Description: Instead of being kept unaware to the existence of the true heir to the throne of Rigel his entire life, Berkut is sent to meet and befriend Alm in Ram Village at the behest of his uncle the King. Will spending time among common-folk and family he did not know he had inspire change in Berkut, or will he drag himself down through the flames of arrogance in spite of the opportunity offered?

Chapter One: Berkut

Visit a commoner's town, Emperor Rudolf said.

Meet your cousin, he said.

See who would be the one to one day be the true heir to the throne, he said.

It was under such circumstances that Berkut of Rigel's royal family found himself carted off to a backwater town to the far south of the continent well beyond Rigel's own limits. The Emperor believed that it would be for the best that his own son and his nephew met earlier rather than later so that they may bond as children tend to do. The alternative was to keep his nephew in the dark, an option that would allow tensions to rise and perhaps fester when the truth came out one day.

Perhaps allowing a young boy to know of a vital secret could prove unwise, but as a father figure to Berkut the Emperor felt he would be able to keep him in line via his own influence. All he had to do was make certain Berkut would not betray the secret to the Duma Faithful, and that was simple enough given that the young boy seemed to have no love for their kind already.

"What's all the commotion?"

"Who's that with the old man? It's not Alm, that's for sure."

And maybe, just maybe, forcing the haughty child named Berkut to live among the peasantry he already was learning to dislike from his mother would grant him perspective.

Maybe…for none of this meant that Berkut was happy about this decision of his uncle, nor the knowledge that he would not in fact follow his uncle in ruling all of Rigel.

"Hey there not-Alm! I'm Gray, and this-"

"Unhand me!"

Well-schooled for a boy not yet ten, Berkut balked as some tanned boy wearing green clothing tried slinging their arm around his shoulders as if they knew one another. Peers were not something Berkut was used to given his royal upbringing, what with him knowing more of words and books than he did of people. The result was his snappish remark to the first who tried greeting him at the gates of Ram Village, though the boy seems to take it in some stride.

Berkut was told to introduce himself as a distant relative of Alm coming to visit for a brief time before resuming his studies to the 'North', a cover which none in the reclusive village would be able to dispel. Mycen would say it was true, and the man's reputation in the village would have everything be left at that.

When Mycen brought the young Berkut to the city gates at first many just believed him to have brought Alm back after some time spent out in the fields and woods beyond, but when Alm's own friends came to see him they were surprised to see the boy riding beside Mycen was not a green-haired youth but a boy about as old whose hair was more akin to coal.

"Yeesh, no need to be so serious," Gray complained, not used to being rebuffed so severely. Even still his face showed that he didn't really care about the rebuke on any personal level.

It was not from typical malice that Berkut sneered at Gray, rather he simply had not learned any degree of tact for dealing with others who were not his family or esteemed retainers. As Gray fit into neither category, he did not know that looking down on others from the first moment one meets them does not make for genial conversation. He had come here opposed to the idea of bonding with anyone except for perhaps Sir Mycen, and so in turn he did not aim initially to at all earn any favor with others nor did he wish to. What use would commoner 'friends' be to him after all?

"Then learn to keep your hands to yourself."

It was arrogance born of his upbringing and, while he was correct to accost Gray for unwanted physical contact, it was not something his present caretaker Mycen would just allow in his presence as he finished getting off his horse as Berkut had before him.

"Berkut, manners. This is Gray, and like it or not you will be getting to know him soon, so you may as well show him proper courtesy..." Mycen reprimanded the young boy second in succession to the throne of Mycen's place of birth, Rigel. Even if he now resided to the South in Zofia, Mycen still had his loyalties to Berkut's uncle and in fact was here thanks to his stewardship of Rudolf's son Alm. Rudolf had plans for the boy which called for him to stay out of the reach of those in Rigel, and so this village in the middle of nowhere was to be not just Mycen's home but that of the rightful heir to the Rigellian throne.

And, for now, the second heir as well...giving Berkut a glimpse at the man he would one day serve, hopefully allowing for a natural friendship to be born rather than brought by force some years later.

Knowing his place and not desiring to offend Mycen, a personal friend to the emperor, Berkut quickly forced himself to try and do something he was not quite used to...apologize.

"Fine…" standing awkwardly sideways to Gray with a shoulder facing him, Berkut offered a hand to the other child to shake, "I am Berkut. Alm and I are…distantly related."

He pronounced it Ber-cut instead of its usual Ber-coo, too young by Mycen's approximation to easily take to a new name, but also beneath notice enough as one of a thousands of dark haired boys his age to get away with a wrongly spoken version of his name without anyone in this town knowing he was in fact the nephew of a faraway land's ruler. Not everyone knew of Berkut as it was, the boy having no place yet at royal court, and so 'Bercut' was safe enough. It was not as if Ram Village was a place anyone of any importance went after all, possessing a small population, scarce resources, and being well off the beaten path...that was, anyone who was not Mycen himself, Alm, or now Berkut.

Thanks to Berkut's gangly nature, he stood well above Gray but that did not deter the boy from happily accepting the hand offered to him and shaking it as intended...though perhaps with more force and exuberance than the standoffish prince expected.

"Any family of Alm's is like family to me!"

Regular town-people had all gone their own ways, for it was the middle of the day and plenty had work to do, but those that lingered all had one thing in common: they were Alm's friends who had thought Alm was the one they were going to greet, but now instead were meeting an alleged relative to him instead. Four in total, one other was quick to personally greet him like Gray while two others hung back.

A girl slightly older than Berkut but around Gray's own age approached Berkut in seeming awe, her flaxen hair her most notable quality to the boy, "You're related to Alm? Wow! I didn't know he had any more family!"

Alm didn't outside of Berkut, or so the story would go...an 'orphan' boy who was attending a military academy up north to explain his basic training in certain skills he learned back home. It did not stretch the truth too much, for Berkut was nearly an orphan given his father's passing and mother's typical absence, and he was learning how to become the king Rigel deserved one day...or at least undergoing the appearance of such training. Now he had learned it was all a show, but a show with purpose that his uncle promised would be for the good of the nation...that Berkut's efforts and schooling were not in vain but rather important to Rigel's very survival. That helped calm the sting of being dethroned at the tender age of seven, over half of those years having been spent with tutors already, but it would be some time before Berkut could claim to be anything but bitter about it.

He would spend some time, days or weeks (the Empror was unclear) among commoners and claim when the time came to return to Rigel that he had to return to the school paid for by his parents...that would explain his 'absence' and allow him to possibly return at any point deemed necessary without rousing too much suspicion among young children and adults distanced from the rest of the continent.

"Berkut and Alm share no blood, but family is family, and before Berkut continues his studies in the North I thought it may be good for them to know one another," Mycen explains, only to realize that Berkut had seemingly been put quite off by the sudden approach of the girl.

Berkut was not smitten with her by any means, but if his experience with other boys his age was severely lacking, his experience with girls was nonexistent. To his fortune she had not moved in to touch him as Gray had done, but her overall proximity was still enough to make the prince almost step back in nervousness as he contemplated the girl's presence.

Unlike Berkut, she was quite used to dealing with others her age and in fact was friends with only boys, so to the fair haired child there was nothing out of the ordinary in meeting Berkut outside of his relation to Alm.

"I'm Faye! I really, really like Alm, so if you want to know anything about him just ask me!"

Berkut could just nod silently to her, not knowing what to say back, but at the very least she seemed nice...a bit odd in how much she seemed to like his cousin, but he had heard of boys and girls his age having 'crushes' before so he chalked it up to being that sort of thing. It was another thing he knew little of, and so he could do little but look away from her and give his nod in embarrassment.

Next in line for greeting him was a quiet boy of about five or maybe six who seemed far more pensive about the whole matter, and Berkut felt both like the other child might be worthy of respect for not getting up in his face as well as that if he pushed the quiet boy at all they would break out in tears.

"Kliff."

Not even a handshake or proper greeting, just his name...that was fine for Berkut however. He was fine with others staying away from him...he was quite used to it back home, where others his age feared drawing his ire given his status and so many avoided him except in the circumstances they could not avoid Berkut entirely.

The last of the four children to come approach Berkut upon his arrival was a brown-haired child a bit younger than Berkut, but who seemed pensive as well despite initial excitement at possibly seeing Alm...the lack of greeting from them actually prompted Berkut to offer one of his own, speaking out to the child as everyone stood by the village's entrance awkwardly waiting for the child to say something.

"And who are you, boy?"

As if taken out of thought, the brown haired child seemed bemused by the by Berkut's way of speaking to him, "Boy? We're the same age."

Still in the presence of Mycen, Berkut bit back his initial idea to scoff at the boy's insolence, but instead took a calming breath and decided to emphasize the fact he was trying to be 'nice'.

"I asked politely."

That seems to have done the trick, as the seemingly clueless boy brightens up again and grins with what Berkut recognizes as some pride.

"Oh...well, the name's Tobin, and whatever Faye tells you about Alm, just know that I'm better."

...Berkut had a feeling he would like this 'Tobin', even if Faye spent the very next moment scoffing at his declaration of superiority.

"Tobin!"

In response the boy continues to grin, now looking over at Faye who he shows off his forearm to, "The truth hurts, Faye, I know, but just look at my muscles!"

Given his lean body, there was nothing to look at, but Berkut still respected the overall idea. If some peasant boy could be better than Alm, then Berkut himself could prove himself better, and then maybe, just maybe, the Emperor would choose Berkut as his heir...an idea which, in any case, Berkut had decided upon before even arriving. The King may have his own goals, but Berkut's were simple: to show up Alm however he could. If he happened to learn life lessons and grow less haughty along the way, then perhaps everyone would win in the end.

But for now Berkut had decided which of these commoners was most worth his time, and it was the one whom he seemed to share a mission with. With a smile and pride Berkut offered a hand out to Tobin, willing to shake the hand of this boy without Mycen prompting him at all.

"We have a lot in common then, Tobin, for I too am better than Alm."

Faye was flustered over the way this conversation had gone, but was able to point out a bit of a flaw in Berkut's statement, "You don't even know him!"

That didn't matter to Berkut: he would be better than Alm, so what did it matter that he didn't quite know where exactly the boy was at yet? The only presently strong one among these kids seemed to be the one known as Gray, while the others were just seemingly ordinary kids who likely had differing talents of their own, so Berkut did not feel like competition here would be difficult.

Of course, he had not quite yet met the boy he would claim as his rival soon enough, so he had yet to be humbled by what he would consider an ordinary farmboy if not for his knowledge of Alm's secret...a secret the King had made certain Berkut knew was not to be passed along under any circumstance.

"That is enough, Children. There will be time for playing around later, but for now Berkut should meet Alm as well before he makes too many claims of supposed superiority," Mycen chimed in, grinning all the while at the rivalry the boys were showing already. Rivalry was a good tool for growth, and it would be to both Alm and Berkut's benefit to have someone more on their level to spar with.

Tobin waved goodbye as Mycen began to lead both Berkut and the horse they rode in on towards where Mycen resided, not noticing how Berkut flinched at the smell of the town the further they entered it, "Seeya later!"

"Bye Berkut!" Faye waved, her previous irritation over Berkut claiming to be better than Alm forgotten when the time came to give a courteous wave goodbye.

A bit slower than the others was Gray, who instead of giving a proper goodbye spent the moment raising an eyebrow over at Tobin and Berkut, "What was all of that? Alm's better than both of you, dude. Like way better."

"Shut up Gray!"

Berkut felt awkward waving goodbye to the other children, not ever really having had to do so yet in his entire life to people his own age...but as he watched Gray try to put Tobin in a headlock and Tobin drag both of them down onto the ground to play-fight he felt oddly at ease. That if he was still over there with them he might actually enjoy getting to show off his own strength acquired by the day to day training he was put through even at his age. Or perhaps he could be the responsible one like Faye and break it all apart, showing his dominance by making the other kids do what he said even though he was younger than Gray and Faye both...

Maybe having 'friends' wouldn't be so bad after all.

A/N: Playing through Shadows of Valentia again after a long time and decided to write this after having a friend talk to me at length over how mean it was for Rudolf the Red Armored Emperor to not at any point inform Berkut of how Berkut was not his heir in actuality. That was what kind of drove Berkut off the deep end at the end of the game, and so with that in mind I wanted to do this 'what-if' to explore how Berkut may have grown up differently had he known both that he was not to inherit the throne as well as actually knowing Alm on a personal level rather than the tragedy which befell them in the game.

I hope you enjoyed, and if you have any thoughts please let me know in the reviews below!