Work Text:
Hikari shivered, willing the fire to burn hotter.
They had arrived in Stormhail earlier that day. His traveling companions were now settled into the tavern for the evening, relishing at being in a town after several weeks spent camping on the road. He was pleased as well, but his acclimatization to desert temperatures did not aid him in a place of constant snows. So while his friends enjoyed the food, drink, and antics of the scholars and Sacred Guard who made the tavern a surprisingly lively establishment, he was holed up in a small side room next to the largest fireplace he could find.
Hikari was dressed simply in thick button-down shirt, overcoat, and wool trousers he had procured in Winterbloom along with other members of his group who weren’t dressed properly for this harsh climate. Despite attracting considerably less unwelcome attention than his formal warriors’ robes, his clothing was still not quite warm enough to stave off the chill.
Trying to distract himself from his misery, Hikari turned his thoughts to the business the group had to attend to in Stormhail. The most complex would be the capture of Glacias, a legendary beast Ochette needed to stave off calamity for her island. If their fight against Tera was any indication, Glacias would likely need to be persuaded, and preparations for this kind of encounter could take several days. In the meantime, Temenos would seize the opportunity to interrogate the criminal Vados, who was being held by the Sacred Guard.
Seemingly the simplest mission was Hikari’s. In the morning, he would pay a visit to his friend, Rai Mei, and ask for her clan’s assistance in the coming battle for Ku. It had been years since he’d seen her, but he was hopeful that the strength of their friendship, forged on the battlefield, would stand the test of time.
Friendship, always a lifeblood for Hikari, had grown in importance throughout the past year he’d spent with this group of seven travelers. As he’d grown to know their stories and aid in their missions, he recognized there were things he admired about each of them – Castti’s compassion, Partitio’s optimism. Ochette’s bravery. Agnea’s….
Well, if he was honest with himself, Agnea he admired most of all.
He’d been charmed by her almost instantaneously. When he and Castti had first encountered her searching for her purse, and her sister had practically begged them to travel with her, he had instinctively said yes. He found himself helpless against her sweetness, her positivity, and her caring nature, and his fondness for the young dancer from the Leaflands only grew from there. Despite having vastly different backgrounds, they had very similar worldviews, and she’d become his closest confidant. Lately, he’d been finding excuses to be closer to her – an “accidental” brush of their shoulders, a celebratory hug that lingered a few moments too long, dancing lessons…
He’d convinced her (and tried to convince himself) that dancing was a good compliment to his warrior skills. But in reality it was an opportunity for the two of them to spend time together alone. His heart grew warm at the thought of dancing with her again.
As if summoned by his thoughts, the door opened and Agnea herself walked in.
“There you are!” she exclaimed with a small giggle. “I was wonderin’ where you’d gotten to.” He noticed her accent was a bit thicker than normal and suspected that, and her flushed cheeks, were due to the cup of mulled wine she had been drinking.
He felt his lips curve into a smile at the sight of her. “All is well, Agnea.” He looked at her softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”
“Would you be okay with some company, or should I leave you be with your thoughts?”
“I would welcome your company,” he replied, getting off the worn sofa to throw a couple more logs on the fire. “I don’t want to take you away from the group though.”
She stepped further into the room. “That’s okay,” she said, then continued more quietly, “I wanted to be with you anyway.”
He felt heat rise to his cheeks, busying himself with the fire, and confided, “You’re probably thinking I’m being aloof, but truth be told, I’m merely cold.”
“Ah!” He looked back at her, surprised by the exclamation, and found her laughing again. “I’m relieved to hear you say that, to be honest. I didn’t want to sound like a child complainin’, but we don’t really get snow in Cropdale, and I am not made for this horrid weather!”
He smiled. “Nor am I, Agnie.” He’d started using the diminutive of her name only recently, and noticed it never failed to put a soft look on her face. She looked so inviting in her fitted wool dress, her hair down and in waves rather than in its usual plait, her cheeks flushed, and Hikari felt brave.
He grabbed a blanket from chair in the corner, sat back down on the sofa and patted the spot next to him. “We’ll just have to keep each other warm.”
She blushed, but came to sit next to him on the sofa nonetheless. He threw the blanket over both of their laps and placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. She shifted slightly awkwardly but settled into his side once he gave her shoulder a squeeze.
After a moment, she spoke. “You were telling me about some of the festivals in Ku earlier, and you mentioned the merchant district. Can you tell me more about what the different parts of the city are like?”
The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile as he told her about the red-roofed houses and lantern lined streets, the textile shops with all manner of the finest rugs, the spiced food… the people. His people. She listened with rapt attention, asking a number of follow-up questions that extended their conversation as the fire burned low in the fireplace.
As they talked, the night air grew colder, and the space between them became nonexistent, with Agnea’s legs half draped across his lap and her head on his shoulder. His one hand was resting on her knee with the other tracing some absent-minded patterns down her arm. And for the first time in weeks, between the remembrances of home and the company of the woman he adored, he felt warm.
“It sounds like an incredible city, Hikari,” she said quietly.
“It was,” he replied. “Of course, I don’t know how much of it is still there. The fire may have destroyed it all.”
“You’ll rebuild it then. Even better than before, when you’re king.”
For a moment, they were both lost in thought, Agnea fiddling with one of the buttons on his shirt. He noticed her furrowed brow and nudged her gently.
“Hey,” he said softly. “What’s on your mind?”
“I don’t like the idea of you going alone tomorrow,” she blurted out, then blushed.
He smiled again, touched by her concern. “Rai Mei is an honorable woman, and an old friend. She would never harm me.” He pulled away slightly to look at her, tipping her chin upwards with his hand. “I don’t want you to worry about me.”
The air was suddenly thick as he looked into her ocean-colored eyes, then felt his gaze shift to her red lips.
Agnea said, barely above a whisper, “I would like to see Ku one day.”
Hikari felt a wave of affection that nearly had him come undone, accompanied by the powerful need to be even closer to her. He brushed his lips against her temple, then pressed his forehead against hers, tilting his face down towards her own. “And I’d like to be the one to show it to you.”
Her breath caught. They both began to close the distance between them, noses touching, when…
CRASH!
They both jumped, Hikari reaching for his sword, as Throné burst into the room. “Hikari, I might need your help with… damnit, I’m sorry!”
Agnea’s face was as red as a raspberry, and Hikari imagined his was as well. “That’s quite alright, Throné. We were just enjoying the fire.” Throné gave him a look of disbelief, glancing at the fireplace, which Hikari then realized was merely embers. “What did you need my assistance with?”
“Partitio decided to show some of the scholars the catapult, and…” she began.
“Say no more,” Hikari replied. “I will be there shortly.”
Throné backed out of the room, shooting one last apologetic look towards Agnea, who was now looking down at her hands.
Hikari’s face softened again as he looked at her. He still desperately wanted to kiss her, but the moment was gone. He couldn’t resist pushing one tendril of hair behind her ear.
“I should see to the commotion,” he whispered, cupping her cheek before standing up and striding out of the room.
Agnea had an uneasy feeling that she couldn’t shake.
It was mid-morning, and she stood in the center of town wrapped in a thick wool cloak and fur hat, staring up at the stone bridge leading to the fortress of Clan Mei. She was supposed to be collecting donations from the town residents, or at the very least helping gather information about Glacias, the legendary beast who caused these perpetual snows. But something about Hikari’s mission had her unsettled.
Truthfully, it wasn’t just Hikari’s mission that was leaving her unsettled, but she couldn’t bear to think too deeply on that.
When she first met him nearly a year ago, and he had jumped in front of her without a second thought to dispatch a monster threatening them on the road, she had admired his bravery. As she learned more about his story, and as they connected over the memories of their beloved mothers taken too soon, she grew to admire his strength. But it was his kindness, in spite of all that he had been through, that really set him apart.
She fell for him gradually, over the course of many months on the road, only realizing she saw him as more than a friend when she began having butterflies in her stomach when he watched her dance. Once she came to this realization, she didn’t know how she couldn’t see it all along.
From the way the corners of his mouth would lift into a smile when he saw her, to the way his eyes sparked when he talked of home, to how leadership came so naturally to him, he captivated her entirely.
She knew he felt some sort of way towards her as well. He wore his heart on his sleeve – they both did. And yes, she knew that his sudden interest in learning to dance wasn’t an attempt to be quicker on his feet in battle.
But they were both young, and these feelings were big, and honestly, she was afraid of what it would mean if they gave in when the stakes of his journey were so, so high. And what business did a country girl like her have with a prince anyway? So she had continued to keep one last bit of distance between them.
The previous evening had chipped away the last bit of her resolve. They had nearly kissed – if Throné hadn’t have walked in when she did, she was positive they would have. And Agnea realized she wanted to be with him, regardless of what was to come.
They’ve been on the bridge for too long, she thought, looking towards the figure in red above her. Hikari had donned his traditional robes to meet with his old friend, who Agnea could see standing several feet away from him, with a group of her soldiers, blocking his entry to the fortress. Shouldn’t she have invited him in by now?
Before she could speculate further, Rai Mei raised her spear to the sky and a bolt of lightning crashed down, cleaving the bridge in two.
Agnea screamed as Hikari fell.
Then she ran.
She reached the gap in the bridge just as Rai Mei had turned to go back inside. Looking down, Agnea could see her soldiers moving what appeared to be Hikari’s lifeless body, and her heart shattered.
“How dare you!” she screamed at Rai Mei’s back. “He trusted you. He cared for you!” Her voice broke on her last words, and she could feel the pressure of tears in her eyes.
Rai Mei stiffened, slowly turning to face her. “Go home, little girl.”
Agnea was seeing red. “‘Rai Mei is an honorable woman, and an old friend. She would never harm me.’ That’s what he told me of you,” she spat back venomously, her voice quieting as she asked, “How could you?”
She saw a twinge of… something in Rai Mei’s eyes before her expression hardened again. “You would not understand. Go away. I will not ask again,” Rai Mei said as she turned away from Agnea once more.
Agnea was about ready to leap the gap in the bridge to go after her when she felt a hand on her arm. Throné and Castti had ran after her.
“Come on, Agnea,” Castti said, a bit louder than necessary. “There’s no more we can do here.”
She allowed them to lead her to the foot of the bridge, where Throné pulled her into a hug, and she collapsed in her friend’s arms. That’s when Throné whispered in her ear.
“He’s alive. They’re taking him to the dungeon, and we’re going to get him out.”
Hikari was about to make his way out of the dungeon when he heard a scraping noise.
Kunzo had just let him out of his cell after making him promise he would try to set Rai Mei free from her fear. He was wondering how he could face her on his own without being killed, but now it seemed he would not have to after all.
The scraping noise was coming from the heavy oak and iron door, and as Hikari drew closer, he could hear voices.
“Perhaps you need to twist it that way…”
“What I need is to concentrate.”
“Merely trying to be of help, Throné …”
“Temenos, if I need your help, I will ask for it.”
Hikari opened the door to seven shocked faces.
Throné was clearly in the process of picking the lock, Temenos hovering just over her shoulder. Ochette was stationed as a lookout, Castti was clutching her heavy apothecary bag, and Osvald was holding a large sheet of paper. Partitio and Agnea were holding the others’ weapons in addition to their own – a full arsenal by the looks of it.
“Looks like we should have just knocked,” said Temenos is slight disbelief. “How did you get out of your cell?”
“Kunzo let me out,” Hikari replied, ushering them all into the dungeon. “I’m assuming he’s the one who ensured there was no guard stationed at this door as well.”
As soon as they shut the door behind them, everyone went to work. Hikari realized they’d come here with a plan.
Castti immediately opened her bag and began treating his wounds while Partitio and Osvald found a small table and spread out the paper Osvald was holding. Hikari realized they were blueprints of the fortress.
“How did you know I was alive?” Hikari asked, wincing as Castti checked his ribs.
“Ochette,” Osvald replied. “She was in the lower part of town when you fell and she could hear the guards collecting you.”
“We knew you were tough, Hikarin, but that was a long fall,” the Beastling said as she checked her bow.
“Temenos, I need you,” Castti waved the Cleric over. “He’s got three broken ribs on his left side – see what you can do. I need to set this sprained ankle quickly. Miraculously no internal bleeding, but you’re going to be incredibly sore tomorrow,” she said to Hikari.
“Thank you, Castti,” he said. “So what’s the plan?”
Osvald explained. Himself, Throné, and Castti were going to accompany Hikari to confront Rai Mei while Partitio, Ochette, Agnea, and Temenos covered their retreat route and fought off any guards who might follow. They were hoping that Kunzo’s assistance would extend a little further and help keep their path clear.
“Thank you,” Hikari said softly, his voice a bit choked. This experience had been mentally draining for him as well as physically. Rai Mei’s betrayal had hurt. But seeing his friends around him now had helped mend some of that wound. “Thank you, all.”
“Hikari, are you sure this is wise?” Temenos asked. “She’s already tried to kill you once and is planning to do it again. I’m fairly confident we could take Ku without Clan Mei, but we certainly can’t without you.”
“I have to try,” he replied, somewhat meekly. He could feel Agnea’s eyes on him but was too cowardly to meet her gaze.
“Very well,” Temenos sighed. “We are with you, of course.”
“I’m just about done here,” Castti said, handing Hikari a draught of some kind, which he downed without hesitation. “I’ll need to do a more thorough job later, of course, but this should keep you going for now.”
“Alright,” Osvald said definitively, handing Hikari his sword. He didn’t bother asking where he had gotten it. “Let’s go.”
Everyone began making their way towards the door when Agnea spoke.
“Hikari.”
He turned back to look at her. Eyes blazing, she crossed the room swiftly, grabbed the front of his robes, and pulled him into a fierce kiss.
He felt fire in his veins the moment her soft lips touched his, different from the way his blood sometimes boiled in battle. Every nerve in his body was tingling, shouting to draw her closer. Instinctively, he gathered her in his arms, deepening the kiss momentarily before breaking away.
Her eyes were still blazing as she looked up at him. “Do not die on me.”
He leaned down, placing his lips softly and briefly on hers once more. “I won’t. I swear it.”
Someone coughed, and he winced as he remembered that all of their friends were also in the room. He tentatively looked towards them, seeing their expressions ranged from flabbergasted (Partitio) to satisfied (Throné) to oddly wistful (Osvald).
“Well, unless anyone else would like to kiss Hikari good luck…” Temenos began.
Agnea strode past him, heading towards the door. “Let’s go.”
Castti looked about as frazzled as Agnea had ever seen her.
They all knew they were taking a risk by staying in Stormhail, but they had no other choice. Two other members of their group had business here, and they needed Hikari’s help in particular to capture Glacias. So they stayed close to the inn while Hikari rested and recovered, keeping guard over their warrior friend while preparing for their next fight.
Agnea and was helping Ochette organize their hunting weapons and Castti prep both her offensive and healing concoctions while the rest of their group assisted Temenos with his investigation. The uneasy feeling from the day before had not gone away.
After the fight with Rai Mei, which ended on an uncertain note, Hikari had collapsed into his bed, exhausted from his ordeal. It was now the afternoon of the next day, and Agnea hadn’t seen him since they returned. She hadn’t spoken to him since her… display in the dungeon.
She hoped she hadn’t ruined everything.
“Agnea,” Castti called, pushing some of the hair coming out of her bun away from her face in irritation. “Hikari needs his medicine, but I’m in the midst of a very complicated concoction. Can you please take it to him?”
Agnea blushed, but she couldn’t very well say no, could she? Besides, she needed to face him sooner or later – might as well have an excuse to do so.
“Of course, Castti,” she replied, and the apothecary handed her a cup of some foul-smelling liquid. She then reached over and picked up a jar.
“He also…” Castti paused, as if thinking how to frame her request. “He has a lot of bruising on his back, from the fall. This salve will help. Just apply it anywhere you see bruising.”
Agnea’s blush deepened. “What if I do it wrong?”
Castti chuckled slightly. “There is truly no way to do it wrong, Agnea. I think you know that.”
She nodded, taking the jar and turning towards the stairs when Castti spoke again.
“Agnea,” she said, giving the dancer a soft look. “It looks worse than it is. He’s going to be fine in no time.”
Agnea gulped, now fearing what she would find when she saw his wounds. She slowly headed up the stairs, gathering her thoughts, and knocked gently on Hikari’s door.
“Come in, Castti,” she heard his soft reply.
He looked surprised when she opened the door, but the corners of his mouth lifted into an almost involuntary smile, and she paused for a moment to take in the sight of him: bruised, injured, but alive.
He was sitting upright in bed, a book on the night table beside him, shirtless with his hair down and framing the angles of his face. He looked so vulnerable in that moment, so different from how he usually looked, and she was struck by how young he was to be carrying such a great burden. Tears came unbidden to her eyes, but she pushed them back, forcing herself to smile.
“Hi,” she breathed.
“Hi,” he returned.
She crossed the room, placing the salve and the cup on the table and sitting beside him on the bed. She couldn’t help but take his hand, wordlessly trying to communicate all she was feeling as she looked into his eyes: her relief he was okay, her desire to help support him, and most of all, her overwhelming love for him.
“I…” she began, then shook her head, breaking eye contact to reach for the cup. “Castti says you need to drink the whole thing,” she continued quietly.
Hikari nodded, taking the cup from her hands and downing it in one gulp, making a slight face. “Thank you,” he said, squeezing her hand lightly.
Agnea gulped, taking the cup from him and reaching for the salve. “She also wants me to… put this on your bruises.”
He blushed and nodded, shifting forward on the bed so that she could place herself behind him.
It was a rather intimate position, with Agnea positioned at his back with her knees on either side of his hips. But she largely forgot her own awkwardness when she saw the dark bruises blossoming across his pale skin. She breathed in sharply, anger boiling over once again that someone who was supposed to be his friend would do such a thing to him.
She brushed his hair to the front of his shoulders, then ran her fingers, feather-light, over the skin of his back, and heard his breath catch.
“I’m so sorry, did I hurt you?” she asked in concern.
“No,” he replied, his voice slightly husky. “You didn’t hurt me at all.”
She began applying the salve, making sure to reach every bit of his bruising. After she was finished, she placed the jar on the table and shifted around to face him once more, wrapping her arms around his midsection and burying her face in his neck.
“I’ve never been as afraid as when I saw you fall,” she breathed.
She felt his arms come around her. Heavy silence, for a moment, then…
“I’m so sorry, Agnie.”
She pulled back slightly to look at him in surprise, her brow furrowed. His eyes were downcast. “Hikari…” She lifted a hand to his cheek, turning his face to look at her. “What in the world are you apologizin’ for?”
He signed, his arms tightening ever so slightly around her as though he was afraid she would disappear. “Trouble follows me,” he explained quietly. “No matter what I do, I can’t seem to escape it. It… it’s part of me.” He paused, looking slightly pained. “I don’t want to bring any trouble to you.”
She felt the pressure of tears in her eyes again but forced them back. Crying wouldn’t do anyone any good. Instead, she shifted closer to him, taking his face in both her hands.
“You deserve so much better than how you’ve been treated.”
His eyes went impossibly soft as he raised a hand to run the pad of his thumb across her cheek. His gaze shifted away from her for a moment.
“The shadow…” he said quietly, with some despair. “The shadow’s the reason Rai Mei’s brother is dead. It’s always there. I… I just can’t stand the thought of it taking hold, of hurting someone, of hurting you…”
He was spiraling. They’d had many conversations about “Hikari,” but Agnea had seen him like this only before, outside of Wellgrove, and she knew she had to snap him out of it before he settled into despair.
“Hikari, listen to me,” she said, looking straight into his eyes. “You are good, and you are kind, and you are so, so brave.” Her voice broke a bit. “The Shadow is not you. You are not at fault for any of this. You were a child, a child who just saw his mother murdered. Mugen is the one to blame.” She pulled him towards her, bringing his head to rest on her shoulder. “Please, don’t take this weight on to your shoulders too.”
He signed heavily but seemed to give in somewhat to her embrace. “I don’t want it to take hold again,” he whispered.
She kissed his forehead. “Then we’ll make sure it doesn’t. Okay?”
He raised his head to look into her eyes, and she couldn’t help kissing his cheek, then his other cheek, then the corner of his mouth. “Okay?”
“Okay,” he breathed, then closed the last bit of distance between them, capturing her lips with his.
His kiss was deep and slow, quite the opposite of the hurried, desperate kiss they had shared in the dungeon. Hikari’s one hand ran up her back, settling at the nape of her neck, while he tightened his other arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Agnea tangled her hands in his hair, whimpering slightly as he parted her lips gently, the heat from his mouth and the feel of his body pressed against hers stirring something deep inside her. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest as she felt rather than saw his lips curve into a smile, breaking the kiss but staying just a breath away.
“There,” he whispered. “That’s better.”
“Huh?” she inquired breathlessly.
He chuckled lowly, brushing a stray hair away from her face. “That’s how I’d imagined I would kiss you for the first time. Not in a life-or-death situation in front of all of our friends.”
She blushed furiously. “Well, I’m sorry, but I… mmmmhhhh.” She couldn’t finish her indignant explanation for her actions, as he was kissing her once more.
For quite a while, they stayed wrapped in each other, learning about and cherishing this new kind of closeness. Agnea noticed that Hikari seemed emboldened every time she let out an involuntary little gasp, and in turn, she took note every time he shivered. Their innocent kisses turned heavier and more passionate, then feather light and sweet, then deep again. She felt almost dizzy with the past days’ emotions: fear of losing him, relief of him being okay, outrage about how he was treated, tenderness, yearning, desire, hope.
Always hope.
Hikari broke away from her lips to trail gentle kisses down her jawline and neck, his hand tracing a pattern on her thigh, and she sighed, coming out of the fog enough to realize this probably wasn’t the best activity for his recovery.
She placed a hand under his chin, and (after stealing one more kiss after seeing his adorably soft eyes), whispered, “You should probably rest.”
He looked almost sad for a moment but nodded before kissing her sweetly once more. “I know,” he said. “I just… don’t want you to leave just yet.”
Her heart swelled as she nudged him to lie down, settling into his side with her head resting over his heart. His arms wrapped around her, holding her to him like an anchor as he let his heavy eyes close.
“Well, that’s good,” she whispered. “Because I had no intention of goin’ nowhere.”