Chapter Text
"And they lived happily ever after."
Atsushi had read that phrase alot. Afterall, it was plastered in almost every book the orphanage had to offer. The fairy tales, that is. Atsushi would spend hours looking through fairy tales, dreaming about a different life. Dreaming about what it be like to be one of the princes finding his true love, saving princesses from their locked up tower. Fighting off the big, bad dragon in the tower far, far away from the kingdom, being awarded with gold and riches. Or maybe he was one of the kings in a great big kingdom?
But that was Atsushi could do while at the orphanage. Dream.
Because Atsushi was not a savior. He wasn't some strong, knight in shining armor. He wasn't even close to be anything to a king. He knew he wouldn't get saved at the orphanage. No one he knew acted close to the characters in the fairy tales. After all, they were characters with a set script. With set characteristics that they couldn't break, with the most pleasant setting in the world, something Atsushi knew he would never have.
But today....today it felt like a different day. When Atsushi woke up, his back aching as it always did from the terrible quality of the mattress, he could hear the quieted whispers of the orphanage workers. Their hands covering their mouths as they reported to each other, nervousness filling the halls. The anxiety of the adults affected the childern, the childern wondering what would happen.
"What are they planning?" Atsushi heard. "Maybe they've just been having a bad day?" One of the older girls stated, their hands up in the air, trying to calm the younger kids down. Maybe that kid was also trying to calm themselves aswell
"You guys are so dramatic!" A older boy scoffed, lifting himself up from the bed. He sat on the edge, brushing away his hair from his eyes."Let's just do our chores, ok? Let's not get into any trouble today." Whispers broke the moment of silence, before the bedroom doors were opened, everybody rushing to get to breakfast so they could get a good start to the long day ahead of them.
Atsushi went to follow them, but was stopped. "Hey....you." The boy's nose scrunched as if he had smelt something terrible, pushing back Atsushi by the shoulder. "Where are you going? You're on bed-making duty. Get to it." The boy scoffed in Atsushi's face.
"B-but..." Atsushi mumbled, as he tried to step past the older boy. But the older boy blocked the exit with his leg, pushing back Atsushi again. "Are you deaf or just stupid? I said, you're on bed making duty. Do you want all of us to get punished?" The older boy slammed the door shut in Atsushi's face.
Atsushi sighed, looking back at the messy beds. He would miss breakfast....again. "Well..." he mumbled, sighing into the empty room. It wasn't like he was going to get much at breakfast, anyway. It wasn't like he had a great deal of points. Not like the other kids at the orphanage. He probably had broken several records for the least amount of points in the orphanage.
He climbed the flimsy ladder of the bunk bed, struggling to make the blanket look completely flat as he kept kneeling on it. He sighed, pushing back the curtain of one of the windows to get a look outside. Seeing the birds in the trees nearby always calmed his mind. But he saw something different today.
A carriage. This carriage seemed out of this world, with a beauty that Atsushi only saw in the cathedral stained windows. It was a deep, red rich color with gold accents surrounding...well, everything. The wheels had gold on it, the door had a design that featured gold, even the design of the roof was encased in gold. Or maybe it wasn't gold?
The carriage also had horses with luscious white coats that shined in the sun, with leather straps all around their body and snout. "They even have braids...." Atsushi muttered in amazement, his hands against the window. Atsushi shook his head, getting back to tending to the beds.
•⁺˚⋆｡°- 亗 -°｡⋆˚⁺•
"Uuuugghhh!" Dazai groaned, slapping his forearm over his eyes. "This trip is so lame!" Dazai whined, as he had for the past 2 hours. He looked out the window, met with the same view he had been seeing for the entire trip. Trees. Sometimes bushes, but trees. It was all just tall trees and hills.
"Will you shut up already?" Chuuya hissed, his armor clanking with every move the carriage made. Dazai pouted at him, dropping his head onto Chuuya's lap. Chuuya scoffed, but his hands found their spot in Dazai's hair. "I thought I was escorting a prince, not a child." Chuuya tugged Dazai's hair hard, earning him a whimper from Dazai. Dazai got Chuuya's hand out of his head. Afterall, the metal of Chuuya's armor hurt against his scalp, no matter how pretty the designs were.
"But Chuuyyaaa....this trip is so boring! Well, not deathly boring unfortunately. Hmmm....can you die from boredom, Chuuya?" Dazai asked, pinching Chuuya's cheeks. Chuuya raised an eyebrow at that.
"Well, maybe you should try it. That way, I can actually protect someone that doesn't mess around all the time, you idiot." Chuuya snarled, his vowels coming out wrong due to Dazai stretching Chuuya's cheeks. Dazai giggled, and Chuuya responded by pushing off Dazai from his lap. "You've lost lap privileges."
Dazai landed on the ground with a dramatic 'oof', before sitting up in shock. "What?!" He exclaimed. "No no no, Chibi, you can't do that to me!" Dazai whined, grabbing Chuuya's knees, sobbing. "Chuuya....nooooo....." Dazai quietly whined as he sat next to Chuuya, looking like a kicked puppy. Chuuya closed his eyes shut, trying to not snicker. But eventually, he looked out the window, knowing they were close to their destination.
He saw a building surrounded by metal gates, all having pointed spikes as to prevent anyone climbing over the gate. Whether to break in, or to escape. The gates were occasionally broken up with stone walls, all with overgrown vines and cracks. "Safe to say, this building looks ancient." Chuuya thought, his gaze moving to the building itself, observing it.
The building seemed almost like a church. Chuuya would've thought it was a church if he had been a passerby, but he knows what it really is. An orphanage. A poor one, at that. Hirotsu, his superior, had told him this orphanage often times had trouble paying what they owed, and reports that they barley had enough to feed everyone in the orphanage. Chuuya had noticed a small farm in the back of the orphanage, near the garden, he assumed. The orphanage had many stained windows, on both the first and second floor.
"Well." Chuuya stood up, as the carriage came to a stop infront of the gates. He opened the door, stepping on ground for the first time in hours. He held out his hand for Dazai to hold. Dazai, of course, took it, stepping down from the carriage, his heels digging into the rock path.
"This place is...." Dazai made a face, which Chuuya laughed at. "You really think this place has any kids that would want to be knights?" Dazai asked. Chuuya didn't quite know why he asked, knowing Dazai had already figured out the answer.
"Well." Chuuya began, his hand resting on his sword. "This orphanage is obviously wrecked. Meaning those kids inside don't exactly have the best life. Meaning.....we get kids to be knights. Just like you did to me, you ass." With that comment, Chuuya jabbed his fingers into Dazai's diaphragm.
"Ow! Stupid slug!..." Dazai hissed, and Chuuya let out a single laugh at his remark as Dazai was bent over. "Get up, bastard. You need to make a good impression on these kids, as the great prince Dazai Osamu or whatever. Your brother needs a knight so....get one." Chuuya lifted Dazai up by his collar, making Dazai stand up straight.
"Fine fine....." Dazai scoffed. "I'll do my best.....I guess." Dazai rolled his eyes, straightening his collar, and brushing off imaginary dust from his clothes. He looked over at Chuuya, just as Chuuya looked over at him.
Chuuya looked away quickly, and Dazai did too. The horses behind them neighed, their hoofs shifting on the path. Soon enough, the sound of footsteps on grass alerted the knight and prince.
Apologies, your highness." Dazai glanced at Chuuya, making a small expression at the title. Chuuya made a expression back, signaling to Dazai to respond.
"Oh, no worries." He spoke, his tone eariler with Chuuya completely disappearing. The gates were opened, as the man allowed Dazai and Chuuya to enter. "I am the orphanage director. It is such a pleasure to have you here today, your highness." The orphanage director stated, but both Chuuya and Dazai could see through the mask the orphanage director was putting on for them.
"Oh no, please." Dazai reached out to shake the man's hand. "The pleasure...is all mine."