Alright! I just wanted to start off by saying this IS based off of Ragnarok Online's character types and areas, but there's only original characters used here. : D Feel free to comment or whatever~

This is going to have chapters of sort, so yes, I know it seems "unfinished". xD

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Intro: The Greeting

With the entire court's eyes on him, Phoenix placed his arm across his stomach and bowed his head low to the King that sat just a few feet away. Slowly closing his dark blue eyes to will away a heavy sigh at the man's stupidity, the blonde finally responded quietly,

"Yes, My King. I'll escort His Highness to Rachel.."

The Sniper knew better than this - it was a suidical mission; not only would he have to drag a young, untrained prince all the way through Geffen and through the Kobold's territory, they would have to pass through that land of savage people in Umbala and even worse, through Niflhiem. If the savages didn't try to barbeque them first and the Lord of Darkness didn't get his hands on them, they'd be dealing with some very angry women in Rachel. The amazons there had no intentions of making friends with males, especially not one of high power like the prince of Prontera..

"Good, good. You may raise your head, then." The King said as he motioned his ring laden hand up. "If my son's name alone does not help provide you with what you need on your travels, I will personally provide you with enough zeny to purchase what you need to keep yourself well enough to protect my son."

Standing up straight on command with a clatter of his bow and quiver on his back, Phoenix habitually placed his fingerless-gloved fingers on his hips. "The monetary help will be greatly appreciated, My Lord. Arrows are quite expensive, and with the amount I'll be needing, it'll be useful."

The King smiled awkwardly, as if he were well aware of the same dangers Phoenix had just been contemplating. It made him uncomfortable to have those blue eyes on him.. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, the King nodded his head and mumbled something else, though it mostly came off as unintelligible. Finally, he looked to the guard at his side and whispered to the man.

Saluting to the King, the Lord Knight quickly turned on his heavily booted feet and went to do as told. It would take a good handful of uncomfortably silent minutes before the Lord Knight returned with a young boy at his side.

It took all of Phoenix's willpower to keep from twitching his eye at the absurdly gaudy outfit. The prince was young and petite, but he was covered in clothes that cost more than Phoenix had ever made in his life. The perfectly white silk shirt that the prince wore was embroidered with golden detailing on the cuffs of his sleeves and the equally expensive black vest and slacks he wore were encrusted with gems instead of normal buttons. Phoenix could have sworn that the buckles on the boy's black leather shoes were pure gold as well.

If the outfit wasn't bad enough, the boy's shoulder length hair was a perfectly emerald color that glittered in the sun that filtered through the stain glass windows. Along with the boy's richly colored hair was his eyes; they looked like the color of a black pearl, something Phoenix had never even seen a real version of.

The prince seemed oblivious to the Sniper's distaste for him, though. When he was brought to stand in front of Phoenix, the boy smiled brightly and held out his bracelet laden wrist and ring covered hand to the Sniper. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Phoenix. I've been told you're escorting me to Rachel?"

Biting back his jealousy of the boy's riches. Phoenix stepped forward and took the hand that was offered to him. The blonde gave the slightest of shakes before letting go and responding, "Yes, Your Highness, His Majesty has asked that I take you there and I will make sure that you remain safe on our journey."

.. Though he somehow doubted it was going to be easy, the prince's gaudy outfit alone would attract more trouble than Phoenix had anticipated.

Wewt! Working hard on this. x3 Here's a small update though I doubt anyone's read this yet.

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The Beginning: We sleep outside?!?!

Still smiling quite innocently, Felix took his hand back. "I'm glad, then. I've been very nervous about it, but with a guard and the new sword that I was given," The emerald haired prince set his hand on a silver belt hilt that rested at his waist and with a proud grin, he continued, "I think we'll be alright."

Unsure of whether he should call the boy optimistic or stupid, Phoenix turned his attention back to the King who was now speaking once again. It was really only the normal, kingly good bye that was dotted with 'May Valkyrie protect you' and other such things that were expected during a parting like this.

When the speech was over, the small prince was left with tears in his eyes and all too trustingly, he threw himself at his father, hugging the old man around the neck. "Thank you, Father. We'll take care, I promise." Slowly letting go of his father, the boy rubbed his eyes dry and made his way over to the blonde's side.

Phoenix smiled awkwardly at the strange exchange of affection and giving his own farewell to the King, he gave one last bow and turned on his heels. "Let's go, Your Highness, we can make good ground if we leave now." As Phoenix spoke and made his way towards the exit, the curious young prince half-jogged to catch up with the Sniper and looked up at him with curious black eyes.

"Is that so? But it's so early in the morning, we could leave a little later, couldn't we?" Felix questioned quite innocently. Though well taught and familiar with Midgard's geography, he had yet to do any traveling on his own or with anyone else for that matter. He had quite obviously underestimated the difficulty of traveling.

The Sniper resisted the urge to sigh again as he lef the boy through the stone wall corridor and finally to the double doored exit that was lined with even more Lord Knights who all saluted in farewell and opened the doors for them. "If we left any later," Phoenix said without thanking the Lord Knights as they passed through the doors to the bright, morning sun drenched courtyard, "We would most certainly be stuck in a bad place for the night."

Felix blinked once again in question as he looked up to the much taller Sniper. "A bad place..? Are there bad inns?"

Phoenix's usually steady, quiet steps faltered at the prince's innocent question. Had no one informed the prince that they wouldn't always be sleeping inside? Biting back the urge to curse at Valhalla, Phoenix steadied himself and kept on his straight beeline for the exit to the garden that would lead to the city.

"That's the thing, Your Highness. We may not be able to find an area with an inn at night.."

".. No inn? Then a house, perhaps?"

"Your Highness.. Though your family is respected, I doubt that people would let strangers into their homes to sleep for the night."

"... Then where will we sleep?"

Phoenix finally sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead, which he brushed back through his choppy blonde bangs. "Outside, Your Highness. We'll have to camp outside at times." Dark blue eyes shifted over to glance at the prince from the corner of his eyes, and he was greeted with the sight of a suddenly pale, startled prince.

"O-Outside..? Like.. like animals?"

".. Something like that, Your Highness."

Getting out of Town: What were they thinking?!

After their little conversation of camping, Felix had quite literally fallen out on the rocky roads of Prontera with a loud clatter thanks to that damned sword of his. The prince's legs had given out from beneath him and none too slowly, the boy had went down. Pale faced and heavy with expensive clothes, the prince just laid there for a while as Phoenix stared at the boy in disbelief for a little while.

It took a while for the Sniper to finally decide to assist the boy since he obviously wasn't getting up any time soon. Frowning darkly at the pampered, easily fainting prince, Phoenix knelt down and carefully scooped Felix up in his arms to cradle him protectively against his chest. In turn, the emerald haired prince groaned and shifted closer the the Sniper's leather jacket and fur covered chest, but he gave no obvious signs of waking up.

Sighing once more, Phoenix ignored the confused stares of the few passerbys and simply continued on the way they were heading. The western gates weren't far off, though they'd have to avoid the main square a bit, it wouldn't take them long at all and by the time they got outside, Felix would have already hopefully snapped out of his girlishness for now.

Phoenix shifted the prince in his arms slightly, gathering up his gem heavy weight to hopefully hold him more comfortably. As he did so, he moved through the back streets of Prontera, earning a few grins from some of the Rogues and Stalkers that lurked in the shadier areas of town. Phoenix only grinned back at them, sarcasm written all over his face. Despite what they thought, he wasn't trying to carry the boy off in his arms to some back alley to violate and then steal his things.

He was simply avoiding the decent citizens that did all of their business out in the light, away from these deviants. Any self respecting citizen would have known the prince, and though he disliked Felix so far, he was kind enough to not drag the boy through public where people would know him..

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"Finally.." The short haired blonde sighed out heavily, his eyes now seeing nothing but trees and pleasantly green grass in front of them. It had taken some effort to get out of the city, but once he had explained to the guards that kept the gates safe, the two men had gotten a hearty laugh out of it and let Phoenix continue.

The prince had yet to wake up, but Phoenix was slowly growing used to the boy's weight. As he continued on with Felix in tow, the loud call of a bird rang out over head. Glancing up at the familiar noise, Phoenix grinned brightly at his feathered friend that was circling above him.

"Ribbon!" He called out to the hawk over head, a female one with a bright red ribbon wrapped around her neck. The bird quickly swooped down, perching itself on the Sniper's shoulder with a happy little chirp. Phoenix smiled and tilted his head to the side his pet rested on, gently placing his cheek on the side of her body. "Hey, Ribbon. Sorry I was in there for so long. Did you catch anything good while I was gone?"

The falcon ruffled its feathers at Phoenix, quietly cooing in response as if it was really trying to answer him with words and hand gestures. Laughing quietly, he rubbed his cheek against the bird's wing affectionately. "That's a good girl, Ribbon."

".. Ribbon?" A sleepy voice asked from below.

"Oh, so you're awake, hm?" Phoenix glanced down at the prince who was curled up in his arms, his cheek still resting against Phoenix's chest. "Ribbon," The blonde motioned with his head at the hawk on his shoulder that was now sitting there quietly, simply regarding the boy in her master's arms quietly.

"Oh, I see.." Onyx black eyes glanced up to the large bird to whom he gave a small smile, "It's nice to meet you, Ribbon~"

Ribbon stared at the prince for a moment before finally fluttering off of Phoenix's shoulder and into the air to circle around the two humans as they walked. The Sniper merely sighed in response and finally stopped so that he could let the prince down easily. "Ribbon's not very accepting of my friends, or clients, so don't feel too badly about it. She'll get used to you eventually, just watch your food, she'll snatch it right out of your hands if you're not careful."

Felix listened with a small, worried frown as he was finally set down on his own feet, which still felt terribly weak. "A-Alright.. I'll be careful, then.."