Rocco was lost. He didn't remember ever seeing this part of the castle before.
He staggered through the hall until he came across a big room. He went into the empty room and started crying, sobbing, shaking, letting the flood of memories come at him, drowning him.
        ~
"You can't catch me" a young teasing voice sang.
"I'll get you, just you wait" Rocco yelled as he chased after Aaira . He leaped and just managed to touch her tail tip. "Tag!" He shouted, darting away. Aaira giggled as she raced to catch Rocco. Just then Virex came into the field,
"What are you guys playing?" Virex asked, Aaira ran up to Virex and tagged him,
"Tag! You're it!" Aaira said while running away,
"Hey no fair!" Virex yelled. Virex raced after Aaira, then Rocco zoomed past them both, so Virex raced after Rocco. Finally Virex pounced on Aaira and they both landed with a thud. Then Rocco's father Sato and his grandfather Amos came out of the brush.
"What is going on out here?" Rocco's dad questioned,
"We were just playing tag" Virex said looking at the floor; ashamed.
"You should act more your age, all of you!" Amos yelled. "Sir, we just wanted to have some fun." Aaira calmly said.
"I don't care, I should teach you three a lesson."
Sato growled, looking mad."Run along children, don't let us see you again today." He choked out, trying to feign patience. He knew he shouldn't get mad at the future queen if he wanted his son to be king. They all scampered away, scared to go back.
~    
Rocco awoke from his memory, his face wet from his tears, he remembered
playing with his brother and Aaira, until his horrible father and vile grandfather ruined everything, just like they always did. He knew that they weren't hurt because of Aaira, because she was the future queen, he wished they weren't hurt because their family loved him. Rocco set his head down, he was getting dizzy with all the different memories.
~
"Dad? Can I go hang out with Aaira?" Rocco politely asked his father,
"No, Virex is already with her, besides, she wouldn't want to hang out with a weakling like you," his father spat back,
"But dad, she's my friend..." Rocco whimpered
"No buts, go to your den." His father replied, Rocco padded away sadly, he enjoyed spending time with Aaira, they were best friends, he couldn't help being jealous of his brother, after all, he was loved.

Rocco was aware that he had a secret exit to his den, so he used it, nothing
was going to stop him from seeing his best friend. He raced through the savanna to the watering hole, that was their meeting spot. He saw Aaira and Virex sitting next to each other. Rocco silently slid through the brush, then he pounced, knocking everyone into the watering hole.

"Aww come on! I just got warm," Aaira hissed, then she started to giggle, they all started to giggle. They climbed out of the water, they were all freezing. All of a sudden Rocco heard a hiss, he looked behind him and there was his father.

Sato lunged at Rocco, Rocco quickly closed his eyes so they wouldn't get
hurt, he was tense, nothing was happening, he opened one eye, then the other. He saw orange, white, and some red. No creature at the watering hole had red fur. He blinked twice, only to realize that it wasn't fur, it was blood. The orange and white fur was Aaira's, she had jumped in front of Rocco so he wouldn't get hurt. Both Sato and Virex starred in terror, Sato turned towards Rocco and yelled;
"This is all your fault! Who knows what will happen to me now," he lunged towards Rocco and this time he didn't miss.

Rocco felt the searing pain go through his left eye down to his left shoulder,
he also felt the thick and oozing blood as it poured out of the wound. He barely managed to keep his eyes open, he needed to get him and Aaira to a medical den, and fast. Rocco lifted up Aaira by the scruff, but her legs were still dragging on the ground, Virex rushed over to help carry the rest of her. They rushed her to get her healed, they were so nervous she wouldn't be the same anymore, what if she got a permanent injury?  What if they had to send his family away, he would have to go with them, wouldn't he?
~
That memory wasn't a nice one, as far as he knew Aaira still had the scars
from when she protected him. He missed Aaira, he wanted everything to go back to normal. The memories started coming back, almost like waves. He hoped the next one was a happy one, and he let the wave pull him out to sea, he hoped he could stay on his mental raft, instead of drowning. It was getting harder and harder to stay afloat. Sometimes he just wanted to sink to the bottom and never surface. Then he would remember all he had to live for and fight to get above the surface, and never want to return. His memories called him and he always felt like he had to come back, there to face the one memory he felt like he never could face, it was too painful.
~
Aaira's parents Wahnita, her mother, and Waylen, her father, were sitting by the watering hole, talking with his parents, they got along well, they still didn't know about the incident. They thought she had fallen on some sharp rocks.

"Aaira, why don't you go over to Rocco and Virex and talk with them, instead of sitting with us?" Wahnita asked,
"Okay mother," Aaira replied, she padded over to the boys who were on the other side of the watering hole.
"Hey guys, what do you want to do?" Aaira asked,
"Well, we could go spy on the parents and see what they are talking about." Virex suggested,
"Let's do that!" Rocco exclaimed. They went into the brush around the pond, and they walked as silently as they could around the pond towards the parents.
"So, your daughter takes a liking to our sons, is there a chance she would choose one of them as king?" Sato asked,
"Possibly, she often asks about them, there is a high chance, I'm just afraid she won't know who to choose," Wahnita said
"If she has trouble you could choose," Virex and Rocco's mom Paola whispered,
"We don't want to have to do that to her, she should get to decide," Waylen replied. Rocco looked over to Aaira, who looked horrified. It was obvious she didn't want to have to pick between her two best friends, and she didn't like to talk about it either. Rocco's attention snapped back to the conversation,
"So, which son would you recommend for her?" Wahnita asked,
"Virex, he is more well behaved and very kind, unlike his brother who is a big troublemaker and is a bad example for younger creatures, infact I dont think Aaira should be near Rocco,his attitude could rub off on her," Sato lied. Rocco stared in disbelief, he might not be able to see his best friend because of his father, Rocco raced away from the brush, he couldn't imagine what would happen next.
~
    Rocco felt a bit better, less dizzy and more calm, but he started realizing his memories were not very good. Rocco suddenly heard a big boom. He rushed out of the room towards the sound, he saw a lot of light, but it was natural. If Rocco remembered correctly, there were no windows on this side of the castle, then he heard voices. He immediately recognized Aaira's voice. Weird he thought, why was her voice here? Was he imagining it? No, it was definitely here.

    Rocco was back in the room he was in before, he knew that it was an invasion, and he wasn't sure what they wanted. He wanted his mom to comfort him like old times, but she wasn't here anymore.
"My lord, we have to get out of here!" Cybil suddenly chirped,
"I need to protect my castle Cybil," Rocco replied, " Gather some of my guards and some soldiers."
"My lord, we looked for them already, we can't find any of them." Cybil replied softly.

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