He Taught Me to Live With Myself [Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine]

♛𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝐹𝑜𝓊𝓇: 𝐿𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒢𝒶𝒷𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓁♛

When Kai found the black journal he recognized as a gift he had given Gabriel years ago as a birthday present. Turning to the first page, Kai saw old handwriting scrawled on the inside cover of the book.

Protect my families smiles was scrawled at the top with a rough sketch of the entire royal family. Kai felt a jolt of worry rush through him, what had Gabriel being doing all these years that lead to this being his motivation? Another sketch on the other page confused Kai, even more, it looked to be a man around their age with a pout across his face and what seemed to be a gun slung over his back. In neat handwriting that looked much more like Gabriel's current style was Dieter Strauss. 

"I wouldn't look too hard in there, Kai. It's got some secrets," Gabriel stiffly mused from the bed.

"Dieter Strauss?" Kai simply asked, watching as his brother's eyes widened. 

"A... friend of mine, from town. He might actually be worried by now," Gabriel took a moment to think over how he promised his friend he would be back within a few days.

"The attack?" Kai pushed.

"Eh... Um, I- I don't know how to explain things without it sounding bad, Kai. Even Father was... displeased," Gabriel seemed to choke the word out, not being comfortable with what Kai was asking. 

"Does he know the full story?" Kai's words made Gabriel's eyes widen with a shudder.

"No, it'd do none of you any good to know at this point," Gabriel looked away before a knock sounded at the door. 

Gabriel sat ridged as Kai opened the door, surprised to see Heine standing there with a First-Aid kit under his arm. 

"Sensei?" Kai asked quietly. 

"If Prince Gabriel is up to it, I'd like to tend to his wound and speak with him?" Heine asked, "It's dinner time after all." 

Kai allowed Heine in, Gabriel made no attempt to protest as his brother took leave from the room. 

"Prince Gabriel, how have you been?" Heine asked as he approached the still unmoving man.

"Sore, my arm hurts like hell. My Father is disappointed in me too and all of my younger brothers are worried. Perhaps you should tell me, Heine how other than my pain am I supposed to feel at the moment?" Gabriel gritted his teeth after speaking, looking like he wishes he hadn't responded.

"Assuming you had a proper reason for your actions, you should become open with His Highness. Your brothers are just worried for your wellbeing as you've cut them off for so long, talking to them should help too," Heine calmly answered as he took hold of Gabriel's wounded arm.

Gabriel sat in silence asides from the occasional hiss of pain when Heine restitched and bandaged the cut. Heine was focused on the task at hand but also caught up in his head, he hadn't expected Gabriel to be holding so many emotions back that he's burst like that after one simple attack he had adverted. 

"Now that's done, would you mind answering some of my questions?" Heine took a chance as he asked this.

"I'll answer what I can, I suppose," Gabriel slowly answered, looking at the gauze over his arm. 

"What do you know about the attackers?" 

"They work for a group that's been trying to infiltrate the palace. Their true intentions are unclear to me and I have a firm belief they know who I am - as the one tracking them down that is."

"You've gone through the trouble of hunting them?" Heine asked, clearly surprised.

"I wouldn't say hunting, I just want to protect my family from the darkness of the Kingdom. If any of my brothers were to come to harm I wouldn't forgive myself," Gabriel turned away.