The first thing you hear are whispers. Feminine one second, male the next, they're ever shifting, a chorus on repeat.
"Did you hear?"
"Lady Maria was chosen as a princess this time!"
"I knew she would be."
"So the power is all hers now, huh?"
"Then, what happens to AA?"
"Well his sister wasn't chosen, so it's obvious... He'll be kicked out to somewhere else in the Tower."
"Too bad. He was really smart..."
"But isn't he a little scary?"
"He acts like he knows everything in the Tower at that young age. I get goose bumps just from looking in his eyes."
"Yeah, I know. They're awful, those eyes..."
"So it's his fate to be abandoned by the Lord."
"Shouldn't he give up on going up the Tower?"
"Garbage."
"Trash."
"Of course. His fate is to be discarded like trash."
"It's a pity, just because his sister couldn't be a Princess of Zahard."
They don't fade but increase in intensity, to such a pitch where it feels like your eardrums might burst—
—and they stop. Or have you gone deaf?
A small figure comes into view, a child with pale skin and striking blue eyes. His hair is up in a high ponytail with a matching blue ribbon, dressed in a pressed white shirt and black slacks.
A woman appears behind him, her features fuzzy except for her long hair and extravagant dress. She drapes her arms around the child to hold him close against herself and cradles him. Her voice is sharp, but has a tremble to it the more she speaks.
"My dear Aguero, we lost the fight.
I'm sorry, I'm very sorry. It's all my fault Aguero. I'm really sorry, Aguero. I'm sorry... "
She repeats her apologies again and again, but the boy has no reaction. His face is impassive, blank, and the blue of his eyes is as fathomless as the sea. Eventually, he closes his eyes.
The scene shifts to the foyer of an opulent manor, high vaulted ceilings with chandeliers dangling above, a facsimile of stars. A line of maids and butlers stand at attention like statues. Despite the bright interior, the mood is dour.
A young girl, hair blue in a familiar shade with blue eyes stomps her feet, wrinkling her simple dress. In her hand is a butterfly knife, which she flicks open and closed again. The words she speaks aren't entirely clear, but it's enough for you to make out that she is furious, murderous, a second away from slitting one of the servants throats. She grabs the nearest maid, demanding her tongue so she can rip it from her.
The young boy from before walks into view, his expression still blank.
"AA! Have you heard what the servants are saying?!?! They're gossiping about that the fact that our sister only lost her bid to become Princess because you helped Maria!
I'll have all their tongues for this and maybe some of their eyes too!"
The hand with the blade swings forward and the boy speaks. His tone is flat, frigid, colder than any blizzard.
"They're right. I betrayed all of you for Maria."
The girl is incredulous, unable to string a proper sentence together, pleading with the boy to tell her that he's not being funny and that this isn't time to joke.
"I'm not joking. That's the truth. I don't regret anything and I'm not sorry."
Blade still in hand the girl starts to approach the boy who doesn't move. She's shouting, yelling through tears about how she doesn't understand about how he could do this—that their sister is now 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 because of him, because she killed herself rather than live in defeat.
"You don't need to understand. I did it for a reason, a personal one. That's all there is to it. Goodbye, Kiseia."
The boy turns to leave and the foliage of the forest slowly fades back into view.
The scenery that comes into focus looks rather ordinary, an office of some kind filled to the brim with music CDs, vinyls, and speakers. The blonde man with golden eyes sitting at the desk is apparently some kind of audiophile and the person sitting opposite him, Khun, almost looks impressed at his collection. He's a little younger than he is now as a wizard (and shorter), but most of him still looks the same. His hairstyle of the day is a high ponytail tied with a bright blue bow.
The two are discussing business of some kind, though a lot of the words elude you not all of them do: regular, ranker, test, pass, Hoh, Rachel, Baam. They chat over coffee the meeting amicable until they get to the heart of the matter. A plan concocted by Khun to ensure Baam passed the exam.
"I decided to be prepared for Baam's safety, just in case.
I asked my classmate to tell me if Hoh seemed to be a bit odd. Well, I gave him a small bribe. But nothing happened until the day before the exam when he told me that Hoh was acting erratic and talking to herself.
I knew something was wrong, so I broke into Hoh's room. In there I found a memo that urged Hoh to kill Rachel so she was guaranteed to pass the exam. Whoever wrote it knew that without Rachel, Baam would have no reason to climb the Tower and would drop out.
When I confronted Rachel about it, she was insistent that I not let Baam know she was in danger. It was better for her to get hurt she said. So I needed to figure out a way to help both Baam and Rachel in the next test.
But I wasn't on their team."
Khun continues to speak of the details of his scheme: how he appealed to a princesses ego, how he wore down another teammate (by sleeping in his futon with him!) to work with him, and most egregiously, how he tricked one of test proctors by pretending to be slapstick evil so he would save Rachel's life.
"I told him point blank that I sabotaged my own team just to boost my own score, humiliated him, laughed in his face, and then walked away singing of my exploits because he couldn't stop me.
Of course he did exactly what I expected him to do, he saved Rachel.
My plan was really perfect."
Khun says it with one of his trademark smirks, the blonde man staring in apparent disbelief.
"Actually, it was a relief that Hoh had an alterior motive. If my plan succeeded, Hoh would have fallen into the trap I prepared.
I just didn't know—"
The scenery shifts from the office to some kind of battlefield, with two people on a stretcher. One of them is clearly dead, a grievious injury cut through their chest and torso. The medic takes down the deceased's name on a clipboard: Hoh. The second is thankfully alive, though she's unconscious and barely breathing. The medic attending to her writes down her name "Rachel", scribbling a note: "Initial testing appears to indicate that the patient no longer has use of her legs due to the numerous injuries she's sustained. Confirmation will be made in the medbay."
In the midst of the chaotic scene is a young looking boy with short brown hair and amber eyes. There's blood smeared on his face, but he appears more broken in spirit than in body. He can barely hold back the tears in his eyes as he looks at the aftermath of what clearly was something gone terribly wrong.
Khun's voice echoes in your ears as the scene shifts to a rowdy room, cheers of celebration heard in the background at the other team's defeat. Khun is there, head buried between his arms on a counter. The blue of his eyes peeks through, expressionless, blank and empty.
"I just didn't know that I haven't changed at all."
With those words, everything falls away until just the forest of the North remains.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
BY ORDER OF THE PRINCESS; cw suicide, violence
"Did you hear?"
"Lady Maria was chosen as a princess this time!"
"I knew she would be."
"So the power is all hers now, huh?"
"Then, what happens to AA?"
"Well his sister wasn't chosen, so it's obvious... He'll be kicked out to somewhere else in the Tower."
"Too bad. He was really smart..."
"But isn't he a little scary?"
"He acts like he knows everything in the Tower at that young age. I get goose bumps just from looking in his eyes."
"Yeah, I know. They're awful, those eyes..."
"So it's his fate to be abandoned by the Lord."
"Shouldn't he give up on going up the Tower?"
"Garbage."
"Trash."
"Of course. His fate is to be discarded like trash."
"It's a pity, just because his sister couldn't be a Princess of Zahard."
They don't fade but increase in intensity, to such a pitch where it feels like your eardrums might burst—
—and they stop. Or have you gone deaf?
A small figure comes into view, a child with pale skin and striking blue eyes. His hair is up in a high ponytail with a matching blue ribbon, dressed in a pressed white shirt and black slacks.
A woman appears behind him, her features fuzzy except for her long hair and extravagant dress. She drapes her arms around the child to hold him close against herself and cradles him. Her voice is sharp, but has a tremble to it the more she speaks.
"My dear Aguero, we lost the fight.
I'm sorry, I'm very sorry. It's all my fault Aguero. I'm really sorry, Aguero. I'm sorry... "
She repeats her apologies again and again, but the boy has no reaction. His face is impassive, blank, and the blue of his eyes is as fathomless as the sea. Eventually, he closes his eyes.
The scene shifts to the foyer of an opulent manor, high vaulted ceilings with chandeliers dangling above, a facsimile of stars. A line of maids and butlers stand at attention like statues. Despite the bright interior, the mood is dour.
A young girl, hair blue in a familiar shade with blue eyes stomps her feet, wrinkling her simple dress. In her hand is a butterfly knife, which she flicks open and closed again. The words she speaks aren't entirely clear, but it's enough for you to make out that she is furious, murderous, a second away from slitting one of the servants throats. She grabs the nearest maid, demanding her tongue so she can rip it from her.
The young boy from before walks into view, his expression still blank.
"AA! Have you heard what the servants are saying?!?! They're gossiping about that the fact that our sister only lost her bid to become Princess because you helped Maria!
I'll have all their tongues for this and maybe some of their eyes too!"
The hand with the blade swings forward and the boy speaks. His tone is flat, frigid, colder than any blizzard.
"They're right. I betrayed all of you for Maria."
The girl is incredulous, unable to string a proper sentence together, pleading with the boy to tell her that he's not being funny and that this isn't time to joke.
"I'm not joking. That's the truth. I don't regret anything and I'm not sorry."
Blade still in hand the girl starts to approach the boy who doesn't move. She's shouting, yelling through tears about how she doesn't understand about how he could do this—that their sister is now 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 because of him, because she killed herself rather than live in defeat.
"You don't need to understand. I did it for a reason, a personal one. That's all there is to it. Goodbye, Kiseia."
The boy turns to leave and the foliage of the forest slowly fades back into view.
ACCEPTABLE LOSSES; injury
The two are discussing business of some kind, though a lot of the words elude you not all of them do: regular, ranker, test, pass, Hoh, Rachel, Baam. They chat over coffee the meeting amicable until they get to the heart of the matter. A plan concocted by Khun to ensure Baam passed the exam.
"I decided to be prepared for Baam's safety, just in case.
I asked my classmate to tell me if Hoh seemed to be a bit odd. Well, I gave him a small bribe. But nothing happened until the day before the exam when he told me that Hoh was acting erratic and talking to herself.
I knew something was wrong, so I broke into Hoh's room. In there I found a memo that urged Hoh to kill Rachel so she was guaranteed to pass the exam. Whoever wrote it knew that without Rachel, Baam would have no reason to climb the Tower and would drop out.
When I confronted Rachel about it, she was insistent that I not let Baam know she was in danger. It was better for her to get hurt she said. So I needed to figure out a way to help both Baam and Rachel in the next test.
But I wasn't on their team."
Khun continues to speak of the details of his scheme: how he appealed to a princesses ego, how he wore down another teammate (by sleeping in his futon with him!) to work with him, and most egregiously, how he tricked one of test proctors by pretending to be slapstick evil so he would save Rachel's life.
"I told him point blank that I sabotaged my own team just to boost my own score, humiliated him, laughed in his face, and then walked away singing of my exploits because he couldn't stop me.
Of course he did exactly what I expected him to do, he saved Rachel.
My plan was really perfect."
Khun says it with one of his trademark smirks, the blonde man staring in apparent disbelief.
"Actually, it was a relief that Hoh had an alterior motive. If my plan succeeded, Hoh would have fallen into the trap I prepared.
I just didn't know—"
The scenery shifts from the office to some kind of battlefield, with two people on a stretcher. One of them is clearly dead, a grievious injury cut through their chest and torso. The medic takes down the deceased's name on a clipboard: Hoh. The second is thankfully alive, though she's unconscious and barely breathing. The medic attending to her writes down her name "Rachel", scribbling a note: "Initial testing appears to indicate that the patient no longer has use of her legs due to the numerous injuries she's sustained. Confirmation will be made in the medbay."
In the midst of the chaotic scene is a young looking boy with short brown hair and amber eyes. There's blood smeared on his face, but he appears more broken in spirit than in body. He can barely hold back the tears in his eyes as he looks at the aftermath of what clearly was something gone terribly wrong.
Khun's voice echoes in your ears as the scene shifts to a rowdy room, cheers of celebration heard in the background at the other team's defeat. Khun is there, head buried between his arms on a counter. The blue of his eyes peeks through, expressionless, blank and empty.
"I just didn't know that I haven't changed at all."
With those words, everything falls away until just the forest of the North remains.