Author's Notes: I would like to call of the attention of my beta Mashadar for posting this story early... I know that my characterization and grammar is still over the place. But as time goes by, the time I spend on writing this is getting shorter and shorter. (Because I'm currently play VNs like Hoshizora no Memoria, Endelweiss, Deardrops, etc... and not mention RL problems..)
I want this story to go past chapter 1...
Oh, and thanks to Electric Eclectic to doing the editing for me!
Prologue: oath sign
Kyouya Wales Hiraga always believed that he was living a normal life. From being an above average student; the second best kendo/iaido practitioner on their school; his average athletic ability; hanging out with his (girl)friends; and having a loving mother and a good father.
It cemented his belief that, yes, he was living a normal life…
"Marry me Raito!"
"Sorry! But I have to focus on playing baseball!"
"That's not in the manuscript!" *THWACK*
…well, almost a normal life.
Kyouya's father regular work was in the police force and his mother works in a bakery in their neighborhood. But every night, the two of them always find time to write their story series titled, "Night Sky under the Two Moons". Yes, they're authors, but unlike normal authors who just sit in front of their computers and type away, the couple spend time 'Roleplaying' the characters and discussing random stuff. He once caught his mother carrying whipped cream, catsup, and mayonnaise to their room and told him that they'll be using those for 'Roleplaying'. It took Kyouya quite some time to remove the image of his mother covered in whipped cream in his mind.
The first book of the series, entitled "Crescent Moon: Dreams and Reality", became popular because the story ended up on a tragic note, with majority of the characters ended up being dead or something even worse than death, while the two major characters fates were left hanging after their escape. He had read the master copy before they submitted it to the publishers, but Kyouya had to wonder if the whipped cream, catsup, and mayonnaise they used for their 'Roleplaying' were past their expiration date.
Still, Kyouya's mom told him that his dad was planning on writing a continuation to that story. He always wondered why they both have this distant look in their eyes whenever they discuss about the story though...
It was Saturday when Kyouya's (girl)friends decided that they should go on a two day outing in Kyoto. He could have declined the offer since Saturday is the only day in the week that he and his parents could get to bond together, usually with games, but when his mom told him that he shouldn't neglect his friends too... well, how could he refuse?
Looking back, Kyouya thought that she always knew what would happen, and the adventures and hidden truths he would soon discover about their story...
-=0=-
"Do you have everything in your bag?"
"Yes dad," Kyouya replied for the second time, eyes rolling at his dad's insistent nature of checking and double-checking just about everything he was taking with him.
"Extra clothes?
"Check."
"Cellphone?"
"Yes." He answered with the long suffering sigh practiced by teenagers everywhere.
"Laptop?"
"Why do I need the laptop again?" Kyouya asked incredulously when his father practically shoved his laptop inside his bag.
His father raised an eyebrow at the question. "To keep you entertained? Charger."
"You gave me the manual one… you know, the one with the crank."
"It's good for your arm muscles!" A finger poked at his arm. "You need to work out more. Now, lighter and Swiss army knife?"
"Gods dad..." Kyouya facepalmed at the growing mountain of items being packed into his bag, "We're going on a weekend trip to Kyoto, not camping in the mountains..."
Undeterred, the elder Hiraga continued, "A man must be prepared in all occasions. Toi-"
"Yeah…" Kyouya cut his father off, "I have two rolls of toilet paper in my bag."
"Well…"
"Dear," the calm voice of Kyouya's mom was heard, "Stop egging Kyou-chan."
"But darling!" the elder Hiraga fell on his knees and hugged his wife's waist, "Our prince is going so far away…"
"I'm just going to Kyoto!" Kyouya snapped, throwing a glare at his father, "Jeez dad, if I ever learn that you're using me as a research subject for your next book, I'm going to smack you so hard with my shinai…"
"Wah!" The elder Hiraga lept up and hid behind his wife, "Kyouya's too sharp! He's seen through my plan and is going to exact his horrible revenge on me." He sobered at that, giving his son a serious look, "For being such a meanie, you're going to get a punishment. I'm going to write an ecchi novel with you as the main-" An elbow in the stomach, courtesy of his wife, quickly brought an end to his plans for vengeance.
"Thanks mom," Kyouya smiled at his savior, getting a similar expression in return.
"Anyway, you should take this at least," she said, pressing a pendant with a blue crystal inset into his hand, "as a good luck charm."
"I'll take care of this. But," Kyouya raised an eyebrow as he looked at his mom while he fastened the necklace around his neck, "Isn't this a bit expensive to be a good luck charm?"
"If it's for you, Kyou-chan, I'm willing to spend the extra money." She replied as she patted Kyouya's head lovingly.
"Then… can you buy me a XBOX 360?" Kyouya quickly asked.
"No." Kyouya's parents spoke in unison.
"Aw… Anyways, I should be going now."
His mother smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Take care."
"I will. Bye mom!" He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning to salute his dad, "Bye dad."
"Take care of yourself son." The elder Hiraga waved back as he watched their son leave home.
A few seconds later, once Kyouya had turned the corner and vanished, Kyouya's father spoke to his wife. "Did the Voidstone resonate? Do you think he might be the one?"
She nodded grimly, "I do not believe it can be any other," she shook her head, looking towards her husband, "He will be summoned as you were. Our past is starting to haunt us..."
"A destiny we can't escape." There was a sigh, a faint slump to his shoulders as it sank in, but the man smiled reassuringly at his wife, "Don't worry, we knew this day would come eventually. We've been planning against it for five years now... we'll pull through this."
"I know..." She took her husband's hand, squeezing the limb for reassurance before saying, "Let's call your parents then. We have a lot to do before we can put our plan into motion."
He pulled her hand into a brief hug, "To war then?"
"To war," she murmured, pausing as a small grin made its way to her lips. "and no cheats this time."
"We won't need them." He chuckled. "Count on it"
-=0=-
Halfway on his walk towards the train station, Kyouya had to shake his head at the amount of luggage he was hauling. If a policeman saw him now, the officer would probably think he was running away from home and be justified in thinking that too, he admitted with a grin. He was old enough to understand that dad meant well, but he'd gone way overboard with everything.
'Seriously, toilet paper?'
If he didn't know better, it was as if the elder Hiraga was expecting him to end up in the middle of a forest. Or maybe some backwards country that never heard about toilet paper, like that character in his parent's book. Even India had toilet paper.
It was on that tangent that he spied something on display in a passing bookstore, the similarities getting an amused chuckle out of him. The Night Sky under the Two Moons was his parent's debut piece after all. Thinking about it though, even if he knew the story from back to forth, and his mother possessed a master copy, he'd never had a copy of his own, which was a little strange now that he considered it.
'Hmm, why not?'
Acting on impulse, he made a quick purchase, deciding to skim quickly through the first chapter while he walked towards the train station.
He never noticed the green portal suddenly forming beneath his feet, not until he was falling. There was a strangled cry of surprise, suddenly cut off with the sharpness of a knife, and then Kyouya Wales Hiraga vanished from the face of the world.
-=0=-
"Sir, we have received an emergency call from Crow 1 and Crow 2… they said that Abel has disappeared while they're watching him."
The man who received the report groaned, "Did they lose track of their subject?"
"They sent us a video," the grunt took out a touchpad and showed the man a clip that Crow 1 sent. "We have also detected an energy spike during the time Abel had disappeared."
"Just like what happened to Adam…" the man then looked at the grunt and asked, "When will our project be completed?"
"Forty eight hours sir."
"Make it thirty six."
"But sir-" the grunt tried to reason, but was silenced by the man's glare. "I'll tell the technicians."
"Good. By the way, call back the Amaryllis Team; I'll be assigning them to a new mission."
"Yes sir." The grunt saluted before leaving the room.
The man then turned his gaze towards the photo frame on his desk and smiled, "Hang in there kiddo, Grandpa will send your guardian angels to pick you up." He then turned his gaze on the Remington M24 sniper rifle that was displayed on the wall. "And I'm going to personally lay waste on those who will harm you."
-=0=-
Kyouya's mom suddenly shivered as the feeling of the Water Ruby she gave to her son suddenly vanished. "Saito!"
"Oh Anne, have you seen-" the question made by Saito was never completed because of the look Henrietta was giving him, "Aw crap. Already?"
She nodded in reply. "Kyouya shouldn't be in any danger immediately. Things shouldn't have changed so much if they're still using the ritual, so we have a little time to prepare our cover story at least."
"I know..." Saito sighed, heading back into the basement and emerging with several sealed boxes. "At least this time we don't have to explain to my parents what's going on." Unspoken was the lengthy amount of time and effort it had taken to convince them of the truth of his story, much less his wife's origin and obvious language problem.
"Can you blame them?" She asked, easily picking out his thoughts as she went through her own preparations, "Our worlds are so far apart it's hard to believe everything that happened." A box was opened to reveal a number of guns, stacked neatly beside several cases of ammo, enough to last them for quite a long time. Well, she at least hoped they would last a while. "They're still going to have a heart attack once they realize their grandson has gone missing to another world."
"You gave Kyouya the water ruby," Saito replied with somber tone, opening another box and pulling out a pair of bulletproof vests. "If your theory about the rubies being able to seek each other out holds true, we should be able to get him out of there before it comes to pass."
Henrietta sighed a little bitterly. "It won't be as easy as that dear, you know that. Finding a voidstone here on Earth, buried in our backyard of all places was a stroke of luck on our part. But even we still don't know where it comes out to" She shook her head, laying out the weapons, "It might even open to the elven lands for all we know."
"Good thing we're prepared for that possibility," her husband muttered. Not that he had any illusions about their chances if they found themselves facing an army. It didn't matter how many weapons they packed, they were still just two people. The Reconquisita had taught him that lesson of his limits very well. Their best hopes lay in not being found.
"I know you're looking for that Mobile SAM Launcher of yours... I think it's just a waste of space in our truck." Henrietta said as she watched her husband look inside the larger boxes.
"We will be facing Reconquista and that damned elf once we return." He rummaged through the larger boxes "And we can't always rely on your ofuda enhanced spells to take down Dragon Knights or Calvaries." He then looked at his wife, pouting a bit. "And it took me quite some time to get all this wonderful stuff from my friends on the JGSDF 1st Airborne…"
"Okay I get it, just stop pouting." She then looked at the guns that he packed on the bag and asked, "What will I use?"
"You'll be sticking with a Glock pistol." He replied, "That's the most reliable gun I think you can use."
She raised an eyebrow, "I will not be using long arms like that M4A1 SOPMOD carbine?"
"Your water magic plus your ofuda style casting practically makes you the equivalent of a human magic artillery cannon. The pistol I'll be giving you later is just a sidearm in case someone decides to get too close for comfort." He then took another empty magazine and started to load it with bullets, "I think bringing too many clips-"
"Magazines." She corrected. "Seriously, you trained yourself to be good at firearms for three years and yet you still don't know the proper terminologies."
He just scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Anyways, let's just finish packing our stuff so we can leave sooner. Anyways, have you prepared-"
"There are enough supplies to last us for a month and we can trade the jewelry for ecu once we're there." She replied.
"The letters?"
Henrietta tapped a pair of envelopes on the desk. "I have one for Kyouya-chan's school and another one for your superior. I've already told the manager at the bakery that I'll be leaving for Europe to visit a distant relative."
"Are you sure we have enough of everything?"
Henrietta put her hands on her hips, though the playful tilt to her lips robbed any anger from the gesture "Of course! You think I might forget, my beloved knight?"
"Of course not, my beloved princess," Saito proclaimed grandly, dropping to a knee as he took his wife's hand, "I told you already, I shall entrust my life to you-"
"-if you entrust yours to mine," she finished for him, lowering her head to capture his lips with hers. She broke it a few seconds later, flushing slightly as she did so. "Let's get going then, my knight. There is much to do and time is not a luxury we can afford."
Shaking his head in bemusement, Saito watched his wife go upstairs before turning his attention to the remaining boxes. She was right; they had a lot of work to do.
Their son was waiting.