Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sigma stopped at his brother's room. His brother hadn't said much since he'd come home, but he'd been upset, clearly. "Leo?"

Leo looked up. "Come in," he said, as if this was an ordinary night. At least it was a Friday. Sigma had time to get what was going on out of him. All that Mio had said was that he'd had to be rescued, or something like that.

He walked up to Leo's desk, taking a quick look at the diagram Leo was working on. Sigma couldn't read most of Leo's engineering diagrams, but he knew that the one that Leo was staring at was exceedingly simple. "Going back to basics, brother?" he asked.

"Sigma…." Leo looked down at the diagram, and then back up at Sigma. "I… I had something happen to me today."

Sigma waited patiently. Obviously, Leo was disturbed by whatever had happened. He'd let Leo tell him about it in his own time.

"There's some kind of… power inside me." Leo indicated a diagram. "I seem to generate some kind of energy, but I don't know what the switch is to let it out, and if I don't, it hurts me."

Taking a look at the diagram, Sigma couldn't help but widen his eyes. He ran through everything he knew about humans who had powers. Magic. Leo had magic. "Have you ever been able to use it successfully?" he asked. If he could figure out what was going on, he could help Leo a little. He had no desire to have his little brother die from a power he couldn't control.

"I think I summoned a gust of wind." Leo was obviously thinking things through. They were alike in that way.

Nodding, Sigma asked, "Were you holding anything at the time?" Some mages required focuses, after all.

"My bokken. I was holding my bokken." Leo looked up at Sigma as if Sigma had just solved his problem. "But I can't carry that about all the time…."

"You don't need to. You just need something with a lot of wood. I know just the thing!" He rushed out of Leo's room into his own, his mind clattering with thoughts along the way. He'd been worried lately that Leo would be named Secret-Holder for their generation of the family, despite Leo having no inclination for that sort of thing. No matter how much he tried to please his parents, they always had a preference towards his twin.

But with Leo being a mage, Leo couldn't inherit the title. No Secret-Holder had magic. Protected mages, kept their existence secret, yes. Were mages, never. Their people were the ones that kept magic from being human knowledge and recorded the many varieties and manifestations throughout the world. Sometimes, they helped mages find masters to apprentice with. Their parents would surely find one for Leo for when he graduated high school. Sigma felt somewhat bad that Leo wouldn't be going to university and becoming an electrical engineer, but these things happened. He had to learn to be a mage.

He grabbed one of his calligraphy brushes. It wasn't the best one, and Sigma vowed to find one with lots of wood and buy it for Leo. His brother would need it. Rushing back into Leo's room, he handed it to his brother. "Here."

Leo looked at the brush as if it was a foreign object. "Sigma?" he asked.

"You're a mage, Leo!" he exclaimed. "If your magic starts building up like that again, concentrate on this and think of, say, wind. It'll trigger that switch of yours. Here, try it."

Leo held the brush up experimentally, looking at a pile of papers. For a second, nothing happened.

And then a strong gust knocked Sigma over. He looked up at Leo.

"I'm sorry, Sigma. I didn't mean…." Leo reached down, and Sigma took his hand.

"It doesn't matter, Leo. If it saves your life, there's nothing to apologize for." Leo was a mage. Sigma could live with that.

Leo had given him an enormous gift. The least he could do was to make sure his brother learned to use and control his power.

He smiled at Leo and the brush. Everything was going his way.

Chapter Text

Leo was startled by a knock on his door shortly after he got dressed. "Leo?" his mother asked.

"Mom? Just a moment." He looked around the room, and then opened the door. His mother was smiling uncertainly.

"Leo. Sigma shared the news with me and your father." She folded her hands. "He says you're a mage."

"Um. Yes. That's what he said." He'd just finished cleaning up after tossing half his room about with the gust of wind.

"If that's true," his mother said, "Then I need to take you to someone. You need a focus object, most probably, and I'd really like someone to evaluate your abilities, dear."

His mouth worked for a moment before he regained his composure. "Sigma gave me a calligraphy brush, and I have my bokken...."

"We can't send you to apprentice with someone until you graduate high school," his mother told him. "Well, we could, but we want to cast as little attention on you as possible."

"But, college..." He'd been meaning to ask Sigma about that.

"It'll have to wait until you can control your power, Leo." His mother spoke calmly. He didn't even know she knew about magic. "Assuming that Sigma is right. I'm going to take you to a local mage, and she can at least take a look at you and help us find you an object you can have with you at all times."

Leo suddenly wondered if this was how chronic medical patients felt about their aids. How Mio felt about having to write down what she couldn't speak.

"Get ready to go, Leo. We're going as soon as you're ready."

"Right." He got a jacket and followed his mother outside.

She drove him to a remote part of town, and the two of them got out. A woman with a shock of white hair greeted them and invited them in. "So, this is your son, Secret-Holder?" she asked, looking at Leo.

"Yes. It seems he might have magic - we want to make sure." She nudged Leo forward.

The woman nodded. "Let me test him, then."

She took Leo back to a small room and had him sit down. She put a hand over his heart. "Yes, you have magic, all right. Tell me about any time you have used it."

So, Leo told her, haltingly, about the time that he'd used it, and the time the figure had tried to force him to use it. He didn't want to think of that experience again, but if he wanted to avoid it, this lady had to know.

"You need a focus." The woman was nodding. "That high school is on a nexus of sorts, which possibly caused you to develop some latent ability, but you likely won't be able to use your magic without a focus until later in your training, if ever." She looked at him. "Normally, depending on an apprentice's ability, I'd ask their parents to take them out of high school, but in your case, it's beneficial for you to spend as much time as you can there. Any club activity you can take that won't affect your grades, please take it."

Leo sighed and nodded. He didn't want to spend time there, but he wasn't going to ignore her advice.

"We're going to test your abilities," she said next. "Here." She handed him what looked like a wand. "I don't have a bokken and while a calligraphy brush might work, this is best to work with for now."

So, for the next half-hour or so, she had him run through anything he could do- he set some wood alight, at her command, and commanded wind, brought forth water, and made dirt move aside. She nodded with each test.

"That wand filtered your abilities so you couldn't accidentally burn down my house," she revealed. "You're going to be a very strong mage, Fudou Leo, and staying on that nexus will make you stronger."

He shivered. "Can my magic... go away?"

She looked at him and sighed. "You won't be the first mage tortured for your power, and you won't be the last. Your master will teach you how to hide your magic, but it won't go away. But the stronger in magic you are, the better you'll be able to learn to hide it, if you wish. You'll be able to pretend it doesn't exist." Her tone said she wondered why he would want to be without magic, and he had to wonder if she was just saying that to make him stay at the high school.

But if she told his mother, there would be no way he could avoid staying at school as much as he needed to. She was serious about what kinds of things he and Sigma needed to do.

"In the meantime, " the woman said, "I think I can make something that you'll be able to wear that will make it easier for you to focus in an emergency. Some mages prefer something like a brush, but from what I know of that school, you'll want something close at hand." She reached into a cabinet, and pulled out a pale green, unadorned, clunky bracelet. "In the meantime, I'm going to have you wear this. In case something happens, you don't even have to see it, just think about it and focus your power through it. You seem to be an air person, but don't be afraid to use fire, water, earth, metal, or wood to protect yourself."

"Thank you," he said. He still wasn't sure about this whole thing, but he'd rather have something, just in case.

"Your ancestors helped me find my master, years ago," she said, waving off the thanks. "It's the least I can do for one of their descendants."

And with that, she was ushering him back to his mother. "He'll make a good mage," she said. "His high school is on a power nexus - make sure he stays on it as much as possible while his powers are still developing. His bracelet will prevent him from being defenseless in case anybody decides to go after him for being a mage until I can craft one for his strengths." She nodded at his mother. "I hope this doesn't prevent you from passing your duties onto another generation."

"We were planning on passing on the duties to his brother anyway," his mother told her. "Thank you very much for looking at him. Please let me know when the bracelet is ready."

The woman bowed at his mother, and his mother bowed at her.

"So." She ushered him into the car. "How do you feel?"

"I wish I didn't have magic," he said.

"Leo, it's a gift. You'll be more comfortable... well, when we find someone you can talk about magic to." She smiled apologetically at him. "In the meantime, at least that bracelet will help."

He nodded shakily at her and wished he didn't have magic.

Chapter Text

Sigma glanced up as his mother and brother returned. He knew his mother was going to take Leo to a mage to test if he was one, and his power level. All well and good. He wanted his little brother to survive high school, after all.

"How did it go?" he asked idly. Things were falling into place. Leo would be a mage and he'd be given the family duty.

"Leo's going to be a powerful mage," their mother said, beaming. Leo was pulling up his sleeve to display a green bracelet on his wrist.

Well, that was something to be proud of! "Congratulations," he told Leo, who still looked like he was ready to chuck his bracelet and the powers with it.

"So, Leo's going to be spending as much time at school as possible in order to expand his potential," their mother said. "You'll have to go home alone."

"Look at it this way," Sigma said, wanting to encourage his twin as much as possible, "You can spend as much time in the engineering lab as you want now."

"But I want to go to college," Leo objected. "Sigma, you're not going to develop magic, are you?"

Sigma blinked. "I don't think so," he said. He couldn't! Not if he planned to inherit what was rightfully his.

"There's always a possibility," their mother said. "That school is a nexus and wonderful for developing mages."

"I want to transfer," he said. He didn't want to abandon Leo, but he couldn't stay there. Fortunately, the end of the school year was coming soon. He could transfer schools. Mio would understand.

"You can't." His mother folded her hands placidly. "We can't interfere with a potentially developing mage, Sigma. You're there until you graduate. We'd rather you not develop magic, but we can't interfere with your potential. I'll take you to the same mage that tested Leo when we pick up his actual bracelet, we'll see if you're developing power like he is-"

"No!" Sigma ran to his room. He couldn't be a mage. He couldn't! He had to be a Secret-Holder. Whatever he could do, he would do to stop himself from developing magic. He knew that his mother was right, his parents couldn't, by tradition, take him away from the nexus and interfere with his destiny, but it still hurt.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. "It's Leo," his twin said, and he reluctantly let him in, closing the door behind him.

"I don't want to be a mage," Sigma said, looking at his brother. "I won't become one."

Leo looked at his bracelet. "I don't want to be one, either. Can you help me pretend to be on campus? I'll help you be off campus as much as you can. If we can find where the nexus is, that'll help...."

Sigma's eyes widened. "Leo, you're a genius! If I can shield myself against the nexus...." He looked over at his brother. "But you... I believe mom when she says that being there is good for you."

"But," Leo whined. "I don't want to be a mage."

"You can't not be one." Sigma could stop himself from being a mage, but he would do anything he could to give Leo more power. If he had to shackle Leo to his lab, he'd do it. He'd go to their mother, apologize, and find out what exactly needed to be done to force Leo's exposure to the nexus. While protecting himself, of course. Once he built a shield, he'd force Leo to be where he needed to be. It was for his own good.

Maybe it was time to matchmake Leo with that Kaoru girl. Sigma hadn't approved at first because of the bloodline, but that wasn't a concern now. If it made his brother happier, he'd do anything Mio wanted him to do to get Leo to start dating.

"I'd do anything to lose my magic," Leo moaned.

"Leo. If you have magic, you have magic." Sigma knew he'd have to get Leo to accept his magic. Leo had obviously forgotten that it would harm him if he wasn't careful. "You can protect people. You can protect yourself."

Besides, if his parents concentrated on Leo and his magic, Sigma could quell any of his own that came up.

Leo looked like he wanted nothing to do with it. It was too bad for Leo that being from a Secret-Holder family meant that he was going to be encouraged in his magic whether he wanted it or not. Sigma would save himself from that, but he'd do whatever Leo needed to succeed in his new powers.

"Just go and do your homework, Leo. Things will get better."

Leo looked at him sadly, and Sigma had the sense that nothing would ever be the same again.

Chapter Text

"So, this will keep you from... developing magic?" Mio asks hesitantly, folding her hands after speaking.

"Yes." Sigma looked at the device. He hoped it would keep him from picking up anything, anyway. Everything he'd read said something of the sort would help for the kind of nexus that was at the school. His mother had him tested and he seemed clear of developing powers.

Leo was going to be a damn powerful mage, though. Sigma had taken to writing notes for his brother and sticking them into Kaoru-san's locker. There were advantages to being identical twins, though Sigma's hair was a bit longer than Leo's. Sigma was going to start Leo on a mage lineage the way Mio wanted.

Now that Leo was out of the way, inheritance-wise, Sigma could be what he wanted to be. He knew his brother wasn't thrilled to be at school, but now he could push him to stay there. Sigma didn't care what his brother felt as long as he gained power. There was something to be said for being the brother of someone who was likely to be one of the strongest mages in Japan.

His brother was starting to rebel at the whole idea, but Sigma knew the rules had to be followed. Leo would absorb what he had to absorb, even if he hated it. He'd thank Sigma for it later.

Leo walked over to them. "What's going on?" he asked, signing for Mio's benefit. Well, all of theirs. Easier to have a conversation about magic when one was talking in sign. Sigma could see his bracelet, painted blue with little stars. He knew from what their mother had said that the bracelet helped both focus Leo's magic and helped him pick up the energy from the nexus.

It hadn't been cheap, but their mother hadn't said anything. She was too proud that Leo had the ability.

Which was a little frustrating. Sigma was going to inherit the family duty and had to start training, and yet it felt like Leo was still the favored child. Sigma had been telling himself it was because of Leo's potential, and everything would calm down once Leo accepted he was going to be a mage and had to become as strong as he could while he had a chance. Leo had wanted to be a mage about as much as Sigma wanted to.

Sigma showed off the device. "It'll help me not be a mage," he told his brother.

Leo's smile was a bit wavery, but Sigma knew he supported him in staying away from the magic and taking on the family duty. They were brothers; they were there for each other.

That was the way it was, and that was the way it would stay.