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Footsteps echoed against the dark corridor, boots clacking against each individual staircase. Otherwise, the dungeon was silent, save for the occasional drop of water plopping onto the ground from a ceiling leak.
Taking note of the sudden presence, the young man locked in the dungeon shifted his position. The shackles chaining him to the ground rattled as he moved. How strange for someone to come and visit him. Usually, knights only came down into the deepest parts of the castle to give him a single piece of bread and the occasional spit to the face, taunting him for oh, how low the former royal mage has fallen. How foolish was he to think of escaping the kingdom without consequences for his actions!
"You've come back," The sorcerer chirped, his tone strangely peppy despite the grim situation he was put into. "Hello, my knight."
The knight reached the bottom of the stairs. He glanced at the lantern gripped in his left hand, frowning.
"They're planning to kill you." The chevalier spoke slowly. "Tomorrow morning. They'll perform a public execution."
The sorcerer hummed, his smile fading slightly. He saw this coming, it was no surprise. The only thing he was confused about was why it didn't happen sooner. But he didn't mind that, of course. At least he got to enjoy his last few days, albeit in a musty, humid, and dark dungeon in the depths of the castle's basement.
"How are they planning to do it?"
The knight paused. Out of all the questions to ask... why would want to know how he would die? What was he even expecting?
"Hanging." The knight answered.
The sorcerer stared long and hard at the blond in front of his cell, taking in the blank expression on his face, illuminated by the warm light of the lantern.
"You'll miss me."
"I will." The knight whispered in reply. He looked away, not allowing any sort of emotion to bleed through his appearance. Still, he knew the sorcerer was smarter than that.
"Why did you do it, Rui?"
The knight took a deep breath, sitting down on the cold, stone floor. He set the lantern down in front of him.
The mage sucked in a sharp breath at the question.
Why did he burn down those villages? Why did he murder all those nobles in cold blood?
"What a question to ask, my dear.."
"Please answer."
Rui blinked.
Please.
How kind-hearted of him to ask nicely. It had always been in his nature to be kind, after all.
"...I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?"
Rui smiled. Traces of sorrow and regret were written on his face. "It's unfair, isn't it?"
"Why would you do all those things without a reason?" The knight mumbled faintly.
"Perhaps I do have a reason," Rui held up his hand, staring at the golden ring on his left hand. An intricate design was carved into it, with loops and symbols chained together- a promise. "But I've just become so lost that the purpose was washed away as well."
The knight bit his lip. He held out his own hand, reaching between the iron bars to show the mage a ring of his own. The exact same design, the exact same placement on the hand.
"You left me," He croaked. He rubbed the ring gently, twisting it around on his finger.
Rui stared at the two rings.
A broken promise.
"We would have been married by now." The knight breathed out. His words were barely above a whisper, a gentle echo reverberating through the dungeon. "We could have.. lived together. We would be happy. And then you left."
Rui exhaled.
"I'm sorry, Tsukasa."
Tsukasa inhaled sharply.
"You finally said my name."
Rui nodded.
"I wish.. we could have been together." The sorcerer spoke solemnly. "This is all my fault."
Tsukasa looked upwards. He eyed the iron bars pensively.
"Don't say that," The knight replied softly. "It's okay."
"I wish I could kiss you one last time," Rui chuckled weakly, tugging at the chains. He couldn't even stand properly- they were too short.
"So do I." Tsukasa put a hand on the bars, pursing his lips.
He gulped.
"Rui," Tsukasa called out. "Do you remember all those times you tried to teach me magic?"
The sorcerer raised an eyebrow. "I do."
"You were always so adamant on it." Tsukasa recalled. "You even left a few scrolls in my room."
"..I did."
Tsukasa sighed fondly, shaking his head with a nostalgic smile. "After you left, I finally got to reading them. I even took the rest from your room. All your stuff is with me now, in fact."
"Oh.." Rui blushed. Did Tsukasa miss him that much-?
"I taught them to myself." Tsukasa looked away. He was a bit embarrassed to admit it. "Every single one of the spells on those pages. I learned all of them."
"Why?" Rui tilted his head to the side. He wasn't sure where this conversation was going. "Did you think impressing me with a magic show would bring me back to you?"
Tsukasa bit his lip. "Maybe," He muttered, "But there's a more important reason for it."
The blond's smile dropped. He gripped the bars tightly, practically squeezing them.
Rui's eyes widened.
"Tsukasa," He leaned forward. "Why did you come here?"
Tsukasa narrowed his eyes. The bar he was holding began to sizzle and melt away. His hand remained unharmed despite the burning heat.
"I came to get you out of here."
"Tsukasa-!" Rui gasped. He tugged on the chains. "You can't do that- they'll fin out! They'll kill you!"
"I'd rather die than live in a world without you," Tsukasa hissed. He grabbed onto the next bar, watching it melt down and burn into a metallic liquid on the cold floor.
"We'll run." Tsukasa gritted his teeth. He moved from the next iron bar to the next, opening up a space for Rui to exit through. "I have the keys for the chains. I stole them."
"You can't be serious." Rui gawked at his spouse.
"I'm serious." Tsukasa replied with a very serious expression.
Tsukasa stepped inside the cell, moving quickly to unlock the cuffs on Rui's ankles and wrists with a jangling pair of keys he swiped out from his pockets. "We'll run. When we get out of here. I can- I can make an invisibility cloak for us- I've been practicing that spell, and I'm pretty sure I've got it down- and we'll get out of here. Run to another kingdom. Start a new life. We can.. we can be happy together."
He pulled Rui to his feet. The sorcerer stumbled, gasping. He was still processing what Tsukasa was doing.
"You're insane."
"You and I both," Tsukasa whispered, smiling.
Rui locked eyes with the blond. The love of his life.
He was doing all of this.. for him. For Rui. For their future. For the risky, horrifically slim possibility that they would get out of here without any consequences.
"Thank you, Tsukasa," Rui breathed out. He grabbed Tsukasa's hand, squeezing it gently.
"Let's get out of here-"
But before Rui could finish his sentence, another pair of boots began to echo through the dungeon. A pair that did not belong to any of them.
"Tsukasa." The voice called out, strong and stern. The two men froze. Rui could feel Tsukasa begin to tremble.
Tsukasa quickly grabbed Rui, pulling him closer to his chest. Underneath his breath, he began to whisper. The sorcerer held onto Tsukasa's cape tightly, allowing him to complete the spell. It wasn't a long one, but the footsteps coming down began to speed up after noticing the hushed chanting. If they reached the bottom before Tsukasa could finish-
BANG
A sharp gasp and a scream. Rui barely processed what had happened until it was too late. One second, Tsukasa was in his arms.
The next, Tsukasa was on the floor, gasping and panting as he clutched his side. A familiar, all too familiar red liquid stained his clothes, seeping through the cracks of his fingers and dripping down to form a puddle on the floor.
"You thought you could just run away?"
The man at the bottom of the stairs was familiar. It was Akito. In his hands was... a gun.
Where had he even gotten a gun from?
Rui was quick to step in front of Tsukasa. The blond hissed in pain, curling up on the ground as he scrambled to put pressure on the wound before it could bleed too much.
"Step out of the way, sorcerer." Akito hissed, gun in his hand. "You can't use magic here. We have the device on you still."
With a sharp inhale, Rui realized that the paladin was right. He looked down at his wrist. It was a band, originally hidden by the cuffs. But it was tight, and Rui had known from the start that it was there.
As long as that band was on him, Rui was unable to use his magic. A sharp pain, an electric shock, perhaps- would run through his body whenever he tried. And it only got stronger with each failed attempt.
"And you, Tsukasa," Akito spoke. He shifted the target of his firearm from Rui to his colleague behind him. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Tsukasa looked away, curling in on himself further with a bitter expression. He eyed the flame inside the lantern.
"I won't kill you if you let him die." Akito offered. "I don't give a flying fuck that Kamishiro is your husband. He burned down villages, he killed hundreds, if not thousands- and all you care about is the ring your your finger. How selfish are you, to just let his crimes slide for your sick little love life?"
Tsukasa exhaled shakily. His hands were covered in blood. He shifted his position, leaning closer to the iron bars.
"Answer me already, dumbass!" Akito cried out, shaking the gun. "Are you that fucking in over your head?! I should just kill both of you now!"
Rui glanced behind him. Tsukasa still refused to look at Akito. Instead, his gaze was focused on the lantern.
...The lantern. And the fire inside of it.
The fire.
Rui turned back towards Akito. "Then do it."
"...What-?!"
"You heard me." Rui stepped forward, a maniacal grin spreading onto his face. "If you think you should? What's stopping you?"
Akito stepped back.
Of course. He, too, had a weakness. It wasn't that hard to find.
"Y-you..." Akito narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. "You fucking bastard-"
"You already shot your dear friend." Rui pointed out, snickering. "And I'm already on death row. Why not just finish the job? It makes things easier for everyone, you know..."
"Don't fucking give me that-"
"Why? I'm being logical, aren't I? If you want us dead so badly, what's stopping you from just doing it?"
"Shut up-"
"Come on!" Rui threw his hands in the air. "Just do it, you coward! Kill me- kill US! COME ON! DO IT-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP-!!"
And just as anticipated, a sudden burst of flame engulfed the room before Akito could pull the trigger. The paladin screamed, stumbling back and tripping on the staircase behind him.
"Wh- what the-"
Rui quickly took advantage of Akito's shock, swiftly picking up his gun and pointing it to his head. The ripples in the air from the flame's heat warped his vision slightly, but he still persisted.
"You cannot kill me in a way that matters." He whispered, his words injecting poison into the man on the ground. Like a snake slithering slowly around its victim, like a spider watching with glee as its unsuspecting prey found itself caught inside their web. "The anger you feel may warm you now, but it will leave you cold in your grave as you rot with the maggots and insects."
Rui aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. A direct headshot. Blood splattered onto the stone floor, the body before him falling limp as crimson red stained the ground.
"Tsukasa."
Rui looked back at his spouse, who had already began to regain control the fire, shrinking it back down into a tiny flame as it once was. Still, the heat lingered. Rui could feel the sweat dripping from his face.
He expected Tsukasa to get angry at him. To yell at him for killing yet another person, no less someone he knew the knight was extremely close to. But instead, Tsukasa stared up at Rui, smiling through gritted teeth.
"If I take off.. the band," He rasped, "Will you help me?"
Rui blinked. "You're not-"
"I want to live with you." Tsukasa pushed down on his wound, wincing. "I want- I want to.. to be there. To live... with you. I don't care what happens. I don't- I don't care what you do.. I want to do it with you."
Rui stared at Tsukasa for a few seconds, processing his words.
Then, he nodded, and knelt down with a smile.
"Of course."
Tsukasa used magic to pull the band off, and Rui, after a few test runs, healed Tsukasa's injury the best he could. It wasn't perfect, and they would still likely have to find a way to get the bullet out of his stomach. But for now, it was enough.
The knight wrapped his arm around Rui's neck, limping and clutching his side as Rui left him out of the dungeon. They left Akito's body inside and kicked it to the side to give space, and left the lantern as well.
With a flick of is wrist, Rui willed the flame to burst once more, burning the body inside to nothing but a charred pile of soot and ashes, and left it burning.
Well, no matter what would happen after that...
..It sure as hell wasn't their problem anymore.