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It is a knight’s duty to protect their prince, and Ajax took that duty seriously.
The scars littering his skin were proof of that.
He met the prince when they were both still quite young—him, still a knight-in-training, and the prince still too timid to become the strong and powerful leader the king wanted him to be.
Young Prince Kaeya was simply taking a stroll through the gardens when he spotted Ajax sparring with his superiors.
Heat flushed Ajax’s face when they made eye contact, but he swiftly refocused his attention on his sparring session and knocked his opponent off their feet. He cheered as he looked back to where the prince stood and flashed him a toothy grin.
Kaeya smiled and laughed, giving him an thumbs up in response.
A hard worker and a great fighter; those were the words he wanted to hear from his superiors. Ajax knew that if he wanted to do something meaningful, he would have to excel at whatever he was doing. He loved being an excellent student. It gave him respect despite his age.
He kneeled down in front of his prince, his current assignment and responsibility.
“You may rise, my knight,” his prince said.
Ajax looked up at his prince. They were 17 now. They had both grown up so much since the first time they had locked eyes, but perhaps still far too young for the weight that was put on their shoulders.
Tired lines had formed beneath Kaeya’s eyes, the result of restless nights from the escalating war raging between Khaenri’ah and Celestia itself.
Ajax hadn’t noticed them before. From afar, those lines easily blended in with the wrinkles beneath his eyes as he pulled out his signature, practiced smile. The people were afraid of what was to come, but Kaeya was told to smile and wave. Nothing was wrong, and everything was under control.
He slowly stood up and took his position: beside him, but from a few steps behind, as was appropriate.
Rules felt quite arbitrary when the world as you know it was coming undone.
The sun hadn’t risen in three days—or what should have been three days. Hordes of Khaenri’ahns fled as soon as rumors of eternal night sprang about. Without the sun, what crops could they eat? What would become of them as they were starved of something so essential to being human? Was that what they deserved?
It truly felt like they had become less than human when the gods started to treat them as such.
A small flame flickered in Ajax’s hands. A mostly melted candle tried to hold on for just a moment longer.
“How are you feeling, your majesty?”
Silence.
Kaeya turned to his knight, his face undeniably exhausted. The prince took off the mask that sat on the right side of his face and set it on the bedside table.
Bashful, Ajax instinctively looked away.
“Ajax, would you blow out the candle and join me in bed?”
Ajax nearly dropped the burning candle on the spot. His heart started beating wildly in his chest.
“Your majesty, that’s hardly an appropriate request for a knight like me—!” Ajax blurted out—oh, perhaps he shouldn’t have said anything. He bit down hard on his tongue. Stupid chivalry ingrained in his head.
Kaeya blushed and shrugged. “I’ve simply been having a tough time falling asleep as of late. I thought… You make me feel so secure, so perhaps if you held me as I went to bed, then—Oh, you’re right. It was a brash request. Father would banish me if he found out.”
The tips of Ajax’s ears felt like they had burst into flames. He was suddenly glad he didn’t jump in with his complete misunderstanding of Kaeya’s request. He shook his head and quickly approached the bed. “No, I completely understand!” he said.
Ajax blew the candle out and placed it on the bedside table, right next to Kaeya’s mask. He kneeled down and took Kaeya’s hands in his. “It doesn’t matter what other people might think or say. You, my prince, are my utmost priority. If this request makes you feel more at ease, I will gladly join you tonight,” he said.
Kaeya briefly looked at his lips and then his eyes.
“Thank you, Ajax.”
Horrible beasts had breached the walls protecting the kingdom. Whether they had broken through from the outside or spawned from within, Ajax didn’t know, but he did know that his strength was needed.
He was standing in front of the palace’s front gate. His blade tore through a creature vaguely resembling the wildlife of their own world. It tore through layers of what he assumed was flesh, yet the creature was still standing, barely affected by its wounds.
“There’s too many of them!” one of his fellow knights shouted.
Ajax slashed through the stubborn monster with a cry, finally defeating it, only to be faced with two more that had approached the palace in its place. This was his duty. This was what he had trained his entire life to do. Why was it not enough?
The ground shook beneath his feet, and gradually, the dark sky began to turn a bright red, equally as bright as the blood shed by the people of Khaenri’ah he had failed to protect.
A blood-curdling scream tore through his eardrums as one of his very own knights collapsed onto the ground, clutching and prying at his head as if he was trying to tear something out of it.
The sun had risen again for the first time in years, but at what cost?
Ajax felt his blood run cold as the world around him started to collapse. He turned his head toward the palace and ran, blocking out the agonized cries of his companions who had all collapsed one by one.
The bricks of the palace had started to crumble.
Ajax burst through into the palace and dashed up the winding stairs, nearly tumbling over his own feet in his own panic. Dozens of staff members and royals ran out of the collapsing building, forcing Ajax to weave against the current. Those on the inside wanted to run outside to escape death, whilst those who had been fighting outside wanted to run inside for those very same reasons.
The building shook, its foundations barely holding its structure in place.
Once on the top floor, Ajax sprinted to the end of the hallway and forcefully opened the door.
“My prince!” he shouted.
In front of the window stood Kaeya, illuminated by the crimson red sky behind him. His visible eye was wide open with fear. Kaeya, his sweet and beautiful prince, was frozen with fear.
Ajax dropped his sword to the ground and quickly approached him, taking him into his arms and holding onto him as tightly as possible. Ajax tried his best to comfort Kaeya as he cried into his chest, but Ajax could barely control the tremors in his arms and keep calm himself.
“It’s okay, my prince—I’ve got you. We’ll be okay. I’ve got you,” Ajax said with a strain, trying to fight back a horrible headache.
Their last sunrise together wasn’t quite what he would have liked it to be.
Ajax’s chest hurt as he knew that he had failed his duty as a knight. Here they were, both in peril, with no one else to save them. Their world and the short time they got to experience it together were falling apart before their very eyes.
Perhaps if Ajax lived forever, he could make up for his mistakes for the rest of his life.