Chapter Text
“Where are we going to go, Mike?” Holly stammers as they take an uncoordinated turn around another corner, diving into the shadows of an abandoned-looking alley. He can’t believe this is happening, that his father had the guts to do this to Holly. How could he betray his own daughter for the sake of society’s “safety”. He has never liked his father anyway, but never thought someone could hate their children so much as to try and sentence them to death.
It’s at this moment he makes a silent promise to Holly that he will make sure his father knows every ounce of the suffering they have endured. He needs to be taught that pain you sow is pain you reap.
That can only happen though when he gets out of this mess. For the time being, his duty is to get his little sister Holly to safety. Whatever it takes.
“Shh- we need to hide for a bit, and then we can make a break for it.” Mike whispers in Holly’s ear, crouching down to hold her close, engulfed by the cold muddy shadows of the alley. He knows the border with the neighboring kingdom is close by, and if they can make it there, they’ll be free from the persecution they are currently facing. As the sound of clanking armor and boots crunching on the gravelly dirt grows near, Mike puts his hand over Holly’s mouth. She’s trembling violently in his arms, and Mike doesn’t know what he will do if she gets taken from him.
After the guards pass by them, they wait a few minutes just to make sure they’re completely gone before they continue running. Mike can’t tell how long they’ve been running for, but it must have been a while, as they’ve almost reached the border. After seventeen long years of torture, he’s almost reached the freedom he’s desired his whole life. Seventeen years trapped in a house with his monster of a father. He’s finally free. He knew he wouldn’t have lasted another year in that place, but he couldn’t leave Holly behind. Mike couldn’t do that to Holly, like his older sister Nancy did to him.
He didn’t really blame her, though. Because she was the eldest daughter, everyone thrust all the responsibilities upon her shoulders, and if she hadn’t left, Mike knew they would have crushed her. On her eighteenth birthday, she left behind only a trace of herself, a note for Mike to find after he came home from his schooling. It broke his heart that she had to leave him, but after years of harboring hate for her, he finally understood her.
The last straw was when Holly knocked over a pitcher of water on Mike’s desk. Now, usually that doesn’t sound like a reason to take your little sister and run away, but there’s much more to the story than that. She knocked it over without touching it. With magic.
Not long ago, Holly had her tenth birthday, an age feared by most. In this kingdom, what happened between your tenth and thirteenth birthdays decided your fate. Everyone has the possibility of developing magic, some having higher chances than others.
When you turn ten, something inside you just clicks, the dice are rolled, the odds are tested, and you aren’t even aware. Until one day you do something, something you’re not supposed to be able to do. You do magic. You would think it would be an honor to be chosen by some mysterious natural selection, to be granted the gift of otherworldly power, but in this kingdom it is seen as a curse. An evil force to be defeated and smothered.
On that fateful day, a week after Holly’s birthday, Mike borrowed one of her quills without her permission. He had needed to write something down really quickly, but ended up using it longer than intended. She had barged into his room, accusing him of stealing her stuff — in his defence, he intended to give it back at some point — and during her fury knocked a pitcher of water off Mike’s desk, which shattered as it hit the floor. At first he thought she pushed it off herself, but she was nowhere near it. It was as if it fell off of its own accord.
They tried to keep it on the down low, and they were doing so well at keeping quiet, but somehow their father found out. He always finds out somehow, and Mike isn’t above accusing his father of using magic to do so. His mother pleaded with him to let Holly stay, but it was as if all familial ties to his daughter were severed the moment she gained her abilities. That was the day his dad died, at least to him.
“Put your foot here and I’ll boost you up over the wall.” Mike muttered, trying to keep his voice low and draw as little attention to them as possible. “Okay, but how will you get up?” she inquires, voice filled with worry. She shouldn’t have to be worried at this age about her brother’s safety. It hurts Mike to hear her like this, the fate of their lives depending on crossing this stone wall. “Don’t worry about me Holly, I can probably climb it.” He says, forcing a reassuring smile onto his face. She seems to be swayed by it and makes no objections as he lifts her up over the wall. He waits for a minute for her to give him the signal that she made it safely to the other side when he hears the familiar clanking of metal on metal.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. How did they find him and Holly? He has to get to the other side. He can’t abandon her, not now, not ever. “Hey kid!” one of the guards shouts. He doesn’t care about the rest of whatever the guard is saying and starts scaling the wall. “HEY! GET DOWN FROM THERE!” He can’t stop; he has to keep going and—oh shit. He’s reached the top, but his foot slipped, and he has less than a second to process what’s happening before he hits the ground on the other side with a sickening crunch.
“Mike! Mike, are you okay? Can you hear me, Mike?” Holly sobs somewhere to his right. One moment Mike can’t feel anything and the next he can feel everything. The pain hits him all at once. His leg is throbbing, unimaginable pain hitting him in waves, crashing down on him and stealing the air from his lungs. A groan slips from his lips when he opens his eyes; the bright light blinds him for a moment.
He lifts his head, trying to find the source of the pain, when he sees his leg. His left leg is barely visible with all the blood, and his bone is sticking—he thinks he might throw up. “Mike, please don’t die.” Holly wails into his shoulder. “I promise you I’d never leave you, Holly.” Mike says, his voice coming out weaker than he thought it would. He needs to keep his promise. He can’t let Holly down.
He tries to sit up, and eventually succeeds, his back meeting the cold brick wall. “Go find some help, Holly.” Mike says, vision spinning and head reeling more by the minute. “I don’t want to leave you!” Holly screams. He hates himself for this. Why did he have to get injured when they were so close to salvation? No matter what kingdom they’re in, Holly will still be alone if he’s gone, but at least in this one she can live outside of a boarding school (prison) where their kingdom sends children with magic. “I’ll be fine; it’s just my leg.” Mike responds, words starting to slur. He tries to plaster the most convincing smile on his face when the pain in his head becomes unbearable. It’s like it’s screaming at him, yelling as loud as it possibly can to catch his attention. He must have hit his head on the way down.
The last thing Mike sees before everything goes black is Holly’s hands starting to sparkle and glow a magnificent array of purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows, like the most beautiful sunset ever to be seen by man.