Work Text:
There were once four boys.
A boy who was a deer, proud and defiant, from a rich and loving family.
A boy who was a dog, loyal to a fault, from another rich family, but scorned by his family.
A boy who was a wolf, who was feared as a monster by his family.
A boy who was a mouse, who was forced to take care of his family rather than his family taking care of him.
These four boys met on a train to their school.
They became close friends.
They were inseparable.
They were family.
Then, the war came.
These four boys, they were honourable, just and right.
They joined the war as soon as they could, blinded by empty promises.
(These four boys should have never had to fight a war their elders had started).
The mouse, he became desperate. He turned to the other side of the war, to evil. (He had never wanted to fight in the first place).
Then, there was a prophecy.
There was a prophecy that said that the great evil would be vanquished by a child who was yet to be born.
A child who would be born as the seventh month dies.
The child would be marked by the evil as his equal.
The child would hold the power to vanquish the evil forever.
A servant of the evil heard part of the prophecy.
The servant relayed it to their master immediately.
The piece that the evil heard was incomplete; there was no mention of the evil marking his opponent.
The evil decided to act.
An old man heard of the prophecy.
He was crafty and cunning. He was trying his best.
He was losing against the evil. He was desperate.
He knew of the servant relaying part of the prophecy to the evil.
The old man decided to act.
The old man set a trap for the evil.
He knew of two children who might perhaps fulfill the prophecy. He sent them into hiding.
One of these children was born of the wife of the first boy. (Perhaps now, he is a man?)
You see, the old man knew that one of the boys had betrayed the rest; had joined evil out of cowardice.
(He was only a boy, after all. He was scared. Boys make bad decisions when they are scared.)
The old man knew that he could spring the trap of the prophecy on the evil in this manner. (The old man does not understand some things.)
And so, things were set into motion.
The boy(man?), his wife, and their child were hidden from the evil by a magic spell.
This magic spell has one flaw: they need a trusted friend to hold the secret in their very soul.
The man called his friends and the old man to help him decide who to trust with their very lives.
(The man was was but a boy just a few short months ago.)
The man chose his best friend, first. His brother in all but name. The stag chose the dog, loyal and brave.
In private, however, he decided to be clever. The stag chose the mouse, small and cunning.
The dog was the obvious choice. The mouse was the clever choice.
Perhaps both were bad choices.
The mouse delivered the secret to the evil.
The evil smiled terribly. Its plan was coming together.
In a tower of a castle, the old man smiled. His plan was coming together.
The evil came to kill the child.
He killed the stag callously, when he rushed bravely to the defense of his family.
He killed his wife too, and although the evil had allowed her to leave three times, three times she refused.
Then, looking into the eyes of the infant, he spoke the death curse.
And with the sacrifice of the family, the prophecy was fulfilled. The evil was vanquished (for now).
Our story, however, does not end just yet. For there are three loose ends, you see?
The dog, ever loyal, is the first to the ruined home.
He sees the broken bodies of his brother and wife.
He howls brokenly.
He knows the mouse has betrayed them.
The mouse is frantically running away.
He sees the Mark of Evil on his hand has faded.
It no longer burns.
He knows that the evil is dead (for now).
The dog catches up the mouse.
The dog is angry, hurting and most of all, confused.
The dog is loyal. He does not understand.
The mouse is frightened, stiff with terror.
The mouse is cunning. He has a plan.
The mouse loudly shouts across the street: a question.
He asks why the dog betrayed the stag and his family.
Then, he sends an exploding spell at the street, cuts of his finger, and runs away.
The dog, broken with grief, falls to his knees and sobs.
Everyone thinks the mouse is dead and the dog had killed him.
The dog is sent to a prision from which no one can escape from. He does not get a trial.
The wolf is broken. He is grieving.
He does not understand. All he knows is that his pack has been torn away from him in one night.
The wolf mourns his friends. He loses himself in memories of old.
All that is left of the wolf is a hollow shell, worn at the edges.
The old man had won. The evil was defeated by the trap he had set.
The old man may have been cruel in war, but he was kind in peace.
The old man mourned for four brave boys, broken by the war.