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Jin had heard legends and stories about people locked in towers - honestly, he had no idea how true they were. He knew the Queen and her court were mostly behind strengthened walls, but that was… not the same situation.
Jin was not in a castle or in a tower or anything like that. It was something like a mansion though - his parents used to own it, but not like they had been around anymore, so mostly Jin was alone, only being able to move around inside the house.
He was not lacking in anything, except for company, and maybe a stable state of mind, but he couldn’t have anything now could he?
He had the entire home to himself. He learnt how to make food for himself at young age, but sometimes his brain would shut down, and he would just have no idea how many days had passed without him moving out from one room.
He would have preferred if his brother would have been around more, but… he was busy.
Jin also wanted to be on his side, whatever his brother was doing, but he was not allowed to leave.
Shoichi said he was safer in there, closed in.
So Jin had to trust his brother.
His head was hurting a lot, so his brother would always bring in medicine for him, and his headaches were not really getting better, and he got tired really soon, even after doing a few chores.
But it was gonna be fine, then.
If he couldn’t even walk around the house for long without being exhausted and dizzy, then it was for the best that he stayed inside either way, right?
~*~
He did like sitting in the window though.
He could open them, and sit there - couldn’t lean out too much, because he would feel sick, and reel back inside, but looking around was calming, especially on the top floor.
When his brother was not at home, he liked to sit up there, and watch the forest - and every time he would see a wild animal, a bird, or even a wolf occasionally, he would feel a bit less lonely.
And either way, he could always look forward to his brother coming home, bringing new books, and anything he asked for.
And he would briefly talk to Jin about what he was doing, and Jin would always thirst for more.
“Everything will be fine,” Shoichi had said often with a smile. “I’m… working with someone. We are going to bring down the ones who hurt you. And once it happens, you will be able to leave this home.”
Jin smiled.
“I can’t wait. I have a list of things I want to do once I can leave.”
~*~
Jin indeed had a list of things he wanted to do once he could leave.
- Stand around in a thunderstorm and get soaked
- Go to a market
- Pick some fruits from a tree
- Ride a horse
- Go to a beach
- Climb a mountain
- Fight a monster
- Fire a real gun
- Jump down from somewhere high, maybe into the water? Or from a tree?
- Break a leg. Not necessarily mine.
- Pet a wolf.
- Figure out if there any Knights of Hanoi left after I’m out and if yes, Kill Them.
- Get a blacksmith to make me a custom sword
- Making a flower crown sounds fun
- Find that Ignis
Jin had three secrets from his brother.
The list was the first one
~*~
He would sometimes see a yellow sprite around in the forest and first time he saw it, he felt like something was drawing him closer. He leaned out and almost fell out, and he got so dizzy he recoiled back inside with a loud crash, and as soon as he looked out again, the sprite was gone.
He knew what that was.
That was an Ignis.
And that was Jin’s second secret.
Nobody knew what an Ignis was - they were like the Faeries of different Courts, living in a Court for myself called Cyberse Court - beings of elements, capable of creation of destruction.
And if you spend too much time in their realms, you get… twisted to something.
He knew these from the books and the vague things Shoichi told him.
Nobody knew what something was.
He remembered being captured by the Hanoi. He remembered the pain, the hunger, his own screams.
He remembered lights flickering around his fingers, static shock jolting him awake, not knowing if it was from his captors or his… powers going haywire.
He remembered his cell door unlocking, and running, and running, and thunders followed his wake, until he somehow, by pure instinct, and pure, dumb luck ran into his brother.
(Or maybe it wasn’t luck. His cell door was not opened on its own after all.)
Since he got to their house and his brother fortified it, his powers were not going haywire anymore.
He couldn’t use them anymore either.
Sometimes he wondered if he imagined it.
But if he wasn’t…
Then maybe, maybe the Ignis who was tied to him… maybe that was the Light one.
The little yellow sprite sometimes circling the house.
He wanted to meet that little thing.
(Was the Light Ignis just as drawn to him as Jin was towards the creature?)
~*~
Jin’s third secret was Playmaker.
Playmaker himself he heard of from Shoichi - he mentioned he was working with him to find the Knights, but didn’t tell details. He mentioned offhandedly Playmaker was a target of rumours and legends, but never said any details.
And when Jin saw Playmaker for the first time, he realised why.
It was during the night when he first came. (He always came during the night.)
Jin’s window was open when he tried to fall asleep, and then he just heard someone call his name.
“Jin Kusanagi.”
He sprung to his feet, hearing the unknown voice, grabbing a dagger from his side.
(It made him dizzy, and it was painful if he touched the blade. He was sure Shoichi didn’t know about this dagger, he found it hidden in their father’s old room. Would that meant he had another secret? Maybe he had four. He didn’t count the dagger.)
The stranger used his full name, his real name, and he ran downstairs to one of the windows.
He knew exactly which one he had to run to.
He knew he could not have explained how, but he did.
So he yanked the window open, and looked into the stranger’s green eyes.
The stranger was not human.
It was imminent by how he looked - pale, big green eyes unblinking. There was something in his entire stance Jin could not put his finger on - something that told him he was not human.
Maybe it was the way the darkness of the night swirled around his form, the way his green eyes were almost unblinking, or the way it almost seemed like Jin should have seen the veins under his skin, and he almost could but not quite.
“...what are you?”
“I am what you are.”
“That doesn’t explain anything. Tell me what you are, or I will throw this. It has to hurt you right?”
“Just like it would hurt you.”
“I do not plan to stab myself,” Jin grinned. “So are you gonna tell me who you are or---”
“You are way fightier than what your brother told me.”
That made Jin shut up.
For a few moments.
“...Playmaker?”
“Yes.”
“So you are… fighting the Hanoi with my brother.”
“Indeed.”
“...were you someone also there? When…”
“Yes.”
Jin’s knuckles whitened around the dagger.
“...why is my brother fighting with you then and not me? If you… is that because I can’t do that… whatever you are doing?!”
“Of course you can’t do that,” Yusaku’s voice was sharp, scanning the house. “Just like you can’t leave the house and I can’t go in either. Just like that dagger would burn both you and me.”
“...what?”
“Your brother really wants to keep you safe. At all costs.”
“If you ask me he is overdoing it,” Piped up another voice, cheerfully, and Jin looked around, but saw no one else.
“But nobody is asking you, so shut your mouth,” Playmaker said in a dry voice, and turned away.
“Wait, you can’t just lea---” Jin started, and Playmaker looked back.
“I have things to do.”
“You can’t just show up and be ominous like an asshole and not say anything? Who the hell was talking just now?! You can’t just--”
“Watch me.”
As soon as Playmaker said those words, Jin did throw the dagger.
And Playmaker disappeared in a swirl of darkness, making the dagger fall down unceremoniously.
In a distance Jin had no hope to reach.
Well, fuck.
~*~
If Shoichi would come back and find a dagger outside, he would absolutely lose his shit and probably not leave the house for months, and Jin needed answers, answers he could not get out of anyone but potentially Playmaker, if he would come back.
And Playmaker would probably not even show up if Shoichi was there. Jin wondered if Shoichi even knew Playmaker visited.
Probably no.
He could not stop thinking about Playmaker. There was something otherworldly, something beautiful in the way he carried himself, the way he spoke, the way he controlled the darkness.
Jin would look into the mirror, looking for traces of the same magic surrounding him, but to no avail.
No more sparks around his fingers either.
He could not leave the house. The dizziness and weakness was not something he could fight off and he just didn’t have anything long enough to reach out as far as he had thrown it.
So the twilight had found him on his knees in front of the window, furious tears about to break to the surface.
“You should find a name for himself you are comfortable to be called.”
The voice was unknown, and Jin perked up - and in front of the window floated the little yellow sprite.
“...you. You’re the Light Ignis, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I have a name.”
“And Playmaker called you that,” The Light Ignis agreed. “But real names have power over you. You should use something that protects you more than the iron of this home is. Like Playmaker does.”
“Iron?”
“That’s what makes you sick,” The Ignis replied matter-of-factly. “That’s why you can’t leave and that’s why Playmaker can’t go in, and neither can I.”
“Why would my brother… he works with Playmaker so he… has to know, right?”
“I assume he considers it a minor inconvenience that is worth it for your safety.”
Jin clenched his teeth, and tilted his head forward.
“...are you the one? The one that the Hanoi… with me…”
“Yes.”
“Help me get out, then.”
“I cannot. Iron locks me out as well. I can touch it even less than you can.”
“...can you get the dagger back to me, or are you too useless for that too?”
Jin could not control the venom in his tone, and the sprite just started to shine brighter - and when he looked up, a young man stood there.
He was dressed elegantly, he could have fit in to the Queen’s Court, with his sleeves rolled up, round, purple framed glasses on his face - his skin was brown, his eyes were just as bright and green as in his sprite form.
Without a word, the Light Ignis walked over, leaned down, holding the hilt with two fingers, before walking back in, and casually, almost gently throwing it back through the window.
“Happy now? Stopped your tantrum?”
Jin snorted, standing back up, his hand closing around the hilt of the dagger.
“Do you have a name they call you, Light Ignis, or should I keep calling you that?”
“Lightning is a name you may call me,” Came the reply, green eyes shimmering. “And how should I call you?”
Jin grinned.
“I guess you can call me Lightbringer, then.”
~*~
He did not expect Playmaker to come back, but he did, and he immediately noticed the dagger was gone.
“Someone helped you.”
“Sure, because someone was unwilling to help.”
“Things are not as simple as you think.”
“Easy to say when you are free to go as you please.”
“I still cannot let you out and as far as you are concerned, your brother won’t listen to any other opinions.”
Jin’s laugh was dry, and then the other voice spoke up again.
“It was Lightning who helped you wasn’t it?”
“Depends on who’s asking?”
From the darkness around Playmaker a small sprite shot out, dancing around him, with glowing yellow eyes.
“ Ai’ m the one who’s asking,” The Dark Ignis snickered. “Get it? Cuz my name is Ai. Well, the one you can call me on at least.”
“If you have to explain a joke it automatically ruins it,” Playmaker said, raising a hand - and Ai swirled around his hand, still laughing at his own pun.
“So that’s why you look the way you do.”
“How do I look?”
“...you know exactly how. Like you are not of this world.”
Playmaker looked at him, green eyes unblinking.
“Because I am not anymore.”
“Let me guess, neither am I?”
“You are more of this world than I am. This happens the more time we spend with them.”
“And how long have this been going on?”
Playmaker actually smirked a little.
“A while. He is my hostage.”
Ai snickered again, clinging to Playmaker’s hand playfully, and Playmaker let him - it was like it was an inside joke Jin was not privy to.
(Also that smirk should not have been as attractive as it was.)
(Or maybe Jin just really spent too long away from most people.)
“Anyway, it was totally Lightning wasn’t it,” Ai continued cheerfully, not even waiting for Jin’s answer. “He is probably drawn to you, like me and Playmaker were. Whatever the Hanoi did to us, it seems like it connected us to each other, whether one likes it or not~ so better make the most of it, eh? Eh? Playmaker agrees it could have been worse.”
Playmaker did not reply, and Ai didn’t seem to expect it either.
They were probably more used to each other than Playmaker let it on.
~*~
Jin’s list was still hidden from his brother, and the other two secrets kept circling around the house.
Lightning came more often, standing outside the window when in his human form, or just floating around in the sprite form - to be honest, he seemed to prefer the second one, and Jin was listening to his words.
Lightning told him about Cyberse Court, mostly his own realm - how everything was golden and shining and beautiful, and it was bright all the time, never dark, not even the night affected it. He told about the beings he created, humanoid and not, and how proud he was.
When Lightning was talking with barely concealed pride over his creations, all Jin could do was to listen, and smile a little to himself.
Playmaker visited more rarely, his movements silent, and with him, Jin could actually get details of the incident. His voice was very pragmatic, and distant, with Ai constantly buzzing around him, as if he was trying to be annoying and supportive the same time.
As if Playmaker tried to talk about the incident as if it was something that happened to someone else, and not him.
Most of their experiences were the same.
Except for…
Back then, he saw things.
His mind conjured up horrible images, and they wouldn’t stop, not until he screamed so much his voice went away.
Playmaker did not seem to have that issue.
Now, it was possible that his mind was just… not treating the incident well.
Entirely possible.
But if…
Nevertheless, he pushed it out of his mind temporarily.
First things first.
He needed to get out, and neither Lightning, nor Playmaker could help him with that physically.
But they surely had other means.
~*~
He was drinking their words like it was the water that kept him alive. His brother would always tell him stories but he started to realise…
Shoichi wasn’t lying, to his credit.
But he was never telling him the whole truth.
Playmaker was also careful with his voice, his green eyes almost never blinking, carefully avoiding breaching topics that he probably thought Shoichi would be especially pissed about if he knew Playmaker was talking to Jin
Jin figured that even the fact that Playmaker was here was something Shoichi didn’t know about, but anyways.
It was annoying.
But at least he was upfront - he would look at Jin, and tell him he would not tell him any details about the Knights’ identities.
Jin wanted to strangle him, to take away his breath - be it with hands around his throat, or lips on his lips, was still up in the air.
“Maybe you are that fixated because we are the only ones you get to meet besides your brother,” Lightning said out of the blue once, his green eyes narrowing. “I know Playmaker comes around and the way you look at him. And the way you look at me.”
“Jealous?”
“As I said, it’s just your starvation for contact.”
“Pot. Kettle,” Jin grinned. “Tell me the truth, Lightning. You are avoiding the others of your kind and looking for my company as much as I am looking for yours.”
Lightning narrowed his green eyes (green and unblinking, like Playmaker’s, but way brighter, as if they were glowing), and pursed his lips, pushing his hair out from his face.
Jin wondered how his hair would have felt under his fingers, how easy would it be to make the frown disappear from his face.
But he could not reach out, because of the iron in the walls, and it made Jin more and more frustrated.
~*~
He kept his secrets from Shoichi, even if he felt them festering deep within his stomach, making his mouth bitter. He wanted to scream at his brother, demanding to be let out, but he just smiled whenever he came back.
He smiled, ignoring the tension in his shoulders, Shoichi’s lies.
(Playmaker refused to reply sometimes, and Lightning did not know everything, but neither of them lied to him.)
He looked out the window while his brother was sleeping, and saw the bright sprite between the woods, but he wouldn’t come closer.
Not while Shoichi was there.
So he wished, for the first time in what he could remember that he would leave sooner.
~*~
“I need to get out,” Jin hissed to Playmaker, and Playmaker looked back at him without surprise on his face.
“And how do you propose I could help you with this? I can touch iron even less than you do.”
“I’m sure you can figure out more from out there than I can, from in there!”
Playmaker was silent for a few moments, and Jin laughed out bitterly.
“And don’t you dare say I should talk with my brother. You know how would that go.”
“Yes, I know.”
Playmaker never lied to Jin.
Jin wondered if he had wandered off so far from humanity, that he was also unable to lie, like the Ignis were.
Ai swirled around Playmaker again, uncharacteristically silently, and their eyes met, as if the two of them were having a silent conversation.
Then Playmaker nodded.
“I will seek out someone who might have information. Watch out for the crows.”
“...crows?”
Ai laughed, dancing around Playmaker again, definitely coating both of them into darkness.
“You will realise soon~ Let’s just say, there are a few shared experiences all around~”
And then they were both gone, swallowed up by the darkness.
~*~
The crow first appeared three days later, it was sitting on a tree, staring right at Jin, and as the sun shimmered on its feathers, Jin could have swore some of them were green.
Wait.
Shoichi had mentioned these crows before.
“...are you one of Whistleblower’s crows?”
Whistleblower - the informant who contacted people through his crows who always turned up where they needed to be.
The crow spread its wings, flying over to the top of the window, grabbing onto it with its claws, giving out displeased voices, before leaning backwards - and there was a letter in its beak that was not there before.
Jin felt dizzy as he grabbed it, but he managed to, and the crow flew away, leaving Jin behind.
The letter was written with nice letters, with dark green ink, and Jin scooped up to read it.
Hello Lightbringer,
Playmaker reached out to me saying you are having a problem with escaping an iron-fortified house. Well I’m nothing if not helpful, so here I go!
You could always get someone to let you out who can touch iron but Playmaker told me that is unlikely to happen. And I could not go there to help you either, because one, you couldn’t afford that, and two, I am pretty much in the similar boat. (Well. Not as badly as our buddy Playmaker.)
I am gonna list you a few ingredients. If you collect that, bit by bit, you could blow a door out enough to break the iron circle.
Explosions are always a great idea!
Good luck!
Whistleblower
Similar boat, huh?
Anyway, Jin glanced at the list of ingredients, and started to plan.
~*~
Some of the ingredients he found at home.
Some, he got Lightning to bring to him. (Playmaker did not show up again.)
Some, he could innocently ask Shoichi to bring for him, without telling him the real purpose.
He was planning.
He considered if he should tell his brother, or leave a letter behind.
Part of him wanted to scream at his brother, yell at him.
Another wanted to hold onto his brother, tell him he knew why he did what he did, but he needed to let go.
When he imagined this scenario, his brother would hug him back, and tell him he understood.
Jin also knew it wasn’t likely to happen.
Jin did not want to hurt his brother, but he had to escape, no matter what.
~*~
The explosion worked just as Whistleblower promised, and the door got ripped off the edges of the doorframe, and Jin ran.
He barely took anything. He had a bag with a few essentials, and his iron bladed dagger, and he ran.
He didn’t feel the difference at first.
He ran, his energy pumping through his body, his headache disappearing from his body alongside his exhaustion and he just ran.
Then the light erupted from his body, and he felt weightless as he just ran, not even looking back.
“You need to stop!”
Something dark collided with him, and Jin flew backwards, his back hitting a tree. When he looked up, he saw Playmaker, also obviously having hit a tree with his back.
“...you. Why are you here?! You helped me escape…!”
“You need to control your power better if you want to not get caught.”
“Get caught? Who would catch me?” Jin grinned, feeling the power growing under his skin, and it felt like his entire body was vibrating from it. “You? And what will you do? Bring me back to my brother?”
“...Lightbringer…”
“Because let me tell you…” Jin felt the power sparkling between his fingers, and it was like the lightning in the sky during storms, as he raised his hand. “I am not going back. Ever.”
He wasn’t even thinking, honestly - his mind was full of energy, still overwhelmed by being out of the house, and with the power awakening within him.
Then the lightning struck towards Playmaker, only to be swallowed up by the darkness surrounding him.
Then Jin struck again, and Playmaker moved, he was quick, and there were dark spikes leaving his hand, and Jin had to jump to the side again.
Playmaker could control his power better, but all of his power was bursting out of Jin’s body, and it was leaving burn marks on the round and the trees.
There was no way they could decide this fight that easily.
So Jin propelled himself forward, tackling Yusaku - and there was the dagger in his hand, and---
Yusaku yelled, their bodies hit the floor, and the iron dagger was buried in Yusaku’s thigh, and Jin’s lips muffled Yusaku’s scream.
It was like everything stopped. Dark and light crashing everywhere around them.
Then energy kicked Jin backwards, sending him flying, his hand still around the dagger, and when it got yanked out from Yusaku’s leg, Yusaku let out a pained yell again. When Jin looked up again, there was a monster, long arms and a glowing eye, covering Yusaku, snarling towards Jin, and the darkness got deeper.
Jin’s own light seemed like it was dimming out, as the darkness from the monster (it was Ai right, it had to be Ai, who else or what else would it have been) was creeping towards him.
Jin had to run again.
~*~
Jin ran, and the further he got from Ai, his light was getting brighter again, and letting energy out, and---
He had no idea how to stop but he didn’t even care.
Then he saw a being made of light, and long arms, something like the monster was, but he knew, this time he knew who it was.
And he spread his arms, and let the long arms close around him, and he held into the monster.
He took deep breaths, and felt his power coming under control, as soon as he was close to him.
“You need to get this under control.”
“Sorry I am very new to this. Bit suppressed until now,” Jin said, eyes closed, as exhaustion was catching up on him. “I will get this.”
“Yes you will.”
Jin’s legs gave out, as he fell to his knees, Lightning still not letting him go.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Bit too late to ask this now, don’t you think?”
“No,” Lightning said in a low voice into his ear. “You can still go elsewhere.”
“Why would I? You told me about such beautiful places. You need to show them to me.”
Jin was clinging to Lightning still, and Lightning didn’t reply.
But it was fine.
He just pulled his head away a bit, just so he could press his lips to the monster’s face, and Lightning just held onto him stronger.
Jin had no idea where his road was heading, what was up ahead.
But this was going to be fine.
He had a list, and he had no need for the secrets anymore.