Chapter Text
The first time he felt it, they passed an old looking vase on the brink of falling apart right after entering the museum. Tobio didn’t think much about it, there were other more important things on his mind. Mainly the redhead walking in front of him. So he ignored the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach and trotted on. Looking back, this was his first mistake.
For the rest of the afternoon he didn’t encounter the weird feeling again, which calmed him down somewhat. At least enough for him to forget about it. His mood was bad enough as it was, some crappy, weird old vase was the least of his concern.
Usually, during the school year Tobio was free from the annoying voice babbling with each and every person around him. This year however, luck wasn’t on his side. Out of all the schools that haven’t rejected Hinata yet, he managed to land in the one Tobio was attending. He was still trying to figure out what he did to piss off Tyche, the goddess of luck. The same luck he was currently missing.
It was’t until they met in the entrance hall after finishing the tour of the museum, that the uneasy feeling returned. Tobio glanced at Hinata but the other demigod didn’t seem to notice anything abnormal. Maybe Tobio was imagining things. Still, the thought that something about the vase was off didn’t let him rest and for the next few minutes he couldn’t stop himself from glancing at it as inconspicuous as possible.
The teacher didn’t notice him staring down an inanimate object. Neither did Hinata, who was talking loudly with his friends. Apparently, Hinata managed to find friends not even a few weeks into the school year. A feat Tobio wasn’t able to accomplish during his four years at the same school.
After further observations Tobio could confidently say that the vase was brown and marbled with fissures. One touch and it would fall apart. Drawings decorated the bottom part of the vase and something that looked like words formed a clear border above the art. If Tobio could figure out what the text said, he might find out what the whole bad gut feeling was about.
„Why are you having a staring contest with an old vase?“
Tobio flinched at the words suddenly directed at him. Standing next to him was Hinata, smirking at him and clearly amused. So his behavior didn’t go unnoticed after all. Hinata even decided to abandon his friends and ask him about it. There was nothing Tobio could do and it wouldn’t hurt to get another opinion on this vase. Even if Hinata’s opinion probably wasn’t worth much considering the subject. In the back of his mind, Tobio vaguely remembered all of Hinata’s failed attempts to master his power in camp.
He sighed and asked anyway.
„Don’t you have the feeling that something is weird about it?“
Tobio thought Hinata would laugh at him but to his surprise Hinata took him seriously. He seemed to recognize what Tobio was thinking about and his attention shifted to the vase as well, a contemplating look replaced the smirk on his face. After a moment he turned his head back to Tobio and shrugged his shoulders.
„If it really were them, wouldn’t they have attacked already?“
Good point, but that didn’t prove anything. Tobio decided to ignore the redhead again. It was foolish of him to think that he could be of any help. He could only trust himself.
Slowly, he moved closer to the vase, evading other students and trying to keep the teacher’s attention off of him.
„Hey, I was talking to you!“ Hinata called out just a bit too loud which in turn earned him a stern look from the teacher. Only Hinata would get away with a stern look only. If it was Tobio, the teacher probably would have sent him to detention. But Hinata was liked by everyone. Tobio seemed to be the only sane person that saw how annoying he really was.
Pushing his elbows into other students and stepping on one or two feet, Hinata made his way over to Tobio, following him on his mission to get closer to the vase. Again, it was a wonder how this clumsy boy made so many friends and even managed to keep them.
Tobio was already trying to decipher the words on the vase when Hinata managed to catch up to him. Immediately he started again: „I said, I was talking to you. Why would you just walk away?“
Tobio ignored him, keeping his eyes on the inscription on the vase. The writing was definitely Greek, as he was able to read it. Understanding the meaning was an entirely different thing though. Instead of answering Hinata, he gestured to the inscription.
„You shall be sealed away for wreaking mayhem. If ever the vessel shall break, the seal shall break with it.“ Hinata read from the vase in a happy tone. Then he smiled at Tobio. „Sounds awfully moody.“
„It’s a seal. What else would it sound like? Rainbows and butterflies?“
„Oh, that would be nice!“
Tobio sighed and shook his head in disbelief, concentrating on the vase again. A seal meant bad news. It meant that something was being kept in that vase. Something that probably shouldn‘t be released any time soon. The question was only what it could be.
His lack of interaction seemed to irk Hinata as he frowned and stepped closer to him.
„You know, you could at least try to smile a little. Maybe you would have friends that way.”
Tobio glared at him.
Hinata started pointing at his face and exclaimed: „That‘s exactly what I mean! Running around with a face like this. You look like you‘re going to murder someone!“
„That someone will be you if you don‘t stop.“
Hinata just kept talking, completely ignoring Tobio‘s mean comment. „You‘re like a grumpy old man that tries to keep everyone at a distance.“
He was, wasn’t he? Something about him was wrong. That’s why everyone refused to work with him after getting to know him. That’s why everybody left him.
Something must have shown on his face because Hinata‘s mouth fell agape. „You‘re not doing your face thing on purpose, are you?“
„What do you mean? What has my face got to do with this? It‘s my face, that’s how I look.“
„The face thing you do?”
„Again, it‘s my face. That‘s just how I look.“
„Yeah but like…“ Hinata gestured around with his hands. „It looks all bwahh when it should look like aawww.“
Tobio blinked. Why do I even talk to this dumbass?
„You get me?“ Hinata asked.
„No.“
Hinata didn‘t groan. Instead he looked like he lost all hope for humanity. „How can a child of Athena be this dumb?“
„I‘m not dumb.“
„Of course you are! That‘s basic social interaction. How can someone not know? You‘re dumb. D-U-M-B!“
„I‘m not dumb!“ Tobio repeated, this time a bit louder than before. Anger started to bubble up. Who did this shrimp think he was?
„You are.“ Hinata doubled down.
Just as he was about to shout at Hinata, Tobio remembered where they were. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down but a glance at the teacher confirmed his presumption. Everybody was looking at them and the teacher had his arms crossed, staring expectantly.
Tobio stood up straight, facing the teacher and tried to look like he wasn‘t just arguing like a five year old with some stupid halfwit he knew from camp.
Hinata followed his example and faced the teacher as well.
„Sorry, we just found this vase very interesting.“ Hinata smiled apologetically.
This won‘t work.
The teacher sighed and shook his head. „This was your last warning. Please talk about your experience of the museum after I finish. Another word and you two will find yourselves with extra homework.“
Apparently Tobio was wrong. He was experiencing ‚Hinata-privileges‘.
—
‚Hinata-Privileges‘ weren’t only making Hinata’s life easy in school but also in Camp Halfblood. Hinata was as popular there as he was in school.
Tobio didn’t spend much time with him before Hinata joined his school. However, the few times he met him certainly left a lasting impression. If Tobio had to describe Hinata to someone, it would be with the following words:
Obnoxious, loud and way too happy and bubbly, combined with the fact that Hinata was extremely unskilled at everything concerning his power. And then there was this other thing.
Hinata, for some inexplicable reason, was a son of Hades.
Tobio got ripped out of his thoughts when he heard a giggle from Hinata next to him, laughing at something the teacher just told the class. This was exactly the thing that irritated him so much.
If someone were to see Hinata for the first time, it wasn't Hades’ characteristics like shadows, darkness and death you thought of. The most suitable word would probably be sun. Anybody's first guess would be that Hinata was a son of Helios. Honestly, every other god or goddess would do too. All of them, except the one that Hinata truly was the offspring of. Hades.
Because, let’s be honest, how could a child of Hades be so … bright? And he didn’t mean bright in a good way. Interacting with Hinata, or even looking at him was exhausting. It was like staring into direct sunlight.
To put this into perspective: The only other kid of Hades he knew of, was Nico. Technically, there was also Hazel but she was a daughter of Pluto and that just wasn’t quite the same.
Nico was exactly what you would imagine a kid of the god of the underworld to be. Dark hair, very light complexion, dark bags under his eyes and the general look of someone who was done with life. Not that Nico was bad-looking. He just gave off an intimidating vibe.
Hinata was the pure opposite of that. It was honestly perplexing. He did have a very light complexion but it wasn’t pale but rosy. Together with his orange hair, Hinata shone brighter than everybody else in the room. His smile was blinding and if you looked very closely, you could even spot some freckles on his face. What child of Hades had freckles. Freckles.
Then there was the whole deal with his powers. Hinata was the son of one of the Big Three. Which grouped him in with the Percy Jackson or the Jason Grace. Immensely powerful demigods. But as far as Tobio knew, Hinata wasn’t even able to use his powers and his fighting skills were beginner level at best. Which was just weird for a child of one of the most powerful gods.
No matter how he looked at it, Tobio just couldn’t figure out how it was possible for Hinata to be a son of Hades. And this was something that irked him the wrong way because he was supposed to be intelligent, being a child of Athena and everything.
—
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that they ended up causing trouble. Every interaction they had before resulted in chaos. It was only a matter of time until this whole thing here would escalate as well. And escalate it did.
Tobio should have ignored Hinata after their first argument. He didn‘t though. Which was his second mistake of the day.
As Hinata nudged his shoulder and whispered into his ear, chaos unfolded.
„Ne, Kageyama. What do you think is sealed in the vase?“
„Something that shouldn’t be released.“
„Ha, very funny.“ Hinata wasn’t laughing. He was staring at the vase a bit too intensely for Tobio’s taste.
Before Tobio could contemplate what Hinata had in mind, it already happened. Hinata’s arm was moving towards the vase.
„Oi, what are you doing?“ Tobio whispered loudly. Hinata just grinned and moved even closer to the vase. Then he slowly reached out a finger.
Before he could touch it, Tobio slapped Hinata‘s hand away which earned him a pair of raised eyebrows.
„What? You started being suspicious of the vase. I just want to see if I can feel what‘s sealed in the vase. If something is even sealed away. I’m pretty sure nothing‘s going to happen if I touch it.“
„Then why touch it at all? It‘s against the rules. This could get dangerous.“
Hinata giggled at Tobio‘s seriousness. The teacher let his eyes wander over them, probably sensing that an argument was forming. Tobio tried his best not to let his frustration show and pretended to pay attention to whatever the teacher was saying. When he was sure that the teacher moved on, he tried to reason with Hinata: „You haven‘t answered my question. Why touch it if you think nothing is going to happen anyway?“
Only for a moment, too fast for Tobio to decipher, something changed on Hinata’s face. Then he got his usual smile back and answered him.
„Why not? It‘s the easiest way to find out.“
It sounded weirdly deflecting. But something told him that pressing on the ‘why’ wouldn’t work to stop Hinata. So Tobio tried a different route.
„And what will you do if something happens?“
„Then we’ll fight, of course!”
Before Tobio could question how exactly Hinata would fight considering his non-existential powers, he was interrupted by movement to his right. A movement that looked suspiciously like Hinata‘s arm reaching towards the vase once more.
With a reaction time only a demigod could have, Tobio‘s own arm rushed forward and he managed to stop Hinata a moment before he could touch the vase. Big eyes looked back at him as he sighed out of relief. Thankfully, the teacher was occupied with some other students, so the whole ordeal stayed unnoticed. For now.
„What are you doing?“ Hinata hissed at him.
„Just making sure you aren‘t doing stupid shit.“ Tobio answered. When he felt Hinata trying to break free of his grip, he strengthened his hold even further.
„Let me go!“
„Stop pulling!“
„Well, I would stop if you let me go.“ Hinata pulled once more but Tobio was stronger. A smirk appeared on his face. As long as he held on, Hinata was incapable of doing anything.
„I can‘t let you go, you would touch the vase.“
„I wouldn‘t.“
Tobio raised his eyebrows at him until Hinata rolled his eyes. „Okay, I would. But it‘s not like something‘s going to happen.“
„How would you know, you were never on a quest before.“
He saw how much he hurt Hinata with this sentence. There was shock, surprise and a lot of sadness in his eyes. Tobio didn‘t mean to be this cruel but how else was he going to stop this madness? There was a reason that Hinata hasn’t been on one quest yet and Tobio had. It was their skill in fighting.
„At least people don‘t avoid me as soon as they have gone on a quest with me.“
Thinking back to his last quest made Tobio flinch. It went … bad. He’d rather not think about it too much. Last summer was the first time Tobio was glad that he could go back to the regular school, away from judging looks and the loneliness following him everywhere.
And now here Hinata was, making him remember.
„Shut up. That‘s not true.“ Kageyama lied, feeling the control over the situation slipping from his fingers. „And it has nothing to do with all this.“
Hinata shrugged.
„Why else would you try to stop me?“ He nudged his head towards the vase.
„Because…,“ Kageyama started but instantly got interrupted by Hinata again.
„Oh, I know. You‘re just scared!“
„I‘M NOT SCARED!“ Tobio yelled out which resulted in a few things happening simultaneously.
The teacher finally noticed and shouted at Tobio to be quiet. Distracted by his effort to apologize, Tobio forgot to keep his grip around Hinata‘s arm. Hinata of course kept pulling.
Tobio could feel how Hinata‘s arm escaped his hand due to the sudden lack of resistance. The arm swung around, collided with the vase and sent Hinata backwards into a few students and down to the ground.
Even if the clink of the vase breaking was barely audible over the moans and cries of the students Hinata pulled with him, every single person in the entrance hall immediately took notice of the accident.
Over the general screaming about Hinata destroying an ancient vase, however, Tobio seemed to be the only one who noticed the mist escaping it, slowly forming into different shapes.
“Do you see that?”
Tobio turned his head and saw Hinata standing upright again, his face concentrated on the shapes that had turned more solid and remembered human bodies by now.
He’s fast.
“I see that I was right and you shouldn’t have touched that damn vase!”
“No need to be so crude. What are we fighting?”
The shapes were now definitely humanoid and looked around. Tobio could see them smirking and stretching. Some flickered and went invisible. Tobio cursed once more and reached under his shirt to take out his special pendant. He rubbed over the spot and a few seconds later held a sword in his hand.
“Daemones.”
“Damons…Didn’t know we’re fighting High-School boys.”
Irritated Tobio turned around, already shouting at Hinata: “ We aren’t fighting anything. Just get back and make sure you don’t get in my way.”
The aura around Hinata didn’t match his usual one. It almost seemed … somber. Hinata’s eyes narrowed and Tobio was met with something that couldn’t be described as anything other than dark. Something black was starting to swirl around Hinata’s feet.
“I will fight.” And with that, he picked up a piece of the broken vase and took up a fighting stance.
Before Tobio could respond he got hit by something and flew backwards. He quickly stood up again and swung his sword. No reaction. He missed the Daemone that attacked him.
„Try and bring the others to safety, I’ll fend the Daemones of.“
„Don’t tell me what to do!“
Tobio saw something glimmering to his right and swung, barely missing. He cursed. A swift glance around the room told him that there were about six Daemones. And these were only the ones visible at the moment.
He blended out the screams around the room and focused on the visible Daemone that stood over the vase. Sprinting towards it, he saw its face. A cruel smirk. Tobio raised his sword and in that moment it dodged and vanished.
Tobio stopped moments before colliding with the wall and turned. All the Daemones were invisible. Not even a glimmer was visible anywhere. Were they gone? On the other side of the room stood Hinata with his shard and looked the way Tobio felt. Cautiously, he took a few steps towards Hinata. No attack was coming.
The people still in the room calmed down and slowly took in that Tobio was standing around with a sword. The spirits didn’t show up again. They were gone.
„You didn’t lead them outside.“
„I had to fight.“
„You didn’t hit a single one.“
„Did you?“
Tobio didn’t find the motivation to retort. Hinata let his shard drop and looked at him. „At least we know what‘s been sealed in that vase.“
„I would have liked to find out in another way.“
Before a fight could break out between them, a furious teacher ran up to them and started yelling. Apparently, ‚Hinata-Privileges‘ didn‘t extend to destroying museum property and trying to fight against Daemones that were invisible to everybody else.
Wondering what the mist might have shown the normal people, Tobio glanced to his side to see Hinata nodding fervently to everything the teacher had to say. Even in trouble the teacher seemed to hate him a bit less.
„Well, let‘s get your wounds cleaned up and then you‘ll have to talk to the museum director.“
What wounds? Tobio was fairly sure that nobody got injured during this whole ordeal. But Hinata didn‘t talk back against the teacher and lifted his arm a bit.
„Oh, it‘s not that big of a deal.“ He smiled and put his arm back. But Tobio had seen it already. There were several cuts, probably from when he swung his arm into the vase.
The teacher frowned and then sighed. „Well at least there‘s that. I‘m not going to lie, it looks pretty bad for you. The museum director wants to talk, let‘s go to the back room there.“ He shook his head and then gestured to them to follow him, which they did.
They were already halfway to the office when the teacher decided to inform them of something else: „Oh and you‘re expelled from school, but you probably already guessed.“
Hinata shrugged his shoulders and turned towards Tobio. „He could have given us a bit more compassion while expelling us.“
„Us? He talked about you.“
The teacher in front of them sighed. „I meant both of you.“
„HUH?“
Hinata tried to hold back laughter and Tobio glared at him in response. „You really are dumb. How did you not see this coming, child of athena?“
„Shut up.“
—
„Don‘t look like that, it‘s not that big of a deal.“
„I just got expelled from my school.“
Hinata shrugged. „Yeah, I did too.“
„Contrary to you, I‘m not changing schools every year. I‘m not used to dropping out.“
„That was a bit harsh.“
Tobio ignored the redhead in favor of his thoughts. How would he explain this to his father? And what would he do? The school year wasn‘t even over. There was no possible way for him to find a spot in another school in a matter of days.
„Well, camp is nice this time of year.“
„Camp?“
Hinata blinked. „Where else would we go?“
Oh. Camp. Of course. That made sense. Tobio organized all the thoughts in his head and took a deep breath. He forgot the most important thing: This was an experience most demigods go through, some even every year. Like Hinata next to him.
„What happens now?“
„How should I know?“
„You‘re the expert. Haven‘t you been expelled …“
Hinata disrupted him with raised hands and a loud voice: „Alright, alright.“ He sighed and leaned back in the chair.
„I don‘t know what kind of consequences will happen here because usually I flee the scene before getting caught. But if we inform Chiron he‘ll be able to take us to camp.“
Tobio nodded. He was secretly thankful that Hinata filled him in with some information but he would never admit that.
After their teacher led them to the office of the museum director, he had vanished again. Probably to look after the rest of the class. For a few seconds it was silent. At least until they heard some voices outside followed by the door being opened by the director of the museum.
He tried his best to look calm but he really didn’t do a good job at it. Slowly he lowered himself into the seat and crossed his hands, looking into the faces of the two demigods.
„I don‘t know why you thought breaking that vase was a good idea.“
„We didn‘t think it was a good idea, sir.“ Tobio answered and hoped for the best. Hinata next to him clearly tried to hold back a laugh. The director just shook his head.
„Either way, are you eighteen yet? Or should I call your parents to compensate for the damage done?“
Damn, Tobio hadn‘t thought about that yet. How exactly would they be able to compensate for it? But Hinata, like the professional he was, already talked about how the director should call their camp counselor who would happily help him out.
—
Chiron did not happily help them out. He still helped them, though.
Which meant that he arranged a money transfer as soon as he was informed and successfully calmed the director down. Then, asking the director to connect him to the two troublemakers, he asked with a looming voice:
„What in the gods happened?“ He wasn’t exactly screaming, but Chiron didn’t have to.
Tobio willed Hinata to speak. For one because he himself wasn’t able to think of a single word and for another because he hoped the consequences would be less bad if Hinata took over with his ‚Hinata privileges‘.
„This vase broke and Daemones appeared. Then we wanted to fight them but they disappeared again before we could.“
„You mean I was going to fight them. You couldn’t fight them even if you tried. You didn’t even have a weapon.“
„Excuse me, I had a shard?“
„Because we all know a shard is insanely helpful to fight.“
„You act like you are better than me but you didn’t hit a single one. And you had a whole sword.“
„They disappeared. What the hell was I supposed to do?“
Chiron on the phone heard enough and interrupted them mid argument. „I see we’ll gloss over how the vase broke. But more importantly, the Daemones disappeared?“
Tobio blinked. He found it weird how they disappeared without really doing something but he didn’t have the time to really think about it yet. The fact that Chiron brought it up only proved that there was something special behind it.
He thought back to what happened in the other room. Shapes appearing only to disappear without an attack. Then he remembered something else. The one figure that stood as if it was overlooking everything. The thing on its face. The smirk. A shiver ran down his spine as he revealed the thing he dreaded. „It seemed coordinated.“
Chiron hummed and Hinata stared at him with big eyes. Tobio tried to ignore him and continued. „I don’t know why but they didn’t really attack anyone, I think they just wanted to scare us. And then there was this one Daemone who was watching over everything. When she disappeared, the rest did as well. But I can’t really think of a reason why.“
„Not good. Not good at all.” There was a short silence where nobody knew what to say. Then Chiron sighed. „We’ll discuss everything in camp. I already ordered a taxi.“
With that, Chiron ended the call. For a few seconds everything stayed silent. Then Tobio turned towards Hinata.
„We‘re definitely in trouble.“
„It‘s going to be half as bad as you think it will, believe me.“
—
Hinata was wrong. It wasn‘t half bad. It was full, getting yelled at by Chiron bad. Tobio had never heard Chiron yell before so he was pretty stunned at what happened. After some time he calmed down again and focussed on figuring out what happened instead of reprimanding them.
„How would you think that breaking a suspicious vase is anything even close to a good idea?“
It was Hinata who answered first, unknowingly proving his guilt. „I just wanted to touch it, not break it.“
The silence was loud. Hinata looked ashamed but still hadn‘t offered an explanation. It didn‘t make sense to Tobio how he had been so hellbent on touching that vase. He remembered that even back then he thought something was suspicious about the way Hinata wanted to touch that vase.
„I’ve told you it would be a bad idea.“
Hinata whipped his head around. „I know what happened, you don‘t need to tell me I‘ve told you so. Also, If you wouldn‘t have held me back the vase wouldn‘t have broken. At the end of the day, it‘s your fault.“
„It most definitely isn‘t. If you would have just let it alone…“
„Well, if I had touched it normally without being attacked, I maybe could have felt what was inside.“
„Maybe. But that doesn‘t make it better!“
Just as Hinata was about to retort something, Chiron held up a hand to stop them. „I think you two already fought enough. But I have to agree with Kageyama here. Touching something suspicious isn‘t a good idea, especially when you‘re a demigod. And that doesn‘t even factor in that you two were in a museum where touching is prohibited.“
Tobio grinned at Hinata. Not a second later he regretted it when Chiron cast his serious gaze over him.
„You don‘t need to grin. This fiasco is just as much Hinata‘s fault as it is yours. Hinata touching the vase probably wouldn‘t have put us into this situation. Breaking it was the problem.“
Hinata‘s face lit up and he grinned at Tobio. „Hear that?“
„However,“ Chiron said to regain their attention. „At the moment it‘s way more important that we fix this mess rather than talking about whose fault it may be. How many Daemones did you say broke free of that vase?“
„About a dozen if I remember right,“ Kageyama answered.
„Alright.“ Wrinkles appeared on Chiron‘s forehead as he walked into the backroom. When he came back, he was carrying a small wooden chest the size of Tobio‘s palm. He put the chest down, sighed and then took turns looking at the two of them. „You have two options. Either you kill the Daemones so they land in Tartarus - or you seal them into another vessel. Which is the option I would choose because Daemones are basically mist and to kill them is nearly impossible.“ He patted on top of the wooden chest at the last word.
„…We as in both of us?“
Hinata‘s voice was quiet and sounded hopeful. Tobio had a bad feeling about what was about to come.
„Yes. Since it was your fault the Daemones escaped, you‘ll have to make it right by sealing them all back. Fix the mess you‘ve caused.“
„You can‘t expect Hinata to go on a quest.“
The slightly pained look on Chiron‘s face proved to Tobio that the camp director knew what he was implying. But it also proved that the decision was already made and neither Tobio nor Chiron could do anything against that. He wondered which god or goddess approved of this nonsense but quickly erased that thought again. No need in making a godly enemy.
„I can go on a quest?“ Hinata exclaimed way too loud and way too enthusiastic. Chiron nodded tight-lipped.
While Hinata was flabbergasted at this info, Tobio tried a pleading look with Chiron. It didn‘t help. Hinata finally woke from his frozen state and started dancing and singing, which made both Chiron and Tobio cringe.
„Who‘s our third member?“
Chiron grimaced again, silently answering: „There is no third member. You will be doing the quest as a pair.“
„But there‘s always a third person.“
„They said that this time it will be different.“
„Who‘s they?“
Chiron didn‘t answer. Which meant that it was probably gods. He walked towards the door, opening it for the two. Hinata calmed down, already forgetting he didn‘t get an answer to his question, and walked up to them as well. With big eyes he looked at Chiron.
„So can we get a prophecy?
Tobio ignored whatever Chiron was answering and took a moment to sort out his thoughts.
They broke a vase. They let Daemones into the world because the broken vase was not sealed anymore. They now had to go on a quest together. He, who completed several quests already, is regarded as a genius by many people and gods. And he, who was a bloody amateur who had never been on a quest and didn‘t master his powers. And all that without the obligatory third person.
“Do we really need to go on a quest together?” Tobio pointed at him and Hinata.
“Yes,” Chiron sighed.
“And there is no other way around this at all?”
“No.”
Tobio groaned and turned his head from Chiron to Hinata. The only thing the idiot seemed to grasp was his opportunity to finally go on a quest, completely failing to understand that his lack of talent could mean the death of them. Tobio glared at him.
“Well, my mum can control animals so I guess should be able to lead you to safety.”
Hinata continued smiling brightly, as if he hadn‘t just been insulted. With an even sweeter smile he padded Tobio on the shoulder.
“Well, my dad can bring people back from the dead so I should be able to kill you without consequences.”
„Huuuuh?“
—
“Don’t smile so much, it’s annoying.”
“You’re annoying. Don’t tell me what to do.”
Hinata was almost running and Tobio did his best to look like he was walking normally. In truth he was having trouble keeping his breathing under control. But he was damned if he let the shrimp walk faster than him.
They ended up running towards Rachel’s cave. Tobio won, which made him happier than it should have.
“Next time I’ll win,” Hinata exclaimed. He was panting and leaned against the cave.
“There will be no next time.” Tobio answered from his spot on the floor.
Hinata threw him a look but before he could say anything else Rachel emerged from the entrance of the cave. She was slurping on a smoothie and raised her eyes at them. “Why are you two dying in front of my house?”
House? That’s a cave.
“Rachel Elizabeth Dare!” Hinata jumped away from the wall and smiled brightly at the oracle. Tobio rolled his eyes.
“That’s my name.”
“I can finally visit you officially because of a quest.”
“Don’t talk to me like you’ve never seen me before. But oh my gods, that’s wonderful news Shoyo!” Rachel immediately hugged Hinata. Of course they were friends.
While they excitedly talked with each other, Tobio wondered if he ever got congratulated this much when he managed to get a quest. Probably not but he couldn’t remember anyways. Too many quests and he didn’t want to think about any of them.
“Can we get this over with?”
Finally, Rachel seemed to notice Tobio and threw him a look. “And you’re here too.”
“I am, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?”
“Have you seen my partner for this quest?”
Hinata immediately interrupted, trying to defend his honor. Before it could escalate again, Rachel just pushed the two into her cave, one hand still holding on to her smoothie. In the cave she put it on a counter and turned to the two.
“Well, you two want a drink?”
Hinata frowned. “Aren’t you going to read our prophecy?
“It doesn’t work like that. You can’t just push a button.”
Tobio rolled his eyes and asked for water. Hinata did the same.
They didn’t have to wait long for the prophecy.
Just when Rachel tried to get them some drinks, she froze up. Tobio knew what was coming but a glance to his side told him that Hinata was concerned about her. Should I comfort him? The thought was followed by Where did this thought come from? Why should I comfort this dumbass when my prophecy is about to be read?
To Tobio’s luck, he didn’t have to think about it any more because when Rachel turned around, even Hinata could see that she wasn’t Rachel at the moment.
Rachel, now with a very weird voice, started to prophesize:
„shadow and wit set forth to go
on a journey through land that goes to show
how from two become one
which cannot be undone“
Her eyes went normal again and she started coughing and complaining how she should be looking for a successor. Hinata looked at her with big eyes.
„That‘s all?“
Rachel turned to him and raised an eyebrow. „Did you expect more? Should I try again?“
Immediately, Hinata apologetically raised his hands and smiled his special smile at her. „No, no! I was just surprised. It‘s my first quest and I heard that prophecies are longer. But it‘s a very cool one, I swear.“
„Cool? Did you even listen to what it said, dumbass?“ Tobio intercepted. He didn‘t like that prophecy at all.
„I did. Sounded very mystical to me. Spooky. Very cool.“ Hinata smiled even wider, elated by the fact that he had his first prophecy read to him.
Rachel turned to face Tobio, still holding up one eyebrow. Hinata‘s lack of concern didn‘t go unnoticed by her either. Other than staring at Tobio, Rachel didn‘t do much. Which meant that he had to break the news to the idiot all by himself. Tobio sighed loudly.
„Listen to the last part again: how from two become one which cannot be undone. Doesn‘t sound very cool to me.“
Finally, Hinata seemed to understand. „Does… does that mean one of us dies?“
Panic settled into his eyes as he slowly realized how serious the situation was. It was a look Tobio had never seen on Hinata‘s eyes before. Usually there was only determination. Tobio hadn’t planned for Hinata to be scared of his first quest. He just wanted him to be aware of how serious a quest was.
When Hinata’s expression didn’t brighten up after a few seconds, Tobio sighed. He should probably cheer him up a bit. If morale was down, there would be two deaths instead of just one. At least someone had to survive this quest, preferably Tobio.
„It could mean a number of things. Doesn‘t have to be death.“
Hinata still looked uneasy and Tobio glanced at Rachel for help. She nodded and patted Hinata‘s head.
„Yeah. No chance in figuring out what it means before going on that quest. I‘ve told a lot of prophecies and nearly every time someone tried to interpret it a certain way, it ended up playing out differently.“ She seemed to remember something specific and tilted her head. „Most of the time at least.“
„That last comment was unnecessary.“ Tobio murmured but Hinata seemed reassured. His usual smile found its way back onto his face and he shoved Rachel‘s hand on his hair away.
Clenching his fists, and with a determined expression he called out: „Then what‘s stopping us? Let‘s go on that quest!“ before he ran out of the cave to do whatever.
„Mainly not having all the information and items you‘ll need for the quest, but who am I to tell you that. I‘m just the oracle.“ Rachel answered the question and let herself fall down on the beanbag lying around next to her.
Tobio sighed and pinched the skin between his eyes. This quest would be the death of him.
Maybe even literally.