Chapter Text
The fall of the Tenma monarchy had been a long time coming.
Even Tsukasa, who was scolded by nobility and maids alike for being naive and unaware, wasn’t blind to the corruption within the kingdom. Year after year, more conflicts reached the palace’s gates, more security was placed, more traitors were executed. Things were changing, albeit slowly, just quickly enough to create a vauge sense of uneasiness. The kind that managed to permeate Tsukasa's bones, even in his cushy room, sealed away from the world.
He didn’t leave his room very often. There weren't many places to go anyways; he’d been banned from leaving the royal grounds as of a year ago, on account of being a potential heir to the kingdom. There were quite a few others ahead of him in the line to the throne, Tsukasa himself wasn’t of that much importance. (And, to be fair. no one would want a sickly heir.) Yet, he had to follow the rules. If he did break them, he didn’t have anyone to bail him out from harsh punishment.
Tsukasa couldn’t even wander the halls anymore, without having a handful of fully armed guards following his every move.
So day after day became month after month spent in his chambers, only leaving for events that absolutely required his presence, if only out of etiquette, which were far and few between. He silently celebrated his sixteenth birthday in his room, alone, on a day that was no different from any other.
Despite keeping himself locked up all the time, Tsukasa wasn’t bored. He had plenty of books, most borrowed from the royal library in his brief trips out of his room, and never returned. They sat in stacks around his room, his bookshelf having overflowed long ago.
He liked to wrap himself up in the stories, living exciting, adventurous lives. Sometimes, he found himself silently acting those tales out, then cringe and scold himself. He had to be more down to earth, he was royalty.
Well, he didn’t exactly feel like it as of late, but he was.
A few months after Tsukasa’s birthday, he’d managed to run the library dry of fantasy and action novels, and being unable to venture to another library to get more, Tsukasa reluctantly began to branch out. Almost instantly, he found nonfiction books practically glued to his hands. The obsession began with history records, old maps and retellings of the conflicts between the continent's kingdoms. Then it became old studies on mana, and magical wildlife. And finally, it settled on medical records.
From cynical studies on diseases to autopsy reports, crammed full of long and complicated words and terms Tsukasa could hardly wrap his head around, Tsukasa read all the palace library had to offer. But wasn't the detailed descriptions and theories that caught Tsukasa's attention, no. It was the pictures.
From too specific diagrams to gorey photographs, Tsukasa couldn't look away. He'd never considered what was inside the body before. He found himself staring at photos of autopsys most often. He wondered if he would become one of those photos himself, sooner rather than later. Tsukasa had been told since he was young that he was lucky to have survived this long. He'd always been prone to injury. bruising easily, and it was nearly impossible to staunch the flow of blood from the smallest cuts.
His illness had appeared in his noble lineage before. Everyone with it had died young. It weighed on Tsukasa, that that would be his fate. It made him want to wrap himself in his bedding and hide from the world like a coward. His father had died from the same illness not long after his birth, and his mother had married off into another kingdom, leaving him here. His mother was a touchy subject among nobility, many seeing it as treason to abandon her birth kingdom and remarry, and not even for the sake of political power!
Tsukasa didn't want to hear about his mother anyways. He was still bitter. If she had even died, he wouldn't have known, considering how far up north she had traveled. Obviously, Tsukasa hadn't been enough for her, even if he was just a toddler at the time, so he shouldn't have any attachment to her.
Still he found himself thinking of her more often lately. It only added to that sense of sinking he'd been having lately. Tsukasa had a bad, bad feeling something horrible was going to happen, and soon.
So when the castle was finally attacked, so forcibly that their many external guards had fallen within a mere hour, Tsukasa didn’t hesitate to run.
Sure, it was a sudden decision, but it certainly wasn’t a foolish one. Admittedly, he’d considered the idea before, but very briefly. So briefly that he had to come up with a plan now, on the spot, unsure as to what to bring, and what exactly to do in order to flee.
The political unrest had finally reached a tipping point— if he was seen, there was more than a decent chance that he’d be killed on the spot, simply for being royalty. Despite being a relatively unknown prince, his features- from the unnatural color of his hair, to the odd shade of his eyes- were recognizable as a noble’s. It would only take someone to pay a little too close attention to him, and he would end up being executed.
So, he couldn’t go to any towns in this kingdom. He’d have to go to a neighboring kingdom, or find somewhere else to hide until this blew over. Well, if this blew over. God, he didn’t want to get executed. He could already imagine it, his head rolling from the guillotine, or his body beaten so thoroughly that it revealed all of the gore that was only shown in medical textbooks. His guts, spilled out onto the street, leaving a stain that was nearly impossible to scrub out of the cobblestones–
Tsukasa’s train of thought ended abruptly as blood spattered across his front. His nose was bleeding again. That was bad-- when his nose began bleeding, it was nearly impossible to stop. He didn't have time to waste on it though. It stained the front of his dress shirt, and he wiped at it uselessly. It did nothing to staunch the flow, and smeared it messily across his face and hand instead.
That was what jolted him out of his thoughts and into motion. He couldn’t go out dressed like this- it wasn’t practical in the slightest. He got up from where he’d sat to gather his thoughts, and practically tore through his closet in search of simpler clothes. Blood was still creeping down his face, and it probably stained more than a few pieces of clothing within the wardrobe until he found something he deemed worthy. He tugged on the simpler outfit as quickly as he could, leaving his old one strewn across the floor, along with the blood that was still dripping from his nose. He tossed one of his older traveling cloaks over his shoulders.
The new outfit lacked any bright colors– bright dyes signified wealth and would only call attention to him– and any extra frills or decorations. It was still fancy by all means, but even that fact could be concealed by his cloak, one that he hadn’t used in a long while due to its age and wear. (And the fact he barely left the palace.) It was perfect, now.
Echos could be heard from outside the thick wooden door to his room, which Tsukasa had propped open slightly earlier. A newer servant– one who had struck as quite fond and loyal to Tsukasa over the past few weeks, oddly enough, had banged on his door, (something considered extremely rude to do to nobility, let alone royalty.) Tsukasa had immediately yanked the heavy thing open, startled and confused.
The servant, a boy with ginger hair, then clinging to his face with sweat, breathlessly informed him that the castle was compromised and to ‘save himself’, pausing barely a moment to catch his breath. Immediately after, the boy rushed off again, leaving a horrified Tsukasa.
In the present, Tsukasa knew that this wing of the palace would be the first place the invaders went to, if they had a spy. Tsukasa suspected that they did. The attack was too well coordinated for anything else.
Finally, Tsukasa nudged his door open a bit more and slipped out. Echoing screaming and metal against metal was much much louder without the door to block it out, in spite of it coming from many hallways away, or at least Tsukasa hoped. He didn’t have the time to grab anything besides the clothes he wore, he would have to figure details out later. Tsukasa slipped the hood over his head, and began his way out of the castle, along the back corridors that barely got any foot traffic besides guards. Speaking of guards, Tsukasa hadn’t seen a single one down any hall he’d passed through. Guards were mandatory, for the sake of safety, and there were usually 3 or more per corridor.
Perhaps they were all fighting to protect the castle? Or maybe.. No. Tsukasa didn’t want to think about that.
Is the current monarchy going to be overthrown? Is everyone going to be killed, only to be replaced just as fast?
Do I really.. not care?
He really should care, he really, really should, but Tsukasa couldn’t muster the emotion. Certainly, a comfortable life had been handed to him on a silver– no, golden platter, yet, selfishly, Tsukasa hoped that there was something out there for him that was better than this.
There wasn’t a point in reflecting on this right now. He had to hurry. Tsukasa was only about halfway to the gardens. The sound of conflict had quieted some, but it was unnerving how deep in the grounds the invaders had managed to reach. Even if the rest of the nobility were tucked away somewhere secret and out of harm’s way, if the grounds were completely overrun..
No where would be safe.
He continued down the winding corridors with a new urgency in his steps.
(Maybe it was a blessing that he didn't have any connections here. No family, no friends, no one to miss.)
His legs burned from disuse, but he didn’t slow his stride. Soon the stairwells and corridors shifted into the lofty arches that screamed of money towards the back of the castle, the older half, until he finally broke into the cool night air. The change in temperature barely registered over his heavy breathing. He needed to focus.
He’d made it to one of the palace gardens, tucked behind the castle. There were several gardens on the royal grounds, and this one, while large, must have been the smallest. Even on the sunniest days it wasn’t popular, and it was empty, now.
Being on the outermost edge of the grounds, a thick, tall wall surrounded it, made of the same formidable stone brick as the older portion of the castle. There wasn’t a gate to leave here, the hole where it had been was covered by bricks in recent years. There wasn’t a way to jump safely from the wall, and to do even that the wall would need to be climbed, first..
Tsukasa’s mind went blank as he began to panic. He had to get out of here.
In an effort to muster up some rationality, he eyed the plants nearest the wall. There was an old tree nestled up against it; it was one he’d climbed practically every other day when he was young, even after getting scolded again and again for engaging in an activity that only peasant children would partake in, and worse, something so dangerous.
He’d stopped after he'd fallen and scraped his arm, which resulted in an infection that left him sick for two months.
He made his way over to the tree. He couldn’t afford to be hesitant now, he needed to hurry. The bark scratched against his soft palms, but it was dull compared to everything else. He hadn’t done anything this physically intensive in years, and any muscle memory Tsukasa did have wasn’t supported by any strength.
It took a worrying amount of time to get to an appropriate height. The tree arced high over the wall, it was so tall and elegant it could’ve been older than the palace, though Tsukasa almost doubted that.
Tsukasa hoisted himself just a bit higher against the tree trunk, arms and legs trembling with exertion, and shakily hauled himself onto the top of the wall. It was thick enough that two people could walk side-by-side at the top, with a little room to spare. In other words, it was impervious to almost all attacks.
Tsukasa stared down at the other side. Unlike the inside, the outside was meticulously cleared of shrubbery, to prevent someone from climbing in the same way Tsukasa was climbing out.
The only way down was to jump.
He sat on the edge, and lowered himself, twisting his body so he was hanging only by his still-shaking arms. Unceremoniously, he let go.
The wind rushed through Tsukasa’s hair for only a moment, but he knew he had been a substantial distance from the grass and rocks below. He crumpled like a ball of used parchment against said rocks merely a second later.
He got to his feet as quickly as he could, desperately trying to gain his bearings. He'd tried to bend his knees, to absorb some of the impact, but his left ankle burned. He experimentally tried to put some weight on it, and the pain increased, but it was bearable.
Only a hundred yards ahead laid Wonderland forest. If he could manage to get through it, he would make it to the border and then find a way over that, then to another kingdom. It was a very vauge plan. But it was also his only option.
Tsukasa had to hurry before he was found when the grounds were completely surrounded.
He knew they would be. It wouldn’t go any other way.
So he began his desperate and painful dash toward the forest, then into the forest vanishing into its thick foliage. He felt almost high on fear, the fact that maybe it wasn’t the best to enter a forest in the dead of night was only addressed as a passing thought.
He couldn't have turned back regardless.
He wasn’t aware of the gold eyes following him from a distance.
C=C=＼(;・_・)／
Rui had a deep and fierce hatred towards the rulers of the Tenma empire. For one, their palace sat aggravatingly near the outskirts of Wonderland forest. It was within the current emperors rule that he erected the thick stone brick borders that cut through the trees crudely, not succeeding in crossing the massive swath of trees, obviously, but no one was foolish enough to come very deep into the forest anyway.
Rui entered the surrounding villages often enough to know that his sentiment was shared. Taxes were high, laws were tight, it was difficult to leave the kingdom. People didnt speak about it outright, eyes and ears were everywhere, but nevertheless the unrest was increasingly obvious, he knew that something was bound to happen soon.
So when Rui began to get suspicious amount of requests for potions and spells that were perfect for offensive attacks and er, melting though the special type of armor used for royal guards and boiling said guards alive within their own metal cocoons, he just gave his customers a closed eyed smile and didn’t think twice about it. He accepted nearly twice as many requests, even if he usually just rejected clients out of pure boredom or being too lazy to gather the components needed.
The more laws enforcing trade that were passed the harder it was for Rui to access the dark markets and stock up. It was annoying. Sure he didn’t live under their direct rule, but he was still technically in the kingdom. He would benefit from whatever attack was being planned, it was obvious.
So he watched, and waited for something to happen. Readily helping the public from the shadows. He found himself staring out at the castle from beneath the treeline more and more often with hate laced anticipation. Really, how could they live such a life of luxury and mercilessly grind their subjects under the sole of their boot without expecting any consequences? It was impossible for Rui to feel bad for any noble, they were clearly asking for it.
Rui had conveniently been watching the castle from his usual spot when the public’s agitation finally hit a point of no return. He only saw the back corner of the grounds, but it was unmistakable what was happening. The mob of people slowly surrounding the walls couldnt be taken for anything else. With his enhanced sight, he could make out an army of torches glowing in the dying light, pitchforks, swords, and many other more creative weapons. Rui felt a grin stretch across his face, unheeded.
The fact that Rui had helped make this happen only made this even better. Finally, all of the nobles would face consequences, the government would be reformed by the people. It would be so, so much better.
Rui stopped his train of thought as he caught motion out of the corner of his eye, then zeroed in on it.
Towards the corner of the grounds, it was a figure on the top of the outer wall. Backlit, and hard to make out. Rui watched, fixated, as it was frozen there. Then it sat, and dropped down to the ground below.
Rui couldn’t help but wince in pain at the sight. It had been a high fall onto the ground riddled with stones and course dirt. The figure was probably a maid or servant who hadn’t gotten the news in time to leave before all hell broke loose.
But wait– that wasn’t right. Their actions had been too frantic for that. Jumping off of the wall to escape? That would typically be someone's last resort. Rui narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the person--who was now struggling to get to their feet--a little better. Was that someone important, escaping?
A noble or someone from the royal family?
He backed away from the edge of the forest, sinking into the trees and out of the path of..whoever that was. That fall had to have injured them to some extent, surely. Yet all the same, they dashed in the direction of Wonderland forest.
Rui's face sunk into a frown. He couldn’t just let that person escape, lest they be someone from the royal family. The best course of action was obvious.
He should follow them, until they’re exhausted, and deep enough in the forest that no one will hear them if they scream. Considering that there was a near certain chance in Rui’s mind they were a noble or royal, would he kill them? Or would he decide on something else, worse? Rui wasn’t sure–well, he did need someone to test his work on..
They broke the treeline and Rui let out a quiet laugh. He waited a moment or two and deftly began after them, nearly silently. The whole scenario was reminiscent of a spider spotting its prey. They had wandered into Rui's territory, not knowing it was a trap and their fate of being immobilized and eaten was near.