Chapter Text
This was the end for them. They both knew, deep down, that this is how things would turn out. After all, one of them was one of the best knights in the kingdom, loyal to the throne, while the other, a mage, exiled by the king for his so-called “devil worship”.
From the outsider’s perspective, they would have you believe that they had always been enemies, out for each other's head. But that’s not how it started.
When they first met, the mage was working in the castle for the king, and the knight was just a rookie with his eye on the goal of becoming the kingdom’s best soldier. They ran into each other by chance, but it was what happened after that the history books won’t tell you about these two.
The rookie accidentally ran straight into the mage as he was carrying many baskets full of laundry. He had offered to help the maids around the castle with their chores because he had already finished with his training for the day.
When they both fell to the ground, the rookie immediately started apologizing profusely. He quickly went to go pick up any stray clothes that had fallen out of the baskets when he fell. The mage also went to go grab the things that had fallen out of his hands.
The mage explained his role in the royal court to the rookie after he spotted some important looking scrolls in his hands. Then, the knight, fascinated by the concept of magic, asked to know more about the mage’s abilities. And thus, a beautiful friendship blossomed.
After that chance first meeting, the knight began to visit the mage in his lab whenever he had the free time in between his training and visiting his siblings who lived back in their family home.
They talked more and more and became fast friends. But as all good things do, it had to come to an end.
It started when the king decided to hold a ball in order to build connections with the neighboring kingdoms.
There was an attempt to end the king’s life that day. The act was carried out by a witch from one of the many invited guests. Fortunately for the king, the rookie noticed the person acting suspicious all night, and was keeping an eye on her, and so when she went to make her move, she was stopped by him.
From that day forward, two important things began happening.
Firstly, the knight who saved the king was given recognition for his actions and hard work he had always seemed to put in everything he did, whether it being helping his fellow knight with training to mundane things such as helping the maids and servants around the castle with housework. He began to quickly climb the ranks, and his prowess and popularity didn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon.
Secondly, the king began to become paranoid. He was terrified that another attempt on his life was coming, and he didn’t want to take any chances. He had knights guarding him every second, people tasting every dish in his extravagant meals to make sure there was no poison, but even all that wasn’t enough for him.
Many people pointed out the king’s paranoia to him, but he just accused the people who brought it up to be conspiring against him as well. And so out of fear of their lives, people stopped confronting him. But this only led to things getting worse.
With no one there to point out his absurd anxieties, the king began to grow mad. It escalated to a point where he began to accuse every magic user in town of working with the witch who attempted to take his life at the ball. He began to send knights into the town to capture and arrest all magic users in his kingdom.
This is where the royal mage decided to draw the line.
The mage went to the king directly to explain that what he was doing was wrong, and that arresting innocent people would just bring more disdain for him in the eyes of the people, and therefore more attempts on his life would be sent his way.
The king was outraged by these words, the mage was immediately exiled and a warrant was called for his arrest. The mage managed to escape with his life, but the king wouldn’t let a so-called “devil worshiper” escape his grasp.
So, he assigned the capture of this mage to one of the knights that seemed to be good at their job and eager to help anyone in any way he could. And that knight just so happened to be the once rookie who had run into the mage all those months ago.
As time passed, the king’s methods became more extreme. He began to execute the magic users he found in his kingdom, in his attempt to rid of anyone who could dethrone him. Dozens of innocent people, murdered for nothing more than the king’s cowardice and paranoia.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The mage decided that if the king was expecting an attempt on his life by a magic user, then he would give the king exactly that.
So there they were. Facing one another as though they were greeting an old friend. But this reunion would end in smiles and tales of their adventures apart, no, it would end with one of them dead, killed by the other. One with a never ending loyalty to the crown, and the other with a vengeance that cannot be quenched by anything but the king’s body dead and buried.
Finally, after a period of silence that felt like decades, the mage spoke.
“Fancy meeting you here, Tsukasa-kun,” the mage stated. “I would have expected the kingdom’s best and most shining knight to be by the king’s side at all times. But, I suppose I was wrong,” He finished with a smile.
“Cut the crap, Rui. I know why you’re here.” Tsukasa responded, plainly, with his hand on his sword at his hip.
“Oh?” Rui tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. “Well then, do tell me what it is that you think I’m here to do,” He finished with a grin.
“You’re here to kill the king. And I won’t let that happen. Not on my watch,” Tsukasa stated with determination. He then pulled his sword out from his sheath and pointed it directly at Rui.
“Very well then,” Rui giggled with a mad grin on his face, “If you want to continue following a corrupt king whose people mean nothing to him, I won't stop you. But know this; I won’t hesitate to cut down anyone who stands in my way.” He then raised his hands while casting the beginnings of one of his offensive spells.
Tsukasa noticed this and charged forward with his sword. He slashed at Rui, but the tall man evaded his attacks. Rui sent a few of his own attacks his way, but Tsukasa managed to repel them with his sword.
This dance went on for a while, and Rui began to notice something. He knew Tsukasa was a well trained knight, one of the best the kingdom had to offer. So that begs the question, why weren't any of his attacks hitting?
“Quit playing around,” Rui sneered, “How can you expect to stop me if you don’t give it your all.”
“Shut up,” Tsukasa spit at him.
“You’ll never be able to become the kingdom’s greatest knight if you can’t even kill one measly devil worshiper, as your king would say.”
“Quiet! I don’t want to kill anyone!” Tsukasa shouted, “But you do! You want to kill the king, therefore you need to be stopped.”
“Oh, so you don't want to kill me, but you're fine with taking the lives of all those innocent magic users that the king arrested?” Rui scoffed.
“You know I don’t want any innocent people to die, but I can’t just go against the king.” Tsukasa refuted.
“And yet you doing nothing and just standing by is damning all those innocent people to their deaths as well.”
Rui huffed, “Whatever, I’m sick of this game. It’s time to end this.”
Rui then raised his arms and began casting a spell. Tsukasa decided to charge forward one last time, but this time, not with his sword.
Tsukasa wrapped his arms around Rui’s middle and the momentum from his charge sent the two of them to the ground.
“Gahhh!” Rui shouted in surprise, “Just what do you think you’re doing!?”
“Stopping you!!” Tsukasa shouted back right in Rui’s face.
“Get off!!” They began to tussle around on the ground. Rui, trying to get Tsukasa off, while Tsukasa was holding on for dear life.
“NO! I won’t let go until you swear that you’ll give up on your plot to kill the king!” Tsukasa then grabs Rui’s wrists and attempts to pin them to the ground to incapacitate him.
“You idiot!! You’re messing with my spell!!” Rui shouted worriedly.
“GOOD!! Then you won’t be able to hurt me with your magic!”
“No you fool! If you mess up my spell, I don't have any idea what it could do!! It could end up killing us both!!”
“HUH?!?!” Tsukasa exclaimed, eyes wide with panic.
Then, the magic in Rui’s hands burst forth and created a bright light right above them. To Tsukasa, it almost looked as though a star had come down from the heavens to greet the two of them. After a moment of stillness from the two boys, still on the ground, the bright ball of light began to expand.
“Uh oh.” They said in unison.
Then, everything went white.