"Brother, I don't know if I can!"

"Nonsense Marcassin you can do it!"

"But..."

"Come on, just hold it like this, I'll lend you some strength, all though you don't need it, you can absolutely do this on your own!"

It was a little child, no more than around eight years old, holding up a large staff, which was also his wand.

Only he wasn't holding it alone. An older boy, around thirteen, held it with him in a firm grip, guiding his movements with strong security. "Come on your holiness, put some backbone into it!" Gascon, crown prince of Hamelin shouted.

And Marcassin hissed. "All right, I'll do it! I'll… ARGH," he shouted as a big light erupted in front of them, causing a big blow sending both boys backward up into the air.

Both their eyes widened, and they screamed. Being sent flying through the air, the older one didn't even hesitate. He reached for his younger brother and cradled him in his arms, protecting the younger boy with his own body as they fell to the ground, the older one on the bottom the younger on top of him.

"ARGH!" The younger brother exclaimed as all the air was knocked out of him and his eyes widened "Bro- BROTHER!" Marcassin shouted. "GASCON! Are you okay?!" he asked absolutely terrified.

"Yes… Yes…" Gascon groaned as he slowly sat up rubbing the back of his head, then his eyes opened looking at Marcassin.

"Ga- Gascon I'm sorry! I didn't mean it." Marcassin stammered.

"Marcassin what are you talking about?!" Gascon asked with a wide smile. "THAT WAS AMAZING!" He laughed standing up as if nothing had happened at all. "Wow! You are sure to be the greatest sage whoever lived! HAHA! Good job, brother!" He grinned grabbing Marcassin's hand pulling him up on his legs. "Now let's do it again! All you need is just more training! We'll get this!"

"Brother I'm not sure that...," Marcassin argued.

"You can do it," Gascon told holding Marcassin again, supporting him. "You have to! The empire needs a future Sage. And that's you."

"But brother," Marcassin began, yet there were no objections to be had. None at all for Gascon's mind was set and all Marcassin could do was to follow up.

They were two brothers.

Gascon and Marcassin, and they were as much brothers as anyone could possibly be.

Like with most siblings they had their roles in their relationship.

Gascon was the oldest, a few years older than his little brother, thus he felt it was his duty to always look out for his little brother.

Only a few others would truly look out for them. Their mother had died before Marcassin could even remember and their father was an insanely busy man, so it was up to Gascon to be there for Marcassin, protect him as best he could, and most importantly, teach him how to stand up for himself.

Marcassin being the younger one adored his big brother with a naivety that could only ever belong to a child.

In his eyes, there was nothing Gascon couldn't do!

Gascon was big and brave, and always ready to fight back. He knew he could always count on his big brother to be there because he always had been.

As brothers, they were happy enough and very fond of each other.

But when you looked past that, things became complicated. Because the truth was these two were not just any kind of brothers and not just any pair of children.

Their father was the emperor of an entire empire, he was one of the four great sages of the world… well, three. one Sage called Alicia had already gone missing.

Their father was one of the most important people in the world. Raising two boys alone was the least of his problems as he had an entire empire to govern as emperor and an entire world to protect as a sage.

And that made Gascon and Marcassin the Porcine princes of Hamelin.

Gascon being the oldest, was the crown prince, the proud porcine prince. He was the one destined to take his father's place one day. He was the future of Hamelin!

He was to one day have all of that which his father governed laid on his shoulder.

There was just a tiny little problem about that...

In the entire history of the royal family, everybody had always been born with great magical powers.

By having a sage on the throne, the empire could always know it was protected, and therefore any crown prince had to study to become a sage, so he one day may sit on the throne holding the wisdom and powers of the sage. That was the way, that was the law. That was how it had always been.

However, as it happened, for the first time in all of the generations this particular royal family had existed, for hundreds of years and then some...

A prince had been born, without any magical talent, not a single drop of magic in his veins, no matter what they had tried, no matter what tasks or trials he had gone through.

Crown Prince Gascon was the first, the first royal prince in the history of Hamelin since its foundation, to simply not have the tiniest bit of magic inside of him that could be developed upon… nothing.

And it wasn't for the lack of trying!

Oh no, when Gascon had first been born and in his first years, all kinds of wizards and witches had come from all nations, insisting they would find potential talent. They just had to try this or that... What about this old household trick to get some magic out of the little tyke?

Then they figured he was just a late bloomer- it was bound to come sooner or later and then be grander than any magician before! It was pretty normal that the greatest magicians first discovered their talents rather late, after all, it made sense!

First, by the time that Gascon was twelve did it occur to people, that maybe... Just maybe... He simply didn't have magic talent.

Marcassin had shown extreme magical talent from the moment he had been born. Playing with small magic lights he had created with his small chubby fingers while still laying in his tiny baby bed and the five-year-old Gascon could only look at what his baby brother could do… He couldn't... No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how much he tried, how hard he tried, what he tried... It just didn't happen.

It was a devastating day, the day Gascon was twelve, still doing his best to conjure up just a little bit of magic like everybody said he should.

That day his father, the great emperor and sage Elscon took his oldest son to his chambers, sat him down as he painfully looked at Gascon.

"Son." Emperor Elscon spoke. "This needs to stop."

"Father?"

"Gascon, you do not possess magic. It is simple as that. It just is a talent you do not have," Elscon spoke flatly. "We must stop pursuing it, it's a dead end."

"But…" Gascon swallowed.

"It was you trying to get into the room with the ancient scrolls wasn't it," Elscon asked then laid a hand on his young son's shoulder. "Gascon, it needs to stop. This just isn't the way."

"But I…" Gascon looked up at his father with wet eyes. All his life, he had been told he needed magic. If he didn't have magic he could not do what he was supposed to do, he could not be the son his father needed, he wouldn't be the prince they all wanted and needed... Every single day, that was what the twelve-year-old had heard, it was all he knew. "What else can I do," he asked, searching for answers with desperate eyes. "Father," he swallowed in a pained voice.

Hopelessly Elscon looked at his oldest son, who looked back at him with such begging eyes, asking for an answer, a meaning for this situation. The twelve-year-old had never looked more pleading, more desperate for an answer, any answer and it stunned Elscon. He tried to search for a good answer to give to his son, something to soothe him, to assure him things would be okay, but yet... He could not come up with anything. He was as lost as the boy.

"I don't know," Elscon then admitted. "You have to find your own path."

"What… WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN," Gascon shouted tears falling down his eyes. "YOU TOLD ME ALL CROWN PRINCESS IN HAMELIN ALWAYS HAD MAGIC!" he shouted pointing an accusing finger at Elscon. "YOU TOLD ME I JUST NEEDED TO KEEP TRYING! YOU TOLD ME TO JUST HANG IN THERE AND DO MY BEST! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME," he asked, yelling.

"Gascon." Elscon tried to reach out to his son.

"LEAVE ME ALONE," Gascon cried as he turned around and stormed out of the chambers, leaving a very defeated emperor and sage behind.

From that day, everything changed.

If there was something Gascon had always been, it was a proud stubborn bastard.

Unfortunately, as it happened, he most certainly had not inherited that stubbornness or inkling to temper tantrums from any stranger.

When it came to that aspect of his personality, he really was the mirror image of his own father the emperor, and when those two big proud tempers met, they pretty much tended to clash.

Gascon had gotten a new idea into his young head, and the thing about him was that once he had gotten an idea, he would never be lead away from it

The problem was he didn't have any magic, that was why he couldn't be a real prince like he was supposed to be right?

But what if he could find a way, to do things like magic users could do. But use devices that could be controlled by none-magical people?!

That was how his first invention came to be.

A little pouch filled with glimt stones and black onyx that could be found outside, throwing the little pouch the two things would mix and erupt a blinding flashing light worthy of any magic user!

But he wasn't done there, how about a hog tank? An iron machine that could carry people and fire shots of fireballs just like a magician but controlled by none magic people?!

That one was kind of harder to do, one thing was for a thirteen-year-old to get the idea... Building it was an entirely other matter and Gascon had to learn how to build a whole ton of other things first.

His flash pouch gave him another idea, what if he could make a device so he could shoot it even further? Like some kind of a gun, and if he changed the pouch into a capsule, perhaps he could get away longer reach for it and an even bigger explosion!

And that gun in his head, there was much more potential there, why stop with flashy lights? Why not make other kinds of capsules with other things in them?

Like electrical shots or poison or fire or sod that could blind the enemy?!

Gascon was so excited about his own ideas! Sometimes his experiments were miserable failures ending in explosions or other things, and it was an uphill battle to make anything work but…

When Gascon worked on those things, for just a few moments he would actually stop being a crown prince inside of his head while only these contraptions in front of him would matter, those were the few moments when he was actually genuinely happy. The possibilities seemed endless to Gascon, all these things that were begging to be made and tried out. Ideas always filled his head and his excited hands gleefully went to work. Gascon had found just one thing in his life that he truly loved, a thing that made him happy. But it was always a short-lived joy.

There weren't a lot of people who approved of Gascons new found passion. It wasn't fitting for a prince to be found with grease up till his elbows. And once he had been pulled away and cleaned up, there didn't go a moment by when he wasn't reminded of all the things he was supposed to do instead.

"A crown prince must stand proud," he was lectured. "You will rule the empire one day! People must take you seriously!"

"A prince of Hamelin is the pride of our empire, stand straight!"

Over and over and over... But that was only half of it. The other half were whispers in all corners, and Gascon heard them just as clearly as the loud words... Even more clearly. These whispers were what hurt the most.

"How can he rule the empire? He has no magic." "Let the child be." "I'm serious, how would he manage?" "Did you see what he did yesterday? Honestly, he's not behaving like a Prince at all!" "Now just look at Marcassin, there's a well-behaved child." "Well, Gascon is just... Different I guess."

and it went on and on and on. It seemed like it went like that forever.

One evening Gascon was extra frustrated and had locked himself in his room. He was turning to the only thing that could calm his mind... his inventions. So, there he was, sitting with rolled up sleeves, screws and metal pieces all over the place, smudges of dirt on his face and fingers... And then, of course, the last person he wanted to see entered- his own father, Emperor Elscon slowly approaching from behind.

"Gascon what are you doing?" His father would ask in a very defeated tone, and his eyes looking so defeated too.

Gascon hated those eyes, he hated that his own father would always have to look at him with such defeat and such pity, it made him angry, it made him pout when he saw it. "It's a trick gun!" he snapped. "With the right equipment, it should be able to shoot ice."

"Gascon, you just can't," Elscon tried, and then shook his head. "I know Marcassin just learned the ice spell, but that doesn't mean you have to..."

And Gascon eyes snapped up at his father as he snorted. "So, what," he snapped again. "I'm making it," he continued, stamping on the ground as a spoiled child.

"Gascon this is not the way!" Elscon tried his temper now growing. "You've got to stop this, you can't be Marcassin."

"Oh, you would like that wouldn't you!?" Gascon seethed as he stood up. "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS," he yelled angrily stamping in the ground.

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT TO YOUR FATHER," Elscon yelled back.

"I'll talk to whomever I want in whatever way I like," Gascon snorted, making the emperor gape.

"Gascon that's not the way for a Porcine prince," Elscon admonished.

And Gascon hissed. "ARGGGH! Porcine Prince of course! That's all there ever is to it! Is that really all you people got," he growled red-faced stomping past his father. "'Prince' this, 'Prince' that," he ranted. "I HATE IT!" he shouted as he ran out of the door and down the hallway.

"GASCON!" Elscon shouted. "Come back here!"

But the young prince was gone, probably either at the factory to work on projects or out to the wasteland cooling off.

That was ALWAYS how these clashes between the two ended, both too angry to think and then finding each their way to cool off. It was not too uncommon for the young Gascon to spend hours out in the wasteland cooling off.

No one had any idea what he was doing out there, except Marcassin because Gascon had told him. He was just thinking. Sometimes it felt like the palace was suffocating him when that happened. All Gascon could do was to try and get outside to the wasteland to breathe again.

"I'm sure father doesn't mean it." Marcassin tried to help in a quiet voice, in a total opposite to Gascon, he didn't have any temper at all.

He was little of stature, nervous, always speaking so quietly, always preferring hiding behind a book than taking any confrontation.

Unlike Gascon whom could be the center of loads of confrontations and sometimes he was considered rude.

Not Marcassin though. Marcassin was quiet, polite, well-liked by everyone. Marcassin was incredibly gifted with magic and with books and understanding them. Marcassin was always tidy, always on time, and always had his assignments done.

He never got into any fights with anybody, least of all their father who was always so welcoming to Marcassin praising him for his progress in his magic studies.

Marcassin was perfect, a perfect little angel. Yet Gascon did not hate him, oh he was incredibly jealous now an again... There had been times he had wanted to smash something because, honestly, when Marcassin had all that... What did they even need Gascon for?... Was there even a place for... For Gascon?

That always made Gascon hurt so bad, it stung in his heart and he would turn his head away... because he wouldn't let people know he was crying. He was enough of a bother to those people as it was, he would not cry in front of them.

That was when Marcassin would come to him, just stand there looking up at him. The only one who did not judge or lecture him. Just being there as a quiet support. That's when Gascon knew the truth: that he would do anything for his little brother! To keep him safe, to keep him protected- he owed that to Marcassin. His brother was the only one, the only one at all, whom never judged him.

"He means every word," Gascon muttered sitting on his bed with crossed legs, Marcassin sitting on the floor with one of his beloved books opened upon his lap.

Marcassin gaped. "That can't be." Then he shook his head. "You'll show him though Brother, I'm sure of it." He beamed. "And then Father will see how great you are, and it'll be good!"

Gascon smiled, a little amused. Man, Marcassin could be childishly naïve sometimes. Still, it was nice having just one person around believing in him like that.

Sighing Gascon fell back on the bed with his hands behind his head. "Why were we born in the wrong order?" he asked.

"Huh?" Marcassin blinked looking up at him.

"That's the big mistake isn't it?" Gascon muttered rolling to his stomach. "We're born in the wrong order! If you had been the crown prince all problems would be solved!" he told. "And I'm sure you would be great at it too! You'll be a fantastic sage." He sighed. "I know you will."

"I don't know." Marcassin blinked. "It would be weird to think of you as the youngest." He chuckled down in his book. "You're my older brother, I think that's nice." He told in a light smile. "And someday, you'll be a great emperor! The greatest one the empire has ever seen!"

Lightly Gascon smiled at Marcassin but had to roll around so Marcassin wouldn't see how his smile faltered and his eyes turned a bit misty.

"Though Brother..." The little Marcassin then breathed.

"Yeah, what is it?" Gascon asked looking up at the ceiling.

"If I... If I became a sage... And also, an emperor." Marcassin hesitated. "What about you?" he asked. "What are you going to be?" he asked.

Gascon silenced, then turned away.

"Brother!" Marcassin exclaimed. "There'll be plenty of room for you I promise! You can be... I mean."

"It's fine Marcassin." Gascon then smiled at the young boy. "It's going to be fine, I promise."

"You really promise?" Marcassin asked wide-eyed and Gascon nodded.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed, but then turned away... He had just lied to his own brother. Marcassin was too young to understand, but Gascon had started to realize... He was never ever going to become a sage nor an emperor, never. At best he was in the way... No. Marcassin was the one destined to become that. If Gascon could help him then at least he would have been some help to the Empire.

Marcassin, though, was biting his lip as he was looking away, he too looked troubled. "Brother... I don't want you to go away." he then told quietly. Gascon didn't answer, he had no answer to that at all.

"LOOK OUT FOR YOUR LEFT YOUNG PRINCE!"

"URGH," Gascon exclaimed as a sword fell on him. He barely managed to parry. His footing was off, sending him flying backward as he dropped the sword on the ground.

"My prince," His sparring partner yelled running for him as Gascon groaned sitting up rubbing his sore head.

Now fifteen years old, Gascon was receiving daily sword lessons, he was always carrying the sword of Hamelin in his belt, the item that was basically the stand-in for a crown in that empire, and even though every single emperor had been sages beforehand it was tradition that they learned how to wield that sword as well.

His father was pretty good with a sword too, and it was yet another thing Gascon failed miserably at!

As he had grown it became clear that unlike his father's broader stoic figure, Gascon was of pretty lanky build and was just growing taller- never wider. Becoming even lankier a figure, he did his best to stand proud, so it wouldn't show.

"Your majesty are you alright?" A middle-aged man asked extending him a hand.

The man was the exact same age as the emperor himself, and that was no coincidence, his name was Alphonse, he was the captain of the knights, and had been Emperors Elscon's roommate while Elscon, as a young man himself, had been in knight training. He had been Elscon's best friend ever since, helping to look after the empire when the emperor was busy with other things. Some called Alphonse Emperors Elscon's right hand, and that wouldn't be entirely inaccurate at all, he kind of was.

"I'm… Fine." Gascon groaned letting himself being pulled up. "Nothing a true Porcine prince can't handle." He told in an important sniff brushing himself off, doing the very best to hide any wincing from painful movements. He then glanced towards the tribunes to the fighting arena, just managing to see his father who had just appeared and now turned away, too ashamed to look apparently. Gascon pouted looking down.

"Young prince, you need to concentrate better on your footing." Alphonse exhaled with his hands on his hips. "What good is a block if it also pushes you down," he asked. "You blocked one blow but were laying on the ground ready for anybody to finish you off at ones!"

"Then let's do it again!" Gascon hissed.

"Young prince, maybe we should call it a day," Alphonse advised.

"I'm supposed to learn this right?" Gascon asked. "So, I can't do magic, I can't stay out of trouble, at least I can learn this." He hissed holding his sword with both hands.

"Okay." Alphonse shrugged, only for Gascon to lay on his back on the ground five seconds after. "Ready to call it a day young prince?"

Gascon gasped for air on the ground. "A Porcine Prince must never give in or give up," he breathed.

Alphonse smirked, amused. "Well, you have the pride of a true prince. But may I remind you, you have ended up on the ground over a dozen times today, and I am still standing." He reminded. "You have yet to return the favor."

Gascon pouted as he sat up. "What do I get if I can get you down on the ground?" he asked.

Alphonse lifted an eyebrow. "Well." He commented. "If you really insist on trying him." He frowned. "Tell you what, if you manage to get me down on the ground, we skip training tomorrow, you can go to the factory and work on your project I'll cover for you."

Gascon gaped. "Seriously?"

Alphonse frowned. "Have to get me down on the ground first," he told.

"Hmm." Gascon frowned. He suddenly looked pretty devious and then swiftly grabbed a handful of sand, throwing it in Alphonse's face surprising the man so much that he stumbled backward. "HEY," he exclaimed rubbing his eyes looking around only to discover that Gascon was gone from sight. "Your majesty," he asked. "Prince Gascon?"

Interested from the tribune Elscon looked down at the spectacle, Alphonse couldn't see it but Elscon could, the young Gascon hiding behind one of the practice dummies.

Alphonse, however, raised his sword as he took his position. "Good, good, a surprise attack, I see what you are doing."

The next moment a noise sounded behind Alphonse and he turned around. "AHA!" ...Only to realize that it was merely a stone that had been thrown in that direction and the true culprit was now behind him.

"YAAARGGHHH!" Gascon roared, quickly approaching from behind.

"NOT SO FAST," Alphonse shouted turning around again, only for Gascon to duck, and slip behind him. "What in the?" Alphonse blinked stepping back only to realize he was stepping on something, looking down Alphonse saw a shining blade, Gascon's sword, under his foot. Wide-eyed he looked at the young prince who smiled cheekily back at him before pulling the blade out from under Alphonse. The knight captain fell right down on the ground on his back. Still wide-eyed, he looked up at the air.

"Next session will be the day after tomorrow then I suppose?" Gascon still smirked, resting his sword over his shoulder.

Alphonse, trying to recover from the shock, finally accepted Gascon's hand letting the prince pull him back up. "A promise is a promise." Then he looked at Gascon. "That's one way of using a sword," he noted.

"It worked didn't it?" Gascon asked.

"Yes." Alphonse breathed. "It did." He admitted, then looked up to the tribune and saw his friend Emperor Elscon, for once smiling as he amused shook his head.

Apparently Gascon saw it too, and, for a brief moment, felt a bit of relief and relaxed.

"I don't think you should count on that same trick working twice though," Alphonse warned, washing Gascons smile off his face.

"I understand." Gascon exhaled.

"Still it's not all that bad," Alphonse complimented. "What you just showed was great intuition, creativity, planning and an ability to adapt to what you have around you. Some knights never learn any of those things at all, and you just have them naturally, isn't that something?"

"Oh. Heh," Gascon snorted sarcastically. "I got that." He muttered looking away.

"Why don't you go wash up, young prince," Alphonse asked. "Change into some clean clothes, I believe it's just one hour before dinner."

"Yeah," Gascon muttered walking away. "I'll get dressed for dinner," he said as he walked away.

Leaving behind Alphonse who was also pretty defeated. Neither did he know what to do with this young man.

"That was quite the performance, old friend," Elscon commented to Alphonse in the evening as he was sitting on the throne and Alphonse stood in front of him smiling lightly.

"Indeed," Alphonse returned. "The young prince sure had the better of me a few seconds there, he is full of surprises that Gascon."

"Indeed, he is." Elscon smiled and then that smile evolved into a full beam. "He sure managed to do what every young Knight wouldn't ever dare to even attempt! HAHA!"

"I'm sure it would have been of great satisfaction for you to see young Gascon pull what you never could," Alphonse responded with a smirk.

"Indeed!" Elscon beamed. "Though I must digress if I wished to send you to the ground. It would be a simple task."

"I still have to stand my ground on that one sir and say that using magic would be cheating," Alphonse commented. "Sometimes I am even ready to swear, it is making you lazy my liege."

Elscon's eyes were indeed shining with that certain kind of pride. "That is a fair assessment. But you sure can't use that argument against my son," he said, his eyes shining so brightly. "That was all him!"

"Absolutely." Alphonse nodded. "If I may say so, he has some very unique talents indeed. Many people would kill for his intuition, his skill for adaptation as well. I have met veterans who don't even come close."

Elscon smiled warmly, beaming in fact. "Indeed," he commented but then, his smile faltered and the sparkle in his eyes faded as he suddenly looked somber. "So why does he insist upon following Marcassin around," he asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy they are that fond of each other, but… Gascon is not- What I mean is..."

"I know what you mean." Alphonse then admitted. "The young crown prince indeed has… Some difficulties."

"Urgh..." Emperor Elscon groaned rubbing his face. "Tell me, old friend, is it this trying for everyone to raise children?"

Alphonse as well exhaled deeply. "I'm afraid I lack the answer to that sir," he disappointedly revealed. "Honestly, if Vivi wasn't around to calm the children down in my own home, I fear I would have been just as lost as you."

"Truly, my beloved queen left this world far too soon." Elscon sighed deeply. "She always somehow knew what to say. How is your lovely wife doing," he kindly asked.

"Got her hands full." Alphonse smiled, delighted. "You wouldn't believe how fast some kids grow. Arrick is already preparing himself for the entrance exam to the knight academy."

"The entrance exam," Elscon asked. "A boy needs to be seventeen of age before he can get in."

"As I said, how the time flies." Alphonse sighed deeply. "My oldest son is in fact, just a little older than yours." He told.

"A daughter in the middle and then another son," Elscon smirked, amused. "I do not envy you, I love my two boys- by god I had no idea you could even love someone so much- but they are trying," he said, rubbing his forehead. "They are both born into this, destined for so much. I brought them into this," he admitted in a pained voice. "Gascon needs to learn how to believe in himself and stand up for himself if he is to lead an entire empire. I know he can do it! And in ways neither of us can imagine, that's the kind of person he is! If he just... Am I putting too much pressure on him," he asked. "I just... I want him to be ready. So, he'll be safe the day he needs to stand up. I wish I didn't have to force this faith upon him, I really do... I wish I didn't have to put him through any of this." He sighed deeply. "But one day he will have to stand up, stand up for himself and the people around him, he will have to make big decisions that'll affect everyone, and they need to be his decisions from within himself, not from questioning what everyone else thinks. If he continues this road he is walking now it'll break him, and the empire will blame him," the emperor confided. "Oh god, my son," he groaned rubbing his face. "My dear boy... Alphonse what can I do so he won't be broken?" he asked. "The way he is going now, it'll happen, he'll break. I... What can I do?" he hopelessly asked.

Alphonse sighed deeply. "Your Highness, you said it yourself: you believe Gascon can, in fact, make a marvelous emperor." He commented.

"He has the potential- I know he does," Elscon told. "I'm just worried for him. Is that so wrong?"

"Then believe in your son old friend." Alphonse smiled lightly. "Gascon has already performed wonders right in front of our very eyes, things none of us could have ever dreamed up. Yes, he has a lot to learn, but he is also young, he is just a boy," He said. "He'll grow, though, and he'll learn. He already has, just believe in him."

Elscon smiled weakly at Alphonse. "I do," He told. "I have no doubt, that together Gascon and Marcassin can bring Hamelin into a new age, unlike anything we have ever seen, a new age of wonders and peace after these dark times are over. I just pray they'll both make it out of these dark times, with Shadar looming. The four sages combined didn't even stand a chance. I failed on my attempt and we lost Alicia in the process." He sighed. "It's such a responsibility, to protect an entire empire in these times. I have given them all the time that could," Elscon reflected. "They are just children- they need to be allowed to be children, right," he asked hopelessly. "I don't know how much more time I'll be able to give them," he then admitted. "It's all coming so close now."

Alphonse nodded. "I see your frustration, your majesty," he consoled.

Elscon sighed and then looked up at Alphonse. "If Shadar comes here, and I fall in battle, do I have your word that you'll protect my sons," he asked. "Whatever it takes, you must protect them. I need you to swear to me."

"Of course, your majesty. You didn't even need to ask," Alphonse accepted as he sat down on his knee in front of the emperor. "I swear on this sword you gave me as I was knighted. I will always be loyal to you and your sons. You have my word: I will do all in my power to see them safe and see them become strong."

Elscon smiled, clearly looking beyond relieved. "Thank you, my friend," he exhaled. "I can now rest with just a little more ease."

Never would Alphonse know just how important that promise was.

How short a time it would be before he heard an anguished shout from the courtroom. He ran as fast as he could to get there, yet the sight that met him was horrifying.

His old friend, the proud emperor, and Sage of Hamelin was lying there on the cold floor, white as marble, open eyes, not breathing… Dead.

Beside him his youngest son, the little Marcassin was crying. "Father." He cried. "He's... he's..."

Alphonse fell to his knees. "Oh god no," he asked. "Please no. Your Highness… Elscon," he begged. "My friend."

But no matter what was said or did, it wouldn't become any less true. The emperor was dead.

Killed by Shadar, according to what Marcassin said.

But that wasn't the end of the tragedy, oh no.

Gascon was gone! Vanished into the ground. The moment Alphonse realized the young crown prince was nowhere to be seen while they all knew Shadar was roaming nearby, he sent out search teams. The guards and knights in the entire palace stormed out into the darkness, knocked on every door, searched any corner, walked over the entire wasteland outside, even walked tombstone trail.

"PRINCE GASCON," Alphonse called desperately from the mountains outside while the heavy rain fell over his face and armor. "GASCOOOON!"

But no answer came, none. In one single night. They had lost their emperor sage and their crown prince.

"It's okay." The quiet little Marcassin assured smiling though his eyes were filled with tears. "It's okay, Gascon is out there, and he'll come back, you'll see... Whenever the empire truly needs him, whatever it is. He'll come," He continued. "He'll never let us down, I know it! He'll come."

Alphonse did not have the heart to correct the little boy. He was so young and already had so much on his shoulders.

Having lost his only parent, his father, and his only brother in just one day, he now had the burden of an entire empire on his shoulders. People would demand his role as sage and emperor now... And he would be all alone with this responsibility.

Marcassin at least deserved any comfort he could draw from his fantasies. How could Alphonse ever tell him?

That the longer Gascon remained unseen, the more likely it was that he too was dead.

If Elscon, a powerful sage, and accomplished warrior, stood no chance against Shadar...

What chances did Gascon really have?

Alphonse would give anything for Marcassin's word to be true, for Gascon to be alive, but he knew it was impossible.

Little did he know that they had looked at the wrong places. On a ship sailing away from the country itself was a boy sitting on deck wrapping an old blanket around himself trying to shield himself against the storm.

Right at this moment, he was also unaware. He had no idea what had just happened back at the empire. He had no idea that his father had just died. Had he known, there was no telling what his next action would have been. As it happened though, this young prince would not know of his fathers' death until months after it had happened.

"HEY KID," One of the sailors shouted. "You better get inside! This storm is acting up."

"In a minute," Gascon whispered looking at the lights of the coast getting further and further away, and he didn't dare to look away.

"Suit yourself," the sailor snorted. "Mister… What was your name again?" he asked.

"Swaine," Gascon told. "My name is Swaine."

This chapter has been beta ready by Yuni30 whom also wrote some good Swaine centred Ni No Kuni fics, please go check them out :)