It was the middle of the night during his 25th year of life. Being a King had taught him a lot in these last six years, as did his marriage to his wife Phoenix. Yet still he worked himself to the bone, bags under his eyes almost nightly, yet in the mornings he was up early and right back to work, acting as though he had a full nights sleep when in reality he had barely slept four hours at most. He felt the need to work himself as hard as he could, needing to fill a great role left behind by his late father. Bills to sign, negotiations to make, treaties to pass. It was never ending, but he managed. He had to, else he would dishonor not only his father’s legacy, but the memory of someone who meant the world to him and his own new family too. All he could think about was work. Work, work, work and more work. This repetitive grind was both maddening and yet therapeutic at the same time to him... but he could feel it hitting him. That wall that the SandMan brings when he deems it appropriate. He fought it off though, ‘Just one more hour’ he would tell himself as his eyes struggled to stay open.
Yet in the background of his tedious and tiring work stood a small creature, up far past her bedtime to keep an eye on the mobian that she called her dad. The orange five year old princess feeling upset at her father for refusing to sleep and working too hard. Sneaking over to the desk while he wasn’t looking, then again that task wasn’t too difficult given that he was dozing off at his desk, while trying to write notes down on a piece of paper. She stood at the side of the desk, trying to see what he was writing when she spotted a picture of two young mobians in a dark cherry wood frame. She recognized one as her own father when he was a kid but the other was a stranger to her. Then she heard the typical sounds of her father’s slumber. Soft snoring. That’s when the little firebud came around and stood next to her father to poke him relentlessly, causing him to stir awake.
Cedrick looked down at his daughter, blinking a few times before rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “Lilith, what are you doing out of bed?” he asked with a yawn and brought her up to sit on his desk so she was at eye level, taking note of his daughters curious glance at the photo on his desk. She pointed to the picture frame, “Daddy, who is that man?” wide eyes full of curiosity as she asked this. The memories of his brother flooding back for a split second as he glanced to the picture. Chuckling softly, he rubbed the top of his daughters head “That little one, is... or was, your uncle Gywen.” he replied in a melancholy tone. Lilith had looked back at the photo again and grabbed it this time, kicking her feet a tad as she took in Gywen’s appearance.
She finally set the photo frame down after a few moments “Oh, he’s gone... what was uncle like?” the little orange one asked as she looked to her father. He knew that his daughter was quick to comprehend certain topics, but it always seemed to take him aback when she caught onto the subject at hand. Her emerald green eyes, which she inherited from him, pierced right through him. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get away from this question and sighed heavily, recalling all the times as a child that he and his brother would run about the castle grounds and get into trouble... sometimes even got outside of the castle and would cause trouble as well. Cedrick looked at his daughter and just smiled “He was someone that I looked up to. Taught me how to get into trouble, how to get out of trouble and... not to be afraid of risking myself to help someone.” then he backed his chair up slightly and sat his little girl on the floor “He also taught me that one should not stay up past their bedtime.” he added with a smirk, hoping that she would drop it and go back to bed.
He knew though that he had messed up the moment he said that, as he saw the scowl form on his little firebud’s muzzle. She poked his chest repeatedly and painfully “Good, listen to uncle and go sleep! No time to go to room, on the sofa now mister!” she retorted in a demanding tone, and when he tried to argue, she just pressed on. He never thought he’d see the day where his own flesh and blood, would be peer pressuring him to go to sleep. Holding his hands up in mock defeat, he gave in “Alright, fine... but only a nap, then I really do need to get back to work.” he replied as he stood up and walked over to the couch, Lilith having pulled a small, cute pink pillow out from somewhere and set it on the end of the couch... had she planned this and brought it with her from her own room? Not that this question that passed through his mind would matter much, as the moment his rather large and bulky head hit the cute softness, he was out cold in an instant.
Lilith knew that once her father was fast asleep, he would be hard to wake. So she sat and waited for a bit, poking his nose to make sure he was indeed asleep, then sat down on the floor debating on what to do. She never got to stay up late, it was an exciting adventure for this five year old, sneaking around her father as he slept and trying not to wake the behemoth of a male. Tiptoeing over to her father's desk, she quietly opened drawer after drawer to find his pencils, which were almost too large for her to grasp given his own hand size, then the blank papers that he normally used to draft up legal documents and grabbed a handful of blank sheets as well as the rather nice photo frame, then returned to the area where the sofa and small and short in height coffee table was and began to draw as she glanced at the picture from time to time.
Hours had passed, the sun having started to raise. Clock reading half past six in the morning. He had for once in almost a year, slept soundly for a solid six hours and it was all thanks to his little girl, who was now fast asleep with his legal blank papers spread about the small coffee table. Random little drawings here and there that the average child would do, all of them were of the family. Him, Phoenix, herself and even her little two year old brother Havoc, but then one in particular caught his attention. One that had been shown more love than the others. This one she had attempted to draw even better than the last ones, noodly bodies instead of stick figure bodies and it was just three figures. Two adult males, and a small little girl. The picture brought an emotional pain to his heart when he realized who it was she had drawn.
Cedrick was brought back to reality when he heard a small yawn “Daddy? You okay?” Lilith asked, noticing that her father had been shaking just a little. He nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat “Yes, I’m fine sweetheart.” he said as his voice cracked just slightly, causing her ears to droop. “Did I do a bad?” she asked, looking like she herself was about to cry. He would not have this though, if his little girl broke down, then he would too! He shook his head again as he sat the drawing down and picked her up, nuzzling his muzzle into hers “No, not at all. You did good, you gave me the best start to my day!” he replied, and after a bit of nuzzles and a few pokes to her nose, got his daughter to laugh instead of cry. After a bit, he then heard her stomach growl, causing him to laugh “I think it's time we get some breakfast... and no more sneaking out after bedtime.” he said as he tossed her over his shoulder and bounced her up and down, causing her to giggle even more. “I want lots of pancakes!... and okay, I promise I won’t stay up anymore.” she replied to her father in between loud giggling as they made their way to the dining area.
