forum The Captive Prince (o/o) closed

Started August 12, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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Levi stirred in his sleep, taking a long inhale, and then exhaling into the pillow. He slept with his fist under his chin, almost as if he were thinking in his sleep.

(Time skip?)

Fi padded back to his room knocking gently to let Levi know he was coming back in before he wrangled the plates of food he's grabbed from the kitchen into one of his arms and got the door open. It was well past lunch, but neither of them had worked up much of an appetite until now, too hungover to even think about food.

"It's fried again, Cads says they've got too much flour." He set the plate by Levi on the desk, not looking at the paper he had in his hands. "You had something to show me when I got back, right?"

“Oh, yum,” Levi looked over at the plate and licked his lips. The slight remainder of his headache syill bother him, but he was well ready to eat now. “And yes, this is the paper I wrote last night. About what I remember since I was taken?” He handed over the paper, which was folded into neat thirds.

Fi nodded, taking it carefully. He didn't unfold it yet, choosing instead to set down two cups and a pitcher of water. "Cads also says we're idiots and we need to drink lots of water. He made me bring cups up." He set out silverware and then retreated to the bed with his own plate. "You don't mind if I read this in here, do you?"

“Smart man,” Levi chuckled at what Cadmus had said, pouring himself a cup of water first before he would begin eating. “And go ahead, I don’t mind in the least.” He took a long drink of water, then set it back down on the desk, taking his plate to sit in front of himself.

Fiori smiled when Levi complimented Cadmus, starting to dig into his food as he unwrapped the letter. "I'll tell him you think so," he said, schooling his face into a more serious expression as he started reading. "Thank you for writing this out for me, I imagine it was not a pleasant task."

Levi took a bite of his food, nodding along while his mouth was full. “Yes, it was difficult last night,” he agreed. There were some times when the words flew from the pen, and others when he struggled to find the right word. He had fought tears in some places, particularly the beginning.

The passage rehashed what Levi had already told him, but I’m more detail in the beginning: waking up to see his brother at the foot of the bed, coaxing him outside, then forcing a blindfold over his eyes and shoving him into the hands of at least two strange men. He was seized by a collar around his throat when they reached a carriage, and put inside. The written passage of during the carriage ride was less detailed, since that part was fuzzier in his memory. He did recall many demeaning comments, and being frequently pulled by his collar when he spoke out of turn. He described any unique details of the voices he heard, and then that led to being passed over to the captain of the guard, then to the bath, and then to Fiori.

Fiori chewed his cheek as he read, eventually forgetting about his food as he pressed further into the letter. His expression went from a soft frown to a barely concealed snarl, anger flashing in his eyes as he finished up the last few lines.

It took him a moment to compose himself, but once he didn't feel like punching a hole in the nearest wall he crisply folded up the letter and reached around Levi to stow it away in one of the desk drawers. "Thank you for writing this out for me," he said, voice gruff but appreciative. His expression softened as he turned to Levi, a look of concern instead of anger. "I will give Dionn a firm talking to about the treatment of slaves, and I will do my best to persecute those who did this to you."

Levi, who’s face has morphed from contentment to solemness at the memory, leaned into the back of the chair as he watched Fiori finish reading. He reached out to take the paper, murmuring a small you’re welcome in response to the first comment, putting the paper in the desk drawer He nodded slightly, and felt some closure at Fiori’s promise. “…Thank you,” he said a bit louder.

"Of course!" Fiori wasn't really prone to fits of emotion, but the look he gave Levi was full of it. "You are my friend Leviticus, and beyond that, you are a human being. Nobody deserves to be treated the way you were, and it's shameful that you had to come into my country under such circumstances."

Levi’s chest warmed at the emotion, and a smile crept onto his lips. “It just means a lot to me,” he grinned. He wanted to see those slaver’s faces, to match their faces to the voices. To be able to stand in safety while justice was being served. He imagined it would be like a taste of the royalty in his own kingdom, watching from a safe distance behind the protection of the guards.

Fiori's face smoothed out into something more neutral when Levi smiled, lips lifting ever so slightly in return. He wanted to find those slavers and deliver them to justice. He wanted to make sure nothing like this ever happened again, and he was pleased when he remembered that festival season was only a few days away. He could change things, if only he could wait. "Then I am glad I can be of service to you, Leviticus, and I am glad I can protect you from those who would harm you."

“I’m honored,” He hummed contest in an audible sigh, beginning to eat again. “What do you have in mind to do? If you have any idea yet.” He asked once his mouth was free of food. “For those slavers, I mean.”

Fiori hummed, thinking. "We have an outlined code of laws. They have broken two of them. I could do a few different things, but I think I will leave it up to you to decide in the end. It was not me who was wronged, it should not be up to me to assign punishment."

“…Oh,” he perked up a little bit, straightening his posture interestedly. Not that he was excited to make such a difficult decision, but it was a concept that didn’t sound half bad. He was also curious. “I see.” He cocked his head, squinting while he thought. In his perspective, everything they did was inhumane and awful, but which laws was Fiori referring to? “What specific two laws did they break?”

Fiori smiled a little widener at Levi's eagerness, amused, though he was quick to settle back into a frown when they turned towards more serious topics. "Unlawful enslavement and willful mistreatment. The first is fairly simple, and with your testimony, we should be able to prove the second easily.

“That’s good,” Levi rested his chin on the back of the chair. “It’s good we have a written testimony, then.” His expression was heavy again, but his thoughts were interrupted by his stomach reminding him to eat, so he took another bite.

"It is," Fiori agreed, wandering over to the bed again so he could eat the food his rumbling stomach craved. "They'll try to admit it early on if they're smart, and get a lessened punishment for willingness to comply. Did they seem very intelligent to you?"

Levi squinted thoughtfully, “They’re sentences, at least, weren’t unintelligent. I couldn’t tell otherwise.”

Tolly hummed, nodding "From what you wrote, they seemed to be soldiers. They would be more familiar with the code of law than most."

“They expected me to go to them if you wouldn’t have wanted me,” he recalled, looking off to the side while he unburied the memory. “So they would have to be in a higher class such as a soldier… right?”