#syndisparklez | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coolcattime · 20 days

Text

Duty, and Its Implications [Mianite Royalty AU Oneshot]

Relationships: Tom Syndicate/Jordan Captainsparklez

Characters: Jordan Captainsparklez, Tom Syndicate, Lady Ianite

Prince Jordan has always been the very image of a dutiful crown prince. He has never faulted in what is expected of him, making sure to uphold his kingdom’s ideals and traditions in the way that is both expected and admired in a future king. However, on this night, that of his official engagement to Lady Capsize, he can’t help but feel nervous about the situation he finds himself in. Despite his duty and how the engagement is for the good of his kingdom, he worries if he’s really ready or prepared for it.

Little does he or his surprise visitor in the form of Prince Tom know, he will not be engaged by the end of the night – and his doubt about his engagement will be put to the furthest reaches of his mind as now a far different issue faces him and threatens the peace between all three of the kingdoms.

AO3 Link

Mianite Royalty AU Tag

Prince Jordan was alone for the first time in as long as he could remember. The older he got, the more he was constantly surrounded by people, be they advisors, tutors, servants, governors, visiting nobles, his mother, his friends, or his fiancée. He was never alone, and he had never felt so thankful for that fact as he did now sitting alone in his room, the silence eating away at him. Tonight was the night, he and Lady Capsize would finally be officially engaged. Technically nothing was really changing, Capsize had been his fiancée for years now in terms of her education, duties, and living arrangements, but despite that his stomach wouldn’t settle. As he stared at his own reflection, he knew deep down that everything was about to change.

He looked the perfect image of a crown prince, not a single hair out of place. He was dressed in purples, as was traditional for his kingdom, deep purple jacket and pants embellished with golden embroidery that matched the golden crown he wore. He’d tried on the pieces so many times as they were being tailored, but actually seeing it now as a completed outfit felt different. It wasn’t dissimilar to outfits he had worn at previous balls, but his crown weighed heavier than it ever had before, especially as he stared at the family ring he was going to be proposing with before the end of the hour. He had never felt so lost as to what he was meant to be feeling. This was his duty, something important to the continued survival of the kingdom. Maybe that was why he felt so nervous, it was a lot of pressure on one event. Everyone important from all three kingdoms were here today for him – obviously he couldn’t get rid of the nerves, he was soon going to get down on one knee in front of the most powerful people in the world. Even knowing Capsize was going to say yes, he still felt so unbelievably nervous about tonight.

Gods, his thoughts were locked onto the idea that Capsize might say no. It was ridiculous, their engagement had been in the works for years now, she knew as well as he did that this event was really just for show. Yes, he knew in reality that she would play her role perfectly, she would accept his proposal in the exact way that was expected of her, she would sit by him during dinner and smile politely as he spoke, and the moment it was socially acceptable, she’d disappear off to talk with literally anyone but him. The last part was the highlight of the problem that had him as nervous as he was. Despite how she had been living in the castle for years now, he still barely knew Capsize. There had been times when he thought he was actually seeing her true personality, but most of the time she was annoyingly closed off from him. Of course, she was quite the same with nearly everyone, but he knew there were people she was open with which just made her all the more frustrating to him. She seemed happy to talk with his mother or Prince Tom during his visits, but absolutely refused to interact with him in any meaningful way. He was trying, she just didn’t seem receptive to him, which left him fumbling with what he was doing wrong. He knew that this engagement was unlikely to result in love, but he had hoped they’d at least be able to be friends.

There was still time, he assured himself. While the wedding planning would certainly take up most of their time, they’d still be given time alone to continue their courtship. Of course, Capsize hadn’t exactly been receptive to anytime with him, alone or not. Though she was never outright rude, she was always so quiet, but after tonight, things were going to get better. He’d spoken to her brother, gotten what information he could on things she might like to do and why she seemed so quiet all the time. He’d made her comfortable here, show her that he wanted her to be happy. Then she’d start talking more openly with him, he was sure. He just needed to get through tonight, which he knew he could do. Capsize always seemed to enjoy balls so she’d be fine, he was sure. Just get through tonight. He could do that. Realistically there wasn’t anything that could go wrong.

Despite that thought, Jordan nearly jumped out of his skin when the door to his room creaked open. He didn’t expect it to be time to go in so soon. He didn’t feel ready, but he rose to his feet anyway. Only it wasn’t someone that had come to collect him. Despite how anyone entering his room without him expecting them on such an important night should panic him, he completely relaxed.

“Tom,” Jordan breathed, smiling at the man. Tom, crown prince of the kingdom of King Dianite, dressed in all the finery one would expect of someone of his station attending an event as important as this one. He was dressed in deep reds, embroidery decorating his jacket, mostly in other red tones, though his lapels were done in silver. He stepped inside Jordan’s chambers, carefully closing the door behind him, smiling warmly at his friend. Jordan couldn’t help but reflect the action, happy to be having some alone time with the man before a night where he’d be focused on his duties as a future king. However, even in briefly reminding himself of his duties, his nerves were brought back to the forefront of his mind. “You can’t be here. You’re meant to be in the ballroom with all the other nobles. You’ll—”

“Relax,” Tom cut him off with nonchalance, moving to drape himself across Jordan’s bed. It wasn’t as if he had a reputation of being uptight and duty bound as Jordan did. Him sneaking off from an important event and being found in a noble’s bedroom was likely expected from him at this point. Of course, he knew that reputation wasn’t exactly what the man was worried about. So, though he didn’t move from his lying position, he shot him a flash of a smile. “I’m not the only person that’s missing, Sonja’s disappeared to gods knows where. Plus, the whole event seems delayed anyway. So, I thought I’d check in on you. I mean, it’s your big day, thought it would be nice to talk.”

“What do you mean delayed?” Jordan asked, more nerves growing. Nothing should be delayed; the whole night was planned down to the last detail. Had something gone wrong? That idea was enough to make him nauseous.

“Maybe delayed isn’t the best word. More like you wouldn’t be needed for quite a while. Ergo, I wouldn’t be needed for a while,” He said with a shrug. Sure, maybe there were some reasons that he could be worried – it seemed like people were getting pulled out of the room and not returning, which probably wasn’t meant to happen, but he didn’t want to worry Jordan, he seemed stressed enough. That was the actual reason he had wanted to see Jordan. Anyone with a working brain could tell that Lady Capsize wasn’t particularly happy with the engagement, but it was a lot less clear how the crown prince felt. Logically, given that he had picked the woman, one would think that he must be happy, but Tom knew he had a tendency to hide behind his duties to his kingdom. He was beyond worried that his friend wasn’t actually okay. “How are you doing anyway? Getting engaged is a big deal, are you feeling good about it?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, we’ve technically been engaged for years, nothing’s really changing in that regard. It feels more like a performance than an engagement really,” Jordan’s words were well practised, as if a rehearsed speech themselves rather than anything with feeling behind it. He didn’t notice the small frown forming on Tom due to his words, too focused on once again running through the words he was going to say to Capsize during the engagement. A pre-written, well-practised script, prepared well in advance as he knew he wasn’t going to be able to come up with anything from the heart. He really thought he would feel something tonight, even if it wasn’t love. The fact that he didn’t, it didn’t bother him per say as there was always the chance with arrangements like that that nothing blossoms forth, but he did find himself more than a little frustrated that he hadn’t made any real progress with Capsize. “I really thought she wouldn’t be so closed off by now. I’ve been trying to make her comfortable, but the longer she’s been here, the less she wants to talk to me. How did you get her to open up?”

“Just, you know, talked to her without formalities. Asked about her life and interests,” Tom replied, Jordan quickly groaning. He had tried getting to know her, and there was a time in her first few months here that he thought they were on their way to becoming friends. She had been laughing with him, openly competitive, but it wasn’t long afterwards that she shut off completely. Tom frowned just the tiniest bit more. He shouldn’t feel so worried about his friend when it was completely possible the man was just being dramatic, but it really did seem like Jordan was quite locked into feeling that his arranged relationship with Capsize was both the only one he was allowed to explore and completely doomed not to evolve any further. In actuality, Tom knew neither of those ideas were true, though perhaps Jordan was not in any state of mind to hear a suggestion of the former. So, instead, Tom decided to press on with trying to bring some hope for the latter not being true. “But because I've become so friendly with your fiancée, I’ve come up with the perfect wedding present that you’ll both love and will help peace between our kingdoms prosper or whatever.”

“That coming from your mouth worries me,” Jordan said. Tom mock gasped.

“You wound me! Maybe I won’t gift you a honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon?”

“Yep! A private cruise along my kingdom’s coast. It’ll give the two of you private time away from royal expectations. You will get a lovely tour of my kingdom, and Capsize happens to love the ocean,” Tom was pretty sure he had come with an idea beyond any expectations for him. Jordan was always talking about wanting to explore more and he didn’t think he’d ever seen someone as passionate about anything as Capsize had been about the ocean. Jordan smiled wider than he had all day. He, despite his friendship with the man, hadn’t been expecting a genuine idea to come out of his mouth, let alone one that sounded perfect. Capsize liking the ocean made sense to him as well, she was from the coast after all. Maybe they had a real chance of both enjoying such a trip. “So, have I come up with the best wedding gift?”

“It’s great! Seriously, it sounds perfect!” He had always been a little jealous about the amount Tom got to travel. It seemed that the man never stood still, always going somewhere, whether in his own kingdom or visiting one of the others. Meanwhile, Jordan only got to travel on rare occasions, and the idea of getting to see so much of Tom’s kingdom was beyond exciting. Though a question popped into his head. It was a question unlikely to occur to a soon to be engaged man, but Jordan was not exactly in the position of a normal engagement. “Would you be coming?”

Tom, for a moment, stared baffled. If anyone but Jordan had said that he would know they were flirting. Unfortunately, with Jordan it was completely possible that the man was just oblivious to the implications of his words. Still, he was obviously going to have fun with this. He pushed himself off Jordan’s bed and approached the man with a coy smile.

“Am I, your notoriously single friend, going to come on your honeymoon? If you’re ready for the rumours it’ll cause,” He found himself certainly too close to Jordan, smirking as he wrapped his arms around his neck, almost pulling him into an embrace. It was almost too far even for him, but Jordan didn’t pull away. Why would he? He felt comfortable, more comfortable than he did with anyone else who had tried to do such a thing with him. The noble women who had come as suitors had all been far too familiar for his liking. Capsize had never tried anything like this, and he imagined neither of them would enjoy it. Tom pulling him into an embrace, though? It felt right in a way that Jordan didn’t quite know how to explain, that he couldn’t explain because nothing could happen between the two of them. His engagement was for the good of his kingdom, what he had to do. He and Capsize both knew that and were both okay with that. But in this moment, standing with Tom like this felt so completely and utterly right in a way few other things did.

A fumbling at the door had the two quickly shove away from each other, both knowing being caught in such a position was not going to lead to anything good. What didn’t occur to either man was that fact that whoever was on the other side of the door wasn’t knocking. This wasn’t a servant coming to collect Jordan for the ball. Though they didn’t realise just how serious a situation was occurring until Queen Ianite burst in, several guards alongside her, looking utterly panicked in a state that neither had seen in before.

“Oh, thank the heavens you’re both safe!” Relief flooded her features. She didn’t care for what reason Tom was in Jordan’s bedroom, the fact they were both present and unharmed was more than enough to erase any questions. Jordan and Tom looked at each other briefly, both knowing something terrible must’ve happened but not wanting to actually acknowledge it despite the growing pit in their stomachs. Jordan approached his mother.

“Of course we’re safe. Are we late? We were talking, so I’m afraid I’ve lost track of time,” He tried to keep his voice steady as if he truly believed that might be the reason she was in such a state. The Queen shook her head, tears threatening to spill as she knew she was going to have to break the news she desperately didn’t want to. The peace between the kingdoms was about to shatter, and the seeming facts of the situation were as terrible as that implied. She ended up pulling her son into a hug, clinging to him as she desperately tried to figure out the words. How could she possibly break the news?

“No, no, you’re not late… It’s…”

“Your Majesty?” Tom spoke carefully, taking a hesitant step forward as he didn’t want to say what he was about to either, but there was only one possible reason he could think of for Queen Ianite to be in such a state as this. He didn’t want the terrible thought stuck in his head to be true, but he couldn’t let himself be stuck wondering. “Has something happened to Capsize?”

Her words failed as she tried to reply, though that was itself reply enough. She ended up sobbing into Jordan’s shoulder. That was more than enough for the two men to forget the fun and calm they had just been experiencing.

“Lady Capsize is missing,” A guard stepped forward, explaining what his Queen couldn’t. “Given the state of her room, it’s clear she has been kidnapped. We’re still looking for evidence but given that she’s also missing and that her weapon is missing from her guest chambers, it appears that her kidnapper was Lady Sonja, ward of King Mianite.”

With those words, reality set in. Whatever nerves Prince Jordan had had about his engagement escaped his thoughts. He placed a comforting hand on his mother’s shoulder, trying what he could to calm her. For the good of his kingdom, the good of all the kingdoms, he would have to rescue Capsize. Whatever danger he might face didn't matter, he needed to rescue his fiancée and bring her kidnapper to justice. That was his duty, and he could not afford to doubt that now.

#mianite #mianite fanfiction #cat's fanfiction #mianite royalty au #jordan captainsparklez #tom syndicate #syndisparklez #lady ianite #woah what cat posted a syndisparklez fic without any wlw - i'm probably dying

16 notes · View notes