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The sorcerer fell to the snowy ground, a splatter of blood filling the white powder beneath him. He coughed, more blood spilling from his lips. He stared up hopelessly, silently praying to the God he didn’t believe in until just this moment to save him– to give him mercy.
Tsukasa clicked his tongue before raising his sword. However, the knight hesitated to drop it. He merely stared at Rui with this awful look in his eye. It was something Rui had never seen before.
The two had always fought with playful tendencies. Rui would tease him and Tsukasa would argue back. Rui never realized Tsukasa’s arguing was serious. He never realized Tsukasa genuinely hated him. To Rui, it had always been fun and games. Besides, they were friends, were they not? The sorcerer couldn’t tell anymore, especially since he could barely think as blood poured out of him.
He tried to sit up, shaking with every move, but before he could the knight slammed his foot down on Rui’s stomach wound, pressing directly into the flesh. Rui gasped and then screamed out in pain, another splat of blood jumping out of his mouth. He immediately fell back down, trying to cope with the pain by bringing his hands to move Tsukasa’s foot.. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough. Not without his magic anyway.
With the position he was in, there was no way he could use his magic. If he did, it would kill Tsukasa and that was the last thing he wanted.
Even if Tsukasa was trying to kill him..
He swallowed the thought down with the blood that sat in his throat. Perhaps Tsukasa hadn’t realized how far he was going. Maybe it was all some big misunderstanding, right? Afterall, Tsukasa rarely won their fights.. Maybe he didn’t realize how much he was hurting Rui..?
…
No.. That’s not right.
No matter what he tried to convince himself with, nothing stuck. Rui couldn’t seem to believe any of the lies he stammered in defense. He couldn’t bother to find a valid conclusion either. Everything had been so incredibly sudden.
“I hate you.. I hate you so much..” Tsukasa said, his voice slightly breaking like a string ready to snap. He moved his foot a bit more, directly into the injury to worsen Rui’s pain. The sorcerer couldn’t understand. What had he done for Tsukasa to hate him? How was any of this fair?
Within an instant, Tsukasa went to shove his sword down onto Rui’s neck. Though, he stopped it just before it even made a cut against Rui’s skin. It was almost as if he were too scared. His eyebrows furrowed and his teeth clammed against each other with all their might.
Rui looked at him with weak, dull eyes. “..why?” he asked, barely able to get the word out without straining his throat.
Tsukasa shook his head, as if he were too ashamed to admit it. Harshly, a few unwelcomed tears drifted down his face. He took a sharp breath and glanced down at the sorcerer. “You live life as if nothing is wrong, as if everything is fine!” he explained, “How can you possibly do that while everything around you is terrible!? Y-Your way of thinking is naive– it’s.. It’s annoying!” His floor slipped back onto the ground, leaving Rui’s wound. The blonde fell onto his knees and tightened his grip against his sword, leaving the edge just above Rui’s neck like before.
Rui blinked gently, “My way of thinking means I should be dead?” he questioned. His voice was soft. Not even the slightest bit of anger tainted his voice.
Tsukasa looked to the side, as if to avoid Rui’s gaze. He sniffled, “I can’t stand it.. I can’t..” His grip slightly loosened on his sword. “Everyone around us dies. We’re in constant war.. Yet you’re so happy. You come up to people every day with a smile as if someone you cared about hadn’t just died.. I-it’s psychotic.. I.. I don’t understand it.”
Rui could feel the knight begin to shake, carefully beginning to reach for the sword and grab it. Surprisingly, Tsukasa let him. Rui threw it off to the side, leaving it far enough away that neither one of them could grab it. He looked at Tsukasa, moving a piece of his hair away from his face. “..you know, I’m not happy.” he admitted, “Truly, I’m not.. I just..” he sighed, “I know that if everyone’s upset about something, it’ll only make things worse. Someone has to bring that hope, no?.. Besides, I’d rather not think about all of the negative things in this world.. Yeah, perhaps a friend died during a battle or died because of an illness, I’ll forever mourn that person.. But that doesn’t mean I should be sad about it. They wouldn’t want me to be.”
A tear landed on Rui’s chest. The blonde merely stared at him, completely filled to the brim with disbelief. Then, his face scrunched up and he began to cry even harder, dropping his body completely down onto Rui, laying on top of him. He clung onto Rui’s sleeves, sobbing into his collarbone. Rui wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t ever be so sure with Tsukasa. All he knew how to do was place his hand over Tsukasa’s head, gently soothing his troubles.
But it didn’t seem to help. Rather, it seemed to make things worse.
…
Tsukasa slightly lifted himself, just enough to see Rui’s face. His eyes were glossy and his face was red and puffy. There was blood painted across his face from where he had laid his head down. “..I..” he swallowed hard, “I’m so sorry–..” he cried out, placing two hands on Rui’s head. “I’m sorry– I shouldn’t have– I..” It was as if his thoughts were all spread apart, shoving one another around frantically.
Rui simply looked. He didn’t do anything other than that. He just looked. Then, he smiled. It was a cherishable smile. One that was unfamiliar, yet one full of understanding. “..It’s fine,” he said.
Tsukasa shook his head, “No– nono– It’s not fine. Y-You’re going to die and it’s my fault–!” he shouted, the tears continuing both harder and further. He immediately got to his feet, “I.. I’ll take you to the infirmary.. Th-they’ll help you! I–” he went to pick Rui up, but the sorcerer stopped him, placing his hands up in front of him.
Rui tried his best to sit up, “You underestimate me, Tsukasa-kun.” He said, placing his own hand to his stomach wound. Within seconds a warm, red glow came from Rui’s fingers and wrapped around the blood. Almost animatedly, the magic swirled the blood and imploded out, the skin immediately growing back over. Once the flesh was rebuilt, all that remained was a noticeable scar. “..It’ll still hurt, but I should be okay for now.”
Tsukasa lended out his hand for Rui, his eyes still fully wide from watching what Rui had done. He took it and was pulled to his feet, stumbling with a slight wobble. “..Since when did you learn how to do that?” Tsukasa asked, feeling some sort of relief in his heart.
Rui smiled, “Ah, well.. After Shinonome-kun died a couple months back, I made the decision to work on a spell that could heal the injured.. I haven’t perfected it yet, which is why I can still feel the pain.. But uhm..”
The knight’s posture heightened and almost in an instant he dropped forward and pulled Rui into a hug. “I’m sorry– I’m so–”
—
“Tenma-san? Tenma-sann? Is everything alright?”
Tsukasa flinched, refocusing on the moment he was in instead of the daydream he indulged himself in. Ah, well.. Less of a daydream, more of a thought. Most of that hadn’t happened.. Just what he had wished happened. Eh, too soon to regret it now though.
Here he was, at a party hosted by the king and queen to celebrate their daughter’s birthday. Princess Yoisaki was very delighted to have the party, however didn’t seem very pleased with all of the people attending.
Tsukasa cleared his throat, taking a sip of his champagne, “Aha, my apologies! What was your question again?”
The woman let out a chuckle, a fond look on her face, “I was simply curious about how being a knight works. I’ve heard quite a lot about you and your skill~” she said.
Tsukasa nodded, “Ahh, I see.. Well–” Suddenly, the image of Rui’s blood-spilling body appeared in his mind, catching him off guard. He blinked, widened his eyes, and shook his head. “U-uhm.. R-right, how a knight works.. First of all—”
…
“Ack.. uff..” Rui coughed, staring off to the side.
He could feel the cold snow around his body. It felt suffocating almost. He could barely feel his body anymore now that he thought about it. There wasn’t much keeping him warm.
Alongside that, the scent of his own blood– the pure smell of iron– disgusted him. The stench wasn’t pleasant. He hated it if he was completely honest. Even if it surrounded him his entire life and even if his magic consisted of using a bit of his own blood to work.. He couldn’t stand the smell.
Ah, and of course, there was finally the view. The view of more snow and an endless amount of trees. Yet in the distance, you could see the stone wall from the kingdom. It didn’t seem that far, he knew it wasn’t that far.. But he couldn’t bother getting up.
He rolled onto his back, staring up at the darkened sky. He could see the violent clouds arising and turning within the night. The sound of coming thunder. It amused him. There wasn’t much that could help him right now anyway.
He seriously couldn’t process what happened either.. Tsukasa Tenma, the one he claimed to be his best friend and someone he had hoped to get with some day, betrayed him and murdered him in cold unreasoned blood right before the princess’ birthday party.
The sorcerer attempted to laugh. If he was honest, it was very laughable.. It was cruel, too cruel.. Cruel enough to humor him.
He wondered why Tsukasa had done this to him. Why had he stabbed him several times then left without another word..? It made no sense. Nothing did though. Afterall, Rui himself rarely made sense. He tried to cope with the fact that maybe it wasn’t Tsukasa– that perhaps he mistook the individual.
But he could remember every detail about the sword that pushed through his flesh several times. The gray lining against the handle.. The blue and silver details that had Tsukasa’s name directly engraved onto it.. It was very obviously him.. and Rui hated that fact. He hated it more than anything in the entire world.
He slightly turned his head to the side, letting his body continue to bleed out. He could feel his eyes become heavy. A raindrop fell onto his cheek and he chuckled. “..How unfortunate.”
Slowly, the sorcerer shut his eyes and began to accept his fate.