Nobody saw Rob for the rest of the day. Even the castle staff hadn't seen him, and they were the ones who normally followed him everywhere.

'I'm kinda worried about him, and the voice hasn't gotten back to me yet.' Preston muttered as he and Lachlan walked back to their rooms. The other group had split away just after dinner, and the other three had gone to bed early, so it was just them.

'I'm tempted to go looking for him. I mean, we could be overreacting, but what if we're not?' Lachlan sighed, leaning against the wall between his door and Preston's while the Tauran ran a hand through his hair.

'Better safe than sorry I guess. We should wait for people to go to sleep first; Meet me out here in two hours?'

'Yeah. Try to be quiet though, I don't want the guys to wake up.'

'Great. See you in a bit, then.'

They parted ways. Preston dragged a hand down his face as he sat on his bed, picking one of the thick pillows up and hugging it tightly. The day had been... Different, to say the least.

My cousin's still alive, after all these years. Kenny's here too, and everyone's had so much fun today- It's been great! When we find Rob, everyone will know eachother, and it's gonna be amazing. Everybody just... Happy.

He smiled at the thought, until descending into a peaceful sleep.

<+>

Someone was crying.

Preston could hear them. It wasn't Lachlan or Vik, and it couldn't have been Mitch or Jerome- No, they were outside of the room.

Normally, he wouldn't have done anything, but since Rob apparently still hadn't come back he was anxious enough to get of out bed. It sounded like they were by the door-

He stepped out onto the chilly castle hall. Some figure was sitting curled up against the wall, their sobbing causing them to tremble violently.

'Rob?' Preston asked quietly, kneeling down infront of the figure. He showed his face - Yep, that was the prince - before tucking his head back into his arms, only seeming to cry harder. 'Woah, woah Rob, what's happened?'

'I-I can't tell... If I s-say anything, he's going to, he's going to go after y-you and-'

'It was your dad, wasn't it.' It wasn't really a question, since he already knew the answer. The younger brunet pulled his friend into his chest, petting his hair softly. Rob stayed frozen at first, until he gripped onto the other tightly and curled up even smaller.

If that was possible. Lil' ball of emotion and betrayal, that boy.

'C'mon, let's get back to the dorm.' Preston cooed, pulling the Candelian up with him and glancing at Lachlan's door. He would explain what had happened later.
Pushing the door back open, he carefully dragged the prince over to his bed and pulled a bunch of covers around him. 'Hey, it's gonna be okay. We won't let him hurt you anymore.'
'Y-You can't stop him, though, that-that's the whole point. He's too powerful-' He responded weakly, breath hitching every now and then as he rested his head on Preston's shoulder.
'I'm just... So, so tired. I can't do this an-anymore.'
'Then rest, I'll keep an eye on you.' The Tauran instructed, hugging Rob into his side and ruffling his hair. 'Don't worry. It'll all be alright, I wont' let him hurt you anymore.'

Preston, I've found out what Rob's father is planning. It's not good.

Thanks. Any advice on what to do?

Stay by his side. His healing ability's being weakened by something, so don't touch his back no matter what.

Ahah...

Dingus. Don't go too hard on him during training, alright? He's going to help you through a lot.

What, can you see the future or something?

Perhaps. Trust me on this, and take care of each other. Help him get some rest.

Got it, thanks.

Rob seemed to grow heavy against his side, and upon looking over, the brunet found that his friend had fallen asleep. Some kind of heat spread across Preston's face for a moment, and his eyes widened.
Oh, no.

OH MY GOSH.
Voice please don't.
This is glorious. Truly iconic. Beauty in it's best form.
Seriously dude? It's not- I don't-
Talk to the nonexistent hand. But at the same time, you should get some sleep too.
I probably won't-
G'night Preston!

And, by some all-powerful force, the Voice sent Preston to sleep.

<<<<<<<<<+>>>>>>>>>
'...Wake 'em up, I guess.'
'No way! This is so sweet.'
'Guys? Look at Rob's neck. Bruises.'

Soured laughter. 'Well, King Latsky's been at it again. Best to leave them for now, this is good for them.'
Footsteps. Somebody sighed, moving away from the half-asleep Candelian before freezing up.

'Oh sh...oot. Seto?'

'I'll teleport you to the bathroom, your stuff's already in there. It's best if we leave Rob for a bit.'

Any outer warmth the prince had suddenly disappeared. He quietly groaned at the loss of heat, until a different weight was laid over his body. Probably a blanket of some sort.

'That's, uh, embarrassing.'

'Don't worry about it. Your voice went around and told Lachlan and I what had happened last night. Mitch and Jerome are still asleep, but Vik and Lachlan came in to wake you up. He shouldn't remember anything, since he's sleeping.'

'Right, right. Thanks Seto.'

'No problem. Go ahead to the food hall, I'll stick with Robert until he's moving around.'

Rob heard the door shut, and waited still until the sorcerer lightly shoved him. 'I know you were awake for that, Robert.'

'...Don't tell him, please.'

'Eh, I'm your royal advisor, but I'm also your friend. Secret's safe with me.' Seto grinned, ruffling the royal's hair. In response he just ducked away, a light blush on his face.

'He's so sweet, it's just - ugh. Why does he have to be so nice?'

'It's a good thing he is. I'm sorry about your father, if I'd realized that he'd started again-'

'It's okay. I'm just gonna try and forget it, and go get some food. I'm starving.'

Seto just rolled his eyes, flicking a bolt of magic at his companion to fix his hair and sort his clothes out. 'Try to keep your royal dialect around the castle, okay? Oh, and for the record,' He leant closer to the prince, a cheeky twinkle in his eyes. 'I ship it.'

'Seto!'

>+<

So, Rob went and got his well-deserved breakfast. Preston still thinking that Rob had no recallation of interactions between the two the night/morning before, he tried to keep his blush down when the prince sat by him.

'Morning guys.'

'Mornin' Rob. Good sleep?' The Tauran asked cautiously. Robert nodded cheerfully as he bit into a pastry, trying to ignore the concerned looks the opposite roommates were giving him.

'What, never seen me eat breakfast before?'

'No, I'm just kinda- What happened to you?' Lachlan questioned. All the Candelian did was shrug, downing another pastry as Preston crossed his legs childishly.

'My ability doesn't count for bruises. Only actual wounds.'

'But why do you have bruises?'

'A rather unpleasant encounter with my father and a set of stairs. I don't really want to talk about it, if that's alright; By the way, where's Merome?'

'...What?'

'Y'know, Merome. Mitch and Jerome. I just combined the names to make it easier, like you two would by Vikklan.'

'So what would you and Preston be, Prob? Reston?' Vik grinned. 'Prob-ably.'

Preston snorted good-naturedly. Lachlan just ended up shoving the Boralinian - though not as hard as Mitch and Jerome's previous "fight" - and the prince rolled his eyes. 'That, my friend, was awful.'

'Just my style. So would it just be Prob then?'

Rob narrowed his eyes, eating (another) pastry before his eyes lit up. 'I got it! It would be Poofless.'

'Poofless?'

'Uh-huh. My mother used to call me Woofless when I was younger, I'd actually forgotten about it now.' He grinned, looking over towards his Tauran friend just in time to meet his eyes.

They stared at eachother for a few moments, before Lachlan giggled and almost choked on his breakfast. 'Break it up, loverboys, no romance at the table.'

'What? We're not- Uh, I mean-'

'I dunno mate, you and Vik seem to be getting pretty close.' The Candelian shot back, a cheeky smirk visible on his face. The blond pulled an awkward face, and Vik stared at the table while Preston and Rob high-fived eachother.

'Got 'em. We should probably go and wake Merome up anyway, we've got training to do!' He spoke happily, standing up from the table and moving over to the door as his three friends followed. 'I thought Seto woke people up in the mornings?'

'He was going to, but then Preston and-'

'I did nothing at all.'

'Oh, you sure?'

'Shut up, Lachlan.' Preston was blushing even harder, staring at the ground and pouting as his tall friend laughed.

'This is so, so glorious.'

'Lachy, leave him alone, or I tell them about the "snakes don't have arms" thing.' Vik scolded. The prodigy's eyes widened, embarrassment clear on his face as he stared at the Boralinian.
'You know about that?'
'Yeah, Seto heard you swearing in the training room the other day.'
'...Damnit.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QOTC - Have you ever re-joined a fandom?
AOTC - Yes actually! Even recently I've been getting back into the Team Crafted fandom. Hopefully any fics to come from that won't be as bad as previous attempts lmao.