My Light In The Darkness.

4 - The Aftermath.

"Retreat?" Mizuki repeated her prince's order in a confused tone. "Did you hear that too?" Akito suddenly ran over to them. "Yeah! I don't know why we're going back though? I doubt anyone got any information in the short time we were out here.." She replied. "Unless something happened.." The two knights gave each other a worrisome look. "Follow the direction of his voice and we'll be sure to find him, come on" Akito ordered, earning a responsive nod from his acquaintance. The two Luminarian knights began to chase the direction of the strong roars of their prince that they could hear throughout the foggy woodland.

It wasn't difficult to find him, considering the fact that most of the Luminarian soldiers were fleeing in the opposite direction towards the closest border gate while their prince, with a wide wound along his shoulder and partially on his upper arm, stayed to call back for anyone who had not heard his shouts, leaving no one behind. "Hinomori-!" The orange haired soldier belowed over to the younger knight who seemed to be doing the same as him and Mizuki. "Shinonome, Akiyama! Where's prince-"
"We don't know, we're looking for him" Mizuki interrupted her. "I'm joining you then, there's something not right here" Shiho confirmed.

The Obscurian forest land seemed like navigating through a maze, the closely packed variety of trees and vegetation sending darkness throughout the land. The leaves rustled as the three soldiers ran past them, not caring about the snapping and crunching of the fallen branches and debris beneath their boots giving away their exact location. Luckily for Ser Hinomori and Sir Shinonome, they had an advantage who was leading them through the barricade of trees as if it was a straight road, swerving and passing around each trunk. "Akiyama, are you sure about this direction? His voice sounds further left!?" Shiho shouted up to the pink haired knight who led a few feet in front of them. "You can't get through the trees over there, it's like a wall of pure sequoia trees, they're huge, you'd get stuck trying, the only way to get over that direction is going around this way, which luckily for you, I know a quicker way" Mizuki explained as they ran. Prince Tsukasa's voice had faded drastically, signalling to the others that they needed to hurry up. "Is there any quicker way!?" Akito demanded, his immediate thoughts from the silence being that the worst had happened. "I'm trying, Akito, calm down!" Mizuki roared back to him, growing impatient with the lack of trust between the three of them. "Well I'm sorry for not wanting to have to explain to the Queen that we couldn't save our prince because we were too slow!?" He argued. "He's not going to be dead, we're quite literally running as fast as we possibly can through this mess?!" She responded. "Cut it out, you two-"
"Is someone there?" The voice was only just above a whisper, except for the alertiveness of the knights looking for their prince, the three wouldn't have heard it. "Prince Tsukasa!?" Akito called out hurriedly, running ahead of Mizuki. "Akito wait-!"
Rushing suddenly to his prince's aid, the orange haired man was blinded by his worry and hadn't noticed the large tree in front of him, its shade pure black due to the overcast of the others of its kind in the forest, leading him to run right into it. "What the-!?" He screamed, banging his fist against the damp bark in a fit of rage. "I told you, this place is like a maze.." Mizuki consoled him. "Yeah, and our prince is behind there somewhere in who knows what state!? How the hell do we get around this!?" He breathed with anger and worry in his tone. The thoughts of reaching his prince too late stung his heart, he wished he could just cut every single tree out of his way to reach him, all to make sure that he was alright.

Akito Shinonome had always had a tendency to shut out most of his emotions, having the mindset of being unreadable, however when it came to people he cared about, he often found himself dropping that mindset and acting whatever way he felt was appropriate. Most of the time these outbursts were caused by pure worry for Prince Tsukasa. Of course, he knew that the prince was capable of handling himself, and could probably handle every single one of his knights on top of that, but having grown up training alongside and underneath the guidance of the prince because of their small age difference, Akito couldn't help but have a need to care for him more than an average knight would. His loyalty to the prince individually was unimaginable, and was on a completely different scale compared to the knight's loyalty towards the other members of the royal family. In this moment, he felt as though he could easily set this whole woodland aflame and happily watch it burn down, if it meant reaching the one who he longed for quicker.

"SHINONOME." Ser Hinomori's voice suddenly pierced through his ears, pulling him out of his destructive frenzy. Prince Tsukasa's voice could be heard faintly in the distance. "I know how to get to where he is, follow me, I'll be as quick as I can" Mizuki instructed the two. The brightness of Mizuki's pastel pink hair and the white of the Luminarian knights uniform was something that the two other knights could appreciate while trying to follow her fast movements around each barricade. With precision to not miss even a step that she made, Akito followed close behind them, Shiho not far behind the two. Anticipation grew amongst the small group as the amounts of untamed vegetation began to lessen, signifying that they were close to the Luminarian border, and essentially, close to their prince.
He was barely noticeable crouched behind a large tree stalk, sobbing to himself silently. The brave prince that everyone knew no other of, was breaking down in front of three of his closest knights, his closest friends. Running to the other side of the tree, Akito instantly kneeled down by Tsukasa's side unsure of what to do or say. "Prince Tsukasa..?" He tried. A humiliating feeling of guilt rushed through him as his prince turned to face him, the damage done to his body visible. "Sir Shinonome-!" Tsukasa sniffed, wiping away his tears and forcing a smile onto his face. Akito's face contorted to one of pure hatred. "Who did this?" He asked furiously, the answer to his question already guessable. "Let's just be thankful that it didn't reach its original aim" Tsukasa sighed, turning away from him to choke back another sob. The latters eyes widened as he heard the blonde's last statement. "The- what!?"
Attempting to push back his tears to appear alright to the eyes of his knight, Tsukasa whispered, "I don't know why I even tried.. He wants me dead, he tried to end me himself.."
Taking a closer look at his shoulder, Tsukasa's skin had practically been burned off, crimson blood spilling over his once pristine white shirt that was now damaged and stained. Aside from the beauty aspects, the injury looked as though it was agonising, the two other knights who had now joined the prince and the knight cringing at the thoughts. Yet Prince Tsukasa sat there, his heart aching more than any burn or bruise ever would. "I think I can help bandage and stitch where needed.. Or I could ask Honami to help.." Shiho attempted, gazing worriedly at Mizuki and Akito. "Let's get you back to Luminaria, my prince" Akito spluttered, unsure of what to say. There was a part of him that wanted to wrap his arms protectively around the other male, but he knew that there was no place for that in this moment, so instead he settled on assisting Tsukasa up by carefully wrapping one arm underneath the unharmed side of his body in a sort of half-carry. Prince Tsukasa wanted to smile at the amount of care his knights were showing for him, but he couldn't, there was only one thought running through his mind.
'He tried to kill me.'

"So, what was that about anyway?" The young grey haired woman asked as she wrapped long bandages around the frail body of her prince. "Or do you not want to talk about it?"
"I'm an idiot, Nene," Prince Rui said bluntly. The two sat on the dark bedsheets on Rui's bed as the prince's apprentice cared for the effects of his interaction with his father. "Hm, that means it was something you did while fighting" She hummed. "I didn't do anything I just-" He sighed, defeated. "You don't have to say it, but it's better to not bottle this stuff up" Nene advised. "This is going to sting slightly" She warned as she prepared a damp cloth to hold up to his face. Pushing his violet hair out of his apprentice's way, Rui spoke again. "It's about him.." He began. "That explains a lot.. What did you do?"
"We talked.. Well, no, we mocked each other and then I.." The Prince stuttered over his words. "Take your time, it's alright if you don't want to, '' Nene reminded him sweetly. Prince Rui Kamishiro had never really seen himself as anything other than what his father made him believe he was, a useless outcast of a prince, and a waste of space. Or more so, he had never seen beyond those labels and ideals that had been built up around him. It was always a strange feeling, to not know what he was truly worth. It hurt him, knowing that no matter what he did to try and convince his father, everything would always be blamed on him. He would always be the unwanted prince, the throw-away child. These were feelings that had haunted the prince since he was at least five years old, if not younger. A part of him knew that having a mindset like his wasn't healthy, partially because of Nene's input and advice on his home situations, but after all, there was nothing he could do. Well, there were a lot of things that he could do, but he wasn't willing to do them, knowing the consequences of even minor misdemeanours. There was always a sense of guilt residing deep inside of him, a guilt rooted from his own mistakes, his own actions. A guilt that he had hurt someone who he loved, someone who he could finally trust, and instead of accepting the forgiveness that was being offered, he chose the worst possible option.
"I didn't mean to hurt him, Nene.." he finally spoke. "So you did do something..?"
"My father was watching me from behind, I thought that if he saw me do something it would cover my back, but you can see how that worked out.." The pitiful prince explained. "That doesn't make what I did right, I'm not trying to defend my actions, but, ah-!?" He winced as the cloth was placed against his head. "I said it would sting.."
"I know, I know, I apologise" Rui sighed. "So once again you screw up, and lead me to do this." Nene began. "But I never finished-"
"I don't care, I need to ask you this question, because you never answer me whenever I ask, and this gives a good opportunity for you to think about it," Nene began. "If this is the one-"
"Do you still love Prince Tsukasa?"

Sitting on a chair in his bright bedroom, Prince Tsukasa sat patiently, occasionally flinching as Ser Hinomori stitched the large cuts caused by the burns with a technique that her wife, Dr Honami Mochizuki, had taught her for instances like this. "My apologies if this is hurting you, my prince, but-" She began to apologise before being cut off. "You need not apologise, if anything I should be thanking you for this.." Tsukasa admitted. "None of this would've happened if you fled the minute Kamishiro showed up," Akito said, trying not to direct his anger towards his prince. "I understand that, but I like to try, there's something going on, I can sense it" Tsukasa protested to his knights. "With all due respect, my prince, but Prince Kamishiro is a lot different than what a lot of people think, and as much as your intentions may be good, his aren't-"
"I don't care what his intentions are!" He argued stubbornly. "Prince Kamishiro was once the kindest, most caring person I knew, and I know he hasn't lost that, I know he might seem all dark and mysterious, but I want to hope that I can actually help him.." Tears began to swell in the Prince's eyes once again, only this time he didn't dare to let one spill. "Prince Kamishiro has changed a lot, trust me, there is something that has been going on behind public view since before I left, too many people have tried to find out and help, similar to what you are attempting, however it never turns out too well.." Ser Akiyama declared. A confused look was shared between the other three people in the room as she was encouraged to explain. "Right.. I forgot you guys were still training when I came. Alright then, I was born in Obscuria, in Nexarion, specifically, which is the economic centre of the kingdom and where most knighting families come from. Anyway, I worked for the royal family as an inside guard, practically being the prince's personal guard, similar to Ser Hoshino with the princess. It wasn't exactly a secret that something was happening, the only problem was that no one knew what it was, so naturally when I happened to walk in on.." The pink haired knight paused, unsure of whether to continue. "In on what?" Tsukasa questioned. If he could prove that his old friend actually needed help with this information, he might actually stand a chance at saving him from whatever it was that he needed saving from. "I'm not entirely sure how to describe it.. I mean, the king was there, and he.. uh.." Mizuki stuttered. "It was all sort of a blur, there was shouting, about what I am unsure of, I only remember being dragged out of the doorway by two other guards pulled me away, and before a knew it, my rank was stripped from me along with my Obscurian citizenship, and if I wasn't gone by the end of that day, I was to be killed by the people who I once considered to be my friends. Naturally, I headed to the Luminarian border, with the mindset of 'fight against them if you can't fight with them', where I was taken in by the previous Head of the Corps, and after proving my innocence I was let in" They explained, hoping that prince Tsukasa wouldn't ask for any more details about what the King had been doing. "So then why didn't we train with you?" Akito asked. "I was only let in to the general training after everyone else had learned enough skill so that I wouldn't stand out more than I already would"
"That makes a lot of sense, actually.." Shiho responded to the conversation. "This is going to hurt slightly, so I apologise in advance, my Prince" She added. "Do what you need to do, I am happy to oblige, I'm forever grateful that you are even- urk-!" He jolted as the final stitch was sewn into the wont, sealing it. "I just need to bandage it now, it won't take long," Shiho said, grabbing a fresh white roll from her first aid kid on the prince's desk. Prince Tsukasa had decided to drop the topic. He knew what he had to do. He knew what he was going to do.

 Mizuki had noticed that Akito had been scarily quiet throughout everything that had happened, with that, a worried feeling grew in them as she watched him stare blankly into the cream wall. "You okay, lil bro?" She asked, using the nickname that had been dubbed upon him ever since Mizuki and Ena had officially gotten together. "I'm fine" He grunted, clearly uninterested in having a conversation. "Are you thinking about how we're going to be in-laws soon?" She tried, knowing that that statement would catch his attention. "I beg your pardon?" He tilted his head as he spoke. "Well, I was planning on proposing soon, y'know, I mean we're technically engaged but it's better to be actually married and have it in writing in case anything ends up happening" Mizuki teased him. "I won't allow it, you are not marrying my sister, Akiyama." He demanded. "Aww, but she has the ring and everything~!"
"I don't care, you can shove that ring up you-"
"Am I always going to have to break you two up from bickering? Stop it." Shiho interrupted their crossfire. "That should be plenty stable for now, but you should probably take caution in what you decide to do until it's healed enough" She explained to her prince as she tied the final knot in the white bandage wrap. "Ser Hinomori, I can't thank you enough for this.." Tsukasa smiled at her, unsure of how to properly express his gratitude to her. "It's my duty, besides, it's Honami who taught me everything" She smiled in return. "Please send my gratitude to Dr Mochizuki, then" He continued. "Will do"
"What do you plan to do now?" Ser Akiyama asked him. "I was going to go down and-"
"I can take care of that, you stay here and rest." Sir Shinonome offered over him. "There's no need-"
"It doesn't bother me, it would make me happier knowing that you are properly taking care of yourself and letting that wound heal properly" Akito insisted, unwilling to hear Tsukasa's pleas. "It's not that bad-"
"I promise you, my Prince, I can handle any task you give me, I am at your service whenever you need, and in this moment, you need to wind yourself down. I can handle the knights, and I will report anything of importance to you immediately" Akito proclaimed, attempting to ease some of the pressure from the latter. Letting out a sigh, Prince Tsukasa reluctantly agreed. "Very well then, but please do keep me informed"
"Of course, my prince"

After saying their goodbyes and paying their respects to their prince, the three knights left him alone, Ser Hinomori parting ways with the other two as they did. "You're totally in love with him, aren't you~?" Mizuki asked teasingly once they were out of the ear shot of anyone else who had been there. "I-'' The taller's face flushed a slight pink, something that he only hoped was due to embarrassment. "I have a great respect for Prince Tsukasa, and the rest of the Luminarian royal family, but particularly him, he taught me a lot of what I know today" He said blankly, miraculously keeping his face emotionless except for the embarrassment blush that remained across his cheeks. "Hm, alright~"
"Shut it you, go and tell anyone you see who was out that you see that we will be meeting in the clubroom in approximately thirty minutes to discuss it. I'm heading to the courtyard and gardens to see if I can find anyone there" He ordered. "Roger that-!" Mizuki smiled playfully before running off.

The gardens were stunning. Brightly coloured flowers adorning each section of the perimeter. Rose bushes scattered evenly throughout, bright, shining sunflowers along the path, sweet daisies growing along the grass beside the hand planted flowers and the overwhelming colours and scents made the area feel unreal. It fit the ethereal feeling that carried throughout Luminaria, everything felt so naturally perfect, unlike many kingdoms where the beauty was obviously man-made. Each single petal and bush followed along a four way path leading towards the marble fountain that rested in the centre of the gardens. The knights of the kingdom, specifically those who had high rankings and relationships with the royal family, were permitted to roam the gardens as they pleased, so it wasn't unusual to see many knights having conversations while walking around it. However the sight of a white Luminarian uniform merging with one that contained nothing but what seemed to be pure darkness from afar merging into each other in either an embrace of something further was not what Sir Akito Shinonome had expected to be met with as he glanced towards the fountain. He hastily called out,

"Yoisaki!? Is that the enemy!?"