Heyo wassup
Title: A Hunter Is Like A Raven
Description: He stood there, holding his stance on his tiptoes like a bird perched upon a branch. A majestic bird, one stoic and elegant like a raven with perfect feathers of ink. But if he is a raven, then I am a crow, with frayed feathers and bloodstained claws. He raises his arm to attack, and even as I move to defend myself, I know that I don't deserve to. I don't deserve to live. But I cannot help it, for I am death. I must kill.
So, uh, any of you guys every play Bloodborne? 'Cause Bloodborne is definitely where I'm going with all this. Except less Victorian Europe and more Medieval Europe. Except it's not Europe.
Haha...
"Even the dead cry, their only comfort."
-The Kinslayer, Nightwish
Prologue
The moon was red.
No stars shone that night. Only the moon, garish and beautiful, held a place in the sky. Seto had been standing in the courtyard of the castle grounds, staring up at it when he heard running footsteps behind him. He turned.
"Katsuya." His voice was devoid of the usual disdain for the squire, addressing him with only a keen sense of dread.
"Seto."
The young lord's lips twitched in an unpleasant way at the lack of a title. Katsuya was the only person in the whole castle who could be so crass. His father was dead. He was Lord Kaiba now, even if he was only eleven.
"I assume Her Majesty is having the child?" He looked away from the other's dark eyes, to the fountain he stood beside. The moon's reflection rippled in the water at him, a sign of foreboding and of warning, but beautiful all the same.
"Yes. His Majesty sent me to find you."
Seto nodded. After taking one last look at the sky, he strode quickly past Katsuya and into the castle.
The Queen's chamber was full of commotion. Seto carried himself through the servants hurrying through the door with an authority he'd learned to carry himself with at a young age. Hold your back straight, eyes alert, face impassive. Don't let any hesitation through the mask. He remembered his father's lessons well.
The first thing Seto noticed when he pushed himself through the cracked open-door was the tang of blood in the air. His lips curled into a snarl by instinctive reaction, and even more so when his eyes fell upon the sight before him.
The woman on the bed, the Queen of Qell'hiver, was undeniably the source of the blood. There was blood covering her gown, soaking the sheets, covering the midwife's hands, her own hands, dripping onto the floor...
Birthing blood was a coveted substance to those whom it concerned. Seto supposed whomever it concerned would be quite satisfied with this supply. Royal birthing blood, enough to kill a man.
Or a woman, as it seemed was happening now.
She was pale, breathing heavily with her eyes open and unfocused. The midwife at the foot of her bed was saying something to her breathlessly, comfortingly. The King stood a little to the side, watching with bated eyes.
"Excuse me." A servant hurried her way past Seto and to the Queen. She placed the cloth in her hands on the Queen's forehead, gently wiping. The midwife said something to her in a hushed voice. It was all very hushed. Everyone knew what was going to happen. Everyone knew it was inevitable. Everyone waited, dreading and not yet accepting the truth.
Seto moved away from the door, towards the balcony windows. Lady Kujaku stood there, a gloved hand over her mouth in slight horror. She was no stranger to blood, Seto knew. Her dainty appearance hid her rougher side by far. She was one of the best hunters of the kingdom, one of Seto's trainers. To her, acting horrified in this situation was probably the equivalent of faking polite interest in a conversation with another lord.
Neither of them said anything.
The quiet whispers of the midwife continued. The servant ran off to procure a drink of water for the queen.
A sudden scream caught them all off guard. Seto jumped backwards, startled, and then leaned forward, interested. The Queen's entire body contracted into itself, doubling over a little disturbingly. Seto made a disgusted face at the sight, not knowing how else to respond.
He'd always known birth to be a long, difficult, and painful experience, but never quite knew the degree of it until now. He'd seen disgusting things before, but none of them had managed to nauseate him quite like this was doing.
The woman gave one last shriek and a shrill sound of crying filled the room. Seto craned his neck to see over the fuss the midwife and servant was making, trying to see the child.
The crying only intensified as they wiped it clean, surely ruining the delicate white cloths in the process.
"Which is it?" The soft voice was such a stark contrast to everything Seto had been hearing in this room that it startled him, and his eyes snapped to the source of the sound.
The midwife's voice was equally soft. "It's a boy, Your Majesty. What shall his name be?"
The Queen's voice was so quiet it was damn near imperceptible. Everyone in the room leaned forward to hear it.
"His name is Atem," she said with her last breath.
Seto was frozen in spot and speechless, as everyone else in the room seemed to be. The Queen...was dead. And the child...
"The eyes are red," said Lady Kujaku from behind him.
Seto looked at the child, into its eyes. Pure crimson, surely no different than everyone had expected but surprising all the same to see.
"Everyone leave." It was the first time the King had spoken since Seto had entered the room. He was perched on the edge of the bed the Queen lay on, one hand on hers and looking down at her.
The servants present bowed and muttering "Your Majesty" left the room. The midwife didn't seem to know what to do for a second, but resolved to give the baby to the King and bowing respectfully left the room. Seto moved when Lady Kujaku did, bowing before leaving.
The King's gruff voice sounded again. "Not you, Kaiba."
Seto looked up in surprise.
"Y-yes, Your Majesty." He nodded and stayed put as Lady Kujaku left.
There was a long silence before the King spoke. Seto stood at attention dutifully, hands clasped behind his back and eyes forward. He tried not to look at the dead woman barely a few feet from him.
"This child needs to be protected at all costs," the King finally said.
Seto nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"I am entrusting his safety to you, Lord Kaiba."
Seto blinked a few times, taken aback. ...Me? "Y-yes, Your Majesty."
The King nodded to himself, as though assuring himself of something. He looked to his wife, to the child in his arms, to Seto.
"Take him." He held the baby out to Seto and it started to fuss again. Seto quickly stepped forward and carefully took it into his arms. It whined unhappily but snuggled into the blanket it was wrapped in, assumably falling asleep.
"Where shall I take him, Your Majesty?" Seto asked.
The King took a moment to look at the dead Queen before he answered.
"You will find someone who is trustworthy and you will entrust him to them. He will not be raised in the castle as heir to the throne; he would be in too much danger. In fact, he won't even be raised inside the kingdom. But he will be kept safe until he becomes of age, and that is when you will bring him back. Is that understood?"
Seto nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."
The King nodded again. "Please begin immediately."
Seto bowed the best he could with a child in his arms and left the room. Not to his surprise, Lady Kujaku was outside the door, leaning arrogantly against the wall as she tended to.
"I assume the King has entrusted the child's protection to you?" It was a question spoken like a statement.
Seto nodded.
"And what do you think of this whole situation? Of a prophecy child?" Her eyes shone in a satirically amused way.
"I... think the child should be protected no matter what." Seto raised his chin a little higher and held the child a little closer. "At all costs."
Lady Kujaku smiled and then chuckled. "Still a little soldier, as you always were." She ruffled his hair before walking away, and he choked down the desire to curse at her.
"I won't see you for a while, kitten, so take care," she called over her shoulder.
"You're going somewhere?" Seto asked, stepping forward.
She turned with a smile. "Yes, the King has given me an assignment. It could take any number of years to complete so-" She began to walk away again and waved her hand. "Don't die before I get back."
Seto bowed succinctly mostly out of habit. "Yes, my Lady."
He looked down at the child sleeping in his arms, and the last words of the Queen ran through his mind again.
"His name is Atem."
Don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll keep him safe.
But first he needed to think of someone trustworthy. Those people were quite few in Seto's experience. But, he supposed there was one person.
He turned on his heel, walking off in the opposite direction of Lady Kajaku. His aunt, who lived just outside the border of the kingdom but was visiting the capital for Seto's father's funeral, was his best choice. Especially because she was the only person he knew of that could take care of a newborn baby. He took the servants' passageways to her chambers, not willing to risk the main halls.
As he reached the door of her chambers, he became keenly aware of the darkness of the hall. It chilled his spine and made his heart beat faster. The baby opened its eyes and began to fuss again.
Quickly Seto knocked on the door, and was relieved when it opened almost immediately.
"Nephew?" the woman asked fondly. Her gaze went to the baby, and then back to him quizzically.
"May I come in?" he asked.
"Um, of course." She opened the door further and Seto hurried in.
"Quickly, close the door and lock it," he ordered rather rudely, but she seemed to be too confused to notice as she complied.
"What's going on, Seto?" she asked.
Seto's gaze danced around the room, checking for shadows, telltale signs that they weren't alone. Upon finding none, he turned back to his aunt.
"You need to leave the capital immediately," he said. "and go back to your home."
"Seto, why are you holding a baby?"
He looked down at the child and then back to her. Not knowing what else to do, he thrust his arms outwards and offered it to her. "Here, take it. It's the Queen's child."
The woman's eyes widened farther than they already had been. "S-Seto, why do you have the Queen's child in your arms and why are you giving it to me?"
"The Queen is dead, Aunt Nara." Seto ignored her gasp and persisted in offering the child. "The King told me to protect this child by giving it to someone trustworthy. I'm giving it to you."
His aunt was clearly reluctant but took the baby all the same.
"And what am I to do with him?"
"Take him home tonight or tomorrow morning, whichever. Keep him hidden. Raise him like your own son until his sixteenth birthday, when I will come to him and bring him back."
She nodded. "If the Queen really is dead, then..." She brushed away a part of the blanket to look at its face. "I trust you, Seto. What's his name?"
Seto looked at it. "His name is Atem, but... call him Yami."
A whispering breeze sighed through the open balcony windows and Seto turned. The sky outside was black. the moon no longer shone there, obscured by heavy clouds.
The prophecy child has been born.
Note: The name Qell'hiver is a play on the French words "Quelle hiver," which in English means "Which winter," which doesn't make very much sense but sounds cool anyways.
Note: Mai Valentine's name in the Japanese version is Mai Kujaku (I'm only making note of this because I had to look it up but it's probably common knowledge :/).