Chapter Text
Hanamaki, by fairy standards, was a large fairy. He was almost as tall as a snowdrop, whilst the average was buttercup height. Hatched from a peony bud, Hanamaki was one of the rarest fairy types around. He had been selected since growing in the bud to become an important member of the fairy society – Aid to the fairy Prince, who was about his age and preparing to be king. His light pink hair matched his soft wings, as well as the markings on his face that identified him as a twilight fairy, a user of moon magic as well as a peony hatchling. These facts combined made him one of a kind, the rarest of his species. His clothes were crafted from the petals of the blue peony he hatched from, gifted to him by the maiden fae who had watched over his bud and made sure he arrived in this world safely.
Now, at 17, he was snowdrop height, best friends with a witch – a forbidden and secret friendship –and the future fairy king, yet he still craved more. His feathery wings itched for flight and adventure beyond marked borders, a desire to discover something no fairy had seen before. Sighing as he stared out through the waterfall, Hanamaki fiddled with the two baby feathers hanging from his ears. The bird feathers were a mark of importance, plucked from a bee hummingbird as it groomed for the first time.
The bee hummingbird in question was a tiny silver specimen that accompanied the Prince at all time. The Prince could telepathically speak with the hummingbird and addressed it as Suga. Hanamaki was admittedly a little envious about how the Prince got to ride a hummingbird when he had to resort to a bumblebee. They were in no means as swift and agile, which meant Hanamaki crashed a lot when the Prince raced him through the grass blades. His brow furrowed and wings twitched again at the thought of flight. Maybe the Prince would be ready soon and they could go.
“Makki-chan~!” Speak of the devil.
“What took you so long, Oikawa?”
“Well, I couldn’t go out in the same outfit again, could I?” Hanamaki glances over his shoulder, lifting his wing to see under it and promptly groaning. Oikawa has crafted yet another balloon flower into a dress, separated collar and sleeves. He wore his leaf and large feather crown, a permanent fixture that annoyed him because the dark green leaf did not match any of his outfits. He preferred the purple-blue balloon flowers, using dexterous fingers to separate the dark blue veins from the lighter petals before crafting them into stunning outfits that were feminine and beautiful. It suited him to a T, as much as it complimented the dark purple swirls on his cheeks that marked him as a user of life magic, the most powerful of all.
“Let’s go down to the pond!”
“The pond? I thought you hated it ‘cus of all the midges.”
“Hmm, well, yeah... But tonight’s a full moon! I read in my books that when life and moon come together over the bright circle in rippled reflection; a great secret will be revealed! Moon is your magic, if you couldn’t figure that out.” Hanamaki stares at Oikawa with crossed arms and a deadpan expression. He still dares to tease, though, because their friendship wouldn’t be complete without tormenting each other.
“I knew you only wanted me for my magic.” With an offended gasp, Oikawa launches himself at Hanamaki and pulls him into a tight hug, slightly crushing Hanamaki’s downy wings. More importantly, his arms are cutting off his air supply!
“No, Makki, no! I want you as my friend! Not just for magic!”
“Ow, Ow, Ow! Oikawa, stop! I was joking and now I’m choking! Let me go!” The hug is released and Oikawa wears an annoyed pout with puffed out cheeks.
“Mean, Makki.” He snickers and swats at Oikawa’s shoulder playfully before stretching his wings to full length and running over through the open windows he was formerly staring through onto the balcony made of an acorn shell, and freefalling. He knows Oikawa is following because he can hear Suga’s silver hummingbird wings beating frantically to keep up. Hanamaki puffs out his wings, feeling the breeze ruffle each individual feather before he finally opens his eyes. The ground is coming in fast, so he angles his wings to slow down and whistles sharply.
Oikawa is laughing in glee before Suga manages to catch him, and Hanamaki swears the bee hummingbird ages about a decade when Oikawa tries to steer him through a cobweb, the silk threads dangerous and sticky if one were to get caught. At the same time, it protects the fairies from unwanted visitors in most directions, except for the entrance to their kingdom, large enough for Hanamaki’s bumblebee to fit through. Today, however, they are trying to escape unnoticed. The hummingbird weaves his way through the webs as Hanamaki wonders where the fuck his bee is.
“TERU, I swear to fuck if you aren’t here in two seconds, I will confiscate your nectar for a year!” The threat ensues that Terushima – the fastest bumblebee on the field – is there within a single second, sweeping under Hanamaki and catching him just before the Peony fairy hits the floor. Granted, he could have landed safely if he’d further angled his wings into a parachute, but there’s something about the freedom of falling that stops Hanamaki resorting to the normal method. Hanamaki clips his feet into the stirrups and grips the front of the saddle made from a rose petal, yanking upwards to assist Terushima in heading after Suga.
“Hurry Makki, the patrol will be here soon.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Oikawa makes a show of darting in and out of the cobwebs, checking for the widest and safest route out of the protective webbing. Once it’s plotted out, he guides Hanamaki and Terushima through it, Suga taking the back as it provides a burst of wind forwards that brushes the thinner lines of web out of the way. Sometimes, Hanamaki is really envious that Terushima isn’t a bee hummingbird instead of... Well... A bee. Actually, he takes that back. He wouldn’t be able to keep up with Terushima if he was anything other than a bee. A bumblebee that has managed to manoeuvre out the cobwebs with much help.
“Ahh, wing room.” Hanamaki makes a show of ruffling through his feathers with his fingers, watching Oikawa’s face morph into bitterness. As much as the prince wanted wings as soft as snow and bright like the sun, he was born with transparent leaf-shape wings of a flecked tawny colour that matching the lighter highlights of his hair. As royalty, the sparkled and glittered, but Oikawa was constantly complaining about how it would look so much better on feathery wings. Hanamaki, therefore, teased him to the ends of the earth about it, playing on Oikawa’s envy to make him surge in annoyance. At least it stops his ego getting too large.
“Stop messing around! We have to get to the pond and perform the ceremony whilst the moons reflection is in the centre!”
“Alright, alright... I’m coming.” Mounted on hummingbird and bumblebee respectively, they set towards the pond. In the moonlight, the midges and gnats are plentiful, swirling around in a tornado formation just above the surface of the water.
“Oikawa! Hanamaki!” At the friendly voice, Oikawa and Hanamaki unsaddle from their friends and flutter over to a black shoe, which leads up to stripy green leggings, and the rest of the body of a witch. They fly up his leg and around his body until they each come to settle on a shoulder. The witch, with black shaggy hair and rich brown eyes, chuckles warmly and softly.
“I guess you guys are here for the event too?”
“We sure are, Mattsun! I figured out that Makki and I are ‘life’ and ‘moon’. It’s our magic! The bright circle was obviously the moon, and we just had to find something that rippled.” Matsukawa nods, almost knocking the tiny fairies off his shoulder.
“Good choice. This pond resonates with energy. I can provide the ripples, but we’ll have to work fast.” The tip of Oikawa’s silky soft wing strokes across Matsukawa’s cheek as he stands, stretches, and then dives. Suga had been chirping pleasantly to Matsukawa’s owl companion – Bokuto – when he tweets a sound like a shriek and darts to catch Oikawa on his back. The fairy prince laughs and Hanamaki rolls his eyes. He waits for Matsukawa to offer him a hand and slowly lower him back to the ground. Admittedly, it’s hard to walk through the blades of grass that come up past his hip, but the earth around the pond is bare so he heads towards it.
Bokuto and Kuroo – Matsukawa’s familiars – are a rare white Eurasian Eagle Owl with grey streaks and black flecks, and a black cat with rusty patches that look like someone dropped a paintbrush on the poor cat. It’s just his unusual splatter pattern, that’s all. They work in tandem to chase away the midges and other unsuspecting beetles that may interfere with the ceremony. All that remains is Matsukawa, Bokuto, Kuroo, Oikawa, Hanamaki, Suga, and Terushima.
And the moon is high in the sky, its reflection a pure white orb on the surface of the pond, still and unbroken.
“Ready to find out some secrets?” There’s no verbal answer as Matsukawa kneels on the ground and places his hands flat against the water’s surface. He pours energy through it, connecting with the essence of nature and kindly requesting it to listen to his whim, whilst his friends were busy. The water complies, rippling outwards from the centre of the pond, and the shiny disk in the middle. It distorts the perfect circle of the moon, but not the ripples that rise up. The sides facing in towards the centre are bright and white like the moon itself, almost shining. The sides that race towards the edge of the pond are dark and shadowed - a representation of the secrets they hide.
Oikawa and Hanamaki take identical breaths in before they fly in a spiral, opposite each other at all times and leaving a trial of magic behind each of them in ribbons that intertwine in a double helix. Hanamaki’s magic is a dark grey with streaks of white that peel away like bark off a tree struck with lightning. This is moon magic, the rarest of all fairy magic and a nuisance to master. But with Oikawa’s help in history and literature, Hanamaki has become quite adept at understanding and using his magic.
Oikawa’s magic is life, a vibrant harlequin green that glitters with gold and silver that burst like fireworks within his ribbon of green, raining down fragments on the ground and water below. The foliage around the pond grows steadily, gaining strength and colour. The pond, however, begins to glow. The reflection of the moon in the centre stretches outwards until it fills the whole pond and the golden glitters of Oikawa’s magic lie on the surface in a perfect spiral. The fairies get higher and higher, closer and closer, until they are dancing with the bodies pressed together. Whilst it is comfortable and willing, the main reason they are pressed so close is instinct. Something is telling them to do this. This is the right way. This will unlock the secret that no fairy has ever accomplished before.
All of a sudden, they break away. The ceremony is complete. Matsukawa takes his hands away from the surface of the water as the fairies land on his shoulders once more – thoroughly exhausted – and they watch as the ripples in the pond continue to strengthen. The outer edge is now gold and the inner edge is silver, as there is no dark or light side. The moon takes up the whole pond, thanks to the inclusion of Hanamaki’s rare magic.
It all goes dark. For a moment, the three and their animal friends are frozen in silence, fearful that something went wrong. Before Oikawa can whine, complain, or throw a fit, the pond erupts in a burst of water and colour and beads of rainbow droplets rise to Matsukawa’s waist height to form a... A pathway?
“Follow it, Mattsun!” Rolling his eyes, Matsukawa obeys the fairy prince out of nothing more than respect. The rainbow droplets are suspended in the air, and as Matsukawa follows the trail, the beads drop to the ground like they were raindrops frozen for only a moment. The droplets are large enough for a fairy to jump on, so Hanamaki glides down from Matsukawa’s shoulder and takes the lead, hopping from one drop to the next with each flutter of his wings. He times it so that he takes off just as the droplet is about to fall, making it appear like he is the one causing them to descend to the earth.
In the darkness of night with little more than the moons glow, these droplets look like glowing orbs of crystal, black like a shadow yet glowing with iridescence. Hanamaki glances over his shoulder to see Matsukawa, Oikawa and their companions silhouetted, and he almost laughs because the shadow of all of them together looks like parrot with a monkey head. The only reason he doesn’t laugh is because the droplet he’s standing on falls and Hanamaki follows it down with a shriek. It’s Tooru who laughs instead, bursting into hideous guffaws that sound like a fruit fly going backwards. Hanamaki narrows his eyes into a glare when Matsukawa tries to hold back a snicker.
“Oh ha-ha, very funny. Go ahead and laugh.” With permission, the witch breaks into a warm chuckle. Kuroo the cat yowls in amusement and Bokuto hoots along. Terushima doesn’t make a noise, but he does a flip which is essentially the largest insult he can give. Suga, bless his hummingbird heart, moves behind Hanamaki and uses his long beak to assist the fairy to his feet.
“Thanks, Suga. Good to see one of my friends cares about my health and wellbeing.”
“You said we could laugh!”
“Yeah, but-... Okay, fair enough.” Brushing himself off, Hanamaki flies back up to the droplets and dances off them again. They lead to the edge of a dark forest, and the fairies hesitate. Bokuto and Kuroo – with their ability to see in the dark – continue on without hesitation.
“What’s wrong?”
“We can’t go in, Mattsun. Teru-chan gets sleepy in the dark and Suga-chan is scared.” Suga squeaks indignantly and flies forth into the darkness. Hanamaki looks at Oikawa accusingly.
“Are you sure he’s the one scared of the dark?” Oikawa looks away with a guilty pout. Hanamaki rolls his eyes and points to where Terushima is buzzing around in a beam of moonlight.
“Watch my bee. We’ll bee back soon~.” Matsukawa side-glance’s the Peony fairy with a smirk.
“That stings, Hanamaki.”
“It wasn’t for you, buzz off.” Oikawa covers his ears and fakes out a sob.
“Make it stop! Please! I’ll stay here and watch Teru-chan, just please stop with the puns!” Matsukawa holds up his pink finger and Hanamaki smacks his palm against it in a high-five. Sure, Oikawa might be sulking, but it sure is fun to tease him.
“Stay right here. Be safe, we’ll be back as soon as we find out the secret.” Oikawa looks up with watery eyes and a sniffle.
“B-But I want to see the secret... M’just scared...” Matsukawa sighs with a hint of a groan and crouches down, tugging at the tiny pocket on his chest.
“Get in, you wimp.” Oikawa wipes away his pitifully large tears and flutters up into Matsukawa’s pocket.
“Thank you, Mattsun.” Hanamaki pays no attention to their little exchange, instead marching over to Terushima and tugging on the stirrup to get the hyperactive bee to stop flying around in circles.
“Listen here, you obese hoverfly. You are to stay here. Exactly here. Don’t go anywhere else, don’t get eaten, and don’t you dare die.” Terushima bumbles forwards and knocks Hanamaki over, which translates to reluctant obedience. A little worried for his friend, Hanamaki keeps looking over his shoulder at the bumblebee as he follows Matsukawa further into the forest. The droplets are still suspended in the air, and Suga zips around them like an obstacle course, whilst Kuroo bats a paw at them as they fall, attempting to catch each one. Up ahead, Bokuto hoots wildly. He’s found something.
“Mattsun, quickly! It must be the secret!” The witch breaks into a run, Hanamaki grabbing onto his shoelace as to not get left behind, and the droplets fall at the speed of rain, soaking poor Kuroo below. He hisses angrily but shakes the moisture off and chases after his witch with puffed up fur. They reach a clearing.
A clearing that should be – is usually - empty. Except it’s not. The droplets form a circle around a heaped body in the middle, spiralling down until the last one hovers just above its nose. It’s a boy, Hanamaki realises, slumped on the ground like he collapsed on his front and fell into a deep sleep.
“I- I think it’s a witch like you, Mattsun.” Matsukawa’s thick brows tug together in a frown, expression perplexed.
“I don’t think so. I can’t sense any magical energy coming from him.”
“No magic?! Is that even possible?!” Hanamaki tiptoes closer to the body – the boy – cautiously, barely listening to Matsukawa and Oikawa in the background. Until one word catches his attention. He whirls around to them with shock, matching surprise and apprehension on their own faces.
“What do you mean you think he’s human?! Humans are extinct! The- The last human was expelled from this world almost 50 decades ago. We only know of them as myths and legends in the oldest books in the library!” Oikawa bravely descends from Matsukawa’s pocket with gently fluttering wings, waving away a worried Suga who tries to keep him from going too close to this... This ‘human’. He’s probably just being a little paranoid about the safety of the prince, however, since both Kuroo and Bokuto seem perfectly content around the boy. Hanamaki trusts their judge of character as he reaches out and places a hand just a millimetre from the boy’s face.
He channels his magic through his fingertips, summoning a soft greyish glow to illuminate the face of this mysterious being. The angles of his face cast shadows across skin that Hanamaki notices is much darker than his, and a little darker that Matsukawa’s. He has eyelashes to rival Oikawa and cute little creases around the corners of his mouth from where he’s obviously smiled a lot. There are also furrows around his eyebrows where he must have frowned a lot too, so Hanamaki reckons this boy is a very expressive person. The longer he studies this ‘human’, the more he notices tiny sunspots across his skin, little freckles that wouldn’t be noticeable at first. He moves backwards to get a larger picture, and instantly stops breathing.
Bright green eyes with flecks of brown are staring straight at him, wide with a mixture of awe and fright.