Chapter Text
Trumpets sing and spirits soar throughout the kingdom. Colorful flags decorate rooftops and cheerful boisterous voices echo across the plaza. Today’s celebrations mark the first anniversary of the birth of Karasuno’s prince: Kageyama Tobio.
Up in the Great Halls of the Karasuno Castle a banquet has been laid out, delicious meats procured by the Great Huntsman Iwaizumi. Rumors whisper alongside the merrymaking of how many demons fell to the bow of the Great Huntsman. Half of the Demon King's army had been laid low, and if the rumors were to be true- the Demon King himself was the hunter's next target.
The Good Witches stand at attention, placing themselves between the Prince Tobio and the crowd of onlookers whose rowdiness has already drawn a frown to the cranky toddler’s face. Besides, it’s well past his bedtime. The Good Witch Sugawara pokes Tobio’s pudgy cheek, and elicits a quiet smile that quickly fades with the rising cheers for another round of drinks- all to the young Prince’s good health, of course. Good Witch Akaashi silently stares at all of the guests, watching with neither caution nor impatience. The third Good Witch remains seated beside the Prince’s cradle. A spellbook larger than his chair blocks his entire body from any potential onlookers. He bristles. Soon Kenma will be asked to speak in front of everyone. Perhaps it would have been best had he remained home after all.
It seemed the whole world was in attendance at tonight’s festivities as paupers mingled with nobles, knights with spinsters, townsfolk with faeries. Rumors even spread of how Ushijima, the King of Faeries, was expected to join the evening’s procession. How wonderful that in a world bereft of struggle against the demons, there could be a single night where everyone was welcomed to gather for a joyous celebration. Well. Almost everyone. But surely there was no need to dwell on such unhappy thoughts- come now it is time for the Prince’s gifts!
The King and Queen of Karasuno hold their cranky Prince to the crowd of boisterous peoples, as together they cheer and drink for his blessings. Next, the three Good Witches lined up to present their own gifts to the young Prince Tobio.
Good Witch Akaashi was the first to share his gift, speaking with a quiet inflection to the Young Prince. HIs soft voice echoed across the Great Hall, filling every inch with the latent magical aura of a witch’s blessing. “Prince Tobio, I present to you a blessing of sincerity. May your people rest at ease knowing that you will be forthcoming and genuine in all that you are and all that you will do. May your Kingdom in return share their trust in you.”
Up next, Good Witch Kenma pulled his hood over his head. In contrast to his brother witch, Prince Tobio alone heard of this gift. The crowd shuffled awkwardly. They held their tongues however, as they knew better than to interrupt a witch’s blessing- even if they themselves could not feel that breath of said witch’s power.
Oh, nevermind. Now everyone could feel Kenma’s latent magical energy. It tasted sweet like an overripe peach, bruised on one side, yet still sweet like a toothache. The collective Great Hall held their breaths now, as the sickening sweetness coalesced into a rotting cavity.
The candles shuttered and flickered before extinguishing one by one. Someone screamed and the young Prince joined in harmony. Hushed voices raised concerns, fear of a demon amidst the crowd heightened the tension- how had one bypassed the guards?
“Well, what a lovely party this is.” A vibrant charismatic voice rang through the Great hall, commanding attention. Everyone obeyed. “Nobles, royals, fae and witches all congregating together for such a joyous occasion.” The Great Witch Oikawa lazily strolled across the courtyard, his boots clicking across the steps up to where his three brothers huddled around a sobbing prince. “My, this meal looks quite delicious, and the wine has some delightfully tangy notes.” He raised a bejeweled goblet he had pilfered from a nearby table. “My only real note of concern would be the guest list. It seems quite strange, you see, my invitation was not received.”
“Witch Oikawa, that is nothing strange at all. There was no invitation delivered.” The King of Faeries stood, proud and tall.
“And why might that be Ushijima, do tell.” A dangerous gleam alighted in Oikawa's eyes.
“You were not wanted.”
The glass goblet shattered in Oikawa’s hands, red wine staining his hand, dripping along the floor beneath him.
“What a shame then.” Oikawa’s voice was light as air. "Nevertheless, here I am, the Greatest Witch of our time, here to offer the Young Prince a gift of my own.”
A trail of red wine followed Oikawa up to the King of Karasuno, the blubbering prince within his arms.
“Please show mercy, Great Witch.” The king tucked his son into his own chest, the blood drained from his gaunt face. He knew that all the knights within his castle could not hold back a scorned witch.
The Great Witch Oikawa smiled with glittering teeth down at the cowering king. “His Grace will allow me to present my gift to the Prince, or else I will bestow my gift upon every babe born to Karasuno in the next century.”
The King hesitated. For a moment. The unfurled his first and only child, presenting him to the half demon Oikawa, the fallen witch.
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Oikawa plucked the tearful toddler from the arms of his father. “You are an ugly baby, aren't you?”
Oikawa held him in the air, swinging him rather than cradling him. Prince Tobio’s lips pursed shut. His tears halted. He stared transfixed into the liquid fire that danced in Oikawa’s eyes.
“If you keep frowning like this your face will stick that way. It’s true, it happened to a friend of mine.” He inhaled sharply, as if remembering the pain of a knife carving into his back. “Now for your gift. You will grow without knowing the love of your Kingdom and on your sixteenth birthday you will feel the prick of a spinster’s needle and transform into the Greatest Demon that has ever befallen Karasuno.”
And with that, the Great Demon Witch Oikawa vanished into a black plume of smoke, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake.
—---------------------
The Good Witch Sugawara loved his charge as any parent should love their child- he just wished that young Tobio would be more of a troublemaker.
Oh sure, it’s great when your teenage boy cleans his room and folds his own laundry without being prompted- but by the Sun’s Light Tobio could be so dull. Sugawara had done his duty as a witch- a mediator between the world of humans and fae- and showed Tobio the Pond’s reflection, which could transport them between worlds in the blink of an eye. Sure he seemed interested, but when left to his own devices, the boy would merely stare at the pond’s surface with passive indifference before retrieving a sketchbook and drawing the very same landscape he had drawn the day before.
Perhaps Tobio had taken after his more introverted brothers, despaired Suga. Though unlike Kenma, their charge had no interest in spellbooks nor affinity for magical inclinations. Kenma had procured Tobio the highest quality spellbook, made from paper harvested from the Ancient Oak of the Forest's Grove; though the young boy made more use of it as a stretchbook than for spells.
Akaashi had similarly offered his tutelage to Tobio, though after the third cauldron melted through their kitchen floor- there was a unanimous decision that perhaps the young boy conduct the procurement of materials rather than the concoction of said elixirs.
It was through art that Tobio finally bloomed into his own. Even as a toddler Tobio had taken a liking to painting with his fingers, drawing anything from portraits of his three guardians to landscape views of worlds he had long forgotten. Having only been a toddler when he fled the castle of Karasuno, Tobio had no memories of the palace of his birth. And he couldn’t very well return- the villagers would have his head! Or at least that was the nightmare that Akasashi had feared.
Sugawara, the eldest of the brothers, was sure that fifteen years was more than enough time for the people of Karauno to forget all about that pesky curse of the Demon Witch. Suga of course had survived centuries bouncing between the human and faerie worlds and thus had a perpetually skewed perspective of time. Kenma, the youngest of the brothers never forgot a single thing and assumed this was true for everyone else. This fundamental belief system was challenged upon raising a five year old Tobio who was convinced Kenma’s study was a good place to practice splatter paint art, despite the many redirections to go…. OUTSIDE!
Akaashi was in contact with a human, and it was from him that Akaashi had learned of the growing sentiments against his young charge. The Good Witch proved extremely tight-tipped about this particular human and only mentioned of him when Tobio was alone with him, preparing healing elixirs and only when the witch had failed to sleep in a few sunrises. This human was a king- like Tobio’s father was. Tobio was not particularly aggrieved at not knowing much of his father- the king- though by the glowing manner in which Akasshi described his human king, Tobio wished he could be a king half as good as that. A shame then that he never would be.
—---------------------
Today was a very special day. It marked the anniversary of the Defeat of the Demon King, a decade previous, as well as the 16th birthday of Kageyama Tobio. Tobio knew that today was a special day because his guardian witch Suga had blown up the kitchen before the robins sang good morning. Tobio had acquired his baking prowess from at least one of his guardians.
“Surprise Tobio!” The Good Witch Suga looked manic as he blew a gust of wind through the kitchen, the smoke billowing out through the windows. “Your um… your birthday cake is almost ready!”
“Happy Birthday Tobio, give me but a moment and I will rectify Sugawara’s mistake…” Akaashi turned his attention to the molten mess that stuck to his oven rack. Under his breath he muttered, “ I spent all night doing prepwork only for one stray witch to incinerate it.. May the Western Wind blow both the smoke and you out of my kitchen.”
“Yes Tobio, you should go back to sleep while they work this out.” Bright yellow cat eyes bore holes into Tobio’s and he realized that Kenma must not have slept the previous night.
Tobio was never one to disobey his guardians, mostly because he never had much reason to do so. To his bedroom Tobio returned, leaving the scatterbrained and overstressed Good Witches to complete his birthday cake.
“Do you think he bought that?” Sugawara pulled at his silver hair as he frantically paced around a kitchen mostly in ruin.
“We don’t have time for that Suga, why didn’t the recipe work? Did you add the newt’s liver and then stir counterclockwise?” Akaashi held his hands perfectly still in a way that meant he was about to scream.
“Yes I did exactly as you said!”
“Obviously you didn't- the curse breaker potion shouldn’t look like basalt columns.”
“Unless the curse is too powerful to be removed with an elixir.”
Akaashi and Sugawara both turned to their brother, who looked pensively to the door where Tobio had just left them. “Tobio was cursed by a half demon- it’s possible we didn’t account for how demonic magics affect how the spell was cast. There is no historical precedence for a Great Witch with demonic ancestry.” He bit his thumb, drawing blood at the nailbed. “I’ll see if Kuroo knows anything more.”
Kenma spread his blood across a scratch parchment and it folded itself into an animated origami crow. The magical paper bird hopped from Kenma’s handstand shot like an arrow towards the sky.
“Is this really wise?” Kenma shot Akaashi a glare.
“Of course it is. Kuroo is Kenma’s friend, which means he is our friend as well.” Suga soothed, raising his hands to placate his brothers.
“Not about him being part demon. I’m just worried that with all of this attention Tobio will freeze up and hide away. We don’t want him getting separated from us.”
“This is Tobio we are talking about! If he needs space he will head over to the pond and relax with some new painting project of his! Us overthinking this will only put Tobio more on edge. We have to act natural.” Suga said all of this with smoke dancing along the end of his ashen gray hair.
“Alright Suga, you go find Tobio and keep him occupied. Kenma, reach out to Kuroo and see what he can tell us about demonic curses. I’ll head to the basement and see if I have any tombs on alterations to the curse breaker potion.”
“Operation: Break Tobio’s Demonic Curse and Give Him a Normal Sweet 16 is a go! And break!” The three Good Witches set off.
Suga knocked on Tobio’s bedroom door. No answer.
“Hey Tobio, Akaashi fixed the oven so the cake should be ready soon. It’s blueberry flavored, your favorite!” Suga pressed his ear to the oak wooden door. Nothing. “Tobio, did you fall back asleep? I’m coming on in!”
The door swung open easily. Clothes strewn across the floor, bed made but wrinkled, various drawings and sketchbooks were scattered on the desk. Next to Tobio’s bed, two pale window curtains danced like ghosts. The window panes were pushed open, welcoming in a gentle breeze.
Suga closed the distance to the bed and pulled the nearest sketchbook to him. Next page flip. Flip. Flip. The most recent pages all filled with the same portrait of a face Suga had not seen in fifteen years- his own brother. The Great Demon Witch Oikawa. They were too late.
—---------------------
Kageyama returned to his room, leaving the three Good Witches charged with his upbringing to defuse the house fire they had created before 8 AM. The covers on his bed were perfectly tucked in, which made it all the more comfortable when he flopped down and snuggled his head into the pillows. He had slept not a wink last night and his exhaustion was catching up to him. Tobio closed his eyes and released the tension from his body in a slow exhale of stress.
Tap. Slow breathing, in and out again. Tap. Maybe the Western Wind Akaashi had summoned to curse Suga had blown a fork all the way from the kitchen to Kageyama’s upstairs bedroom window. Yes, that was it. Tap. tap tap. Maybe it would go away if Tobio played dead like an opossum. Clank.
“Goooooooooooood morning Kageyama!” Hinata expertly dodged the pillow aimed directly for his face. “Happy Birthday!”
Kageyama groaned in response.
“Come on now, it’s not every day we get to celebrate your 16th birthday! The daylight is already wasting!”
Said daylight had not yet broken into a sunrise. Kageyama pressed his head deeper into his pillow and screamed. His harasser paid no mind.
Hinata pulled on Kageyama’s arm. “Come on, you’re already dressed and everything!” And other gruff. “Kageyama… the Death of the Demon King Festival is starting soon… all of the greatest knights in Karasuno will be in attendance… I heard that some might even be competing in a tournament!”
At this Tobio finally raised his head. “Alright.”
“Wait for real?”
“Yes.”
“Yes! But first brush your teeth- your breath smells like a troll!”
Hinata was not fast enough to dodge the second pillow.
—---------------------
The two boys, now both with brushed teeth, walked down the stairs to let the three Good Witches know they would be gone to Karasuno’s festival.. But they seemed…. Preoccupied.
Smoke danced off of Suga’s bangs. Akaashi stood stock-still, which meant that he was moments away from a breakdown. Kenma’s face was fully covered by some demonic spellbook with a giant glowing red eye that stalked Hinata from across the kitchen. Perhaps leaving a note would be better. Besides, Suga was always saying he wished Kageyama would get out more and spend time with kids his own age.
Kageyama tore a corner from his sketchbook page and scrawled out a mostly illegible message. He set this on the kitchen counter before walking out the front door with Hinata in tow. The giant glowing red eye followed Hinata all the way out.
A lone black iron gate separated the cozy cottage of the Good Witches from the human world. Hinata would often travel in and out of here as he traversed the different worlds. Hinata was born as a faerie, but he was raised in the human world as a changeling child. Upon discovering his true nature, Hinata was forced to flee his human village. Neither raised as a faerie who understood faerie customs nor as a human within the kingdoms of mankind, he found it difficult to stay in either world for too long. His latest quest involved traveling between worlds to find the human child he had replaced, the child his adopted parents had given birth to. He knew they looked similar, and that her name was Natsu and that was about it. Suga had been helping Hinata locate her, although with so little information to go off of, the task proved challenging.
Once, Kageyama had drawn up a sketch of what he thought a girl Hinata would look like.
“That’s her,” Hinata had burst into tears. “That’s Natsu.” He had tucked the picture into his shirt pocket, and there it remained to this day.
The iron gate led out of the cottage and into the Forest Grove. The boys raced one another to the city of Karasuno- screaming like the woods were chasing after them. Had either of them cared to look around, they might have noticed that a cloaked figure in all black was in fact chasing after them.
—----------
“Blerg!” A hideous monster’s face yelled next to Kageyama’s ear.
“Hinata you stupid runt! Idiot!”
Kageyama screamed insults at the orange haired boy, who rolled on the ground, howling with laughter. He raised up the demon mask he had found and wiped a tear. “You should have seen your face! You were so sacred!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!’
“Was not!”
“Boys!”
A red faced shopkeeper pointed a stubby finger at them. “Are you going to pay for that mask?”
The two teenagers stopped their argument to investigate the moths within their otherwise empty pockets.
“Uhh.. no, thank you ma'am!” Hinata shoved the mask back into the shopkeeper’s hand and rushed away. Kageyama bounded after him.
“So Kageyama.. It’s your birthday! What do you want to do?” Kageyama paused, thinking hard. In all honesty he hadn’t even been to one of these festivals before. While the Good Witches had taken him to the world of Fae and the Forest Grove many times, Suga had said he found the human world quite dull and that there were many cooler places for the to explore with much cooler scenery for drawing sketches. Maybe Suga just didn’t know what he was missing, because this festival was a blast!
“Um… whatever you want to do.” Despite how exciting everything was here in the human world, Kageyama hadn’t been to Karasuno since the three Good Witches saved him from an angry mob, and he really didn’t want to be chased out twice.
“Okay.” Hinata pulled his face into an expression that he thought looked pensive and Kageyama thought made him look constipated. “Well, the knights will have their tournament soon, and I don’t wanna miss Rolling Thunder!”
“Rolling Thunder?”
“Rolling Thunder!" Hinata yelled this as he threw himself into a forward roll, bumping into a food stand, then launched himself back on two feet. Kageyama felt a blush of second hand embarrassment flush his cheeks.
“Hinata you idiot what was that?”
“Roliing Thunder! It’s the most well known move of Karasuno’s own Guardian Angel knight!”
Here his voice cut low. Well, low for Hinata. “You know, it’s said he might even be half faerie.. But he chooses to live in the human world- I’ve always wanted to meet him!”
This impassioned speech was met with a bald headed shopkeeper whose shopstand full of melons was completely toppled by Hinata’s “Rolling Thunder”.
“Eek!” Squeaked Hinata.
“How are you going to pay for all of this- oh I’m taking you straight to the guards! Let’s see how much rolling you are able to do in a jail cell!”
“Eek!” Hinata squeaked again but as he turned around to flee, he bumped directly into the tallest man Kageyama had ever seen. With the most insane bedhead.
“Hey now gentlemen,” He spoke with an air of graciousness. “Today is supposed to be a day of celebration, of ending conflicts, of new beginnings. Let’s see if we can come to some sort of resolution together.”
“But- my melons!”
“Ah, of course! Let me fix that for you.”
And with a shimmer of glittering red sparks, the mysterious man waved his hand. The melons sprouted legs, then one by one, spun in a circle and then danced their way back onto the melon cart.
“... My Melons! Oh my Melons! Guards! Guards over here please!"
The shopkeeper did not appear adequately appreciative of this particular working of magic as then he promptly fainted.
“Hmm, perhaps now is a good time to run away.”
The man grabbed ahold of both boys and they all ran away- Hinata howling with laughter and Kageyama bursting with wild adrenaline. Was the human world always like this?
They hid behind some stands, all catching their breath. “Thanks sir- are you a witch?”
Hinata recovered first and was never afraid to ask things that should be kept quiet.
“Oh my god dummy Hinata, you can’t just ask someone if they are a witch!”
But the man simply threw his head back and cackled, not un-witch-like.
“No, no, but I am friends with a witch. I am Kuroo, the Court Magician for Karasuno.”
That explained his silken robes and flashy show of magic.
“A Court Magician for Karasuno?” Hinata was back to screeching. “Your magic is incredible! You were like swoosh! Zip! Zwah!” Both Kuroo and Kageyama looked thrown off by this exclamation. “Could you maybe teach me how to do that?”
Kuroo did look apologetic as he replied, “Sorry kid, my magic isn’t the type you can teach just anyone.”
“It’s okay, I’m like you.” Hinata looked around before conspiratorially continuing. “I’m also from the Faerie world.” Had Kageyama been better at reading people he might have noticed Kuroo’s intrigue dip into confusion before landing at a sly smile.
“Well in that case,” he also made a motion to look to the left and right of them. “I might just be able to teach you a trick or two.”
Hinata jumped so high his feet reached the top of the bleachers.
“Really?!?”
“But of course little brother! Hmmm…” Kuroo wandered Hinata and Kageyama, eyeing them over. “Here we go!”
He plucked from each of them a rounded button.
"First, watch me.”
Both boys stood rapt as Kuroo waggled his fingers and the button sprung six insect legs and crawled all around Kageyama’s clothes.
“Hey!” Kageyama reached, trying to stop the button from investigating his hair.
The button beetle verbally shushed him. Both Hinata and Kageyama stared in wonder as the button then retreated back into its home on Kaeyama’s shirt.
“What did that spell do?” Asked Kageyama.
“Ok now your turn,” Kuroo ignored him and turned to Hinata.
“Wait, what do I do again?”
“Wave your arms and trust your magic to follow your will.”
“Like this?”
Hinata waved his arms and the button changed from brown to mauve. “Oh thank the Ancient Oak It worked! Look!” Hinata shoved his button into Kageyama’s face, who batted him away.
“That wasn’t real magic- you just changed something’s color. Anyone can do that!”
Kuroo turned agape to Kaygeama’s completely inaccurate statement of his own worldview and was promptly smacked in the face with something that was once an origami bird. Now, it was a message, one sent by the Good Witch Kenma based on the method of delivery (in Kageyama's experience). Kuroo slowly opened it and the ink danced along the page. Yeah, this one definitely belonged to Kenma.
“What does it say?” Asked Kageyama.
“Huh. My witch friend is asking for my expertise in some magic spells.”
Kageyama wondered what kind of project Kenma was working on that required help from the Court Magician of Karasuno.
“Hm this seems to be pretty important.” Kuroo studied the message. “How about you two run along and I’ll catch up soon enough."
He frowned at whatever he was reading. A gong rang in the distance.
“It’s the knight contests! It’s time for ROLLING THUNDER!!!”
Hinata sprinted off towards where the crowds had begun to coalesce, bobbing in and out of the crowd to push himself forward. And wherever one saw Hinata running, Kageyama was sure to be right there next to him.
“Tell Kenma I’ll be home by dinner!” He said to Kuroo right before he dashed off after his best friend.
“Yeah sure, no problem. Wait, what?” But Kageyama was already gone- chasing an orange haired faerie in the crowd.
A second messenger bird letter dive bombed into Kuroo. This one was much shorter and simply read: “Kuroo I need your help. We've lost Prince Tobio.”
Oh well that was great because Kuroo actually had him right… he looked around for the once prince Tobio and his small red-headed friend. Only, they had completely disappeared. But that was okay! After all, as the Court Magician of Karasuno, locating a single person- in his own city no less- was no difficulty at all!
Kuroo breathed deeply and sent a ping of magic across the whole city. He waited for its echo. There wasn’t one. Had Kageyama run fast enough to leave the city limits? No, they just left. Kuroo tried again. No response. Then, Kuroo remembered the spell he had just cast on Kageyama. The spell of nondetection he had cast so that a certain dark cloaked individual who had been stalking Kageyama this entire time would not be able to find him.
But it seemed this spell had backfired terribly- now Kuroo couldn’t cancel the nondection spell unless he wanted to open Kageyama to be discovered by everyone else hunting him down.
—--------------------
Three announcers called everyone’s attention to the fighting pit. “Gooooood morning Karasuno! Thank you all for joining us in celebrating the anniversary of the heroes of Karasuno defeating the terrible Demon King! Our Great Huntsman Iwaizumi sacrificed his life in battle against this monstrosity so now we must honor him by partaking in a battle of our own: Arrow Marksmanship!”
The crowd cheered, Hinata and Kageyama amidst them.
“Our marksmen are preparing their arrows- let’s welcome them out now!”
“Roooooolling Thunder!“ Hinata, along with a few other hundred fanboys, yelled. “There he is, Kageyama look! Do you see him?” Kageyama looked, but none of the rugged knights stalking by screamed ‘Rolling Thunder’.
“ROOOOOOOLLING THUNDER!!!” Oh never mind, there he was.
A short knight, smaller even than Hinata, who was the smallest person Kageyama knew, tumbled across the walkway, crashing into half a dozen other knights, knocking them to the ground like bowling pins.
“And who is this? It’s Karasuno’s very own Guardian Angel- Nishinoya Yuu!”
Hinata and the whole crowd lost their damn minds. A young woman next to Kageyama fainted. A middle aged man holding a large banner with Nishinoya’s face embroidered on it was frothing at the mouth. Hinata was not fairing much better. He looked pale, a little blue in the face. Like he had forgotten how to breathe. Kageyama poked him. That didn’t work so he tried again, only this time, harder. That seemed to do the trick.
“Ouch! Stupid Kageyama that hurt!”
"You're about to miss seeing him shoot!”
This was true, as Karasuno’s Guardian Angel lined up his bow and fired off three arrows. The first hit the bullseye. The second split through the first arrow clean in half. The third did the same.
Hinata SCREAMED. “Kageyama did you see that?”
“Yeah it was-”
“Kaygeyama he split the arrows-”
“I know that was crazy-”
“I need him to sign my FACE!”
“Yeah, wait what?” But it was too late. Hinata, along with half the crowd, rose out of their seats and charged forward, all screaming “Rolling Thunder’.
“Hinata come back you dummy!”
But the red-headed boy had already jumped ahead of the crowd in a single leap and rushed the field. Kageyama stood up instinctively to chase after him, but a sea of bodies blocked his path. Someone next to him- the man with the banner- hip checked Kageyama out of the way and he was sent sprawling. Bodies. Everywhere. Kageyama felt hot. Too hot, like his skin was on fire. He couldn’t breathe. Someone stepped on his leg and Kageyama didn’t have any air left to scream.
“Easy now, I’ve got you.” A firm muscled hand pulled Kageyama up from the ground. He brushed off some of the dirt that had gathered on Kageyama’s clothes. “Come here.”
The stranger led Kageyama away from the zombie-like mass of bodies. As the stranger walked forward, the sea of people seemed to instinctively part before him. The weighted stomps of his boots cautioning against crossing their path.
“Drink this.”
They were at the well. Kageyama accepted the wooden cup offered to him by the stranger and drank deeply. He held out the empty cup and the man refilled it. Kageyama emptied it a second time.
“Slow down, kid, you are gonna make yourself sick.”
Kageyama breathed. In through his nose, hold. Out through his mouth. He counted to four and repeated, just like Kenma had taught him to whenever he felt overwhelmed. Kageyama felt the knot in his stomach loosen.
“Thanks.”
Kageyama lifted his head up, finally looking up at the man who saved him.
“Don't thank me yet kid,” said the stranger, a dark cloak wrapped around his body.
His hood was pulled back so Kageyama could see his dark face. A scar cut across his forehead, as if a clawed demon had raked across his brow, staining streaks of his dark hair white. Across the stranger's back, partially hidden beneath his dark cloak was a well used bow and quiver full of arrows. The stranger frowned down at Kageyama. “Prince Tobio, the King of Faeries is trying to kill you.”