The idea of bean being R'tans son in the Drakeblood AU is both adorable and funny. Imagine him piloting some small Amigar follow dad around!
The boy was busy polishing the armor plating on the Armiger. It was a moment of stolen quiet in the new strange pace life now took.
Looking down, he saw the great fur mantle worn by his Father. The grey fur rolled down, over his shoulders, like fog spilling off the cliff faces from home.
"Sorry." Percy realized he'd likely missed an appointment. Or ceremony. There had been so many since they'd come to Baal... something was bound to give.
His face was hot. Embarrassing. Such a poor showing from a prince.
"Do not be." If the King was upset his voice did not betray it. Nor his eyes. The deep brown sparkled if anything. Amused. "It was a terribly long affair. Even I nearly nodded off."
The return to the ground was not treacherous. One fall when he was a few years younger hand imparted the importance of proper scaffolding.
Though, craning his neck to look up at his Father, Percy couldn't help but feel he might have been better suited staying at least part way up.
"How are you enjoying Baal?" R'tans words were careful. Picked. His hand pulled at a stubbled face, though the King never wore his hair at any noticeable length. Often did their men measure campaign lengths by the fullness of their King's beard.
"It is... not what I had expected." Perhaps the stories had painted things differently. He remembered when Father had visited Macragge many years ago. That was a place. A planet worthy of the marines who hailed there.
But Baal was... Hot. Feral. Savage in a way past beasts. Everything here seemed sharp. Edged with tension. Though from what little the boy had caught of the Sisters who called Baal home, they were as beautiful as they were tinged with the same unsettling energy. Only when they thought you weren't watching. Like ghosts, or illusions.
R'tan rumbled an affirmative. "The Sisters here have suffered greatly. Present circumstances will have us remaining for some time."
Percy knew despite best efforts his face revealed it all. "Oh." was all he could muster.
His father smiled. "Your first taste of long-term deployment. We do not often choose the fields we fight on."
"I don't... I don't see what honor there is in a desert."
"We have been pledged to the service of the Lord Regent to the Imperium Nihilus. Our house will directly assist in returning rule to this newly halved empire." R'tan watched his son. He picked his words. Percival knew it was a practiced speech. "This is a great honor. Our names, Our line will be foundational in the coming years of strife."
"Years?" Now Percy grew cold. This had meant to be an expedition, but not anything extended. Not long-term. Not here. Not so far from home.
The nod was not the answer the boy wanted, but it was what he got. "House Estar will remain here until we are released from service. It is our duty to Terra and the Imperial Regent herself."
An order of the highest magnitude. He couldn't argue with that. Certainly, his father couldn't either.
It didn't mean he had to like it, though.
"We'll be receiving an Astartes to guard us, as a show of gratitude for our continued service. They will help me keep you safe during our campaigns. And you will learn how to lead."
"I don't need a minder, I'm not a child anymore." Even as he said it, Percival felt the contradiction in his words. The infantile and immediate response.
R'tan did not respond with the joviality their banters usually took. He was quiet, watching Percy with a strange haunted look.
"No. No, you are not. Not by age or stature." He knelt next to his son, pulling him into a tight embrace "In my heart, though, you will always be but a boy."
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