Author Note:

I'm redoing some many author notes in this book. 

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[ Etho Point of View ]

Etho was on roll. Including today, he had gotten up early three consecutive days in a row. He was proud of himself for resisting the temptation to sleep all day on the comfortable palace mattress.

'After sleeping on a mattress for a few days, I never want to sleep on the ground again.' The silver haired man glanced back at his bed.

The timing was impeccable. Both Etho and Bdubs were leaving their rooms at the same time, leaving neither to wait on the other to get breakfast.

"Good morning, Etho." Bdubs greeted the bodyguard, smoothing his hair back when he saw him.

"Morning, Bdubs." Etho smiled under his mask.

"Your doing much better at getting up in the morning." The king complimented.

"I guess I got my internal clock got used to it." Said Etho.

King Bdubs and Etho made their way down the staircase, Bdubs cautious as ever about stepping on his moss cape. The king glided to his seat, quite cheerful this morning. Perhaps a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders?

Once the food was on the table, Etho cleaned four plates of bacon and eggs before Bdubs could finish his first and only plate of food.

"You're going to get sick if you keep eating that fast, Etho." King Bdubs warned.

"Sorry." Etho gave an awkward chuckle. "I was hungry."

"I don't see how you were so hungry." Replied the royal ravenette. "You had like three bowls of stew last night."

"Training was intense yesterday." Explained the silvernette.

"It's only going to be more intense today." Bdubs delivered the bad news.

"What for? Am I not improving fast enough?" The protector questioned.

"It's not really your improvement that's the problem," The voice of the Royal Guard Captain answered the question. "It's your range of techniques."

"What do you mean?" Etho inquired.

"Come out to the training grounds and you'll find out." Cleo motioned for him to follow her.

Bdubs gave a small wave to Etho, watching as his bodyguard went off to train.

* * *

On the training groups Etho was met with various weapons lined up on the group. There was a fragmented dummy stand for each weapon.

"Should I be scared?" Etho asked Cleo.

"Not yet." Cleo grinned. "Right now Skiz and I need to evaluate how well you do with each weapon."

"What do I do for that?" Asked the silvernette.

"Fight the dummy with each weapon." Skizzle instructed. "We've only used blades so far, but you can't always pick your weapon in a fight. That's why it's good to be able to use anything as a weapon."

Etho whacked a dummy with a mace, chopped another with an axe, and threw a knife that missed by an embarrassing amount.

'Did they see that?' Etho spun around, catching both of their reactions. 'Of course they did.'

Spear throwing went just as well as the knife. Cleo was painfully suppressing her laugh, Skizzle making a literal note of Etho's performance.

The crossbow was easier. Perfect bullseye. However, if Etho was in a real fight, he would have lost long ago since he couldn't figure out how to load the weapon.

Lastly was the bow. Etho took his time adjusting the arrow, before quickly releasing.

The dummy plunged backwards after taking an arrow to the face.

"How did I do?" Etho asked, dropping the bow.

"Not horrible." Cleo concluded. "We definitely need to work on your throwing, but everything else is alright."

"You're really good with a bow!" Skizzle complimented. "Even I still struggle with using a bow, sometimes."

Etho starred at his fingers, red from pulling back the bowstring. They stung like a cut from a dull blade.

"That was just a lucky shot." He brushed the comment off.

"One shot is all you need to change the course of a battle." Cleo stated.

'Yeah...' Etho stretched his fingers, before withdrawing them into a weak fist. 'But I always miss the important shots when I need to make them.'

"Now, we put on armor." The orangette said.

"Armor?" The protector's eyes widened.

* * *

"This is too heavy for me." Etho announced, wobbling as he walked.

The protector clinked and clanked in a suit of metal armor. His arms hung heavy by his sides, the plates weighing him down too much.

"It's not that heavy." Skiz replied, in a matching pair. "It's actually not heavy at all."

"Etho doesn't have the same muscle mass as you either." Cleo explained. She turned to the protector. "What kind of armor did you wear for the tournament?"

"Chainmail." He replied. "I prefer lighter armor that doesn't restrict my mobility."

"You don't get full coverage that way, you know." The captain of the royal guard pointed out.

"That's fine." Etho said. "I don't think I need it anyways."

Cleo and Skiz exchanged looks with each other.

"I'll put in a request for some chainmail and a few additional armor plates to made for you, Etho." The orangette stated.

"What do I need armor for?" The silvernette curiously asked.

Cleo didn't said anything.

"Oh, Cleo!" Skiz broke the silence. "Isn't it time for you to go see Tango? For your arm?"

"Yeah... Yeah!" The orangette suddenly remembered. "Take over until lunch, Skiz. I have to go visit Tango."

Cleo left the armory. After Skiz and Etho put away all the armor and excess weapons, they had a small sparring match.

"How good are you without weapons, Etho?" Skiz questioned, getting into his fighting stance.

"I guess you'll have to find out." Etho taunted.

"Last one standing is the winner?" The brunette questioned.

"Last one standing." He confirmed.

Etho threw the first punch, Skiz catching it and returning the favor with his other hand.

'He hits hard.' Etho winced.

Etho catches his breath, before firing off a right hook that knocked Skizzle off balance. This gave the silver haired man an opportunity to strike. He did.

"Oww!" Skiz stumbled back, bringing his hand to bloody nose.

"Oh, sorry!" Etho panicked, dropping his hands.

"Gotcha." The brunette mumbled, grinning as he popped a fist at Etho's face.

The fall to the ground was quick. Etho slipped off his mask down to breath more efficiently, steadying himself to process what happened.

'That's the second time I've lost to Skiz.' Etho sighed. 'How is that even possible?'

"You good, buddy?" Skiz leaned over, wiping the blood from his nose.

"Yeah." Etho replied. "Just wallowing in my defeat."

"Are you gonna get up?" The brunette questioned.

"I think I'll lay here for a bit." The gray haired male replied.

"Come on, Etho." Skiz offered a hand. "We've got more things to cover today."

'How much training do we have to do today?' Etho grumbled.

Etho grabbed Skiz's hand, a throbbing pain in his head when he stood. He held his head with his hand, hoping to ease the pain. It did not work.

"Whoa! Are you alright?!" Skiz asked, panicked.

"My head... hurts." Etho said, looking down. The light outside was too bright for him. "A lot."

"We need to go see Tango." The brunette decided, putting a hand on the protector's shoulder to help guide him.

* * *

Skiz explained to Tango what happened, but Etho had zoned out. His headache grew by the second and focusing on things only made it worse.

"Let me check something." Tango lit a candle, holding it out in front of Etho's face.

The orange flames was a small one, waving at the slightest of movements. But even the smallest of flames can expand and eat at everything around you in seconds.

Etho quickly blew the candle out.

"Hey!" Tango raged, setting the candle down to relit it.

"He said that the lights hurts his eyes," Skiz chimed in. "Do you have something less bright that you could use?"

"The light hurts..." Tango mumbled, turning around. "Give me a second."

Etho watched as the blonde skimmed countless shelves, pushing things aside and moving them around. Finally, Tango pulled a lantern off the shelf. He threw, what Etho assumed was dirt, into it and it emitted a low blue light.

"Is this better?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah..." Etho answered.

Tango held the lantern close to Etho's face. Blue light reflected off the doctor's face, his crimson eyes fixated on the silvernette.

"Look left." He commanded.

Etho looked left.

"Look right." He added.

Etho looked right.

"Up." Tango requested. "Now look down."

Tango lowered the lantern and stepped away.

"You didn't damage anything important." The blonde concluded. "...at least, I don't think you did."

"What do I need to do for it?" Etho asked.

"Let's see," Tango waltzed over to one of the many shelves, picking up a small, but thick, triangular drill. "I'll just need to drill a couple holes in your head."

"What?!" Etho's eyes widened with fear.

"I'm kidding." Tango laughed, pulled the tool away. "All you need is some rest."

"Is that it?" Asked Etho.

"Yeah." Tango nodded. "I'll check up on you tomorrow to reevaluate my diagnosis."

The blonde in a red button up, with a black vest and ribbon bow tie spun around to face Skiz, who stood in the doorway with his back against the wall. The brunette with fluffy hair hadn't said too much, but Tango didn't forget his presence.

"Your turn, Skiz." Tango said.

"I'm not here for any—" Skizzle began to explain.

"Your nose." The doctor quickly pointed out, handing him a clean white handkerchief.

"Oh yeah." The brunette chuckled, holding the fabric to his face. "I completely forget about that."

"Now gentlemen," Tango glanced back and forth between the two. "Does anyone have anymore pain that I need to add onto? I mean—take care of?"

"Nope!" Skiz cheerfully replied. "We're all good now, thanks to you."

Skizzle and Etho left Tango's room in the tower, returning to main part of the castle. They passed by Cleo on the way to the stairs. Her right arm was still in a sling.

"Where are two going?" Cleo asked.

"Etho got hurt while we were training. Nothing serious, thankfully. " Skiz explained. "Tango recommended he get some rest."

"I see." She said. "I'll let Bdubs know."

[ Bdubs Point of View ]

Bdubs didn't realize how lonely it was without Etho at the table. Even if Etho wasn't chatty, it was nice to have someone to sit by. The empty chair couldn't complete with the company of the king's protector.

"How long will he be down for?" Bdubs asked, pushing away his half eaten steak.

"I'm not sure." Cleo shrugged. "Skiz said Tango would evaluate him in the morning. I think we might be looking at couple days, at most."

"We only a day before the letters come back." The king stated, fearfully.

'Why didn't I have Grian deliver the letters? This anticipation is killing me.' Bdubs clutched his moss cape.

"I'm scared for tomorrow, Cleo." The king admitted. "I don't know what's going to to happen."

"I don't know either." The orangette frowned. "Whatever it is, the kingdom is prepare for it."

'The kingdom may be prepared, but I'm not.' Bdubs buried his face in his hands.

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Author Note:

About that 1 year hiatus thing, again. The show that inspired me to return to Protector was BBC Merlin.