15 years earlier 𒀭
Alex's mother took him by his hand as they were escorted throughout the kingdom.
Alex held onto her hand looking around in awe around the town. It was his first time out of the palace and the townspeople were fawning over him.
His mother talked with other officials and greeted more townspeople.
Alex managed to pull away from her hand and wandered away as she talked with a large crowd. He stumbled across this space of little kids. Two kids were playing roughly, pushing each other over and wrestling each other.
Alex stared at them from a distance. Other kids chased others around, laughing and giggling. One of the kids who pushed and shoved the other spotted Alex. He pointed at Alex but the other kid pushed him over and he hit the floor hard.
Alex gasped lightly and walked forward. He looked over the little kid on the floor and crouched down. "Are you okay?"
The little kid wiped his face and looked up at Alex. His eyes were watering. "Yeah.."
Alex grabbed the boy's hand and helped him up. "Your hands are scratched." He said softly.
The little boy looked at his hands and blew on them. "It doesn't hurt."
The little kid who pushed him over stepped closer to his brother. "You fell over funny."
The little boy turned to look at his brother and glared. "You're not funny." He said sternly.
"I want to play with you," Alex said, quickly.
The little boys looked at him. "We rough play." One of them said. "Are you sure?"
Alex nodded and took off his fancy coat his mother put him in. "Yes."
The boys nodded and one of them nudged Alex. Alex pushed him back and they quickly started to play rougher.
One of the boys pushed Alex to the floor and Alex skinned his elbows. He quickly got back up and push after push at the end, Alex was covered in scrapes and bruises.
"Elijah! Ethan!"
The two boys stopped and Alex turned around. A tall woman came running over and grabbed the two boys.
"Momma?" One of them said softly.
"You little beasts!" The woman said. She turned to Alex and knelt. "Oh my god, what did you do to him?"
"We were wrestling mama." One of them replied.
"You're cut and bruised." The woman said. She chewed her lip. "Oh god.."
"Alex?"
Alex turned around and saw his mother worriedly looking for him. She saw Alex and sighed. "Oh thank god."
She walked up to Alex and knelt. "Baby, what happened?"
"We were playing," Alex said, smiling.
"I am so so so sorry." The woman cried. "They play rough. I will make sure they are severely punished."
Alex's mother looked up at the woman. She turned back to Alex. "Are you okay honey?"
"I had fun," Alex replied.
Alex's mother stood up and turned Alex around, bringing him closer. "Really it's okay. Boys will be boys."
