Jon riled up. His gaze returned to my eyes as he ignored the angry look Jon was giving him and repeated his question. "Why's the clown here."

I sighed. "Jonathon is a member of the castle staff. He is free to go wherever he wants and currently he's accompanying me. If you're concerned about him becoming a distraction or something, I can assure you-"

"I don't care." Thompson said, cutting me off and pushing himself off the door. "If he does anything or something goes wrong because the two of you were talking or messing around, it's your head on the line, Shootzkie, not mine."

I shifted uncomfortably, trying not to show my obvious distaste for the man in front of me. "Yes, thank you for the advice." I said stiffly. "I am well aware of the consequences that come with failure to complete my duties. You don't need to be worried."

Thompson snorted. "Wasn't worried. It would actually be quite... entertaining to see the golden boy get a mark on his perfect record." Thompson said, stepping away from the door. I stared at him in shock.

"Wha-?"

Thompson threw something at me and I instinctively raised my hands to catch it. It was a small keyring with two brass keys. "Guard the door, don't let anyone in or out unless they show the proper identification. Rogers should come by in a couple of hours for his shift." He said. I nodded, still concerned about his previous statement, but glad to get back to proper protocol. As Thompson passed me he stopped, grabbing my shoulder. "And Nick...," he whispered, breath heavy against my ear, "one quick piece of advice. Be careful about the type of people you associate with." He glanced behind me and I looked over my shoulder at Jon. The jester had stayed back after his dispute with Thompson and was currently glaring at the ground, a furious red covering his unnaturally pale face. I turned back to Thompson. He locked eyes with me, keeping his voice low. A wicked smile twitched at his lips. "Or else people will start considering you as a part of the joke."

He let go of me and walked towards the stairway. I let my eyes follow him as he shoved past Jon who stumbled to the side, muttering a small 'oof' as he regained his footing. Thompson laughed and Jon glared at the man's retreating back but stayed silent. I glanced at Jon worriedly before stepping in front of the simple wooden door, turning Thompsons' words over and over in my head.

"Yeesh, that guy's just as pleasant as always." Jon mumbled once Thompson was out of ear-shot. We could still hear the sound of his boots against the echoey floors of the halls. "I still don't understand how acting like that isn't against your knight 'chivalry code' thing."

"It's... complicated." I said, sighing. "Technically, Thompson doesn't believe he's doing anything wrong considering your lower status and," I cleared my throat, not making eye contact as I gestured at Jon's hat, "entertaining position. He believes that he's just using you to make himself laugh, which is your job. His sense of humor is just very...ah cruel."

"Yeah, no kidding." Jon mumbled, walking towards me. "It kind of sucks."

"But I thought you liked being a jester?" I said quickly, trying to cheer up my friend. He sighed.

"I mean yeah, making people laugh, telling jokes, being goofy, playing songs, I love all that stuff, but... I don't know, it's... different when you've been forced to do that your whole life. I just... want people to laugh with me, not at me, you know?" Jon sighed. "It's just- I guess it's- it's like what we were talking about before." Jon kept stopping and restarting his sentence. I could tell he was nervous by the way he unconsciously rubbed the small scar on his hand, a habit of his. "It's like what I was saying about you being captain. You definitely have the skill to become one, don't you ever wish you had the opportunity to?"

"Not really." I said honestly, shrugging. "I mean, I've never really thought about it."

Jon stepped closer. "Well, would you?"

I blinked. "Would I what?"

"Want to become captain?" Jon asked again.

"I-I don't know...."

While it was extremely uncommon, it wasn't quite impossible for someone to move up to a position not given to them by the Seer. To do so though, the person would have to be extremely talented, skilled, and have a good deal of luck on their side. So, definitely not me. I thought. But... if it were possible, would I even want it? Being captain would be a lot of responsibility. It would be up to me to make sure the village and the castle stayed safe. I'd control the knights and be able to put my strategies to use..." Smiling, I mused over the idea in my head. I'd be respected and I'd be able to protect the people I care about. I could bring honor to the knighthood and-, I shook my head. No. I wasn't born to be a captain. It's useless to think about this kind of thing.

"It doesn't matter." I said to the eagerly awaiting Jon. "Being a captain wasn't my assigned purpose."

Jon groaned. "But just imagine! What if we weren't bound by all these stupid rules! I mean, just because some washed up old guy with the power to see into the future thought I'd be a good jester, why does that have to be my whole freaking life!"

"Jon, shhh!" I hissed, hushing the jester anxiously. "Don't speak out against the Seer, you know that's not allowed!"

Jon glared. He was getting angry and I was worried someone might hear him if he kept raising his voice. "And there's another thing, all of these stupid things that aren't allowed! I can't stand up to Thompson, I can't be an equal to you or Dawn, or Ashlie, and Seer forbid someone see me talking to Uni, I can't go to any place above the third floor unless called for, I can't leave the castle-"

"Wait," I cut in, "did you just say that you're not allowed past the third floor?"

Jon's eyes widened. "Oops. Uh, maybe?"

"Jon, this is the fourth floor, you knew this!" I cried.

"Yeah, but I just really wanted to talk." Jon mumbled, kicking his colorful shoes against the ground.

"I knon, Jon, but if you're caught here we'll both be in serious trouble!"

Jon waved away my worry and smiled. "But we're not gonna get caught! Who's gonna know that I can't be here? Trust me, I wouldn't put you in a situation where-"

"They're just this way, captain." A voice called from the staircase. Jon's eyes widened.

"That's Thompson!" I hissed at him. "And he's with the captain!"

"Shoot, he's... one of the people who knows."

"JON!"

"I know, I know, it's fine, it's fine!" The jester whispered, trying to soothe me. It wasn't working.

"It's not fine Jon, not by any definition of the word!" I whisper shouted. I looked up and down the long hallway before training my eyes on the frightened looking Jon. He ran up to the nearest door and pulled on the handle, trying to find a place to hide.

"It's locked!" Jon whispered.

"Yeah," I replied in annoyance, "it's likely that all of the doors here are locked!" The footsteps and voices grew louder. Jon sucked in a tight breath. His bright purple eyes met my brown ones and I noticed the quiver of fear hidden in his usually joyful eyes.

"Jon screwed up." He whispered.

"Yeah, no kidding!"

Suddenly, Jon's eyes lit up as he got an idea. "Give me your keys!" He said. My eyes widened in response.

"What? No! Are you trying to get us in even more trouble?!"

Jon started reaching for my pocket where I had put the keys. "No, just trust me! I'll hide in the room until they pass, you can tell them that I left or something, and then you'll unlock the door and let me out once they leave!"

I easily resisted the jesters weak attempts at confiscating the keys. "No, Jon, that's a bad idea, like a really bad idea."

Jon stopped struggling and locked eyes with me, well as much as he could with him being cross eyed. "Nick, please, just tell them I left. I don't want you to get into trouble because of me. Please, we don't have time!"

I quickly weighed our options. If they find Jon here, we're both in trouble, if I tell them that he just stopped by to say hello, there's a chance that neither of us will get in trouble. If I just keep standing here, freaking out, we'll definitely get in trouble. "Fine." I grabbed the keys and shoved them into the lock with shaky fingers, already regretting my decision. I opened the door a crack, just barely giving Jon enough room to squeeze through.

"Thank you, Nick." Jon whispered as he ducked into the room. I almost slammed the door in my panic, but I managed to close it quietly and lock it just as Thompson, accompanied by the captain, rounded the corner. I stood up straight and tried to act natural. Let's hope some quick thinking saves the day.