Hello there. Just wanted to say that this idea came to me a while ago, but I never got a chance to write it. I hope the characters aren't too oc. For those wondering, this takes place with the most recent chapter of the manga, so if you've only seen the anime...beware of spoilers? As for those who have only seen the anime, Heine's backstory is never addressed in the manga, at least not yet. From the hints they've given us, we can pretty much assume it's going to be the same story from the anime, so I'm keeping his background the same here too. With that I hope you enjoy!

Rated T: (Blood/Gore and Swearing)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used except for the OC's. All characters belong to their respective companies and owners.

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Chapter 1: A Simple Game

Licht couldn't believe this. He had taken his eyes off of his bodyguard for one second and he goes and spills tea on one of the customers. Said bodyguard, Maximilion, was currently being yelled at by said friends of the customer while he profusely apologizing.

Licht just sighed. From the moment those men walked in, he knew they would be trouble. This is why he wanted to sit them on his section and not Max's. From working at the café, Licht had learned how to tell the personalities of the different types of customers that come in. These men were the type he hated the most. Quick to anger and acted like they owned the place. They had the biggest egos and weren't afraid to show it. The worst part though was that they were quick to start a fight. This is why Licht wanted to serve them as fast and pleasantly as possible so they could leave without an issue. Yet, the Boss had other plans and insisted Max take over their table.

When this mess had started they had seemed calm. Two were playing pool, while the last was quietly eating at the table. Max, the klutz that he was, brought another cup of tea, only to trip and spill it on the man sitting down. Everyone at the cafe had noticed and the calm and easy going flow the café had was gone. The moment the man's friends noticed what he had done, they began ganging up on poor Max.

"Hey, what the hell man!" The biggest one of the group yelled, grabbing Max by the collar. He was bald and had a scar on his left cheek. He was the tallest and was built with nothing but pure muscle. His face though, Licht had to admit, had nothing pleasant about it. Rather ugly, in his opinion. "That's my friends clothes you just ruined." The bald man spat. Immediately Max began to apologize, but obviously, it wasn't working.

Licht, noticing this would not end well, began to approach with the most non-threatening smile he had. "Gentlemen, truly, we are very sorry for the accident." He tried to mediate.

The other guy playing with baldy approached Licht and practically sneered. He was the smallest and lankiest of the three. His curly red hair sticking out like a sore thumb. Also not as pleasant to look at, in Licht's opinion. "You're sorry? You people spill tea all over my friend and you 'sorry'? What the hell is sorry going to do?" By now the other customers in the café were sensing the tension and the atmosphere grew heavy. Licht mentally cursed. If he didn't do something soon, this would not end well. The last thing he needed was for the café to lose customers over these three idiots causing a scene.

"You're absolutely right Sir, such fine gentlemen like yourselves deserve a little better than a formal apology." Licht smiled. This was good. All he had to do was feed their ego a bit and make it look like they had control. Smiling pleasantly, he gracefully rung out a towel, bypassing both brutes and immediate presented it to the still wet customer.

Licht noticed that he was surprisingly calm, using the napkins to dry himself off, taking the towel without even looking in Licht's direction. He hadn't said anything yet, but Licht couldn't see his face from his angle so he could have been just as angry as his friends.

"As a formal apology the café will be more than willing to pay for the cleaning of your clothes." Licht smiled, mentally making a not to dock this out of Max's pay.

Realizing Licht was speaking to him, the man looked up and Licht could finally get a good look at him, and surprisingly, he didn't look half bad. Nothing like himself of course, but still nice. He had dark curly hair and pale skin. He's taller than Licht and while not as built as his friend, he has some definite muscle. He had a tattoo on his neck that looked like a tiger that spread underneath his shirt, which was sadly covered in tea.

"Truly, it was an accident and we apologize for the inconvenience, so in return the café will pay for the cleaning, not a bad exchange if I do say so myself." He winked. The man doesn't say anything, but does stand up.

"That's it?" The bald one ask, still holding on to poor Max.

Before Licht could reply, the dark haired man spoke up. "No, it's alright. It was an accident after all." He states not really smiling, but also not hostile either. His face was neutral, and if anything, he looked rather bored. "There's no need to go to such trouble for an accident." With one glare to his friend, Max is let go. So he's top dog. Licht mentally thought.

"Are you sure, it's no trouble at all?"

"Yes, truly. I apologize again for spilling the tea." Max says approaching the man and bowing.

The man stare's Licht in the eye and something hits him. A shiver runs down his spine. This man is dangerous. He thinks. There's something about him that makes Licht want to run as fast as possible. Smiling, he tries to push down his awful feeling.

The man turns away to pull something out of his wallet and hands it out to Licht. "Truly, it's fine. Besides, I'm leaving town tonight, since I'm only here to visit, there's really no point." He tries to hand the money to Licht.

Licht pauses, before smiling. "Alright, if you insist, but then consider this on the house." With the other men seeming to calm down, the flow of the café was returning to normal, but Licht had such a horrible feeling still. He just wanted them out of the café as soon as possible.

"Then consider this payment for the trouble my friends have caused you and your café. I also apologize for that. They're not the brightest in the bunch." He states, his friend's immediately flinch, refusing to look at him. Licht accepted the money this time, though only because the man didn't seem to want to leave till he paid. Satisfied, the man walks past Licht, his friends follow, and that horrible feeling returns in the pit of Licht' stomach. The feeling makes him follow them outside, and he doesn't take his eyes off them until they are completely hidden among the crowd of people.

"Whew, that was close." Mamiliion replies, "We we're lucky a fight didn't start."

Lucky? Licht didn't feel lucky. He felt like something far worse than a simple café squabble was about to happen. Since he locked eyes with that man, the feeling hasn't left. In fact as he watched him disappear with his friends in the crowd of people, he feels much worse now.

"I'm really sorry!" Max apologizes again "You could have gotten hurt because of me your Highness."

Licht's attention snaps back to him. "I doubt that."

"Those men looked like they wanted to start a fight and were more than ready to carry that threat out. Who knows what could have happened to you if they actually did. As your bodyguard to put you in such a situation was horrible of me!" Max reprimands himself, looking fairly guilty. In a way he's right, Licht agrees. He wasn't like Kai or Leo. If a fight broke out, he had no idea if he would be able to hold his own. His athletic ability wasn't the best. Sighing at Max's guilty face, he shakes his head, trying to forget the horrible feeling in his gut.

"It's fine Maximilion. Nobody got hurt, so I'd say we're okay. Besides I'm more upset with the fact that you broke another cup and plate!" Licht adds rather annoyed.

"Why, pry tell, would someone get hurt?" Hearing that voice Max and Licht whip their heads around to see professor Heine standing there with his hands crossed. They both freeze, and Licht starts laughing.

"Nothing much, just some customers causing trouble." Licht says smiling reassuringly. "But you don't have to worry, we took care of it no problem without any incident occurring!" Licht cheers.

Heine simply sighs. "I had a strange feeling today that you might have been getting yourself into trouble. It seems my instincts were correct and I do hope this isn't a natural occurrence."

"Nope! Those guys said they're leaving town tonight, so we're good. Besides I have Maximilion here to watch my back." Licht slings an arm around Max.

"Yes! I promise to protect the Prince, and I don't plan on letting him down!" Max continues rather enthusiastically. This seems to placate Heine who looks at them rather curiously.

"Very well. I'll consider this a small incident."

"Yup, not need to worry about me teach!" Licht smiles.

"Yes, well. I came to see how you were fairing." That's right, Licht almost forgot. Today he had lessons with Teach. Inviting Heine in for his last shift, the uncomfortable feeling Licht had seems to fade and he thinks nothing of it. The two conversed in small talk and the man with the tattoo faded from Licht's mind. A decision he will later regret.

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Leo hated Heine! He was stupid, mean and obviously making fun of him! After he had worked so hard on finishing his homework early Heine had shown him no mercy in pointing out all of his obvious mistakes. So what if they had gone over this before? If he couldn't remember he couldn't remember!

This answer seemed to anger Heine slightly and that jerk had decided to give him more homework on top of fixing the mistakes on the one he already did!

Since receiving said homework, Leo had been dead set on showing Heine he could do it all correctly. He wasn't an idiot! He could do it properly this time and then Heine will have to praise him! Leo mentally smirked. Yes, he would show Heine how much of a good student he was.

Once Heine had left for his session with Licht, Leo had worked hard on correcting his mistakes and finishing the assignments he had left. Now the sun was beginning to set and Leo was proud to say he was halfway done.

Stretching his arms, he looked out the window. It was quiet tonight. A little too quiet in his opinion. Leo looked down and sighed. With his brothers out of the palace, he was feeling rather lonely. He laid his head on his arms, the table feeling rather cold against his shirt. It wasn't like he didn't understand why they left. Each one of his brothers had a goal to better themselves. Licht wanted to be a better man and make a life for himself, big Brother Bruno wanted to better his education for the throne, and so did big brother Kai with his military training. Each one seemed to be sure of the next step they had to take in order to succeed, and here he was. The dumbest of the bunch.

Everyone says that his next step should be to advance his education to be on level with his siblings, but he still felt like he was far behind. They were out their so sure of themselves, and Leo couldn't even be sure his own homework was correct.

"Arrgggh, I'm useless!" He replied pathetically, on the verge of tears. That was another thing too. None of his siblings cried like he did. Not even Adele! Every little thing that went wrong brought on the waterworks like he was baby.

"Big brother Eins was right, I'm still a child." He admitted quietly, which only made him feel worse.

Refusing to let the tears fall, he got up, intending to write out his sorrows and insecurities in his disaster diaries. It was something that always made him feel better. It was sure to bring up his spirits.

Before he could open the diary though, he heard a knock at the door. At first he thought it was Heine who had returned home, but a small head poked through the door giggling happily. Little Adele rushed in, Shadow right behind her, both energetic despite the disappearing sun.

"Leo, let's play together!" She said rushing over to him. Seeing Adele so happy to see him, he was overcome with love and he found the urge to cry disappear. Of course Adele's smile was just what he needed to cheer himself up. Who could stay upset when someone as adorable as his little sister was smiling up at you eager for your attention.

"Of course, big brother is more than happy to spend time with you Adele!" Leo replied enthusiastically, picking her up as she launched herself at him. "What would you like to play?"

The closed her eyes in thought. "Hmmm, how about hide and seek?" Shadow barked in agreement. "See, even shadow wants to play!"

Leo smiled, his earlier insecurities gone. "Alright then, Hide and seek it is!"

"I knew you'd like it!" She replied happy that he agreed. At her squirming, Leo placed her down. After smoothening out her dress, she dragged him out of the room and paused. "You have to count to 30 while me and Shadow go hide."

"Got it, no problem." He replied.

"But no peeking!"

"I won't, big brother's honor." He stated. Satisfied, she told him to start counting and turn away. Hearing her footsteps fade he let his mind wander. Adele had been in low spirits this week because of their fathers' departure. He was resolving some issue's his Kingdom was having with another. He had promised Adele that they would finally spend time together, but he had to break it. Adele told their father that she had understood that he had responsibilities, but that didn't mean that Leo didn't know that she cried herself to sleep that night, Shadow right there next to her. Leo had tried his hardest to cheer her up and he was glad to see she was no longer upset.

Finishing his count, he headed off in search of her. In the end it didn't take long for him to find her. Adele only had three spots where she hide if she played the game in the palace. In her father's room, the dining hall, and the servants quarters, specifically her maids rooms. Today, her first choice of hiding seemed to be the dining hall.

Opening the door, he pretended to look around. Making a big show to make her believe she was the best at this game. In the end, flipping the curtain back, there she was, nestled with shadow. She giggled, and seeing her smile, made Leo happy. This, this was relaxing. There were no people to yell at him, judge him or criticize him to his face. No one to contribute to his insecurities. It was just him and Adele playing a simple game. Sweet Adele who never judged him.

They continued the game for a little longer. Leo, exactly like his sister was terrible at hiding. It never took Adele long to find him.

Finally, when it was his turn again, he found his way to the servants quarters. Leo rarely ever came here, but when he did, the servants and maids were all very kind. It always smelled like food, feeling lively and busy with everyone around. It was a pleasant change from the usual six Leo saw on a daily basis. Well, not so usual anymore. He thought sadly. Moving passed one of the rooms, he couldn't help but overhear some of the maids gossiping.

"Do you think the papers are right? One maid asked.

"About what?" The other one replied, not looking up from her work. She looked far older than her companion.

"You know, about us going to war with the Pruine Kingdom." She clarified. This made Leo pause. Hiding by the door out of there sight, he stood quietly. With a sudden realization, he knew what he was doing wasn't very princely like. To spy on his servants, but he was curious on what they thought on the matter.

The oldest of the two made a noise. "Who knows." She simply states.

"But aren't you scared?" The younger ask.

"Why would I be scared?"

"Because this is the Pruine Kingdom. I heard their military is just as good as our;s now, and if they go to war with us, then there allies will too. We might not stand a chance!" Leo flinched at her words. That's right, the reason there father had departed was because the tension between the Pruine Kingdom and the Granzreich Kingdom was getting worse.

There isn't much that Leo knows about the tension between Kingdoms. All he really know is from what the papers had said, and sadly, he was also worried about the possibility of war. Their Kingdom and the Pruine Kingdom had never gotten along completely after a border dispute many, many years ago. The relationship has always been hostile, but when his father took over the Granzreich Kingdom, he worked to change that. Now instead of a mutual hatred, there seemed to be a sort of compliance with each other. At least, from what he remembers with his lesson with Heine. Recently, the tensions were rising, which had only been made worse with the Pruine kingdom's princess being kidnapped. No one knew who took her, but the Pruine were claiming it was us. In order to mellow out the situation their father had departed in order to try and clear the Granzreich Kingdom of any suspicions.

"True, but you have to remember that we have allies of our own, and their main trade route with the Kingdom of Vatice is right above us. If we go to war, they probably won't win." The oldest maid replies.

"Do you think the King will be able to resolve it?"

"Who knows. We've never been on good terms with the Pruine Kingdom, so he has his work cut out for him."

Leo disagreed. His father was amazing, and a good King. If there was anyone capable of fixing the problem it was him! He's done the impossible before. Why should this time be any different? The maids continued to converse about a different topic so Leo left. They wouldn't go to war, because that meant that his father and Kai would have to go to war as well. War was savage. They could be killed and he'd never see them again.

Slowly, Leo's footsteps paused. If they went to war, what would become of him? His father, Eins, and Kai would all probably head off to fight, but what about Bruno, Licht and him. Bruno spent a short time at military school, but he never went back, and Licht and him never got the chance to go. What would they do? Wait here for the war to end, praying they win and no one they cared about died?

A sick feeling entered Leo's mind. If he was King, would he ever have to make such a decision to send his people to war? To have to kill someone? He wanted to be a king who made sure his citizens never stopped smiling. To make sure they were happy. War would never make them happy, would it?

A bark behind him made him jump, and he whipped around to see Shadow running past him.

"Shadow wait! Come back!" Adele called after him, stopping by Leo trying to catch her breath. Wasn't she supposed to be hiding?

"Adele, what happened to hide and seek?" He asked. Catching her breathe, she looked up at him worriedly.

"We were hiding and then Shadow started acting weird." She said. "He started growling and barking and then he ran off, I think something's wrong with him." She said panicking. Leo smiled reassuringly.

"Hey, why don't we go find him and see what's wrong." Adele, looked at him and nodded, he took her hand and they went off in the direction Shadow was headed.

They followed the sound to a large room. When they entered, Shadows barking had stopped and he wasn't visible from there view, since said room was full of clothes and people. Clothes from maids uniforms to servants uniforms were all laid out separately in piles that one could only assume was the dirty clothes. The regular clothes were separated and Leo realized that the royal family clothing were also there.

It was busy. There were a lot of maids running around sorting and folding the clean clothes and running back and forth with baskets full of clean bedsheets. Leo noticed it was nice and warm in there, but loud. The maids were talking to one another, each relaxed in this atmosphere. It has a sweet smell to it too that Leo found pleasant. One of the maids had paused seeing them there.

"Oh, Prince Leonhard and Princess Adele, what brings you here of all places?" She asked pleasantly surprised. Leo stared unsurely. Seeing everything, he felt a bit out of place here. He had never wandered this far into the servants quarters before. He wasn't sure if Adele had either. Seeing as he had not responded, Adele took it upon herself to speak up.

"Shadow ran away from me. Did you see him?" she asked.

The maid smiled and pointed a little further into the room. "Ah, I see. Yes actually, he had wandered a little further into the back. Though we have no idea why?" She replied.

Adele thanked the maid, before running further in. "Adele be careful!" Leo called, saying his thanks before running after her.

It was strange really. The further in he went, the more a feeling of anxiety set in. He didn't know why though. Was it because he was in an unusual place with only Adele? He remember being a little afraid when traveling into town, but this time was different. This time he felt something was very wrong.

"Ah, Shadow, why did you run away?" He heard Adele ask as he rounded a large pile. He spotted Shadow sniffing the floor and growling with Adele holding him close. Leo stopped close to them. His heart rate beating into his ears. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong and he didn't know what. He just knew they needed to leave.

"Adele, come on, let's go." Leo said, panic growing worse. The noise of the maids laughing and the screeching pipes around them made him feel like he was underwater. All he could hear was his own racing heartbeat, and he was not handling it well.

"But Shadow won't move." Adele said. Suddenly, Shadow stopped growling and grabbed Adeles' dress. He began pulling her away rather harshly.

"Shadow stop!" Adele pleaded. Shadow weighed more than her and with him pulling with his full strength, he practically dragged her away. Luckily, Leo came to some sort of sense and picked Adele up, trying to pull Shadow off her.

"Shadow stop! You'll hurt Adele!" It didn't matter apparently, Shadow wouldn't let go. He kept pulling towards the way they came in not wanting to rip Adele's dress, Leo was moved a few feet. By now, the maids had taken notice and some had even tried to help. Finally, Shadow let go rather reluctantly, but he started barking again.

"Oh my, what seems to be wrong with him?"

"Do you think he's sick?"

"But why would he hurt Princess Adele?"

"Are you both alright?"

The maids all asked, but Leo couldn't answer. Something about seeing Shadow like this set him on edge. Finally Shadow calmed down, just enough for the maid to loosen her grip and the dog bolted, turning behind Leo only to jump with his full strength and ram the poor prince and Princess into the ground. Unfortunately, Shadow wasn't fast enough because before they even hit the ground, a loud explosion happened, sending everything it could ablaze as the pipes burst around them pieces flying everywhere. Clothing being ripped and bodies thrown back by the force. The poor maids screamed in shock and fear, the Prince no exception as the room was broken apart. The last thing Leo heard was the loud sound of an explosion and the terrified screams before he blacked out.

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Whelp, I regret nothing. Shadow is the best damn dog they could ever have. Hope you enjoyed, until next time! R&R