Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yuuichirou Amane’s life has never been quite easy.

One of the chilly mornings of October, he was born in a small farm on the outskirts of an unexceptional village. Even through the difficult childbirth lasting many grueling, long hours, he’d survived; his mother, however, had not.

Being the family of immigrants, they didn’t have any relatives or acquaintances to turn to. Yuuichirou’s upbringing was left solely in his father’s hands. There was no way he could manage taking care of the boy and the few animals on the farm while going to work, so he made the only choice that occurred to him; he borrowed money from a rich man in their village. It took a lot of begging and promising until the man finally complied, making an agreement of paying the money back in a certain amount of years.

So his father could make money again and pay back in time, Yuuichirou labored on the farm since he was a child, and once he was old enough, he began going to work as well. As Yuuichirou grew older and helped his single parent more, things were finally starting to get easier and they seemed to be able to pay the loan before the deadline.

What they didn’t expect was the harsh winter after Yuuichirou’s eighteenth birthday. A huge part of animals on the farm of theirs had died of either hunger or cold. His father caught a nasty disease that had him bedridden, weak and unable to work once again. Yuuichirou spent all the time he could at his job, but the money he earned went to food and his dad’s medicaments. It continued like this for months. He was barely sleeping or eating, working from early morning to late night hours, and it still wasn’t enough. Not only nearly all of the money they saved for the loan were gone, but his father was not getting better.

And then it happened. Yuuichirou came home to find the body in his father’s bed lifeless and empty, like a shell without the snail. He cried and mourned for days, but eventually he dig up a grave and held a funeral of one participant. He couldn’t afford to grieve over him any longer; he knew the people of the richman’s would be coming soon. The boy managed to give the rest of the animals to their closest neighbours, who accepted them with sceptical gazes and paid him in few gold coins.

It was less than a week after his father’s death that he heard knocking on the door. He was just in the middle of packing a small bag for the trip; yet, as he looked through to window to see a group of well dressed men, he knew there would not be time to take anything else. Once the men found out he didn’t have the money, they would take him instead and force him to work as a slave for them and their master; his dad had told him enough of what the slaves endure for him to know that it was not the position he wanted to end up in.

Yuuichirou hung the backpack over his shoulders, leaped for the back door and sneaked out as quietly as he possibly could. If they didn’t find him home, maybe they’d search the village instead and that would give him some time to escape, or even lead them in the wrong direction. Right next to the back door was a fence of the now empty pasture, leading down to river that hid in nearby forest. He crouched down in the moist grass and began crawling towards the water, not looking back as to not slow himself down any more. Reaching the beginning of the grove, he slid down a small slope of grass and ran to the stream. His father made a wobbly, but dry wooden bridge across the river a while ago. If he crossed it and got to the forest on the other side, he couldn’t be spotted from the house anymore and he could hide in some of the higher trees.

The bent silhouette of a person kneeling beside the water had nearly had Yuuichirou stop in his tracks, but he only sped up his pace to sprint for the bridge. On a closer look, it was a man dressed in a rather fancy dress, which immediately sent warning signs to his brain. The guy seemed to be busy filling a dozen of empty bottles by the liquid to pay much attention to the running person behind him. He looked at Yuuichirou once, then returned to his task. After few seconds, he finally realized who he was looking at and what was the deal with him sprinting so fast.

“HEY! He’s here!” Yuuichirou heard the man exclaim from behind him, feet scattering the stones under him as he abruptly stood up.

“Shit…!” he hissed through his teeth. As he reached the end of the bridge, he pulled up an old and rusty machete from the sheath that he slid behind his waistband just mere minutes ago. The blade cut through the old wood and sent the wooden bridge in large pieces down the river.

The boy furiously scrambled up the steep hill on the other side of the river, gripping some of the roots peeking from the ground to not fall back. Down by the water, there was the sound of horseshoes ringing on the rocks, along with shouting of men. That was not a good sign; with horses, they could hunt him down faster, and would get tired of chasing him way later than they would on foot. Fortunately for him, with horses they would also have trouble threading through a forest with trees that close together.

He didn’t really think of where he was going. Away from the village, that was for sure, but in this particular direction, he had no idea what to find. Not that he had any idea of what to look for , either.

The hollering behind him reminded Yuuichirou that his main and only goal was to get away. He rested his hand on a bark of a nearby tree to support himself, and tried to catch his breath. Through the leaves, he could see the sun was getting higher, signaling that it was about to be noon. Turning around, emerald eyes frantically searching his surroundings, he saw no signs of his persecutors. Nevertheless, he knew there was no reason to rest on his laurels, and broke into a run once again. The trees passed by him in blurry lines, branches creating minor scratches into his skin and roots trying to make him trip. He felt tears gathering in his eyes, caused by the sharp wind hitting his skin.

Just when he began to feel as if he’s been running for hours, the forest around him suddenly came to an end and he found himself on the edge of a large field of long grass. His knees collapsed under him and he fell down between the straws, his lungs burning and muscles aching, the effect of adrenaline in his blood slowly wearing down.

After a few minutes of calming both his breathing and mind down, Yuuichirou raised his head to study whatever the place he managed to reach looked like. In front of him was stretching a landscape of woods and meadows, reminding him of his home far too much. Still, it was different here; there were no little houses scattered here and there, no fields for planting, no paths beaten by people… No trace of humans whatsoever. A gust of wind hit his cheek, but this time, gently. He’d have to find people later anyway, but for now, weird as it was to think, he was glad to escape his native village.

Horse neighing cut through the air, chilling Yuuichirou to the bone.

He didn’t have to remove the raven locks covering his eyes to see the party of men on horses, shuffling around in one place, not even two hundred meters away from Yuuichirou. They didn’t seem to have noticed him yet, but that was only a matter of time.

He began to step back to hide behind the trees, careful not to make a movement too fast. Just as he was about to enter the shadows of the forest, he saw the leader of the chasers turn his head in his direction, his sharp eyes locking with his even through the distance.

Yuuichirou cursed under his breath, seeing as the man commanded and the horses went after his almost immediately. That much for taking a break.

There was no way he wouldn’t get caught in an open space, so he aimed for the inconspicuous ravine not too far away. The horses will have trouble getting up the hill, an before their riders climb down to chase him themselves, he should be able to disappear on the other side…

An arrow missed his left shoulder by a few centimeters, sinking into the ground until only half of its fletching was visible. Oh, shit. He genuinely didn’t expect the men to start shooting arrows at him, but it seemed that at this point, they gave up on bringing him back alive and only wanted to get revenge on him for giving them such trouble. After all, if they did catch him, he would be paying them by his life anyway.

Before he reached the rim of the meadow, two more arrows almost made their way through his flesh; his only luck consisted in the men not being able to aim well, bouncing up and down on the horses’ backs. Yuuichirou got down into the bottom of the ravine in a couple of seconds, climbing up right after. He cast a glance back, seeing that they’ve arrived at very same spot he occupied only moments before. That turned out to be a mistake on his part, as the head of the next arrow buried deep in his shoulder blade.

Yuuichirou let out a cry of pain, a grimace twisting his face. His pursuers, seeing that he was now weakened, went after him right away. He shut his eyes, then opened them again, gazing at the rays of sun peeking through the crowns of conifers up there.

He couldn’t give up now, he can’t. For his father, for himself… He didn’t go through all of this to be just caught one day and spend the rest of his life as a slave-

With a groan, he pulled himself up the last few meters of the slope, collapsing on top of the grassy hill. He didn’t allow himself more than a second of rest though, breaking into a slightly wobbly run.

The hillside he decided to get down in the vale with was steepier then he had thought, but there was no way to go back and find another way. He stumbled down, crashing into rough tree trunks to avoid getting too fast and breaking his bones in the process. After a while, his vision was swimming, and when he encountered a sudden edge of a cliff, he didn’t have enough balance to stop himself from tumbling over. Although the rocks on the side of the cliff did slow his fall down, they bruised and injured him terribly in return, disregarding the arrow still stuck in his back.

He reached the foot of the hill and lay still for a few moments, unable to move due to the immobilizing pain. When he finally raised his head, he noticed the small cottage right in front of him. The house was overgrown with living and dead plants alike, the inside of the petite building dark, various ceramic objects scattered around the old walls. The wooden, tumbledown fence seemed to have rather a symbolic function than a protective one. The rocks surrounding the area were throwing dark shadows all over the place, even though the afternoon was only beginning to turn into an early evening.

Yuuichirou stood up on unsteady legs, gripping the pierced shoulder by his other hand. If somebody lived there, maybe they could help. Even if it was only for the night, maybe they could give him some water and a shelter until the group of pursuers moved on…

As he took two steps forward, he saw a figure of a man stepping out of the cottage. Then, his vision went dark.

Chapter Text

The first thing signalizing that he’s woken up was the low rumbling in his ears, along with the feeling of a way too soft mattress embracing his back and a fluffy pillow tucked under his head.

Yuuichirou’s eyelids fluttered open, but due to the darkness he was currently placed in, it felt as if he’d never even opened them. His ears haven’t reported back to him much either; it was quiet, creepily so.

Sitting up slowly as to not irritate his already aching head, Yuuichirou ran a hand over his upper back, only to find the arrow gone and the gash patched up neatly. It still hurt to move; nevertheless, after a short while in which his eyes adjusted to the very dimly lit room, he made a move to stand up. It didn’t really go according to his plan though, as the second he rose, the door opened, blinding him and causing him to fall back on the bed in an undignified manner.

Once he adapted to the change of the amount of light in his surroundings again, his gaze focused on a male figure standing in the doorway. Long, light hair fell down his shoulders, clad in a flowy, noble robe. His ivory white skin had almost the exact shade as his loose attire, folding in waves on the ground beside the man’s long legs. There was a calm expression on his face, lips turned up into a slight smile. Only his eyes - the pupils merely an indistinct ring of darker shade in a field of a reddish colour.

The man took a step closer, and Yuuichirou immediately drew his legs back on the bed, pulling himself into a defensive pose. Realizing how he acted upon seeing his evident savior, Yuuichirou flushed red and uncurled once again, staring down at the colorful carpets on the floor rather than at the man’s face.

A quiet, velvety laugh was heard. Warily, Yuuichirou peered up. “Ah, I see that my patient has woken up! Good morning.”

The man closed the door, flicked his slender fingers and the few lamps scattered across room lit up a red flame, creating a warm, cozy feeling. Yuuichirou gasped, once again forgetting his hardly-ever-gained manners.

“Wait... You’re a sorcerer?!” he blurted out under his breath, studying the dancing flames, fascinated. He never got to meet one; in his village, people were usually scared of them, claiming that their powers came from the evil - though in reality, they couldn’t afford their services anyway. The boy knew he had to be born with these powers to become a wizard, and he wasn’t one of the chosen ones, but he’s always found them mesmerizing.

“That I, indeed, am,” the wizard replied, clasping his hands in front of him. “Would you mind telling me your name and what brought you here, pilgrim from afar?” he smiled at him, silently beckoning for explanation.

“The name’s Yuu. I, uh... ” Yuuichirou stammered, searching for words under his savior’s stern gaze. “I had to leave my village. There were people who wanted to get a hold of me, so I ran from them, but they had horses and they almost caught me...” he paused, stopping himself before he started rambling. “Then I escaped and ended up here. And you saved me, even treated my injury, I… really can’t thank you enough.”

“Well, of course. Now, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to leave a hurt, unconscious person laying in my garden, would it?”

Yuuichirou laughed awkwardly, shifting on the mattress.. “I suppose.” He rested a palm on his temple, unwittingly grimacing due to his still lasting headache.

“Oh!” The man clapped his hands once, eyes widening in some sort of realization. “I haven’t even got you anything to eat or drink! What kind of host am I?”

“No, no! It’s okay, I’ll be back on my way in no time!” the raven-haired boy waved his hands in front of him frantically, but the sorcerer already left his sight to prepare whatever he was going to make, disappearing in a small kitchen of his. Understanding that his efforts would only come to waste here, Yuuichirou sagged back into the dimple he made in the soft material he sat on.

Only now did he fully examine the room he was placed in. The floor was hidden by rough carpets with intricate patterns, colours colliding in lines and loops. Next to the walls stood high shelves; books of all sizes lay on them and all across the room, open, closed, missing half of the pages. There was one big window, right behind the duvet-covered bed Yuuichirou occupied. He had no way of looking out of it, though, as the outside of the glass covered a thick cluster of plants. They only left one space free of the greenness, where sunbeams desperately fought for superiority. The other side of the room was still a bit darker, and therefore harder for him tell the obscure objects apart, but he could distinguish more shelves with books and bottles of unidentifiable liquids. As far as Yuuichirou could tell, behind the corner was a kitchen, and behind the opposite one, possibly a corridor.

Before he could get to another conclusion, the man emerged from behind the fold of wall with a small tray in his hands, containing a bowl of something steaming and a glass of a transparent liquid, probably water. He smiled at Yuuichirou again and handed the tray over to him, pulling up a chair an neatly sitting himself on it.

“I’ve never asked your name,” Yuuichirou admitted, blowing at a spoon of hot soup.

The wizard laughed. “Oh, I’m just a nobody, living in the deep woods all on my own.”

“That brings me… I know that you’re a sorcerer, but don’t you ever need people too? I mean, living here all alone, isn’t it a bit lonely?” he mused, not making much of the way the man avoided his question.

“It’s peaceful in here. The nature is untouched by humans, and it’s calm enough for me to work without stress or disturbance,” the sorcerer sipped from a mug of his own, glancing at a couple of open books and herbs laying on a plaited underlay.

“...I guess that’s true.” He didn’t register much of the nature outside though, as the last time he was out there, he ran for his life and passed out on this person’s yard right after. He took a sip of his water, bringing the glass to his eyes and studying the substance of the fluid. “Wow, what did you add into this? I’ve never had any spices like this. It’s so good.”

The man smiled mischievously into his cup, the long bangs falling deep into his eyes framed by unbelievably long, light eyelashes. “That’s a secret of mine. You could also learn it, if you spent more amount of time in the nature this far away from the humans.”

“What, are you like, not human?” Yuuichirou joked, the wizard turning his head to look out of the small piece of clear space on the window, his smile never faltering. Then, he locked eyes with his again, his gaze intense and stern.

“Just haven’t been in touch with one for a long time. I have to be honest though, I’ve wondered about the world of people. Tell me, how is it in this land of yours?”

~

They kept on talking for a long while, the slim pillar of light moving across the floor, until Yuuichirou began to feel slightly sleepy. Against the boy’s claims, his host promised to give him time and let him sleep in the room until Yuuichirou was feeling well enough to leave.

A few hours could’ve passed until he woke up; when he looked out of the slot in the plants, he noticed the sun was slowly, but surely drawing near the horizon. And then, out of nowhere, there was a loud explosion on the other side of the house, sounding as if it teared the front door apart.

Yuuichirou was on his feet in a flash, storming to the direction of the loud noise. Big clouds of ash floated around, making it impossible to recognize what the hell was going on. Only after a couple of seconds did he notice a gleam of crimson light coming towards him, approaching in a way that was too fast for him to react.

”Look out!”

He dropped to the ground in instinct, but not in time. But... There was no supernatural force colliding with him as he had expected.

Someone kneeled on the floor in front of him, clutching their stomach in a coughing fit. They were clad in a long, slightly ragged midnight blue cloak, a hood on their head. There was no way it could be the man that saved him before, as their stature was smaller and the clothing style way different.

“Are you alright?! God, if I knew someone else was in here with this excuse of a wizard-” the person mumbled, standing up; judging by the voice, a boy. He searched the surroundings with his gaze, muttering something incomprehensible, gloved hand clutching a twisted staff of dark wood. “Crap… He’s gone… Again,” he whispered after a while, his words clearly targeted at himself, not Yuuichirou. The boy almost deflated a bit, until he turned to face Yuuichirou again, straightening himself.

He took the hood that fell into his face off, revealing a pale face and a thatch of fluffy, silky blond hair. His lips held a straight line as his eyes pierced right through Yuuichirou, sharp, vivid and blue. Under the loose cloak, he was dressed in a black tunic with small golden ornaments and brown trousers, mostly covered by the dark boots that reached almost the half of his thighs. There were all kinds of string and vials wrapped around his body, all which seemed to not limit his movement at all. The sorcerer was apparently about Yuuichirou’s age, and his posture clearly did not radiate friendliness.

Then, his cold expression melted a little and his brows obtained a slightly concerned angle. “Are you alright? I’m sorry for bursting in like this, but I had to catch him before he registered me... Not that it would be of any help,” he added in under his breath, frowning in another direction, as if the man was still there.

Yuuichirou shut his mouth with a silent clap, not realizing that it hung open until now. Clearing his throat, he scrambled to his legs, dusting himself off.

“Yes, I am-”, cough, “-completely alright,” he replied, swaying on his legs a bit. A few seconds later, and he was falling to the ground, his knees giving up on him and his entire body being hit by a wave of nausea.

The boy rushed to catch him before he hit the ground, supporting him by holding his shoulders as Yuuichirou knelt. “Yeah, you sure do seem completely alright ,” he said in a sarcastic tone, a frown on his face.

“Okay… I think I just need to lay down a bit... Then I’ll be all good to travel again,” Yuuichirou breathed, planting both of his hands on the ground to support himself. What the hell was happening to him? If the arrow was poisoned, he should’ve experienced this a while ago. He wasn’t feeling tired when he woke up at all, so why was he collapsing now, all of a sudden?

“Well, we can’t stay here. I bet that with every second we spend here, there’s more and more spells catching on us. He’s sure to plant something like that here,” the boy reasoned, cautiously observing their half-in-ruins surroundings.

“What? Why would he…?” Yuuichirou was starting to get lost in thoughts now, too. That man tried to help him, didn’t he? Who was he, and who was this person that was apparently his savior now, too?

His questions drowned in a mist that slowly began to invade his mind. He groaned, attempting to rub at his temple, but he soon learned, with terror, that he was too weak to even raise his own hand. It felt heavier, numb, as well as his mind.

The cloaked boy cursed under his breath, placing Yuuichirou’s arm around his shoulders with one hand and holding him tightly around the waist with the other. He dragged him to the meadow right in front of the house, laying him down in the grass.

In his current state, Yuuichirou’s perception of the world around him wasn’t exactly the sharpest one, but he noticed the blonde boy holding his palms right above the other’s chest, mumbling more unintelligible words. It almost seemed as if his hands radiated some sort of light, but Yuuichirou blamed it on his blurry sight.

His body filled a hot, unpleasant feeling. He groaned again, clutching on the green straws under him, his eyes shut tightly in pain. It felt as if there was fire dancing through his veins, consuming his blood cells by dozens. It all merged in his heart, where the fire began to swirl around in a storm, as if trapped by the heaving walls of his heart chambers. It spun wilder and wilder, until he thought his chest would burst up in flames.

Then, it was gone. The fire was replaced by a warm, fluttery feeling, sending waves of comfort and ease through his entire being. The tension dripped from his body, pain vanishing into nothingness. The heaviness that troubled him before was now lifting, as if some invisible force was raising it up and throwing it away.

He didn’t how long did it take, if it were seconds, minutes, or hours. When he opened his eyes though, the sky was starting to colour in an orange hue, the clouds scattering in salmon tufts all across the darkening surface. He sat up slowly, pleased to find that the headache and tiredness were both gone, feeling as fresh as never.

Turning his head, he found the boy next to him, his thin body curled up into a ball on the ground. His eyes were closed, lips slightly parted, and under shut eyelids, he could recognize almost unnoticeable dark crescent moons.

“Hey… Are you okay…?” Yuuichirou gently placed a hand on his shoulder, peering down and searching for any signs of response.

The boy grunted softly, eyebrows furrowing in the process. He blinked and after a bit of focusing, cerulean eyes locked on emerald ones. He also pulled himself into a sitting position, weary gaze fixing on Yuuichirou.

“So it worked,” he said quietly, a little smile on his face, in his a tone that almost sounded as gratefulness.

Yuuichirou grinned. “I don’t know what the hell was that, but… It seems that you saved me, once again.” The boy - another sorcerer, apparently - stood up slowly, the weariness in his stance painfully evident. “...Where do you live? I should take you there before the sun sets, because you don’t really look to be in shape to get home alone and safe-”

“You don’t have to bother; I don’t have a place to get to, anyway,” he muttered, clutching on his staff and partially supporting his weight on it. If Yuuichirou’s eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, the blue, shimmering stone planted deep and tightly into the cage of wooden claws glinted, and soon, an object went gliding down from the sky on the exact place that Yuuichirou was standing.

He shrieked, hands flying to guard his head as he crouched down, terrified. If there was one more murder attempt prepared for him today, he’ll kill himself by his own two hands first; it would make his mind way more calm than this constant anxiety.

Casting a glance in Yuuichirou’s direction, the sorcerer caught the flying, pointy dark object in his hand, unfazed. As it came to a halt, its contours gained a steady shape. Wide-eyed, Yuuichirou recognized the form of a broad, long and slightly twisted leather hat with a dark blue ribbon, feathers and all kinds of pine cones and needles on top of it. As shaken as he was from the latest events of his life, Yuuichirou didn’t even think much of wizards’ weird design choices.

When the boy began to walk (or, more precisely, drag himself) away, Yuuichirou went to follow him almost without thinking, stopping only to glance back at the remnants of the steaming cottage.