Chapter Text
Six years ago
The Togami Castle- The King’s Balcony
Byakuya was standing one of the balconies with his father. It was something they often did- they would look over their kingdom, Veritae, and then his father would tell Byakuya a story. Sometimes it would be about their kingdom, sometimes it was centred around the magic they possessed and other times it was about something more personal, about Father himself.
And this day was no exception to that. Father’s arm was around Byakuya’s shoulder in an almost protective manner, something which Byakuya was quite used to by now. Father had done that for as long he could remember.
“One day, all of this will be yours,” Father began, the arm that wasn’t around Byakuya’s shoulder pointing to their empire. His voice was soft, yet still managed to get Byakuya’s attention. It always did.
His pointy ears twitched a bit as he looked up at his father, a slightly confused look present on his face. “Why, Father? Why will it be mine? I’m the youngest after all,” He pointed out, his father’s words not making sense.
He was the youngest of fifteen children, so it didn’t make much sense as to why he would become king just like his father. It made much more sense for that role to go to his oldest sister, Asagao. But for some reason, that didn’t appear to be the case.
Byakuya was quite confused and it didn’t help that this was the first time he was hearing about all of this- he was already ten! He was mature enough to know about something like that, he was already in the double digits.
And while his father was telling him now, Byakuya was still quite confused. This didn’t seem like the thing to bring up at such a moment.
But Byakuya was probably wrong about that- this was Father after all. He was a powerful and wise king, he knew what he was doing at all times. It was the reason why their kingdom was doing so well, it was why he was practically adored by the commoners. So, there was no reason for Byakuya to doubt him- Father never did anything without a good reason.
“Well, little one,” Father began as he looked down at Byakuya. He removed his hand from Byakuya’s shoulder and with a wave of his hand, the balcony was filled with purple projections. “This was your magic initiation, remember?” He asked as he pointed to one of the projections.
It was one of Byakuya, one that was indeed his magic initiation- and event to see how much magic an elf had. Though, it was also much more than that, for most elves it was a life changing event. Magic was a very important part of society after all. So, how powerful one’s magic was and what kind of magic they were the best at was very important.
His initiation had gone very well- as it turned out, he possessed a lot of magic. That could be seen in the way the magic circle around him had lit up, something Byakuya could now see for himself in the purple projections of his father.
The magic seemed to burst out of the circle, heading straight for the sky. Once it had reached its limit, it exploded in thousands of little snowflakes, proving that his magic of speciality was ice magic, just like Father’s. Though, that hadn’t been very surprising- Byakuya’s skin had always been very pale, almost to the point it was just white. That combined with his icy blue eyes and the fact he never got cold, even in the times it was freezing, made it not very surprising.
But at his father’s question, Byakuya just nodded. There wasn’t anything he needed to say, so he just stayed quiet. His father was telling a story, so it was only polite for him to remain silent until his voice was needed.
“Then I’m sure you remember the result of it as well,” Father continued as he flicked his wrist once more. This time, the magic that was around the circle where the projection of Byakuya was standing shot up, recreating the moment that had happened four years ago.
“Your magic will grow to be very powerful. As powerful as mine even,” The older man said, looking down as his hand for a moment. It was glowing purple as a result of him currently using his projection magic. “Your siblings’ magic won’t. While they are far from weak, they will never have the strength to lead this kingdom.”
He then looked down at Byakuya again. “As such, you will become the new king when you’re old enough.”
Oh. Now that Byakuya thought about it, that made a lot of sense!
But of course it did, otherwise Father wouldn’t have said it. It was stupid for Byakuya to have thought otherwise. Father was always right after all- there’s no reason for Byakuya to doubt him. Ever.
“And when will that be, Father?” He asked with big eyes. He couldn’t help but be quite excited at the thought of becoming king- he had never thought that would be possible. Byakuya was sure that if he had a tail like some of the servants, it would be wagging.
Father let out a soft chuckle and reached down to ruffle Byakuya’s hair. “At least until your of age, little one. No need to take things so hasty, you’re still quite young,” He said with a kind smile on his face. “But in those years leading up to it, you’ll learn everything that you’ll need to learn to become a great king.”
“Really?” Byakuya asked with a tilt of his head. While it was normally quite unbecoming for a prince as himself to show such emotions, today seemed to be a special day. Besides, it was just him and Father right now. “I will really become just like you?” He continued to ask, a hint of excitement present in the prince’s voice.
The older man let out a chuckle again, this time a more amused one. “Yes, little one,” He said with a nod. “You’ll become just like me.”
Present day
The Togami Castle- The Crown Prince’s Room
Byakuya let out an annoyed sigh as he heard a knock on his door- he was reading and didn’t wish to be interrupted. Despite that though, he flicked his wrist, which caused the door to open.
On the other side of the door was his so-called advisor, ‘friend’ and servant, Chihiro. Not that the boy actually did any advising nor did Byakuya see him as a friend. He was merely hired to do whatever Byakuya didn’t want to. So, assistant was a much more fitting role for the boy.
“Hello, Your Highness...” Chihiro began softly, his tail disgustingly swishing behind him. The only good thing about his tail was that it wasn’t fully fluffy- only the end had some fluffiness to it, like the tail of a unicorn- like some of the other servants, his guard dog for instance.
“What it is, halfling?” Byakuya asked in a harsh tone, going to sit upright in his bed as he put his book down. By the way Chihiro shivered as soon as he spoke, the temperature had gone down quite a bit it seemed. Byakuya himself hadn't noticed.
Good. It was what the filthy halfling deserved for rudely interrupting his free time.
Chihiro looked down at the ground, his tail curled slightly. “T-the king wishes for you to join him for dinner, it’s almost ready,” The boy explained, his pointy ears twitching nervously with every word he spoke. Byakuya would’ve found it annoying if he wasn’t already used to it by now.
But at Chihiro’s words, he rolled his eyes- Byakuya had expected something more serious, not just mere dinner. There was nothing special about that, the two of them often had dinner together. The only times when they didn’t was when Father had something important going on.
With a sigh, he stood up. “Very well. I suppose I’ll go then,” The blond said, walking away without another word. He had half a mind of slamming the door but decided not to do that.
Instead, he just waved his hand to make a small layer of ice appear beneath Chihiro’s feet. Like expected, that caused the boy to trip. Obviously, it would hurt the creature, but it didn’t need to do so. It just served as a warning.
That should learn the halfling not to interrupt his free time again.
While he had quite a bit of free time, it didn’t mean the halfling had the right to interrupt him, even for something like this. He simply should’ve been informed of this beforehand, not minutes before when the dinner was supposed to happen.
It meant he didn’t exactly have time to make himself look nice, but that wasn’t important. Byakuya looked good enough- he made sure of that at all times- and this was just a dinner with his father, it didn’t matter if he didn’t look absolutely perfect.
So, other than running a hand through his hair as he walked through the halls of the castle, he didn’t bother fixing his outfit, it simply wasn’t needed. Nor did he have the time for it- in a matter of minutes, he had already reached the dining room.
Inside was a large table, one that could easily fit Byakuya and all of his family- so, his siblings, Father, and his grandparents. Today though, it was just him and Father. His siblings didn’t live in the castle anymore since they were simply old enough to live by themselves. Obviously, they visited, but if that was the case, Byakuya would’ve known it. They never visited unannounced.
No, they weren’t there. Sitting alone at the head of the table was Father, and him alone. Food was also there, though it was still covered. Byakuya took a seat on his right and greeted his father with a nod.
“Hello, Father,” He said, his polite quite a bit politer than it had been with his servant. “I hope I’m not late, I just learned that we were having dinner together. The servants didn’t feel like they should’ve told me sooner, it seems,” Byakuya explained, his voice a mix of disappointment and disgust at the servants’ actions- there was no reason for this.
Father let out a soft chuckle, “It’s quite alright. The servants can’t do anything at the same time. Besides,” The king began as he removed the coverings from the plates of food. He began to fill his plate and gestured for Byakuya to do the same as he continued to talk. “They’re quite busy right now. There’s a lot of work to do.”
Right. The coronation. Byakuya’s coronation.
It was the event that would crown him as the Crown Prince, making his unofficial title official. It was a rule that the Crown Prince could only be chosen once the last child had turned sixteen, which Byakuya had just a few weeks prior- which would be exactly a month on the date of his coronation- and while It had been known for years who was going to take over after Father, the coronation was still needed.
Byakuya supposed it would be nice to have it finally confirmed, but at the same time, he wasn’t entirely looking forward to the coronation. This wasn’t due to the coronation itself, but the fact he had practically no say in it.
His father was making all the choices surrounding it, big and small. And as somebody who liked to make the choices himself, it was... annoying to have no power. But on the other hand, as soon as he was crowned as the Crown Prince, he would gain a lot more power- political power, nothing would change concerning his magical abilities- so that at least was something nice.
Byakuya nodded in response to his father’s words, “I know, Father. Was that the purpose of this dinner?” He asked, taking a bite of his food after doing so before continuing to talk. “To talk about the coronation?”
“Not exactly, Byakuya,” Father began with a slight shake of his head. “It was mostly meant as something nice. Though, the coronation was part of it. It’s in a week already after all. And, well-” He continued before cutting himself off with a hiss.
Father immediately put a hand to his forehead while his eyes were closed. His fingertips glowed purple as he tried to make the headache go away, not that it would work. Byakuya knew that by now. It never worked, no matter how much the man tried...
All it would do was make it so the pain would momentarily go away, nothing more. For some stupid reason, Father’s healing magic refused to work on his headaches, no matter what spell he tried. It was annoying and Byakuya hated it, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it- that was what his father always said.
But that didn’t stop Byakuya from being... concerned. He hated seeing his father like this, all weak and in pain. Even if his headaches were something that happened two times a month at most, it still bothered Byakuya a bit. He just didn’t like it.
“Father?” He began, his voice softening immediately. “Are you alright?” Byakuya continued to ask, even though he already knew the answer. He always got the same answer.
Father nodded, a slight smile on is face. “Of course, son. There’s no need to worry about me,” He said, dismissively waving his hand as if to strengthen his point. “But, onto your coronation. There’s still a lot to discuss after all.”
Byakuya could only nod at that- he already knew that the discussing was mostly just going to be his father telling him what was going on to happen instead of an actual discussion taking place. And even if that were annoying, he couldn’t exactly say anything about it.
In the end, his father was also his king after all.
Present day
The Outskirts-???
“Are you... sure this is our only choice, Kyoko?” Makoto asked, his voice slightly hesitant. While he trusted and adored Kyoko more than anybody else- though, he couldn’t just tell her that last part- he was still slightly hesitant about her plan. He didn’t want people to get hurt.
Kyoko let out a slight sigh, most likely annoyed by Makoto’s question by now. Makoto couldn’t blame her- he had been asking a lot of question. “We all know the answer to that, Makoto. The king isn’t a good person...” She trailed off, a tight frown present on her face.
“That doesn’t mean his son should pay for it...” Makoto mumbled, though at this point, he knew that there was no changing their minds.
“He’s not gonna get hurt!” Hina piped up, a reassuring smile on her face. “We just need to... use him so we can take down the king.”
“You mean to use him as leverage so the king has no choice but to surrender.”
Sakura sighed, a deep frown etched onto her face. “We don’t have much of a choice. We need to stop the king,” She began to explain, her look softening slightly as she looked down at Makoto. “But there’s also no need to hurt the young prince.”
“Don’t call him young. He’s, like, our age I’m pretty sure...” Hina said before turning to Kyoko. “Right? I mean, you’re the elf expert here...”
Kyoko rolled her eyes, “Just because I’m from his kingdom does not mean I know everything about the royal family,” She said in a slightly annoyed tone. Makoto was probably the only one who could sense the slight lie in her words. “But yes, I believe he’s our age. But don’t let that fool you, his magic is anything but weak.”
“Ice magic, right?” Makoto asked the girl, earning a nod from her. “Good, then you should be able to take care of that with your own magic...” He said, wishing he could be more of help. But despite being a wizard, he was absolutely terrible at magic. He barely knew any spells, unlike his sister. And even then, the spells he did know never seemed to work correctly for him...
Kyoko hummed, “Mhm. But that isn’t the only magic he knows. Nor is he the only person we should worry about,” She began to explain. “Before we even can get to him, we have to take care of the castle guards. And there are a lot of them as far as I can remember.”
“Me and a few others can take care of them,” Sakura said as she crossed her arms. “We have the element of surprise with us, as such we have an advantage.”
Hopefully...
Makoto really hoped that Sakura was right- he didn’t want anybody here to get hurt. He just couldn’t wat until everything was over, when he finally could be happy. When things would finally be peaceful.
“Exactly. Me and Makoto will go after the prince then,” Kyoko said with a nod, glancing slightly towards Makoto. “More isn’t needed. If anything, that’ll only draw more attention to us.”
“As if going to the castle won’t already do that...” Makoto mumbled with a shake of his head. He still wasn’t fully on board with this plan- it just seemed too risky.
That caused Kyoko’s full attention to move towards him- which wasn’t exactly a good thing, that much Makoto was sure of. “Do you have another plan then? I’m open to suggestions.”
Makoto fell quiet at that- of course he didn’t have any ideas. Kyoko was the leader here, she was the one that always came up with the best plans. Meanwhile Makoto was a wizard that struggled with any spells that were considered intermediate. He was always told that his magical abilities hadn’t developed fully yet, that something in his body- he couldn’t remember what- had to... burst, letting the magic flow through him.
But he doubted that was the case, it was most likely just a lie.
However, that didn’t mean he could be useful for once. All he had to do was come up with a better plan, one that was less risky. And Makoto could do that... hopefully. He just had to say the first thing he thought of and with a bit of luck, it would make sense. He couldn’t keep Kyoko waiting after all.
“What if...” He began, his voice a bit hesitant. That obviously wasn’t anything good, so he tried to cover it up with a deep breath. “What if we... take him when he isn’t in the castle? That way there would be much less security.”
Kyoko hummed, “You know what, that could actually work. If we manage to cause a commotion, we can use that to our advantage and kidnap the prince without anybody noticing,” She explained before gracing Makoto with a slight smile- it was barely visible, but it always succeeded in making Makoto’s heart melt. “Good job, Makoto.”