He's coming back. He's really coming back. Isn't he? It's been fourteen years since I last saw my brothers. And today, Beckett and Owen are coming back.
When Beckett was sentenced to exile and he left Owen, I promised I would look after the kingdom. But I was just a kid. I didn't know what I was doing. I promised I would run the kingdom for fourteen years. Fourteen years! I had barely even been alive that long. Yes, I meant what I said. I would take care of the kingdom until Beckett returned, but I just didn't truly realize how long he would be gone. Part of me thought Dad was just overreacting and that Beckett would be back by winter. Boy was I wrong.
The first couple of years were no big deal. I mean, it was pretty boring without Beckett and Owen, but Jack and I basically went on as normal. Then Dad died. That's when everything became real. My dad's advisers (the ones my brothers had warned me were super shady) told me that I was going to be king. King Lucas. Yeah right. I was nowhere near ready for that. I was never supposed to be king. Beckett was the rightful king, and i was not about to take that right away from him.
I ran to the woods where I had heard Beckett and Owen were living. I hadn't seen them in three years, but they were still my brothers. I ran to Beckett and told him what happened. Dad was dead, yes. But that meant that Beckett could come home! Unfortunately, that's not what happened.
Beckett, ever the honorable one, refused to come home. He promised our dad he would serve his sentence, and he wasn't going to break that promise.
So that left it up to me. Before I left, Beckett gave me his favorite cleats. He told me to wear them when I trained, so that I could always have a piece of him with me. While I would love to wear Beckett's cleats, I had a better idea for them. As soon as I got back to the castle, I marched right up to the throne and put his cleats on the seat. I took my vows as king, but refused to sit on Beckett's throne, vowing that those cleats would stay there until Beckett returned.
Jack and I have been doing our best to run the kingdom, trying to have our own adventures along the way. But we've been hearing rumors about all the adventures Beckett and Owen have been having. Winning tournaments, saving princesses, winning wars: their lives were cool. I was a little worried they weren't going to want to come back. But then a few days ago a messenger came saying that Beckett was on his way home. I couldn't be more overjoyed. Not that I didn't love serving my kingdom, I just knew that it was Beckett's throne, and I was ready to give it back.
"Lucas! They're coming!" Jack shouted as he burst into the room.
I wanted to be regal, I really did. But when I saw Beckett and Owen walking up to the castle, I sprinted towards my brothers and hugged them as tight as I could. Finally, after fourteen years we were all together again.
"What?" Owen said with a chuckle. "Did you think we were gonna bail? Honestly I'm pretty surprised there's still a kingdom left for Beckett to rule."
"Owen," Beckett said with a pretty violent eye-roll, "stop messing with him." Turning to me with a kind smile he said, "I'm really proud of you, Lucas. You too, Jack. You guys did a great job while I was gone."
"Thanks Beck." I replied. "But I'm really glad you're back. Come on, it's time to get you back your throne."
We all went into the throne room, laughing and joking and catching up along the way. As Beckett took his place on the throne, I looked at my brothers. We were back together. I couldn't wait to get back to our adventures. Yes, we all had responsibilities now. But that didn't mean the adventures would end.
Author's Note: This final story in my storybook combines a couple of different stories from the Ramayana. As I read through the Ramayana the first time, I fell in love with these four brothers and their loyalty to each other. My story is told from Bharata's (Lucas') perspective. I combined the stories of Rama and Bharata, The Sandals, and the second Rama and Bharata. The first two stories take place after Dasharatha died, when Bharata tried to get Rama to return. Instead, Bharata took Rama's sandals to hold his place on the throne. The third story is Rama's return to the kingdom to take his place on the throne. Each of these stories are interactions with Rama and Bharata, or in my case Beckett and Lucas. I wanted to tell the story from Bharata's perspective because until this point I had pretty much only focused on Owen and Beckett. I also thought this would be a good opportunity to quickly summarize information about the other two brothers. I will probably add more dialogue between the brothers, maybe a little bit about how Beckett and Owen won their war. For now, I just wanted to get the outline of the story and the basic events.
Image Source: Crown
Story Source: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie
Music Source: Return of the Lion by Harry Gregson-Williams