Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There’s fire everywhere.

Worn boots pound against stone floors as Tsukasa Tenma sprints through the main corridor of the castle, home to the royal family of the Phoenix Kingdom—A castle that very well might be reduced to ash. As he takes quick sharp breaths, he races past screaming servants and advisors, some of which he’s never even seen before: Phoenix Castle always seems to have a lot of new visitors. King Otori likes it that way, good as it is for trade and business.

Tsukasa has served under his title as the Pegasus Knight for three years now, and in all that time as well as his time growing up in the Phoenix Kingdom, he’s never witnessed an attack like this. As he runs, he can hear various confused shouts—“Dragon!” “It’s there past the walls!”—but even if he is the captain knight of the castle, he only has one focus right now. He has to find his sister.

“SAKI!” It’s like his voice is swallowed up by the screaming and the cracking of stone, the hissing tongues of flames. “SAKKII!!”

He takes a sharp turn and finally faces the huge doors to the main courtyard, which are now thrown wide open. It’s as if people can’t decide whether to go in or run out, and the doorway is a confused mass of tangled arms and legs. There’s a pounding noise in his ears, a steady, low beating, hovering just above the din, almost like an eerie war drum. Tsukasa can see two of the other knights frantically trying to control the crowd, but it’s not to much avail—He shouts an order as he tries to shoulder through the crowd as politely as he can.

“TAKE THEM TO THE BACK COURTYARD! THERE’S A PATH THROUGH THE GROVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND!”

It’s true: Phoenix Castle is situated on a hill, nestled just at the brink of a lush green valley. It only has one entrance; the back leads out to higher parts of the hillside, eventually stretching to a view of the sea.

He doesn’t have time to catch the affirmative nods of his subordinates. He finally breaks through the crush of people, and that’s when he stops dead, eyes glued to the scene in front of him. The courtyard… The neatly trimmed trees are on fire, and the sky is grey with smoke and embers. There’s rubble on the ground, parts of the stone workings of the structure that have fallen to the ground, and great piles of soot and burning wood. And there, in the center of his line of sight, Tsukasa sees the source of the pounding noise from before.

A huge black dragon hovers in the sky, its enormous leathery wings beating against the air as rancid black smoke pours from its nostrils. Tsukasa’s heart drops, and he has to fight his immediate instinct to freeze up. He’s never seen a dragon before. Dragons don’t come down to the kingdom, they’re wild things, which means that this.. it can only be an attack.

He still can’t find Saki. He’d searched her quarters, the rooms she frequents the most often. Nowhere. Not to mention that no-one has seen her. He can only hope that she fled from the castle and tried to find refuge in the city below.

His path to the gates is barred by rubble and the collapsed and burning skeleton of a guard house, and Tsukasa makes a beeline for the stone ramparts at the edge of the courtyard, looking over the forest and some of the city miles and miles below the steep hillside. It connects to the gate on its other end. Not only that, but while it’s usually crowded with guards keeping watch, it’s barren now—if he can run fast enough, he can make it in only a few minutes. His chest burns with exhaustion and anxiety, his thoughts swirling with his brother, how he’d gone missing only months before. It can’t be that. Saki can’t be lost, just like him. It just can’t be..

He coughs raggedly against the cold wind as he runs, ears peaking as the dragon suddenly lets out a roar, its massive maw opening up to reveal layers and layers of sharp fangs. He needs to focus on his goal—he just needs to find her—

Suddenly, the world turns over. Tsukasa doesn’t even have time to process it as an ear-piercing SMASH explodes just next to him. Bits of dirt and rock fly past his vision as he, too, loses his footing and tumbles forward, hitting hard against the ground with his shoulder. He cries out at the impact, dazed—just as another CRACK sounds, and then suddenly the floor is slipping, slipping out from underneath him—

The ramparts on the edge of the hillside start to collapse. They shift, stone screeching against stone as the supports below sigh deep, tired groans. It doesn’t fall down the hill—it settles at an angle, slanted and precarious. And as it settles, the resulting jolt once again knocks Tsukasa into the air. This time there isn’t hard stone to catch him.

He catches the edge of one of the ramparts with his wrist as he’s flung over, slamming hard against the ground of the steep, rocky hill below as he starts tumbling down, down, down, catching against branches and crags and boulders.

Pain flares—the wind is knocked out of him, and he can’t find it, he can’t even think as the world turns end over end, momentum growing as his injured and shocked body rolls like a ragdoll down towards the heart of the valley. His ears ring—he tastes blood—and then, colliding hard with a jagged tree stump on his way down, the world cuts viciously to black.

Distant rumbling echoed through the nearby valley—the sounds of a palace once standing tall and proud being torn to the ground, set ablaze by the might of a beast that did not belong. Anyone in the surrounding area would be able to hear the panicked screaming of the people, the harrowing roars of the dragon, and the destruction that followed.

The smell of smoke filled the darkened sky, ashes raining down on the forest—the ground nearly shaking as parts of the palace were torn to pieces, explosions going off from every which way. An attack—it had to have been. The usually peaceful valley had never seen the likes of destruction to this extent before. No, this… this had been targeted. It had to have been.

Rui Kamishiro watched from a far-off distance, bright yellow eyes locking onto similarly brightly burning yellow flames—a parallel of each other, except one was hidden and the other was tearing down a kingdom in real time. His brows furrowed, hearing the screams of the people. He’d never seen anything like it… never.

The dark mage had been in the surrounding area—an agenda of his own leading him to the area, but the last thing he expected was to stumble across the haunting scene in the distance. A loud roar sounded in the distance, and Rui found himself ducking back into the forest—despite the beast being far away. There was no telling where it would be going next.

By the time he’d gotten close enough to see the scene in the first place, the attack had been going on for what seemed like a while—the castle already having suffered a tremendous amount of damage, the fire burning brightly, taking everything out in its path. He cast his gaze to the ground, watching his boots as he walked back into the forest—hundreds of thoughts crossing his mind as he tried to focus back on what he’d come here for in the first place.

And that… was when he stumbled across an injured person, laying by the base of a tree—the ash on his knight outfit a dead giveaway that he’d been a casualty suffered from the attack. Was he alive? Was he dead? He couldn’t tell…

Walking over to the man, he bent down and tried to assess the situation. If he wasn’t dead he was close to it, his breathing slow, blood staining his clothes in certain places that looked… less than healthy. The man reached out and slowly put a hand to his neck, feeling for his pulse.

…A heartbeat…

It was faint, but it was there. Standing back up, Rui let out a sigh and looked around the general area. He couldn’t just leave him there, not in that condition. Though he had originally come here with something else in mind, this would have to take precedence for the time being.

Carefully, he reached down to pick up the unconscious man and lead him deeper into the woods. A spot Rui frequented quite a bit. A safe space in the forest of the valley that was rather hidden from the general onlooking eye, but provided enough shelter as a sort of base area for him.

Being a dark mage, he knew exactly how he could help him. Corrupted magic could help save him, to heal the internal bleeding he most certainly had.

Tsukasa is completely limp in Rui’s arms.

Poets and storytellers write tales of the pale skin and delicate features of young heroes in death reposing, but this sight is far from pretty. His eyes aren’t even fully closed, and through his hooded lashes Rui can see his pupils peeking out, rolling up into his head.

You might think those eyes could be compared to the color of amber when light shines through it, but there’s no light in them now, a dull sheen cast over both of them as well as his features as he drifts in unconsciousness. Rui can hear the quiet rasp of labored breathing. There’s blood at the corner of his lips.

The smell of smoke still lingered in the air deep into the woods. A telling story of the tragedy that befell the kingdom today. Letting out a soft sigh, Rui gently set the half-dead man down onto his back. With every passing second, he seemed to be looking worse and worse—his life force seemingly fading with each breath he took.

How long had he been laying there?

The pale complexion of his skin combined with the raspy—almost bubbly breathing and blood on his lips—it was a telltale sign that he was bleeding internally. He’d had his suspicions, but now he had no doubt.

Rui frowned, casting his gaze to the man’s half-lidded glazed over eyes. He didn’t have much time. Taking a deep breath, the mage closed his eyes. He was by no means any common healer, but practicing dark magic as he did, he knew exactly what he could do to help.

Reaching into a leather bag tucked beneath his cape, he pulled out a dagger—its knife handle carved with a delicate design. He turned back towards the body and held his hand out over top of him—taking the dagger with his freehand and slicing it across the center of his palm—immediately wincing as the red started to surface. The catalyst for the perfect spell. He knew he wouldn’t be able to heal him completely, but at the very least… he’d be able to stop the internal bleeding.

Closing his eyes, he focused his energy into the sting on his hand—still holding it above the other’s limp body. A red aura surrounded it, as he mumbled a few words and focused on trying to fix the internal bleeding through means he had a feeling this person would not care for.

It didn’t matter though.

Tsukasa shifts a bit, by no means conscious but simply stirring slightly in his state, a reaction to the internal manipulation to his own blood. Rui can hear his breath shivering.

He’s lost a lot of blood. Too much blood.

In his muddled mind, half-dreams and images drift in and out.. he can see his sister, and his brother. He can see his castle falling to pieces. A soft, raspy whine escapes his lips, eyebrows furrowing in a small, barely-there movement.

Rui’s eyes open to look down at the man, still chanting—a familiar tune he used often while performing this type of magic. He could tell that this was going to take a lot of effort.

Perhaps he had been a bit late stumbling upon him in the woods. It was clear to the mage that if he hadn’t found him when he did, he likely would’ve been dead within the next hour or so—at most.

He closed his eyes again, the blood bubbling on the surface of his palm glowing slightly as he tensed his hand with purpose to manipulate the blood inside the other’s body, using the power he had to restore what he had lost as well as fix the damaged vessels.

This person was wearing a knight’s uniform—that much he could tell, but he knew nothing of who this person was. Simply that he would most likely have to stay in his care for a while afterwards.

When he was done with the spell, he slowly pulled his hand back and looked down at the man. He didn’t expect him to wake up or anything right away. He just needed to know that he was stable, lest he try again. The mage reached forward with his non-bloodied hand and felt for the pulse at his neck.

Tsukasa’s heartbeat is slow, but steady.

Clearly his body is desperately trying to keep up with the amount of blood loss he’s experienced, but with the internal bleeding taken care of, he has time now to start regenerating. It’ll take him a long time yet, though, to fully recover from this. What Rui can’t see, besides the internal bleeding, is a worrying amount of fractures and broken bones. It isn’t good.

Rui let out a sigh of relief, feeling that the other’s heartbeat had stabilized, and he allowed himself to relax for a second. He wasn’t out of the woods just yet, but he was at the very least in a better spot than he was ten minutes ago. With the internal bleeding fixed, he’d at least be able to start the slower process of healing the rest of his wounds.

Rui winced. He still had absolutely no idea how badly this man had been hurt, but he supposed that would have to wait until he woke up to truly figure it out. Carefully reaching into his bag again, he pulled out some gauze, an unassuming but regularly utilized tool, and started to wrap it around his bloody hand.

Chapter Text

It’s two days before Tsukasa regains consciousness.

While he does seem to stir at some points he never fully seems to come to, which is understandable considering his condition. When he finally wakes up fully, he’s met with the most excruciating pain he’s ever felt in his life. The best he can do is hold as still as he can, unable to help the quiet, strangled cry that comes from his mouth at the sudden onset of pain.

His vision swims a bit, and his head feels even less clear. What’s happening.. Where is he.. what.. his sister.. he was looking for his sister-

Irrationally and in a moment of impulse Tsukasa attempts to sit up and makes it a good two inches before he freezes again, head pounding. Oh, God. Oh, something isn’t right. He looks around hazily—a fire, some crates of supplies, what looks like alchemy materials.

“Saki..” He croaks, voice cracking from disuse and pain.

Rui turns his head, carefully setting down the equipment in his hand as he hears a soft, strained voice call out from the other side of the camp. He couldn’t make heads or tails really of what he’d said, but it was a good sign that he was finally awake—and at the very least aware enough to be talking.

He watched from where he was for a second or two—observing. He must’ve been in pain—the tone in his voice coupled with the way he was wincing didn’t really help his case, which confirmed the mage’s suspicions. More damage had been done than what he’d originally assessed.

Humming, he finally straightened his posture from where he was leaning against a table fixture and slowly walked over in front of the man. 

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d wake up.” The mage held his hands behind his back over his cape as he walked into view of the other, tilting his head with furrowed brows as he looked down at him—as if he was assessing him. Checking if there were any superficial wounds he could see that he might’ve overlooked.

Tsukasa blinks up at the man, eyes wide as he comes into view. As he spends more time awake, logic slowly starts to return, as well as the vivid nature of the pain reaching its full potential. He tries to scoot back and yelps, putting pressure on his wrist, causing his arm to collapse down so that he lands back on the cot.

He immediately clocks the man before him as a Dark Mage—he can see it in the garb he’s wearing, in the gauze wrapped on his arms.

“Wh- td’you want-?” He forces out, voice still sounding choked. It’s hard to even focus on the person standing there, his vision blurring , colors fading into each other like watercolor. His head spins, and despite the danger, for a second Tsukasa wishes he were back to blissful unconsciousness. No- He- He has to get out of here-

Rui watches as the blond tries to scoot away from him, his eyebrows raising at the way he winces in pain. Completely ignoring his question, Rui shakes his head.

“You’re not going to get anywhere in that condition, you know? Trying is just going to make it worse. Relax.” He took a step closer to the cot, his eyes still seemingly scanning as if he was looking for something. “Here, lay back down and don’t move, okay? I’ll be right back.” He says before starting to walk away to the other side of the camp to retrieve something.

Tsukasa’s breathing starts picking up, which only makes it worse, pain flaring through his torso and ribs with each expansion of his breath. His eyes track Rui, and then dart around the modest camp. Where is he- the castle. Is the castle okay?? Is his sister okay?? What about the royal family?

Despite himself a wave of guilt rushes through hum. He’s the Pegasus Knight, supposedly the first in command. Yet in the moment of an emergency, his first thought wasn’t for his sworn crown.

He just knows he has to get out of here. He tries yet again to push himself away, and this time twists awkwardly, crying out at the sharp rush of pain that pierces through him. A mix of fear and helplessness settles over him. He can’t do anything. He can’t escape. He’s too weak.

Rui quickly turned back towards the other, his brows furrowing at the sound of pain he let out once again.

“Hey- you’re going to end up hurting yourself even worse than you already are.” He quickly grabbed something off of the shelf from where he’d been previously standing before and walked back over—holding a weathered glass with some sort of liquid in it out to him. “Here. Drink this. I’m not much of a healer but this might help a bit with the pain.” He didn’t have high hopes that whoever this was would be very cooperative, he kind of expected this kind of interaction. Seeing that he was a knight, and he was a dark mage—he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be too chipper upon waking up. But that was beside the point.

He was severely injured, and he needed help. He wasn’t going to just leave him in the woods to die.

“N-No-” Tsukasa stares at the glass—who knows what’s in there. Could be poison. Could be some kind of potion to put him under his control. The possibilities are endless and Tsukasa isn’t taking his chances with a dark mage. He doubts he’ll kill him, though. It doesn’t make sense why he’d try to heal him. But this.. he could just be trying to earn his trust. He’s in the hands of a sworn enemy.

“Who ‘r you,” He repeats, voice still slurring a bit.

“Who I am isn’t as important right now-“ He said, then glanced down at the liquid in the bottle. “Here.” He stuck one of his fingers into the liquid then put it into his own mouth, as if to show there’s nothing harmful about what he was doing—though, he knew it was still a slim chance that the knight would believe him. No knight would believe him. After all, they’re supposed to be sworn enemies.

“You’re severely injured right now. I don’t think you have many options other than to trust me.” He held the liquid out to the stranger once again, tilting his head as bright yellow eyes began scanning him again.

“I don’ know who-”

Tsukasa’s suddenly wracked by a spasm of violent coughs, the intense pain that ensues enough to bring tears to his eyes. He exhales a shaky sound and squeezes his eyes shut, waiting for the world to stop spinning, or at least slow down. This isn’t good at all. Clearly something is horribly wrong. He feels like he’s dying. The fact that he even survived such a fall in the first place...

“Hhh..”

Rui’s eyes widened—

This was clearly much worse than he thought—though it made some sort of sense. He really didn’t know how the knight had made it to the bottom of the valley, battered and bleeding as he had been, but context clues offered somewhat of an inkling. Perhaps there were a multitude of injuries lying beneath the surface—ones that blood sorcery could not fix.

Walking fully over to the side of the cot, Rui bent down and held the glass up to the knight’s mouth—trying to coax him firmly to drink whatever it was inside. There was a sense of urgency in his actions.

“I made this serum to help you, just drink it or you’re going to keep spasming like that—which is going to make things exponentially worse for you.”

Despite his usually stubborn nature, he doesn’t really have any fight left in him at all. Hesitantly, he lets the serum pass through his lips and swallows, heart sinking with dread. Who knows what he just did. At this point he must be properly doomed.

Rui watched, making sure that the knight downed every last drop of his carefully crafted serum—nodding his head as he slowly pulled the glass away, a seemingly satisfied expression on his face. Without saying another word, he walked back to his station and set the glass down before turning on his heels to look back at the injured knight.

“There. Wasn’t so difficult now, was it?” The dark mage hummed. “That should help a bit with the pain you’re feeling, but it won’t do much on its own to heal you. Only time will do that.”

Tsukasa swallows, face contorting at the uncomfortably bitter liquid, and he squeezes his eyes a few times at the discomfort encompassing his entire body. He weakly wipes at his eyes with the one wrist that isn’t in excruciating pain.

“You’re a dark mage,” He says, voice starting to clear up more with time that he’s been awake. “Why.. Why did you save my life. What d’you want with me.”

“Just because I’m a dark mage, doesn’t mean I’m heartless, you know. All you knights are so similar, it’s sort of amusing.” He lifts a hand up to his chin, watching carefully. Letting out a soft sigh, he slowly started to walk back to the cot.

“Besides, who says I want something from you?” He raised an eyebrow curiously, then looked down at the other. “Do you remember what happened before you fell unconscious?” He asked, thinking back to the horrible sight he’d seen himself the other day. Fire burning brightly, explosions everywhere, people screaming… He wondered what this knight had experienced.

Tsukasa goes silent, thinking. For a moment, he gets a far off look on his face, and then he looks at Rui, intense look suddenly returning. He does remember. He remembers how loud it was, the dragon.. he couldn’t find his sister. He remembers the sound of crashing..

“I fell..” He says simply, the view of the shifting, broken ramparts clear in his mind. “I—“

“You… fell.” Rui straightened his posture a bit, blinking down at the knight before tilting his head, his hand swishing out to the side from his chin, gesturing as he spoke. “I had… kind of gathered that. I mean, I didn’t think you ended up half-dead at the bottom of the valley by your own volition.”

He glanced to the side, and lifted a hand to fix the monocle on his face. “I’m more so wondering what happened before that.”

His eyebrows furrow. “There was an attack on the castle.” He stares hard at Rui, stock-still. “It was likely from your organization, mage.”

“My organization? You think I had something to do with the attack?” He shook his head and began to walk back over to his alchemy setup, seemingly tidying up a little bit, messing with the different equipment as he spoke.

“I can assure you, I had nothing to do with it. By the time I’d stumbled across the scene, the castle was already…” He glanced to the side and let out a little sigh. “I’d never seen anything like it.” His voice seemed quiet, as if he was lost in thought about something. “It wasn’t long after that that I had found you.”

“..anything like it..” He echoes, and then Tsukasa suddenly jerks up again, gasping at the shock of pain. When the dizziness passes he stares at the mage, a look on his face unlike the intense one from before—he looks scared.

“The castle. What became of it. Do you know of the royal family?”

An odd expression plagued the dark mage’s face as he reached into the leather bag at his side—pulling out a few different objects as if he was looking for something. In front of him, he set down his dagger, a few tiny bottles full of variously colored liquids, as well as some different plant material. All things he did not need at the moment.

“I know of the royal family, yes. I don’t know what happened, however. I have been spending most of the past few days here keeping an eye on you.” He finally pulled out a small vial and started putting everything else back into his bag, lifting his head to look over at the blond.

His face goes slack, the worry being replaced with what could only be described as a look of pure dread.

“Few days..?” He feels sick. A few days. A few days where his sister is unaccounted for, where he’s not there protecting the castle, the royal family. A few days where he’s simply been laying here unconscious, doing absolutely nothing. There’s barely enough time as it is, and it’s being wasted!

“I have to go,” He rasps, but that’s the thing, the source of his dread, he can barely even move. “They need me- I have to find my sister-“

Rui quickly walks back over to the cot, having set the vial down with the rest of his equipment for later. He shakes his head, almost blocking the way for the stranger to get up—although there wasn’t much moving he could do anyways.

“You can’t leave yet, you’re in no condition to even sit up properly, let alone defend an entire castle.” He puts his hands on the edge of the cot. “You almost died, you know? It’s going to take a lot more than just what I was able to do to heal you completely.”

“I don’t think you understand,” A tone of pleading comes into his voice, and he stares hard into the pale eyes of the man kneeling in front of the cot. “There’s—I just need to find someone blessed under Luka. Then they can heal me and—I have to find my sister.”

Who knows where she is. Did she make it out of the castle, as he suspected? Is she in the city below? She must be well aware, now, of how the Pegasus Knight has gone missing. He doesn’t want her worrying about him. If she even made it there at all. Is she safe? He can’t even bear the thought of the alternative.

“Listen to me- you have to listen to me.”

Rui’s brows furrowed. The pleading tone in the knight’s voice was tragic, like that of someone scared that they had lost everything. Perhaps he had lost everything. Still, the mage shook his head.

“You have to listen to me. I can’t leave you alone here, unstable as you are, and you can barely move an inch without wincing in pain.” He let out a sigh. “Like I said before, it’s going to take time to heal you properly. I did what I could to stop your bleeding, but the rest is out of my control for now.”

Blood sorcery could only go so far, and though his magic was restorative in nature they certainly couldn’t heal his broken bones. He wondered how the knight would feel knowing that he was saved by dark magic, by blood magic.

Tsukasa goes silent, looking away from the mage. There’s nothing he can do, literally nothing he can do.

So he sits there.

Everything hurts. His wrist hurts, and his ribs, one of his legs. His head is pounding and his mouth is dry, and his stomach aches, and it feels hard to breathe. To some extent this mage is right. Trying to claim he’d be able to do anything at all in this state is just outright foolish. But if he could just get into contact with an actual healer, he could fix things and then..

Rui goes silent as well, just watching the knight look away from him. He could almost feel the disappointment radiating off of him, but there was truly nothing he could do about that. To try and leave and somehow stumble across a healer would take time, time that he wasn’t sure he was willing to spend, especially with an injured knight back at his base. With his condition still unstable, it was risky.

“Look, the good news is you’re alive, right? If I had found you any later than I did, that probably wouldn’t have been the case. You have to be patient…”

He still doesn’t even know who this person is.

“I can’t be patient,” He says, but his voice makes it clear he understands he has no choice. Even as much as he hates to admit it, he’s exhausted. He feels absolutely awful and the mage is right, there’s nothing he can do without a healer but wait. He settles back down onto the cot, staring blankly at the camp around him. This can’t be happening, really…

Rui just stared for a second again before pushing himself back up to a standing position. A few beats of silence passed before he looked back towards the other.

“Did my serum help at all by the way?” He asked, walking to a far side of the camp—one the knight hadn’t seen him go to just yet. He pulled a book from off one of the wooden shelves and began thumbing through it. Honestly, he was surprised the knight wasn’t questioning him more. Maybe exhaustion took precedence in the moment…

He blinks. He hadn’t expressly noticed his pain lowering, but now that he thinks about it, it’s definitely less sharp than it had been before.. dulled a little. Tsukasa sniffs in a breath and continues watching the mage, still looking around. So here he is, smack in the middle of a dark mage’s camp.

“What was in that stuff…” He questions, rubbing at his face with his non-injured hand.

Rui lifted his head from the book, an amused look spreading across his features. “Just a little concoction I mixed up not too long before you woke up. I had been planning on letting it sit a while longer before giving it to you, but fate had other plans.”

An indirect answer, and a purposeful one at that. He was wary to reveal too much to the knight, even despite knowing that he couldn’t really do anything at the moment anyways. Landlocked by his broken bones, he was forced to be in the dark mage’s care whether he wanted to or not.

“If you noticed a bitter taste, that’s probably why.” Upon finding what he was looking for in the book, he set the open page down on a counter and walked over to another shelf. “Oh, by the way, you might notice some side effects—but nothing too pertinent.”

“You didn’t answer my.. side effects?”

His brows narrow further, watching the mage at work with.. whatever he’s doing. He’s being incredibly vague which is doing absolutely nothing to help with his growing dread. Maybe he was right, maybe this particular mage got lucky stumbling across the Pegasus Knight, and now he’s going to try and control him or worse, corrupt him..

“What side effects?”

Rui chuckled under his breath, lifting his head—that same amused expression playing on his face from before. “Like I said, nothing too pertinent. Nothing you really need to worry about. The ingredients just… aren’t always exactly agreeable, so… you might have somewhat of an upset stomach.”

Lifting both eyebrows, he grabbed a few things from the shelf and set them down on the counter in front of him—glancing over to the book with a determined look on his face- “You saw me try the concoction myself. I wouldn’t have done that if it was anything too serious.” He started turning on different bits of equipment once again.

“Speaking of stomachs though, you must be hungry, no? After not having eaten in about three days by now.” It was slightly amusing seeing how the knight reacted, but truthfully he was being wary for a reason—not just to mess with the other.

Tsukasa just continues to watch him. He does not trust this person, not in the slightest. Sure, of course the serum wouldn’t have an effect on him from a simple taste on his finger. Does he think Tsukasa was born yesterday? He went through knight training for a reason.

He eyes him warily as the mage appears to be messing with some equipment, alchemy work, perhaps. Who knows what in hell he’s doing.

He has to get out of here. There’s nothing he can do, but he’ll have to come up with something. But as Rui mentions food, his attention suddenly is drawn to his empty stomach—maybe that’s why it aches so much. He swallows dryly again, trying not to let his face betray him and broadcast the realization. If he can’t find a way to leave here, he’ll be forced to eat whatever this person makes him, which is even more dangerous. Potion makers can just as easily enchant anything edible by spiking them with serums. There’s no way he can risk it. He frowns and speaks, short and stubborn.

“..No.”

Rui’s brow quirks up, hearing the stubborn response from the bed-ridden knight. There was no way in hell that that was true, and they both knew it. Not having had a meal in three straight days, he had to have been longing for something to eat.

“You must have an incredible stomach then, Knight. I know me personally, I’d be starving.” It was clear in his tone that he didn’t buy a single word the other was saying. “That being said, you should probably eat something. You’re going to need sustenance if you want to heal faster.”

His eyes met the other’s, and he tilted his head, mixing something together before walking over to a little cooking pot he had.

He follows him with his eyes, wariness still settling like a heavy stone in his chest. He was right, he was starving. Now that he’s drawn attention to it he can’t un-notice it, and Tsukasa realizes this is going to be harder than he thought. He swallows again, mouth like sandpaper, staring widely at the mage as he puts his focus to whatever he’s making.

Can he risk it? Sure, the mage didn’t leave him for dead. But Tsukasa knows his status, and being the Pegasus Knight is no joke. Being corrupted, being manipulated or controlled by dark mages.. it’s not only a risk on himself or on his life, it’s on his family, his sister, the entire kingdom.

Still… his stomach growls and he looks away, blowing out a quiet sigh through his nose. He carefully turns on the cot so that he’s laying on his back, and then forces his stubborn response out. “Interesting. Well that would be correct, I have been called incredible in several regards so who’s to say this would be any different?”

The dark mage has his back turned to the knight, his focus now on lighting a fire beneath the cooking pot. However, the other’s voice caused him to hum. Still stubborn, and maybe a bit full of himself. Was he really too prideful to eat?? Or maybe he truly was this distrustful of him. Which—wasn’t unexpected. He didn’t exactly trust the knight either, hence his wariness to reveal too much to him.

“And yet, your stomach is growling. Let me make you something.” After successfully lighting the fire, he stands up and brushes himself off, turning back to look at the knight. “Don’t you want to get your energy back? Are you really going to be that stubborn?” He walked back over to what he’d been mixing earlier and turned the machine off, pouring something into a little vial much like the one he’d pulled out of his bag earlier—except this one was a different color.

“Maybe I am,” He says, punchy. “Don’t expect me to trust you. I’d rather starve to death than subject myself to the possibility of betraying my kingdom.”

Was this true? Considering his current state.. he didn’t want to think too hard about it. He sighs long again, trying to turn his focus to something else. Like figuring out a way to get back to Phoenix Castle. If he can maybe fashion some sort of fire while the mage is gone.. maybe send up a smoke signal-?

His thoughts are interrupted again by the sound of his empty stomach and he makes a quiet noise of frustration. This was humiliating. Him! Captain knight of the kingdom, defender of the crown! Reduced to this! Even in his injured state, his pride buzzes in his ears like an angry wasp.

Rui’s face blanked, though he didn’t seem too offended by the other’s snappiness. He simply raised an eyebrow as he walked back over to the cooking pot, pouring whatever he’d just made into the water he was starting to boil.

“Don’t you think if I was going to do something to you I would’ve done it before you woke up? Logically speaking, I had two days to do something without any backlash from you, Mr. Knight.” He looked back to the cot. “I’m just saying.”

He set the now empty glass vial onto a nearby shelf to clean it later before reaching for some actual food ingredients he still had stocked up from before. “Not to mention, you don’t really have much of an option. As much as you may hate it, I was the one who found you in the woods.”

He doesn’t respond to this because technically he’s right. If he wanted him to ingest something that would mess with his mind, he could’ve given it to him while he was unconscious. But what he’s more focused on now is whatever the mage had just poured into the pot. He frowns, eyes widening with his wary expression, clearly on high alert.

“What did you just pour in there?”

“It’s another serum I made.” He replied, plain as day—not even trying to hide the fact that he clearly added something to the pot. “This one should help counteract any of the negative side effects from the first serum I gave you. It has…. less sanguine properties.”

The mage cleared his throat and added some of the other ingredients into the pot and stirred before turning back to the knight. “So, tell me, Mr. knight. What’s your name?”

“What, you don’t already know it?” He quips, scowling. “Don’t play dumb, mage. Why else would someone of your class bother to save me? If I was some random, low-ranking knight I would be of no use to you, would I.”

“Perhaps not,” He mused, playing along with what the snappy knight was hinting at. He did have a point, after all. And to give him credit, the dark mage knew a bit more than what he was letting on. “That being said, who says I saved you just to use you?”

The mage put some more ingredients into the pot and stirred some more, reaching to fix the monocle that rested over his eye again. “Just because I’m a dark mage doesn’t mean I don’t have morals, or a heart for that matter.” He turned to look at the knight out of the corner of his eyes. “And just because I may know your status, doesn’t mean I know your name.” Bright yellow eyes glimmered curiously, a splash of amusement sparking in them once again as he stared from the corner of his eyes.

Tsukasa hums another annoyed sound, though this time it has less punch to it. Whatever the mage is making, now Tsukasa keeps trying to peek at what it is. He’d had a point before about how he could’ve done anything harmful to him in his unconscious state, and now that it isn’t logical that he’d spike the food he’s starting to feel a lot more like giving in.

He realizes then that Rui had asked him an indirect question, and he frowns, attention drawn away from the food momentarily. “Tenma, written as Pegasus, Tsukasa. That’s where the name comes from.” His eyes flash at Rui. “Do you care to tell me yours or does your mysterious act extend to that knowledge, too?”

“Tenma Tsukasa~” The name rolls off of the dark mage’s tongue curiously, his expression taking on a satisfied one. “The Pegasus Knight. How fitting.” Standing up from where he’d been kneeling next to the pot, he let whatever he was cooking simmer as he walked back over to the cot.

“As far as my name goes…” He hummed, contemplating his options here. If he did tell him his name, he was risking the chance that he’d be able to somehow use it against him in the future. That being said, he didn’t have as high a status as the Pegasus Knight, and he hadn’t really done anything wrong either.

“You can just call me Rui.” He said, opting to only go for part of his name for now.

Tsukasa looks up at him from where he’s lying, mouth set in a firm line. He’d give anything right now not to be stranded in the camp of this stranger, severely injured while his sister is just.. out there somewhere. Not to mention his brother. But even if he has to track the both of them down, he’ll do it, he’ll do it with no hesitation.. There’s a pang of ache in his stomach, and really it’s impossible to tell whether it’s from hunger, from the side effects Rui had mentioned, or from pure homesickness. Maybe all three, but he has a feeling it’s heavy on the latter.

“What were you doing all the way out here, anyway? In the middle of the valley?” It’s a fair question—there’s not much around here at all. This side of the valley is miles deep, and a good distance from the kingdom’s city. It’s just a wild forestland, mostly inhabited by the native flora and fauna. What would a dark mage be doing out here, right at the steppes of the hill to the castle, in perfect view of its destruction?

So now he was asking questions. Surprised that he hadn’t asked more questions earlier, he couldn’t say he didn’t expect this. Still, he was wary of what all he wanted to tell the knight.

“I was looking for something.” He walked back over to the pot and started stirring again, seemingly lost in thought for a second. “The woodlands in the valley have a lot of valuable resources for a mage, especially one who practices alchemy such as myself.” The tone of his voice had shifted a bit, his yellow eyes staring into the sort of soup he was creating for Tsukasa.

“You’re lucky I was here in any circumstance. I really don’t think you would’ve lasted much longer if I hadn’t found you when I did.” He took the pot off from over the fire and walked over to the counter again, a savory smell filling the air. “You had lost a lot of blood.” He hoped his redirection was smooth.

Tsukasa watches Rui working, mouth watering a bit at the smell coming from the pot. So clearly he’s a good cook as well as an alchemist… and another thing he is is right. Tsukasa knows that he probably would’ve died if he hadn't been found. This dark mage did in fact save his life.

Still, Tsukasa can tell there’s more to this story than he’s letting on. Every question he asks gets a vague answer. But he doesn’t have the energy to press, even just asking simple questions in the first place is taking a lot. He looks at the soup, trying to scrutinize and see if Rui puts anything questionable, or any other serums in it, though he does just simply seem to be cooking.

Rui walks over to one of the shelves and pulls a wooden bowl—primarily used for mixing alchemical ingredients together in—down and sets it on the counter beside the pot. Choosing not to say anything else for the time being, he focuses on pouring the soup into the bowl. The only thing he’d put in it aside from regular food ingredients was the serum he mentioned earlier, the one to combat the side effects of the bitter one he’d administered prior. Lifting his head to look at Tsukasa, he walked over with the soup bowl in his hands.

“Here, I suggest you eat this. If it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll have a bowl myself as well.” He said, giving the blond a look.

Tsukasa takes the bowl from him and looks down at it—the bowl is warm, and there’s steam rising off of the surface. He takes a long breath, hunger panging through him. He doesn’t have an option, Rui had said, and yes, he’d acknowledged it was true. Still, he feels so wary. This whole situation has his world turned upside down, and he can’t tell what is and isn’t safe. He nods his head at Rui’s offer to have a bowl as well, and carefully picks up the spoon, still hesitating, worst case scenarios running through his mind..

Rui watches the knight hesitate to eat and sighs, once again not surprised in the slightest bit. Turning back towards the cooking pot on the counter, the dark mage grabs another bowl and fills it for himself. He grabs a spoon, then walks over to where the cot was and takes a seat on the ground. He sticks the soup spoon into the bowl and takes a bite, nodding his head.

“See, it’s not dangerous. I know you don’t trust me, but at least trust I wouldn’t do anything to poison myself. I’m not that stupid.” He chuckled, but there was something about his tone that read serious.

Tsukasa looks down at the bowl again, and then cautiously raises the spoon to his lips. It’s really good. Or at least it is to Tsukasa.

He exhales after he swallows, a little bit of painful tension releasing from his shoulders as if his body is physically relieved, and then he continues to eat the soup, not focusing much on what the other had said as he starts eating rather quickly. If by some magical means he is being poisoned.. he doesn’t care to think about it now. He’s never wanted to eat something so badly.

Rui watched blinking at the sheer speed in which the other was downing his soup. Part of him took it as a compliment. At least it wasn’t gross, he thought. A small smile pulled up on his lips, and he shook his head.

“Funny, I thought you weren’t very hungry, Pegasus Knight—the one with the incredibly sturdy stomach.” He teased, taking another bite of the soup, opting to eat his meal slowly instead of quick like the other. “How interesting.”

Tsukasa shakes his head, opting not to answer verbally as he focuses on eating. The mage can tease him all he wants, he doesn’t understand what it’s like prioritizing his kingdom over his own well being, making the choice at all to lie about his hunger to protect the crown, even if the lie was obvious. The situation is far from amusing to him, not when every part of his body aches.

Rui continues to slowly eat his soup, watching the other as he did—just thinking to himself. This entire situation was quite crazy, technically speaking. After a beat or so of silence, he glanced to the side then looked back to the knight.

“Is the soup helping any? The serum I put in there is rather fast-acting…” He yawned, blinking over at the knight.

Tsukasa looks up—most of his soup is already gone. His stomach does hurt less, probably from both the serum and the food itself, and he just nods wordlessly. His headache is starting to fade, too, and the ache in his wrist and his ribs. The alchemist knows what he’s doing.

An aura of pride flashed across the dark mage’s face, the man straightening his posture a bit as he took in another spoonful of his own concoction. “See, I told you.” The sting in his own bandaged hand seemed to lessen a little as well, he took note of.

Bright yellow eyes shifted down to the knight’s outfit again, now that he was closer to him. The once dazzling design was muddled with dirt and bloodied in certain spots, along with a few small tears in the fabric from the fall, and ash from the fire. He wondered if it had been an explosion that caused him to fall—he hadn’t been able to get a clear answer from him earlier, so all he could do was think.

Clenching the fist of his bandaged hand absentmindedly, he stood up once his soup was done and took the bowl to the counter.

Tsukasa sets his own empty bowl next to the cot, finally feeling satisfied, a huge level of his discomfort gone. He coughs a little, wincing, and his mouth still tastes of iron.. but clearly the potion has done some kind of blunting because it’s not nearly as vividly painful as before.

Tsukasa looks at this curious man—his hair is lilac, with little pieces of blue shooting through it, and wavy, falling around his face if it isn’t tied up in a small bun behind his head. Being a dark mage, he sure is dressed the part—the dark colors, black and red, the cape, the monocle. But absentmindedly, it does cross his mind that he has a kind face.

Who knows what he looks like right now—probably covered in dirt, blood, mud.. he tries to run his uninjured hand through his hair, and much to his dismay it’s indeed choked with dirt and leaves. Ugh..


After both the food and the medicine, Tsukasa definitely feels more.. like himself. At least a little. He takes a few minutes just probing his hand along his skin, trying to find what parts of his body hurt, but everywhere kind of hurts and it’s hard to distinguish. He’s not a healer. “I don’t know where all I’m hurt,” He admits quietly.

Rui turns back towards the knight, absentmindedly leaning against the counter—his head tilted ever so slightly. Something he tended to do when curiosity tugged at his brain. “Well, you took a pretty nasty fall from what it looked like. When I found you, you were against the base of a tree at the bottom of the valley. You must’ve fallen from the castle somehow—unless you walked down there…” He lifted a hand to his chin, expecting the other to either confirm or deny what he had said.

“If I had to guess, you probably have a multitude of fractures—at the very least.”

“I fell..” He confirms again slowly, tracing the thoughts back into his memory, similarly to how he did earlier, except now his mind is clearer. “I fell from the ramparts of the castle. Over the edge. The dragon, it—”

Well, he’s not sure what happened. It did something, causing the stone ramparts to shift, and the impact must’ve thrown him over the edge like a ragdoll. “I remember when I… when I was falling down, before I passed out. I ran into a lot of rocks and trees.” Honestly, it’s a wonder he didn’t smash his head open.

The dark mage’s face contorted, a wince spreading across his features at the thought of falling from such a height, just to ram into a bunch of obstacles and debris. Letting out a sigh, Rui glanced down.

“Well, that explains the internal bleeding…” He muttered, remembering just how much blood the other had lost—how it had sputtered at the corner of his mouth, the bubbly rasp of his breathing. He was certain the tumble into rocks and trees had not been very kind to the other’s insides. “You must’ve been laying there for a while before I found you then…” He mused, walking back over to the cot. “Did you see who caused the attack?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know. It had to have been an attack though, it was too.. precise.” Tsukasa looks up, raising his eyebrows in confusion. “Internal bleeding..” How would Rui know that? Unless…

Unless he could sense it with magic. “So you’re born under Gakupo, then. So is my sister.”

Rui closes his eyes, nodding his head—though he remains quiet for a second or two. “I am. How do you think I was able to keep you stabilized after I found you?” He lifted his bandaged hand, then crossed his arms over his chest.

So… Tsukasa’s sister was born under the domain of Gakupo as well? How interesting. He could only imagine that she used her powers in a way the kingdom wouldn’t deem dark and corrupt.

Tsukasa sighs and winces his eyes shut as he tries to sit up further. His leg is throbbing. It’s never been in so much pain before, and this is with it dulled by the serum.

“I.. I think my leg might be broken,” He says, a pained sound in his voice. “And maybe some ribs. This isn’t good, I need a healer to properly set them or..”

“I told you—I don’t know where we’d even begin to find a healer around here.” He said, brows furrowing as he walked back around to start cleaning stuff up. “You can’t go looking for one, and if I walked into the city of the kingdom especially right after an attack—I’m sure you of all people would know how that would go down.” He had no interest in it, not to mention it just wouldn’t work. He didn’t have the good grace that the Pegasus Knight did, after all.

“This—we have to find one then. This could take months to heal, otherwise. A year. I don’t have that kind of time-!” He looks Rui dead in the eyes, an intense expression suddenly on his face.

“My brother went missing several months ago, and during the attack, my sister was missing, too. I have to find them. I don’t know if they’re injured, or lost, but I have to. And I know I can do it, I just can’t wait around-!"

The dark mage’s expression softened a little bit, sympathy flashing on his face at the urgency of the other’s. He let out a sigh. Tsukasa had a point. It wasn’t like broken bones healed particularly fast, but he genuinely didn’t know what to do.

“Well, what do you suppose we do then?” He said, asking genuinely to see if the knight had any better ideas.

“We go to the next town over. Or the next.” He shakes his head, it’s not the best plan, but what else could they do? He’d do it on his own, but he can’t. “And—and then we can part ways. To make it even for your help, I won’t speak a word of you to the knights.” Even as he says it, the words turn bitter in his throat. How would the other knights react if they heard him bargaining like this?

“I know you didn’t plan on this, and I have work to be done. All I know is I just… I can’t wait.”

Rui sighs—sounding hesitant. He glances to the side, thinking of the pros and cons of doing something like this. Besides, he had stuff of his own he had to be doing as well—stuff that he’d been interrupted from because he’d stumbled across the half-dead Pegasus Knight in the woods.

Still, the sooner they did this, Tsukasa was right. The sooner they could part ways… He looked back at the knight.

“If we’re going to go into town, I’m going to need more supplies. We can leave tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it, but until then you’re not going anywhere, okay?” It was already getting late, and to set out now seemed foolish.

Tsukasa nods, painfully shifting again to lay back down. He’s glad Rui’s even listening to him—being away from the castle at all is making him antsy, and the thought of being in the care of a dark mage for months and months.. he stares up at the sheltered ceiling of the camp, shivering a bit.

Saki…

He wonders where she is now.

Chapter Text

The rest of the night was spent with barely any conversation between the two of them—Rui being busy working on different alchemical potions, now knowing that they were setting out tomorrow, and Tsukasa trying to get some rest. Eventually, Rui went to sleep as well, though it was far later into the night than the normal person would’ve gone to bed. Soon enough, the next day came and the dark mage and the knight were trying to plan what they were going to do—how they were going to get to the next town.

“You still can’t even walk properly…” Rui contemplated aloud, holding a hand up to his chin out of habit.

“There are horses in the castle stables, down at the bottom of the hill just out of the valley.”

He’s sitting propped up on the cot, still in an intense amount of pain... he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, with the serum eventually wearing off and the pain of his own broken bones hitting him like a truck. it almost makes him miss when he was unconscious.

“I can’t get one, obviously. But if I wait nearby, and you take it out to me... the horses know me, and they trust me. It won’t be a problem to get them to ride. And—well, technically it wouldn’t be stealing, they’re horses of my unit..”

Rui narrowed his eyes a little—almost suspiciously, yellow eyes piercing into Tsukasa as he lifted an eyebrow.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. How do I know you won’t try to frame me or turn me in or something?” He asked, standing up and walking over to one of the shelves where he pulled out another vial of orange liquid, similar to the bitter one he’d given Tsukasa yesterday to help with the pain a little. There was a fresh bandage on his hand as well.

“I’m open to suggestions,” he frowns. “Have any better ideas?”

In his head, it’s not a bad plan. Tsukasa knows the schedule for the knights as well, so he can at least make sure Rui goes in when there aren’t any guards around. He genuinely can’t think of anything else. Besides, even a horse isn’t the most ideal plan of action; the jostling is going to hurt like hell.

The fact that Tsukasa didn’t even deny his suspicions made him more hesitant if anything else. Despite the little conversation they had had last night, he was still wary of the knight—and part of him was worried this was some sort of trap. Frame the dark mage as a thief and get him arrested by the guards. It would certainly make up for whatever lost time the blond had these past few days…

Walking back over to the cot, Rui looked down at the vial of orange liquid—sunlight from the sunrise off to their right shining through the glass, making the contents appear almost incandescent in the vial.

“I don’t… but how can I be sure you’re not just using this as a means to get rid of me?” He lifted an eyebrow, his facial expression serious—a stark shift in the amusement he showed off the day before.

“You know,” he says, tilting his head, “Just because I’m a knight of the kingdom doesn’t mean that I don’t have a conscience. Or a heart.”

He looks away, a shadow seeming to cross his face. “My kingdom is devastated. The last thing they need is to see the Pegasus Knight this battered. Morale is already low, not to mention...” He hadn’t been trying to protect the royal family or the people when he’d fallen. Selfishly, he’d been defecting to his own needs. He was trying to protect his own flesh and blood.

“Nevermind. I just mean that they don’t have the resources to recover their knight when he’s useless.” This isn’t wholly true. But.. his sister isn’t there. And again, selfishly, he knows that if he returns to the Phoenix Castle, he’s going to be given orders that won’t allow him to find her. He swallows the thought down.

Rui listened to Tsukasa’s reasoning, quietly thinking it all through. It made sense what he was saying, but he still wasn’t sure if he trusted him completely. Especially with how stubborn he’d been yesterday, and how certainly he’d wanted nothing to do with him.

Still, they didn’t really have any better options at the moment. Letting out a sigh, the dark mage extended his hand and held the vial out to the knight.

“Drink this. It’s the same serum from yesterday. Hopefully it should be a bit less bitter this time, since it sat for longer.” With that said, he crossed his arms and watched. “I suppose trying to steal a horse is our only option, huh? At least, promise this isn’t a trap.”

Tsukasa takes the vial with less hesitation this time. After experiencing how it felt to have his pain blunted, even if only a little, he’s eager to feel that way again. He closes his eyes and downs the liquid, squeezing his eyes a bit at the taste—not as bitter as before, but still not the most palatable thing in the world.

He passes the empty vial back to Rui, and looks up at him. His face looks tired and well… he’s looked better. His face is still smeared with blood, and there’s a lot of dark bruising on his skin, dirt smudged across his uniform and leaves matted into his hair. He hates feeling so awful.

“It’s not a trap,” He says, face earnest. “Honestly. I’m.. Listen, yesterday I was… less than agreeable. We may be sworn enemies but the fact that you spared me and have yet to do anything—I wouldn’t cross you. It’s not an honorable course of action anyway.” This is true. If he were to turn him in, he’d at least declare a formal request for a significant pardon in some way…

Rui takes the empty vial back from Tsukasa and sets it on the shelf next to the other vial from last night—still needing to be cleaned. He’d get to it later. Walking back over to the cot, his expression softened a bit at the earnest nature of the knight’s voice. He could tell he was being serious, and despite everything—he could tell that he could trust him. At least in this instance.

Absent-mindedly, he reached out towards Tsukasa’s hair and picked a leaf or two out of it for him and nodded his head. “I know as a knight you’re keen on doing things with honor, I appreciate the sympathy. As long as you’re sure you’re not going to turn me in…” He took in a deep breath before his demeanor shifted a bit. “How far away are the stables from here?”

For the first time that Rui’s seen it, a triumphant smile crosses Tsukasa’s face. It’s a bright smile, despite the dirt on his face and the pain that still shows up in his eyes.

“Ha ha!” He crows, and then coughs, smile vanishing as he feels his ribs smarting, throbbing like they’re stabbing him from the inside. He quickly attempts to retain some of his victorious look, though. “It’s North from the ramparts? And down the hill to the bottom of the valley. I.. I don’t know where here is, though.”

A small smile of his own creeps onto his face as the knight seems to brighten up—even if only for a brief moment before the pain seemed to take over again. It was almost strange seeing that side of him, having really only seen the grumpy side of Tsukasa Tenma prior to now.

“We’re deeper into the woods—it’s gonna be a bit of a walk until we get to where you’re describing, it sounds. I don’t know how you’re going to make it that far.”

Tsukasa tilts his head, looking up at him. “How strong are you?” He’d already assumed the alchemist was on the same page as him with their first method of transportation but maybe not...

His mind having been preoccupied earlier, it had slipped the mage’s mind that he’d carried him all the way to the camp in the first place. With the knight’s reminder however, he planted his hands on his hips and straightened his posture a little bit. “I managed to carry you here while you were completely limp and unconscious, so I’d say… pretty strong.”

His expression switched to a bit of amusement once again, and he seemed—almost proud of himself. “I’m sure it’ll be no problem carrying you while you’re awake.” Rui pulled his satchel out from behind his cape, humming as he seemed to be making a check of his inventory. Right… Everything seemed in place.

“Do you need me to take some of this off..?”

He knocks a bit on the heavy metal shoulder pieces of his armor. Luckily he’s not fully suited up. That would have been absolute hell, not only to be carried, but for Tsukasa himself. He doesn’t want to think about the pressure that’d put on his limbs.

Rui lifts his head, eyes flitting down to the shiny metal armor the knight was wearing. He tucks the leather bag back to his side, underneath his cape—then he nods his head. It would probably be easier with less weight, not that it was a problem in the first place when he brought him down to the camp.

“If you wouldn’t mind… It certainly wouldn’t hurt. We can leave the armor in my camp for now. You can get it before we go our separate ways.”

Tsukasa nods and reaches up to start unfastening the pauldron—but it’s decidedly difficult with only one hand due to his broken wrist. He looks at Rui, gesturing to the leather fasteners and straps surrounding his shoulder. “Can you..?”

The dark mage lifted an eyebrow, stepping closer to the cot. He tilted his head and slowly reached forward to start undoing the leather straps on the knight’s shoulder… Now that he was even closer to the blond, it was easier to see the different bruises and scratches littering his skin. His brows furrowed, and after the straps were undone, he brushed the other off a little, then stepped back for a second.

“Alright, let’s get going. The earlier we set off the better.”

The pauldron weighs a surprising amount. If that’s just one piece of his armor, who knows how heavy the full set is?

Tsukasa rolls his shoulder, grimacing a bit—he’s not used to wearing it for such a long period of time. “Thanks. I can help guide you. I don’t know my way around this part of the valley but we can’t be far from the castle steppes, and I trained there so I’ll recognize it.”

“We aren’t too far, just a decent walk through the woods from the castle…” His voice trailed off, rechecking in his mind to make sure he had grabbed everything he thought he needed. In his mind, this was a risky mission. He needed to at least make sure he had enough stuff to combat anything that might’ve gone wrong—if the situation arose.

Giving a nod to himself, he leaned forward with his extended arms. “Would it be more comfortable for you to ride in my arms or on my back?”

“I don’t know how well I can hold onto your back with my wrist and leg,” He says, scooting as best as he could to the edge of the cot. “Though I don’t know if any of it is going to be comfortable at all. It hurts just to move so... the horse is going to be… a challenge.”

“Relax, the serum I gave you earlier should blunt the pain a little—besides, the next town isn’t too far away by horseback. The most you’ll have to endure is a bit of discomfort.” Yellow eyes darted across the space, as if something popped into his mind… but he said nothing on the matter, biting his tongue around the knight.

Turning back towards him, he carefully bent down—sliding his arms underneath Tsukasa’s knees while the other wrapped around his torso. He took a deep breath, then hoisted him up—bridal style in his arms.

Tsukasa lets out a short pained noise, jolting a little bit, but then he relaxes and settles into the mage’s arms. He’s surprisingly light, considering how much he weighed when Rui had first found him—the armor must’ve contributed a lot. But then again, it makes sense because Tsukasa is definitely a good amount shorter than Rui is. “Alright. Good.”

Taking one last look around the camp, the dark mage then turned towards the exit and began walking out into the woods in the direction of the castle—or whatever was left of it, anyways. The fire had been a burning blaze unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Having not stuck around to see how it all ended, who knew if there was anything even still standing by the time it was all over.

Rui huffed, adjusting Tsukasa’s position for a second as he carefully stepped over branches and leaves—a path that seemed familiar to him, like he’d trodden here many times before.

The woods were eerily quiet, a few birds chirping in the distance, but otherwise not a peep could be heard besides the sound of Rui’s boots crunching on the ground. Looking down at the ground, the dark mage was also particularly quiet, as if he was lost in thought about something until he finally snapped out of it and hummed softly.

“If you would’ve asked me a few days ago if I thought my week would consist of carrying the Pegasus Knight through the woods to steal one of the kingdom’s guarded horses, I would’ve told you you were crazy.” He mused, finally lifting his head to look around, his eyes scanning the area much like they’d scanned Tsukasa’s body searching for injuries when he first woke up. Scanning the woods, looking for something? Checking the path? From an outsider’s perspective, it would’ve been hard to tell.

Tsukasa was silent as well, uncharacteristically quiet, but Rui wouldn’t know that without having known him. Being held by him is surprisingly comfortable. He isn’t being as jostled as he thought he’d be, and Rui seems to have a good grip on him, he feels secure.

“Yeah, well..” He responds, looking down. “I wouldn’t have believed it either. And it’s not really stealing, you know, it is my horse..”

“Yea, but…” Rui clicks his tongue, pausing to step over a log in the way as he turns his head to look further into the woods, still appearing to be scanning the area for something or another. “I’m not you. And last I checked, you weren’t the one doing the stealing, are you?”

Finally, the dark mage turns his head downward, looking the knight dead in the eyes. “I’m sure the stables are guarded, no?”

Tsukasa looks up, meeting the eyes of the mage—their faces are surprisingly close. “Ah—they are,” He says, looking away. “But there’s a shift change at noon. As long as you’re quick, you should be fine.”

Rui sighed, looking away from the Pegasus Knight—allowing the new information to settle in. A shift change at noon… He wondered if regularly scheduled shifts were still in effect, considering everything that had happened. He wouldn’t be surprised if the entire castle’s order of operations were acclimated to the situation. That being said, he supposed Tsukasa—the Pegasus Knight, would know more about knightley and guarded duties than he would.

“How many horses do you have anyways?” He asked, the two of them nearing a more familiar part of the woods closer to the castle.

“Me? I only have one.”

A white mare. Often, she had little red and orange ribbons braided into her mane from when he’d ride her down into the city. Kids loved her.

“Technically all of the horses are mine since they’re under my division, but I don’t own them, the crown does. My horse is mine, though.” He looks up again, eyebrows furrowed. “How good are you with animal handling, by the way?”

The dark mage could tell the other was looking at him, but he kept his eyes focused on the surrounding area—the two of them now nearing the part of the woods he’d originally been in before stumbling across the knight.

“I have minimal experience, but experience at that.” He responded, brows furrowing a little bit as he took on a slightly preoccupied nature once more. “Don’t worry, as long as you’re able to get me in—I can take care of the rest.”

“It’s just—“ He makes an unsure noise in the back of his throat. “She can be a little.. hmm. Impolite? I don’t want to say disobedient because really, Phenny is her own master but…” He monologues, gesturing with his hand a little bit. “Sometimes, she can just be a bit resistant. Not to me, but, well, she doesn’t let anyone else ride her.”

Now, it was Rui’s turn to look down at the knight—his brows raised a little bit as he slowed his steps. Did… Tsukasa really think this through? They were risking getting caught by one of the guards for a horse that might not even let him ride it in the first place?

He cleared his throat, tilting his head a little. “Is there any way you can get her to let me ride her? Or… can we steal another horse? One that might be more cooperative, perhaps?”

“Not stealing.” He raises a finger. “But—not to worry!” He continues, not answering Rui’s question. “She does listen to me! Once you get her to me, it won’t be an issue at all. She’ll let you ride her if I’m there too. It’s just getting her from the stable to me that’ll be the hard bit... but you seem resourceful..!”

Rui blinked, the realization that this really wasn’t a well put together plan becoming more and more obvious by the passing second. That being said, it was a bit too late to back down now… And besides, they didn’t have another option.

Letting out a sigh, he looked back out to the forest and continued walking without really saying anything else on the matter. “We have to be nearing the stable, right? You’re going to have to help guide me to a good spot.”

“Right. There’s an outcropping of trees right before the clearing that leads up to the stables. There’s a huge boulder and you can leave me behind it... Since the stables only have three accessible sides, one of them being back up against the cliff face, you have to go in from the front. My horse is in the first stall to the left. The latch can be squeaky, so careful not to spook her. And uh—here,” He carefully starts taking off one of his gloves. “Let her smell this too. As long as you’re quick, it should be perfectly fine.”

“An outcropping of trees with a boulder…” He echoed, nodding as he started heading off into that direction. The dark mage swallowed, feeling a bit nervous being this close to the castle grounds—mostly because he knew what they’d think if they saw a dark mage lurking around only a few days after an attack on the castle, especially with their beloved Pegasus Knight in his hands.

Shaking his head to himself, he snuck around the back of the outcropping just as Tsukasa had said to, ending up right at the huge boulder. “Okay, here.” He carefully set the knight down on the backside of the boulder and peeked out towards the stable with narrowed eyes.

Tsukasa peeks out next to him, head peeking out from around the boulder.

“See? Nobody there. This isn’t going to be nearly as hard as you think.” Indeed, the stable building looks pretty empty. Perhaps it’s like what Rui thought, where all of the knights are busy, their manpower needed elsewhere.

Rui’s brows knit together, the dark mage letting out a small sigh of relief. “Alright—you said your horse was the first stall on the left?”

The mage grabbed the glove that Tsukasa had given him, donning a determined look. He took a deep breath. “Alright… Here I go.” He gave the knight one final look before started to sneak off to the stables, trying to move as swiftly as possible while simultaneously trying not to draw any attention to himself.

Tsukasa gives a sage nod and continues watching, still peeking around the edge.

As Rui approaches the stables, there really seems to be nobody around, just how it looked before. If he were to tilt his head up, up on the tip top of the huge hill he can see one of the castle’s stone spires—so it hadn’t completely burned down. Still, there is a stench of smoke in the air, and the air itself is hazy with how much had burned here and nearby.

As the dark mage neared the stable, curiosity got the better of him. The smell of smoke lingering in the air caused his gaze to flicker upwards in the direction of the castle. It was still standing… After such a devastating attack, he wasn’t sure what would be left—if anything.

A whinny from inside the stable quickly reminded him of his original plan. Right. Standing out in the open for too long probably wasn’t the best idea. Turning on his heels, the dark mage walked over to the front of the stable, casting a glance back in the direction of the boulder before slipping inside.

The stable had been perfectly spared from the fire and the dragon attack—thankfully. Curious yellow eyes darted around the quarters, tons of different thoughts coming to the forefront of his mind—

Another soft noise from one of the horses, and he shook his head. Right, back to the mission at hand. “Mr. Pegasus Knight said that his horse was the first stall on the left…” He mused aloud, turning his head in that direction before heading over to the stall.

The air inside of the stables is warm and close, and it seems peaceful, as if it’s blissfully unaware of the devastation that happened outside. This can’t be true though… of course, the horses would’ve heard the commotion. As Rui approaches the stall, he can hear soft nickering and shuffling from other parts of the stables, the sounds of the other horses. And through the gate to the first stall on the left..



’Phenny’ is a lithe white mare, with a mane black as ink and eyes grey like soot. She stares into Rui’s eyes with an almost intimidating intensity, and then gives a little warning snuffle. She doesn’t recognize this person, and he smells of blood.

Yellow eyes met grey—and immediately Rui knew that the mare was on high-alert. Keeping the steady eye contact, he slowly approached the gate, lifting his hands in defense, trying to take a non-threatening position.

“Easy girl..” He said softly, reaching into his satchel to pull out the glove that Tsukasa had given him. “Recognize this?” Carefully, he slowly held it up, leaning closer to the mare. To Phenny. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The horse snorts and scuffs at the ground with her hooves, seeming to pace a bit restlessly. She snuffles at the glove, but still keeps her gaze locked on Rui. It feels like she’s staring into his soul.

“Come on, Phenny…” He cooed, glancing down to the glove in his hand. “You know Tsukasa, right? He needs you right now.” The dark mage had a feeling the horse didn’t trust him. Tsukasa had warned him of this, but he had a feeling that this was something more than simple stranger-danger. Perhaps she could sense his aura—the fact that he was a blood sorcerer.

Letting out a sigh, he tilted his head. “I’m not going to hurt you…” Taking his free hand, he reached for the latch on her stall… slowly and carefully.

The mare snorts louder and continues scuffing at the dirt floor, shaking her head.

Rui took a deep breath, placing his hand on the latch—but not doing anything to open it just yet. “Come on, don’t you want to help the Pegasus Knight?” He waved the glove in front of her, brows furrowing a little bit.

The longer he was in the stable, the more nervous he was.

Suddenly, the horse startles, whinnying loudly and rearing up in the small space of the stall. One of her hooves collides with the wall, emitting a loud BANG sound, and some of the other horses in the stables start to startle as well.

 And then.. from a little ways off, Rui can hear a voice.

“Did you hear that?" A pause. "Something’s startling the horses.”

Rui’s eyes widened—gasping at the loud bang from within the stall.

“Hey— no!! Shhhh!!” He frantically tried hushing the mare, to no avail. With the other horses starting to join in, he took a step back from the stall and looked around with wide eyes. “Oh no, no...” A voice from the distance caused him to quickly turn his head. He needed to get out of here and fast—but— they needed the horse.

“Come on, Phenny!! We have to go!” He tried, reaching for his satchel—dropping Tsukasa’s glove onto the ground as he tried rooting around his bag for something he might be able to use.

“They’re on edge, Ichika,” comes another voice. “The wind has been startling them lately. Don’t waste your energy when vigilance is needed elsewhere..”
 


“Sh.. I have a bad feeling.”

The voices are drawing nearer at a panic-inducing speed.
While Rui roots around in his bag, Phenny lowers her nose to the ground and snuffles at the glove that had fallen there. She nudges it towards Rui’s foot, and then she takes a step forward, towards the gate to her stall, nickering softly. So now she’s going to cooperate.

The dark mage fiddled with the different vials in his satchel, the voices drawing nearer putting him more and more on edge. If he was caught—it was over. Explaining what he was doing on the castle grounds if he had been outside the stable would’ve been one thing, but now?? Inside the stable??? He would’ve had to come up with a pretty damn good convincing lie, or… resort to blood magic…

A soft nickering caused Rui to turn his head back, and he huffed a little. Now? Now of all times. Keeping a potion on hand, he quickly reached over and picked up the glove, unlatching the gate with a huff. “Come on, Phenny. If you’re going to cooperate, now’s the time!”

The horse nuzzles against Rui’s hand, the hand holding onto the glove, and trots out of the stall, content as can be. Tsukasa was right… “resistant” was an understatement.

The dark mage can’t believe this—but he doesn’t have time to think too much about it. Stepping out of the way, Rui turns his head and grabs a bridle that had been hanging on the side of the wall and turns for the exit that he came from.

“Come on, Phenny! I can lead you to Tsukasa, okay?” He was hoping the mare would follow, he didn’t really have much time to grab a lead for her.

Thankfully, the mare trots after him, and then surpasses him, walking straight out into the open through the stable doors.



“Phenny? How did you get out?” 



But she doesn’t pay any attention to the voice. In fact—she starts cantering directly to Tsukasa’s hiding spot.

Rui’s jaw dropped.

Perhaps taking the time to grab a bridle had been a mistake—By the time he’d turned back around, Phenny was already trotting out the door…

The wrong door. Straight out into the open.

The mage’s eyes widened as he stayed hidden for a second by the doorway, ducking to the side so that anyone coming wouldn’t see him. Maybe if he stayed hidden, they’d think she got out on her own somehow and bring her back to the stable. Then he could come up with a plan to try again once they left.

All was well and good with that idea. That was… until he saw the mare trotting right to where the knight was hiding, and an immediate panic set in. The disembodied voices had definitely seen her, but now she was just leading them straight to the Pegasus Knight—who couldn’t even so much as walk properly.

Without thinking, he slung the bridle onto his shoulder and decided to make a run for it towards the boulder—It was all he could think to do.

Immediately as he breaks out into the open, he can hear the shouts of the knights who had seen Phenny grow louder—and angrier.

“Dark mage.” Signaled one to the other.

“Hey! STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Right away he can hear the pounding of footsteps, quick and hitting hard against the dirt ground—clearly moving with purpose and fast. Phenny herself has disappeared behind the boulder, and when Rui reaches it, she’s nuzzling against Tsukasa, licking at his face. The knight, on the other hand, looks pale—clearly having heard the situation.

“Rui-“

“There’s no time!”

Rui interrupted, sucking in a panicked breath. Just as he’d suspected—the knights didn’t sound very keen having a dark mage on the territory. He could’ve found some way to lie his way out of it if he had just been in the area, but letting a horse out and running off was no coincidence. He might as well be pegged as a common thief by now.

Quickly walking over to Tsukasa, the dark mage picked him up without so much as even a warning and tried to hoist him up onto the back of the horse.

“They’re onto me. We have to leave now or we’re both going to be in hot water.”

Tsukasa squeaks at the sudden movement, hissing out a breath at the stabbing sensation in his sides and leg—he awkwardly tries to mount his horse, but while he’s ridden bareback before it’s ten times harder when he can’t grip on because he can’t tense up his leg.

“Rui—“ He wheezes, squinting, but trying his best to scramble on knowing the severity of the situation. “G-Get on—It’ll be easier for me to hold onto you.” He can only hope Phenny will cooperate, heart racing in his chest.

“HALT, IMMEDIATELY, IN THE NAME OF THE CROWN!” The two knights round the corner, running fast towards the boulder and the struggling duo. The first one, who’d shouted, bares their teeth, grey hair messy around their face as they approach at an all out sprint, a hand on their bow. The other is close behind, navy hair in a whip-like braid behind her.

“TENMA-SAN?”

Shit. Tsukasa squeezes his eyes shut, desperately trying to pull himself up despite his broken wrist.

“HE HAS THE PEGASUS KNIGHT!”

Shit.

Rui’s heart pounded in his chest, as he quickly tried to hop up onto the mare’s back—ignoring the shouting from the two knights rounding the corner. Quickly, the mage reached for Tsukasa and tried to pull him up from his spot.

This situation had gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. Not only had they caught on, but now they knew the Pegasus Knight was with him. Which meant they needed to leave immediately. After pulling him up to the best of his ability, Rui wrapped the other’s arms around him.

“Hold on.” He said, moreso as an order than a question. He hadn’t had time to put the bridle on—nor did he think Phenny would allow him to at this point. Ideally, that would’ve been Tsukasa’s job, but now he just had to trust that Phenny would go with the little direction he was able to give her.

Nudging his feet against her side gently, he clicked his tongue in an effort to get the mare to take off.

Tsukasa clings onto Rui for dear life as Phenny takes off like a shot. Hooves galloping against uneven dirt ground, he grits his teeth and presses his forehead into the Mage’s back as he feels every broken bone in his body shift, settle, and shift again with each pounding step. “Hh..”

At least Phenny seems to understand, with Tsukasa now there. A voice rings out like a bell from behind them, and then there’s a high pitched whizzing sound—and an arrow goes flying past Rui’s ear.

"SHIHO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING? GET THE HORSES! NOW, THAT’S AN ORDER!”

Rui feels his stomach drop—eyes widening as an arrow whips by, mere inches from his head. Like slow motion, he watches as it hits a tree, before he ducks and reaches his arms down to Phenny’s neck. “Come on, Phenny! Go, go, go…” He muttered, giving her a pat as he squeezed his legs carefully against her—both for balance and to signal that he wanted her to speed up if she could.

Rui turned his head back to look behind them, mind immediately going to his next course of action—which would be using some type of magic if he needed to.

“Phenny!” Tsukasa’s voice breaks a bit. “Hyah!” He tries to coax her on, but he can’t focus on much but the jarring movement. “Listen to Rui!”

Behind them, there’s an odd minute of silence, a lack of chase, until the distant hoofbeats of two more horses can be heard, slowly gaining volume and speed. Tsukasa can’t look behind him as he presses himself to Rui, but he knows it’s the knights—from whom he saw, Ichika and Shiho. They must think he’s being kidnapped which may not be true but.. he can’t exactly prove them otherwise.

“Rui,” He says, swallowing down the shake in his voice as his eyes burn. “You need to be firm with her. Don’t be nice. She’s meant to take strict instruction as a captain’s horse.”

Rui’s heart is pounding, eyes narrowed in determination as he tries to steer Phenny to the best of his ability. Tsukasa’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and he nods his head. His reluctance to be too firm with her before stemmed from fear that she might rear up again like she had in the stable… Then they’d be screwed.

“Hyah!” He mimicked what the knight had said moments before, kicking his legs a bit harder against her side as he held onto her neck for balance. “Go!!”

The sound of more hoofbeats behind them, gaining on them, made the situation all the more urgent. How did he find himself in this situation?? All he’d wanted was to do a little scouting in the woods that day… Had he found what he was looking for? No, but instead he found himself in one of the craziest experiences of his life. A dark mage helping the Pegasus Knight escape his own colleagues—while simultaneously trying to escape himself. If it wasn’t so serious, the chase might’ve almost been thrilling. But his life was on the line.

Thankfully, mercifully, Phenny seems to respond to the harsher prompting and picks up her speed—she’s a quick horse, and agile too. That much is clear as she weaves through the dense trees, the movements seeming effortless. Due to their quick escape they’re taking the road less traveled so to speak…

“ICHIKA! FLANK LEFT!”

Tsukasa’s head is spinning from the sheer amount of pain that he’s in. He knew that riding bareback would be insufferable already but to immediately be going at such a high speed, it’s a lot to handle. He clenches his fists in Rui’s shirt where his arms are wrapped around him, nails digging into the fabric. He could almost curse his own knights for being so attentive..

Nails digging into his shirt painted an easy picture for the mage that the one behind him wasn’t faring too well. With that broken wrist of his, he was surprised he was able to hold on very well at all. Without a bridle, even he was struggling—but he did what he had to.

Hearing shouting from behind, Rui gave Phenny another order to speed up. He tugged gently on the right side of her mane, trying to direct her in the opposite direction he heard the knight call out to.*

“Hey—“

He said, turning his head back a bit to Tsukasa but never taking his eyes off of the path ahead of them. “Do you think you can manage to open my satchel from where you are? Or is that going to be too difficult for you?”

Tsukasa doesn’t respond, just tries to reach with his good hand and fumble with the latch on the satchel. His hands are shaking, not only because of the pain but because of being jostled by the bumpy ride, but after long, long moments of slipping fingers he finally opens it up.

Rui glances down briefly, letting out a huff before focusing back onto the path—maneuvering Phenny out of the way of an oncoming tree. “I need to reach in—“

He paused, eyes widening at the path ahead of them. “I need- I need you to grab the long skinny tube—And I need you to throw it as hard as you can onto the ground behind you.”

Tsukasa reaches in, roots around with his good hand and finds it rather quickly. He takes it out, scrutinizes it. “What is this??” He may be trying to escape his own subordinates, but he’s absolutely not going to hurt them!!

Suddenly a horse comes crashing through the brush to the left of them, just a bit behind them—The blue haired knight, her expression focused as she seems to hone in, gaining speed.

The dark mage narrowed his eyes, gasping as the dark-haired knight came crashing through the bushes. “We don’t have time! Just throw it!! Throw it in front of her- Make sure the bottle smashes or it won’t work!”

His gaze briefly locked with the blue-haired knight, and he narrowed his eyes before turning to Tsukasa. He dug his heels into Phenny’s sides and patted her neck, urging her to go faster.

“I can’t-!” He rasps, trying to keep his voice low. “I don’t want to hurt her! And—She’ll see me throw it!”

“It’s not going to hurt her!! Tsukasa—just throw it!! She won’t know that it isn’t an accident!” He ordered, his voice sounding a bit more panicked now that she was getting closer, and the knight wasn’t cooperating with him. “Do you want to get away or not?? If we’re caught—we’re both in trouble.”

He turned to look Tsukasa in the eyes for a second before gasping as Phenny weaved between a tree, redirecting his attention.

Tsukasa’s hand trembles, and he squeezes his eyes shut, throwing the vial to the ground before he quickly turns back around and grabs onto Rui, feeling unsteady.

The slender vial smashed to the ground, shattering on a jagged rock a few feet in front of the blue-haired knight. Immediately, the concoction fizzled—the chemicals inside activating together to create a sort of explosive reaction. The liquid turned purple and lavender steam blew up in front of the horse’s face—not anything to hurt them, but to create a sort of smoke screen—a distraction he hoped would jostle and scare the horse and throw them off their path. At least spare them a few minutes to get ahead.

The liquid bubbled on the ground, more steam arising. It was a useful trick—but the reaction would only last a few good minutes. They’d need to make good use of the time.

Tsukasa lets out a breath of relief, still clinging onto Rui. “Go. Just go. S-Somewhere they wouldn’t expect, we’ll have to take a different route to the next town.” Everything hurts. He’s just glad that the vial wasn’t something harmful, he couldn’t have lived with that.

Ichika slows her horse to a stop, coughing at the lavender smoke filling the air, and soon after, Shiho catches up behind her.

“Damn it!” The grey haired knight then lets the reins go slack, shaking her head. “A dark mage has him, Ichika.”

“This isn’t good,” She murmurs, a concerned look on her face. “We didn’t expect this, either. Do you think he was the one who commanded the attack?”

They scoff. “What do you think? I wouldn’t be surprised. He just abducted our fucking captain!”

Tsukasa wasn’t the only one who had let out a sigh of relief—from his peripheral vision, Rui could see a puff of lavender smoke quickly filling the air, and the sound of hoofbeats slowed to a stop. It worked.

Praising himself silently, he focused his attention back to the path ahead of them and cleared his throat. Right. They needed to find a new path—one that the knight’s wouldn’t think to follow.

Rui straightened his posture and pulled upwards on the mare’s mane, calling out for her to slow down enough for him to make a drastic gesture to change direction—ordering Phenny to ride deeper into the woods with another ‘Hyah’. Surely they wouldn’t follow him in this direction. Right?

The bumpiness of the new path was not exactly making it easy to steer, but it was all he could do to head deeper into the trees.

Chapter Text

They travel for a bit. Tsukasa clings onto Rui, silent for a long while. Maybe he’s just trying to tough it out through the pain.

While he was trained here in this valley, he’s turned around enough that he’s not quite sure where they are—not that he’s watching the scenery much, resting his forehead on Rui’s back. Luckily, Phenny seems to be moderately obedient now. She moves at a very swift pace, fast enough to make it clear why she’s the captain’s horse.

After a bit, Rui turned his head back to look behind them—it appeared that they had lost the knights, thankfully. Letting out another sigh of relief, his gaze shifted to the man clinging to him, tilting his head to look.

He noticed how quiet he was. He couldn’t imagine the amount of pain he was in…. And he didn’t have much pain-relieving serum left on hand. He’d have to make more.

Looking back to face ahead, he turned the mare a bit—still galloping through the valley. Luckily, he knew exactly where they were. He hadn’t exactly been lying when he said that there were a lot of valuable resources for mages in the valley. He’d been here before.

“That was close… too close…”

“Mhm..” Tsukasa hums, though Rui could notice that throughout the ride that Tsukasa’s grip hadn’t loosened on him once—his knuckles are white. There’s another long, extended pause, and then Rui can hear him again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they’d be there.. I don’t want you to think it was on purpose.”

Rui was silent for a second—He couldn’t deny that the thought had crossed his mind once or twice, at least at first, but he had been quick to dismiss it. If this had been Tsukasa’s doing, he wouldn’t have been so desperate to get away with him. Hell— He could’ve even taken control of his own horse and left him to the guards, no hesitation. It was clear that the mare wasn’t exactly keen on listening to the mage…

But he hadn’t. That had to speak for something, at least. Not to mention, he did throw a potion at his own colleague.

The dark mage sighed, and he shook his head. “They must’ve heard the horses. I didn’t mean to spook them—you were right about your horse being… difficult.” His vision flitted down to the very mare they were riding on. “It’s not good that we were caught.”

Looking up ahead, Rui frowned. The path ahead of them looked less than smooth, heading through a deeper part of the woods—he knew it was about to get a lot bumpier than it had been.

“No.. it isn’t.”

Tsukasa clears his throat, wincing, eyes squeezed closed. The kingdom will know, now, that their missing knight is in the company of a dark mage. He wouldn’t doubt that when they reach the next town, there’d be a high probability there’d be wanted posters. He really is sorry. Even if Rui is a dark mage, he did save his life. He didn’t ask to be dragged into this.

But.. no. He’s a dark mage. Why is Tsukasa feeling sorry for him? His corrupted magic is the very reason that this war is happening! Not to mention that Tsukasa isn’t just some ordinary citizen, he’s the captain of the royal knights. A weird concoction of guilt, dread, pain, and shame stirs in his chest. At least they can each get out of each other’s way soon enough, and then Tsukasa can focus on his goal.. he has to find his sister.

“Word will spread. It’s only a matter of time… we just have to try to stay ahead of it—or this might be more difficult than we bargained for.” His tone was low, completely different from yesterday—that amused curiosity nowhere to be seen in the moment. Instead, a sense of dark seriousness in its place.

Rui huffed, bracing himself for the bumpy path as Phenny started to canter through a particularly rough patch of woods—branches and twigs, as well as an uneven path making the experience quite… uncomfortable—even more so than it had been when they were being chased.

As they make their way onto the bumpy patch of road, Tsukasa can’t suppress an audible whimper, pain lacing through his chest and leg. The response he was going to say dies on his tongue as he struggles to remember the thoughts he had before the sudden uptick in pain... he coughs, pressing more against Rui’s back, attempting to stabilize his body in any way he can.

A couple minutes pass. Or.. maybe it’s closer to half an hour. Tsukasa can’t actually tell. Things are starting to feel hazy, the pain being exacerbated for so long.

And then—

Phenny suddenly startles. Despite the quick pace they’d already been going at, the canter turns into a full on sprint. Tsukasa lurches, grabbing onto Rui’s sleeves.

“Woah, girl!! Woah-!” He forces out, snapped back to his thoughts, “Slow-!” But she stops, rears up. Hooves kick at the air for a second before she breaks out again into a sprint, except this time Rui doesn’t feel anyone behind him.

Tsukasa hits the ground hard with his back. There’s a crying noise—he realized belatedly it’s his own pained scream, and even after noticing, it sounds unfamiliar to his ears. The wind is immediately knocked out of him as spots swim in vision, the shock still inhibiting his ability to even react. He can’t breathe—his ears ring and his ribs feel like they’re on fire, and—his eyelids flutter a bit, almost passing out at the sheer amount of pain. What—What just-

As Phenny reared up, the dark mage braced himself—arms instinctively wrapping around the mare’s neck as his brain tried to process what was happening—why it was happening. He let out a surprised gasp, squeezing his eyes shut tight as they landed back on all fours with a thud enough to jar himself, the feeling causing an uncomfortable ripple through his body, his jostled heart skipping a beat. It all happened so fast, he could barely comprehend what was happening before he realized they were galloping off… and Tsukasa’s arms were no longer wrapped around him.

“Hey—" He shouted, quickly turning his head to look back—just to see that the other had fallen. “Hey wait—"

Quick to react, Rui straightened his posture and tightened his legs on the mare’s torso, tugging up on her mane rather harshly. “Woah— Woah!! Ho!!!” He shouted, eyes wide.

Phenny, whinnied, rearing up a bit, trying to adjust to the quick change in pace. Rui tugged on her mane, trying to get her to turn—to do a complete 180°. “Woah!!!” He shouted again, digging his left heel into her side as his eyes looked up and out to Tsukasa who looked like he was in immense pain.

“Phenny—Halt!!” As soon as she’d slowed down and turned enough, he hopped down and furrowed his brows at the Pegasus Knight from a distance. “Tsukasa.”

From a distance, he’s completely unmoving. Lying there still on the ground. He isn’t even leaning up, trying to look to see Rui.

Rui’s brows furrowed together and he frowned, hurriedly walking over to the fallen knight. His stiffness reminded him of the first time he’d found him in the woods—half-dead.

“Hey, Pegasus Knight-!” He called out again, quickly coming upon him. Shit. Reaching down to his satchel, he started to root through it.

Tsukasa gasps softly, staring up at the sky unblinking from where he lays on his back. His eyes slide down, and Rui swims into focus where he’s standing over him. A blur of purple hair… he feels like he can’t move, pain radiating with so much as every twitch of his body. If he thought the broken bones before were painful, that’s nothing compared to how it feels to fall directly onto them from a great speed. A soft keening sound comes from his throat, and his eyes are glossy with tears as sense starts to come back and he grits his teeth hard.

“Nnn.. nn..”

Rui can’t help but feel empathetic for the knight—much like he had when he first found him lying there at the base of a tree a few days back. Yellow eyes flitted down to Tsukasa, his hand still rummaging through his satchel before finally grabbing onto something.

“Mr. Knight— Hey—Are you alright?” He asked, at least trying to get some sort of response from him. As he waited, he slowly pulled his dagger out of his satchel—preparing to perform another ritual if he had to.

Tsukasa’s eyes widen upon seeing the dagger, and he hums a nervous and pained breath. Oh, shit. So this was it. Maybe he caused Phenny to rear up on purpose, and now he’s going to kill him. How could he have ever been so stupid as to trust a dark mage??

“N- No-“

An attempt to scoot back with his good leg leaves him gasping for breath, head spinning. “W-“

“Hey- What are you doing? Stay still.” The dark mage coaxed, drawing nearer—the dagger sitting comfortably in his hand, the familiarity of it obvious to anyone watching. “You’re going to hurt yourself more if you keep moving like that.” His free hand reached over and removed the fresh bandage he’d applied, revealing a plethora of different scars on his hands—a few fresh cuts littering his palm.

He can’t control it. Tsukasa’s chest quivers a bit and he squeezes his eyes, a soft sob escaping as he lies there motionless. Never before has he been in such awful, unbearable pain. Maybe he would’ve been, had he been conscious when he’d tumbled down the cliff side, but he hadn’t, even then he’d been blissfully unaware.

He’s not even sure what Rui’s saying, his mind muddled with the stress put on his body. “Pl- Please, don’t..”

Rui’s brows knit together—slightly in confusion, but also because there isn’t really any other option at the moment. Was he scared? Was he terrified at the thought of a dark mage using corrupted magic on him? It was a bit late to be scared of that at this point, seeing as he’d already done it once. This knight sure was something… and yet, he couldn’t help feeling bad for him. The little sobs, the way he was shaking, the terrified look on his face… Something about it made him feel really bad.

It was the same thing that tugged at his brain and made him feel bad finding him at the bottom of the valley. Despite supposedly being sworn enemies, he couldn’t help but feel bad.

“I have to. Don’t move, it’ll be easier if you stay still.” With an odd expression spreading across his face—yellow eyes seeming to pierce down at him with focus—Rui looked down to his hand. He took the dagger with practiced ease and in one swift motion sliced along the front of his palm, wincing per usual. The sting brought the urge to squeeze his hand shut, but he resisted, allowing the red to bubble up as he held his hand out overtop of the fallen knight.

The blood trickles down, falling over him in little red drops that stain his tunic. Tsukasa continues to stare, except this time he’s actually shocked… What's he doing? Why’s he cutting himself—that blood should be his own, shouldn’t it?

Rui closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he focused on the sting, centering all his energy towards that feeling. Then he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Deep in focus, he barely noticed the shift in expression from the Pegasus Knight, or that he was dripping blood onto his tunic. Soft mumbling turned into chanting, and an aura of deep red surrounded his hand, which he then lowered down closer to the other’s torso.

It was as if you could see the energy exchange the dark mage was focusing on. Squeezing his eyes shut, he started to manipulate the other’s blood, trying to ease the pain of any new bruising, the areas around his broken bones, to dull the pain.

Tsukasa’s stuttering breathing slowly begins to even out. His eyes are wide as he stares at the mage’s hand, surrounded by crimson glow, and he’s too shocked to be scared as he was before. Not to mention, bit by bit, the pain is starting to fade. Not extensively… but back to how it was before, manageable. He can breathe again.

Rui’s eyes remained squeezed shut, the glowing red aura flickering in and out as he started to slow down, his chanting growing quiet once again before stopping altogether. The dark mage exhaled a deep breath, his eyes slowly opening to look at the other as he carefully pulled his hand back, the blood now trickling down onto the ground below him. It stung, pulsating in his palm—but it was nothing he wasn’t used to. Eyes locking with the knight’s, he simply watched. Curious to see his reaction now that his pain had been dulled.

“You..” Tsukasa whispered, his voice barely more than a rush of breath. Their eyes are still locked, amber and gold, and this time Tsukasa’s gaze doesn’t dart away. Gingerly he probes at his ribs with his hand, at his wrist—it causes him to hiss in a pained breath, but it’s not nearly as painful as before.

Well, he doesn’t know what he’d expected from a dark mage, especially one blessed under the domain of Gakupo. The restoration magic that gives him his ability to manipulate his circulation like that only is amplified by his use of blood magic. Had he not chosen to harness corrupted magic, the extent of his power would be limited to small animals, to plants should he practice.

Now, he could manipulate the circulatory system of human beings… exactly the reason why the dark mages are dangerous, especially those born under Gakupo.

Finally, Tsukasa’s eyes flit down to the drops of red blood on his tunic. Struggling, he pulls himself to sit up, huffing a labored breath before he just squints down at the ground, thinking.

…And thinking..

He looks up. “..Is your hand alright?”

With the dark mage’s ritual complete, the forest returned to silence. Nothing but the occasional brush of wind or tweet of a bird high up in the treetops somewhere to fill the quiet atmosphere. It was almost peaceful, ironically…

Rui was quiet as well, just watching the knight regain his little composure and ability to move. He looked puzzled—lost in thought. Gods, what he would give to be inside that blond head of his. To know what he was thinking at that moment. Either way, it didn’t really matter what he thought about what just happened. At least he was able to move again.

Clearing his own throat, the dark mage brushed himself off with his free hand and knelt down on the ground beside the fallen knight, suddenly preoccupied with something.

“My hand?” He pulled out a small supply of gauze and carefully began to measure it out. “My hand will be fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this, and it certainly won’t be my last.” Yellow eyes darted down to his bleeding palm, the sting still pulsating with the beat of his heart. His hand was littered with scars, similar to the slice he’d made today, a telltale sign that this was something he did a lot.

He tilted his head, just watching the new blood bead up on the surface. “I think the more important question is what about you?” Slowly, the dark mage lifted his head to look at Tsukasa again.

“I’m okay,” Tsukasa says, still breathy. He’s eyeing at the scars crisscrossing across Rui’s hands. As much as he’s tried to educate himself on dark mages, it feels almost surreal for there to be one in front of him—to see the red gleam of his corrupted magic. Tsukasa runs a hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his face, and winces uncomfortably at the dirty and tangled mess there. He probably looks awful—he does look awful. Not that any of that matters..

“That’s how you saved my life,” he says. He already knew this, but to see it in action while he’s awake and conscious, well, that’s a different story. Tsukasa shakes his head. “I’m causing you a lot of trouble, I’m sincerely sorry for that…”

Or maybe he isn’t. Is this just distracting Rui from whatever evil deeds he gets up to? Does he get up to evil deeds? He must, though he doesn’t seem like it. Either way, Tsukasa can’t help but feel like a bit of a burden at the moment, causing Rui to jump through so many hoops.

The dark mage lifted his head, brows furrowing a bit as amusement finally made its way back into his expression for the first time today. “Careful, knight. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you almost sound like you care. Showing sympathy to a dark mage...”

His brow raised, then he chuckled and shook his head, glancing back down to the cut on his hand as he slowly began wrapping it up—red seeping through the fabric. “It’s not too much trouble, really.” He said, his voice sincere this time. “You only owe me two whole life debts.” He smirked mischievously, then shook his head. “I jest.” Shoving the gauze and dagger back into his satchel, he extended his hand down to Tsukasa. “We should probably get going though. Who knows if those knights kept tailing us.”

Tsukasa frowns, face souring into a stubborn expression. “I am a knight! It’s my duty to be chivalrous, you know! Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I have to be rotten to you! That’s the job of the others, not me!”

He closes his eyes and blows out a breath, and then grabs Rui’s hand with his good one, doing his best to hoist himself up using the mage heavily for support. His limbs shake but eventually he’s upright, leaning on his good leg and using Rui as a sort of crutch.

“Whether you agree with me or not, you know, my magic did save your life.” Rui huffs, shaking his head as he wraps an arm around the knight and looks back in the direction that he left Phenny. Whistling over to her, he clicked his tongue and tried to call her over to them.

“Come on, Phenny. Here!” He shouted.”

Phenny doesn’t move.

Tsukasa puts a hand to his mouth and gives a sharp whistle, to which the horse immediately turns and slowly starts walking over to them. “She’ll warm up to you,” he starts, but then stops, both speaking and walking. He squints at his horse. “..Something’s wrong. Look, she’s limping.”

Indeed, Phenny’s moving at a fraction of the pace she did before, favoring her left front hoof as if avoiding the other.

Rui’s face flattened—unamused.

“I don’t think she likes me.” He muttered under his breath, watching the mare through narrowed eyes.

Whenever Tsukasa called attention to her leg though, he quickly looked down and let out a sigh. “You’re kidding…” The mare was limping. He knew Tsukasa wasn’t lying, but… Out of all the things to happen, why did this have to happen now?

“Do you think she might’ve stepped on something and that’s what spooked her?”

“That could be it. I know this part of the valley is definitely denser than most places she’s used to riding. It could be a thorn or a stone wedged in her horseshoe.” Tsukasa whistles again, and the horse hurries its pace but still seems hesitant, shaking her head and nickering quietly. As they approach the mare, Tsukasa puts a hand on her nose, still steadying himself on Rui. “It’s okay, girl,” he coos softly, stroking the bristly white hairs right between her eyes. “You’re doing a good job taking care of us. I know you didn’t expect to be doing so much today.”

Weirdly enough, it feels like a strangely intimate moment between the knight and his horse. Like they actually have the kind of connection that knights in tales are written to have with their steeds. In any sense it’s strikingly clear how much Tsukasa cares for her. His demeanor is softer than Rui’s seen it yet.

He hops on one foot, grimacing, and steadies himself on Phenny’s flank before looking at Rui. “I need you to check her hoof. It’s probably something easy to get out, but obviously—well, I can’t do it.”

It was almost strange…

Rui had yet to see this gentle side of Tsukasa—until now of course. Golden eyes watched, feeling a little awkward suddenly—like all of a sudden he didn’t belong here amidst the sweet moment. And yet, he couldn’t look away.

It wasn’t until the other started speaking did he even realize he had been staring—and he clears his throat. “Wait—you want me to check her hoof?” The mage sounded a bit surprised. “I don’t know if that’s a very good idea. Look, it’s clear she adores you—but me? I don’t want to get a hoof to the face.” He held his hands up in defense.

“She won’t hurt you.” He shakes his head, softly running his hand across Phenny’s back. “Genuinely. You probably won’t trust me on that, but.. I’m here to soothe her.” Tsukasa winces at a twinge of pain and leans more against the mare, letting out a quiet pained noise. “Besides. She can’t take us anywhere like this..”

The dark mage glanced to the side, weighing his options. He looks down to the mare’s leg, then back up to Tsukasa. The first time he trusted the knight when it came to anything involving this horse—they ended up almost captured, and now probably wanted. Still, Tsukasa had a point, and they had absolutely no idea if the other knights were still following them.

“Okay, fine… but if something happens, I’m blaming you.” He gave a shrug, then slowly approached the front of the mare, lifting his head to look up at her before slowly bending down to her foot.

Phenny snorts and scrapes her hoof on the ground, stepping in place, her first impression not one of any sort of calm…

“Sshh..” Rui can hear Tsukasa’s voice from above him, where he’s still leaning on the mare. “It’s alright, girl. I know it hurts..”

Now she seems… relatively calm.

Rui looks up at Tsukasa then slowly looks back down to her hoof, carefully reaching forward once she seems calm enough.

“Easy, Phenny… okay, I’m just here to see if there’s anything wrong…” He spoke out of instinct, hoping to do anything that might alert the mare to his presence, or hopefully calm her down enough so that he could check. His voice was soft, gentle…

He tried to lift her foot.

Surprisingly enough…

Phenny cooperates. She snuffles softly and allows Rui to lift up her foot, tossing her head a bit. He can hear Tsukasa consoling her, but directing attention to the hoof, there it is—a thick black thorn stuck in between two parts of the horseshoe.

“Ah-”

Rui’s voice lilted, the mage tilting his head back to look up at the knight. “You were right, Mr. Knight. There’s a thorn in her horseshoe.” He narrowed his eyes, lowering his gaze once more as he took his other hand and gently tried to pry it from where it was jammed between her horseshoe.

It’s not too hard for it to come undone. Once Rui’s able to get a grip on it, the thorn is big enough that he can grasp it with his fingers and pull it out that way. Phenny whinnies and flicks her tail at the sharp removal, but then settles, putting her hoof down with a normal amount of pressure.

“Good girl.. see, that wasn’t so bad.”

The dark mage’s expression grew satisfied as he carefully stood back up, holding out the long black thorn to Tsukasa—as if he was showing it off or something.

“No wonder she was limping. Imagine this poking in between your toes.” He said, turning the sharp end of the thorn towards the knight and humming. The mage then flicked the thorn off to the side and lifted his hand up, untying his bun and running a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

All the fast-paced and bumpy bareback riding had messed up his bun… He let out a sigh as he carefully started to tie it back up, turning to look at Tsukasa again. “We should get going.”

Tsukasa watches him put up his hair—agh, that’s what his would look like if it wasn’t a complete mess right now! Despite being a little messy, it looks shiny in the dappled sunlight coming through the leaves, the lilac color so much brighter than he would’ve originally thought.

It’s now Tsukasa’s turn to realize that he’s staring and he gives a firm nod, looking at Phenny’s back.. the last thing he wants to do right now is get back on, but some things have to be done. “Right. Let’s ge-“ He coughs, holds up a hand and coughs again, wheezing a bit.

“Nnn. Ow. Ahh.. Yes, let’s get to it then.”

Rui winces a bit, his brows furrowing together as Tsukasa starts coughing, and he can’t help but wonder just how many ribs he might’ve fractured in the initial fall. Furrowing his brows, the dark mage turns his head to the West.

“Town isn’t too far from here. We should probably take it easy on Phenny, just to make sure you don’t fall off again.” He shoots the knight a look before asking, “Do you need help getting on?”

“Yes, thanks.” Tsukasa rubs at his chest. It feels weird and uneven, it has for a while. Like something’s itching, poking at him from the inside. The coughing is a product of that definitely, but he isn’t sure what the feeling itself is from. Hopefully not from complications with his ribs.

The dark mage gives a simple nod, taking a step closer to the knight. He then wraps an arm around his torso—with ease this time, now that they’re not being rushed by two angry knights keen on chasing them deep into the woods.

Taking a deep breath, he counted down and carefully hoisted him up onto the horse, quickly following in suit in an effort to help him keep his grip. “Now, how about you don’t let go this time.” He said, partially teasing, head turned back to the knight as he looked at him out of the corner of his eyes.

“Mhm..” Tsukasa responds, wrapping his arms around his torso—though, his grip is noticeably a little stronger this time. Clearly he doesn’t want a repeat of how painful falling off was.

After making sure Tsukasa was situated, Rui took a deep breath. Admittedly, the closer they got to the next town—the more antsy the dark mage was growing. For a few different reasons…

Yet, all the same, he chose to keep it to himself.

The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could get back to what he’d initially been doing before the attack that day. Also, the sooner he could go back to being off the grid—knowing damn well he was most likely one of the highest suspects surrounding the incident as per… an hour ago. Not even.

Clicking his tongue, Rui leaned down and patted the mare—free hand reaching for her mane as he gently nudged her with his foot. There was no immediate sense of urgency this time around, so they didn’t need to go barrelling through the valley like before. They could take it easy.

--

As they continued onward through the forest, the rugged trail and bushes eventually started to thin out a bit and it became clear they were perhaps nearing a clearing or a place inhabited by people. Rui narrowed his eyes, ducking his head a little. “We should be coming up on a little town soon.”

“Depending on how fast Ichika sent for couriers to get the information out about what she saw.. we may be okay here. But not for long. And not me.” He frowns. Even in his battered and dirty state, the Pegasus Knight would unfortunately be recognizable regardless. “Whoever heals me has to be, well…”

“In any circumstance,”

The mage started, his voice trailing off—a telltale sign that he wasn’t fully focused. Or maybe that he was too focused, on something he wasn’t saying.

Leading Phenny up to the smoother, more clearly purposeful path, the mage took a deep breath. “We have to be careful about how we do this. Even without the couriers, I’m not too sure how keen people would be to see the two of us together—especially with your condition like this.”

Suddenly, he lifted an eyebrow, turning back to the knight as if it finally registered what he was saying. “What are you implying, Mr. Knight?” Curiosity plagued his tone, sparkling in the corners of those pale yellow eyes.

It was crazy how those golden eyes could easily distinguish such animated emotions.

“I just mean.. Whatever healer we find, we need to trust to keep their mouth shut.”

Tsukasa exhales a frustrated sigh… this is going to be harder than he thought. The situation is delicate and complicated, and to make matters worse he can’t walk on his own. He can’t go into the town by himself, he needs support from Rui.

The mage pulled up on Phenny’s mane in an attempt to slow her to a gentle walk. Noticing the mare’s ears flick forward, Rui lifted an eyebrow and listened.

Distant chatter permeated the air, a sign of life in the upcoming clearing. Light filtered through the thinning trees, giving way to an opening with buildings—little dirt paths and people walking about.

Rui muttered a soft ‘woah’ to Phenny, stopping them just before they reached the opening, staying out of view for now. He ducked his head, peering out at the town from behind the shadow of a low-hanging tree branch. “Finding a healer we can trust isn’t going to be easy...” He mused, mostly to himself, eyes scanning the area.

Sondering.

“Actually...”

They’re stopped, but Tsukasa’s hands remain around Rui’s waist—he’s a little paranoid after the hard fall he took earlier. “My sister’s childhood friend lives here, I think. If I remember correctly, she was born under Luka.”

He peers out at the people walking around, the sound of bustling people, citizens going about their day. “It’d be a risk, but.. if I told her I needed to remain ‘missing’ to find Saki, then maybe she won’t say anything. I could also order her as a knight, but… I don’t think it’s a good idea. And I don’t want to.”

“Saki…” The dark mage echoed, the lilt of a question on his tongue. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place where he’d heard it before. He turned his head, lowering his hands from Phenny’s mane to her withers.

Context clues gave a pretty dead giveaway who he was talking about, but he had to ask, just to make sure. “Is that your sister? I don’t recall you ever saying her name before.” He pondered aloud, curious, a raised brow lifting above inquiring eyes. Saki. Saki Tenma. He made a quiet sound of contemplation, completely disregarding the other thing the knight had said for a second.

“Ah—Yes.” Tsukasa seems distracted, still very focused on the task at hand, trying to find a healer. “Honami was friends with the both of us, but mostly my sister since she’s also a year younger. She was already really kind… I wonder if she’d keep my visit a secret given the circumstances...”

He turns to Rui. “You need to stay out of sight though. If it’s anything that’s expected, her thoughts on dark mages are probably…”

Rui tucked that information into the back of his brain, then pressed his lips together. “Like everyone else’s thoughts??“ He quirked an eyebrow up, bright yellow eyes piercing into the knight’s cool amber gaze. “Don’t worry, I’m well aware of how you all feel about us.” His voice was short, blunt almost—but he was quick to regain his tone from before.

“You can’t walk. How do you suppose you’re going to find Honami without me to help you? Hm?” Yet again there was a hint of amusement seeping through in his tone. Amusing as it was, he was being serious all the same. Tsukasa couldn’t walk, and it wasn’t exactly like either one of them wouldn’t get recognized for what they were. It seemed like a lose/lose situation from where Rui was standing, but maybe Tsukasa had a plan.

He looks back at Rui’s semi-amused expression. “…I don’t know.” He looks down, seeming to be thinking hard. “…Disguise..?”

“A disguise…?” The mage’s brows knit together, and he looked back out across the slew of people in front of them. He’d definitely be recognized as a dark mage if he walked into the middle of town like this—it wasn’t like he usually tried to hide it. His attire was a dead giveaway.

He pulled a face at the thought, then looked back at Tsukasa again. “Not a bad idea, Mr. Knight.” The dark mage reached up, undid his hair and pulled the monocle off—tucking it into his satchel. “I’m going to need something that helps me blend in a little more than just this, though.”

Tsukasa looks down at his own clothes.. they’re covered in mud, blood, and dirt—nothing worth lending. “Hm. Take off your cloak.”

He looks around—and his eyes fall on a single yellow ribbon, woven into Phenny’s dark mane. It’s a miracle it hadn’t come out in their wild chase. Carefully Tsukasa undoes it with one hand and holds it out to Rui. “Maybe tie all of your hair up?”

Rui looks down at himself—Yea, taking off the cloak would be a good place to start, that’s for sure. Carefully reaching up to his own chest, he unbuttons the hook connecting it together in the front. The sleek black fabric rolls off his shoulders, and he throws an arm out to catch it before it could fall completely off the horse. Lifting his gaze to Tsukasa, he then holds the cloak out to him in exchange for the yellow ribbon.

Now that the cloak isn’t hiding it anymore, Rui’s alchemy satchel is visible, buckled across the front of his chest and hanging at his side, resting just above his hip. The cloak itself is a really nice material, lighter than what one might expect.

Rui looks at Tsukasa, lifting both of his hands up to tie his hair up into a small ponytail with the delicate yellow ribbon he’d given him. When he was done, he flashed the knight a little curious smile and planted his hands on his hips.

“Well, what do you think, Mr. knight? Can you still tell that I’m a dark mage?”

“Ah…” Tsukasa stutters a bit, glancing away. “It’s hard to tell when it’s all I’ve known you as. I-If you’re asking if you look less sinister, then yes. I think the cloak was the dealbreaker…”

“Hm, I suppose that’s better than nothing. It’s a shame though, my cloak is my favorite part of my outfit.” The mage chuckled, then let out a soft sigh. “Well then, if you think this is good enough then I suppose we should get going. Will Phenny stay somewhere on her own, or shall we continue on horseback?”

“..We should stay on Phenny. It’ll be less conspicuous to see two riders than to see someone helping an injured knight.” Tsukasa blows out a breath, Rui’s coat resting on his lap. “But—you forgot, they’ll recognize me. Even just by my hair. We have to figure that out.”

Rui’s expression falls once again, and he lets out a sigh. Tsukasa was right, he had forgotten that. “I would say you can wear my cloak, but that kind of defeats the purpose.” Lifting a hand up to his chin, his brows knit in concentration and he hums thoughtfully. “Do you think they’ll recognize your outfit?”

“I can’t really say.” His brows furrow, pain and repeated roadblocks starting to turn into mild frustration. “It’s a notable manner of dress. It’s also completely dirty… It’s mostly the tunic that’s the issue.” He gestures—indeed right there on his chest is the insignia of the Phoenix Kingdom. Clearly worn by a knight.

The dark mage’s eyes flick down to the insignia—bold and bright across his tunic. There was definitely no mistaking that. It was almost as if he was shouting ‘Hey!! Look, I’m a knight!!’ “You know, I don’t understand why you guys wear such obvious garb in the first place. Doesn’t give you much privacy.”

Although, could he really talk? It wasn’t like he blended in any more than Tsukasa did.

“Maybe you can turn the tunic inside out? Might be a bit uncomfortable, but at least the insignia would be hidden. You can bunch my cloak up and hold it in front of you as we ride into the town. If you hide your face, it might work.”

Turn his tunic inside out? It was.. plausible. But Tsukasa’s not exactly sure how he’d even be able to. Between his broken ribs and wrist, well, he doesn’t know if he could even pull his own arms back through much less pull it over his head.

“I don’t know if I can,” He admits, heart sinking. They were running out of options, quick.

“Hmm… I could try to help you.” He offered, eyes still locked onto the insignia on the front of his suit. “Or, I could cut the insignia off. You’d have to get a new outfit, but at least you wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught now.” Yellow eyes lifted to meet amber as he put a hand on his satchel, patting the leather gently–his dagger hidden just inside the flap.

Tsukasa puts a hand on the insignia defensively. “Absolutely not! This garb is specially made for me, you know! Besides, it’s callous to cut off my kingdom’s symbol like that!” There’d also be a bare hole of his chest where the fabric used to be which would look exceptionally awkward. What was with this mage, was he obsessed with knives??

“Just.. help me turn it inside out,” He huffs.

Rui gives a little shrug, pulling his hand away from the bag. “Suit yourself, I was just trying to help. It’s not like you’ll be needing your uniform so to speak any time soon.” He mused, eyes flitting back down to the insignia of the castle. The Pheonix Kingdom…

Snapping out of his thoughts, he nodded his head and turned himself a bit more towards the other—carefully, so as not to spook Phenny.

“Do you have any buttons or anything?”

“Just the belt over top. It’s simple so it can be put on quickly in case of an emergency.” Tsukasa frowns a bit.

The mage gives a simple nod, eyes drifting to said belt. Simple, in case of an emergency. His mind immediately went to the other night—flames and the roar of a dragon sounding out throughout the kingdom. He wondered what Tsukasa had been doing before the attack. Did he have to throw on his uniform in the quick of the moment? Did he already have it on? Was he enjoying a peaceful moment? Was he training? He couldn’t help but wonder…

Carefully, Rui’s hands reached out, fingers brushing against the fancy material of the belt before stopping at the latch.

“This is becoming quite the adventure, don’t you think?” He mused, undoing the latch before carefully pulling the belt off and setting it in Tsukasa’s lap alongside his cloak.

“Can’t say I ever expected to be sneaking into town with the Pegasus Knight in disguises—but there’s been a lot of firsts since I found you in the woods the other day.”

Just absentminded thoughts. He reached out towards the other’s tunic, hands carefully grabbing the bottom hem before finally lifting to meet his gaze. “You’re going to have to lift your arms up to the best of your ability.”

Tsukasa’s eyes dart away. Grunting a bit, he lifts up his arms, ribs straining at the movement. “I don’t know if I’d call it an adventure,” He mumbles, still averting his gaze. “Won’t be long until half the kingdom’s after us. My sister could be… could be…” He can’t even bring himself to say it. “...And so could the royal family, and—I’m not even there right now to help the castle. They could be drowning without a leader right now but...”

It’s pretty clear the knight is quickly spiraling. What started off as a bit of a snide remark rapidly coiled up into a worried train of thought. That is one thing Rui has noticed—now that Tsukasa isn’t unconscious or mute from pain, he sure does talk..

Rui blinks, watching the knight start to spiral into a worried mess. Fingers still on the bottom of the tunic, he began to pull up gently—taking a mental note that this would’ve been much easier if the tunic had buttons, but no matter.

“Adventures don’t necessarily always have to be good or fun, you know?” He said, then hummed. His eyes looked down to the other as he started lifting the messy fabric up over his ribcage. “Besides, I don’t know about your sister—but I’m sure everyone would know if the royal family was… you know. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can go back to everything—right? Focus on that.”

Tsukasa doesn’t respond. As Rui pulls the fabric up, for the first time he sees his bare skin—the surface of which is littered with red scratches, some deeper than others. He’s covered in bruises, and the whole sight in general is... just not pretty. If the knight feels a lot of pain though he doesn’t show it, just continuing to wince but nothing more.

Rui’s eyes squinted, wincing a little at the sight of all the scratches and bruises—which he had expected ultimately, but seeing the extent of the damage was a completely different matter. “Well, I don’t know what exactly I was expecting…” His voice trailed off.

“I’m surprised you’re even able to move at all.” Lifting the tunic up farther, he carefully tried to maneuver it up the blond’s arms and head—the gesture messing up his hair even more than it already was. However, maybe that was a good thing. The knight did say that he might even be recognized by his hair.

Tsukasa whimpers softly, eyes squeezing shut, but he doesn’t move, trying not to hinder Rui’s movements. “Well, you know…” The further up Rui pulls, the worse it seems to get. It looks like the worst damage was done on his torso, right near the top bits of his ribcage, which makes sense if he was running into rocks and trees.

The tunic slips off without much issue, and Tsukasa lowers his arms, wrapping them around himself and shivering quietly. He feels weirdly vulnerable and bare. Well—maybe not weirdly so. He still avoids looking at Rui, perhaps maybe a little shy. Who knows how knights view that kind of thing?

Despite the injuries, Rui can also notice that Tsukasa is… well. As expected of a knight, he has a good amount of muscle on his arms, his bare torso. No wonder he’s the kingdom’s heartthrob—at least to the young people. A surprising amount of muscle, for him being so light. There’s also freckles spattered across his shoulders and chest, his forearms, and maybe this is the first time Rui notices this. The ones on his face are marred with blood and dirt.

Rui doesn’t even seem to notice Tsukasa’s shyness—his own attention elsewhere at the moment.

Despite his body being littered with injuries, Rui takes immediate notice of the toned muscles and abs. The sleekness of his body. He supposed it made sense. Tsukasa was a knight after all, but still… It wasn’t something he’d really thought of before, until he was now literally faced with it right in front of him.

Damn… and the freckles? Since when did he have freckles? There were too many to count. Yellow eyes darted up to amber, and he quickly cleared his throat upon realizing he had been staring. “I didn’t know you had freckles, Mr. Knight.” He said, making quick work of turning the tunic inside out.

“Huh?” It catches him a bit off guard. He hadn’t realized it was something even notable that he’d notice. “Oh—yeah. My sister has them too, we got them from our mom...”

Tsukasa’s cheeks are a little pink, face slightly flushed as he still looks away, shy. His eyes meet Rui’s for a moment before they glance away again, but then he forces himself to look back. Knights should be able to clearly look others in the face.

“I hadn’t noticed them before.” He repeats. Rui felt the urge to look away when Tsukasa’s gaze met his—his own cheeks tingeing a shade of pink—yet he kept looking. He clears his throat yet again, and gestures to the tunic that he now had flipped inside out, ignoring the slight heat in his cheeks.

“Here, lift your arms up again.” He instructed, waiting for the other to do so before he lifted the shirt back up to his head and arms.

The shirt slides on pretty easily, and once the inside-out tunic is on, the insignia is successfully hidden. Tsukasa looks… the tunic is a little awkward being inside-out, his hair is a mess, matted with dirt, his face is streaked with soot, blood… he looks miserable. It’s kind of funny but also not funny at all.

The dark mage pulls back, puffing his cheeks out a bit in thought as he lifts a hand to his chin, scrutinizing the knight’s appearance.

How ironic. The great and glorious Pegasus Knight, sitting here before him all battered and bruised and messy, the complete opposite of the prime example.

“Hmm…” Rui lifts a hand up to the other’s hair and rustles through it rather quickly—mussing it up even further than it already had been. “There. I don’t think anyone will recognize you now, especially if they’re used to seeing you all prettied up in your fancy suit. If you hide your face against me, we should be good.” He smirked, finding it kind of funny in an odd way how Tsukasa looked so messy and he appeared neater.

“Let’s just.. get this over with.” Tsukasa frowns, setting the cloak more securely on his lap before putting his hands on Rui’s waist again, hiding his face against his back. He hates looking this way... Tsukasa has always liked having pride in his appearance. As Pegasus Knight, he has an image he has to maintain. Now, broken and bloody and a complete wreck, he’s never felt less like himself. He doesn’t know whether to be humiliated or just straight up depressed about it.

The dark mage took a deep breath, turning towards the front of Phenny once again as Tsukasa buried his face against his back.

“Right…” There were a few beats of silence—aside from Rui giving the order to start walking, patting the mare’s withers as she slowly started back up, walking slowly into the town. He scanned the crowd of people, the mage instinctively ducking his head a little as some people turned to look at them.

Clearing his throat, Rui turned his head back towards Tsukasa a little. “So… where does this little friend of your sister’s live?”

Tsukasa shifts behind him. “I don’t know exactly. She moved away right before I left for knight training, and all I know is she came here.” Buried in Rui’s back, Tsukasa turns his head ever so slightly and his eyes dart around the town, taking in everyone. They all look so normal, content. It’s nothing like…

His mind flashes with images of the ravaged castle and he shudders a bit. “Ah.. if I remember correctly though, she was a skilled healer even back then. I wouldn’t be surprised if people knew of her.”

Rui nodded, eyes flicking from one person to the next—though honestly, he wouldn’t even begin to know where to start searching. He didn’t even know what she looked like. Letting out a worried breath, they continued forward on Phenny’s back. “How do you even know that she’s still here?” He asked, moreso musing out loud because before Tsukasa could answer, the mage threw his hand out and waved it at a civilian who happened to be walking by.

“Hello, excuse me good sir. Do you have a second?”

The man, carrying a basket full of different types of tools, stopped, seeming surprised that he’d been addressed. He looked up at the two on the horse, narrowing his eyes a little. Even if they didn’t necessarily come across as suspicious, it was a pretty strange sight.

An unfamiliar man riding tackless on a horse, another stranger riding behind him—who seemed to not be in the best of condition, giving the messy hair and different parts of his clothes, from what he could see.

“Ah- of course, what… do you need?”

Rui gave a smile. “Well, me and my…” He paused. “...friend here were looking for a healer. We heard there used to be a good one who lived here, do you happen to know where we might find her?” For being a dark mage, he certainly had a sort of charisma when talking to people.

Tsukasa subconsciously presses a little closer to Rui, nervous, making sure his face remains hidden.

The man narrowed his eyes, grunting a little bit. “A good healer?”

Rui watched the man expectantly, lifting a hand up to pat the mare’s neck.

“You must be talking about the healer on the far side of town. She’s one of the best healers that I know of at least.”

Rui’s expression lit up, and he nodded with a smile. “Ah, so you have heard of her! Can you tell us how to get there?”

The man shifted his weight, holding the basket against his hip as he took one of his hands and pointed. “In the distance, down past the building on the left there should be a little bridge. She lives on the other side of that.”

Rui nodded, giving the man a kind smile before waving. “Thank you very kindly.” He clicked his tongue and started moving with Phenny again off in that direction, avoiding the gaze of more people turning to look at them.

“It has to be her,” Tsukasa whispers, “I know it.”

Well, he doesn’t know it. But he hopes it!

If his memory does serve him rightly, Honami was a skilled healer even for her age. It’s not every person born under Luka that has a true gift—some don’t even follow their magical roots and don’t become healers at all. But Honami always seemed to have a knack for caring for others.

Tsukasa had felt so bad when she’d moved away right at the same time that he himself left for knight training. He never wanted to leave Saki alone like that. She must’ve been really sad. He’s just grateful she had Toya, who was younger than Tsukasa and had a whole other year until he’d leave for knight training.

A knot twists in his stomach. His brother… It’s been months since he went missing. He should be looking for the both of them, and yet all he’s talked about is his little sister. Guilt doesn’t help at all with the pain-induced headache raging behind his eyes.

The dark mage nodded his head, opting to stay quiet this time. Part of him was a little on edge—with so many people turning to look at them, he was reminded that sooner or later at least he would be a wanted criminal throughout the kingdom. Who knew how long it would be till then. Nudging his heels into Phenny’s sides, he urged her into a trot and headed down the path over the little bridge.

On the other side of the bridge, there were only a select number of buildings—but which one belonged to Honami? He wasn’t sure.

Outside, a few different people were littered about the streets doing their own things. A girl with lighter dusty rose-colored hair and blue eyes was standing on the stoop of a building, watering some plants.

Rui’s eyes darted from person to person. “I don’t know what your friend looks like…”

“There,” Tsukasa taps the side of Rui’s arm, head still buried as he peeks out with one eye. “Gardening, right there.”

Anxiety swells in his chest. He just has to trust Honami doesn’t say anything. Not to mention that eventually, she’s going to learn that the man he was with was a dark mage... and realize that Tsukasa wasn’t making an attempt to turn him in. The exact opposite, he was utilizing him for help and traveling alongside him as well. He swallows nervously as they approach.

The mage squinted at the girl on the stoop, gently tugging on Phenny’s mane to direct her over to the building, hoping to catch her before she slipped back into the building. The mare approached the building slowly, coming to a stop right before the little stone stairway.

Rui cleared his throat again, and Honami lifted her head—eliciting a similar response as the man before did. However, she seemed to adjust to the idea quicker than the other man.

Rui spoke up. “Hello, are you.. Honami?” He asked softly, taking a deep breath after he did. Honestly, he was a little worried. He knew they were on some sort of a time limit—not to mention, what if someone did recognize him as a dark mage?

The girl nodded her head and set down her water pot, eyes scanning both the stranger with the ponytail and the covered person behind him. “I am… Is everything alright?”

Rui takes a breath and hums, gesturing slightly to Tsukasa. “We were looking for a healer, and we heard that you were one of the best around…” He tried to keep it on the down low, at least until they could go somewhere more private, out of the listening ears of other civilians. “Can you help us? I’ll pay you if you request.”

Honami blinks up, her brows furrowing a little at the battered and covered person behind him—completely unaware that she knew who it was. “Oh, of course.. I just finished watering my plants anyway. Please, come inside!”

Chapter Text

Tsukasa takes a breath. He’s going to have to dismount Phenny, and he’ll need Rui’s help to do it. When he does so, there’ll be no hiding his face.

Rui nodded at Honami, the exact same thought crossing his mind that crossed Tsukasa’s. How were they going to get him down from the horse without revealing his face to the public?

“Thank you so much…” He says quietly, turning his head back towards the blond knight. “I’m going to get off the horse, then I’ll help you down, okay? Hold the fabric up to your face if the light is too much when I move.” He turned back to Honami, who had an eyebrow raised. “He has a headache, he had a nasty fall and injured himself—which is why we really need a healer.”

Lying through his teeth, hoping the other would buy it—well, partially lying.

Honami walked closer, taking a step towards the two. “Do you need any help getting down?”

Rui shook his head. “No, I think I can handle it, but thank you.”

Tsukasa nods, heart in his throat, but despite that keeps his cool demeanor. He’s had his fair share of perilous experiences... this is nothing. Compared to running straight towards a dragon, this is nothing, even if he is in bucket loads of pain. As Rui dismounts, Tsukasa holds the cloak up to his face, making a soft pained noise.

Honami’s brows furrowed looking up at the injured man, a frown spreading across her face. Whoever this was, he seemed pretty badly hurt. Taking a step out of the way as Rui dismounted, she turned towards the door—holding it open for the two strangers.

Rui turned his head, brushing himself off before lightly patting Tsukasa’s leg—letting him know that he was ready for him to get off. “Here, just swing your leg around. I’ll catch you.”

He doesn’t have much choice but to trust him. Tsukasa steels himself, his body remembering all too well the sickening sensation of slamming hard against the ground when he fell off of Phenny. But it has to be done, and he slowly pulls his leg over, audibly wincing at the effort.

As Tsukasa slides off the side of the horse, Rui lets out a huff—steadying himself as he catches him, just as he said he would. Arms carefully holding the other, he knew it had to have hurt a little, even just the slight jostling. Letting out a soft breath, he carefully set the other down and turned to Honami.

“Thank You…” He muttered again, wrapping an arm around Tsukasa’s torso as he started leading him forward through the door.

Landing into Rui’s arms, he lets out a muffled whine before steadying himself on his feet, hanging his head as he holds the fabric over his face, limping slowly as he’s guided by Rui to the door.

Leading Tsukasa into the building, Rui breathes out a quiet sigh of relief—praising himself mentally for his ability to think on his feet.

Honami followed in shortly after, shutting the door after the two of them, her brows still furrowed in concern. “So, how did this happen? Your friend… he seems really hurt.” She said, reaching to touch Tsukasa’s shoulder gently. “The light in here is lower than outside, if you want to take the fabric down. I might be able to help your headache!”

Rui carefully stepped aside, watching Honami for a second before looking around the interior of this place.

Heart still beating much more quickly than usual, Tsukasa lowers the fabric, revealing his face. He braces himself—Rui found him this way, so he’s used to seeing this awful state he’s in. But Honami knew him as a kid, and knows him as the Pegasus Knight, so to her, he probably appears to be in really bad shape.

Honami’s eyes widened, letting out a loud gasp as she lifted both hands to cover her mouth—shocked by the sight in front of her.

“Tsukasa-san…” Her voice stuttered a little, eyes scanning the man before her in a new light, now knowing his identity. The Pegasus Knight, her childhood friend, Saki’s brother… battered, bruised, and dirtied before her—He looked horrible. “What… what happened??” She said, completely forgetting in the moment that the other man had mentioned that he’d taken a nasty fall. In fact, she seemed to have forgotten the other’s presence altogether. “How did this happen??”

He crinkles his nose, ignoring the ache of standing, putting all of his weight on his good leg. “The attack on the castle.. I fell off of the ramparts and into the valley.” As good a time as ever, he fails to suppress a cough, clutching at his ribs. “Don’t worry.. I’ve been faring alright. I just knew I’d need a healer sooner rather than later…”

He looks up, eyes desperate. “Honami. Please, tell me, have you seen Saki? Has she come here, did she flee the city?”

He crinkles his nose, ignoring the ache of standing, putting all of his weight on his good leg. “The attack on the castle.. I fell off of the ramparts and into the valley.” As good a time as ever, he fails to suppress a cough, clutching at his ribs. “Don’t worry.. I’ve been faring alright. I just knew I’d need a healer sooner rather than later…”

He looks up, eyes desperate. “Honami. Please, tell me, have you seen Saki? Has she come here, did she flee the city?”

Honami looked on in horror, eyeing the blond’s injuries and tattered clothing—at least, what she could see of them anyways. That cough didn’t sound very good, neither did the fact he was favoring a leg or clutching his ribs.

“What about the rest of the castle?? Why did you wait so long to get to a healer??” She asked, ushering him over to a chair off to the side. She froze when she heard Saki’s name though, lifting her head to look into his eyes. “No, I- I haven’t seen her. Why? Did she go missing

His heart sinks. He didn’t think she’d know, call it a gut feeling. Something tells him that his sister isn’t anywhere close by, which fills him with dread and unease. He slowly sits down in the chair, groaning a bit as he does so, pain smarting, and then looks at Honami.

“I don’t know where she is. I had hoped maybe she’d be here, but..” He shakes his head, wrapping his arms around himself, a position he’s been taking a lot lately. “I.. I had been unconscious for three days when I woke up. He found me in the valley. He’s.. not a healer, but knows basic medicine, and saved my life.” The lie trips off of his tongue. He hopes that Honami’s more interested in that part of the story than the three days part. He already hates worrying her so much.

Honami lifts her head, casting her gaze to the stranger in the room. “You know basic medicine?” She asked, her voice still holding a worried tone about Tsukasa, but sounding a bit surprised.

Rui slowly nodded his head, though deep down he couldn’t help but think about what the knight had said about her opinion on dark mages. If only she knew—corrupted blood magic was what had helped him. Not once, but twice. He remained quiet.

“How were you able to help him?” She asked.

“I know a thing or two about medicine, like he said.. I found him down in the valley against the bottom of a tree. I can’t fix his broken bones though.” He hoped by saying that, it would switch the topic from his means to her fixing him.

“I still don’t know how bad it is,” He murmurs. “I think my wrist is broken. Possibly my leg, and I think there’s something wrong with my ribs.” He coughs again—it’s been getting worse and worse. He wonders if Rui’s noticed.

Rui’s brows furrowed. “You’ve been coughing a lot as well…” He mentioned, humming softly as he took a step towards both Honami and Tsukasa. “I noticed back in the woods…”

Honami frowned, turning back to Tsukasa as she put a hand on his shoulder again. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Tsukasa-san… The attack on the castle, I heard it was really bad. I haven’t been around to see it though. Have you told anyone where you’ve been? I bet the castle is worried about you!”

“Ah…” His chest clenches up—he finally has to confront the one possible roadblock here. “Honami, I.. I need you to listen to me.”



“At the moment, Saki’s missing. I don’t know where she is, and I have a bad feeling it has something to do with the attack.” He looks up, eyes shining. “After Toya went missing, too… I can’t let this happen. I can’t. But if I go back to the castle, they won’t let me search for her.”

His heart stutters, mouth still feeling dry since yesterday. “At least until I find her, I just…” He lets the unspoken words hang in the air, guilt coiling inside of him like a band that threatens to snap his composure and let worry take over.

Honami blinks, brows furrowing as her stomach churns uncomfortably—worry suddenly plaguing her system. Had Saki really gone missing…? The tragedy with Toya was already difficult enough, but she was closer with Saki. The thought of her having gone missing alongside her brother almost made her sick. It almost seemed targeted, for two of the Tenma siblings to go missing like that.

Looking at Tsukasa’s face, she could tell that he was holding back—that he was on the verge of breaking down. From pain? From fear? From a mixture of all of the above? She couldn’t tell. But she felt bad. She felt bad seeing him like this, she felt bad for him.

“So that’s why you haven’t told anyone yet…” She shook her head, making the connections one by one in her head. “Tsukasa-san… what if the other knights start looking for you! Or what if they’ve found her?” She asked, genuinely. Not trying to go against him.

“I would know,” He says simply, heart pounding with conviction. “Something’s wrong.. I can feel it. I keep getting these thoughts, these ideas that something terrible has happened. If the knights found her, don’t you think they would’ve made it public news? Especially with the Pegasus Knight missing?”

He squeezes his good hand nervously, pain making his head foggy. Still, he tries his best to fit his words together in a way that makes sense, that justifies his point. Honami has to know how important this is.

“I can find her. I—I know I can. I know her better than anyone.” I have to find her.

“That’s just it though!! What if she never went missing in the first place? What if… what if she was at the castle the entire time, and that’s why there wasn’t any news about it!!” The girl had a cheery disposition—laced with false hope, her brows furrowed as if she knew that wasn’t the correct answer. She knew Tsukasa well enough to know that he probably knew what the situation was, especially way better than someone who wasn’t even there.

Besides, he was right. He knew Saki better than anyone. “How will you keep under the radar? You’re one of the most recognizable figureheads in the kingdom…”

Tsukasa just shakes his head, suddenly wracked by another spasm of coughs. He covers his mouth, bending over as pain flares through his ribs. When he pulls his hand back, there’s blood spattered across his wrist. He just stares at it for a second before looking back to Honami, looking... less than great. Very far from great, actually.



“I searched the castle, and there wasn’t so much as a sign of her.” He rubs at his chest, and then at his eyes, which are watering from the force with which he had been coughing. “Please, Honami.. I need you to trust me.”

Honami took in a quick breath, a look of concern plastered across her face at the sight of blood on his sleeve, mind immediately going to the worst of possibilities. As far as she was concerned, the stranger in the corner of the room only knew basic medicine—meaning any internal bleeding he might’ve had would be far from healed.

“Tsukasa-san, you need help… We can talk more about this later, but you’re bleeding… you may have internal wounds.”

Rui furrowed his brows, watching with a hum.

“I assure you, this is really important—“ He’s cut off by another set of ragged coughs, his shoulders doubling over. This round leaves him breathless from the pain, the taste of iron in his mouth. A bit dazed, his eyes slowly pull across the room to meet Rui’s. The expression on his face, for a moment, is oddly absent, eyes clouded by pain.

Why is he looking at Rui?

His gaze flits to the floor. He wipes at his mouth—his sleeve is bloody.

Honami gasps again, shaking her head, rushing over to Tsukasa’s side. “More important than you bleeding internally?” She frowned worriedly, putting a hand on the other’s back. “Here, I need you to try to breathe in and out for me, okay? I’m going to try to help you…” Her voice sounded a bit anxious.

Rui’s gaze met Tsukasa’s and his lips pulled downwards, his mind reeling with what could’ve happened. Surely, he wasn’t internally bleeding… He’d used corrupted magic on him twice now to help with his bleeding. It couldn’t have been that, could it?

“Come on, Mr. Knight, just listen to the healer. You’ll be no good to your sister in a worse condition, right?”

Tsukasa nods weakly and does as Honami instructs, taking a breath in through his nose. It doesn’t hurt to breathe wholly, not until he gets to the end of the inhale, when his ribs start expanding. His exhale has a soft wheeze behind it, a bit of a troubling sound that Rui likely hadn’t noticed before.

Tsukasa squeezes his eyes shut, absolutely miserable. He just needs to get this over with so he can set back out on what he’s meant to be doing right now..

Honami takes a deep breath with him, frowning at the wheezing noise he was making. Something had to have been wrong with his lungs—it had to be. Carefully running her hands along his back, she started to hum a little tune to herself.

“Can you tell me where it hurts the most? Which side… is it… is it higher or lower?” The healer continued humming after she was done asking her question, preparing to use her powers.

Meanwhile Rui took a step closer, eyes flicking back and forth from Honami to Tsukasa—fascinated in a way with what she was doing. Magic. Non-corrupted magic. From within the domain of Luka…

Hm…

He watched, then looked back to Tsukasa, gears starting to turn in his head. “You didn’t start coughing all too much until what happened in the woods.”

Tsukasa keeps his eyes closed, mouth pressed into a line as Honami feels along his back. “It’s.. It’s the left side.”

Honami delicately moved her hand to the left side of Tsukasa’s back, taking a deep breath. She winced, face contorting a little bit… Something didn’t feel right. “Oh…” Frown tugging down on her lips, she prodded very gently at his ribs.

“Tsukasa-san…. Your ribs….” Tracing a gentle circle on his back in the bumped out area, her touch was delicate across his back—eyes closed as she started to sing quietly, starting to focus her energy into her fingertips.

Rui watched, taking a step closer—yellow eyes locking onto the technique she was using, and also the expression on Tsukasa’s face.

Tsukasa peeked one of his eyes open, still wincing at the pain radiating from the sensitive injury. “Wh.. What is it? What’s wrong, is it broken?”

Honami stopped humming for a second—her lips pulling into a tight line. “Yes… It seems severely out of place—“ The girl frowned.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s poking into something it shouldn’t be, which is why we need to get you healed as soon as possible. Now close your eyes, okay?” The girl started to sing again softly, drawing circles around his ribs very gently with her fingers.

He closes his eyes, gritting his teeth a bit in anticipation. Just because healing magic is natural healing taken on a much faster pace doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. The bone getting set back into place is not going to feel good.

Honami presses lightly against the bone—very clearly out of place, putting her other hand on Tsukasa’s opposite shoulder for leverage. “I need you to take a deep breath, and when you exhale, I’m going to sing and set the bone back into place…

It’s probably going to hurt a little, I’m sorry, Tsukasa-san…” She said softly, but really there was nothing that she could do about that part.

Waiting until she heard him take a nice deep breath in, she focused her energy into her fingertips and raised her voice—singing louder, as a soft glow radiated from her fingertips into Tsukasa’s skin. With this newfound energy, she pressed into the knight’s skin, brows furrowing—she knew it would be uncomfortable, and probably very painful.

Tsukasa cries out as the bone sets into place. What had receded into a dull ache suddenly throbs with a sharp pain brought to the forefront, enough to make him lose his composure with how he’s been handling his pain, at least relatively quietly. He hunches over, gasping a bit, eyes watering. A part of him is embarrassed for some reason, as well, for his enemy to be seeing him in such a weakened state.

…As if he didn’t find him half-dead and unconscious.

Honami’s expression contorts— empathy swelling, making her feel horrible for having to do this to him. She hated to hear him cry out in such pain… but at the same time, she hated seeing him all broken and bruised even worse. It was a lose/lose situation.

“I’m sorry…” She muttered, keeping her hand pressed firmly against the knight’s rib—feeling it gently, just to make sure it had gone into its proper place. “Deep breaths, okay? I know it hurts… I’m sorry, it’s the only way…”

Rui winced a little himself hearing the cry of pain that the knight had let out—He couldn’t imagine that it felt very good.

It was crazy. This entire situation was crazy. Watching his sworn enemy, crying out in pain, the Pegasus Knight himself—weakened and at one of the lowest parts of his life for the secondtime in the span of a week. And yet, he felt… almost bad for him, in an odd twisted way.

At the same time, would the knight feel the same way? Probably not. The thought made him huff a little to himself.

Tsukasa tries to take deep breaths as Honami instructs, shoulders quivering with effort at the raspy attempts at inhales. His hands, which had been squeezed to fists, unclench and he wipes at his eyes. It still aches awfully, but not like it did before; it does feel like something had popped back into place.

“Is it.. Is it done?”

Honami slowly pulls her hand away from his ribcage, opting to rest it on his shoulder—giving it a gentle squeeze in an effort to comfort him. “Yes… yes, your ribs should be back in place now…” The girl frowned.

“I’m so sorry, Tsukasa-san… Here, let me check something…” She carefully reached around the front of the knight—putting her hand over his heart. “Try taking another deep breath for me, okay?”

Tsukasa winces, inhaling again, ribs aching at the sudden shift. While one may be back in place he’s fairly sure others are fractured or broken with how badly he felt when he fell off of Phenny. Suddenly his fervor at wanting to get a healer is dying out a bit and he’d rather be anywhere but here, head swimming with pain.

Honami gives no warning this time—knowing it would probably be better to rip the bandaid off. She sings, giving a short burst of healing energy into her fingertips—pressing onto the knight’s chest from the front this time, trying to set a few other ribs she had felt out of place back in.

“I’m sorry…” She then muttered, frown tugging down on her lips. “Are you okay? Does… does that feel any better?”

Tsukasa cries out again, entire body tensing up at the sudden shifting of his ribs back into place. He sees stars, dizzy for a moment at the pain, and slumps a bit. Cold sweat pricks at his forehead and back.

“Nn.. Yeah. They’re.. they’re in place..” He mutters, head still spinning.

Honami nods, letting out a soft sigh as she slowly pulls her hand away—taking a good look at him, a concerned and sympathetic frown plastered onto her features. She absolutely detested seeing him like this, and she hated that she was the one to have to be this way.

Taking a deep breath, she then walked around to the front of him and looked him in the eyes… “I know there are other places that you’re hurt… do you need a break before we tackle those?” She asks.

Rui, on the other hand, seems to have disappeared. Amidst the cries of pain from Tsukasa, and Honami’s singing—he must’ve slipped out of the building without either of them noticing. Looking up to where he had been standing before, there was no one there.

Tsukasa has a bit of a far off look on his face, eyes unfocused and expression a distant look of exhaustion and agony. His eyes shift to Honami and he nods, glancing down at the bad leg. “Quick, please,” He just whispers.

Honami frowns. Part of her wants to offer him a break, but she knew he would decline… Besides, getting it all done and out of the way would probably be the best course of action anyways. “I wish the healing process was much smoother…” She mused, carefully putting her hands on the leg that Tsukasa had gestured to…

It felt pretty messed up too, swollen down closer to the shin. “I don’t like having to hurt you to help you feel better…” Carefully, she pressed her two fingers against the swollen spot on his leg and took a deep breath.

“Just hold on a little longer for me… okay, deep breath in…” When Tsukasa complied, she repeated the same process as before—pressing into the wound as she used her magic to set the bone back to where it should be, to heal any of the fractures or heavier breaks beneath the skin.

He doesn’t even make a noise this time, just a whining sound in the back of his throat as he keels forward. His ears ring, as if his body desperately wants to grant him unconsciousness to escape the intensity of the agony he’s in, but he clings on, breathing in, breathing out.

The room spins a bit—detachedly, he’s grateful that that’s the last one, at least that he knows of. He doesn’t know how much more he could take. He wraps his arms around himself, clutching at his tunic. This is awful. He feels sick, and Honami can notice how pale he’s gotten, visible even through the grime caked on his face.

“Tsukasa-san…” Honami pulls her hands away, opting to rest one on his back. “Are You okay…? Do you need some water?” She asks, a bit of panic in her voice. Being a healer, she was used to this kind of thing… but because the person she was healing was someone she was friends with, it made it all the more harder.

Besides, Tsukasa didn’t look so good… He looked like he was going to be sick, or faint. She quickly stands up to open the window, letting some fresh air in.

“H- Hold on.” He stands up—he stands. Still favoring his good leg but clearly Honami’s magic had done its job. He stumbles a bit over to the front door of the house, and ducks outside.

He takes several steps, and then Honami can hear the muffled sound of him coughing and then gagging. It’s sad—it genuinely is, especially when Honami not only knew Tsukasa as a kid, but has seen him at his best. Shining, glorious.

A glittering, star-shaped jewel on the crown of the Phoenix Kingdom. Since his knighting ceremony and his promotion several years later, when he quickly became more distant, he hasn’t seemed so human and flawed as he does now.

After a couple minutes pass, Tsukasa staggers back inside, bracing himself on the doorframe. He just looks.. really tired. “I’m sorry.” He takes a few steps back into the room, swaying a bit. “You said you have.. you have water?”

Honami’s heart sinks…

To think of how much he’d gone through the past week up until now… to hear him retching outside her porch, most likely from the amount of pain she had inadvertently caused. To see him in such a frazzled, messied, beaten up state.

To see him so exhausted… It truly broke her heart. Nothing like the shining, sparkling Pegasus Knight he usually was. It was like they were two completely different people… watching as the other stumbled back inside, Honami quickly snapped out of it and nodded her head.

“Please, Tsukasa-san, take a seat… lie down, whatever makes you comfortable, okay?” She urged, walking off to another room of the house. Not even a few minutes had passed, and she returned—a little cup in her hand. “Here… you need to rest…”

Tsukasa takes the cup gratefully and raises it up to his lips, drinking greedily. Water’s never tasted so good as it does now.. He finishes it in seconds and hands it back to Honami before he walks over to a wall and braces his arm on it.

“Is.. Is there a bed I could use? Or—“ He looks down at himself, covered in dirt. He wouldn’t want to completely soil clean linens from the blood and grime covering his clothes, not when Honami’s already done so much for him, and he doesn’t have the energy to bathe, not yet.

No, he’s not sure if he’s ever felt as exhausted as he does right now—like all the traveling while injured and the trauma itself has caught up to him. “I‘ll just..” He looks around, hazily looking for somewhere to sit or lay. Not that it would matter. He’s dirty either way—he’s just not thinking straight.

Honami shakes her head, walking over to the blond. She puts her hands on his shoulders and gives them a gentle squeeze—looking into his eyes with furrowed brows. “Here, come with me… Don’t even worry, okay? You need rest.”

She could tell what he was probably thinking. The way he looked down at himself was telling enough, but that didn’t matter to her. It would take nothing to clean a set of linens. She carefully started to lead him over to the backside of the building, making sure not to move too fast or anything.

She led him to a little bed, gesturing for him to lay down… or at the very least take a seat. “Oh, Tsukasa-san… I’m so sorry all of this happened…”

He nearly collapses onto the bed. Starts to climb onto it and then just crumples against the mattress, shoes still on, completely and utterly wiped out. He crawls up to lay on the bed properly and turns on his back.

His head hurts.. his leg and his wrist hurts, and his chest when he breathes—not as bad as before, but a residual ache. He still feels nauseous, and dizzy. Tsukasa can barely keep his eyes open.

Honami frowns, looking down at the exhausted Tsukasa. “Why don’t… Why don’t you try to get some rest? Even just a little… We can talk more about what you wanted to talk about after…” She suggested, setting the water cup down before turning back to him. “You really don’t look so well… you look tired, Tsukasa-san… please, just get some rest…”

His eyes are already drifting closed. It’s pretty clear that he’s just completely knocked out from exhaustion at this point.

Honami lets out a soft sigh, frowning down at him—her mind wandering with all sorts of different thoughts. Thoughts of the kingdom, thoughts of Tsukasa, thoughts of Saki. Carefully reaching down to the edge of the bed, she picks up the blanket and lifts it up on top of the knight.

Hopefully he’ll be able to get some rest now that he’s been healed a little… It was a miracle he was even alive at all, thanks to that other guy that had come in here with him. Honami’s eyes narrowed a little, and she turned her head to look back out into the other room. Speaking of.. where had he gone?

She had been too focused on Tsukasa to even notice that he was missing. But now that Tsukasa was down for the count, it came to the forefront of her mind. She walked over to the front door and looked out… No sign of him. Maybe he had left?

--

Several hours later, Tsukasa stirs in bed. When he opens his eyes, all he feels in a sudden rush is this.. wave of relief. His ribs only ache slightly, and the pain in his leg is nearly gone.

His wrist is still pretty sore, but he feels so much better that he has to just lay there for a second to process. What finally drives him out of bed is searching for something to eat, it’s already dusk and between this and the past few days he’s not been doing well on that front, the focus being more on his injuries.

He gets up and it’s such a relief to be able to walk across the room and peek the door open, walking into the hallway.

“Honami?”

As Tsukasa walked into the hallway, Honami’s voice could be heard from the front of the building. “Oh, Tsukasa-san!! You’re awake!!” The sound of a chair scooching across the ground echoed through the room, followed by little footsteps towards the hallway.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, brows furrowed in concern like they had been before.

Out of sight from where Tsukasa was standing currently, another chair moved across the ground—indicating that another person was in the room as well. A few footsteps followed, and then Rui appeared beside Honami—looking down the hallway at the knight.

Tsukasa pauses in the hallway, looking straight at Rui. He blinks—for a moment, he thought that he was imagining him. Hadn’t he left? Was that what he’d imagined? Accidentally brushing over Honami, he scrutinizes the mage. “You’re here?”

Realizing his rudeness, he seems to snap back, looking back at Honami. “Ah- Much better! I owe you a lot, I knew you’d know what to do!!”

The dark mage huffed a little, about to speak but Tsukasa cut him off before he could even say anything. Rui knew he hadn’t been gone too terribly long—an hour at most, but by the time he’d made it back to Honami’s, Tsukasa had already been knocked out.

Honami blinked, perhaps a bit confused by the sentiment that the knight was surprised to see the person he came here with—but she quickly brushed past it.

“I’m glad to hear that… Unfortunately you’re still going to need time to heal up completely… It’s not as simple as everything being repaired just like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis, then offered a small smile. “Make sure to take it easy..”

Tsukasa shows his best grin, and then strikes a pose. This is absolutely nothing like the person Rui has known the past day or so. “Absolutely. Don’t even worry about that. I have an important mission that I can’t attend to unless I’m in my top form!”

Rui blinks, a bit taken aback by the change in demeanor. He supposed it made sense… For most of the time he knew Tsukasa, he’d been severely injured and morale was down because of that.

It was sort of strange seeing him so animated when before he’d been so down… but at the same time, it was so much better than what he’d had to witness earlier.

Honami nodded, letting out a soft sigh and chuckle. “Glad to see you have somewhat of your energy back… but I’m serious. Please don’t overdo it. I don’t want to have to see you back here because you overworked yourself too soon.” Her voice was soft, but serious.

Rui hummed. “Honestly, I didn't even know you had this much energy.” He teased. Obviously, the Pegasus Knight had to have had some sort of energy, being the head of the knights and a diligent one at that… but it was true that Rui had yet to see a single ounce of it until now.

Tsukasa gives a firm nod, and then looks to Honami. “Can I trouble you to use your washroom? I’d.. really like to clean up if you don’t mind it.” He rubs the back of his neck with his hand.

“I may need to borrow some clothes as well.” He decides to leave the questioning of Rui for later. Why’d he come back? Why is he here?

Honami nods her head, giving the knight a sweet smile. “You’re not the first injured straggler to wander in looking like this.” She teased, gesturing to the mess that was Tsukasa’s outfit. “I have a few extra clothes for that sort of occasion anyways—I think I’ll have some that fit you.” She says, walking off to one of the back rooms as she hummed thoughtfully to herself.

Rui simply leaned against one of the walls and crossed his arms in front of himself, yellow eyes fixated on Tsukasa.

Tsukasa watches Honami go, and then looks up again at Rui. His eyebrows quirk slightly, and he crosses his arms. “You didn’t answer my question.. why did you come back?”

“Firstly, you never asked me a question. Secondly, What do you mean? I never left.” He replied simply, an amused expression pulling up on his lips again. “I decided to take a walk around town, that’s it.” The mage shrugged, then lifted an eyebrow.

“Besides, you left some stuff back at my camp. My guess is you don’t know how to get back by yourself, now do you?”

Honami carefully rooted through one of her drawers in the back room, looking for something that would fit Tsukasa. It wouldn’t be nearly as regal or high-status as what he was wearing now, but it would at least be clean—and not ripped. She wondered if he’d have to get a new one..

Tsukasa frowns at the contradictory statement. “So, you didn’t leave and walked around town, or you went back to your camp? Which one?” He continues to stare at Rui, mouth firm.

“Why would you go around town?? When we have knights of the kingdom after us?? After you??” He lowers his voice at that last bit, nervously casting his gaze back, knowing Honami was somewhere nearby.

Rui’s expression flattens. “Well, Mr. Knight, I’m not the one who fell asleep for a few hours—It’s almost dusk, you know.” He said, then hummed. “I just wanted to look around and see what different kinds of wares they had. After all, we had to use one of my potions, remember?”

He said, lowering his voice as well. A half-lie. Sure, he might’ve purchased a few things for alchemy, but that hadn’t been his main objective. Nor was it the only thing he had with him. The awkwardly-shaped alchemy satchel did more than plenty to tell that story—but he wasn’t wearing it right now, it was tucked away beside the chair he had been sitting in.

Honami hummed softly to herself as she gathered up the fresh outfit, a plain tunic and pair of pants—and she walked back out to the room with the other two. “Here you go! These should fit you, hopefully. My washroom is at the very end of the hallway.” She pointed, smiling softly.

Tsukasa takes the clothes and smiles warmly at Honami, dipping his head a bit. “Thank you.” He casts one last look at Rui as he hurries off down the hallway. Whether he likes it or not, the Mage was right—he would have to make his washing up quick.

Honami nods sweetly, mirroring the way he dipped his head before turning back to the other man.

Rui seemed suddenly a little nervous. Though he hadn’t really been showing it while talking to Tsukasa, he was a bit on edge.

He hadn’t been expecting to stay in this little town for as long as they did—and admittedly, though a good idea at the time, making his face known throughout the town probably wasn’t the best idea on his part. To be fair though, he didn’t think Tsukasa was going to fall asleep for a few hours. He assumed they’d be out of here by now.

Walking over to the doorway, he looked out the window and sighed. Who knew what kind of news had gotten out? Who knew how much time they really had?

Honami noticed that the other seemed to be on edge about something, and she tilted her head—walking over to him. “Is everything alright?”

Rui turned back towards her and slowly nodded his head. “It’s…” He cleared his throat. “It’s getting to be later than I thought it would be when we left.” He admitted, trying to appear as cool as possible.

Honami nodded her head. She was silent for a second before looking back up to him. “You know, it’s probably a good thing that he got so much rest… I haven’t seen him like that… so exhausted and…” She shook her head.

“I haven’t seen him like that ever… This attack on the castle… It had to have been awful.” Her brows furrowed and she shook her head. “I just… How could someone do something like this?”

Rui shook his head slowly, turning to meet her gaze again.

“If I had to guess… it was probably one of the dark mages.” She said, clicking her tongue with a frown.

Some minutes later, maybe around twenty, the door to the washroom opens and Tsukasa walks back out into the living room, carrying the bundle of dirty clothes in his hands. For the first time, Rui sees what he usually looks like: tanned skin, and blond hair, fading down to a fiery orange color at the ends.

Rui had seen it caked with dirt and matted, but now it’s damp, clean, and drying in a way that’s causing it to curl up at the edges, a wavier texture than he expected. Despite the bruising and scratches on his face, his skin has regained a pretty flush, and Rui can actually see the freckles there, and on his arms and the backs of his hands.

The clothes are simple but neat. As he approaches Honami he’s smiling in a way that conveys much more genuine content than Rui’s had a chance to see from him yet. “I don’t know what I can do to thank you. After all of this clears up, I can talk to the advisors at the castle and they’ll send you a healthy sum, if you accept it. You’ve really been a lifesaver, Honami.”

When this clears up…

Tsukasa can’t fully swallow down his frown. What would things be like when this was all over? When he found Saki, and Toya, and things were back to being as they should be. Was rebuilding back to that point even possible…? Not to mention, how would the Crown react to knowing that Tsukasa had somehow miraculously healed after being ‘kidnapped’ by a dark mage, and had then gone to find his lost sibling instead of reporting back to his post?

The conversation between Rui and Honami had gotten awkward quickly—what with Honami now expressing her personal thoughts on the dark mages. It was as Tsukasa had expected, and to be honest, he wasn’t all too surprised either. Still, it was hard to sit there and listen to someone go on about their opinions like that and not be able to say anything.

Thankfully, Tsukasa showed up not too long after the conversation had started. When he looked up, the mage blinked. Much like he’d been taken aback by the shift in energy, Rui was surprised to see such a stark change in his appearance as well. The wavy golden hair, freckles dotting his skin much like on his torso, a gentle smile on his face…

Rui just stares. The Pegasus Knight, no longer looking so downtrodden and broken, was starting to regain his shine once again. What’s worse… he looked really good too.

The mage shook his head to himself, quickly shuffling over to where he’d set his bag down to start getting ready to leave.

Honami smiled and shook her head. “You don’t have to do that, Tsukasa-san. I’m more than happy to help you out. You know, I’ve been missing you guys. How about instead of sending me a healthy sum, when all of this clears up, you come and visit me, okay? We can all hang out like we used to.” Her expression softened a little.

He swallows. He’d figure this all out. He’d have to.

He comes closer and takes Honami’s small hand in both of his, giving it a firm shake. “I truly mean it. You’ve been nothing but helpful.” He forces his smile back to center stage and lifts her hand up to his lips, giving a chivalrous little kiss there. “I’m sure that a visit of all of us together in the future can surely be arranged.”

Honami smiles softly, giving a gentle nod. “Thank you, Tsukasa-san…” She says, lifting her hand from the blond’s to put it onto his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Please be careful.”

She tilts her head, then, eyes lowering a bit. “About your visit here… I’ll honor your wishes to keep it between us. I only hope I’m not questioned…” She looks up again, a kind of worry laced with hopefulness shining in her eyes. “Find her, okay, Tsukasa-san?”

Rui looks over again, out of the corner of his eyes as he buckled his satchel back across his shoulder—ignoring the awkwardness from the now sort of oddly shaped bag pressing against against his hip.

Wow… Wow.

Nothing could’ve prepared him for how different Tsukasa looked—nor the heat tinging his cheeks at the mere sight of the now clean Pegasus Knight. Clearing his throat, he walked over to the doorway.

“Shall we get going?” He said, redirecting his attention outside as he hoped that the other wouldn’t notice his satchel. Though, it was pretty obvious.

Tsukasa nods at Honami, heart squeezing with appreciation. “Is Phenny in the back?”

He then steps over to Rui, looking him up and down with a raised eyebrow. “What’s with the bag?” He’s sharp as a knifepoint when it comes to what he notices around him.. though he wouldn’t need much perception at all to see the mass awkwardly jutting into the inside of the mage’s satchel.

Rui blinked, looking down to his satchel. He knew it looked out of place, but he’d been hoping Tsukasa would be too preoccupied to notice it.

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing important.” He replied, hand clutching the strap of his satchel as yellow eyes flicked back to the knight’s gaze—piercing into him with an odd sort of look. “Let’s go find your mare and get going.”

Turning back, he waved goodbye to Honami. “Thank You so much for your help again!” He opened the door, holding it out for the knight. “After you, Mr. Knight.”

Chapter Text

Tsukasa frowns and steps outside, waiting until Rui closes the door to speak. He was right, dusk had fallen outside—the sunset painting the little town a golden color, trees and buildings casting long blue shadows across the streets.

“And where are we going—? I thought we were going to part ways.”

“We are, but like I said—you left your armor back in my campsite. I don’t want that being traced back to me.” He crossed his arms, slowly turning back towards the knight. “Not when I’m already most likely the prime suspect for what happened the other day…” His voice trailed off.

“Speaking of which, we need to get going. Who knows what type of news has spread to where.” Grabbing his cloak from Tsukasa, the mage started walking to where they had last left Phenny.

Tsukasa walks after him, a bit lost for words. He definitely seems much more.. business than before. Maybe because the whole kingdom will likely be after him, all thanks to Tsukasa. Maybe because now Tsukasa isn’t severely injured. Figures, if that’s the case.

Tsukasa whistles, and Phenny trots past Rui, sidling up beside him. “Hey, girl..” He pats her cheek, finger combing her mane a little. “Honami fed you, didn’t she?”

Rui blinks, watching Phenny trot past. He turns back around, and gives a hum. He had at least been around for that part—so he could confirm what Phenny herself could not. “She did. Not too long before you woke up.”

He watched the knight, letting out a little sigh. The horse definitely loved him, that was for sure… and it was clear that he loved her. Again, he almost felt a bit out of place… Eyes shifting down to his bag, he clutched the strap tighter and walked over to the mare and Tsukasa.

Despite his leg still aching a bit, Tsukasa mounts Phenny with ease, a quick practiced movement. He then gently nudges his heel to her side and turns her around, looking at Rui. He tilts his head, a gesture for him to hop up.

“So. You want to go back to your old camp, the exact direction that the castle and those probably searching for us are.”

The dark mage watched, once again finding himself surprised at how agile the blond was—which was ironic, given his status and position, but to see it all in action was a completely different story. Carefully walking over to Phenny, Rui hoisted himself up and furrowed his brows.

Shit. He hadn’t thought of that. Honestly, what if they’d already found his campsite?? Heading back there would most certainly mean getting captured. He didn’t know where else to go though.

“I… hadn’t thought of that.” He muttered, arms slowly wrapping around the other’s waist. “It doesn’t matter, we need to get out of here at the very least. I helped you out, the least you could do is help me get away, right?”

It makes sense, Tsukasa supposes. They’d planned to part ways, but now with this entire mess it only makes sense for Tsukasa to clean it up and escort him somewhere safe. He chews on the inside of his cheek... part of him feels guilty about it. But he can hardly turn in somebody who saved his life with a good conscience, even if they’re a dark mage. 


“If you want to get somewhere where they won’t think to look... It’s a good idea for us to head to the next kingdom. The Phoenix Kingdom is going to be on high alert pretty soon but... Vivid has thousands of people in it. You could get lost there for a while until things are less…”

He trails off. It’s true—Vivid, the capital city of the next kingdom over, is one of the biggest cities on the continent. It may be a little bit out of the way but traveling there would allow him to search for Saki along the way.

The next kingdom…

Rui thinks to himself for a second, adjusting his position—subconsciously scooting closer to the other. He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened to Tsukasa to happen to him, lest they need a trip to another healer.

Vivid was a pretty decent distance away from Phoenix, which could’ve been seen as both a good thing… and a bad thing. For one, he’d at least be away from the searching knights of the Phoenix kingdom. For another, the distance put him quite a bit away from his original path.

Still, in a new place like Vivid, there might be new clues to go off of. He hummed, then finally nodded his head. “Okay, fine. At least, I might be able to lay low, avoid capture by the Phoenix Knights.” It was such a crazy thing, to be saying that to the Pegasus Knight. The head knight himself.

Tsukasa nods, and with a cry and a kick to Phenny’s haunches, they’re off, quickly cantering past the houses on this side of town and towards the woods.

Soft hoofbeats thudded against the ground, the brilliant oranges and yellows of the sky slowly but surely turning to deep purples and blues as the sky gave way to the oncoming night.

...Which ultimately led to a new onset of problems. Phenny couldn’t take them anywhere if it was too dark out, and the two of them couldn’t set up camp without any light—so they were forced to stop.

Ducking off the path, the two decided to set up camp in a little patch of woods—not too far from the path, but just enough so that any onlookers traversing wouldn’t be able to see them.

Rui was busy trying to start up a fire, sitting there quietly, just thinking to himself. It was obvious that something was on his mind, but honestly, with everything that had been going on, that wasn’t exactly a surprising sentiment.

The mage rummaged through his bag, keeping it hidden from Tsukasa for the most part—keenly intent on keeping him from seeing whatever was in there. He pulled out one of his potions and poured a tiny bit onto the area he was trying to light.

Was the potion supposed to help with fire? …No. Had Rui accidentally discovered that one of his conditions was highly flammable once by leaving it too close to an open flame in the past, nearly setting his entire setup on fire? Maybe. If nothing else, at least he could put that knowledge to good use.

Tsukasa walks over, watching the mage puzzling over a makeshift fire pit. It’s when he sees him pour some possibly dangerous substance onto the ground that he intervenes. He isn’t about to have this mage start an explosion just because he can’t think of another alternative to lighting a fire.

He crouches down next to Rui. “Can I see your monocle?”

The dark mage turned towards Tsukasa, lifting an eyebrow. “My monocle?” Reaching into his bag, he pulled it out—not having put it back on yet from earlier when they had to disguise themselves. Everything else though was practically back to normal, albeit his hair was still in a ponytail instead of half pulled back like usual. His cloak was wrapped back around his shoulders, satchel at his side.

Rui holds the monocle out to Tsukasa, a puzzled expression on his face before he turns back to what he’d been doing before. Dousing the ground with flammable liquid.

“Hey, hey, stop that.” He holds a hand out against Rui’s chest to make him put his hand down, and then Tsukasa stands back up, holding the monocle up to his eye—it's clean enough, and should work. No huge cracks or anything.

“You may want to look away,” He clarifies, before holding the monocle out, aiming the glass circle out towards the fire pit.

Tsukasa starts humming. A clear, sweet melody, gentle and soft. Holding his other palm out in front of the monocle, the little song picks up speed, and before Rui’s eyes, a faint golden glow starts to shine brighter and brighter in Tsukasa’s hand.

The dark mage is confused at first, wondering why the hell the blond would even want his monocle in the first place—It’s not like he could really use it in these conditions.

Confusion quickly turned to surprise though, as a soft hum started radiating from the Pegasus Knight’s mouth. Was he… Was he using magic? Just then, the thought occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea what domain Tsukasa was born under. He had no clue what type of magic he had—Honestly, he hadn’t even thought about it before now.

Yellow met gold as the mage stared at the faint glow emanating from Tsukasa’s hand, the glimmer reflecting in his eyes as he watched quietly.

Light. Light magic, it had to have been.

All of sudden, the pieces of the knight’s plan were falling into place in his mind, and his eyes flicked from the light to the other’s face—his own expression still shocked, his mouth slightly agape.

Tsukasa’s eyes are closed, a serene expression on his face as he hums. The light glows brighter, and he angles his palm, directing it through the lens of the monocle and onto the kindling at the base of the firepit—and basically the accelerant that Rui had provided. After a minute or so, a thin line of smoke rises, and then the fire catches and spreads quickly thanks to the mage’s potion. Tsukasa steps back, drops the monocle and hisses, shaking his hand a bit.

He then looks at Rui, triumphant look on his face. “You may, uh.. want to wait a minute before putting that on your face.” His eyes dart to the monocle on the forest floor.

The mage quickly turns his head, the bright blaze of the fire shooting up causing that infamous look of amusement to spread across his expression. Though it was a joint effort, he was also happy to see that his accelerant had been mighty effective as well—Thanks to that alchemy mishap.

Turning his head back to look at the monocle, the metal rim had taken on a lighter color, as metal tended to do when heated. He raised an eyebrow and looked up at the other. “You know. Not bad, Mr. knight.” He said, stepping back from the fire pit as he let out a sigh, planting his hands on his hips.

So, the Pegasus Knight possessed light magic, under the deity Miku. Interesting. That was definitely something he’d have to remember.

“It seems the more the day goes on, the more I find out about you. Have any other secrets?” He looked at the knight out of the corner of his eyes.

Tsukasa chuffs a laugh, walking around the fire to sit down in front of it, warming himself as the night chill starts setting in. “It’s hardly a secret you know. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that the Pegasus Knight resides under Miku’s domain.” He tilts his head.

“You really haven’t heard the playground rhyme? ♪Pegasus Knight, bearer of the light, against the darkness he will fight♪︎…?”

The mage scrunches up his nose a little, lifting an eyebrow as the other starts singing a little rhyme. “Mmm, nope. Never heard it. Not even a little. As I told you when you first woke up, aside from your title I never really knew too much about you.” The mage shrugged, huffing a little as he moved to sit down as well.

“I assume the ‘darkness’ in your little rhyme would have to be about the dark mages, Hm?” He said, though his tone indicated that he took no offense to that if that was the case.

“Maybe more like the metaphorically “evil” kind of darkness in general, but sure.” He shrugs, sighing out slowly as he stares into the flames. It seems his energy from earlier has definitely waned a little bit. Now that he’s not focused on the immense pain from his injured body, his mind keeps drifting to his sister, to the kingdom. To the attack that night. Not very nice thoughts to have.

“I see, I see. Well, I’m glad to know you think of me as someone who falls under the evil darkness category.” He said, kind of sarcastically, tilting his head up as his eyes fixated on the fire in front of him. Yellows and oranges dancing together, the destructive but beautiful energy working together to devour the kindling they had set…

It was crazy to think about how fire worked…

Something so warm and beautiful was the same force that had brought destruction to the kingdom a few days prior. Perspective be damned, it was just… crazy to think about.

“You’re quite different when you’re not injured.” He mused, lifting his gaze to Tsukasa.

For a moment, he doesn’t answer. When he does he seems to be pulled from his thoughts—Had Rui said something?

“Hm?”

The mage blinked, remaining silent for a second or two before he shook his head. It didn’t really matter.

Turning his head, Rui looked down to his monocle and carefully reached out to pat it—checking to make sure it had cooled down enough before picking it up and placing it on his eye, a small bit of warmth still lingering on the metal.

“It’s not important.”

His eyes narrowed a little, and he hummed. “You know, wandering thoughts can sometimes lead you nowhere.” He shrugged, reaching into his bag to pull out his dagger and some gauze—this time, to clean the blade more precisely. The orange of the flame reflected in the ornate design on the handle.

Tsukasa squints a bit. Well that was a bit presumptuous of him, wasn’t it. Besides, his statement doesn’t make sense. It’s not like it’s just something he can turn off. Tsukasa’s thoughts have always been wandering in some way or another, sometimes to less than good things—but without much tragedy in his life before now it had never been anything major. Neither had it ever occurred to him either that maybe not everyone had uncontrollable thoughts like that.

“Right.” He just says, looking down again at the flames. He wonders.. What if his sister was in the castle all along? Had he simply missed her, not been in the right place at the right time? When he’d fallen from the ramparts, three days unconscious, where was Saki?

Had she gotten stuck inside of the castle? A pit forms at the base of his stomach. All he can think about is the burning of flames, how it may have felt on her skin—caught in the blaze. Her gentle voice, a sweet and light voice, like a lark their mother used to say, shredded and torn apart into an awful scream—

He exhales. “Have you eaten? I’d usually offer rations but..” He gestures to his lack of equipment.

The mage looks back up to Tsukasa, his expression falling a little. Staring into the fire like he was, Rui could only imagine what he was thinking. He’d seen the fire from afar, but the knight had been directly there—he’d been injured by the accident. He was missing family because of it.

It was only natural for his mind to wander… Looking back down to his knife, he sighed then looked back up at Tsukasa. He gave a small nod. “Did your friend give you anything to eat while I was gone?” He asked, tilting his head a little bit.

“I was going to ask for something, but when I came out of my room you insisted we leave as soon as we could.” He pulls his knees up trying to keep warm as a chilly night breeze starts to blow against his back—cutting right through linen clothes that are a lot thinner than his usual tunic.

“To be fair I don’t blame you at all..” He looks up at the sky, stars slowly starting to come out. “I can wait if you don’t have anything on hand.” Honestly, he kind of does just want to go to sleep. He’s never felt so tired. Completely exhausted despite the nap he took earlier. He wouldn’t mind trying to escape his thoughts either.

The mage stares for a second or two, taking a deep breath before he reaches into his satchel and digs around a little bit. Eventually he pulled out an apple from the very bottom of the bag—something he’d shoved in there from his food rations shelf back in the campsite.

“Here,” He says, tossing the fruit towards the blond before looking back down to his bag. The book he’d acquired earlier just sitting there inside—begging to be read. He shakes his head, shoving the dagger back inside before closing the bag and looking back up to the other.

“It’s not much, but it should hold you over for a bit.” His eyes are locked on Tsukasa’s, just watching the other from his spot across the fire.

“Mm.” He looks at it, takes a bite and rests his chin on his arms as he chews. Phenny’s resting nearby, flicking her tail a bit as she lays with her eyes closed, occasionally opening them and looking over at the fire.

If this is all they have for now, he needs to save it for the horse—Phenny’s their only source of transportation, not to mention that it isn’t fair for her. She didn’t ask to be dragged out on a perilous mission after all. He allows himself another bite before he tosses it over in her direction, clicking his tongue a bit to get her attention.

He goes back to looking at the fire. A little dazed looking. Nights have always been harder… his thoughts wander a lot more when his body isn’t occupied. He also has an antsy feeling, he doesn’t want to rest, even if he knows that it’s important. He feels like he’s losing time that could be spent finding his sister. Some may agree, some probably wouldn’t. He just feels restless either way.

The mage let out a soft sigh, quietly debating whether to say something to the other or not. It looked kinda like he didn’t want to be bothered—not to mention, he probably wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to stay another night with a dark mage. Not that he was exactly too thrilled about the situation either…

But still…

“Tomorrow, I think we should… probably try to leave in the morning, just in case news has spread.” He started, opting to come up with a game plan for tomorrow. “We can try to find food somewhere along the way.” He looked down to the ground, brows furrowed in concentration as if he was deep in thought.

“Okay,” He says simply. He’s not super talkative, and from Rui’s perspective, he’s got this kind of melancholy look about him. He lets out a breath and kind of settles down, laying on the dirt next to the fire, curling up on his side.

The dark mage lifts his head again, letting out another sigh as he saw the knight’s demeanor had taken on one similar to when he’d first woken up.

Maybe not because of pain this time, but still… that downtrodden expression was familiar, unlike the energetic knight he’d seen earlier today.

Nodding his head, Rui stays quiet for a second or two—taking the other’s simple response as a sign that he didn’t want to talk. Honestly, he didn’t really blame him either.

“For what it’s worth, I appreciate you doing this for me. Honestly, you could’ve just turned me in… but you didn’t. As soon as we get to Vivid, we’ll both be out of each other’s hair, and then you can go back to looking for your sister.” He sounded oddly sincere, poking at the dirt with his finger before he found his gaze falling onto those flames once again.

“Well, for what it’s worth I'm sorry for the trouble.” He doesn’t sit up, his voice coming from behind the fire where he’s still just curled on the ground.

“I know that we don’t agree with each other but you saved my life. I’ve put you in a lot of danger just for being... who I am.” He clears his throat, sniffing a bit as he curls up more, shivering.

This person… he may be a dark mage, but he’s been considerate to Tsukasa, at least. Is it really true? How can someone like him really be on the side of corrupted magic..?

For a second, Rui doesn't budge, fixated on the flames before him. His mind swam with different thoughts on the matter, thinking back to the chain reaction of events that had led the both of them to where they were now. And honestly, it really did all trace back to him in a way. If he hadn't found Tsukasa in the woods, or maybe even if he'd chosen to leave him there, none of this would've happened.

And yet.. despite the fact that this was his sworn enemy in front of him, he knew that leaving him there would've been the wrong choice. How could he just sit by and leave him to die? Letting out a soft sigh, he shook his head and finally lifted his gaze, craning his neck a little to see past the flames to the blond.

"Such is life, I suppose. Honestly, I should've known what I was getting into taking someone with your status back to my campsite. Still... It's not really your fault." He threw his hand out to the side before pulling his knees up, resting his chin down on top of them.

"As I said before, it doesn't really surprise me that the knights are out to get me, what with everything going on. It was probably only a matter of time until someone suspected something of me anyways." It was true. Being a dark mage in the general area of a huge attack would probably only lead to trouble in the long run anyways. Perhaps heading to Vivid was for the better. Looking up, he yawned and narrowed his eyes.

"Is the Pegasus Knight cold? I heard that people born under Miku tended to have bodies that ran warm." He teased, mouth twisting up slightly.

“Magic is like a muscle, you know.” Tsukasa closes his eyes. “The less you use it, the less of an effect it has on you. It’s probably because of the four days I haven’t casted..” He blows out a breath. It’s a bit annoying. If he really wanted to, he could cast a little light to warm him up, but he’s too exhausted right now for that.

Rui hummed—If anyone knew anything about magic having an effect on the user, it was him. Though, it was a little different in his case… The corrupted magic he used tended to have certain smaller negative affects on him in the long run, but it was a price worth paying.

“Four days without casting…” He looked down to his bandaged hand, then back up to Tsukasa. He stared for a second before speaking up again. “So is it like an opposite thing, where you get colder the less you use your magic?” He teased once again.

“I’m… more used to dealing with my type of magic, which… has its own qualms, I suppose.”

“Not colder. Maybe just less warm. Is it really so important?” Tsukasa coughs a bit into his arm, wincing. Just because his ribs are healed doesn’t mean he doesn’t have that funky feeling in his chest anymore.

“I was just curious.” The mage quipped back, raising his hands up in defense before going quiet—yellow eyes looking over at the shivering knight, all curled up on the dirt by the fire. Rui stared, different thoughts running through his mind. He might not have been in as bad a shape as before, but… this wasn’t all too much better.

Honestly, he didn’t even know why he cared. If the roles were reversed would Tsukasa care? Would his hospitality just be some knightly duty? And yet…

Letting out a sigh, the mage reached an arm up and unclipped the cloak in front of his chest. He let it slide off before bunching it up in his arms and tossing it over to the knight. “There. It’s a pretty heavy duty cloak. It should help.”

Tsukasa looks at the cloak bundled on the dirt. It looks pretty inviting, considering how cold he is right now.. then he looks up at Rui. “Aren’t you going to be cold?”

The mage looks down at the cloak, then back up to Tsukasa—shaking his head a little. “My wardrobe is a lot warmer than you’d think. At least a lot warmer than what you’re wearing.” He slowly moved to sit back down, pulling his knees back up to his chest as he looked into the fire again.

“You should… probably get some rest.” He said, his mind drifting to the book in his satchel.

Tsukasa looks a little longer at the pile of fabric, considering, before he picks it up and opens the coat, laying it over himself. It smells like herbs, like spice, and smoke. Like autumn. It isn’t long until Tsukasa’s curled up into a little ball underneath it, only his head peeking out. It doesn’t take very long either for him to fall asleep, exhausted as he is.

The dark mage hummed, watching the Pegasus Knight curl up underneath his cloak—another funny scene to anyone non-privy to the context of their situation. Then again, even with context it was kind of hard to believe.

Watching the knight’s serene expression as he drifted off, the soft glow of the fire gently illuminating his facial features and reflecting in the shine of his hair, the mage finally felt comfortable pulling out the book he’d acquired earlier.

The light was dim, but it would have to work. Pulling it out of his satchel, he looked up to check one last time that Tsukasa was asleep before looking down at the ornately decorated cover.

’Tales of Sekai’.

A small smile spread across his face as he brushed his fingers across the surface then slowly opened the book. There had to be something in here about the artifact. There had to be…

And he was willing to stay up all night if he had to, read this whole book in one go if that’s what it took.

The pages are old, worn. Some of them water damaged, and some of them burned, most of them wrinkled with age. Who knows what this book has seen to get in this condition, but clearly it’s been around.

The book starts out with a retelling of the same common myths—the first great war, the powers Sekai granted to the human world, the calamity of the first corruption. How Sekai sealed itself away along with the artifact they originally created as a failsafe—an artifact that would allow the user to harness the magic of all ten deities to protect the world.

Such an artifact could win the war, though the dark mages have the advantage because the Knights know nothing of the artifact rather than faerie tales..

There’s another passage some pages later:

In the grove between two open hands, beneath the light of the blue moon, the Deities convened to seal away the sacred realm of Sekai indefinitely, containing the corruption to the source magic so as not to corrupt the entire world.

Sealed with three stones to be fit into keyholes, the Goddess Meiko harnessed the winds and hid them, remote, throughout the world, not even she knowing their locations. The God Kaito doused the surrounding forest in darkness to shroud the seal, and the Goddess Gumi turned the nearby trees to diamond, so that their branching arms that surrounded the grove couldn’t be broken by steel.

The Deity Flower covered the seal in glamours, disguising it from the untrained eye, and finally, the Goddess Miku inscribed the notes to a melody with a beam of light that, when performed, would open the seal.

The flame flickering at his side, the dark mage was completely lost—in his own little world, engulfed by the knowledge on each tattered page.

The tales of Sekai long lost to the ages, commonly believed to be a myth in today’s society—but not to Rui. Not to the dark mages. Each word on the page rang true in his mind, for he knew that this wasn’t just some common story, nor was this book a common faerie tale—it was history.

His eyes scanned the page, taking in each word as if it was the most important thing he’d ever read.

Shit.

As he came to the passage about the seal, casting Sekai off from the mundane world, a crumbling realization dawned upon him.

The artifact was known to be holed up inside of Sekai somewhere, and the more he read… the more he was realizing that he had absolutely no idea how he would go about breaking a seal with such strong defenses—a failsafe so strong not even all the deities knew how to open it, considering not even Meiko knew where the keystones were.

He may have had strong magic, but to do something like this alone?? It may prove harder than he expected…

Not that he wouldn’t try anyways.

Copping an artifact with the ability to grant the power of all ten deities to the user could mean an end to this war—a sweet victory on the tongue of each dark mage in the nation.

He lifted his head to look over to Tsukasa—almost as if to check he was still sleeping before returning to the book, trying to see if he could find anything more on the artifact itself.

On a page about the artifact:

Sekai’s failsafe artifact is an item of pure magic, sealed once more within Sekai to save it from the corruption inside of Sekai itself. It doesn’t have a concrete physical form—the artifact appears to be different to everyone who sees it. Depending on the human, it takes the shape of that which the person most fears, this being a last measure to ensure that the person who claims it is strong of will and mind.

There are few records of Sekai itself, and fewer humans visited the sacred land in the days before the first calamity. As it was described, it’s a labyrinthine land, an extension of the forest scape that the seal is located in. Littered with stone shrines and ruins, it’s easy to get lost in the cramped yet vast interior of Sekai. Little is known about Sekai after it was sealed, and the corruption within. One can only assume that it has become a corrupted land, likely dangerous, the resting place of ten corrupted gods.

The mage’s brows furrowed, his mind spinning as he read down through the next page.

All this information… While some of it was old news to him, a lot of it went more in-depth than he’d ever heard before. Which was both a good thing and a bad thing. There was so much about Sekai that he was quickly realizing he had no idea about…

“But what about the seal… where is it?” He muttered to himself aloud, flipping through the pages a bit more to see if he could find something on where to find this seal, or how he could access Sekai in the first place. Though dangerous as it sounded, it was something he knew he had to do. He had to.

Rui doesn’t find anything else in terms of location.

Letting out a soft sigh, Rui goes back throughout the pages—rereading certain articles, taking mental notes of different things, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible—deep into the late hours of the night. Eventually, he ends up passing out unintentionally.

He hadn’t even planned on falling asleep, and yet there he was sprawled out kind of awkwardly on the ground, book wide open in front of him, also resting in the dirt. The page it had been opened to was the page about the artifact, and Rui? He was fast asleep. Out cold.

Tsukasa dreams.

While his body lies asleep, huddled beneath Rui’s coat, his mind wanders.. hazy and uncertain, colors blending into each other, strange, unintelligible voices, music.

Some distant melody..

A woman dressed in white, with long hair. He can’t tell what color it is because everything is so bright.. backlit in a shining white-blue glow. She opens her mouth to speak, and it sounds like music—he doesn’t know what she’s saying.

In the crystalline haze of the dream, he’s surrounded by golden and white leaves and flowers. They’re dripping with dew—tiny droplets that hit the ground and ring like chimes.

The dream ends abruptly. Tsukasa immediately sits up—sweating a bit underneath the warm coat next to the fire. While still burning, it’s starting to wane to embers, and Tsukasa looks around, coming back to terms with reality after such a strange dream.

By the time Tsukasa had woken up, Rui had sprawled himself out more on the forest floor—still out cold. The ground around him had been stirred up a little, indicating that he perhaps had moved around in his sleep a bit.

The book laid open, resting just by his hand that was sprawled out above his head. He dreamed as well, dreams involving Sekai—the stories told in the book he’d been reading just before passing out. Having been the last thing on his mind, it was really of no surprise.

Tsukasa rubs at his eyes and yawns. According to the sky, a dark shade of indigo that isn’t pitch black, it must be early in the morning, maybe an hour and a half before sunrise. Tsukasa doesn’t feel the greatest—sleeping on the ground having caused his aches to stiffen up.

He’s hungry too, part of him regrets only taking two bites before giving the apple to Phenny. The horse herself is resting closer to him than he remembers her being before falling asleep, looking surprisingly serene, ear flicking every so often. His mouth is dry—he could use some water, too.

Though, they at least have a fire, softly crackling, and a relatively safe camp at all, so he shouldn’t be complaining. Who knows where Saki is right now.

But despite the typical early morning discomfort, something catches Tsukasa’s eye that wipes away some of the grogginess. Laying there on the ground next to the (almost comically) sprawled out mage is a book—his open satchel nearby confirms his suspicions. This must be whatever Rui had been hiding.

He’s curious. He looks at the open book.. and slowly starts to creep forward..

Ironically, despite it being so early in the morning, the mage had only fallen asleep about an hour before Tsukasa had woken up—which hadn’t been his intent. In all honesty, he’d planned on staying up, pulling an all-nighter to get as much information as he could before the knight had woken up. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to getting very little sleep after all.

His body betrayed him.

As Tsukasa leaned forward, Rui moved a little bit subconsciously, curling in on himself a little, though not waking up just yet. The mage’s monocle was still on his eye, an indicator that he hadn’t intended on falling asleep. Not to mention the awkward position he’d initially been in.

The book page was open to the article about the artifact—the passage about what it was, what Sekai was like, on the left hand side of the page. On the right, there were illustrations to go along with the words.

Tsukasa freezes at Rui’s movement, and after a few seconds, crawls forward ever so slowly before he reaches out and takes a hold of the book. He sits back on his heels, rises, and then silently creeps over to the ground where the coat is laying. Setting the book next to Phenny, he picks it up, brushes off some dirt and sticks, and walks over to Rui. Stupid mage.

Clearly he’d stayed up reading. Tsukasa knows more than anything how important sleep is, it’s absolutely vital to have enough energy for things like what they’d been doing. Even if sometimes it feels like a waste of time, he at least knows better. He takes the cloak and settles it down over him. It’s his anyway.

He curls against Phenny for warmth as he opens up the tome to the page Rui had been looking at. As he reads, squinting in the dim, his eyebrows knit closer together, confusion taking hold.

Sekai..? Calamity..? Artifact? So this was a book of tales about the old myths?

According to what Tsukasa knows, humans were born with magic all those years ago, and wrote stories of the deities, much like modern day saints. This became common vernacular.. and the dark mages entirely corrupted magic with their use of blood. Greedy for power. Or knowledge..

These pages... He turns a few, and then stops dead. Staring at the page. A woman with light eyes and long hair, a blissful look on her face as she reposes in a forest glade. A shaft of golden sunlight falls onto her, illuminating the crystalline blue color of her hair. There’s an inscription at the bottom of the page, and Tsukasa’s heart stutters.

The Goddess Miku.

He’d seen her. He’d just dreamt her. How could he possibly know what she looks like if he’d never seen this before?

The dark mage shifted again in his sleep, snuggling up when his cloak had been placed overtop of him—completely unaware of his surroundings.

He looks tranquil, deep asleep by his body’s own orders. His face was dimly lit by whatever was left of the fire’s glow.

In his mind, visions of the different deities—each sealing off the magic world of Sekai—flooded his head. He would have to figure this out on his own. Figure out a way to break the seal and find the artifact, all while fending off whatever dangers lay ahead inside Sekai. His brows furrowed in his sleep. How was he going to do that? How could he alone retrieve the artifact?

Different flashes of the world flipped through his unconscious mind, and each time he was close to the artifact—he was sent back to the beginning. For some reason or another. His dream was frustrating.

Tsukasa quickly starts flipping through pages, a strange thought planted in his mind. His dream.. the coincidence of this book being here. He suddenly has this tugging on his heart, in his chest, this feelingso strong that he can’t ignore it.

Sekai is real, isn’t it?

But why would it be?? Why is he thinking this now, just from a strange dream, just from an illustration in a book? Why does he feel so strongly? Flipping backwards now past the illustration, Tsukasa lands on the page about the artifact and reads.

And reads.

This.. A secret desire, a flame in his chest, gets stoked, so strong that it feels to him like little embers are flickering off and away into the air around him. This kind of power... it’s not that he wants to wield it.

It could stop this awful war.

It could keep his family safe, his people safe. Despite being the Pegasus Knight, Tsukasa has always wanted to do more. To protect people in general, not just those in the Phoenix kingdom. To be a figure people could look to for hope.. to make them smile.

Could this..?

The gentle sound of pages turning, one after the other, wouldn’t have done much on its own—but the repetitiveness of it as Tsukasa quickly started flipping through it stirred the mage.

His eyes fluttered open sleepily, and he groaned, letting out a yawn as he sleepily looked up—brows furrowed as he tried to figure out where the noise was coming from.

Lifting a hand up to rub his eyes, he winced as his finger met his monocle. Had he fallen asleep with it on? Wait…

Lifting his gaze, his eyes narrow at Tsukasa who was staring down at something in his hands. A book? In his groggy state, it took him a second to register what was going on until he looked down and realized that his book was missing.

Oh no… He must’ve fallen asleep while reading!! And Tsukasa must’ve found his book!!

Quickly pushing himself to sit up, he looked over at the other. “What are you doing?”

Tsukasa startles and falls backward into Phenny, eyes going wide at the mage’s sudden and unexpected awakening. Where the hell had he come from??! “UAAH!”

Rui flinched—not expecting the loud scream from the other, especially not when he was still a little out of it.

“Wh-“ He blinked, squeezing his eyes shut before looking over at him again. “What are you doing?” He repeated, eyes shifting down to the book in his hands. It was definitely his book. “Did you take my book??”

The mage blinked sleepy eyes over at him, though he looked serious at the same time.

Tsukasa blinks owlishly, eyes wide as he stares at the sleepy, accusatory mage. “I was curious!!” He cries out defensively. “Why were you being so secretive!!”

“I just-“ In his sleepy state, he can’t think of anything quick enough to make a convincing argument, so he stutters then rubs his eyes. “I didn’t think it concerned you!! It doesn’t really matter! It’s still my book!” He said, quickly pushing himself up to his knees as he held his hands out.

“W-Wait!” Tsukasa picks up the book quickly from the ground, holding it against his chest. “Hold on! What is all this??” His eyes are still wide. Phenny, behind him, starts to spook a bit at the loud noise, shaking her mane and nickering, and Tsukasa glances behind him, patting her with one hand. “I—I had this dream—“

Rui’s eyes widen at the other’s urgency—his eyes tracking the book the entire time, anxious to get it back. Not that Tsukasa really knew it was anything of importance, he soon came to realize. But if the knight kept the book, how was he going to figure out how to get into Sekai and break the seal? He hadn’t memorized it all!!

“It’s a book about Sekai, I’m sure you’ve heard of it right?” That wasn’ta lie. Tsukasa didn’t need to know it was real, right? However, the mage’s brows furrowed when the knight mentioned having a dream.

“A dream…? What do you mean?” His mind flashed back to his own dream, the neverending cycle of failure that had been attempting to get into Sekai.

Tsukasa puts a hand against his chest, eyes still wide with urgency.. and maybe a little fear. “I had a dream about a woman—and—and she was singing something. Some melody. And—I woke up and I saw her in the book.” He clutches the book. If Rui looks hard enough, he’d be able to see that Tsukasa's knuckles are white.

“It was Miku. In my dream—I know it was. How did I know what she looked like before I saw the drawing of her??”

The mage furrowed his brows, noticing how hard the other was gripping his book. “You… had a dream about Miku?” His voice trailed off a little bit, clearly wandering in his own thoughts. “Was there anything else in your dream?” He asked quickly, not really taking the time to answer any of the questions he had asked.

Tsukasa shakes his head. “Just that song. I.. I can’t remember it..!” He stares at Rui, suddenly holding up the book and pointing at it. His voice shakes with intensity. “This is real, isn’t it. All of this.. These aren’t just myths, are they??”

The mage goes silent, slowly averting his gaze to the side—trying to avoid eye contact with the other.

Damn it. He’d figured it out. Part of him wanted to deny his hypothesis, keep him in the dark about the entire situation, but it was a bit too late for that.

Taking a deep breath, Rui turned back towards Tsukasa and slouched down a bit, defeated. “You… could say something like that…” Was all he said, eyes flicking back down to the book at Tsukasa’s chest.

Tsukasa stares at him, stares at the book in his hand. He shakes his head, looking back up at Rui. “This.. How am I so sure—? How do I know??” He slowly sits down—he has to sit down—looking dazed. His voice lowers to a mutter. “All of this.. it’s true? It’s all real??"

Rui nods his head, taking a deep breath—hand lifting up to run through his now messy hair. “All of it. The tales of Sekai I’m sure you’ve heard since you were a little kid… None of them are myths. The common folk, the knights, the royalty. No one knows the truth.” His voice trails off as he slowly lifts his head, meeting Tsukasa’s gaze.

“I shouldn’t even really be telling you this, but there’s no sense hiding what you’ve already found out for yourself.” It’s not like anyone would really believe him anyway if he were to spread it.

He tries to swallow down the lump in his throat, but it doesn’t work. “I don’t.. I don’t understand..”

“Of course you don’t.” He said, huffing a little in amusement. “All you’ve ever been taught is that these ancient deities are nothing but myths—a story, passed down by generation to generation. You don’t know any better.” He glanced upwards, looking towards the indigo colored sky, ever so slightly lightening with the passing of the morning.

“Besides, the people who do know don’t tend to go around spreading that information.” His eyes met Tsukasa’s again, giving him a certain look—one that could pierce into his very soul if he allowed it. He hoped the other would know exactly what he meant by that.

“I—of course I wouldn’t spread it!” He sounds slightly offended, for a moment breaking out of his shocked stupor. “If I did, people would panic! I’m not an idiot!” He carefully, slowly sets the book back onto the ground, and replaces his heart on his chest. His heart is pounding.. he still can barely wrap his mind around any of this.

“Why.. Why did I dream of her..?” He murmurs.

The dark mage slowly pushes himself to a standing position, walking over to wear the knight set the book down on the ground. “Who knows…” He eyes the cover, ‘Tales of Sekai’, brows furrowing as he reaches down to pick up the discarded book.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you were born under Miku…” His voice trails off a little.

To Rui, all of this was old news. The existence of these deities, of Sekai, of the calamity… It was all tales that had already been told, but for Tsukasa… It was the entire opposite story.

Tsukasa looks up at Rui with wide eyes from the ground. His expression can only be described as.. anxious? Dumbstruck? Maybe scared? This feels almost unreal to him. For everything he’s known, everything he’s thought his entire life, everything he’s fought for.. for it all to be untrue?

Rui’s brows furrowed as gold met amber. He stared for a second, his expression softening a little bit. “Now you can understand why I didn’t want to tell you.” Well, that wasn’t the only reason, but again, Tsukasa didn’t have to know that.

“It’s not exactly an easy subject to digest.” An expression of sympathy flashed across his face, and he carefully sat back down, thumbing through the book a little, this time out in the open where they both could see.

Cautiously, Tsukasa leans forward and peers at the book open on the ground. Mouth pressed to a thin nervous line, he peers at the words and illustrations scrawled on the pages, only hoping Rui will explain more. What a strange turn of events. It feels, again, unreal, but it’s the very opposite of that. It’s incredibly real, and he can somehow tell. He can feel it.

The dark mage was quiet for a second or two, perhaps just taking a moment to let it all sink in for the knight. It had to be hard, having your entire belief system crumble to uncertainty in the blink of an eye. He didn’t know any knight that wouldn’t struggle with the newfound information…

He didn’t know any other knights anyways.

Slowly turning his head back towards Tsukasa, Rui pointed down at the book—his finger landed on an illustration of all ten deities. “I don’t really know how much you’ve heard about Sekai, or the ten deities that reside there. To most people, I know they’re nothing more than myths.” His tone was oddly calm as he spoke, his eyes slowly trailing back down to the weathered pages.

It was obvious in his demeanor that this clearly meant something to him—that there was some greater importance behind all of this. That he wasn’t just messing around with the knight.

“To us mages, however, we understand it to be history. Everything you could’ve ever heard about Sekai—give or take a few tall tales thrown in every once in a while—it’s all true. The backbone of our very society as we know it. The magic we all possess. The corruption and calamity. Everything. It’s all reality.” He slowly looked back up at Tsukasa, pausing for another second before continuing on.

“You probably had a dream about the goddess Miku because in a way, you are connected with her. Born under her domain, you are able to use the power of light. Me, I was born under Gakupo. I have restorative powers, but unlike you I choose to use my own sacrifices and blood as a catalyst.” His voice trailed off, his brows furrowing.

Tsukasa looks down at the illustration. There they all are.. they look different than the illustrations found in the myths. Different colors.. different features. They look regal. Radiant..

“Why..?” Tsukasa finally asks, voice hushed, and he looks up at Rui. He’d never thought to ask just why the mage uses blood sacrifices with his magic. Why, when it has negative symptoms? Just... to have power that’s stronger? “Is it really worth it..?”

The mage was silent for a second, his expression hard to read. Somewhere between caught with something on his mind, and a whirlwind of feelings not even he knew how to deal with.

Then, he slowly turned back towards Tsukasa—brows furrowed. “To me, it is.” He replied, rather bluntly. “You may not understand that, and you probably never will. Us mages, we all have our reasons. Using blood as a catalyst seems like a much more satisfying sacrifice. An actual exchange for stronger power, seems pretty worth it to me.” He said, neglecting to bring up the negative side effects.

Tsukasa doesn’t respond. What he doesn’t say is that maybe it does make a little sense. Not to him, but he can kind of see where the mage is coming from. His eyes drift to Rui’s hands... covered in gauze, bandages, and scars. Could it really be so worth it?

“But..” he starts softly. “Why haven’t more people dreamt of the deities? Have you dreamt of Gakupo?” He traces the lines of the illustration… Gakupo, tall and dark-skinned. A long purple ponytail, the color of the sky at dusk. It reminded him of Rui’s own hair. Often Gakupo was vilified, the one who started the corruption… Tsukasa realizes how little he really knows about these deities. What really happened..?

Rui looks down, his eyes following Tsukasa’s finger across the long purple hair of the deity of restorative power.

“I have dreamt of Gakupo before.” He says quietly, a soft hum escaping his lips as he reached down to put his hand on the page of the book as well. “Not only that, but I had a dream just now with all of the deities in it…” Carefully, he brushed Tsukasa’s hand aside and flipped to the page that explained how the entrance to Sekai had been sealed away.

“I think it might’ve had something to do with the fact that I was reading before I fell asleep. I’m not really sure though.” His eyes narrowed a little bit, and he looked back up at the knight.

“I’m sure you must have questions… or thoughts about all of this. Honestly, I’m surprised you even believe me at all.”

“I don’t know why I do,” He murmurs, and he genuinely sounds confused. He still can’t explain it, the feeling he has. Such a strong sensation of surety. He doesn’t dare to push against it.

“The artifact.” Tsukasa points to the illustration, a shapeless ball of light, radiating a flare of color. “Don’t you think... don’t you think this could stop the war?” Tsukasa looks up, face suddenly serious. “You can’t like this war either. From what I’ve met of you.. all of this death, this destruction.. it can’t sit right with you!”

He looked down to the page, the remaining glow of the fire reflecting in the corner of his eyes as he stared down at the empty form of light.

The artifact.

The very thing he’d been searching for since far before he’d even crossed paths with Tsukasa. The article of unending power—granted by all ten deities at once. Yes, something like that definitely could win the war. The dark mages would have the upper hand. But getting through the seal on his own…

His eyes flicked back up to Tsukasa

’It can’t sit right with you.’ The war. All the death and destruction. At least the knight was right about that, but his reasoning probably differed from the other’s.

“It doesn’t.” He replied, averting his gaze back down to the book, his voice growing serious.

He pauses, letting the silence hang in the air, and then speaks. “Rui. Don’t you think it’s odd? For us to come together like this? Despite all probability?? To both dream of the same thing on the same night??”

He stands up, gesturing dramatically at the book, at the two of them. “It has to be fate!”

“Fate?” The dark mage lifted an eyebrow, his head tilting upwards to cast an unsure look in Tsukasa’s direction. If nothing else, the knight seemed to have gotten some of his energy back.

“What are you suggesting, Mr. Knight? You do realize how difficult finding the artifact would be, right?” He cast his gaze back to the fire, trying to think of how he wanted to word what he was going to say next. The last thing he wanted was to alert him to any plan or secret agenda he might have. Perhaps having him feel like he came up with the idea on his own would help convince him, and so…

“My dream. I was trying to break the seal, over and over again. But each time I was almost there, I got sent back to the start.” He shook his head.

Tsukasa puts his hands on his hips, thinking hard. He finally shakes his head, running his hands through his hair and knotting it a bit in his fingers, clearly contemplating. So many factors… to go on such a quest with a dark mage..? Even one who was against the war? It was unspeakable to do such a thing as a knight. But ultimately this would be for the greater good of the kingdom—of the world! Not only that, but it could help Tsukasa to reach more people, to aid others. It would ensure his family’s safety, for now and the future.

Rui stared for a second, trying to think of something else to say. Something to push the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go. “That being said… In my dream, I was alone. By myself. Perhaps such an arduous journey is not fit for a single person alone…” His voice trailed off, taken on a bit of a crestfallen undertone. A simple ruse, trying to sell the idea that the two of them working together might be the solution—hoping to hint it to him, without having to come out and say it.

“Look, we may have differing views on things, but at the very least we can agree this artifact is important, right? It’s part of the reason I went and found this book in the first place.”

Tsukasa puts both hands on his hips, assuming a pose of dramatic purpose, and he looks at Rui, then pointing at the book. “We’ll find it!” He suddenly declares, eyes wide. “It could be the key to stopping all of this! Think about it! A dark mage and the Pegasus Knight... it could stop the war, it could actually bring peace to the kingdoms!”

A smile slowly starts spreading across his face—clearly he’s getting fired up. “You wouldn’t have to hide anymore. They’d revere you, your name would be cleared! And—I’m sure if the dark mages saw one of their own cause the end of the war—you could cause them to change their ways!!” This last bit of course is reaching a little, but don’t tell that to Tsukasa.

He grins triumphantly. This is it. This is why he feels so sure. He’s bound to go on this quest! Like a pegasus soaring surely across the heavens to its destination, he too has a path to follow—this must be it! It has to be!

Bingo.

Internally, Rui smiled. He’d taken the bait. Too full of pride and perhaps maybe a bit of false hope (especially on behalf of all dark mages changing their ways), Tsukasa had failed to realize that Rui had turned the conversation in that direction on purpose—hoping that the Pegasus Knight would join him.

Surely, with the two of them working together—especially the highly capable Pegasus Knight—they’d be able to break the seal somehow, right? It certainly would be better than him doing it alone.

And maybe, just maybe… they could put an end to this war. Just not in the way Tsukasa assumed. But he didn’t need to know that.

Looking back up at Tsukasa, he blinked. “Do you really think we could do something like that?” He asked, lifting a hand up to his chin. “You’d really be willing to go on a journey with me?”

“That part’s up to you.” Tsukasa scrutinizes Rui, leaning forward a bit with his hands still on his hips. “Tell me! Is that what you want? To end this war? Even if you have to travel alongside the Pegasus Knight? Even if it’s going to be extremely perilous??”

The mage’s eyes met the knight’s, and for a second he had to admit: the sheer determination was impressive, and perhaps maybe a bit admirable, in a strange sort of way. Though, should he have expected anything less from the head of the knights?

Honestly, Tsukasa was probably the best person to go on this journey with, given the amount of training he’d gone through.

Rui carefully grabbed the book and stood up, his eyes never leaving Tsukasa’s. He stared once again for a second or two, before his expression shifted. “Yes.” He gave a firm nod, reaching one of his hands out, letting it linger in the air in front of the two of them. “Neither one of us can do it on our own. At the very least, I think we can agree to be civil enough to complete this mission together, then… go our separate way afterwards…”

He narrowed his eyes a little, then smiled, shaking his head. “What do you say, Tsukasa-kun?”

Tsukasa leans back a bit, eyebrows raising, surprised at the honorific. “Eh-?” He crosses his arms, his expression taking on an... offended? expression? It’s so dramatized it doesn’t seem that serious at all. “What, just because we’re going on a quest together means that we’re best buds now?? Unless you’re implying I'm your junior in terms of experience! Such would be subjective, I’d think!!”

Rui huffed, lifting an eyebrow. “Oh, come on.” The mage got a playful look on his face—amused by the way the knight seemed to take offense by the honorific. His lips pulled into a smirk, and he took a step closer to the other.

“After everything we’ve been through, it’s not like we’re exactly strangers anymore, right? Besides, maybe you are my junior in terms of experience. We haven’t really seen much of each other’s experience. who’s to really say?” He chuckled softly, extending his hand out to the other once again, as if gesturing for the other to shake his hand.

Tsukasa huffs right back, but takes the mage’s hand, giving it a good firm shake. His palm is rough, covered in scars. But it’s warm. Tsukasa’s is surprisingly cold—or maybe not-so surprisingly, considering the conversation they had earlier.

He pulls it away, and yawns. Looking behind him, Phenny’s gone back to sleep, limbs curled up, white coat shining in the firelight. “You should get more sleep,” Tsukasa says, looking to Rui. “You looked like it wasn’t your plan to fall asleep.. perhaps your body is trying to communicate something to you.”

Rui seems satisfied with the handshake, and perhaps a bit satisfied with himself—at the agreement the two of them struck up.

Letting out a soft yawn himself, mirroring Tsukasa, he walked back over to where he had been sitting before and slowly plopped back down. Choosing to ignore Tsukasa’s advice, he hummed. “I’m used to not getting a lot of sleep.” He said, resting his hand on his knees. That being said, he could feel the sleepiness tugging at the back of his brain. Even if he was trying to ignore it.

He pulled the book back out and looked down at it again, letting out a soft sigh. His head turned towards the direction of the sun. The sky was still relatively dark, he’d probably only gotten but an hour’s worth of sleep at this point.

Tsukasa’s brows furrow and he walks over to Rui, crouching down in front of him, squinting. “Here’s one thing you’ll learn pretty quickly about working with me..” He settles down cross-legged, serious look on his face. “I’ve been through some intense training, and the first thing they teach you is how important sleep is, just because of how many rookies would sneak out to practice at night. I was guilty, too.”

He crosses his arms. “We have a long way to go, and we have also intensely trained knights on our tail. Especially Ichika and Shiho. I know what they’re capable of. A lack of sleep could get you killed.”

The mage blinked, brows furrowing at the knight’s concern. He had a point… At the same time though, none of this was new to him. A night-owl at heart, Rui was used to running on a low tank of energy. Was that necessarily the best? No, but it was what he was used to.

That being said… The thought of getting caught by those two knights that had been tailing them earlier was enough to make him at the very least wary. The arrow whipping by his head coming to the forefront of his mind. Only a few inches to the left, or maybe even if they’d been a little slower, and he’d have been a dead man—which meant they wouldn’t hesitate to use that kind of force if they had to.*

“Ichika and Shiho…” His voice trailed off. “Those were the two who caught us yesterday, huh?” Looking back up into Tsukasa’s eyes, his expression got serious. “Do you think they’ve spread the news yet?” He asked, another yawn slipping from his lips—indicating that despite what he had said, he was tired.

Tsukasa nods, letting out a sigh. “Knowing Ichika, probably. She likes to keep on top of things. I can only hope you’ll trust me on this.” He tilts his head.

“You know, the people of Phoenix call Shiho the Direwolf Knight. You know why they call them that?” He waits, not expecting a response. “Because she’s nimble. And she stops at absolutely nothing to catch her prey.”

Rui blinks, eyes narrowing a little. Shiho… The Direwolf Knight. They must’ve been the one that shot an arrow at him. There’s something so chilling about the thought—especially of being caught off-guard by them. Who knew where they were now?

A serious look plagued his face as he looked back down. “Rather harsh, don’t you think? Hunting down an innocent man.” Was he completely innocent? At least he wasn’t guilty of what they thought he was. Such was life though. Such was the war.

Letting out a sigh, he glanced down to the book again and then back to Tsukasa. “I…. I will try to get some more rest, but I still think we should leave relatively early, especially with those two on our trail.” He slowly pushed the book over to the blond. “Here, you can read through it more if you’d like.”

Tsukasa’s serious look evaporates into a grin as if disappearing in a puff of smoke. “Good! It’ll do you well!” Besides, he does think he’ll look over the book... he has a lot to think about.