Chapter Text
Jeremy flicked his finger in a circle, quickly uttering a small incantation under his breath. In an instant, he was disguised as one of the numerous servants that worked in the castle. He didn’t even have to glance in the mirror to double check anymore, he was so familiar with this enchantment. He grabbed his staff, disguising it as a quill, then cracked the door open to check if anyone was out in the hallway. Seeing no one, he darted out of his room and trotted down the deserted corridor to get to the main room where no one even cast a second glance at the relatively unremarkable teenager in their midst.
Once he was out of the palace, he relaxed the slight anxiety that someone might ask him a question that he wouldn’t be able to easily answer and hold him up. The other weight on his mind did not go away, however.
Jeremy’s full name was Jeremiah Heere, but he insisted no one call him that. He pretended it was because the name felt too stiff and proper, which wasn’t a lie, but the real reason was because that was what his mother used to call him. She wouldn’t say his last name unless he was in trouble, but the name ‘Jeremiah’ would bring back a flood of memories and a sinking hurt that he wasn’t ready to fight most days. Whatever reason he told people, everyone just called him Jeremy.
Once he got to the hillside, he let the enchantments slip off. Well, only the enchantment on his clothing and staff. The other one stayed on, like always. He slowed his pace back to a walk as he travelled up the increasing slope, getting closer to the border between Lystae and Brire. Jeremy didn’t really get why the place from which the entire kingdom of Lystae was ruled and where all the royal family resided was so close to their sworn enemy’s border, but he never asked. Brire was the same way from what he’d heard, so maybe there was some advantage he was missing. Anyhow, it didn’t matter much to him. He probably even benefited from it.
He turned off the wider road to a well-worn yet thin path that crawled up the mountain. It didn’t reach the tip, it only reached to a small opening in which he had first met Michael. Michael was Jeremy’s best- and only real- friend. Every other person he would consider a ‘friend’ was only sticking around him because they (or their parents in some cases) wanted the favor of the future king. The reason Jeremy could really be himself around Michael was because Michael didn’t know he was royalty.
Jeremy had first met Michael when he was ten and had snuck out to go exploring. He was bored of his tutor and had said he needed to go to the bathroom. Once free, he added an enchantment to his clothing and wand. To his delight, it worked well, and he was out of the palace before anyone could question how long he’d been gone. He had decided to go near the border, into some of the mountains in the countryside. It was inside the little cave he was heading to now that the two had first met.
At first, he thought he was caught when he saw another boy in the cave. He had dark brown hair, with eyes that were a similar color, dark skin, was dressed in a comfortable-looking red jacket, and was reading a book. He had looked up, startled, and the two of them had just blinked at each other for a few minutes.
"Hey...” Jeremy said, hoping the other kid didn’t somehow recognize him.
“Please don’t tell my moms I’m here, if they find out I’m near the border, they’ll freak out! I’m not even supposed to be out so...” the other boy had instantly said.
“Oh, I won’t tell them. Just don’t tell my dad I’m here either.”
“...like a treaty?”
“Yeah, I guess, sorta.”
There was a pause, with neither of them knowing what to say.
“So. Um. What are you reading?” Jeremy had asked.
“Oh, uh,” he picked up the book and read the cover, “It’s ‘Spells, Enchantments, and Charms: What to Know About Elven Magic’. If you want, you could borrow it.”
“Oh, no thanks. Magic is pretty fun though.”
“Yeah! I wish I was an elf. They have, like, super cool wizard powers!”
“I’m half-elf,” Jeremy had said decidedly.
The other kid’s eyes widened.
“Does that mean you can do magic!?”
Jeremy grinned. “Yeah. I’m not super good at it, but I can do some things.”
“Ok wait, can you make stuff like, float?”
“Oh yeah, that’s pretty simple.”
“Do it!”
“Ok, uh,” Jeremy’s eyes landed on the book in Michael’s lap. He uttered a quick spell and the book floated up a few feet and hovered in midair.
“WOAH! How do you do that?” He asked, his eyes lighting up as he jumped up to grab the book.
“Well, magic, I guess.”
After that, the boy had introduced himself as Michael, and they’d been friends ever since. Michael ad asked him about pretty much every type of magic there was, and Jeremy had gotten a chance to show off what he could do. Sure, he’d gotten in huge trouble when he got back home a few hours later, but it was definitely worth it.
He and Michael had started sneaking out to meet each other pretty frequently after that, sometimes just hanging out in their little cave, sometimes looking around the cave’s numerous small branch-offs, sometimes exploring elsewhere, etc. Once they got a little older, they sometimes sparred. Jeremy was pretty sure the two of them crossed the border a few times, but the most harm that ever came to one of them was when Michael got a sprained ankle and they couldn’t hang out for a few weeks. But no matter what it was, they always did it together.
Jeremy didn’t have to look for the little marker, a stylized carving of two elm trees, but he glanced at it out of habit. It marked the entrance to he and Michael’s meeting place of seven years. He took a quick look around to double-check that no one was there, and walked through the seemingly solid rock.
Once he was in, he held his left hand (the one without the staff) up in front of him, snapped his fingers, and a heatless flame sprung to life in his palm to illuminate the cavern walls. He soon reached the main “room” of the cavern, where Michael already stood.
“Hey Jeremy.” Michael said, his voice slightly tighter than usual.
Hey Michael,” Jeremy returned the greeting with a nervous smile. They both had something on their mind today. “What’s up?”
“Well, actually, there’s this thing I’ve gotta talk to you about,” Michael said, sounding dejected.
“Oh, is everything ok?” Jeremy asked, worried.
“Uh, I don’t know. It’s just...” he paused and ran his fingers through his hair, one of his nervous fidgets. “My parents are sending me to this school thing? I think it’s supposed to help me be better at-” he cut himself off,” at doing what I’m supposed to do.”
When Jeremy didn’t say anything, he continued.
Michael sighed. “Well, yeah school sucks but... I was mainly telling you because, um, I’m going to be gone for like a year.”
“Oh.”
“Dude, I’m sorry, I really don’t wanna go, but I can’t talk my moms out of it, I tried, I swear, but...” he trailed off, his shoulders sinking and his gaze falling to the floor.
“Don’t feel too bad about it. My dad is actually making me go to something really similar to that. I um, actually came here to tell you about it.”
Michael looked back up at Jeremy. “Oh...”
“Yeah,” Jeremy said with a sigh. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want to go either, but my dad insists that it’s for my own good. I can’t really argue about it, though, because I can’t tell him that you’re the reason I don’t want to go, because- you know...”
“You aren’t even supposed to know me?” Michael finished Jeremy’s thought with a sad smile.
Jeremy let out a stiff, strangled laugh. “Yeah.”
A silence settled over the pair. Not necessarily one of those uncomfortable, awkward ones, but not a warm, comforting one either. Just a quietness, like the ones that accompany cold, rainy days where nothing, including happiness, seems to be of great importance.
After a few minutes, Jeremy took a breath and asked, “So, when are you leaving?”
“Three days. You?”
“Same.”
“...we aren’t going to be able to get together after today, are we?” Michael asked, even though they both knew the answer anyway.
Jeremy stayed silent, and as his eyes looking into Michael’s saw the heartbreak. The two of them just stood there, not quite knowing what to say.
“I. Um- never really thought we’d have to say goodbye so soon,” Michael explained, his voice wavering with emotion as his eyes get shiny form the tears welling up in them.
“Yeah,” Jeremy replied, feeling guilty that he didn’t know what else to say.
“I mean, I’ll still see you in a year but-” he took a breath to collect his thoughts,” I guess I’m just scared that you’ll change, or- or when you get back you won’t... won’t want me anymore.”
“Michael. You know that you are my favorite person, and that isn’t going to change, even if I don’t see you for a year. It could be ten years and you’d still be my best friend in the whole world.”
Michael’s anxious frame relaxed a little, clearly touched. If Jeremy had looked slightly closer, he would have noticed that his cheeks were a little rosier than usual. “Thanks. I mean- thank you,” he said, not knowing what to say.
“Micha, are you gonna be okay? You look like you’re gonna cry,” Jeremy noted after a second.
“Yeah- yeah I’ll be fine,” he said, wiping the yet-to-fall tears from his eyes. “Just gonna miss you. A lot.”
“Yeah I'm gonna miss you too,” Jeremy said, a broken tone to his voice.
Michael stepped towards Jeremy and wrapped his arms around the other boy. Jeremy was caught off-guard, but welcomed the warm embrace. And though they were both trying to be tough, tears fell on both sides.
They only got a few more minutes together before then sun started to set, and heavy, broken goodbyes were exchanged. Jeremy trudged home, weighed down from the knowledge that he may never have the same friendship with Michael, even if he wouldn’t admit it. He didn’t even bother to disguise who he was to the surprised townsfolk.
Little did he know, it wouldn’t be a year before he saw Michael again. In reality, it would only be three days.