Storm Wars: Chapter 3
Feb. 21st, 2017 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1ninoTitle: Storm Wars
Pairing: Matsumiya
Genre: AU, Historical, Sci-Fi
Disclaimer: Arashi is not mine.
Summary: One was a noble prince, the other a lowly thief. Brought together by fate, yet destined to be apart.
Author's Note: Last one before the action comes, promise. Time for a flashback of sorts!
Chapter 3
Sho sat in silence inside the storage chamber, his fingers kneading at the taut muscles in his neck in an unconscious movement. Aiba had given him what he had called a ‘grand tour’ of the piece of junk airship Sho found himself presently occupying. The Zero-G, Sho recalled Nino addressing it as, was far from the luxurious air cruisers he was used to flying in. It was foul-smelling, old and stuffy. It looked like it had fallen apart and been pieced back together countless times; it was a miracle in itself that it was holding together at all, Sho thought. The control panel that Aiba had shown him was beyond complicated. As a soldier, one of the things Sho had been trained in was airship piloting and navigation of the five star systems, yet he’d been at a complete loss as to how this particular vessel flew, or even stayed airborne at all for that matter. The nav-com system was just as complicated. Aiba had endeavoured to explain it to him as he activated what he declared to be a state-of-the-art tracking system, not that Sho was able to keep up with anything the other man said at all. Nino was much easier to understand with his simple command of ‘don’t ask and don’t touch’. He provided a much quicker and more comprehendible explanation of the system that would scan and put an immediate lock on once voice recognition of the earlier transmission had been made. If the hijackers were anywhere within the radius of several thousand light years, a distance that covered more than half the star systems in their galaxy, the Zero-G would find them. Sho had his doubts about the tracking system itself but even more misgivings about whether they would be able to reach Jun in time, wherever he was. Again, Aiba had tried to assure him. The Zero-G is faster than she looks, he had said. Sho very much doubted this claim. He kept such doubtful thoughts to himself however and allowed the two of them to continue showing him around the remainder of the ship.
The tour had been cut short when Nino very abruptly shoved him inside the cellar like area he was currently residing in now, proclaiming it would be his accommodation for the duration of his stay with them, right before closing the door and shutting down the access code on the outside to effectively trap him there. It was dark and the air was musty inside the cramped little room. It felt more like a storage closest than an actual room and Sho wondered how exactly Nino expected him to live in there for the next unknown number of days that it took to complete this mission.
The walls started to tremble and the ceiling began to shake. The bolts keeping the room together rattled about and Sho found himself clutching the bench he sat upon in alarm. Beneath him, the floor felt as if it were being raised up. They had taken off. There was no turning back, Sho thought grimly. He momentarily let himself wonder as to who was piloting. In the back of his mind he hoped that it was Nino, as Aiba’s fervent enthusiasm at the helm of the airship was a truly frightening thought.
The small and crafty man had returned shortly after locking him in there, tossing a faded shirt and raggedy old cloak inside before leaving again. Sho sighed as he was left in silence once again. He changed without hassle, honestly not having the energy to bother even being irritated about his circumstances. He didn’t expect Jun to feel the same once they had safely retrieved him. If these two treated him with the same level of disrespect and childish insolence, there would surely be hell to pay. In all honestly Sho was dreading the thought of what would happen when the prince encountered these two. Nino in particular. They would surely tear each other to pieces; literally, if given the chance.
Sho desperately tried to push such brooding thoughts to the back of his mind and instead chose to focus on the struggle of dressing himself in the clothing given to him with his broken arm bound in a makeshift sling. He wondered momentarily if Nino had thought about the obvious difficulty he would face trying to dress himself but then shook his head. It had surely been a deliberate action. Sho would never confront either of them directly though. About the trouble his somewhat unethical hosts were giving him or the terrible space which had been assigned as his sleeping quarters, or the fact that they were very clearly aiming to benefit off his miserable, cornered situation. They were still offering their assistance in finding prince Jun—albeit at a costly price that was admittedly draining Sho’s life savings dry—and were even contracted into accompanying them for the rest of their dangerous voyage. For this reason, Sho knew better than to complain out loud. He might just find himself battered and unconscious in yet another alleyway if he did.
Such a thought caused him to wince at the recollection of what had happened and just how he had managed to get himself into such a situation in the first place.
---
They were actually doing this. They had departed from the imperial palace hours ago on one of the finest cruisers available, truly worthy of a prince in Sho’s opinion. Granted he had no idea how to fly an airship of this particular model but Jun seemed confident enough with it that Sho felt he had no other option but to learn as quickly as he could while they went. The audience with the king now seemed but a distant memory, yet Sho still could not believe it.
“Are we actually doing this, sire?” he could not keep from asking. Sho knew it wasn’t right to exhibit such obvious doubt in the prince’s actions, but he couldn’t help it. Jun however merely rolled his eyes. It was the seventh time Sho had asked something of that same denotation.
“Yes, Sho” Jun tried hard to keep his subsiding patience in check and maintain a calm tone of voice. “As I have said before and will no doubt say again, we are in fact doing this.”
“It just seems quite rash, your highness” Sho mumbled. “Are there really no others aboard this vessel?”
Jun very nearly snapped at him, having to bite down on his tongue to keep from doing so. “You’re more than welcome to check to affirm this for yourself” he growled out. His voice was soft but had a sharpness to it that made it difficult to ignore.
He was losing this battle against his temper. He knew and wished this weren’t the case, especially when Sho was essentially the closest thing he had to an actual friend in his life, but the soldier didn’t exactly make it easy to remain tolerant with the amount of unnecessary questions asked. There were reservations in each word he spoke, every movement he made, and it was starting to drive Jun mad. He wasn’t so arrogant to not admit he was being rash in his decision but he had his reasons for doing this the way he was doing. He didn’t expect for Sho to understand them nor did he wish for the man to try; all he asked was that as a friend and attendant, Sho support him.
Sho tried not to whimper at the severity noticeable in Jun’s tone. He suspected the prince was trying his hardest to keep from striking him then and there for his audacious actions and decided it was in his best interests to drop the subject, at least for now.
“T-That won’t be necessary, sire” he faltered slightly on his words and side glanced to see the way Jun cursed under his breath.
Sho had known the man long enough to know his anger was less directed at him personally and more at the world in general, if not himself. It was something that had struck Sho as curious when he had first met Jun. His father had been a military leader, a prominent figure in the Amonsian army. As his son, Sho had always known he would follow in his father’s footsteps and enter into the life of a soldier. He had been very young when King Satoshi had first approached him. It had been a frightening encounter and Sho had served severe punishment when rumour spread about the king addressing the young boy in person. His father, of course, had misinterpreted the rumours as castigation, so had been entirely surprised to learn Sho had in fact been hand chosen by the king to be the young prince’s personal attendant. This had led to a fast-track of Sho’s military training, though it still took a many number of years for him to advance to the position of a fully-fledged soldier. Sho had been completely anxious by the thought of serving directly under the prince, who was only two short years younger than himself. His life, future and standing were all being placed in jeopardy depending on how he performed in the role given to him. Meeting the young prince for the first time however changed Sho’s thinking entirely. Their relationship had been forced upon them both by the boy’s father and it was obvious to Sho the moment he first stood before him just how nervous the prince was by all of this too. It gave Sho confidence that perhaps this new arrangement might work out after all.
Their relationship was tense and strained as neither knew what was considered an appropriate way to act around one another. Sho knew better than to be casual or overly warm towards the prince, in fear of what both their fathers would do if they found out. Jun on the other hand was rather shy in the beginning. He never treated Sho like a proper attendant, but nor did he open up to the other boy. It was a complicated balance. Things changed quite severely when they reached the middle of their teenage years. Sho was in the midst of completing his advanced training while Jun was beginning to take on more serious responsibilities as heir. Their friendship had developed more over the years, reaching a point of mutual trust, but Sho saw a change in Jun’s personality that he had not been anticipating; neither could he explain it. Gone was the sweet and shy boy, replaced by a short-tempered young man determined to prove himself to everyone. He was easy to anger, losing his patience at even the smallest of things, such as Sho’s inability to drop the formalities when addressing Jun. Sho knew not what had brought about such a change in the young prince but never dared to broach the subject with him. While the change had just about everyone concerned, Sho did what he could to push past it. Beyond the impatient and sometimes reckless actions he saw the potential for a truly great ruler inside of Jun. The more the years went by and the more mature Jun became, the stronger Sho could see this and knew that others could see it too.
Holding on to this thought even as he pulled himself from his recollections, Sho turned his attention back to piloting. Jun certainly still had his moments when he slipped back from his maturing self to his adolescent rage, but Sho knew it was never without reason, even if no one else could understand it. Now was one of those times. Sho knew not what it was that made Jun so fixated on establishing this treaty alone but recognized that in the prince’s mind, it must have been worth the risks they were putting themselves in.
For another hour they proceeded in silence. Sho glanced down at the ship’s fuel gauge. A third of it remained. He knew they would be able to make it farther with the amount they had but figured it wasn’t worth the risk. Glancing at Jun and seeing the way he was noticeably lost in the complexity of his inner most thoughts, a little paler than usual, Sho decided it was time he acted. If he couldn’t bring himself to be the support of a friend, he would just have to start acting like the attendant he was intended to be.
“We should stop to refuel” he put forth the idea in a light, suggesting tone. Being too demanding could result in Jun refusing the idea all together.
“No.” Jun’s voice rung out clear. “We need to keep going.”
“We’re ahead of schedule thanks to the speed of the royal cruiser” Sho pointed out before chuckling softly. “Unfortunately that doesn’t help for preserving power cells though. There’s a small domain just up ahead. We can refuel there and re-energize ourselves.” He added the last part with a somewhat sterner voice, hoping that Jun would pick up on the seriousness he was trying to convey. He really was worried about the other man. Being slightly pale was one thing, appearing sickly was another thing entirely and something they really did not want to have to deal with. If they were considered weak in the eyes of those in the Janeite system, the King might decide the Amonsian realm was just as fragile and the whole peace treaty could be put at risk. Sho took it upon himself to ensure that did not happen, by making sure that when Jun arrived in Janeite he did so looking strong and at the peak of his health.
That said, Sho’s confidence wavered quite substantially when they arrived at the small domain that had shown up on their system’s navigation and Sho saw for himself the brutality of the location they suddenly found themselves in. The sky was dark, grey and seemed to cast an expansive shadow over the entire city of slums. The airships in the hanger around them were all rusted and far from space worthy. Of the few people they could see from their cruiser, those who resided in the mank area they had come to were of ill-health and thrived in poverty.
“Perhaps this was not such a wise idea after all” Sho dared not to raise his voice above a whisper. He was unable to tear his gaze away from the squalid existence expanding before his eyes. When he received no response, Sho glanced around and nearly gave a shout of panic when he saw Jun advancing with strong paces towards the airship’s entrance ramp. “Sire!”
Sho scrambled after him, almost tumbling down the ramp when he lost his footing midway down. When he caught his balance and scampered over to Jun’s side, he clutched the prince’s sleeve and gave the first-rate material a hard tug.
“Please, your highness” Sho begged. He kept his voice down in fear of who might hear him but his pleads became all the more desperate when Jun carried on walking. “This place is dangerous even for civilians of normal rank. We need to go back to the cruiser. Now!”
Jun shook his incessantly tugging hand away and scanned his surroundings. His eyes held a look of confusion and understandable disgust, but there was something almost akin to fascination that lingered in his gaze as he continued to look around.
“What is this place?” he breathed out his question almost like he was exhaling a steady breath in the cold air of winter. Sho feared the meaning behind it.
“I don’t know, and I don’t like it” he replied, unable to keep his restless gaze from flickering behind them. Any time a person passed them by, he flinched. He was seeing things he knew in all likeliness probably weren’t there to begin with and was imagining strange shadows in his peripheral vision. He meant what he had said; he really did not like this place.
Jun took another step forward, much to Sho’s distress. “I didn’t know such places existed in our confederate domains.”
“Your highness, I really don’t think—” Jun spun around, the stone-cold glare set across his features more than enough to cut Sho off.
“Why are there places like this?” he snarled. “The treaties are supposed to be in place for the people, so that they may live their lives peacefully without the threat of war or poverty. This is not the kind of existence we sought to achieve. Are there any in Amnos that I also am not aware of?”
Sho was at a loss as to how to respond to the prince’s sudden outburst. While he had no doubt of Jun’s dedication towards Amnos and its future, Sho had never seen or even heard him speak so passionately about the people. It was acts like the words he had just spoken that made Sho certain he would one day make a great king, but he really did not know how to reply when he himself had never known about the existence of the kinds of place they were in now.
“Your highness…” he started but lost his chance to respond when a throaty chuckle sounded behind them. The two turned to face the four men who had approached, each bigger and certainly stronger than the pair.
“Highness?” one of them sneered from his twisted maw. His eyes ran almost greedily over Jun.
“Sure looks like one to me” said another, a dark glint forming in his gaze.
Sho both thanked and cursed his years of military training that had him instinctually stepping forward with an arm out to shield Jun. It did little to lessen the immense fear he was feeling in that moment, his heart thumping so rapidly against his ribs Sho thought it might tear right out of his chest. His action seemed to only humour those around them however. With utterly derisive laughter, the men spread out and surrounded the two of them. Sho felt Jun’s back brush against his as they each stood facing those who had encircled them. Having been keeping his gaze focused mostly on the biggest of the men, Sho was thrown completely off guard when something hard rammed into him side on and bowled him to the ground. After laying there stunned for a moment, the violent force of it quite unlike anything he was used to, he heaved himself up off the dirt. Jun’s distressed cry had Sho springing to his feet. Whipping around to face them, he saw the prince being restrained by two. In spite of his desperate thrashes, it was clear Jun could not break free from their powerful grip. Sho saw red when he watched their hands grab hungrily at the prince’s garments. Even without King Satoshi’s order echoing in his head, Sho felt anger and defensiveness surge through him, giving him a strength like he had not known previously.
“Let him go!” he seethed and charged forward. His trained body moved mostly on its own, reflexively reacting to the swings and strikes thrown towards him. He caught sight of a blade or two being pulled but did not let it phase him in the least. He had covered weapon combat early in his years of training and knew how best to tackle such primeval styles of fighting. He did well to avoid as many hits as he did and even managed to land a fair few of his own attacks. Then the men changed tactics. One of those who had been holding Jun released him and approached Sho in his blind spot while the other two worked to drive him into the corner of the alleyway where an abandoned stall rested against the wall. Distracted dealing with that pair, Sho failed to notice the third. Strong fingers fastened tightly around his bicep and air rushed under his feet as he was lifted effortlessly from the ground. He was swung around, the hand clenched around his arm suddenly releasing and sending him crashing into the stall. His body collapsed to the ground following the collision with the heavy weight that had smashed against his shoulder.
In the back of his mind Sho knew the fight was over. The moment he had gone down, the battle had been lost. Yet even if he had yielded, their assaults would not cease. Kick after kick, stab after stab, Sho thought he could just about count the number of bones that were sure to have been fractured. A shin, his hip, a rib or two, a cheekbone; he felt like he was dying, and maybe he was. The attacks began to slow until they stopped and Sho thought the group had finally given up, decided he had suffered enough. That thought shattered almost instantly, along with the bone in his arm as the thick leather one of the men’s boots came down on his outstretched arm with crushing force. A scream tore from his throat. He was paralysed even as he listened to the sounds of their retreating footsteps through the ground he lay trembling upon. He could hear Jun’s pleading voice, shouting for him to respond, to move, to live. Sho made a desperate attempt to drag himself towards the fading sound of the prince but his body soon collapsed against the hard ground again.
Something wet trickled down his cheek as he lay quivering, a helpless mess. He couldn’t do any of what Jun had asked. He was immobilized; doomed to spend his last moments there on the filthy floor of the alleyway, tucked away from sight. No one would care about his passing. He would die without anyone knowing and would fade from this world without making any sort of mark. Sho shut his eyes tightly. Jun was gone, taken, and he hadn’t been able to do a thing to stop it. He had failed.
Pairing: Matsumiya
Genre: AU, Historical, Sci-Fi
Disclaimer: Arashi is not mine.
Summary: One was a noble prince, the other a lowly thief. Brought together by fate, yet destined to be apart.
Author's Note: Last one before the action comes, promise. Time for a flashback of sorts!
Chapter 3
Sho sat in silence inside the storage chamber, his fingers kneading at the taut muscles in his neck in an unconscious movement. Aiba had given him what he had called a ‘grand tour’ of the piece of junk airship Sho found himself presently occupying. The Zero-G, Sho recalled Nino addressing it as, was far from the luxurious air cruisers he was used to flying in. It was foul-smelling, old and stuffy. It looked like it had fallen apart and been pieced back together countless times; it was a miracle in itself that it was holding together at all, Sho thought. The control panel that Aiba had shown him was beyond complicated. As a soldier, one of the things Sho had been trained in was airship piloting and navigation of the five star systems, yet he’d been at a complete loss as to how this particular vessel flew, or even stayed airborne at all for that matter. The nav-com system was just as complicated. Aiba had endeavoured to explain it to him as he activated what he declared to be a state-of-the-art tracking system, not that Sho was able to keep up with anything the other man said at all. Nino was much easier to understand with his simple command of ‘don’t ask and don’t touch’. He provided a much quicker and more comprehendible explanation of the system that would scan and put an immediate lock on once voice recognition of the earlier transmission had been made. If the hijackers were anywhere within the radius of several thousand light years, a distance that covered more than half the star systems in their galaxy, the Zero-G would find them. Sho had his doubts about the tracking system itself but even more misgivings about whether they would be able to reach Jun in time, wherever he was. Again, Aiba had tried to assure him. The Zero-G is faster than she looks, he had said. Sho very much doubted this claim. He kept such doubtful thoughts to himself however and allowed the two of them to continue showing him around the remainder of the ship.
The tour had been cut short when Nino very abruptly shoved him inside the cellar like area he was currently residing in now, proclaiming it would be his accommodation for the duration of his stay with them, right before closing the door and shutting down the access code on the outside to effectively trap him there. It was dark and the air was musty inside the cramped little room. It felt more like a storage closest than an actual room and Sho wondered how exactly Nino expected him to live in there for the next unknown number of days that it took to complete this mission.
The walls started to tremble and the ceiling began to shake. The bolts keeping the room together rattled about and Sho found himself clutching the bench he sat upon in alarm. Beneath him, the floor felt as if it were being raised up. They had taken off. There was no turning back, Sho thought grimly. He momentarily let himself wonder as to who was piloting. In the back of his mind he hoped that it was Nino, as Aiba’s fervent enthusiasm at the helm of the airship was a truly frightening thought.
The small and crafty man had returned shortly after locking him in there, tossing a faded shirt and raggedy old cloak inside before leaving again. Sho sighed as he was left in silence once again. He changed without hassle, honestly not having the energy to bother even being irritated about his circumstances. He didn’t expect Jun to feel the same once they had safely retrieved him. If these two treated him with the same level of disrespect and childish insolence, there would surely be hell to pay. In all honestly Sho was dreading the thought of what would happen when the prince encountered these two. Nino in particular. They would surely tear each other to pieces; literally, if given the chance.
Sho desperately tried to push such brooding thoughts to the back of his mind and instead chose to focus on the struggle of dressing himself in the clothing given to him with his broken arm bound in a makeshift sling. He wondered momentarily if Nino had thought about the obvious difficulty he would face trying to dress himself but then shook his head. It had surely been a deliberate action. Sho would never confront either of them directly though. About the trouble his somewhat unethical hosts were giving him or the terrible space which had been assigned as his sleeping quarters, or the fact that they were very clearly aiming to benefit off his miserable, cornered situation. They were still offering their assistance in finding prince Jun—albeit at a costly price that was admittedly draining Sho’s life savings dry—and were even contracted into accompanying them for the rest of their dangerous voyage. For this reason, Sho knew better than to complain out loud. He might just find himself battered and unconscious in yet another alleyway if he did.
Such a thought caused him to wince at the recollection of what had happened and just how he had managed to get himself into such a situation in the first place.
---
They were actually doing this. They had departed from the imperial palace hours ago on one of the finest cruisers available, truly worthy of a prince in Sho’s opinion. Granted he had no idea how to fly an airship of this particular model but Jun seemed confident enough with it that Sho felt he had no other option but to learn as quickly as he could while they went. The audience with the king now seemed but a distant memory, yet Sho still could not believe it.
“Are we actually doing this, sire?” he could not keep from asking. Sho knew it wasn’t right to exhibit such obvious doubt in the prince’s actions, but he couldn’t help it. Jun however merely rolled his eyes. It was the seventh time Sho had asked something of that same denotation.
“Yes, Sho” Jun tried hard to keep his subsiding patience in check and maintain a calm tone of voice. “As I have said before and will no doubt say again, we are in fact doing this.”
“It just seems quite rash, your highness” Sho mumbled. “Are there really no others aboard this vessel?”
Jun very nearly snapped at him, having to bite down on his tongue to keep from doing so. “You’re more than welcome to check to affirm this for yourself” he growled out. His voice was soft but had a sharpness to it that made it difficult to ignore.
He was losing this battle against his temper. He knew and wished this weren’t the case, especially when Sho was essentially the closest thing he had to an actual friend in his life, but the soldier didn’t exactly make it easy to remain tolerant with the amount of unnecessary questions asked. There were reservations in each word he spoke, every movement he made, and it was starting to drive Jun mad. He wasn’t so arrogant to not admit he was being rash in his decision but he had his reasons for doing this the way he was doing. He didn’t expect for Sho to understand them nor did he wish for the man to try; all he asked was that as a friend and attendant, Sho support him.
Sho tried not to whimper at the severity noticeable in Jun’s tone. He suspected the prince was trying his hardest to keep from striking him then and there for his audacious actions and decided it was in his best interests to drop the subject, at least for now.
“T-That won’t be necessary, sire” he faltered slightly on his words and side glanced to see the way Jun cursed under his breath.
Sho had known the man long enough to know his anger was less directed at him personally and more at the world in general, if not himself. It was something that had struck Sho as curious when he had first met Jun. His father had been a military leader, a prominent figure in the Amonsian army. As his son, Sho had always known he would follow in his father’s footsteps and enter into the life of a soldier. He had been very young when King Satoshi had first approached him. It had been a frightening encounter and Sho had served severe punishment when rumour spread about the king addressing the young boy in person. His father, of course, had misinterpreted the rumours as castigation, so had been entirely surprised to learn Sho had in fact been hand chosen by the king to be the young prince’s personal attendant. This had led to a fast-track of Sho’s military training, though it still took a many number of years for him to advance to the position of a fully-fledged soldier. Sho had been completely anxious by the thought of serving directly under the prince, who was only two short years younger than himself. His life, future and standing were all being placed in jeopardy depending on how he performed in the role given to him. Meeting the young prince for the first time however changed Sho’s thinking entirely. Their relationship had been forced upon them both by the boy’s father and it was obvious to Sho the moment he first stood before him just how nervous the prince was by all of this too. It gave Sho confidence that perhaps this new arrangement might work out after all.
Their relationship was tense and strained as neither knew what was considered an appropriate way to act around one another. Sho knew better than to be casual or overly warm towards the prince, in fear of what both their fathers would do if they found out. Jun on the other hand was rather shy in the beginning. He never treated Sho like a proper attendant, but nor did he open up to the other boy. It was a complicated balance. Things changed quite severely when they reached the middle of their teenage years. Sho was in the midst of completing his advanced training while Jun was beginning to take on more serious responsibilities as heir. Their friendship had developed more over the years, reaching a point of mutual trust, but Sho saw a change in Jun’s personality that he had not been anticipating; neither could he explain it. Gone was the sweet and shy boy, replaced by a short-tempered young man determined to prove himself to everyone. He was easy to anger, losing his patience at even the smallest of things, such as Sho’s inability to drop the formalities when addressing Jun. Sho knew not what had brought about such a change in the young prince but never dared to broach the subject with him. While the change had just about everyone concerned, Sho did what he could to push past it. Beyond the impatient and sometimes reckless actions he saw the potential for a truly great ruler inside of Jun. The more the years went by and the more mature Jun became, the stronger Sho could see this and knew that others could see it too.
Holding on to this thought even as he pulled himself from his recollections, Sho turned his attention back to piloting. Jun certainly still had his moments when he slipped back from his maturing self to his adolescent rage, but Sho knew it was never without reason, even if no one else could understand it. Now was one of those times. Sho knew not what it was that made Jun so fixated on establishing this treaty alone but recognized that in the prince’s mind, it must have been worth the risks they were putting themselves in.
For another hour they proceeded in silence. Sho glanced down at the ship’s fuel gauge. A third of it remained. He knew they would be able to make it farther with the amount they had but figured it wasn’t worth the risk. Glancing at Jun and seeing the way he was noticeably lost in the complexity of his inner most thoughts, a little paler than usual, Sho decided it was time he acted. If he couldn’t bring himself to be the support of a friend, he would just have to start acting like the attendant he was intended to be.
“We should stop to refuel” he put forth the idea in a light, suggesting tone. Being too demanding could result in Jun refusing the idea all together.
“No.” Jun’s voice rung out clear. “We need to keep going.”
“We’re ahead of schedule thanks to the speed of the royal cruiser” Sho pointed out before chuckling softly. “Unfortunately that doesn’t help for preserving power cells though. There’s a small domain just up ahead. We can refuel there and re-energize ourselves.” He added the last part with a somewhat sterner voice, hoping that Jun would pick up on the seriousness he was trying to convey. He really was worried about the other man. Being slightly pale was one thing, appearing sickly was another thing entirely and something they really did not want to have to deal with. If they were considered weak in the eyes of those in the Janeite system, the King might decide the Amonsian realm was just as fragile and the whole peace treaty could be put at risk. Sho took it upon himself to ensure that did not happen, by making sure that when Jun arrived in Janeite he did so looking strong and at the peak of his health.
That said, Sho’s confidence wavered quite substantially when they arrived at the small domain that had shown up on their system’s navigation and Sho saw for himself the brutality of the location they suddenly found themselves in. The sky was dark, grey and seemed to cast an expansive shadow over the entire city of slums. The airships in the hanger around them were all rusted and far from space worthy. Of the few people they could see from their cruiser, those who resided in the mank area they had come to were of ill-health and thrived in poverty.
“Perhaps this was not such a wise idea after all” Sho dared not to raise his voice above a whisper. He was unable to tear his gaze away from the squalid existence expanding before his eyes. When he received no response, Sho glanced around and nearly gave a shout of panic when he saw Jun advancing with strong paces towards the airship’s entrance ramp. “Sire!”
Sho scrambled after him, almost tumbling down the ramp when he lost his footing midway down. When he caught his balance and scampered over to Jun’s side, he clutched the prince’s sleeve and gave the first-rate material a hard tug.
“Please, your highness” Sho begged. He kept his voice down in fear of who might hear him but his pleads became all the more desperate when Jun carried on walking. “This place is dangerous even for civilians of normal rank. We need to go back to the cruiser. Now!”
Jun shook his incessantly tugging hand away and scanned his surroundings. His eyes held a look of confusion and understandable disgust, but there was something almost akin to fascination that lingered in his gaze as he continued to look around.
“What is this place?” he breathed out his question almost like he was exhaling a steady breath in the cold air of winter. Sho feared the meaning behind it.
“I don’t know, and I don’t like it” he replied, unable to keep his restless gaze from flickering behind them. Any time a person passed them by, he flinched. He was seeing things he knew in all likeliness probably weren’t there to begin with and was imagining strange shadows in his peripheral vision. He meant what he had said; he really did not like this place.
Jun took another step forward, much to Sho’s distress. “I didn’t know such places existed in our confederate domains.”
“Your highness, I really don’t think—” Jun spun around, the stone-cold glare set across his features more than enough to cut Sho off.
“Why are there places like this?” he snarled. “The treaties are supposed to be in place for the people, so that they may live their lives peacefully without the threat of war or poverty. This is not the kind of existence we sought to achieve. Are there any in Amnos that I also am not aware of?”
Sho was at a loss as to how to respond to the prince’s sudden outburst. While he had no doubt of Jun’s dedication towards Amnos and its future, Sho had never seen or even heard him speak so passionately about the people. It was acts like the words he had just spoken that made Sho certain he would one day make a great king, but he really did not know how to reply when he himself had never known about the existence of the kinds of place they were in now.
“Your highness…” he started but lost his chance to respond when a throaty chuckle sounded behind them. The two turned to face the four men who had approached, each bigger and certainly stronger than the pair.
“Highness?” one of them sneered from his twisted maw. His eyes ran almost greedily over Jun.
“Sure looks like one to me” said another, a dark glint forming in his gaze.
Sho both thanked and cursed his years of military training that had him instinctually stepping forward with an arm out to shield Jun. It did little to lessen the immense fear he was feeling in that moment, his heart thumping so rapidly against his ribs Sho thought it might tear right out of his chest. His action seemed to only humour those around them however. With utterly derisive laughter, the men spread out and surrounded the two of them. Sho felt Jun’s back brush against his as they each stood facing those who had encircled them. Having been keeping his gaze focused mostly on the biggest of the men, Sho was thrown completely off guard when something hard rammed into him side on and bowled him to the ground. After laying there stunned for a moment, the violent force of it quite unlike anything he was used to, he heaved himself up off the dirt. Jun’s distressed cry had Sho springing to his feet. Whipping around to face them, he saw the prince being restrained by two. In spite of his desperate thrashes, it was clear Jun could not break free from their powerful grip. Sho saw red when he watched their hands grab hungrily at the prince’s garments. Even without King Satoshi’s order echoing in his head, Sho felt anger and defensiveness surge through him, giving him a strength like he had not known previously.
“Let him go!” he seethed and charged forward. His trained body moved mostly on its own, reflexively reacting to the swings and strikes thrown towards him. He caught sight of a blade or two being pulled but did not let it phase him in the least. He had covered weapon combat early in his years of training and knew how best to tackle such primeval styles of fighting. He did well to avoid as many hits as he did and even managed to land a fair few of his own attacks. Then the men changed tactics. One of those who had been holding Jun released him and approached Sho in his blind spot while the other two worked to drive him into the corner of the alleyway where an abandoned stall rested against the wall. Distracted dealing with that pair, Sho failed to notice the third. Strong fingers fastened tightly around his bicep and air rushed under his feet as he was lifted effortlessly from the ground. He was swung around, the hand clenched around his arm suddenly releasing and sending him crashing into the stall. His body collapsed to the ground following the collision with the heavy weight that had smashed against his shoulder.
In the back of his mind Sho knew the fight was over. The moment he had gone down, the battle had been lost. Yet even if he had yielded, their assaults would not cease. Kick after kick, stab after stab, Sho thought he could just about count the number of bones that were sure to have been fractured. A shin, his hip, a rib or two, a cheekbone; he felt like he was dying, and maybe he was. The attacks began to slow until they stopped and Sho thought the group had finally given up, decided he had suffered enough. That thought shattered almost instantly, along with the bone in his arm as the thick leather one of the men’s boots came down on his outstretched arm with crushing force. A scream tore from his throat. He was paralysed even as he listened to the sounds of their retreating footsteps through the ground he lay trembling upon. He could hear Jun’s pleading voice, shouting for him to respond, to move, to live. Sho made a desperate attempt to drag himself towards the fading sound of the prince but his body soon collapsed against the hard ground again.
Something wet trickled down his cheek as he lay quivering, a helpless mess. He couldn’t do any of what Jun had asked. He was immobilized; doomed to spend his last moments there on the filthy floor of the alleyway, tucked away from sight. No one would care about his passing. He would die without anyone knowing and would fade from this world without making any sort of mark. Sho shut his eyes tightly. Jun was gone, taken, and he hadn’t been able to do a thing to stop it. He had failed.
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Date: 2017-02-21 05:28 pm (UTC)The way sho described jun's transformation from kid to young adult is so perfect! Kid jun was sweet and shy and then adult jun is - as you said Short-tempered XD the always trying to prove himself i guess is also very fitting for this concept hahaha
Nino's treatment of sho XD lols he's not exactly the nicest saviour/host is he.. oh nino-chan haha but sho should believe in them more because they have a higher percentage of saving jun than him only XD no offence sho..
I so can't wait for the action part and how sakuaimiya are going to save - quote aiba "damsel prince in distress" XDD