teaism | it's a long way forward

it's a long way forward

[It's been days since he left that village behind, and he hasn't had nearly enough time to stop and rest. Every village or town he's run across has chased him off for falling out of the sky, too poor to offer any help of their own and too afraid to attempt to question his state. Desperately, he's kept his presence disguised, hiding from those other colored entities that were part of this destiny he wanted nothing to do with. He slept in trees for a couple hours at a time, moving again before too long when it no longer felt secure enough.

He was running from something he couldn't escape, but each time he tried to find somewhere to go, it wasn't right. Maybe his predecessor was right. Maybe there wasn't anyone who would take him like he is, green leg showing in the spot that his shoes don't cover. Maybe he was too much of a monster.

No. Determined, Jae-Ha urged himself forward despite that worry. No matter where he ended up, or if he had to live alone for the rest of his life, it was better than existing and waiting in that prison of a village. He wouldn't become like his predecessor. He wouldn't wait around to take it out on the next generation.

When he spots a blonde boy crouched near something in a clearing of the woods, Jae-Ha's chest tightens. This could be a chance, couldn't it? He was his age— younger, clearly, but not an adult like all of the ones that have chased him off. And better than that, he was alone. Maybe, just maybe, he could say something to reach him, to get some food other than the occasional bits of bread or fruit he's stolen from carts or nabbed from trees along the way.

His appearance comes in a flash, a green blur dropping out of the sky and right in front of Sanji. He's a mess in his dirtied robes, his face and body still badly beaten from a few days prior, his hair dirty and sticky even tied back, and heavy bags beneath his eyes from the lack of rest. When he drops down to a knee, both to temporarily hide the green of his right foot and to humble himself, it's more of a fall of pure exhaustion.

He doesn't bow his head like you should with a gesture like this, instead staring directly at Sanji with determined eyes.]

Please, let me stay with you, at least for a night. I'll do anything.

[It's about time for a desperate offer like this, isn't it?]

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Dinner.

[Voice flat, and she looks at her wrinkled sheets without truly seeing the mess. It just happens to be a better view than Jae-Ha's misery.] I'm still a lord's daughter.

[From her robes, she produces an apple and hands it to him.]

... Yes, he's alive.

[He reaches to take the apple, but all he can do is hold it in his hand. He can't eat before he knows.]

Tell me where he is.

[Continuing on as if she hasn't heard him--]

It's like I told him. Father has finally decided to punish his failures.

[Numbly, and with a grim smile, she stares at the floor]

I guess this means I only have three brothers now.

[He drops the apple, reaching out to try and grab at the front of her robes instead.]

Tell me where he is.

Don't touch me.

[Hissing the words, with her face contorted into the first true expression of rage and fear Jae-Ha will ever see. If she has her way, it will also be her last. The moment she side-steps, she's already wrestled back her feelings, and looks at Jae-Ha with only mild contempt.]

What do you expect to do by yourself? Tell me that. Are you going to rescue the lord and then ride off to some magical stash of coin you haven't told me about?

[He watches her, going quiet as he thinks. The more serious he feels, the more he gets silent. He's planning, thinking, and eventually, he speaks.]

Just tell me where he is and leave the rest to me.

[Of course he's say something so simple and filled with disillusioned devotion. He's a fool, like Sanji, and Reiju's temper rises.]

If you hadn't come here, he wouldn't have been distracted. [Yes, she'll blame Jae-Ha. Why shouldn't she? The two of them aren't friends. By all rights, he probably wasn't a friend to Sanji, either. Really, the nerve of him - telling her to leave everything to him.

Behind her back, her hands ball into fists.]

[He doesn't care about being blamed. He doesn't care enough to explain being a dragon to her. It's a waste of time.]

If you don't tell me, I'll go confront your father myself.

Oh? To die, then.

[Her father is a mountain and the law of her world, not to be toppled by some random boy. He'll wipe Jae-Ha's existence from the world.

... Yes. Both him and Sanji, gone in an instant.]

Fine. [She shrugs her shoulders] You want to die so badly? I'll tell you where he is - in the third dungeon Father built underneath our mansion. Though you can't reach him by yourself.

[Not without fighting the entire mansion once the alarms go up. But that's not her business, she decides, because she absolutely isn't getting involved]

Underneath...

[Fingers curling tighter, he ducks down to pick up the apple, not even bothering to wipe it clean before he bites into it. He'll need his full strength, even if he has no idea what to expect. A dungeon.]

Don't worry. I'll protect him with my life. [Once he finishes this apple, he tosses the core to her (lol gross) and moves immediately towards the window. It's faster if he jumps down and then goes from the ground, probably.]

Just pretend you didn't know I was here, so you don't get in trouble too.

[...]

He's a crybaby. [Reiju faces the door, away from Jae-Ha, ignoring how the apple and that her face feels wet suddenly.]

But I'll still find you and make you pay if you make him cry more than we have.

[So just... leave already.]

I won't.

[He doesn't say any more, for respect of her pride, and hops out of the window, simply. Dropping to the ground, he sneaks around the side of the house until he can find an entrance. He knows the house's layout well enough by now that he can guess where an entrance to dungeons might be. And he's going straight there.]

[Despite what Reiju had assumed, being an imprisoned lord's son doesn't mean security will be heavy at the entrance, nor down the uneven stairs that lead deep underground. The dungeons were built many, many years ago before the Lord Judge's time, but never used without good reason.

In fact, save for two guards who stand post outside the third cell from the bottom door, no one else is around. But to get to them, Jae-Ha will have to open that door at the bottom of the stairs, and announce his presence.]

[He knows this goes against what he promised Sanji... But what were his options otherwise? He has no idea what Sanji might be going through, and he doesn't want to wait until it's too late to help.

Stepping forward, he shoves at the door to open it without hesitation.]

[At the door's movement, both guards quickly stand to attention -- only to pause, then squint, and finally march for the entrance with swear words and unsheathed swords. This green-haired, scrawny kid was not the person they expected to see.

Their orders were very clear: no one is allowed into the dungeons without permission. A shame that they might have to kill a child, but they've done worse in their service to Lord Judge. As the pathway is narrow, one man takes the front with his sword at the ready, and hopes for the fatal blow to be painless. Sorry, brat]

[Jae-Ha isn't here to play around, and he isn't here to be stopped. He's been training himself to hold back all of this time with Sanji and Reiju, but when it comes to this, there's no reason to. He doesn't know what kind of people these guards are, and he remembers how kind his predecessor was no matter how he was treated...

But this was different. They were treating Sanji poorly.

He steps forward, and he knows all he needs is his dragon leg. He'll try to avoid killing people if necessary, but he's not going to hold back. So as that sword comes at him, he kicks at it from below with his dragon leg, hoping to send it flying before he follows up a step, and another right-legged kick at the man to knock him into his friend. He'll deal with the falling sword after, depending on how this goes.]

[These might be trained men, but they are not genetically modified soldiers, either. Their strength wouldn't rival that of Reiju on her bad days. On top of that, they don't recognize Jae-Ha as a threat until it's too late. When the sword is knocked clean out of the first man's hand, he's launched off his feet and into his comrade, and the force of the kick will keep them a bloody, unconscious pile on the floor.

The opposition is taken care of in one fell swoop - and in the dim, candle lighting, a scratchy voice calls out from one of the iron cells.]

... Jae-Ha?

Sanji!

[He cries out with more feeling than he's ever bothered to show before, darting past the two unconscious guards and straight for the cell where the voice comes from. If there are bars, he'll wrap his hands around them right away, trying to peer for Sanji in the darkness.]

I'm getting you out of here! Are you okay?

[He'd sat huddled at the back of his prison, legs bent and knees pressed against his eyelids, but then he hears Jae-Ha and his head snaps up. Suddenly, he can't move fast enough to the bars. The boy's eyes are bloodshot - too much crying - and despite still being dressed in his morning robes, they're patterned with dirt and dust from rough handling.

But he's alive. Exhausted and face somehow pale in the dimness, but alive.]

Reiju-- She said Father has the key -- [There's fear and another round of tears hiding in his voice] S-so she couldn't get me out by herself--

[The words come out in babble as he reaches forward, hiccuping over his tongue and bottom lip starting to quiver.] She said you'd have to leave before Father found you--

[It's horrible to see him like this. Jae-Ha doesn't let emotion get in his own eyes, as tempting as it feels in his heart. Instead, he reaches through enough to grip his hands around or over the bars with Sanji's, squeezing.]

I don't need the key. Like those chains, remember? She tried to tell me that, but she doesn't know I can do this. I'm not leaving you behind! We're leaving together.

[He pulls his hands back, gesturing lightly as he sizes up the cell. This is going to take a lot more than his chains did, but he's still confident he can do it after a few kicks.] Stand back and watch out.

[We're leaving together

The words should bring him joy. He still remembers all the times that Jae-Ha prompted him -- promised him -- that one day he'd take Sanji away from his abusive family. That he wouldn't let his brothers keep hurting him. His best friend would teach him the meaning of true freedom, and they'd be able to go wherever they wanted.

That day has finally come. He should be happy, shouldn't he? But the hiccup in his throat solidifies and makes it hard to breathe as he shuffles back a few steps, and Sanji digs the palm against his wet cheeks.]

S-she said Father told everyone I was dead.

He did. The news was spreading that you were found by the creek. But I knew you wouldn't go anywhere without me.

[His fingers curl tightly into his own palms, and he aims a powerful kick at the bars. They bend, noticeably, and the sound is loud and creaking. He can't help that.] I'm sorry I didn't come sooner.

[He didn't know where to go, or what to do, or where he was... Furious at Sanji's father, he kicks again, and the metal bends further, cracking open but not nearly enough for a body. He needs to do one more, he realizes between heavy breaths and lines himself up for it again.]

[The small, childish wish that had kept him warm all these hours - that somehow Reiju and the guards were playing a cruel prank on him - dies when Jae-Ha chimes in with the same story: that Father said that he was dead. And Sanji has already learned that dead people don't come back from their graves.

The boy's fists tremble, then drop, while he stares dead-eyed at Jae-Ha's progress. There's no reply to his friend's apology.

But it doesn't stay quiet, and not only from the older boy's kicking. The door at the end of the hall had never been closed after Jae-Ha had barged down the stairs, and they'll both be able to hear heavy footsteps - the sound of numerous people - over their heads. Seconds later and the narrow hall is filled with a handful of soldiers, bows aimed and arrows cocked. In front them stands one man.

Jae-Ha will recognize him from all those hidden moments in the shadows. Judge Vinsmoke is an abnormally tall, large man, more mountain than flesh, and as he crouches slightly to clear the door's entrance, he looks at Jae-Ha with faint surprise and little else. He's no time to ask stupid questions, like how the boy got here (obvious) or what he plans to do (he isn't blind, he sees the unconscious bodies on the floor). So instead:]

Your name, boy.

[Sanji's expression makes him falter in his work. Those sad eyes... Why aren't they going away? He's right here, breaking him out, and they're going to go away from here and stay safe together—

He hears footsteps, and by the time he turns his head to investigate, it's too late to move. There are arrows pointed at him, and he knows well enough that the only way to get away from those would be to jump high and out of reach. But they're indoors.

His fists are curled so tight at his sides that his knuckles are white, and he doesn't bother hiding the scowl at this man. Quietly, and slowly, so not to cause any of the guards to shoot an arrow, he raises one of his hands to wrap loosely around one of the already-broken bars of Sanji's prison. It's a silent reassurance, and an apology. He's sorry he had to be seen.]

Jae-Ha. [He has no reason to hide it.] Get out of our way.

[Sanji comes to life at the sound of his Father's voice. The panic almost makes him vomit but he screams past it, launching himself at the bars again to grip Jae-Ha's hand - shield him, if he can.]

Father, please! Let him go! [The bars are still too narrow for him to fit through, but he angles himself as best he can, to catch the man's eyes, face contorting with fear] I'll do better, I promise! I won't cook anymore!

[To such an admission... Judge's lip visibly curls with contempt and frustration, and if there were any doubts as to why Sanji had been thrown into the dungeon:]

You've plans to kidnap him? [He folds his arms] I'd sooner let you than pay a ransom.

Take him, if you want.

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